However, if you want an outside bet, might it be Boris? He doesn't have an obvious route back via the Tories, his clock is ticking (he's 62 this year), and the window is open for a realignment on the right.
Two questions.
1. Is Boris interested?
I'm sure he feels hard done by in being pushed out as PM, and would love to be vindicated by a return, but he bottled his one good chance for a comeback when Truss was pushed out.
2. Would Farage be happy to play second fiddle?
Farage absolutely hated the experience of having Carswell as a UKIP MP who wasn't willing to do exactly as he was told. Reform UK is the Farage ego vehicle, I don't think there's room for Boris's ego too.
On those (and we're talking hypotheticals here):
1. Who knows? He's interested in a comeback if it were handed on a plate, which is essentially his life's story, in no small way. But there isn't an easy path back now. Maybe he's happy earning big money making easy speeches and penning lazy articles. But I suspect not. He wants the limelight.
2. Yes, he would, to the right lead. As he did in the Brexit referendum.
Farage was pretty damning of Johnson on the C4 Rise and Fall of Boris Johnson doc series (episode 2).
The Ashfield seat is a bit of an odd one with an Independent who split the Labour vote and came second. The suggestion on WIki is that this independent is going to stand again which confuses matters somewhat but on current polling this looks like an easy Labour win, especially if Anderson, standing for Reform, splits the Tory vote to any extent.
So his political career was coming to an end anyway. Oh dear, never mind etc.
Could be the seat with the lowest winning share of the vote.
We need some polling in Ashfield. I would not at all be surprised if Anderson retained his seat in the GE, and, for approximately similar reasons, if Galloway retained Rochdale.
The Ashfield seat is a bit of an odd one with an Independent who split the Labour vote and came second. The suggestion on WIki is that this independent is going to stand again which confuses matters somewhat but on current polling this looks like an easy Labour win, especially if Anderson, standing for Reform, splits the Tory vote to any extent.
So his political career was coming to an end anyway. Oh dear, never mind etc.
Could be the seat with the lowest winning share of the vote.
Possible, but Scotland is probably more likely to have the record holder for that.
BREAKING - Kate says she experimented with editing her amateur photo
Correction: someone managing the KP social media account says Kate manipulated the photo. I don't believe them any more than the originally posted image.
Back after an awful week. Apparently I still can't manage significant physical exertion and an exercise assessment a few days before a walking tour put me out for a week with fatigue, where I had to have a lie in and afternoon nap each day just to manage. Long covid is a bitch. (For those wondering why sickness has increased amongst workers, I would say look no further).
Having been away for a week (which is a long time in politics) I just have to say - WTF is going on with these Kate pictures?
Welcome back and it's good to see an anarcho-syndicalist focusing on the critical issue facing the workers today.
Hey, any weakness in the royals is an opportunity to get rid of them, and I think that is important - especially since material change isn't happening anytime soon with the SKSs Labour party essentially talking the space left by David Cameron's Tory Party.
For the first time I do believe that the Royals seem (not only physiologically) creaky.
King down, Harry out, Kate who knows, William a cad.
George is no Richard II.
I think we should be prepping ourselves for King Harry and Queen Meghan.
Or Harry as Regent at least.
Not happening, there is no suggestion of any problem with William so he will still be next King.
Even if there was as you say it would be King George not King Harry with Harry at most regent for a few years.
Don't forget William is about 20 years older than his grandmother was when she became monarch after her father died
I wouldn’t be so sure about that. There would be no appetite in the country for Harry to be either monarch or regent, as reflected in the 2022 counsellors of state bill, which restored Anne and Edward back to their prior role.
Depending on the circumstances of William not taking the job, he or his wife may decide they dont want that life for his kids either and so parliament removes them from the line of succession too (see the brief parliamentary instrument removing Edward and future heirs from succession).
So if not William nor kids, nor Harry (nor kids), it’s Andrew. Obvs that doesn’t work either. By now we’re abandoning primogeniture and picking who we want. Next in line Andy’s kids. Fergie as queen mother. Really?? You can’t easily skip past them for the obvious candidates of Edward/Sophie without unravelling the whole thing.
Potentially it’s a very very big mess.
In such circumstances parliament would likely legislate to give it to Edward or Anne before the Accession Council with the throne continuing down their line.
However William is almost certainly going to be King followed by George so it will not be an issue
And in such a circumstance I think the "magic" of monarchy dies. The monarchy barely survived the abdication crisis of the 1900's; they wouldn't be able to survive in the modern era doing something similar. People would, correctly, suggest that such a system of privilege for people based purely on their bloodline is absolutely ridiculous, as is the idea that they somehow unify the country or uphold stability - because the very crisis itself would disprove both those things.
The monarchy lucked out with Lizzie - we got a Queen at a time of progress so we wouldn't have to confront a King during the fight for women's rights and such, she had seen the abdication crisis first hand so didn't want to do anything that could lead to that happening again, and she was so young when she got the throne that she was rooted in the heads of three generations of people as The Queen. She messed up the whole Diana thing, which could have been a proper turning point against the royals, but other than that a relatively good run. Now we have her unloved son as King and his broken sons.
Even Charles is far more popular than any politician would be and William massively more so.
If we ever were a republic as I said I would vote for the most far right candidate possible, if Republicans want to end constitutional monarchy I will push for the most divisive hard right head of state possible instead
I don't understand why we would need to replace them with anything - or why a head of state needs political power. You could roll the speakership into a nominal head of state for all I care - or be like RoI which has a purely ceremonial figure. As long as we get shift of the sponging bastards who claim to be better than us all due to their special blood, or a dictat from God or whatever, I don't care.
The Irish President is himself an ex politician who was in the Dail, he has angered Israel with his Gaza comments and his wife angered Ukraine pushing for a peace deal with the Kremlin. He also brings in no real tourism, royal wedding, coronation or jubilee revenue and his successor is like to be Bertie Ahern, the Irish Blair and another ex politician
The whole "monarchy brings in tourist money" thing just isn't true. France has a huge number of tourists - even to the palaces that don't have living monarchs in them. London is a tourist magnet because it is arguably the cultural hub of the English speaking world - second possibly to NYC. It isn't dependent on the royals still existing. And hell, if Buckingham Palace was turned into a museum, I'm sure that would have a hell of a lot of tourists too. Lots of royal stuff that no longer functions as it does (the Tower of London, for example) is still of interest to tourists. A living, politically powerful, royal family is not necessary for that. And even if it was true - I don't care. It is morally abhorrent, I don't care if it makes money (although I don't believe it does).
Tourists can't even visit the Elysee Palace where Macron lives except on rare open days unlike Buckingham Palace
The Palace of Versailles has ~15 million visitors annually. No monarchs to be seen.
We'd need to rebrand a bit, that's the key thing. So long as we kept the flummery we'd probably be fine.
France's brand when it comes to constitutional history is all about the Revolution. People visit Versailles because of Marie Antoinette and let them eat cake and the Petit Trianon and powdered wigs and so on. And they visit France in their droves because of its food, lifestyle, and weather (in the South).
They visit Britain for the red buses and phone boxes, policemen in funny hats, the changing of the guard, the palaces, bagpipers in Edinburgh, Vikings in York, perhaps a foray to Harry Potter scenes in the highlands and the Warner Bros studios, and if they're really adventurous they might check out Oxbridge or Stonehenge or the Lake District. So we'd just need to ensure the changing of the guard and the palaces kept a suitable amount of tourist-friendly tradition going.
End of the day does anyone trust any UK politician to implement an elected head of state sensibly? They'd beeline for the yank system and we'd end up paying similar for a puffed up useless ego who'd tear to shreds the current structure of UK politics.
Trouble is even the Tories on PB are talking about controlling who succeeds. Even HYUFD doesn't want certain Royals to succeed,which the law requires if a certain succession (no pun intended) of events happens.
It's all nonsense anyway. One moment James VII and II was King, divine right, all the dressings and garnishes. Next thing, it's all evaporated and someone else is It.
I favour a Republic, but I don't think there's a logical problem with a Constitutional Monarchy where divine right is junked and the legislature tries not to interfere in the succession, but will do so if they think it is necessary.
Yeah, because who's never digitally altered their children's cardigan with clone tool... eh?
Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day. C
“Darling how’s that photo that proves you’re alive coming along?”
“5 more minutes, I’m just doing a bit of casual photoshopping on it, do you think they’ll notice?”
I mean, I’ll take the explanation at face value, because I can’t imagine any PR team being quite so inept.
I actually feel sorry for Kate. There are obviously health issues and whatever the fuck is going on with slaphead. And she's just trapped and knows that a similar lifetime of fuckedupedness awaits all of her children. What fucking inescapable misery.
I agree. That's why those who are envious are so wrongheaded.
It's a jail. A gilded one, but still a jail.
Smartest thing that Harry and Meghan did was to get out.
Without their titles and his place in line of succession, which they haven't given up, Harry is only a minor army officer and Meghan a C- list actress
Out of interest, what rank in the British army and rung of Hollywood have you reached?
We need some polling in Ashfield. I would not at all be surprised if Anderson retained his seat in the GE, and, for approximately similar reasons, if Galloway retained Rochdale.
Isn’t the Independent up before the beak before too long?
“Darling how’s that photo that proves you’re alive coming along?”
“5 more minutes, I’m just doing a bit of casual photoshopping on it, do you think they’ll notice?”
I mean, I’ll take the explanation at face value, because I can’t imagine any PR team being quite so inept.
I actually feel sorry for Kate. There are obviously health issues and whatever the fuck is going on with slaphead. And she's just trapped and knows that a similar lifetime of fuckedupedness awaits all of her children. What fucking inescapable misery.
I agree. That's why those who are envious are so wrongheaded.
It's a jail. A gilded one, but still a jail.
Smartest thing that Harry and Meghan did was to get out.
Without their titles and his place in line of succession, which they haven't given up, Harry is only a minor army officer and Meghan a C- list actress
Out of interest, what rank in the British army and rung of Hollywood have you reached?
And did HYUFD serve in the Cavalry or the Royal Tank Regiment? The nation has a right to know.
Coffee should be made in a cafetiere first pouring a small amount of not boiled water over the ground beans and then just off boiling water added later. Stirred with a wooden spoon.
As followers of my coffee adventures will be only too well aware, I would out of choice use Swiss Water Processed Decaffeinated Colombian from the Algerian Coffee Store, obvs.
All the fancy gizmos on the planet, and for sure not those gopping "pods" can't compare with that.
In fact, it was put to me some time ago that "proper" coffee should be made by putting the ground beans in a jug and filling with off-boiling water, and then one small cup of cold water should be poured over it once settled, which would take all the grounds to the bottom of the jug. No plunger required.
lol, no
As I have finally realised, quite late in life, there is only one way to guarantee a truly magnificent cup of coffee, every time
For one perfect cup of coffee: go to Colombia, have a coffee
Yeah, because who's never digitally altered their children's cardigan with clone tool... eh?
Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing. I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother’s Day. C
Weird that she didn't post an un-edited version of the pic alongside her "confession"...
Perhaps it’s just that Charlotte had her fingers in a potentially offensive pose. Although I would have thought one of the boys was more likely to do that!
“Darling how’s that photo that proves you’re alive coming along?”
“5 more minutes, I’m just doing a bit of casual photoshopping on it, do you think they’ll notice?”
I mean, I’ll take the explanation at face value, because I can’t imagine any PR team being quite so inept.
I actually feel sorry for Kate. There are obviously health issues and whatever the fuck is going on with slaphead. And she's just trapped and knows that a similar lifetime of fuckedupedness awaits all of her children. What fucking inescapable misery.
I agree. That's why those who are envious are so wrongheaded.
It's a jail. A gilded one, but still a jail.
Although in her case a gilded jail that she set out to put herself into, by all accounts (attending the same Uni with the intention of snaring the future King, and succeeding).
