A trans lobby group helped to draft NHS plans for treating children questioning their gender,…..
Susie Green, then chairman of the charity Mermaids, was part of a task group reviewing services at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation trans clinic.
The Tavistock claimed that it did not have emails or minutes of meetings with Ms Green but after the information regulator threatened court action, it released more than 300 pages.
They show that Ms Green had a direct line to Dr Polly Carmichael, Tavistock’s director, and demanded to be regarded as a professional so she could refer children for treatment when their GPs refused. Ms Green, who has no known formal medical training, held an advisory role on two of the studies that the clinic was involved in on the long-term effect of gender identity.
"Coalition of chaos" won't work as a slogan because chaos is a word associated with the Conservatives. They won't want to remind people of that.
The Sun did polling recently - that it chose not to give much prominence to - that found a Tory majority was viewed more negatively than either a Labour majority or any possible coalition combination.
If labour looks likely to win or form the next govt I fully expect The Sun to support them.
A Survation poll for the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) suggests Tories might lose 21 seats in the rural wall, including those of Jeremy Hunt, Mel Stride, Mark Harper, Lucy Frazer, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Liam Fox.
Schadenfreude is a terrible emotion - beguiling as it is - and we mustn’t forget the balls, and sacrifice, it takes to put yourself forward for public service, to raise your head above the parapet, to put yourself forward for a popularity contest every few years, submitting to the uncompromising will of the electorate. These people genuinely want to help to make this country better. I might disagree entirely with the way they think that should happen but they deserve my respect.
That said, it would be lovely to see all those Tory bastards fall. Especially Rees-Mogg.
PMSL, you are obviously trolling. Majority are grifters or no users looking for easy money, unlimited expenses and gold plated pensions , half the year on holiday and the other half in subsidised bars and restaurants getting sloshed whilst looking for a lumber.
Up early this morning, Malc!
Good morning to all.
Morning OKC, busy day ahead, I am off on holiday this week so lots to do. Hope you are well and things improving for you.
Where are you off to, Malc? Somewhere, sunny and warm? Yes, I think things are improving for me. Slowly. Must say that, generally speaking, I am impressed with the NHS services.
Good to hear that OKC. I am off to Lake Como, I am driving so have a few days in Germany either way as well. Get ferry North Shields to Zeebrugge. Hopefully be nice and warm but Italy has been having a bad time recently. Be unbelievable if I go there and get rain when weather here is forecast to stay lovely. Fingers crossed.
"thanks largely to the toxic legacy bequeathed to Sir Keir Starmer by his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn." Parties get the leaders they deserve!
Labour certainly did with Corbyn. A supreme act of self-indulgence that went badly wrong. Sadly, it cost the nation dearly as well.
I was mainly thinking of the Conservative Party!!
I feel that Corbyn was an affliction on both parties. With Labour the effects are obvious, but Corbyn's presence also gave the Tories a completely free hand to indulge their more lunatic fancies since they were effectively running a one-party state with Corbyn wrecking Labour.
The country has suffered terribly from the lack of leadership that Corbyn caused in both parties.
But not long to go. We can all look forward to a few Portillo moments though this lot have been so ghastly just watching them lose their seat doesn't seem adequate. Certainly not for Braverman. I'd like to see her frogmarched onto a plane to Rwanda while the nation cheered
Brexit still happened.
Even just reading it sounds like a bad dream
If labour can do something to mitigate the worst effects of it in the next Parliament that would be a start.
There is no doubt that England has nice landscapes and these can look superficially sensational at the right time of year.
The tragedy is that beneath this superficial beauty, our landscapes are thoroughly depleted of nature. In my lifetime populations of insectivorous birds have collapsed in lowland England. Once everyday species like Grey Partridge, Swallow, Cuckoo and Willow Warbler are now noteworthy. Butterflies I used to see in huge numbers are now found in ones and twos.
It’s great to appreciate our landscapes on a nice spring day but don’t let that detract from the deep environmental problems beneath. Beneath the surface much of the landscape has as much resource availability for wildlife as an industrial estate.
Never mind the posh birds, the once-ubiquitous (indeed synonymous) sparrows have disappeared from London.
The Conservatives have left no stone unturned, since 2019, in their efforts to alienate both long-standing supporters, and floating voters.
It’s surprising that their support is as high as 29%.
Also, the contempt for their own membership oozes from the letters written from CCO.
One wonder if the organisation is secretly staffed by very effective Deep Labour agents.
Worse than that, the Conservative Party made the fatal error of Starting To Believe In Something.
Once a group starts to coalesce around an organising belief, it becomes tempting to cut away any evidence that goes against that belief. Fine(ish) in a church, not fine if you're wanting to run a country. See Truss-Kwarteng for an example of this.
The Conservatives, in particular, have worn their beliefs fairly lightly most of the time. Even Maggie (real Maggie, not cartoon Maggie of campfire stories) was a lot more pragmatic than she was given credit for. Capable wets could and did advance under Thatcher; William Waldegrave joined the cabinet in early November 1990.
The party is much more monochrome than in the past- partly but not exclusively because of the Europe thing. Even if that was worth doing (and it's far too nice a morning to discuss that), it has come at a price, which is a higher propensity to groupthink and paranoia. Because it's now a Belief.
And, in the even that the Conservatives do want to try something less strident, it's going to be tricky to find a leadership team out of whatever is left after an election defeat. Much harder than Labour found it under Corbyn. He also Believed In Things to an unhealthy degree, but plenty of his party just wanted to make life nicer for the less well off.
Yes, pragmatism, realism and stability all used to be the Conservatives secret weapons and why they kept winning elections.
In the 23 years between John Gorst resigning the whip in December 1996 and the December 2019 GE the Conservative Party had a majority for a total of 2 years, failing to obtain a majority in five elections out of the seven in that time. The idea that the Conservatives have, in the last 30 years anyway, been a pragmatic, realistic and stable winning machine is for the birds.
Toxic legacy my arse, you are Peter Mandleson and I claim my prize
SKS has staked all on being Toxic to Socialists and will be lucky to crawl over the line due to 2024 having a "time is up for the Tories" feel about it,
Toxic legacy my arse, you are Peter Mandleson and I claim my prize
SKS has staked all on being Toxic to Socialists and will be lucky to crawl over the line due to 2024 having a "time is up for the Tories" feel about it,
Corbyn bequeathed Starmer just 202 MPs, that’s toxic.
When Corbyn became leader he had 232 MPs, he left the Labour Party in a worse state than he inherited.
That is toxic.
Not just that. Some recent polling;
There might not have been much in the way of clear-eyed thinking emerging from last week’s National Conservatism Conference, but on one point Lee Anderson was spot on. Ask Tory voters why they backed the Party in 2019 and they’ll give you three main reasons - Getting Brexit Done, Corbyn and Boris. None of these, of course, pertain today.
Toxic legacy my arse, you are Peter Mandleson and I claim my prize
SKS has staked all on being Toxic to Socialists and will be lucky to crawl over the line due to 2024 having a "time is up for the Tories" feel about it,
The Conservatives have left no stone unturned, since 2019, in their efforts to alienate both long-standing supporters, and floating voters.
It’s surprising that their support is as high as 29%.
Also, the contempt for their own membership oozes from the letters written from CCO.
One wonder if the organisation is secretly staffed by very effective Deep Labour agents.
Worse than that, the Conservative Party made the fatal error of Starting To Believe In Something.
Once a group starts to coalesce around an organising belief, it becomes tempting to cut away any evidence that goes against that belief. Fine(ish) in a church, not fine if you're wanting to run a country. See Truss-Kwarteng for an example of this.
The Conservatives, in particular, have worn their beliefs fairly lightly most of the time. Even Maggie (real Maggie, not cartoon Maggie of campfire stories) was a lot more pragmatic than she was given credit for. Capable wets could and did advance under Thatcher; William Waldegrave joined the cabinet in early November 1990.
The party is much more monochrome than in the past- partly but not exclusively because of the Europe thing. Even if that was worth doing (and it's far too nice a morning to discuss that), it has come at a price, which is a higher propensity to groupthink and paranoia. Because it's now a Belief.
And, in the even that the Conservatives do want to try something less strident, it's going to be tricky to find a leadership team out of whatever is left after an election defeat. Much harder than Labour found it under Corbyn. He also Believed In Things to an unhealthy degree, but plenty of his party just wanted to make life nicer for the less well off.
Anecdotally, my mother voted Conservative for decades after coming to Britain because she was fed up with continental extremism (communism, nazism) and found them delightfully free of Big Ideas. She went off them when Maggie came along, and joined Labour, partly to support me. I recall a bizarre branch meeting in a room above a dingy pub with a dozen traditional members and mum in her ocelot jacket, refusing to sit at the table because it would have made 13, and she was superstitious. (Undeterred, they elected her as membership secretary, as she was actually willing to do that horrible job.)
Toxic legacy my arse, you are Peter Mandleson and I claim my prize
SKS has staked all on being Toxic to Socialists and will be lucky to crawl over the line due to 2024 having a "time is up for the Tories" feel about it,
Zzzzz....
The other reason we need PR. @bigjohnowls Socialists can have their own party without having to compromise - except at the behest of the electorate.
A Survation poll for the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) suggests Tories might lose 21 seats in the rural wall, including those of Jeremy Hunt, Mel Stride, Mark Harper, Lucy Frazer, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Liam Fox.
Schadenfreude is a terrible emotion - beguiling as it is - and we mustn’t forget the balls, and sacrifice, it takes to put yourself forward for public service, to raise your head above the parapet, to put yourself forward for a popularity contest every few years, submitting to the uncompromising will of the electorate. These people genuinely want to help to make this country better. I might disagree entirely with the way they think that should happen but they deserve my respect.
That said, it would be lovely to see all those Tory bastards fall. Especially Rees-Mogg.
PMSL, you are obviously trolling. Majority are grifters or no users looking for easy money, unlimited expenses and gold plated pensions , half the year on holiday and the other half in subsidised bars and restaurants getting sloshed whilst looking for a lumber.
Up early this morning, Malc!
Good morning to all.
Morning OKC, busy day ahead, I am off on holiday this week so lots to do. Hope you are well and things improving for you.
Where are you off to, Malc? Somewhere, sunny and warm? Yes, I think things are improving for me. Slowly. Must say that, generally speaking, I am impressed with the NHS services.
Good to hear that OKC. I am off to Lake Como, I am driving so have a few days in Germany either way as well. Get ferry North Shields to Zeebrugge. Hopefully be nice and warm but Italy has been having a bad time recently. Be unbelievable if I go there and get rain when weather here is forecast to stay lovely. Fingers crossed.
BBC reporting that four MP’s have been instructed to repay fines put on expenses. Three Tory, one SNP.
They really are a bunch of grifters, they never spend a penny of their own money, som eclown in SNP claimed £130 to get his phone couriered to London as he had forgotten it. It is a disgrace to say the least.
There is no doubt that England has nice landscapes and these can look superficially sensational at the right time of year.
