I don’t swear much but I reckon 95% of the times I do swear it involves the England rugby team.
It is painful. They're in danger of acquiring the same habit as their footballing equivalents - always finding a way to come up short in tournaments.
But anyway, on topic, I suppose it's not impossible for the far right fruit loops to poll above the hard right fruit loops at some point, but it still seems unlikely.
England have some talented youngsters, this Scottish kid Finn Smith, nice, Feyi-Aboso, get Marcus Smith back, and somehow Henry Arundell, suddenly we look more piercing
But this game is lost to the genius of Van Der Merwe
Feyi-Aboso is Welsh - born & bred in Cardiff. But he chose the dark side...
Lamentable errors from England, deserved win for Scotland - van der Merwe is a tremendous talent
I said Scotland by 10! They did it by 9
No one is going to stop Ireland
Without the handling errors that might have been interesting. They lost all confidence after a good start. Think Lawrence was rushed back too soon never seen him play quite so badly.
Ford and Lawrence handed the game to Scotland
Lawrence must never return - it was that bad; put Ford on the bench
And so passes another mediocre 6 Nations for England. They've not won a Slam since 2016. With the strength in depth they possess, that is really poor
Friend of mine from the Borders went out to RSA. Found he could, if he relaxed, understand what the local Afrikaners were saying about the rooinek (ie him) in front of him.
I'm a not-quite fluent speaker of Scots (the Ulster dialect, in my case), and have had similar experiences with being able to close my eyes and catch the drift of Afrikaans conversation
...but rather than "rooinek", my (Afrikaans!) ex and I were most often referred to as "die Engels", which earned a rebuke of "hou jou bek!" - which means something like "shut up, you!" but is a slightly glorious false friend for the Ulster-Scots "hau' yer bake"
England have some talented youngsters, this Scottish kid Finn Smith, nice, Feyi-Aboso, get Marcus Smith back, and somehow Henry Arundell, suddenly we look more piercing
But this game is lost to the genius of Van Der Merwe
Feyi-Aboso is Welsh - born & bred in Cardiff. But he chose the dark side...
I think my predictions were a bit better than yours today. I predicted Ireland and Scotland would win by wider margins than you, and so it was
Nonetheless you now have 8/8 correct 6N predictions. Bravo! And it will surely be 9/9 by end of play tomorrow
Can you call every single match correctly in a whole 6N campaign?! If you do, PB should collectively buy you a bottle of your favourite wine
That must be why he's doing so much to reduce their numbers.
I think you will find it is the mps actions and words themselves, rather than anything to do with Sunak who is carrying the can
You won't find me arguing against the notion that Tory MPs are a very rum bunch, but I also think that politics is largely decided on bread and butter issues. Rishi has squandered his chance to turn around the British economy and reverse the decline in standards of living. That is what threatens to condemn the Tories to electoral extinction, not the fact that some of them like flashing and tractor porn.
The Tory party may respond calmly but I suspect the typical Tory MP will be in panic mode..
But the problem the Tory party has now is how do you attract the Reform Islamophobic vote without scaring more moderate votes away...
If your main concern is Islamophobia you are almost certainly already voting Labour, LD, Green, SNP or even Galloway not Conservative anyway. I should suspect much of the Jewish vote not just the hardcore Leaver vote would agree with Anderson too, that doesn't mean he was right to say it though of course
The Tories have been playing a dangerous game here.
Sarah Hall tried it in October, when she claimed that some of the Jewish community are "frightened" of Khan. That earned her a rebuke from the Board of Deputies, who went on to say that Khan had always treated Jewish communities "with friendship and respect".
Then there was the 'Sadiq Khan says the quiet part out loud' selectively-edited video posted on Twitter by the official @Conservatives account, and leading Tory figures' repeated refusals to apologise for spreading misinformation.
And now Lee Anderson, previously the Tory Deputy Chair.
The reality is that Khan has constantly spoken in favour of Jewish Londoners and their interests, and against not just antisemitism but also anti-Zionism and BDS. He's been a frequent visitor to Jewish community projects, has taken part in Jewish festivals, and has instructed the MPS to take a zero-tolerance approach to antisemitic hate crimes.
The "Jewish vote" isn't really a thing - Jews aren't a monolithic bloc. Traditionalist, conservative Jews tend to lean Tory and liberal, secular Jews tend to vote Labour... but, as ever, the words "tend to" are doing a lot of work, and cover a great deal of complexity.
I know plenty of liberal Jewish people who would not have voted for Corbyn's Labour party at a general election, but who have always been entirely relaxed about Khan as mayor. I won't pretend that they're a particularly representative bunch - but then, who is?
What is for certain is that trying to tar Khan with an antisemitic brush is untrue, unfair, and deeply unpleasant.
They should leave and join Reform as that is the party for these divisive attitudes
I doubt that the crazies feel the need to go off in a huff. They'll just wait until after the election and then drive out what's left of the centre right, in not dissimilar fashion to the manner in which the Europhiles walked towards the end of the Brexit Wars in Parliament.
The Tory membership is small in number, elderly and extremely right wing. Once Sunak has walked they'll install the most radical option available to replace him as leader. Probably Braverman.
Friend of mine from the Borders went out to RSA. Found he could, if he relaxed, understand what the local Afrikaners were saying about the rooinek (ie him) in front of him.
I'm a not-quite fluent speaker of Scots (the Ulster dialect, in my case), and have had similar experiences with being able to close my eyes and catch the drift of Afrikaans conversation
...but rather than "rooinek", my (Afrikaans!) ex and I were most often referred to as "die Engels", which earned a rebuke of "hou jou bek!" - which means something like "shut up, you!" but is a slightly glorious false friend for the Ulster-Scots "hau' yer bake"
That must be why he's doing so much to reduce their numbers.
I think you will find it is the mps actions and words themselves, rather than anything to do with Sunak who is carrying the can
You won't find me arguing against the notion that Tory MPs are a very rum bunch, but I also think that politics is largely decided on bread and butter issues. Rishi has squandered his chance to turn around the British economy and reverse the decline in standards of living. That is what threatens to condemn the Tories to electoral extinction, not the fact that some of them like flashing and tractor porn.
Truss tried, crashed the economy in 6 weeks, and handed the biggest gift ever presented to an opposition party that they will feed on to GE 24 and for years to come
Someone in that bunch should certainly find another party. I believe the Lib Dems would be suitable.
Truss’ railing against the deep state as an excuse for her own breathtaking incompetence should be embarrassingly pathetic , unfortunately is not because there are a mob of armchair warriors that actually believe her nonsense.
Someone in that bunch should certainly find another party. I believe the Lib Dems would be suitable.
Both things should happen: Alt-right nutjobs to RefUK; One Nation types off to the LibDems. Then we can give the Conservative Party a peaceful burial and leave it to history.
David Henig 🇺🇦 @DavidHenigUK · 8h The Conservative Party will need to decide if it is closer to Ruth Davidson or Lee Anderson in attitudes. I have a pretty good idea which of these would be more popular outside of the GB News / Telegraph anti-woke bubble.
Very far from a ringing endorsement - basically, he's using the only good reason that Labour itself will be able to present at the election, which is that they're Not Tories.
It won't be very long after the election before various unions in public transport and the public sector discover that Labour's attitude to their wage demands is functionally identical to that of the Tories - in brief, there's only enough money to feather bed pensioners, the rest of you can f*** off - and then we'll be back to endless waves of bloody strikes again.
Someone in that bunch should certainly find another party. I believe the Lib Dems would be suitable.
Both things should happen: Alt-right nutjobs to RefUK; One Nation types off to the LibDems. Then we can give the Conservative Party a peaceful burial and leave it to history.
Someone in that bunch should certainly find another party. I believe the Lib Dems would be suitable.
Both things should happen: Alt-right nutjobs to RefUK; One Nation types off to the LibDems. Then we can give the Conservative Party a peaceful burial and leave it to history.
Someone in that bunch should certainly find another party. I believe the Lib Dems would be suitable.
Both things should happen: Alt-right nutjobs to RefUK; One Nation types off to the LibDems. Then we can give the Conservative Party a peaceful burial and leave it to history.
It’s about time decent conservatives stood up and grabbed the initiative back from the neo right. It’s good to hear someone calling out their dangerous nonsense from within their movement, before they lose it altogether.
Someone in that bunch should certainly find another party. I believe the Lib Dems would be suitable.
Truss’ railing against the deep state as an excuse for her own breathtaking incompetence should be embarrassingly pathetic , unfortunately is not because there are a mob of armchair warriors that actually believe her nonsense.
