The voters do not salute Galloway’s courage, strength, and indefatigability – politicalbetting.com
Do you have a favourable or unfavourable opinion of George Galloway?Favourable: 11%Unfavourable: 46%Don't know: 42%https://t.co/JsbQUslaOZ pic.twitter.com/pFyJ64iwWF
Mr. Eagles, he was rather helped by Crassus. Ironic the Parthians didn't end up surviving all that much longer.
F1: first race not a classic. The Alonso bet, tipped in the blog, failed, but the early Perez each way bet did come off, so marginally green if you backed both.
F1: Backed Perez at 11 (12 with boost) on Ladbrokes to win each way in Saudi Arabia. He has a strong record there and the Red Bull remains the fastest car, plus Mercedes and Ferrari both had reliability concerns last time out (and higher temperatures may compromise Mercedes-powered cars even more).
Sunak has an easy way of getting rid of Galloway from Parliament if he wants. One call to the king, and we all get to vote on May 2nd.
There won't be an election in May.
It's needed but won't happen. Sunak will leave it as long as possible.
Sunak will not be in post long after May
I agree that there is likely to be a VONC after the May locals, but he will survive. Only Truss wants the poisoned chalice, and even the Tories are not that daft.
Sunak has an easy way of getting rid of Galloway from Parliament if he wants. One call to the king, and we all get to vote on May 2nd.
There won't be an election in May.
It's needed but won't happen. Sunak will leave it as long as possible.
Sunak will not be in post long after May
I agree that there is likely to be a VONC after the May locals, but he will survive. Only Truss wants the poisoned chalice, and even the Tories are not that daft.
Where have you read that Truss wishes to resume her role as leader?
I wonder now if it might be May because if they announce tax cuts it gives Labour little time to respond and say if they'd keep them, whereas delaying gives Labour more time to evolve a plan plus time for more things to go wrong. On a practical level if combined with the locals, does anyone remember the snail count of 2015 especially in London and the Mets?. Final result Friday lunchtime.
Sunak has an easy way of getting rid of Galloway from Parliament if he wants. One call to the king, and we all get to vote on May 2nd.
There won't be an election in May.
It's needed but won't happen. Sunak will leave it as long as possible. It will be a winter election. I think Jan 2025 most likely now.
I don't think such delay will benefit the Tories. They have severely overstayed their welcome, and the consequences for them just get worse.
I think January must be ruled out. The legal dissolution timetable makes it impossible to have a January election without the campaign running over Christmas. This won't happen.
The record of this government in repealing some of the laws from the Coalition, such as the Fixed Terms Act and trying to to ‘fiddle’ voting means it’ll be thrown, and will thoroughly deserve its fate. I thought the last days of Brown’s government were a shambles but the current lot are worse.
F1: Backed Perez at 11 (12 with boost) on Ladbrokes to win each way in Saudi Arabia. He has a strong record there and the Red Bull remains the fastest car, plus Mercedes and Ferrari both had reliability concerns last time out (and higher temperatures may compromise Mercedes-powered cars even more).
Perez e/w is a good bet. It looks like that car is a second a lap faster than the rest of them. I suspect that the e/w option is going to get shut down if he keeps finishing second.
I wonder now if it might be May because if they announce tax cuts it gives Labour little time to respond and say if they'd keep them, whereas delaying gives Labour more time to evolve a plan plus time for more things to go wrong. On a practical level if combined with the locals, does anyone remember the snail count of 2015 especially in London and the Mets?. Final result Friday lunchtime.
It's wishful thinking that leads people to think it will be held in May, by those want to be rid of the Tories as soon as possible.
It's also why they try the gentle goading: the argument being that if you go sooner you might lose fewer seats, which I think is essentially nonsense.
Sunak has an easy way of getting rid of Galloway from Parliament if he wants. One call to the king, and we all get to vote on May 2nd.
There won't be an election in May.
It's needed but won't happen. Sunak will leave it as long as possible.
Sunak will not be in post long after May
I agree that there is likely to be a VONC after the May locals, but he will survive. Only Truss wants the poisoned chalice, and even the Tories are not that daft.
If there were a widely-tolerable alternative, it might be different, but there isn't.
One chunk of the party will hold on to Nurse Rishi for fear of Braverman, another for fear of Truss (or a Trussalike), and so on. In a VONC, they all add up to save Sunak.
I wonder now if it might be May because if they announce tax cuts it gives Labour little time to respond and say if they'd keep them, whereas delaying gives Labour more time to evolve a plan plus time for more things to go wrong. On a practical level if combined with the locals, does anyone remember the snail count of 2015 especially in London and the Mets?. Final result Friday lunchtime.
It's wishful thinking that leads people to think it will be held in May, by those want to be rid of the Tories as soon as possible.
It's also why they try the gentle goading: the argument being that if you go sooner you might lose fewer seats, which I think is essentially nonsense.
You reckon he goes for October, or that it ends up in January by default because he can’t take a decision?
I wonder now if it might be May because if they announce tax cuts it gives Labour little time to respond and say if they'd keep them, whereas delaying gives Labour more time to evolve a plan plus time for more things to go wrong. On a practical level if combined with the locals, does anyone remember the snail count of 2015 especially in London and the Mets?. Final result Friday lunchtime.
It's wishful thinking that leads people to think it will be held in May, by those want to be rid of the Tories as soon as possible.
It's also why they try the gentle goading: the argument being that if you go sooner you might lose fewer seats, which I think is essentially nonsense.
You reckon he goes for October, or that it ends up in January by default because he can’t take a decision?
Although that said, given the truly labyrinthine rules on capital gains tax on property, I'm not sure even if she's broken the letter of the law it would gain much traction. All she will have to do is plead ignorance, which would be the case for most people who are not trained accountants (including not a few solicitors).
If she needed to turn it around, she could start by pointing out our tax system is a shambles and committing Labour to simplifying it.
Looks like the traditional Sunday Rawnsley came out early this week, anyhow....
The police chiefs themselves have been strikingly reluctant to endorse Mr Sunak’s contention that Britain is descending into “mob rule”. This sounds like the kind of thing a rent-a-gob reactionary backbencher might spit out in the hope of being quoted by the Daily Mail. You don’t expect to hear that kind of nonsense coming out of the mouth of the prime minister.
There’s a need for a reasoned debate about the conduct and management of demonstrations. But that was not what the Tory leader was seeking to stimulate with those headline-hunting remarks [of last week]. He was conflating democratic protest with “mob rule” in a way that disdained and undermined Britain’s proud traditions of free assembly and free expression. This wild outburst did him no credit.
[This week's] was one of his better crafted speeches, even if the cynic in me wondered whether a deeply unpopular prime minister was trying to gain public favour by presentinging himself as the steady leader of the nation manning the thin line between stability and chaos. There is also a big underlying issue: the jarring discordance between Mr Sunak’s advocations of unity and mutual respect with the conduct of elements of his own party.
The Tory leader...has been flabby about policing extremism within his own ranks and this feebleness is sourced in a fear that they represent constituencies within his party that could make trouble for him. The Tory party’s hard right is the mob he feels most menaced by. He has not repudiated Ms Truss’s love-ins with the Trumpites. He sacked Ms Braverman as home secretary for an incendiary provocation about “hate marches” last November, but she was only in that profile-enhancing post in the first place because Mr Sunak struck a Faustian bargain with her when he thought he needed hard-right support to secure the premiership. He handed a louder mic to Lee Anderson by promoting him to deputy chair of the Tory party, a role he exploited to platform his noxious prejudices, until he quit over Rwanda.
Only extremists will disagree with the prime minister when he says we should not allow them to hijack our politics. More’s the pity that he has too often behaved like a hostage of the hate-mongers within his own party.
I wonder now if it might be May because if they announce tax cuts it gives Labour little time to respond and say if they'd keep them, whereas delaying gives Labour more time to evolve a plan plus time for more things to go wrong. On a practical level if combined with the locals, does anyone remember the snail count of 2015 especially in London and the Mets?. Final result Friday lunchtime.
It's wishful thinking that leads people to think it will be held in May, by those want to be rid of the Tories as soon as possible.
It's also why they try the gentle goading: the argument being that if you go sooner you might lose fewer seats, which I think is essentially nonsense.
You reckon he goes for October, or that it ends up in January by default because he can’t take a decision?
I wonder now if it might be May because if they announce tax cuts it gives Labour little time to respond and say if they'd keep them, whereas delaying gives Labour more time to evolve a plan plus time for more things to go wrong. On a practical level if combined with the locals, does anyone remember the snail count of 2015 especially in London and the Mets?. Final result Friday lunchtime.
It's wishful thinking that leads people to think it will be held in May, by those want to be rid of the Tories as soon as possible.
It's also why they try the gentle goading: the argument being that if you go sooner you might lose fewer seats, which I think is essentially nonsense.
You reckon he goes for October, or that it ends up in January by default because he can’t take a decision?
I wonder now if it might be May because if they announce tax cuts it gives Labour little time to respond and say if they'd keep them, whereas delaying gives Labour more time to evolve a plan plus time for more things to go wrong. On a practical level if combined with the locals, does anyone remember the snail count of 2015 especially in London and the Mets?. Final result Friday lunchtime.
It's wishful thinking that leads people to think it will be held in May, by those want to be rid of the Tories as soon as possible.
It's also why they try the gentle goading: the argument being that if you go sooner you might lose fewer seats, which I think is essentially nonsense.
You reckon he goes for October, or that it ends up in January by default because he can’t take a decision?
November 14th. Announced at Tory conference
That's my guess too
Of course, we had all assumed that with the King away for most of October that month would be ruled out.
However, with his cancer diagnosis I wonder if his itinerary will change.
Seems a bit ghoulish to speculate that Sunak's options may have been increased by one man's illness, but...
Sunak could probably go for massive tax cuts and shunning the OBR at the moment - everyone expects a Labour victory, so it might have very little impact on the financial markets.
Jos Verstappen: Red Bull could be torn apart if Christian Horner stays
Team principal said Formula 1 should ‘move on’ after Max Verstappen won Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday, but star driver’s father disagrees
Max Verstappen’s father believes Red Bull will be torn apart if Christian Horner remains as their team principal.
Verstappen, the reigning world champion, won the 2024 season opener in Bahrain on Saturday despite the controversy surrounding his British team principal....
