Best Of

Good morning, everyone.

Say Starmer just goes and Streeting replaces him.

What then?

There's still a very difficult economic picture and there's still an army of backbench Labour MPs who think their job is to fling money at people to make themselves feel better, rather than manage the public finances.

Still, the reputation of Sunak and Hunt is only improving each day this nonsense continues. We'll see (eventually) if Starmer and Reeves can get a grip.

My suspicion is it'll go something like this: taxes rise on the evil private sector, more money flung at the virtuous public sector, the economy is harmed so tax receipts don't match expectations, meaning more steps are needed at the next Budget which then harms the economy more, rinse and repeat.

Hopefully I'll be wrong.

What then (to use your terminology) is the alternative?

I presume you'd like to see taxes cut and spending cut - I suspect spending will be cut in the Budget but presumably you want to see some serious reductions? I presume it'll be the services people actually depend on which will bear the brunt rather than, let's say, defence which is sacrosanct.

Which services and whose benefits would you cut? Would you cut pensions (or just those in the public sector)?

As always, those advocating spending cuts are usually unaffected by any such cuts and it's not unreasonable of those who will be affected to ask why they should take the pain.

My approach would be to tighten up the approach to the economy. For example:

1) Stop this insanity of increasing benefit spending by ending the 2 child cap
2) Give nothing to the WASPI graspers
3) Thoroughly kibosh the rarely mentioned but still floating around 'discussion' about reparations
4) Increase the pension age (not immediately but pencil it in)
5) End the triple lock, it's unsustainable as well as being unfair on the working population of the country
6) Commit to a long term reduction of the deficit with a goal of eventually turning it into a small (few percent of GDP) surplus and seek consensus from other parties to maintain that goal, even if the specific path of reaching it might change
7) End all talk of the madness of wealth or exit taxes. Rich people spend a lot, and when they do, they pay VAT. It's never been easier to leave and work elsewhere
8) Increase income tax. I'm not a fan of tax rises, I instinctively prefer lower taxes, but we do need to raise more money and this seems both more straightforward and less harmful than other measures
9) Embark on a simplification of regulations, include taxation and building regulations, to make things easier for individuals and businesses to get things moving
10) Try and find a way to keep new innovations here. Encourage this with tax breaks (in a time-limited period) for setting up factories and the like in the fields of emerging technology. Re-introduce the golden share so we can retain leading innovations and the workers and businesses pay tax here. Perhaps have extra incentives for locating factories etc in the north of England
11) Collaborate closely with Ukraine to encourage both their and our own drone facilities to be built here. Essential for defence with excellent prospects for export

It's not often I can agree with all 11 points of an eleven point manifesti, but I'll sign up for this.

Usually lists of demands focus on what money should be spent on. We can all do that. What money should not be spent on is the much more pressing concern.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has agreed to broadcast Premier League games in the country but under some strict conditions, as per the Guardian:

• Matches will not be broadcast live, but will be edited before airing.

• Any footage featuring South Korean players will be removed. Players include Kim Ji-soo (Brentford) and Hwang Hee-chan (Wolves).

• Each game will be shortened to 60 minutes instead of the regular 90 minutes.

• All English text visible in the stadium through the broadcast will be covered with North Korean graphics during editing.

• Any scene displaying LGBTQ+ symbols will be edited out.

https://x.com/TouchlineX/status/1988940536481186234

Whats with the 60 mins ?

Using AI to live remove players will be interesting.

As a precedent - how long before the Fruit and Nuts demand all Israeli citizens are AI removed?

Personally I advocate the removal of all players & the spectators. The ball will just move itself around, watched by an empty stadium and some officials.

Northamptonshire Police Chief Constable found guilty of contempt of court (!)

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/nov/12/judges-set-to-decide-fate-of-police-chief-constable-guilty-of-contempt-of-court

The court of appeal ruled on Tuesday that Northamptonshire police were in contempt and had been “willfully disobedient” for repeatedly failing to obey rulings to hand over video to a woman who complained she had been wrongly arrested by three officers.

Nadine Buzzard-Quashie was arrested by Northamptonshire police in September 2021, triggering a four-year saga.

…

The judgment said: “Her account of her arrest … was that she was physically assaulted by the officers who arrested her, she was physically thrown to the ground and had her face pushed into stinging nettles.”

She wanted video footage of her arrest, including from police body-worn cameras, which the force did not provide.

She complained to the Information Commissioner’s Office which made an order that all video should be handed over, which the force ignored, then a county court judge made another order, which the force failed to obey again.

The force told courts it did not have any more video to hand over, then reversed its position at a hearing in October. The court of appeal judgment said: “This means that all the statements made to the court on behalf of the police force prior to mid-October 2025 were false.”

On Tuesday three appeal court judges issued a blistering and unanimous ruling.

