We have not covered much the final round of voting in the French presidential election which takes place on Sunday. The reason is Macron’s victory looks very assured and this is reflected in the final polls which by French law were published late last night.
Comments
Macron 57%
Le Pen 43%
https://www.opinion-way.com/fr/barometre-opinionway-kea-partners-election-presidentielle-2022
Johnson replied it was
Police fines for the event - now dropping in inboxes - suggest otherwise
https://twitter.com/AVMikhailova/status/1517522953520431105
1) Is @Leon secretly using his spare flints to set fire to everything in Russia?
2) Does the Ukrainian Neptune missile have a land attack mode?
3) Is the Hereford Boat Club visiting Russian cathedrals?
4) Have the Ukrainians been given a few semi trucks full of dollar bills by the Americans and are they using is to bribe Russians to set fire to their workplaces?
Still, changed Le Pen or not, she's making progress that would have worried people in years past.
Going to be a cracking fight.
I'd also like to hand over my position as worst predictor on PB to Moon Rabbit. Her performance has been nothing short of outstanding. From being 'absolutely certain' Macron wouldn't make the final two she went on to be even more certain that Le Pen would definitely win.
It's tough being sure of yourself when polls are telling you something different but I salute her tenacity!
I can only conclude that the tighter restrictions have made a difference.
https://twitter.com/EuropeElects/status/1517522363310505984?s=20&t=iRw4AyyTYd6pZ9ZF1EgRfg
https://twitter.com/EuropeElects/status/1517522358147465216?t=Jj_LqMKGYEA1flsbVuFnaw&s=19
Either way it will still be a much closer runoff than 2017, even if Macron is still likely re elected
If unintentional, like Starmer on Wednesday, then merely correcting the record is expected.
@JohnRentoul
·
13m
The Met Police policy of not announcing anything until after local elections going well
https://twitter.com/JohnRentoul/status/1517525207690403841
Gordon Brown is understood to be among those championing his candidacy 👀
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/73b08e80-c235-11ec-8413-422ef6319ad0?shareToken=6b2c5762144c64728429f02885f3166f
Sorry, but your defence of Boris is absurd.
'I'd also like to hand over my position as worst predictor on PB to Moon Rabbit.'
Sorry, Rog, it's a lifetime post. You can't just hand it over like that.
The two Mercedes close to undriveable, with the porpoising worse than ever.
So Boris is reduced to arguing that his statement was not intentionally misleading, just extraordinarily negligent. Dunno if that gets him off the hook, especially since (unlike Starmer) he didn't go back to the House at the earliest opportunity to correct the statement.
"He genuinely, absolutely, believed it was......right up to the Charlie"
As to the staged spats perhaps, perhaps not. Where there is a genuine animosity (eg Khan/Brook) that certainly helps ticket sales and which promoter is going to get all sensible when they can up the PPVs.
Christopher Hope📝
@christopherhope
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3h
NEW I understand Conservative MPs have drafted post-dated no confidence letters ready to be sent to Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 committee, on May 6, the day after the local elections.
https://twitter.com/christopherhope/status/1517477661832105984
Reeves doing a very good job at CoE shadow, so moving her would be a mistake.
Party Chair? As in the traditional, minister for the Today programme, style of role?
Though either way, having a difference of opinion with the Police is not against the rules and is not a lie, nor should it ever be. We don't live in a Police State.
If disagreeing with the Police were a crime/a lie then many thread headers by Cyclefree especially and others would be in hot water, but we live in a free society so that's thankfully not the case.
Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the defence select committee, said that the prime minister was facing a “steady trickle” of resignations and letters of no confidence." (£)
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/partygate-no-confidence-vote-in-boris-johnson-is-inevitable-says-senior-conservative-gfqml8d0j
It's not like she is the daughter of Franco or Pinochet or any of his other beloved Fascists.
So, I'm going to put a few squid on Le Pen.