....Now, however, Jos has publicly questioned Horner’s position. “There is tension here while he remains in position,” he told the Daily Mail. “The team is in danger of being torn apart. It can’t go on the way it is. It will explode. He is playing the victim when he is the one causing the problems.”
Verstappen Sr has denied being involved in the attempts to unsettle Horner in both his personal and professional life. “That wouldn’t make sense,” he said. “Why would I do that when Max is doing so well here?” However, his latest comments have the potential to do so.
I wonder now if it might be May because if they announce tax cuts it gives Labour little time to respond and say if they'd keep them, whereas delaying gives Labour more time to evolve a plan plus time for more things to go wrong. On a practical level if combined with the locals, does anyone remember the snail count of 2015 especially in London and the Mets?. Final result Friday lunchtime.
It's wishful thinking that leads people to think it will be held in May, by those want to be rid of the Tories as soon as possible.
It's also why they try the gentle goading: the argument being that if you go sooner you might lose fewer seats, which I think is essentially nonsense.
You reckon he goes for October, or that it ends up in January by default because he can’t take a decision?
November 14th. Announced at Tory conference
In the predictions contest I went for the 28th November as the 14th would mean the last weekend of campaigning will be Remembrance Weekend. It also causes issues for the Commonwealth Conference in Samoa which Sunak will want as his swansong.
I wonder now if it might be May because if they announce tax cuts it gives Labour little time to respond and say if they'd keep them, whereas delaying gives Labour more time to evolve a plan plus time for more things to go wrong. On a practical level if combined with the locals, does anyone remember the snail count of 2015 especially in London and the Mets?. Final result Friday lunchtime.
It's wishful thinking that leads people to think it will be held in May, by those want to be rid of the Tories as soon as possible.
It's also why they try the gentle goading: the argument being that if you go sooner you might lose fewer seats, which I think is essentially nonsense.
You reckon he goes for October, or that it ends up in January by default because he can’t take a decision?
November 14th. Announced at Tory conference
Is that not the worst possible date? A couple of weeks after the clocks go back, winter setting in making people generally miserable.
Meanwhile, in the six months since May, another million households have faced remortgage at much higher interest rates, and see themselves as much worse off than they were in 2019…
Sunak has an easy way of getting rid of Galloway from Parliament if he wants. One call to the king, and we all get to vote on May 2nd.
There won't be an election in May.
It's needed but won't happen. Sunak will leave it as long as possible.
Sunak will not be in post long after May
I agree that there is likely to be a VONC after the May locals, but he will survive. Only Truss wants the poisoned chalice, and even the Tories are not that daft.
The compelling features of a hypothetical Truss challenge is the tory members are addled enough to vote for her again and she's psychotic enough to believe she can win the subsequent GE.
Sunak has an easy way of getting rid of Galloway from Parliament if he wants. One call to the king, and we all get to vote on May 2nd.
There won't be an election in May.
It's needed but won't happen. Sunak will leave it as long as possible.
Sunak will not be in post long after May
I agree that there is likely to be a VONC after the May locals, but he will survive. Only Truss wants the poisoned chalice, and even the Tories are not that daft.
The compelling features of a hypothetical Truss challenge is the tory members are addled enough to vote for her again and she's psychotic enough to believe she can win the subsequent GE.
Although that said, given the truly labyrinthine rules on capital gains tax on property, I'm not sure even if she's broken the letter of the law it would gain much traction. All she will have to do is plead ignorance, which would be the case for most people who are not trained accountants (including not a few solicitors).
If she needed to turn it around, she could start by pointing out our tax system is a shambles and committing Labour to simplifying it.
This is annoying Mr Neidle.
Rayner said in a statement last week: “As with the majority of ordinary people who sell their own homes, I was not liable for capital gains tax because it was my home and the only one I owned.”
But the rules don’t work like that. We are exempt from capital gains tax (CGT) on our main residence, but married couples can only have one main residence between them.
So Rayner’s initial statement, that she wasn’t liable for capital gains tax because Vicarage Road was her home, was wrong. It’s understandable that she didn’t understand the position in 2015; it would have been a good idea to have taken advice, but many people don’t (and Rayner wasn’t an MP at the time). It’s less understandable that she doesn’t appear to have taken advice before putting out her statement nine years later.
After I and others identified the problem, Rayner failed to correct her original statement, and is now saying simply that “no capital gains tax was payable”. How could that be?
Jos Verstappen: Red Bull could be torn apart if Christian Horner stays
Team principal said Formula 1 should ‘move on’ after Max Verstappen won Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday, but star driver’s father disagrees
Max Verstappen’s father believes Red Bull will be torn apart if Christian Horner remains as their team principal.
Verstappen, the reigning world champion, won the 2024 season opener in Bahrain on Saturday despite the controversy surrounding his British team principal....
....Now, however, Jos has publicly questioned Horner’s position. “There is tension here while he remains in position,” he told the Daily Mail. “The team is in danger of being torn apart. It can’t go on the way it is. It will explode. He is playing the victim when he is the one causing the problems.”
Verstappen Sr has denied being involved in the attempts to unsettle Horner in both his personal and professional life. “That wouldn’t make sense,” he said. “Why would I do that when Max is doing so well here?” However, his latest comments have the potential to do so.
I wonder now if it might be May because if they announce tax cuts it gives Labour little time to respond and say if they'd keep them, whereas delaying gives Labour more time to evolve a plan plus time for more things to go wrong. On a practical level if combined with the locals, does anyone remember the snail count of 2015 especially in London and the Mets?. Final result Friday lunchtime.
It's wishful thinking that leads people to think it will be held in May, by those want to be rid of the Tories as soon as possible.
It's also why they try the gentle goading: the argument being that if you go sooner you might lose fewer seats, which I think is essentially nonsense.
You reckon he goes for October, or that it ends up in January by default because he can’t take a decision?
November 14th. Announced at Tory conference
Is that not the worst possible date? A couple of weeks after the clocks go back, winter setting in making people generally miserable.
Meanwhile, in the six months since May, another million households have faced remortgage at much higher interest rates, and see themselves as much worse off than they were in 2019…
It's why Jan 25 starts to look likely. There is always a reason to procrastinate.
Although that said, given the truly labyrinthine rules on capital gains tax on property, I'm not sure even if she's broken the letter of the law it would gain much traction. All she will have to do is plead ignorance, which would be the case for most people who are not trained accountants (including not a few solicitors).
If she needed to turn it around, she could start by pointing out our tax system is a shambles and committing Labour to simplifying it.
This is annoying Mr Neidle.
Rayner said in a statement last week: “As with the majority of ordinary people who sell their own homes, I was not liable for capital gains tax because it was my home and the only one I owned.”
But the rules don’t work like that. We are exempt from capital gains tax (CGT) on our main residence, but married couples can only have one main residence between them.
So Rayner’s initial statement, that she wasn’t liable for capital gains tax because Vicarage Road was her home, was wrong. It’s understandable that she didn’t understand the position in 2015; it would have been a good idea to have taken advice, but many people don’t (and Rayner wasn’t an MP at the time). It’s less understandable that she doesn’t appear to have taken advice before putting out her statement nine years later.
After I and others identified the problem, Rayner failed to correct her original statement, and is now saying simply that “no capital gains tax was payable”. How could that be?
Well, I'm not surprised he's Neidled, but the fact is the rules are bad and that's the fundamental problem. Similarly, an issue with buy to let sales is many solicitors appear to be unaware any CGT must be paid within 60 days and is levied at a different rate.
Sorting these issues out would be beneficial, although I won't hold my breath.
Sunak has an easy way of getting rid of Galloway from Parliament if he wants. One call to the king, and we all get to vote on May 2nd.
There won't be an election in May.
It's needed but won't happen. Sunak will leave it as long as possible. It will be a winter election. I think Jan 2025 most likely now.
I don't think such delay will benefit the Tories. They have severely overstayed their welcome, and the consequences for them just get worse.
I think January must be ruled out. The legal dissolution timetable makes it impossible to have a January election without the campaign running over Christmas. This won't happen.
For a cynical CCHQ staffer, the campaign running over the holidays is a feature, not a bug, because as you say, it will need to be a phoney war. This will nullify opposition parties' advantage in the ground game because they will not be able to send out their activists to canvass, leaflet or otherwise harass voters. And if it disadvantages Labour, LibDems and ScotNats, that helps the blue team.
January 2025. It buggers up the opposition ground game, Conservative voters are thought more likely to turn out in bad weather, and wintry seas will stop the small boats.
Sunak has an easy way of getting rid of Galloway from Parliament if he wants. One call to the king, and we all get to vote on May 2nd.
There won't be an election in May.
It's needed but won't happen. Sunak will leave it as long as possible. It will be a winter election. I think Jan 2025 most likely now.
I don't think such delay will benefit the Tories. They have severely overstayed their welcome, and the consequences for them just get worse.
I think January must be ruled out. The legal dissolution timetable makes it impossible to have a January election without the campaign running over Christmas. This won't happen.
For a cynical CCHQ staffer, the campaign running over the holidays is a feature, not a bug, because as you say, it will need to be a phoney war. This will nullify opposition parties' advantage in the ground game because they will not be able to send out their activists to canvass, leaflet or otherwise harass voters. And if it disadvantages Labour, LibDems and ScotNats, that helps the blue team.
January 2025. It buggers up the opposition ground game, Conservative voters are thought more likely to turn out in bad weather, and wintry seas will stop the small boats.
And, of course, postal votes favour the Cons.
OTOH the Christmas bills will have kicked in - depending on timing.
Jos Verstappen: Red Bull could be torn apart if Christian Horner stays
Team principal said Formula 1 should ‘move on’ after Max Verstappen won Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday, but star driver’s father disagrees
Max Verstappen’s father believes Red Bull will be torn apart if Christian Horner remains as their team principal.
Verstappen, the reigning world champion, won the 2024 season opener in Bahrain on Saturday despite the controversy surrounding his British team principal....
....Now, however, Jos has publicly questioned Horner’s position. “There is tension here while he remains in position,” he told the Daily Mail. “The team is in danger of being torn apart. It can’t go on the way it is. It will explode. He is playing the victim when he is the one causing the problems.”
Verstappen Sr has denied being involved in the attempts to unsettle Horner in both his personal and professional life. “That wouldn’t make sense,” he said. “Why would I do that when Max is doing so well here?” However, his latest comments have the potential to do so.
Sunak has an easy way of getting rid of Galloway from Parliament if he wants. One call to the king, and we all get to vote on May 2nd.
