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Looking at Starmers approval ratings they crashed straight after the WFA debacle .

I still find it astonishing that no one in No 10 and Starmer himself didn’t stop Reeves from putting through what will end up being the worst policy decision of recent times .

All that political pain for what was a paltry sum saved .

Starmer is a lawyer, not a politician, and has no discernible political judgement. As for why Number 10 generally did not act, that begs the question whether they knew about it in advance. Rachel Reeves is also a technocrat and, as with George Osborne's omnishambles budget, it is likely the Chancellor accepted the WFA cut from a list of Treasury suggestions without a great deal of thought.

I still think the WFA changes were perfectly fine but I accept they communicated it horrendously and perhaps there is no way to do this policy that doesn’t tank your popularity.

Supposedly Osborne and Cameron were also given this policy as an option and vetoed it. That shows they have a lot more political ability than Starmer and Reeves.

Trouble is that we've had about forty years of society elevating politics over government, which is the underlyreason for all of this.

And I'm not entirely sure what we do about it. Politicians explaining the situation and their solutions, clearly and compellingly, would be a start... But they would still need a way to reach the national audience and an audience prepared to listen.

Neither of those things really exists right now. It's more comforting to believe that, if we punish Bad People X, it will all be fine- we just have to work out who X are, and that's fun. If a politician comes along saying "it's more complicated than that" (was Rory the ex-Tory the last one to try?), they don't get far.

And whilst there's a market for talking things though properly, it's niche rather than mass. The days of ten million people watching the News at Ten are long gone.

One of the things about the present moment is that it's an ideal time to take a risk on an unusual message. You don't need to convince 45% of the voters to win the election. If you can convince 25% you have a pretty good chance of making it to largest party status.

At the same time, with five major parties in England, and then the Nationalists, a distinctive message is needed to gain attention, and to try to draw a dividing line between you being the answer, and everyone else being different variations of the problem.

Taking the most recent data point, in a council by-election on Thursday, the Tories were on the receiving end of a drubbing, falling from 1st to 3rd behind Reform and Labour.

The Kemigasm is not being translated into votes.

I have a theory about the Kemigasm. I've been hearing in various places how well Kemi is performing not least on here though I myself haven't seen or felt it. She seems to be sailing along midstream rather like Ed Davey. And that is what the polls show her to be doing.

I used to think KB was a stone cold loser. Indeed, on this very site I likened her, both in personality and appearance, to a 45 gallon drum that had rolled through a branch of SpecSavers.

However, she does seem to able to inculcate fanatical loyalty and enthusiasm, not least on here, despite fucking miserable polls and actual election results. That's a great political gift so maybe she does have a future.

17% in the polls and some tories on here would chop their dicks off if she asked them. That's political heft. They also rerun the Corbynite line of "nobody else would do any better" so things could go the other way...

She's got a favourable media desperate to shore tge Tories up.

The Front Bench has to be the worst Tory Front Bench in Government or Opposition in history

The one Nation sensible centrist Tories are clearly content to bide their time and not play their hand too early.

No point appointmenting a new leader if Labour are about to change. If Labour do change in Autumn 2026,anyone with a political brain in the Tory Party will wait a year

Badenoch cannot win a GE, that is crystal clear, she can't finish higher than 3rd, quite probable 4th on seats on current polling as LD stack up large numbers in current and past Tory areas.

She's got the most unappealing and unempathetic of personalities and in the white heat of a GE her ability to argue with everyone would be disastrous for the Tories.

She's less a cult than a sticking plaster and the wankfest really is nothing more than desperate trolling.

It could be worse, I'll grant her that, it could be Priiti, it could have been Jenrick or Suella but it will have to be a far more unifying or empathetic person to give them any hope at all

Cleverly or Hunt

Ahem.

Looking at Starmers approval ratings they crashed straight after the WFA debacle .

I still find it astonishing that no one in No 10 and Starmer himself didn’t stop Reeves from putting through what will end up being the worst policy decision of recent times .

All that political pain for what was a paltry sum saved .

Starmer is a lawyer, not a politician, and has no discernible political judgement. As for why Number 10 generally did not act, that begs the question whether they knew about it in advance. Rachel Reeves is also a technocrat and, as with George Osborne's omnishambles budget, it is likely the Chancellor accepted the WFA cut from a list of Treasury suggestions without a great deal of thought.

It was a perfectly sensible financial decision presented badly.

There are worse crimes.

It was and sadly once they were on the back foot, it was the same with slowing the rate of growth of benefits, and their backbenchers under pressure from well organised lobbying campaigns they were always going to fold and SKS lost his authority overnight.

