Andy Gowers

LATEST: An elderly man appears to have broken onto the roof of a DC building and is gesticulating and shouting at people below.

I've heard several rumours that Farage doesn't want to be PM under any circumstances. So I wonder if he will 'ensure' an implosion.

I’m blaming Corbyn because he’s not content with delivering Brexit and a Johnson landslide. He appears to want to work to deliver a Reform Ltd government before he retires to his allotment.

You’re right. But the Truss experiment showed that if you lose the confidence of the markets you’re out. Splashing the cash around like a drunken sailor is the route to penury for all, sadly. Neither the poor or disabled will benefit if the economy falls of a cliff.

And you think that a Farage government would be good for the country.

So do I. I also want a functioning economy where we can afford to pay benefits.

You’re right. Starmer still has time to recover but Corbyn seems determined to prevent that.

Agreed. Starmer has to at least promise a vote on PR before it’s too late and we get stuck with Farage.

I’ve just reported facts. Corbyn seems intent on delivering us a right wing government and he’s going to crown his career by giving us Nigel Farage.

That’s right. The choice next election is Starmer or Farage. A vote against Starmer is a vote for Farage.

I don’t think that wanting to avoid a Reform Ltd government is a despicable opinion. You may disagree - after all, Jeremy Corbyn has managed to deliver us Brexit, Boris Johnson and now he’s going for the hat trick of working to bring us Nigel Farage.

I’m a realist. If you think that a Reform Ltd government would be better for resident doctors than go ahead and undermine Labour to your heart’s content.

The only reason they want to rebalance to 2008 is that they had enjoyed several years of real terms increases under [checks notes] a Labour government.

Great way to spook the markets and cause a run on the pound.

14 years of Tory cuts cannot be reversed in a year. If resident doctors haven’t had their pay restored by 2032 I’ll be with them on the barricades. But it’s naive to expect everything to be put right in year one.

They need to understand that most of the workforce is also earning less in real terms than in 2008.

Did they not get an immediate raise last year?

If resident doctors thought that their 15 years of pay cuts could be restored in a single year I’m not sure what to say.

Thanks for your contribution. Do you have anything positive to say?

Should everyone’s lost pay be restored?

Well I’m well informed rather than having any particular expertise, but it seems to me as if Netanyahu made a huge miscalculation in not limiting himself to a proportionate response to the October 7th outrage. It appears that Hamas gave him the excuse that he was looking for. Maybe they knew that.

It seems that the situation in Gaza is so bad that some countries which would have been reticent have been pushed over the line. Anti Israel sentiment appears to be growing even in the USA which is basically unprecedented.

It could be either or both but it’s a step in the right direction.

The idea is to coordinate with France and hopefully others at the UN. This isn’t the moment for grandstanding.

The question isn’t whether it’s technically possible. It’s about what happens when they have to convert a ‘private’ AF1 at the same time as the legit ones.

The AF1 refresh is a multi year long project. I can't imagine that they would have any of that bespoke tech just on the shelf for a potential third plane.

[shudders]

There is also an acute shortage of people who are qualified to do the work and have the appropriate security clearances so they can effectively name their price. The only way that work on this aircraft can happen at all is if work on the other two aircraft is paused.

Because it will have all kinds of extremely expensive and extremely classified tech on board in order to keep the President safe. As there are already two new AF1s in preparation this will have to be sourced and the aircraft will need to be stripped back to bare metal for it to be installed.

Found it.