Prices of the electricity we use to charge

[nigelbb]

NI numbers prompt row over 1.2m EU 'immigration gap'

A 1.2 million gap between official immigration figures and National Insurance numbers issued to EU nationals prompts a row.

www.bbc.co.uk

This is a report from 2016 with a claim that 1.2m more EU migrants had got National Insurance numbers in the previous five years than have shown up in immigration statistics. This claim was denied by the government.

Since 2016 we have left the EU & all EU citizens resident in the UK will have applied for settled or pre-settled status so we now know exactly how many EU citizens are resident in the UK. (3.82 million holding settled, and 1.89 million holding pre-settled status as at 31 March 2024).

How many people have been granted settlement via the EU Settlement Scheme?

www.gov.uk

 

[Peter.Bridge]

Where did they all get those placards from? They look like they've been made on a production line. Is somebody paying for them? When I was paid to protest against Tommy Robinson, there were a whole load of similar ones on a flat-bed Transit that they gave out. They looked the same as the ones in your picture. They had the same colours in the same places but the slogan was different.

SWP. Good recruiting ground for them, was the same in my day, they gave out all the merch, t-shirts, badges, flags, placards

 

[Peter.Bridge]

I can't believe this a conspiracy, but there are loads of (mostly blue tick) accounts on Twitter (quite often the racists that were banned and Musk reinstated) that have posted tweets that clearly meet the legal threshold for inciting racial hatred (amongst other offences). The police are going to come knocking on Elon's door and harvest all the details. I suspect the prison sentences will be at the upper end of the 7 years allowed. It's like a giant honey trap

Woman 'who first shared lies that sparked UK riots' arrested

It comes after millionaire mum Bonnie Spofforth said she was 'mortified' to be accused of being the first to spread the false rumours.

metro.co.uk

 

[Woosh]

Most efficient way to stop the riots: apply swift justice to a few keyboard warriors.

 

[saneagle]

Most efficient way to stop the riots: apply swift justice to a few keyboard warriors.

It's a shame they can't apply swift justice to the guys that actually started it. The ones in Manchester that attacked the police and broke the woman's nose haven't even been charged yet, and the one that killed the kids doesn't go to trial until at least October.

 

[saneagle]

SWP. Good recruiting ground for them, was the same in my day, they gave out all the merch, t-shirts, badges, flags, placards

We never got merch.

 

[Peter.Bridge]

It's a shame they can't apply swift justice to the guys that actually started it. The ones in Manchester that attacked the police and broke the woman's nose haven't even been charged yet, and the one that killed the kids doesn't go to trial until at least October.

 

[flecc]

SWP. Good recruiting ground for them, was the same in my day, they gave out all the merch, t-shirts, badges, flags, placards

Buckingham Palace or the Home Office do the same. Whenever the late Queen and now King Charles appear on the streets, everyone on the pavements have the identical rigid little rectangular Union Flags to wave, obviously just handed out.
.

 

[Peter.Bridge]

We never got merch.

Ah Well - back in the good all days

 

[Woosh]

It's a shame they can't apply swift justice to the guys that actually started it. The ones in Manchester that attacked the police and broke the woman's nose haven't even been charged yet, and the one that killed the kids doesn't go to trial until at least October.

I can see your point but the damage done by incitements to violence impacts the lives of hundreds of thousand if not millions of people. There was an article somewhere last week that tells a story along this line: give the police a few PCs, in a day, they find hundreds more people to arrest than working on their caseload.

 

[saneagle]

View attachment 59290

That's not swift justice. They said they could deal with the protesters quickly because there was clear video evidence. Was there video evidence of that guy smacking the police woman in the face, raining punches on another policewoman, then jumping on the policeman and wrestling him the ground? Maybe Manchester Airport fake their CCTV sometimes, so the police have to check that out. Is that it? How long does that take to check?

 

[saneagle]

Buckingham Palace or the Home Office do the same. Whenever the late Queen and now King Charles appear on the streets, everyone on the pavements have the identical rigid little rectangular Union Flags to wave, obviously just handed out.
.

No. You buy them from hawkers, who take stuff like that to the event to sell. They're wandering through the crowd all the time hawking their wares. Haven't you been to such an event?

Street vendors selling Union Jack flags on the street in the sun Stock Photo - Alamy

Download this stock image: Street vendors selling Union Jack flags on the street in the sun - FKHYTM from Alamy's library of millions of high resolution stock photos, illustrations and vectors.

www.alamy.com

 

[flecc]

No. You buy them from hawkers, who take stuff like that to the event to sell. They're wandering through the crowd all the time hawking their wares. Haven't you been to such an event?

