Rishi is clear favourite after a morning of campaign launches – politicalbetting.com
It’s been an interesting morning watching one Tory hopeful after another launch their campaigns to succeed Mr. Johnson. Some are making a virtue of promising early tax cuts if they win while others are making a virtue of not rushing into such moves.
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
Or they hope to bring the Lib Dems on board for Coalition 2.0
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
What's wrong with Brum? Or Blackpool? Plenty of pubs and beds there. And the buggers know how to get there.
I think the 22 have done quite well here. 20 is enough to winnow out most of the fantasists and fruit cakes before the hustings start which should make them less damaging to the party than they otherwise might have been.
Still waiting for a better PM than Blair. He left office in 2007…
We've had 2 better PM's than Blair already since then. Cameron and Boris.
But if you're wanting a better Labour PM, you might need to wait until Labour are popular again. Perhaps Starmer's successor might do it?
ROFL Cameron and Johnson don’t have a candle on Blair. He did actual levelling up and actual positive change.
Johnson and Cameron divided the country and oversaw the largest stagnation in society in 100 years.
This would be the stagnation that has led to record low unemployment?
Record low but Kemi says more people are sitting around and doing nothing. Makes no sense.
Full employment where 40% of people on benefits are IN WORK.
As @BartholomewRoberts would point out if he was here - if you are on benefits there is absolutely zero point working beyond the point income is clawed back...
Problem is there is no easy way to fix that without seriously increasing the cut off point at which people can no longer claim benefits (probably to something like £40-45,000 from £30,000).
In idle moments, I try and think of ways of *temporarily increasing benefits* to those who earn money while on benefits.
If insane marginal tax rates are just about dissuading people to work more, what would doubling the money they earn do?
The problem is to prevent it being gamed.
UBI with progressive taxation. Ensures nobody should be in poverty, can't be gamed and always an incentive to work.
UBI would require the country to be wealthier than it is now - given the growth curves, within our lifetimes...
The we can do this
1) UBI replaces benefits, tax free allowance, state pension. 2) All income above that taxed. 3) Single income tax (NI abolished)
The tax code can be written on a postcard.
For all the positive theory of UBI, it is certainty that politicians will get hold of it and then we will get the Gordon Brown effect, oh I have found such and such group of people who I think would benefit from some extra funding, so I am going to have a special extra UBI payment for ....and in doing so a group of people who don't need it also get extra....5-10 years down the line and you back in their perverse situation where some people because of unique circumstances are getting extra + extra + extra on their UBI.
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
The choice of re-location should be determined by number and standing of Premier league soccer clubs.
Still waiting for a better PM than Blair. He left office in 2007…
We've had 2 better PM's than Blair already since then. Cameron and Boris.
But if you're wanting a better Labour PM, you might need to wait until Labour are popular again. Perhaps Starmer's successor might do it?
ROFL Cameron and Johnson don’t have a candle on Blair. He did actual levelling up and actual positive change.
Johnson and Cameron divided the country and oversaw the largest stagnation in society in 100 years.
This would be the stagnation that has led to record low unemployment?
Record low but Kemi says more people are sitting around and doing nothing. Makes no sense.
Full employment where 40% of people on benefits are IN WORK.
As @BartholomewRoberts would point out if he was here - if you are on benefits there is absolutely zero point working beyond the point income is clawed back...
Problem is there is no easy way to fix that without seriously increasing the cut off point at which people can no longer claim benefits (probably to something like £40-45,000 from £30,000).
In idle moments, I try and think of ways of *temporarily increasing benefits* to those who earn money while on benefits.
If insane marginal tax rates are just about dissuading people to work more, what would doubling the money they earn do?
The problem is to prevent it being gamed.
UBI with progressive taxation. Ensures nobody should be in poverty, can't be gamed and always an incentive to work.
UBI would require the country to be wealthier than it is now - given the growth curves, within our lifetimes...
The we can do this
1) UBI replaces benefits, tax free allowance, state pension. 2) All income above that taxed. 3) Single income tax (NI abolished)
The tax code can be written on a postcard.
For all the positive theory of UBI, it is certainty that politicians will get hold of it and then we will get the Gordon Brown effect, oh I have found such and such group of people who I think would benefit from some extra funding, so I am going to have a special extra UBI payment for ....and in doing so a group of people who don't need it also get extra....5-10 years down the line and you back in their perverse situation where some people because of unique circumstances are getting extra + extra + extra on their UBI.
Sigh. I know.
It is a bit like when I was young and enthusiastic. And supported setting up a UK DARPA. The politicians I met were very keen, but wanted to fix what they saw a stupid things in the DARPA model - not supporting multiple projects, but pick a single big winner. Also long term projects rather than short term goals.....
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
Why couldn't it be Birmingham ?
The romantic in me would like Colchester, York or Winchester but none of those will happen.
*On one occasion, the people printing the ballots for a student election (at my Uni) screwed up and ReOpen Nominations was "Ron" on the ballot. The Union reps claimed that those companioning for Ron to win were trying to sabotage the election.
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
Why couldn't it be Birmingham ?
The romantic in me would like Colchester, York or Winchester but none of those will happen.
Too near London especially with HS2 - you would end up with Parliament in Birmingham and most things left where they were.
