The NHS Interim Service Specification proposal is seismic:
-Puberty blockers only prescribed for research -Safeguarding of children obtaining unregulated hormones -Limit on social transition -Acknowledgement that most cases of dysphoria do not persist -Focus on mental health
Thank god. A moderate middle ground on these issues is within our grasp if the Tories choose well and Starmer holds his position.
Starmer’s comments at the Prick News awards raises concerns that he’d make NHS England’s proposed approach illegal.
And of course NHS Scotland continues to follow the Mermaid model.
One imagines as the approach becomes embedded it's a fight that Starmer won't bother having and will just leave the status quo in place. It seems like a loser for Labour to reopen any of this stuff as it just repels voters and if the Tories look half sensible again next year these issues could shift votes.
Stamer is trying to repeat the Blair playbook, lots of nods towards lots of causes to try and build as big a collation of anti-Tory voters as possible. Hence trying to claim Brexit is a done deal, then some murmuring about PR, etc.
I don't get any sense of what Starmer actually believes. He has the air of a technocrat. But that doesn't inspire passion or enthusiasm.
Starmerism doesn't exist. I don't think it is ever going to exist.
He has dumped a significant number of his leadership election pledges.
In that he is very much a typical politician.
But as the likely PM after the GE whenever that comes, I would like some inkling as to a personal philosophy.
I just do not believe he has one. Not that I could ever vote Labour. But I would still like a sense of something behind the eyes.
For me, if it's Johnson v Starmer at the GE... Well, I certainly don't think Starmer is the messiah, but I do know Johnson is a very naughty boy. And I'll vote accordingly
The NHS Interim Service Specification proposal is seismic:
-Puberty blockers only prescribed for research -Safeguarding of children obtaining unregulated hormones -Limit on social transition -Acknowledgement that most cases of dysphoria do not persist -Focus on mental health
Thank god. A moderate middle ground on these issues is within our grasp if the Tories choose well and Starmer holds his position.
Starmer’s comments at the Prick News awards raises concerns that he’d make NHS England’s proposed approach illegal.
And of course NHS Scotland continues to follow the Mermaid model.
One imagines as the approach becomes embedded it's a fight that Starmer won't bother having and will just leave the status quo in place. It seems like a loser for Labour to reopen any of this stuff as it just repels voters and if the Tories look half sensible again next year these issues could shift votes.
Stamer is trying to repeat the Blair playbook, lots of nods towards lots of causes to try and build as big a collation of anti-Tory voters as possible. Hence trying to claim Brexit is a done deal, then some murmuring about PR, etc.
I don't get any sense of what Starmer actually believes. He has the air of a technocrat. But that doesn't inspire passion or enthusiasm.
Starmerism doesn't exist. I don't think it is ever going to exist.
He has dumped a significant number of his leadership election pledges.
In that he is very much a typical politician.
But as the likely PM after the GE whenever that comes, I would like some inkling as to a personal philosophy.
I just do not believe he has one. Not that I could ever vote Labour. But I would still like a sense of something behind the eyes.
I don't know, I think he is more political, more of a man on a mission, than Dave "I think I would be good at the job" Cameron. If he really knows how to do is another matter and just as importantly will the economy / markets let him (lets not forget that the instant response to Tory tax cuts was to promise to put them back, not to steady the markets, but to spend that money on new pet projects).
However, he is a) a technocrat and b) being advised by New Labour grandees to play up the boring technocrat as a strength against all the nonsense that is going on with the Tories....and by staying vague not piss off people.
I get the feeling that this time around, Johnson really is crashing and won't get the MP's. The Lord Frost intervention is very significant. If this is correct, the question is whether Braverman/Badenoch or someone else on the 'right' decide to try their luck. In which case their odds (which are currently insanely long) will rapidly shorten.
If Boris isn't getting the numbers, they aren't getting the numbers.
There are only 3 players in this contest. One of those is nowhere near (without a huge lending of votes; another is scrabbling to meet the thresh-hold that was set high to keep him out the running.
Rishi, for once in his life, is actually head and shoulders above the others.
Until the members get a say. They do seem to be the most ornery bunch of grumpy bastards. They seem intent on going for the Thelma and Louise ending.....
The NHS Interim Service Specification proposal is seismic:
-Puberty blockers only prescribed for research -Safeguarding of children obtaining unregulated hormones -Limit on social transition -Acknowledgement that most cases of dysphoria do not persist -Focus on mental health
Thank god. A moderate middle ground on these issues is within our grasp if the Tories choose well and Starmer holds his position.
Starmer’s comments at the Prick News awards raises concerns that he’d make NHS England’s proposed approach illegal.
And of course NHS Scotland continues to follow the Mermaid model.
One imagines as the approach becomes embedded it's a fight that Starmer won't bother having and will just leave the status quo in place. It seems like a loser for Labour to reopen any of this stuff as it just repels voters and if the Tories look half sensible again next year these issues could shift votes.
Stamer is trying to repeat the Blair playbook, lots of nods towards lots of causes to try and build as big a collation of anti-Tory voters as possible. Hence trying to claim Brexit is a done deal, then some murmuring about PR, etc.
I don't get any sense of what Starmer actually believes. He has the air of a technocrat. But that doesn't inspire passion or enthusiasm.
Starmerism doesn't exist. I don't think it is ever going to exist.
He has dumped a significant number of his leadership election pledges.
In that he is very much a typical politician.
But as the likely PM after the GE whenever that comes, I would like some inkling as to a personal philosophy.
I just do not believe he has one. Not that I could ever vote Labour. But I would still like a sense of something behind the eyes.
The flip side of that is that he might be well equipped to cope with a minority Government and a need for SNP and LibDem votes.
What do you reckon that figure is in the general adult population? 0.3%?
More like 5%. Mostly elderly, but some people choose not to use it.
And among the younger generation - they regard email as a thing for old people. Slow, vast quantities of spam…. My daughters only use email for signup for online accounts.
I always think the stupid gotcha questions over tell me the price of x is pathetic.
There's always the overpowering sense that the person posing the question looked it up for the interview.
Undoubtedly, the BBC talking head on £400k a year isn't keeping close check on price of milk in Asda to the penny.
Like me, I am sure they are just filling a trolley in Waitrose (or online with Ocado) and rather have a rough idea of the weekly cost having risen a lot.
This is something I can't work out about the BBC. Solid £65,000 a year lifetime correspondents are in the BBC rich list on £400,000 a year before you know it, all with grand titles. We don't need them, the BBC doesn't need them. What earthly use is Victoria Derbyshire anyway?
I think there is a mistaken idea that they are in competition for "talent" rather than providing the platform which creates a form of celebrity for journalists of varying competence, presence, and public popularity.
I get the feeling that this time around, Johnson really is crashing and won't get the MP's. The Lord Frost intervention is very significant. If this is correct, the question is whether Braverman/Badenoch or someone else on the 'right' decide to try their luck. In which case their odds (which are currently insanely long) will rapidly shorten.
If Boris isn't getting the numbers, they aren't getting the numbers.
There are only 3 players in this contest. One of those is nowhere near (without a huge lending of votes; another is scrabbling to meet the thresh-hold that was set high to keep him out the running.
