Their mistake was electing him to anything more demanding than deputy chair of Henley Town Council in the first place.
It was the British people themselves who elected Boris to stay PM in 2019 with the biggest Tory majority since Thatcher in 1987
I think you'll find that was only possible because a lot of very silly people in the Tory party elected him leader in the first place despite knowing he was a racist, sexually incontinent liar with a penchant for talking absolute rubbish, the intellect of a village idiot and the attention span of a concussed goldfish.
This was, with hindsight, a mistake on their part.
They will never admit it though.
Yet Boris in 2019 got a higher voteshare than May, Cameron, Howard, Hague and Major ever got at a general election and indeed a higher voteshare than even Thatcher got in 1987 and 1983.
So the idea it was just Tory MPs and members who wanted Boris to be PM is ludicrous!
Chris Skidmore wrote a book about the death of Amy Robsart.
Does anyone know whether his departure from the HoC will leave no Tory MP in the chamber with a brain?
Jesse Norman. Excellent books on Adam Smith and Edmund Burke, novelist, PhD in philosophy, collateral descendent of Samuel Pepys and generally good egg.
My current MP, Alex Burghart, completed his phd on '"The Mercian polity, 716–918".
'In 2005 he was the lead researcher for the King's College London project on interrogating Anglo-Saxon charters using digital technologies' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Burghart
What on earth is he doing wasting his time being an MP when he could be doing something useful in Anglo Saxon studies?
If you have rats frequenting your bins, liberally apply cheap vinegar, they hate it
I heard vermin noise two days ago, came face to face with a rat yesterday and bought a pint of vinegar (Sarsons and Waitrose sell it in pints! And Waitrose sells its own coffee in half pounds; the European brands are 250g. Swings and roundabouts)
Their mistake was electing him to anything more demanding than deputy chair of Henley Town Council in the first place.
It was the British people themselves who elected Boris to stay PM in 2019 with the biggest Tory majority since Thatcher in 1987
Oh, what about Northern Ireland? Plus a lot of people didn't or couldn't vote. And many of then didn't vote for Mr Johnson. In fact, *none at all except in Uxbridge*. And that last was for the constituency MP.
People as you well know vote mostly for the leader now more than their local MP
I know you have a strange concept of logic and numbner theory, but 43.6% of those who voted at all doesn't equate to "the British people" in ordinary human discourse or experience.
Nor does 45% of those who voted from the Scottish population equiperate to Scotland but don’t tell the SNP.
Chris Skidmore wrote a book about the death of Amy Robsart.
Does anyone know whether his departure from the HoC will leave no Tory MP in the chamber with a brain?
Jesse Norman. Excellent books on Adam Smith and Edmund Burke, novelist, PhD in philosophy, collateral descendent of Samuel Pepys and generally good egg.
My current MP, Alex Burghart, completed his phd on '"The Mercian polity, 716–918".
'In 2005 he was the lead researcher for the King's College London project on interrogating Anglo-Saxon charters using digital technologies' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Burghart
What on earth is he doing wasting his time being an MP when he could be doing something useful in Anglo Saxon studies?
It probably pays more, even if some of the time less intellectually stimulating
With respect to Th-Fronting, how long before Ron DeSantis denounces it on the campaign trail, promises immediate state action in Florida to ban it being taught (or whatever) to minors, and pledging that passage of Anti-Th-Fronting Amendment to US Constitution will be top priority for his First 100 Days as President.
Thlorida thurely.
Say THAT in Ron DeSantis's Tallahassee . . . and a squad of Florida State troopers will frog-march you to the Georgia line!
This IS the state, after all, where in his (winning) race for US Senator, a candidate denounced the incumbent as unfit for public office, because the opponent's sister was an accomplished thespian.
Unfortunately, he’s typical of the Parliamentary Party.
They’ve let down every single person who voted for them in 2010 -19.
Just imagine how those of us who didn't vote for them feel!
Not so bad, I imagine, for you always knew that they were pieces of human excrement.
It’s those of us who voted and even campaigned for them who feel like mugs. These arsehats were just laughing up their sleeves at us, the whole time.
I've been astonished at how shit this batch of Conservative MPs are - contrast to the 80s or even the 90s.
Something went off with candidate selection in the noughties; we lost good MPs like Archie Norman and gained ones like Chris Pincher.
Two things, I reckon.
In the late nineties/early noughties, it was pretty uncool to be a Conservative, and anyone who wanted to get stuff done became a Blairite. There wasn't enough competition and the people who came through were often a bit odd.
Then came Dave's modernisation, and some of the people who came through the A List really weren't all that.
The first is the one that should really bother people on the right of centre. Because if the talent pipeline was a trickle in the late 90's, what is it like now?
I doubt the talent pipeline for Labour MPs was much better in the Ed Miliband and Corbyn years and they are likely to comprise the main pool for the next Cabinet
Unlikely- remember the steep age profile in voting intention. Even when Labour were losing overall, they were doing OK with young to middle aged graduates.
Outside the retired, the Conservatives have almost nobody.
Their mistake was electing him to anything more demanding than deputy chair of Henley Town Council in the first place.
It was the British people themselves who elected Boris to stay PM in 2019 with the biggest Tory majority since Thatcher in 1987
I think you'll find that was only possible because a lot of very silly people in the Tory party elected him leader in the first place despite knowing he was a racist, sexually incontinent liar with a penchant for talking absolute rubbish, the intellect of a village idiot and the attention span of a concussed goldfish.
This was, with hindsight, a mistake on their part.
In fact, it was arguably a mistake they could have avoided without benefit of hindsight. Common sense would have done.
They will never admit it though.
I'm waiting for HYUFD to do his usual followup that it's only because of Bozo that the Tory party got an 80 seat majority.
The fact the end result is that Rishi Sunak will be the last ever Conservative Party PM is a great irony..
You seem like you have the answers. I have questions.
Does the King still own this wood? Is everything in it part of his menagerie? Does the Menagerie go around saying yeah but no but? 😆
I have spoken to Snookie. She lives in Bristol and canvasses for the Greens and tells me Greens should do well in Kingwood because although it’s classed as Gloucestershire South, it’s actually in Bristol and Bristol people live in the constituency and Bristol is controlled by the greens now. The greens are so powerful there they managed to get rid of a Labour mayor - and on PB today, vocal green BJO politically tipped Greens in Bristol to unseat a Labour front bencher.
Politicalbetting wise, Kingwood can turn out a failure for Labour if the green vote is big. All the pressure is on Labour, as no Kingwood, no Starmer majority.
We do have a PBer called MrBristols, because they are in Bristol. Do we have anyone else in the area who can confirm to us Labour will fail because of significant green vote?
BJO is going to love this if it pans out as suspected Starmer fail like Uxbridge 😈
Chris Skidmore wrote a book about the death of Amy Robsart.
Does anyone know whether his departure from the HoC will leave no Tory MP in the chamber with a brain?
Oh, sorry - just read that he supported Truss for the leadership. His brain must have dropped out 2010x2022.
OK, an eccentric with principles.
The Tories should have stuck with Truss, her team and her agenda. It only became an issue becuase Sunak loving MPs rebelled against her Instantly.
Starmer is saying growth growth growth and build on green belts in exactly the same way, yet it’s popular when he says it?
They could have done but would be heading for less than 50 seats and maybe not even official opposition let alone holding power on her last polls as leader.
Starmer may want more development like Truss but is not proposing to slash the additional income tax rate, scrap corporation tax rises and end the cap on bankers' bonuses as she and Kwarteng were pushing. If he was I doubt he would last long as Labour leader
Isn't Starmer talking about re-enforcing the OBR, the exact opposite of what Truss did, part of what led her to lose all credibility with the markets.
Just to note that today's poll has the Cons holding less than 100 seats. No doubt an outlier and slightly better than under La Truss but its arguabe she would have performed that much of a 'dead cat bounce' herself!
Mr Sunak has to aim for the by-elections to be on local election day doesn't he? Better to take (and try to distract from) one bad day than to suffer death by a thousand cuts.
Turkeys don't vote for Christmas.
Condemned prisoners don't ask for their execution to be brought forward.
The election will be as late as Sunak can get away with. If he thinks he can get away with January 2025, it'd be then, but even he won't be able to push it that late so October is more realistic.
Makes sense to me. But Sunak might not fancy campaigning over Christmas... if he gets it out the way in October he can be in California for the Winter.
November 14th would be a perfect compromise. Just saying.
One last Christmas at Chequers means January 2025. Does anyone keep track of whether the Sunaks spend their weekends at Chequers or prefer to stay in London?
Their mistake was electing him to anything more demanding than deputy chair of Henley Town Council in the first place.
It was the British people themselves who elected Boris to stay PM in 2019 with the biggest Tory majority since Thatcher in 1987
I think you'll find that was only possible because a lot of very silly people in the Tory party elected him leader in the first place despite knowing he was a racist, sexually incontinent liar with a penchant for talking absolute rubbish, the intellect of a village idiot and the attention span of a concussed goldfish.
This was, with hindsight, a mistake on their part.
In fact, it was arguably a mistake they could have avoided without benefit of hindsight. Common sense would have done.
They will never admit it though.
I'm waiting for HYUFD to do his usual followup that it's only because of Bozo that the Tory party got an 80 seat majority.
The fact the end result is that Rishi Sunak will be the last ever Conservative Party PM is a great irony..
Oh course he won't be last Conservative PM, that is as ludicrous as saying Brown would be last Labour PM in 2010 or Major last Tory PM in 1997.
Though if he was the next rightwing PM would be far nastier than Sunak is I assure you, probably closer to Farage ideologically, maybe even Farage himself
Their mistake was electing him to anything more demanding than deputy chair of Henley Town Council in the first place.
It was the British people themselves who elected Boris to stay PM in 2019 with the biggest Tory majority since Thatcher in 1987
I think you'll find that was only possible because a lot of very silly people in the Tory party elected him leader in the first place despite knowing he was a racist, sexually incontinent liar with a penchant for talking absolute rubbish, the intellect of a village idiot and the attention span of a concussed goldfish.
This was, with hindsight, a mistake on their part.
They will never admit it though.
Yet Boris in 2019 got a higher voteshare than May, Cameron, Howard, Hague and Major ever got at a general election and indeed a higher voteshare than even Thatcher got in 1987 and 1983.
So the idea it was just Tory MPs and members who wanted Boris to be PM is ludicrous!
Has it occurred to you it may have been higher without him?
Especially given he was up against a man who had revealed himself to be an even bigger loon than Johnson.
And again, if it hadn't been for you idiots voting him in, nobody would have had the chance to vote for him. This is on your party all the way.
You deserve a shellacking comparable to Canada 1993 for that, although my guess is you won't get it.
Their mistake was electing him to anything more demanding than deputy chair of Henley Town Council in the first place.
It was the British people themselves who elected Boris to stay PM in 2019 with the biggest Tory majority since Thatcher in 1987
I think you'll find that was only possible because a lot of very silly people in the Tory party elected him leader in the first place despite knowing he was a racist, sexually incontinent liar with a penchant for talking absolute rubbish, the intellect of a village idiot and the attention span of a concussed goldfish.
This was, with hindsight, a mistake on their part.
In fact, it was arguably a mistake they could have avoided without benefit of hindsight. Common sense would have done.
They will never admit it though.
I'm waiting for HYUFD to do his usual followup that it's only because of Bozo that the Tory party got an 80 seat majority.
The fact the end result is that Rishi Sunak will be the last ever Conservative Party PM is a great irony..
Oh course he won't be last Conservative PM, that is as ludicrous as saying Brown would be last Labour PM in 2010 or Major last Tory PM in 1997.
Though if he was the next rightwing PM would be far nastier than Sunak is I assure you, probably closer to Farage ideologically, maybe even Farage himself
Unfortunately, he’s typical of the Parliamentary Party.
They’ve let down every single person who voted for them in 2010 -19.
Just imagine how those of us who didn't vote for them feel!
Not so bad, I imagine, for you always knew that they were pieces of human excrement.
It’s those of us who voted and even campaigned for them who feel like mugs. These arsehats were just laughing up their sleeves at us, the whole time.
I've been astonished at how shit this batch of Conservative MPs are - contrast to the 80s or even the 90s.
Something went off with candidate selection in the noughties; we lost good MPs like Archie Norman and gained ones like Chris Pincher.
Two things, I reckon.
In the late nineties/early noughties, it was pretty uncool to be a Conservative, and anyone who wanted to get stuff done became a Blairite. There wasn't enough competition and the people who came through were often a bit odd.
Then came Dave's modernisation, and some of the people who came through the A List really weren't all that.
The first is the one that should really bother people on the right of centre. Because if the talent pipeline was a trickle in the late 90's, what is it like now?
I doubt the talent pipeline for Labour MPs was much better in the Ed Miliband and Corbyn years and they are likely to comprise the main pool for the next Cabinet
Unlikely- remember the steep age profile in voting intention. Even when Labour were losing overall, they were doing OK with young to middle aged graduates.
Outside the retired, the Conservatives have almost nobody.
Look at the current Shadow Cabinet, a complete collection of lightweights overall beyond Starmer, with the possible exception of Reeves and Cooper and Ed Miliband, Thornberry and Benn.
In 1997 of course the Tories didn't even have the retired
Chris Skidmore wrote a book about the death of Amy Robsart.
Does anyone know whether his departure from the HoC will leave no Tory MP in the chamber with a brain?
Oh, sorry - just read that he supported Truss for the leadership. His brain must have dropped out 2010x2022.
OK, an eccentric with principles.
The Tories should have stuck with Truss, her team and her agenda. It only became an issue becuase Sunak loving MPs rebelled against her Instantly.