However, if you want an outside bet, might it be Boris? He doesn't have an obvious route back via the Tories, his clock is ticking (he's 62 this year), and the window is open for a realignment on the right.
Two questions.
1. Is Boris interested?
I'm sure he feels hard done by in being pushed out as PM, and would love to be vindicated by a return, but he bottled his one good chance for a comeback when Truss was pushed out.
2. Would Farage be happy to play second fiddle?
Farage absolutely hated the experience of having Carswell as a UKIP MP who wasn't willing to do exactly as he was told. Reform UK is the Farage ego vehicle, I don't think there's room for Boris's ego too.
On those (and we're talking hypotheticals here):
1. Who knows? He's interested in a comeback if it were handed on a plate, which is essentially his life's story, in no small way. But there isn't an easy path back now. Maybe he's happy earning big money making easy speeches and penning lazy articles. But I suspect not. He wants the limelight.
2. Yes, he would, to the right lead. As he did in the Brexit referendum.
Farage was pretty damning of Johnson on the C4 Rise and Fall of Boris Johnson doc series (episode 2).
Yes. So have many been - yet they keep being drawn back.
The Ashfield seat is a bit of an odd one with an Independent who split the Labour vote and came second. The suggestion on WIki is that this independent is going to stand again which confuses matters somewhat but on current polling this looks like an easy Labour win, especially if Anderson, standing for Reform, splits the Tory vote to any extent.
So his political career was coming to an end anyway. Oh dear, never mind etc.
Could be the seat with the lowest winning share of the vote.
Possible, but Scotland is probably more likely to have the record holder for that.
South Down (SF, 32.4%) is the record holder from 2019. I'd like to think the next election would see a winning share below 30% somewhere.
“Darling how’s that photo that proves you’re alive coming along?”
“5 more minutes, I’m just doing a bit of casual photoshopping on it, do you think they’ll notice?”
I mean, I’ll take the explanation at face value, because I can’t imagine any PR team being quite so inept.
I actually feel sorry for Kate. There are obviously health issues and whatever the fuck is going on with slaphead. And she's just trapped and knows that a similar lifetime of fuckedupedness awaits all of her children. What fucking inescapable misery.
Kate chose her future, whereas William was born into it and indoctrinated to accept it. I have more sympathy for those born into it than those who choose it by marriage.
Should we consider Kate as one of those mental fangirls who write to US lifers who’ve made clothes out of the skins of their murder victims and ends up marrying them?
More akin to the girls/women who seek out premiership footballers to get their ticket to riches...
We need some polling in Ashfield. I would not at all be surprised if Anderson retained his seat in the GE, and, for approximately similar reasons, if Galloway retained Rochdale.
I couldn't possibly comment on that !!
Because I have not got the foggiest idea what will happen.
As background, changes I am noticing over 10-15 years are:
1 - A fair few new houses have been built. We don't do new towns, but there are plenty of developments from 100-500 and a couple of 1000-2000, houses. 2 - Rather more people from brown / black ethnicities. Not a lot, but it reminds me of say some of the remaining WWC areas of London 30 years ago - eg the area around Myddleton Square in East London when I used to visit to do an MSc (in Software Reliability of all things) in the early 1990s. 3 - Lots of Polish. The two display languages at my GP are English and Polish. 4 - Integration with Nottingham - the Hucknall end is on the Nottingham Tram Network, and is in practice becoming a suburb. 5 - More commuting by people who live this way for more attractive house prices.
“It was them that financially backed me, it’s them that’s protected me, it’s them that’s given me a political home. So why would I knife them in the back?” said Lee Anderson of the Tories weeks ago...
“It was them that financially backed me, it’s them that’s protected me, it’s them that’s given me a political home. So why would I knife them in the back?” said Lee Anderson of the Tories weeks ago...
The bald answer to that is that they knifed everyone north of Birmingham in the back.
Both Leeanderthal and Zadrozny go on about the £50-100 million or so that has been forthcoming from the Towns Fund etc, but the context is the larger sums that have been withdrawn by salami-slicing, and a set of values about public realm and public services that are nihilistic.
“Darling how’s that photo that proves you’re alive coming along?”
“5 more minutes, I’m just doing a bit of casual photoshopping on it, do you think they’ll notice?”
I mean, I’ll take the explanation at face value, because I can’t imagine any PR team being quite so inept.
I actually feel sorry for Kate. There are obviously health issues and whatever the fuck is going on with slaphead. And she's just trapped and knows that a similar lifetime of fuckedupedness awaits all of her children. What fucking inescapable misery.
I agree. That's why those who are envious are so wrongheaded.
It's a jail. A gilded one, but still a jail.
Smartest thing that Harry and Meghan did was to get out.
Without their titles and his place in line of succession, which they haven't given up, Harry is only a minor army officer and Meghan a C- list actress
Out of interest, what rank in the British army and rung of Hollywood have you reached?
And did HYUFD serve in the Cavalry or the Royal Tank Regiment? The nation has a right to know.
Covenanter was issued to the Guards, IIRC, for training and home service…
When is the latest that a May election to coincide with the locals can be called? I assume that Sunak wouldn't want to do that, but I kind of feel now the more time he gives to Reform to campaign the worst things will be for him. I have to imagine more Tory MPs would now like an earlier election than not.
I believe that March 27th is the latest that Parliament can be dissolved for a May 2nd election, so in practice the election would have to be announced a day or two before that so that the loose ends of the session could be dealt with.
Tuesday March 26th, Easter adds 2 none working days to the calculation.
A dissolution ready reckoner for all possible election Thursdays:
"Dissolution is deemed to have occurred just after midnight at the start of the day", so I guess Monday would be the last sitting day.
Which is why I said a while back that were an election to be called for May 2nd it would be some point next week say after PMQs on March 20th
Hasn't DavidL already said that in practice you need a week to finalise Parliamentary business anyway as well. So realistically, I think this Friday.... maybe Monday 18th, is the last practical date.
Put simply, if we're still talking about when the election is a week from now, then it's not going to be 2nd May. And if he doesn't go for 2nd May, he won't do anything as daft as 9th May. A May GE will coincide with the locals. After that, he'll probably let inertia drag him into October......
We need some polling in Ashfield. I would not at all be surprised if Anderson retained his seat in the GE, and, for approximately similar reasons, if Galloway retained Rochdale.
Isn’t the Independent up before the beak before too long?
We need some polling in Ashfield. I would not at all be surprised if Anderson retained his seat in the GE, and, for approximately similar reasons, if Galloway retained Rochdale.
I couldn't possibly comment on that !!
Because I have not got the foggiest idea what will happen.
As background, changes I am noticing over 10-15 years are:
1 - A fair few new houses have been built. We don't do new towns, but there are plenty of developments from 100-500 and a couple of 1000-2000, houses. 2 - Rather more people from brown / black ethnicities. Not a lot, but it reminds me of say some of the remaining WWC areas of London 30 years ago - eg the area around Myddleton Square in East London when I used to visit to do an MSc (in Software Reliability of all things) in the early 1990s. 3 - Lots of Polish. The two display languages at my GP are English and Polish. 4 - Integration with Nottingham - the Hucknall end is on the Nottingham Tram Network, and is in practice becoming a suburb. 5 - More commuting by people who live this way for more attractive house prices.
There have also been modest boundary adjustments.
1,3 and 5 are definitely true of Bassetlaw too - it'll be intriguing to see what vote reform get in my constituency, you can't really get more of a reform in Tory clothing MP than BCS ! I expect nevertheless Reform will do well enough that he loses the seat to Labour - probably a smaller swing than national mind.
We need some polling in Ashfield. I would not at all be surprised if Anderson retained his seat in the GE, and, for approximately similar reasons, if Galloway retained Rochdale.
I couldn't possibly comment on that !!
Because I have not got the foggiest idea what will happen.
As background, changes I am noticing over 10-15 years are:
1 - A fair few new houses have been built. We don't do new towns, but there are plenty of developments from 100-500 and a couple of 1000-2000, houses. 2 - Rather more people from brown / black ethnicities. Not a lot, but it reminds me of say some of the remaining WWC areas of London 30 years ago - eg the area around Myddleton Square in East London when I used to visit to do an MSc (in Software Reliability of all things) in the early 1990s. 3 - Lots of Polish. The two display languages at my GP are English and Polish. 4 - Integration with Nottingham - the Hucknall end is on the Nottingham Tram Network, and is in practice becoming a suburb. 5 - More commuting by people who live this way for more attractive house prices.
There have also been modest boundary adjustments.
Catching up with the Leeanderthal news, I'd be looking at Carswell and Reckless for precedent, though I don't think Anderson has the stature or the principles.
Ashfield - Labour, depending on candidate? A Blue Labour candidate, perhaps?
We need some polling in Ashfield. I would not at all be surprised if Anderson retained his seat in the GE, and, for approximately similar reasons, if Galloway retained Rochdale.
Isn’t the Independent up before the beak before too long?
We need some polling in Ashfield. I would not at all be surprised if Anderson retained his seat in the GE, and, for approximately similar reasons, if Galloway retained Rochdale.
I couldn't possibly comment on that !!
Because I have not got the foggiest idea what will happen.
As background, changes I am noticing over 10-15 years are:
1 - A fair few new houses have been built. We don't do new towns, but there are plenty of developments from 100-500 and a couple of 1000-2000, houses. 2 - Rather more people from brown / black ethnicities. Not a lot, but it reminds me of say some of the remaining WWC areas of London 30 years ago - eg the area around Myddleton Square in East London when I used to visit to do an MSc (in Software Reliability of all things) in the early 1990s. 3 - Lots of Polish. The two display languages at my GP are English and Polish. 4 - Integration with Nottingham - the Hucknall end is on the Nottingham Tram Network, and is in practice becoming a suburb. 5 - More commuting by people who live this way for more attractive house prices.
There have also been modest boundary adjustments.
Catching up with the Leeanderthal news, I'd be looking at Carswell and Reckless for precedent, though I don't think Anderson has the stature or the principles.
Ashfield - Labour, depending on candidate? A Blue Labour candidate, perhaps?
Well parachuting in Starmer supporting London based candidates with little link to the area but who promises to get a house there when elected has not been a failure for them so far.
“Darling how’s that photo that proves you’re alive coming along?”
“5 more minutes, I’m just doing a bit of casual photoshopping on it, do you think they’ll notice?”
I mean, I’ll take the explanation at face value, because I can’t imagine any PR team being quite so inept.
I actually feel sorry for Kate. There are obviously health issues and whatever the fuck is going on with slaphead. And she's just trapped and knows that a similar lifetime of fuckedupedness awaits all of her children. What fucking inescapable misery.
I agree. That's why those who are envious are so wrongheaded.
It's a jail. A gilded one, but still a jail.
Smartest thing that Harry and Meghan did was to get out.
Without their titles and his place in line of succession, which they haven't given up, Harry is only a minor army officer and Meghan a C- list actress
Out of interest, what rank in the British army and rung of Hollywood have you reached?
I was in the CCF but I also didn't get millions from book deals and a netflix deal solely down to my Royal titles I still keep and royal links while no longer doing any royal duties for them! At least Zara and Peter Phillips have no titles while not being working royals
Getting Kate to admit the Midjourneying of her “family photo” is clever. Everyone feels sorry for her, for multiple reasons; it closes down the story from several angles - press cannot angrily question a recently-hospitalised woman, not even at one remove
However there are problems. Such as: it is surely a lie
My best guess: she is seriously ill, she’s in no state to do family photos, she doesn’t look well, but with the king also hors de combat they felt the public needed SOME reassurance. Hence Princess Dalle3 and her Sora family
We need some polling in Ashfield. I would not at all be surprised if Anderson retained his seat in the GE, and, for approximately similar reasons, if Galloway retained Rochdale.
I couldn't possibly comment on that !!