The tragedy is that beneath this superficial beauty, our landscapes are thoroughly depleted of nature. In my lifetime populations of insectivorous birds have collapsed in lowland England. Once everyday species like Grey Partridge, Swallow, Cuckoo and Willow Warbler are now noteworthy. Butterflies I used to see in huge numbers are now found in ones and twos.
It’s great to appreciate our landscapes on a nice spring day but don’t let that detract from the deep environmental problems beneath. Beneath the surface much of the landscape has as much resource availability for wildlife as an industrial estate.
It’s not just England - there’s been a general collapse in insect populations across Europe. Particularly noticeable this spring has been the dearth of bees. I’ve barely seen a bumblebee on plants in the garden which even last year would have had dozens on them.
A Survation poll for the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) suggests Tories might lose 21 seats in the rural wall, including those of Jeremy Hunt, Mel Stride, Mark Harper, Lucy Frazer, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Liam Fox.
JRM will lose if all the opposition rallies around Labour.
Labour/LD/Green combined ran him pretty close even in GE2019 - question is whether it splits evenly across Labour/LD again.
Trouble is it is easier to get angry Tories to vote LD than Lab in a place like this. I think only the LDs can win in this seat and convincing the elector you are the challenger when you are behind Lab is harder unless it is by election so he is likely to be safe because of a split vote. It would need Lab to really back off which I can't see.
JRM has a name recognition that may concentrate the minds of Labour voters in that corner of Somerset if not elsewhere.
They already do it with domestic gas and electric. Albeit via subsidy.
Taz, only people they are subsidising are the foreign owners, gas prices have tumbled yet we are still paying a fortune. How can it be costing government anything when they are almost giving the gas away.
"thanks largely to the toxic legacy bequeathed to Sir Keir Starmer by his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn." Parties get the leaders they deserve!
Labour certainly did with Corbyn. A supreme act of self-indulgence that went badly wrong. Sadly, it cost the nation dearly as well.
I was mainly thinking of the Conservative Party!!
I feel that Corbyn was an affliction on both parties. With Labour the effects are obvious, but Corbyn's presence also gave the Tories a completely free hand to indulge their more lunatic fancies since they were effectively running a one-party state with Corbyn wrecking Labour.
The country has suffered terribly from the lack of leadership that Corbyn caused in both parties.
Hubris is the Tory Achilles Heal and always has been.
Agreed. And blinding envy has often been Labour's Achilles Heal.
There is no doubt that England has nice landscapes and these can look superficially sensational at the right time of year.
The tragedy is that beneath this superficial beauty, our landscapes are thoroughly depleted of nature. In my lifetime populations of insectivorous birds have collapsed in lowland England. Once everyday species like Grey Partridge, Swallow, Cuckoo and Willow Warbler are now noteworthy. Butterflies I used to see in huge numbers are now found in ones and twos.
It’s great to appreciate our landscapes on a nice spring day but don’t let that detract from the deep environmental problems beneath. Beneath the surface much of the landscape has as much resource availability for wildlife as an industrial estate.
Never mind the posh birds, the once-ubiquitous (indeed synonymous) sparrows have disappeared from London.
OTOH we were watching four buzzards and a red kite wheeling and hovering over the field opposite our house on Friday after it had been cut for silage. I never saw either bird at all as a lad in the 70s.
There is no doubt that England has nice landscapes and these can look superficially sensational at the right time of year.
The tragedy is that beneath this superficial beauty, our landscapes are thoroughly depleted of nature. In my lifetime populations of insectivorous birds have collapsed in lowland England. Once everyday species like Grey Partridge, Swallow, Cuckoo and Willow Warbler are now noteworthy. Butterflies I used to see in huge numbers are now found in ones and twos.
It’s great to appreciate our landscapes on a nice spring day but don’t let that detract from the deep environmental problems beneath. Beneath the surface much of the landscape has as much resource availability for wildlife as an industrial estate.
Industrial estates now tend to have numerous varieties of mature trees, self seeded wild flowers and re-wilded areas.
They are often more environmentally interesting than the surrounding countryside.
Its one reason why new building housing on brownfield sites isn't necessarily a good thing.
I'll say it again, Brexiteer Tories are intent on delivering Michael Foot's 1983 manifesto pledges.
Brexit = Socialism.
This is what I said last night.
Sunak will end up paying private equity to subsidise food prices in supermarkets. I'm sure the likes of Clayton, Dubilier, & Rice, and the Issa Brothers will love it.
Edward Heath delivered price controls in 1972. Michael Heseltine, Macmillan, Baldwin, Chamberlain, Disraeli often supported government intervention.
As a laissez faire liberal you fail to understand Toryism is a middle way between socialism and laissez faire liberalism economically (something ex LD Truss failed to grasp too), sometimes Tory governments will intervene if needed, especially due to high levels of current food prices post Ukraine war. That doesn't mean nationalising most industry however as socialists would or putting up tax levels very high.
Indeed Thatcher was arguably more a laissez faire Gladstone Liberal herself than patrician Tory
But I'm a liberal who can't be described as laissez-faire, and you keep calling me a Marxist. So what the fuck do you know about anything?
There is no doubt that England has nice landscapes and these can look superficially sensational at the right time of year.
The tragedy is that beneath this superficial beauty, our landscapes are thoroughly depleted of nature. In my lifetime populations of insectivorous birds have collapsed in lowland England. Once everyday species like Grey Partridge, Swallow, Cuckoo and Willow Warbler are now noteworthy. Butterflies I used to see in huge numbers are now found in ones and twos.
It’s great to appreciate our landscapes on a nice spring day but don’t let that detract from the deep environmental problems beneath. Beneath the surface much of the landscape has as much resource availability for wildlife as an industrial estate.
Never mind the posh birds, the once-ubiquitous (indeed synonymous) sparrows have disappeared from London.
OTOH we were watching four buzzards and a red kite wheeling and hovering over the field opposite our house on Friday after it had been cut for silage. I never saw either bird at all as a lad in the 70s.
There are certainly fewer swifts and swallows round here then when we moved here, 20 years ago.
There is no doubt that England has nice landscapes and these can look superficially sensational at the right time of year.
The tragedy is that beneath this superficial beauty, our landscapes are thoroughly depleted of nature. In my lifetime populations of insectivorous birds have collapsed in lowland England. Once everyday species like Grey Partridge, Swallow, Cuckoo and Willow Warbler are now noteworthy. Butterflies I used to see in huge numbers are now found in ones and twos.
It’s great to appreciate our landscapes on a nice spring day but don’t let that detract from the deep environmental problems beneath. Beneath the surface much of the landscape has as much resource availability for wildlife as an industrial estate.
It’s not just England - there’s been a general collapse in insect populations across Europe. Particularly noticeable this spring has been the dearth of bees. I’ve barely seen a bumblebee on plants in the garden which even last year would have had dozens on them.
These mild wet winters and cool springs we are getting could be a factor.
A Survation poll for the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) suggests Tories might lose 21 seats in the rural wall, including those of Jeremy Hunt, Mel Stride, Mark Harper, Lucy Frazer, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Liam Fox.
Schadenfreude is a terrible emotion - beguiling as it is - and we mustn’t forget the balls, and sacrifice, it takes to put yourself forward for public service, to raise your head above the parapet, to put yourself forward for a popularity contest every few years, submitting to the uncompromising will of the electorate. These people genuinely want to help to make this country better. I might disagree entirely with the way they think that should happen but they deserve my respect.
That said, it would be lovely to see all those Tory bastards fall. Especially Rees-Mogg.
PMSL, you are obviously trolling. Majority are grifters or no users looking for easy money, unlimited expenses and gold plated pensions , half the year on holiday and the other half in subsidised bars and restaurants getting sloshed whilst looking for a lumber.
Up early this morning, Malc!
Good morning to all.
Morning OKC, busy day ahead, I am off on holiday this week so lots to do. Hope you are well and things improving for you.
Where are you off to, Malc? Somewhere, sunny and warm? Yes, I think things are improving for me. Slowly. Must say that, generally speaking, I am impressed with the NHS services.
Good to hear that OKC. I am off to Lake Como, I am driving so have a few days in Germany either way as well. Get ferry North Shields to Zeebrugge. Hopefully be nice and warm but Italy has been having a bad time recently. Be unbelievable if I go there and get rain when weather here is forecast to stay lovely. Fingers crossed.
There is no doubt that England has nice landscapes and these can look superficially sensational at the right time of year.
The tragedy is that beneath this superficial beauty, our landscapes are thoroughly depleted of nature. In my lifetime populations of insectivorous birds have collapsed in lowland England. Once everyday species like Grey Partridge, Swallow, Cuckoo and Willow Warbler are now noteworthy. Butterflies I used to see in huge numbers are now found in ones and twos.
It’s great to appreciate our landscapes on a nice spring day but don’t let that detract from the deep environmental problems beneath. Beneath the surface much of the landscape has as much resource availability for wildlife as an industrial estate.
Never mind the posh birds, the once-ubiquitous (indeed synonymous) sparrows have disappeared from London.
OTOH we were watching four buzzards and a red kite wheeling and hovering over the field opposite our house on Friday after it had been cut for silage. I never saw either bird at all as a lad in the 70s.
There are certainly fewer swifts and swallows round here then when we moved here, 20 years ago.
Thrush is the one I see missing nowadays, rare sight now. Plenty sparrows.
They already do it with domestic gas and electric. Albeit via subsidy.
Taz, only people they are subsidising are the foreign owners, gas prices have tumbled yet we are still paying a fortune. How can it be costing government anything when they are almost giving the gas away.
It isn’t now. Prices haven’t yet fallen as fast as the market price since domestic gas suppliers are obliged by the regulator to buy forward.
A Survation poll for the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) suggests Tories might lose 21 seats in the rural wall, including those of Jeremy Hunt, Mel Stride, Mark Harper, Lucy Frazer, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Liam Fox.
Schadenfreude is a terrible emotion - beguiling as it is - and we mustn’t forget the balls, and sacrifice, it takes to put yourself forward for public service, to raise your head above the parapet, to put yourself forward for a popularity contest every few years, submitting to the uncompromising will of the electorate. These people genuinely want to help to make this country better. I might disagree entirely with the way they think that should happen but they deserve my respect.
That said, it would be lovely to see all those Tory bastards fall. Especially Rees-Mogg.
PMSL, you are obviously trolling. Majority are grifters or no users looking for easy money, unlimited expenses and gold plated pensions , half the year on holiday and the other half in subsidised bars and restaurants getting sloshed whilst looking for a lumber.
Up early this morning, Malc!
Good morning to all.
Morning OKC, busy day ahead, I am off on holiday this week so lots to do. Hope you are well and things improving for you.
Where are you off to, Malc? Somewhere, sunny and warm? Yes, I think things are improving for me. Slowly. Must say that, generally speaking, I am impressed with the NHS services.