Starmer is saying growth growth growth and build on green belts in exactly the same way, yet it’s popular when he says it?
They could have done but would be heading for less than 50 seats and maybe not even official opposition let alone holding power on her last polls as leader.
Starmer may want more development like Truss but is not proposing to slash the additional income tax rate, scrap corporation tax rises and end the cap on bankers' bonuses as she and Kwarteng were pushing. If he was I doubt he would last long as Labour leader
Isn't Starmer talking about re-enforcing the OBR, the exact opposite of what Truss did, part of what led her to lose all credibility with the markets.
Just to note that today's poll has the Cons holding less than 100 seats. No doubt an outlier and slightly better than under La Truss but its arguabe she would have performed that much of a 'dead cat bounce' herself!
Mr Sunak has to aim for the by-elections to be on local election day doesn't he? Better to take (and try to distract from) one bad day than to suffer death by a thousand cuts.
Turkeys don't vote for Christmas.
Condemned prisoners don't ask for their execution to be brought forward.
The election will be as late as Sunak can get away with. If he thinks he can get away with January 2025, it'd be then, but even he won't be able to push it that late so October is more realistic.
The full phrase is "Turkeys voting for an early Christmas".
It was used by Jim Callaghan to describe the Liberals' support for the vote of no confidence against his government in 1979 with six months left on the parliamentary clock.
According to Wiki the phrase predates 1979 and originally didn't have the word early in it.
The Oxford Dictionary of Humorous Quotations writes that a commentator in the Independent Magazine traced the origin of the phrase to British Liberal Party politician David Penhaligon,[2] who is quoted as saying: "Us voting for the Pact is like a turkey voting for Christmas" in reference to the 1977 Lib–Lab pact which he opposed.[3]
Fair enough. I listened to the whole VONC debate on the radio so quite a few phrases stick in the mind. For example, Michael Foot, winding up for the govt, describing David Steel as someone who had gone from bright young thing to elder statesman with nothing in between. Or Callaghan responding to the division saying "the House has had its vote, now the country must have its own" (or words to that effect). It was an age of eloquence and humour in equal measure and very few since have come close to it.
Yes, you can find that debate on the internet, or buy a recording. It’s a stunning demonstration of how much more elevated political debate once was, back in the age when media coverage was equally challenging (think Robin Day, Brian Walden). Neither politicians nor the media treated voters like idiots with the attention span of a goldfish. It’s shocking how things have dumbed down, despite most people knowing more than they did back then, thanks to longer education and information at our fingertips.
Unfortunately, he’s typical of the Parliamentary Party.
They’ve let down every single person who voted for them in 2010 -19.
Just imagine how those of us who didn't vote for them feel!
Not so bad, I imagine, for you always knew that they were pieces of human excrement.
It’s those of us who voted and even campaigned for them who feel like mugs. These arsehats were just laughing up their sleeves at us, the whole time.
I've been astonished at how shit this batch of Conservative MPs are - contrast to the 80s or even the 90s.
Something went off with candidate selection in the noughties; we lost good MPs like Archie Norman and gained ones like Chris Pincher.
Two things, I reckon.
In the late nineties/early noughties, it was pretty uncool to be a Conservative, and anyone who wanted to get stuff done became a Blairite. There wasn't enough competition and the people who came through were often a bit odd.
Then came Dave's modernisation, and some of the people who came through the A List really weren't all that.
The first is the one that should really bother people on the right of centre. Because if the talent pipeline was a trickle in the late 90's, what is it like now?
I doubt the talent pipeline for Labour MPs was much better in the Ed Miliband and Corbyn years and they are likely to comprise the main pool for the next Cabinet
Unlikely- remember the steep age profile in voting intention. Even when Labour were losing overall, they were doing OK with young to middle aged graduates.
Outside the retired, the Conservatives have almost nobody.
Look at the current Shadow Cabinet, a complete collection of lightweights overall beyond Starmer, with the possible exception of Reeves and Cooper and Ed Miliband.
In 1997 of course the Tories didn't even have the retired
Unfortunately, he’s typical of the Parliamentary Party.
They’ve let down every single person who voted for them in 2010 -19.
Just imagine how those of us who didn't vote for them feel!
Not so bad, I imagine, for you always knew that they were pieces of human excrement.
It’s those of us who voted and even campaigned for them who feel like mugs. These arsehats were just laughing up their sleeves at us, the whole time.
I've been astonished at how shit this batch of Conservative MPs are - contrast to the 80s or even the 90s.
Something went off with candidate selection in the noughties; we lost good MPs like Archie Norman and gained ones like Chris Pincher.
Two things, I reckon.
In the late nineties/early noughties, it was pretty uncool to be a Conservative, and anyone who wanted to get stuff done became a Blairite. There wasn't enough competition and the people who came through were often a bit odd.
Then came Dave's modernisation, and some of the people who came through the A List really weren't all that.
The first is the one that should really bother people on the right of centre. Because if the talent pipeline was a trickle in the late 90's, what is it like now?
I doubt the talent pipeline for Labour MPs was much better in the Ed Miliband and Corbyn years and they are likely to comprise the main pool for the next Cabinet
Unlikely- remember the steep age profile in voting intention. Even when Labour were losing overall, they were doing OK with young to middle aged graduates.
Outside the retired, the Conservatives have almost nobody.
Look at the current Shadow Cabinet, a complete collection of lightweights overall beyond Starmer, with the possible exception of Reeves and Cooper and Ed Miliband.
In 1997 of course the Tories didn't even have the retired
Still a whole set of voters that Rishi can find a way to lose then - and he's got a whole year to do it so I wouldn't put it past him...
Unfortunately, he’s typical of the Parliamentary Party.
They’ve let down every single person who voted for them in 2010 -19.
Just imagine how those of us who didn't vote for them feel!
Not so bad, I imagine, for you always knew that they were pieces of human excrement.
It’s those of us who voted and even campaigned for them who feel like mugs. These arsehats were just laughing up their sleeves at us, the whole time.
I've been astonished at how shit this batch of Conservative MPs are - contrast to the 80s or even the 90s.
Something went off with candidate selection in the noughties; we lost good MPs like Archie Norman and gained ones like Chris Pincher.
Cameron's A-list perhaps? PPE SpAds rather than farmers, small businessmen and suburban solicitors? Or simply the passage of time which meant we lost the wartime generation whose upper and middle class officers had served alongside working class soldiers for years.
There were plenty crooks and rogues in that lot too. It's why we lost so many to the expenses scandal.
Their mistake was electing him to anything more demanding than deputy chair of Henley Town Council in the first place.
It was the British people themselves who elected Boris to stay PM in 2019 with the biggest Tory majority since Thatcher in 1987
I think you'll find that was only possible because a lot of very silly people in the Tory party elected him leader in the first place despite knowing he was a racist, sexually incontinent liar with a penchant for talking absolute rubbish, the intellect of a village idiot and the attention span of a concussed goldfish.
This was, with hindsight, a mistake on their part.
In fact, it was arguably a mistake they could have avoided without benefit of hindsight. Common sense would have done.
They will never admit it though.
I'm waiting for HYUFD to do his usual followup that it's only because of Bozo that the Tory party got an 80 seat majority.
The fact the end result is that Rishi Sunak will be the last ever Conservative Party PM is a great irony..
Oh course he won't be last Conservative PM, that is as ludicrous as saying Brown would be last Labour PM in 2010 or Major last Tory PM in 1997.
Though if he was the next rightwing PM would be far nastier than Sunak is I assure you, probably closer to Farage ideologically, maybe even Farage himself
Or Asquith the last Liberal PM?
As they were overtaken by Labour, the equivalent would be the Tories being overtaken by Farage and RefUK
Chris Skidmore wrote a book about the death of Amy Robsart.
Does anyone know whether his departure from the HoC will leave no Tory MP in the chamber with a brain?
Oh, sorry - just read that he supported Truss for the leadership. His brain must have dropped out 2010x2022.
OK, an eccentric with principles.
The Tories should have stuck with Truss, her team and her agenda. It only became an issue becuase Sunak loving MPs rebelled against her Instantly.
Starmer is saying growth growth growth and build on green belts in exactly the same way, yet it’s popular when he says it?
They could have done but would be heading for less than 50 seats and maybe not even official opposition let alone holding power on her last polls as leader.
Starmer may want more development like Truss but is not proposing to slash the additional income tax rate, scrap corporation tax rises and end the cap on bankers' bonuses as she and Kwarteng were pushing. If he was I doubt he would last long as Labour leader
Isn't Starmer talking about re-enforcing the OBR, the exact opposite of what Truss did, part of what led her to lose all credibility with the markets.
Just to note that today's poll has the Cons holding less than 100 seats. No doubt an outlier and slightly better than under La Truss but its arguabe she would have performed that much of a 'dead cat bounce' herself!
Mr Sunak has to aim for the by-elections to be on local election day doesn't he? Better to take (and try to distract from) one bad day than to suffer death by a thousand cuts.
Turkeys don't vote for Christmas.
Condemned prisoners don't ask for their execution to be brought forward.
The election will be as late as Sunak can get away with. If he thinks he can get away with January 2025, it'd be then, but even he won't be able to push it that late so October is more realistic.
Makes sense to me. But Sunak might not fancy campaigning over Christmas... if he gets it out the way in October he can be in California for the Winter.
November 14th would be a perfect compromise. Just saying.
One last Christmas at Chequers means January 2025. Does anyone keep track of whether the Sunaks spend their weekends at Chequers or prefer to stay in London?
Santa Monica preferably.
I believe Rishi was home alone at number 10 this yuletide.
Their mistake was electing him to anything more demanding than deputy chair of Henley Town Council in the first place.
It was the British people themselves who elected Boris to stay PM in 2019 with the biggest Tory majority since Thatcher in 1987
I think you'll find that was only possible because a lot of very silly people in the Tory party elected him leader in the first place despite knowing he was a racist, sexually incontinent liar with a penchant for talking absolute rubbish, the intellect of a village idiot and the attention span of a concussed goldfish.
This was, with hindsight, a mistake on their part.
They will never admit it though.
Yet Boris in 2019 got a higher voteshare than May, Cameron, Howard, Hague and Major ever got at a general election and indeed a higher voteshare than even Thatcher got in 1987 and 1983.
So the idea it was just Tory MPs and members who wanted Boris to be PM is ludicrous!
Has it occurred to you it may have been higher without him?
Especially given he was up against a man who had revealed himself to be an even bigger loon than Johnson.
And again, if it hadn't been for you idiots voting him in, nobody would have had the chance to vote for him. This is on your party all the way.
You deserve a shellacking comparable to Canada 1993 for that, although my guess is you won't get it.
No, May even failed to get a majority against Corbyn, let alone the 80 seat majority Boris got against him.
Chris Skidmore wrote a book about the death of Amy Robsart.
Does anyone know whether his departure from the HoC will leave no Tory MP in the chamber with a brain?
Oh, sorry - just read that he supported Truss for the leadership. His brain must have dropped out 2010x2022.
OK, an eccentric with principles.
The Tories should have stuck with Truss, her team and her agenda. It only became an issue becuase Sunak loving MPs rebelled against her Instantly.
Starmer is saying growth growth growth and build on green belts in exactly the same way, yet it’s popular when he says it?
They could have done but would be heading for less than 50 seats and maybe not even official opposition let alone holding power on her last polls as leader.
Starmer may want more development like Truss but is not proposing to slash the additional income tax rate, scrap corporation tax rises and end the cap on bankers' bonuses as she and Kwarteng were pushing. If he was I doubt he would last long as Labour leader
Isn't Starmer talking about re-enforcing the OBR, the exact opposite of what Truss did, part of what led her to lose all credibility with the markets.
Just to note that today's poll has the Cons holding less than 100 seats. No doubt an outlier and slightly better than under La Truss but its arguabe she would have performed that much of a 'dead cat bounce' herself!
Mr Sunak has to aim for the by-elections to be on local election day doesn't he? Better to take (and try to distract from) one bad day than to suffer death by a thousand cuts.
Turkeys don't vote for Christmas.
Condemned prisoners don't ask for their execution to be brought forward.
The election will be as late as Sunak can get away with. If he thinks he can get away with January 2025, it'd be then, but even he won't be able to push it that late so October is more realistic.
Makes sense to me. But Sunak might not fancy campaigning over Christmas... if he gets it out the way in October he can be in California for the Winter.
November 14th would be a perfect compromise. Just saying.
One last Christmas at Chequers means January 2025. Does anyone keep track of whether the Sunaks spend their weekends at Chequers or prefer to stay in London?
Their mistake was electing him to anything more demanding than deputy chair of Henley Town Council in the first place.
It was the British people themselves who elected Boris to stay PM in 2019 with the biggest Tory majority since Thatcher in 1987
I think you'll find that was only possible because a lot of very silly people in the Tory party elected him leader in the first place despite knowing he was a racist, sexually incontinent liar with a penchant for talking absolute rubbish, the intellect of a village idiot and the attention span of a concussed goldfish.
This was, with hindsight, a mistake on their part.
They will never admit it though.
Yet Boris in 2019 got a higher voteshare than May, Cameron, Howard, Hague and Major ever got at a general election and indeed a higher voteshare than even Thatcher got in 1987 and 1983.
So the idea it was just Tory MPs and members who wanted Boris to be PM is ludicrous!
Has it occurred to you it may have been higher without him?
Especially given he was up against a man who had revealed himself to be an even bigger loon than Johnson.
And again, if it hadn't been for you idiots voting him in, nobody would have had the chance to vote for him. This is on your party all the way.
You deserve a shellacking comparable to Canada 1993 for that, although my guess is you won't get it.