Because I have not got the foggiest idea what will happen.
As background, changes I am noticing over 10-15 years are:
1 - A fair few new houses have been built. We don't do new towns, but there are plenty of developments from 100-500 and a couple of 1000-2000, houses. 2 - Rather more people from brown / black ethnicities. Not a lot, but it reminds me of say some of the remaining WWC areas of London 30 years ago - eg the area around Myddleton Square in East London when I used to visit to do an MSc (in Software Reliability of all things) in the early 1990s. 3 - Lots of Polish. The two display languages at my GP are English and Polish. 4 - Integration with Nottingham - the Hucknall end is on the Nottingham Tram Network, and is in practice becoming a suburb. 5 - More commuting by people who live this way for more attractive house prices.
There have also been modest boundary adjustments.
Catching up with the Leeanderthal news, I'd be looking at Carswell and Reckless for precedent, though I don't think Anderson has the stature or the principles.
Ashfield - Labour, depending on candidate? A Blue Labour candidate, perhaps?
The percentages last time were: Con 39 Ind 28 Lab 24 BXP 5
So an 8 point swing would be enough for Labour to win, absent any other changes.
But the demographic changes are interesting. My hunch is that right-populism does best right at the beginning of social changes. The first brown face, middle class commuter, visibly gay couple or Polish shop is the most traumatic.
“Darling how’s that photo that proves you’re alive coming along?”
“5 more minutes, I’m just doing a bit of casual photoshopping on it, do you think they’ll notice?”
I mean, I’ll take the explanation at face value, because I can’t imagine any PR team being quite so inept.
I actually feel sorry for Kate. There are obviously health issues and whatever the fuck is going on with slaphead. And she's just trapped and knows that a similar lifetime of fuckedupedness awaits all of her children. What fucking inescapable misery.
I agree. That's why those who are envious are so wrongheaded.
It's a jail. A gilded one, but still a jail.
Smartest thing that Harry and Meghan did was to get out.
Without their titles and his place in line of succession, which they haven't given up, Harry is only a minor army officer and Meghan a C- list actress
At least Meghan hasnt got a husband committing adultery in broad daylight
You obviously haven't read the blinds about Harry and Meghan for that matter in recent weeks, not that that means they are true of course
We need some polling in Ashfield. I would not at all be surprised if Anderson retained his seat in the GE, and, for approximately similar reasons, if Galloway retained Rochdale.
I couldn't possibly comment on that !!
Because I have not got the foggiest idea what will happen.
As background, changes I am noticing over 10-15 years are:
1 - A fair few new houses have been built. We don't do new towns, but there are plenty of developments from 100-500 and a couple of 1000-2000, houses. 2 - Rather more people from brown / black ethnicities. Not a lot, but it reminds me of say some of the remaining WWC areas of London 30 years ago - eg the area around Myddleton Square in East London when I used to visit to do an MSc (in Software Reliability of all things) in the early 1990s. 3 - Lots of Polish. The two display languages at my GP are English and Polish. 4 - Integration with Nottingham - the Hucknall end is on the Nottingham Tram Network, and is in practice becoming a suburb. 5 - More commuting by people who live this way for more attractive house prices.
There have also been modest boundary adjustments.
1,3 and 5 are definitely true of Bassetlaw too - it'll be intriguing to see what vote reform get in my constituency, you can't really get more of a reform in Tory clothing MP than BCS ! I expect nevertheless Reform will do well enough that he loses the seat to Labour - probably a smaller swing than national mind.
I wonder if BCS might not be tempted to defect too - Bassetlaw is probably lost to the Tories whatever happens, but there may still be an opportunity for it to swing towards Refuk rather than Starmer's Labour.
We need some polling in Ashfield. I would not at all be surprised if Anderson retained his seat in the GE, and, for approximately similar reasons, if Galloway retained Rochdale.
I couldn't possibly comment on that !!
Because I have not got the foggiest idea what will happen.
As background, changes I am noticing over 10-15 years are:
1 - A fair few new houses have been built. We don't do new towns, but there are plenty of developments from 100-500 and a couple of 1000-2000, houses. 2 - Rather more people from brown / black ethnicities. Not a lot, but it reminds me of say some of the remaining WWC areas of London 30 years ago - eg the area around Myddleton Square in East London when I used to visit to do an MSc (in Software Reliability of all things) in the early 1990s. 3 - Lots of Polish. The two display languages at my GP are English and Polish. 4 - Integration with Nottingham - the Hucknall end is on the Nottingham Tram Network, and is in practice becoming a suburb. 5 - More commuting by people who live this way for more attractive house prices.
There have also been modest boundary adjustments.
Ashfield was the next seat to Broxtowe and we shared a couple of local authority wards (one of which was held by the BNP for a while). It often struck me that when I met anyone from the constituency from any party, they would be telling me within minutes how they hated someone else - compared with generally mild-mannered Broxtowe, it seemed to be an absolute snakepit. The Independent was as much a LibDem splitter as a Labour one, and moderates of any colour seemed few and far between. But I think it's become much less of any of that, partly for the reaspns MattW sets out, and I'd think Labour has a decent chance of beating the rabble of alternatives.
Back after an awful week. Apparently I still can't manage significant physical exertion and an exercise assessment a few days before a walking tour put me out for a week with fatigue, where I had to have a lie in and afternoon nap each day just to manage. Long covid is a bitch. (For those wondering why sickness has increased amongst workers, I would say look no further).
Having been away for a week (which is a long time in politics) I just have to say - WTF is going on with these Kate pictures?
Welcome back and it's good to see an anarcho-syndicalist focusing on the critical issue facing the workers today.
Hey, any weakness in the royals is an opportunity to get rid of them, and I think that is important - especially since material change isn't happening anytime soon with the SKSs Labour party essentially talking the space left by David Cameron's Tory Party.
For the first time I do believe that the Royals seem (not only physiologically) creaky.
King down, Harry out, Kate who knows, William a cad.
George is no Richard II.
I think we should be prepping ourselves for King Harry and Queen Meghan.
Or Harry as Regent at least.
Not happening, there is no suggestion of any problem with William so he will still be next King.
Even if there was as you say it would be King George not King Harry with Harry at most regent for a few years.
Don't forget William is about 20 years older than his grandmother was when she became monarch after her father died
I wouldn’t be so sure about that. There would be no appetite in the country for Harry to be either monarch or regent, as reflected in the 2022 counsellors of state bill, which restored Anne and Edward back to their prior role.
Depending on the circumstances of William not taking the job, he or his wife may decide they dont want that life for his kids either and so parliament removes them from the line of succession too (see the brief parliamentary instrument removing Edward and future heirs from succession).
So if not William nor kids, nor Harry (nor kids), it’s Andrew. Obvs that doesn’t work either. By now we’re abandoning primogeniture and picking who we want. Next in line Andy’s kids. Fergie as queen mother. Really?? You can’t easily skip past them for the obvious candidates of Edward/Sophie without unravelling the whole thing.
Potentially it’s a very very big mess.
In such circumstances parliament would likely legislate to give it to Edward or Anne before the Accession Council with the throne continuing down their line.
However William is almost certainly going to be King followed by George so it will not be an issue
And in such a circumstance I think the "magic" of monarchy dies. The monarchy barely survived the abdication crisis of the 1900's; they wouldn't be able to survive in the modern era doing something similar. People would, correctly, suggest that such a system of privilege for people based purely on their bloodline is absolutely ridiculous, as is the idea that they somehow unify the country or uphold stability - because the very crisis itself would disprove both those things.
The monarchy lucked out with Lizzie - we got a Queen at a time of progress so we wouldn't have to confront a King during the fight for women's rights and such, she had seen the abdication crisis first hand so didn't want to do anything that could lead to that happening again, and she was so young when she got the throne that she was rooted in the heads of three generations of people as The Queen. She messed up the whole Diana thing, which could have been a proper turning point against the royals, but other than that a relatively good run. Now we have her unloved son as King and his broken sons.
Even Charles is far more popular than any politician would be and William massively more so.
If we ever were a republic as I said I would vote for the most far right candidate possible, if Republicans want to end constitutional monarchy I will push for the most divisive hard right head of state possible instead
I don't understand why we would need to replace them with anything - or why a head of state needs political power. You could roll the speakership into a nominal head of state for all I care - or be like RoI which has a purely ceremonial figure. As long as we get shift of the sponging bastards who claim to be better than us all due to their special blood, or a dictat from God or whatever, I don't care.
The Irish President is himself an ex politician who was in the Dail, he has angered Israel with his Gaza comments and his wife angered Ukraine pushing for a peace deal with the Kremlin. He also brings in no real tourism, royal wedding, coronation or jubilee revenue and his successor is like to be Bertie Ahern, the Irish Blair and another ex politician
The whole "monarchy brings in tourist money" thing just isn't true. France has a huge number of tourists - even to the palaces that don't have living monarchs in them. London is a tourist magnet because it is arguably the cultural hub of the English speaking world - second possibly to NYC. It isn't dependent on the royals still existing. And hell, if Buckingham Palace was turned into a museum, I'm sure that would have a hell of a lot of tourists too. Lots of royal stuff that no longer functions as it does (the Tower of London, for example) is still of interest to tourists. A living, politically powerful, royal family is not necessary for that. And even if it was true - I don't care. It is morally abhorrent, I don't care if it makes money (although I don't believe it does).
Tourists can't even visit the Elysee Palace where Macron lives except on rare open days unlike Buckingham Palace
The Palace of Versailles has ~15 million visitors annually. No monarchs to be seen.
We have Hampton Court and who built both? A King not a President.
We also have royal wedding, jubilee and coronation revenue from tourists the world over.
Other than that we lose to France on weather, they have sunny south of France we have frequent wet weekends in Blackpool and Bognor. They have ski resorts we don't, they still have higher ranked restaurants overall and they have just as many historic chateaus and palaces.
“Darling how’s that photo that proves you’re alive coming along?”
“5 more minutes, I’m just doing a bit of casual photoshopping on it, do you think they’ll notice?”
I mean, I’ll take the explanation at face value, because I can’t imagine any PR team being quite so inept.
I actually feel sorry for Kate. There are obviously health issues and whatever the fuck is going on with slaphead. And she's just trapped and knows that a similar lifetime of fuckedupedness awaits all of her children. What fucking inescapable misery.
I agree. That's why those who are envious are so wrongheaded.
It's a jail. A gilded one, but still a jail.
Smartest thing that Harry and Meghan did was to get out.
Without their titles and his place in line of succession, which they haven't given up, Harry is only a minor army officer and Meghan a C- list actress
At least Meghan hasnt got a husband committing adultery in broad daylight
You obviously haven't read the blinds about Harry and Meghan for that matter in recent weeks, not that that means they are true of course
Don't tell me youre an afficianado of Crazy Days and Nights HYUFD ?
“Darling how’s that photo that proves you’re alive coming along?”
“5 more minutes, I’m just doing a bit of casual photoshopping on it, do you think they’ll notice?”
I mean, I’ll take the explanation at face value, because I can’t imagine any PR team being quite so inept.
I actually feel sorry for Kate. There are obviously health issues and whatever the fuck is going on with slaphead. And she's just trapped and knows that a similar lifetime of fuckedupedness awaits all of her children. What fucking inescapable misery.
I agree. That's why those who are envious are so wrongheaded.
It's a jail. A gilded one, but still a jail.
Smartest thing that Harry and Meghan did was to get out.
Without their titles and his place in line of succession, which they haven't given up, Harry is only a minor army officer and Meghan a C- list actress
At least Meghan hasnt got a husband committing adultery in broad daylight
You obviously haven't read the blinds about Harry and Meghan for that matter in recent weeks, not that that means they are true of course
HYUFD that is the second time today that you have spread tittle tattle about our Royal Family. Now, you may not like or respect them but will you please try to rein in your phantasmagorical imagination in order not to offend those people who are, for example, monarchical tories (whatever tf that is).