I would never go to such an event but have been in the middle of them many times in my working days, particularly when our head office was in Buckingham Palace Road opposite the side entrance to the palace. And I've never seen or been approached by a hawker selling those flags. I've no doubt from what you say that it does happen now, but I know it didn't used to.
.

 

[saneagle]

I would never go to such an event but have been in the middle of them many times in my working days, particularly when our head office was in Buckingham Palace Road opposite the side entrance to the palace. And I've never seen or been approached by a hawker selling those flags. I've no doubt from what you say that it does happen now, but I know it didn't used to.
.

When I went to the Tutenkhamun exhibition in London, every other persom was a hawker, selling every sort of plastic replica you could get. That was the first time I'd ever seen so many.

 

[Ghost1951]

That's not swift justice. They said they could deal with the protesters quickly because there was clear video evidence. Was there video evidence of that guy smacking the police woman in the face, raining punches on another policewoman, then jumping on the policeman and wrestling him the ground? Maybe Manchester Airport fake their CCTV sometimes, so the police have to check that out. Is that it? How long does that take to check?

Do I support anyone who burns cars, attacks people who don't look like them, or have somewhat different customs? No. They are in every case disorderly, stupid, riff raff - even if they have had a rough deal out of life.

Is there two tier policing, driven by the fear of politicians trying to tread a knife edge with certain communities? Of course there is. This is made absolutely clear in a case like this.

It is quite frankly a damned lie that the case against the disorderly and violent conduct at Manchester Airport is complex. Such a venue will be carefully overseen by the best CCTV money can buy. The delay in charging violent thugs, who according to credible news channels were fighting with other people and then attacked the police who came to deal with the matter, is inexplicable, unless the police are hoping for 'community tensions' to calm down while they dilly dally.

Do I think a professional policeman should have kicked a prone suspect in the head and stamped on him? No. I don't - even though, if the accounts of him having fought police and broken the nose of a police woman are true - which they almost certainly are. I understand that the officer would have been upset and angry, but the action was NOT minimum force necessary - so he may be in trouble.

Is there two tier policing? Yes. It is perfectly clear that there is. An idiot and thug who is attached to a riot in support of right wing ideas or motives will be hauled before the courts ASAP and will receive a severe sentence. Several of the mugshots show that they were treated roughly during their arrest. They bear facial marks. One who is from the sort of minority that is treated with kid gloves will not receive the same sort of rapid handling, and if he is roughly handled during his arrest there will be a media and community outcry.

The evidence is right before your eyes.

 

[Ghost1951]

When I went to the Tutenkhamun exhibition in London, every other persom was a hawker, selling every sort of plastic replica you could get. That was the first time I'd ever seen so many.

I was living in Twickenham when that exhibition was on and i did not go to see it. I have a sense of regret about that now, but I was short of money and pretty busy as a student.

 

[nigelbb]

Most efficient way to stop the riots: apply swift justice to a few keyboard warriors.

The woman who started it all is in custody & will be looking at a long prison sentence.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3w6q611yn1o
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/29753604/false-southport-asylum-seeker-claim-riots/

 

[Peter.Bridge]

Do I support anyone who burns cars, attacks people who don't look like them, or have somewhat different customs? No. They are in every case disorderly, stupid, riff raff - even if they have had a rough deal out of life.

Is there two tier policing, driven by the fear of politicians trying to tread a knife edge with certain communities? Of course there is. This is made absolutely clear in a case like this.

It is quite frankly a damned lie that the case against the disorderly and violent conduct at Manchester Airport is complex. Such a venue will be carefully overseen by the best CCTV money can buy. The delay in charging violent thugs, who according to credible news channels were fighting with other people and then attacked the police who came to deal with the matter, is inexplicable, unless the police are hoping for 'community tensions' to calm down while they dilly dally.

Do I think a professional policeman should have kicked a prone suspect in the head and stamped on him? No. I don't - even though, if the accounts of him having fought police and broken the nose of a police woman are true - which they almost certainly are. I understand that the officer would have been upset and angry, but the action was NOT minimum force necessary - so he may be in trouble.

Is there two tier policing? Yes. It is perfectly clear that there is. An idiot and thug who is attached to a riot in support of right wing ideas or motives will be hauled before the courts ASAP and will receive a severe sentence. Several of the mugshots show that they were treated roughly during their arrest. They bear facial marks. One who is from the sort of minority that is treated with kid gloves will not receive the same sort of rapid handling, and if he is roughly handled during his arrest there will be a media and community outcry.

The evidence is right before your eyes.