Good to hear that OKC. I am off to Lake Como, I am driving so have a few days in Germany either way as well. Get ferry North Shields to Zeebrugge. Hopefully be nice and warm but Italy has been having a bad time recently. Be unbelievable if I go there and get rain when weather here is forecast to stay lovely. Fingers crossed.
Jealous - Lake Como is lovely. At least the water levels must be back to normal, it was a bit low when we went last September.
The Conservatives have left no stone unturned, since 2019, in their efforts to alienate both long-standing supporters, and floating voters.
It’s surprising that their support is as high as 29%.
Also, the contempt for their own membership oozes from the letters written from CCO.
One wonder if the organisation is secretly staffed by very effective Deep Labour agents.
Worse than that, the Conservative Party made the fatal error of Starting To Believe In Something.
Once a group starts to coalesce around an organising belief, it becomes tempting to cut away any evidence that goes against that belief. Fine(ish) in a church, not fine if you're wanting to run a country. See Truss-Kwarteng for an example of this.
The Conservatives, in particular, have worn their beliefs fairly lightly most of the time. Even Maggie (real Maggie, not cartoon Maggie of campfire stories) was a lot more pragmatic than she was given credit for. Capable wets could and did advance under Thatcher; William Waldegrave joined the cabinet in early November 1990.
The party is much more monochrome than in the past- partly but not exclusively because of the Europe thing. Even if that was worth doing (and it's far too nice a morning to discuss that), it has come at a price, which is a higher propensity to groupthink and paranoia. Because it's now a Belief.
And, in the even that the Conservatives do want to try something less strident, it's going to be tricky to find a leadership team out of whatever is left after an election defeat. Much harder than Labour found it under Corbyn. He also Believed In Things to an unhealthy degree, but plenty of his party just wanted to make life nicer for the less well off.
Anecdotally, my mother voted Conservative for decades after coming to Britain because she was fed up with continental extremism (communism, nazism) and found them delightfully free of Big Ideas. She went off them when Maggie came along, and joined Labour, partly to support me. I recall a bizarre branch meeting in a room above a dingy pub with a dozen traditional members and mum in her ocelot jacket, refusing to sit at the table because it would have made 13, and she was superstitious. (Undeterred, they elected her as membership secretary, as she was actually willing to do that horrible job.)
Toxic legacy my arse, you are Peter Mandleson and I claim my prize
SKS has staked all on being Toxic to Socialists and will be lucky to crawl over the line due to 2024 having a "time is up for the Tories" feel about it,
The problem is that no one on here, or likely anywhere, likes Starmer as much as you hate him. I’m pretty ‘meh’ myself but I’m still voting Labour. Think of it as like being asked to choose the music at a 90s party with 2 CDs, Rick Astley or Napalm Death. Rick ain’t my fave but he has a few decent tunes and you can’t dance to “From Enslavement to Obliteration” (I’ve tried).
It’s the extreme nature of your hatred that makes me defend him from your posts not any great fandom. It comes across as unhinged. It is unhinged.
There is no doubt that England has nice landscapes and these can look superficially sensational at the right time of year.
The tragedy is that beneath this superficial beauty, our landscapes are thoroughly depleted of nature. In my lifetime populations of insectivorous birds have collapsed in lowland England. Once everyday species like Grey Partridge, Swallow, Cuckoo and Willow Warbler are now noteworthy. Butterflies I used to see in huge numbers are now found in ones and twos.
It’s great to appreciate our landscapes on a nice spring day but don’t let that detract from the deep environmental problems beneath. Beneath the surface much of the landscape has as much resource availability for wildlife as an industrial estate.
Never mind the posh birds, the once-ubiquitous (indeed synonymous) sparrows have disappeared from London.
OTOH we were watching four buzzards and a red kite wheeling and hovering over the field opposite our house on Friday after it had been cut for silage. I never saw either bird at all as a lad in the 70s.
There are certainly fewer swifts and swallows round here then when we moved here, 20 years ago.
Plenty of swallows, swifts and martins here in Dorset, I am pleased to report.
There is no doubt that England has nice landscapes and these can look superficially sensational at the right time of year.
The tragedy is that beneath this superficial beauty, our landscapes are thoroughly depleted of nature. In my lifetime populations of insectivorous birds have collapsed in lowland England. Once everyday species like Grey Partridge, Swallow, Cuckoo and Willow Warbler are now noteworthy. Butterflies I used to see in huge numbers are now found in ones and twos.
It’s great to appreciate our landscapes on a nice spring day but don’t let that detract from the deep environmental problems beneath. Beneath the surface much of the landscape has as much resource availability for wildlife as an industrial estate.
Never mind the posh birds, the once-ubiquitous (indeed synonymous) sparrows have disappeared from London.
OTOH we were watching four buzzards and a red kite wheeling and hovering over the field opposite our house on Friday after it had been cut for silage. I never saw either bird at all as a lad in the 70s.
Not the best photo but...
Buzzards have recovered from persecution, spread back out of the west. Kites have been a tremendously successful reintroduction project. Kites live on carrion and there is plenty of roadkill.
I suspect the spread of both has been facilitated by the vast increase in gamebird releases. Pheasants now represent a significant proportion of our avian biomass, their release almost unregulated. Very little work has been done on the potential impact of these releases and the associated infrastructure.
There is no doubt that England has nice landscapes and these can look superficially sensational at the right time of year.
The tragedy is that beneath this superficial beauty, our landscapes are thoroughly depleted of nature. In my lifetime populations of insectivorous birds have collapsed in lowland England. Once everyday species like Grey Partridge, Swallow, Cuckoo and Willow Warbler are now noteworthy. Butterflies I used to see in huge numbers are now found in ones and twos.
It’s great to appreciate our landscapes on a nice spring day but don’t let that detract from the deep environmental problems beneath. Beneath the surface much of the landscape has as much resource availability for wildlife as an industrial estate.
One thing I have noticed on my strolls this spring is a lot more meadow land, daisies, buttercups and wild flowers than in previous years. I don't know if it's the weather or there has been a deliberate move towards it, but fields are carpeted with yellow, white, red and blue in a way I have not seen previously. That's true in both Devon and Warwickshire. This the basis from which everything else recovers, so fingers crossed.
"thanks largely to the toxic legacy bequeathed to Sir Keir Starmer by his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn." Parties get the leaders they deserve!
Labour certainly did with Corbyn. A supreme act of self-indulgence that went badly wrong. Sadly, it cost the nation dearly as well.
I was mainly thinking of the Conservative Party!!
I feel that Corbyn was an affliction on both parties. With Labour the effects are obvious, but Corbyn's presence also gave the Tories a completely free hand to indulge their more lunatic fancies since they were effectively running a one-party state with Corbyn wrecking Labour.
The country has suffered terribly from the lack of leadership that Corbyn caused in both parties.
Hubris is the Tory Achilles Heal and always has been.
Agreed. And blinding envy has often been Labour's Achilles Heal.
I disagree. Labour fail towards factionalism. The "envy" thing is just a trope used by conservative opponents and isn't really anchored in reality.
Ideally, I'd like Sunak with a majority of 100+ so he can govern sensibly.
Without it I'd probably prefer the Conservatives to go into opposition with 250 seats+ and the nutters to be purged once there.
Sunak's majority is about 70 right now? Would another 15 Conservative MPs really make a difference to anything? After all, you might just add another 15 nutters to the nutter caucus.
He'd have a real mandate, and all his MPs would be bound by his manifesto.
There is no doubt that England has nice landscapes and these can look superficially sensational at the right time of year.
The tragedy is that beneath this superficial beauty, our landscapes are thoroughly depleted of nature. In my lifetime populations of insectivorous birds have collapsed in lowland England. Once everyday species like Grey Partridge, Swallow, Cuckoo and Willow Warbler are now noteworthy. Butterflies I used to see in huge numbers are now found in ones and twos.
It’s great to appreciate our landscapes on a nice spring day but don’t let that detract from the deep environmental problems beneath. Beneath the surface much of the landscape has as much resource availability for wildlife as an industrial estate.
Never mind the posh birds, the once-ubiquitous (indeed synonymous) sparrows have disappeared from London.
OTOH we were watching four buzzards and a red kite wheeling and hovering over the field opposite our house on Friday after it had been cut for silage. I never saw either bird at all as a lad in the 70s.
There are certainly fewer swifts and swallows round here then when we moved here, 20 years ago.
Thrush is the one I see missing nowadays, rare sight now. Plenty sparrows.
A Survation poll for the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) suggests Tories might lose 21 seats in the rural wall, including those of Jeremy Hunt, Mel Stride, Mark Harper, Lucy Frazer, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Liam Fox.
Tories still ahead in rural areas though 41% to 36% for Labour and 13% for the LDs on that poll
So Tories currently ahead by a small margin in the strongest Tory areas in the country may not be quite the zinger you think it is.
The momentum against the Conservatives in well educated, prosperous, "Remainer" constituencies in the Home Counties is accelerating. Losing the rural vote too will be an earthquake.
The increasingly obvious failure and deepening unpopularity of Brexit, the primary policy of the Tories since the Referendum, may be speeding the Tories to a defeat on a scale that leads to permanent and irreversible irrelevance.
"Coalition of chaos" won't work as a slogan because chaos is a word associated with the Conservatives. They won't want to remind people of that.
The Sun did polling recently - that it chose not to give much prominence to - that found a Tory majority was viewed more negatively than either a Labour majority or any possible coalition combination.
If labour looks likely to win or form the next govt I fully expect The Sun to support them.
I don't. I think a big difference from 1997 will be the uniform hostility of the traditional Tory press to Labour.
Ideally, I'd like Sunak with a majority of 100+ so he can govern sensibly.
Without it I'd probably prefer the Conservatives to go into opposition with 250 seats+ and the nutters to be purged once there.
Sunak's majority is about 70 right now? Would another 15 Conservative MPs really make a difference to anything? After all, you might just add another 15 nutters to the nutter caucus.
He'd have a real mandate, and all his MPs would be bound by his manifesto.
Ideally, I'd like Sunak with a majority of 100+ so he can govern sensibly.
Without it I'd probably prefer the Conservatives to go into opposition with 250 seats+ and the nutters to be purged once there.
Sunak's majority is about 70 right now? Would another 15 Conservative MPs really make a difference to anything? After all, you might just add another 15 nutters to the nutter caucus.
He'd have a real mandate, and all his MPs would be bound by his manifesto.
That's a good reason why any new mid-term PM should be compelled to hold a GE within a reasonable time of entering No 10 (say 6 months)
There is no doubt that England has nice landscapes and these can look superficially sensational at the right time of year.
The tragedy is that beneath this superficial beauty, our landscapes are thoroughly depleted of nature. In my lifetime populations of insectivorous birds have collapsed in lowland England. Once everyday species like Grey Partridge, Swallow, Cuckoo and Willow Warbler are now noteworthy. Butterflies I used to see in huge numbers are now found in ones and twos.