And the whole point of the change would be to change the focus of the country away from being London centric.
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
Why couldn't it be Birmingham ?
The romantic in me would like Colchester, York or Winchester but none of those will happen.
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
Why couldn't it be Birmingham ?
The romantic in me would like Colchester, York or Winchester but none of those will happen.
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
The choice of re-location should be determined by number and standing of Premier league soccer clubs.
England: Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Craig Overton, David Willey, Brydon Carse, Reece Topley.
That England bowling attack is ripe for going for a load of runs.
I really struggle to understand England's love of Craig Overton, he isn't even the best of the Overtons.
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
Why couldn't it be Birmingham ?
The romantic in me would like Colchester, York or Winchester but none of those will happen.
If the plan is to refocus the economy then York is fine (being up North) but it's just too small....
Raab is quoted in case he is caretaker if Boris falls under a bus before the election is over. Patel has not yet ruled herself out but look at the prices!
Still waiting for a better PM than Blair. He left office in 2007…
We've had 2 better PM's than Blair already since then. Cameron and Boris.
But if you're wanting a better Labour PM, you might need to wait until Labour are popular again. Perhaps Starmer's successor might do it?
ROFL Cameron and Johnson don’t have a candle on Blair. He did actual levelling up and actual positive change.
Johnson and Cameron divided the country and oversaw the largest stagnation in society in 100 years.
This would be the stagnation that has led to record low unemployment?
Record low but Kemi says more people are sitting around and doing nothing. Makes no sense.
Full employment where 40% of people on benefits are IN WORK.
As @BartholomewRoberts would point out if he was here - if you are on benefits there is absolutely zero point working beyond the point income is clawed back...
Problem is there is no easy way to fix that without seriously increasing the cut off point at which people can no longer claim benefits (probably to something like £40-45,000 from £30,000).
In idle moments, I try and think of ways of *temporarily increasing benefits* to those who earn money while on benefits.
If insane marginal tax rates are just about dissuading people to work more, what would doubling the money they earn do?
The problem is to prevent it being gamed.
UBI with progressive taxation. Ensures nobody should be in poverty, can't be gamed and always an incentive to work.
UBI would require the country to be wealthier than it is now - given the growth curves, within our lifetimes...
The we can do this
1) UBI replaces benefits, tax free allowance, state pension. 2) All income above that taxed. 3) Single income tax (NI abolished)
The tax code can be written on a postcard.
For all the positive theory of UBI, it is certainty that politicians will get hold of it and then we will get the Gordon Brown effect, oh I have found such and such group of people who I think would benefit from some extra funding, so I am going to have a special extra UBI payment for ....and in doing so a group of people who don't need it also get extra....5-10 years down the line and you back in their perverse situation where some people because of unique circumstances are getting extra + extra + extra on their UBI.
Even worse, the politicians at the election would be arguing over who would increase the basic UBI - for everyone - the most.
The big unsolvable problem with UBI is how to deal with the wildly different housing costs in different parts of the country. It would be totally impossible to live in London, on UBI and a minimum wage job.
Truss looks value to me now. I’m afraid I’ve done a 180 from last night but you’ve now got all the ingredients of a classic dividing line being drawn between Culture War/Tax Cuts and Rishinomics. The thing that has changed my mind has been the Nadine/JRM endorsement and the Raab/Shapps endorsement.
It is far easier to see backers of Suella, Badenoch, Priti, finding their way to Liz than it is to Penny.
Penny will get transfers from Tugendhat but that won’t get her where she needs to be for the membership round.
She either needs a big endorsement from one of the figures on the right, ideally this afternoon, or we need to be convinced she has a significant level of support from undeclared Tories.
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
Thanks for rescuing my comment from the old thread graveyard. I do think it extraordinary that the Tories' main offer to Red Wall voters seems to be getting jettisoned. Seems a risky strategy, and also pretty dishonest.
Truss looks value to me now. I’m afraid I’ve done a 180 from last night but you’ve now got all the ingredients of a classic dividing line being drawn between Culture War/Tax Cuts and Rishinomics. The thing that has changed my mind has been the Nadine/JRM endorsement and the Raab/Shapps endorsement.
It is far easier to see backers of Suella, Badenoch, Priti, finding their way to Liz than it is to Penny.
Penny will get transfers from Tugendhat but that won’t get her where she needs to be for the membership round.
She either needs a big endorsement from one of the figures on the right, ideally this afternoon, or we need to be convinced she has a significant level of support from undeclared Tories.
The betting markets seem to not be taking into account Sunak's weakness with the electorate that matters. And that is puzzling
Yes, having seen that ConHome poll I am much less certain of Sunak than I was 20 minutes ago
Tory members don’t want him as leader, not sure how he gets around that, unless he can herd the cats of the Tory parliamentary party into giving him a patsy opponent like Hunt
And there won’t be a coronation. The party is too divided and embittered for that
Truss looks value to me now. I’m afraid I’ve done a 180 from last night but you’ve now got all the ingredients of a classic dividing line being drawn between Culture War/Tax Cuts and Rishinomics. The thing that has changed my mind has been the Nadine/JRM endorsement and the Raab/Shapps endorsement.
