Election Year or Fear!

[SithHappens]

attempt #2 at this as the first hasn't appeared and I forgot to copy before posting... GGGrrrrrrr

Was Farridge actually at PMQs or was he still in the USA? What was he doing in the USA? Brown nosing the one an American acquaintance of mine refers to as the "fanta flavoured f*ckwit". How did he do that? By claiming that the UK has shut down or is in the act of shutting down free speech.

This from the grifter who has banned some journalists from his party meetings and press conferences for no other reason than they were critical of him/his party.

Pot, kettle, black. Utter waste of space.

No wasn't there. Doesn't seem to take his responsibilities seriously in his role as MP

Still funny to see him getting ripped a new one in congress

https://x.com/Number10cat/status/1963304165007851745

[SithHappens]

I see Angela Rayners property has been subject to vandalism as a result of the news reports yesterday.

Whatever your opinion of her this is surely just wrong.

[Andy_Faber]

I see Angela Rayners property has been subject to vandalism as a result of the news reports yesterday.

Whatever your opinion of her this is surely just wrong.

Hmm, we had a similar discussion before your time, the vandalism/graffiti in question at that time was only met with qualified disapproval

[swaledale]

Hmm, we had a similar discussion before your time, the vandalism/graffiti in question at that time was only met with qualified disapproval

Such as?

[MadAmster]

It seems Rayner took legal advice, followed that advice, when questions were raised she sought advice from a KC who then asked questions which she answered. Those answers led her to refer herself to the Independent chap who looks at ethics transgressions and also informed HMRC that she owed them some tax on the house purchase.

If the above turns out to be a true reflection of what happened, then, despite all Badenoch's pleas, it would appear that the only error was following legal advice that turned out to be incorrect, checking that advice and then taking the necessary actions when the advice was shown to be incorrect.

How very dare she?

[MadAmster]

I don't pay the TV licence but I do watch BBC over here. We don't have a "licence" any longer. We used to have a similar thing called "kijk en luister geld" (watch and listen money) but the government scrapped that a while back.

Do I watch Sky? I'll plead the 5th on that one although I don't watch it all that often. The odd game I can't get on RamsTV, even using a Very Personal Network and F1 and that's it. I could watch loads of series and films on Sky and lots of delights from around the world. Viaplay do now show F1 here but that will decline post Max. The circuit didn't even manage to sell out on race day compared to the 4 previous editions when it was sold out almost as soon as tickets became available. On race day there were still tickets available in the "Tarzan bocht" aka Turn 1 where much of the excitement happens in terms of comings together and overtaking. They did cost 499 Euro...

Most cloggies seem to be Max fans rather than F1. Last Zandvoort F1 GP next season. Max is no longer the supreme driver as his car isn't working properly. His various teammates are failing because Max has a certain driving style and the cars are designed to get the best out of him. Whoever is in the #2 car has no chance as the car doesn't suit them. It's no coincidence that Perez didn't cut it and this season 2 different drivers can't cut it. The car is all wrong for them. Once Max moves on to other things, which he will do sooner rather than later, interest in F! here will wane and Viaplay won't broadcast it.

[Andy_Faber]

I'll plead the 5th on that one

Millions would MA, maybe tens of millions.

[SithHappens]

Hard to believe you can still buy a black and white TV licence.

[swaledale]

Some figures for you

2025 -2029 Premier league domestic TV rights £6.7 billion

BBC will pay £211 million over same period, about the same as the previous 3 year contract, as neither ITV, Channel 4 or channel 5 bid for the highlights.

The BBC Licence fee is £174.50 per annum or £14.50 per month.

Sky sports starts at £23 per month

The licence fee accounted for 68% of the BBC total annual income (£3.66 billion of a total of £5.39 billion)

The BBC doesn't breakdown its expenditure on football or even sports (not that I can find anyway).

Its a matter of record that one of the main reasons for the formation of the premier league was to attract and have control over TV rights for its matches and substantially increase its revenue, which it was considered and has been proven to be the case.

If somebody can make the case that paying the TV licence fee has contributed to the massive amounts of money flowing into the premier league since its formation, then they use a completely different mathematical system to the rest of us.

[SithHappens]

Noises seem to be pointing towards Rayner resigning/being sacked today.