There won't be an election in May.
It's needed but won't happen. Sunak will leave it as long as possible. It will be a winter election. I think Jan 2025 most likely now.
I don't think such delay will benefit the Tories. They have severely overstayed their welcome, and the consequences for them just get worse.
I think January must be ruled out. The legal dissolution timetable makes it impossible to have a January election without the campaign running over Christmas. This won't happen.
For a cynical CCHQ staffer, the campaign running over the holidays is a feature, not a bug, because as you say, it will need to be a phoney war. This will nullify opposition parties' advantage in the ground game because they will not be able to send out their activists to canvass, leaflet or otherwise harass voters. And if it disadvantages Labour, LibDems and ScotNats, that helps the blue team.
January 2025. It buggers up the opposition ground game, Conservative voters are thought more likely to turn out in bad weather, and wintry seas will stop the small boats.
And, of course, postal votes favour the Cons.
With apologies to @BlancheLivermore I'm not sure that relying on postal votes at Christmas time would give quite the advantage you suggest.
I wonder now if it might be May because if they announce tax cuts it gives Labour little time to respond and say if they'd keep them, whereas delaying gives Labour more time to evolve a plan plus time for more things to go wrong. On a practical level if combined with the locals, does anyone remember the snail count of 2015 especially in London and the Mets?. Final result Friday lunchtime.
It's wishful thinking that leads people to think it will be held in May, by those want to be rid of the Tories as soon as possible.
It's also why they try the gentle goading: the argument being that if you go sooner you might lose fewer seats, which I think is essentially nonsense.
You reckon he goes for October, or that it ends up in January by default because he can’t take a decision?
November 14th. Announced at Tory conference
Is that not the worst possible date? A couple of weeks after the clocks go back, winter setting in making people generally miserable.
Meanwhile, in the six months since May, another million households have faced remortgage at much higher interest rates, and see themselves as much worse off than they were in 2019…
Sunak has an easy way of getting rid of Galloway from Parliament if he wants. One call to the king, and we all get to vote on May 2nd.
There won't be an election in May.
It's needed but won't happen. Sunak will leave it as long as possible. It will be a winter election. I think Jan 2025 most likely now.
I don't think such delay will benefit the Tories. They have severely overstayed their welcome, and the consequences for them just get worse.
I think January must be ruled out. The legal dissolution timetable makes it impossible to have a January election without the campaign running over Christmas. This won't happen.
For a cynical CCHQ staffer, the campaign running over the holidays is a feature, not a bug, because as you say, it will need to be a phoney war. This will nullify opposition parties' advantage in the ground game because they will not be able to send out their activists to canvass, leaflet or otherwise harass voters. And if it disadvantages Labour, LibDems and ScotNats, that helps the blue team.
January 2025. It buggers up the opposition ground game, Conservative voters are thought more likely to turn out in bad weather, and wintry seas will stop the small boats.
On the other hand January is always NHS crisis time.
Sunak has an easy way of getting rid of Galloway from Parliament if he wants. One call to the king, and we all get to vote on May 2nd.
There won't be an election in May.
It's needed but won't happen. Sunak will leave it as long as possible. It will be a winter election. I think Jan 2025 most likely now.
I don't think such delay will benefit the Tories. They have severely overstayed their welcome, and the consequences for them just get worse.
I think January must be ruled out. The legal dissolution timetable makes it impossible to have a January election without the campaign running over Christmas. This won't happen.
For a cynical CCHQ staffer, the campaign running over the holidays is a feature, not a bug, because as you say, it will need to be a phoney war. This will nullify opposition parties' advantage in the ground game because they will not be able to send out their activists to canvass, leaflet or otherwise harass voters. And if it disadvantages Labour, LibDems and ScotNats, that helps the blue team.
January 2025. It buggers up the opposition ground game, Conservative voters are thought more likely to turn out in bad weather, and wintry seas will stop the small boats.
And, of course, postal votes favour the Cons.
With apologies to @BlancheLivermore I'm not sure that relying on postal votes at Christmas time would give quite the advantage you suggest.
Indeed! The postal system is increasingly erratic to the point where I wonder if they will get through at all!
Looks like the traditional Sunday Rawnsley came out early this week, anyhow....
The police chiefs themselves have been strikingly reluctant to endorse Mr Sunak’s contention that Britain is descending into “mob rule”. This sounds like the kind of thing a rent-a-gob reactionary backbencher might spit out in the hope of being quoted by the Daily Mail. You don’t expect to hear that kind of nonsense coming out of the mouth of the prime minister.
There’s a need for a reasoned debate about the conduct and management of demonstrations. But that was not what the Tory leader was seeking to stimulate with those headline-hunting remarks [of last week]. He was conflating democratic protest with “mob rule” in a way that disdained and undermined Britain’s proud traditions of free assembly and free expression. This wild outburst did him no credit.
[This week's] was one of his better crafted speeches, even if the cynic in me wondered whether a deeply unpopular prime minister was trying to gain public favour by presentinging himself as the steady leader of the nation manning the thin line between stability and chaos. There is also a big underlying issue: the jarring discordance between Mr Sunak’s advocations of unity and mutual respect with the conduct of elements of his own party.
The Tory leader...has been flabby about policing extremism within his own ranks and this feebleness is sourced in a fear that they represent constituencies within his party that could make trouble for him. The Tory party’s hard right is the mob he feels most menaced by. He has not repudiated Ms Truss’s love-ins with the Trumpites. He sacked Ms Braverman as home secretary for an incendiary provocation about “hate marches” last November, but she was only in that profile-enhancing post in the first place because Mr Sunak struck a Faustian bargain with her when he thought he needed hard-right support to secure the premiership. He handed a louder mic to Lee Anderson by promoting him to deputy chair of the Tory party, a role he exploited to platform his noxious prejudices, until he quit over Rwanda.
Only extremists will disagree with the prime minister when he says we should not allow them to hijack our politics. More’s the pity that he has too often behaved like a hostage of the hate-mongers within his own party.
Something to remember.
How many MPs have we had since, 1980 say? A few thousand?
We’ve had 5 murders, innumerable assaults and a barrage of vile threats. For example, women MPs get sexual threats on a daily basis.
A number of MPs carry guns to protect themselves against terrorist threats, as assessed as real and probable by the intelligence services.
A larger number wear stab vests when dealing with the public.
Every MP (pretty much) has had occasions when the stalking/threats have risen to the point the police start individually guarding them and their families.
Talk about a minority under siege.
Makes you wonder about the effect on attitude, doesn’t it?
Sunak has an easy way of getting rid of Galloway from Parliament if he wants. One call to the king, and we all get to vote on May 2nd.
There won't be an election in May.
It's needed but won't happen. Sunak will leave it as long as possible.
Sunak will not be in post long after May
I agree that there is likely to be a VONC after the May locals, but he will survive. Only Truss wants the poisoned chalice, and even the Tories are not that daft.
The compelling features of a hypothetical Truss challenge is the tory members are addled enough to vote for her again and she's psychotic enough to believe she can win the subsequent GE.
So, odds on?
Again, not prepared to share where you gained this valuable insight?
Jos Verstappen: Red Bull could be torn apart if Christian Horner stays
Team principal said Formula 1 should ‘move on’ after Max Verstappen won Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday, but star driver’s father disagrees
Max Verstappen’s father believes Red Bull will be torn apart if Christian Horner remains as their team principal.
Verstappen, the reigning world champion, won the 2024 season opener in Bahrain on Saturday despite the controversy surrounding his British team principal....
....Now, however, Jos has publicly questioned Horner’s position. “There is tension here while he remains in position,” he told the Daily Mail. “The team is in danger of being torn apart. It can’t go on the way it is. It will explode. He is playing the victim when he is the one causing the problems.”
Verstappen Sr has denied being involved in the attempts to unsettle Horner in both his personal and professional life. “That wouldn’t make sense,” he said. “Why would I do that when Max is doing so well here?” However, his latest comments have the potential to do so.
There’s a full-on civil war going on behind the scenes.
There’s a lot of rumours online about the relationships between Horny, Jos V, and the woman who made the complaint.
If Horner was sensible, he'd sack Max Verstappen and replace him with Sir Lewis Hamilton this season.
Truly sad thing is, Horneygate is likely to be the most exciting thing to happen in F1 this season.
Well last night’s race was a total borefest, and if the budget cap cheating has entrenched an advantage over yet another year, there’s going to be little TV audience left by the summer in established markets.
Although that said, given the truly labyrinthine rules on capital gains tax on property, I'm not sure even if she's broken the letter of the law it would gain much traction. All she will have to do is plead ignorance, which would be the case for most people who are not trained accountants (including not a few solicitors).
If she needed to turn it around, she could start by pointing out our tax system is a shambles and committing Labour to simplifying it.
This is annoying Mr Neidle.
Rayner said in a statement last week: “As with the majority of ordinary people who sell their own homes, I was not liable for capital gains tax because it was my home and the only one I owned.”
But the rules don’t work like that. We are exempt from capital gains tax (CGT) on our main residence, but married couples can only have one main residence between them.
So Rayner’s initial statement, that she wasn’t liable for capital gains tax because Vicarage Road was her home, was wrong. It’s understandable that she didn’t understand the position in 2015; it would have been a good idea to have taken advice, but many people don’t (and Rayner wasn’t an MP at the time). It’s less understandable that she doesn’t appear to have taken advice before putting out her statement nine years later.
After I and others identified the problem, Rayner failed to correct her original statement, and is now saying simply that “no capital gains tax was payable”. How could that be?
But if you get married, then you've got a period to dispose of one house without incurring CGT because you were living in it. So her statement doesn't sound implausible. (Times piece paywalled, so I have no idea ifd this is disposed of therein.)
Sunak has an easy way of getting rid of Galloway from Parliament if he wants. One call to the king, and we all get to vote on May 2nd.
There won't be an election in May.
It's needed but won't happen. Sunak will leave it as long as possible. It will be a winter election. I think Jan 2025 most likely now.
I don't think such delay will benefit the Tories. They have severely overstayed their welcome, and the consequences for them just get worse.
I think January must be ruled out. The legal dissolution timetable makes it impossible to have a January election without the campaign running over Christmas. This won't happen.