Rishi, for once in his life, is actually head and shoulders above the others.
Until the members get a say. They do seem to be the most ornery bunch of grumpy bastards. They seem intent on going for the Thelma and Louise ending.....
The members are their own worst enemies. They chose MPs who dont agree with their views and then get upset when the MPs ignore them.
I get the feeling that this time around, Johnson really is crashing and won't get the MP's. The Lord Frost intervention is very significant. If this is correct, the question is whether Braverman/Badenoch or someone else on the 'right' decide to try their luck. In which case their odds (which are currently insanely long) will rapidly shorten.
If Boris isn't getting the numbers, they aren't getting the numbers.
There are only 3 players in this contest. One of those is nowhere near (without a huge lending of votes; another is scrabbling to meet the thresh-hold that was set high to keep him out the running.
Rishi, for once in his life, is actually head and shoulders above the others.
Until the members get a say. They do seem to be the most ornery bunch of grumpy bastards. They seem intent on going for the Thelma and Louise ending.....
It's more like the ending to Black Adder goes Forth, with Lord Boris Melchett giving the order from his chateau for the nation to go over the top.
Anyway the very stong sentiment I've got from my short trip here is that if the tories want to keep seats like Hartlepool it has to be Johnson. No ifs, buts or maybes.
They actively hate Sunak and have no idea who Penny Dreadful is.
Also, I have never known so many people eager to discuss politics with a relative stranger. There's something happening here and what it is ain't exactly clear. I suspect the tories are Cretaceous dinosaurs and there is a big fuck off asteroid heading for the Gulf of Mexico.
Something is happening here and I DO know what it is (Mr Ace). It's a fair chunk of the white working class projecting their urges onto a Big Daddy figure who in their eyes gets them, tells it like it is, and is refreshingly different to normal politicians who are "all the same". Johnson isn't a dead ringer for rancid right wing populists such as Trump or Bolso or (insert any of a dozen) but there is some essential similarity.
I'm feeling strangely relaxed about the return of the FLSOJ. The reality is that he is finished, as are the Tories, whatever psychodrama plays out between now and the election. Boris Johnson and the English people who love him are of purely sociological and comedic interest to me now.
Agree on what's coming at the GE - something good - but there's 2 ways I'm not 100% relaxed about the thought of him coming back. First off, just on the raw chemical level, I acutely dislike seeing and hearing him, which would start happening again if he's the PM. And second, having assessed the chances of him winning this as miniscule, I've laid the arse off him!
Yes you definitely have skin in the game! I can't say I share your faith in him not coming back. The banter heuristic suggests it should be nailed on.
I think Kinabalu is being very brave.
Heart over head??
His track record is miles better than yours: EICIPM. SKSWNBPM
The NHS Interim Service Specification proposal is seismic:
-Puberty blockers only prescribed for research -Safeguarding of children obtaining unregulated hormones -Limit on social transition -Acknowledgement that most cases of dysphoria do not persist -Focus on mental health
Thank god. A moderate middle ground on these issues is within our grasp if the Tories choose well and Starmer holds his position.
Starmer’s comments at the Prick News awards raises concerns that he’d make NHS England’s proposed approach illegal.
And of course NHS Scotland continues to follow the Mermaid model.
One imagines as the approach becomes embedded it's a fight that Starmer won't bother having and will just leave the status quo in place. It seems like a loser for Labour to reopen any of this stuff as it just repels voters and if the Tories look half sensible again next year these issues could shift votes.
Stamer is trying to repeat the Blair playbook, lots of nods towards lots of causes to try and build as big a collation of anti-Tory voters as possible. Hence trying to claim Brexit is a done deal, then some murmuring about PR, etc.
I don't get any sense of what Starmer actually believes. He has the air of a technocrat. But that doesn't inspire passion or enthusiasm.
Starmerism doesn't exist. I don't think it is ever going to exist.
He has dumped a significant number of his leadership election pledges.
In that he is very much a typical politician.
But as the likely PM after the GE whenever that comes, I would like some inkling as to a personal philosophy.
I just do not believe he has one. Not that I could ever vote Labour. But I would still like a sense of something behind the eyes.
What is this nonsense? Starmer is a real person, like any of us. He has beliefs. He’s a social democrat, to the left of a Blair, to the right of a Corbyn. What is difficult to understand about this? Where does this dehumanising suggestion that he is lacking “something behind the eyes” come from?
I always think the stupid gotcha questions over tell me the price of x is pathetic.
There's always the overpowering sense that the person posing the question looked it up for the interview.
Undoubtedly, the BBC talking head on £400k a year isn't keeping close check on price of milk in Asda to the penny.
Like me, I am sure they are just filling a trolley in Waitrose (or online with Ocado) and rather have a rough idea of the weekly cost having risen a lot.
This is something I can't work out about the BBC. Solid £65,000 a year lifetime correspondents are in the BBC rich list on £400,000 a year before you know it, all with grand titles. We don't need them, the BBC doesn't need them. What earthly use is Victoria Derbyshire anyway?
Victoria Derbyshire is a classic example of media obsession with social media. Because some of her clips went viral they believe she is some massive draw....when the reality is nobody actually watched her show. Insert Piers Moron being another example, thought is his "brand" of being an aggressive arsehole host is what drove ratings because of some viral tweet videos of him shouting at ministers on GMB. Now virtually nobody tunes into his TalkTv show.
Its the same time as the response to falling ratings is if we just reboot the show with a younger more diverse hosts / panel or we go for more outlandish style that will immediately reverse that decline e.g Question of Sport.
I get the feeling that this time around, Johnson really is crashing and won't get the MP's. The Lord Frost intervention is very significant. If this is correct, the question is whether Braverman/Badenoch or someone else on the 'right' decide to try their luck. In which case their odds (which are currently insanely long) will rapidly shorten.
If Boris isn't getting the numbers, they aren't getting the numbers.
There are only 3 players in this contest. One of those is nowhere near (without a huge lending of votes; another is scrabbling to meet the thresh-hold that was set high to keep him out the running.
Rishi, for once in his life, is actually head and shoulders above the others.
Until the members get a say. They do seem to be the most ornery bunch of grumpy bastards. They seem intent on going for the Thelma and Louise ending.....
Let’s face it: there are 2 players in this contest: Sunak or Johnson. And the undeclared MPs who don’t want Sunak are wondering whether they can stomach Johnson.
The NHS Interim Service Specification proposal is seismic:
-Puberty blockers only prescribed for research -Safeguarding of children obtaining unregulated hormones -Limit on social transition -Acknowledgement that most cases of dysphoria do not persist -Focus on mental health
Be interesting if Imelda allows them in Scotland NHS.
Will be interesting as so far the Holyrood Committee on GRA reform has barely listened to any contrary evidence. Like Mordaunt she’s fallen for the vacuous. TWAW woo.
Does a person who lives in England have any ability to seek treatment in Scotland? I know there’s a lot of cross-pollination between England and Wales (using GPs in the other country because it’s geographically logical) but that’s a very different border for the most part. The England/Scotland border is fairly sparsely populated along most of the length.