She's a profoundly confused individual.
A ultra free market lover and advocate who seems also at same time to be against globalisation and trade that damages national markets.
Somehow she got into Oxford. I'd love to see her defend her position at one of their tutorials.
Three female politicians have been given taxpayer-funded bodyguards and cars amid growing concerns about MPs’ safety.
The women have had their security upgraded after a risk assessment was carried out with support from a secretive organisation tasked with providing protection for the most prominent members of the government and the royal family.
The Sunday Times is not naming the MPs. They include representatives of the Conservative and Labour parties.
Friend of mine from the Borders went out to RSA. Found he could, if he relaxed, understand what the local Afrikaners were saying about the rooinek (ie him) in front of him.
I'm a not-quite fluent speaker of Scots (the Ulster dialect, in my case), and have had similar experiences with being able to close my eyes and catch the drift of Afrikaans conversation
...but rather than "rooinek", my (Afrikaans!) ex and I were most often referred to as "die Engels", which earned a rebuke of "hou jou bek!" - which means something like "shut up, you!" but is a slightly glorious false friend for the Ulster-Scots "hau' yer bake"
David Henig 🇺🇦 @DavidHenigUK · 8h The Conservative Party will need to decide if it is closer to Ruth Davidson or Lee Anderson in attitudes. I have a pretty good idea which of these would be more popular outside of the GB News / Telegraph anti-woke bubble.
The bubble is where at least half the MPs and the bulk of the fossil party membership is though. So we are all stuck with their extreme attitudes.
They know perfectly well that all they need to do once they've assumed total control of their party is to wait for Labour to fail, and our Buggins' Turn system will return them to Government.
Robert Peston @Peston I’m not sure there is any way back into the Tory party for Lee Anderson even if he wants it (which is not clear). One influential Conservative right winger said: “Lee crossed a line. The chief whip was right to kick him out. The frustration is that the kind of comments made by Lee makes it much harder for the rest of us to conduct a serious debate about how we combat extremism”
The Tory party may respond calmly but I suspect the typical Tory MP will be in panic mode..
But the problem the Tory party has now is how do you attract the Reform Islamophobic vote without scaring more moderate votes away...
If your main concern is Islamophobia you are almost certainly already voting Labour, LD, Green, SNP or even Galloway not Conservative anyway. I should suspect much of the Jewish vote not just the hardcore Leaver vote would agree with Anderson too, that doesn't mean he was right to say it though of course
The Tories have been playing a dangerous game here.
Sarah Hall tried it in October, when she claimed that some of the Jewish community are "frightened" of Khan. That earned her a rebuke from the Board of Deputies, who went on to say that Khan had always treated Jewish communities "with friendship and respect".
Then there was the 'Sadiq Khan says the quiet part out loud' selectively-edited video posted on Twitter by the official @Conservatives account, and leading Tory figures' repeated refusals to apologise for spreading misinformation.
And now Lee Anderson, previously the Tory Deputy Chair.
The reality is that Khan has constantly spoken in favour of Jewish Londoners and their interests, and against not just antisemitism but also anti-Zionism and BDS. He's been a frequent visitor to Jewish community projects, has taken part in Jewish festivals, and has instructed the MPS to take a zero-tolerance approach to antisemitic hate crimes.
The "Jewish vote" isn't really a thing - Jews aren't a monolithic bloc. Traditionalist, conservative Jews tend to lean Tory and liberal, secular Jews tend to vote Labour... but, as ever, the words "tend to" are doing a lot of work, and cover a great deal of complexity.
I know plenty of liberal Jewish people who would not have voted for Corbyn's Labour party at a general election, but who have always been entirely relaxed about Khan as mayor. I won't pretend that they're a particularly representative bunch - but then, who is?
What is for certain is that trying to tar Khan with an antisemitic brush is untrue, unfair, and deeply unpleasant.
They should leave and join Reform as that is the party for these divisive attitudes
The only issue is that they take a significant number of voters with them.
Are people supporting Reform UK because they like the look of them, or is it more that they’re dissatisfied with the Conservatives and casting around for an alternative?
Three female politicians have been given taxpayer-funded bodyguards and cars amid growing concerns about MPs’ safety.
The women have had their security upgraded after a risk assessment was carried out with support from a secretive organisation tasked with providing protection for the most prominent members of the government and the royal family.
The Sunday Times is not naming the MPs. They include representatives of the Conservative and Labour parties.
England have some talented youngsters, this Scottish kid Finn Smith, nice, Feyi-Aboso, get Marcus Smith back, and somehow Henry Arundell, suddenly we look more piercing
But this game is lost to the genius of Van Der Merwe
Feyi-Aboso is Welsh - born & bred in Cardiff. But he chose the dark side...
I think my predictions were a bit better than yours today. I predicted Ireland and Scotland would win by wider margins than you, and so it was
Nonetheless you now have 8/8 correct 6N predictions. Bravo! And it will surely be 9/9 by end of play tomorrow
Can you call every single match correctly in a whole 6N campaign?! If you do, PB should collectively buy you a bottle of your favourite wine
Although every game so far has been won by the favourites.
David Henig 🇺🇦 @DavidHenigUK · 8h The Conservative Party will need to decide if it is closer to Ruth Davidson or Lee Anderson in attitudes. I have a pretty good idea which of these would be more popular outside of the GB News / Telegraph anti-woke bubble.
The bubble is where at least half the MPs and the bulk of the fossil party membership is though. So we are all stuck with their extreme attitudes.
They know perfectly well that all they need to do once they've assumed total control of their party is to wait for Labour to fail, and our Buggins' Turn system will return them to Government.
Though that didn't quite work out for Labour members when they twice elected Corbyn leader, albeit he nearly did it in 2017 when he got a hung parliament
Someone in that bunch should certainly find another party. I believe the Lib Dems would be suitable.
Both things should happen: Alt-right nutjobs to RefUK; One Nation types off to the LibDems. Then we can give the Conservative Party a peaceful burial and leave it to history.
HY can be the last Conservative standing
One Nation traditional conservatives are also not Lib Dems anymore than they are Reform
England have some talented youngsters, this Scottish kid Finn Smith, nice, Feyi-Aboso, get Marcus Smith back, and somehow Henry Arundell, suddenly we look more piercing
But this game is lost to the genius of Van Der Merwe
Feyi-Aboso is Welsh - born & bred in Cardiff. But he chose the dark side...
I think my predictions were a bit better than yours today. I predicted Ireland and Scotland would win by wider margins than you, and so it was
Nonetheless you now have 8/8 correct 6N predictions. Bravo! And it will surely be 9/9 by end of play tomorrow
Can you call every single match correctly in a whole 6N campaign?! If you do, PB should collectively buy you a bottle of your favourite wine
Although every game so far has been won by the favourites.
The skill in rugby betting is beating the handicap, not predicting the winners.
The Tory party may respond calmly but I suspect the typical Tory MP will be in panic mode..
But the problem the Tory party has now is how do you attract the Reform Islamophobic vote without scaring more moderate votes away...
If your main concern is Islamophobia you are almost certainly already voting Labour, LD, Green, SNP or even Galloway not Conservative anyway. I should suspect much of the Jewish vote not just the hardcore Leaver vote would agree with Anderson too, that doesn't mean he was right to say it though of course
The Tories have been playing a dangerous game here.
Sarah Hall tried it in October, when she claimed that some of the Jewish community are "frightened" of Khan. That earned her a rebuke from the Board of Deputies, who went on to say that Khan had always treated Jewish communities "with friendship and respect".
Then there was the 'Sadiq Khan says the quiet part out loud' selectively-edited video posted on Twitter by the official @Conservatives account, and leading Tory figures' repeated refusals to apologise for spreading misinformation.
And now Lee Anderson, previously the Tory Deputy Chair.
The reality is that Khan has constantly spoken in favour of Jewish Londoners and their interests, and against not just antisemitism but also anti-Zionism and BDS. He's been a frequent visitor to Jewish community projects, has taken part in Jewish festivals, and has instructed the MPS to take a zero-tolerance approach to antisemitic hate crimes.
The "Jewish vote" isn't really a thing - Jews aren't a monolithic bloc. Traditionalist, conservative Jews tend to lean Tory and liberal, secular Jews tend to vote Labour... but, as ever, the words "tend to" are doing a lot of work, and cover a great deal of complexity.
I know plenty of liberal Jewish people who would not have voted for Corbyn's Labour party at a general election, but who have always been entirely relaxed about Khan as mayor. I won't pretend that they're a particularly representative bunch - but then, who is?