For a cynical CCHQ staffer, the campaign running over the holidays is a feature, not a bug, because as you say, it will need to be a phoney war. This will nullify opposition parties' advantage in the ground game because they will not be able to send out their activists to canvass, leaflet or otherwise harass voters. And if it disadvantages Labour, LibDems and ScotNats, that helps the blue team.
January 2025. It buggers up the opposition ground game, Conservative voters are thought more likely to turn out in bad weather, and wintry seas will stop the small boats.
And, of course, postal votes favour the Cons.
...and Galloway.
January 23rd? Around the same time we complete our tax return and pay the outstanding amount.
I'm not sure it helps the Conservatives but it takes PM Rishi as far as he can go if a defeat remains on the cards.
Although that said, given the truly labyrinthine rules on capital gains tax on property, I'm not sure even if she's broken the letter of the law it would gain much traction. All she will have to do is plead ignorance, which would be the case for most people who are not trained accountants (including not a few solicitors).
If she needed to turn it around, she could start by pointing out our tax system is a shambles and committing Labour to simplifying it.
This is annoying Mr Neidle.
Rayner said in a statement last week: “As with the majority of ordinary people who sell their own homes, I was not liable for capital gains tax because it was my home and the only one I owned.”
But the rules don’t work like that. We are exempt from capital gains tax (CGT) on our main residence, but married couples can only have one main residence between them.
So Rayner’s initial statement, that she wasn’t liable for capital gains tax because Vicarage Road was her home, was wrong. It’s understandable that she didn’t understand the position in 2015; it would have been a good idea to have taken advice, but many people don’t (and Rayner wasn’t an MP at the time). It’s less understandable that she doesn’t appear to have taken advice before putting out her statement nine years later.
After I and others identified the problem, Rayner failed to correct her original statement, and is now saying simply that “no capital gains tax was payable”. How could that be?
But if you get married, then you've got a period to dispose of one house without incurring CGT because you were living in it. So her statement doesn't sound implausible. (Times piece paywalled, so I have no idea ifd this is disposed of therein.)
Although that said, given the truly labyrinthine rules on capital gains tax on property, I'm not sure even if she's broken the letter of the law it would gain much traction. All she will have to do is plead ignorance, which would be the case for most people who are not trained accountants (including not a few solicitors).
If she needed to turn it around, she could start by pointing out our tax system is a shambles and committing Labour to simplifying it.
I've not (so far) heard anyone talk about Angela Rayner's tax affairs. If anything, the two homes part might have more resonance. The danger is if Keir Starmer sees this as an opportunity to demote her, which he tried once before.
Sunak has an easy way of getting rid of Galloway from Parliament if he wants. One call to the king, and we all get to vote on May 2nd.
There won't be an election in May.
It's needed but won't happen. Sunak will leave it as long as possible. It will be a winter election. I think Jan 2025 most likely now.
I don't think such delay will benefit the Tories. They have severely overstayed their welcome, and the consequences for them just get worse.
I think January must be ruled out. The legal dissolution timetable makes it impossible to have a January election without the campaign running over Christmas. This won't happen.
For a cynical CCHQ staffer, the campaign running over the holidays is a feature, not a bug, because as you say, it will need to be a phoney war. This will nullify opposition parties' advantage in the ground game because they will not be able to send out their activists to canvass, leaflet or otherwise harass voters. And if it disadvantages Labour, LibDems and ScotNats, that helps the blue team.
January 2025. It buggers up the opposition ground game, Conservative voters are thought more likely to turn out in bad weather, and wintry seas will stop the small boats.
And, of course, postal votes favour the Cons.
With apologies to @BlancheLivermore I'm not sure that relying on postal votes at Christmas time would give quite the advantage you suggest.
Indeed! The postal system is increasingly erratic to the point where I wonder if they will get through at all!
Oh, they'll just change the law to make it a criminal offence to down tools at Christmas, or allow people to vote in advance of elections with a standing order-type mandate "for established parties with more than 50 seats", you know, or something.
Although that said, given the truly labyrinthine rules on capital gains tax on property, I'm not sure even if she's broken the letter of the law it would gain much traction. All she will have to do is plead ignorance, which would be the case for most people who are not trained accountants (including not a few solicitors).
If she needed to turn it around, she could start by pointing out our tax system is a shambles and committing Labour to simplifying it.
This is annoying Mr Neidle.
Rayner said in a statement last week: “As with the majority of ordinary people who sell their own homes, I was not liable for capital gains tax because it was my home and the only one I owned.”
But the rules don’t work like that. We are exempt from capital gains tax (CGT) on our main residence, but married couples can only have one main residence between them.
So Rayner’s initial statement, that she wasn’t liable for capital gains tax because Vicarage Road was her home, was wrong. It’s understandable that she didn’t understand the position in 2015; it would have been a good idea to have taken advice, but many people don’t (and Rayner wasn’t an MP at the time). It’s less understandable that she doesn’t appear to have taken advice before putting out her statement nine years later.
After I and others identified the problem, Rayner failed to correct her original statement, and is now saying simply that “no capital gains tax was payable”. How could that be?
But if you get married, then you've got a period to dispose of one house without incurring CGT because you were living in it. So her statement doesn't sound implausible. (Times piece paywalled, so I have no idea ifd this is disposed of therein.)
Also a married couple can change their main residence to the second property before selling it, though need to be able to back that up with evidence.
Although that said, given the truly labyrinthine rules on capital gains tax on property, I'm not sure even if she's broken the letter of the law it would gain much traction. All she will have to do is plead ignorance, which would be the case for most people who are not trained accountants (including not a few solicitors).
If she needed to turn it around, she could start by pointing out our tax system is a shambles and committing Labour to simplifying it.
I've not (so far) heard anyone talk about Angela Rayner's tax affairs. If anything, the two homes part might have more resonance. The danger is if Keir Starmer sees this as an opportunity to demote her, which he tried once before.
Isn’t the issue that she was *elected* as deputy leader, so SKS has to live with her?
Sunak has an easy way of getting rid of Galloway from Parliament if he wants. One call to the king, and we all get to vote on May 2nd.
There won't be an election in May.
It's needed but won't happen. Sunak will leave it as long as possible.
Sunak will not be in post long after May
I agree that there is likely to be a VONC after the May locals, but he will survive. Only Truss wants the poisoned chalice, and even the Tories are not that daft.
The compelling features of a hypothetical Truss challenge is the tory members are addled enough to vote for her again and she's psychotic enough to believe she can win the subsequent GE.
So, odds on?
Again, not prepared to share where you gained this valuable insight?
My fevered imagination and the tip from @DougSeal!
Although that said, given the truly labyrinthine rules on capital gains tax on property, I'm not sure even if she's broken the letter of the law it would gain much traction. All she will have to do is plead ignorance, which would be the case for most people who are not trained accountants (including not a few solicitors).
If she needed to turn it around, she could start by pointing out our tax system is a shambles and committing Labour to simplifying it.
I've not (so far) heard anyone talk about Angela Rayner's tax affairs. If anything, the two homes part might have more resonance. The danger is if Keir Starmer sees this as an opportunity to demote her, which he tried once before.
Isn’t the issue that she was *elected* as deputy leader, so SKS has to live with her?
*raises eyebrows*
Well, that would certainly complicate her tax affairs, but I think it would be lower down the list of press interest.
Jos Verstappen: Red Bull could be torn apart if Christian Horner stays
Team principal said Formula 1 should ‘move on’ after Max Verstappen won Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday, but star driver’s father disagrees
Max Verstappen’s father believes Red Bull will be torn apart if Christian Horner remains as their team principal.
Verstappen, the reigning world champion, won the 2024 season opener in Bahrain on Saturday despite the controversy surrounding his British team principal....
....Now, however, Jos has publicly questioned Horner’s position. “There is tension here while he remains in position,” he told the Daily Mail. “The team is in danger of being torn apart. It can’t go on the way it is. It will explode. He is playing the victim when he is the one causing the problems.”
Verstappen Sr has denied being involved in the attempts to unsettle Horner in both his personal and professional life. “That wouldn’t make sense,” he said. “Why would I do that when Max is doing so well here?” However, his latest comments have the potential to do so.
There’s a full-on civil war going on behind the scenes.
There’s a lot of rumours online about the relationships between Horny, Jos V, and the woman who made the complaint.
If Horner was sensible, he'd sack Max Verstappen and replace him with Sir Lewis Hamilton this season.
Truly sad thing is, Horneygate is likely to be the most exciting thing to happen in F1 this season.
Well last night’s race was a total borefest, and if the budget cap cheating has entrenched an advantage over yet another year, there’s going to be little TV audience left by the summer in established markets.
Indeed, another sad thing is if there were no Red Bull we would have a really exciting season just like last season with 34 points separating third to seventh in drivers' championship.
Although that said, given the truly labyrinthine rules on capital gains tax on property, I'm not sure even if she's broken the letter of the law it would gain much traction. All she will have to do is plead ignorance, which would be the case for most people who are not trained accountants (including not a few solicitors).
If she needed to turn it around, she could start by pointing out our tax system is a shambles and committing Labour to simplifying it.
I've not (so far) heard anyone talk about Angela Rayner's tax affairs. If anything, the two homes part might have more resonance. The danger is if Keir Starmer sees this as an opportunity to demote her, which he tried once before.
Two homes? Plenty of relationships are in that position - and many married couples have had that as an evolutionary stage of their lives for obvious practical reasons.
Jos Verstappen: Red Bull could be torn apart if Christian Horner stays
Team principal said Formula 1 should ‘move on’ after Max Verstappen won Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday, but star driver’s father disagrees
Max Verstappen’s father believes Red Bull will be torn apart if Christian Horner remains as their team principal.
Verstappen, the reigning world champion, won the 2024 season opener in Bahrain on Saturday despite the controversy surrounding his British team principal....
....Now, however, Jos has publicly questioned Horner’s position. “There is tension here while he remains in position,” he told the Daily Mail. “The team is in danger of being torn apart. It can’t go on the way it is. It will explode. He is playing the victim when he is the one causing the problems.”
Verstappen Sr has denied being involved in the attempts to unsettle Horner in both his personal and professional life. “That wouldn’t make sense,” he said. “Why would I do that when Max is doing so well here?” However, his latest comments have the potential to do so.
There’s a full-on civil war going on behind the scenes.
There’s a lot of rumours online about the relationships between Horny, Jos V, and the woman who made the complaint.
If Horner was sensible, he'd sack Max Verstappen and replace him with Sir Lewis Hamilton this season.