If such a right exists, there’s going to be issues.
If they start treatment in Scotland then expect it to be continued in England (where it’s against guidelines) there likely will be issues.
There’s going to be issues with Scotlands GRA reform - is such recognition going to be recognised in the rest of the U.K.?
TSE is being unfair to the Conservative Party in this piece. I know for a fact (because I am one of them) that Conservative volunteers and Party staff are working tirelessly over the weekend to ensure that all members have the opportunity to take place in next week's ballot. We are where we are. We are working to make the best we can of the situation with which we are faced. That must be our first priority rather than ruminating about how we got here.
I always think the stupid gotcha questions over tell me the price of x is pathetic.
There's always the overpowering sense that the person posing the question looked it up for the interview.
Undoubtedly, the BBC talking head on £400k a year isn't keeping close check on price of milk in Asda to the penny.
Like me, I am sure they are just filling a trolley in Waitrose (or online with Ocado) and rather have a rough idea of the weekly cost having risen a lot.
This is something I can't work out about the BBC. Solid £65,000 a year lifetime correspondents are in the BBC rich list on £400,000 a year before you know it, all with grand titles. We don't need them, the BBC doesn't need them. What earthly use is Victoria Derbyshire anyway?
I think there is a mistaken idea that they are in competition for "talent" rather than providing the platform which creates a form of celebrity for journalists of varying competence, presence, and public popularity.
There is also a habit of paying ex-footballers based on what footballers earn rather than what sports broadcasters need to earn. Lineker and Shearer are the most overpaid on tv by far. At the lower level Jenas and Richards get paid £200k yet are not even on an exclusive contract so also do stuff for BT.
If they offered the same roles at £100k all four would still be filled by wannabe media ex footballers of a similar standard (as broadcasters).
That’s too different to be “real”. One of them must have some odd features surely? (I’m more inclined to believe a whacking great SNP lead).
Last five proper Scottish polls had SNP leads of: 12, 15, 14, 16, 13
It will be interesting to see what happens. I know people who support the SNP solely to show strong opposition to the Tories. If Labour look credible to win in England then a lot of them are happy to go back to voting Labour in Scotland. They also have noticed issues with devolved matters here and are thinking about giving the SNP a wakeup call. Political gravity may start to be showing?
I always think the stupid gotcha questions over tell me the price of x is pathetic.
There's always the overpowering sense that the person posing the question looked it up for the interview.
Undoubtedly, the BBC talking head on £400k a year isn't keeping close check on price of milk in Asda to the penny.
Like me, I am sure they are just filling a trolley in Waitrose (or online with Ocado) and rather have a rough idea of the weekly cost having risen a lot.
This is something I can't work out about the BBC. Solid £65,000 a year lifetime correspondents are in the BBC rich list on £400,000 a year before you know it, all with grand titles. We don't need them, the BBC doesn't need them. What earthly use is Victoria Derbyshire anyway?
Victoria Derbyshire is a classic example of media obsession with social media. Because some of her clips went viral they believe she is some massive draw....when the reality is nobody watched actually watched her show.
Its the same time as the response to falling ratings is if we just reboot the show with a younger more diverse hosts / panel or we go for more outlandish style that will immediately reverse that decline e.g Question of Sport.
Don’t remind me of how they killed Question of Sport. A sad, sad, day.
I always think the stupid gotcha questions over tell me the price of x is pathetic.
There's always the overpowering sense that the person posing the question looked it up for the interview.
Undoubtedly, the BBC talking head on £400k a year isn't keeping close check on price of milk in Asda to the penny.
Like me, I am sure they are just filling a trolley in Waitrose (or online with Ocado) and rather have a rough idea of the weekly cost having risen a lot.
This is something I can't work out about the BBC. Solid £65,000 a year lifetime correspondents are in the BBC rich list on £400,000 a year before you know it, all with grand titles. We don't need them, the BBC doesn't need them. What earthly use is Victoria Derbyshire anyway?
I think there is a mistaken idea that they are in competition for "talent" rather than providing the platform which creates a form of celebrity for journalists of varying competence, presence, and public popularity.
There is also a habit of paying ex-footballers based on what footballers earn rather than what sports broadcasters need to earn. Lineker and Shearer are the most overpaid on tv by far. At the lower level Jenas and Richards get paid £200k yet are not even on an exclusive contract so also do stuff for BT.
If they offered the same roles at £100k all four would still be filled by wannabe media ex footballers of a similar standard (as broadcasters).
They should be paying relative to a "pub landlord" index, like the good old days.
I always think the stupid gotcha questions over tell me the price of x is pathetic.
There's always the overpowering sense that the person posing the question looked it up for the interview.
Undoubtedly, the BBC talking head on £400k a year isn't keeping close check on price of milk in Asda to the penny.
Like me, I am sure they are just filling a trolley in Waitrose (or online with Ocado) and rather have a rough idea of the weekly cost having risen a lot.
This is something I can't work out about the BBC. Solid £65,000 a year lifetime correspondents are in the BBC rich list on £400,000 a year before you know it, all with grand titles. We don't need them, the BBC doesn't need them. What earthly use is Victoria Derbyshire anyway?
I think there is a mistaken idea that they are in competition for "talent" rather than providing the platform which creates a form of celebrity for journalists of varying competence, presence, and public popularity.
There is also a habit of paying ex-footballers based on what footballers earn rather than what sports broadcasters need to earn. Lineker and Shearer are the most overpaid on tv by far. At the lower level Jenas and Richards get paid £200k yet are not even on an exclusive contract so also do stuff for BT.
If they offered the same roles at £100k all four would still be filled by wannabe media ex footballers of a similar standard (as broadcasters).
And perhaps aside from Jenas, none really have any idea about modern football. They are clueless talking heads basing most of their comments on how it used to be back in their day (and none of the above even have shown success at high level coaching).
You want to follow proper football analysts on twitter they have started really taking clips to task of what absolute bullshit is being spread.
Meanwhile, the gap between the amount of people who think Brexit was "wrong", in hindsight, and the amount who think it was "right" just keeps getting bigger and bigger
Keir Starmer finds himself on the wrong side. Again.
Thinking Brexit was a mistake and wanting to spend huge amounts of time and energy on negotiating the UK’s re-entry are two very different things. My guess is that most people are far keener on a much better relationship with the EU than they are about rejoining, which is exactly where Starmer is. There is certainly space to go further, though, as whoever ends up leading the Tories cannot begin to accept the Brexit deal Johnson negotiated was awful.
And that was in August. The UK-wide data indicates that things have swung even more to the pro-Europe side since then.
Starmer has made some appalling strategic choices, and being pro-Brexit is one of the biggest. An epic fail.
So Scots think it’s a bad idea to leave long-established and successful unions that promote trade and security in search of mythical extra sovereignty, but they were pushed into it by a bunch of corrupt xenophobes?🤔
Were not pushed , just totally ignored and dragged out by those Jingoist halfwits in Westminster. Sooner we get out of this banana republic the better.
If I was the SNP, I reckon I’d just get on with detailed design work and think about an all party constitutional convention. Basically act like it’s inevitable - which it probably is.