What is for certain is that trying to tar Khan with an antisemitic brush is untrue, unfair, and deeply unpleasant.
Someone in that bunch should certainly find another party. I believe the Lib Dems would be suitable.
Both things should happen: Alt-right nutjobs to RefUK; One Nation types off to the LibDems. Then we can give the Conservative Party a peaceful burial and leave it to history.
England have some talented youngsters, this Scottish kid Finn Smith, nice, Feyi-Aboso, get Marcus Smith back, and somehow Henry Arundell, suddenly we look more piercing
But this game is lost to the genius of Van Der Merwe
Feyi-Aboso is Welsh - born & bred in Cardiff. But he chose the dark side...
I think my predictions were a bit better than yours today. I predicted Ireland and Scotland would win by wider margins than you, and so it was
Nonetheless you now have 8/8 correct 6N predictions. Bravo! And it will surely be 9/9 by end of play tomorrow
Can you call every single match correctly in a whole 6N campaign?! If you do, PB should collectively buy you a bottle of your favourite wine
Although every game so far has been won by the favourites.
Sure, but nonetheless 8/8 is proprerly impressive, and several of these games have been knife edge stuff, Wales England, Wales Scotland, Scotland France (which Scotland should have won in the last moment), etc
I wonder what the accumulated odds would be, if you put down a tenner at the start of the 6N, then got the first 9 games all correct
There's CCTV video showing the police seemingly allowing a group of pro-Palestinian protestors to get into the Conservative fund-raiser that was disrupted last night:
In a reminder of times when the Government of the United Kingdom did things for the people instead of to the people, the National Theatre is putting on "Nye", a play with the one who isn't Martin Sheen. Here's the trailer:
The problem with Anderson's comments is that I've not seen him provide evidence to back up his claims. The last 'evidence' of the links between Sadiq Khan and 'Islamists' was the stuff the tories dug out in the 2016 mayoral campaign which was not convincing to the electorate; there is nothing since then as far as I am aware of. So this type of comment just comes across as lazy Islamophobia. It is actually just a gift to all his enemies and critics. I am not sure he would be that helpful to Reform UK.
There's CCTV video showing the police seemingly allowing a group of pro-Palestinian protestors to get into the Conservative fund-raiser that was disrupted last night:
Lee Anderson was foolish and cack-handed in his words about Khan, and also self-harming to his cause. Twit
Nonetheless a lot of people will be looking at these various videos of MPs being aggressively heckled, councils being invaded, parliament forced into quasi-lockdown, streets and bridges closed, and they will think "he also had a point"
Someone in that bunch should certainly find another party. I believe the Lib Dems would be suitable.
Both things should happen: Alt-right nutjobs to RefUK; One Nation types off to the LibDems. Then we can give the Conservative Party a peaceful burial and leave it to history.
HY can be the last Conservative standing
He is a classic Reform candidate
Hardly, I didn't even vote Leave
Then you should join the LibDems, you naughty boy!
The Tory party may respond calmly but I suspect the typical Tory MP will be in panic mode..
But the problem the Tory party has now is how do you attract the Reform Islamophobic vote without scaring more moderate votes away...
If your main concern is Islamophobia you are almost certainly already voting Labour, LD, Green, SNP or even Galloway not Conservative anyway. I should suspect much of the Jewish vote not just the hardcore Leaver vote would agree with Anderson too, that doesn't mean he was right to say it though of course
The Tories have been playing a dangerous game here.
Sarah Hall tried it in October, when she claimed that some of the Jewish community are "frightened" of Khan. That earned her a rebuke from the Board of Deputies, who went on to say that Khan had always treated Jewish communities "with friendship and respect".
Then there was the 'Sadiq Khan says the quiet part out loud' selectively-edited video posted on Twitter by the official @Conservatives account, and leading Tory figures' repeated refusals to apologise for spreading misinformation.
And now Lee Anderson, previously the Tory Deputy Chair.
The reality is that Khan has constantly spoken in favour of Jewish Londoners and their interests, and against not just antisemitism but also anti-Zionism and BDS. He's been a frequent visitor to Jewish community projects, has taken part in Jewish festivals, and has instructed the MPS to take a zero-tolerance approach to antisemitic hate crimes.
The "Jewish vote" isn't really a thing - Jews aren't a monolithic bloc. Traditionalist, conservative Jews tend to lean Tory and liberal, secular Jews tend to vote Labour... but, as ever, the words "tend to" are doing a lot of work, and cover a great deal of complexity.
I know plenty of liberal Jewish people who would not have voted for Corbyn's Labour party at a general election, but who have always been entirely relaxed about Khan as mayor. I won't pretend that they're a particularly representative bunch - but then, who is?
What is for certain is that trying to tar Khan with an antisemitic brush is untrue, unfair, and deeply unpleasant.
They should leave and join Reform as that is the party for these divisive attitudes
The only issue is that they take a significant number of voters with them.
Are people supporting Reform UK because they like the look of them, or is it more that they’re dissatisfied with the Conservatives and casting around for an alternative?
I would say that REFUK is the Farage factor, plus disillusioned conservatives and others, and the politically homeless. Not difficult to see this amounting to over 20% of the vote. Once the ball gets rolling and all the other parties are seen as indistinguishable from each other, they keep picking up the disillusioned. That is the route to eventual power that has been followed by other 'far right' parties, albeit generally in PR systems.
Someone in that bunch should certainly find another party. I believe the Lib Dems would be suitable.
Both things should happen: Alt-right nutjobs to RefUK; One Nation types off to the LibDems. Then we can give the Conservative Party a peaceful burial and leave it to history.
HY can be the last Conservative standing
He is a classic Reform candidate
Hardly, I didn't even vote Leave
The nuance of your posts clearly show your instinctive support of the right
"Following a call with the Chief Whip, I understand the difficult position that I have put both he and the Prime Minister in with regard to my comments.
"I fully accept that they had no option but to suspend the whip in these circumstances.
"However, I will continue to support the Government's efforts to call out extremism in all its forms - be that anti-semitism or islamophobia."
The problem with Anderson's comments is that I've not seen him provide evidence to back up his claims. The last 'evidence' of the links between Sadiq Khan and 'Islamists' was the stuff the tories dug out in the 2016 mayoral campaign which was not convincing to the electorate; there is nothing since then as far as I am aware of. So this type of comment just comes across as lazy Islamophobia. It is actually just a gift to all his enemies and critics. I am not sure he would be that helpful to Reform UK.
It’s not about having evidence. It is, I fear, copying the US Republican Party: make stuff up about your opponents (or have it made up for you by Russia) that plays on people’s base prejudices and keep repeating it. That works in the US, particularly with that Fox News/OANN/Newsmax bubble. Fortunately, here, it only works on a minority who presume Khan must a wrong ‘un if you just look hard enough because he’s brown.
"Following a call with the Chief Whip, I understand the difficult position that I have put both he and the Prime Minister in with regard to my comments.
"I fully accept that they had no option but to suspend the whip in these circumstances.
"However, I will continue to support the Government's efforts to call out extremism in all its forms - be that anti-semitism or islamophobia."
I have this strong feeling we are losing all the lessons of the 20th century. We should all be reading Hannah Arendt, Karl Popper, Adorno and Horkheimer, Koselleck. Timothy Snyder's On Tyrrany is a good place to start.
There's CCTV video showing the police seemingly allowing a group of pro-Palestinian protestors to get into the Conservative fund-raiser that was disrupted last night:
Lee Anderson was foolish and cack-handed in his words about Khan, and also self-harming to his cause. Twit
Nonetheless a lot of people will be looking at these various videos of MPs being aggressively heckled, councils being invaded, parliament forced into quasi-lockdown, streets and bridges closed, and they will think "he also had a point"
I think both sides of the debate overreact when it comes to Islamic extremism.
"Following a call with the Chief Whip, I understand the difficult position that I have put both he and the Prime Minister in with regard to my comments.
"I fully accept that they had no option but to suspend the whip in these circumstances.
"However, I will continue to support the Government's efforts to call out extremism in all its forms - be that anti-semitism or islamophobia."
Someone in that bunch should certainly find another party. I believe the Lib Dems would be suitable.
Both things should happen: Alt-right nutjobs to RefUK; One Nation types off to the LibDems. Then we can give the Conservative Party a peaceful burial and leave it to history.
HY can be the last Conservative standing
He is a classic Reform candidate
Hardly, I didn't even vote Leave
The nuance of your posts clearly show your instinctive support of the right
Well I don't deny that but even most Tories will be of the right let alone Reform supporters
Someone in that bunch should certainly find another party. I believe the Lib Dems would be suitable.