Truly sad thing is, Horneygate is likely to be the most exciting thing to happen in F1 this season.
Well last night’s race was a total borefest, and if the budget cap cheating has entrenched an advantage over yet another year, there’s going to be little TV audience left by the summer in established markets.
Indeed, another sad thing is if there were no Red Bull we would have a really exciting season just like last season with 34 points separating third to seventh in drivers' championship.
Although that said, given the truly labyrinthine rules on capital gains tax on property, I'm not sure even if she's broken the letter of the law it would gain much traction. All she will have to do is plead ignorance, which would be the case for most people who are not trained accountants (including not a few solicitors).
If she needed to turn it around, she could start by pointing out our tax system is a shambles and committing Labour to simplifying it.
I've not (so far) heard anyone talk about Angela Rayner's tax affairs. If anything, the two homes part might have more resonance. The danger is if Keir Starmer sees this as an opportunity to demote her, which he tried once before.
Isn’t the issue that she was *elected* as deputy leader, so SKS has to live with her?
Yes but there are other jobs that can be removed, either now or after the election. She shadows Michael Gove at Levelling Up, for instance.
Although that said, given the truly labyrinthine rules on capital gains tax on property, I'm not sure even if she's broken the letter of the law it would gain much traction. All she will have to do is plead ignorance, which would be the case for most people who are not trained accountants (including not a few solicitors).
If she needed to turn it around, she could start by pointing out our tax system is a shambles and committing Labour to simplifying it.
I've not (so far) heard anyone talk about Angela Rayner's tax affairs. If anything, the two homes part might have more resonance. The danger is if Keir Starmer sees this as an opportunity to demote her, which he tried once before.
Two homes? Plenty of relationships are in that position - and many married couples have had that as an evolutionary stage of their lives for obvious practical reasons.
Two houses for "obvious practical reasons" ? Married couples ?!
I wonder now if it might be May because if they announce tax cuts it gives Labour little time to respond and say if they'd keep them, whereas delaying gives Labour more time to evolve a plan plus time for more things to go wrong. On a practical level if combined with the locals, does anyone remember the snail count of 2015 especially in London and the Mets?. Final result Friday lunchtime.
It's wishful thinking that leads people to think it will be held in May, by those want to be rid of the Tories as soon as possible.
It's also why they try the gentle goading: the argument being that if you go sooner you might lose fewer seats, which I think is essentially nonsense.
You reckon he goes for October, or that it ends up in January by default because he can’t take a decision?
November 14th. Announced at Tory conference
I still have a hunch it will be May. Leaving it to the autumn effectively means Sunak has no control over the timing (given October v November makes not much difference). The only way he can control the narrative is go for May when the consensus is the autumn.
Advantages of May: - Avoids fall-out from the locals. - Forestalls any further major division or a leadership challenge. - Energy prices will fall in April. - Any tax cuts will have appeared in April payslips. - Boat numbers will be yet to rise. - Inflation probably back at target (temporarily). - Mortgage rates falling and fewer will have switched to higher fixed rate (than will have by the autumn).
Advantages of Oct/Nov: - Something might turn up. - Sunak spends more time as PM.
On topic, Galloway is a cynical opportunist, but also a one man band. I don't see him having much impact, and likely won't hold Rochdale.
Though whichever party signs up the Rochdale Independent as their candidate may do well.
Didn't Dead Ringers portray him as a fast talking hypnotist? There's clearly something about his stick that works face to face, but not via mass media, or for very long.
Looks like the traditional Sunday Rawnsley came out early this week, anyhow....
The police chiefs themselves have been strikingly reluctant to endorse Mr Sunak’s contention that Britain is descending into “mob rule”. This sounds like the kind of thing a rent-a-gob reactionary backbencher might spit out in the hope of being quoted by the Daily Mail. You don’t expect to hear that kind of nonsense coming out of the mouth of the prime minister.
There’s a need for a reasoned debate about the conduct and management of demonstrations. But that was not what the Tory leader was seeking to stimulate with those headline-hunting remarks [of last week]. He was conflating democratic protest with “mob rule” in a way that disdained and undermined Britain’s proud traditions of free assembly and free expression. This wild outburst did him no credit.
[This week's] was one of his better crafted speeches, even if the cynic in me wondered whether a deeply unpopular prime minister was trying to gain public favour by presentinging himself as the steady leader of the nation manning the thin line between stability and chaos. There is also a big underlying issue: the jarring discordance between Mr Sunak’s advocations of unity and mutual respect with the conduct of elements of his own party.
The Tory leader...has been flabby about policing extremism within his own ranks and this feebleness is sourced in a fear that they represent constituencies within his party that could make trouble for him. The Tory party’s hard right is the mob he feels most menaced by. He has not repudiated Ms Truss’s love-ins with the Trumpites. He sacked Ms Braverman as home secretary for an incendiary provocation about “hate marches” last November, but she was only in that profile-enhancing post in the first place because Mr Sunak struck a Faustian bargain with her when he thought he needed hard-right support to secure the premiership. He handed a louder mic to Lee Anderson by promoting him to deputy chair of the Tory party, a role he exploited to platform his noxious prejudices, until he quit over Rwanda.
Only extremists will disagree with the prime minister when he says we should not allow them to hijack our politics. More’s the pity that he has too often behaved like a hostage of the hate-mongers within his own party.
Something to remember.
How many MPs have we had since, 1980 say? A few thousand?
We’ve had 5 murders, innumerable assaults and a barrage of vile threats. For example, women MPs get sexual threats on a daily basis.
A number of MPs carry guns to protect themselves against terrorist threats, as assessed as real and probable by the intelligence services.
A larger number wear stab vests when dealing with the public.
Every MP (pretty much) has had occasions when the stalking/threats have risen to the point the police start individually guarding them and their families.
Talk about a minority under siege.
Makes you wonder about the effect on attitude, doesn’t it?
Does not condone the crapiness, greed or uselessness of politicians.
Looks like the traditional Sunday Rawnsley came out early this week, anyhow....
The police chiefs themselves have been strikingly reluctant to endorse Mr Sunak’s contention that Britain is descending into “mob rule”. This sounds like the kind of thing a rent-a-gob reactionary backbencher might spit out in the hope of being quoted by the Daily Mail. You don’t expect to hear that kind of nonsense coming out of the mouth of the prime minister.
There’s a need for a reasoned debate about the conduct and management of demonstrations. But that was not what the Tory leader was seeking to stimulate with those headline-hunting remarks [of last week]. He was conflating democratic protest with “mob rule” in a way that disdained and undermined Britain’s proud traditions of free assembly and free expression. This wild outburst did him no credit.
[This week's] was one of his better crafted speeches, even if the cynic in me wondered whether a deeply unpopular prime minister was trying to gain public favour by presentinging himself as the steady leader of the nation manning the thin line between stability and chaos. There is also a big underlying issue: the jarring discordance between Mr Sunak’s advocations of unity and mutual respect with the conduct of elements of his own party.
The Tory leader...has been flabby about policing extremism within his own ranks and this feebleness is sourced in a fear that they represent constituencies within his party that could make trouble for him. The Tory party’s hard right is the mob he feels most menaced by. He has not repudiated Ms Truss’s love-ins with the Trumpites. He sacked Ms Braverman as home secretary for an incendiary provocation about “hate marches” last November, but she was only in that profile-enhancing post in the first place because Mr Sunak struck a Faustian bargain with her when he thought he needed hard-right support to secure the premiership. He handed a louder mic to Lee Anderson by promoting him to deputy chair of the Tory party, a role he exploited to platform his noxious prejudices, until he quit over Rwanda.
Only extremists will disagree with the prime minister when he says we should not allow them to hijack our politics. More’s the pity that he has too often behaved like a hostage of the hate-mongers within his own party.
Something to remember.
How many MPs have we had since, 1980 say? A few thousand?
We’ve had 5 murders, innumerable assaults and a barrage of vile threats. For example, women MPs get sexual threats on a daily basis.
A number of MPs carry guns to protect themselves against terrorist threats, as assessed as real and probable by the intelligence services.
A larger number wear stab vests when dealing with the public.
Every MP (pretty much) has had occasions when the stalking/threats have risen to the point the police start individually guarding them and their families.
Talk about a minority under siege.
Makes you wonder about the effect on attitude, doesn’t it?
Looks like the traditional Sunday Rawnsley came out early this week, anyhow....
The police chiefs themselves have been strikingly reluctant to endorse Mr Sunak’s contention that Britain is descending into “mob rule”. This sounds like the kind of thing a rent-a-gob reactionary backbencher might spit out in the hope of being quoted by the Daily Mail. You don’t expect to hear that kind of nonsense coming out of the mouth of the prime minister.
There’s a need for a reasoned debate about the conduct and management of demonstrations. But that was not what the Tory leader was seeking to stimulate with those headline-hunting remarks [of last week]. He was conflating democratic protest with “mob rule” in a way that disdained and undermined Britain’s proud traditions of free assembly and free expression. This wild outburst did him no credit.
[This week's] was one of his better crafted speeches, even if the cynic in me wondered whether a deeply unpopular prime minister was trying to gain public favour by presentinging himself as the steady leader of the nation manning the thin line between stability and chaos. There is also a big underlying issue: the jarring discordance between Mr Sunak’s advocations of unity and mutual respect with the conduct of elements of his own party.
The Tory leader...has been flabby about policing extremism within his own ranks and this feebleness is sourced in a fear that they represent constituencies within his party that could make trouble for him. The Tory party’s hard right is the mob he feels most menaced by. He has not repudiated Ms Truss’s love-ins with the Trumpites. He sacked Ms Braverman as home secretary for an incendiary provocation about “hate marches” last November, but she was only in that profile-enhancing post in the first place because Mr Sunak struck a Faustian bargain with her when he thought he needed hard-right support to secure the premiership. He handed a louder mic to Lee Anderson by promoting him to deputy chair of the Tory party, a role he exploited to platform his noxious prejudices, until he quit over Rwanda.
Only extremists will disagree with the prime minister when he says we should not allow them to hijack our politics. More’s the pity that he has too often behaved like a hostage of the hate-mongers within his own party.
Something to remember.
How many MPs have we had since, 1980 say? A few thousand?
We’ve had 5 murders, innumerable assaults and a barrage of vile threats. For example, women MPs get sexual threats on a daily basis.
A number of MPs carry guns to protect themselves against terrorist threats, as assessed as real and probable by the intelligence services.
