Best Of

Watched Carols from Kings earlier. Enjoyed the music, but felt sorry for the parents of white British choristers hoping to see their sons on TV.

They were probably present in the congregation.

As I work for the church I have had the pleasure of no less than 6 Christmas events/parties ranging from staff Christmas lunches to amazing carol services in stunning buildings . Always love to see Kings each year

Why are English churches like corridors. Scottish square churches are much more inclusive.

I have deliberately kept off this website this year as l wanted to take in the political wind of change free from noise from here . With the best will in the world , this site is filled with brainy informed people but it is not representative of voters . I felt that it was important to listen to the mood in work , in family , in social settings and indeed wider community.

I think the conclusion is that establishment politics really has lost the trust of the ordinary voter ( the ones that win you elections)

Yeah, none of us interact in the real world. Thanks for braving it out there so you can report back on what the “real world” is like.

The irony of someone on a political betting forum announcing they've discovered the "real world" as if they're the first explorer to venture beyond the internet.

That kind of statement reveals so much, the assumption that your offline experiences are somehow more authentic or representative than anyone else's, that you’ve gained special insight others lack, that you need to report back to us less enlightened forum-dwellers about what "real people" think. Meanwhile, everyone else here also... exists in the real world. We also have jobs, families, communities, go to shops, talk to neighbours. We’re not brain-in-a-vat constructs who only exist online.

Patronising twaddle of the worst sort. Really.

I have deliberately kept off this website this year as l wanted to take in the political wind of change free from noise from here . With the best will in the world , this site is filled with brainy informed people but it is not representative of voters . I felt that it was important to listen to the mood in work , in family , in social settings and indeed wider community.

I think the conclusion is that establishment politics really has lost the trust of the ordinary voter ( the ones that win you elections)

Yeah, none of us interact in the real world. Thanks for braving it out there so you can report back on what the “real world” is like.

The irony of someone on a political betting forum announcing they've discovered the "real world" as if they're the first explorer to venture beyond the internet.

That kind of statement reveals so much, the assumption that your offline experiences are somehow more authentic or representative than anyone else's, that you’ve gained special insight others lack, that you need to report back to us less enlightened forum-dwellers about what "real people" think. Meanwhile, everyone else here also... exists in the real world. We also have jobs, families, communities, go to shops, talk to neighbours. We’re not brain-in-a-vat constructs who only exist online.

Patronising twaddle of the worst sort. Really.

I am sure this comment is well intentioned but seems to me to miss the mark entirely as to both what State Go Away had to say and the spirit in which it was said. Merry Christmas.

There’s something to the idea that many politicians have disconnected from The Revolting Peasants. And then try and work out what TRP want in the style of Experimental Anthropology.

See Starmer’s hamfisted attempts to cosplay Reform. “Let’s pretend we are revolting racists from Wigan. What would we like?”

It’s an easy trap to fall into.

When I worked as legacy officer for Wood Green Animal Shelters, most staff were local and working class. One of them said to me, “we like you, but we think you live in an ivory tower.”

My financial worries are not the financial worries of 85% of the population.

Suppose we get a result of 25% each, for Con and Reform, 22% Labour , 12% Lib Dem, 11% Green.

According to EC, that gives 231 Reform, 145 Con, 135 Lab, 57 Lib Dem.

The Conservatives can only be second fiddle, in a Reform-led government. Whereas, Kemi would be PM, in a grand coalition - and I expect there would be a lot of pressure, from the great and good, to form it.

Labour MPs are, on the whole, venal scum but they have their limits and those limits may be transcended by the notion of putting KB into No. 10. I also think they, and all right thinking people, would relish the humiliation of the tories being the junior party in a coalition with Farage's face tats and vapes party.

I hope all Fukkers and tories have an Xmas like Boldwood does in Far From the Madding Crowd.

I wonder if Badenoch is familiar with the fate of the Liberals in 1923-24 under similar circumstances?

Or, indeed, what happened to Slab after getting into bed with the Tories for indyref, or SLD for being the Slabbers', erm, little helpers a little before. Trouble is we'll soon be through all the permutations before long.

Edit: also see Scottish Greens (who might however break the pattern).

I have deliberately kept off this website this year as l wanted to take in the political wind of change free from noise from here . With the best will in the world , this site is filled with brainy informed people but it is not representative of voters . I felt that it was important to listen to the mood in work , in family , in social settings and indeed wider community.

I think the conclusion is that establishment politics really has lost the trust of the ordinary voter ( the ones that win you elections)

Yeah, none of us interact in the real world. Thanks for braving it out there so you can report back on what the “real world” is like.

The irony of someone on a political betting forum announcing they've discovered the "real world" as if they're the first explorer to venture beyond the internet.

That kind of statement reveals so much, the assumption that your offline experiences are somehow more authentic or representative than anyone else's, that you’ve gained special insight others lack, that you need to report back to us less enlightened forum-dwellers about what "real people" think. Meanwhile, everyone else here also... exists in the real world. We also have jobs, families, communities, go to shops, talk to neighbours. We’re not brain-in-a-vat constructs who only exist online.

Patronising twaddle of the worst sort. Really.