I should add that until Bozo became the leader I'd voted Conservative for every election since 1997 (missed that one as we were on holiday and in the process of moving)..
the reason I didn't vote Bozo in 2019 is because he was utterly unsuitable to be PM...
Their mistake was electing him to anything more demanding than deputy chair of Henley Town Council in the first place.
It was the British people themselves who elected Boris to stay PM in 2019 with the biggest Tory majority since Thatcher in 1987
I think you'll find that was only possible because a lot of very silly people in the Tory party elected him leader in the first place despite knowing he was a racist, sexually incontinent liar with a penchant for talking absolute rubbish, the intellect of a village idiot and the attention span of a concussed goldfish.
This was, with hindsight, a mistake on their part.
They will never admit it though.
Yet Boris in 2019 got a higher voteshare than May, Cameron, Howard, Hague and Major ever got at a general election and indeed a higher voteshare than even Thatcher got in 1987 and 1983.
So the idea it was just Tory MPs and members who wanted Boris to be PM is ludicrous!
Has it occurred to you it may have been higher without him?
Especially given he was up against a man who had revealed himself to be an even bigger loon than Johnson.
And again, if it hadn't been for you idiots voting him in, nobody would have had the chance to vote for him. This is on your party all the way.
You deserve a shellacking comparable to Canada 1993 for that, although my guess is you won't get it.
No, May even failed to get a majority against Corbyn, let alone the 80 seat majority Boris got against him.
Have you not read any of the various 2019 polling reports which showed that the vast majority of the vote was anti-Corbyn more than pro Bozo....
Their mistake was electing him to anything more demanding than deputy chair of Henley Town Council in the first place.
It was the British people themselves who elected Boris to stay PM in 2019 with the biggest Tory majority since Thatcher in 1987
Oh, what about Northern Ireland? Plus a lot of people didn't or couldn't vote. And many of then didn't vote for Mr Johnson. In fact, *none at all except in Uxbridge*. And that last was for the constituency MP.
People as you well know vote mostly for the leader now more than their local MP
I know you have a strange concept of logic and numbner theory, but 43.6% of those who voted at all doesn't equate to "the British people" in ordinary human discourse or experience.
Nor does 45% of those who voted from the Scottish population equiperate to Scotland but don’t tell the SNP.
Sure, but the SNP is in favour of voting reform. And you are omitting the Scottish Greens, which adds up to a majority.
Also: that 43.6% for the Tories is of those who voted in the UK. Not the population. I'd be sorry to see you adopting HYUFD's goal-moving habits.
Chris Skidmore wrote a book about the death of Amy Robsart.
Does anyone know whether his departure from the HoC will leave no Tory MP in the chamber with a brain?
Oh, sorry - just read that he supported Truss for the leadership. His brain must have dropped out 2010x2022.
OK, an eccentric with principles.
The Tories should have stuck with Truss, her team and her agenda. It only became an issue becuase Sunak loving MPs rebelled against her Instantly.
Starmer is saying growth growth growth and build on green belts in exactly the same way, yet it’s popular when he says it?
They could have done but would be heading for less than 50 seats and maybe not even official opposition let alone holding power on her last polls as leader.
Starmer may want more development like Truss but is not proposing to slash the additional income tax rate, scrap corporation tax rises and end the cap on bankers' bonuses as she and Kwarteng were pushing. If he was I doubt he would last long as Labour leader
Isn't Starmer talking about re-enforcing the OBR, the exact opposite of what Truss did, part of what led her to lose all credibility with the markets.
Just to note that today's poll has the Cons holding less than 100 seats. No doubt an outlier and slightly better than under La Truss but its arguabe she would have performed that much of a 'dead cat bounce' herself!
Mr Sunak has to aim for the by-elections to be on local election day doesn't he? Better to take (and try to distract from) one bad day than to suffer death by a thousand cuts.
Turkeys don't vote for Christmas.
Condemned prisoners don't ask for their execution to be brought forward.
The election will be as late as Sunak can get away with. If he thinks he can get away with January 2025, it'd be then, but even he won't be able to push it that late so October is more realistic.
Makes sense to me. But Sunak might not fancy campaigning over Christmas... if he gets it out the way in October he can be in California for the Winter.
November 14th would be a perfect compromise. Just saying.
One last Christmas at Chequers means January 2025. Does anyone keep track of whether the Sunaks spend their weekends at Chequers or prefer to stay in London?
Why would a Hindu be fussed about Christmas?
Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims all celebrate Christmas, at least in Leicester. They just don't bring religion into it.
Chris Skidmore wrote a book about the death of Amy Robsart.
Does anyone know whether his departure from the HoC will leave no Tory MP in the chamber with a brain?
Oh, sorry - just read that he supported Truss for the leadership. His brain must have dropped out 2010x2022.
OK, an eccentric with principles.
The Tories should have stuck with Truss, her team and her agenda. It only became an issue becuase Sunak loving MPs rebelled against her Instantly.
Starmer is saying growth growth growth and build on green belts in exactly the same way, yet it’s popular when he says it?
They could have done but would be heading for less than 50 seats and maybe not even official opposition let alone holding power on her last polls as leader.
Starmer may want more development like Truss but is not proposing to slash the additional income tax rate, scrap corporation tax rises and end the cap on bankers' bonuses as she and Kwarteng were pushing. If he was I doubt he would last long as Labour leader
Isn't Starmer talking about re-enforcing the OBR, the exact opposite of what Truss did, part of what led her to lose all credibility with the markets.
Just to note that today's poll has the Cons holding less than 100 seats. No doubt an outlier and slightly better than under La Truss but its arguabe she would have performed that much of a 'dead cat bounce' herself!
Mr Sunak has to aim for the by-elections to be on local election day doesn't he? Better to take (and try to distract from) one bad day than to suffer death by a thousand cuts.
Turkeys don't vote for Christmas.
Condemned prisoners don't ask for their execution to be brought forward.
The election will be as late as Sunak can get away with. If he thinks he can get away with January 2025, it'd be then, but even he won't be able to push it that late so October is more realistic.
Makes sense to me. But Sunak might not fancy campaigning over Christmas... if he gets it out the way in October he can be in California for the Winter.
November 14th would be a perfect compromise. Just saying.
One last Christmas at Chequers means January 2025. Does anyone keep track of whether the Sunaks spend their weekends at Chequers or prefer to stay in London?
Why would a Hindu be fussed about Christmas?
Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims all celebrate Christmas, at least in Leicester. They just don't bring religion into it.
Just like the rest of the population, except for handful of actual Christian believers.
Chris Skidmore wrote a book about the death of Amy Robsart.
Does anyone know whether his departure from the HoC will leave no Tory MP in the chamber with a brain?
Oh, sorry - just read that he supported Truss for the leadership. His brain must have dropped out 2010x2022.
OK, an eccentric with principles.
The Tories should have stuck with Truss, her team and her agenda. It only became an issue becuase Sunak loving MPs rebelled against her Instantly.
Starmer is saying growth growth growth and build on green belts in exactly the same way, yet it’s popular when he says it?
They could have done but would be heading for less than 50 seats and maybe not even official opposition let alone holding power on her last polls as leader.
Starmer may want more development like Truss but is not proposing to slash the additional income tax rate, scrap corporation tax rises and end the cap on bankers' bonuses as she and Kwarteng were pushing. If he was I doubt he would last long as Labour leader
Isn't Starmer talking about re-enforcing the OBR, the exact opposite of what Truss did, part of what led her to lose all credibility with the markets.
Just to note that today's poll has the Cons holding less than 100 seats. No doubt an outlier and slightly better than under La Truss but its arguabe she would have performed that much of a 'dead cat bounce' herself!
Mr Sunak has to aim for the by-elections to be on local election day doesn't he? Better to take (and try to distract from) one bad day than to suffer death by a thousand cuts.
Turkeys don't vote for Christmas.
Condemned prisoners don't ask for their execution to be brought forward.
The election will be as late as Sunak can get away with. If he thinks he can get away with January 2025, it'd be then, but even he won't be able to push it that late so October is more realistic.
Makes sense to me. But Sunak might not fancy campaigning over Christmas... if he gets it out the way in October he can be in California for the Winter.
November 14th would be a perfect compromise. Just saying.
One last Christmas at Chequers means January 2025. Does anyone keep track of whether the Sunaks spend their weekends at Chequers or prefer to stay in London?
Why would a Hindu be fussed about Christmas?
Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims all celebrate Christmas, at least in Leicester. They just don't bring religion into it.
Christmas is one of those holidays that large parts of the world celebrate / recognise to some extent even though no connection to the religious part. Its big in Japan for instance.
I was asking a Chinese friend whats the deal with Christmas there, said we absolutely bloody do, its a day off, that's something to celebrate in itself.
Chris Skidmore wrote a book about the death of Amy Robsart.
Does anyone know whether his departure from the HoC will leave no Tory MP in the chamber with a brain?
Oh, sorry - just read that he supported Truss for the leadership. His brain must have dropped out 2010x2022.
OK, an eccentric with principles.
The Tories should have stuck with Truss, her team and her agenda. It only became an issue becuase Sunak loving MPs rebelled against her Instantly.
Starmer is saying growth growth growth and build on green belts in exactly the same way, yet it’s popular when he says it?
They could have done but would be heading for less than 50 seats and maybe not even official opposition let alone holding power on her last polls as leader.
Starmer may want more development like Truss but is not proposing to slash the additional income tax rate, scrap corporation tax rises and end the cap on bankers' bonuses as she and Kwarteng were pushing. If he was I doubt he would last long as Labour leader
Isn't Starmer talking about re-enforcing the OBR, the exact opposite of what Truss did, part of what led her to lose all credibility with the markets.
Just to note that today's poll has the Cons holding less than 100 seats. No doubt an outlier and slightly better than under La Truss but its arguabe she would have performed that much of a 'dead cat bounce' herself!
Mr Sunak has to aim for the by-elections to be on local election day doesn't he? Better to take (and try to distract from) one bad day than to suffer death by a thousand cuts.
Turkeys don't vote for Christmas.
Condemned prisoners don't ask for their execution to be brought forward.
The election will be as late as Sunak can get away with. If he thinks he can get away with January 2025, it'd be then, but even he won't be able to push it that late so October is more realistic.
Makes sense to me. But Sunak might not fancy campaigning over Christmas... if he gets it out the way in October he can be in California for the Winter.
November 14th would be a perfect compromise. Just saying.
One last Christmas at Chequers means January 2025. Does anyone keep track of whether the Sunaks spend their weekends at Chequers or prefer to stay in London?
Why would a Hindu be fussed about Christmas?
Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims all celebrate Christmas, at least in Leicester. They just don't bring religion into it.
Just like the rest of the population, except for handful of actual Christian believers.
We seem to be forgetting the Mammon-worshippers. They sure bring their religion into Christmas (and Easter already too for that matter).
You seem like you have the answers. I have questions.
Does the King still own this wood? Is everything in it part of his menagerie? Does the Menagerie go around saying yeah but no but? 😆
I have spoken to Snookie. She lives in Bristol and canvasses for the Greens and tells me Greens should do well in Kingwood because although it’s classed as Gloucestershire South, it’s actually in Bristol and Bristol people live in the constituency and Bristol is controlled by the greens now. The greens are so powerful there they managed to get rid of a Labour mayor - and on PB today, vocal green BJO politically tipped Greens in Bristol to unseat a Labour front bencher.
Politicalbetting wise, Kingwood can turn out a failure for Labour if the green vote is big. All the pressure is on Labour, as no Kingwood, no Starmer majority.
We do have a PBer called MrBristols, because they are in Bristol. Do we have anyone else in the area who can confirm to us Labour will fail because of significant green vote?
BJO is going to love this if it pans out as suspected Starmer fail like Uxbridge 😈
Betting wise Kingswood is a virtually 100% cert for Labour; (it's Wellingborough that is in some doubt).
There can't be much doubt that Skidmore, who is bright and decent, and a centrist, has better things to do than lose his seat in a campaign which, like the rest of us, he believes is being run for a party which is rotting from the membership up and the leadership down.
Their mistake was electing him to anything more demanding than deputy chair of Henley Town Council in the first place.
It was the British people themselves who elected Boris to stay PM in 2019 with the biggest Tory majority since Thatcher in 1987
I think you'll find that was only possible because a lot of very silly people in the Tory party elected him leader in the first place despite knowing he was a racist, sexually incontinent liar with a penchant for talking absolute rubbish, the intellect of a village idiot and the attention span of a concussed goldfish.
This was, with hindsight, a mistake on their part.
They will never admit it though.
Yet Boris in 2019 got a higher voteshare than May, Cameron, Howard, Hague and Major ever got at a general election and indeed a higher voteshare than even Thatcher got in 1987 and 1983.
So the idea it was just Tory MPs and members who wanted Boris to be PM is ludicrous!
Has it occurred to you it may have been higher without him?
Especially given he was up against a man who had revealed himself to be an even bigger loon than Johnson.
And again, if it hadn't been for you idiots voting him in, nobody would have had the chance to vote for him. This is on your party all the way.
You deserve a shellacking comparable to Canada 1993 for that, although my guess is you won't get it.
No, May even failed to get a majority against Corbyn, let alone the 80 seat majority Boris got against him.
Have you not read any of the various 2019 polling reports which showed that the vast majority of the vote was anti-Corbyn more than pro Bozo....
One of the awkward bits of politics that it's too awkward to admit- many (most? all?) elections are about voting against the candidate people don't want far more than voting for what they do want.
Which is why Lady Starmer can by soft furnishings in the sales with a degree of confidence.
The Post Office is under criminal investigation over the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of sub-postmasters, Scotland Yard confirmed for the first time on Friday evening.
Metropolitan Police detectives are looking at “potential fraud offences” committed in the handling of the Horizon IT scandal.
