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Could today be the day Sunak looses 3 by-elections? – politicalbetting.com
Could today be the day Sunak looses 3 by-elections? – politicalbetting.com
Somerton, Selby and Uxbridge are the first Westminster by-election defences that Sunak has had to face since becoming leader and PM nine months. The other by-elections to be held have been in safe LAB seats.
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Morning all.
On this "Malvinas" stooshie, I see that Spain became current President of the EU three weeks ago on 1st July 2023, and they have been stirring this particular pot for decades as an attempted lever wrt Gibraltar.
So I predict a minor flap, and it will be repeated in about 2037-2040, when they next hold the Presidency.
My suggestion is that the UK should offer far closer ties to both the Falklands and GIbraltar, and other overseas dependencies - rather more on the French model than at present, and including stronger representation at Westminster, to put this to bed.
On the other point, if the votes are today, but you don't find out you've lost until tomorrow, when do you lose? Are the seats in a superposition of states until observed, like Schrödinger's cat?
Given my betting record, Lab gain is nailed on there.
*or does it have to be a ship?
ULEZ will dent the Labour vote in Uxbridge, but not enough to swing the result, by itself, I think.
On engaging to the point of rejoining that will take more time, andci suspect we'll be willing to consider it long before the EU is willing to agree it - any significant anti EU parties and it would be too risky.
I’ve been informally told that the attempt to close their accounts wasn’t a bank policy as such (the bank in question handles accounts for several primary arms manufacturers) but an employee who decided to add a flag.
One with a Russian passport.
Personally, I think the Tories will be pretty happy if they hold Selby.
If they lose it to Labour that's when they might panic and do something silly (or to be exact, even sillier than their recent record).
But I've always likes that the argentine claim is rather more technical than casual observers of the 'it's closer to them' school realise.
Wonderful news for the Orkneys too of course.
Barclays shut the BNP accounts in 2004.
I think they did the same to Nick Griffin.
A small step but one day they might disappear altogether......
(The Farage Lament)
https://twitter.com/brucel/status/1373992739319189504?lang=en-GB
(Update: Guardian 2 minutes ago on Google. Search for "Commonwealth Games":
Just a coincidence, I'm sure.)
Imagine that the banks collectively put a mark on anyone connected with Extinction Rebellion - would you be ok with that? Or all trade unions?
The Coutts scandal exposes the sinister nature of much of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion industry. Apparently anyone who wants to control our borders & stop the boats can be branded ‘xenophobic’ & have their bank account closed in the name of ‘inclusivity’.
Natwest & other corporates who have naively adopted this politically biased dogma need a major rethink . This is also an issue for the public sector too, which is why I’m reviewing our policies at the Home Office.
https://twitter.com/SuellaBraverman/status/1681615172673126400
1. If elected as MP, what can he do to stop ULEZ? I believe the answer is zero, but others may disagree
2. If not elected, that on his own definition means people support ULEZ. Which rather demolishes Mrs Trump's campaign when she runs for mayor against Khan
This all has a whiff of "vote Hague to save the pound" about it.
And Good Morning everybody.
Not quite to this standard though.
Can I rock up at Coutts and demand a bank account? If they refuse should I scream homophobia because they don't like LGBT people?
There is a world of difference between day to day banking, and ponce banking. The whole point about private banking is that it is private. Selective. Exclusive. Offered to the chosen few. There is no absolute right to be able to bank with them.
So what is the fuss about?
I remember when it was made public about David Beckham opening an account with Coutts which made a lot of stuffier clients somewhat upset that the bank was letting the riff-raff in. My partner at the time who was senior at Coutts was amused by the feedback from a lot of her clients.
Would of course be different if he approached Coutts, not being a prior customer, asked to open an account and then was refused as the bank can make a commercial decision on who they take on as new customers if they refuse everyone someone has a beef with then they will likely go out of business eventually as everyone has a beef with everything.
[1] I think there was a discussion about uniting UK and Canada in the 1950s?
The only "protected characteristic" one that might come into play is the "belief" one.
But reputational risk is something banks are obliged - and would be wise - to take into account when assessing whether or not to take or or keep a customer. I can think of numerous occasions when I have had to point out information about potential or actual customers ( involvement in investigations / court cases) to those making such assessments. Reputational harm - if it was the reason - is not a breach, IMO but an equality lawyer would know better, of the Equality Act.
From what I have seen in the dossier the bank made a decision to exit the relationship for commercial reasons and also considered various reputational issues, both as to whether an earlier exist might be advisable or possibly as a reason to keep him on nothwithstanding the commercial decision. I'm not convinced he'd have a claim under the Equality Act based on that - but there may be more, of course, that is not in the public domain.
I suspect lessons learnt will be to tighten up on internal reporting to make any refused account decision bulletproof, should it be put into the public domain.
And make sure you never take on anyone like Farage in the first place.