Both things should happen: Alt-right nutjobs to RefUK; One Nation types off to the LibDems. Then we can give the Conservative Party a peaceful burial and leave it to history.
HY can be the last Conservative standing
He is a classic Reform candidate
Hardly, I didn't even vote Leave
Then you should join the LibDems, you naughty boy!
Of course the Tories have formed a coalition UK government with the LDs before but never yet with UKIP or Reform
Someone in that bunch should certainly find another party. I believe the Lib Dems would be suitable.
Both things should happen: Alt-right nutjobs to RefUK; One Nation types off to the LibDems. Then we can give the Conservative Party a peaceful burial and leave it to history.
HY can be the last Conservative standing
He is a classic Reform candidate
Hardly, I didn't even vote Leave
And the PM who instructed you to vote Remain 8s now Foreign Secretary in a Leaver government.
David Henig 🇺🇦 @DavidHenigUK · 8h The Conservative Party will need to decide if it is closer to Ruth Davidson or Lee Anderson in attitudes. I have a pretty good idea which of these would be more popular outside of the GB News / Telegraph anti-woke bubble.
What he means is me and my friends.
Lee Anderson has made it much harder to have the difficult discussion on how we tackle Islamism that needs to be had, not ignored.
The Tory party may respond calmly but I suspect the typical Tory MP will be in panic mode..
But the problem the Tory party has now is how do you attract the Reform Islamophobic vote without scaring more moderate votes away...
If your main concern is Islamophobia you are almost certainly already voting Labour, LD, Green, SNP or even Galloway not Conservative anyway. I should suspect much of the Jewish vote not just the hardcore Leaver vote would agree with Anderson too, that doesn't mean he was right to say it though of course
The Tories have been playing a dangerous game here.
Sarah Hall tried it in October, when she claimed that some of the Jewish community are "frightened" of Khan. That earned her a rebuke from the Board of Deputies, who went on to say that Khan had always treated Jewish communities "with friendship and respect".
Then there was the 'Sadiq Khan says the quiet part out loud' selectively-edited video posted on Twitter by the official @Conservatives account, and leading Tory figures' repeated refusals to apologise for spreading misinformation.
And now Lee Anderson, previously the Tory Deputy Chair.
The reality is that Khan has constantly spoken in favour of Jewish Londoners and their interests, and against not just antisemitism but also anti-Zionism and BDS. He's been a frequent visitor to Jewish community projects, has taken part in Jewish festivals, and has instructed the MPS to take a zero-tolerance approach to antisemitic hate crimes.
The "Jewish vote" isn't really a thing - Jews aren't a monolithic bloc. Traditionalist, conservative Jews tend to lean Tory and liberal, secular Jews tend to vote Labour... but, as ever, the words "tend to" are doing a lot of work, and cover a great deal of complexity.
I know plenty of liberal Jewish people who would not have voted for Corbyn's Labour party at a general election, but who have always been entirely relaxed about Khan as mayor. I won't pretend that they're a particularly representative bunch - but then, who is?
What is for certain is that trying to tar Khan with an antisemitic brush is untrue, unfair, and deeply unpleasant.
They should leave and join Reform as that is the party for these divisive attitudes
The only issue is that they take a significant number of voters with them.
Are people supporting Reform UK because they like the look of them, or is it more that they’re dissatisfied with the Conservatives and casting around for an alternative?
I would say that REFUK is the Farage factor, plus disillusioned conservatives and others, and the politically homeless. Not difficult to see this amounting to over 20% of the vote. Once the ball gets rolling and all the other parties are seen as indistinguishable from each other, they keep picking up the disillusioned. That is the route to eventual power that has been followed by other 'far right' parties, albeit generally in PR systems.
It is very difficult in an FPTP system for Reform (or UKIP) to break through, because you need a concentrated vote. In 2015, UKIP got 13% of the votes (that's 50% more than the LibDems got), but only one seat.
You also have the issue that people can vote against you. So, even if Reform is polling 40% in a seat, if the other voters choose to vote anti-Reform, they can still get stuffed. (All electoral systems are unfair... they're just unfair in different ways.)
So, sure, could Reform break through? Of course it could. But it's a long path. And it's a doubly tough one if you don't have local government strength (and volunteers) to call upon.
Very far from a ringing endorsement - basically, he's using the only good reason that Labour itself will be able to present at the election, which is that they're Not Tories.
It won't be very long after the election before various unions in public transport and the public sector discover that Labour's attitude to their wage demands is functionally identical to that of the Tories - in brief, there's only enough money to feather bed pensioners, the rest of you can f*** off - and then we'll be back to endless waves of bloody strikes again.
No - we didn't have endless rounds of strikes during the Blair/Brown years. Sunak has royally screwed up, seemingly believing that the only way to control inflation was by expecting people to accept cuts in their real wages. I suspect that is partly because he has no concept what it means to be just about managing financially.
He'd have been better to accept inflation-matching pay rises at the outset - inflation would have taken a bit longer to come down but eventually the external drivers would have played out and in the meantime strike disruption could have been largely avoided.
David Henig 🇺🇦 @DavidHenigUK · 8h The Conservative Party will need to decide if it is closer to Ruth Davidson or Lee Anderson in attitudes. I have a pretty good idea which of these would be more popular outside of the GB News / Telegraph anti-woke bubble.
What he means is me and my friends.
Lee Anderson has made it much harder to have the difficult discussion on how we tackle Islamism that needs to be had, not ignored.
These attitudes will put off a generation of younger voters. If you want to ensure your own extinction I suggest you carry on.
It might be an idea for Rishi to call an election soon, while he still has a party that can be salvaged...
Why would he give up a potential 10 extra months as PM for an election now which he would almost certainly lose at long odds of salvaging a few Tory MPs seats? I doubt Sunak gives a toss what happens to the Tories once as is likely he loses the next general election. He will be off to California within a month to join some big company boards with a by election in Richmond shortly after. He just wants to stay PM as long as possible to bolster his CV. As far as I can see the first time Rishi delivered a Tory leaflet was when he was selected for Richmond in 2015, he did not grow up in the party and had never even stood for council let alone a parliamentary seat before then when he was more interested in cricket, Southampton FC, making money at Goldmans and for his hedge fund and getting good degrees at Oxford and Stanford.
Sunak will only call an early GE if the Tories somehow get a poll lead
In a reminder of times when the Government of the United Kingdom did things for the people instead of to the people, the National Theatre is putting on "Nye", a play with the one who isn't Martin Sheen. Here's the trailer:
I have this strong feeling we are losing all the lessons of the 20th century. We should all be reading Hannah Arendt, Karl Popper, Adorno and Horkheimer, Koselleck. Timothy Snyder's On Tyrrany is a good place to start.
Great book, but just the one r.
And just to claim the pedantry bonus points, n x 2
There's CCTV video showing the police seemingly allowing a group of pro-Palestinian protestors to get into the Conservative fund-raiser that was disrupted last night:
Lee Anderson was foolish and cack-handed in his words about Khan, and also self-harming to his cause. Twit
Nonetheless a lot of people will be looking at these various videos of MPs being aggressively heckled, councils being invaded, parliament forced into quasi-lockdown, streets and bridges closed, and they will think "he also had a point"
I think both sides of the debate overreact when it comes to Islamic extremism.
And dialogue between them there is none.
There is now a clear, present and lethal danger to our democracy, and it comes from Islamic extremism, and it is worsened by the way it has progressively seduced some idiot lefties, and menaced the moderate lefties, and also harnessed wider (and understandable) anger over Gaza
The threat still appears relatively small but the potential is grave and serious. It’s a bit like seeing the first signs of a fire in a crowded theatre. How do you relay the serious danger to the theatre goers, without making everything worse, by causing a panic, yet also making sure people DO perceive the threat?
Lee Anderson did the equivalent of leap around pointing at people shouting “arsonist! Arsonist!” That makes it easy to dismiss him as a nutter with a grudge and actually makes it harder to tell everyone, “er, there actually is a fire, we need to respond now”
It might be an idea for Rishi to call an election soon, while he still has a party that can be salvaged...
Why would he give up a potential 10 extra months as PM for an election now which he would almost certainly lose at long odds of salvaging a few Tory MPs seats? I doubt Sunak gives a toss what happens to the Tories once as is likely he loses the next general election. He will be off to California within a month to join some big company boards with a by election in Richmond shortly after. He just wants to stay PM as long as possible to bolster his CV. As far as I can see the first time Rishi delivered a Tory leaflet was when he was selected for Richmond in 2015, he did not grow up in the party and had never even stood for council let alone a parliamentary seat before then when he was more interested in cricket, Southampton FC, making money at Goldmans and for his hedge fund and getting good degrees at Oxford and Stanford.