It is far easier to see backers of Suella, Badenoch, Priti, finding their way to Liz than it is to Penny.
Penny will get transfers from Tugendhat but that won’t get her where she needs to be for the membership round.
She either needs a big endorsement from one of the figures on the right, ideally this afternoon, or we need to be convinced she has a significant level of support from undeclared Tories.
I'm still hoping the Badenoch can get ahead of Truss with transfers from Braverman, Patel, Zahawi, Javid.
I am intrigued if the bloke who is supposed to be his brother and got deported for criminality is actually his brother at all. From Mo's story, it sounds like it was trafficked alone, so I guess the answer is no.
Ugh all this calling of politicians by their first name makes me want to puke. They’re not my pal, or my colleague, they’re want to be PM. Anyone who tries to make that relationship “chummy” should be disqualified.
There's nothing chummy about it. Its easy to viscerally despise Boris or Keir or whomever.
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
Why couldn't it be Birmingham ?
The romantic in me would like Colchester, York or Winchester but none of those will happen.
Or Northampton.
Colchester, York and Winchester are all fine. They don't need the extra pressure. And while I'll always bang the gong for Manchester, it's doing ok, and house prices are already too high. Manchester's doing fine; as is Birmnigham (though both have old industrial areas close to the city centre ripe for redevelopment).
But I think we need somewhere which is central, accessible, and which would benefit from the investment.
Stoke.
My other alternative is Coventry. I suggested this to a senior civil servant a few years back, who almost cried at the suggestion. But five minutes later she was bemoaning that a senior civil servant can afford nothing better in London than a 2 bed flat in Streatham, and she took my point when I pointed out the connection. She did, however, bargain for Birmingham rather than Cov.
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
Why couldn't it be Birmingham ?
The romantic in me would like Colchester, York or Winchester but none of those will happen.
Too near London especially with HS2 - you would end up with Parliament in Birmingham and most things left where they were.
And the whole point of the change would be to change the focus of the country away from being London centric.
Am I missing something? Since when was it Labour policy to move parliament out of London? It’s a pretty extraordinary move
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
Thanks for rescuing my comment from the old thread graveyard. I do think it extraordinary that the Tories' main offer to Red Wall voters seems to be getting jettisoned. Seems a risky strategy, and also pretty dishonest.
Despite the bollocks they've spouted as regards the "Red Wall", there's a vanishingly small percentage of their members living there. Most have probably never even been there.
Truss looks value to me now. I’m afraid I’ve done a 180 from last night but you’ve now got all the ingredients of a classic dividing line being drawn between Culture War/Tax Cuts and Rishinomics. The thing that has changed my mind has been the Nadine/JRM endorsement and the Raab/Shapps endorsement.
It is far easier to see backers of Suella, Badenoch, Priti, finding their way to Liz than it is to Penny.
Penny will get transfers from Tugendhat but that won’t get her where she needs to be for the membership round.
She either needs a big endorsement from one of the figures on the right, ideally this afternoon, or we need to be convinced she has a significant level of support from undeclared Tories.
Agreed. As many have said, Sunak, Truss and Mordaunt seem a likely final three. Braverman, Badenoch, Patel and Zahawi will all be out soon enough (if Patel is even in) and their supporters will coalesce around Truss. Tungendhat and maybe Hunt supporters go to Mordaunt. Maybe Javid supporters to Sunak. So, where does that lead us? Sunak v Truss, with Mordaunt in third?
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
Thanks for rescuing my comment from the old thread graveyard. I do think it extraordinary that the Tories' main offer to Red Wall voters seems to be getting jettisoned. Seems a risky strategy, and also pretty dishonest.
The Red Wall seats aren't natural Tory voters but the Tory party is also at risk of losing their core Southern vote and the Tory fear is that once that core vote goes they will have long term problems.
Plus Tory members want tax cuts because they don't need to care about 25+ years time when they will be dead in the next 15 years.
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
Thanks for rescuing my comment from the old thread graveyard. I do think it extraordinary that the Tories' main offer to Red Wall voters seems to be getting jettisoned. Seems a risky strategy, and also pretty dishonest.
Weirdly, TT seems to be the best bet for keeping the north onside.
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
Why couldn't it be Birmingham ?
The romantic in me would like Colchester, York or Winchester but none of those will happen.
Or Northampton.
Colchester, York and Winchester are all fine. They don't need the extra pressure. And while I'll always bang the gong for Manchester, it's doing ok, and house prices are already too high. Manchester's doing fine; as is Birmnigham (though both have old industrial areas close to the city centre ripe for redevelopment).
But I think we need somewhere which is central, accessible, and which would benefit from the investment.
Stoke.
My other alternative is Coventry. I suggested this to a senior civil servant a few years back, who almost cried at the suggestion. But five minutes later she was bemoaning that a senior civil servant can afford nothing better in London than a 2 bed flat in Streatham, and she took my point when I pointed out the connection. She did, however, bargain for Birmingham rather than Cov.
Does this really read as anything other than satire to the Conservative membership? "Who cares about the economy , health, education, Ukraine...there's statues to worry about,"
NEW
First all MP Tory leadership hustings is **tonight**.