Between 1999 and 2015, the Post Office prosecuted at least 700 postmasters over allegations of fraud, theft and false accounting based on evidence from the faulty Horizon computer system. Hundreds were bankrupted or jailed and at least four people took their own lives.
Chris Skidmore wrote a book about the death of Amy Robsart.
Does anyone know whether his departure from the HoC will leave no Tory MP in the chamber with a brain?
Oh, sorry - just read that he supported Truss for the leadership. His brain must have dropped out 2010x2022.
OK, an eccentric with principles.
The Tories should have stuck with Truss, her team and her agenda. It only became an issue becuase Sunak loving MPs rebelled against her Instantly.
Starmer is saying growth growth growth and build on green belts in exactly the same way, yet it’s popular when he says it?
They could have done but would be heading for less than 50 seats and maybe not even official opposition let alone holding power on her last polls as leader.
Starmer may want more development like Truss but is not proposing to slash the additional income tax rate, scrap corporation tax rises and end the cap on bankers' bonuses as she and Kwarteng were pushing. If he was I doubt he would last long as Labour leader
Isn't Starmer talking about re-enforcing the OBR, the exact opposite of what Truss did, part of what led her to lose all credibility with the markets.
Just to note that today's poll has the Cons holding less than 100 seats. No doubt an outlier and slightly better than under La Truss but its arguabe she would have performed that much of a 'dead cat bounce' herself!
Mr Sunak has to aim for the by-elections to be on local election day doesn't he? Better to take (and try to distract from) one bad day than to suffer death by a thousand cuts.
Turkeys don't vote for Christmas.
Condemned prisoners don't ask for their execution to be brought forward.
The election will be as late as Sunak can get away with. If he thinks he can get away with January 2025, it'd be then, but even he won't be able to push it that late so October is more realistic.
Makes sense to me. But Sunak might not fancy campaigning over Christmas... if he gets it out the way in October he can be in California for the Winter.
November 14th would be a perfect compromise. Just saying.
One last Christmas at Chequers means January 2025. Does anyone keep track of whether the Sunaks spend their weekends at Chequers or prefer to stay in London?
Why would a Hindu be fussed about Christmas?
Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims all celebrate Christmas, at least in Leicester. They just don't bring religion into it.
Christmas is one of those holidays that large parts of the world celebrate / recognise to some extent even though no connection to the religious part. Its big in Japan for instance.
I was asking a Chinese friend whats the deal with Christmas there, said we absolutely bloody do, its a day off, that's something to celebrate in itself.
Christmas is not a public holiday in China, the Communist government is officially atheist
Their mistake was electing him to anything more demanding than deputy chair of Henley Town Council in the first place.
It was the British people themselves who elected Boris to stay PM in 2019 with the biggest Tory majority since Thatcher in 1987
Oh, what about Northern Ireland? Plus a lot of people didn't or couldn't vote. And many of then didn't vote for Mr Johnson. In fact, *none at all except in Uxbridge*. And that last was for the constituency MP.
People as you well know vote mostly for the leader now more than their local MP
I know you have a strange concept of logic and numbner theory, but 43.6% of those who voted at all doesn't equate to "the British people" in ordinary human discourse or experience.
It does, the Tories won most votes and seats and if you don't vote that is your problem, you have no right to complain
You misunderstand the notion of legitimacy. How it goes is like this:
* no VOTER has the right to complain about anything a non-brokered government does, so long as it was promised in the governing party's manifesto, e.g. Truss and Kwarteng's accidental loss of £30bn of public money, which as any fule kno was unequivocally promised in the 2019 Tory manifesto;
* everyone who DIDN'T VOTE has the right to complain about anything a government does, because they didn't accept the legitimacy of parliamentary "democracy" and demonstrated in practice their understanding of the adage "Don't vote - it only encourages them".
Their mistake was electing him to anything more demanding than deputy chair of Henley Town Council in the first place.
It was the British people themselves who elected Boris to stay PM in 2019 with the biggest Tory majority since Thatcher in 1987
Oh, what about Northern Ireland? Plus a lot of people didn't or couldn't vote. And many of then didn't vote for Mr Johnson. In fact, *none at all except in Uxbridge*. And that last was for the constituency MP.
People as you well know vote mostly for the leader now more than their local MP
I know you have a strange concept of logic and numbner theory, but 43.6% of those who voted at all doesn't equate to "the British people" in ordinary human discourse or experience.
Nor does 45% of those who voted from the Scottish population equiperate to Scotland but don’t tell the SNP.
Sure, but the SNP is in favour of voting reform. And you are omitting the Scottish Greens, which adds up to a majority.
Also: that 43.6% for the Tories is of those who voted in the UK. Not the population. I'd be sorry to see you adopting HYUFD's goal-moving habits.
No it doesn't, even in 2019 the SNP and Greens combined only got 46%
Their mistake was electing him to anything more demanding than deputy chair of Henley Town Council in the first place.
It was the British people themselves who elected Boris to stay PM in 2019 with the biggest Tory majority since Thatcher in 1987
I think you'll find that was only possible because a lot of very silly people in the Tory party elected him leader in the first place despite knowing he was a racist, sexually incontinent liar with a penchant for talking absolute rubbish, the intellect of a village idiot and the attention span of a concussed goldfish.
This was, with hindsight, a mistake on their part.
They will never admit it though.
Yet Boris in 2019 got a higher voteshare than May, Cameron, Howard, Hague and Major ever got at a general election and indeed a higher voteshare than even Thatcher got in 1987 and 1983.
So the idea it was just Tory MPs and members who wanted Boris to be PM is ludicrous!
Has it occurred to you it may have been higher without him?
Especially given he was up against a man who had revealed himself to be an even bigger loon than Johnson.
And again, if it hadn't been for you idiots voting him in, nobody would have had the chance to vote for him. This is on your party all the way.
You deserve a shellacking comparable to Canada 1993 for that, although my guess is you won't get it.
No, May even failed to get a majority against Corbyn, let alone the 80 seat majority Boris got against him.
Have you not read any of the various 2019 polling reports which showed that the vast majority of the vote was anti-Corbyn more than pro Bozo....
Except it wasn't, otherwise May would also have won a landslide in 2017.
It was as much for Boris and to get Brexit done as anti Corbyn
Chris Skidmore wrote a book about the death of Amy Robsart.
Does anyone know whether his departure from the HoC will leave no Tory MP in the chamber with a brain?
Oh, sorry - just read that he supported Truss for the leadership. His brain must have dropped out 2010x2022.
OK, an eccentric with principles.
The Tories should have stuck with Truss, her team and her agenda. It only became an issue becuase Sunak loving MPs rebelled against her Instantly.
Starmer is saying growth growth growth and build on green belts in exactly the same way, yet it’s popular when he says it?
They could have done but would be heading for less than 50 seats and maybe not even official opposition let alone holding power on her last polls as leader.
Starmer may want more development like Truss but is not proposing to slash the additional income tax rate, scrap corporation tax rises and end the cap on bankers' bonuses as she and Kwarteng were pushing. If he was I doubt he would last long as Labour leader
Isn't Starmer talking about re-enforcing the OBR, the exact opposite of what Truss did, part of what led her to lose all credibility with the markets.
Just to note that today's poll has the Cons holding less than 100 seats. No doubt an outlier and slightly better than under La Truss but its arguabe she would have performed that much of a 'dead cat bounce' herself!
Mr Sunak has to aim for the by-elections to be on local election day doesn't he? Better to take (and try to distract from) one bad day than to suffer death by a thousand cuts.
Turkeys don't vote for Christmas.
Condemned prisoners don't ask for their execution to be brought forward.
The election will be as late as Sunak can get away with. If he thinks he can get away with January 2025, it'd be then, but even he won't be able to push it that late so October is more realistic.
Makes sense to me. But Sunak might not fancy campaigning over Christmas... if he gets it out the way in October he can be in California for the Winter.
November 14th would be a perfect compromise. Just saying.
One last Christmas at Chequers means January 2025. Does anyone keep track of whether the Sunaks spend their weekends at Chequers or prefer to stay in London?
Why would a Hindu be fussed about Christmas?
Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims all celebrate Christmas, at least in Leicester. They just don't bring religion into it.
Christmas is one of those holidays that large parts of the world celebrate / recognise to some extent even though no connection to the religious part. Its big in Japan for instance.
I was asking a Chinese friend whats the deal with Christmas there, said we absolutely bloody do, its a day off, that's something to celebrate in itself.
Christmas is not a public holiday in China, the Communist government is officially atheist
It isn't, but he told me increasingly common its given as a day off* and Christmasy things go on in malls and people embrace it to some extent. I imagine it is one of those "its Western so its kinda of cool" and seen as a novelty things for the Chinese middle.class.
* Maybe not in the sweat shops, but my friend is a highly educated professional.
The Post Office is under criminal investigation over the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of sub-postmasters, Scotland Yard confirmed for the first time on Friday evening.
Metropolitan Police detectives are looking at “potential fraud offences” committed in the handling of the Horizon IT scandal.
Between 1999 and 2015, the Post Office prosecuted at least 700 postmasters over allegations of fraud, theft and false accounting based on evidence from the faulty Horizon computer system. Hundreds were bankrupted or jailed and at least four people took their own lives.
Chris Skidmore wrote a book about the death of Amy Robsart.
Does anyone know whether his departure from the HoC will leave no Tory MP in the chamber with a brain?
Oh, sorry - just read that he supported Truss for the leadership. His brain must have dropped out 2010x2022.
OK, an eccentric with principles.
The Tories should have stuck with Truss, her team and her agenda. It only became an issue becuase Sunak loving MPs rebelled against her Instantly.
Starmer is saying growth growth growth and build on green belts in exactly the same way, yet it’s popular when he says it?
They could have done but would be heading for less than 50 seats and maybe not even official opposition let alone holding power on her last polls as leader.
Starmer may want more development like Truss but is not proposing to slash the additional income tax rate, scrap corporation tax rises and end the cap on bankers' bonuses as she and Kwarteng were pushing. If he was I doubt he would last long as Labour leader
Isn't Starmer talking about re-enforcing the OBR, the exact opposite of what Truss did, part of what led her to lose all credibility with the markets.
Just to note that today's poll has the Cons holding less than 100 seats. No doubt an outlier and slightly better than under La Truss but its arguabe she would have performed that much of a 'dead cat bounce' herself!
Mr Sunak has to aim for the by-elections to be on local election day doesn't he? Better to take (and try to distract from) one bad day than to suffer death by a thousand cuts.
Turkeys don't vote for Christmas.
Condemned prisoners don't ask for their execution to be brought forward.
The election will be as late as Sunak can get away with. If he thinks he can get away with January 2025, it'd be then, but even he won't be able to push it that late so October is more realistic.
Makes sense to me. But Sunak might not fancy campaigning over Christmas... if he gets it out the way in October he can be in California for the Winter.
November 14th would be a perfect compromise. Just saying.
One last Christmas at Chequers means January 2025. Does anyone keep track of whether the Sunaks spend their weekends at Chequers or prefer to stay in London?
Santa Monica preferably.
I believe Rishi was home alone at number 10 this yuletide.
Was he not playing cricket with tins? Pretty sure I saw the video of that.
Chris Skidmore wrote a book about the death of Amy Robsart.
Does anyone know whether his departure from the HoC will leave no Tory MP in the chamber with a brain?
Oh, sorry - just read that he supported Truss for the leadership. His brain must have dropped out 2010x2022.
OK, an eccentric with principles.
The Tories should have stuck with Truss, her team and her agenda. It only became an issue becuase Sunak loving MPs rebelled against her Instantly.
Starmer is saying growth growth growth and build on green belts in exactly the same way, yet it’s popular when he says it?
They could have done but would be heading for less than 50 seats and maybe not even official opposition let alone holding power on her last polls as leader.
Starmer may want more development like Truss but is not proposing to slash the additional income tax rate, scrap corporation tax rises and end the cap on bankers' bonuses as she and Kwarteng were pushing. If he was I doubt he would last long as Labour leader
Isn't Starmer talking about re-enforcing the OBR, the exact opposite of what Truss did, part of what led her to lose all credibility with the markets.
Just to note that today's poll has the Cons holding less than 100 seats. No doubt an outlier and slightly better than under La Truss but its arguabe she would have performed that much of a 'dead cat bounce' herself!
Mr Sunak has to aim for the by-elections to be on local election day doesn't he? Better to take (and try to distract from) one bad day than to suffer death by a thousand cuts.
Turkeys don't vote for Christmas.
Condemned prisoners don't ask for their execution to be brought forward.
The election will be as late as Sunak can get away with. If he thinks he can get away with January 2025, it'd be then, but even he won't be able to push it that late so October is more realistic.
Makes sense to me. But Sunak might not fancy campaigning over Christmas... if he gets it out the way in October he can be in California for the Winter.
November 14th would be a perfect compromise. Just saying.
One last Christmas at Chequers means January 2025. Does anyone keep track of whether the Sunaks spend their weekends at Chequers or prefer to stay in London?
Why would a Hindu be fussed about Christmas?
Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims all celebrate Christmas, at least in Leicester. They just don't bring religion into it.
Just like the rest of the population, except for handful of actual Christian believers.
That handful of actual practising Christians is still several million strong in the UK. Not great, and in decline, but not trivial either.
Chris Skidmore wrote a book about the death of Amy Robsart.
Does anyone know whether his departure from the HoC will leave no Tory MP in the chamber with a brain?
Oh, sorry - just read that he supported Truss for the leadership. His brain must have dropped out 2010x2022.
OK, an eccentric with principles.
The Tories should have stuck with Truss, her team and her agenda. It only became an issue becuase Sunak loving MPs rebelled against her Instantly.
