reporterpenguin

The only bit of it that I really don’t get is the removal of the inheritance tax on farmland. How is a farmer meant to raise 20% of the land value when they take it on from their family? Surely it should only be taxed if sold as it’s essentially an unrealised asset before then.

Get out of here with your facts, Tommy G has already made his mind up!

Not that I particularly know what I’m on about, but that was my impression too. Presumably that was the point of all the doom and gloom they’ve been on about, when it’s not that bad the public are more palatable to it.

Sunak's last PMQs as leader of the opposition shows how much better suited he has been to that role than he ever was as PM. He's found a dignity and distinct sense of grown up professionalism since swapping sides of the house. And he's to be followed by either Jenrick or Badenoch...

Max has got away lightly with just 10 seconds there, seems to have only been investigated for the second one? Could easily have been 10 for each incident.

Indeed. I live rurally and my dog’s favourite walkies route goes through a field that often contains cows. I’ll very rarely venture into a field with cattle in, they’re beautiful animals and generally very docile and friendly, but stories like this are common enough that the risk of one getting a bit boisterous isn’t worth taking. I’ll stand at the gate and give them a nose scratch which is enough to recognise the danger of their size and speed. It often results in quite the disagreement between me and a very stubborn Jack Russell when we don’t go through that field…

https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1845442658397049011 Unbelieveable!

With an attempt to catch the booster with the tower no less! I saw that they said the booster landed in the ocean with 5mm (sic) accuracy which is remarkable and is no doubt what has given them the confidence to go for the catch this time.

I’ve got the 2nd gen AirPods Pro and they’re absolutely fantastic. The noise cancellation is very impressive, particularly if you’re playing something through them. The transparency and adaptive modes are also great, you can quite easily forget you have them in it’s such natural sound.

Could have just left it at that

I thought I was imagining things when I heard that, turns out he did say it

In other news, I can't see Sydney Sweeney marrying me

I didn’t have defending Owen Jones on my to do list today, but hey-ho. In fairness to him, the allegations made by the Sun were nothing to do with this case whatsoever. What he’s been sentenced for today came about because the police found he’d been sent images by a nonce they were investigating in a separate case. Were the initial allegations indicative of some underlying, errr, tendencies? It sure looks like it now. But Jones is right that what was raised by the Sun was found not to be criminal and the way that panned out wasn’t great. It just later turned out that there was criminal behaviour similar to this, but wasn’t uncovered completely independently. And having defended him, to balance it out and make myself feel better, I’d also like to add that Owen Jones is pr!ck.

BUILD THE WALL

Got to be looking at the keeper there to. Headed in from about 4 yards out with nobody in front of him, surely should be going to punch or catch it. Cracking delivery from Youri though.

Indeed, and I fully respect your opinion. I’d just be interested to know why you hold it. I’ve explained why I don’t think it’s right to publicly name a child, so again I’d like to ask you to explain why you do think they should be? It’s an interesting debate and I’m genuinely curious to understand the reasoning behind the other position.

Absolutely, and they should be punished for it. I’m just not sure releasing their name as a 13 year old for threatening violence should form part of that punishment, tying that to them for perhaps the next 80 years. Sure they may not grow out of being a scum bag, but they might and it doesn’t quite sit right with me that they are forever publicly associated with their actions as a young teenager. Punish them, but it doesn’t have to be a part of their life forever. I am genuinely interested if you don’t mind, why do you want to know their names? What difference does it make to you and your life if they’re going to be punished anyway?

I have mixed feelings on this. Part of me thinks that a teenager, as you said, would know what they’re doing and should face the consequences. On the other hand, I’m sure a lot of us would like to think that mistakes we made in our teens don’t reflect us once we’re adults. Putting a kids name out there now will be a millstone around their neck for the rest of their life, unless it’s a particularly serious crime I’m not sure how right would be. My final thought, why do any of us need to know the name of a 13 year old in Aldershot who was threatening violence? What difference to our lives does it make? It’s reassuring to know that people are being prosecuted and held responsible, but that doesn’t always mean we need to know each individuals name. As you say, allowing a 13 year old to join in with this sounds like a huge failure of parenting as much as anything. It doesn’t excuse the 13 year old, but it’s certainly mitigation.

I’l join in on the Rest is Politics love in, they’re both very engaging and open and have really highlighted the utter lack of class at the top of politics in this country in recent years. I don’t listen to that many of the Leading interviews, but I listened to the Kwasi Kwarteng one recently. I was very surprised at how well he came across, the benefit of a long form interview is it gives a chance for a persons real character to come through, both strength and flaws. Short interviews where people have to deliver a message only seems to bring out flaws. I listen to the US podcast but find them both very grating. The insight they give, as someone who isn’t that tuned in to US politics, is very good though and makes it worth a listen.

Because all the foreigners have come over here and taken their jobs init /s

I watched this really interesting video the other week about him. His summary is that Musk is someone that thrives on conflict and being the underdog, but as the/one of the wealthiest man in the world that's largely dried up so he's having to create it himself. I've followed Musk since the early SpaceX days, so getting on for 15 odd years now. While he's always been a bit of an undeniable pr!ck, his legacy could have been as one of the most consequential people ever in my opinion. He's played a large part in driving EV adoption, and SpaceX have already done things that were thought virtually impossible even 10 years ago. As a manager and an engineer he's made reusable rockets a normality, and Starship will put humans on Mars in the next quarter of a century. Obviously SpaceX wouldn't be where it is now without an incredibly talented team, but by all accounts it is his vision and determination that has almost single handedly changed what is considered possible in space. But with all that going so well, he's decided to cast himself as a controversy maker who encourages and stokes divisiveness in an already highly fractured world...

I listen to it and that was my take away from the latest episode as well. It sounds as though everybody (with the exception of the Biden's) has privately accepted he cannot run. Once more of them make their feelings publicly known his position will quickly become even more untenable than it currently is. The Clooney article sounds as though it could be a key tipping point, especially as Obama allegedly signed off on it. A quick look at oddschecker shows the odds have now moved Biden into 3rd place for winning the election, with Harris ahead of him but behind Trump. The whole thing is just really sad to see unfold. Everything about his behaviour at the moment takes me back to when my Grandad was developing Alzheimer's. Not just the symptoms but the insistence that everything is fine and a refusal to accept anything that shows it isn't fine.

I’m very pleasantly surprised that a politics thread on FT has made it to 169 pages without being locked. There’s been disagreements but largely respectfully handled. I’m sure there’s a few flare ups (@Daggers ) that I’ve missed, but it’s been very refreshing to read and occasionally contribute to. I hope these sorts of discussions are able to continue and will stay mostly civilised. Well played FT

I’m in the same boat in the same constituency. It seems to be a bit of a toss up between them, stopthetories.vote is recommending Lib Dem so I’m going to go with that.

Well that was always going to happen. Both pushing the limits of acceptable racing but I think it was Max who was pushing it too far repeatedly.