Any candidate with over 20 MPs support will be grilled on their approach to the culture wars including controversial statues and British history by the Common Sense Group of Tory MPs. 1/2
I am intrigued if the bloke who is supposed to be his brother and got deported for criminality is actually his brother at all. From Mo's story, it sounds like it was trafficked alone, so I guess the answer is no.
WATO is going to do a segment on it. Would have been massive if we weren't focused on Tory shenanigans.
Ugh all this calling of politicians by their first name makes me want to puke. They’re not my pal, or my colleague, they’re want to be PM. Anyone who tries to make that relationship “chummy” should be disqualified.
There's nothing chummy about it. Its easy to viscerally despise Boris or Keir or whomever.
Yes, I don’t think the people shouting “Maggie Maggie Maggie, Out Out Out” were her friends
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
Why couldn't it be Birmingham ?
The romantic in me would like Colchester, York or Winchester but none of those will happen.
Or Northampton.
Colchester, York and Winchester are all fine. They don't need the extra pressure. And while I'll always bang the gong for Manchester, it's doing ok, and house prices are already too high. Manchester's doing fine; as is Birmnigham (though both have old industrial areas close to the city centre ripe for redevelopment).
But I think we need somewhere which is central, accessible, and which would benefit from the investment.
Stoke.
My other alternative is Coventry. I suggested this to a senior civil servant a few years back, who almost cried at the suggestion. But five minutes later she was bemoaning that a senior civil servant can afford nothing better in London than a 2 bed flat in Streatham, and she took my point when I pointed out the connection. She did, however, bargain for Birmingham rather than Cov.
Why can't Parliament tour around the country while they do the renovations? 6 months in each city.
I am intrigued if the bloke who is supposed to be his brother and got deported for criminality is actually his brother at all. From Mo's story, it sounds like it was trafficked alone, so I guess the answer is no.
WATO is going to do a segment on it. Would have been massive if we weren't focused on Tory shenanigans.
It sounds like he might also be a few years older than his official age, which would make his kicking ass in the Olympics even more impressive.
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
Why couldn't it be Birmingham ?
The romantic in me would like Colchester, York or Winchester but none of those will happen.
Too near London especially with HS2 - you would end up with Parliament in Birmingham and most things left where they were.
And the whole point of the change would be to change the focus of the country away from being London centric.
Am I missing something? Since when was it Labour policy to move parliament out of London? It’s a pretty extraordinary move
I didn't say it was policy - but given the state of Parliament it makes sense to firstly have a discussion about it and secondly whether there are votes in it.
And up North knocking London down a peg or 2 is probably worth a fair few votes.
The betting markets seem to not be taking into account Sunak's weakness with the electorate that matters. And that is puzzling
Yes, having seen that ConHome poll I am much less certain of Sunak than I was 20 minutes ago
Tory members don’t want him as leader, not sure how he gets around that, unless he can herd the cats of the Tory parliamentary party into giving him a patsy opponent like Hunt
And there won’t be a coronation. The party is too divided and embittered for that
I don't see Sunak as a viable leader.
There is no gravitas. There is no depth. There is no broad policy agenda.
And I know it is trivial, but he is just too shiny. It gives him an artificial plastic appearance that makes him too much of an estate agent or car salesman.
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
Why couldn't it be Birmingham ?
The romantic in me would like Colchester, York or Winchester but none of those will happen.
Or Northampton.
Colchester, York and Winchester are all fine. They don't need the extra pressure. And while I'll always bang the gong for Manchester, it's doing ok, and house prices are already too high. Manchester's doing fine; as is Birmnigham (though both have old industrial areas close to the city centre ripe for redevelopment).
But I think we need somewhere which is central, accessible, and which would benefit from the investment.
Stoke.
My other alternative is Coventry. I suggested this to a senior civil servant a few years back, who almost cried at the suggestion. But five minutes later she was bemoaning that a senior civil servant can afford nothing better in London than a 2 bed flat in Streatham, and she took my point when I pointed out the connection. She did, however, bargain for Birmingham rather than Cov.
Why can't Parliament tour around the country while they do the renovations? 6 months in each city.
Pick any other city and work out where you could host Parliament except in the local arena... Even then it would mean most MPs wouldn't have an office to work in.
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
Why couldn't it be Birmingham ?
The romantic in me would like Colchester, York or Winchester but none of those will happen.
Too near London especially with HS2 - you would end up with Parliament in Birmingham and most things left where they were.
And the whole point of the change would be to change the focus of the country away from being London centric.
Am I missing something? Since when was it Labour policy to move parliament out of London? It’s a pretty extraordinary move
I didn't say it was policy - but given the state of Parliament it makes sense to firstly have a discussion about it and secondly whether there are votes in it.
And up North knocking London down a peg or 2 is probably worth a fair few votes.
The Palace of Westminster will need to be repaired whether or not it remains the home of Parliament.
A permanent move to another city doesn't take away the need to repair the existing buildings
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
Why couldn't it be Birmingham ?
The romantic in me would like Colchester, York or Winchester but none of those will happen.
Too near London especially with HS2 - you would end up with Parliament in Birmingham and most things left where they were.
And the whole point of the change would be to change the focus of the country away from being London centric.