If I was French I would have voted for Pecresse in the first round and Macron in the runoff
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10743649/Mystery-FOUR-suspicious-suicides-Russian-gas-executives-linked-Putin.html
https://twitter.com/piersmorgan/status/1517537327219884033?s=20&t=XNW74577gncOFJmuScpq3A
I suppose Moron and Farage knocking lumps out of one another is quite funny, but all a bit pathetic really.
https://twitter.com/piersmorgan/status/1517534079071178752?s=20&t=XNW74577gncOFJmuScpq3A
With him and Owen Jones endorsing definitely giving it a pass.
https://twitter.com/samcoatessky/status/1517539997213200384 https://twitter.com/SamCoatesSky/status/1517540229992824833/photo/1
“When I went out into that garden I thought that I was attending a work event.”
Reports that 30/40 people turned up, incl PM & wife Carrie who drank G&T & brought friends fr outside No 10, & there were tables laden w food & drinks.
https://twitter.com/PippaCrerar/status/1517539336614563847
Don't think this book is going to be a best seller.
And the end result will be in pushing up some Floridian's local taxes massively
https://twitter.com/mattdpearce/status/1517503905516892163
Britons trust the Labour Party most to support the NHS (40%), tackle poverty (38%), and manage housing (36%) https://twitter.com/RedfieldWilton/status/1517443197538123779/photo/1
PS: Thick cretinous Numpty really.
In US history, POTUSs who did better 2nd time around (=13)
> Thomas Jefferson (1800 v 1796)
> James Monroe (1820 v 1816)
> Andrew Jackson (1828 versus 1824)
> Abraham Lincoln (1864 v 1860 - debatable case)
> Ulysses Grant (1872 v 1868)
> William McKinley (1900 v 1896)
> Woodrow Wilson (1916 v 1912 - debatable case)
> Franklin Roosevelt (1936 v 1932)
> Dwight Eisenhower (1956 v 1952)
> Richard Nixon (1972 v 1968)
> Ronald Reagan (1984 v 1980)
> Bill Clinton (1996 v 1992)
> George Bush the Younger (2004 v 2000)
On the other hand, these did worse (=12)
> John Adams (1800 v 1796)
> James Madison (1812 v 1808)
> John Q Adams (1828 v 1824 - debatable case)
> Martin Van Buren (1840 v 1836)
> Grover Cleveland (1888 v 1884)
> Benjamin Harrison (1892 v 1888)
> William Taft (1912 v 1908)
> Herbert Hoover (1932 v 1928)
> Jimmy Carter (1980 v 1976)
> George Bush the Elder (1992 v 1998)
> Barack Obama (2012 v 2008)
> Donald Trump (2020 v 216)
Channel 4 News
@Channel4News
· 22h
"If it turned out the building you preside over... attracted more fixed penalty notices than any location or event in the history of lockdown - might that be a cause for resignation?"
That was @GaryGibbonC4's question to Boris Johnson over lockdown parties at No 10.
Exclusive: Labour set to maintain advantage over Tories in London as PM's personal ratings in capital drop
Labour looks set to maintain their huge advantage over the Conservatives in London in next month's local elections as Boris Johnson's personal ratings in his former fiefdom drop sharply.
An exclusive poll for Sky News by Opinium suggests Labour would win 45% of the popular vote compared to 25% for the Conservatives, enough to ensure Keir Starmer's party maintain most of their power base in the city halls in the capital.
However this is a comparatively small advance on 2018 when London councils were last out for election and when Jeremy Corbyn's Labour was capitalising on Tory Brexit chaos meaning Labour won 44% of the vote and the Tories got 29%.
This means they may not gain many extra seats compared to 2018 when the capital's voters last elected their councillors.
Tories, LDs and Greens all look about right to me.
Labour only up 1% in London on 2018 would be a somewhat poor result though but this is the most credible looking London local election poll that I've seen.
Non-colleagues attendance must absolutely be the definition of a non-work event i.e. a social occassion.
Not that a work "event" existed at the time as a vehicle for having a party with colleagues. There was no such arrangement in the laws.
Lillico made an interesting point yesterday (based on Baker's speech): lockdowns went on far too long in part because those running the country were not actually effected by them so they had no idea how depressed and miserable people were becoming. They basically carried on as normal except the pub was closed.
He cannot run again on these kinds of numbers:
https://thehill.com/news/administration/3459742-biden-job-approval-second-lowest-among-presidents-since-1950s-gallup/