It’s great to appreciate our landscapes on a nice spring day but don’t let that detract from the deep environmental problems beneath. Beneath the surface much of the landscape has as much resource availability for wildlife as an industrial estate.
It’s not just England - there’s been a general collapse in insect populations across Europe. Particularly noticeable this spring has been the dearth of bees. I’ve barely seen a bumblebee on plants in the garden which even last year would have had dozens on them.
These mild wet winters and cool springs we are getting could be a factor.
Of course - but this year is unlike any I can remember, and others locally have noted the same. I am a rubbish and lazy gardener, but the one thing I have is a very insect friendly set of plants.
"thanks largely to the toxic legacy bequeathed to Sir Keir Starmer by his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn." Parties get the leaders they deserve!
Labour certainly did with Corbyn. A supreme act of self-indulgence that went badly wrong. Sadly, it cost the nation dearly as well.
I was mainly thinking of the Conservative Party!!
I feel that Corbyn was an affliction on both parties. With Labour the effects are obvious, but Corbyn's presence also gave the Tories a completely free hand to indulge their more lunatic fancies since they were effectively running a one-party state with Corbyn wrecking Labour.
The country has suffered terribly from the lack of leadership that Corbyn caused in both parties.
But not long to go. We can all look forward to a few Portillo moments though this lot have been so ghastly just watching them lose their seat doesn't seem adequate. Certainly not for Braverman. I'd like to see her frogmarched onto a plane to Rwanda while the nation cheered
Ideally, I'd like Sunak with a majority of 100+ so he can govern sensibly.
Without it I'd probably prefer the Conservatives to go into opposition with 250 seats+ and the nutters to be purged once there.
Do you think adding about 10 people to the Conservative benches would enable Sunak to govern sensibly? (Serious question: we have to consider who is stepping down and what the PPCs replacing them look like.)
Yes, because it's not just a raw calculus over and above the existing numbers but about giving Sunak a direct electoral mandate, binding his MPs to his programme, with enough space to manage discipline issues firmly.
You still get a loud minority now arguing it's Boris and Boris's mandate that Sunak is using, and a lot of the instability dines off that and projections of subsequent defeat.
A Survation poll for the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) suggests Tories might lose 21 seats in the rural wall, including those of Jeremy Hunt, Mel Stride, Mark Harper, Lucy Frazer, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Liam Fox.
Schadenfreude is a terrible emotion - beguiling as it is - and we mustn’t forget the balls, and sacrifice, it takes to put yourself forward for public service, to raise your head above the parapet, to put yourself forward for a popularity contest every few years, submitting to the uncompromising will of the electorate. These people genuinely want to help to make this country better. I might disagree entirely with the way they think that should happen but they deserve my respect.
That said, it would be lovely to see all those Tory bastards fall. Especially Rees-Mogg.
PMSL, you are obviously trolling. Majority are grifters or no users looking for easy money, unlimited expenses and gold plated pensions , half the year on holiday and the other half in subsidised bars and restaurants getting sloshed whilst looking for a lumber.
Up early this morning, Malc!
Good morning to all.
Morning OKC, busy day ahead, I am off on holiday this week so lots to do. Hope you are well and things improving for you.
Where are you off to, Malc? Somewhere, sunny and warm? Yes, I think things are improving for me. Slowly. Must say that, generally speaking, I am impressed with the NHS services.
Good to hear that OKC. I am off to Lake Como, I am driving so have a few days in Germany either way as well. Get ferry North Shields to Zeebrugge. Hopefully be nice and warm but Italy has been having a bad time recently. Be unbelievable if I go there and get rain when weather here is forecast to stay lovely. Fingers crossed.
Jealous - Lake Como is lovely. At least the water levels must be back to normal, it was a bit low when we went last September.
I liked Lake Maggiore when I visited that part of Italy 15 years ago
As well as the price rises there has also been a noticeable drop in quality. So if supermarket fruit has gone up 20%, it is probably more like 30-40% for a similar quality piece of fruit rather than what that particular supermarket was selling in 2021 vs what it is now selling in 2023.
Do you have data on that?
What I am seeing is that the super cheap stuff is either disappearing or rising in price massively. The quality stuff seems to have increased in price by a lower percentage.
F1: I slept abysmally, so we'll see if that gives me a half-asleep wisdom when trying to find value at the worst circuit of the calendar...
As someone on the spot I can report that Monaco is crowded and tickets to sit in an average seat cost 920 euros. Whatever you might think of this Grand Prix I can't imagine one more glamorous. Monaco can look spectacular when it puts its mind to it. It's wealth is there for all to see but so is it's history and this is Grand Prix number eighty.
All through the principality are archives of black and white photographs of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier set against the colourful Grand Prix stalls and screens and it works surprisingly well. It's so multinational Suella would have a seizure
The 76th film festival at Cannes by contrast though still glamorous can be pretty tacky. This year it's been taken over by 'influencers'. Girls doing ever crazier stunts to get noticed. Many finding a way onto the Red Carpet to the chagrin of the film makers. But the good news is that Jonathan Glazer won the Grand Prix (not that one) for 'The Zone of Interest'
Have fun! I will definitely get to Monaco for the F1 one day, even Mrs Sandpit likes the look of the place.
I'm not watching the race. I met an excited young American a few days ago by the track who told me he'd just bought his ticket to watch the race. He'd come to Europe for fourteen days and decided to go for bust and splash 920 euros for a seat. I asked him if he wouldn't rather have fourteed good dinners at some fine local restaurants and he said 'No this is going to be the most exciting thing I've ever done'!
"thanks largely to the toxic legacy bequeathed to Sir Keir Starmer by his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn." Parties get the leaders they deserve!
Labour certainly did with Corbyn. A supreme act of self-indulgence that went badly wrong. Sadly, it cost the nation dearly as well.
I was mainly thinking of the Conservative Party!!
I feel that Corbyn was an affliction on both parties. With Labour the effects are obvious, but Corbyn's presence also gave the Tories a completely free hand to indulge their more lunatic fancies since they were effectively running a one-party state with Corbyn wrecking Labour.
The country has suffered terribly from the lack of leadership that Corbyn caused in both parties.
Hubris is the Tory Achilles Heal and always has been.
Agreed. And blinding envy has often been Labour's Achilles Heal.
A Survation poll for the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) suggests Tories might lose 21 seats in the rural wall, including those of Jeremy Hunt, Mel Stride, Mark Harper, Lucy Frazer, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Liam Fox.
Schadenfreude is a terrible emotion - beguiling as it is - and we mustn’t forget the balls, and sacrifice, it takes to put yourself forward for public service, to raise your head above the parapet, to put yourself forward for a popularity contest every few years, submitting to the uncompromising will of the electorate. These people genuinely want to help to make this country better. I might disagree entirely with the way they think that should happen but they deserve my respect.
That said, it would be lovely to see all those Tory bastards fall. Especially Rees-Mogg.
PMSL, you are obviously trolling. Majority are grifters or no users looking for easy money, unlimited expenses and gold plated pensions , half the year on holiday and the other half in subsidised bars and restaurants getting sloshed whilst looking for a lumber.
Up early this morning, Malc!
Good morning to all.
Morning OKC, busy day ahead, I am off on holiday this week so lots to do. Hope you are well and things improving for you.
Where are you off to, Malc? Somewhere, sunny and warm? Yes, I think things are improving for me. Slowly. Must say that, generally speaking, I am impressed with the NHS services.
Good to hear that OKC. I am off to Lake Como, I am driving so have a few days in Germany either way as well. Get ferry North Shields to Zeebrugge. Hopefully be nice and warm but Italy has been having a bad time recently. Be unbelievable if I go there and get rain when weather here is forecast to stay lovely. Fingers crossed.
Jealous - Lake Como is lovely. At least the water levels must be back to normal, it was a bit low when we went last September.
I liked Lake Maggiore when I visited that part of Italy 15 years ago
Ideally, I'd like Sunak with a majority of 100+ so he can govern sensibly.
Without it I'd probably prefer the Conservatives to go into opposition with 250 seats+ and the nutters to be purged once there.
Sunak's majority is about 70 right now? Would another 15 Conservative MPs really make a difference to anything? After all, you might just add another 15 nutters to the nutter caucus.
He'd have a real mandate, and all his MPs would be bound by his manifesto.
That's a good reason why any new mid-term PM should be compelled to hold a GE within a reasonable time of entering No 10 (say 6 months)
Unfortunately, that would make it harder to ditch unsuccessful Prime Ministers. The mandate belongs to the party, not the outgoing PM.
"thanks largely to the toxic legacy bequeathed to Sir Keir Starmer by his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn." Parties get the leaders they deserve!
Labour certainly did with Corbyn. A supreme act of self-indulgence that went badly wrong. Sadly, it cost the nation dearly as well.
I was mainly thinking of the Conservative Party!!
I feel that Corbyn was an affliction on both parties. With Labour the effects are obvious, but Corbyn's presence also gave the Tories a completely free hand to indulge their more lunatic fancies since they were effectively running a one-party state with Corbyn wrecking Labour.
The country has suffered terribly from the lack of leadership that Corbyn caused in both parties.
Hubris is the Tory Achilles Heal and always has been.
Agreed. And blinding envy has often been Labour's Achilles Heal.
I disagree. Labour fail towards factionalism. The "envy" thing is just a trope used by conservative opponents and isn't really anchored in reality.
It very much was a thing. To the extent it is less of a thing, that is because Labour is becoming the party of the haves....
Recall the scene when Boris got his cabinet to chant the numbers, like a class of fairly dumb schoolchildren ?
I have a friend who is a retired Brigadier in the British Army. He was taught, and strongly believes it to be true, that all organisations end up looking like their leaders. Without exception.
Boris was a liar and corrupt, and so that's extended to much of the Conservative Party.
I'll say it again, Brexiteer Tories are intent on delivering Michael Foot's 1983 manifesto pledges.
Brexit = Socialism.
This is what I said last night.
Sunak will end up paying private equity to subsidise food prices in supermarkets. I'm sure the likes of Clayton, Dubilier, & Rice, and the Issa Brothers will love it.
Edward Heath delivered price controls in 1972. Michael Heseltine, Macmillan, Baldwin, Chamberlain, Disraeli often supported government intervention.
As a laissez faire liberal you fail to understand Toryism is a middle way between socialism and laissez faire liberalism economically, sometimes government will intervene if needed, especially due to high level of current food prices post Ukraine war. That doesn't mean nationalising most industry however as socialists would or putting up tax levels very high.
Indeed Thatcher was arguably more a laissez faire Gladstone Liberal herself than patrician Tory
The problem isn't the level of food prices its the level of house prices.
It’s both.
I am always impressed by the contortions to claim that housing prices aren’t high because of constrained supply.
Ideally, I'd like Sunak with a majority of 100+ so he can govern sensibly.
Without it I'd probably prefer the Conservatives to go into opposition with 250 seats+ and the nutters to be purged once there.
Sunak's majority is about 70 right now? Would another 15 Conservative MPs really make a difference to anything? After all, you might just add another 15 nutters to the nutter caucus.
