Is it theoretically possible to stop the general election at this point? Like, if Sunak just tore off his clothes and disappeared into the sea, could someone actually go to the palace and say "actually, don't dissolve parliament yet"?
As I understand it, the disruption isn't happening until the 30th, because the date of the election is tied rigidly to the date of dissolution.
So, yes. The King would follow the advice of his ministers and not dissolve Parliament if he received such advice before then.
But I don't think it's remotely likely that Sunak will quit. If that was something he was considering then he would have simply quit as PM, rather than call an election.
No, I don't reckon it's likely. It was just a what-if in my head and I didn't know the answer.
Certain stuff like this - no one knows the answer. We don't have a written constitution and the reserve powers of sovereign keep academics like Bogdanor and Brazier in work. There are some pretty strong principles and guidelines these days but...
Is it theoretically possible to stop the general election at this point? Like, if Sunak just tore off his clothes and disappeared into the sea, could someone actually go to the palace and say "actually, don't dissolve parliament yet"?
It would be rather embarrassing but there's nothing technically to stop it until Parliament is dissolved next Friday.
We had an on/off Prorogation five years ago. It was cancelled because the Supreme Court decided Boris had bamboozled Her Late Majesty into signing something she shouldn't have. In fact HLM was not that daft. She acted as the PM advised her, relying on the courts to toss it out. This is how the constitution works.
On voting ages: As a man I can say this: I would not be entirely opposed to a lower voting age for women than men. (I understand that is entirely impractical in any nation that I respect, but I also recognize that women grow up sooner than men -- on the average.)
(FWIW, the state of Illinois once had a lower drinking age (18) for women than men (21).)
A seat listed 342 on the Labour target ranking. One that matters only if you're after a majority of over 400 in the Commons.
It matters because, like Didcot & Wantage (hello, Nick) and a few dozen others round the Blue Wall, it will be a LibDem shoo-in unless the local CLP decide to start campaigning because, hey, maybe keeping Tories in their seats isn't such a bad thing after all.
This is the worst election launch in British history, isn’t it?
I suspect if I’m completely honest it’s only us obsessives who are really paying any attention. At the moment I suspect most of the country are simply aware there’s an election coming and Sunak got rained on, and are probably looking forward to the bank holiday.
But yes, it’s been pretty bad.
Most people are focusing on Euro 2024!
But not so much in Wales (Rishi to note) 😈
If Rishi had mentioned the football in a factory in England then he would have been hammered for assuming everyone in the factory was English or Scottish so had a team in the tournament. How awful he is for not having the sensitivity that there are workers in factories that don’t support purely the teams who have qualified - see, he’s so out of touch. Just because your nations team isn’t in the tournament it doesn’t mean you can’t be looking forward to it. Or some such.
The coverage as a whole is symptomatic of how utterly fucking pathetic our media has become. Obsessed with comedy photo ops and 'gotcha' moments to clip for social media, and daft questions that provide nothing in terms of illumination. Woodward and Bernstein they ain't.
It was perfectly encapsulated yesterday morning on Today. The morning after the election being called on the flagship current affairs programme and the lead angle was that some Tory MPs were flabbergasted, annoyed etc. not that we were getting a general election, the general election everyone was calling for and what that meant for the country, the correspondents had been spending their time whatsappung and being briefed how annoyed MPs were.
It’s a fucking pantomime and the politics is crap because the people who are supposed to be holding their feet to the fire are too invested in the pantomime themselfves. It’s a lot easier to earn your money as a politics journalist by repeating gossip than actually analysing the crap politicians are saying because the journalists, like the politicians, have very rarely actually done anything else of note which would make themselves think, “hang on a minute, when I was working in the steel industry if a boss did this they would be fucked, etc”.
Everything about this turd of a nation is fucked. The politics, the media, the economics, the attitudes, the morality. The way the entire deck is stacked against anyone getting out of their box for a moment. And the slack jaws hose down their bread and circuses clapping like seals for any shit they are told to. We are in the last days of Rome. I like a rant. Cleansing.
If it's so awful here, why is this country one of the top destinations for people from all over the world?
If you are born into poverty in the uk, on average it takes your decendants 5 generations FIVE....to make it up to median income. Just across the water in Denmark where they give a shit about each other, it takes 2 generations. Why would you take initiative in the uk if you will never see the benefit, even vicariously through your children. Britain is a heartless society where everybody would rather nobody got anything out of worry that 1 person gets 50p too much. It is just so petty. These are our compatriots for christ sake. I hear a lot of talk, especially on the right, about loving your own country.... but as I see it, many many brits absolutely loathe their own cutbry and their compatriots. It is a very sad situation.
Indeed. See the contempt on this site for Rishi Sunak for his sin of having hard-working, hard-caring parents who spent every penny sending him to great schools, where he ALSO worked hard (head boy) and then got a really good lucrative job
What a wanker! How dare he! And an Indian! We like our minorities to be oppressed gang bangers who get wrongly shot by police while doing drug deals, thanks, so they don't get any uppity ideas about actually succeeding
He's done poorly as prime minister, failing on my terms, your terms, and even, damningly, his own terms.
But he was HEAD BOY. Fuck me, that turns it all around.
I know you don't like uppity immigrants and you prefer them to be shot by the Met Police so you can whine about it for ever in a middle middle class way that somehow satisfies you sexually, but this is Sunak's story:
"Sunak was born on 12 May 1980 in Southampton General Hospital in Southampton, Hampshire,[3][4] to East African-born Hindu parents of Indian Punjabi descent, Yashvir and Usha Sunak.[5][6][7] He attended Stroud School, a preparatory school in Romsey, and later studied at Winchester College as a dayboy, becoming head boy of the college.[8][9][10] He worked as a waiter in a curry house in Southampton during his summer holidays.[11][12] He read philosophy, politics and economics at Lincoln College, Oxford, graduating with a first in 2001.[10][13] During his time at university, he undertook an internship at Conservative Campaign Headquarters and joined the Conservative Party.[9] In 2006, Sunak earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Stanford University as a Fulbright Scholar.[13][14][15] While at Stanford, he met his future wife Akshata Murty, the daughter of Indian billionaire N. R. Narayana Murthy of Infosys.[16]"
His parents worked incredibly hard, he has worked incredibly hard. He has had the good fortune of being born very intelligent, but unlike some he has put it to good use, studying and working with great drive and eventually becoming prime minister of the United Kingdom as a second generation brown skinned immigrant. It is quite a remarkable story - as someone who is hugely skeptical of mass immigration, I personally would be much more in favour of it if every immigrant was like him or his family
You clearly feel different for your own sick perverse reasons. Well done
Is he a great prime minister? No. Is he a credit to himself, his family and the country they emigrated to? Yes
I’m glad at least. one other person on here has the guts to not follow the anti Sunak herd. Some of the bullshit posting about photos and asking about the football are just pathetic.
I don't dislike Sunak. He is just way out of his depth as PM and got promoted far too soon in almost everything in his life.
He has never had to learn from failure. Not until now anyway. It will be pretty devastating for him personally.
His parents are first generation Asian immigrants from East Africa. That right there is a handicap he had to overcome. He is also - let's face it - a short-arse, five foot six. I am pretty sure he has had subtle ribbing all his life, at prep school and later on, I'd be surprised if he wasn't bullied - a tiny bright Indian kid - certes
Despite all that he became head boy at Winchester, got a First at Oxford, and then became a Fulbright Scholar at Stanford and got an MBA. And married a billionaire woman. This speaks of quite a driven, notably clever, and very hard working and charming man - also honest and tee-total. How can this not be exemplary? What would you prefer? That he failed a bit and did heroin? That he fucked up and joined the Mafia?
Honestly, there is a pathological streak on the Left which will only accept and praise BAME people if they are terrible failures and probably hen-fucking ket addicts. It's fucking weird
I live and work amongst East African Asian Doctors and Pharmacists!
One of the best things that the Conservatives ever did was support the move of East African Asians to Britain when Amin chucked them out.
I have great admiration for their culture of hard work and academic work, and they often do describe episodes of racism along the way.
But it is the simple truth that Sunak has led a gilded life. Prep School, Winchester College, a flat bought for him in London aged 22 for his first job in the City. Selected for a safe seat, and rapidly promoted. He has never had to experience the bitter taste of failure. Sure he has worked hard too, I have never denied that.
This is why he has been such a failure as PM. He has never had to learn to eat humble pie, to develop humility, or to listen to others advice on how to do better. So he doesn't know how. He might have been a decent PM if he had a decade in opposition rather than straight into government.
No, you are a racist
You're a hypocrite. A bigot. And faintly pathetic.
Labour is looking to introduce votes for 16 and 17-year-olds in its first year in government if it wins the election.
The party is closely studying how Scotland and Wales lowered the voting age and believes there is no reason why lowering the national voting age for general elections would need to take longer.
Sir Keir Starmer pledged to extend the franchise to younger voters in September with no indication of how quickly the policy would be implemented should it win the election. Party sources now say that while there is yet no commitment that the policy will be in the King’s Speech, it is nonetheless expected to be enacted quickly. “I would be extremely surprised if it wasn’t in the King’s Speech,” one said, describing the legislation needed as “extremely straightforward”.
If they are also going to lower the age at which you can buy alcohol and leave school etc then fine. I’m not convinced you can declare that someone is old enough to discern and determine who can make laws and govern the country but can’t in their own lives discern and determine what legal chemicals to place in their bodies. I also presume that given the candidate age is aligned with the voting age that will drop to 16 too, which will allow for the possibility of some kid who’s barely started shaving getting elected to Parliament then having to absent themselves for the first 2 years whilst they finish compulsory education. Bonkers.
When I remember the poor decisions my friends and I made in our early 20s, I think they should raise the voting age to the level at which the average brain is fully mature, which seems to be in the mid- to late-20s.
I) Democracy is not a way of obtaining good government, it's a way of obtaining the consent of the governed. Ii) Since you can be in the Army at 18, and subject to the ultimate maturity test - should I kill this man with this rifle - the older limit obviously does not apply.
The consent thing is actually a key* to good governance. It de-escalates the inherent violence between the governed and government. Power without consent is violence and can only be opposed with violence. Power with consent is contingent on maintaining that consent and therefore much more likely to be wielded in the interests of the governed.
Taking consent out of the equation for the section of society temperamentally most inclined to violence would be... brave.
*keys are not always used, but they are a necessary component.
For me though, it cuts both ways, the governed should wait until the next election to change the government not attempt to violently overthrow them before that.
Tim Montgomerie 🇬🇧 @montie Gove. Wallace. Javid. May. Redwood. Zahawi. Leadsom. Cash. Clark. (I could go on and on…) All stepping down. We are witnessing an absolutely massive changing of the guard. An historic loss of experience and memory - whatever the election result. The Conservative Party won’t be the same again..:. For good or ill
Is it theoretically possible to stop the general election at this point? Like, if Sunak just tore off his clothes and disappeared into the sea, could someone actually go to the palace and say "actually, don't dissolve parliament yet"?
As I understand it, the disruption isn't happening until the 30th, because the date of the election is tied rigidly to the date of dissolution.
