Best Of

It is worth remembering that the last government also had, by historic standards, a very large majority. Larger than Blair or Brown in New Labour's final term, larger than Eden and Macmillan in the 1955-59 Parliament, larger than Heath, larger than Wilson except from 1966-68.

That didn't stop factions forming. Johnson's messy resignation and Truss' decision to rely on a narrow clique of supporters were largely to blame, but not solely.

Yes, but that was at the end of a long period in office and followed Johnson's ridiculous personality cult and tossing overboard those who didn't swear fealty earnestly enough. Having internal problems in the first years following a landslide victory is rather astonishing.

It's what happens when you have back benches full of social workers. Running the economy is someone else's responsibility.

Social workers who don’t like making tough decisions.

There is not a social worker born who lasts more than five minutes who isn't able to take tough decisions. By the time pretty much *anything* gets to social services all that is left is a very difficult choice between at least two suboptimal outcomes. The only exception would be a child living temporarily with a close family member for educational reasons.

I am talking about the MPs who were described as social workers.

They don’t like taking tough decisions as we saw with winter fuel and reducing the benefits bill.

In my time in local Government, I met and dealt with plenty of social workers and I had a friend who was a Housing Officer in a London Borough. Some of the stories they told about the people they encountered - well, let's just say we must never forget how fortunate many of us are and where the consequences of familial breakdown, bereavement, loss of a business or addiction can take you.

Sympathy only gets you so far and indeed my Housing Officer was as hard as nails - she had seen every trick and heard every story and this notion social workers are all "woke" is just nonsense. They need to be able to process what they see and hear in ways most of us, in our employment, either never have to or can do so with a coffee or tea with a colleague.

The fact most of them are ridiculously overworked with caseloads they cannot manage or support is almost incidental - it appalls me sometimes how we treat our fellow human beings yet we worry about how much tax we pay, whether our football team does well or a flag - none of that nonsense is important.

It is worth remembering that the last government also had, by historic standards, a very large majority. Larger than Blair or Brown in New Labour's final term, larger than Eden and Macmillan in the 1955-59 Parliament, larger than Heath, larger than Wilson except from 1966-68.

That didn't stop factions forming. Johnson's messy resignation and Truss' decision to rely on a narrow clique of supporters were largely to blame, but not solely.

Yes, but that was at the end of a long period in office and followed Johnson's ridiculous personality cult and tossing overboard those who didn't swear fealty earnestly enough. Having internal problems in the first years following a landslide victory is rather astonishing.

It's what happens when you have back benches full of social workers. Running the economy is someone else's responsibility.

Social workers who don’t like making tough decisions.

There is not a social worker born who lasts more than five minutes who isn't able to take tough decisions. By the time pretty much *anything* gets to social services all that is left is a very difficult choice between at least two suboptimal outcomes. The only exception would be a child living temporarily with a close family member for educational reasons.

It is worth remembering that the last government also had, by historic standards, a very large majority. Larger than Blair or Brown in New Labour's final term, larger than Eden and Macmillan in the 1955-59 Parliament, larger than Heath, larger than Wilson except from 1966-68.

That didn't stop factions forming. Johnson's messy resignation and Truss' decision to rely on a narrow clique of supporters were largely to blame, but not solely.

Yes, but that was at the end of a long period in office and followed Johnson's ridiculous personality cult and tossing overboard those who didn't swear fealty earnestly enough. Having internal problems in the first years following a landslide victory is rather astonishing.

It's what happens when you have back benches full of social workers. Running the economy is someone else's responsibility.

The back benches are not full of social workers. The commonest prior job is possibly lawyer.

I would have thought a social worker would make a better MP than a lawyer, in fact. Lawyers are paid to argue arcane points of procedure without any thought to the outcome beyond winning the argument. The result matters nothing to them.

Social workers are not only able to see the impact of their decisions at first hand but are trained to think about the circumstances and the consequences of their actions. And, of course, know just how disastrous the wrong call can be.

Thinking of the "People's Front of Judea" meme, of course in real life, you have:

Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah)
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP)
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC)
Palestinian People's Party (PPP)
Arab Liberation Front (ALF)
Vanguard for the Popular Liberation War – Lightning Forces (As-Sa'iqa)
Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF)
Palestinian Arab Front (PAF)
Palestinian Democratic Union (FIDA)
Palestinian Popular Struggle Front (PPSF)
Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas)
Palestinian Islamic Jihad
Popular Resistance Committees
Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades
Palestinian Mujahideen Movement
Palestinian Freedom Movement
Abdul al-Qadir al-Husseini Brigades
Fatah al-Intifada

Is there not a Palestinian Conservative Party standing up for fiscal restraint and personal responsibility? Seems to me there could be a gap in the market there.