He'd have a real mandate, and all his MPs would be bound by his manifesto.
He doesn't have a mandate already?
He has yet to lead his party into a General Election on his own platform.
Some may respond "call an election, now, then" and of course we all know PMs aren't suicidal - they will call one if they must, or if they think they can win, and the rest is risk management.
Ideally, I'd like Sunak with a majority of 100+ so he can govern sensibly.
Without it I'd probably prefer the Conservatives to go into opposition with 250 seats+ and the nutters to be purged once there.
If he can’t govern sensibly with his current majority, the Tories are simply not fit to be in government. 100 plus majority “so he can govern sensibly”; FFS.
There in a nutshell if why we should have PR. We continually have parties of both left and right, commanding only a plurality of the vote, believing somehow that they have a special right to govern.
He can govern sensibly now.
I am arguing for the result I think would be required for that to extend, comfortably and predictably, for a further full-term Conservative government.
I appreciate that won't be well-received by many on here.
As well as the price rises there has also been a noticeable drop in quality. So if supermarket fruit has gone up 20%, it is probably more like 30-40% for a similar quality piece of fruit rather than what that particular supermarket was selling in 2021 vs what it is now selling in 2023.
Do you have data on that?
What I am seeing is that the super cheap stuff is either disappearing or rising in price massively. The quality stuff seems to have increased in price by a lower percentage.
No data, just hard to find a supermarket that consistently has tasty mainstream fruit like apples, bananas or oranges nowadays. Typically they have one out of three, sometimes two but rarely three, and thats across the range from Waitrose and M&S down to Aldi and Lidl, with the Tesco Express/Sainsburys Local types even worse. Five years ago think three out of three was most likely in any big supermarket.
Ideally, I'd like Sunak with a majority of 100+ so he can govern sensibly.
Without it I'd probably prefer the Conservatives to go into opposition with 250 seats+ and the nutters to be purged once there.
If he can’t govern sensibly with his current majority, the Tories are simply not fit to be in government. 100 plus majority “so he can govern sensibly”; FFS.
There in a nutshell if why we should have PR. We continually have parties of both left and right, commanding only a plurality of the vote, believing somehow that they have a special right to govern.
He can govern sensibly now.
I am arguing for the result I think would be required for that to extend, comfortably and predictably, for a further full-term Conservative government.
I appreciate that won't be well-received by many on here.
Fair enough - I withdraw the FFS. And yes, I disagree.
Ideally, I'd like Sunak with a majority of 100+ so he can govern sensibly.
Without it I'd probably prefer the Conservatives to go into opposition with 250 seats+ and the nutters to be purged once there.
If he can’t govern sensibly with his current majority, the Tories are simply not fit to be in government. 100 plus majority “so he can govern sensibly”; FFS.
There in a nutshell if why we should have PR. We continually have parties of both left and right, commanding only a plurality of the vote, believing somehow that they have a special right to govern.
He can govern sensibly now.
I am arguing for the result I think would be required for that to extend, comfortably and predictably, for a further full-term Conservative government.
I appreciate that won't be well-received by many on here.
Sunak’s better than Truss and Johnson. If you could create a party of Sunakites I could probably live with it. Hell, I might on occasion have been tempted to hold my nose and vote for it. Unfortunately you can’t create such a thing. You need a clear out and you’re arguing for the opposite.
There is no doubt that England has nice landscapes and these can look superficially sensational at the right time of year.
The tragedy is that beneath this superficial beauty, our landscapes are thoroughly depleted of nature. In my lifetime populations of insectivorous birds have collapsed in lowland England. Once everyday species like Grey Partridge, Swallow, Cuckoo and Willow Warbler are now noteworthy. Butterflies I used to see in huge numbers are now found in ones and twos.
It’s great to appreciate our landscapes on a nice spring day but don’t let that detract from the deep environmental problems beneath. Beneath the surface much of the landscape has as much resource availability for wildlife as an industrial estate.
Never mind the posh birds, the once-ubiquitous (indeed synonymous) sparrows have disappeared from London.
OTOH we were watching four buzzards and a red kite wheeling and hovering over the field opposite our house on Friday after it had been cut for silage. I never saw either bird at all as a lad in the 70s.
Not the best photo but...
Buzzards have recovered from persecution, spread back out of the west. Kites have been a tremendously successful reintroduction project. Kites live on carrion and there is plenty of roadkill.
I suspect the spread of both has been facilitated by the vast increase in gamebird releases. Pheasants now represent a significant proportion of our avian biomass, their release almost unregulated. Very little work has been done on the potential impact of these releases and the associated infrastructure.
Yes, I do wonder whether having so many buzzards around is a good sign or, more likely, a worrying one.
It's nice to see some large birds of prey around though.
"thanks largely to the toxic legacy bequeathed to Sir Keir Starmer by his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn." Parties get the leaders they deserve!
Labour certainly did with Corbyn. A supreme act of self-indulgence that went badly wrong. Sadly, it cost the nation dearly as well.
I was mainly thinking of the Conservative Party!!
I feel that Corbyn was an affliction on both parties. With Labour the effects are obvious, but Corbyn's presence also gave the Tories a completely free hand to indulge their more lunatic fancies since they were effectively running a one-party state with Corbyn wrecking Labour.
The country has suffered terribly from the lack of leadership that Corbyn caused in both parties.
Hubris is the Tory Achilles Heal and always has been.
Agreed. And blinding envy has often been Labour's Achilles Heal.
I disagree. Labour fail towards factionalism. The "envy" thing is just a trope used by conservative opponents and isn't really anchored in reality.
It very much was a thing. To the extent it is less of a thing, that is because Labour is becoming the party of the haves....
Even when Labour is in favour of redistribution, it's not motivated by envy. It's motivated by wanting to directly and urgently fix the problems of some people being too poor to live healthy, fulfilling lives.
We have thankfully not yet quite reached this level of political division.
Study: At all levels of public office, threats now come with the job New research on targeted officials shows that fear and intimidation are eroding democratic participation nationwide https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/05/26/local-officials-intimidation/ Since taking office in 2021, Oakland City Council member Carroll Fife has received threats by phone, social media and in person, an extreme level of harassment she never imagined would come with serving her community.
Fife said she has found animal parts strewn on her car, her tires flattened, and trash dumped at her doorstep. She tried in vain to get a restraining order against a man who said she would “feel the Second Amendment.” A menacing caller whose voice mail Fife shared online displayed the particular vitriol she receives as a Black woman: “Whitey’s going to hunt your ass.”..
Ideally, I'd like Sunak with a majority of 100+ so he can govern sensibly.
Without it I'd probably prefer the Conservatives to go into opposition with 250 seats+ and the nutters to be purged once there.
Sunak's majority is about 70 right now? Would another 15 Conservative MPs really make a difference to anything? After all, you might just add another 15 nutters to the nutter caucus.
He'd have a real mandate, and all his MPs would be bound by his manifesto.
He doesn't have a mandate already?
He has yet to lead his party into a General Election on his own platform.
Some may respond "call an election, now, then" and of course we all know PMs aren't suicidal - they will call one if they must, or if they think they can win, and the rest is risk management.
Ok, so we can chalk you down in the "people vote for parties/leaders camp" then. I'm slightly surprised because I thought you were firmly of the "no they vote for MPs" camp. But perhaps I'm just confusing you with someone else.
What I find bizarre is that the lesson so many in the Conservative party seem to have learned from Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn disaster is “I want a bit of that”. The retreat into the echo chamber and the growing radicalisation of the right of the party is absolutely text book Corbynism. Hating the country you want to govern - as many National Conservatives clearly do - is not a recipe for success.
If Sunak manages to defy the odds and stay in power, the Tories may manage to sort themselves out as competence and pragmatism will have delivered. But if he loses, the future looks bleak.
Labour has layers of internal power that constrain a leader’s freedom to act. These do not exist in the Conservative party. A leader with a strong mandate from members and MPs can basically do as they wish. If those members and MPs are broadly sympathetic to the NatCons, then it could be a long road back to power.
Yes. Once out of power the Tories look like they are going to disappear down the rabbit hole. A paranoid rag bag of lunatics and headcases - where the British people are both lazy scumbags and at risk of having woke PC influence stopping them from supporting common sense ideas like hanging illegal migrants on the shoreline.
A Survation poll for the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) suggests Tories might lose 21 seats in the rural wall, including those of Jeremy Hunt, Mel Stride, Mark Harper, Lucy Frazer, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Liam Fox.
They’d still hold 76 out of 100 seats, though, on those numbers.
And Labour probably held a majority of Labour seats in 2019. Dominating an area is not exactly cause for celebration if its by less than before, and not made up for elsewhere.
They could be facing a perfect storm - hits in the heartland, wipeout in the Red Wall.
A Survation poll for the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) suggests Tories might lose 21 seats in the rural wall, including those of Jeremy Hunt, Mel Stride, Mark Harper, Lucy Frazer, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Liam Fox.
JRM will lose if all the opposition rallies around Labour.
Labour/LD/Green combined ran him pretty close even in GE2019 - question is whether it splits evenly across Labour/LD again.
Trouble is it is easier to get angry Tories to vote LD than Lab in a place like this. I think only the LDs can win in this seat and convincing the elector you are the challenger when you are behind Lab is harder unless it is by election so he is likely to be safe because of a split vote. It would need Lab to really back off which I can't see.
It can happen, I recall the Tories winning a few Scottish seats from third in 2017, albeit I think 2nd and 3rd were close, so the public can organically figure it out. But agreed it is harder outside by-elections.
A Survation poll for the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) suggests Tories might lose 21 seats in the rural wall, including those of Jeremy Hunt, Mel Stride, Mark Harper, Lucy Frazer, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Liam Fox.
Tories still ahead in rural areas though 41% to 36% for Labour and 13% for the LDs on that poll
Tories ahead of Labour by just 5% in a rural area is a positive sign for the future?
Regardless of its merits, which are highly dubious, my understanding is that if the supermarket price cap on basic foods goes ahead, it will be entirely voluntary for the supermarkets to participate.
So it's likely to be as ineffective as me advising my (adult) children that they should probably drink a bit less alcohol. A complete waste of breath.
Ideally, I'd like Sunak with a majority of 100+ so he can govern sensibly.
Without it I'd probably prefer the Conservatives to go into opposition with 250 seats+ and the nutters to be purged once there.
If he can’t govern sensibly with his current majority, the Tories are simply not fit to be in government. 100 plus majority “so he can govern sensibly”; FFS.
There in a nutshell if why we should have PR. We continually have parties of both left and right, commanding only a plurality of the vote, believing somehow that they have a special right to govern.
He can govern sensibly now.
I am arguing for the result I think would be required for that to extend, comfortably and predictably, for a further full-term Conservative government.
I appreciate that won't be well-received by many on here.
It’s all moot anyway, given he won’t be leading the Tories at the next election, Truss will.