So, yes. The King would follow the advice of his ministers and not dissolve Parliament if he received such advice before then.
But I don't think it's remotely likely that Sunak will quit. If that was something he was considering then he would have simply quit as PM, rather than call an election.
No, I don't reckon it's likely. It was just a what-if in my head and I didn't know the answer.
Certain stuff like this - no one knows the answer. We don't have a written constitution and the reserve powers of sovereign keep academics like Bogdanor and Brazier in work. There are some pretty strong principles and guidelines these days but...
I suspect that in the modern era of COBRA / crisis preparedness, there is an agreed plan to ensure continuity of government, even if it is not distributed beyond the PM and the King's private secretary.
Labour is looking to introduce votes for 16 and 17-year-olds in its first year in government if it wins the election.
The party is closely studying how Scotland and Wales lowered the voting age and believes there is no reason why lowering the national voting age for general elections would need to take longer.
Sir Keir Starmer pledged to extend the franchise to younger voters in September with no indication of how quickly the policy would be implemented should it win the election. Party sources now say that while there is yet no commitment that the policy will be in the King’s Speech, it is nonetheless expected to be enacted quickly. “I would be extremely surprised if it wasn’t in the King’s Speech,” one said, describing the legislation needed as “extremely straightforward”.
If they are also going to lower the age at which you can buy alcohol and leave school etc then fine. I’m not convinced you can declare that someone is old enough to discern and determine who can make laws and govern the country but can’t in their own lives discern and determine what legal chemicals to place in their bodies. I also presume that given the candidate age is aligned with the voting age that will drop to 16 too, which will allow for the possibility of some kid who’s barely started shaving getting elected to Parliament then having to absent themselves for the first 2 years whilst they finish compulsory education. Bonkers.
When I remember the poor decisions my friends and I made in our early 20s, I think they should raise the voting age to the level at which the average brain is fully mature, which seems to be in the mid- to late-20s.
I) Democracy is not a way of obtaining good government, it's a way of obtaining the consent of the governed. Ii) Since you can be in the Army at 18, and subject to the ultimate maturity test - should I kill this man with this rifle - the older limit obviously does not apply.
The consent thing is actually a key* to good governance. It de-escalates the inherent violence between the governed and government. Power without consent is violence and can only be opposed with violence. Power with consent is contingent on maintaining that consent and therefore much more likely to be wielded in the interests of the governed.
Taking consent out of the equation for the section of society temperamentally most inclined to violence would be... brave.
*keys are not always used, but they are a necessary component.
For me though, it cuts both ways, the governed should wait until the next election to change the government not attempt to violently overthrow them before that.
Yes, of course. If you live in a democracy with free and fair elections, you have to let the people you've elected do their thing. Talk to them, but keep it peaceful. Violent revolution is for when they try to take your power over them away.
A seat listed 342 on the Labour target ranking. One that matters only if you're after a majority of over 400 in the Commons.
This is the only seat I have some local knowledge of. LDs were value at 3, arguably still are at 2.5. An incredibly aged local Conservative party combined with the councillor base having been all but wiped out, even at town council level over the past few elections. The only level Henley-on-Thames(!!!) is represented by Convservatives is at Westminster. That will more likely than not change in a month and a bit. Towns are annoyed about no E.European nannies, countryside are farmers annoyed at Brexit.
Labour have parachuted in a ringer from Brixton who won't put any effort in, and in a two way fight no question who wins for me.
Gove thinks he would lose Surrey Heath? Honestly, whatever the polls say we are looking at a total Tory meltdown. This isn't 1997, or even 1906, this is now in a whole new world.
Tim Montgomerie 🇬🇧 @montie Gove. Wallace. Javid. May. Redwood. Zahawi. Leadsom. Cash. Clark. (I could go on and on…) All stepping down. We are witnessing an absolutely massive changing of the guard. An historic loss of experience and memory - whatever the election result. The Conservative Party won’t be the same again..:. For good or ill
Redwood stepping down ironically might keep Wokingham blue
Yesterday was the 29th anniversary of what I still regard as John Redwood Day. As SoS he was guest speaker at an event in South Wales. After he sat down an aid whispered something in his ear and suddenly he upped and left and the rest of us had get on with lunch without him. Turned out John Major had resigned the Tory leadership ('Back me or sack me') and within seconds Redwood was the train to Westminster to answer the siren call of ambition.
In many ways he put forward sensible critiques. Problem was that he did so in such an unpleasant and hectoring manner, that he alienated even his own side. He has been described as the stupidest man in All Souls, and I think that could be true
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
LOL.
'Chaps, I really think we need to think about the optics before we plan visits'
'No, really, the Titanic Quarter was fascinating, but at the same time. I mean, really, chaps.'
Christ, being out tonight I've missed Leadsome, Gove quitting. Add those to the list and basically every recognisable name bar Truss is out. The Tories post 2024 are going to be extremely different to the pre-24 Tories.
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
The problem for Sunak now is anything is being taken as a gaffe/disaster/crisis.
He might be just spending some time with his family but the press/PB have jumped on Cameron as interim PM till election or other such nonsense.
The mass resignation of Tory MPs is something I did not anticipate and should have been an important argument against an early election. The sense of panic is palpable now.
"Asked by Stein to “give us the names, please” of those who had “let her down” by withholding information as the scandal developed, Paula Vennells listed the senior IT executives Mike Young, whom the inquiry has not been able to find, and Lesley Sewell, and the general legal counsels Susan Crichton, Chris Aujard and Jane MacLeod."
Sunak stepped out of the downing st bubble and got his first glimpse of reality. Poor bugger.
Some of us have been adamant for years that he is an electoral dud.
Sadly, the dinner party circuit don't get politics. The result is going to be that a Blairite is taking the Tory party to the precipice.
He lost an election to Truss.
'Blairite' gets used weirdly as there are good and bad Blairites. There are those who realise why he was successful and understand it. Then there are bad tribute acts. Same on the Tory side with Cameron or Johnson - depending on your pitch.
Sunak, alarmingly if you are conservative, seems to be a bad tribute act who doesn't understand what he should be paying tribute to. Like a drunk Elvis impersonator who starts singing Frankie Valli songs badly.
Christ, being out tonight I've missed Leadsome, Gove quitting. Add those to the list and basically every recognisable name bar Truss is out. The Tories post 2024 are going to be extremely different to the pre-24 Tories.
A good friend of mine is a very senior forensic psychiatrist employed by the Home Office/cops from time to time. As a consultant. He’s known to be brilliant
He’s personally reviewed the Letby case and he’s fairly sure she is innocent - not convinced, but he certainly has reasonable doubt
I have no dog in this fight. I assumed the conviction was watertight. He told me this over lunch just before Xmas. Disturbing"
Why would a forensic psychiatrist be able to assess evidence about how premature babies died?
The evidence against Letby was not based on her psychiatric state but on the non-natural causes of the deaths and that Letby was the only nurse who was present at the relevant times.
I've seen a number of middle aged men unwilling to believe Letby's guilt. They see the image of the pretty blond nurse holding up a babygro and forget that a jury sat through months of evidence to reach their conclusions.
"As a schoolboy, the young Michael Heseltine mapped out his future. In his 20s, he would become a millionaire. In his 30s, he would become an MP. In his 40s, he would be on the Tory frontbench. By his 50s – between 1983 and 1993 – he would enter Downing Street."
"Although a likeable character, Major proved a weak and decisive Prime Minister. His leadership remained under almost perpetual threat from the autumn of 1992 until the May 1997 General Election."
Tim Montgomerie 🇬🇧 @montie Gove. Wallace. Javid. May. Redwood. Zahawi. Leadsom. Cash. Clark. (I could go on and on…) All stepping down. We are witnessing an absolutely massive changing of the guard. An historic loss of experience and memory - whatever the election result. The Conservative Party won’t be the same again..:. For good or ill
Redwood stepping down ironically might keep Wokingham blue
Yesterday was the 29th anniversary of what I still regard as John Redwood Day. As SoS he was guest speaker at an event in South Wales. After he sat down an aid whispered something in his ear and suddenly he upped and left and the rest of us had get on with lunch without him. Turned out John Major had resigned the Tory leadership ('Back me or sack me') and within seconds Redwood was the train to Westminster to answer the siren call of ambition.
In many ways he put forward sensible critiques. Problem was that he did so in such an unpleasant and hectoring manner, that he alienated even his own side. He has been described as the stupidest man in All Souls, and I think that could be true
He is the exception to the rule that all politicians are charming and likeable if you meet them in person.
Is it theoretically possible to stop the general election at this point? Like, if Sunak just tore off his clothes and disappeared into the sea, could someone actually go to the palace and say "actually, don't dissolve parliament yet"?
It would be rather embarrassing but there's nothing technically to stop it until Parliament is dissolved next Friday.
We had an on/off Prorogation five years ago. It was cancelled because the Supreme Court decided Boris had bamboozled Her Late Majesty into signing something she shouldn't have. In fact HLM was not that daft. She acted as the PM advised her, relying on the courts to toss it out. This is how the constitution works.
No, it was granted because nobody showed a legal basis on which to refuse it.
It was eventually ruled wrong under a very obscure Scottish case from over a hundred years ago that very few people knew about. Including most Scottish judges.
Hale seriously over-egged the pudding in her declarations on the subject that it was ‘in effect a blank piece of paper’ which was rather typical of her bombastic behaviour for all her knowledge of English family law had few peers.
I’ll criticise Cummings any day of the week but to suggest he or anyone else involved including the Queen thought they were acting illegally (rather than just stupidly) is not correct.
A good friend of mine is a very senior forensic psychiatrist employed by the Home Office/cops from time to time. As a consultant. He’s known to be brilliant
He’s personally reviewed the Letby case and he’s fairly sure she is innocent - not convinced, but he certainly has reasonable doubt
I have no dog in this fight. I assumed the conviction was watertight. He told me this over lunch just before Xmas. Disturbing"
Why would a forensic psychiatrist be able to assess evidence about how premature babies died?
The evidence against Letby was not based on her psychiatric state but on the non-natural causes of the deaths and that Letby was the only nurse who was present at the relevant times.
I've seen a number of middle aged men unwilling to believe Letby's guilt. They see the image of the pretty blond nurse holding up a babygro and forget that a jury sat through months of evidence to reach their conclusions.
Every wrong conviction involves a jury.
Yes... what is more revealing about this is how totally certain people are that she is guilty. It is a decision by a jury that relies largely on circumstantial evidence.
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
No wonder we have a productivity problem in the UK when the top boss doesn't work overtime at a crucial time.
Tim Montgomerie 🇬🇧 @montie Gove. Wallace. Javid. May. Redwood. Zahawi. Leadsom. Cash. Clark. (I could go on and on…) All stepping down. We are witnessing an absolutely massive changing of the guard. An historic loss of experience and memory - whatever the election result. The Conservative Party won’t be the same again..:. For good or ill
Redwood stepping down ironically might keep Wokingham blue
Yesterday was the 29th anniversary of what I still regard as John Redwood Day. As SoS he was guest speaker at an event in South Wales. After he sat down an aid whispered something in his ear and suddenly he upped and left and the rest of us had get on with lunch without him. Turned out John Major had resigned the Tory leadership ('Back me or sack me') and within seconds Redwood was the train to Westminster to answer the siren call of ambition.