WFA was a ridiculous frippery from a bygone age before pensioners did not form a large part of those with the highest disposable income after housing costs in the country. It was absolutely the right thing to do, it is astonishing that this relic survived the Osborne years. We have got to get away from the situation where so much of our limited resources are given away to those not in need by way of universal benefits. Sooner or later that is going to include at least some of the pension.

Not even that, it was exceeded by the double bubble malfunction that the triple lock does when an inflation spike is followed by a pay spike the subsequent year. Something that I'm sure nobody considered at the time, but you can't help seeing once it's there.

The political problem is that there's Noone Quite Like Grandma.

The political problem is that grandma votes consistently and her grandchildren don't. So, inevitably, our political class run scared of grandma.

Good morning

Our grandchildren have learned that what goes on in grandma's house stays in grandma's house and maybe why they love visiting her

And listening to Yusaf on Kuenssberg will someone make him go away

He and Farage are simply nasty and no matter whatever happens, I do not want a reform government

A policy I shall apply to my grandson.

As to a Reform government no one rational wants that but that is not the extent of the problem. We have no problem at all saying what government we don't want. Getting a government we do want is proving a lot trickier.

It's it quite amusing listening to our grandchildren when they are here alone with freedoms to do whatever they want, eat and drink what they want, but not alcohol, and talk freely

Looking at Starmers approval ratings they crashed straight after the WFA debacle .

I still find it astonishing that no one in No 10 and Starmer himself didn’t stop Reeves from putting through what will end up being the worst policy decision of recent times .

All that political pain for what was a paltry sum saved .

Starmer is a lawyer, not a politician, and has no discernible political judgement. As for why Number 10 generally did not act, that begs the question whether they knew about it in advance. Rachel Reeves is also a technocrat and, as with George Osborne's omnishambles budget, it is likely the Chancellor accepted the WFA cut from a list of Treasury suggestions without a great deal of thought.

It was a perfectly sensible financial decision presented badly.

There are worse crimes.

It was and sadly once they were on the back foot, it was the same with slowing the rate of growth of benefits, and their backbenchers under pressure from well organised lobbying campaigns they were always going to fold and SKS lost his authority overnight.

WFA was a ridiculous frippery from a bygone age before pensioners did not form a large part of those with the highest disposable income after housing costs in the country. It was absolutely the right thing to do, it is astonishing that this relic survived the Osborne years. We have got to get away from the situation where so much of our limited resources are given away to those not in need by way of universal benefits. Sooner or later that is going to include at least some of the pension.

Not even that, it was exceeded by the double bubble malfunction that the triple lock does when an inflation spike is followed by a pay spike the subsequent year. Something that I'm sure nobody considered at the time, but you can't help seeing once it's there.

The political problem is that there's Noone Quite Like Grandma.

The political problem is that grandma votes consistently and her grandchildren don't. So, inevitably, our political class run scared of grandma.

Grandma votes consistently and her grandchildren don't does not explain recent spending initiatives targeted at the young. Does grandma get leftovers from free breakfast clubs or time off babysitting because we give free childcare to couples earning up to £200,000 a year?

Its not entirely a one way street and these breakfast clubs are probably taking some of the pressure off some grandmas. But the triple lock, additional tax relief, the relief from NI contributions, free TV licences, and of course our very generous offsets for pension contributions all favour the more mature in our society. The young are getting a very raw deal at the moment.

Taking the most recent data point, in a council by-election on Thursday, the Tories were on the receiving end of a drubbing, falling from 1st to 3rd behind Reform and Labour.

The Kemigasm is not being translated into votes.

I have a theory about the Kemigasm. I've been hearing in various places how well Kemi is performing not least on here though I myself haven't seen or felt it. She seems to be sailing along midstream rather like Ed Davey. And that is what the polls show her to be doing.

I used to think KB was a stone cold loser. Indeed, on this very site I likened her, both in personality and appearance, to a 45 gallon drum that had rolled through a branch of SpecSavers.

However, she does seem to able to inculcate fanatical loyalty and enthusiasm, not least on here, despite fucking miserable polls and actual election results. That's a great political gift so maybe she does have a future.

17% in the polls and some tories on here would chop their dicks off if she asked them. That's political heft. They also rerun the Corbynite line of "nobody else would do any better" so things could go the other way...

She's got a favourable media desperate to shore tge Tories up.

The Front Bench has to be the worst Tory Front Bench in Government or Opposition in history

The one Nation sensible centrist Tories are clearly content to bide their time and not play their hand too early.