There is no doubt that England has nice landscapes and these can look superficially sensational at the right time of year.
The tragedy is that beneath this superficial beauty, our landscapes are thoroughly depleted of nature. In my lifetime populations of insectivorous birds have collapsed in lowland England. Once everyday species like Grey Partridge, Swallow, Cuckoo and Willow Warbler are now noteworthy. Butterflies I used to see in huge numbers are now found in ones and twos.
It’s great to appreciate our landscapes on a nice spring day but don’t let that detract from the deep environmental problems beneath. Beneath the surface much of the landscape has as much resource availability for wildlife as an industrial estate.
Never mind the posh birds, the once-ubiquitous (indeed synonymous) sparrows have disappeared from London.
OTOH we were watching four buzzards and a red kite wheeling and hovering over the field opposite our house on Friday after it had been cut for silage. I never saw either bird at all as a lad in the 70s.
There are certainly fewer swifts and swallows round here then when we moved here, 20 years ago.
Plenty of swallows, swifts and martins here in Dorset, I am pleased to report.
Heard on radio that they were delayed 3 to 4 weeks due to bad weather
Toxic legacy my arse, you are Peter Mandleson and I claim my prize
SKS has staked all on being Toxic to Socialists and will be lucky to crawl over the line due to 2024 having a "time is up for the Tories" feel about it,
The problem is that no one on here, or likely anywhere, likes Starmer as much as you hate him. I’m pretty ‘meh’ myself but I’m still voting Labour. Think of it as like being asked to choose the music at a 90s party with 2 CDs, Rick Astley or Napalm Death. Rick ain’t my fave but he has a few decent tunes and you can’t dance to “From Enslavement to Obliteration” (I’ve tried).
It’s the extreme nature of your hatred that makes me defend him from your posts not any great fandom. It comes across as unhinged. It is unhinged.
The crank left hate the idea of a Labour government. Because the nature of government is compromise and that is a betrayal. The joy of Corbyn is that you can support him and his ideals knowing he will never win power, thus continuing the class struggle and thus continuing your reason for existing.
I absolutely want full PR so that BJO can vote for a party of his choosing. And what a choice he will have - TUSC, NHA, Socialist Labour to name but 3 and more will come along.
The only thing that truly unifies the crank left is its hatred of betrayal. And unless you 100% agree with everything, you are betraying the working class. So they splinter. And splinter. And splinter. Under PR the number of "true socialist" MPs elected will be zero.
Toxic legacy my arse, you are Peter Mandleson and I claim my prize
SKS has staked all on being Toxic to Socialists and will be lucky to crawl over the line due to 2024 having a "time is up for the Tories" feel about it,
Corbyn bequeathed Starmer just 202 MPs, that’s toxic.
When Corbyn became leader he had 232 MPs, he left the Labour Party in a worse state than he inherited.
Toxic legacy my arse, you are Peter Mandleson and I claim my prize
SKS has staked all on being Toxic to Socialists and will be lucky to crawl over the line due to 2024 having a "time is up for the Tories" feel about it,
Corbyn bequeathed Starmer just 202 MPs, that’s toxic.
When Corbyn became leader he had 232 MPs, he left the Labour Party in a worse state than he inherited.
"thanks largely to the toxic legacy bequeathed to Sir Keir Starmer by his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn." Parties get the leaders they deserve!
Labour certainly did with Corbyn. A supreme act of self-indulgence that went badly wrong. Sadly, it cost the nation dearly as well.
I was mainly thinking of the Conservative Party!!
I feel that Corbyn was an affliction on both parties. With Labour the effects are obvious, but Corbyn's presence also gave the Tories a completely free hand to indulge their more lunatic fancies since they were effectively running a one-party state with Corbyn wrecking Labour.
The country has suffered terribly from the lack of leadership that Corbyn caused in both parties.
Hubris is the Tory Achilles Heal and always has been.
Agreed. And blinding envy has often been Labour's Achilles Heal.
I disagree. Labour fail towards factionalism. The "envy" thing is just a trope used by conservative opponents and isn't really anchored in reality.
It very much was a thing. To the extent it is less of a thing, that is because Labour is becoming the party of the haves....
Even when Labour is in favour of redistribution, it's not motivated by envy. It's motivated by wanting to directly and urgently fix the problems of some people being too poor to live healthy, fulfilling lives.
Certainly was never a Labour party like that in Scotland
Toxic legacy my arse, you are Peter Mandleson and I claim my prize
SKS has staked all on being Toxic to Socialists and will be lucky to crawl over the line due to 2024 having a "time is up for the Tories" feel about it,
The problem is that no one on here, or likely anywhere, likes Starmer as much as you hate him. I’m pretty ‘meh’ myself but I’m still voting Labour. Think of it as like being asked to choose the music at a 90s party with 2 CDs, Rick Astley or Napalm Death. Rick ain’t my fave but he has a few decent tunes and you can’t dance to “From Enslavement to Obliteration” (I’ve tried).
It’s the extreme nature of your hatred that makes me defend him from your posts not any great fandom. It comes across as unhinged. It is unhinged.
The crank left hate the idea of a Labour government. Because the nature of government is compromise and that is a betrayal. The joy of Corbyn is that you can support him and his ideals knowing he will never win power, thus continuing the class struggle and thus continuing your reason for existing.
I absolutely want full PR so that BJO can vote for a party of his choosing. And what a choice he will have - TUSC, NHA, Socialist Labour to name but 3 and more will come along.
The only thing that truly unifies the crank left is its hatred of betrayal. And unless you 100% agree with everything, you are betraying the working class. So they splinter. And splinter. And splinter. Under PR the number of "true socialist" MPs elected will be zero.
I do hope Left Unity are back up again, they had the best name. Especially when they themselves faced a split.
A Survation poll for the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) suggests Tories might lose 21 seats in the rural wall, including those of Jeremy Hunt, Mel Stride, Mark Harper, Lucy Frazer, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Liam Fox.
Tories still ahead in rural areas though 41% to 36% for Labour and 13% for the LDs on that poll
So Tories currently ahead by a small margin in the strongest Tory areas in the country may not be quite the zinger you think it is.
The momentum against the Conservatives in well educated, prosperous, "Remainer" constituencies in the Home Counties is accelerating. Losing the rural vote too will be an earthquake.
The increasingly obvious failure and deepening unpopularity of Brexit, the primary policy of the Tories since the Referendum, may be speeding the Tories to a defeat on a scale that leads to permanent and irreversible irrelevance.
The momentum is seriously against you.
I think you're getting high on your own supply.
Parties only get eclipsed by rivals on their own side of the political spectrum, like the Liberals in teh 1920's did.
The Lib Dems in the 2001 Parliament seriously thought they could replace the Conservatives, but the decapitation strategy never stood a serious chance of working.
Interesting comments by ConHome on recent survey re Johnson
ConHome:
Here is my take from last time round:
“In sum, a majority of the panel believes he broke lockdown rules, but didn’t deliberately mislead the Commons over breaches in Number Ten; think the Privileges Committee inquiry into his conduct is unfair, and believe that he should be a Tory parliamentary candidate at the next election…but that he shouldn’t return as Conservative leader and Prime Minister (at least before then).
The way I read it, about a quarter of the panel are determined Johnson backers and under a fifth are dedicated Johnson critics – see the last two questions and answers.
As for your average respondent, my sense is that he or she regrets his departure from Downing Street, and feels the accusations against him over Covid and parties are unfair, but doesn’t want him back in Number Ten – for the moment, anyway. This survey looks for answers, but I end with a question: to what degree do Party members believe that the caravan has moved on?”
Two months on, most of this stands – yet more evidence of the consistency of the panel, as we like to say here.
All that has changed is that we are beginning to see more of an answer to my last question above. There is an increase worth noting, just about, in the proportion of the panel that believes that –
Johnson broke lockdown rules.
And that he should not return as Conservative leader before the next general election.
In short, the caravan seems to have moved on a bit. But while the former Prime Minister is clearly a divisive figure, the average panel member also feels some sympathy for him.
The latest claims about Boris Johnson and Covid rules were reported on Tuesday.
These questions in our monthly survey went out to panel members last Friday.
According to the BBC, Simon Hoare MP claimed four times on expenses for driving fines issued in November 2019. Four times in one month? Three other MPs have been similarly 'caught'.
The chutzpah of MPs using taxpayers' money to pay for their law-breaking is stunning. I don't think asking them to pay it back is sufficient. They're not fit to represent their constituents.
According to the BBC, Simon Hoare MP claimed four times on expenses for driving fines issued in November 2019. Four times in one month? Three other MPs have been similarly 'caught'.
The chutzpah of MPs using taxpayers' money to pay for their law-breaking is stunning. I don't think asking them to pay it back is sufficient. They're not fit to represent their constituents.
As I mentioned to Moon Rabbit on here a few days ago I also think it might be unlawful but I’m not a tax lawyer…
"thanks largely to the toxic legacy bequeathed to Sir Keir Starmer by his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn." Parties get the leaders they deserve!
Labour certainly did with Corbyn. A supreme act of self-indulgence that went badly wrong. Sadly, it cost the nation dearly as well.
I was mainly thinking of the Conservative Party!!
I feel that Corbyn was an affliction on both parties. With Labour the effects are obvious, but Corbyn's presence also gave the Tories a completely free hand to indulge their more lunatic fancies since they were effectively running a one-party state with Corbyn wrecking Labour.
The country has suffered terribly from the lack of leadership that Corbyn caused in both parties.
Hubris is the Tory Achilles Heal and always has been.
Agreed. And blinding envy has often been Labour's Achilles Heal.
I disagree. Labour fail towards factionalism. The "envy" thing is just a trope used by conservative opponents and isn't really anchored in reality.
It very much was a thing. To the extent it is less of a thing, that is because Labour is becoming the party of the haves....
Even when Labour is in favour of redistribution, it's not motivated by envy. It's motivated by wanting to directly and urgently fix the problems of some people being too poor to live healthy, fulfilling lives.
Certainly was never a Labour party like that in Scotland
Good morning Malc
I believe you are driving to Lake Como shortly and just want to say how envious I am, as it is one of our favourite holiday destinations.
I drove my younger family there in the1980s, and returned more recently with our grandchildren
Indeed my eldest granddaughter starts her one year translator assignment from Leeds University with a Milan law firm at the end of August and I expect her to visit Lake Como quite frequently
"thanks largely to the toxic legacy bequeathed to Sir Keir Starmer by his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn." Parties get the leaders they deserve!
Labour certainly did with Corbyn. A supreme act of self-indulgence that went badly wrong. Sadly, it cost the nation dearly as well.
I was mainly thinking of the Conservative Party!!
I feel that Corbyn was an affliction on both parties. With Labour the effects are obvious, but Corbyn's presence also gave the Tories a completely free hand to indulge their more lunatic fancies since they were effectively running a one-party state with Corbyn wrecking Labour.
The country has suffered terribly from the lack of leadership that Corbyn caused in both parties.