No it isn't, especially under a likely Labour government shortly offering devomax
That th esame one offered in 2014 then
Scotland Act 2016 partly delivered it but in 2014 of course there was a Tory led UK government
Now that is the most outrageous fib* on PB all day, that the 2016 act [edit: typo in date corrected] provided devomax.
I get the feeling that this time around, Johnson really is crashing and won't get the MP's. The Lord Frost intervention is very significant. If this is correct, the question is whether Braverman/Badenoch or someone else on the 'right' decide to try their luck. In which case their odds (which are currently insanely long) will rapidly shorten.
If Boris isn't getting the numbers, they aren't getting the numbers.
There are only 3 players in this contest. One of those is nowhere near (without a huge lending of votes; another is scrabbling to meet the thresh-hold that was set high to keep him out the running.
Rishi, for once in his life, is actually head and shoulders above the others.
Until the members get a say. They do seem to be the most ornery bunch of grumpy bastards. They seem intent on going for the Thelma and Louise ending.....
Let’s face it: there are 2 players in this contest: Sunak or Johnson. And the undeclared MPs who don’t want Sunak are wondering whether they can stomach Johnson.
Even if they can stomach Johnson, are they prepared to put the nation through the spectacle of him being painted as a mendacious threat to national security when the Committee on Privileges reports?
It's not like they haven't been warned it is a very material risk. Entirely on their shoulders if we have yet another PM before Christmas.
It is beyond me how any on that declared list can take the risk. They must REALLY hate Sunak to put Party and country through that turmoil. The markets will be brutally unkind, much worse than we saw for Truss.
I will not be supporting Boris. He still has the same weaknesses as before. I am ambivalent about Rishi vs Penny - neither have the ability to change the political weather. I suspect the pain coming along as we enter a period of higher interest rates will kill off a lot of in-power governments across the World - it's just what happens. Thank God Labour have not still got Corbyn as leader.
I don't think Tory MPs have any leverage over Tory members. It's the reverse if anything. So it doesn't matter what sort of a lead Sunak has - the members will vote for Johnson, given the choice over Sunak.
With Mordaunt it's different. I've seen no polls of members of Sunak versus Mordaunt but I would guess she has a big lead over him. She's the members' kind of person. Her policies don't matter. She presents well, tall and impressive and not ... you know. They can see some chance of her winning the next General. They may give her a chance versus Boris.
So to stop Boris, MPs need to get Penny into the last two. That means Sunak standing aside for the good of the party and the good of the country. He'll be rewarded with FS and will help save the UK economy and the Tory party.
The NHS Interim Service Specification proposal is seismic:
-Puberty blockers only prescribed for research -Safeguarding of children obtaining unregulated hormones -Limit on social transition -Acknowledgement that most cases of dysphoria do not persist -Focus on mental health
Be interesting if Imelda allows them in Scotland NHS.
Will be interesting as so far the Holyrood Committee on GRA reform has barely listened to any contrary evidence. Like Mordaunt she’s fallen for the vacuous. TWAW woo.
Does a person who lives in England have any ability to seek treatment in Scotland? I know there’s a lot of cross-pollination between England and Wales (using GPs in the other country because it’s geographically logical) but that’s a very different border for the most part. The England/Scotland border is fairly sparsely populated along most of the length.
If such a right exists, there’s going to be issues.
If they start treatment in Scotland then expect it to be continued in England (where it’s against guidelines) there likely will be issues.
There’s going to be issues with Scotlands GRA reform - is such recognition going to be recognised in the rest of the U.K.?
In principle, no different from any other drug or treatment. The differtent approval systems mean that there are some cases where the one treatmenty can be had in one country but not the other, and vice versa (with a subvariant, presuimably, of whether it can be had if you pay). You want one of those treatments, you move.
'Douglas Ross has bristled at the prospect of Boris Johnson returning to power as party colleagues said it would be a “disaster” for the Scottish Conservatives and the Union.
Nevertheless, the Scottish Conservative leader vowed to work with whoever becomes prime minister and rejected calls for a general election.'
Fitba ref expects to run from one end of the field to the other, yet again. Astounding news.
So just like Starmer who served loyally in Jeremy Corbyn's shadow cabinet...
That's a lot of Scottish seats for Labour. If it's anything like that Labour could be heading for a 1997 landslide even with a Tory recovery from extinction to merely crap.
I think there's a growing chance Sunak will close this out in the nomination round. Momentum on his side and MPs want to be on the right side of the new leader.
'Douglas Ross has bristled at the prospect of Boris Johnson returning to power as party colleagues said it would be a “disaster” for the Scottish Conservatives and the Union.
Nevertheless, the Scottish Conservative leader vowed to work with whoever becomes prime minister and rejected calls for a general election.'
Fitba ref expects to run from one end of the field to the other, yet again. Astounding news.
So just like Starmer who served loyally in Jeremy Corbyn's shadow cabinet...
Mr Ross has rather more of a back history of changing his mind.
That's a lot of Scottish seats for Labour. If it's anything like that Labour could be heading for a 1997 landslide even with a Tory recovery from extinction to merely crap.
I always think the stupid gotcha questions over tell me the price of x is pathetic.
There's always the overpowering sense that the person posing the question looked it up for the interview.
Undoubtedly, the BBC talking head on £400k a year isn't keeping close check on price of milk in Asda to the penny.
Like me, I am sure they are just filling a trolley in Waitrose (or online with Ocado) and rather have a rough idea of the weekly cost having risen a lot.
This is something I can't work out about the BBC. Solid £65,000 a year lifetime correspondents are in the BBC rich list on £400,000 a year before you know it, all with grand titles. We don't need them, the BBC doesn't need them. What earthly use is Victoria Derbyshire anyway?
Victoria Derbyshire is a classic example of media obsession with social media. Because some of her clips went viral they believe she is some massive draw....when the reality is nobody watched actually watched her show.
Its the same time as the response to falling ratings is if we just reboot the show with a younger more diverse hosts / panel or we go for more outlandish style that will immediately reverse that decline e.g Question of Sport.
Don’t remind me of how they killed Question of Sport. A sad, sad, day.
Mock The Week has gone too. A "familiar" format for sure, but still worth winnowing the chaff for the odd kernal. They added women panellists, but it is essentially a blokey gethering, taking the piss out of people.
The Beeb also lost the NFL show. Osi, Jason and Chappers was the best bloke TV there was. Quite superb.
I don't think Tory MPs have any leverage over Tory members. It's the reverse if anything. So it doesn't matter what sort of a lead Sunak has - the members will vote for Johnson, given the choice over Sunak.
With Mordaunt it's different. I've seen no polls of members of Sunak versus Mordaunt but I would guess she has a big lead over him. She's the members' kind of person. Her policies don't matter. She presents well, tall and impressive and not ... you know. They can see some chance of her winning the next General. They may give her a chance versus Boris.
So to stop Boris, MPs need to get Penny into the last two. That means Sunak standing aside for the good of the party and the good of the country. He'll be rewarded with FS and will help save the UK economy and the Tory party.
Only if Boris looks like getting 100 supporters which is looking less and less likely - hence Mordaunt's lengthening odds.
