F1: bit sleepy at the moment but it seems Sainz has at least a 10 place penalty and may start further back with more changes, and Red Bull have been struggling a bit.
But the top 2 teams remain the class of the field. Interesting difficulties for them, though.
I am not sure people are paying enough attention to what is going on in the Conservative grassroots and many members’ fury over the defenestration of Boris Johnson. This could have long term (negative) consequences for the Conservative party. #ToryLeadershipContest https://twitter.com/christopherhope/status/1550592779818082311
I am not sure people are paying enough attention to what is going on in the Conservative grassroots and many members’ fury over the defenestration of Boris Johnson. This could have long term (negative) consequences for the Conservative party. #ToryLeadershipContest https://twitter.com/christopherhope/status/1550592779818082311
Chris Hope has been a massive cry baby for weeks about Johnson going.
I am not sure people are paying enough attention to what is going on in the Conservative grassroots and many members’ fury over the defenestration of Boris Johnson. This could have long term (negative) consequences for the Conservative party. #ToryLeadershipContest https://twitter.com/christopherhope/status/1550592779818082311
Chris Hope has been a massive cry baby for weeks about Johnson going.
Which doesn’t mean he is wrong though.
It’s possible that a lot of the remaining members are only there because of the Clown and May leave now Bozo isn’t the leader.
And if Truss is leader I can see a situation where saner members also leave… heck how likely is TSE to stay if Truss arrives and follows the Minford plan..
Either Comres has lost its marbles, or the country has.
I'm no starry-eyed admirer of Starmer, but to suggest he would be a worse PM than Truss is as mad as suggesting the DfE are the right people to run education.
I am not sure people are paying enough attention to what is going on in the Conservative grassroots and many members’ fury over the defenestration of Boris Johnson. This could have long term (negative) consequences for the Conservative party. #ToryLeadershipContest https://twitter.com/christopherhope/status/1550592779818082311
Chris Hope has been a massive cry baby for weeks about Johnson going.
Which doesn’t mean he is wrong though.
It’s possible that a lot of the remaining members are only there because of the Clown and May leave now Bozo isn’t the leader.
And if Truss is leader I can see a situation where saner members also leave… heck how likely is TSE to stay if Truss arrives and follows the Minford plan..
.....and it is too late for those who, appalled by Johnson, failed to renew their membership. Experience in Chesham & Amersham, Shropshire N. and Tiverton and Honiton was that lifelong Conservatives were very, very upset by Johnson's behaviour.
"Liz Truss’s team is frantically distancing themselves from her economics guru tonight after he said her tax cuts could result in interest rates of up to 7 per cent.
Professor Patrick Minford, who was named by the Tory leadership frontrunner as endorsing her fiscal strategy, said higher rates would be a “good thing” and more expensive mortgages would be “part of the adjustment”.
However, several mortgage experts warned this would lead to further annual payments on the average mortgage of about £700 a month, crippling household finances.
Former chancellor Norman Lamont also told i it would not be a “good thing” to see interest rates go as high as 7 per cent and said it would be “interesting” to see if Truss agreed with the claims.
The Truss campaign was trying to distance themselves from Professor Minford last night, saying he had no “official role” with her campaign – despite the Foreign Secretary citing his influence as recently as Thursday."
Either Comres has lost its marbles, or the country has.
I'm no starry-eyed admirer of Starmer, but to suggest he would be a worse PM than Truss is as mad as suggesting the DfE are the right people to run education.
It could be that Truss firms up centre-right voters propensity to vote Conservative and Starmer is just meh for centre-left.
I'm still not sure there's much switching going on.
Savanta ComRes interviewed 2,109 UK adults aged 18+ online on 21 July 2022. Data was weighted to be representative of all UK adults by age, sex, region, and SEG. Voting intention is also weighted by past vote recall (2019 and 2016) and likelihood to vote.
The latest borrowing figures and economic for the UK are simply horrific.
In theory this should suit Sunak - who will make long-term solvency decisions - but because he's so well-off and confident about it - and it probably doesn't help that his wife is a non-dom - people simply don't trust him to have their best interests at heart and do enough about it.
The latest borrowing figures and economic for the UK are simply horrific.
In theory this should suit Sunak - who will make long-term solvency decisions - but because he's so well-off and confident about it - and it probably doesn't help that his wife is a non-dom - people simply don't trust him to have their best interests at heart and do enough about it.
I think Sunak's problem is that as Chancellor for two years he has to explain how it isn't his fault.
The problem with Truss - not so much a problem for her - is that what she's proposing would make things a hundred times worse.
Boris Johnson has effectively left office, with queues at Dover, a Brexit bill of €50 billion, and the EU now suing the UK for trying to unilaterally change the Brexit deal over Northern Ireland.
The latest borrowing figures and economic for the UK are simply horrific.
In theory this should suit Sunak - who will make long-term solvency decisions - but because he's so well-off and confident about it - and it probably doesn't help that his wife is a non-dom - people simply don't trust him to have their best interests at heart and do enough about it.
I think Sunak's problem is that as Chancellor for two years he has to explain how it isn't his fault.
The problem with Truss - not so much a problem for her - is that what she's proposing would make things a hundred times worse.
That's the thing with Minford's announcement of 7% interest rates - it's a disaster for anyone who has borrowed money but looks brilliant for someone with a lot of savings earning nothing...
The fact that inflation would be very similar to that interest rate (so the actual interest earnt would be zero) is lost on everyone.
The latest borrowing figures and economic for the UK are simply horrific.
In theory this should suit Sunak - who will make long-term solvency decisions - but because he's so well-off and confident about it - and it probably doesn't help that his wife is a non-dom - people simply don't trust him to have their best interests at heart and do enough about it.
I think Sunak's problem is that as Chancellor for two years he has to explain how it isn't his fault.
The problem with Truss - not so much a problem for her - is that what she's proposing would make things a hundred times worse.
That's the thing with Minford's announcement of 7% interest rates - it's a disaster for anyone who has borrowed money but looks brilliant for someone with a lot of savings earning nothing...
The fact that inflation would be very similar to that interest rate (so the actual interest earnt would be zero) is lost on everyone.
I think at the moment we'd be pretty happy if inflation fell below 7%.
Even with this new deal between Russia and Ukraine on grain exports, however, that seems unlikely for now at least.
The latest borrowing figures and economic for the UK are simply horrific.
In theory this should suit Sunak - who will make long-term solvency decisions - but because he's so well-off and confident about it - and it probably doesn't help that his wife is a non-dom - people simply don't trust him to have their best interests at heart and do enough about it.
Team Truss might remind people that Rishi was the Chancellor who steered the economy into this hole. ETA scooped by ydoethur.
"Liz Truss’s team is frantically distancing themselves from her economics guru tonight after he said her tax cuts could result in interest rates of up to 7 per cent.
Professor Patrick Minford, who was named by the Tory leadership frontrunner as endorsing her fiscal strategy, said higher rates would be a “good thing” and more expensive mortgages would be “part of the adjustment”.