Am I missing something? Since when was it Labour policy to move parliament out of London? It’s a pretty extraordinary move
I didn't say it was policy - but given the state of Parliament it makes sense to firstly have a discussion about it and secondly whether there are votes in it.
And up North knocking London down a peg or 2 is probably worth a fair few votes.
The Palace of Westminster will need to be repaired whether or not it remains the home of Parliament.
A permanent move to another city doesn't take away the need to repair the existing buildings
Why would it need to be repaired if it's no longer home of Parliament.
But the cost of repairing an empty building is X or Y times cheaper than doing repairs when the building is being used.
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
Why couldn't it be Birmingham ?
The romantic in me would like Colchester, York or Winchester but none of those will happen.
Or Northampton.
Glasgow. Belfast.
Off Junction 10 of the M6. The Palace of Wednesbury!
Truss looks value to me now. I’m afraid I’ve done a 180 from last night but you’ve now got all the ingredients of a classic dividing line being drawn between Culture War/Tax Cuts and Rishinomics. The thing that has changed my mind has been the Nadine/JRM endorsement and the Raab/Shapps endorsement.
It is far easier to see backers of Suella, Badenoch, Priti, finding their way to Liz than it is to Penny.
Penny will get transfers from Tugendhat but that won’t get her where she needs to be for the membership round.
She either needs a big endorsement from one of the figures on the right, ideally this afternoon, or we need to be convinced she has a significant level of support from undeclared Tories.
Agreed. As many have said, Sunak, Truss and Mordaunt seem a likely final three. Braverman, Badenoch, Patel and Zahawi will all be out soon enough (if Patel is even in) and their supporters will coalesce around Truss. Tungendhat and maybe Hunt supporters go to Mordaunt. Maybe Javid supporters to Sunak. So, where does that lead us? Sunak v Truss, with Mordaunt in third?
That looks most likely to me now.
Wildcard option: Kemi punches through on the right and wins the battle for those votes against Liz, as a result of strong performances at hustings. Not suggesting it’s likely, but some heads could be turned.
Then it’s much harder to call: Rishi vs Penny or Rishi v Kemi.
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
Why couldn't it be Birmingham ?
The romantic in me would like Colchester, York or Winchester but none of those will happen.
Too near London especially with HS2 - you would end up with Parliament in Birmingham and most things left where they were.
And the whole point of the change would be to change the focus of the country away from being London centric.
Am I missing something? Since when was it Labour policy to move parliament out of London? It’s a pretty extraordinary move
I didn't say it was policy - but given the state of Parliament it makes sense to firstly have a discussion about it and secondly whether there are votes in it.
And up North knocking London down a peg or 2 is probably worth a fair few votes.
Ah, OK
Phew. I don’t think it will ever happen, nor should it happen; it would be an act of self harm
The UK has one great World City. London. It might be the greatest city on earth, it is easily in the top 5
No other city in the UK is in the top 100 for “greatness”, probably not even Edinburgh (which is exceedingly handsome but too small for greatness)
Taking politics out of London would damage our politics and diminish the city at the same time. Stupid
I am intrigued if the bloke who is supposed to be his brother and got deported for criminality is actually his brother at all. From Mo's story, it sounds like it was trafficked alone, so I guess the answer is no.
WATO is going to do a segment on it. Would have been massive if we weren't focused on Tory shenanigans.
It sounds like he might also be a few years older than his official age, which would make his kicking ass in the Olympics even more impressive.
Also explains his failure to really crack the marathon.
Does this really read as anything other than satire to the Conservative membership? "Who cares about the economy , health, education, Ukraine...there's statues to worry about,"
NEW
First all MP Tory leadership hustings is **tonight**.
Any candidate with over 20 MPs support will be grilled on their approach to the culture wars including controversial statues and British history by the Common Sense Group of Tory MPs. 1/2
Most important issues facing the country: The economy 66% Health 36% Immigration & asylum 26% The environment 24% Britain leaving the EU 21% rest below 20%
Conservative voters only The economy 73% Immigration & asylum 45% Health 34% rest below 20%
I am intrigued if the bloke who is supposed to be his brother and got deported for criminality is actually his brother at all. From Mo's story, it sounds like it was trafficked alone, so I guess the answer is no.
WATO is going to do a segment on it. Would have been massive if we weren't focused on Tory shenanigans.
It sounds like he might also be a few years older than his official age, which would make his kicking ass in the Olympics even more impressive.
Also explains his failure to really crack the marathon.
Perhaps yes, although don't marathon runners normally peak later? Although I guess if he is say 2-3 years older, that means he is in his 40s now, which I presume is too old.
The betting markets seem to not be taking into account Sunak's weakness with the electorate that matters. And that is puzzling
Yes, having seen that ConHome poll I am much less certain of Sunak than I was 20 minutes ago
Tory members don’t want him as leader, not sure how he gets around that, unless he can herd the cats of the Tory parliamentary party into giving him a patsy opponent like Hunt
And there won’t be a coronation. The party is too divided and embittered for that
I don't see Sunak as a viable leader.
There is no gravitas. There is no depth. There is no broad policy agenda.
And I know it is trivial, but he is just too shiny. It gives him an artificial plastic appearance that makes him too much of an estate agent or car salesman.