Conversely if Boris looks like struggling to hit 100, I think a lot of anyone-but-Rishi MPs might throw their weight behind Mordaunt at the last minute to ensure a runoff.
Mordaunt might well then win with the members. So not completely over for her yet.
Conversely if Boris looks like struggling to hit 100, I think a lot of anyone-but-Rishi MPs might throw their weight behind Mordaunt at the last minute to ensure a runoff.
Mordaunt might well then win with the members. So not completely over for her yet.
No, I think the MPs will attempt to avoid a ballot, have a PM in place by Monday evening.
Conversely if Boris looks like struggling to hit 100, I think a lot of anyone-but-Rishi MPs might throw their weight behind Mordaunt at the last minute to ensure a runoff.
Mordaunt might well then win with the members. So not completely over for her yet.
Mordaunt withdraws before a vote, the deal was done in the week
I haven’t been able to find the exact quote but I’ve seen it portrayed as “leaning” Johnson. Which is an odd choice of words so makes me want to see what he’s said. Saying anything at all suggests he thinks Rishi would reshuffle him - but surely the party won’t have that.
It's suggests he's something of a political imbecile. @TOPPING 's assessment is about right, I think.
I don't think Tory MPs have any leverage over Tory members. It's the reverse if anything. So it doesn't matter what sort of a lead Sunak has - the members will vote for Johnson, given the choice over Sunak.
With Mordaunt it's different. I've seen no polls of members of Sunak versus Mordaunt but I would guess she has a big lead over him. She's the members' kind of person. Her policies don't matter. She presents well, tall and impressive and not ... you know. They can see some chance of her winning the next General. They may give her a chance versus Boris.
So to stop Boris, MPs need to get Penny into the last two. That means Sunak standing aside for the good of the party and the good of the country. He'll be rewarded with FS and will help save the UK economy and the Tory party.
I get what you are saying but I think a line needs to be drawn in the sand now - the (arguably) “best” candidate, who only lost out to Truss because of her fantasy unicorn economic plan and the Mail’s campaign against Sunak, should not have to withdraw from a leading position for a “lesser” and less popular candidate amongst MPs because of fear of the membership.
The membership needs to be told clearly and coldly that “this is it” - you correct the last mistake and get your heads out of your arses and vote Sunak if he has the support of a majority of MPs or see your beloved party smashed into tiny pieces by voting for Boris.
If the members still don’t get it then the party deserves extinction.
So yes I get the idea about “gaming” the situation but if it’s gamed it will never be a good situation medium term. It’s got to be the members deciding not to be utter members.
The NHS Interim Service Specification proposal is seismic:
-Puberty blockers only prescribed for research -Safeguarding of children obtaining unregulated hormones -Limit on social transition -Acknowledgement that most cases of dysphoria do not persist -Focus on mental health
Be interesting if Imelda allows them in Scotland NHS.
Will be interesting as so far the Holyrood Committee on GRA reform has barely listened to any contrary evidence. Like Mordaunt she’s fallen for the vacuous. TWAW woo.
Does a person who lives in England have any ability to seek treatment in Scotland? I know there’s a lot of cross-pollination between England and Wales (using GPs in the other country because it’s geographically logical) but that’s a very different border for the most part. The England/Scotland border is fairly sparsely populated along most of the length.
If such a right exists, there’s going to be issues.
If they start treatment in Scotland then expect it to be continued in England (where it’s against guidelines) there likely will be issues.
There’s going to be issues with Scotlands GRA reform - is such recognition going to be recognised in the rest of the U.K.?
In principle, no different from any other drug or treatment. The differtent approval systems mean that there are some cases where the one treatmenty can be had in one country but not the other, and vice versa (with a subvariant, presuimably, of whether it can be had if you pay). You want one of those treatments, you move.
There are going to be a number of substantial claims for children damaged by this process already. Does Scotland really want more? The NHS English guidelines seem eminently sensible to me.
Conversely if Boris looks like struggling to hit 100, I think a lot of anyone-but-Rishi MPs might throw their weight behind Mordaunt at the last minute to ensure a runoff.
Mordaunt might well then win with the members. So not completely over for her yet.
Mordaunt withdraws before a vote, the deal was done in the week
That would be dangerous. Some of her supporters might go for Boris and tip him over 100.
Unless you mean she made a deal with Boris? Unlikely surely?
Conversely if Boris looks like struggling to hit 100, I think a lot of anyone-but-Rishi MPs might throw their weight behind Mordaunt at the last minute to ensure a runoff.
Mordaunt might well then win with the members. So not completely over for her yet.
Mordaunt withdraws before a vote, the deal was done in the week
That would be dangerous. Some of her supporters might go for Boris and tip him over 100.
Unless you mean she made a deal with Boris? Unlikely surely?
No i mean after nominations close. There will be no Sunak Mordaunt run off. Its Sunak Bozo or Coronation
If (God forbid) Boris wins then I think there is a good chance of an immediate crises preventing him becoming PM. All Tories fear an immediate election. If Say 100 state they will vote no confidence in Boris immediately it will be a fantastic game of chicken.
I think there's a growing chance Sunak will close this out in the nomination round. Momentum on his side and MPs want to be on the right side of the new leader.
That's the most likely outcome imo. All over on Monday. Sunak.
Btw I like how he's making sure to look very grave and serious in the glimpses we've had. Nice touch.
The NHS Interim Service Specification proposal is seismic:
-Puberty blockers only prescribed for research -Safeguarding of children obtaining unregulated hormones -Limit on social transition -Acknowledgement that most cases of dysphoria do not persist -Focus on mental health
Be interesting if Imelda allows them in Scotland NHS.
Will be interesting as so far the Holyrood Committee on GRA reform has barely listened to any contrary evidence. Like Mordaunt she’s fallen for the vacuous. TWAW woo.
Does a person who lives in England have any ability to seek treatment in Scotland? I know there’s a lot of cross-pollination between England and Wales (using GPs in the other country because it’s geographically logical) but that’s a very different border for the most part. The England/Scotland border is fairly sparsely populated along most of the length.
If such a right exists, there’s going to be issues.
they go between both currently for specific services where needed
The NHS Interim Service Specification proposal is seismic:
-Puberty blockers only prescribed for research -Safeguarding of children obtaining unregulated hormones -Limit on social transition -Acknowledgement that most cases of dysphoria do not persist -Focus on mental health
Thank god. A moderate middle ground on these issues is within our grasp if the Tories choose well and Starmer holds his position.
Starmer’s comments at the Prick News awards raises concerns that he’d make NHS England’s proposed approach illegal.
And of course NHS Scotland continues to follow the Mermaid model.
One imagines as the approach becomes embedded it's a fight that Starmer won't bother having and will just leave the status quo in place. It seems like a loser for Labour to reopen any of this stuff as it just repels voters and if the Tories look half sensible again next year these issues could shift votes.
Stamer is trying to repeat the Blair playbook, lots of nods towards lots of causes to try and build as big a collation of anti-Tory voters as possible. Hence trying to claim Brexit is a done deal, then some murmuring about PR, etc.