Sunak will only call an early GE if the Tories somehow get a poll lead
Rishi did have an internship at CCHQ one summer of his university holidays, that is the only evidence I have of his political involvement before selection for Richmond in 2014
The problem with Anderson's comments is that I've not seen him provide evidence to back up his claims. The last 'evidence' of the links between Sadiq Khan and 'Islamists' was the stuff the tories dug out in the 2016 mayoral campaign which was not convincing to the electorate; there is nothing since then as far as I am aware of. So this type of comment just comes across as lazy Islamophobia. It is actually just a gift to all his enemies and critics. I am not sure he would be that helpful to Reform UK.
It’s not about having evidence. It is, I fear, copying the US Republican Party: make stuff up about your opponents (or have it made up for you by Russia) that plays on people’s base prejudices and keep repeating it. That works in the US, particularly with that Fox News/OANN/Newsmax bubble. Fortunately, here, it only works on a minority who presume Khan must a wrong ‘un if you just look hard enough because he’s brown.
Yeah but the problem is that the conditions are such that this 'evidence free innuendo' approach can still work. By 'conditions' I mean long term failings about dealing with Islamic extremism and 'progressive' sympathy towards terrorist organisations. I posted a couple of weeks ago about the 'parachute sticker' protesters basically having no consequence for their actions (a conditional discharge) and a judge that, it turned out, 'liked' pro palestinian comments on the internet.
This is in strong contrast to the typical fate of 'far right' protesters when encountering the judicial system. So people get fed up. This feeds the political style of politicians like Trump.
David Henig 🇺🇦 @DavidHenigUK · 8h The Conservative Party will need to decide if it is closer to Ruth Davidson or Lee Anderson in attitudes. I have a pretty good idea which of these would be more popular outside of the GB News / Telegraph anti-woke bubble.
What he means is me and my friends.
Lee Anderson has made it much harder to have the difficult discussion on how we tackle Islamism that needs to be had, not ignored.
These attitudes will put off a generation of younger voters. If you want to ensure your own extinction I suggest you carry on.
Albeit Marine Le Pen leads candidates of Macron's party with younger French voters in latest French polls, there is no guarantee young voters are automatically anti the populist far right. Indeed evidence from the continent suggests the young are more likely to vote for the far right than the retired are but the retired are more likely to vote for traditional conservative parties than the young are
There's CCTV video showing the police seemingly allowing a group of pro-Palestinian protestors to get into the Conservative fund-raiser that was disrupted last night:
Lee Anderson was foolish and cack-handed in his words about Khan, and also self-harming to his cause. Twit
Nonetheless a lot of people will be looking at these various videos of MPs being aggressively heckled, councils being invaded, parliament forced into quasi-lockdown, streets and bridges closed, and they will think "he also had a point"
I think both sides of the debate overreact when it comes to Islamic extremism.
And dialogue between them there is none.
There is now a clear, present and lethal danger to our democracy, and it comes from Islamic extremism, and it is worsened by the way it has progressively seduced some idiot lefties, and menaced the moderate lefties, and also harnessed wider (and understandable) anger over Gaza
The threat still appears relatively small but the potential is grave and serious. It’s a bit like seeing the first signs of a fire in a crowded theatre. How do you relay the serious danger to the theatre goers, without making everything worse, by causing a panic, yet also making sure people DO perceive the threat?
Lee Anderson did the equivalent of leap around pointing at people shouting “arsonist! Arsonist!” That makes it easy to dismiss him as a nutter with a grudge and actually makes it harder to tell everyone, “er, there actually is a fire, we need to respond now”
There is indeed a clear, present and lethal danger to our democracy. It comes from Putin and Trump.
There's CCTV video showing the police seemingly allowing a group of pro-Palestinian protestors to get into the Conservative fund-raiser that was disrupted last night:
Lee Anderson was foolish and cack-handed in his words about Khan, and also self-harming to his cause. Twit
Nonetheless a lot of people will be looking at these various videos of MPs being aggressively heckled, councils being invaded, parliament forced into quasi-lockdown, streets and bridges closed, and they will think "he also had a point"
I think both sides of the debate overreact when it comes to Islamic extremism.
And dialogue between them there is none.
There is now a clear, present and lethal danger to our democracy, and it comes from Islamic extremism, and it is worsened by the way it has progressively seduced some idiot lefties, and menaced the moderate lefties, and also harnessed wider (and understandable) anger over Gaza
The threat still appears relatively small but the potential is grave and serious. It’s a bit like seeing the first signs of a fire in a crowded theatre. How do you relay the serious danger to the theatre goers, without making everything worse, by causing a panic, yet also making sure people DO perceive the threat?
Lee Anderson did the equivalent of leap around pointing at people shouting “arsonist! Arsonist!” That makes it easy to dismiss him as a nutter with a grudge and actually makes it harder to tell everyone, “er, there actually is a fire, we need to respond now”
There is indeed a clear, present and lethal danger to our democracy. It comes from Putin and Trump.
Those are both external threats. We also have an internal threat
30p will go to ReFUK and he won’t be the only one. Easy for him to change party. Again. And once he does it and uses his GBeebies pulpit to both preach and grow in viability he is bound to attract others who are also doomed.
May as well go out saying what you think rather than whimpering as you keep lying.
David Henig 🇺🇦 @DavidHenigUK · 8h The Conservative Party will need to decide if it is closer to Ruth Davidson or Lee Anderson in attitudes. I have a pretty good idea which of these would be more popular outside of the GB News / Telegraph anti-woke bubble.
What he means is me and my friends.
Lee Anderson has made it much harder to have the difficult discussion on how we tackle Islamism that needs to be had, not ignored.
What do you see as the particular challenge from Islamism? ISIS has been largely defeated (although perhaps not in the Sahel). It’s over 4 years since there has been an Islamist terrorist attack in the UK. We appear to be tackling the matter well.
There are tensions at present around Gaza. Horror around the situation in Gaza is not specifically Islamist: it goes across a broad range of Muslims and non-Muslims. The pro-Palestinian protestors are not advancing an Islamist philosophy, as far as I’ve seen. Indeed, if there’s a political ideology particularly associated with the protests, it is that of the hard left, the SWP and the Corbynites.
David Henig 🇺🇦 @DavidHenigUK · 8h The Conservative Party will need to decide if it is closer to Ruth Davidson or Lee Anderson in attitudes. I have a pretty good idea which of these would be more popular outside of the GB News / Telegraph anti-woke bubble.
What he means is me and my friends.
Lee Anderson has made it much harder to have the difficult discussion on how we tackle Islamism that needs to be had, not ignored.
These attitudes will put off a generation of younger voters. If you want to ensure your own extinction I suggest you carry on.
Albeit Marine Le Pen leads candidates of Macron's party with younger French voters in latest French polls, there is no guarantee young voters are automatically anti the populist far right. Indeed evidence from the continent suggests the young are more likely to vote for the far right than the retired are but the retired are more likely to vote for traditional conservative parties than the young are
The advice about what the young think from various posters on here is quite amusing. The one thing I would say is that they nearly always rebel against the prevailing 'consensus'; and at present the consensus is woke centrism.
Three female politicians have been given taxpayer-funded bodyguards and cars amid growing concerns about MPs’ safety.
The women have had their security upgraded after a risk assessment was carried out with support from a secretive organisation tasked with providing protection for the most prominent members of the government and the royal family.
The Sunday Times is not naming the MPs. They include representatives of the Conservative and Labour parties.
Annelise Dodds is clearly one, judging by that video below
Irony of ironies. The Labour party is eating itself
The violent mob that attacked her, or the one in the video with the flags and the chanting. There's a debate to be had about where protest becomes harassment but Dodds did not seem to be in any physical danger in that clip.
There's CCTV video showing the police seemingly allowing a group of pro-Palestinian protestors to get into the Conservative fund-raiser that was disrupted last night:
Lee Anderson was foolish and cack-handed in his words about Khan, and also self-harming to his cause. Twit
Nonetheless a lot of people will be looking at these various videos of MPs being aggressively heckled, councils being invaded, parliament forced into quasi-lockdown, streets and bridges closed, and they will think "he also had a point"
I think both sides of the debate overreact when it comes to Islamic extremism.
And dialogue between them there is none.