Hubris is the Tory Achilles Heal and always has been.
Agreed. And blinding envy has often been Labour's Achilles Heal.
I disagree. Labour fail towards factionalism. The "envy" thing is just a trope used by conservative opponents and isn't really anchored in reality.
It very much was a thing. To the extent it is less of a thing, that is because Labour is becoming the party of the haves....
Even when Labour is in favour of redistribution, it's not motivated by envy. It's motivated by wanting to directly and urgently fix the problems of some people being too poor to live healthy, fulfilling lives.
Certainly was never a Labour party like that in Scotland
Good morning Malc
I believe you are driving to Lake Como shortly and just want to say how envious I am, as it is one of our favourite holiday destinations.
I drove my younger family there in the1980s, and returned more recently with our grandchildren
Indeed my eldest granddaughter starts her one year translator assignment from Leeds University with a Milan law firm at the end of August and I expect her to visit Lake Como quite frequently
"thanks largely to the toxic legacy bequeathed to Sir Keir Starmer by his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn." Parties get the leaders they deserve!
Labour certainly did with Corbyn. A supreme act of self-indulgence that went badly wrong. Sadly, it cost the nation dearly as well.
I was mainly thinking of the Conservative Party!!
I feel that Corbyn was an affliction on both parties. With Labour the effects are obvious, but Corbyn's presence also gave the Tories a completely free hand to indulge their more lunatic fancies since they were effectively running a one-party state with Corbyn wrecking Labour.
The country has suffered terribly from the lack of leadership that Corbyn caused in both parties.
Hubris is the Tory Achilles Heal and always has been.
Agreed. And blinding envy has often been Labour's Achilles Heal.
I disagree. Labour fail towards factionalism. The "envy" thing is just a trope used by conservative opponents and isn't really anchored in reality.
It very much was a thing. To the extent it is less of a thing, that is because Labour is becoming the party of the haves....
Even when Labour is in favour of redistribution, it's not motivated by envy. It's motivated by wanting to directly and urgently fix the problems of some people being too poor to live healthy, fulfilling lives.
Certainly was never a Labour party like that in Scotland
Good morning Malc
I believe you are driving to Lake Como shortly and just want to say how envious I am, as it is one of our favourite holiday destinations.
I drove my younger family there in the1980s, and returned more recently with our grandchildren
Indeed my eldest granddaughter starts her one year translator assignment from Leeds University with a Milan law firm at the end of August and I expect her to visit Lake Como quite frequently
What I find bizarre is that the lesson so many in the Conservative party seem to have learned from Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn disaster is “I want a bit of that”. The retreat into the echo chamber and the growing radicalisation of the right of the party is absolutely text book Corbynism. Hating the country you want to govern - as many National Conservatives clearly do - is not a recipe for success.
If Sunak manages to defy the odds and stay in power, the Tories may manage to sort themselves out as competence and pragmatism will have delivered. But if he loses, the future looks bleak.
Labour has layers of internal power that constrain a leader’s freedom to act. These do not exist in the Conservative party. A leader with a strong mandate from members and MPs can basically do as they wish. If those members and MPs are broadly sympathetic to the NatCons, then it could be a long road back to power.
Yes. Once out of power the Tories look like they are going to disappear down the rabbit hole. A paranoid rag bag of lunatics and headcases - where the British people are both lazy scumbags and at risk of having woke PC influence stopping them from supporting common sense ideas like hanging illegal migrants on the shoreline.
One of the interesting things to watch should that happen will be the contortions many put themselves through to justify continuing to vote Tory. And therein lies the danger. The Tories will not totally disappear down a rabbit hole. They will still get a base of 25% to 30% whatever they do. And that is a foundation on which to build.
A Survation poll for the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) suggests Tories might lose 21 seats in the rural wall, including those of Jeremy Hunt, Mel Stride, Mark Harper, Lucy Frazer, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Liam Fox.
Tories still ahead in rural areas though 41% to 36% for Labour and 13% for the LDs on that poll
So Tories currently ahead by a small margin in the strongest Tory areas in the country may not be quite the zinger you think it is.
The momentum against the Conservatives in well educated, prosperous, "Remainer" constituencies in the Home Counties is accelerating. Losing the rural vote too will be an earthquake.
The increasingly obvious failure and deepening unpopularity of Brexit, the primary policy of the Tories since the Referendum, may be speeding the Tories to a defeat on a scale that leads to permanent and irreversible irrelevance.
The momentum is seriously against you.
I think you're getting high on your own supply.
Parties only get eclipsed by rivals on their own side of the political spectrum, like the Liberals in teh 1920's did.
The Lib Dems in the 2001 Parliament seriously thought they could replace the Conservatives, but the decapitation strategy never stood a serious chance of working.
Well, exaggeration for effect maybe, but the point that the Tories may not be at their low point is certainly valid. After another set of good locals, the Lib Dems are now back in the game, so I think we could see high teens from them fairly soon. After that, a few more "revelations" could be the kiss of death: the number of Tories leaving the Commons is now getting to be a meme and is hardly a vote of confidence in the Tory future.
"thanks largely to the toxic legacy bequeathed to Sir Keir Starmer by his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn." Parties get the leaders they deserve!
Labour certainly did with Corbyn. A supreme act of self-indulgence that went badly wrong. Sadly, it cost the nation dearly as well.
I was mainly thinking of the Conservative Party!!
I feel that Corbyn was an affliction on both parties. With Labour the effects are obvious, but Corbyn's presence also gave the Tories a completely free hand to indulge their more lunatic fancies since they were effectively running a one-party state with Corbyn wrecking Labour.
The country has suffered terribly from the lack of leadership that Corbyn caused in both parties.
Hubris is the Tory Achilles Heal and always has been.
Agreed. And blinding envy has often been Labour's Achilles Heal.
I disagree. Labour fail towards factionalism. The "envy" thing is just a trope used by conservative opponents and isn't really anchored in reality.
It very much was a thing. To the extent it is less of a thing, that is because Labour is becoming the party of the haves....
Even when Labour is in favour of redistribution, it's not motivated by envy. It's motivated by wanting to directly and urgently fix the problems of some people being too poor to live healthy, fulfilling lives.
Certainly was never a Labour party like that in Scotland
Good morning Malc
I believe you are driving to Lake Como shortly and just want to say how envious I am, as it is one of our favourite holiday destinations.
I drove my younger family there in the1980s, and returned more recently with our grandchildren
Indeed my eldest granddaughter starts her one year translator assignment from Leeds University with a Milan law firm at the end of August and I expect her to visit Lake Como quite frequently
Morning G, yes indeed, looking forward to it. Been a few years since I had a nice drive in Europe. I enjoy the overnight ferries as well, much nicer than the hassles at airports.
What I find bizarre is that the lesson so many in the Conservative party seem to have learned from Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn disaster is “I want a bit of that”. The retreat into the echo chamber and the growing radicalisation of the right of the party is absolutely text book Corbynism. Hating the country you want to govern - as many National Conservatives clearly do - is not a recipe for success.
If Sunak manages to defy the odds and stay in power, the Tories may manage to sort themselves out as competence and pragmatism will have delivered. But if he loses, the future looks bleak.
Labour has layers of internal power that constrain a leader’s freedom to act. These do not exist in the Conservative party. A leader with a strong mandate from members and MPs can basically do as they wish. If those members and MPs are broadly sympathetic to the NatCons, then it could be a long road back to power.
Yes. Once out of power the Tories look like they are going to disappear down the rabbit hole. A paranoid rag bag of lunatics and headcases - where the British people are both lazy scumbags and at risk of having woke PC influence stopping them from supporting common sense ideas like hanging illegal migrants on the shoreline.
One of the interesting things to watch should that happen will be the contortions many put themselves through to justify continuing to vote Tory. And therein lies the danger. The Tories will not totally disappear down a rabbit hole. They will still get a base of 25% to 30% whatever they do. And that is a foundation on which to build.
Hmm. I’m genuinely not sure about that. I think attachment to the Conservative Party brand is historically weak. Right wingers and other assorted discontents will happily exchange the electoral vehicle for their political and economic interests, in a way they simply wouldn’t in the past.
I stand by my odds.
50% chance the party never again gets a majority.
20% chance it ceases to be a meaningful electoral force within a decade.
Andrew Neil: Tanking the economy to keep Sunak's promise on inflation is mad…
Of course it's mad. These people need to be given their marching orders pronto, as some of us have been saying since day 1.
No, it’s going for growth and fuelling longer inflation that’s crazy, as it’s far more damaging option. Andrew Neil is wrong.
I am still waiting for that list of the benefits of recession from you.
I gave it to you.
It kills the bad dose of inflation. It’s as simple as that, there is no choice. You are totally unable to go for growth and heat economy up whilst suffering a bad dose of inflation, without finding yourself in a car driving to an airport taking you to IMF to beg for money to pay your bills, but the situation is so bad already you need to turn the car around and go back to the desk. It’s as simple as that. You want growth? You want to go for growth? You just can’t whilst you have this long period of inflation in your system. You pull those growth levers, the thing makes an ugly noise and will break.
You have just the one option, there are no other options.
Has the penny dropped yet?
No, because you haven't provided anything to support your argument except dodgy analogies. It's a question of faith with you - that's witch doctorey, not economics.
Top 350 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, showed average profit margins increased from 5.7% in the first half of 2019 to 10.7% in the first half of 2022. The four global giant agribusiness corporations that dominate crucial crops such as grains – ADM, Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus, saw profits shoot up 255% in 2021. The world’s top 10 semiconductor manufacturers made £44bn profit between them, 96% more than in 2019.
For the last two months at least, UK businesses have put up prices by more than their costs have risen - the latest data for April shows input prices were up by 3.9%, while output prices increased by 5.4%.
One reason companies continue to hold or increase prices higher than costs, and get away with it even as energy and raw material costs fall away is the buffer government has provided households with - it disguised the degree of the Greedflation which has been going on.
Let us not forget, this very kind largesse our government handed us, has been paid for from the largest ever tax take we have given them, and the huge borrowing we will all have to pay back in future. It was not them being generous to us, it was our money. Nor forgetting the way they chose to do it - expensive, poorly targeted and regressive Energy Price Guarantee was never the only option available to government to assist households.
Where ultimately has this taxation and borrowed money kindly given to us actually ended up? Straight through our household budgets into the pockets of those using crisis and smokescreens to racketeer.
It means, LuckyGuy, all the way through this last few years (until hopefully about 15 seconds from now the penny drops with you) you have been continually mugged without even realising it.
And it’s left you saying to the government “no, don’t do anything about it. I don’t want to see you taking action and doing something about it.”
Looking at any one year can be extremely misleading. If profits were £100 in one year, £10 the next, and then £50 the year after, then growth would have been down 90%, then up 400%.
And commodity margins are always highly volatile. Companies wouldn't invest in bad times, if they weren't allowed to profit in good.
Has there been zero Greedinflation, taking advantage of the crisis situations at all in your opinion?