I don't get any sense of what Starmer actually believes. He has the air of a technocrat. But that doesn't inspire passion or enthusiasm.
Starmerism doesn't exist. I don't think it is ever going to exist.
He has dumped a significant number of his leadership election pledges.
In that he is very much a typical politician.
But as the likely PM after the GE whenever that comes, I would like some inkling as to a personal philosophy.
I just do not believe he has one. Not that I could ever vote Labour. But I would still like a sense of something behind the eyes.
As Truss has just discovered there are massive constraints on leaders over beliefs, policies and actions. The two biggest are these: The current state of the Overton window; and the current state of fiscal and monetary reality. The third biggest is what the electorate will stand for.
Discounting bits of retail politics, the essentials of expenditure to meet all these three and their expectations are about £1tn, or nearly 50% of GDP. This cannot be significantly cut and it is meaningless to say it can, but there is no limit to how much it could be increased given demand (pensions, NHS, social care, wages, defence, energy, schools etc).
The room for discretionary tinkering is minute. The great risk is that there is no practical option that the electorate will stomach.
For practical purposes the aims of any current leader wanting to be in government will be identical. The rest is noise, and the difference will be about competence.
What happened to the no to online voting due to fear of bad actors? Especially with Boris' back in the picture. What's the risk of mass hacking of OAPs email accounts? LOL
I get the feeling that this time around, Johnson really is crashing and won't get the MP's. The Lord Frost intervention is very significant. If this is correct, the question is whether Braverman/Badenoch or someone else on the 'right' decide to try their luck. In which case their odds (which are currently insanely long) will rapidly shorten.
If Boris isn't getting the numbers, they aren't getting the numbers.
There are only 3 players in this contest. One of those is nowhere near (without a huge lending of votes; another is scrabbling to meet the thresh-hold that was set high to keep him out the running.
Rishi, for once in his life, is actually head and shoulders above the others.
Until the members get a say. They do seem to be the most ornery bunch of grumpy bastards. They seem intent on going for the Thelma and Louise ending.....
So sensible Tories are working hard to make sure the members don’t get a say. Good luck to them!
The NHS Interim Service Specification proposal is seismic:
-Puberty blockers only prescribed for research -Safeguarding of children obtaining unregulated hormones -Limit on social transition -Acknowledgement that most cases of dysphoria do not persist -Focus on mental health
Be interesting if Imelda allows them in Scotland NHS.
Will be interesting as so far the Holyrood Committee on GRA reform has barely listened to any contrary evidence. Like Mordaunt she’s fallen for the vacuous. TWAW woo.
Does a person who lives in England have any ability to seek treatment in Scotland? I know there’s a lot of cross-pollination between England and Wales (using GPs in the other country because it’s geographically logical) but that’s a very different border for the most part. The England/Scotland border is fairly sparsely populated along most of the length.
If such a right exists, there’s going to be issues.
If they start treatment in Scotland then expect it to be continued in England (where it’s against guidelines) there likely will be issues.
There’s going to be issues with Scotlands GRA reform - is such recognition going to be recognised in the rest of the U.K.?
In principle, no different from any other drug or treatment. The differtent approval systems mean that there are some cases where the one treatmenty can be had in one country but not the other, and vice versa (with a subvariant, presuimably, of whether it can be had if you pay). You want one of those treatments, you move.
There are going to be a number of substantial claims for children damaged by this process already. Does Scotland really want more? The NHS English guidelines seem eminently sensible to me.
Much of this [edit] NHS England proposal seems from the summary to be to do with under age children and the decision making problem, which is distinct from anything else to do with gender (albeit puberty is the issye here). And GRA reform is not the same thing as NHS policy, or what is clinically decided to be acceptable treatment in the Scottish equivalent of NICE (I forget the name momentarily). The previous posters seem to be lumping these three processes together, though obviously they are connected. And it seems to me that doctors will not do it if they don't have clinical approval and therefore medical insurance.
The NHS Interim Service Specification proposal is seismic:
-Puberty blockers only prescribed for research -Safeguarding of children obtaining unregulated hormones -Limit on social transition -Acknowledgement that most cases of dysphoria do not persist -Focus on mental health
Be interesting if Imelda allows them in Scotland NHS.
Will be interesting as so far the Holyrood Committee on GRA reform has barely listened to any contrary evidence. Like Mordaunt she’s fallen for the vacuous. TWAW woo.
Does a person who lives in England have any ability to seek treatment in Scotland? I know there’s a lot of cross-pollination between England and Wales (using GPs in the other country because it’s geographically logical) but that’s a very different border for the most part. The England/Scotland border is fairly sparsely populated along most of the length.
If such a right exists, there’s going to be issues.
If they start treatment in Scotland then expect it to be continued in England (where it’s against guidelines) there likely will be issues.
There’s going to be issues with Scotlands GRA reform - is such recognition going to be recognised in the rest of the U.K.?
In principle, no different from any other drug or treatment. The differtent approval systems mean that there are some cases where the one treatmenty can be had in one country but not the other, and vice versa (with a subvariant, presuimably, of whether it can be had if you pay). You want one of those treatments, you move.
There are going to be a number of substantial claims for children damaged by this process already. Does Scotland really want more? The NHS English guidelines seem eminently sensible to me.
It’s a medical scandal for the ages. A lot of people who thought they were on “the right side of history” are going to be seriously exposed. Ms Sturgeon among them.
Meanwhile, the gap between the amount of people who think Brexit was "wrong", in hindsight, and the amount who think it was "right" just keeps getting bigger and bigger
Keir Starmer finds himself on the wrong side. Again.
Thinking Brexit was a mistake and wanting to spend huge amounts of time and energy on negotiating the UK’s re-entry are two very different things. My guess is that most people are far keener on a much better relationship with the EU than they are about rejoining, which is exactly where Starmer is. There is certainly space to go further, though, as whoever ends up leading the Tories cannot begin to accept the Brexit deal Johnson negotiated was awful.
And that was in August. The UK-wide data indicates that things have swung even more to the pro-Europe side since then.
Starmer has made some appalling strategic choices, and being pro-Brexit is one of the biggest. An epic fail.
So Scots think it’s a bad idea to leave long-established and successful unions that promote trade and security in search of mythical extra sovereignty, but they were pushed into it by a bunch of corrupt xenophobes?🤔
Were not pushed , just totally ignored and dragged out by those Jingoist halfwits in Westminster. Sooner we get out of this banana republic the better.
If I was the SNP, I reckon I’d just get on with detailed design work and think about an all party constitutional convention. Basically act like it’s inevitable - which it probably is.
No it isn't, especially under a likely Labour government shortly offering devomax
That th esame one offered in 2014 then
Scotland Act 2016 partly delivered it but in 2014 of course there was a Tory led UK government
Delivered it my ARSE, those Tory fcukwits knifed Scotland big time, hence why the losers are on 3% and hated throughout teh country.
Conversely if Boris looks like struggling to hit 100, I think a lot of anyone-but-Rishi MPs might throw their weight behind Mordaunt at the last minute to ensure a runoff.
Mordaunt might well then win with the members. So not completely over for her yet.