A larger number wear stab vests when dealing with the public.
Every MP (pretty much) has had occasions when the stalking/threats have risen to the point the police start individually guarding them and their families.
Talk about a minority under siege.
Makes you wonder about the effect on attitude, doesn’t it?
Would it be gauche to point out 60% of those 5 MPs were murdered by Christian terrorists/freedom fighters?
Looks like the traditional Sunday Rawnsley came out early this week, anyhow....
The police chiefs themselves have been strikingly reluctant to endorse Mr Sunak’s contention that Britain is descending into “mob rule”. This sounds like the kind of thing a rent-a-gob reactionary backbencher might spit out in the hope of being quoted by the Daily Mail. You don’t expect to hear that kind of nonsense coming out of the mouth of the prime minister.
There’s a need for a reasoned debate about the conduct and management of demonstrations. But that was not what the Tory leader was seeking to stimulate with those headline-hunting remarks [of last week]. He was conflating democratic protest with “mob rule” in a way that disdained and undermined Britain’s proud traditions of free assembly and free expression. This wild outburst did him no credit.
[This week's] was one of his better crafted speeches, even if the cynic in me wondered whether a deeply unpopular prime minister was trying to gain public favour by presentinging himself as the steady leader of the nation manning the thin line between stability and chaos. There is also a big underlying issue: the jarring discordance between Mr Sunak’s advocations of unity and mutual respect with the conduct of elements of his own party.
The Tory leader...has been flabby about policing extremism within his own ranks and this feebleness is sourced in a fear that they represent constituencies within his party that could make trouble for him. The Tory party’s hard right is the mob he feels most menaced by. He has not repudiated Ms Truss’s love-ins with the Trumpites. He sacked Ms Braverman as home secretary for an incendiary provocation about “hate marches” last November, but she was only in that profile-enhancing post in the first place because Mr Sunak struck a Faustian bargain with her when he thought he needed hard-right support to secure the premiership. He handed a louder mic to Lee Anderson by promoting him to deputy chair of the Tory party, a role he exploited to platform his noxious prejudices, until he quit over Rwanda.
Only extremists will disagree with the prime minister when he says we should not allow them to hijack our politics. More’s the pity that he has too often behaved like a hostage of the hate-mongers within his own party.
Something to remember.
How many MPs have we had since, 1980 say? A few thousand?
We’ve had 5 murders, innumerable assaults and a barrage of vile threats. For example, women MPs get sexual threats on a daily basis.
A number of MPs carry guns to protect themselves against terrorist threats, as assessed as real and probable by the intelligence services.
A larger number wear stab vests when dealing with the public.
Every MP (pretty much) has had occasions when the stalking/threats have risen to the point the police start individually guarding them and their families.
Talk about a minority under siege.
Makes you wonder about the effect on attitude, doesn’t it?
Does not condone the crapiness, greed or uselessness of politicians.
No, it doesn’t.
But it explains why some of them feel “under siege”
And remember, this isn’t just for Them’uns, it goes for the MPs of *your* political party. No matter what that is.
EDIT: and I’m quite sure MSPs etc get a measure of the same shit.
Sunak could probably go for massive tax cuts and shunning the OBR at the moment - everyone expects a Labour victory, so it might have very little impact on the financial markets.
No, that would be suicidal. The markets would react because a GE outcome is never guaranteed.
George won the Rochdale by-election fair and square!
There are allegations about block votes in the large number of postals submitted. That’s hardly unique to Rochdale but is dodgy.
Ultimately Galloway won because his vote was motivated and nobody else’s was. He is legally elected, but that doesn’t make it right, in the exact same way that Rochdale electing a Britain First MP wouldn’t have been right.
Sunak has an easy way of getting rid of Galloway from Parliament if he wants. One call to the king, and we all get to vote on May 2nd.
There won't be an election in May.
It's needed but won't happen. Sunak will leave it as long as possible.
Sunak will not be in post long after May
I agree that there is likely to be a VONC after the May locals, but he will survive. Only Truss wants the poisoned chalice, and even the Tories are not that daft.
I genuinely don't buy this 'no one will want the poisoned chalice' line.
Say you're Penny Mordaunt for example (other candidates are available)...
You stand and somehow win the leadership from Sunak in June/July. Call an election at the earliest sensible opportunity (end of September?). Lose to a Labour landslide by say 10-15%. You can rightly say 'well that was 20-25% when I took over, so you need to stick with me as LOTO because I can close that gap in one term'. Then, with the economy shafted and multiple other issues facing the country, you have five years of bashing Starmer to get back to at least parity for the 2029 GE.
The flaw with my argument is the Tory members will choose a loon rather than Mordaunt but that won't put off candidates who think they might win a leadership contest. No lack of candidates in may opinion.
Jos Verstappen: Red Bull could be torn apart if Christian Horner stays
Team principal said Formula 1 should ‘move on’ after Max Verstappen won Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday, but star driver’s father disagrees
Max Verstappen’s father believes Red Bull will be torn apart if Christian Horner remains as their team principal.
Verstappen, the reigning world champion, won the 2024 season opener in Bahrain on Saturday despite the controversy surrounding his British team principal....
....Now, however, Jos has publicly questioned Horner’s position. “There is tension here while he remains in position,” he told the Daily Mail. “The team is in danger of being torn apart. It can’t go on the way it is. It will explode. He is playing the victim when he is the one causing the problems.”
Verstappen Sr has denied being involved in the attempts to unsettle Horner in both his personal and professional life. “That wouldn’t make sense,” he said. “Why would I do that when Max is doing so well here?” However, his latest comments have the potential to do so.
Looks like the traditional Sunday Rawnsley came out early this week, anyhow....
The police chiefs themselves have been strikingly reluctant to endorse Mr Sunak’s contention that Britain is descending into “mob rule”. This sounds like the kind of thing a rent-a-gob reactionary backbencher might spit out in the hope of being quoted by the Daily Mail. You don’t expect to hear that kind of nonsense coming out of the mouth of the prime minister.
There’s a need for a reasoned debate about the conduct and management of demonstrations. But that was not what the Tory leader was seeking to stimulate with those headline-hunting remarks [of last week]. He was conflating democratic protest with “mob rule” in a way that disdained and undermined Britain’s proud traditions of free assembly and free expression. This wild outburst did him no credit.
[This week's] was one of his better crafted speeches, even if the cynic in me wondered whether a deeply unpopular prime minister was trying to gain public favour by presentinging himself as the steady leader of the nation manning the thin line between stability and chaos. There is also a big underlying issue: the jarring discordance between Mr Sunak’s advocations of unity and mutual respect with the conduct of elements of his own party.
The Tory leader...has been flabby about policing extremism within his own ranks and this feebleness is sourced in a fear that they represent constituencies within his party that could make trouble for him. The Tory party’s hard right is the mob he feels most menaced by. He has not repudiated Ms Truss’s love-ins with the Trumpites. He sacked Ms Braverman as home secretary for an incendiary provocation about “hate marches” last November, but she was only in that profile-enhancing post in the first place because Mr Sunak struck a Faustian bargain with her when he thought he needed hard-right support to secure the premiership. He handed a louder mic to Lee Anderson by promoting him to deputy chair of the Tory party, a role he exploited to platform his noxious prejudices, until he quit over Rwanda.
Only extremists will disagree with the prime minister when he says we should not allow them to hijack our politics. More’s the pity that he has too often behaved like a hostage of the hate-mongers within his own party.
Something to remember.
How many MPs have we had since, 1980 say? A few thousand?
We’ve had 5 murders, innumerable assaults and a barrage of vile threats. For example, women MPs get sexual threats on a daily basis.
A number of MPs carry guns to protect themselves against terrorist threats, as assessed as real and probable by the intelligence services.
A larger number wear stab vests when dealing with the public.
Every MP (pretty much) has had occasions when the stalking/threats have risen to the point the police start individually guarding them and their families.
Talk about a minority under siege.
Makes you wonder about the effect on attitude, doesn’t it?
Would it be gauche to point out 60% of those 5 MPs were murdered by Christian terrorists/freedom fighters?
Yes, it would. I award you the Grand Cross Of The Order Of Whatabouterry, Third Class.
Incidentally most members of the PIRA weren’t church going, some were actually Protestant (yup!) and their idealogy was Republicanism, via 1798
I understand it burns some people, but terrorists get labelled according to their professed ideology and actions.
So in Northern Ireland you have Republican terrorists, and the Loyalist terrorists. The Loyalists are sometimes referred to as “Protestant” - this is because they profess specific, anti-Catholic ideology.
If you shout “Allan’s Snackbar!”, while stabbing/exploding etc, then that’s what your cause is.
The Swanage Railway relies heavily on the summer tourist season and it rents much of its land from the council as opposed to owning it outright. So it's struggling financially.
Lots of heritage railways are likely to go to the wall in a next few years unless people start using them again at pre-Covid levels. Numbers are still down 25% from 2019.
If you care, please try and make it a tradition for you and your families to go at least once a year, and buy a souvenir/make a donation on top.
Looks like the traditional Sunday Rawnsley came out early this week, anyhow....
The police chiefs themselves have been strikingly reluctant to endorse Mr Sunak’s contention that Britain is descending into “mob rule”. This sounds like the kind of thing a rent-a-gob reactionary backbencher might spit out in the hope of being quoted by the Daily Mail. You don’t expect to hear that kind of nonsense coming out of the mouth of the prime minister.
There’s a need for a reasoned debate about the conduct and management of demonstrations. But that was not what the Tory leader was seeking to stimulate with those headline-hunting remarks [of last week]. He was conflating democratic protest with “mob rule” in a way that disdained and undermined Britain’s proud traditions of free assembly and free expression. This wild outburst did him no credit.
[This week's] was one of his better crafted speeches, even if the cynic in me wondered whether a deeply unpopular prime minister was trying to gain public favour by presentinging himself as the steady leader of the nation manning the thin line between stability and chaos. There is also a big underlying issue: the jarring discordance between Mr Sunak’s advocations of unity and mutual respect with the conduct of elements of his own party.
The Tory leader...has been flabby about policing extremism within his own ranks and this feebleness is sourced in a fear that they represent constituencies within his party that could make trouble for him. The Tory party’s hard right is the mob he feels most menaced by. He has not repudiated Ms Truss’s love-ins with the Trumpites. He sacked Ms Braverman as home secretary for an incendiary provocation about “hate marches” last November, but she was only in that profile-enhancing post in the first place because Mr Sunak struck a Faustian bargain with her when he thought he needed hard-right support to secure the premiership. He handed a louder mic to Lee Anderson by promoting him to deputy chair of the Tory party, a role he exploited to platform his noxious prejudices, until he quit over Rwanda.