There is now a clear, present and lethal danger to our democracy, and it comes from Islamic extremism, and it is worsened by the way it has progressively seduced some idiot lefties, and menaced the moderate lefties, and also harnessed wider (and understandable) anger over Gaza
The threat still appears relatively small but the potential is grave and serious. It’s a bit like seeing the first signs of a fire in a crowded theatre. How do you relay the serious danger to the theatre goers, without making everything worse, by causing a panic, yet also making sure people DO perceive the threat?
Lee Anderson did the equivalent of leap around pointing at people shouting “arsonist! Arsonist!” That makes it easy to dismiss him as a nutter with a grudge and actually makes it harder to tell everyone, “er, there actually is a fire, we need to respond now”
There is indeed a clear, present and lethal danger to our democracy. It comes from Putin and Trump.
Those are both external threats. We also have an internal threat
I’m not meaning to dismiss your wider point (there are undoubtedly a minority of extremists on all sides that are willing to threaten or carry out violence in a way that threatens our democracy) but…
…watching @williamglenn ’s video of the protest was rather heartwarming. Turns out some brown chaps understand the quintessentially British nature of peaceful protest. Wander in, waggle a finger, wander out again. Oh and thank the Bobby for holding the door open for you. All rather twee.
The Post Office investigated a sub-postmaster who sits as a director on its own board, prompting a furious response from its chairman.
The Telegraph can disclose that a Post Office team led by its chief legal officer launched an inquiry into Elliot Jacobs, who was specially appointed a non-executive director to represent sub-postmasters in the wake of the Horizon scandal.
The investigation so upset Henry Staunton, the Post Office’s chairman, that he angrily confronted Ben Foat, the company’s group general counsel. Sources say it contributed to Mr Staunton’s sacking by Kemi Badenoch, raising further questions about why she got rid of him.
Friends of Mr Staunton accept he “raised his voice” at the meeting but deny claims of bullying raised by Ms Badenoch this week.
The Post Office confirmed on Friday that it had been investigating Mr Jacobs, an award-winning sub-postmaster, but that its inquiries had now concluded. It is understood no wrongdoing was found over an alleged discrepancy in the accounts of a few thousand pounds.
Mr Jacobs was appointed to the board in 2021 as part of an attempt by the Post Office to show it had “learned from past mistakes” and to change the culture of the organisation that had led to the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of sub-postmasters as a result of its faulty Horizon IT system.
It might be an idea for Rishi to call an election soon, while he still has a party that can be salvaged...
Why would he give up a potential 10 extra months as PM for an election now which he would almost certainly lose at long odds of salvaging a few Tory MPs seats? I doubt Sunak gives a toss what happens to the Tories once as is likely he loses the next general election. He will be off to California within a month to join some big company boards with a by election in Richmond shortly after. He just wants to stay PM as long as possible to bolster his CV. As far as I can see the first time Rishi delivered a Tory leaflet was when he was selected for Richmond in 2015, he did not grow up in the party and had never even stood for council let alone a parliamentary seat before then when he was more interested in cricket, Southampton FC, making money at Goldmans and for his hedge fund and getting good degrees at Oxford and Stanford.
Sunak will only call an early GE if the Tories somehow get a poll lead
Rishi did have an internship at CCHQ one summer of his university holidays, that is the only evidence I have of his political involvement before selection for Richmond in 2014
It would be nice to think Rishi can dedicate his post-Downing Street career to public service rather than chasing Elon Musk's sack of cash in California. It is not as if he needs the money.
There's CCTV video showing the police seemingly allowing a group of pro-Palestinian protestors to get into the Conservative fund-raiser that was disrupted last night:
Lee Anderson was foolish and cack-handed in his words about Khan, and also self-harming to his cause. Twit
Nonetheless a lot of people will be looking at these various videos of MPs being aggressively heckled, councils being invaded, parliament forced into quasi-lockdown, streets and bridges closed, and they will think "he also had a point"
I think both sides of the debate overreact when it comes to Islamic extremism.
And dialogue between them there is none.
There is now a clear, present and lethal danger to our democracy, and it comes from Islamic extremism, and it is worsened by the way it has progressively seduced some idiot lefties, and menaced the moderate lefties, and also harnessed wider (and understandable) anger over Gaza
The threat still appears relatively small but the potential is grave and serious. It’s a bit like seeing the first signs of a fire in a crowded theatre. How do you relay the serious danger to the theatre goers, without making everything worse, by causing a panic, yet also making sure people DO perceive the threat?
Lee Anderson did the equivalent of leap around pointing at people shouting “arsonist! Arsonist!” That makes it easy to dismiss him as a nutter with a grudge and actually makes it harder to tell everyone, “er, there actually is a fire, we need to respond now”
There is indeed a clear, present and lethal danger to our democracy. It comes from Putin and Trump.
Those are both external threats. We also have an internal threat
"Anti-Muslim hate incidents in Britain TRIPLE since Hamas' assault on Israel - with women bearing the brunt of racist attacks, watchdog reports More than 2,000 hate crimes against Muslims recorded since October 7"
David Henig 🇺🇦 @DavidHenigUK · 8h The Conservative Party will need to decide if it is closer to Ruth Davidson or Lee Anderson in attitudes. I have a pretty good idea which of these would be more popular outside of the GB News / Telegraph anti-woke bubble.
What he means is me and my friends.
Lee Anderson has made it much harder to have the difficult discussion on how we tackle Islamism that needs to be had, not ignored.
What do you see as the particular challenge from Islamism? ISIS has been largely defeated (although perhaps not in the Sahel). It’s over 4 years since there has been an Islamist terrorist attack in the UK. We appear to be tackling the matter well.
There are tensions at present around Gaza. Horror around the situation in Gaza is not specifically Islamist: it goes across a broad range of Muslims and non-Muslims. The pro-Palestinian protestors are not advancing an Islamist philosophy, as far as I’ve seen. Indeed, if there’s a political ideology particularly associated with the protests, it is that of the hard left, the SWP and the Corbynites.
David Henig 🇺🇦 @DavidHenigUK · 8h The Conservative Party will need to decide if it is closer to Ruth Davidson or Lee Anderson in attitudes. I have a pretty good idea which of these would be more popular outside of the GB News / Telegraph anti-woke bubble.
What he means is me and my friends.
Lee Anderson has made it much harder to have the difficult discussion on how we tackle Islamism that needs to be had, not ignored.
What do you see as the particular challenge from Islamism? ISIS has been largely defeated (although perhaps not in the Sahel). It’s over 4 years since there has been an Islamist terrorist attack in the UK. We appear to be tackling the matter well.
There are tensions at present around Gaza. Horror around the situation in Gaza is not specifically Islamist: it goes across a broad range of Muslims and non-Muslims. The pro-Palestinian protestors are not advancing an Islamist philosophy, as far as I’ve seen. Indeed, if there’s a political ideology particularly associated with the protests, it is that of the hard left, the SWP and the Corbynites.
David Amess MP was murdered by an Islamist 2 and a half years ago. Mike Freer MP resigned as a minister because of Islamist threats ( and an arson attack) in the last few weeks. Jewish MPs are all wearing stab vests. Yes we ‘appear to be tackling the matter well’
I can’t work out which is worse. That you actually believe this bullshit, or that you know it’s bullshit but say it anyway
Three female politicians have been given taxpayer-funded bodyguards and cars amid growing concerns about MPs’ safety.
The women have had their security upgraded after a risk assessment was carried out with support from a secretive organisation tasked with providing protection for the most prominent members of the government and the royal family.
The Sunday Times is not naming the MPs. They include representatives of the Conservative and Labour parties.
Someone in that bunch should certainly find another party. I believe the Lib Dems would be suitable.
Both things should happen: Alt-right nutjobs to RefUK; One Nation types off to the LibDems. Then we can give the Conservative Party a peaceful burial and leave it to history.
HY can be the last Conservative standing
He is a classic Reform candidate
Hardly, I didn't even vote Leave
The nuance of your posts clearly show your instinctive support of the right
Well I don't deny that but even most Tories will be of the right let alone Reform supporters
Correction most of the 175,000 members - not the decent and sane one nation ones
There's CCTV video showing the police seemingly allowing a group of pro-Palestinian protestors to get into the Conservative fund-raiser that was disrupted last night:
Lee Anderson was foolish and cack-handed in his words about Khan, and also self-harming to his cause. Twit
Nonetheless a lot of people will be looking at these various videos of MPs being aggressively heckled, councils being invaded, parliament forced into quasi-lockdown, streets and bridges closed, and they will think "he also had a point"
I think both sides of the debate overreact when it comes to Islamic extremism.
And dialogue between them there is none.