In many ways he put forward sensible critiques. Problem was that he did so in such an unpleasant and hectoring manner, that he alienated even his own side. He has been described as the stupidest man in All Souls, and I think that could be true
One thing I liked about Redwood is his willingness to engage with critics, provided they were polite. I used to argue with him on his blog, and he used to reply and make counter arguments.
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
No wonder we have a productivity problem in the UK when the top boss doesn't work overtime at a crucial time.
Time spent planning is usually time well spent, but surely the time should have been taken last weekend?
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
No wonder we have a productivity problem in the UK when the top boss doesn't work overtime at a crucial time.
Good news for Richi on Day 4 of the campaign.
As far as I can tell, he hasn't made any colossal mistakes today.
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
No wonder we have a productivity problem in the UK when the top boss doesn't work overtime at a crucial time.
Time spent planning is usually time well spent, but surely the time should have been taken last weekend?
Everything about the rushed announcement is just weird. Even the inner circle of Sunak have clearly done very little to no planning, as if even they thought it was another 6+ months.
I am sure one day we will find out the reasons why he pulled the emergency exit latch.
Is it theoretically possible to stop the general election at this point? Like, if Sunak just tore off his clothes and disappeared into the sea, could someone actually go to the palace and say "actually, don't dissolve parliament yet"?
It would be rather embarrassing but there's nothing technically to stop it until Parliament is dissolved next Friday.
We had an on/off Prorogation five years ago. It was cancelled because the Supreme Court decided Boris had bamboozled Her Late Majesty into signing something she shouldn't have. In fact HLM was not that daft. She acted as the PM advised her, relying on the courts to toss it out. This is how the constitution works.
No, it was granted because nobody showed a legal basis on which to refuse it.
It was eventually ruled wrong under a very obscure Scottish case from over a hundred years ago that very few people knew about. Including most Scottish judges.
Hale seriously over-egged the pudding in her declarations on the subject that it was ‘in effect a blank piece of paper’ which was rather typical of her bombastic behaviour for all her knowledge of English family law had few peers.
I’ll criticise Cummings any day of the week but to suggest he or anyone else involved including the Queen thought they were acting illegally (rather than just stupidly) is not correct.
For all the SC made a unanimous decision in the end it was hardly the obvious slam dunk unlawful decision people now seem to recall it as being, not least since a lower court in England had ruled it lawful.
I considered the prorogation a bad and wrong decision irrespective of whether it was lawful, but I don't have a reason to assume bad faith on the part of those involved inasmuch as whether they intended unlawfullness.
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
No wonder we have a productivity problem in the UK when the top boss doesn't work overtime at a crucial time.
Time spent planning is usually time well spent, but surely the time should have been taken last weekend?
The election would have leaked - no trustworthy inner circle.
Is it theoretically possible to stop the general election at this point? Like, if Sunak just tore off his clothes and disappeared into the sea, could someone actually go to the palace and say "actually, don't dissolve parliament yet"?
It would be rather embarrassing but there's nothing technically to stop it until Parliament is dissolved next Friday.
We had an on/off Prorogation five years ago. It was cancelled because the Supreme Court decided Boris had bamboozled Her Late Majesty into signing something she shouldn't have. In fact HLM was not that daft. She acted as the PM advised her, relying on the courts to toss it out. This is how the constitution works.
No, it was granted because nobody showed a legal basis on which to refuse it.
It was eventually ruled wrong under a very obscure Scottish case from over a hundred years ago that very few people knew about. Including most Scottish judges.
Hale seriously over-egged the pudding in her declarations on the subject that it was ‘in effect a blank piece of paper’ which was rather typical of her bombastic behaviour for all her knowledge of English family law had few peers.
I’ll criticise Cummings any day of the week but to suggest he or anyone else involved including the Queen thought they were acting illegally (rather than just stupidly) is not correct.
I think you are rewriting history a bit there. Loads of people thought it was illegal at the time. On the day Johnson suspended parliament Speaker Bercow called it a "constitutional outrage", John Major suggested it was illegal, and legal challenges were launched. Of course Johnson and Cummings knew what they were doing might well be illegal, they just didn't care.
A good friend of mine is a very senior forensic psychiatrist employed by the Home Office/cops from time to time. As a consultant. He’s known to be brilliant
He’s personally reviewed the Letby case and he’s fairly sure she is innocent - not convinced, but he certainly has reasonable doubt
I have no dog in this fight. I assumed the conviction was watertight. He told me this over lunch just before Xmas. Disturbing"
Why would a forensic psychiatrist be able to assess evidence about how premature babies died?
The evidence against Letby was not based on her psychiatric state but on the non-natural causes of the deaths and that Letby was the only nurse who was present at the relevant times.
I've seen a number of middle aged men unwilling to believe Letby's guilt. They see the image of the pretty blond nurse holding up a babygro and forget that a jury sat through months of evidence to reach their conclusions.
Every wrong conviction involves a jury.
Yes... what is more revealing about this is how totally certain people are that she is guilty. It is a decision by a jury that relies largely on circumstantial evidence.
I don't see how people are being unreasonable in assuming the correctness of a jury verdict after a very long trial to weigh the evidence until much more concrete information comes out to undermine that.
Nearly all people won't have followed every detail of the case and nearly all won't have followed the details of the arguments against the outcome either. It is little different to most cases in that respect.
Wrong verdicts happen, everyone knows that, but by and large people trust the system and assume if there are legal or factual flaws these will come out through appeal.
A tragedy if that ultimately reveals fundamental flaws with the conviction, but I fail to see what's bizarre or 'revealing' that people trust the outcome of a trial and will leave it to appeals and campaigners to prove otherwise legally before they instantly decide reasonable doubt must exist.
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
No wonder we have a productivity problem in the UK when the top boss doesn't work overtime at a crucial time.
Time spent planning is usually time well spent, but surely the time should have been taken last weekend?
I’m sure planning has been done prior to kickoff. It’s a Bank Holiday weekend I can forgive Sunak wanting to take a day to firm up some of the details of the campaign plan and possibly to get some decent time with his wife and children before the full onslaught. I hope Keir and Ed Davey avail themselves of similar opportunities.
I hope the press get bored with trying to turn everything Rishi does into some new gaffe.
The most bizarre moment in recent British politics - the infamous march on Downing Street, orchestrated by Andrea Leadsom supporters, lead by Tim Loughton.
An idea from a certain Ms Mordaunt MP; I wonder what happened to her?
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
No wonder we have a productivity problem in the UK when the top boss doesn't work overtime at a crucial time.
Time spent planning is usually time well spent, but surely the time should have been taken last weekend?
I’m sure planning has been done prior to kickoff. It’s a Bank Holiday weekend I can forgive Sunak wanting to take a day to firm up some of the details of the campaign plan and possibly to get some decent time with his wife and children before the full onslaught. I hope Keir and Ed Davey avail themselves of similar opportunities.
I hope the press get bored with trying to turn everything Rishi does into some new gaffe.
The evidence so far doesn't demonstrate that much of a plan is in place. They didn't even have a campaign video ready to go. When you are the one who gets to fire the starting pistol, you should be then able to be first with a lot of things to get a campaign gain momentum.
Actually it is interesting compared to Sunak leadership bid, they had the flashy video ready and a load of other stuff. Now him being crap at debates and the Tory party members wanted uncosted Trussonomics is another matter. But at the time, people said if anything Sunak for PM was too slick.
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
No wonder we have a productivity problem in the UK when the top boss doesn't work overtime at a crucial time.
Time spent planning is usually time well spent, but surely the time should have been taken last weekend?
The election would have leaked - no trustworthy inner circle.
Possibly so, but such a leak would have been less damaging than declaring an unprepared election.
Sunaks biggest flaw is his inability to listen to other people when they are trying to help him.
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
No wonder we have a productivity problem in the UK when the top boss doesn't work overtime at a crucial time.
Time spent planning is usually time well spent, but surely the time should have been taken last weekend?
I’m sure planning has been done prior to kickoff. It’s a Bank Holiday weekend I can forgive Sunak wanting to take a day to firm up some of the details of the campaign plan and possibly to get some decent time with his wife and children before the full onslaught. I hope Keir and Ed Davey avail themselves of similar opportunities.
I hope the press get bored with trying to turn everything Rishi does into some new gaffe.
When the times and people are against you it's hard to catch a break. Every interpretable moment will come down not in your favour.
Sucks for him and history may judge it a bit harsh, but them's the breaks. It's his job to overcome this sort of thing.
Mr. B, yeah, the practice results were fairly interesting. At the moment, Leclerc for pole/the win is something I've got in mind but the odds are trash, just over evens either way (and I need to check the weather). An untimely crash could scupper something like that.
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
No wonder we have a productivity problem in the UK when the top boss doesn't work overtime at a crucial time.
Time spent planning is usually time well spent, but surely the time should have been taken last weekend?
I’m sure planning has been done prior to kickoff. It’s a Bank Holiday weekend I can forgive Sunak wanting to take a day to firm up some of the details of the campaign plan and possibly to get some decent time with his wife and children before the full onslaught. I hope Keir and Ed Davey avail themselves of similar opportunities.
I hope the press get bored with trying to turn everything Rishi does into some new gaffe.
Back in the real world, the first days of Rishi's campaign have seen gaffe after gaffe so it is not surprising he will take a day off to reset. As I said earlier, this has been 2017 redux so kudos to Rishi for realising things are going pear-shaped and trying to address that.
They really are having a disaster. One i saw was that it advised you to drink your own piss to help pass kidney stones.
The general response appears to be 'look, it's right most of the time!' and that these are uncommon queries, but the problem is whilst most people display a certain caution about regular Google results, plenty of people will accept as truth anything that is provided.
That is, more than those who already believe anything they read online.
They really are having a disaster. One i saw was that it advised you to drink your own piss to help pass kidney stones.
The general response appears to be 'look, it's right most of the time!' and that these are uncommon queries, but the problem is whilst most people display a certain caution about regular Google results, plenty of people will accept as truth anything that is provided.
That is, more than those who already believe anything they read online.
I imagine people googling help wirh passing kidney stones is pretty common. The result was basically drink lots of fluid (which i believe is correct), but the it said including drinking your own urine.
They actually have a serious model with their LLMs. The reason for all the weird image generation was they appended every query with very strong guardrails. Some said it was google being "woke", now i think there was probably a bit of that, but i also think they know their models aren't that well trained and so can't trust them not to do crazy things without the word salad appended to every query to really guide it.
A good friend of mine is a very senior forensic psychiatrist employed by the Home Office/cops from time to time. As a consultant. He’s known to be brilliant
He’s personally reviewed the Letby case and he’s fairly sure she is innocent - not convinced, but he certainly has reasonable doubt
I have no dog in this fight. I assumed the conviction was watertight. He told me this over lunch just before Xmas. Disturbing"
Why would a forensic psychiatrist be able to assess evidence about how premature babies died?
The evidence against Letby was not based on her psychiatric state but on the non-natural causes of the deaths and that Letby was the only nurse who was present at the relevant times.