No point appointmenting a new leader if Labour are about to change. If Labour do change in Autumn 2026,anyone with a political brain in the Tory Party will wait a year

Badenoch cannot win a GE, that is crystal clear, she can't finish higher than 3rd, quite probable 4th on seats on current polling as LD stack up large numbers in current and past Tory areas.

She's got the most unappealing and unempathetic of personalities and in the white heat of a GE her ability to argue with everyone would be disastrous for the Tories.

She's less a cult than a sticking plaster and the wankfest really is nothing more than desperate trolling.

It could be worse, I'll grant her that, it could be Priiti, it could have been Jenrick or Suella but it will have to be a far more unifying or empathetic person to give them any hope at all

Cleverly or Hunt

Looking at Starmers approval ratings they crashed straight after the WFA debacle .

I still find it astonishing that no one in No 10 and Starmer himself didn’t stop Reeves from putting through what will end up being the worst policy decision of recent times .

All that political pain for what was a paltry sum saved .

Starmer is a lawyer, not a politician, and has no discernible political judgement. As for why Number 10 generally did not act, that begs the question whether they knew about it in advance. Rachel Reeves is also a technocrat and, as with George Osborne's omnishambles budget, it is likely the Chancellor accepted the WFA cut from a list of Treasury suggestions without a great deal of thought.

It was a perfectly sensible financial decision presented badly.

There are worse crimes.

It was and sadly once they were on the back foot, it was the same with slowing the rate of growth of benefits, and their backbenchers under pressure from well organised lobbying campaigns they were always going to fold and SKS lost his authority overnight.

WFA was a ridiculous frippery from a bygone age before pensioners did not form a large part of those with the highest disposable income after housing costs in the country. It was absolutely the right thing to do, it is astonishing that this relic survived the Osborne years. We have got to get away from the situation where so much of our limited resources are given away to those not in need by way of universal benefits. Sooner or later that is going to include at least some of the pension.

Not even that, it was exceeded by the double bubble malfunction that the triple lock does when an inflation spike is followed by a pay spike the subsequent year. Something that I'm sure nobody considered at the time, but you can't help seeing once it's there.

The political problem is that there's Noone Quite Like Grandma.

The political problem is that grandma votes consistently and her grandchildren don't. So, inevitably, our political class run scared of grandma.

Good morning

Our grandchildren have learned that what goes on in grandma's house stays in grandma's house and maybe why they love visiting her

And listening to Yusaf on Kuenssberg will someone make him go away

He and Farage are simply nasty and no matter whatever happens, I do not want a reform government

And Good Morning to you nd indeed all fellow pb-ers.

You and me both, Mr G; whatever we've felt about the governments we've seen elected over the years, none of it compares with what we feel about the prospect of a Reform government.

Looking at Starmers approval ratings they crashed straight after the WFA debacle .

I still find it astonishing that no one in No 10 and Starmer himself didn’t stop Reeves from putting through what will end up being the worst policy decision of recent times .

All that political pain for what was a paltry sum saved .

Starmer is a lawyer, not a politician, and has no discernible political judgement. As for why Number 10 generally did not act, that begs the question whether they knew about it in advance. Rachel Reeves is also a technocrat and, as with George Osborne's omnishambles budget, it is likely the Chancellor accepted the WFA cut from a list of Treasury suggestions without a great deal of thought.

It was a perfectly sensible financial decision presented badly.

There are worse crimes.

It was and sadly once they were on the back foot, it was the same with slowing the rate of growth of benefits, and their backbenchers under pressure from well organised lobbying campaigns they were always going to fold and SKS lost his authority overnight.

WFA was a ridiculous frippery from a bygone age before pensioners did not form a large part of those with the highest disposable income after housing costs in the country. It was absolutely the right thing to do, it is astonishing that this relic survived the Osborne years. We have got to get away from the situation where so much of our limited resources are given away to those not in need by way of universal benefits. Sooner or later that is going to include at least some of the pension.

Not even that, it was exceeded by the double bubble malfunction that the triple lock does when an inflation spike is followed by a pay spike the subsequent year. Something that I'm sure nobody considered at the time, but you can't help seeing once it's there.

The political problem is that there's Noone Quite Like Grandma.

The political problem is that grandma votes consistently and her grandchildren don't. So, inevitably, our political class run scared of grandma.

Good morning

Our grandchildren have learned that what goes on in grandma's house stays in grandma's house and maybe why they love visiting her

And listening to Yusaf on Kuenssberg will someone make him go away

He and Farage are simply nasty and no matter whatever happens, I do not want a reform government

A policy I shall apply to my grandson.

As to a Reform government no one rational wants that but that is not the extent of the problem. We have no problem at all saying what government we don't want. Getting a government we do want is proving a lot trickier.