Starmer is saying growth growth growth and build on green belts in exactly the same way, yet it’s popular when he says it?
They could have done but would be heading for less than 50 seats and maybe not even official opposition let alone holding power on her last polls as leader.
Starmer may want more development like Truss but is not proposing to slash the additional income tax rate, scrap corporation tax rises and end the cap on bankers' bonuses as she and Kwarteng were pushing. If he was I doubt he would last long as Labour leader
Isn't Starmer talking about re-enforcing the OBR, the exact opposite of what Truss did, part of what led her to lose all credibility with the markets.
Just to note that today's poll has the Cons holding less than 100 seats. No doubt an outlier and slightly better than under La Truss but its arguabe she would have performed that much of a 'dead cat bounce' herself!
Mr Sunak has to aim for the by-elections to be on local election day doesn't he? Better to take (and try to distract from) one bad day than to suffer death by a thousand cuts.
Turkeys don't vote for Christmas.
Condemned prisoners don't ask for their execution to be brought forward.
The election will be as late as Sunak can get away with. If he thinks he can get away with January 2025, it'd be then, but even he won't be able to push it that late so October is more realistic.
Makes sense to me. But Sunak might not fancy campaigning over Christmas... if he gets it out the way in October he can be in California for the Winter.
November 14th would be a perfect compromise. Just saying.
One last Christmas at Chequers means January 2025. Does anyone keep track of whether the Sunaks spend their weekends at Chequers or prefer to stay in London?
Chris Skidmore wrote a book about the death of Amy Robsart.
Does anyone know whether his departure from the HoC will leave no Tory MP in the chamber with a brain?
Oh, sorry - just read that he supported Truss for the leadership. His brain must have dropped out 2010x2022.
OK, an eccentric with principles.
The Tories should have stuck with Truss, her team and her agenda. It only became an issue becuase Sunak loving MPs rebelled against her Instantly.
Starmer is saying growth growth growth and build on green belts in exactly the same way, yet it’s popular when he says it?
They could have done but would be heading for less than 50 seats and maybe not even official opposition let alone holding power on her last polls as leader.
Starmer may want more development like Truss but is not proposing to slash the additional income tax rate, scrap corporation tax rises and end the cap on bankers' bonuses as she and Kwarteng were pushing. If he was I doubt he would last long as Labour leader
No. That’s political gibberish. Because you can’t read all that into just 50 days. Given 200 days her agenda may have become successful and popular. We suspect as much because of everything she gets blame for that we know now for fact was not her fault.
1. High mortgage rates nothing to do with Truss, they were caused by high inflation that was itself caused by UK exposure to gas import prices.
2. Run on pound nothing to do with Truss, that was strength of dollar that month.
3. Bailing out pensions market nothing to do with Truss, that was all Sunak’s fault as chancellor presiding over the problem building up.
4. Sudden Tory poll collapse was not Truss fault, it was caused by a rebellion of Tory’s who immediately undermined her to install Sunak. A party divided and at war with its own leadership is instantly unbackable in voters eyes.
The Truss agenda of growth engineering tax cuts, cutting red tape, building more housing, and growth to spend on services, cutting debt and more growth creating tax cuts would currently have the Tories far better off than they are currently under Sunak.
The Post Office is under criminal investigation over the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of sub-postmasters, Scotland Yard confirmed for the first time on Friday evening.
Metropolitan Police detectives are looking at “potential fraud offences” committed in the handling of the Horizon IT scandal.
Between 1999 and 2015, the Post Office prosecuted at least 700 postmasters over allegations of fraud, theft and false accounting based on evidence from the faulty Horizon computer system. Hundreds were bankrupted or jailed and at least four people took their own lives.
Chris Skidmore wrote a book about the death of Amy Robsart.
Does anyone know whether his departure from the HoC will leave no Tory MP in the chamber with a brain?
Oh, sorry - just read that he supported Truss for the leadership. His brain must have dropped out 2010x2022.
OK, an eccentric with principles.
The Tories should have stuck with Truss, her team and her agenda. It only became an issue becuase Sunak loving MPs rebelled against her Instantly.
Starmer is saying growth growth growth and build on green belts in exactly the same way, yet it’s popular when he says it?
They could have done but would be heading for less than 50 seats and maybe not even official opposition let alone holding power on her last polls as leader.
Starmer may want more development like Truss but is not proposing to slash the additional income tax rate, scrap corporation tax rises and end the cap on bankers' bonuses as she and Kwarteng were pushing. If he was I doubt he would last long as Labour leader
No. That’s political gibberish. Because you can’t read all that into just 50 days. Given 200 days her agenda may have become successful and popular. We suspect as much because of everything she gets blame for that we know now for fact was not her fault.
1. High mortgage rates nothing to do with Truss, they were caused by high inflation that was itself caused by UK exposure to gas import prices.
2. Run on pound nothing to do with Truss, that was strength of dollar that month.
3. Bailing out pensions market nothing to do with Truss, that was all Sunak’s fault as chancellor presiding over the problem building up.
4. Sudden Tory poll collapse was not Truss fault, it was caused by a rebellion of Tory’s who immediately undermined her to install Sunak.
The Truss agenda of growth engineering tax cuts, cutting red tape, building more housing would currently have the Tories far better off than they are currently under Sunak.
Slashing taxes but not cutting spending and crashing the markets and sterling and leading to surging interest and mortgage rates was very much the fault of Truss and Kwarteng however
Their mistake was electing him to anything more demanding than deputy chair of Henley Town Council in the first place.
It was the British people themselves who elected Boris to stay PM in 2019 with the biggest Tory majority since Thatcher in 1987
Oh, what about Northern Ireland? Plus a lot of people didn't or couldn't vote. And many of then didn't vote for Mr Johnson. In fact, *none at all except in Uxbridge*. And that last was for the constituency MP.
People as you well know vote mostly for the leader now more than their local MP
I know you have a strange concept of logic and numbner theory, but 43.6% of those who voted at all doesn't equate to "the British people" in ordinary human discourse or experience.
Nor does 45% of those who voted from the Scottish population equiperate to Scotland but don’t tell the SNP.
Sure, but the SNP is in favour of voting reform. And you are omitting the Scottish Greens, which adds up to a majority.
Also: that 43.6% for the Tories is of those who voted in the UK. Not the population. I'd be sorry to see you adopting HYUFD's goal-moving habits.
The Scottish Greens got 28k votes in total, 1% of the vote so no, it didn’t.
Their mistake was electing him to anything more demanding than deputy chair of Henley Town Council in the first place.
It was the British people themselves who elected Boris to stay PM in 2019 with the biggest Tory majority since Thatcher in 1987
I think you'll find that was only possible because a lot of very silly people in the Tory party elected him leader in the first place despite knowing he was a racist, sexually incontinent liar with a penchant for talking absolute rubbish, the intellect of a village idiot and the attention span of a concussed goldfish.
This was, with hindsight, a mistake on their part.
They will never admit it though.
Yet Boris in 2019 got a higher voteshare than May, Cameron, Howard, Hague and Major ever got at a general election and indeed a higher voteshare than even Thatcher got in 1987 and 1983.
So the idea it was just Tory MPs and members who wanted Boris to be PM is ludicrous!
Has it occurred to you it may have been higher without him?
Especially given he was up against a man who had revealed himself to be an even bigger loon than Johnson.
And again, if it hadn't been for you idiots voting him in, nobody would have had the chance to vote for him. This is on your party all the way.
You deserve a shellacking comparable to Canada 1993 for that, although my guess is you won't get it.
No, May even failed to get a majority against Corbyn, let alone the 80 seat majority Boris got against him.
Have you not read any of the various 2019 polling reports which showed that the vast majority of the vote was anti-Corbyn more than pro Bozo....
Except it wasn't, otherwise May would also have won a landslide in 2017.
It was as much for Boris and to get Brexit done as anti Corbyn
Again you are merely showing that you haven't read the polls.
Corbyn did better in 2017 but that was partly because May screwed up spectactually by introducing the Death Tax social care policy.... Demonstrating that you really shouldn't make major changes without preparing people first.
Chris Skidmore wrote a book about the death of Amy Robsart.
Does anyone know whether his departure from the HoC will leave no Tory MP in the chamber with a brain?
Oh, sorry - just read that he supported Truss for the leadership. His brain must have dropped out 2010x2022.
OK, an eccentric with principles.
The Tories should have stuck with Truss, her team and her agenda. It only became an issue becuase Sunak loving MPs rebelled against her Instantly.
Starmer is saying growth growth growth and build on green belts in exactly the same way, yet it’s popular when he says it?
They could have done but would be heading for less than 50 seats and maybe not even official opposition let alone holding power on her last polls as leader.
Starmer may want more development like Truss but is not proposing to slash the additional income tax rate, scrap corporation tax rises and end the cap on bankers' bonuses as she and Kwarteng were pushing. If he was I doubt he would last long as Labour leader
Isn't Starmer talking about re-enforcing the OBR, the exact opposite of what Truss did, part of what led her to lose all credibility with the markets.
Just to note that today's poll has the Cons holding less than 100 seats. No doubt an outlier and slightly better than under La Truss but its arguabe she would have performed that much of a 'dead cat bounce' herself!
Mr Sunak has to aim for the by-elections to be on local election day doesn't he? Better to take (and try to distract from) one bad day than to suffer death by a thousand cuts.
Turkeys don't vote for Christmas.
Condemned prisoners don't ask for their execution to be brought forward.
The election will be as late as Sunak can get away with. If he thinks he can get away with January 2025, it'd be then, but even he won't be able to push it that late so October is more realistic.
Makes sense to me. But Sunak might not fancy campaigning over Christmas... if he gets it out the way in October he can be in California for the Winter.
November 14th would be a perfect compromise. Just saying.
One last Christmas at Chequers means January 2025. Does anyone keep track of whether the Sunaks spend their weekends at Chequers or prefer to stay in London?
Santa Monica preferably.
I believe Rishi was home alone at number 10 this yuletide.
The Post Office is under criminal investigation over the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of sub-postmasters, Scotland Yard confirmed for the first time on Friday evening.
Metropolitan Police detectives are looking at “potential fraud offences” committed in the handling of the Horizon IT scandal.
Between 1999 and 2015, the Post Office prosecuted at least 700 postmasters over allegations of fraud, theft and false accounting based on evidence from the faulty Horizon computer system. Hundreds were bankrupted or jailed and at least four people took their own lives.
It only took the buggers 25 years to spot some dodgy shit was going on.
I suppose that's quick by their standards.
Police Scotland on Branchform: “Hold my beer.”
Or a similar point about the Undercover Policing Inquiry. Commissioned in 2015, started taking evidence in 2020. We're in 2024 and there are only five tranches out of six to go. Expenditure so far in excess of £70m, and some witnesses who could make a contribution are being told they can't participate because they applied "late" and it would cost too much to go through the paperwork to verify it would be OK to let them take part. (Talk about taking the piss.)
I wouldn't be surprised if the final report doesn't come out this side of 2030.
Their mistake was electing him to anything more demanding than deputy chair of Henley Town Council in the first place.
It was the British people themselves who elected Boris to stay PM in 2019 with the biggest Tory majority since Thatcher in 1987
I think you'll find that was only possible because a lot of very silly people in the Tory party elected him leader in the first place despite knowing he was a racist, sexually incontinent liar with a penchant for talking absolute rubbish, the intellect of a village idiot and the attention span of a concussed goldfish.
This was, with hindsight, a mistake on their part.
They will never admit it though.
Yet Boris in 2019 got a higher voteshare than May, Cameron, Howard, Hague and Major ever got at a general election and indeed a higher voteshare than even Thatcher got in 1987 and 1983.
So the idea it was just Tory MPs and members who wanted Boris to be PM is ludicrous!
Has it occurred to you it may have been higher without him?
Especially given he was up against a man who had revealed himself to be an even bigger loon than Johnson.
And again, if it hadn't been for you idiots voting him in, nobody would have had the chance to vote for him. This is on your party all the way.
You deserve a shellacking comparable to Canada 1993 for that, although my guess is you won't get it.
No, May even failed to get a majority against Corbyn, let alone the 80 seat majority Boris got against him.
Have you not read any of the various 2019 polling reports which showed that the vast majority of the vote was anti-Corbyn more than pro Bozo....
One of the awkward bits of politics that it's too awkward to admit- many (most? all?) elections are about voting against the candidate people don't want far more than voting for what they do want.
Which is why Lady Starmer can by soft furnishings in the sales with a degree of confidence.
Given that my viewpoint is that most people vote for the least worst candidate with a chance of winning I don't think you grasp the depths of my cynicism...
2017 - Corbyn just about acceptable, May OK and then the Death Tax arrived changing opinions. 2019 Corbyn awful, Bozo reasonable if you didn't know him (sadly I had past experience so he wasn't an option)...
The Post Office is under criminal investigation over the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of sub-postmasters, Scotland Yard confirmed for the first time on Friday evening.
Metropolitan Police detectives are looking at “potential fraud offences” committed in the handling of the Horizon IT scandal.
Between 1999 and 2015, the Post Office prosecuted at least 700 postmasters over allegations of fraud, theft and false accounting based on evidence from the faulty Horizon computer system. Hundreds were bankrupted or jailed and at least four people took their own lives.
Unfortunately, he’s typical of the Parliamentary Party.
They’ve let down every single person who voted for them in 2010 -19.
Just imagine how those of us who didn't vote for them feel!
Not so bad, I imagine, for you always knew that they were pieces of human excrement.
It’s those of us who voted and even campaigned for them who feel like mugs. These arsehats were just laughing up their sleeves at us, the whole time.
I've been astonished at how shit this batch of Conservative MPs are - contrast to the 80s or even the 90s.
