Best Of

Badenoch going hard on North Sea oil. A good idea but yet again going on energy bills when the issue is TAX REVENUE

TAX REVENUE that can be used to offset energy bills though.

Would that be the North Sea Oil of poor quality that her Government subsidised at huge cost.

The same North Sea Oil that's got to be sold on the global market.

Or is she planning a sneaky straw to suck it ashore in a glorified sucknit yourself scheme.

She has the IQ of a newt

Another load of bollocks from you. North Sea oil from the UK and Norway is some of the highest quality and most valuable in the world. One of the reasons many of us have been saying for many years that it is too good to be burning.

It's quite amusing how PB oil experts crop up to troll you into putting them straight, every so often.

https://xkcd.com/386 applies here, I think.

You’d think that even the experts would notice that one of the key prices for oil is “Brent crude”

Kemi gets it

https://x.com/i/status/2037160209626411229

How does that solve the fuel crisis which will hit in the next 3-6 months?

It will add billions in tax to the treasury over the next 20 years

It shouldn't have been decimated in the first place

Of course it will not add immediately but that is not an excuse not to do it now

Does it cover the cost of "the Conservative plan to axe the fuel tax"?*

NS drilling provided £5B tax revenue in 23/24 (commons library) and fuel duty raises well over £20B per year (OBR forecasts - don't laugh! - but also recent years results)

*They don't mean this, I think, but it's what the tanker says

It is the image and message that speaks to the subject

Wtf does that mean? Do you support a 95% unfunded tax cut with gilts at 5%?

https://x.com/Peston/status/2037132583419478487

Rebel MPs who want Starmer removed are feeling tactically outmaneuvered.

If they are minded to launch a coup after potential Labour humiliation in 7 May elections, their ability to organise will be hugely constrained — because the Commons will not be sitting till the King reopens parliament on 13 May and announces Starmer’s new legislative programme.

Would any fury and desire for vengeance against the PM be sustained for more than four days, when MPs will be in their constituencies, rather than plotting and winding themselves up in the corridors of Westminster? And would any wannabe prime minister risk looking treacherous, just as Starmer is received the imprimatur of the monarch for putative national renewal?

“I honestly can’t see any route to replacing Keir,” said one MP who would like to see him go. For Rayner, Streeting and Burnham, the game has become a longer one

Interesting.

The question is, what is best for the country?

I can't see any alternatives to the dismal Starmer who are any better for the country, and quite a few who would make things substantially worse, so on the whole I'm in favour of keeping him until 2029.

And there's an upside. He is so obviously and dismally incompetent, and the atmosphere of continual plots and coups that never quite come off so unedifying, that his continuing in office seems to damage Labour more and more the longer it goes on.

Of course, if removing him led to an early election, it could benefit the country, as Labour would likely be devastated, but given their huge majority I think we're stuck with them given turkeys and Christmas.

So on the whole I think it's better that Starmer stays, ghastly and incompetent though he is.

Too bad this country is reduced to this, but that's the choice we made in 2024 I'm afraid, or at least 20% of the eligible electorate did.

This government is clearly superior to the Tory governments we have had since 2010 except for Cameron.

Do you mean Cameron (Coalition)? All Conservative-only governments since then have been somewhere between very bad (including Cameron 2015) and disastrous.

The Coalition is the only government in my adult lifetime that I would consider to have been basically competent, though there were hints of it in early Blair until he went off the rails.

Badenoch going hard on North Sea oil. A good idea but yet again going on energy bills when the issue is TAX REVENUE

TAX REVENUE that can be used to offset energy bills though.

Would that be the North Sea Oil of poor quality that her Government subsidised at huge cost.

The same North Sea Oil that's got to be sold on the global market.

Or is she planning a sneaky straw to suck it ashore in a glorified sucknit yourself scheme.

She has the IQ of a newt

Another load of bollocks from you. North Sea oil from the UK and Norway is some of the highest quality and most valuable in the world. One of the reasons many of us have been saying for many years that it is too good to be burning.

It's quite amusing how PB oil experts crop up to troll you into putting them straight, every so often.

https://xkcd.com/386 applies here, I think.