I've seen a number of middle aged men unwilling to believe Letby's guilt. They see the image of the pretty blond nurse holding up a babygro and forget that a jury sat through months of evidence to reach their conclusions.
Every wrong conviction involves a jury.
Yes... what is more revealing about this is how totally certain people are that she is guilty. It is a decision by a jury that relies largely on circumstantial evidence.
I don't see how people are being unreasonable in assuming the correctness of a jury verdict after a very long trial to weigh the evidence until much more concrete information comes out to undermine that.
Nearly all people won't have followed every detail of the case and nearly all won't have followed the details of the arguments against the outcome either. It is little different to most cases in that respect.
Wrong verdicts happen, everyone knows that, but by and large people trust the system and assume if there are legal or factual flaws these will come out through appeal.
A tragedy if that ultimately reveals fundamental flaws with the conviction, but I fail to see what's bizarre or 'revealing' that people trust the outcome of a trial and will leave it to appeals and campaigners to prove otherwise legally before they instantly decide reasonable doubt must exist.
I didn't follow the trial particularly closely, so have no particular knowledge of what evidence convinced the jury.
But a nurse or other health care worker using their position of trust in order to harm is not that unusual. There was a similar case in Grantham with Beverley Allit some years ago. Indeed we had a near miss in my own Trust a few years back. There were a number of incidents where aneasthetic equipment in our emergency operating theatres malfunctioned, including blocked piping etc. Fortunately no one came to harm, but it was a covert camera that discovered what was happening. A member of staff was filmed sabotaging an anaesthetic machine. Further investigation found that they were present at the previous incidents. The motivation was that this person would appear at the moment of equipment failure, and sort it out by undoing their sabotage, thriving on being the hero on the day.
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
No wonder we have a productivity problem in the UK when the top boss doesn't work overtime at a crucial time.
Time spent planning is usually time well spent, but surely the time should have been taken last weekend?
I’m sure planning has been done prior to kickoff. It’s a Bank Holiday weekend I can forgive Sunak wanting to take a day to firm up some of the details of the campaign plan and possibly to get some decent time with his wife and children before the full onslaught. I hope Keir and Ed Davey avail themselves of similar opportunities.
I hope the press get bored with trying to turn everything Rishi does into some new gaffe.
When the times and people are against you it's hard to catch a break. Every interpretable moment will come down not in your favour.
Sucks for him and history may judge it a bit harsh, but them's the breaks. It's his job to overcome this sort of thing.
There’s a difference between analysis that is unfavourable and refracting every move through the lens of your own animus. There’s a danger that the intense loathing most journalists are directing towards Sunak tips over into something even less edifying.
Journalism would be much better served if the individuals involved weren’t trying to simultaneously run commentary on the match and score the winning goals.
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
No wonder we have a productivity problem in the UK when the top boss doesn't work overtime at a crucial time.
Time spent planning is usually time well spent, but surely the time should have been taken last weekend?
I’m sure planning has been done prior to kickoff. It’s a Bank Holiday weekend I can forgive Sunak wanting to take a day to firm up some of the details of the campaign plan and possibly to get some decent time with his wife and children before the full onslaught. I hope Keir and Ed Davey avail themselves of similar opportunities.
I hope the press get bored with trying to turn everything Rishi does into some new gaffe.
Back in the real world, the first days of Rishi's campaign have seen gaffe after gaffe so it is not surprising he will take a day off to reset. As I said earlier, this has been 2017 redux so kudos to Rishi for realising things are going pear-shaped and trying to address that.
I tbink the gaffes have been overdone by the journalists, but Sunak doesn't seem to have anything to announce. He is pottering around making these visits with nothing really to say other than weird small talk and softball questions. There are no policies.
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
No wonder we have a productivity problem in the UK when the top boss doesn't work overtime at a crucial time.
Time spent planning is usually time well spent, but surely the time should have been taken last weekend?
I’m sure planning has been done prior to kickoff. It’s a Bank Holiday weekend I can forgive Sunak wanting to take a day to firm up some of the details of the campaign plan and possibly to get some decent time with his wife and children before the full onslaught. I hope Keir and Ed Davey avail themselves of similar opportunities.
I hope the press get bored with trying to turn everything Rishi does into some new gaffe.
When the times and people are against you it's hard to catch a break. Every interpretable moment will come down not in your favour.
Sucks for him and history may judge it a bit harsh, but them's the breaks. It's his job to overcome this sort of thing.
There’s a difference between analysis that is unfavourable and refracting every move through the lens of your own animus. There’s a danger that the intense loathing most journalists are directing towards Sunak tips over into something even less edifying.
Journalism would be much better served if the individuals involved weren’t trying to simultaneously run commentary on the match and score the winning goals.
Politicians complaining about unfair press are like a fish complaining about being wet.
Labour is looking to introduce votes for 16 and 17-year-olds in its first year in government if it wins the election.
The party is closely studying how Scotland and Wales lowered the voting age and believes there is no reason why lowering the national voting age for general elections would need to take longer.
Sir Keir Starmer pledged to extend the franchise to younger voters in September with no indication of how quickly the policy would be implemented should it win the election. Party sources now say that while there is yet no commitment that the policy will be in the King’s Speech, it is nonetheless expected to be enacted quickly. “I would be extremely surprised if it wasn’t in the King’s Speech,” one said, describing the legislation needed as “extremely straightforward”.
I am against this. I am not convinced that 16 year olds are mature enough for the vote. They will have a lifetime of voting after they turn 18.
People love to slam the Tories for allegedly using voter ID to suppress votes against them. Will they slam this as a naked attempt to garner more youth votes for Labour? One man’s gerrymandering is another’s increasing the democratic franchise…
I was against it then went to Scotland in 2014 and some of the best arguments/campaigners on both sides were sixteen and seventeen year olds.
I'd raise it to 21 tbh. I was an idiot who knew nothing of how the world worked fresh out of school. It took a couple of years of being in the real world before I got a handle on how things worked. And a decade or so more after that...
16 year olds are children. 18 year olds are barely better, but given we allow them the right to drink, drive, get shot at for their country, leave home and tell their parents to do one at around this time, it seems to be the consensus age of majority.
Can any of us say we felt grown up at sixteen? Really?
Yet the conversations we had with sixth formers during our annual schools week as councillors were generally more thoughtful and insightful that probably 75% of those we had with ‘adults’ on the doorstep.
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
No wonder we have a productivity problem in the UK when the top boss doesn't work overtime at a crucial time.
Time spent planning is usually time well spent, but surely the time should have been taken last weekend?
I’m sure planning has been done prior to kickoff. It’s a Bank Holiday weekend I can forgive Sunak wanting to take a day to firm up some of the details of the campaign plan and possibly to get some decent time with his wife and children before the full onslaught. I hope Keir and Ed Davey avail themselves of similar opportunities.
I hope the press get bored with trying to turn everything Rishi does into some new gaffe.
Back in the real world, the first days of Rishi's campaign have seen gaffe after gaffe so it is not surprising he will take a day off to reset. As I said earlier, this has been 2017 redux so kudos to Rishi for realising things are going pear-shaped and trying to address that.
I tbink the gaffes have been overdone by the journalists, but Sunak doesn't seem to have anything to announce. He is pottering around making these visits with nothing really to say other than weird small talk and softball questions. There are no policies.
A shambolic campaign start doesn't always mean an unsuccessful one. Labour were badly wrongfooted initially in 2017, but recovered well with some eye catching policies that engaged voters such as being rid of tuition fees, and the unexpected Jezgasm at an impromptu appearance at Tranmere Rovers. Combining this with a poorly constructed "Strong and Stable" campaign by May led to a remarkable campaign swing.
It's early days, so the Tories can recover their mojo, but currently Labour's campaign is the one looking well planned and on message.
Labour is looking to introduce votes for 16 and 17-year-olds in its first year in government if it wins the election.
The party is closely studying how Scotland and Wales lowered the voting age and believes there is no reason why lowering the national voting age for general elections would need to take longer.
Sir Keir Starmer pledged to extend the franchise to younger voters in September with no indication of how quickly the policy would be implemented should it win the election. Party sources now say that while there is yet no commitment that the policy will be in the King’s Speech, it is nonetheless expected to be enacted quickly. “I would be extremely surprised if it wasn’t in the King’s Speech,” one said, describing the legislation needed as “extremely straightforward”.
If they are also going to lower the age at which you can buy alcohol and leave school etc then fine. I’m not convinced you can declare that someone is old enough to discern and determine who can make laws and govern the country but can’t in their own lives discern and determine what legal chemicals to place in their bodies. I also presume that given the candidate age is aligned with the voting age that will drop to 16 too, which will allow for the possibility of some kid who’s barely started shaving getting elected to Parliament then having to absent themselves for the first 2 years whilst they finish compulsory education. Bonkers.
When I remember the poor decisions my friends and I made in our early 20s, I think they should raise the voting age to the level at which the average brain is fully mature, which seems to be in the mid- to late-20s.
I) Democracy is not a way of obtaining good government, it's a way of obtaining the consent of the governed. Ii) Since you can be in the Army at 18, and subject to the ultimate maturity test - should I kill this man with this rifle - the older limit obviously does not apply.
i) Then why don't we lower the voting age to 6, as they are just as governed, indeed arguably more so, as 17-year-olds? ii) You can't join the Army after 43, or be in a front line unit after I think 50 or so, so should we strip 51-year-olds of the vote too?
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
No wonder we have a productivity problem in the UK when the top boss doesn't work overtime at a crucial time.
Time spent planning is usually time well spent, but surely the time should have been taken last weekend?
I’m sure planning has been done prior to kickoff. It’s a Bank Holiday weekend I can forgive Sunak wanting to take a day to firm up some of the details of the campaign plan and possibly to get some decent time with his wife and children before the full onslaught. I hope Keir and Ed Davey avail themselves of similar opportunities.
I hope the press get bored with trying to turn everything Rishi does into some new gaffe.
Back in the real world, the first days of Rishi's campaign have seen gaffe after gaffe so it is not surprising he will take a day off to reset. As I said earlier, this has been 2017 redux so kudos to Rishi for realising things are going pear-shaped and trying to address that.
I tbink the gaffes have been overdone by the journalists, but Sunak doesn't seem to have anything to announce. He is pottering around making these visits with nothing really to say other than weird small talk and softball questions. There are no policies.
Starmer isn’t exactly heavy on policies either. That’s entirely understandable at this point in the election. The gaffe narrative is overblown but then journalists often try to fit the facts into the narrative rather than allowing the narrative to flow from the facts. Now that wash up is over and Parliament stands prorogued the campaign will ramp up. I just hope the media decides to get bored with the current game.
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
No wonder we have a productivity problem in the UK when the top boss doesn't work overtime at a crucial time.
Time spent planning is usually time well spent, but surely the time should have been taken last weekend?
I’m sure planning has been done prior to kickoff. It’s a Bank Holiday weekend I can forgive Sunak wanting to take a day to firm up some of the details of the campaign plan and possibly to get some decent time with his wife and children before the full onslaught. I hope Keir and Ed Davey avail themselves of similar opportunities.