“Darling how’s that photo that proves you’re alive coming along?”
“5 more minutes, I’m just doing a bit of casual photoshopping on it, do you think they’ll notice?”
I mean, I’ll take the explanation at face value, because I can’t imagine any PR team being quite so inept.
I actually feel sorry for Kate. There are obviously health issues and whatever the fuck is going on with slaphead. And she's just trapped and knows that a similar lifetime of fuckedupedness awaits all of her children. What fucking inescapable misery.
I agree. That's why those who are envious are so wrongheaded.
It's a jail. A gilded one, but still a jail.
Smartest thing that Harry and Meghan did was to get out.
Without their titles and his place in line of succession, which they haven't given up, Harry is only a minor army officer and Meghan a C- list actress
At least Meghan hasnt got a husband committing adultery in broad daylight
You obviously haven't read the blinds about Harry and Meghan for that matter in recent weeks, not that that means they are true of course
Don't tell me youre an afficianado of Crazy Days and Nights HYUFD ?
My world would shatter if it turns out HYUFD is a regular contributor to Popbitch.
Back after an awful week. Apparently I still can't manage significant physical exertion and an exercise assessment a few days before a walking tour put me out for a week with fatigue, where I had to have a lie in and afternoon nap each day just to manage. Long covid is a bitch. (For those wondering why sickness has increased amongst workers, I would say look no further).
Having been away for a week (which is a long time in politics) I just have to say - WTF is going on with these Kate pictures?
Welcome back and it's good to see an anarcho-syndicalist focusing on the critical issue facing the workers today.
Hey, any weakness in the royals is an opportunity to get rid of them, and I think that is important - especially since material change isn't happening anytime soon with the SKSs Labour party essentially talking the space left by David Cameron's Tory Party.
For the first time I do believe that the Royals seem (not only physiologically) creaky.
King down, Harry out, Kate who knows, William a cad.
George is no Richard II.
I think we should be prepping ourselves for King Harry and Queen Meghan.
Or Harry as Regent at least.
Not happening, there is no suggestion of any problem with William so he will still be next King.
Even if there was as you say it would be King George not King Harry with Harry at most regent for a few years.
Don't forget William is about 20 years older than his grandmother was when she became monarch after her father died
I wouldn’t be so sure about that. There would be no appetite in the country for Harry to be either monarch or regent, as reflected in the 2022 counsellors of state bill, which restored Anne and Edward back to their prior role.
Depending on the circumstances of William not taking the job, he or his wife may decide they dont want that life for his kids either and so parliament removes them from the line of succession too (see the brief parliamentary instrument removing Edward and future heirs from succession).
So if not William nor kids, nor Harry (nor kids), it’s Andrew. Obvs that doesn’t work either. By now we’re abandoning primogeniture and picking who we want. Next in line Andy’s kids. Fergie as queen mother. Really?? You can’t easily skip past them for the obvious candidates of Edward/Sophie without unravelling the whole thing.
Potentially it’s a very very big mess.
In such circumstances parliament would likely legislate to give it to Edward or Anne before the Accession Council with the throne continuing down their line.
However William is almost certainly going to be King followed by George so it will not be an issue
And in such a circumstance I think the "magic" of monarchy dies. The monarchy barely survived the abdication crisis of the 1900's; they wouldn't be able to survive in the modern era doing something similar. People would, correctly, suggest that such a system of privilege for people based purely on their bloodline is absolutely ridiculous, as is the idea that they somehow unify the country or uphold stability - because the very crisis itself would disprove both those things.
The monarchy lucked out with Lizzie - we got a Queen at a time of progress so we wouldn't have to confront a King during the fight for women's rights and such, she had seen the abdication crisis first hand so didn't want to do anything that could lead to that happening again, and she was so young when she got the throne that she was rooted in the heads of three generations of people as The Queen. She messed up the whole Diana thing, which could have been a proper turning point against the royals, but other than that a relatively good run. Now we have her unloved son as King and his broken sons.
Even Charles is far more popular than any politician would be and William massively more so.
If we ever were a republic as I said I would vote for the most far right candidate possible, if Republicans want to end constitutional monarchy I will push for the most divisive hard right head of state possible instead
I don't understand why we would need to replace them with anything - or why a head of state needs political power. You could roll the speakership into a nominal head of state for all I care - or be like RoI which has a purely ceremonial figure. As long as we get shift of the sponging bastards who claim to be better than us all due to their special blood, or a dictat from God or whatever, I don't care.
The Irish President is himself an ex politician who was in the Dail, he has angered Israel with his Gaza comments and his wife angered Ukraine pushing for a peace deal with the Kremlin. He also brings in no real tourism, royal wedding, coronation or jubilee revenue and his successor is like to be Bertie Ahern, the Irish Blair and another ex politician
The whole "monarchy brings in tourist money" thing just isn't true. France has a huge number of tourists - even to the palaces that don't have living monarchs in them. London is a tourist magnet because it is arguably the cultural hub of the English speaking world - second possibly to NYC. It isn't dependent on the royals still existing. And hell, if Buckingham Palace was turned into a museum, I'm sure that would have a hell of a lot of tourists too. Lots of royal stuff that no longer functions as it does (the Tower of London, for example) is still of interest to tourists. A living, politically powerful, royal family is not necessary for that. And even if it was true - I don't care. It is morally abhorrent, I don't care if it makes money (although I don't believe it does).
Tourists can't even visit the Elysee Palace where Macron lives except on rare open days unlike Buckingham Palace
The Palace of Versailles has ~15 million visitors annually. No monarchs to be seen.
We have Hampton Court and who built both? A King not a President.
We also have royal wedding, jubilee and coronation revenue from tourists the world over.
Other than that we lose to France on weather, they have sunny south of France we have frequent wet weekends in Blackpool and Bognor. They have ski resorts we don't, they still have higher ranked restaurants overall and they have just as many historic chateaus and palaces.
Be difficult for a President to build a palace in the 16th century.
And as any fule kno, it was Wolsey who started it, and a dodgy non-divine right usurper who was basically a President only they didn't call him that, who gave it a makeover.
We need some polling in Ashfield. I would not at all be surprised if Anderson retained his seat in the GE, and, for approximately similar reasons, if Galloway retained Rochdale.
I couldn't possibly comment on that !!
Because I have not got the foggiest idea what will happen.
As background, changes I am noticing over 10-15 years are:
1 - A fair few new houses have been built. We don't do new towns, but there are plenty of developments from 100-500 and a couple of 1000-2000, houses. 2 - Rather more people from brown / black ethnicities. Not a lot, but it reminds me of say some of the remaining WWC areas of London 30 years ago - eg the area around Myddleton Square in East London when I used to visit to do an MSc (in Software Reliability of all things) in the early 1990s. 3 - Lots of Polish. The two display languages at my GP are English and Polish. 4 - Integration with Nottingham - the Hucknall end is on the Nottingham Tram Network, and is in practice becoming a suburb. 5 - More commuting by people who live this way for more attractive house prices.
There have also been modest boundary adjustments.
1,3 and 5 are definitely true of Bassetlaw too - it'll be intriguing to see what vote reform get in my constituency, you can't really get more of a reform in Tory clothing MP than BCS ! I expect nevertheless Reform will do well enough that he loses the seat to Labour - probably a smaller swing than national mind.
We are losing some areas to Broxtowe (Eastwood / Brinsley), and gaining from Mansfield (Berry Hill, Bull Farm, Pleasley). Both chunks are a mixture of middle / working class afaics.
As Lee Anderson put it:
Ashfield Boundary Changes.
So at the next election the Ashfield constituency will have a different boundary. Eastwood & Brinsley has gone to Broxtowe and I take a tiny bit of Berry Hill as well as Bull Farm & Pleasley from Mansfield.
The boundaries are changing to equal out the number of people in each constituency.
I am sad to lose Eastwood & Brinsley but my new areas will get my full attention and cannot wait to get out there.
For all those wealthy decadents among you with more money than sense, you may be interested in travelling to the States to see the total solar eclipse on April 8th.
Getting Kate to admit the Midjourneying of her “family photo” is clever. Everyone feels sorry for her, for multiple reasons; it closes down the story from several angles - press cannot angrily question a recently-hospitalised woman, not even at one remove
However there are problems. Such as: it is surely a lie
My best guess: she is seriously ill, she’s in no state to do family photos, she doesn’t look well, but with the king also hors de combat they felt the public needed SOME reassurance. Hence Princess Dalle3 and her Sora family
Everyone has spent all day laughing at how inept the image altering is. It’s destined to become a meme for the ages. And the response from the palace is blame it all on silly Kate going rogue from her own Pr team and making a horrifically embarrassing error. Not a good look.
We need some polling in Ashfield. I would not at all be surprised if Anderson retained his seat in the GE, and, for approximately similar reasons, if Galloway retained Rochdale.
Isn’t the Independent up before the beak before too long?
Yes - but not until after the general election. The trial is set for February 2025 at Northampton Crown Court.
The insouciant way HYUFD dropped out “the blinds” was subtly paradigm shaking.
We all bang on about the supposed Russian bots but right under our noses we overlook the fact that HYUFD is the most polished practical joker ever to grace the pages of PB.
End of the day does anyone trust any UK politician to implement an elected head of state sensibly? They'd beeline for the yank system and we'd end up paying similar for a puffed up useless ego who'd tear to shreds the current structure of UK politics.
Again, why do we need a head of state separate from the PM? They already do most things a head of state is supposed to do? And if you do want them to be separate from the PM - just give it to the Speaker; that would keep them busy with hosting people and is already a political role that is supposed to be non-partisan. If the Speaker has to host some fancy dinners and occasionally give a speech, that's fine by me - it's still more democratic than people ruling based on their bloodline.
For the same reason the referee isn't on the team.
The Monarch appoints the PM to form a government. The Monarch must be sufficiently distanced from the political process to be trusted with this. In extremis the Monarch can remove the PM, and if that happens they have to have sufficient trust amongst the people to do it. It's like saying "why do we need an emergency parachute". You don't need them until you do, but when you do you really do.
I once started reading the “blinds” but I realised I don’t have a fucking clue who 50% of the celebs are. Same with the Mail’s sidebar of shame.
I’m 45, one imagines this gets worse and worse with age.
The sidebar of shame is invaluable - you check it each day and if you don’t know more than one person on there then all is good in your life. Sort of like the apocryphal nuclear sub commander checking that the Today programme is broadcasting.
Back after an awful week. Apparently I still can't manage significant physical exertion and an exercise assessment a few days before a walking tour put me out for a week with fatigue, where I had to have a lie in and afternoon nap each day just to manage. Long covid is a bitch. (For those wondering why sickness has increased amongst workers, I would say look no further).
Having been away for a week (which is a long time in politics) I just have to say - WTF is going on with these Kate pictures?
Welcome back and it's good to see an anarcho-syndicalist focusing on the critical issue facing the workers today.
Hey, any weakness in the royals is an opportunity to get rid of them, and I think that is important - especially since material change isn't happening anytime soon with the SKSs Labour party essentially talking the space left by David Cameron's Tory Party.
For the first time I do believe that the Royals seem (not only physiologically) creaky.
King down, Harry out, Kate who knows, William a cad.
George is no Richard II.
I think we should be prepping ourselves for King Harry and Queen Meghan.
Or Harry as Regent at least.
Not happening, there is no suggestion of any problem with William so he will still be next King.
Even if there was as you say it would be King George not King Harry with Harry at most regent for a few years.
Don't forget William is about 20 years older than his grandmother was when she became monarch after her father died
I wouldn’t be so sure about that. There would be no appetite in the country for Harry to be either monarch or regent, as reflected in the 2022 counsellors of state bill, which restored Anne and Edward back to their prior role.