You’d think that even the experts would notice that one of the key prices for oil is “Brent crude”

Kemi gets it

https://x.com/i/status/2037160209626411229

Point 1: are the Conservatives really still doing slogans on the sides of vehicles? How many 350 millions to the NHS buses is equal to one tanker with "Fuel Brittania" on the side?
Point 2: I was struck by how much she reminded me of Nicola Murray in The Thick Of It.

Badenoch going hard on North Sea oil. A good idea but yet again going on energy bills when the issue is TAX REVENUE

TAX REVENUE that can be used to offset energy bills though.

Would that be the North Sea Oil of poor quality that her Government subsidised at huge cost.

The same North Sea Oil that's got to be sold on the global market.

Or is she planning a sneaky straw to suck it ashore in a glorified sucknit yourself scheme.

She has the IQ of a newt

Another load of bollocks from you. North Sea oil from the UK and Norway is some of the highest quality and most valuable in the world. One of the reasons many of us have been saying for many years that it is too good to be burning.

It's quite amusing how PB oil experts crop up to troll you into putting them straight, every so often.

https://xkcd.com/386 applies here, I think.

You’d think that even the experts would notice that one of the key prices for oil is “Brent crude”

Kemi gets it

https://x.com/i/status/2037160209626411229

Point 1: are the Conservatives really still doing slogans on the sides of vehicles? How many 350 millions to the NHS buses is equal to one tanker with "Fuel Brittania" on the side?

The £350M claim was genius from a campaign POV.

You can argue over the merits of it in RL but as a campaign slogan, it was extraordinarily successful. Which is why, a decade on, REMAIN campaigners are still whining about it....

May could be a narrative changer.

https://x.com/ZiaYusufUK/status/2037161669114134824

This what the Financial Times thinks is about to happen to the uniparty in the local elections in May.

You would only get results like that if Reform win by absolutely miles in London and hit high 30s NEV nationally

It leaves Labour with about 250 wards out of 2200 and the Tories 120 of 1130 or so

He must have been drunk

The thing is, with the polls we're seeing at the moment (REF leading but down in six months ago, GREEN in second place, CON and LAB fighting it out for third place and LIB making up the numbers) I think all forecast models and predictions break down, especially in a FPTP election.

Obviously the 2026 local will be terrible for Lab and Con but who know how bad it gets and how good it is for REF/GRN/PLD/SNP...

Badenoch going hard on North Sea oil. A good idea but yet again going on energy bills when the issue is TAX REVENUE

TAX REVENUE that can be used to offset energy bills though.

Would that be the North Sea Oil of poor quality that her Government subsidised at huge cost.

The same North Sea Oil that's got to be sold on the global market.

Or is she planning a sneaky straw to suck it ashore in a glorified sucknit yourself scheme.

She has the IQ of a newt

Another load of bollocks from you. North Sea oil from the UK and Norway is some of the highest quality and most valuable in the world. One of the reasons many of us have been saying for many years that it is too good to be burning.

It's quite amusing how PB oil experts crop up to troll you into putting them straight, every so often.

https://xkcd.com/386 applies here, I think.

You’d think that even the experts would notice that one of the key prices for oil is “Brent crude”

Kemi gets it

https://x.com/i/status/2037160209626411229

How does that solve the fuel crisis which will hit in the next 3-6 months?

It will add billions in tax to the treasury over the next 20 years

It shouldn't have been decimated in the first place

Of course it will not add immediately but that is not an excuse not to do it now

Badenoch going hard on North Sea oil. A good idea but yet again going on energy bills when the issue is TAX REVENUE

TAX REVENUE that can be used to offset energy bills though.

Would that be the North Sea Oil of poor quality that her Government subsidised at huge cost.

The same North Sea Oil that's got to be sold on the global market.

Or is she planning a sneaky straw to suck it ashore in a glorified sucknit yourself scheme.

She has the IQ of a newt

Another load of bollocks from you. North Sea oil from the UK and Norway is some of the highest quality and most valuable in the world. One of the reasons many of us have been saying for many years that it is too good to be burning.

It's quite amusing how PB oil experts crop up to troll you into putting them straight, every so often.

https://xkcd.com/386 applies here, I think.

You’d think that even the experts would notice that one of the key prices for oil is “Brent crude”

Kemi gets it

https://x.com/i/status/2037160209626411229

I can't decide which is more odd, your constant Kemi-ramping or HYUFD's Badenoch-bashing. I suspect you egg each other on.