However, several mortgage experts warned this would lead to further annual payments on the average mortgage of about £700 a month, crippling household finances.
Former chancellor Norman Lamont also told i it would not be a “good thing” to see interest rates go as high as 7 per cent and said it would be “interesting” to see if Truss agreed with the claims.
The Truss campaign was trying to distance themselves from Professor Minford last night, saying he had no “official role” with her campaign – despite the Foreign Secretary citing his influence as recently as Thursday."
There was talk at the start of the year that if things went badly for Putin this could be another 1989 moment. Maybe for the UK too. The climax of the Lawson boom?
Either Comres has lost its marbles, or the country has.
I'm no starry-eyed admirer of Starmer, but to suggest he would be a worse PM than Truss is as mad as suggesting the DfE are the right people to run education.
People don't know who Truss is, so she gets a benefit of the doubt that Sunak does not get. Given what's coming when she takes over, those numbers are unlikely to last very long.
Incidentally, I have just been reading up on the Steve Bannon trial.
What a total fecking idiot. No wonder the jury only took three hours to convict. I'm surprised it took longer than three minutes.
@rcs1000 pointed out yesterday that you would expect every trial to have at least 1 Trump supporter within it who can't see the problem.
I suspect all 3 hours were spent by the other 11 trying to convince that person that Bannon was a complete idiot and deserved no help.
Possibly, but it still seems fairly quick (although I don't know as much about American processes as about ours - do they still have the 'incarcerated until decided' rule)?
Helpfully, it probably removes Bannon from circulation for 2024, as if the sentence is the maximum - and I can't see why it wouldn't be - he'd be released either very shortly before, or after, the elections.
But, my goodness, what an idiot. Saying he thought subpoenas were 'negotiable,' that his appeal is 'bullet proof,' that he's covered by 'executive privilege' when he clearly isn't, refusing to testify under oath to Congress and to his trial.
His reasoning seems to be 'you can't convict me because I'm Steve Bannon.' No wonder the jury weren't impressed.
And his attorney was no better. Like Giuliani on acid while filming Borat 2.
Incidentally, I have just been reading up on the Steve Bannon trial.
What a total fecking idiot. No wonder the jury only took three hours to convict. I'm surprised it took longer than three minutes.
@rcs1000 pointed out yesterday that you would expect every trial to have at least 1 Trump supporter within it who can't see the problem.
I suspect all 3 hours were spent by the other 11 trying to convince that person that Bannon was a complete idiot and deserved no help.
Possibly, but it still seems fairly quick (although I don't know as much about American processes as about ours - do they still have the 'incarcerated until decided' rule)?
Helpfully, it probably removes Bannon from circulation for 2024, as if the sentence is the maximum - and I can't see why it wouldn't be - he'd be released either very shortly before, or after, the elections.
But, my goodness, what an idiot. Saying he thought subpoenas were 'negotiable,' that his appeal is 'bullet proof,' that he's covered by 'executive privilege' when he clearly isn't, refusing to testify under oath to Congress and to his trial.
His reasoning seems to be 'you can't convict me because I'm Steve Bannon.' No wonder the jury weren't impressed.
And his attorney was no better. Like Giuliani on acid while filming Borat 2.
I can see why Bannon and his attorney weren't doing much - when you defence argument is being ignored and that isn't being discussed until October I can see why you may not be that concerned with what is almost a default judgment...
The latest borrowing figures and economic for the UK are simply horrific.
In theory this should suit Sunak - who will make long-term solvency decisions - but because he's so well-off and confident about it - and it probably doesn't help that his wife is a non-dom - people simply don't trust him to have their best interests at heart and do enough about it.
I think Sunak's problem is that as Chancellor for two years he has to explain how it isn't his fault.
The problem with Truss - not so much a problem for her - is that what she's proposing would make things a hundred times worse.
That's the thing with Minford's announcement of 7% interest rates - it's a disaster for anyone who has borrowed money but looks brilliant for someone with a lot of savings earning nothing...
The fact that inflation would be very similar to that interest rate (so the actual interest earnt would be zero) is lost on everyone.
Tory members are disproportionately wealthy mortgage-free pensioners so 7% interest rates might be right up their alley. The electorate as a whole not so much. Incidentally this is what happens when you hitch your wagon to a dogmatic economic theorist like Minford who hasn't lived in the real world in decades.
The latest borrowing figures and economic for the UK are simply horrific.
In theory this should suit Sunak - who will make long-term solvency decisions - but because he's so well-off and confident about it - and it probably doesn't help that his wife is a non-dom - people simply don't trust him to have their best interests at heart and do enough about it.
Sunak has probably been arguing in cabinet about the dangers of trade war with Europe. Whether he'll be brave enough to say this when backing the DUP is now an article of faith within the Conservative party I don't know.
The latest borrowing figures and economic for the UK are simply horrific.
In theory this should suit Sunak - who will make long-term solvency decisions - but because he's so well-off and confident about it - and it probably doesn't help that his wife is a non-dom - people simply don't trust him to have their best interests at heart and do enough about it.
Sunak has probably been arguing in cabinet about the dangers of trade war with Europe. Whether he'll be brave enough to say this when backing the DUP is now an article of faith within the Conservative party I don't know.
The latest borrowing figures and economic for the UK are simply horrific.
In theory this should suit Sunak - who will make long-term solvency decisions - but because he's so well-off and confident about it - and it probably doesn't help that his wife is a non-dom - people simply don't trust him to have their best interests at heart and do enough about it.
Sunak has probably been arguing in cabinet about the dangers of trade war with Europe. Whether he'll be brave enough to say this when backing the DUP is now an article of faith within the Conservative party I don't know.
Rishi Sunak brave lol.
Well the funny thing is if he really is the underdog now he might as well go for it.
Either Comres has lost its marbles, or the country has.
I'm no starry-eyed admirer of Starmer, but to suggest he would be a worse PM than Truss is as mad as suggesting the DfE are the right people to run education.
People don't know who Truss is, so she gets a benefit of the doubt that Sunak does not get. Given what's coming when she takes over, those numbers are unlikely to last very long.
I think it's safe to assume that Liz Truss's honeymoon will be shorter than Miss Havisham's.
Overwhelming support for Net Zero amongst All voters and Con voters.
Asking if people are in favour of Net Zero without mentioning the costs is meaningless, especially as the Government has done its absolute best to hide the real cost from voters.
Like asking people if they would like a Ferrari and a mansion. Of course they would - the difficulty is they'll have to pay for it.
A better question is, "Are you in favour of Net Zero at a cost of at least a trillion pounds over the next twenty years, when the NHS has 5 million on the waiting list, taxes are at a record high and our armed forces are criminally underequipped?"
"Because debt is so high, it would be foolish for us to embark on a tax-cutting spree that would lead to even higher debt and feed the monster of inflation that we absolutely must tame. That is why Rishi is absolutely right to insist that we must bring down inflation first and steer our economy to a place where it would be safe to cut taxes."