Depending on the circumstances of William not taking the job, he or his wife may decide they dont want that life for his kids either and so parliament removes them from the line of succession too (see the brief parliamentary instrument removing Edward and future heirs from succession).
So if not William nor kids, nor Harry (nor kids), it’s Andrew. Obvs that doesn’t work either. By now we’re abandoning primogeniture and picking who we want. Next in line Andy’s kids. Fergie as queen mother. Really?? You can’t easily skip past them for the obvious candidates of Edward/Sophie without unravelling the whole thing.
Potentially it’s a very very big mess.
In such circumstances parliament would likely legislate to give it to Edward or Anne before the Accession Council with the throne continuing down their line.
However William is almost certainly going to be King followed by George so it will not be an issue
And in such a circumstance I think the "magic" of monarchy dies. The monarchy barely survived the abdication crisis of the 1900's; they wouldn't be able to survive in the modern era doing something similar. People would, correctly, suggest that such a system of privilege for people based purely on their bloodline is absolutely ridiculous, as is the idea that they somehow unify the country or uphold stability - because the very crisis itself would disprove both those things.
The monarchy lucked out with Lizzie - we got a Queen at a time of progress so we wouldn't have to confront a King during the fight for women's rights and such, she had seen the abdication crisis first hand so didn't want to do anything that could lead to that happening again, and she was so young when she got the throne that she was rooted in the heads of three generations of people as The Queen. She messed up the whole Diana thing, which could have been a proper turning point against the royals, but other than that a relatively good run. Now we have her unloved son as King and his broken sons.
Even Charles is far more popular than any politician would be and William massively more so.
If we ever were a republic as I said I would vote for the most far right candidate possible, if Republicans want to end constitutional monarchy I will push for the most divisive hard right head of state possible instead
I don't understand why we would need to replace them with anything - or why a head of state needs political power. You could roll the speakership into a nominal head of state for all I care - or be like RoI which has a purely ceremonial figure. As long as we get shift of the sponging bastards who claim to be better than us all due to their special blood, or a dictat from God or whatever, I don't care.
The Irish President is himself an ex politician who was in the Dail, he has angered Israel with his Gaza comments and his wife angered Ukraine pushing for a peace deal with the Kremlin. He also brings in no real tourism, royal wedding, coronation or jubilee revenue and his successor is like to be Bertie Ahern, the Irish Blair and another ex politician
The whole "monarchy brings in tourist money" thing just isn't true. France has a huge number of tourists - even to the palaces that don't have living monarchs in them. London is a tourist magnet because it is arguably the cultural hub of the English speaking world - second possibly to NYC. It isn't dependent on the royals still existing. And hell, if Buckingham Palace was turned into a museum, I'm sure that would have a hell of a lot of tourists too. Lots of royal stuff that no longer functions as it does (the Tower of London, for example) is still of interest to tourists. A living, politically powerful, royal family is not necessary for that. And even if it was true - I don't care. It is morally abhorrent, I don't care if it makes money (although I don't believe it does).
Tourists can't even visit the Elysee Palace where Macron lives except on rare open days unlike Buckingham Palace
The Palace of Versailles has ~15 million visitors annually. No monarchs to be seen.
We have Hampton Court and who built both? A King not a President.
We also have royal wedding, jubilee and coronation revenue from tourists the world over.
Other than that we lose to France on weather, they have sunny south of France we have frequent wet weekends in Blackpool and Bognor. They have ski resorts we don't, they still have higher ranked restaurants overall and they have just as many historic chateaus and palaces.
We have ski resorts, unless you’ve already written off Scotland!
End of the day does anyone trust any UK politician to implement an elected head of state sensibly? They'd beeline for the yank system and we'd end up paying similar for a puffed up useless ego who'd tear to shreds the current structure of UK politics.
Again, why do we need a head of state separate from the PM? They already do most things a head of state is supposed to do? And if you do want them to be separate from the PM - just give it to the Speaker; that would keep them busy with hosting people and is already a political role that is supposed to be non-partisan. If the Speaker has to host some fancy dinners and occasionally give a speech, that's fine by me - it's still more democratic than people ruling based on their bloodline.
I think we should elect a President, but candidates can only come from actors who have played Doctor Who on television.
Doctor Who, James Bond, or any dramatic depiction of a British Monarch on stage or screen.
[Narrator: that means Matt Smith is eligible twice]
Getting Kate to admit the Midjourneying of her “family photo” is clever. Everyone feels sorry for her, for multiple reasons; it closes down the story from several angles - press cannot angrily question a recently-hospitalised woman, not even at one remove
However there are problems. Such as: it is surely a lie
My best guess: she is seriously ill, she’s in no state to do family photos, she doesn’t look well, but with the king also hors de combat they felt the public needed SOME reassurance. Hence Princess Dalle3 and her Sora family
This will be seen to trigger the great realisation: why bother when AI can do it? Much cheaper than a wetware royal family, and no ethical concerns about cruelty to primates in gilded cages.
Back after an awful week. Apparently I still can't manage significant physical exertion and an exercise assessment a few days before a walking tour put me out for a week with fatigue, where I had to have a lie in and afternoon nap each day just to manage. Long covid is a bitch. (For those wondering why sickness has increased amongst workers, I would say look no further).
Having been away for a week (which is a long time in politics) I just have to say - WTF is going on with these Kate pictures?
Welcome back and it's good to see an anarcho-syndicalist focusing on the critical issue facing the workers today.
Hey, any weakness in the royals is an opportunity to get rid of them, and I think that is important - especially since material change isn't happening anytime soon with the SKSs Labour party essentially talking the space left by David Cameron's Tory Party.
For the first time I do believe that the Royals seem (not only physiologically) creaky.
King down, Harry out, Kate who knows, William a cad.
George is no Richard II.
I think we should be prepping ourselves for King Harry and Queen Meghan.
Or Harry as Regent at least.
Not happening, there is no suggestion of any problem with William so he will still be next King.
Even if there was as you say it would be King George not King Harry with Harry at most regent for a few years.
Don't forget William is about 20 years older than his grandmother was when she became monarch after her father died
I wouldn’t be so sure about that. There would be no appetite in the country for Harry to be either monarch or regent, as reflected in the 2022 counsellors of state bill, which restored Anne and Edward back to their prior role.
Depending on the circumstances of William not taking the job, he or his wife may decide they dont want that life for his kids either and so parliament removes them from the line of succession too (see the brief parliamentary instrument removing Edward and future heirs from succession).
So if not William nor kids, nor Harry (nor kids), it’s Andrew. Obvs that doesn’t work either. By now we’re abandoning primogeniture and picking who we want. Next in line Andy’s kids. Fergie as queen mother. Really?? You can’t easily skip past them for the obvious candidates of Edward/Sophie without unravelling the whole thing.
Potentially it’s a very very big mess.
In such circumstances parliament would likely legislate to give it to Edward or Anne before the Accession Council with the throne continuing down their line.
However William is almost certainly going to be King followed by George so it will not be an issue
And in such a circumstance I think the "magic" of monarchy dies. The monarchy barely survived the abdication crisis of the 1900's; they wouldn't be able to survive in the modern era doing something similar. People would, correctly, suggest that such a system of privilege for people based purely on their bloodline is absolutely ridiculous, as is the idea that they somehow unify the country or uphold stability - because the very crisis itself would disprove both those things.
The monarchy lucked out with Lizzie - we got a Queen at a time of progress so we wouldn't have to confront a King during the fight for women's rights and such, she had seen the abdication crisis first hand so didn't want to do anything that could lead to that happening again, and she was so young when she got the throne that she was rooted in the heads of three generations of people as The Queen. She messed up the whole Diana thing, which could have been a proper turning point against the royals, but other than that a relatively good run. Now we have her unloved son as King and his broken sons.
Even Charles is far more popular than any politician would be and William massively more so.
If we ever were a republic as I said I would vote for the most far right candidate possible, if Republicans want to end constitutional monarchy I will push for the most divisive hard right head of state possible instead
I don't understand why we would need to replace them with anything - or why a head of state needs political power. You could roll the speakership into a nominal head of state for all I care - or be like RoI which has a purely ceremonial figure. As long as we get shift of the sponging bastards who claim to be better than us all due to their special blood, or a dictat from God or whatever, I don't care.
The Irish President is himself an ex politician who was in the Dail, he has angered Israel with his Gaza comments and his wife angered Ukraine pushing for a peace deal with the Kremlin. He also brings in no real tourism, royal wedding, coronation or jubilee revenue and his successor is like to be Bertie Ahern, the Irish Blair and another ex politician
The whole "monarchy brings in tourist money" thing just isn't true. France has a huge number of tourists - even to the palaces that don't have living monarchs in them. London is a tourist magnet because it is arguably the cultural hub of the English speaking world - second possibly to NYC. It isn't dependent on the royals still existing. And hell, if Buckingham Palace was turned into a museum, I'm sure that would have a hell of a lot of tourists too. Lots of royal stuff that no longer functions as it does (the Tower of London, for example) is still of interest to tourists. A living, politically powerful, royal family is not necessary for that. And even if it was true - I don't care. It is morally abhorrent, I don't care if it makes money (although I don't believe it does).
Tourists can't even visit the Elysee Palace where Macron lives except on rare open days unlike Buckingham Palace
The Palace of Versailles has ~15 million visitors annually. No monarchs to be seen.
We have Hampton Court and who built both? A King not a President.
We also have royal wedding, jubilee and coronation revenue from tourists the world over.
Other than that we lose to France on weather, they have sunny south of France we have frequent wet weekends in Blackpool and Bognor. They have ski resorts we don't, they still have higher ranked restaurants overall and they have just as many historic chateaus and palaces.
We have ski resorts, unless you’ve already written off Scotland!
Won't last much longer in France or Scotland, the way the climate is going.
As my attempts to google "the blinds" has produced endless adverts for window fixings which will no doubt pollute my google searches for many days to come does any hipster out there want to elucidate?
I'm staggered by the fact Kate's altered her own photos - I'd have thought it would be the function of one of her 8 communications staff.
Has she hell as like done this herself. I would need proof of life of her saying that to show that the proof of life photo wasn't thrown together by someone to cover things up.
As my attempts to google "the blinds" has produced endless adverts for window fixings which will no doubt pollute my google searches for many days to come does any hipster out there want to elucidate?
Do we not already provide you with a superabundance of triviality ?
I just completed my first unofficial sprint triathlon!
Drove to my local swimming pool, did 750 metres warm up, then an 800 metre continuous swim (750m in 20m40s) Drove home, made Mrs J a cup of tea, got into my cycling shorts, and rode 25km (1h 8m) Arrived home, made Mrs J a cup of tea, changed into my running shorts, ran 5km (30m 30s) Arrived home, made Mrs J a cup of tea
Quite pleased with this; the swim was delayed as the pool was busy, and the ride was longer than I'd like as I'm a pants rider and it's a new bike whose gears are an arcane mystery to me.
Not bad as I could not swim freestyle properly at the beginning of the year.
It means the royals recognise this is the THE story of the moment. AI permeating human society and - inter alia - rendering visual truth a memory. All else is trivial compared to that
Once again their travails mirror the changing world, in the most contemporary way. I’m kinda serious
I'm staggered by the fact Kate's altered her own photos - I'd have thought it would be the function of one of her 8 communications staff.
Has she hell as like done this herself. I would need proof of life of her saying that to show that the proof of life photo wasn't thrown together by someone to cover things up.
World at One just stated that the pic was edited on a Mac, TSE turned monarchist in a flash.
I just completed my first unofficial sprint triathlon!
Drove to my local swimming pool, did 750 metres warm up, then an 800 metre continuous swim (750m in 20m40s) Drove home, made Mrs J a cup of tea, got into my cycling shorts, and rode 25km (1h 8m) Arrived home, made Mrs J a cup of tea, changed into my running shorts, ran 5km (30m 30s) Arrived home, made Mrs J a cup of tea
Quite pleased with this; the swim was delayed as the pool was busy, and the ride was longer than I'd like as I'm a pants rider and it's a new bike whose gears are an arcane mystery to me.