I hope the press get bored with trying to turn everything Rishi does into some new gaffe.
Back in the real world, the first days of Rishi's campaign have seen gaffe after gaffe so it is not surprising he will take a day off to reset. As I said earlier, this has been 2017 redux so kudos to Rishi for realising things are going pear-shaped and trying to address that.
I tbink the gaffes have been overdone by the journalists, but Sunak doesn't seem to have anything to announce. He is pottering around making these visits with nothing really to say other than weird small talk and softball questions. There are no policies.
Starmer isn’t exactly heavy on policies either. That’s entirely understandable at this point in the election. The gaffe narrative is overblown but then journalists often try to fit the facts into the narrative rather than allowing the narrative to flow from the facts. Now that wash up is over and Parliament stands prorogued the campaign will ramp up. I just hope the media decides to get bored with the current game.
Weirdly Hunt is in the Telegraph today giving some policy, saying he will end the cliffedge at £100k. Now it is actually right to thing to do and can be done without costing money, you can jiggle thresholds. Its a barrier to productivity and growth to have people refusing to take a payrise to just over £100k, instead doing less hours, longer holidays, etc. But 90% of the country won't care. It looks very out of touch.
A good friend of mine is a very senior forensic psychiatrist employed by the Home Office/cops from time to time. As a consultant. He’s known to be brilliant
He’s personally reviewed the Letby case and he’s fairly sure she is innocent - not convinced, but he certainly has reasonable doubt
I have no dog in this fight. I assumed the conviction was watertight. He told me this over lunch just before Xmas. Disturbing"
Why would a forensic psychiatrist be able to assess evidence about how premature babies died?
The evidence against Letby was not based on her psychiatric state but on the non-natural causes of the deaths and that Letby was the only nurse who was present at the relevant times.
I've seen a number of middle aged men unwilling to believe Letby's guilt. They see the image of the pretty blond nurse holding up a babygro and forget that a jury sat through months of evidence to reach their conclusions.
Every wrong conviction involves a jury.
Yes... what is more revealing about this is how totally certain people are that she is guilty. It is a decision by a jury that relies largely on circumstantial evidence.
I don't see how people are being unreasonable in assuming the correctness of a jury verdict after a very long trial to weigh the evidence until much more concrete information comes out to undermine that.
Nearly all people won't have followed every detail of the case and nearly all won't have followed the details of the arguments against the outcome either. It is little different to most cases in that respect.
Wrong verdicts happen, everyone knows that, but by and large people trust the system and assume if there are legal or factual flaws these will come out through appeal.
A tragedy if that ultimately reveals fundamental flaws with the conviction, but I fail to see what's bizarre or 'revealing' that people trust the outcome of a trial and will leave it to appeals and campaigners to prove otherwise legally before they instantly decide reasonable doubt must exist.
I didn't follow the trial particularly closely, so have no particular knowledge of what evidence convinced the jury.
But a nurse or other health care worker using their position of trust in order to harm is not that unusual. There was a similar case in Grantham with Beverley Allit some years ago. Indeed we had a near miss in my own Trust a few years back. There were a number of incidents where aneasthetic equipment in our emergency operating theatres malfunctioned, including blocked piping etc. Fortunately no one came to harm, but it was a covert camera that discovered what was happening. A member of staff was filmed sabotaging an anaesthetic machine. Further investigation found that they were present at the previous incidents. The motivation was that this person would appear at the moment of equipment failure, and sort it out by undoing their sabotage, thriving on being the hero on the day.
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
No wonder we have a productivity problem in the UK when the top boss doesn't work overtime at a crucial time.
Time spent planning is usually time well spent, but surely the time should have been taken last weekend?
I’m sure planning has been done prior to kickoff. It’s a Bank Holiday weekend I can forgive Sunak wanting to take a day to firm up some of the details of the campaign plan and possibly to get some decent time with his wife and children before the full onslaught. I hope Keir and Ed Davey avail themselves of similar opportunities.
I hope the press get bored with trying to turn everything Rishi does into some new gaffe.
Back in the real world, the first days of Rishi's campaign have seen gaffe after gaffe so it is not surprising he will take a day off to reset. As I said earlier, this has been 2017 redux so kudos to Rishi for realising things are going pear-shaped and trying to address that.
I tbink the gaffes have been overdone by the journalists, but Sunak doesn't seem to have anything to announce. He is pottering around making these visits with nothing really to say other than weird small talk and softball questions. There are no policies.
Starmer isn’t exactly heavy on policies either. That’s entirely understandable at this point in the election. The gaffe narrative is overblown but then journalists often try to fit the facts into the narrative rather than allowing the narrative to flow from the facts. Now that wash up is over and Parliament stands prorogued the campaign will ramp up. I just hope the media decides to get bored with the current game.
Then Sunak needs to do different things. At the moment we have a series of bizarre campaign events which either say nothing or actively hand material to the media to mock.
Labour is looking to introduce votes for 16 and 17-year-olds in its first year in government if it wins the election.
The party is closely studying how Scotland and Wales lowered the voting age and believes there is no reason why lowering the national voting age for general elections would need to take longer.
Sir Keir Starmer pledged to extend the franchise to younger voters in September with no indication of how quickly the policy would be implemented should it win the election. Party sources now say that while there is yet no commitment that the policy will be in the King’s Speech, it is nonetheless expected to be enacted quickly. “I would be extremely surprised if it wasn’t in the King’s Speech,” one said, describing the legislation needed as “extremely straightforward”.
I am against this. I am not convinced that 16 year olds are mature enough for the vote. They will have a lifetime of voting after they turn 18.
People love to slam the Tories for allegedly using voter ID to suppress votes against them. Will they slam this as a naked attempt to garner more youth votes for Labour? One man’s gerrymandering is another’s increasing the democratic franchise…
I was against it then went to Scotland in 2014 and some of the best arguments/campaigners on both sides were sixteen and seventeen year olds.
I'd raise it to 21 tbh. I was an idiot who knew nothing of how the world worked fresh out of school. It took a couple of years of being in the real world before I got a handle on how things worked. And a decade or so more after that...
16 year olds are children. 18 year olds are barely better, but given we allow them the right to drink, drive, get shot at for their country, leave home and tell their parents to do one at around this time, it seems to be the consensus age of majority.
Can any of us say we felt grown up at sixteen? Really?
Yet the conversations we had with sixth formers during our annual schools week as councillors were generally more thoughtful and insightful that probably 75% of those we had with ‘adults’ on the doorstep.
Mental faculties peak at around 30-40, right? If the lower limit was 21, the upper limit should really be around 60.
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
No wonder we have a productivity problem in the UK when the top boss doesn't work overtime at a crucial time.
Time spent planning is usually time well spent, but surely the time should have been taken last weekend?
I’m sure planning has been done prior to kickoff. It’s a Bank Holiday weekend I can forgive Sunak wanting to take a day to firm up some of the details of the campaign plan and possibly to get some decent time with his wife and children before the full onslaught. I hope Keir and Ed Davey avail themselves of similar opportunities.
I hope the press get bored with trying to turn everything Rishi does into some new gaffe.
Back in the real world, the first days of Rishi's campaign have seen gaffe after gaffe so it is not surprising he will take a day off to reset. As I said earlier, this has been 2017 redux so kudos to Rishi for realising things are going pear-shaped and trying to address that.
I tbink the gaffes have been overdone by the journalists, but Sunak doesn't seem to have anything to announce. He is pottering around making these visits with nothing really to say other than weird small talk and softball questions. There are no policies.
Starmer isn’t exactly heavy on policies either. That’s entirely understandable at this point in the election. The gaffe narrative is overblown but then journalists often try to fit the facts into the narrative rather than allowing the narrative to flow from the facts. Now that wash up is over and Parliament stands prorogued the campaign will ramp up. I just hope the media decides to get bored with the current game.
Weirdly Hunt is in the Telegraph today giving some policy, saying he will end the cliffedge at £100k. Now it is actually right to thing to do and can be done without costing money, you can jiggle thresholds. Its a barrier to productivity and growth to have people refusing to take a payrise to just over £100k, instead doing less hours, longer holidays, etc. But 90% of the country won't care. It looks very out of touch.
If only he had been in a position to do something about that these last couple of years.
Senior Tories expect a significant number of further MP resignations over the weekend, in the wake of Gove’s and Leadsom’s decisions not to fight the election. Quite a number who have been re-approved as candidates have been in two minds, and thought they had till the autumn to decide. The party has more than 150 seats and rising with no candidate. That is a lot of candidates for CCHQ to find before 7 June and a lot of wasted campaigning days. It does rather indicate Sunak called the election before his party was ready
Betting Post F1: Monaco is my least favourite circuit. Anyway, backed Sainz at 23 each way to win. His recent qualifying record is highly similar to Leclerc's they're (for now) in the same car, and I'm anticipating him improving from practice. We shall see.
Well at least Gove was on the right side of the Brexit divide, unlike that chancer Cameron.
Except he wasn't. That was the oddest thing. Gove for years had been Eurosceptic because he blamed the EU for destroying his parents' fishing business. Then his father popped up and said it wasn't the EU, and he'd just retired. Gove's political philosophy (or at least that part of it) was founded on a misapprehension.
He was still on the right side of the argument even if for mistaken reasons.
IMV subsequent events have shown that Brexit was the wrong side of the argument. A divisive, pointless argument which has damaged the country.
I have a vague impression, perhaps wrong, that you will disagree with me on this...
Comprehensively. If it was divisive well, that is politics for you and that was as much because of those who would not accept the result as those who embraced it. And of course it certainly wasn't pointless as history will show. Nor do I believe it has damaged the country. It is the Tory party that has done that and they would still have been there being useless with or without Brexit.
I imagine there were many in North America claiming that American Independence was divisive, pointless and damaged the country. We don't remember their whining today.
One of the great “what ifs” of history, is to envisage a world where the revolt is put down.
Does slavery get abolished in 1833, or does the fight over slavery extend across the empire?
Does British America expand West? Would there be an American Indian State, perhaps becoming a British dominion?
Does South West America remain part of Mexico?
It was the Haitian War of Independence that made slavery untenable. After that the cost of keeping slaves in line was simply unaffordable.
No, I don't think so. You can keep slaves forever if you want to and, sadly, many countries effectively still do - China being very close to one.
It ended because it became repugnant to too many people, and we were no longer tolerant of the ethics of what was required to keep it in place.
Labour is looking to introduce votes for 16 and 17-year-olds in its first year in government if it wins the election.
The party is closely studying how Scotland and Wales lowered the voting age and believes there is no reason why lowering the national voting age for general elections would need to take longer.
Sir Keir Starmer pledged to extend the franchise to younger voters in September with no indication of how quickly the policy would be implemented should it win the election. Party sources now say that while there is yet no commitment that the policy will be in the King’s Speech, it is nonetheless expected to be enacted quickly. “I would be extremely surprised if it wasn’t in the King’s Speech,” one said, describing the legislation needed as “extremely straightforward”.