The latest borrowing figures and economic for the UK are simply horrific.
In theory this should suit Sunak - who will make long-term solvency decisions - but because he's so well-off and confident about it - and it probably doesn't help that his wife is a non-dom - people simply don't trust him to have their best interests at heart and do enough about it.
Sunak has probably been arguing in cabinet about the dangers of trade war with Europe. Whether he'll be brave enough to say this when backing the DUP is now an article of faith within the Conservative party I don't know.
Rishi Sunak brave lol.
Well the funny thing is if he really is the underdog now he might as well go for it.
Sunak needs something big to turn this around in the next week because it seems the ballots are going out long before the bulk of the hustings.
"Liz Truss’s team is frantically distancing themselves from her economics guru tonight after he said her tax cuts could result in interest rates of up to 7 per cent.
Professor Patrick Minford, who was named by the Tory leadership frontrunner as endorsing her fiscal strategy, said higher rates would be a “good thing” and more expensive mortgages would be “part of the adjustment”.
However, several mortgage experts warned this would lead to further annual payments on the average mortgage of about £700 a month, crippling household finances.
Former chancellor Norman Lamont also told i it would not be a “good thing” to see interest rates go as high as 7 per cent and said it would be “interesting” to see if Truss agreed with the claims.
The Truss campaign was trying to distance themselves from Professor Minford last night, saying he had no “official role” with her campaign – despite the Foreign Secretary citing his influence as recently as Thursday."
There was talk at the start of the year that if things went badly for Putin this could be another 1989 moment. Maybe for the UK too. The climax of the Lawson boom?
Things beginning to look dicey in Kherson Oblast for Russia with the bridge out of action at Kherson city and significant forces encircled in the North of the Oblast.
I am not sure people are paying enough attention to what is going on in the Conservative grassroots and many members’ fury over the defenestration of Boris Johnson. This could have long term (negative) consequences for the Conservative party. #ToryLeadershipContest https://twitter.com/christopherhope/status/1550592779818082311
Chris Hope has been a massive cry baby for weeks about Johnson going.
Which doesn’t mean he is wrong though.
It’s possible that a lot of the remaining members are only there because of the Clown and May leave now Bozo isn’t the leader.
And if Truss is leader I can see a situation where saner members also leave… heck how likely is TSE to stay if Truss arrives and follows the Minford plan..
The Conservative party, from top to bottom, seems to have taken leave of its senses. https://twitter.com/christopherhope/status/1550596245328171014 … Put simply, there are two battles for the Tory leadership going on. The official one, between Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, selected for the masses by Tory MPs, and the second unofficial campaign among some Tory grassroots activists to restore Boris Johnson to the throne...
Though granted there were a fair number of them who never possessed any in the first place.
The latest borrowing figures and economic for the UK are simply horrific.
In theory this should suit Sunak - who will make long-term solvency decisions - but because he's so well-off and confident about it - and it probably doesn't help that his wife is a non-dom - people simply don't trust him to have their best interests at heart and do enough about it.
Sunak has probably been arguing in cabinet about the dangers of trade war with Europe. Whether he'll be brave enough to say this when backing the DUP is now an article of faith within the Conservative party I don't know.
Rishi Sunak brave lol.
Well the funny thing is if he really is the underdog now he might as well go for it.
Sunak needs something big to turn this around in the next week because it seems the ballots are going out long before the bulk of the hustings.
As Liz Truss’ economic plans seem to be unraveling already, we can but pray
It's a rubbish deal which her own officials warned her against. The only thing it delivered was yet another photo opportunity for her.
When everybody's getting screwed by inflation and you have labour shortages, anything producing "huge job losses" is a win. It means you have more stuff for less money.
"I have never believed that the EU would suddenly collapse. But I thought it likely that it would gradually run out of political capacity due to lack of popular legitimacy. Many, like myself, have drawn a comparison with the Austro-Hungarian empire: divided, weak but unreformable, aiming at best to maintain (as one of its rulers put it) “a stable level of discontent” among a resigned population. This now seems optimistic."
The latest borrowing figures and economic for the UK are simply horrific.
In theory this should suit Sunak - who will make long-term solvency decisions - but because he's so well-off and confident about it - and it probably doesn't help that his wife is a non-dom - people simply don't trust him to have their best interests at heart and do enough about it.
Sunak has probably been arguing in cabinet about the dangers of trade war with Europe. Whether he'll be brave enough to say this when backing the DUP is now an article of faith within the Conservative party I don't know.
Rishi Sunak brave lol.
Well the funny thing is if he really is the underdog now he might as well go for it.
Sunak needs something big to turn this around in the next week because it seems the ballots are going out long before the bulk of the hustings.
As Liz Truss’ economic plans seem to be unraveling already, we can but pray
They may unravel but I see nothing that stops her ending up in a position to implement them regardless.
And there is plenty of evidence that she will continue to do things even when others tell her to stop doing something so stupid...
"I have never believed that the EU would suddenly collapse. But I thought it likely that it would gradually run out of political capacity due to lack of popular legitimacy. Many, like myself, have drawn a comparison with the Austro-Hungarian empire: divided, weak but unreformable, aiming at best to maintain (as one of its rulers put it) “a stable level of discontent” among a resigned population. This now seems optimistic."
"I have never believed that the EU would suddenly collapse. But I thought it likely that it would gradually run out of political capacity due to lack of popular legitimacy. Many, like myself, have drawn a comparison with the Austro-Hungarian empire: divided, weak but unreformable, aiming at best to maintain (as one of its rulers put it) “a stable level of discontent” among a resigned population. This now seems optimistic."
It never occurs to nationalists like Tombs that many of those opposing the government's disastrous approach to Brexit do so because they care deeply about the UK and its future.
Either Comres has lost its marbles, or the country has.
I'm no starry-eyed admirer of Starmer, but to suggest he would be a worse PM than Truss is as mad as suggesting the DfE are the right people to run education.
The public in general are not necessarily great judges of economic policy, but they seem to have a nose for when people have self-belief, which they see as a desirable trait - if a politician doesn't have confidence in themself why should anyone else? And Truss at least has A Plan. Most people on here might not think that it is a good plan, but having a plan, setting out a direction for people to follow, is a pretty good start if you want to be a leader.
By contrast, what does Starmer have? No-one can follow Starmer if he's too nervous to set out where he would lead.
"I have never believed that the EU would suddenly collapse. But I thought it likely that it would gradually run out of political capacity due to lack of popular legitimacy. Many, like myself, have drawn a comparison with the Austro-Hungarian empire: divided, weak but unreformable, aiming at best to maintain (as one of its rulers put it) “a stable level of discontent” among a resigned population. This now seems optimistic."
"I have never believed that the EU would suddenly collapse. But I thought it likely that it would gradually run out of political capacity due to lack of popular legitimacy. Many, like myself, have drawn a comparison with the Austro-Hungarian empire: divided, weak but unreformable, aiming at best to maintain (as one of its rulers put it) “a stable level of discontent” among a resigned population. This now seems optimistic."