Not bad as I could not swim freestyle properly at the beginning of the year.
I'm a very happy bunny.
Is "riding pants" a technique like swimming freestyle ? And have they booked Mrs J for the Paris Olympics (and if not, for whom do the competitors prepare tea) ?
Ukip veteran: 'Anderson and Tice will be screaming at each other. Lee's staff will suddenly be dealing with the incompetence of Reform's staff and it will be like Carswell all over again.'
Perhaps.
Anderson is a lot worse than Carswell (who I always thought was a good MP), but I think Tice is better than Farage (I don't know why, but Tice seems more reasonable to me than Farage is/did).
As my attempts to google "the blinds" has produced endless adverts for window fixings which will no doubt pollute my google searches for many days to come does any hipster out there want to elucidate?
"The blinds" are short for "blind items", which in pre-internet British terms would be the gossip columns. Famous online ones include Crazy Days and Nights, Perez Hilton, Fauxmoi/Deuxmoi and in the UK Popbitch. Grandaddy of the online gossers is AGC Blind Items, an online compiler of blind items which has been going since the mid 1990s (hence the name: alt.gossip.celebrities was an old newsgroup). They are of varying accuracy and the CDAN guy - who goes by the name "Entertainment Lawyer" or "ENTY" for short - has been successfully sued for making shit up on the fly.
It means the royals recognise this is the THE story of the moment. AI permeating human society and - inter alia - rendering visual truth a memory. All else is trivial compared to that
Once again their travails mirror the changing world, in the most contemporary way. I’m kinda serious
Any chance Anderson could so us all a favour and take loopy Liz and Sue-Ellen with him?
Not until the leap is deemed 'safe', or rather less risky than staying.
If we start to get a trickle of defectors, and the trickle becomes a stream, watch the gutless ones join the rush, leaving the one nation Tories (what about 50-60% of Tory MPs?) behind in a a traditional Conservative rump. By then of course, the game will be up for the Conservative Party as we know knew it.
Getting Kate to admit the Midjourneying of her “family photo” is clever. Everyone feels sorry for her, for multiple reasons; it closes down the story from several angles - press cannot angrily question a recently-hospitalised woman, not even at one remove
However there are problems. Such as: it is surely a lie
My best guess: she is seriously ill, she’s in no state to do family photos, she doesn’t look well, but with the king also hors de combat they felt the public needed SOME reassurance. Hence Princess Dalle3 and her Sora family
If she's seriously ill, why not just be honest about it? Everyone would be sympathetic and all this sneaking around and pretense has got to be adding extra stress?
I just completed my first unofficial sprint triathlon!
Drove to my local swimming pool, did 750 metres warm up, then an 800 metre continuous swim (750m in 20m40s) Drove home, made Mrs J a cup of tea, got into my cycling shorts, and rode 25km (1h 8m) Arrived home, made Mrs J a cup of tea, changed into my running shorts, ran 5km (30m 30s) Arrived home, made Mrs J a cup of tea
Quite pleased with this; the swim was delayed as the pool was busy, and the ride was longer than I'd like as I'm a pants rider and it's a new bike whose gears are an arcane mystery to me.
Not bad as I could not swim freestyle properly at the beginning of the year.
I'm a very happy bunny.
Is "riding pants" a technique like swimming freestyle ? And have they booked Mrs J for the Paris Olympics (and if not, for whom do the competitors prepare tea) ?
I generally find that riding in pants is a *bare* minimum if I don't want to get arrested...
But in this case, it's because I'm not a particularly good rider. Even in pants.
I just completed my first unofficial sprint triathlon!
Drove to my local swimming pool, did 750 metres warm up, then an 800 metre continuous swim (750m in 20m40s) Drove home, made Mrs J a cup of tea, got into my cycling shorts, and rode 25km (1h 8m) Arrived home, made Mrs J a cup of tea, changed into my running shorts, ran 5km (30m 30s) Arrived home, made Mrs J a cup of tea
Quite pleased with this; the swim was delayed as the pool was busy, and the ride was longer than I'd like as I'm a pants rider and it's a new bike whose gears are an arcane mystery to me.
Not bad as I could not swim freestyle properly at the beginning of the year.
I'm a very happy bunny.
Is "riding pants" a technique like swimming freestyle ? And have they booked Mrs J for the Paris Olympics (and if not, for whom do the competitors prepare tea) ?
We once had afternoon tea at The Cafe Royale, that was a bit of a triathlon:
Getting Kate to admit the Midjourneying of her “family photo” is clever. Everyone feels sorry for her, for multiple reasons; it closes down the story from several angles - press cannot angrily question a recently-hospitalised woman, not even at one remove
However there are problems. Such as: it is surely a lie
My best guess: she is seriously ill, she’s in no state to do family photos, she doesn’t look well, but with the king also hors de combat they felt the public needed SOME reassurance. Hence Princess Dalle3 and her Sora family
Why do you call it 'midjourneying' ? Has it been admitted that was what used, or was it just another boring image processor?
“Darling how’s that photo that proves you’re alive coming along?”
“5 more minutes, I’m just doing a bit of casual photoshopping on it, do you think they’ll notice?”
I mean, I’ll take the explanation at face value, because I can’t imagine any PR team being quite so inept.
I actually feel sorry for Kate. There are obviously health issues and whatever the fuck is going on with slaphead. And she's just trapped and knows that a similar lifetime of fuckedupedness awaits all of her children. What fucking inescapable misery.
I agree. That's why those who are envious are so wrongheaded.
It's a jail. A gilded one, but still a jail.
Smartest thing that Harry and Meghan did was to get out.
Without their titles and his place in line of succession, which they haven't given up, Harry is only a minor army officer and Meghan a C- list actress
At least Meghan hasnt got a husband committing adultery in broad daylight
You obviously haven't read the blinds about Harry and Meghan for that matter in recent weeks, not that that means they are true of course
HYUFD that is the second time today that you have spread tittle tattle about our Royal Family. Now, you may not like or respect them but will you please try to rein in your phantasmagorical imagination in order not to offend those people who are, for example, monarchical tories (whatever tf that is).
Please desist.
Some years ago I used to work as a senior manager at a national institution that received an annual inspection visit from a royal. During this visit one of my jobs was to introduce the guest to a group of more junior staff who had been selected to be "presented". The usual way of doing this was to take them along the line (always behind them - you should not walk in front of a royal guest) and introduce them to each person who would shake hands and maybe exchange an anodyne sentence or two before they moved on to the next stage in what was a tightly choreographed and timetabled process. I think I met 7 royals in this way and none of them stand out in my memory - it was all pretty routine stuff for them I suppose. Except for one - Harry, this being before the rift with the rest of the family and he was still doing royal duties. He dispensed with the receiving line and handshaking, got everybody into a circle and chattered away about his life in the army etc etc in a way which put people completely at their ease and was really quite captivating. He came over as a genuinely nice guy on a personal level with a rare ability to connect. I am not a great fan of royalty in general, but he could have been a huge asset to them. But they allowed themselves to be consumed by poisonous family jealousies. More fool them.
Getting Kate to admit the Midjourneying of her “family photo” is clever. Everyone feels sorry for her, for multiple reasons; it closes down the story from several angles - press cannot angrily question a recently-hospitalised woman, not even at one remove
However there are problems. Such as: it is surely a lie
My best guess: she is seriously ill, she’s in no state to do family photos, she doesn’t look well, but with the king also hors de combat they felt the public needed SOME reassurance. Hence Princess Dalle3 and her Sora family
If she's seriously ill, why not just be honest about it? Everyone would be sympathetic and all this sneaking around and pretense has got to be adding extra stress?
The whole thing is bizarre. 🤷♂️
I agree. Honesty and openness is the best course of action now, as for that matter it was before - and as Charles has himself half-proved, before the Palace reverted to type and wouldn't confirm the type of cancer.
It means the royals recognise this is the THE story of the moment. AI permeating human society and - inter alia - rendering visual truth a memory. All else is trivial compared to that
Once again their travails mirror the changing world, in the most contemporary way. I’m kinda serious
An AI constitutional monarch ?
Why not?
I remember saying when QE2 died that it’s a shame she couldn’t have hung on another 5 years, by which time we would have the technology to render her effectively immortal: a cloned voice, a version of her personality made from all her known writings and utterances, a perfect visual avatar that would look exactly like her - it would BE her for all intensity and purposes.
99.9% never physically meet or see the royals so it would not matter that did not physically exist. She would digitally exist - perfectly poised and shyly dignified as she was, for ever and ever. An eternally reassuring presence, the national mother, immortalised
I once started reading the “blinds” but I realised I don’t have a fucking clue who 50% of the celebs are. Same with the Mail’s sidebar of shame.
I’m 45, one imagines this gets worse and worse with age.
Better - you cease caring.
I've been reading them since the Noughties and AGC used to be quite jolly - who was gay, who was having an affair, and so on. But as Internet got worse it got more and more sordid, and now it's all reality slebs, wifebeating, blackmail, yachting (don't ask), abuse of power, kids being molested on islands and Dubai portapotties (don't google it, it's repellent). I still read it, but's it's not like the old days.
“Darling how’s that photo that proves you’re alive coming along?”
“5 more minutes, I’m just doing a bit of casual photoshopping on it, do you think they’ll notice?”
I mean, I’ll take the explanation at face value, because I can’t imagine any PR team being quite so inept.
I actually feel sorry for Kate. There are obviously health issues and whatever the fuck is going on with slaphead. And she's just trapped and knows that a similar lifetime of fuckedupedness awaits all of her children. What fucking inescapable misery.
I agree. That's why those who are envious are so wrongheaded.
It's a jail. A gilded one, but still a jail.
It’s the main argument against monarchy that I’ll entertain. Not really bothered about the exclusionary/exclusive/heredity nature of it insofar as it impacts on me or my life, but more about how it affects the people involved psychologically.
Perhaps a slightly less mad way to do it (for the family themselves) would be to ask every child of the direct line of succession to do a ten-year stint before moving on to the next generation. So you have 10 years of KWIV, 10 years of KHIX, 10 years each of George, Charlotte and Louis, and ten years each for George's children.
They'll have a better idea of when they'll have the job, won't take it on at the death of their parent, will retire after doing a decade, and you don't have a spare who is initially vital, but then becomes surplus to requirements.
“Darling how’s that photo that proves you’re alive coming along?”
“5 more minutes, I’m just doing a bit of casual photoshopping on it, do you think they’ll notice?”
I mean, I’ll take the explanation at face value, because I can’t imagine any PR team being quite so inept.
I actually feel sorry for Kate. There are obviously health issues and whatever the fuck is going on with slaphead. And she's just trapped and knows that a similar lifetime of fuckedupedness awaits all of her children. What fucking inescapable misery.
I agree. That's why those who are envious are so wrongheaded.
It's a jail. A gilded one, but still a jail.
It’s the main argument against monarchy that I’ll entertain. Not really bothered about the exclusionary/exclusive/heredity nature of it insofar as it impacts on me or my life, but more about how it affects the people involved psychologically.
Perhaps a slightly less mad way to do it (for the family themselves) would be to ask every child of the direct line of succession to do a ten-year stint before moving on to the next generation. So you have 10 years of KWIV, 10 years of KHIX, 10 years each of George, Charlotte and Louis, and ten years each for George's children.
They'll have a better idea of when they'll have the job, won't take it on at the death of their parent, will retire after doing a decade, and you don't have a spare who is initially vital, but then becomes surplus to requirements.
If all the kids do 10 years, but you have 2 kids or fewer, then there’s not enough time for a next generation to be born.