Lady Justice Asplin, Lord Justice Coulson, and Lord Justice Fraser said “misleading and untrue statements … have been made to the court on behalf of the chief constable, both to the county court … and also to the court of appeal in relation to the application for permission to appeal and the appeal itself. To list every single statement made on behalf of the chief constable that has proved to be inaccurate over this lengthy period would lengthen this judgment considerably.”

I am shocked by this, I am sure Cyclefree will be too when she reads this story.

Appalled. But not surprised. My headers on the police over the years are not exactly favourable to them or naive about their persistent capacity for misbehaviour.

I knew about this a couple of days ago as Charlotte Elves, the junior barrister in this case, is a friend of a friend of mine. Worth noting that she was specifically praised by the judges for her work on this case, including reviewing 1200 pages of logs which helped prove the Chief Constable's dreadful misbehaviour. And she did it all pro bono. As did the KC James Leonard.

Her cross examination of the IT experts in the Sandy Peggie case is a masterclass in how to do it. She's one to watch.

The Chief Constable should be sent to prison. Only criminal convictions of public servants office who break or allow their organisations to break the law will work. Civil law suits, Supreme Court judgments - let alone appeals to just do the job they are paid to do - are falling on stony ground.

We need a few Admiral Byngs - pour encourager les autres.

After this on the doctors strike I think he deserves to be favourite. Hard hitting but fair. In fact excellent in every way (its about half way down the page)

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2025/nov/12/keir-starmer-wes-streeting-labour-leadership-pmqs-kemi-badenoch-conservatives-uk-politics-live-news

I am not in the BMA, and don't support this strike. I don't think that there will be a big walkout as the enthusiasm seems to have faded.

Streeting is generally failing because of his arrogance. He doesn't listen to people and is convinced of his own brilliance.

Probably better than Starmer, but could well prove to be a Truss like figure. Tories love Thatcher cosplay in leadership contenders, Labour loves Blair cosplay, but both need to realise that times have changed. Theres no "putting the band back together".

Good morning, everyone.

Say Starmer just goes and Streeting replaces him.

What then?

There's still a very difficult economic picture and there's still an army of backbench Labour MPs who think their job is to fling money at people to make themselves feel better, rather than manage the public finances.

Still, the reputation of Sunak and Hunt is only improving each day this nonsense continues. We'll see (eventually) if Starmer and Reeves can get a grip.

My suspicion is it'll go something like this: taxes rise on the evil private sector, more money flung at the virtuous public sector, the economy is harmed so tax receipts don't match expectations, meaning more steps are needed at the next Budget which then harms the economy more, rinse and repeat.

Hopefully I'll be wrong.

Meanwhile, wealth and wealth-makers depart to places where the grass definitely is greener.

And Labour will happily wave them off at Heathrow.

Then start closing NHS hospitals.

Speaking of which:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/11/11/britains-richest-young-entrepreneur-prepares-to-quit-uk/

A 37-year-old technology entrepreneur worth more than £700m is preparing to quit Britain for Dubai ahead of Rachel Reeves’s planned tax raid on wealthy emigrants.

Herman Narula, the chief executive of the £2.5bn tech company Improbable, said he was preparing to emigrate to the United Arab Emirates over reports that Ms Reeves intended to unleash a so-called settling-up charge on entrepreneurs.

Mr Narula, who is Britain’s richest self-made entrepreneur aged under 40, told The Telegraph: “I don’t particularly want to leave the UK – but I might want to one day and I don’t want to be banned from that option.”

Mr Narula called introducing an exit tax “irresponsible” and warned it threatened to drive out entrepreneurs ahead of the Budget.

Not just a problem for the exit tax, although that's true, but flying a kite for every potential economic measure to see the reaction will lead to a great deal of cautious/safety first steps taken by people and businesses that will have a lasting impact even if the particular flown kite never gets implemented.

Return to purdah, and stop chasing people and businesses away.

After this on the doctors strike I think he deserves to be favourite. Hard hitting but fair. In fact excellent in every way (its about half way down the page)

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2025/nov/12/keir-starmer-wes-streeting-labour-leadership-pmqs-kemi-badenoch-conservatives-uk-politics-live-news

You can listen to the whole speech here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjLU9_Hr7k0

Thanks for that. It was interesting and he's articulate but it wasn't the same piece as quoted in the Guardian where he gave the doctors both barrels. Reading the comments below were interesting. Hopefully more reflective of Sky viewers than the medical profession who might one day be treating us!

It was the relevant speech, and he does refer to the BMA and strike in the speech. Perhaps the press release drafted beforehand was a little more pointed than the actual wording he used to their faces?

Anyhow, I am off to the park with my birthday boy…eight today, he’s actually a senior dog now, and catching up with me fast.