"Liz Truss’s team is frantically distancing themselves from her economics guru tonight after he said her tax cuts could result in interest rates of up to 7 per cent.
Professor Patrick Minford, who was named by the Tory leadership frontrunner as endorsing her fiscal strategy, said higher rates would be a “good thing” and more expensive mortgages would be “part of the adjustment”.
However, several mortgage experts warned this would lead to further annual payments on the average mortgage of about £700 a month, crippling household finances.
Former chancellor Norman Lamont also told i it would not be a “good thing” to see interest rates go as high as 7 per cent and said it would be “interesting” to see if Truss agreed with the claims.
The Truss campaign was trying to distance themselves from Professor Minford last night, saying he had no “official role” with her campaign – despite the Foreign Secretary citing his influence as recently as Thursday."
Let me guess: neither of them have mortgages, but do have savings?
"Liz Truss’s team is frantically distancing themselves from her economics guru tonight after he said her tax cuts could result in interest rates of up to 7 per cent.
Professor Patrick Minford, who was named by the Tory leadership frontrunner as endorsing her fiscal strategy, said higher rates would be a “good thing” and more expensive mortgages would be “part of the adjustment”.
However, several mortgage experts warned this would lead to further annual payments on the average mortgage of about £700 a month, crippling household finances.
Former chancellor Norman Lamont also told i it would not be a “good thing” to see interest rates go as high as 7 per cent and said it would be “interesting” to see if Truss agreed with the claims.
The Truss campaign was trying to distance themselves from Professor Minford last night, saying he had no “official role” with her campaign – despite the Foreign Secretary citing his influence as recently as Thursday."
There was talk at the start of the year that if things went badly for Putin this could be another 1989 moment. Maybe for the UK too. The climax of the Lawson boom?
Things beginning to look dicey in Kherson Oblast for Russia with the bridge out of action at Kherson city and significant forces encircled in the North of the Oblast.
"I have never believed that the EU would suddenly collapse. But I thought it likely that it would gradually run out of political capacity due to lack of popular legitimacy. Many, like myself, have drawn a comparison with the Austro-Hungarian empire: divided, weak but unreformable, aiming at best to maintain (as one of its rulers put it) “a stable level of discontent” among a resigned population. This now seems optimistic."
Mr. B, the complacency of Labour when it came to long term matters was phenomenal. Inheriting a boom, they ran a deficit. They imposed political divisions permanently with the creation of devolved political bodies for everywhere that wasn't England (and then tried to slice England into pieces).
Labour, but also other parties, were as bad or worse on the EU. Giving away vetoes, and rebates, promising and reneging upon a referendum. Similarly, all parties have been very poor on energy policy, and defence.
Long term planning has been abysmal here. Partly that's down to the media fixation on bad news, short termism, and personalities over policies.
Truss can’t have it both ways. On one hand championing Minford supporting her tax cuts but then ditching him when he says something not good for her campaign .
Truss can’t have it both ways. On one hand championing Minford supporting her tax cuts but then ditching him when he says something not good for her campaign .
She can because all she needs to do / what she can hope for is to ensure people hear that Minford or XYZ says it's a good idea and hope no one reports the word but and everything afterwards...
By contrast, what does Starmer have? No-one can follow Starmer if he's too nervous to set out where he would lead.
That one might change, of course. In his interview on the Alistair Campbell/Rory Stewart podcast he sketched his strategy as LOTO as a multistep (1) detoxify and deal with antisemitism (2) make the case that the Tories don't deserve to be in government (3) put the positive case for Labour; where we're now moving into step 3. Now, I dunno whether that is the best way to do it overall, but it does suggest there might be more emphasis on the "where Labour will lead us" part going forward. If so, we get to see if it feeds into best-PM and other polling figures.
"I have never believed that the EU would suddenly collapse. But I thought it likely that it would gradually run out of political capacity due to lack of popular legitimacy. Many, like myself, have drawn a comparison with the Austro-Hungarian empire: divided, weak but unreformable, aiming at best to maintain (as one of its rulers put it) “a stable level of discontent” among a resigned population. This now seems optimistic."
Truss can’t have it both ways. On one hand championing Minford supporting her tax cuts but then ditching him when he says something not good for her campaign .
She can because all she needs to do / what she can hope for is to ensure people hear that Minford or XYZ says it's a good idea and hope no one reports the word but and everything afterwards...
Surely Sunak can’t miss this open goal in the debate on Monday .
"I have never believed that the EU would suddenly collapse. But I thought it likely that it would gradually run out of political capacity due to lack of popular legitimacy. Many, like myself, have drawn a comparison with the Austro-Hungarian empire: divided, weak but unreformable, aiming at best to maintain (as one of its rulers put it) “a stable level of discontent” among a resigned population. This now seems optimistic."
That's the thing with Minford's announcement of 7% interest rates - it's a disaster for anyone who has borrowed money but looks brilliant for someone with a lot of savings earning nothing...
The fact that inflation would be very similar to that interest rate (so the actual interest earnt would be zero) is lost on everyone.
Speaking as somebody with savings, 7% interest rates with 7% inflation sounds a lot better than the 3% interest rates and 10% inflation that we have now... (adjust figures to taste)
It's a rubbish deal which her own officials warned her against. The only thing it delivered was yet another photo opportunity for her.
Look at the signatories to the letter - farmers who want to keep competition out and woke charities that hate free trade.
If anything I think the deal did not go nearly far enough in giving British consumers the benefits of cheaper food for decades.
I don't agree at all with the criticism of the deal - it shows a net GDP gain with better access for British businesses and services, and provides one of the most liberal deals for young people under 35 that Australia has ever signed - they basically have full free movement up to 3 years. Australia is a growing economy with a growing role in the Indo-Pacific, and a close ally, and it's quite right we strengthen our ties.
I'm not at all worried about the impact on British agriculture; we had free trade with Australia and New Zealand up until 1980 and (guess what!) British farming was fine.
We've also been part of a single agricultural market of over 400m people for the best part of 40 years, exposed to competition right across Europe that's barely 25 miles away, and that didn't collapse British farming either. The only real criticism I can make of it is that it doesn't contain enough clauses on climate change.
Criticism of this falls simply down Brexit lines: if the EU had done a similar deal (and, indeed, they are currently negotiating one) then precisely the same people would be applauding it.
If that statement comes from a Tory MP, they only have themselves to blame. It was always abundantly clear that Sunak was not popular with the members, yet the 'gizzajob' numpties still voted for him, hoping that the engineered alternative would be so unthinkable that people would be forced to vote for the slightly less shit option. That doesn't work. People don't like being manipulated in that way. Basically Tory MP's passed on the good option, Mordaunt (I admit she didn't perform exceptionally in the campaign), now they're reaping what they've sown.
