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The Eurovision open thread – politicalbetting.com
The Eurovision open thread – politicalbetting.com
Since the voting system changed I haven’t bet heavily on Eurovision other than to occasionally lay Le Royaume-Uni. I cannot see any value on current prices but I will enjoy the annual bit of European unity and cultural enrichment.
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Elphicke had secured the meeting through Sir Mark Spencer, the Conservative Party chief whip. She assured him she did not wish to discuss the plight of her partner, Charlie, whom she had recently succeeded as MP for Dover and whose innocence she had spent years publicly protesting even as several women made claims of sexual assault to the police. She wished to discuss only some general concerns about the justice system.
The opposite was true.
Immediately after entering Buckland’s room on the ministerial corridor, she turned to the topic of her husband: the man who, in a newspaper article three years earlier, she had described as a victim of “injustice heaped upon injustice” having been “thrown to the wolves”.
To the shock of those present, Elphicke, 53, lobbied Buckland to interfere in the upcoming hearing of the case. She told him she felt it was unfair that his case was the first to be heard at Southwark crown court after lockdown and that was being overseen by Lady Justice Whipple, who, as presiding judge of the southeastern circuit, was one of the most senior judges in the land.
Her comments were interpreted by one person in the room as an attempt to have the case moved to a lower-profile court to spare her husband public scrutiny. Another saw it as an effort to replace Whipple, who Elphicke apparently felt would be overly-strict. It is claimed that she spoke with an air of entitlement and as though Buckland should intervene to stop him being “singled out”.
Buckland immediately objected, insisting the conversation could go no further, and declined to help. He feared it would be “outrageous” for him to interfere with the administration of justice by helping a fellow Conservative MP or her husband, also a former colleague. A key constitutional doctrine is that there should be a separation of powers between the principal institutions of state — including parliament and the judiciary.
The MP for South Swindon said today: “She was told in no uncertain terms that it would have been completely inappropriate to speak to the judge about the trial at all.”
A Labour Party spokesman said: “Natalie Elphicke totally rejects that characterisation of the meeting. If Robert Buckland had any genuine concerns about the meeting, then he should have raised them at the time, rather than making claims to the newspapers now Natalie has chosen to join the Labour Party.”
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/natalie-elphicke-lobbied-lord-chancellor-husband-charlie-kv68bvd7f
I've been going to them since I was 19, the music is awesome, the dancing even better. The booze is cheap.
I even ended up with my own fag hags as I was seen as an ally of the LGBT community.
https://eurovision.tv/app
I would rather watch paint dry
She's trying to get planning permission to convert a garage into flats that she owns in her constituency but locals have objected to her plans.
The Labour run council can overrule the local objections so defecting to Labour she thinks they will support one of their own.
I had a difficult job explaining all-night I wasn't gay, and the vibe was a bit off as a result.
Good times!!
Maaaaaaaaate
WTF was he thinking?
Mail are claiming it is all down to Sue Gray but I can't read the paywalled detail of that story.
Might be a good song but my guess is anti-Semitism or anti-Zionism (take your pick) wins out in much of the viewers voting and maybe, subjectively, the judges too.
I think the change to the voting system to allow voters around the world to vote 24 hours in advance can only but hurt them too; it's not big in the US but the Middle East will hugely downvote them.
Laura Kuenssberg
@bbclaurak
What could go wrong for Keir Starmer? A lot! Last week’s success in the local elections doesn’t mean it’s a done deal 👇🏼
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT6yOIC6ihI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1Lp3QFFvJE
LOL
https://youtu.be/hRDQmsfHpEI?si=eWWqgjbkYPVhEEOE&t=24
DYOR.
10 more mistakes like that, a bit of bad luck, stick Burgon on the front bench, SNP recover a bit, Tories release a few choice stories and some media rally round Sunak. It could all change to the point where Labour only win an extra 100 seats.
Love Shine a Light was the greatest winning song since Waterloo! Kimberley Rew is a vastly underrated songwriter.
I guess it all sounded fantastic in a sweaty room with shit coffee late in the evening talking it all through.
But it is a crap decision.
There is no gain imho whatsoever.
I think it's his best yet. He's entirely disingenuous of course but also ruthless.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has rewritten advice suggesting misgendering your partner or refusing them money for gender surgery constitutes domestic abuse.
The CPS has ditched and redrafted the advice for prosecutors after criticism from women’s campaigners who claimed it was “detrimental to women’s trust and confidence” in the service.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/10/misgendering-your-partner-is-not-domestic-abuse-says-cps/
Then their fans would be 'lover of Russian Queen.'
On the other, the Elphicke farago shows the limits of the Whips' Black Book. If her behaviour was really that awful, why did the Conservative party do nothing about it before Wednesday lunchtime?
And whilst it's unlikely that NE has brought many voters across from Conservative to Labour with her, depressing the Conservative vote (to either Reform or seeing what's on telly) is the next best thing for Team Keir.
I wonder where on the island of Cyprus the detention camp will be located.
Lithuania I think are above par.
😀😀😀
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maFlRR-zt4g
"Dschinghis Khan - Dschinghis Khan (Disco 26.03.1979)"
Think "Ra! Ra! Rasputin!", but much worse.