Only extremists will disagree with the prime minister when he says we should not allow them to hijack our politics. More’s the pity that he has too often behaved like a hostage of the hate-mongers within his own party.
Something to remember.
How many MPs have we had since, 1980 say? A few thousand?
We’ve had 5 murders, innumerable assaults and a barrage of vile threats. For example, women MPs get sexual threats on a daily basis.
A number of MPs carry guns to protect themselves against terrorist threats, as assessed as real and probable by the intelligence services.
A larger number wear stab vests when dealing with the public.
Every MP (pretty much) has had occasions when the stalking/threats have risen to the point the police start individually guarding them and their families.
Talk about a minority under siege.
Makes you wonder about the effect on attitude, doesn’t it?
Would it be gauche to point out 60% of those 5 MPs were murdered by Christian terrorists/freedom fighters?
Yes, it would. I award you the Grand Cross Of The Order Of Whatabouterry, Third Class.
Incidentally most members of the PIRA weren’t church going, some were actually Protestant (yup!) and their idealogy was Republicanism, via 1798
I understand it burns some people, but terrorists get labelled according to their professed ideology and actions.
So in Northern Ireland you have Republican terrorists, and the Loyalist terrorists. The Loyalists are sometimes referred to as “Protestant” - this is because they profess specific, anti-Catholic ideology.
If you shout “Allan’s Snackbar!”, while stabbing/exploding etc, then that’s what your cause is.
One thing that always cracked me up was that some Norn Iron terrorists were hesitant in going for peace was that it would have a negative impact on their non terrorist criminal activities which brought them in a lot of money.
Looks like the traditional Sunday Rawnsley came out early this week, anyhow....
The police chiefs themselves have been strikingly reluctant to endorse Mr Sunak’s contention that Britain is descending into “mob rule”. This sounds like the kind of thing a rent-a-gob reactionary backbencher might spit out in the hope of being quoted by the Daily Mail. You don’t expect to hear that kind of nonsense coming out of the mouth of the prime minister.
There’s a need for a reasoned debate about the conduct and management of demonstrations. But that was not what the Tory leader was seeking to stimulate with those headline-hunting remarks [of last week]. He was conflating democratic protest with “mob rule” in a way that disdained and undermined Britain’s proud traditions of free assembly and free expression. This wild outburst did him no credit.
[This week's] was one of his better crafted speeches, even if the cynic in me wondered whether a deeply unpopular prime minister was trying to gain public favour by presentinging himself as the steady leader of the nation manning the thin line between stability and chaos. There is also a big underlying issue: the jarring discordance between Mr Sunak’s advocations of unity and mutual respect with the conduct of elements of his own party.
The Tory leader...has been flabby about policing extremism within his own ranks and this feebleness is sourced in a fear that they represent constituencies within his party that could make trouble for him. The Tory party’s hard right is the mob he feels most menaced by. He has not repudiated Ms Truss’s love-ins with the Trumpites. He sacked Ms Braverman as home secretary for an incendiary provocation about “hate marches” last November, but she was only in that profile-enhancing post in the first place because Mr Sunak struck a Faustian bargain with her when he thought he needed hard-right support to secure the premiership. He handed a louder mic to Lee Anderson by promoting him to deputy chair of the Tory party, a role he exploited to platform his noxious prejudices, until he quit over Rwanda.
Only extremists will disagree with the prime minister when he says we should not allow them to hijack our politics. More’s the pity that he has too often behaved like a hostage of the hate-mongers within his own party.
Something to remember.
How many MPs have we had since, 1980 say? A few thousand?
We’ve had 5 murders, innumerable assaults and a barrage of vile threats. For example, women MPs get sexual threats on a daily basis.
A number of MPs carry guns to protect themselves against terrorist threats, as assessed as real and probable by the intelligence services.
A larger number wear stab vests when dealing with the public.
Every MP (pretty much) has had occasions when the stalking/threats have risen to the point the police start individually guarding them and their families.
Talk about a minority under siege.
Makes you wonder about the effect on attitude, doesn’t it?
Would it be gauche to point out 60% of those 5 MPs were murdered by Christian terrorists/freedom fighters?
Yes, it would. I award you the Grand Cross Of The Order Of Whatabouterry, Third Class.
Incidentally most members of the PIRA weren’t church going, some were actually Protestant (yup!) and their idealogy was Republicanism, via 1798
I understand it burns some people, but terrorists get labelled according to their professed ideology and actions.
So in Northern Ireland you have Republican terrorists, and the Loyalist terrorists. The Loyalists are sometimes referred to as “Protestant” - this is because they profess specific, anti-Catholic ideology.
If you shout “Allan’s Snackbar!”, while stabbing/exploding etc, then that’s what your cause is.
One thing that always cracked me up was that some Norn Iron terrorists were hesitant in going for peace was that it would have a negative impact on their non terrorist criminal activities which brought them in a lot of money.
They all were worried. Which is why the peace process included huge payouts for everyone at every level. And the Police Service was told, quite sharply, to *not* catch The Wrong Kind Of Criminaks.
Plus, the smart ones explained to the thick ones, that this meant a steady source of *legal* money at no risk. Crime, especially drug dealing, is far from a steady payer.
The real fun one is this - in all the years of conflict, very few senior people from either side were killed by the other side. Everyone knew where everyone lived - NI is a small place - where they worked. Taxi drivers would tell you when they passed Gerry’s house….
Although that said, given the truly labyrinthine rules on capital gains tax on property, I'm not sure even if she's broken the letter of the law it would gain much traction. All she will have to do is plead ignorance, which would be the case for most people who are not trained accountants (including not a few solicitors).
If she needed to turn it around, she could start by pointing out our tax system is a shambles and committing Labour to simplifying it.
I've not (so far) heard anyone talk about Angela Rayner's tax affairs. If anything, the two homes part might have more resonance. The danger is if Keir Starmer sees this as an opportunity to demote her, which he tried once before.
Isn’t the issue that she was *elected* as deputy leader, so SKS has to live with her?
I don't think Mrs Starmer would countenance that arrangement.
‘Everyone is terrified of King Gavin’: Newsom’s unchallenged anti-homelessness gambit https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/02/prop-1-ballot-measure-mental-health-battle-00144530 ..Prop 1 will make changes to the Mental Health Services Act, a tax on incomes over a million dollars that was groundbreaking when approved by voters in 2004. It gave counties fairly wide latitude to spend the money on whatever mental health programs they saw fit, with limited coverage for substance use disorders. Newsom has been itching to rewrite the law for years. When he devoted his entire State of the State Address in 2020 to the problem of homelessness, he excoriated counties for hoarding MHSA funds instead of using them to address the crisis.
After being sidetracked by the pandemic, Newsom finally had the chance to tackle the issue last year. Proposition 1 began its path to the ballot as two separate bills. One directed counties to change the way they spend and report their mental health budgets, requiring they spend more on housing and treatment for people in encampments. A companion bond issue committed $6.4 billion to fund new residential mental health and addiction treatment, and housing for veterans. Because voters approved the MHSA in 2004, they would now be required to weigh in on the dense new policy, rechristened the Behavioral Health Services Act...
Although that said, given the truly labyrinthine rules on capital gains tax on property, I'm not sure even if she's broken the letter of the law it would gain much traction. All she will have to do is plead ignorance, which would be the case for most people who are not trained accountants (including not a few solicitors).
If she needed to turn it around, she could start by pointing out our tax system is a shambles and committing Labour to simplifying it.
I've not (so far) heard anyone talk about Angela Rayner's tax affairs. If anything, the two homes part might have more resonance. The danger is if Keir Starmer sees this as an opportunity to demote her, which he tried once before.
Isn’t the issue that she was *elected* as deputy leader, so SKS has to live with her?
I don't think Mrs Starmer would countenance that arrangement.
‘Everyone is terrified of King Gavin’: Newsom’s unchallenged anti-homelessness gambit https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/02/prop-1-ballot-measure-mental-health-battle-00144530 ..Prop 1 will make changes to the Mental Health Services Act, a tax on incomes over a million dollars that was groundbreaking when approved by voters in 2004. It gave counties fairly wide latitude to spend the money on whatever mental health programs they saw fit, with limited coverage for substance use disorders. Newsom has been itching to rewrite the law for years. When he devoted his entire State of the State Address in 2020 to the problem of homelessness, he excoriated counties for hoarding MHSA funds instead of using them to address the crisis.
After being sidetracked by the pandemic, Newsom finally had the chance to tackle the issue last year. Proposition 1 began its path to the ballot as two separate bills. One directed counties to change the way they spend and report their mental health budgets, requiring they spend more on housing and treatment for people in encampments. A companion bond issue committed $6.4 billion to fund new residential mental health and addiction treatment, and housing for veterans. Because voters approved the MHSA in 2004, they would now be required to weigh in on the dense new policy, rechristened the Behavioral Health Services Act...
Using mental health funds to pay for housing. That's what I don't like about American politics: nothing does what it says on the tin.
Comments
Mr. Eagles, he was rather helped by Crassus. Ironic the Parthians didn't end up surviving all that much longer.
F1: first race not a classic. The Alonso bet, tipped in the blog, failed, but the early Perez each way bet did come off, so marginally green if you backed both.
Rawnsley gives Sunak both barrels.
Betting Post
F1: Backed Perez at 11 (12 with boost) on Ladbrokes to win each way in Saudi Arabia. He has a strong record there and the Red Bull remains the fastest car, plus Mercedes and Ferrari both had reliability concerns last time out (and higher temperatures may compromise Mercedes-powered cars even more).
Oh, 'eLection...'
I don't think such delay will benefit the Tories. They have severely overstayed their welcome, and the consequences for them just get worse.
Conservatives are also polling well when it comes to Panama’s May Presidential election.
On a practical level if combined with the locals, does anyone remember the snail count of 2015 especially in London and the Mets?. Final result Friday lunchtime.
I thought the last days of Brown’s government were a shambles but the current lot are worse.
It's also why they try the gentle goading: the argument being that if you go sooner you might lose fewer seats, which I think is essentially nonsense.