"Liz Truss’s team is frantically distancing themselves from her economics guru tonight after he said her tax cuts could result in interest rates of up to 7 per cent.
Professor Patrick Minford, who was named by the Tory leadership frontrunner as endorsing her fiscal strategy, said higher rates would be a “good thing” and more expensive mortgages would be “part of the adjustment”.
However, several mortgage experts warned this would lead to further annual payments on the average mortgage of about £700 a month, crippling household finances.
Former chancellor Norman Lamont also told i it would not be a “good thing” to see interest rates go as high as 7 per cent and said it would be “interesting” to see if Truss agreed with the claims.
The Truss campaign was trying to distance themselves from Professor Minford last night, saying he had no “official role” with her campaign – despite the Foreign Secretary citing his influence as recently as Thursday."
Let me guess: neither of them have mortgages, but do have savings?
The claim "to bring 7% interest rates" is a gormless, dishonest exaggeration of what was actually said by Minford.
But then we all know that.
But then it is playbook for the UK media shitshow - take an extreme case, get somebody to say "*this* would cause *that*", and try and hang it around the neck of the person who didn't say it in the first place.
There is a reason they are generally contemptible.
"I have never believed that the EU would suddenly collapse. But I thought it likely that it would gradually run out of political capacity due to lack of popular legitimacy. Many, like myself, have drawn a comparison with the Austro-Hungarian empire: divided, weak but unreformable, aiming at best to maintain (as one of its rulers put it) “a stable level of discontent” among a resigned population. This now seems optimistic."
The transformation of historians into partisan political commentators is not necessarily to their or our advantage.
It’s hardly a new development; arguably as old as history itself.
No doubt but I suspect that they were not being megaphoned on whatever the equivalent was of an ahistorical, reactionary rag like the Tele. Their partisanship would I think be more about polishing a turd after the event rather than influencing current perceptions of said turd.
"I have never believed that the EU would suddenly collapse. But I thought it likely that it would gradually run out of political capacity due to lack of popular legitimacy. Many, like myself, have drawn a comparison with the Austro-Hungarian empire: divided, weak but unreformable, aiming at best to maintain (as one of its rulers put it) “a stable level of discontent” among a resigned population. This now seems optimistic."
It never occurs to nationalists like Tombs that many of those opposing the government's disastrous approach to Brexit do so because they care deeply about the UK and its future.
Robert Tombs is a professor emeritus of French history at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of St John's College, Cambridge. He is also the recipient of the Ordre des Palmes académiques awarded by the French government. He is a respected and revered academic at the highest level, and a very intelligent man.
You may not agree with his views on the EU but he's a remarkably well-read and well-informed individual, and makes his arguments reasonably, proportionately and lucidly.
You are entirely unqualified to denigrate him with such smears.
It's a rubbish deal which her own officials warned her against. The only thing it delivered was yet another photo opportunity for her.
Look at the signatories to the letter - farmers who want to keep competition out and woke charities that hate free trade.
If anything I think the deal did not go nearly far enough in giving British consumers the benefits of cheaper food for decades.
I don't agree at all with the criticism of the deal - it shows a net GDP gain with better access for British businesses and services, and provides one of the most liberal deals for young people under 35 that Australia has ever signed - they basically have full free movement up to 3 years. Australia is a growing economy with a growing role in the Indo-Pacific, and a close ally, and it's quite right we strengthen our ties.
I'm not at all worried about the impact on British agriculture; we had free trade with Australia and New Zealand up until 1980 and (guess what!) British farming was fine.
We've also been part of a single agricultural market of over 400m people for the best part of 40 years, exposed to competition right across Europe that's barely 25 miles away, and that didn't collapse British farming either. The only real criticism I can make of it is that it doesn't contain enough clauses on climate change.
Criticism of this falls simply down Brexit lines: if the EU had done a similar deal (and, indeed, they are currently negotiating one) then precisely the same people would be applauding it.
A government that believed in Parliamentary democracy would have allowed MPs to scrutinise the deal before it was signed.
The latest borrowing figures and economic for the UK are simply horrific.
In theory this should suit Sunak - who will make long-term solvency decisions - but because he's so well-off and confident about it - and it probably doesn't help that his wife is a non-dom - people simply don't trust him to have their best interests at heart and do enough about it.
Sunak has probably been arguing in cabinet about the dangers of trade war with Europe. Whether he'll be brave enough to say this when backing the DUP is now an article of faith within the Conservative party I don't know.
Rishi Sunak brave lol.
Well the funny thing is if he really is the underdog now he might as well go for it.
Sunak needs something big to turn this around in the next week because it seems the ballots are going out long before the bulk of the hustings.
True but it is in the early hustings that an unprepared Liz Truss is most likely to implode, so it is swings and roundabouts on early ballot returns.
"Liz Truss’s team is frantically distancing themselves from her economics guru tonight after he said her tax cuts could result in interest rates of up to 7 per cent.
Professor Patrick Minford, who was named by the Tory leadership frontrunner as endorsing her fiscal strategy, said higher rates would be a “good thing” and more expensive mortgages would be “part of the adjustment”.
However, several mortgage experts warned this would lead to further annual payments on the average mortgage of about £700 a month, crippling household finances.
Former chancellor Norman Lamont also told i it would not be a “good thing” to see interest rates go as high as 7 per cent and said it would be “interesting” to see if Truss agreed with the claims.
The Truss campaign was trying to distance themselves from Professor Minford last night, saying he had no “official role” with her campaign – despite the Foreign Secretary citing his influence as recently as Thursday."
Let me guess: neither of them have mortgages, but do have savings?
The claim "to bring 7% interest rates" is a gormless, dishonest exaggeration of what was actually said by Minford.
But then we all know that.
But then it is playbook for the UK media shitshow - take an extreme case, get somebody to say "*this* would cause *that*", and try and hang it around the neck of the person who didn't say it in the first place.
There is a reason they are generally contemptible.
Yeah, let's blame the media for the nasty things the rival politicians' camps are saying about each other.
"I have never believed that the EU would suddenly collapse. But I thought it likely that it would gradually run out of political capacity due to lack of popular legitimacy. Many, like myself, have drawn a comparison with the Austro-Hungarian empire: divided, weak but unreformable, aiming at best to maintain (as one of its rulers put it) “a stable level of discontent” among a resigned population. This now seems optimistic."
The transformation of historians into partisan political commentators is not necessarily to their or our advantage.
It’s hardly a new development; arguably as old as history itself.
No doubt but I suspect that they were not being megaphoned on whatever the equivalent was of an ahistorical, reactionary rag like the Tele. Their partisanship would I think be more about polishing a turd after the event rather than influencing current perceptions of said turd.
If anything, the Mail is probably a better newspaper than the Telegraph these days. That’s how low it has sunk.
"Liz Truss’s team is frantically distancing themselves from her economics guru tonight after he said her tax cuts could result in interest rates of up to 7 per cent.