(The tweet here seems disconnected from the tanker - which only mentions getting rid of fuel tax... what, all of it? - or the clip where she only talks about abolishing a rise. Nothing on NS drilling in the clip)

Some users love to attack our Labour ramper almost every post but at least they’re open in what they think.

What interests me is the question "Is this what he REALLY thinks?" as so much of what it posted is risible. There is a difference between posting your opinions where that opinion may be different to others and posting things that are patently not true. Our Labour ramper strays too far into the absurd to be taken seriously. He may feel Kemi is awful, but no, Starmer doesn't win every QT 6-0, leaving to standing ovations and the crowd baying for more. Critique is better if genuine.

https://x.com/Peston/status/2037132583419478487

Rebel MPs who want Starmer removed are feeling tactically outmaneuvered.

If they are minded to launch a coup after potential Labour humiliation in 7 May elections, their ability to organise will be hugely constrained — because the Commons will not be sitting till the King reopens parliament on 13 May and announces Starmer’s new legislative programme.

Would any fury and desire for vengeance against the PM be sustained for more than four days, when MPs will be in their constituencies, rather than plotting and winding themselves up in the corridors of Westminster? And would any wannabe prime minister risk looking treacherous, just as Starmer is received the imprimatur of the monarch for putative national renewal?

“I honestly can’t see any route to replacing Keir,” said one MP who would like to see him go. For Rayner, Streeting and Burnham, the game has become a longer one

Interesting.

The question is, what is best for the country?

I can't see any alternatives to the dismal Starmer who are any better for the country, and quite a few who would make things substantially worse, so on the whole I'm in favour of keeping him until 2029.

And there's an upside. He is so obviously and dismally incompetent, and the atmosphere of continual plots and coups that never quite come off so unedifying, that his continuing in office seems to damage Labour more and more the longer it goes on.

Of course, if removing him led to an early election, it could benefit the country, as Labour would likely be devastated, but given their huge majority I think we're stuck with them given turkeys and Christmas.

So on the whole I think it's better that Starmer stays, ghastly and incompetent though he is.

Too bad this country is reduced to this, but that's the choice we made in 2024 I'm afraid, or at least 20% of the eligible electorate did.

This government is clearly superior to the Tory governments we have had since 2010 except for Cameron.

Clearly superior to Johnson and Truss. After that it gets debatable. I'd say not superior to Cameron pre-EU mishap, or Major before the bastards got to him. Definitely not superior to Blair pre-Iraq, or Maggie pre-Poll Tax.

I agree with Major too - his main challenge as PM was that the party was out of ideas and half his backbenchers preferred fighting their own government and eventually they ran out of steam, but the principals mostly conducted themselves well personally and their roles effectively. Oh for Heseltine, Clarke and Hurd today. And I opposed them strenuously at the time.

Not so sure about Thatcher, she seemed a bit unhinged by the time I could vote (87), maybe she was better at first (I don't remember well enough that far back) but was very divisive overall and we're still living with the downsides of many of the policies she brought in.

Badenoch going hard on North Sea oil. A good idea but yet again going on energy bills when the issue is TAX REVENUE

TAX REVENUE that can be used to offset energy bills though.

Would that be the North Sea Oil of poor quality that her Government subsidised at huge cost.

The same North Sea Oil that's got to be sold on the global market.

Or is she planning a sneaky straw to suck it ashore in a glorified sucknit yourself scheme.

She has the IQ of a newt

Another load of bollocks from you. North Sea oil from the UK and Norway is some of the highest quality and most valuable in the world. One of the reasons many of us have been saying for many years that it is too good to be burning.

It's quite amusing how PB oil experts crop up to troll you into putting them straight, every so often.

https://xkcd.com/386 applies here, I think.

You’d think that even the experts would notice that one of the key prices for oil is “Brent crude”

Kemi gets it

https://x.com/i/status/2037160209626411229

That's actually quite good from CON - Unfortunately Mrs May making Net Zero a legally binding commitment by 2050 is still fresh in everyones memories, however...

I don't think anyone remembers May was ever PM. Not with Boris, Truss, Sunak and Starmer since.

That Fuel Britannia notion nicely skewers both Reeves and Miliband.