One chunk of the party will hold on to Nurse Rishi for fear of Braverman, another for fear of Truss (or a Trussalike), and so on. In a VONC, they all add up to save Sunak.
The Angela Rayner council house case, explained by a tax expert
Ignorance about tax is not new, but contradictions in the deputy Labour leader’s accounts are concerning, says Dan Neidle
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-angela-rayner-council-house-case-explained-by-a-tax-expert-8klnvzp0m
If she needed to turn it around, she could start by pointing out our tax system is a shambles and committing Labour to simplifying it.
The police chiefs themselves have been strikingly reluctant to endorse Mr Sunak’s contention that Britain is descending into “mob rule”. This sounds like the kind of thing a rent-a-gob reactionary backbencher might spit out in the hope of being quoted by the Daily Mail. You don’t expect to hear that kind of nonsense coming out of the mouth of the prime minister.
There’s a need for a reasoned debate about the conduct and management of demonstrations. But that was not what the Tory leader was seeking to stimulate with those headline-hunting remarks [of last week]. He was conflating democratic protest with “mob rule” in a way that disdained and undermined Britain’s proud traditions of free assembly and free expression. This wild outburst did him no credit.
[This week's] was one of his better crafted speeches, even if the cynic in me wondered whether a deeply unpopular prime minister was trying to gain public favour by presentinging himself as the steady leader of the nation manning the thin line between stability and chaos. There is also a big underlying issue: the jarring discordance between Mr Sunak’s advocations of unity and mutual respect with the conduct of elements of his own party.
The Tory leader...has been flabby about policing extremism within his own ranks and this feebleness is sourced in a fear that they represent constituencies within his party that could make trouble for him. The Tory party’s hard right is the mob he feels most menaced by. He has not repudiated Ms Truss’s love-ins with the Trumpites. He sacked Ms Braverman as home secretary for an incendiary provocation about “hate marches” last November, but she was only in that profile-enhancing post in the first place because Mr Sunak struck a Faustian bargain with her when he thought he needed hard-right support to secure the premiership. He handed a louder mic to Lee Anderson by promoting him to deputy chair of the Tory party, a role he exploited to platform his noxious prejudices, until he quit over Rwanda.
Only extremists will disagree with the prime minister when he says we should not allow them to hijack our politics. More’s the pity that he has too often behaved like a hostage of the hate-mongers within his own party.
I doubt January.
However, with his cancer diagnosis I wonder if his itinerary will change.
Seems a bit ghoulish to speculate that Sunak's options may have been increased by one man's illness, but...
Jos Verstappen: Red Bull could be torn apart if Christian Horner stays
Team principal said Formula 1 should ‘move on’ after Max Verstappen won Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday, but star driver’s father disagrees
Max Verstappen’s father believes Red Bull will be torn apart if Christian Horner remains as their team principal.
Verstappen, the reigning world champion, won the 2024 season opener in Bahrain on Saturday despite the controversy surrounding his British team principal....
....Now, however, Jos has publicly questioned Horner’s position. “There is tension here while he remains in position,” he told the Daily Mail. “The team is in danger of being torn apart. It can’t go on the way it is. It will explode. He is playing the victim when he is the one causing the problems.”
Verstappen Sr has denied being involved in the attempts to unsettle Horner in both his personal and professional life. “That wouldn’t make sense,” he said. “Why would I do that when Max is doing so well here?” However, his latest comments have the potential to do so.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/jos-verstappen-red-bull-could-be-torn-apart-if-christian-horner-stays-8j7c5kfht
Amusing to note that a very familiar debate is ongoing over on Rail Forums on the thread about the Swanage Railway going cashless.
Has anyone given up cash/contactless for Lent?
Meanwhile, in the six months since May, another million households have faced remortgage at much higher interest rates, and see themselves as much worse off than they were in 2019…
Rayner said in a statement last week: “As with the majority of ordinary people who sell their own homes, I was not liable for capital gains tax because it was my home and the only one I owned.”
But the rules don’t work like that. We are exempt from capital gains tax (CGT) on our main residence, but married couples can only have one main residence between them.
So Rayner’s initial statement, that she wasn’t liable for capital gains tax because Vicarage Road was her home, was wrong. It’s understandable that she didn’t understand the position in 2015; it would have been a good idea to have taken advice, but many people don’t (and Rayner wasn’t an MP at the time). It’s less understandable that she doesn’t appear to have taken advice before putting out her statement nine years later.
After I and others identified the problem, Rayner failed to correct her original statement, and is now saying simply that “no capital gains tax was payable”. How could that be?
There’s a lot of rumours online about the relationships between Horny, Jos V, and the woman who made the complaint.
Sorting these issues out would be beneficial, although I won't hold my breath.
January 2025. It buggers up the opposition ground game, Conservative voters are thought more likely to turn out in bad weather, and wintry seas will stop the small boats.
I have a work meeting with external parties in a fortnight, I have been told one of the external parties absolutely hates brashness.
To quote my bosses
'For the love of God, please rein that shit in at the meeting'
OTOH the Christmas bills will have kicked in - depending on timing.
Truly sad thing is, Horneygate is likely to be the most exciting thing to happen in F1 this season.
Current evidence suggests the Tories are very much that daft...
How many MPs have we had since, 1980 say? A few thousand?
We’ve had 5 murders, innumerable assaults and a barrage of vile threats. For example, women MPs get sexual threats on a daily basis.
A number of MPs carry guns to protect themselves against terrorist threats, as assessed as real and probable by the intelligence services.
A larger number wear stab vests when dealing with the public.
Every MP (pretty much) has had occasions when the stalking/threats have risen to the point the police start individually guarding them and their families.
Talk about a minority under siege.
Makes you wonder about the effect on attitude, doesn’t it?
January 23rd? Around the same time we complete our tax return and pay the outstanding amount.
I'm not sure it helps the Conservatives but it takes PM Rishi as far as he can go if a defeat remains on the cards.
Though whichever party signs up the Rochdale Independent as their candidate may do well.
Well, that would certainly complicate her tax affairs, but I think it would be lower down the list of press interest.
George won the Rochdale by-election fair and square!
Go on, do explain.
Advantages of May:
- Avoids fall-out from the locals.
- Forestalls any further major division or a leadership challenge.
- Energy prices will fall in April.
- Any tax cuts will have appeared in April payslips.
- Boat numbers will be yet to rise.
- Inflation probably back at target (temporarily).
- Mortgage rates falling and fewer will have switched to higher fixed rate (than will have by the autumn).
Advantages of Oct/Nov:
- Something might turn up.
- Sunak spends more time as PM.
Thank goodness.
But it explains why some of them feel “under siege”
And remember, this isn’t just for Them’uns, it goes for the MPs of *your* political party. No matter what that is.
EDIT: and I’m quite sure MSPs etc get a measure of the same shit.
Ultimately Galloway won because his vote was motivated and nobody else’s was. He is legally elected, but that doesn’t make it right, in the exact same way that Rochdale electing a Britain First MP wouldn’t have been right.
Say you're Penny Mordaunt for example (other candidates are available)...
You stand and somehow win the leadership from Sunak in June/July. Call an election at the earliest sensible opportunity (end of September?). Lose to a Labour landslide by say 10-15%. You can rightly say 'well that was 20-25% when I took over, so you need to stick with me as LOTO because I can close that gap in one term'. Then, with the economy shafted and multiple other issues facing the country, you have five years of bashing Starmer to get back to at least parity for the 2029 GE.
The flaw with my argument is the Tory members will choose a loon rather than Mordaunt but that won't put off candidates who think they might win a leadership contest. No lack of candidates in may opinion.
Difficult to work out whom to have least sympathy for.
Incidentally most members of the PIRA weren’t church going, some were actually Protestant (yup!) and their idealogy was Republicanism, via 1798
I understand it burns some people, but terrorists get labelled according to their professed ideology and actions.
So in Northern Ireland you have Republican terrorists, and the Loyalist terrorists. The Loyalists are sometimes referred to as “Protestant” - this is because they profess specific, anti-Catholic ideology.
If you shout “Allan’s Snackbar!”, while stabbing/exploding etc, then that’s what your cause is.
Lots of heritage railways are likely to go to the wall in a next few years unless people start using them again at pre-Covid levels. Numbers are still down 25% from 2019.
If you care, please try and make it a tradition for you and your families to go at least once a year, and buy a souvenir/make a donation on top.
Plus, the smart ones explained to the thick ones, that this meant a steady source of *legal* money at no risk. Crime, especially drug dealing, is far from a steady payer.
The real fun one is this - in all the years of conflict, very few senior people from either side were killed by the other side. Everyone knew where everyone lived - NI is a small place - where they worked. Taxi drivers would tell you when they passed Gerry’s house….
@SkyNews
The Chancellor may be considering implementing Labour's signature policy of scrapping non-dom status.
'It would be an abject humiliation for the Conservatives' after 'years of rubbishing the idea', says
@bphillipsonMP
https://x.com/SkyNews/status/1764216449944399914?s=20
‘Everyone is terrified of King Gavin’: Newsom’s
unchallenged anti-homelessness gambit
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/02/prop-1-ballot-measure-mental-health-battle-00144530
..Prop 1 will make changes to the Mental Health Services Act, a tax on incomes over a million dollars that was groundbreaking when approved by voters in 2004. It gave counties fairly wide latitude to spend the money on whatever mental health programs they saw fit, with limited coverage for substance use disorders. Newsom has been itching to rewrite the law for years. When he devoted his entire State of the State Address in 2020 to the problem of homelessness, he excoriated counties for hoarding MHSA funds instead of using them to address the crisis.
After being sidetracked by the pandemic, Newsom finally had the chance to tackle the issue last year. Proposition 1 began its path to the ballot as two separate bills. One directed counties to change the way they spend and report their mental health budgets, requiring they spend more on housing and treatment for people in encampments. A companion bond issue committed $6.4 billion to fund new residential mental health and addiction treatment, and housing for veterans. Because voters approved the MHSA in 2004, they would now be required to weigh in on the dense new policy, rechristened the Behavioral Health Services Act...
John Rentoul
@JohnRentoul
Two-thirds of Tory members say Sunak wrong to suspend Anderson;
@ConHome
survey https://conservativehome.com/2024/03/03/our-survey-almost-two-thirds-of-party-members-oppose-sunaks-suspension-of-anderson/
https://twitter.com/JohnRentoul/status/1764200071967473771