Just can't take to him.
Likewise. He’s tolerable and pleasantly articulate but there’s no spark
Like others I’ve been looking at Badenoch for the first time and Yes, wow, she has that *something*, for sure
Which is encouraging. There is ample talent in the lower ranks, coming through - promoted by Boris, let it be said
I am intrigued if the bloke who is supposed to be his brother and got deported for criminality is actually his brother at all. From Mo's story, it sounds like it was trafficked alone, so I guess the answer is no.
WATO is going to do a segment on it. Would have been massive if we weren't focused on Tory shenanigans.
It sounds like he might also be a few years older than his official age, which would make his kicking ass in the Olympics even more impressive.
Quite the story.
There’s a lot going on in the world at the moment, which is mostly being ignored:
Tide turning in Ukraine, thanks to the NATO MLRS weapons. Another general killed and a massive bomb store blown up. Uber being the sh!ttiest company ever, in ways even more sh!tty that we might ever have thought posible. Revolution in Sri Lanka
Kemi Badenoch is right. Ordinary working people don’t need lectures in social morality from multi-million dollar corporates. And the fact the modern left can’t see that tells you all you need to know about the modern left.
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
Why couldn't it be Birmingham ?
The romantic in me would like Colchester, York or Winchester but none of those will happen.
York or Winchester would be good for a devolved English parliament.
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
Why couldn't it be Birmingham ?
The romantic in me would like Colchester, York or Winchester but none of those will happen.
Or Northampton.
Colchester, York and Winchester are all fine. They don't need the extra pressure. And while I'll always bang the gong for Manchester, it's doing ok, and house prices are already too high. Manchester's doing fine; as is Birmnigham (though both have old industrial areas close to the city centre ripe for redevelopment).
But I think we need somewhere which is central, accessible, and which would benefit from the investment.
Stoke.
My other alternative is Coventry. I suggested this to a senior civil servant a few years back, who almost cried at the suggestion. But five minutes later she was bemoaning that a senior civil servant can afford nothing better in London than a 2 bed flat in Streatham, and she took my point when I pointed out the connection. She did, however, bargain for Birmingham rather than Cov.
Why can't Parliament tour around the country while they do the renovations? 6 months in each city.
Pick any other city and work out where you could host Parliament except in the local arena... Even then it would mean most MPs wouldn't have an office to work in.
If we're going by that, Rotherham is probably the best place outside of Westminster.
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
The choice of re-location should be determined by number and standing of Premier league soccer clubs.
Liverpool then, with the six European Cups.
Manchester with 18 Premier League titles v Liverpool's 1
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
Why couldn't it be Birmingham ?
The romantic in me would like Colchester, York or Winchester but none of those will happen.
Too near London especially with HS2 - you would end up with Parliament in Birmingham and most things left where they were.
And the whole point of the change would be to change the focus of the country away from being London centric.
Am I missing something? Since when was it Labour policy to move parliament out of London? It’s a pretty extraordinary move
I didn't say it was policy - but given the state of Parliament it makes sense to firstly have a discussion about it and secondly whether there are votes in it.
And up North knocking London down a peg or 2 is probably worth a fair few votes.
The Palace of Westminster will need to be repaired whether or not it remains the home of Parliament.
A permanent move to another city doesn't take away the need to repair the existing buildings
Why would it need to be repaired if it's no longer home of Parliament.
But the cost of repairing an empty building is X or Y times cheaper than doing repairs when the building is being used.
Isn't it a listed building? Could be turned into a super hotel. Get 10 minutes at the dispatch box to spout whatever bollocks you like. Nowhere else could offer that opportunity.
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
Why couldn't it be Birmingham ?
The romantic in me would like Colchester, York or Winchester but none of those will happen.
Too near London especially with HS2 - you would end up with Parliament in Birmingham and most things left where they were.
And the whole point of the change would be to change the focus of the country away from being London centric.
Am I missing something? Since when was it Labour policy to move parliament out of London? It’s a pretty extraordinary move
I didn't say it was policy - but given the state of Parliament it makes sense to firstly have a discussion about it and secondly whether there are votes in it.
And up North knocking London down a peg or 2 is probably worth a fair few votes.
The Palace of Westminster will need to be repaired whether or not it remains the home of Parliament.
A permanent move to another city doesn't take away the need to repair the existing buildings
Why would it need to be repaired if it's no longer home of Parliament.
But the cost of repairing an empty building is X or Y times cheaper than doing repairs when the building is being used.
Because it is a major historic landmark. It is iconic and an important part of our national heritage.
The idea of it being allowed to slowly disintegrate or even be demolished would be cultural vandalism
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
The choice of re-location should be determined by number and standing of Premier league soccer clubs.
Liverpool then, with the six European Cups.
Manchester with 18 Premier League titles v Liverpool's 1
York, whose team has never lost a premier league game
Look at the betting posted earlier in this thread, and the implied probabilities on the right. The betting suggests the combined likelihood of either Mordaunt or Truss winning is higher than Sunak.
I am intrigued if the bloke who is supposed to be his brother and got deported for criminality is actually his brother at all. From Mo's story, it sounds like it was trafficked alone, so I guess the answer is no.