Disagree with all of that ;

The Police in the Manchester Airport are just getting everything in place for a prosecution - look at the full video, particularly the start and the bit immediately before the kick and stamp. They need to get all the witness statements and evidence - it's not taking any longer than usual - have you been involved in any violent crime cases ? It's obviously nothing to do with the ethnicity of the suspects - if you took an interest in any comparable violent offences that happened at that same time with white British suspects they would take the same time. They are out on bail (which is the default presumption) where the suspects are not likely to flee or offend again. I'd much rather the Police get all the evidence in place and they are convicted than rush and miss a vital step.

I think you are wrong with the policeman too - I don't think he will be charged with any offence - watch the full video again very carefully and particularly the time period between the policeman getting off the floor, the suspect turning round and lifting his head. These are armed police that were nearly overwhelmed, and I don't think that policeman realised (or could be expected to realise ) that the suspect had been tazered and reasonably thought he was still a threat - we shall see.

Riots (rightly or wrongly) are treated differently by the authorities - they judge that 'fast tracking' the charging and court cases and quickly getting convictions reduce the chance of further riots and act as a deterrent.

https://x.com/SkyNews/status/1821881634104246737

 

[saneagle]

I was living in Twickenham when that exhibition was on and i did not go to see it. I have a sense of regret about that now, but I was short of money and pretty busy as a student.

It was terrible. You didn't miss much. The queue was 4 hours long. That's where all the hawkers were because the punters were bored and couldn't walk away, anyway. Once you got in, people wanted to get their money's worth, so they stood for ages looking at nothing, and you couldn't move yourself until they did, which made it extremely boring and was why the queue outside was so long. All the stuff was exactly the same as what the TV, magazines and newspapers had already shown., and it was all identical to the plastic stuff being sold outside. Personally, I didn't gain anything from it. there wasn't that much to see.

If you arrived at your town centre and there was door marked "exhibition" and you never knew that this stuff existed, it would probably be amazing, but there was so much hype about the real one that you already knew every single item before you went in. Don't forget, all you could do was look at the stuff through glass, so it looked exactly the same as it did in all the pictures. Thank fate and your good judgement that you didn't go. I had to go out of loyalty for my girlfriend, who was a big fan. She was disappointed with the exhibition too, but said that she was pleased that she saw it, so we went home and did something else to cheer ourselves up, as you do when you're 19/20.

 

[Ghost1951]

It was terrible. You didn't miss much. The queue was 4 hours long. That's where all the hawkers were because the punters were bored and couldn't walk away, anyway. Once you got in, people wanted to get their money's worth, so they stood for ages looking at nothing, and you couldn't move yourself until they did, which made it extremely boring and was why the queue outside was so long. All the stuff was exactly the same as what the TV, magazines and newspapers had already shown., and it was all identical to the plastic stuff being sold outside. Personally, I didn't gain anything from it. there wasn't that much to see.

If you arrived at your town centre and there was door marked "exhibition" and you never knew that this stuff existed, it would probably be amazing, but there was so much hype about the real one that you already knew every single item before you went in. Don't forget, all you could do was look at the stuff through glass, so it looked exactly the same as it did in all the pictures. Thank fate and your good judgement that you didn't go. I had to go out of loyalty for my girlfriend, who was a big fan. She was disappointed with the exhibition too, but said that she was pleased that she saw it, so we went home and did something else to cheer ourselves up, as you do when you're 19/20.

Ha ha ha - my partner who was about ten or eleven at the time, went from her school in Leeds on a special trip. They came down and, as you describe, they queued for hours and she says they were hurried on faster than they wanted to be, in an effort to get the queues through. She does say it was wonderful though, so maybe that is where I got the sense of regret. Now, having read your report, I can let that go. At the time, I did think of going from my garret in Twickenham (literally - I was renting an attic bedroom come bedsit in the top of a massive house in Strawberry Hill for - believe it or not £4 a week!) and I had seen the Sunday Times colour supplement photos and thought, well, I've already seen it. They are not going to let me touch anything, so I'll be content with that.

EDIT:

Just went and researched the house I lived in and found it was just sold for £2.4 million!!!

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/details/england-86480856-20742598?s=93e9c80eec4e8a8ff031257b01dd87b4f476683804f8c42e605fc5c1d88c0f73#/media?id=media0&ref=photoCollage

I had the left hand 2/3ds of the roof space and worked at my studies under that window in the roof. Happy days! I was there from being about 20 to 22. All of life ahead. Every day was brilliant back then - or so it seems now.

It was owned by two cash poor but asset rich German refugee ladies. They were incredibly coy back then about where they came from, saying only that they were 'European' in heavily accented English. The place was fantastically opulent. They occasionally held soirees for elderly friends which i and my then girlfriend were invited to. I remember they had a string quartet at one of them with a guy called Benjamin Luxon who I later heard playing on the radio. For me, coming from a respectable council house in Newcastle, this was a very interesting period.



The 'Music Room'..... Looks even bigger than I remember it.