Something went off with candidate selection in the noughties; we lost good MPs like Archie Norman and gained ones like Chris Pincher.
Two things, I reckon.
In the late nineties/early noughties, it was pretty uncool to be a Conservative, and anyone who wanted to get stuff done became a Blairite. There wasn't enough competition and the people who came through were often a bit odd.
Then came Dave's modernisation, and some of the people who came through the A List really weren't all that.
The first is the one that should really bother people on the right of centre. Because if the talent pipeline was a trickle in the late 90's, what is it like now?
Off topic but about the politics of immigration in the US: There is much to learn in this Wikipedia article on E-Verify: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Verify
For example: "Research shows that E-Verify harms the labor market outcomes of illegal immigrants and improves the labor market outcomes of Mexican legal immigrants and U.S.-born Hispanics, but has no impact on labor market outcomes for non-Hispanic white Americans.[6] A 2016 study suggests that E-Verify reduces the number of illegal immigrants in states that have mandated use of E-Verify for all employers, and further notes that the program may deter illegal immigration to the United States in general."
And: "There are a number of state laws requiring or limiting the use of E-Verify for employers. According to a 2012 survey by the Center for Immigration Studies, 16 states require use of E-Verify in some form. The survey found that six states have laws requiring all or nearly all businesses to use E-Verify to determine employment eligibility: Arizona, Mississippi, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina. Five states require use of E-Verify by public employers and all or most public contractors: Indiana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Virginia, and Missouri. Three states require only public contractors to use E-Verify: Louisiana, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. Idaho only requires public employers to use E-Verify, while Florida only requires it for agencies under direction of the governor. Colorado and Utah encourage use of E-Verify, but allow for alternative means of employment verification. An E-Verify-only mandate in Utah is contingent on the state's effort to create a state-level guestworker program. The survey also found that some states have moved in the opposite direction, limiting or discouraging use of E-Verify: California, Rhode Island, and Illinois."
I still don't understand the security argument for new oil and gas licenses.
The market price of that extracted, whether for pharmaceuticals or otherwise, will still be subject to global markets, right? So if Russia/Saudi etc do something crazy, the relatively tiny amount extracted from the North Sea won't mitigate the effect on people in the UK.
Indeed, by exposing more of our domestic economy to inputs largely governed by our adversaries, aren't we weakening our position? The only way in which it might help would be if used it as a store to mitigate such a crisis. But, AFAIK, that isn't the plan.
Unfortunately, he’s typical of the Parliamentary Party.
They’ve let down every single person who voted for them in 2010 -19.
Just imagine how those of us who didn't vote for them feel!
Not so bad, I imagine, for you always knew that they were pieces of human excrement.
It’s those of us who voted and even campaigned for them who feel like mugs. These arsehats were just laughing up their sleeves at us, the whole time.
I've been astonished at how shit this batch of Conservative MPs are - contrast to the 80s or even the 90s.
Something went off with candidate selection in the noughties; we lost good MPs like Archie Norman and gained ones like Chris Pincher.
Two things, I reckon.
In the late nineties/early noughties, it was pretty uncool to be a Conservative, and anyone who wanted to get stuff done became a Blairite. There wasn't enough competition and the people who came through were often a bit odd.
Then came Dave's modernisation, and some of the people who came through the A List really weren't all that.
The first is the one that should really bother people on the right of centre. Because if the talent pipeline was a trickle in the late 90's, what is it like now?
I doubt the talent pipeline for Labour MPs was much better in the Ed Miliband and Corbyn years and they are likely to comprise the main pool for the next Cabinet
Sure, Labour also has plenty of MP’s with personality disorders.
Their mistake was electing him to anything more demanding than deputy chair of Henley Town Council in the first place.
It was the British people themselves who elected Boris to stay PM in 2019 with the biggest Tory majority since Thatcher in 1987
Oh, what about Northern Ireland? Plus a lot of people didn't or couldn't vote. And many of then didn't vote for Mr Johnson. In fact, *none at all except in Uxbridge*. And that last was for the constituency MP.
People as you well know vote mostly for the leader now more than their local MP
I know you have a strange concept of logic and numbner theory, but 43.6% of those who voted at all doesn't equate to "the British people" in ordinary human discourse or experience.
It does, the Tories won most votes and seats and if you don't vote that is your problem, you have no right to complain
The Tories and Boris's big mistake was letting victory go to their heads and assuming winning an election meant they spoke for far more than they did and that nothing could truly dent their popularity. One reason traditionally the Tory Party has been successful is a lack of complacency and sentimentality and a sometimes cynical knowledge of how to pry people away from the other lot.
A smart party would have been looking to address its weaknesses. How could it appeal to younger people and remainers? How could it mend the same divides it exploited to its advantage and prove to people that its critics were wrong? How could Boris go out of his way to prove he was trustworthy and serious?
That would have likely resulted in another decade of dominance. Because existing supporters would back it, while voters who might be opponents saw allies co-opted.
Instead it assumed that some of the biggest headbangers and oddballs on their own side 'spoke' for the British public and needed appeasing while insulting everyone else. When of course they did not, as if anything Britain leans small c conservative, rather than full fat Farage.
I believe Rishi Sunak will come to regret not going for the election in May. Things will only get worse between now and the end of the year. Meanwhile, Keir Starmer is pushing the "bottler" narrative as the Tories tried on Gordon Brown in 2007. Time will tell if it is as effective this time.
I note another poll out shows an increased Labour lead. And some interesting analysis was done that most oppositions with this sort of lead close to an election tend to win and win big. We could still be on for the largest Labour majority in history.
Their mistake was electing him to anything more demanding than deputy chair of Henley Town Council in the first place.
It was the British people themselves who elected Boris to stay PM in 2019 with the biggest Tory majority since Thatcher in 1987
I think you'll find that was only possible because a lot of very silly people in the Tory party elected him leader in the first place despite knowing he was a racist, sexually incontinent liar with a penchant for talking absolute rubbish, the intellect of a village idiot and the attention span of a concussed goldfish.
This was, with hindsight, a mistake on their part.
They will never admit it though.
Yet Boris in 2019 got a higher voteshare than May, Cameron, Howard, Hague and Major ever got at a general election and indeed a higher voteshare than even Thatcher got in 1987 and 1983.
So the idea it was just Tory MPs and members who wanted Boris to be PM is ludicrous!
Has it occurred to you it may have been higher without him?
Especially given he was up against a man who had revealed himself to be an even bigger loon than Johnson.
And again, if it hadn't been for you idiots voting him in, nobody would have had the chance to vote for him. This is on your party all the way.
You deserve a shellacking comparable to Canada 1993 for that, although my guess is you won't get it.
No, May even failed to get a majority against Corbyn, let alone the 80 seat majority Boris got against him.
Have you not read any of the various 2019 polling reports which showed that the vast majority of the vote was anti-Corbyn more than pro Bozo....
Except it wasn't, otherwise May would also have won a landslide in 2017.
It was as much for Boris and to get Brexit done as anti Corbyn
Again you are merely showing that you haven't read the polls.
Corbyn did better in 2017 but that was partly because May screwed up spectactually by introducing the Death Tax social care policy.... Demonstrating that you really shouldn't make major changes without preparing people first.
And 7 years later that problem still doesn't look any closer to being addressed.
Chris Skidmore wrote a book about the death of Amy Robsart.
Does anyone know whether his departure from the HoC will leave no Tory MP in the chamber with a brain?
Oh, sorry - just read that he supported Truss for the leadership. His brain must have dropped out 2010x2022.
OK, an eccentric with principles.
The Tories should have stuck with Truss, her team and her agenda. It only became an issue becuase Sunak loving MPs rebelled against her Instantly.
Starmer is saying growth growth growth and build on green belts in exactly the same way, yet it’s popular when he says it?
They could have done but would be heading for less than 50 seats and maybe not even official opposition let alone holding power on her last polls as leader.
Starmer may want more development like Truss but is not proposing to slash the additional income tax rate, scrap corporation tax rises and end the cap on bankers' bonuses as she and Kwarteng were pushing. If he was I doubt he would last long as Labour leader
Isn't Starmer talking about re-enforcing the OBR, the exact opposite of what Truss did, part of what led her to lose all credibility with the markets.
Just to note that today's poll has the Cons holding less than 100 seats. No doubt an outlier and slightly better than under La Truss but its arguabe she would have performed that much of a 'dead cat bounce' herself!
Mr Sunak has to aim for the by-elections to be on local election day doesn't he? Better to take (and try to distract from) one bad day than to suffer death by a thousand cuts.
Turkeys don't vote for Christmas.
Condemned prisoners don't ask for their execution to be brought forward.
The election will be as late as Sunak can get away with. If he thinks he can get away with January 2025, it'd be then, but even he won't be able to push it that late so October is more realistic.
Makes sense to me. But Sunak might not fancy campaigning over Christmas... if he gets it out the way in October he can be in California for the Winter.
November 14th would be a perfect compromise. Just saying.
One last Christmas at Chequers means January 2025. Does anyone keep track of whether the Sunaks spend their weekends at Chequers or prefer to stay in London?
Santa Monica preferably.
I believe Rishi was home alone at number 10 this yuletide.
Chris Skidmore wrote a book about the death of Amy Robsart.
Does anyone know whether his departure from the HoC will leave no Tory MP in the chamber with a brain?
Oh, sorry - just read that he supported Truss for the leadership. His brain must have dropped out 2010x2022.
OK, an eccentric with principles.
The Tories should have stuck with Truss, her team and her agenda. It only became an issue becuase Sunak loving MPs rebelled against her Instantly.
Starmer is saying growth growth growth and build on green belts in exactly the same way, yet it’s popular when he says it?
They could have done but would be heading for less than 50 seats and maybe not even official opposition let alone holding power on her last polls as leader.
Starmer may want more development like Truss but is not proposing to slash the additional income tax rate, scrap corporation tax rises and end the cap on bankers' bonuses as she and Kwarteng were pushing. If he was I doubt he would last long as Labour leader
No. That’s political gibberish. Because you can’t read all that into just 50 days. Given 200 days her agenda may have become successful and popular. We suspect as much because of everything she gets blame for that we know now for fact was not her fault.
1. High mortgage rates nothing to do with Truss, they were caused by high inflation that was itself caused by UK exposure to gas import prices.
2. Run on pound nothing to do with Truss, that was strength of dollar that month.
3. Bailing out pensions market nothing to do with Truss, that was all Sunak’s fault as chancellor presiding over the problem building up.
4. Sudden Tory poll collapse was not Truss fault, it was caused by a rebellion of Tory’s who immediately undermined her to install Sunak.
The Truss agenda of growth engineering tax cuts, cutting red tape, building more housing would currently have the Tories far better off than they are currently under Sunak.
Slashing taxes but not cutting spending and crashing the markets and sterling and leading to surging interest and mortgage rates was very much the fault of Truss and Kwarteng however
Which markets did she crash? Look at 2 and 3, nothing to do with her budget. You are rewriting history to suit yourself.
I just had a quick look at who were in prominent positions for the 3 parties in 2008, which many said at the time were at best some combination of competent but nasty f##kers and lightweights / inexperienced / chinless wonders....compare to now, they aren't looking too bad at all.
Is it possible that the best strategy for Sunak to maximise the Tory vote at the GE is to go early?
Definitely, but that isn't his calculation.
Going earlier means he'd probably save some seats but still lose. Going later means he'll probably lose more seats... but there is an outside chance something might turn up. Anyway, going later means the record will show he's been PM for two years rather than 18 months.
Chris Skidmore wrote a book about the death of Amy Robsart.
Does anyone know whether his departure from the HoC will leave no Tory MP in the chamber with a brain?
Oh, sorry - just read that he supported Truss for the leadership. His brain must have dropped out 2010x2022.
OK, an eccentric with principles.
The Tories should have stuck with Truss, her team and her agenda. It only became an issue becuase Sunak loving MPs rebelled against her Instantly.
Starmer is saying growth growth growth and build on green belts in exactly the same way, yet it’s popular when he says it?
They could have done but would be heading for less than 50 seats and maybe not even official opposition let alone holding power on her last polls as leader.
Starmer may want more development like Truss but is not proposing to slash the additional income tax rate, scrap corporation tax rises and end the cap on bankers' bonuses as she and Kwarteng were pushing. If he was I doubt he would last long as Labour leader
Isn't Starmer talking about re-enforcing the OBR, the exact opposite of what Truss did, part of what led her to lose all credibility with the markets.
Just to note that today's poll has the Cons holding less than 100 seats. No doubt an outlier and slightly better than under La Truss but its arguabe she would have performed that much of a 'dead cat bounce' herself!
Mr Sunak has to aim for the by-elections to be on local election day doesn't he? Better to take (and try to distract from) one bad day than to suffer death by a thousand cuts.
Turkeys don't vote for Christmas.
Condemned prisoners don't ask for their execution to be brought forward.
The election will be as late as Sunak can get away with. If he thinks he can get away with January 2025, it'd be then, but even he won't be able to push it that late so October is more realistic.
Makes sense to me. But Sunak might not fancy campaigning over Christmas... if he gets it out the way in October he can be in California for the Winter.
November 14th would be a perfect compromise. Just saying.
One last Christmas at Chequers means January 2025. Does anyone keep track of whether the Sunaks spend their weekends at Chequers or prefer to stay in London?
Santa Monica preferably.
I believe Rishi was home alone at number 10 this yuletide.
Chris Skidmore wrote a book about the death of Amy Robsart.
Does anyone know whether his departure from the HoC will leave no Tory MP in the chamber with a brain?
Oh, sorry - just read that he supported Truss for the leadership. His brain must have dropped out 2010x2022.
OK, an eccentric with principles.
