Mailwatch(ed) Forum

You have wait to the last paragraph for them to explain what a daft headline this is

UK set for strongest economic growth since WWII, forecasts Bank of England

Britain is on track for the strongest growth since the second world war this year as it stages a faster-than-expected recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Bank of England.
The Bank raised its estimate for UK GDP growth to 7.25% in 2021, up from a previous forecast in February for growth of 5% this year, as rapid progress with the Covid-19 vaccine and easing of restrictions paves the way for a boom in pent-up demand.
The growth rate would be the fastest since an 8.7% expansion in 1941, when production was being pushed to the limit during the second world war. However, it follows a collapse of almost 10% in 2020, the worst decline for more than three centuries. https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... of-england

A Guardian "long read" on the Home Office in the last 20 years:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... ome-office

Despite the headline, it's not just Patel that is covered: but also once again, it illustrates how public policy in the UK is set by an unholy cabal of non-dom newspaper proprietors - proof again that we desperately need media ownership laws in this country.

Nick Cohen and the Guardian may be about to be in very serious trouble indeed.

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If at all true it looks bad for Cohen.

Yes it does but seeing that fox killer self-righteously pontificate is enough to make me throw up.

Simon Jenkins hasn't talked about HS2 for about 5 minutes. He's finding other stuff to talk rubbish about.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... -economist

Who knows if Truss or Sunak is right on the cost of living crisis – where are all the economists?

The profession seems to have gone AWOL, just when we could do with a bit of modelling on tax cuts v handouts

Here's literally the first economist I look at on Twitter.



Plus some more rubbish about economists.

During the financial crash of 2008, the Queen made a rare visit to the London School of Economics. She turned to its professors and asked the question consuming the nation: why did no one see it coming?

The economists were aghast. This was not their job. It was all very complicated. The maths was awry. When they later wrote to the Queen, they confessed to “a failure of the collective imagination of many bright people” and “a psychology of denial”.

That's way more self-reflection than you get from, to use a random example, newspaper columnists like Simon Jenkins. Economists don't all sit around predicting market crashes- which are anyway very hard to predict. But they had plenty of ideas about what to do afterwards. Who does he think was advising Gordon Brown?

What does this even mean?

We now face a disaster similar to 2008. The causes may be unforeseen – Brexit, Covid and sanctions against Russia – but it is the job of economics to guide policy through such risks and uncertainties. Modelling should be able to handle 13% inflation, a quadrupling of energy prices and a collapse in the public sector jobs market. Economics calls itself a social “science” but its practitioners stand round the ailing economy like medieval doctors, arguing over leeches versus potions..

Where does he think 13% inflation has come from, if not from "modelling"?!

File this under "well, yes, but.."

This racist bigot's company makes cables and they're running a campaign to change the spec for cabling. Of course, well they might, but the campaign website shows that several Labour MPs are supporting it, because they think the new specs will improve fire safety.

https://www.saferstructures.org.uk/supporters/

'Health' you say...


Whose?

Why do I expect him to show up at the Telegraph bemoaning the Gusrdian.

What in the name of Jumping Jesus is this? Catherine Bennett.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... ours-ranks

Forget Andrew Tate – what about the host of misogynists in Labour’s ranks?

Trans rights, as always, But no substantial comment on the issues-trade offs. Just the strange implication that MPs being heckled in Parliament is something new and worthy of comment. And when it's men heckling women it's misogyny, when women MPs are doing the same. Are trans rights unique in that men criticising women MPs is misogyny and intimidation. Ben Bradshaw said "absolute rubbish", but he might as well have said "decapitate TERFS" or something.

Lord Falconer is chucked in as well for having come up for, as she would put it, "the crime of disagreeing with Catherine Bennett" on the merits of the UK governments case, and having been something to do with New Labour, like Alistair Campbell who once made a joke about Claire Short.

Predictably it's getting a hammering on Twitter. "Forget Andrew Tate, what about Nick Cohen and his Guardian mates" gets a deserved airing.

Not very good by the Guardian here. Article published about how there are too many demolitions. There are aesthetic arguments against lots of them, sure, there are net losses of social housing too. All fair points. But right in there is a big stat about the climate change effects. This turns out to be completely wrong.

How much of our emissions are down to constructng new buildings, do you think? 40%, says the article. Heck, that's terrible! And wrong. Correct figure is about 5%. Not so terrible, given that the new buildings are likely to be much more energy efficient.

The author bravely shows up and makes an arse of himself, with a "don't accept that" worthy of a Tory politician, complaint about "framing" and other goalpost shifting swipes.

He'll probably get another column next week.

It's not often that the Grauniad gets its English usage so badly wrong in a headline

Kate Forbes’ religious beliefs could stall her bid to succeed Sturgeon

No, Graun. Kate Forbes' religious beliefs should stall etc etc

People with such poisonous beliefs should not be anywhere near positions of power.

Great work here by the Guardian/ Observer. I'm not aware of this chap, who writes about botany for them apparently, but he passed comment on Twitter about that awful Catherine Bennett rubbish I linked to up thread, and was told off for breeching social media policy. Understandably, he's walked out.

This is, well, bad, "You've racially stereotyped those genocidal racists who just hacked a load of toddlers to death". Hamas should instruct the ghost of George Carman and sue for libel.

Fair point that papers shouldn't make shit up or put in stuff that they can't confirm, of course. Leave it at that, please.

Not to mention that the beheading stories are in fact true.

The Weeping Angel wrote: ↑Wed Oct 11, 2023 9:29 pm Not to mention that the beheading stories are in fact true.

I don't understand the significance of that...

The allegation is that the media have published stories which are untrue. That allegation is unfounded if those stories are actually true.

It is relevant though the fact is Hamas terrorists did behead babies it has been confirmed by mulitiple sources and the Middle East editor of the Guardian is concerned not by that but by how this could racially sterotype the people who carried it out.