If they are also going to lower the age at which you can buy alcohol and leave school etc then fine. I’m not convinced you can declare that someone is old enough to discern and determine who can make laws and govern the country but can’t in their own lives discern and determine what legal chemicals to place in their bodies. I also presume that given the candidate age is aligned with the voting age that will drop to 16 too, which will allow for the possibility of some kid who’s barely started shaving getting elected to Parliament then having to absent themselves for the first 2 years whilst they finish compulsory education. Bonkers.
Our local councillor was still studying for his A-levels when elected in 2019.
Labour is looking to introduce votes for 16 and 17-year-olds in its first year in government if it wins the election.
The party is closely studying how Scotland and Wales lowered the voting age and believes there is no reason why lowering the national voting age for general elections would need to take longer.
Sir Keir Starmer pledged to extend the franchise to younger voters in September with no indication of how quickly the policy would be implemented should it win the election. Party sources now say that while there is yet no commitment that the policy will be in the King’s Speech, it is nonetheless expected to be enacted quickly. “I would be extremely surprised if it wasn’t in the King’s Speech,” one said, describing the legislation needed as “extremely straightforward”.
I am against this. I am not convinced that 16 year olds are mature enough for the vote. They will have a lifetime of voting after they turn 18.
People love to slam the Tories for allegedly using voter ID to suppress votes against them. Will they slam this as a naked attempt to garner more youth votes for Labour? One man’s gerrymandering is another’s increasing the democratic franchise…
I was against it then went to Scotland in 2014 and some of the best arguments/campaigners on both sides were sixteen and seventeen year olds.
I'd raise it to 21 tbh. I was an idiot who knew nothing of how the world worked fresh out of school. It took a couple of years of being in the real world before I got a handle on how things worked. And a decade or so more after that...
16 year olds are children. 18 year olds are barely better, but given we allow them the right to drink, drive, get shot at for their country, leave home and tell their parents to do one at around this time, it seems to be the consensus age of majority.
Can any of us say we felt grown up at sixteen? Really?
Yet the conversations we had with sixth formers during our annual schools week as councillors were generally more thoughtful and insightful that probably 75% of those we had with ‘adults’ on the doorstep.
Mental faculties peak at around 30-40, right? If the lower limit was 21, the upper limit should really be around 60.
It peaks at 61, I reckon. Although a year’s further research might establish that it’s really at 62.
The interesting thing is that votes at 16 was often a topic raised with, or by, the pupils, and there was always a substantial number - occasionally even a majority - who felt they weren’t yet ready for the weighty responsibility of deciding who governs us. We councillors would race to be the first to share how lightly that responsibility sat on so many of their parents.
Since Brexit, my guess is that more of them will be up for it.
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
No wonder we have a productivity problem in the UK when the top boss doesn't work overtime at a crucial time.
Time spent planning is usually time well spent, but surely the time should have been taken last weekend?
I’m sure planning has been done prior to kickoff. It’s a Bank Holiday weekend I can forgive Sunak wanting to take a day to firm up some of the details of the campaign plan and possibly to get some decent time with his wife and children before the full onslaught. I hope Keir and Ed Davey avail themselves of similar opportunities.
I hope the press get bored with trying to turn everything Rishi does into some new gaffe.
Back in the real world, the first days of Rishi's campaign have seen gaffe after gaffe so it is not surprising he will take a day off to reset. As I said earlier, this has been 2017 redux so kudos to Rishi for realising things are going pear-shaped and trying to address that.
I tbink the gaffes have been overdone by the journalists, but Sunak doesn't seem to have anything to announce. He is pottering around making these visits with nothing really to say other than weird small talk and softball questions. There are no policies.
Starmer isn’t exactly heavy on policies either. That’s entirely understandable at this point in the election. The gaffe narrative is overblown but then journalists often try to fit the facts into the narrative rather than allowing the narrative to flow from the facts. Now that wash up is over and Parliament stands prorogued the campaign will ramp up. I just hope the media decides to get bored with the current game.
Weirdly Hunt is in the Telegraph today giving some policy, saying he will end the cliffedge at £100k. Now it is actually right to thing to do and can be done without costing money, you can jiggle thresholds. Its a barrier to productivity and growth to have people refusing to take a payrise to just over £100k, instead doing less hours, longer holidays, etc. But 90% of the country won't care. It looks very out of touch.
Daisy Cooper said she was going to review IR35 and the loan charge stuff on QT last night. Which also won't matter to 90% of the country, but I'd guess would be more relevant like the £100k threshold in the south-east.
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
No wonder we have a productivity problem in the UK when the top boss doesn't work overtime at a crucial time.
Time spent planning is usually time well spent, but surely the time should have been taken last weekend?
I’m sure planning has been done prior to kickoff. It’s a Bank Holiday weekend I can forgive Sunak wanting to take a day to firm up some of the details of the campaign plan and possibly to get some decent time with his wife and children before the full onslaught. I hope Keir and Ed Davey avail themselves of similar opportunities.
I hope the press get bored with trying to turn everything Rishi does into some new gaffe.
Back in the real world, the first days of Rishi's campaign have seen gaffe after gaffe so it is not surprising he will take a day off to reset. As I said earlier, this has been 2017 redux so kudos to Rishi for realising things are going pear-shaped and trying to address that.
I tbink the gaffes have been overdone by the journalists, but Sunak doesn't seem to have anything to announce. He is pottering around making these visits with nothing really to say other than weird small talk and softball questions. There are no policies.
Starmer isn’t exactly heavy on policies either. That’s entirely understandable at this point in the election. The gaffe narrative is overblown but then journalists often try to fit the facts into the narrative rather than allowing the narrative to flow from the facts. Now that wash up is over and Parliament stands prorogued the campaign will ramp up. I just hope the media decides to get bored with the current game.
Weirdly Hunt is in the Telegraph today giving some policy, saying he will end the cliffedge at £100k. Now it is actually right to thing to do and can be done without costing money, you can jiggle thresholds. Its a barrier to productivity and growth to have people refusing to take a payrise to just over £100k, instead doing less hours, longer holidays, etc. But 90% of the country won't care. It looks very out of touch.
Daisy Cooper said she was going to review IR35 and the loan charge stuff on QT last night. Which also won't matter to 90% of the country, but I'd guess would be more relevant like the £100k threshold in the south-east.
IR35 is an absolute shambles. Nobody knows for certain what the line is, including the tax man.
Slightly interesting poscast by Alastaire Campbell and Rory the Tory. Neither can understand why he's calling an election he's certain to lose. Rory seems to think he just wants out. Less entertaining than I expected (No 1 in the podcast charts) but no great wit or insight.... Oh! except Rory thinking Cleverly could be a good bet to take over from Rishi.
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
No wonder we have a productivity problem in the UK when the top boss doesn't work overtime at a crucial time.
Time spent planning is usually time well spent, but surely the time should have been taken last weekend?
I’m sure planning has been done prior to kickoff. It’s a Bank Holiday weekend I can forgive Sunak wanting to take a day to firm up some of the details of the campaign plan and possibly to get some decent time with his wife and children before the full onslaught. I hope Keir and Ed Davey avail themselves of similar opportunities.
I hope the press get bored with trying to turn everything Rishi does into some new gaffe.
Back in the real world, the first days of Rishi's campaign have seen gaffe after gaffe so it is not surprising he will take a day off to reset. As I said earlier, this has been 2017 redux so kudos to Rishi for realising things are going pear-shaped and trying to address that.
I tbink the gaffes have been overdone by the journalists, but Sunak doesn't seem to have anything to announce. He is pottering around making these visits with nothing really to say other than weird small talk and softball questions. There are no policies.
Starmer isn’t exactly heavy on policies either. That’s entirely understandable at this point in the election. The gaffe narrative is overblown but then journalists often try to fit the facts into the narrative rather than allowing the narrative to flow from the facts. Now that wash up is over and Parliament stands prorogued the campaign will ramp up. I just hope the media decides to get bored with the current game.
Then Sunak needs to do different things. At the moment we have a series of bizarre campaign events which either say nothing or actively hand material to the media to mock.
Politicians are in trouble when they get beyond the point where, when they try to blame the nation’s ills on the last lot, almost no-one believes it. This lot have done well to spin things out for so long.
From the Daily Telegraph today's front page. - don't they have sub editors to check things?
“Inheritance tax is a 40 per cent tax on the value of an estate - including property, money and possessions - of someone who has died. Tax is usually paid if the estate is valued at less than £325,000.
Labour is looking to introduce votes for 16 and 17-year-olds in its first year in government if it wins the election.
The party is closely studying how Scotland and Wales lowered the voting age and believes there is no reason why lowering the national voting age for general elections would need to take longer.
Sir Keir Starmer pledged to extend the franchise to younger voters in September with no indication of how quickly the policy would be implemented should it win the election. Party sources now say that while there is yet no commitment that the policy will be in the King’s Speech, it is nonetheless expected to be enacted quickly. “I would be extremely surprised if it wasn’t in the King’s Speech,” one said, describing the legislation needed as “extremely straightforward”.
I am against this. I am not convinced that 16 year olds are mature enough for the vote. They will have a lifetime of voting after they turn 18.
People love to slam the Tories for allegedly using voter ID to suppress votes against them. Will they slam this as a naked attempt to garner more youth votes for Labour? One man’s gerrymandering is another’s increasing the democratic franchise…
I was against it then went to Scotland in 2014 and some of the best arguments/campaigners on both sides were sixteen and seventeen year olds.
I'd raise it to 21 tbh. I was an idiot who knew nothing of how the world worked fresh out of school. It took a couple of years of being in the real world before I got a handle on how things worked. And a decade or so more after that...
16 year olds are children. 18 year olds are barely better, but given we allow them the right to drink, drive, get shot at for their country, leave home and tell their parents to do one at around this time, it seems to be the consensus age of majority.
Can any of us say we felt grown up at sixteen? Really?
Yet the conversations we had with sixth formers during our annual schools week as councillors were generally more thoughtful and insightful that probably 75% of those we had with ‘adults’ on the doorstep.
Mental faculties peak at around 30-40, right? If the lower limit was 21, the upper limit should really be around 60.
It peaks at 61, I reckon. Although a year’s further research might establish that it’s really at 62.
The interesting thing is that votes at 16 was often a topic raised with, or by, the pupils, and there was always a substantial number - occasionally even a majority - who felt they weren’t yet ready for the weighty responsibility of deciding who governs us. We councillors would race to be the first to share how lightly that responsibility sat on so many of their parents.
Since Brexit, my guess is that more of them will be up for it.
I would weight each vote by life expectancy at current age. That would at least offset differential turnout.
Slightly interesting poscast by Alastaire Campbell and Rory the Tory. Neither can understand why he's calling an election he's certain to lose. Rory seems to think he just wants out. Less entertaining than I expected (No 1 in the podcast charts) but no great wit or insight.... Oh! except Rory thinking Cleverly could be a good bet to take over from Rishi.
Labour is looking to introduce votes for 16 and 17-year-olds in its first year in government if it wins the election.
The party is closely studying how Scotland and Wales lowered the voting age and believes there is no reason why lowering the national voting age for general elections would need to take longer.
Sir Keir Starmer pledged to extend the franchise to younger voters in September with no indication of how quickly the policy would be implemented should it win the election. Party sources now say that while there is yet no commitment that the policy will be in the King’s Speech, it is nonetheless expected to be enacted quickly. “I would be extremely surprised if it wasn’t in the King’s Speech,” one said, describing the legislation needed as “extremely straightforward”.