The Tories should have stuck with Truss, her team and her agenda. It only became an issue becuase Sunak loving MPs rebelled against her Instantly.
Starmer is saying growth growth growth and build on green belts in exactly the same way, yet it’s popular when he says it?
They could have done but would be heading for less than 50 seats and maybe not even official opposition let alone holding power on her last polls as leader.
Starmer may want more development like Truss but is not proposing to slash the additional income tax rate, scrap corporation tax rises and end the cap on bankers' bonuses as she and Kwarteng were pushing. If he was I doubt he would last long as Labour leader
No. That’s political gibberish. Because you can’t read all that into just 50 days. Given 200 days her agenda may have become successful and popular. We suspect as much because of everything she gets blame for that we know now for fact was not her fault.
1. High mortgage rates nothing to do with Truss, they were caused by high inflation that was itself caused by UK exposure to gas import prices.
2. Run on pound nothing to do with Truss, that was strength of dollar that month.
3. Bailing out pensions market nothing to do with Truss, that was all Sunak’s fault as chancellor presiding over the problem building up.
4. Sudden Tory poll collapse was not Truss fault, it was caused by a rebellion of Tory’s who immediately undermined her to install Sunak.
The Truss agenda of growth engineering tax cuts, cutting red tape, building more housing would currently have the Tories far better off than they are currently under Sunak.
Slashing taxes but not cutting spending and crashing the markets and sterling and leading to surging interest and mortgage rates was very much the fault of Truss and Kwarteng however
Which taxes did she slash? The growth budget only gave away £13B net after fiscal drag. The tax she cut at the top was a) the second half of same tax George Osborne previously cut half of b) didn’t exist till 2010 when Labour introduced it in their last budget - in other words they never had it in place during their 13 years, only sneaked it on as challenge to Tories to cut it. Osborne did first. You should support Truss removing the second half if you are a true Tory.
Their mistake was electing him to anything more demanding than deputy chair of Henley Town Council in the first place.
It was the British people themselves who elected Boris to stay PM in 2019 with the biggest Tory majority since Thatcher in 1987
I think you'll find that was only possible because a lot of very silly people in the Tory party elected him leader in the first place despite knowing he was a racist, sexually incontinent liar with a penchant for talking absolute rubbish, the intellect of a village idiot and the attention span of a concussed goldfish.
This was, with hindsight, a mistake on their part.
They will never admit it though.
Yet Boris in 2019 got a higher voteshare than May, Cameron, Howard, Hague and Major ever got at a general election and indeed a higher voteshare than even Thatcher got in 1987 and 1983.
So the idea it was just Tory MPs and members who wanted Boris to be PM is ludicrous!
Has it occurred to you it may have been higher without him?
Especially given he was up against a man who had revealed himself to be an even bigger loon than Johnson.
And again, if it hadn't been for you idiots voting him in, nobody would have had the chance to vote for him. This is on your party all the way.
You deserve a shellacking comparable to Canada 1993 for that, although my guess is you won't get it.
No, May even failed to get a majority against Corbyn, let alone the 80 seat majority Boris got against him.
Have you not read any of the various 2019 polling reports which showed that the vast majority of the vote was anti-Corbyn more than pro Bozo....
Except it wasn't, otherwise May would also have won a landslide in 2017.
It was as much for Boris and to get Brexit done as anti Corbyn
Again you are merely showing that you haven't read the polls.
Corbyn did better in 2017 but that was partly because May screwed up spectactually by introducing the Death Tax social care policy.... Demonstrating that you really shouldn't make major changes without preparing people first.
And 7 years later that problem still doesn't look any closer to being addressed.
Yep and it's now rapidly taking down local authority after local authority.
Granted at the moment the authorities that have issues S114 notices have other issues that have brought things to ahead but a lot of other authorities have quietly announced they only have a year or 2 until they will be forced into the same position.
Labour is going to have a lot of things to do in a hurry when Rishi finally calls the election....
Paul Lewis @paullewismoney · 3h Tomorrow 6 January the main rate of national insurance is cut from 12% to 10%, its lowest for over twenty years. People earning £50,270 or more will save £754 a year, so be £62 a month better off. People working 25 hours on minimum wage will save 38p a week. Plus ça change.
I still don't understand the security argument for new oil and gas licenses.
The market price of that extracted, whether for pharmaceuticals or otherwise, will still be subject to global markets, right? So if Russia/Saudi etc do something crazy, the relatively tiny amount extracted from the North Sea won't mitigate the effect on people in the UK.
Indeed, by exposing more of our domestic economy to inputs largely governed by our adversaries, aren't we weakening our position? The only way in which it might help would be if used it as a store to mitigate such a crisis. But, AFAIK, that isn't the plan.
No. Just no. Domestic production will be sold at market prices but that means we don’t have to import it and that we can, in extremis, direct that it is available for domestic consumption. That means, for example, that we don’t need as much storage for gas with consequential savings. It means the likes of Grangemouth had a consistent and reliable supply which helped to ensure we had petrol and diesel. It kept skills and businesses in this country.
The idea that our self denial somehow impacts on world consumption or world prices for fuel is just bonkers. The idea we are setting some sort of example is pretentious and ridiculous. We might, I suppose, do something for the reputation of British humour but other than that there really is no upside.
I’m delighted that someone so deluded is leaving Parliament.
Unfortunately, he’s typical of the Parliamentary Party.
They’ve let down every single person who voted for them in 2010 -19.
Just imagine how those of us who didn't vote for them feel!
Not so bad, I imagine, for you always knew that they were pieces of human excrement.
It’s those of us who voted and even campaigned for them who feel like mugs. These arsehats were just laughing up their sleeves at us, the whole time.
I've been astonished at how shit this batch of Conservative MPs are - contrast to the 80s or even the 90s.
Something went off with candidate selection in the noughties; we lost good MPs like Archie Norman and gained ones like Chris Pincher.
The A List, and subsequent measures, meant the party increasingly chose candidates who possessed personality disorders.
Look, there were certain things we thought of the Tories, and I had the inkling early, back in the Cameron era that their aggregate interest in actual administration was nowhere near enough. But I think the astonishment and bewilderment at quite how things have turned out is shared across the political spectrum and there is little pleasure to be taken in the descent we have seen.
The hoped for Labour win will be sweet and I do see some seriousness coming, but Starmer would do well to steer clear of an overlay of cosplay politics once in power. The temptations that beset the Tories are not entirely absent.
I still don't understand the security argument for new oil and gas licenses.
The market price of that extracted, whether for pharmaceuticals or otherwise, will still be subject to global markets, right? So if Russia/Saudi etc do something crazy, the relatively tiny amount extracted from the North Sea won't mitigate the effect on people in the UK.
Indeed, by exposing more of our domestic economy to inputs largely governed by our adversaries, aren't we weakening our position? The only way in which it might help would be if used it as a store to mitigate such a crisis. But, AFAIK, that isn't the plan.
That would be like writing during Covid I still don't understand the security argument for vaccine production ...
The UK is going to need oil and gas into the future, it is the fundamental building block of most pharmaceuticals, plastics etc - and are a critical part of the supply chain to most of our largest export markets and will be even post-Net Zero.
Medicines and pharmaceuticals, not oil and gas, is our third largest export good in the country, as well as being fairly fundamental for our health and well-being.
And you question why we might want to have security in controlling our own input for it during a crisis rather than leave it in the hand of hostile states?
We don't need to store oil and gas in order to mitigate a crisis, we need to generate enough that we don't rely upon imports during a crisis.
Unless you want to terminate our pharmaceutical sector, which means we won't need as much petrochemicals in the future, as well as plastics and everything else that depends upon it, petrochemicals are going to be an input into our economy. If we make our own production of them, then we have reduced the amount that's governed by our adversaries, since we can use our own production. If we don't, then we hand control of a critical input of national security to our adversaries.
So this dickhead thinks that we are wrong to extract oil and gas from the North Sea instead of, err, buying it from benevolent dictatorships like Saudi and Qatar? And he was an Energy Minister??
FFS, he sure as hell doesn’t sound like much of a loss. Presumably he has got a well paid gig somewhere else if he is so keen to get out of Parliament.
Yes. He would prefer we set an example to such powers, by showing them how great it is to decarbonise by filling their pockets with our cash. Or something.
So this dickhead thinks that we are wrong to extract oil and gas from the North Sea instead of, err, buying it from benevolent dictatorships like Saudi and Qatar? And he was an Energy Minister??
FFS, he sure as hell doesn’t sound like much of a loss. Presumably he has got a well paid gig somewhere else if he is so keen to get out of Parliament.
Yes. He would prefer we set an example to such powers, by showing them how great it is to decarbonise by filling their pockets with our cash. Or something.
Well, in fairness, we did do that with most of our manufacturing industries thereby reducing our carbon footprint (if you ignore all the imports of course). Look how well that kind of leadership turned out.
I still don't understand the security argument for new oil and gas licenses.
The market price of that extracted, whether for pharmaceuticals or otherwise, will still be subject to global markets, right? So if Russia/Saudi etc do something crazy, the relatively tiny amount extracted from the North Sea won't mitigate the effect on people in the UK.
Indeed, by exposing more of our domestic economy to inputs largely governed by our adversaries, aren't we weakening our position? The only way in which it might help would be if used it as a store to mitigate such a crisis. But, AFAIK, that isn't the plan.
That would be like writing during Covid I still don't understand the security argument for vaccine production ...
The UK is going to need oil and gas into the future, it is the fundamental building block of most pharmaceuticals, plastics etc - and are a critical part of the supply chain to most of our largest export markets and will be even post-Net Zero.
Medicines and pharmaceuticals, not oil and gas, is our third largest export good in the country, as well as being fairly fundamental for our health and well-being.
And you question why we might want to have security in controlling our own input for it during a crisis rather than leave it in the hand of hostile states?
We don't need to store oil and gas in order to mitigate a crisis, we need to generate enough that we don't rely upon imports during a crisis.
Unless you want to terminate our pharmaceutical sector, which means we won't need as much petrochemicals in the future, as well as plastics and everything else that depends upon it, petrochemicals are going to be an input into our economy. If we make our own production of them, then we have reduced the amount that's governed by our adversaries, since we can use our own production. If we don't, then we hand control of a critical input of national security to our adversaries.
But none of Rosebank is for UK though, or haven’t you noticed?
If we were not so reliant on oil or gas at all we would surely be less reliant on oil and gas imports, so more secure. What part of that logic do you not understand?
People who are serious about tackling climate change want us to stop unnecessarily burning oil and gas for fuel, stop emitting CO2, and to use alternative energy sources instead.
People who are not serious about tackling climate change want us to stop producing oil and gas and to rely upon imports of oil and gas and wishful thinking to solve climate change.
There is no scientific reason whatsoever for us to stop producing a good that is fundamental to most of our pharmaceuticals and much else in our modern way of life.
It is the argument of antivaxxers and other idiots that we can do away with things so crucial to a healthy way of living.
Chris Skidmore wrote a book about the death of Amy Robsart.
Does anyone know whether his departure from the HoC will leave no Tory MP in the chamber with a brain?
Oh, sorry - just read that he supported Truss for the leadership. His brain must have dropped out 2010x2022.
OK, an eccentric with principles.
The Tories should have stuck with Truss, her team and her agenda. It only became an issue becuase Sunak loving MPs rebelled against her Instantly.
Starmer is saying growth growth growth and build on green belts in exactly the same way, yet it’s popular when he says it?
They could have done but would be heading for less than 50 seats and maybe not even official opposition let alone holding power on her last polls as leader.
Starmer may want more development like Truss but is not proposing to slash the additional income tax rate, scrap corporation tax rises and end the cap on bankers' bonuses as she and Kwarteng were pushing. If he was I doubt he would last long as Labour leader
No. That’s political gibberish. Because you can’t read all that into just 50 days. Given 200 days her agenda may have become successful and popular. We suspect as much because of everything she gets blame for that we know now for fact was not her fault.
1. High mortgage rates nothing to do with Truss, they were caused by high inflation that was itself caused by UK exposure to gas import prices.
2. Run on pound nothing to do with Truss, that was strength of dollar that month.
3. Bailing out pensions market nothing to do with Truss, that was all Sunak’s fault as chancellor presiding over the problem building up.
4. Sudden Tory poll collapse was not Truss fault, it was caused by a rebellion of Tory’s who immediately undermined her to install Sunak.
The Truss agenda of growth engineering tax cuts, cutting red tape, building more housing would currently have the Tories far better off than they are currently under Sunak.
Slashing taxes but not cutting spending and crashing the markets and sterling and leading to surging interest and mortgage rates was very much the fault of Truss and Kwarteng however
Which taxes did she slash? The growth budget only gave away £13B net after fiscal drag. The tax she cut at the top was a) the second half of same tax George Osborne previously cut half of b) didn’t exist till 2010 when Labour introduced it in their last budget - in other words they never had it in place during their 13 years, only sneaked it on as challenge to Tories to cut it. Osborne did first. You should support Truss removing the second half if you are a true Tory.
If she was going to cut it she needed to cut spending too, she didn't and the markets crashed as a result
So held Uxbridge because of Net Zero (in Sunak's head anyway) and now lost Kingswood because of Net Zero.
Kingwood Not lost yet. As a political betting site are you tiipping Labour to win it in same way Uxbridge was a slam dunk? It’s the part of the world where former Labour voters now vote Green on mass, the UKs no 1 green stronghold, greens wouldn’t even need to bus in a ground force, their troops could catch local buses.
Biden condemned Trump as a dire threat to democracy in a blistering speech.
President Biden on Friday delivered a ferocious condemnation of Donald J. Trump, his likely 2024 opponent, warning in searing language that the former president had directed an insurrection and would aim to undo the nation’s bedrock democracy if he returned to power.
