Best Of

Is there absolutely no constituency for a younger Republican politician to make some political hay out of this and seize the future of their party by repudiating Trump’s views?

The track record of Republican politicians who make a stand against Trump is that they either get driven out of active electoral politics, or they back down and kowtow to the great leader.

This has happened quite recently with Marjorie Taylor Greene on what you would think was vulnerable political territory for Trump over the Epstein Files.

So it doesn't look like there is.

We are seeing on here tonight what drives that behaviour.

There is no reward for moderation.

You just get abuse from both sides, and no support.

Daniel Hannan's tears are all too late.

He was key to Brexit, and so to the weakening of Europe.

Many of these underlying, geostrategic issues have been obvious for years.

Now here we are.

Drop your irrelevant dogma and hobbyhorse.

Brexit ≠ weakening of Europe.

Failure to invest in defence = weakening of Europe.

The UK has stood up for defence as much post-Brexit as pre-Brexit. We have worked with allies as much post-Brexit as pre-Brexit.

Europe chose welfare over national defence and strong borders. In a world of force doctrine and might is right it was a poor choice. Not only has it left us with a huge and unaffordable welfare bill and unbearably high taxes, it's also left us with no realistic way to tell Trump to get fucked.

'I do not want to reconcile with my family," Brooklyn Peltz-Beckham has said in a statement addressing his strained relationship with his parents.

Peltz-Beckham, the eldest child of Sir David Beckham and Lady Victoria Beckham, accused his parents of "trying endlessly to ruin" his relationship with Nicola Peltz-Beckham, both before and after their wedding.

"My wife has been consistently disrespected by my family, no matter how hard we've tried to come together as one," he wrote on Instagram on Monday..He also accused his mother of "hijacking" their first dance.

"In front of 500 wedding guests, Marc Anthony called me to the stage, where in the schedule was planned to be my romantic dance with my wife but instead my mum was waiting to dance with me instead," he wrote.

"She danced very inappropriately on me in front of everyone. I've never felt more uncomfortable or humiliated in my entire life."

He said he and his wife had chosen to renew their vows in 2025 to create new memories "that bring us joy and happiness, not anxiety and embarrassment".

In his post, Peltz-Beckham also said he and his wife had travelled to London for Sir David's birthday but were "rejected for a week as we waited in our hotel room trying to plan quality time with him".

The pair were absent from Sir David's 50th birthday party in May and did not post birthday messages online, reigniting rumours of a feud.

"He refused all of our attempts, unless it was at his big birthday party with a hundred guests and cameras at every corner," the influencer wrote in a post to his 16 million followers.'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce3ekq4z5dyo

Well that is one son out of the will then! He better keep sucking up to his billionaire father in law

Full details of this huge breaking story tonight lead tomorrow's Sun (forget Greenland, the Beckham wars have begun)

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/37958099/brooklyn-beckham-bombshell-statement-family-feud/

This forum is badly in need of teaching of how wedding dresses can be weaponised . Might know everything about fighters and missiles but dresses I like to see a PBer analyse that

I would guess that I'm unusual on PB.com in having made not one, not two, but three dresses.

But I'm not sure I could do a good analysis of one. I'm better off with an opinion poll data table, and I've never conducted an opinion poll - go figure.

I've made lots of dresses. Couldn't analyse a dress because I haven't clue what an analysis of a dress means.

Daniel Hannan
@DanielJHannan

A lot of good people are on a hook over Donald Trump. They voted for him for understandable reasons: to stop Hillary of Kamala, to prevent court-packing, to move the embassy to Jerusalem, to reduce regulations.

They rightly applauded his toughening of immigration policy. They began to feel invested in him. Sure, he was boorish and bombastic, but he was delivering most of what he was elected to do. Naturally, they bridled at criticism from people they disliked, some of which was indeed absurd.
But he has plainly now lost his mind . There is no other way of reading “I am going to threaten an ally with invasion because I didn’t get the Nobel Peace Prize”.

It is impossible to exaggerate how high the stakes are. If Putin had put an agent in the White House, what would would be doing differently?
We are talking about the survival of the Western way of life, about the world order of which the United States is the chief exemplar and beneficiary. That, surely, matters more than “liberal tears”. Doesn’t it? Because if it doesn’t, we are all damned.

https://x.com/DanielJHannan/status/2013248587442930084

@gabrielmilland.bsky.social‬

The best way to read this is: "Myself and others on the fruitier side of the British right are terrified that our previous vocal support for Donald Trump is going to bite us viciously on the arse. There are skin diseases that poll better than he does in the UK."

https://bsky.app/profile/gabrielmilland.bsky.social/post/3mcsgt7xyt22t

Why post that and like that?

