[Andy McDandy]

M40 helped Tory MPs get out of London and up to the south Midlands faster. HS2 doesn't directly benefit them.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I almost wonder if they should have stuck an HS2 station at Amersham to keep these goons quiet. Given that it's basically about capacity more than speed anyway.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

M40 helped Tory MPs get out of London and up to the south Midlands faster. HS2 doesn't directly benefit them.

According to Sir Humphrey it was to allow mandarins to attend college dinners more easily...

[Killer Whale]

In which Monbiot goes the full Littlejohn.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... based-name

But to the legislators of the EU, a sausage can now have only one meaning: a cylindrical object containing meat. Never mind that cylindrical objects containing no meat have been marketed under names such as “Glamorgan sausage” (selsig Morgannwg) for at least 150 years. Never mind that even Germans once felt the need to call animal sausages mettwurst, to distinguish them from other kinds. Never mind that almost everyone knows what “veggie sausage”, “vegan sausage” or “plant-based sausage” mean. A recent survey of 20,000 Dutch people found that 96% are not confused by such terms, which is probably a higher percentage than those who can readily distinguish left from right. The consumer must at all costs be protected from an imaginary threat.

He'll be doing bendy bananas next week.

[Boiler]

Probably still upset about not being able to call plant-based milk milk.

[davidjay]

I wonder if people complained about the M1/M6 in the same way. After all, it's still only getting from London to Birmingham/Leeds quicker.

[Andy McDandy]

I've a collection of newspaper columns by Stephen Fry ("Paperweight"), and at one point he says that most columnists have a few standby articles on file, in case there's nothing else to write about. "Here's some jargon and legalese and what it means in plain English" is a good example of one. Always current, flatters the reader ("Ha ha, aren't we smarter than all those self-important bureaucrats?"), and carries the message of how everything would be amazing if they just left opinionated journalists run everything.

[Youngian]

In which Monbiot goes the full Littlejohn.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... based-name

But to the legislators of the EU, a sausage can now have only one meaning: a cylindrical object containing meat. Never mind that cylindrical objects containing no meat have been marketed under names such as “Glamorgan sausage” (selsig Morgannwg) for at least 150 years. Never mind that even Germans once felt the need to call animal sausages mettwurst, to distinguish them from other kinds. Never mind that almost everyone knows what “veggie sausage”, “vegan sausage” or “plant-based sausage” mean. A recent survey of 20,000 Dutch people found that 96% are not confused by such terms, which is probably a higher percentage than those who can readily distinguish left from right. The consumer must at all costs be protected from an imaginary threat.

He'll be doing bendy bananas next week.

There's a serious point here that the EP is now filled with a gaggle of populists looking to roll back on environmental and animal welfare legislation. And they're able to form majorites with the votes of the established centre right parties.
What the meat industry fears is plant based protein alternatives to meat becoming increasingly popular as the products improve. As a large part of the public understand the mass cruelty and environmental destruction involved in producing their unhealthy cheap meat. From sentient mammals and birds that feel pain, love and happiness.

[Tubby Isaacs]

More than 75% of Labour, Lib Dem and Green voters think PM should open talks on joining EU customs union – UK politics live

The attempt to pile pressure on Starmer with this bollocks goes way beyond serious reporting. Nobody who knows anything about the EU thinks the EU is interested.

To make this stuff worse, the figure routinely cited for the benefit of joining the CU (£25bn a year) isn't just the customs union. It's a very deep integration including of services which goes a long way beyond what people imagine as a cutoms union (ie free trade like we have now with less paperwork, and no freedom of movement). The EU isn't going to agree to that.

I'm not a fan of Zack, but he could steal a march here with "I'll concede freedom of movement tomorrow". That's a position more likely to bring bigger economic benefits than whatever Ed Davey is proposing.

[Tubby Isaacs]

In "the government can't do anything" latest, the plans for new towns are bad because some people involved with Milton Keynes (1967) don't like it.By this stage the Guardian is basically Kath Viner telling people to phone around until they come up with someone to tell you the government is shit.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/202 ... ay-critics

[Andy McDandy]

Yeah, humanity's bad because Hitler.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Who do they think the winners will be from "politicians, especially the ones in the power, are all shit"?

[The Weeping Angel]

I think Viner reckons if they attack Labour enough, the party will lose enough seats so that the Lib Dems or Greens can take over.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Exactly. The Greens.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The Guardian prefers the Lib Dems to Labour as well.

[davidjay]

The Guardian prefers the Lib Dems to Labour as well.

They're turning into the sort of Jezza disciples who'd rather have fascism than sell-out socialism.

[Tubby Isaacs]

This commentator is a bit of a Warren Oates, sometimes too fulsome in praise of Labour, but she's completely right here. This is dire and trivial framing about probably the most important political issue. Wooing is putting on a free lunch. Bringing in policies is bringing in policies.

See also the constant talk of politicians "relaunching", when they make a speech. We had this with Gordon Brown, who I'm sure had little expectation that any of the speeches he made was going to make him popular. Speeches are, you might think, part of their job, and a fairly useful one in that they allow people who are interested to hear more detail than eg a soundbite on the news.

Given that framing has got even more unfair since Brown's day, the chances of a speech "relaunching" are surely non-existent. You could announce a new hospital in every town, and the headline in some quarters (not a million miles away from the subject of this thread) would be "MPs warn about PFI 2". So we move about 2 weeks later to "Starmer's relaunch failed".

[Andy McDandy]

Human soap opera, and nothing pisses off the journos more than when it deviates from their preferred script.

Also, "revellers"? Fuck's sake.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Yeah. See Rachel Reeves, who had the temerity to author a budget that hasn't blown up like Kwasi Kwarteng's budget. And furthermore didn't resign over buying a present for the boss in her old job from company petty cash. Because Reeves couldn't have presented it saying "This is from the office", she must have definitely said "I bought it from my own money" while laughing like Muttly

[Tubby Isaacs]

Government's just increased taxes on gambling by what will be £1.1bn a year by the end of the Parliament. Good work, huh?

Perhaps, but an opinion poll has been commissioned on restricting gambling advertising. So we're on to "government to face increased pressure". It wouldn't be a bad idea, but what pressure is there really on this, compared with eg cost of living, "boats and hotels" and the like. I don't recall much pressure on any previous government. This framing basically means "we at this paper think the government should do this". Which is fine, but why not say that?

https://www.theguardian.com/society/202 ... dvertising