There is now a clear, present and lethal danger to our democracy, and it comes from Islamic extremism, and it is worsened by the way it has progressively seduced some idiot lefties, and menaced the moderate lefties, and also harnessed wider (and understandable) anger over Gaza
The threat still appears relatively small but the potential is grave and serious. It’s a bit like seeing the first signs of a fire in a crowded theatre. How do you relay the serious danger to the theatre goers, without making everything worse, by causing a panic, yet also making sure people DO perceive the threat?
Lee Anderson did the equivalent of leap around pointing at people shouting “arsonist! Arsonist!” That makes it easy to dismiss him as a nutter with a grudge and actually makes it harder to tell everyone, “er, there actually is a fire, we need to respond now”
There is indeed a clear, present and lethal danger to our democracy. It comes from Putin and Trump.
Those are both external threats. We also have an internal threat
"Anti-Muslim hate incidents in Britain TRIPLE since Hamas' assault on Israel - with women bearing the brunt of racist attacks, watchdog reports More than 2,000 hate crimes against Muslims recorded since October 7"
Three female politicians have been given taxpayer-funded bodyguards and cars amid growing concerns about MPs’ safety.
The women have had their security upgraded after a risk assessment was carried out with support from a secretive organisation tasked with providing protection for the most prominent members of the government and the royal family.
The Sunday Times is not naming the MPs. They include representatives of the Conservative and Labour parties.
There's CCTV video showing the police seemingly allowing a group of pro-Palestinian protestors to get into the Conservative fund-raiser that was disrupted last night:
Lee Anderson was foolish and cack-handed in his words about Khan, and also self-harming to his cause. Twit
Nonetheless a lot of people will be looking at these various videos of MPs being aggressively heckled, councils being invaded, parliament forced into quasi-lockdown, streets and bridges closed, and they will think "he also had a point"
I think both sides of the debate overreact when it comes to Islamic extremism.
And dialogue between them there is none.
There is now a clear, present and lethal danger to our democracy, and it comes from Islamic extremism, and it is worsened by the way it has progressively seduced some idiot lefties, and menaced the moderate lefties, and also harnessed wider (and understandable) anger over Gaza
The threat still appears relatively small but the potential is grave and serious. It’s a bit like seeing the first signs of a fire in a crowded theatre. How do you relay the serious danger to the theatre goers, without making everything worse, by causing a panic, yet also making sure people DO perceive the threat?
Lee Anderson did the equivalent of leap around pointing at people shouting “arsonist! Arsonist!” That makes it easy to dismiss him as a nutter with a grudge and actually makes it harder to tell everyone, “er, there actually is a fire, we need to respond now”
There is indeed a clear, present and lethal danger to our democracy. It comes from Putin and Trump.
Those are both external threats. We also have an internal threat
"Anti-Muslim hate incidents in Britain TRIPLE since Hamas' assault on Israel - with women bearing the brunt of racist attacks, watchdog reports More than 2,000 hate crimes against Muslims recorded since October 7"
David Henig 🇺🇦 @DavidHenigUK · 8h The Conservative Party will need to decide if it is closer to Ruth Davidson or Lee Anderson in attitudes. I have a pretty good idea which of these would be more popular outside of the GB News / Telegraph anti-woke bubble.
What he means is me and my friends.
Lee Anderson has made it much harder to have the difficult discussion on how we tackle Islamism that needs to be had, not ignored.
What do you see as the particular challenge from Islamism? ISIS has been largely defeated (although perhaps not in the Sahel). It’s over 4 years since there has been an Islamist terrorist attack in the UK. We appear to be tackling the matter well.
There are tensions at present around Gaza. Horror around the situation in Gaza is not specifically Islamist: it goes across a broad range of Muslims and non-Muslims. The pro-Palestinian protestors are not advancing an Islamist philosophy, as far as I’ve seen. Indeed, if there’s a political ideology particularly associated with the protests, it is that of the hard left, the SWP and the Corbynites.
There's CCTV video showing the police seemingly allowing a group of pro-Palestinian protestors to get into the Conservative fund-raiser that was disrupted last night:
Lee Anderson was foolish and cack-handed in his words about Khan, and also self-harming to his cause. Twit
Nonetheless a lot of people will be looking at these various videos of MPs being aggressively heckled, councils being invaded, parliament forced into quasi-lockdown, streets and bridges closed, and they will think "he also had a point"
I think both sides of the debate overreact when it comes to Islamic extremism.
And dialogue between them there is none.
There is now a clear, present and lethal danger to our democracy, and it comes from Islamic extremism, and it is worsened by the way it has progressively seduced some idiot lefties, and menaced the moderate lefties, and also harnessed wider (and understandable) anger over Gaza
The threat still appears relatively small but the potential is grave and serious. It’s a bit like seeing the first signs of a fire in a crowded theatre. How do you relay the serious danger to the theatre goers, without making everything worse, by causing a panic, yet also making sure people DO perceive the threat?
Lee Anderson did the equivalent of leap around pointing at people shouting “arsonist! Arsonist!” That makes it easy to dismiss him as a nutter with a grudge and actually makes it harder to tell everyone, “er, there actually is a fire, we need to respond now”
There is indeed a clear, present and lethal danger to our democracy. It comes from Putin and Trump.
Those are both external threats. We also have an internal threat
"Anti-Muslim hate incidents in Britain TRIPLE since Hamas' assault on Israel - with women bearing the brunt of racist attacks, watchdog reports More than 2,000 hate crimes against Muslims recorded since October 7"
Very far from a ringing endorsement - basically, he's using the only good reason that Labour itself will be able to present at the election, which is that they're Not Tories.
It won't be very long after the election before various unions in public transport and the public sector discover that Labour's attitude to their wage demands is functionally identical to that of the Tories - in brief, there's only enough money to feather bed pensioners, the rest of you can f*** off - and then we'll be back to endless waves of bloody strikes again.
No - we didn't have endless rounds of strikes during the Blair/Brown years. Sunak has royally screwed up, seemingly believing that the only way to control inflation was by expecting people to accept cuts in their real wages. I suspect that is partly because he has no concept what it means to be just about managing financially.
He'd have been better to accept inflation-matching pay rises at the outset - inflation would have taken a bit longer to come down but eventually the external drivers would have played out and in the meantime strike disruption could have been largely avoided.
What is more. The extra amount of spending could have kept us out of a recession. And services wouldn't be quite so crap as they wouldn't be struggling to retain and recruit.
David Henig 🇺🇦 @DavidHenigUK · 8h The Conservative Party will need to decide if it is closer to Ruth Davidson or Lee Anderson in attitudes. I have a pretty good idea which of these would be more popular outside of the GB News / Telegraph anti-woke bubble.
What he means is me and my friends.
Lee Anderson has made it much harder to have the difficult discussion on how we tackle Islamism that needs to be had, not ignored.
What do you see as the particular challenge from Islamism? ISIS has been largely defeated (although perhaps not in the Sahel). It’s over 4 years since there has been an Islamist terrorist attack in the UK. We appear to be tackling the matter well.
There are tensions at present around Gaza. Horror around the situation in Gaza is not specifically Islamist: it goes across a broad range of Muslims and non-Muslims. The pro-Palestinian protestors are not advancing an Islamist philosophy, as far as I’ve seen. Indeed, if there’s a political ideology particularly associated with the protests, it is that of the hard left, the SWP and the Corbynites.
David Amess MP was murdered by an Islamist 2 and a half years ago. Mike Freer MP resigned as a minister because of Islamist threats ( and an arson attack) in the last few weeks. Jewish MPs are all wearing stab vests. Yes we ‘appear to be tackling the matter well’
I can’t work out which is worse. That you actually believe this bullshit, or that you know it’s bullshit but say it anyway
Pots and kettles come to mind. You’re quite happy to promote the sorts of views that, at the extreme end, result in the murder of MPs (Jo Cox).
You are as worthy of criticism as those you are railing against.
Comments
But anyway, on topic, I suppose it's not impossible for the far right fruit loops to poll above the hard right fruit loops at some point, but it still seems unlikely.
Lawrence must never return - it was that bad; put Ford on the bench
And so passes another mediocre 6 Nations for England. They've not won a Slam since 2016. With the strength in depth they possess, that is really poor
This is a team that nearly lost to Italy. Ireland will pulverise them.