WATO is going to do a segment on it. Would have been massive if we weren't focused on Tory shenanigans.
It sounds like he might also be a few years older than his official age, which would make his kicking ass in the Olympics even more impressive.
Also explains his failure to really crack the marathon.
Perhaps yes, although don't marathon runners normally peak later? Although I guess if he is say 2-3 years older, that means he is in his 40s now, which I presume is too old.
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
Why couldn't it be Birmingham ?
The romantic in me would like Colchester, York or Winchester but none of those will happen.
Too near London especially with HS2 - you would end up with Parliament in Birmingham and most things left where they were.
And the whole point of the change would be to change the focus of the country away from being London centric.
Am I missing something? Since when was it Labour policy to move parliament out of London? It’s a pretty extraordinary move
I didn't say it was policy - but given the state of Parliament it makes sense to firstly have a discussion about it and secondly whether there are votes in it.
And up North knocking London down a peg or 2 is probably worth a fair few votes.
The Palace of Westminster will need to be repaired whether or not it remains the home of Parliament.
A permanent move to another city doesn't take away the need to repair the existing buildings
Why would it need to be repaired if it's no longer home of Parliament.
But the cost of repairing an empty building is X or Y times cheaper than doing repairs when the building is being used.
Well yes this is the point. SOMEWHERE needs to be decided on sharpish as the palace of Westminster is falling down.
None of the leadership contenders seems to be talking about levelling up. Focus seems to be on shrinking the state, which helps London and the SE. Have the Tories given up on the Red Wall, or do they hope that going large on Chicks with Dicks will obscure the abandonment of levelling up as a policy objective?
That isn't going to work when I suspect the Labour manifesto will feature HS2E, NPR and quite possibly given the state of Parliament a plan to move Parliament to Manchester
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
Why couldn't it be Birmingham ?
The romantic in me would like Colchester, York or Winchester but none of those will happen.
Too near London especially with HS2 - you would end up with Parliament in Birmingham and most things left where they were.
And the whole point of the change would be to change the focus of the country away from being London centric.
Am I missing something? Since when was it Labour policy to move parliament out of London? It’s a pretty extraordinary move
I didn't say it was policy - but given the state of Parliament it makes sense to firstly have a discussion about it and secondly whether there are votes in it.
And up North knocking London down a peg or 2 is probably worth a fair few votes.
Ah, OK
Phew. I don’t think it will ever happen, nor should it happen; it would be an act of self harm
The UK has one great World City. London. It might be the greatest city on earth, it is easily in the top 5
No other city in the UK is in the top 100 for “greatness”, probably not even Edinburgh (which is exceedingly handsome but too small for greatness)
Taking politics out of London would damage our politics and diminish the city at the same time. Stupid
Indeed. This mad narrative is in danger of becoming yet another entry in the inglorious series Things That PB Predicts That Never Happen.
I am intrigued if the bloke who is supposed to be his brother and got deported for criminality is actually his brother at all. From Mo's story, it sounds like it was trafficked alone, so I guess the answer is no.
WATO is going to do a segment on it. Would have been massive if we weren't focused on Tory shenanigans.
It sounds like he might also be a few years older than his official age, which would make his kicking ass in the Olympics even more impressive.
Quite the story.
There’s a lot going on in the world at the moment, which is mostly being ignored:
Tide turning in Ukraine, thanks to the NATO MLRS weapons. Another general killed and a massive bomb store blown up. Uber being the sh!ttiest company ever, in ways even more sh!tty that we might ever have thought posible. Revolution in Sri Lanka
I fear that Sri Lanka is facing worse than revolution
When I was in Lanka for most of Jan I read a marvelous book on the country. Elephant Complex. Superb and darkly funny
But besides amusing me it told me just how phenomenally violent Sri Lanka has been, throughout its history. So violent they view the British colonial era (unlike most other colonies) as a rather golden time of peace. They had no real desire for the Brits to depart, lest the violence return. Which it did. In the civil war. and which it may now do again
Sunak's campaign must know he's going to struggle to win a members' vote against anyone other than Hunt or Tugendhat. Their strategy therefore may be to get an overwhelming number of votes from MPs in order to pressurise the person in second place to stand down. Unlikely to happen.
Look at the betting posted earlier in this thread, and the implied probabilities on the right. The betting suggests the combined likelihood of either Mordaunt or Truss winning is higher than Sunak.
Comments
* Can't really be Birmingham for reasons and as others have pointed out if you move it to a small place it will total dominate the town / city but would leave whole piles of things in London.
2.78 Rishi Sunak 35%
3.4 Penny Mordaunt 29%
4.9 Liz Truss 20%
16.5 Kemi Badenoch 6%
17 Tom Tugendhat 5%
60 Jeremy Hunt
110 Nadhim Zahawi
120 Sajid Javid
140 Priti Patel
170 Suella Braverman
200 Dominic Raab
It is a bit like when I was young and enthusiastic. And supported setting up a UK DARPA. The politicians I met were very keen, but wanted to fix what they saw a stupid things in the DARPA model - not supporting multiple projects, but pick a single big winner. Also long term projects rather than short term goals.....
The romantic in me would like Colchester, York or Winchester but none of those will happen.