Professor Patrick Minford, who was named by the Tory leadership frontrunner as endorsing her fiscal strategy, said higher rates would be a “good thing” and more expensive mortgages would be “part of the adjustment”.
However, several mortgage experts warned this would lead to further annual payments on the average mortgage of about £700 a month, crippling household finances.
Former chancellor Norman Lamont also told i it would not be a “good thing” to see interest rates go as high as 7 per cent and said it would be “interesting” to see if Truss agreed with the claims.
The Truss campaign was trying to distance themselves from Professor Minford last night, saying he had no “official role” with her campaign – despite the Foreign Secretary citing his influence as recently as Thursday."
There was talk at the start of the year that if things went badly for Putin this could be another 1989 moment. Maybe for the UK too. The climax of the Lawson boom?
Things beginning to look dicey in Kherson Oblast for Russia with the bridge out of action at Kherson city and significant forces encircled in the North of the Oblast.
That encirclement hasn't happened. I posted a link to a tweet debunking it yesterday. People got a bit overexcited about a near encirclement.
Neither that original claim or the debunking were authoritative or persuasive. Either could be correct.
People trying to discern what is going on on the ground at that sort of granularity from open-source maps are essentially reading the entrails of a snake.
If that statement comes from a Tory MP, they only have themselves to blame. It was always abundantly clear that Sunak was not popular with the members, yet the 'gizzajob' numpties still voted for him, hoping that the engineered alternative would be so unthinkable that people would be forced to vote for the slightly less shit option. That doesn't work. People don't like being manipulated in that way. Basically Tory MP's passed on the good option, Mordaunt (I admit she didn't perform exceptionally in the campaign), now they're reaping what they've sown.
That does not seem to be what happened. Mordaunt was the risky option. MPs voted for the two most senior options available.
The latest borrowing figures and economic for the UK are simply horrific.
In theory this should suit Sunak - who will make long-term solvency decisions - but because he's so well-off and confident about it - and it probably doesn't help that his wife is a non-dom - people simply don't trust him to have their best interests at heart and do enough about it.
I think Sunak's problem is that as Chancellor for two years he has to explain how it isn't his fault.
The problem with Truss - not so much a problem for her - is that what she's proposing would make things a hundred times worse.
I think it's nuanced. Reversing the NI tax rise (which has only been in place for 3 months) should not be as we simply go back to the antebellum in March 2022 and it increases the value of work, which could help attract some back into the workforce. *Not* increasing corporation tax might also help in showing the UK is open for business and will retain a competitive tax regime in the medium-long term. Both could help recovery.
However, in terms of tax cuts, I would stop there, other than further measures to mitigate energy price rises this Autumn.
It's essential to signpost to business investors and the markets that the UK has a sustainable and responsible path to balancing any structural deficit, and deal with debt, to maintain the value of the pound and avoid further inflation.
It's a rubbish deal which her own officials warned her against. The only thing it delivered was yet another photo opportunity for her.
Look at the signatories to the letter - farmers who want to keep competition out and woke charities that hate free trade.
If anything I think the deal did not go nearly far enough in giving British consumers the benefits of cheaper food for decades.
Look at the substance of the letter. It is about the refusal to allow any Parliamentary scrutiny of the deal. Those who moaned endlessly about the lack of scrutiny of what the EU was up to, its high handedness, its bypassing of democratically elected Parliaments now say nothing - applaud even - when the British executive does exactly the same thing and shows utter contempt for Parliament, for MPs and for voters.
"I have never believed that the EU would suddenly collapse. But I thought it likely that it would gradually run out of political capacity due to lack of popular legitimacy. Many, like myself, have drawn a comparison with the Austro-Hungarian empire: divided, weak but unreformable, aiming at best to maintain (as one of its rulers put it) “a stable level of discontent” among a resigned population. This now seems optimistic."
It's a rubbish deal which her own officials warned her against. The only thing it delivered was yet another photo opportunity for her.
Look at the signatories to the letter - farmers who want to keep competition out and woke charities that hate free trade.
If anything I think the deal did not go nearly far enough in giving British consumers the benefits of cheaper food for decades.
I don't agree at all with the criticism of the deal - it shows a net GDP gain with better access for British businesses and services, and provides one of the most liberal deals for young people under 35 that Australia has ever signed - they basically have full free movement up to 3 years. Australia is a growing economy with a growing role in the Indo-Pacific, and a close ally, and it's quite right we strengthen our ties.
I'm not at all worried about the impact on British agriculture; we had free trade with Australia and New Zealand up until 1980 and (guess what!) British farming was fine.
We've also been part of a single agricultural market of over 400m people for the best part of 40 years, exposed to competition right across Europe that's barely 25 miles away, and that didn't collapse British farming either. The only real criticism I can make of it is that it doesn't contain enough clauses on climate change.
Criticism of this falls simply down Brexit lines: if the EU had done a similar deal (and, indeed, they are currently negotiating one) then precisely the same people would be applauding it.
A government that believed in Parliamentary democracy would have allowed MPs to scrutinise the deal before it was signed.
As it happens, I agree - all trade deals should be debated and voted on in the floor of the House of Commons, and I'd be supportive of this.
What I don't agree with, though, is this hyperbolic meme of yours that this government is a threat to the future of democracy in the UK.
Mr. eek, thinking a country is entirely bad, especially when that country fought against the Nazis and did more to end slavery than any other, is not so much lacking nuance as lacking any semblance of intelligence.
Every country has good and bad parts, both present day and historically. Blindly hating somewhere is just stupid.
Mr. eek, thinking a country is entirely bad, especially when that country fought against the Nazis and did more to end slavery than any other, is not so much lacking nuance as lacking any semblance of intelligence.
Every country has good and bad parts, both present day and historically. Blindly hating somewhere is just stupid.
"Liz Truss’s team is frantically distancing themselves from her economics guru tonight after he said her tax cuts could result in interest rates of up to 7 per cent.
Professor Patrick Minford, who was named by the Tory leadership frontrunner as endorsing her fiscal strategy, said higher rates would be a “good thing” and more expensive mortgages would be “part of the adjustment”.
However, several mortgage experts warned this would lead to further annual payments on the average mortgage of about £700 a month, crippling household finances.
Former chancellor Norman Lamont also told i it would not be a “good thing” to see interest rates go as high as 7 per cent and said it would be “interesting” to see if Truss agreed with the claims.
The Truss campaign was trying to distance themselves from Professor Minford last night, saying he had no “official role” with her campaign – despite the Foreign Secretary citing his influence as recently as Thursday."
Let me guess: neither of them have mortgages, but do have savings?
The claim "to bring 7% interest rates" is a gormless, dishonest exaggeration of what was actually said by Minford.
But then we all know that.
But then it is playbook for the UK media shitshow - take an extreme case, get somebody to say "*this* would cause *that*", and try and hang it around the neck of the person who didn't say it in the first place.
There is a reason they are generally contemptible.
