Best Of

The Tory media team really do need to be sacked. Its been *brutal* all week on X. They put out post after post attacking Labour for things and practically every response calls out that they did the same / they did nothing about it / they had 14 years.

Best one? Attacking a Labour minister for (rightly) saying the weather affects small boat crossings, with someone posting the headline where PM Sunak did the exact same thing.

Sorry @hyufd this isn't working...

All well and good but what else have they got? Until a few more years have passed everything will be easy to frame in the narrative of ‘look what the Tories did in 2019-2024’.

It's what always happens when a party which has been in Government for an extended period goes into Opposition.

Indeed, the Conservatives in Government were still trying to play the "Winter of Discontent" card against Blair in the 1990s when most people under 30 had no clue what it meant (though it wasn't for them of course).

The Conservatives governed for 13 years (1951-64), 18 Years (1979-97) and 14 years (2010-24). In the first two instances, they lost both the election which took them into Opposition and the following election. Indeed, until 2024, the defeats of 1966 and 2001 were two of the biggest since 1945 for the Tories.

Labour governed for 13 years (1997-2010) and lost in 2015.

On that basis, the prospects for Labour's re-election in 2028/29 are actually quite good but the current mood suggests otherwise.

Long way to go though, isn’t there?

Yes of course but plenty on here seem to think a) Reform have won the election and Farage will be Prime Minister and b) Labour will be reduced to a level of MPs they've not had since the 1930s.

Neither assumption is valid at this time and may not even be valid in 12 months let alone 36.

The glorious unpredictability of politics means almost anything could happen.

Perhaps Carla Denyer as LOTO staring across the dispatch box at Prime Minister Ed Davey - well, it's a thought....

Denyers not standing as Green Leader

Ah but the glorious unpredictability....

The Tory media team really do need to be sacked. Its been *brutal* all week on X. They put out post after post attacking Labour for things and practically every response calls out that they did the same / they did nothing about it / they had 14 years.

Best one? Attacking a Labour minister for (rightly) saying the weather affects small boat crossings, with someone posting the headline where PM Sunak did the exact same thing.

Sorry @hyufd this isn't working...

All well and good but what else have they got? Until a few more years have passed everything will be easy to frame in the narrative of ‘look what the Tories did in 2019-2024’.

A New Plan. They can't deny the past - that is being brutally demonstrated to them this week. They can't assume people are stupid as they are doing - even the ones who *are* stupid remember the failures of Stop the Boats.

I really do blame Kemi. There is a sneering arrogance about her leadership - she is faultless and flawless and how dare you say anything else? Worse, some of her shadow team openly look like they are going through the motions because they obviously are.

In essence they need the spirit of Cameron back. Make the case for conservatism (sound money, good governance,* small state) etc. Start to address the real concerns people have about immigration by explaining what it good and what is bad, and actually stop some of the worst abuses. Close these the HE colleges that are just excuses to get a student visa to then work in uncles curry house.
Start building homes.
Pledge to build HS2 properly to Scotland and all parts North.

But still people won’t listen for a good few years.

* Stop sniggering at the back Jenkins

https://www.ft.com/content/618f07cb-3cd8-42ff-af63-29118d305cbe

UK porn site traffic plunges as age verification rules take effect

Pornhub loses more than 1mn visitors in two weeks after Online Safety Act comes into force

Big win for the OSA. We should see a boost to productivity.

More like big boost for VPN companies, who are all foreign owned. Great for the economies of a number of Eastern European countries.

VPN yada yada. Fact is, there'll be fewer men and boys watching porn because some friction has been introduced into the access protocols. A good thing imo.

Not an easy thing to measure, but if I were to bet on the number of people accessing such sites iths month vs last month, I’d say that the number will be pretty much identical.

Making an activity harder to do leads to fewer people doing it.

Why should viewing porn be an exception to this?

It’s the online equivalent of the Chancellor putting 10p on a pack of cigarettes in the Budget.

If you want that (imperfect) comparison it's like a price hike AND having to produce an "I'm a drug addict" card to complete the purchase.

Anyway, we'll see who's right. There will be a consensus on the matter fairly soon.

We know that VPN's became the most downloaded app in the UK, google searches for VPN's went through the roof and so on. Maybe that's all just so we can read the news that's been redacted?

So what. VPN use rises and this mitigates the impact. Mitigates is not the same as eliminates.

What makes you think all porn users are doing this?

Having been 15 during the age of the internet. Using a VPN is trivially easy. Every male over the age of 11 will have figured it out. The older kids in school will have helped the younger ones install them on their phones, probably charged them a fiver of pocket money to do it too.

Yes, but not everyone is a tech bro wanker at that age.

Have you met any kids lately? It's all Fortnite and Roblox. They've literally been raised by the iPhone and iPad. PB is so far behind the times on this its laughable. It's also interesting that the supporters of the government are making these weak arguments in favour of the OSA and the ignorance about tech literacy among kids is about the same level as the government. I guess you're one of those people that believes deleting emails will save water.

If the politicians are managing to install VPNs, I back any teenager to do it.