DR has backed RS
*On one occasion, the people printing the ballots for a student election (at my Uni) screwed up and ReOpen Nominations was "Ron" on the ballot. The Union reps claimed that those companioning for Ron to win were trying to sabotage the election.
And the whole point of the change would be to change the focus of the country away from being London centric.
That England bowling attack is ripe for going for a load of runs.
I really struggle to understand England's love of Craig Overton, he isn't even the best of the Overtons.
Plus. His negatives are known.
The big unsolvable problem with UBI is how to deal with the wildly different housing costs in different parts of the country. It would be totally impossible to live in London, on UBI and a minimum wage job.
Truss looks value to me now. I’m afraid I’ve done a 180 from last night but you’ve now got all the ingredients of a classic dividing line being drawn between Culture War/Tax Cuts and Rishinomics. The thing that has changed my mind has been the Nadine/JRM endorsement and the Raab/Shapps endorsement.
It is far easier to see backers of Suella, Badenoch, Priti, finding their way to Liz than it is to Penny.
Penny will get transfers from Tugendhat but that won’t get her where she needs to be for the membership round.
She either needs a big endorsement from one of the figures on the right, ideally this afternoon, or we need to be convinced she has a significant level of support from undeclared Tories.
Tory members don’t want him as leader, not sure how he gets around that, unless he can herd the cats of the Tory parliamentary party into giving him a patsy opponent like Hunt
And there won’t be a coronation. The party is too divided and embittered for that
https://youtu.be/TFufofECYuk?t-2508
But I think we need somewhere which is central, accessible, and which would benefit from the investment.
Stoke.
My other alternative is Coventry. I suggested this to a senior civil servant a few years back, who almost cried at the suggestion. But five minutes later she was bemoaning that a senior civil servant can afford nothing better in London than a 2 bed flat in Streatham, and she took my point when I pointed out the connection. She did, however, bargain for Birmingham rather than Cov.
This is funny.
Most have probably never even been there.
Plus Tory members want tax cuts because they don't need to care about 25+ years time when they will be dead in the next 15 years.
Would have been massive if we weren't focused on Tory shenanigans.
And up North knocking London down a peg or 2 is probably worth a fair few votes.
There is no gravitas. There is no depth. There is no broad policy agenda.
And I know it is trivial, but he is just too shiny. It gives him an artificial plastic appearance that makes him too much of an estate agent or car salesman.
Just can't take to him.
The sneakiest electorate on the planet?
A permanent move to another city doesn't take away the need to repair the existing buildings
https://youtu.be/yEGlbWEPLsM
But the cost of repairing an empty building is X or Y times cheaper than doing repairs when the building is being used.
Wildcard option: Kemi punches through on the right and wins the battle for those votes against Liz, as a result of strong performances at hustings. Not suggesting it’s likely, but some heads could be turned.
Then it’s much harder to call: Rishi vs Penny or Rishi v Kemi.
Phew. I don’t think it will ever happen, nor should it happen; it would be an act of self harm
The UK has one great World City. London. It might be the greatest city on earth, it is easily in the top 5
No other city in the UK is in the top 100 for “greatness”, probably not even Edinburgh (which is exceedingly handsome but too small for greatness)
Taking politics out of London would damage our politics and diminish the city at the same time. Stupid
Rishi is on conveyor belt into last 2, Truss is on conveyor belt into last two and number 10, unless Mordant can prize her out that top two slot.
it’s so utterly obvious today, why isn’t PB getting it? 😕
Most important issues facing the country:
The economy 66%
Health 36%
Immigration & asylum 26%
The environment 24%
Britain leaving the EU 21%
rest below 20%
Conservative voters only
The economy 73%
Immigration & asylum 45%
Health 34%
rest below 20%
"Continuity Boris" tag will ultimately do for her.
Like others I’ve been looking at Badenoch for the first time and Yes, wow, she has that *something*, for sure
Which is encouraging. There is ample talent in the lower ranks, coming through - promoted by Boris, let it be said
Badenoch is the next-leader-but-one?
You need to be in the top two.
There’s a lot going on in the world at the moment, which is mostly being ignored:
Tide turning in Ukraine, thanks to the NATO MLRS weapons. Another general killed and a massive bomb store blown up.
Uber being the sh!ttiest company ever, in ways even more sh!tty that we might ever have thought posible.
Revolution in Sri Lanka
https://twitter.com/DPJHodges/status/1546825483358191618
33% and the other two can have 33.5% each
Could be turned into a super hotel. Get 10 minutes at the dispatch box to spout whatever bollocks you like.
Nowhere else could offer that opportunity.
The idea of it being allowed to slowly disintegrate or even be demolished would be cultural vandalism
2.78 Rishi Sunak 35%
3.4 Penny Mordaunt 29%
4.9 Liz Truss 20%
Egypt now pays 54% of its state budge on interest/debt payments.
When I was in Lanka for most of Jan I read a marvelous book on the country. Elephant Complex. Superb and darkly funny
But besides amusing me it told me just how phenomenally violent Sri Lanka has been, throughout its history. So violent they view the British colonial era (unlike most other colonies) as a rather golden time of peace. They had no real desire for the Brits to depart, lest the violence return. Which it did. In the civil war. and which it may now do again