[spoonman]

Tim sniffily dismisses the fact that only 10% of the population gets a piss poor broadband connection. If he was a Tenpercenter and trying to run his blog that requires him access to the internet for all the research he needs he wouldn't be so fucking blasé.

As far as I know despite all the bluster of Northern Ireland supposedly achieving "100% broadband coverage" nearly a decade ago (which was false, as they had to include satellite to reach that figure), many parts have a significant amount of premises which can't get even a 2Mb/s download speed via Openreach which is being talked about as a bare minimum proposed USP speed. I think the figure is nearly 20% in my constituency. On the other hand, most of that remaining 80% have access to FTTC services even in small villages of around 200 people. The problem here is that degradation of service due to line distance is a bigger problem when populations are spread out rather than mostly concentrated in settlements with at least 4 figures. As a result there is an increasing digital divide not so much on cost but by postcode - I can get a 60Mb/s FTTC service with 4G from O2, Vodafone & EE whereas a friend of mine some two miles away can only get a 3Mb/s ADSL line on a good day with only a scratchy 2G O2 or Vodafone signal for mobile.

If you live somewhere in that "last 10%" zone of coverage for services that most of the other 90% generally take for granted, you can run into problems especially for the likes of broadband & mobile. Other things can usually be overcome or adjusted to, whereas if you had trouble getting a reliable terrestrial TV signal in the past you can now get Freesat. No mains water & sewage? Check for either a local option or the possibility of a well & septic tank. Electric? A bit of an extreme case but can be partly overcome with generators & small scales renewable etc.

[PaulOnBooks]

Sting in the tail from Mr Shapps: when he resigned as a minister for international development because of his role in the rampant bullying and sexual assaults (allegedly, of course) by Mark Clarke, he became eligible for three months ministerial pay as "notice" - so millionaire Shapps trousered the £8,000. He really is an utter shit.

[Tubby Isaacs]

He's back! Or might well be. To be fair, we don't know he was trying to mislead yet.

https://politicalscrapbook.net/2016/12/ ... al-detail/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

the BIG website claims it is a cross-party group of MPs but it doesn’t list any other than Shapps. We’ve asked them to list the other MPs involved.

A few months ago, the BIG released another report, on broadband in the UK. Again it got lots of media coverage. When we asked Shapps’s office, it emerged the report was authored by his ex-staffer Freddie Downing.

Is the BIG just another new vehicle for Grant Shapps?

[PaulOnBooks]

Text from @Channel4News asking if I'd go on tonight. Text back from me declining, explaining I couldn't be sure about interview impartiality

" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mattomac]

He just made that up didn't he....

[Big Arnold]

Must be true. The DM says so.

Tory snubs Channel 4 over Jon (f*** the Tories) Snow: Former party chairman Grant Shapps refuses to appear because he 'couldn't be sure' of its impartiality

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z4lTWi5vva" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mattomac]

Well...........

[Big Arnold]

He could have sent Michael Green instead.

[Messianic Trees]

The Times claims Shapps is behind the plan to oust May:

[Arrowhead]

Ugh, I'd filed this slimy little toad alongside Stephen Crabb on the Whatever Happened To.........? list of yesterday's men.

[KevS]

Has now cheerfully admitted he's behind the plotting. Seems insignificant at the moment, but these things have a habit of growing.

[satnav]

The very fact that Shapps is now considered to be a 'Senior Tory' show how dire things have got for the party.

[youngian]

So Osborne's gang are first out of the traps. Wait until next month and they'll all be at it

Philip Hammond is facing what officials describe as “a bloodbath” in the public finances in his Budget next month as weak economic forecasts derail the government’s plans.

As much as two-thirds of the £26bn of headroom in the public finances that the chancellor created last year as a buffer for the economy through the Brexit period is likely to be wiped out after the government’s fiscal watchdog concludes its forecasts for growth have been too optimistic. https://www.ft.com/content/768843e8-a83 ... 8314d2c72c" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Daley Mayle]

The very fact that Shapps is now considered to be a 'Senior Tory' show how dire things have got for the party.

There appears to be a ranking system that charts a Tory MP's career.

Backbencher
PPS
Senior Tory
Junior Minister
Minister
Disgraced ex-Minister
Bastard
Big Beast
Tory grandee
Ken Clarke

[The Red Arrow]

The very fact that Shapps is now considered to be a 'Senior Tory' show how dire things have got for the party.

I was struggling to put that into words without going all Roger Mellie.

There appears to be a ranking system that charts a Tory MP's career.

Backbencher
PPS
Senior Tory
Junior Minister
Minister
Disgraced ex-Minister
Bastard
Big Beast
Tory grandee
Ken Clarke

Indeed.