Best Of

Bit of pwnage of the Brillo going on.

Andrew Neil
@afneil
12h
Why does the BBC have some celebrity chef opine on the geopolitics of the Middle East on its Sunday flagship political programme? Has it had enough of experts?

Matthew Stadlen
@MatthewStadlen
Didn’t we spend years asking celebrities to talk about politics on This Week, Andrew?

https://x.com/MatthewStadlen/status/1934501803950743685

This Week was not a flagship political program!

No, it was a programme.

I am ashamed.

So you should be.

I am asking for a public enquiry to be launched to confirm your claim to be British.

I expect it will report sometime in the final quarter of this century and will lay the blame entirely at your feet. The Prime Minister at the time will apologise for you.

Quite upset to come on here today and read @Cyclefree's news. I don’t have the right words, and I can't imagine what that must be like to go through. Devastated to read it.

Not sure I will comment further.

I feel the same way - so I'll avoid the subject and ask @Cyclefree the following:

- In your skirt beef HP recipe you don't say how long to marinate it for.
- equal parts HP sauce, sherry and red wine for the marinate?
- agree about the abomination of chocolate sprinkles on coffee but are you equally appalled if it is cinnamon?

Thanks.

- marinate for as long as you want but I normally marinate in the morning or early afternoon if having it for dinner
- A matter of taste and what you have available. I tend to do more of the red wine and HP sauce and only a little sherry.
- I don't like anything on my coffee other than milk. I don't like sweet things. But also it's unnecessary because a good coffee - either black or with some milk - is delicious just as it is.

Anyway I am sitting in my local coffee shop which is opposite the butcher's and will pop in shortly to buy meat for dinner. It may well be skirt as it is so tasty and such good value. If you're very lucky I'll even post a photo of what it looks like once cooked.

The latest absurd developments over this issue just adds yet more speed to the Reform bulldozer. I read this morning they are struggling to get donors to actually pay them (is governance an issue I wonder...) - it won't matter.

The country feels broken at a pretty fundamental level, with record taxes, crumbling services and an establishment that seems happiest blaming everyone but themselves for their egregious failings. LabCon are done - model what happens when both drop out of the top 2...

Someone else will need to come along first to take second place

First: Reform UK (Farage). Second: UK Reform (Lowe)

joking. hopefully

Merlin Strategy had polling out at the weekend with 'would be prepared to consider' data
As it stands Reform, Labour, Tory are the three vying for top 2 (34, 31, 28 respectively) LDs and Greens hit 21 and 16 so without a total collapse, its going to be perm 2 from reform, Labour, tory at GE (29?)

Reading the runes I think we could be in the middle phase of a modal shift in the parties. Tories are going to keep sliding - even replacing Badenoch with Jenrick may not do a lot for them. And Labour are disappointing their own supporters just as much as they are the people who leant them a vote last year.

Tories could finish 4th behind the LibDems in seats quite easily, and I can see the Greens gaining a lot of ground with the younger / lefter / more progressive voters. Which will be an almighty mess as FPTP won't be able to cope with it...

I think you're probably right about Jenrick replacing Badenoch not much making much difference.

The Tories really need to play to their strength which is, despite everything (Boris/Truss), they are still in the minds of many voters a realistic party of Government, in a way in which Reform and Farage simply are not.

But to take advantage of that, they really need a leadership team who you can imagine in No 10 and No 11. The obvious solution, when they ditch Kemi, is a Cleverly/Hunt ticket. (I was very impressed by the way Hunt held his seat - he really should have been toast, which says something about how effective he can be). All in all, that could make for a very effective contrast with the Farage gang, and help the Tories recover some of their traditional voters. Woudn't win back the Red Wall but could work in the Home Counties etc.

Chris Philip announces that "hundreds" of people could be going to jail because of the "cover-up" on Grooming gangs.

Question - why did Chris Philip and his government cover this up?

Do the Tories really think there are political points they can score here? Really?

The conservatives instituted the Jay Enquiry and to accuse them of cover ups is a bit far

However, I accept more should have been done but Starmer's problem is he and other cabinet ministers accused the opposition of pandering to the far right and even rascism, and as a result is highly compromised and must be regretting he didn't take the initiative and order the enquiry immediately

Starmer reacts to events, and changes his mind making so many u turns his credibilty is undermined by nobody but himself

You miss the point. Philip states there have been cover-ups.
His party was in government whilst those cover-ups were going on
His party notoriously refused to implement any of the report findings
If there have been cover-ups, the Conservatives presided over them. And now want credit for doing so.

I do not agree with you on this and certainly Starmer only has himself to blame

As Sam Coates on Sky said the problem is that most of these crimes were in labour controlled councils and of course they are in government now

You don't agree that the Tories were in government when this cover-up took place? You don't agree that they refused to implement *any* of the recommendations of their own enquiry?

There's only one party who is going to do well off this and that's reform, not the Tories. There is an *awful* lot of anger out there and I have been reading a fair bit of it. People go absolutely off it when Tories try to direct blame at Labour.

This is only going to damage the Tories further. What it does to Labour (which will be bad as they have done this absurd performative no no no no no no no yes) doesn't really matter if you are a Tory, as these is going to absolutely immolate them.

If you think the conservatives are going to be blamed for this then you are not real

I know you have an issue [to be polite] with the conservatives but this is now on labour

Read the room. By which I mean the public. The Conservatives *have been* blamed, continue *to be blamed* and will continue to be so. Because so much of this is on them. Labour's handling has been hilariously bad but they have been on office for less than a year.

Sorry Big G, your lot have absolutely sunk themselves over this. Had they been contrite then maybe a bit of credit. But they're pratting around like they are blameless. And people out there on Facebook and especially Twitter aren't having it.

I am surprised you rely on social media but we will see

And they are attacking Starmer for his recognised u turn and his use of language towards them of hard right and racism

Labour have made a godawful mess of this and are rightly going to get booted in the head. I've said that from the start. But the idea that the Tories can capitalise is plainly absurd - they are rightly getting roasted for the brass neck in doing nothing and complaining that Labour are doing nothing.

Social media can be a terrible talking shop. But it's also the place where trends emerge. In 2025 it's a reality that Twitter, TikTok and Facebook are the main sources of news for large numbers of people - primarily because it's interactive.

You seem to be suggesting that the Tories are going to benefit. They will not - but Reform will. We probably both agree that is a Bad Thing. But it doesn't make it less of a reality.

I didn’t say the conservatives would benefit but certainly they along with Reform deserve a full apology from Starmer and several members of his cabinet for accusing their request as far right and rascist

Yeah, I bet that's number 1 on Starmer's to do list: send a Moonpig to Farage and Whatshername saying soz.