Pumping money into an economy already suffering from inflation is likely to lead to more inflation. And the ways to deal with that include cutting spending and raising interest rates. Since La Truss says she is not going to do the former, it is entirely reasonable to assume that the latter will happen and will be a direct consequence of her economic plan, a plan which seems to resemble the Barber boom of the early 1970's rather than anything more Thatcherite.
Even a small rise in interest rates will cause problems, especially on top of rising fuel bills.
The latest borrowing figures and economic for the UK are simply horrific.
In theory this should suit Sunak - who will make long-term solvency decisions - but because he's so well-off and confident about it - and it probably doesn't help that his wife is a non-dom - people simply don't trust him to have their best interests at heart and do enough about it.
Sunak has probably been arguing in cabinet about the dangers of trade war with Europe. Whether he'll be brave enough to say this when backing the DUP is now an article of faith within the Conservative party I don't know.
Rishi Sunak brave lol.
Well the funny thing is if he really is the underdog now he might as well go for it.
Sunak needs something big to turn this around in the next week because it seems the ballots are going out long before the bulk of the hustings.
True but it is in the early hustings that an unprepared Liz Truss is most likely to implode, so it is swings and roundabouts on early ballot returns.
And there's a couple of TV debates coming up I think next week?
"I have never believed that the EU would suddenly collapse. But I thought it likely that it would gradually run out of political capacity due to lack of popular legitimacy. Many, like myself, have drawn a comparison with the Austro-Hungarian empire: divided, weak but unreformable, aiming at best to maintain (as one of its rulers put it) “a stable level of discontent” among a resigned population. This now seems optimistic."
It's a rubbish deal which her own officials warned her against. The only thing it delivered was yet another photo opportunity for her.
Look at the signatories to the letter - farmers who want to keep competition out and woke charities that hate free trade.
If anything I think the deal did not go nearly far enough in giving British consumers the benefits of cheaper food for decades.
I don't agree at all with the criticism of the deal - it shows a net GDP gain with better access for British businesses and services, and provides one of the most liberal deals for young people under 35 that Australia has ever signed - they basically have full free movement up to 3 years. Australia is a growing economy with a growing role in the Indo-Pacific, and a close ally, and it's quite right we strengthen our ties.
I'm not at all worried about the impact on British agriculture; we had free trade with Australia and New Zealand up until 1980 and (guess what!) British farming was fine.
We've also been part of a single agricultural market of over 400m people for the best part of 40 years, exposed to competition right across Europe that's barely 25 miles away, and that didn't collapse British farming either. The only real criticism I can make of it is that it doesn't contain enough clauses on climate change.
Criticism of this falls simply down Brexit lines: if the EU had done a similar deal (and, indeed, they are currently negotiating one) then precisely the same people would be applauding it.
A government that believed in Parliamentary democracy would have allowed MPs to scrutinise the deal before it was signed.
As it happens, I agree - all trade deals should be debated and voted on in the floor of the House of Commons, and I'd be supportive of this.
What I don't agree with, though, is this hyperbolic meme of yours that this government is a threat to the future of democracy in the UK.
You've got high on your own supply.
Once you bypass Parliament and embed power in the executive, as this government is doing, you start on the slippery slope. Combine that with making it harder to vote, removing the Electoral Commission's independence, rewriting the ministerial code, ignoring international law, curtailing judicial review and criminalising peaceful protest, and a pattern begins to emerge.
Given that it looks like Sunak is going to lose, I wonder if he should re-think his strategy and make the distinction between him and Truss sharper? At the moment the only clear difference is on tax; on most other metrics (e.g. Channel 4, Brexit, immigration) he seems to be trying to appeal to the same right-wing constituency as Truss. But he can't outflank Truss on the right, and he can't win over the Mail etc. So maybe he should try to rebrand himself as a one-nation Tory Brexiteer? Something like:
"I'm going to maximise the opportunities that Brexit brings. But at the same time, I'm going to bring the nation together and heal the divisiveness of the last six years. No longer shall we be so hostile to great British institutions, or play fast and loose with the rule of law, or hostile to those who oppose our ideas. No longer will I allow our party to be accused of crony capitalism. I am going to repair Britain's deserved reputation as a beacon of fairness, common decency and good judgement, where sound money and a fair tax system are combined to both boost economic growth and deliver world-class public services."
And so on. I'm no Tory of course, but I wonder whether there's a larger constituency among members for a pro-Brexit, one-nation approach than people think.
OT: The Last of Us is being re-released, this time for PS5. It's a great game. The cashgrab, given it got released for PS4 and they've actually removed some bits (spore clouds), with a £70 price tag is ridiculous.
Comments
I looked in half an hour ago and passed up the first, only to find it still, apparently, on offer.
F1: bit sleepy at the moment but it seems Sainz has at least a 10 place penalty and may start further back with more changes, and Red Bull have been struggling a bit.
But the top 2 teams remain the class of the field. Interesting difficulties for them, though.
1.45 Liz Truss 69%
3.2 Rishi Sunak 31%
Next Conservative leader
1.44 Liz Truss 69%
3.25 Rishi Sunak 31%
Inside the brutal battle for the soul of the Tory party.
By me, @SophiaSleigh and @nedsimons
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/liz-truss-rishi-sunak-battle-for-soul-tory-party_uk_62d97a0be4b06e213fbc9ff6
This could have long term (negative) consequences for the Conservative party. #ToryLeadershipContest
https://twitter.com/christopherhope/status/1550592779818082311
It’s possible that a lot of the remaining members are only there because of the Clown and May leave now Bozo isn’t the leader.
And if Truss is leader I can see a situation where saner members also leave… heck how likely is TSE to stay if Truss arrives and follows the Minford plan..
Best PM:
Truss 38, Starmer 37
Starmer 40, Sunak 36
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1644629/liz-truss-rishi-sunak-poll-tory-leadership-labour-keir-starmer
I'm no starry-eyed admirer of Starmer, but to suggest he would be a worse PM than Truss is as mad as suggesting the DfE are the right people to run education.
Lab 44 (+1)
Con 33 (+3)
Getting rid of Boris (All voters):
Right 60
Mistake 27
Getting rid of Boris (Con voters only):
Right 43
Mistake 49
Overwhelming support for Net Zero amongst All voters and Con voters.
"Liz Truss’s team is frantically distancing themselves from her economics guru tonight after he said her tax cuts could result in interest rates of up to 7 per cent.
Professor Patrick Minford, who was named by the Tory leadership frontrunner as endorsing her fiscal strategy, said higher rates would be a “good thing” and more expensive mortgages would be “part of the adjustment”.
However, several mortgage experts warned this would lead to further annual payments on the average mortgage of about £700 a month, crippling household finances.
Former chancellor Norman Lamont also told i it would not be a “good thing” to see interest rates go as high as 7 per cent and said it would be “interesting” to see if Truss agreed with the claims.
The Truss campaign was trying to distance themselves from Professor Minford last night, saying he had no “official role” with her campaign – despite the Foreign Secretary citing his influence as recently as Thursday."
