[Youngian]

It does seem the government lacks a junkyard dog in comms as there was no central message to push back with. Every cabinet minister accused of piffle was left to push their own defensive narrative.

[davidjay]

It's getting more childish by the hour. Everyone with a blue tick on Twitter is thinking up an insult that rhymes with Keir and giggling like a six year old who's realised the grown-up make a fuss when they say a rude word. This is what the Tories have sunk to.

[Crabcakes]

I wonder if it might quiet down now Simon Case is going, and the leaks may coincidentally stop as well…

[Oboogie]

It's getting more childish by the hour. Everyone with a blue tick on Twitter is thinking up an insult that rhymes with Keir and giggling like a six year old who's realised the grown-up make a fuss when they say a rude word. This is what the Tories have sunk to.

Apparently he has two super injunctions now; one to cover up that he was fined for #currygate the other to prevent reporting of his affair with Lord Ali. Besides the childishness and the homophobia, if there were super injunctions, those posting this nonsense would be getting their collars felt.

[davidjay]

How can you get any sort of injunction, super or otherwise, covering a fine?

[Tubby Isaacs]

Best for Britain
‪@bestforbritain.bsky.social‬
Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick, on having received a £75,000 donation from a company that has never made a profit, has no employees, is more than £300,000 in debt, and just got a loan from an inscrutable source based in an off-shore tax haven:

“This is very normal.” ~AA

Starmer's team met in a house though.

[Oboogie]

How can you get any sort of injunction, super or otherwise, covering a fine?

You'd need the complicity of the judiciary and the government to maintain the silence, apparently this was not a problem for the then LOTO to obtain.

[Andy McDandy]

Best for Britain
‪@bestforbritain.bsky.social‬
Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick, on having received a £75,000 donation from a company that has never made a profit, has no employees, is more than £300,000 in debt, and just got a loan from an inscrutable source based in an off-shore tax haven:

“This is very normal.” ~AA

Starmer's team met in a house though.

Next, the Penguin points out that whereas he is always seen in the company of Gotham's finest, Batman always seems to be engaging with criminals.

[The Weeping Angel]

What are people's thoughts on this?

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... cture-cuts

Ministers are being asked to draw up billions of pounds in cuts to infrastructure projects over the next 18 months despite Rachel Reeves pledging to invest more to grow the economy, the Guardian has learned.

Members of the cabinet have been asked to model cuts to their investment plans of up to 10% of their annual capital spending as part of this month’s spending review, government sources said.

The demands would mean big projects such as hospital improvements, road building and defence projects being slowed down or stopped altogether as the government looks for ways to repair what they say is a £22bn black hole in the public finances.

[Youngian]

Hospitals cut to pay for asylum seekers isn't going to win over any new voters. Why does Reeves believe short term cuts in capital spending will produce jam tomorrow when there was little evidence it did for Osborne?

Economists say a large part of the problem is that departmental spending limits were last set three years ago, before inflation soared and the numbers of asylum seekers rose significantly.

[Abernathy]

“Being asked to model” is the key phrase here. The spending review is assessing the impact of various possible actions on spending. This does not mean that is what is going to happen.

[Andy McDandy]

The budget is still a month away. That's a lot of fucking space to fill.

Besides, throw up as many doomsday scenarios as you like. Then when they fail to materialise, claim that Reeves saw the light or u-turned or whatever else suits your editorial line. And if they do, then it just confirms she's a baddie.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I wish I could wave this stuff away as unlikely. I think they should balance current spending as soon as they can, but the focus on the £22bn worries me. There's not distinction between capital and current spending in that figure. They're having trouble raising the tax they want and have hemmed themselves in with promises not to touch the big taxes. I wouldn't be at all surprised if capital spending got cut, sadly.

[The Weeping Angel]

What capital spending do you think will get cut Tubbs?

[Tubby Isaacs]

No idea.

[Tubby Isaacs]

So Carbon Capture and Storage then? Lots of criticism, and it does seem like it would be better to stop emitting in the first place. But I think CCS is supported by the IPCC and the UK's Climate Change Committee.

Above my paygrade, I think. Lots of talk about how the technology has been about for ages and not delivered. But I learnt about solar power at school in 1984. That's certainly delivering.

[Killer Whale]

Most carbon capture schemes that are operational are using compressed CO2 to squeeze more oil out of partly depleted fields. So not really anywhere near helping the route to net zero. There are plans to pipe CO2 into wholly depleted fields under the North Sea, but they'll have to be subsidised because there's no profit in putting gas in and getting nothing out.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I presume that the oil companies would be paid for piping the carbon in to the depleted fields. I've no problem with that in principle, just like paying anybody for a service. If it's good value, do it.

But they seem to be talking about projects in Teesside and Merseyside, in connection with industries where the process itself (as distinct from the power they use) produce carbon, like glass and cement. How would that work? The FT talks about energy levies paying (presumably on the industries themselves). This again seems to make a certain amount of sense, though I see there are some ideas about producing low carbon cement.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Ah, here's a North Sea carbon capture project.

https://theacornproject.uk/scottish-cluster

The North Sea is home to aquifers and depleted oil and gas fields suitable for use as major underground CO₂ storage sites. Acorn intends to inject CO₂ into the Acorn and East Mey stores in the North Sea, with a potential combined capacity of 240MtCO₂. Two offshore oil and gas pipelines will also be repurposed (Goldeneye and the Miller Gas System) which will connect St Fergus with the storage facilities below the North Sea bed.

[Tubby Isaacs]

https://bsky.app/profile/drsimevans.car ... mfd32ssb26

Initial projects here.

Blue hydrogen (x3) is a new one on me, I'm slightly embarrassed to admit. One is attached to gas power- that seems dubious, why just not use the gas power in the first place? The others- incinerators, lime, cement, seem like things where the process produces unavoidable carbon, so I get that.

I think this might actually be a good policy overall. The Right has tried to make hay with "lefty greens shut down our industry", and this is something that can be set against that. Trouble is, not sure there are enough people who'll defend the government on it.