I am against this. I am not convinced that 16 year olds are mature enough for the vote. They will have a lifetime of voting after they turn 18.
People love to slam the Tories for allegedly using voter ID to suppress votes against them. Will they slam this as a naked attempt to garner more youth votes for Labour? One man’s gerrymandering is another’s increasing the democratic franchise…
I was against it then went to Scotland in 2014 and some of the best arguments/campaigners on both sides were sixteen and seventeen year olds.
I'd raise it to 21 tbh. I was an idiot who knew nothing of how the world worked fresh out of school. It took a couple of years of being in the real world before I got a handle on how things worked. And a decade or so more after that...
16 year olds are children. 18 year olds are barely better, but given we allow them the right to drink, drive, get shot at for their country, leave home and tell their parents to do one at around this time, it seems to be the consensus age of majority.
Can any of us say we felt grown up at sixteen? Really?
Yet the conversations we had with sixth formers during our annual schools week as councillors were generally more thoughtful and insightful that probably 75% of those we had with ‘adults’ on the doorstep.
Mental faculties peak at around 30-40, right? If the lower limit was 21, the upper limit should really be around 60.
It peaks at 61, I reckon. Although a year’s further research might establish that it’s really at 62.
The interesting thing is that votes at 16 was often a topic raised with, or by, the pupils, and there was always a substantial number - occasionally even a majority - who felt they weren’t yet ready for the weighty responsibility of deciding who governs us. We councillors would race to be the first to share how lightly that responsibility sat on so many of their parents.
Since Brexit, my guess is that more of them will be up for it.
Being well informed has never been a requirement to vote.
As someone who is sixty soon, I recognise that I am past my peak mentally. To compensate there is the benefit of experience, so still functioning well, but aware of my limitations.
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
No wonder we have a productivity problem in the UK when the top boss doesn't work overtime at a crucial time.
Time spent planning is usually time well spent, but surely the time should have been taken last weekend?
I’m sure planning has been done prior to kickoff. It’s a Bank Holiday weekend I can forgive Sunak wanting to take a day to firm up some of the details of the campaign plan and possibly to get some decent time with his wife and children before the full onslaught. I hope Keir and Ed Davey avail themselves of similar opportunities.
I hope the press get bored with trying to turn everything Rishi does into some new gaffe.
Back in the real world, the first days of Rishi's campaign have seen gaffe after gaffe so it is not surprising he will take a day off to reset. As I said earlier, this has been 2017 redux so kudos to Rishi for realising things are going pear-shaped and trying to address that.
I tbink the gaffes have been overdone by the journalists, but Sunak doesn't seem to have anything to announce. He is pottering around making these visits with nothing really to say other than weird small talk and softball questions. There are no policies.
Starmer isn’t exactly heavy on policies either. That’s entirely understandable at this point in the election. The gaffe narrative is overblown but then journalists often try to fit the facts into the narrative rather than allowing the narrative to flow from the facts. Now that wash up is over and Parliament stands prorogued the campaign will ramp up. I just hope the media decides to get bored with the current game.
Weirdly Hunt is in the Telegraph today giving some policy, saying he will end the cliffedge at £100k. Now it is actually right to thing to do and can be done without costing money, you can jiggle thresholds. Its a barrier to productivity and growth to have people refusing to take a payrise to just over £100k, instead doing less hours, longer holidays, etc. But 90% of the country won't care. It looks very out of touch.
Ok, good, and I'm sort of like: why the fuck hasn't that been addressed over the last 14 years?
It's just the sort of thing that Tory governments are meant to sort out.
There's so much shithouse gesture politics these days, devoid of substance or logic, and that applies to all the political parties who chase soundbites, memes, and the chance to piss over each other rather than sensible long-term decisions.
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
No wonder we have a productivity problem in the UK when the top boss doesn't work overtime at a crucial time.
Time spent planning is usually time well spent, but surely the time should have been taken last weekend?
I’m sure planning has been done prior to kickoff. It’s a Bank Holiday weekend I can forgive Sunak wanting to take a day to firm up some of the details of the campaign plan and possibly to get some decent time with his wife and children before the full onslaught. I hope Keir and Ed Davey avail themselves of similar opportunities.
I hope the press get bored with trying to turn everything Rishi does into some new gaffe.
Back in the real world, the first days of Rishi's campaign have seen gaffe after gaffe so it is not surprising he will take a day off to reset. As I said earlier, this has been 2017 redux so kudos to Rishi for realising things are going pear-shaped and trying to address that.
I tbink the gaffes have been overdone by the journalists, but Sunak doesn't seem to have anything to announce. He is pottering around making these visits with nothing really to say other than weird small talk and softball questions. There are no policies.
Starmer isn’t exactly heavy on policies either. That’s entirely understandable at this point in the election. The gaffe narrative is overblown but then journalists often try to fit the facts into the narrative rather than allowing the narrative to flow from the facts. Now that wash up is over and Parliament stands prorogued the campaign will ramp up. I just hope the media decides to get bored with the current game.
Weirdly Hunt is in the Telegraph today giving some policy, saying he will end the cliffedge at £100k. Now it is actually right to thing to do and can be done without costing money, you can jiggle thresholds. Its a barrier to productivity and growth to have people refusing to take a payrise to just over £100k, instead doing less hours, longer holidays, etc. But 90% of the country won't care. It looks very out of touch.
Ok, good, and I'm sort of like: why the fuck hasn't that been addressed over the last 14 years?
It's just the sort of thing that Tory governments are meant to sort out.
There's so much shithouse gesture politics these days, devoid of substance or logic, and that applies to all the political parties who chase soundbites, memes, and the chance to piss over each other rather than sensible long-term decisions.
Well yes. For 14 years they have been dicking about for instance over IC + NI. They could have sorted that, combined them, sorted out the thresholds etc.
But again its symptom of politicians won't take difficult decisions that might have losers / be unpopular in the short term.
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
No wonder we have a productivity problem in the UK when the top boss doesn't work overtime at a crucial time.
Time spent planning is usually time well spent, but surely the time should have been taken last weekend?
I’m sure planning has been done prior to kickoff. It’s a Bank Holiday weekend I can forgive Sunak wanting to take a day to firm up some of the details of the campaign plan and possibly to get some decent time with his wife and children before the full onslaught. I hope Keir and Ed Davey avail themselves of similar opportunities.
I hope the press get bored with trying to turn everything Rishi does into some new gaffe.
Back in the real world, the first days of Rishi's campaign have seen gaffe after gaffe so it is not surprising he will take a day off to reset. As I said earlier, this has been 2017 redux so kudos to Rishi for realising things are going pear-shaped and trying to address that.
I tbink the gaffes have been overdone by the journalists, but Sunak doesn't seem to have anything to announce. He is pottering around making these visits with nothing really to say other than weird small talk and softball questions. There are no policies.
Starmer isn’t exactly heavy on policies either. That’s entirely understandable at this point in the election. The gaffe narrative is overblown but then journalists often try to fit the facts into the narrative rather than allowing the narrative to flow from the facts. Now that wash up is over and Parliament stands prorogued the campaign will ramp up. I just hope the media decides to get bored with the current game.
Weirdly Hunt is in the Telegraph today giving some policy, saying he will end the cliffedge at £100k. Now it is actually right to thing to do and can be done without costing money, you can jiggle thresholds. Its a barrier to productivity and growth to have people refusing to take a payrise to just over £100k, instead doing less hours, longer holidays, etc. But 90% of the country won't care. It looks very out of touch.
Ok, good, and I'm sort of like: why the fuck hasn't that been addressed over the last 14 years?
It's just the sort of thing that Tory governments are meant to sort out.
There's so much shithouse gesture politics these days, devoid of substance or logic, and that applies to all the political parties who chase soundbites, memes, and the chance to piss over each other rather than sensible long-term decisions.
Well yes. For 14 years they have been dicking about for instance over IC + NI. They could have sorted that, combined them, sorted out the thresholds etc.
But again its symptom of politicians won't take difficult decisions that might have losers / be unpopular in the short term.
Labour is looking to introduce votes for 16 and 17-year-olds in its first year in government if it wins the election.
The party is closely studying how Scotland and Wales lowered the voting age and believes there is no reason why lowering the national voting age for general elections would need to take longer.
Sir Keir Starmer pledged to extend the franchise to younger voters in September with no indication of how quickly the policy would be implemented should it win the election. Party sources now say that while there is yet no commitment that the policy will be in the King’s Speech, it is nonetheless expected to be enacted quickly. “I would be extremely surprised if it wasn’t in the King’s Speech,” one said, describing the legislation needed as “extremely straightforward”.
I am against this. I am not convinced that 16 year olds are mature enough for the vote. They will have a lifetime of voting after they turn 18.
People love to slam the Tories for allegedly using voter ID to suppress votes against them. Will they slam this as a naked attempt to garner more youth votes for Labour? One man’s gerrymandering is another’s increasing the democratic franchise…
I was against it then went to Scotland in 2014 and some of the best arguments/campaigners on both sides were sixteen and seventeen year olds.
I'd raise it to 21 tbh. I was an idiot who knew nothing of how the world worked fresh out of school. It took a couple of years of being in the real world before I got a handle on how things worked. And a decade or so more after that...
16 year olds are children. 18 year olds are barely better, but given we allow them the right to drink, drive, get shot at for their country, leave home and tell their parents to do one at around this time, it seems to be the consensus age of majority.
Can any of us say we felt grown up at sixteen? Really?
Yet the conversations we had with sixth formers during our annual schools week as councillors were generally more thoughtful and insightful that probably 75% of those we had with ‘adults’ on the doorstep.
Mental faculties peak at around 30-40, right? If the lower limit was 21, the upper limit should really be around 60.
It peaks at 61, I reckon. Although a year’s further research might establish that it’s really at 62.
The interesting thing is that votes at 16 was often a topic raised with, or by, the pupils, and there was always a substantial number - occasionally even a majority - who felt they weren’t yet ready for the weighty responsibility of deciding who governs us. We councillors would race to be the first to share how lightly that responsibility sat on so many of their parents.
Since Brexit, my guess is that more of them will be up for it.
I would weight each vote by life expectancy at current age. That would at least offset differential turnout.
The Tories would introduce policies to shorten the life expectancy of younger people!
Yes, not long term thinking, I know, but that's nothing new
Slightly interesting poscast by Alastaire Campbell and Rory the Tory. Neither can understand why he's calling an election he's certain to lose. Rory seems to think he just wants out. Less entertaining than I expected (No 1 in the podcast charts) but no great wit or insight.... Oh! except Rory thinking Cleverly could be a good bet to take over from Rishi.
Why are the Tories talking about unfunded tax cuts for the wealthy? Do they think it’s an electoral win to resurrect Trussonomics? They should steer well clear from bold taxation moves. It undermines the core offer of Sunak and Hunt.
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
No wonder we have a productivity problem in the UK when the top boss doesn't work overtime at a crucial time.
Good news for Richi on Day 4 of the campaign.