What a total fecking idiot. No wonder the jury only took three hours to convict. I'm surprised it took longer than three minutes.
I'm still not sure there's much switching going on.
Savanta ComRes interviewed 2,109 UK adults aged 18+ online on 21 July 2022. Data was weighted to be representative of all UK adults by age, sex, region, and SEG. Voting intention is also weighted by past vote recall (2019 and 2016) and likelihood to vote.
In theory this should suit Sunak - who will make long-term solvency decisions - but because he's so well-off and confident about it - and it probably doesn't help that his wife is a non-dom - people simply don't trust him to have their best interests at heart and do enough about it.
The problem with Truss - not so much a problem for her - is that what she's proposing would make things a hundred times worse.
Can anyone with even a single functioning braincell say he got Brexit done?
https://twitter.com/Femi_Sorry/status/1550455087100825602
The fact that inflation would be very similar to that interest rate (so the actual interest earnt would be zero) is lost on everyone.
I see the queues as reported on the BBC website. It seems the people of Dover voted for the end of their own free movement after all
Even with this new deal between Russia and Ukraine on grain exports, however, that seems unlikely for now at least.
I suspect all 3 hours were spent by the other 11 trying to convince that person that Bannon was a complete idiot and deserved no help.
Helpfully, it probably removes Bannon from circulation for 2024, as if the sentence is the maximum - and I can't see why it wouldn't be - he'd be released either very shortly before, or after, the elections.
But, my goodness, what an idiot. Saying he thought subpoenas were 'negotiable,' that his appeal is 'bullet proof,' that he's covered by 'executive privilege' when he clearly isn't, refusing to testify under oath to Congress and to his trial.
His reasoning seems to be 'you can't convict me because I'm Steve Bannon.' No wonder the jury weren't impressed.
And his attorney was no better. Like Giuliani on acid while filming Borat 2.
I can see why Bannon and his attorney weren't doing much - when you defence argument is being ignored and that isn't being discussed until October I can see why you may not be that concerned with what is almost a default judgment...
Like asking people if they would like a Ferrari and a mansion. Of course they would - the difficulty is they'll have to pay for it.
A better question is, "Are you in favour of Net Zero at a cost of at least a trillion pounds over the next twenty years, when the NHS has 5 million on the waiting list, taxes are at a record high and our armed forces are criminally underequipped?"
"Because debt is so high, it would be foolish for us to embark on a tax-cutting spree that would lead to even higher debt and feed the monster of inflation that we absolutely must tame. That is why Rishi is absolutely right to insist that we must bring down inflation first and steer our economy to a place where it would be safe to cut taxes."
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/07/22/rishi-sunak-can-provide-leadership-country-needs/
Kherson city and significant forces encircled in the North of the Oblast.
https://twitter.com/mhmck/status/1550299514317279240?t=Pu8fKKVXsy0b0Juz77MdoQ&s=19
https://twitter.com/christopherhope/status/1550596245328171014
… Put simply, there are two battles for the Tory leadership going on.
The official one, between Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, selected for the masses by Tory MPs, and the second unofficial campaign among some Tory grassroots activists to restore Boris Johnson to the throne...
Though granted there were a fair number of them who never possessed any in the first place.
Excellent letter in the Times about it here - https://twitter.com/bestforbritain/status/1550472053802909696?s=21&t=CTZiBk1STYO9uBIVK9Tkuw - signed by our very own @NickPalmer.
It's a rubbish deal which her own officials warned her against. The only thing it delivered was yet another photo opportunity for her.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/07/22/self-hating-remainers-blind-eus-flaws/
And there is plenty of evidence that she will continue to do things even when others tell her to stop doing something so stupid...
By contrast, what does Starmer have? No-one can follow Starmer if he's too nervous to set out where he would lead.
I don’t entirely accept its thesis, but there’s clearly some truth in it.
The vibes theory of politics
Our ‘beliefs’ are often just unexamined tribal loyalties
https://twitter.com/CharlieBeckett/status/1550734323879477248
(To quibble, the author I think confuses ‘effect’ with ‘affect’.)
If anything I think the deal did not go nearly far enough in giving British consumers the benefits of cheaper food for decades.
https://twitter.com/SpecCoffeeHouse/status/1549370467580084225
https://twitter.com/katimcf/status/1549492282000285699
Labour, but also other parties, were as bad or worse on the EU. Giving away vetoes, and rebates, promising and reneging upon a referendum. Similarly, all parties have been very poor on energy policy, and defence.
Long term planning has been abysmal here. Partly that's down to the media fixation on bad news, short termism, and personalities over policies.
I'm not at all worried about the impact on British agriculture; we had free trade with Australia and New Zealand up until 1980 and (guess what!) British farming was fine.
We've also been part of a single agricultural market of over 400m people for the best part of 40 years, exposed to competition right across Europe that's barely 25 miles away, and that didn't collapse British farming either. The only real criticism I can make of it is that it doesn't contain enough clauses on climate change.
Criticism of this falls simply down Brexit lines: if the EU had done a similar deal (and, indeed, they are currently negotiating one) then precisely the same people would be applauding it.
But then we all know that.
But then it is playbook for the UK media shitshow - take an extreme case, get somebody to say "*this* would cause *that*", and try and hang it around the neck of the person who didn't say it in the first place.
There is a reason they are generally contemptible.
You may not agree with his views on the EU but he's a remarkably well-read and well-informed individual, and makes his arguments reasonably, proportionately and lucidly.
You are entirely unqualified to denigrate him with such smears.
People trying to discern what is going on on the ground at that sort of granularity from open-source maps are essentially reading the entrails of a snake.
However, in terms of tax cuts, I would stop there, other than further measures to mitigate energy price rises this Autumn.
It's essential to signpost to business investors and the markets that the UK has a sustainable and responsible path to balancing any structural deficit, and deal with debt, to maintain the value of the pound and avoid further inflation.
A lack of transparency leads to bad governance.
What I don't agree with, though, is this hyperbolic meme of yours that this government is a threat to the future of democracy in the UK.
You've got high on your own supply.
Every country has good and bad parts, both present day and historically. Blindly hating somewhere is just stupid.
Like the EU?
Even a small rise in interest rates will cause problems, especially on top of rising fuel bills.
Mind you, the film does sound ahistorical. If the film were set during the East India Company's rape of India, on the other hand...
"I'm going to maximise the opportunities that Brexit brings. But at the same time, I'm going to bring the nation together and heal the divisiveness of the last six years. No longer shall we be so hostile to great British institutions, or play fast and loose with the rule of law, or hostile to those who oppose our ideas. No longer will I allow our party to be accused of crony capitalism. I am going to repair Britain's deserved reputation as a beacon of fairness, common decency and good judgement, where sound money and a fair tax system are combined to both boost economic growth and deliver world-class public services."
And so on. I'm no Tory of course, but I wonder whether there's a larger constituency among members for a pro-Brexit, one-nation approach than people think.