No, they want it sorted Monday. Every one of the grandees who has spoken about the election has been careful to make it clear that the members stage is not nailed on. Pile in on Sunak while there’s still a reasonable return.
Yep. Bubble popping now, I think. Double digits soon.
Maybe he seemed a more attractive proposition when he was over the water, but now he’s back in the country, MPs are remembering what he’s like!
Ha, yes. I think it's been largely a hype operation though. Got him back in the news so I suppose he'll be happy enough. The thing I want to see now is the privileges committee doing a proper job and finding him guilty of lying to parliament and hence goodbye. Ok, there'll no doubt be speeches and columns and books but I won't have to partake of any of them. Happy days.
The NHS Interim Service Specification proposal is seismic:
-Puberty blockers only prescribed for research -Safeguarding of children obtaining unregulated hormones -Limit on social transition -Acknowledgement that most cases of dysphoria do not persist -Focus on mental health
Thank god. A moderate middle ground on these issues is within our grasp if the Tories choose well and Starmer holds his position.
Starmer’s comments at the Prick News awards raises concerns that he’d make NHS England’s proposed approach illegal.
And of course NHS Scotland continues to follow the Mermaid model.
One imagines as the approach becomes embedded it's a fight that Starmer won't bother having and will just leave the status quo in place. It seems like a loser for Labour to reopen any of this stuff as it just repels voters and if the Tories look half sensible again next year these issues could shift votes.
Stamer is trying to repeat the Blair playbook, lots of nods towards lots of causes to try and build as big a collation of anti-Tory voters as possible. Hence trying to claim Brexit is a done deal, then some murmuring about PR, etc.
I don't get any sense of what Starmer actually believes. He has the air of a technocrat. But that doesn't inspire passion or enthusiasm.
Starmerism doesn't exist. I don't think it is ever going to exist.
He has dumped a significant number of his leadership election pledges.
In that he is very much a typical politician.
But as the likely PM after the GE whenever that comes, I would like some inkling as to a personal philosophy.
I just do not believe he has one. Not that I could ever vote Labour. But I would still like a sense of something behind the eyes.
What is this nonsense? Starmer is a real person, like any of us. He has beliefs. He’s a social democrat, to the left of a Blair, to the right of a Corbyn. What is difficult to understand about this? Where does this dehumanising suggestion that he is lacking “something behind the eyes” come from?
I think this is my first post since the Leeds Leadership hustings. At that time I said the Conservative Party needed to be pragmatic, empathetic and forward looking. I was sceptical it was in evidence with Liz Truss and as such I vote for Rishi Sunak. Unsurprisingly I think he is the most appropriate and strongest choice for the party now.
In terms of the EU, I campaigned and voted Leave in the referendum. I had long hoped sufficient reform from within the EU towards a more flexible model of concentric circles of membership would emerge quicker than it was and when Cameron failed to get anything meaningful in his negotiation I made the decision that reforming our relationship from outside offered an alternate route, even if it would be structurally more radical.
Overall I still think leaving will prove to be the pathway to that more mature, mutually beneficial relationship with the EU arrives. Nevertheless I would be lying if I didn't acknowledge I had not considered the awful way all sides - UK and EU actors - behaved post-referendum in failing to work through the next steps more cautiously, compromise and not go zero sum. Here the Conservative Party did not have its finest hour to say the least and today there is still too much ideological unwillingness to see nuance and compromise.
For me the EU (at the bureaucratic level at least) sees itself as a state being built. This means that there is not always a willingness to see that some members won't want ever closer union. Perhaps this is no surprise: bureaucracies often like to justify their roles through more and more activity and as with membership of any state, there isn't really a half in/ half out position - you are either part of the state or you are not. On the flip side, if the hard Brexiteers do not recognise that their zero sum approach will risk alienating those who want good UK-EU relations, then they will find the country will be more likely to return to the EU (potentially without all the opt-outs) out of frustration and exhaustion. Not compromising and thinking you are always right is tiring. If the public feel the status quo is too conflictual, the hard Brexiteers should not be surprised the public look elsewhere and that alternative offering may well be rejoin, as the bespoke relationship hasn't been sold and explained well enough.
And that bespoke relationship? Ultimately a relationship, more associate in status, economically-based, but without the free movement of people as currently formed is one that could, over many years be forged. It would, I think make a sufficient number of actors on all sides sufficiently content and allow us all to focus on big structural things such as inter-generational fairness, the future of work, climate change.
I think this is the ultimate direction of travel. However the closer relationship will be a subordinate one for the UK, less comfortable than participating in decisions that affect you.
The EU and UK actors behaved in the way I expected them to. There is a reasonable case to be made for Brexit around accepting various losses of freedom, prosperity, influence and coherence as a nation as a price worth paying, so we can be masters of our own ship. Unfortunately no-one made that reasonable case, presumably because the referendum would be lost. So this Brexit, rather than a hypothetical other Brexit, went ahead on seriously false premises. Sooner or later we will have to work through them.
The problem is that the Brexit campaign elided divergent long term policy objectives.
Farage and Banks were not fishing in the same waters as Cummings and Bojo.
We are now seeing the logical consequence of these contradictions playing out in the Conservative party.
Being sympathetic to these challenges, it has hindered the very necessary process of reconciling the 50% of the population who did not want Brexit.
Your (very reasonable) proposal should have been made in 2017, of course.
"Farage and Banks were not fishing in the same waters as Cummings and Bojo."
In that one sentence you have encapsulated the reason why Brexit has failed. the narrow 52% vote to leave was split between 2 contradictory visions of Brexit. There was never anything close to majority support for one type of Brexit. By the time that reality dawned we were stuck with it.
Conversely if Boris looks like struggling to hit 100, I think a lot of anyone-but-Rishi MPs might throw their weight behind Mordaunt at the last minute to ensure a runoff.
Mordaunt might well then win with the members. So not completely over for her yet.
Mordaunt withdraws before a vote, the deal was done in the week
That would be dangerous. Some of her supporters might go for Boris and tip him over 100.
Unless you mean she made a deal with Boris? Unlikely surely?
No i mean after nominations close. There will be no Sunak Mordaunt run off. Its Sunak Bozo or Coronation
But if he hasn’t got 100 nominations when nominations close he’s out - whether or not Mordaunt subsequently withdraws. Her supporters can’t wind back the clock and nominate him retrospectively.
Yep. Bubble popping now, I think. Double digits soon.
Maybe he seemed a more attractive proposition when he was over the water, but now he’s back in the country, MPs are remembering what he’s like!
Ha, yes. I think it's been largely a hype operation though. Got him back in the news so I suppose he'll be happy enough. The thing I want to see now is the privileges committee doing a proper job and finding him guilty of lying to parliament and hence goodbye. Ok, there'll no doubt be speeches and columns and books but I won't have to partake of any of them. Happy days.
It also sets up the narrative for much later down the road should Boris decide to try and return from his wilderness years (like in his mind Churchill).
Harry Taylor @HarryTaylr Sky News reporter Mark Stone, who is on the flight with Boris Johnson back from the Dominican Republic to Gatwick, said that Johnson was booed by passengers as he boarded.