...but rather than "rooinek", my (Afrikaans!) ex and I were most often referred to as "die Engels", which earned a rebuke of "hou jou bek!" - which means something like "shut up, you!" but is a slightly glorious false friend for the Ulster-Scots "hau' yer bake"
England are a middling team with a depressingly poor coach
There is talent there, but it needs a genius coach to make it work. That ain't Borthwick
Former @Conservatives chairwoman @SayeedaWarsi tells me on @Channel4News
that @LeeAndersonMP_ @SuellaBraverman & @trussliz should find another party because she says their rhetoric is dividing the party and the country.
Nonetheless you now have 8/8 correct 6N predictions. Bravo! And it will surely be 9/9 by end of play tomorrow
Can you call every single match correctly in a whole 6N campaign?! If you do, PB should collectively buy you a bottle of your favourite wine
The Tory membership is small in number, elderly and extremely right wing. Once Sunak has walked they'll install the most radical option available to replace him as leader. Probably Braverman.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/feb/24/mick-lynch-says-voters-must-grow-up-and-see-starmer-is-only-alternative
@DavidHenigUK
·
8h
The Conservative Party will need to decide if it is closer to Ruth Davidson or Lee Anderson in attitudes. I have a pretty good idea which of these would be more popular outside of the GB News / Telegraph anti-woke bubble.
It won't be very long after the election before various unions in public transport and the public sector discover that Labour's attitude to their wage demands is functionally identical to that of the Tories - in brief, there's only enough money to feather bed pensioners, the rest of you can f*** off - and then we'll be back to endless waves of bloody strikes again.
"Anneliese Dodds MP, Labour Party’s chair heckled by her constituents outside the Party fundraiser she hosted last night"
https://x.com/NewhamIndParty/status/1761391035161235899?s=20
Meanwhile the "same people" have just shut Tower Bridge
https://x.com/MailOnline/status/1761458945003081748?s=20
A ultra free market lover and advocate who seems also at same time to be against globalisation and trade that damages national markets.
Somehow she got into Oxford. I'd love to see her defend her position at one of their tutorials.
The women have had their security upgraded after a risk assessment was carried out with support from a secretive organisation tasked with providing protection for the most prominent members of the government and the royal family.
The Sunday Times is not naming the MPs. They include representatives of the Conservative and Labour parties.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/three-female-mps-get-taxpayer-funded-bodyguards-over-safety-fears-llqhgz7zk
They know perfectly well that all they need to do once they've assumed total control of their party is to wait for Labour to fail, and our Buggins' Turn system will return them to Government.
Robert Peston
@Peston
I’m not sure there is any way back into the Tory party for Lee Anderson even if he wants it (which is not clear). One influential Conservative right winger said: “Lee crossed a line. The chief whip was right to kick him out. The frustration is that the kind of comments made by Lee makes it much harder for the rest of us to conduct a serious debate about how we combat extremism”
https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1761428922107928873
Irony of ironies. The Labour party is eating itself
I wonder what the accumulated odds would be, if you put down a tenner at the start of the 6N, then got the first 9 games all correct
https://twitter.com/joerichlaw/status/1761372046141849708
https://twitter.com/ArchRose90/status/1761359671116337516
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEWGqDqgt6Q
Nonetheless a lot of people will be looking at these various videos of MPs being aggressively heckled, councils being invaded, parliament forced into quasi-lockdown, streets and bridges closed, and they will think "he also had a point"
"Following a call with the Chief Whip, I understand the difficult position that I have put both he and the Prime Minister in with regard to my comments.
"I fully accept that they had no option but to suspend the whip in these circumstances.
"However, I will continue to support the Government's efforts to call out extremism in all its forms - be that anti-semitism or islamophobia."
https://gbnews.com
https://facebook.com/share/p/sRfYHC1LrE3b91K1/
6:13 PM · Feb 24, 2024
Say it isn't so.
And dialogue between them there is none.
"I understand the difficult position I have put both HIM and the Prime Minister in."
Funny old game.
Lee Anderson has made it much harder to have the difficult discussion on how we tackle Islamism that needs to be had, not ignored.
You also have the issue that people can vote against you. So, even if Reform is polling 40% in a seat, if the other voters choose to vote anti-Reform, they can still get stuffed. (All electoral systems are unfair... they're just unfair in different ways.)
So, sure, could Reform break through? Of course it could. But it's a long path. And it's a doubly tough one if you don't have local government strength (and volunteers) to call upon.
He'd have been better to accept inflation-matching pay rises at the outset - inflation would have taken a bit longer to come down but eventually the external drivers would have played out and in the meantime strike disruption could have been largely avoided.
Sunak will only call an early GE if the Tories somehow get a poll lead
The threat still appears relatively small but the potential is grave and serious. It’s a bit like seeing the first signs of a fire in a crowded theatre. How do you relay the serious danger to the theatre goers, without making everything worse, by causing a panic, yet also making sure people DO perceive the threat?
Lee Anderson did the equivalent of leap around pointing at people shouting “arsonist! Arsonist!” That makes it easy to dismiss him as a nutter with a grudge and actually makes it harder to tell everyone, “er, there actually is a fire, we need to respond now”
https://twitter.com/swilkinsonbc/status/1761464563352883265
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13084707/judge-womenparachute-Palestine-march-walk-free-admitted-liking-post-Israel-terrorist.html
This is in strong contrast to the typical fate of 'far right' protesters when encountering the judicial system.
So people get fed up. This feeds the political style of politicians like Trump.
Labour leads by 15 points.
• Labour 42% (-1)
• Conservatives 27% (n/c)
• Lib Dems 10% (n/c)
• SNP 3% (n/c)
• Greens 7% (n/c)
• Reform 10% (+1)
https://twitter.com/OpiniumResearch/status/1761481122175651949
We are now back to -7 with 39% disapproving and 32% approving.
https://twitter.com/OpiniumResearch/status/1761481128546857197
May as well go out saying what you think rather than whimpering as you keep lying.
There are tensions at present around Gaza. Horror around the situation in Gaza is not specifically Islamist: it goes across a broad range of Muslims and non-Muslims. The pro-Palestinian protestors are not advancing an Islamist philosophy, as far as I’ve seen. Indeed, if there’s a political ideology particularly associated with the protests, it is that of the hard left, the SWP and the Corbynites.
…watching @williamglenn ’s video of the protest was rather heartwarming. Turns out some brown chaps understand the quintessentially British nature of peaceful protest. Wander in, waggle a finger, wander out again. Oh and thank the Bobby for holding the door open for you. All rather twee.
The Post Office investigated a sub-postmaster who sits as a director on its own board, prompting a furious response from its chairman.
The Telegraph can disclose that a Post Office team led by its chief legal officer launched an inquiry into Elliot Jacobs, who was specially appointed a non-executive director to represent sub-postmasters in the wake of the Horizon scandal.
The investigation so upset Henry Staunton, the Post Office’s chairman, that he angrily confronted Ben Foat, the company’s group general counsel. Sources say it contributed to Mr Staunton’s sacking by Kemi Badenoch, raising further questions about why she got rid of him.
Friends of Mr Staunton accept he “raised his voice” at the meeting but deny claims of bullying raised by Ms Badenoch this week.
The Post Office confirmed on Friday that it had been investigating Mr Jacobs, an award-winning sub-postmaster, but that its inquiries had now concluded. It is understood no wrongdoing was found over an alleged discrepancy in the accounts of a few thousand pounds.
Mr Jacobs was appointed to the board in 2021 as part of an attempt by the Post Office to show it had “learned from past mistakes” and to change the culture of the organisation that had led to the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of sub-postmasters as a result of its faulty Horizon IT system.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/23/post-office-investigated-sub-postmaster-own-board/
"Anti-Muslim hate incidents in Britain TRIPLE since Hamas' assault on Israel - with women bearing the brunt of racist attacks, watchdog reports
More than 2,000 hate crimes against Muslims recorded since October 7"
50% Hamas
50% Useful idiots
I can’t work out which is worse. That you actually believe this bullshit, or that you know it’s bullshit but say it anyway
"Cases Of Islamophobia Tripled In UK Since Israel-Hamas War In Gaza: Study"
"Anti-Muslim cases surge in UK since Hamas attacks, charity finds"
@SuellaBraverman
The mask has slipped: in hock to Islamists, Starmer is responsible for one of the most shameful days of our democracy.
Enough of the hand-wringing & apologies. Turning a blind eye to fanatics has got us into this situation: it must stop."
https://twitter.com/SuellaBraverman/status/1760928615984673243
Letter demanding end to North Sea drilling and Gaza ceasefire handed to Anneliese Dodds by protesters in Oxford restaurant
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/24/just-stop-oil-confront-frontbencher-anneliese-dodds-dinner/ (£££)
They're all at it.
You are as worthy of criticism as those you are railing against.