Their mistake was electing him to anything more demanding than deputy chair of Henley Town Council in the first place.
It was the British people themselves who elected Boris to stay PM in 2019 with the biggest Tory majority since Thatcher in 1987
Oh, what about Northern Ireland? Plus a lot of people didn't or couldn't vote. And many of then didn't vote for Mr Johnson. In fact, *none at all except in Uxbridge*. And that last was for the constituency MP.
People as you well know vote mostly for the leader now more than their local MP
I know you have a strange concept of logic and numbner theory, but 43.6% of those who voted at all doesn't equate to "the British people" in ordinary human discourse or experience.
It does, the Tories won most votes and seats and if you don't vote that is your problem, you have no right to complain
The Tories and Boris's big mistake was letting victory go to their heads and assuming winning an election meant they spoke for far more than they did and that nothing could truly dent their popularity. One reason traditionally the Tory Party has been successful is a lack of complacency and sentimentality and a sometimes cynical knowledge of how to pry people away from the other lot.
A smart party would have been looking to address its weaknesses. How could it appeal to younger people and remainers? How could it mend the same divides it exploited to its advantage and prove to people that its critics were wrong? How could Boris go out of his way to prove he was trustworthy and serious?
That would have likely resulted in another decade of dominance. Because existing supporters would back it, while voters who might be opponents saw allies co-opted.
Instead it assumed that some of the biggest headbangers and oddballs on their own side 'spoke' for the British public and needed appeasing while insulting everyone else. When of course they did not, as if anything Britain leans small c conservative, rather than full fat Farage.
Yet apart from Brexit Boris didn't really do anything very rightwing. Taxes weren't cut, spending rose, immigration rose. the government was relatively socially liberal.
Both Truss and Sunak have run more rightwing governments than Boris did overall
Comments
So the idea it was just Tory MPs and members who wanted Boris to be PM is ludicrous!
I heard vermin noise two days ago, came face to face with a rat yesterday and bought a pint of vinegar (Sarsons and Waitrose sell it in pints! And Waitrose sells its own coffee in half pounds; the European brands are 250g. Swings and roundabouts)
Today I heard and saw no vermin
A pint of Waitrose own vinegar costs 80p
The concerns with ID cards all those years ago have come about by the backdoor.
This IS the state, after all, where in his (winning) race for US Senator, a candidate denounced the incumbent as unfit for public office, because the opponent's sister was an accomplished thespian.
Outside the retired, the Conservatives have almost nobody.
The fact the end result is that Rishi Sunak will be the last ever Conservative Party PM is a great irony..
Does the King still own this wood? Is everything in it part of his menagerie? Does the Menagerie go around saying yeah but no but? 😆
I have spoken to Snookie. She lives in Bristol and canvasses for the Greens and tells me Greens should do well in Kingwood because although it’s classed as Gloucestershire South, it’s actually in Bristol and Bristol people live in the constituency and Bristol is controlled by the greens now. The greens are so powerful there they managed to get rid of a Labour mayor - and on PB today, vocal green BJO politically tipped Greens in Bristol to unseat a Labour front bencher.
Politicalbetting wise, Kingwood can turn out a failure for Labour if the green vote is big. All the pressure is on Labour, as no Kingwood, no Starmer majority.
We do have a PBer called MrBristols, because they are in Bristol. Do we have anyone else in the area who can confirm to us Labour will fail because of significant green vote?
BJO is going to love this if it pans out as suspected Starmer fail like Uxbridge 😈
Though if he was the next rightwing PM would be far nastier than Sunak is I assure you, probably closer to Farage ideologically, maybe even Farage himself
Especially given he was up against a man who had revealed himself to be an even bigger loon than Johnson.
And again, if it hadn't been for you idiots voting him in, nobody would have had the chance to vote for him. This is on your party all the way.
You deserve a shellacking comparable to Canada 1993 for that, although my guess is you won't get it.
In 1997 of course the Tories didn't even have the retired
I believe Rishi was home alone at number 10 this yuletide.
the reason I didn't vote Bozo in 2019 is because he was utterly unsuitable to be PM...
Also: that 43.6% for the Tories is of those who voted in the UK. Not the population. I'd be sorry to see you adopting HYUFD's goal-moving habits.
I was asking a Chinese friend whats the deal with Christmas there, said we absolutely bloody do, its a day off, that's something to celebrate in itself.
Or something.
There can't be much doubt that Skidmore, who is bright and decent, and a centrist, has better things to do than lose his seat in a campaign which, like the rest of us, he believes is being run for a party which is rotting from the membership up and the leadership down.
Which is why Lady Starmer can by soft furnishings in the sales with a degree of confidence.
* no VOTER has the right to complain about anything a non-brokered government does, so long as it was promised in the governing party's manifesto, e.g. Truss and Kwarteng's accidental loss of £30bn of public money, which as any fule kno was unequivocally promised in the 2019 Tory manifesto;
* everyone who DIDN'T VOTE has the right to complain about anything a government does, because they didn't accept the legitimacy of parliamentary "democracy" and demonstrated in practice their understanding of the adage "Don't vote - it only encourages them".
It was as much for Boris and to get Brexit done as anti Corbyn
* Maybe not in the sweat shops, but my friend is a highly educated professional.
1. High mortgage rates nothing to do with Truss, they were caused by high inflation that was itself caused by UK exposure to gas import prices.
2. Run on pound nothing to do with Truss, that was strength of dollar that month.
3. Bailing out pensions market nothing to do with Truss, that was all Sunak’s fault as chancellor presiding over the problem building up.
4. Sudden Tory poll collapse was not Truss fault, it was caused by a rebellion of Tory’s who immediately undermined her to install Sunak. A party divided and at war with its own leadership is instantly unbackable in voters eyes.
The Truss agenda of growth engineering tax cuts, cutting red tape, building more housing, and growth to spend on services, cutting debt and more growth creating tax cuts would currently have the Tories far better off than they are currently under Sunak.
https://news.sky.com/story/post-office-investigated-by-police-over-potential-fraud-offences-13042832
Corbyn did better in 2017 but that was partly because May screwed up spectactually by introducing the Death Tax social care policy.... Demonstrating that you really shouldn't make major changes without preparing people first.
I wouldn't be surprised if the final report doesn't come out this side of 2030.
2017 - Corbyn just about acceptable, May OK and then the Death Tax arrived changing opinions.
2019 Corbyn awful, Bozo reasonable if you didn't know him (sadly I had past experience so he wasn't an option)...
If you read the article more carefully, you will see that they’ve been investigating for four years already…
For example: "Research shows that E-Verify harms the labor market outcomes of illegal immigrants and improves the labor market outcomes of Mexican legal immigrants and U.S.-born Hispanics, but has no impact on labor market outcomes for non-Hispanic white Americans.[6] A 2016 study suggests that E-Verify reduces the number of illegal immigrants in states that have mandated use of E-Verify for all employers, and further notes that the program may deter illegal immigration to the United States in general."
And: "There are a number of state laws requiring or limiting the use of E-Verify for employers. According to a 2012 survey by the Center for Immigration Studies, 16 states require use of E-Verify in some form. The survey found that six states have laws requiring all or nearly all businesses to use E-Verify to determine employment eligibility: Arizona, Mississippi, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina. Five states require use of E-Verify by public employers and all or most public contractors: Indiana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Virginia, and Missouri. Three states require only public contractors to use E-Verify: Louisiana, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. Idaho only requires public employers to use E-Verify, while Florida only requires it for agencies under direction of the governor. Colorado and Utah encourage use of E-Verify, but allow for alternative means of employment verification. An E-Verify-only mandate in Utah is contingent on the state's effort to create a state-level guestworker program. The survey also found that some states have moved in the opposite direction, limiting or discouraging use of E-Verify: California, Rhode Island, and Illinois."
The market price of that extracted, whether for pharmaceuticals or otherwise, will still be subject to global markets, right? So if Russia/Saudi etc do something crazy, the relatively tiny amount extracted from the North Sea won't mitigate the effect on people in the UK.
Indeed, by exposing more of our domestic economy to inputs largely governed by our adversaries, aren't we weakening our position? The only way in which it might help would be if used it as a store to mitigate such a crisis. But, AFAIK, that isn't the plan.
A smart party would have been looking to address its weaknesses. How could it appeal to younger people and remainers? How could it mend the same divides it exploited to its advantage and prove to people that its critics were wrong? How could Boris go out of his way to prove he was trustworthy and serious?
That would have likely resulted in another decade of dominance. Because existing supporters would back it, while voters who might be opponents saw allies co-opted.
Instead it assumed that some of the biggest headbangers and oddballs on their own side 'spoke' for the British public and needed appeasing while insulting everyone else. When of course they did not, as if anything Britain leans small c conservative, rather than full fat Farage.
I believe Rishi Sunak will come to regret not going for the election in May. Things will only get worse between now and the end of the year. Meanwhile, Keir Starmer is pushing the "bottler" narrative as the Tories tried on Gordon Brown in 2007. Time will tell if it is as effective this time.
I note another poll out shows an increased Labour lead. And some interesting analysis was done that most oppositions with this sort of lead close to an election tend to win and win big. We could still be on for the largest Labour majority in history.
Talk to you all tomorrow
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-67899435
https://twitter.com/RishiSunak/status/1739333181101179108?t=jqdHWtiKfvXzi8Azgt-ABg&s=19
https://twitter.com/josephtiman/status/1743242319527088458
Going earlier means he'd probably save some seats but still lose. Going later means he'll probably lose more seats... but there is an outside chance something might turn up. Anyway, going later means the record will show he's been PM for two years rather than 18 months.
All work and no play makes Jack a full boy...
Granted at the moment the authorities that have issues S114 notices have other issues that have brought things to ahead but a lot of other authorities have quietly announced they only have a year or 2 until they will be forced into the same position.
Labour is going to have a lot of things to do in a hurry when Rishi finally calls the election....
@paullewismoney
·
3h
Tomorrow 6 January the main rate of national insurance is cut from 12% to 10%, its lowest for over twenty years. People earning £50,270 or more will save £754 a year, so be £62 a month better off. People working 25 hours on minimum wage will save 38p a week. Plus ça change.
Must be quite a few Republican Party hopefuls hoping that the Judges rule that Trump will be kept away from any elections this year.
Domestic production will be sold at market prices but that means we don’t have to import it and that we can, in extremis, direct that it is available for domestic consumption. That means, for example, that we don’t need as much storage for gas with consequential savings. It means the likes of Grangemouth had a consistent and reliable supply which helped to ensure we had petrol and diesel. It kept skills and businesses in this country.
The idea that our self denial somehow impacts on world consumption or world prices for fuel is just bonkers. The idea we are setting some sort of example is pretentious and ridiculous. We might, I suppose, do something for the reputation of British humour but other than that there really is no upside.
I’m delighted that someone so deluded is leaving Parliament.
The hoped for Labour win will be sweet and I do see some seriousness coming, but Starmer would do well to steer clear of an overlay of cosplay politics once in power. The temptations that beset the Tories are not entirely absent.
SCOTUS has GRANTED cert in the §3 14th amendment challenge. Petitioners brief due 1/18. Respondent’s brief due 1/31. Reply due 2/5. Oral arguments 2/8.
https://twitter.com/MuellerSheWrote/status/1743398862688276758
The UK is going to need oil and gas into the future, it is the fundamental building block of most pharmaceuticals, plastics etc - and are a critical part of the supply chain to most of our largest export markets and will be even post-Net Zero.
Medicines and pharmaceuticals, not oil and gas, is our third largest export good in the country, as well as being fairly fundamental for our health and well-being.
And you question why we might want to have security in controlling our own input for it during a crisis rather than leave it in the hand of hostile states?
We don't need to store oil and gas in order to mitigate a crisis, we need to generate enough that we don't rely upon imports during a crisis.
Unless you want to terminate our pharmaceutical sector, which means we won't need as much petrochemicals in the future, as well as plastics and everything else that depends upon it, petrochemicals are going to be an input into our economy. If we make our own production of them, then we have reduced the amount that's governed by our adversaries, since we can use our own production. If we don't, then we hand control of a critical input of national security to our adversaries.
Robert Reich
@RBReich
·
5h
Trump shared a video today claiming that God has chosen him to be "a shepherd to mankind."
This is not funny. This is not parody. This is terrifying.
https://twitter.com/RBReich/status/1743323978326790447
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/04/uk-government-admits-rosebank-oil-will-not-be-kept-in-uk-to-boost-energy-security
If we were not so reliant on oil or gas at all we would surely be less reliant on oil and gas imports, so more secure. What part of that logic do you not understand?
People who are not serious about tackling climate change want us to stop producing oil and gas and to rely upon imports of oil and gas and wishful thinking to solve climate change.
There is no scientific reason whatsoever for us to stop producing a good that is fundamental to most of our pharmaceuticals and much else in our modern way of life.
It is the argument of antivaxxers and other idiots that we can do away with things so crucial to a healthy way of living.
I spent about seven hours of my thirteen hour shift out in the rain
When I finished at 9pm I was cold, wet, hungry, utterly exhausted and aching all over
To keep the post dry I have to hold it under my waterproof jacket, to keep it dry there I have to hunch over it
So I was cold, wet, hungry, tired, aching and a hunchback
Thank god I had today off
I did get a late twenty quid Christmas tip yesterday
I hope Anabob gives bottled tips
President Biden on Friday delivered a ferocious condemnation of Donald J. Trump, his likely 2024 opponent, warning in searing language that the former president had directed an insurrection and would aim to undo the nation’s bedrock democracy if he returned to power.
NY Times
Both Truss and Sunak have run more rightwing governments than Boris did overall