This is classic twitter nonsense...headline tweet says something that people will take as whole plane booed him. Actual quote from Mark Stone, a couple of people did, most were bemused to see him there.
Its also done in the disingenuous sly way that they write the first part (in attempt to get shared, with link to the actual quote 2 tweets down, that nobody will read).
and if a couple of people cheered him the Mail and Telegraph would be telling us that he got a standing ovation and the whole plane was chanting "We want Boris".
Conversely if Boris looks like struggling to hit 100, I think a lot of anyone-but-Rishi MPs might throw their weight behind Mordaunt at the last minute to ensure a runoff.
Mordaunt might well then win with the members. So not completely over for her yet.
Mordaunt withdraws before a vote, the deal was done in the week
That would be dangerous. Some of her supporters might go for Boris and tip him over 100.
Unless you mean she made a deal with Boris? Unlikely surely?
No i mean after nominations close. There will be no Sunak Mordaunt run off. Its Sunak Bozo or Coronation
But if he hasn’t got 100 nominations when nominations close he’s out - whether or not Mordaunt subsequently withdraws. Her supporters can’t wind back the clock and nominate him retrospectively.
Yes i know, and if Mordaunt has just over 100 she withdraws after nominations close
Meanwhile, the gap between the amount of people who think Brexit was "wrong", in hindsight, and the amount who think it was "right" just keeps getting bigger and bigger
Keir Starmer finds himself on the wrong side. Again.
Thinking Brexit was a mistake and wanting to spend huge amounts of time and energy on negotiating the UK’s re-entry are two very different things. My guess is that most people are far keener on a much better relationship with the EU than they are about rejoining, which is exactly where Starmer is. There is certainly space to go further, though, as whoever ends up leading the Tories cannot begin to accept the Brexit deal Johnson negotiated was awful.
And that was in August. The UK-wide data indicates that things have swung even more to the pro-Europe side since then.
Starmer has made some appalling strategic choices, and being pro-Brexit is one of the biggest. An epic fail.
So Scots think it’s a bad idea to leave long-established and successful unions that promote trade and security in search of mythical extra sovereignty, but they were pushed into it by a bunch of corrupt xenophobes?🤔
Were not pushed , just totally ignored and dragged out by those Jingoist halfwits in Westminster. Sooner we get out of this banana republic the better.
If I was the SNP, I reckon I’d just get on with detailed design work and think about an all party constitutional convention. Basically act like it’s inevitable - which it probably is.
No it isn't, especially under a likely Labour government shortly offering devomax
That th esame one offered in 2014 then
Scotland Act 2016 partly delivered it but in 2014 of course there was a Tory led UK government
Now that is the most outrageous fib* on PB all day, that the 2016 act [edit: typo in date corrected] provided devomax.
Comments
Well, I certainly don't think Starmer is the messiah, but I do know Johnson is a very naughty boy. And I'll vote accordingly
However, he is a) a technocrat and b) being advised by New Labour grandees to play up the boring technocrat as a strength against all the nonsense that is going on with the Tories....and by staying vague not piss off people.
There are only 3 players in this contest. One of those is nowhere near (without a huge lending of votes; another is scrabbling to meet the thresh-hold that was set high to keep him out the running.
Rishi, for once in his life, is actually head and shoulders above the others.
Until the members get a say. They do seem to be the most ornery bunch of grumpy bastards. They seem intent on going for the Thelma and Louise ending.....
Sunak, 149 nominations
Boris, 114 nominations
Mordaunt, 34 nominations
60 we will not find out.
Its the same time as the response to falling ratings is if we just reboot the show with a younger more diverse hosts / panel or we go for more outlandish style that will immediately reverse that decline e.g Question of Sport.
There’s going to be issues with Scotlands GRA reform - is such recognition going to be recognised in the rest of the U.K.?
If they offered the same roles at £100k all four would still be filled by wannabe media ex footballers of a similar standard (as broadcasters).
You want to follow proper football analysts on twitter they have started really taking clips to task of what absolute bullshit is being spread.
*Even when someone is only quoting someone else.
It's not like they haven't been warned it is a very material risk. Entirely on their shoulders if we have yet another PM before Christmas.
It is beyond me how any on that declared list can take the risk. They must REALLY hate Sunak to put Party and country through that turmoil. The markets will be brutally unkind, much worse than we saw for Truss.
With Mordaunt it's different. I've seen no polls of members of Sunak versus Mordaunt but I would guess she has a big lead over him. She's the members' kind of person. Her policies don't matter. She presents well, tall and impressive and not ... you know. They can see some chance of her winning the next General. They may give her a chance versus Boris.
So to stop Boris, MPs need to get Penny into the last two. That means Sunak standing aside for the good of the party and the good of the country. He'll be rewarded with FS and will help save the UK economy and the Tory party.
Rishi +17
Boris +3
Boris has also lost one unnamed Party Officer.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11343053/Extinction-Rebellion-activists-infiltrate-Paris-Motor-glue-Ferrari-supercars.html
Put a screen around them and just leave them there for a few days in their own piss and shit.
The Beeb also lost the NFL show. Osi, Jason and Chappers was the best bloke TV there was. Quite superb.
Of course it had to die.
Mordaunt might well then win with the members. So not completely over for her yet.
A sign?
@TOPPING 's assessment is about right, I think.
I get what you are saying but I think a line needs to be drawn in the sand now - the (arguably) “best” candidate, who only lost out to Truss because of her fantasy unicorn economic plan and the Mail’s campaign against Sunak, should not have to withdraw from a leading position for a “lesser” and less popular candidate amongst MPs because of fear of the membership.
The membership needs to be told clearly and coldly that “this is it” - you correct the last mistake and get your heads out of your arses and vote Sunak if he has the support of a majority of MPs or see your beloved party smashed into tiny pieces by voting for Boris.
If the members still don’t get it then the party deserves extinction.
So yes I get the idea about “gaming” the situation but if it’s gamed it will never be a good situation medium term. It’s got to be the members deciding not to be utter members.
Unless you mean she made a deal with Boris? Unlikely surely?
Btw I like how he's making sure to look very grave and serious in the glimpses we've had. Nice touch.
Discounting bits of retail politics, the essentials of expenditure to meet all these three and their expectations are about £1tn, or nearly 50% of GDP. This cannot be significantly cut and it is meaningless to say it can, but there is no limit to how much it could be increased given demand (pensions, NHS, social care, wages, defence, energy, schools etc).
The room for discretionary tinkering is minute. The great risk is that there is no practical option that the electorate will stomach.
For practical purposes the aims of any current leader wanting to be in government will be identical. The rest is noise, and the difference will be about competence.
Especially with Boris' back in the picture.
What's the risk of mass hacking of OAPs email accounts? LOL
https://www.airforce-technology.com/homepage/uk-c-130js-listed-for-sale-by-mod/
Getting a head start on the defence cuts.
In that one sentence you have encapsulated the reason why Brexit has failed. the narrow 52% vote to leave was split between 2 contradictory visions of Brexit. There was never anything close to majority support for one type of Brexit. By the time that reality dawned we were stuck with it.
Rishi still good value.
Bravo.