Any chance Anderson could so us all a favour and take loopy Liz and Sue-Ellen with him?
Not until the leap is deemed 'safe', or rather less risky than staying.
If we start to get a trickle of defectors, and the trickle becomes a stream, watch the gutless ones join the rush, leaving the one nation Tories (what about 50-60% of Tory MPs?) behind in a a traditional Conservative rump. By then of course, the game will be up for the Conservative Party as we know knew it.
Anderson jumped ship because he didn't want to apologise for his comments about Khan, and he hasn't given up on winning re-election.
These circumstances don't apply to any other MPs, so we won't see any further defectors absent a change in the electoral calculus - Reform polling above the Tories, say.
“Darling how’s that photo that proves you’re alive coming along?”
“5 more minutes, I’m just doing a bit of casual photoshopping on it, do you think they’ll notice?”
I mean, I’ll take the explanation at face value, because I can’t imagine any PR team being quite so inept.
I actually feel sorry for Kate. There are obviously health issues and whatever the fuck is going on with slaphead. And she's just trapped and knows that a similar lifetime of fuckedupedness awaits all of her children. What fucking inescapable misery.
I agree. That's why those who are envious are so wrongheaded.
It's a jail. A gilded one, but still a jail.
It’s the main argument against monarchy that I’ll entertain. Not really bothered about the exclusionary/exclusive/heredity nature of it insofar as it impacts on me or my life, but more about how it affects the people involved psychologically.
Perhaps a slightly less mad way to do it (for the family themselves) would be to ask every child of the direct line of succession to do a ten-year stint before moving on to the next generation. So you have 10 years of KWIV, 10 years of KHIX, 10 years each of George, Charlotte and Louis, and ten years each for George's children.
They'll have a better idea of when they'll have the job, won't take it on at the death of their parent, will retire after doing a decade, and you don't have a spare who is initially vital, but then becomes surplus to requirements.
“Darling how’s that photo that proves you’re alive coming along?”
“5 more minutes, I’m just doing a bit of casual photoshopping on it, do you think they’ll notice?”
I mean, I’ll take the explanation at face value, because I can’t imagine any PR team being quite so inept.
I actually feel sorry for Kate. There are obviously health issues and whatever the fuck is going on with slaphead. And she's just trapped and knows that a similar lifetime of fuckedupedness awaits all of her children. What fucking inescapable misery.
I agree. That's why those who are envious are so wrongheaded.
It's a jail. A gilded one, but still a jail.
It’s the main argument against monarchy that I’ll entertain. Not really bothered about the exclusionary/exclusive/heredity nature of it insofar as it impacts on me or my life, but more about how it affects the people involved psychologically.
Perhaps a slightly less mad way to do it (for the family themselves) would be to ask every child of the direct line of succession to do a ten-year stint before moving on to the next generation. So you have 10 years of KWIV, 10 years of KHIX, 10 years each of George, Charlotte and Louis, and ten years each for George's children.
They'll have a better idea of when they'll have the job, won't take it on at the death of their parent, will retire after doing a decade, and you don't have a spare who is initially vital, but then becomes surplus to requirements.
If all the kids do 10 years, but you have 2 kids or fewer, then there’s not enough time for a next generation to be born.
We need some polling in Ashfield. I would not at all be surprised if Anderson retained his seat in the GE, and, for approximately similar reasons, if Galloway retained Rochdale.
Isn’t the Independent up before the beak before too long?
2025. In Northampton. Very Trumpish.
Do you think Zadrozny could win Ashfield ?
I honestly can't call it.
1 - Predictions are currently a marginal ~3% Labour win. 2 - AIs have staff on the ground - 32 from 35 District Councillors are still AI, and all the County Councillors, plus a couple outside Ashfield iirc. That will help. 3 - But they have problems with corruption and alleged corruption, and persuasive whiffs in the air. The Deputy Leader who was up before the beak nearly lost his seat last time. 4 - Changes in the boundaries may work against them as a local party. 5 - AIs are very good at Lib Dem style populism, and have certain achievements - 3 new / refurbed leisure centres, a new County youth adventure centre, a large project to expand the local Observatory, and moving the County Council offices into Ashfield (not sure if it is all of it). But not respected on basic service delivery. 6 - They have pursued us and them politics vs County. 7 - The other parties also have problems. Local Labour were nutty imo - one of two remaining Councillors who has now gone was the one who photo bombed Ed Milliband with the "Dance on Thatcher's Grave" teeshirt. No idea if they are sane yet; they need to tell me why they are sane.
For me, Zadrozny is beyond the pale because he has so many unresolved criminal charges against him and the trial delayed until post-Election. I would never vote for a candidate with that hanging over them.
Ukip veteran: 'Anderson and Tice will be screaming at each other. Lee's staff will suddenly be dealing with the incompetence of Reform's staff and it will be like Carswell all over again.'
Perhaps.
Anderson is a lot worse than Carswell (who I always thought was a good MP), but I think Tice is better than Farage (I don't know why, but Tice seems more reasonable to me than Farage is/did).
Tice is more like a baddie from Howard's way or Eldorado, whereas Farage is a baddie from the A-Team or Inspector Morse.
As my attempts to google "the blinds" has produced endless adverts for window fixings which will no doubt pollute my google searches for many days to come does any hipster out there want to elucidate?
I think it's 'blind item' - a gossipy news story that doesn't name the person(s) concerned, e.g. 'Which minor royal was spotted doing x with an Eastenders actor in location y?'
Any chance Anderson could so us all a favour and take loopy Liz and Sue-Ellen with him?
Not until the leap is deemed 'safe', or rather less risky than staying.
If we start to get a trickle of defectors, and the trickle becomes a stream, watch the gutless ones join the rush, leaving the one nation Tories (what about 50-60% of Tory MPs?) behind in a a traditional Conservative rump. By then of course, the game will be up for the Conservative Party as we know knew it.
Anderson jumped ship because he didn't want to apologise for his comments about Khan, and he hasn't given up on winning re-election.
These circumstances don't apply to any other MPs, so we won't see any further defectors absent a change in the electoral calculus - Reform polling above the Tories, say.
I'm cynical enough to believe that he may be feathering his nest before retirement.
“Darling how’s that photo that proves you’re alive coming along?”
“5 more minutes, I’m just doing a bit of casual photoshopping on it, do you think they’ll notice?”
I mean, I’ll take the explanation at face value, because I can’t imagine any PR team being quite so inept.
I actually feel sorry for Kate. There are obviously health issues and whatever the fuck is going on with slaphead. And she's just trapped and knows that a similar lifetime of fuckedupedness awaits all of her children. What fucking inescapable misery.
I agree. That's why those who are envious are so wrongheaded.
It's a jail. A gilded one, but still a jail.
Smartest thing that Harry and Meghan did was to get out.
Without their titles and his place in line of succession, which they haven't given up, Harry is only a minor army officer and Meghan a C- list actress
At least Meghan hasnt got a husband committing adultery in broad daylight
You obviously haven't read the blinds about Harry and Meghan for that matter in recent weeks, not that that means they are true of course
HYUFD that is the second time today that you have spread tittle tattle about our Royal Family. Now, you may not like or respect them but will you please try to rein in your phantasmagorical imagination in order not to offend those people who are, for example, monarchical tories (whatever tf that is).
Please desist.
Some years ago I used to work as a senior manager at a national institution that received an annual inspection visit from a royal. During this visit one of my jobs was to introduce the guest to a group of more junior staff who had been selected to be "presented". The usual way of doing this was to take them along the line (always behind them - you should not walk in front of a royal guest) and introduce them to each person who would shake hands and maybe exchange an anodyne sentence or two before they moved on to the next stage in what was a tightly choreographed and timetabled process. I think I met 7 royals in this way and none of them stand out in my memory - it was all pretty routine stuff for them I suppose. Except for one - Harry, this being before the rift with the rest of the family and he was still doing royal duties. He dispensed with the receiving line and handshaking, got everybody into a circle and chattered away about his life in the army etc etc in a way which put people completely at their ease and was really quite captivating. He came over as a genuinely nice guy on a personal level with a rare ability to connect. I am not a great fan of royalty in general, but he could have been a huge asset to them. But they allowed themselves to be consumed by poisonous family jealousies. More fool them.
Not now Harry's UK poll rating is as bad as Rishi's after he abandoned his royal duties
The Ashfield seat is a bit of an odd one with an Independent who split the Labour vote and came second. The suggestion on WIki is that this independent is going to stand again which confuses matters somewhat but on current polling this looks like an easy Labour win, especially if Anderson, standing for Reform, splits the Tory vote to any extent.
So his political career was coming to an end anyway. Oh dear, never mind etc.
Agreed. Reckless II and even less relevant. There will be more similar banana skins for Sunak to slip on before the farce is over.
It means the royals recognise this is the THE story of the moment. AI permeating human society and - inter alia - rendering visual truth a memory. All else is trivial compared to that
Once again their travails mirror the changing world, in the most contemporary way. I’m kinda serious
An AI constitutional monarch ?
Why not?
I remember saying when QE2 died that it’s a shame she couldn’t have hung on another 5 years, by which time we would have the technology to render her effectively immortal: a cloned voice, a version of her personality made from all her known writings and utterances, a perfect visual avatar that would look exactly like her - it would BE her for all intensity and purposes.
99.9% never physically meet or see the royals so it would not matter that did not physically exist. She would digitally exist - perfectly poised and shyly dignified as she was, for ever and ever. An eternally reassuring presence, the national mother, immortalised
The Royals get out and about quite a lot. I think rather a larger percentage than that have seen them in the flesh.
One in a thousand people is only about 200 people a day for a single year.
Getting Kate to admit the Midjourneying of her “family photo” is clever. Everyone feels sorry for her, for multiple reasons; it closes down the story from several angles - press cannot angrily question a recently-hospitalised woman, not even at one remove
However there are problems. Such as: it is surely a lie
My best guess: she is seriously ill, she’s in no state to do family photos, she doesn’t look well, but with the king also hors de combat they felt the public needed SOME reassurance. Hence Princess Dalle3 and her Sora family
If she's seriously ill, why not just be honest about it? Everyone would be sympathetic and all this sneaking around and pretense has got to be adding extra stress?
The whole thing is bizarre. 🤷♂️
She doesn't want her kids to know? Almost every adult would be sympathic, but her kids would worry: "Is mummy going to die?" Parents sometimes hide illness from their children unless they have to tell them.
Getting Kate to admit the Midjourneying of her “family photo” is clever. Everyone feels sorry for her, for multiple reasons; it closes down the story from several angles - press cannot angrily question a recently-hospitalised woman, not even at one remove
However there are problems. Such as: it is surely a lie
My best guess: she is seriously ill, she’s in no state to do family photos, she doesn’t look well, but with the king also hors de combat they felt the public needed SOME reassurance. Hence Princess Dalle3 and her Sora family
If she's seriously ill, why not just be honest about it? Everyone would be sympathetic and all this sneaking around and pretense has got to be adding extra stress?
The whole thing is bizarre. 🤷♂️
I agree. Honesty and openness is the best course of action now, as for that matter it was before - and as Charles has himself half-proved, before the Palace reverted to type and wouldn't confirm the type of cancer.
Generally agree, my only hesitation is if it was a deeply personal condition that required intervention. For example, say for example she had to have a colostomy*, would you want that publicised if you were her?
Ukip veteran: 'Anderson and Tice will be screaming at each other. Lee's staff will suddenly be dealing with the incompetence of Reform's staff and it will be like Carswell all over again.'
Perhaps.
Anderson is a lot worse than Carswell (who I always thought was a good MP), but I think Tice is better than Farage (I don't know why, but Tice seems more reasonable to me than Farage is/did).
Tice ranting on the radio atm about Jews leaving the UK and ‘genocidal’ statements projected onto parliament. I wonder if the more reasonable friends (lower case f) of Israel and Jews in general feel he’s helping their cause?
