@ Mailman

Your first two sentences hit the nail firmly on the head.

It must be said that 14 years of Coalition and Conservative governments didn't yield a proper enquiry so they must take a share of the blame. We are still waiting for the report commissioned by Sajid Javid to be released rather than the interpretation of it that we were fobbed off with.

I have mixed feelings about Elon Musk generally but his blunt interventions on this issue have got to the heart of the matter. Jess Phillips has been hoist by her own petard, and has been strangely silent since her old tweets were revealed. Sarah Champion's response in Parliament to Rupert Lowe's long list of legitimate questions was revealing - it'll be interesting to see what answers he receives (how many answers will include 'we don't keep those records' or 'we can't find those records', I wonder?).

Robbo,

Lets stop sanitising whats been going on. This isnt grooming, its mass f88king RAPE!

Funny how when Labour actually could do something to improve the lives of women in the country that they instead pander to a male dominated culture and religion and look the other way as adherents of that religion go about raping white girls across the country.

However Im sure the BBC, ITV News, SkyNews and all the other leftist media outlets will be along any second now to cover this growing rape crisis scandal Labour refuses to acknowledge least they annoy a voting block they are wholly dependent on to stay in power.

Followed this link from a comment at Jo Nova's today. It's on the grooming gangs inquiry being voted down; nothing special.

The parliamentary response comes across as theatre — reminiscent of the Post Office/Horizon scandal — both sides just wish people would stop banging on about it.

Pretty sure it really is just theatre. Inquiry or no inquiry makes no difference. The bureaucrats remain in charge and will bury all under due process. Who needs parliament?

Mathematical Muphry's Law yesterday — pontificate about liking numbers, then get the numbers wrong. That was meant to be a rise to £500.

Mailman,
Labour won't be going anywhere, and I doubt Starmer's going to resign. Still, chin up: the people who made him Prime Minister could choose to put someone else in the chair. Who might they choose? Chin back down again...

In other not at all surprising news, a Tory tells it like it is. Tadpoles' tails disappear as they become frogs, and politicians' backbones reappear when they go into opposition. I don't suppose we'll have Attenborough whispering his way through The Secret Lives of Politicians.

@Mailman

It doesn't surprise me at all. I ceased being amazed a long time ago.

DaveS said "I've ceased to be amazed at the total absence of political nous amongst politicians".

Why does it surprise you? It should be utterly unsurprising that our politicians are as shit as they are given that very few of them are actual leaders...prepared to lead by example first.

Because they are not leaders we are getting EXACTLY what is to be expected from people who have very little to no actual leadership skills or have been in actual Real Life (tm) leadership roles.

Robbo,

Starmer isnt going anywhere. He has 4 more years in power and will stay exactly there until the bitter end of his regime (and hopefully NOT the end of this country). No one in the media on the left will hold him, or labour...and by extension THEMSELVES accountable.

Watch where the muslim gang rap scandal goes (no where) as far too many Labour politicians are deeply involved OR deeply dependent on Muslim votes to stay in power.

tomo,
thanks for the threadreader link. That's filled in the gaps well enough.

Fair enough on the numbers. There are plenty of people a lot deeper into them than me.

Still, a little bit of number theory can help perspective. In these days of ubiquitous computer models, it's worthwhile to think about computer generated pseudo-random numbers. Even with the best algorithm in the world, these generators are based on a seed value of some limited number of bits. 48-bit used to be popular. That gets you 2.8x10^14 values, which sounds a lot, but it doesn't get you within cooee of a 52 card deal (~8x10^67) which would need 225 bits to cover all possibilities. I suspect there's a wee bit more randomness in the atmosphere than in a deck of cards.

The road tax figure may well be intended to get the actual jump to £2,500 greeted with relief rather than outrage, not unlike Winston's chocolate ration dropping by 50% one week, then lifted by 50% the next, and the people being glad of it.

Labour video was odd. What did they think it'd achieve? Puzzlement, I suppose.

I'm sure I've heard the "brains fall out" line before. May well have been by the believers' side in the global warming argument a decade or so ago.

DaveS,
I don't suppose Starmer will take a leaf out of Trudeau's book and announce his resignation? Looks like his plan might be to work through all the other leaves in Trudeau's book first.

Jan 6, 2025 at 3:21 AM | tomo

That Labour video is missing pigs at the trough.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/01/06/tulip-siddiq-refers-herself-ethics-watchdog/

So easy to 'forget' that you've been gifted a £700K flat...

I've ceased to be amazed at the total absence of political nous amongst politicians (of all parties, it should be said). It is, of course, possible that there is no connection whatsoever between her, her aunt and the millions that have allegedly vanished from Bangladeshi national coffers. But you'd have thought that any politician with even a modest number of brain cells could figure out that the right thing to do in the circumstances would be to voluntarily step down until investigations are over. By not doing so she reveals a toxic combination of ignorance and arrogance (as does Starmer who, if he had any grasp of the concept of leadership, would have told her to do just that but instead has supported her in staying put).

On the bright side, this is something else that'll blow up in Starmer's face and demonstrate his total unfitness for office - he can't even go on holiday without p*ssing people off. I gather he's going to make a statement defending his position on 'grooming' gangs - what do they say about holes and digging?