The only behaviour that will drive is people keeping their heads down or, worse, doubling-down and practicing cognitive dissonance to avoid the risk of being laughed at or vilified by both sides. And reinforcing polarisation as a result. That's the very last thing we need.

What a totally stupid post.

Evening all

It's little surprise the polling looks good for Badenoch as the immediate comment from the so-called "experts" across the media couldn't have been more complimentary. The fact, a few days on, it now looks like a panicked over-reaction is less important - the first response is the one which resonates so thanks to a largely friendly media, a result for Kemi.

As @HYUFD and others point out, however, the proof will be in the polling and I expect another step forward for the Conservatives as those desperate to see Labour thrown out of Government but equally desperate to see Farage's Prime Ministerial ambitions thwarted have finally worked out talking up the Conservatives is the only way to achieve it - it's not of course.

The truth however is as in 1979 and 2015 the route to a Conservative majority will be over the corpses of Lib Dem MPs and it may be that far from being the electoral backwater I had envisaged, the 70 odd LD constituencies will be the battleground - plenty of water to flow under plenty of bridges I suspect.

There are going to be no shortages of battlegrounds, but I think you are absolutely correct that a Conservative resurgence (even just a modest one) will result in the LibDems losing dozens of seats.

But that does require a Conservative resurgence. So long as the right remains split, then those LibDem MPs aren't going to be feeling *too* worried just yet.

When the Lib Dems won 72 seats, their share was 12.6% and the Tories were on 24.4%.
Since then the Lib Dems have dug in, their share is still around 12.6% but the Tories have dropped 5 points to 19.4%.

It will take more than a modest resurgence for the Tories to win back "dozens of seats".

In all but 5 of the 72 seats, the Lib Dems have a 5%+ majority.

It will take an increase of much more than 5% in the Tory share to even win back 5 seats from the Lib Dems. They are dug in. The Tories will need to look elsewhere.
Labour are easier pickings which much thinner majorities and a much reduced share in the polls.

I think I understand the conmentariat's frustration with the Lib Dems. They have a game plan involving the 72 seats they hold, and the 20-30(?) remaining blue seats interrupting that golden streak from Devon to Oxfordshire to Sussex. Put like that, it's a mutant version of Blockbusters.

That's almost certainly their most effective strategy. It's also the most honest, since it doesn't really involve trying to provide the next PM. But by golly, it's boring.

Evening all

It's little surprise the polling looks good for Badenoch as the immediate comment from the so-called "experts" across the media couldn't have been more complimentary. The fact, a few days on, it now looks like a panicked over-reaction is less important - the first response is the one which resonates so thanks to a largely friendly media, a result for Kemi.

As @HYUFD and others point out, however, the proof will be in the polling and I expect another step forward for the Conservatives as those desperate to see Labour thrown out of Government but equally desperate to see Farage's Prime Ministerial ambitions thwarted have finally worked out talking up the Conservatives is the only way to achieve it - it's not of course.

The truth however is as in 1979 and 2015 the route to a Conservative majority will be over the corpses of Lib Dem MPs and it may be that far from being the electoral backwater I had envisaged, the 70 odd LD constituencies will be the battleground - plenty of water to flow under plenty of bridges I suspect.

There are going to be no shortages of battlegrounds, but I think you are absolutely correct that a Conservative resurgence (even just a modest one) will result in the LibDems losing dozens of seats.

But that does require a Conservative resurgence. So long as the right remains split, then those LibDem MPs aren't going to be feeling *too* worried just yet.

When the Lib Dems won 72 seats, their share was 12.6% and the Tories were on 24.4%.
Since then the Lib Dems have dug in, their share is still around 12.6% but the Tories have dropped 5 points to 19.4%.

It will take more than a modest resurgence for the Tories to win back "dozens of seats".

In all but 5 of the 72 seats, the Lib Dems have a 5%+ majority.

It will take an increase of much more than 5% in the Tory share to even win back 5 seats from the Lib Dems. They are dug in. The Tories will need to look elsewhere.
Labour are easier pickings which much thinner majorities and a much reduced share in the polls.