Yes, I wonder why this Irish proposal failed. It's heart looks in the right place, ie aiming to bring the Constitution up to date.
On the Care proposal: The State would no longer endeavour to ensure that mothers can afford to stay at home and fulfil their care duties - instead it was going to strive to support all family members in undertaking care duties.
Deconstructing, there are 2 changes:
(1) "Endeavour to ensure" is replaced by "strive to support"
Is that a problem? Does this language change represent a watering down of the state's obligations?
(2) It says all family members, not just mothers, have a duty of care to each other.
Is that more the problem? Do the majority still feel more comfortable singling out women and mothers as being responsible for this?
(1) Strive to support is meaningless waffle and does not create any enforceable legal rights.
(2) What doomed it was Varadkar saying in an interview that he did not think the state had any duty to care for the disabled or vulnerable family members. And that it was the family which should be responsible. He then tried to retract but the damage was done. Combined with the wooliness of (1) it looked like the state withdrawing for its obligations to help the vulnerable and dumping them on caters.
The majority of carers in Ireland are women.
So far from bringing things up to date it was a very old-fashioned change whereby the state ignored the disabled and expected women to take responsibility with no support. Plus ca change. De Valera would have thoroughly approved.
Worth reading what the Irish Senator, father of a disabled child said. He asked the authorities what care support there would be to help his child live independently as an adult and was told there would be nothing. When he asked what would happen after he died, he was told that it would be the child's sister who would have to be responsible. This "nothing to do with us" approach was felt by many to be behind this change and Varadkar's interview confirmed it.
Any chance Anderson could so us all a favour and take loopy Liz and Sue-Ellen with him?
Not until the leap is deemed 'safe', or rather less risky than staying.
If we start to get a trickle of defectors, and the trickle becomes a stream, watch the gutless ones join the rush, leaving the one nation Tories (what about 50-60% of Tory MPs?) behind in a a traditional Conservative rump. By then of course, the game will be up for the Conservative Party as we know knew it.
Unlikely. At least for now. Reform’s strategic issue is that they’ve shown no actual electoral success whatsoever. As for possible defectors, there’s no acute casus partum. Not until May locals anyway.
Comments
I would not at all be surprised if Anderson retained his seat in the GE, and, for approximately similar reasons, if Galloway retained Rochdale.
France's brand when it comes to constitutional history is all about the Revolution. People visit Versailles because of Marie Antoinette and let them eat cake and the Petit Trianon and powdered wigs and so on. And they visit France in their droves because of its food, lifestyle, and weather (in the South).
They visit Britain for the red buses and phone boxes, policemen in funny hats, the changing of the guard, the palaces, bagpipers in Edinburgh, Vikings in York, perhaps a foray to Harry Potter scenes in the highlands and the Warner Bros studios, and if they're really adventurous they might check out Oxbridge or Stonehenge or the Lake District. So we'd just need to ensure the changing of the guard and the palaces kept a suitable amount of tourist-friendly tradition going.
Weird that she didn't post an un-edited version of the pic alongside her "confession"...
As I have finally realised, quite late in life, there is only one way to guarantee a truly magnificent cup of coffee, every time
For one perfect cup of coffee: go to Colombia, have a coffee
It really is the best in the world
Because I have not got the foggiest idea what will happen.
As background, changes I am noticing over 10-15 years are:
1 - A fair few new houses have been built. We don't do new towns, but there are plenty of developments from 100-500 and a couple of 1000-2000, houses.
2 - Rather more people from brown / black ethnicities. Not a lot, but it reminds me of say some of the remaining WWC areas of London 30 years ago - eg the area around Myddleton Square in East London when I used to visit to do an MSc (in Software Reliability of all things) in the early 1990s.
3 - Lots of Polish. The two display languages at my GP are English and Polish.
4 - Integration with Nottingham - the Hucknall end is on the Nottingham Tram Network, and is in practice becoming a suburb.
5 - More commuting by people who live this way for more attractive house prices.
There have also been modest boundary adjustments.
Just been sent this by a Conservative MP…👀
“This post has been deleted”
“It was them that financially backed me, it’s them that’s protected me, it’s them that’s given me a political home. So why would I knife them in the back?” said Lee Anderson of the Tories weeks ago...
Both Leeanderthal and Zadrozny go on about the £50-100 million or so that has been forthcoming from the Towns Fund etc, but the context is the larger sums that have been withdrawn by salami-slicing, and a set of values about public realm and public services that are nihilistic.
Put simply, if we're still talking about when the election is a week from now, then it's not going to be 2nd May.
And if he doesn't go for 2nd May, he won't do anything as daft as 9th May. A May GE will coincide with the locals. After that, he'll probably let inertia drag him into October......
Or something.
Ashfield - Labour, depending on candidate? A Blue Labour candidate, perhaps?
However there are problems. Such as: it is surely a lie
My best guess: she is seriously ill, she’s in no state to do family photos, she doesn’t look well, but with the king also hors de combat they felt the public needed SOME reassurance. Hence Princess Dalle3 and her Sora family
Con 39 Ind 28 Lab 24 BXP 5
So an 8 point swing would be enough for Labour to win, absent any other changes.
But the demographic changes are interesting. My hunch is that right-populism does best right at the beginning of social changes. The first brown face, middle class commuter, visibly gay couple or Polish shop is the most traumatic.
We also have royal wedding, jubilee and coronation revenue from tourists the world over.
Other than that we lose to France on weather, they have sunny south of France we have frequent wet weekends in Blackpool and Bognor. They have ski resorts we don't, they still have higher ranked restaurants overall and they have just as many historic chateaus and palaces.
Please desist.
And as any fule kno, it was Wolsey who started it, and a dodgy non-divine right usurper who was basically a President only they didn't call him that, who gave it a makeover.
As Lee Anderson put it:
Ashfield Boundary Changes.
So at the next election the Ashfield constituency will have a different boundary.
Eastwood & Brinsley has gone to Broxtowe and I take a tiny bit of Berry Hill as well as Bull Farm & Pleasley from Mansfield.
The boundaries are changing to equal out the number of people in each constituency.
I am sad to lose Eastwood & Brinsley but my new areas will get my full attention and cannot wait to get out there.
https://www.facebook.com/AshfieldConservatives/posts/286025117147125/
As someone else put in the comments !
"2024 Total Solar Eclipse: On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will cross North America, passing over Mexico, United States, and Canada". see https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024/
I’m 45, one imagines this gets worse and worse with age.
The Monarch appoints the PM to form a government. The Monarch must be sufficiently distanced from the political process to be trusted with this. In extremis the Monarch can remove the PM, and if that happens they have to have sufficient trust amongst the people to do it. It's like saying "why do we need an emergency parachute". You don't need them until you do, but when you do you really do.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/02/ski-resorts-snow-global-warming-study
I just completed my first unofficial sprint triathlon!
Drove to my local swimming pool, did 750 metres warm up, then an 800 metre continuous swim (750m in 20m40s)
Drove home, made Mrs J a cup of tea, got into my cycling shorts, and rode 25km (1h 8m)
Arrived home, made Mrs J a cup of tea, changed into my running shorts, ran 5km (30m 30s)
Arrived home, made Mrs J a cup of tea
Quite pleased with this; the swim was delayed as the pool was busy, and the ride was longer than I'd like as I'm a pants rider and it's a new bike whose gears are an arcane mystery to me.
Not bad as I could not swim freestyle properly at the beginning of the year.
I'm a very happy bunny.
Aside from the Finland Rumour, all the good stuff is repeated here anyway. Why would I want to look for gossip anywhere else?
It means the royals recognise this is the THE story of the moment. AI permeating human society and - inter alia - rendering visual truth a memory. All else is trivial compared to that
Once again their travails mirror the changing world, in the most contemporary way. I’m kinda serious
And have they booked Mrs J for the Paris Olympics (and if not, for whom do the competitors prepare tea) ?
Anderson is a lot worse than Carswell (who I always thought was a good MP), but I think Tice is better than Farage (I don't know why, but Tice seems more reasonable to me than Farage is/did).
https://www.crazydaysandnights.net/
https://perezhilton.com/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fauxmoi/
https://popbitch.com/
http://www.agcwebpages.com/BLINDITEMS/MAINPAGE.html
If we start to get a trickle of defectors, and the trickle becomes a stream, watch the gutless ones join the rush, leaving the one nation Tories (what about 50-60% of Tory MPs?) behind in a a traditional Conservative rump. By then of course, the game will be up for the Conservative Party as we know knew it.
The whole thing is bizarre. 🤷♂️
But in this case, it's because I'm not a particularly good rider. Even in pants.
Sandwiches (30m 45s)
Tea
Scones (10m 11s)
Tea
Cakes (15m 24s)
Tea
https://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2024/03/10/karla-jacinto-alabama-senator-katie-britt-gop-response-state-of-the-union-address-controversy-romo-nr-vpx.cnn
I remember saying when QE2 died that it’s a shame she couldn’t have hung on another 5 years, by which time we would have the technology to render her effectively immortal: a cloned voice, a version of her personality made from all her known writings and utterances, a perfect visual avatar that would look exactly like her - it would BE her for all intensity and purposes.
99.9% never physically meet or see the royals so it would not matter that did not physically exist. She would digitally exist - perfectly poised and shyly dignified as she was, for ever and ever. An eternally reassuring presence, the national mother, immortalised
These circumstances don't apply to any other MPs, so we won't see any further defectors absent a change in the electoral calculus - Reform polling above the Tories, say.
1 - Predictions are currently a marginal ~3% Labour win.
2 - AIs have staff on the ground - 32 from 35 District Councillors are still AI, and all the County Councillors, plus a couple outside Ashfield iirc. That will help.
3 - But they have problems with corruption and alleged corruption, and persuasive whiffs in the air. The Deputy Leader who was up before the beak nearly lost his seat last time.
4 - Changes in the boundaries may work against them as a local party.
5 - AIs are very good at Lib Dem style populism, and have certain achievements - 3 new / refurbed leisure centres, a new County youth adventure centre, a large project to expand the local Observatory, and moving the County Council offices into Ashfield (not sure if it is all of it). But not respected on basic service delivery.
6 - They have pursued us and them politics vs County.
7 - The other parties also have problems. Local Labour were nutty imo - one of two remaining Councillors who has now gone was the one who photo bombed Ed Milliband with the "Dance on Thatcher's Grave" teeshirt. No idea if they are sane yet; they need to tell me why they are sane.
For me, Zadrozny is beyond the pale because he has so many unresolved criminal charges against him and the trial delayed until post-Election. I would never vote for a candidate with that hanging over them.
One in a thousand people is only about 200 people a day for a single year.
Almost every adult would be sympathic, but her kids would worry: "Is mummy going to die?"
Parents sometimes hide illness from their children unless they have to tell them.
Ie Britt is just another washed up MAGA Moron lying her head off.
(*Very unlikely of course.)
(2) What doomed it was Varadkar saying in an interview that he did not think the state had any duty to care for the disabled or vulnerable family members. And that it was the family which should be responsible. He then tried to retract but the damage was done. Combined with the wooliness of (1) it looked like the state withdrawing for its obligations to help the vulnerable and dumping them on caters.
The majority of carers in Ireland are women.
So far from bringing things up to date it was a very old-fashioned change whereby the state ignored the disabled and expected women to take responsibility with no support. Plus ca change. De Valera would have thoroughly approved.
Worth reading what the Irish Senator, father of a disabled child said. He asked the authorities what care support there would be to help his child live independently as an adult and was told there would be nothing. When he asked what would happen after he died, he was told that it would be the child's sister who would have to be responsible. This "nothing to do with us" approach was felt by many to be behind this change and Varadkar's interview confirmed it.
Sunak: "She was the people's princess..."
https://twitter.com/timfarron/status/1767132678581531048