I don't find the story exciting because I essentially think there's a free market in banking and banks should be entitled to provide or refuse services as they think fit, and I doubt if Farage or Corbyn or anyone else would really be umable to find a bank willing to serve them. But if we regard banking as an essential service (and I agree it is) and think this a serious risk, then I suppose the Government should operate a Bank of Last Resort open to anyone in Britain. Seems a bit statist, but isn't that where logic takes us?
My uncle, incidentally, had an account with the Bank of England - terrible service (only one branch) but he enjoyed the prestige of his chequebook. Take that, Coutts!
Everyone does this "it's a referendum on..." thing, as you say. But it says quite a lot about Goldsmith that he had the arrogance (and a fair amount of stupidity) to believe he could call a by-election against the backdrop he did, and assume everyone would just blithely go along with his characterisation of what it was about.
I think I'm correct to say that Portsmouth MPs take an interest in the Falklands (not sure which or why).
Falklands population has doubled since 1982, and they now have one of the top 10 GDP per capita numbers in the world if they are included in the list - so there is some logic in them staying semi-separate. I wonder what the future holds?
Anyhoo - I'm off to supervise a carpet fitter. Have a great day, all.
(On CASH, carpet supplier required 2/3 up front by card, then 1/3 on site by cash. The invoice terms the latter as "fitting", despite the advertised deal being "measurement, fitting is free".)
We're on the East Coast, looking at buying a place close to the sea. We're staying in an Airbnb log cabin on a farm in a lovely village called Hogsthorpe, woke up to alpacas and goats eating outside the patio door....anyway, back to cash. Went into Chapel St Leonards last night for something to eat. I had to go to a cashpoint to get cash out as the number of shops, cafes and pubs that have hand written signs saying "CASH ONLY" would have made certain PBers shat their pants.
As an aside, property here is dirt cheap. It's a seasonal, minimum wage employment kinda place on this coast. There are 100s of places for sale that we've been tracking on RightMove for months that keep getting reduced by a couple of percent each month. As cash buyers, we could bag a bargain if we moved here. We probably won't, as we've become a bit pretentious and like a wander to a hippy coffee shop for vegan cake. Only seem to find full English, fish and chips and burgers around here, and the mountain biking ain't great but still, it's tempting with the chance of us actually upsizing with a big chunk of change in the bank. Our budget gets us a detached 3 bed bungalow and a big garden within spitting distance to the sea up here, but an ex council semi a few miles from the coast down the south west, admittedly with the amenities and lifestyle we're getting into. Decisions, decisions.
https://twitter.com/soniasodha/status/1681741925911609347
Sonia Sodha
@soniasodha
Also: while I’ve got you, your behaviour in the Commons towards women you disagree with from your own party was appalling, and I know many Labour women who share my view.
Cycling Mikey doing the day job.
https://twitter.com/CalltoActivism/status/1681727821041811472
Call me skeptical, but doesn't Farage always have an angle? What a pr*** that he feels so entitled he needs a Coutts bank account despite being an "average Joe" anyway. That is not to say Coutts/NatWest haven't played this badly.
Have some beads and cowrie shells handy just in case they haven't heard of cash.
And finally, very occasionally Nottingham gang members do revenge shootings on the Lincs coast.
I just don't understand why the Chagos Islanders aren't treated the same. I'm sure the colour of their skin has absolutely nothing to do with it.
To read the right wing press you would believe that the Nigel is being refused a bank account and thanks to the Coutts action will be unable to bank. This is incorrect.
So there’s actual case law of bits of this.
Always worth remembering that outside of his weirdo fanbase he is wildly unpopular with the general public who by and large cannot stand him. Yet the BBC is in thrall to him and has been for years. He is not an elected politician, nor a party leader - this Coutts nonsense is just the latest chapter in his decades-long grift.
Without going in to too many details I have been in this situation before. Bought a very cheap property in the last recession in a deprived village close to the sea over a slightly more expensive one in an up and coming town. The property ended up being cheap for a reason. The price moved upwards over time but not by very much. By contrast the properties in the next town increased 200% over 8 years. I don't regret it and probably would do the same thing over again but this is because I wanted to be in the village and the decision wasn't entirely motivated by money. I could have made a fortune by buying the house in the next town and people were telling me this at the time. The reality is that ultimately people want to live in close proximity to services, transport links, fashionable communities, jobs.
He's a Blues and Royals trooper.
You or I have no right to demand an account with Coutts, we are not eligible. Why should the Nigel be any different? But not being able to get a private account with Coutts does not deny us a bank account, does it? Suspect we both have several.
Delighted to be corrected !
Not a good look !
As for the Farage bank drama , does anyone care . Of course we wouldn’t have heard anything from the cesspit government if some leftie had been denied an account .
The problem is that it isn’t just one bank able to black mark people. They share services doing this. So you can, easily, end up in a situation where only some bank in Lichtenstein will take you on.
This has happened to a number of ordinary people - sometimes as a result of fraud *against them*.
Imagine the fun of trying to get a lawyer to work for you (to get your. A king services back) without a bank account. Since the lawyer won’t work for cash, being worried themselves about reporting rules!