If you answer yes some, to what degree is it perpetuating inflation, making life difficult for governments and household budgets?
"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest." Adam Smith
Capitalism works because it turns out that allowing people to make a profit is a motivating factor. There is no greater way to encourage greater supply (and therefore lower prices) than allowing firms to make money.
If you want to soften the blow of higher commodity prices (whether gas, electricity or food), then give money directly to people, and allow them to spend it as they please.
“He took off his shirt and showed off his freemarket guns and capitalist abs. Wowzer.” MoonRabbit diary entry.
I agree, a fair profit. Of course I do. But when it is more than fair, it’s greed, cashing in on crisis, exploiting suffering, continued actions perpetuating inflation pain on governments and households - still no intervention from Chancellor Robert?
In my opinion, there has to be instances where net effect of government intervention will be beneficial enough, and not undermine the basically free character of the capitalist type system such as Adam Smith supported, in order to justify it.
Some examples. Especially if there is a state security angle, which arguably in this instance there is - and to protect justice and other important public institutions necessary for the benefit of all of society. Also by securing the government and nations households wealth, without which we can’t have the infrastructure necessary for any type of free market capitalist country to function let alone flourish.
Everyone on earth casts a shadow, and it reminds us there cannot be good without evil. If people don’t remember this when reading or quoting the great humanist Adam Smith, they are likely doing this anti slaver, progressive and liberal thinker, a disservice.
PS. And his Christianity clearly influenced his thinking.
Influenced his thinking in a really good, moral way of course I meant ⛪️
"thanks largely to the toxic legacy bequeathed to Sir Keir Starmer by his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn." Parties get the leaders they deserve!
Labour certainly did with Corbyn. A supreme act of self-indulgence that went badly wrong. Sadly, it cost the nation dearly as well.
I was mainly thinking of the Conservative Party!!
I feel that Corbyn was an affliction on both parties. With Labour the effects are obvious, but Corbyn's presence also gave the Tories a completely free hand to indulge their more lunatic fancies since they were effectively running a one-party state with Corbyn wrecking Labour.
The country has suffered terribly from the lack of leadership that Corbyn caused in both parties.
Hubris is the Tory Achilles Heal and always has been.
Agreed. And blinding envy has often been Labour's Achilles Heal.
I disagree. Labour fail towards factionalism. The "envy" thing is just a trope used by conservative opponents and isn't really anchored in reality.
It very much was a thing. To the extent it is less of a thing, that is because Labour is becoming the party of the haves....
Even when Labour is in favour of redistribution, it's not motivated by envy. It's motivated by wanting to directly and urgently fix the problems of some people being too poor to live healthy, fulfilling lives.
Certainly was never a Labour party like that in Scotland
Good morning Malc
I believe you are driving to Lake Como shortly and just want to say how envious I am, as it is one of our favourite holiday destinations.
I drove my younger family there in the1980s, and returned more recently with our grandchildren
Indeed my eldest granddaughter starts her one year translator assignment from Leeds University with a Milan law firm at the end of August and I expect her to visit Lake Como quite frequently
Do you know which firm?
I have been told but cannot recall the name
Will check back with my granddaughter
Milan is the base for just about all of the best Italian firms.
Comments
A trans lobby group helped to draft NHS plans for treating children questioning their gender,…..
Susie Green, then chairman of the charity Mermaids, was part of a task group reviewing services at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation trans clinic.
The Tavistock claimed that it did not have emails or minutes of meetings with Ms Green but after the information regulator threatened court action, it released more than 300 pages.
They show that Ms Green had a direct line to Dr Polly Carmichael, Tavistock’s director, and demanded to be regarded as a professional so she could refer children for treatment when their GPs refused. Ms Green, who has no known formal medical training, held an advisory role on two of the studies that the clinic was involved in on the long-term effect of gender identity.
https://archive.is/2023.05.27-195120/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/27/trans-lobby-group-mermaids-helped-nhs-treatment-children/
https://twitter.com/ahatanhel/status/1662719233699053568
On May 22, Ukrainian anthropologist and my friend Evgeny Osievsky died near Bakhmut.
He planned to go to Vanuatu in the field, to write a dissertation, but because of the Russian invasion, he ended up at the front instead. 1/7
You can understand how Evgeny felt about serving in the army from one of his last posts on Facebook. 6/7
https://twitter.com/ahatanhel/status/1662719246361567232
Bear in mind the Lib Dems are partly responsible too.
There might not have been much in the way of clear-eyed thinking emerging from last week’s National Conservatism Conference, but on one point Lee Anderson was spot on. Ask Tory voters why they backed the Party in 2019 and they’ll give you three main reasons - Getting Brexit Done, Corbyn and Boris. None of these, of course, pertain today.
https://www.moreincommon.org.uk/blog/voters-see-coalition-of-calm-not-chaos/
And the greatest of these (cited by 43% of 2019 Conservative voters) was Corbyn.
@bigjohnowls Socialists can have their own party without having to compromise - except at the behest of the electorate.
Stop fxcking lying about 40 new hospitals !
Might do them no harm in the NE.
Particularly noticeable this spring has been the dearth of bees. I’ve barely seen a bumblebee on plants in the garden which even last year would have had dozens on them.
Not the best photo but...
They are often more environmentally interesting than the surrounding countryside.
Its one reason why new building housing on brownfield sites isn't necessarily a good thing.
Prices haven’t yet fallen as fast as the market price since domestic gas suppliers are obliged by the regulator to buy forward.
It’s the extreme nature of your hatred that makes me defend him from your posts not any great fandom. It comes across as unhinged. It is unhinged.
I suspect the spread of both has been facilitated by the vast increase in gamebird releases. Pheasants now represent a significant proportion of our avian biomass, their release almost unregulated. Very little work has been done on the potential impact of these releases and the associated infrastructure.
Oh, I see...
Labour, the political arm of Exctinction Rebellion !
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/starmer-plans-to-block-all-new-north-sea-oil-and-gas-developments-lqr2tc66k
The momentum against the Conservatives in well educated, prosperous, "Remainer" constituencies in the Home Counties is accelerating. Losing the rural vote too will be an earthquake.
The increasingly obvious failure and deepening unpopularity of Brexit, the primary policy of the Tories since the Referendum, may be speeding the Tories to a defeat on a scale that leads to permanent and irreversible irrelevance.
The momentum is seriously against you.
How very National Front of you...
You still get a loud minority now arguing it's Boris and Boris's mandate that Sunak is using, and a lot of the instability dines off that and projections of subsequent defeat.
What I am seeing is that the super cheap stuff is either disappearing or rising in price massively. The quality stuff seems to have increased in price by a lower percentage.
'Chacun a son gout' as they say around here.
Boris was a liar and corrupt, and so that's extended to much of the Conservative Party.
https://twitter.com/mhdksafa/status/1662543469175361536
I am always impressed by the contortions to claim that housing prices aren’t high because of constrained supply.
Some may respond "call an election, now, then" and of course we all know PMs aren't suicidal - they will call one if they must, or if they think they can win, and the rest is risk management.
I am arguing for the result I think would be required for that to extend, comfortably and predictably, for a further full-term Conservative government.
I appreciate that won't be well-received by many on here.
And yes, I disagree.
It's nice to see some large birds of prey around though.
Study: At all levels of public office, threats now come with the job
New research on targeted officials shows that fear and intimidation are eroding democratic participation nationwide
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/05/26/local-officials-intimidation/
Since taking office in 2021, Oakland City Council member Carroll Fife has received threats by phone, social media and in person, an extreme level of harassment she never imagined would come with serving her community.
Fife said she has found animal parts strewn on her car, her tires flattened, and trash dumped at her doorstep. She tried in vain to get a restraining order against a man who said she would “feel the Second Amendment.” A menacing caller whose voice mail Fife shared online displayed the particular vitriol she receives as a Black woman: “Whitey’s going to hunt your ass.”..
They could be facing a perfect storm - hits in the heartland, wipeout in the Red Wall.
So it's likely to be as ineffective as me advising my (adult) children that they should probably drink a bit less alcohol. A complete waste of breath.
I absolutely want full PR so that BJO can vote for a party of his choosing. And what a choice he will have - TUSC, NHA, Socialist Labour to name but 3 and more will come along.
The only thing that truly unifies the crank left is its hatred of betrayal. And unless you 100% agree with everything, you are betraying the working class. So they splinter. And splinter. And splinter. Under PR the number of "true socialist" MPs elected will be zero.
BJO is that you?
Parties only get eclipsed by rivals on their own side of the political spectrum, like the Liberals in teh 1920's did.
The Lib Dems in the 2001 Parliament seriously thought they could replace the Conservatives, but the decapitation strategy never stood a serious chance of working.
Interesting comments by ConHome on recent survey re Johnson
ConHome:
Here is my take from last time round:
“In sum, a majority of the panel believes he broke lockdown rules, but didn’t deliberately mislead the Commons over breaches in Number Ten; think the Privileges Committee inquiry into his conduct is unfair, and believe that he should be a Tory parliamentary candidate at the next election…but that he shouldn’t return as Conservative leader and Prime Minister (at least before then).
The way I read it, about a quarter of the panel are determined Johnson backers and under a fifth are dedicated Johnson critics – see the last two questions and answers.
As for your average respondent, my sense is that he or she regrets his departure from Downing Street, and feels the accusations against him over Covid and parties are unfair, but doesn’t want him back in Number Ten – for the moment, anyway. This survey looks for answers, but I end with a question: to what degree do Party members believe that the caravan has moved on?”
Two months on, most of this stands – yet more evidence of the consistency of the panel, as we like to say here.
All that has changed is that we are beginning to see more of an answer to my last question above. There is an increase worth noting, just about, in the proportion of the panel that believes that –
Johnson broke lockdown rules.
And that he should not return as Conservative leader before the next general election.
In short, the caravan seems to have moved on a bit. But while the former Prime Minister is clearly a divisive figure, the average panel member also feels some sympathy for him.
The latest claims about Boris Johnson and Covid rules were reported on Tuesday.
These questions in our monthly survey went out to panel members last Friday.
The chutzpah of MPs using taxpayers' money to pay for their law-breaking is stunning. I don't think asking them to pay it back is sufficient. They're not fit to represent their constituents.
I believe you are driving to Lake Como shortly and just want to say how envious I am, as it is one of our favourite holiday destinations.
I drove my younger family there in the1980s, and returned more recently with our grandchildren
Indeed my eldest granddaughter starts her one year translator assignment from Leeds University with a Milan law firm at the end of August and I expect her to visit Lake Como quite frequently
Will check back with my granddaughter
Dramatic reversal in public opinion seen even in those constituencies that recorded the highest votes to leave
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/may/28/more-than-half-of-voters-now-want-britain-to-forge-closer-ties-with-the-eu-poll-reveals
I stand by my odds.
50% chance the party never again gets a majority.
20% chance it ceases to be a meaningful electoral force within a decade.
The situation is existential for them.