As far as I can tell, he hasn't made any colossal mistakes today.
Yet.
Nadine Dorries is appalled (on X)
"Rishi is taking Saturday off.
Boris Johnson worked every hour that god gave him during election campaign. Every single hour. The idea of a day at home - even a couple of hours at home other than sleeping was out of the question. And this is only day 3!"
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
No wonder we have a productivity problem in the UK when the top boss doesn't work overtime at a crucial time.
Time spent planning is usually time well spent, but surely the time should have been taken last weekend?
I’m sure planning has been done prior to kickoff. It’s a Bank Holiday weekend I can forgive Sunak wanting to take a day to firm up some of the details of the campaign plan and possibly to get some decent time with his wife and children before the full onslaught. I hope Keir and Ed Davey avail themselves of similar opportunities.
I hope the press get bored with trying to turn everything Rishi does into some new gaffe.
Back in the real world, the first days of Rishi's campaign have seen gaffe after gaffe so it is not surprising he will take a day off to reset. As I said earlier, this has been 2017 redux so kudos to Rishi for realising things are going pear-shaped and trying to address that.
I tbink the gaffes have been overdone by the journalists, but Sunak doesn't seem to have anything to announce. He is pottering around making these visits with nothing really to say other than weird small talk and softball questions. There are no policies.
Starmer isn’t exactly heavy on policies either. That’s entirely understandable at this point in the election. The gaffe narrative is overblown but then journalists often try to fit the facts into the narrative rather than allowing the narrative to flow from the facts. Now that wash up is over and Parliament stands prorogued the campaign will ramp up. I just hope the media decides to get bored with the current game.
Weirdly Hunt is in the Telegraph today giving some policy, saying he will end the cliffedge at £100k. Now it is actually right to thing to do and can be done without costing money, you can jiggle thresholds. Its a barrier to productivity and growth to have people refusing to take a payrise to just over £100k, instead doing less hours, longer holidays, etc. But 90% of the country won't care. It looks very out of touch.
Ok, good, and I'm sort of like: why the fuck hasn't that been addressed over the last 14 years?
It's just the sort of thing that Tory governments are meant to sort out.
There's so much shithouse gesture politics these days, devoid of substance or logic, and that applies to all the political parties who chase soundbites, memes, and the chance to piss over each other rather than sensible long-term decisions.
Well yes. For 14 years they have been dicking about for instance over IC + NI. They could have sorted that, combined them, sorted out the thresholds etc.
But again its symptom of politicians won't take difficult decisions that might have losers / be unpopular in the short term.
Cf Council Tax banding
I was always surprised that Lib Dems in coalition didn't demand local income tax as replacement for council tax (as was their policy for 2010).
Why are the Tories talking about unfunded tax cuts for the wealthy? Do they think it’s an electoral win to resurrect Trussonomics? They should steer well clear from bold taxation moves. It undermines the core offer of Sunak and Hunt.
Such a confusing message.
£100k cliffedge is easy to change without costing anything or giving the rich a tax cut (you can actually make them pay more). You can just change thresholds. It came about as poorly thought through wheeze by Brown, but Tories never brave enough to sort it.
Not really in favour of lowering the voting age to 16. But I would get behind enfranchising EU Citizens who are resident in the UK. If commonwealth citizens can vote, then so should taxpaying citizens from our neighbours.
Using YouGov numbers from their megapoll, Westminster constituency data from the England and Wales census, and assuming no variation by constituency and that the age distribution of an electorate accounts for 100%* of the vote share, you can put together a rudimentary projection for the election.
This finds that Labour would win every single seat in England and Wales. This is even the case after adjusting for differential turnout, with younger people less likely to vote. The closest the Conservatives would come is in Isle of Wight East, but Labour would still have a 7,000 vote majority. The biggest Labour win would be in Poplar and Limehouse, at 26,000.
This is obviously nonsense, with Labour winning much larger majorities in 2019 (eg Knowsley at 40,000). But it does show the basic demographics are a major weakness for the Conservatives, with other factors like housing tenure and perhaps even the culture war what will bag them their constituencies. It suggests that these other factors differentiate constituencies rather than bring them closer together.
I also looked at the left/right wing split, adding Reform to the Tory vote and Green to the Labour vote. Labour still wins every seat, but it’s much closer. For example, Christchurch has a left wing lead of only 1,700 in this age-based projection. Older people voting for Reform is disaster for the Conservatives, while younger people voting Green is only an inconvenience for Labour.
I’ll post some more fatuous analysis based on employment status and housing tenure over the next couple of days.
*I’ve previously worked out that age distribution accounts for only around 40% of Tory vote share in Westminster constituencies.
Why are the Tories talking about unfunded tax cuts for the wealthy? Do they think it’s an electoral win to resurrect Trussonomics? They should steer well clear from bold taxation moves. It undermines the core offer of Sunak and Hunt.
Such a confusing message.
£100k cliffedge is easy to change without costing anything. You can just change thresholds.
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
No wonder we have a productivity problem in the UK when the top boss doesn't work overtime at a crucial time.
Time spent planning is usually time well spent, but surely the time should have been taken last weekend?
I’m sure planning has been done prior to kickoff. It’s a Bank Holiday weekend I can forgive Sunak wanting to take a day to firm up some of the details of the campaign plan and possibly to get some decent time with his wife and children before the full onslaught. I hope Keir and Ed Davey avail themselves of similar opportunities.
I hope the press get bored with trying to turn everything Rishi does into some new gaffe.
Back in the real world, the first days of Rishi's campaign have seen gaffe after gaffe so it is not surprising he will take a day off to reset. As I said earlier, this has been 2017 redux so kudos to Rishi for realising things are going pear-shaped and trying to address that.
I tbink the gaffes have been overdone by the journalists, but Sunak doesn't seem to have anything to announce. He is pottering around making these visits with nothing really to say other than weird small talk and softball questions. There are no policies.
Starmer isn’t exactly heavy on policies either. That’s entirely understandable at this point in the election. The gaffe narrative is overblown but then journalists often try to fit the facts into the narrative rather than allowing the narrative to flow from the facts. Now that wash up is over and Parliament stands prorogued the campaign will ramp up. I just hope the media decides to get bored with the current game.
Weirdly Hunt is in the Telegraph today giving some policy, saying he will end the cliffedge at £100k. Now it is actually right to thing to do and can be done without costing money, you can jiggle thresholds. Its a barrier to productivity and growth to have people refusing to take a payrise to just over £100k, instead doing less hours, longer holidays, etc. But 90% of the country won't care. It looks very out of touch.
Ok, good, and I'm sort of like: why the fuck hasn't that been addressed over the last 14 years?
It's just the sort of thing that Tory governments are meant to sort out.
There's so much shithouse gesture politics these days, devoid of substance or logic, and that applies to all the political parties who chase soundbites, memes, and the chance to piss over each other rather than sensible long-term decisions.
Well yes. For 14 years they have been dicking about for instance over IC + NI. They could have sorted that, combined them, sorted out the thresholds etc.
But again its symptom of politicians won't take difficult decisions that might have losers / be unpopular in the short term.
Cf Council Tax banding
I was always surprised that Lib Dems in coalition didn't demand local income tax as replacement for council tax (as was their policy for 2010).
Because both the Tories and the Civil Service said it was not possible/would frighten the horses
BREAKING: Sunak is going to take a day off the trail tomorrow in a highly unusual move so early in the campaign. He will spend it at home in talks with his senior aides. But the Tories insist this is NOT a campaign relaunch.
No wonder we have a productivity problem in the UK when the top boss doesn't work overtime at a crucial time.
Good news for Richi on Day 4 of the campaign.
As far as I can tell, he hasn't made any colossal mistakes today.
Yet.
Nadine Dorries is appalled (on X)
"Rishi is taking Saturday off.
Boris Johnson worked every hour that god gave him during election campaign. Every single hour. The idea of a day at home - even a couple of hours at home other than sleeping was out of the question. And this is only day 3!"
(Off topic how do you post photos etc on here?)
She should get out there and help some ex-colleagues......to lose.
Comments
(FWIW, the state of Illinois once had a lower drinking age (18) for women than men (21).)
Labour have parachuted in a ringer from Brixton who won't put any effort in, and in a two way fight no question who wins for me.
As said earlier - LDs available at 2.5s.
Sadly, the dinner party circuit don't get politics. The result is going to be that a Blairite is taking the Tory party to the precipice.
'Chaps, I really think we need to think about the optics before we plan visits'
'No, really, the Titanic Quarter was fascinating, but at the same time. I mean, really, chaps.'
https://www.itv.com/news/2024-05-24/full-list-of-the-119-mps-standing-down-at-the-general-election
He might be just spending some time with his family but the press/PB have jumped on Cameron as interim PM till election or other such nonsense.
The mass resignation of Tory MPs is something I did not anticipate and should have been an important argument against an early election. The sense of panic is palpable now.
"Asked by Stein to “give us the names, please” of those who had “let her down” by withholding information as the scandal developed, Paula Vennells listed the senior IT executives Mike Young, whom the inquiry has not been able to find, and Lesley Sewell, and the general legal counsels Susan Crichton, Chris Aujard and Jane MacLeod."
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/may/24/paula-vennells-names-five-executives-she-blames-over-post-office-scandal
Of the five, one "can't be found", and, as we know, another is in New Zealand and refusing to cooperate with the inquiry.
Sunak, alarmingly if you are conservative, seems to be a bad tribute act who doesn't understand what he should be paying tribute to. Like a drunk Elvis impersonator who starts singing Frankie Valli songs badly.
Lab 44 (-2)
Con 22 (+1)
Ref 14 (+2)
Figures from The Times lead story. Figures for other parties not quoted in the article.
The Greens/Lib Dems are not so much of a threat to Labour as their potential voters are younger and less likely to turnout.
Weak, indecisive? Weak and divisive?
It was eventually ruled wrong under a very obscure Scottish case from over a hundred years ago that very few people knew about. Including most Scottish judges.
Hale seriously over-egged the pudding in her declarations on the subject that it was ‘in effect a blank piece of paper’ which was rather typical of her bombastic behaviour for all her knowledge of English family law had few peers.
I’ll criticise Cummings any day of the week but to suggest he or anyone else involved including the Queen thought they were acting illegally (rather than just stupidly) is not correct.
As far as I can tell, he hasn't made any colossal mistakes today.
Yet.
They really are having a disaster. One i saw was that it advised you to drink your own piss to help pass kidney stones.
I am sure one day we will find out the reasons why he pulled the emergency exit latch.
I considered the prorogation a bad and wrong decision irrespective of whether it was lawful, but I don't have a reason to assume bad faith on the part of those involved inasmuch as whether they intended unlawfullness.
Nearly all people won't have followed every detail of the case and nearly all won't have followed the details of the arguments against the outcome either. It is little different to most cases in that respect.
Wrong verdicts happen, everyone knows that, but by and large people trust the system and assume if there are legal or factual flaws these will come out through appeal.
A tragedy if that ultimately reveals fundamental flaws with the conviction, but I fail to see what's bizarre or 'revealing' that people trust the outcome of a trial and will leave it to appeals and campaigners to prove otherwise legally before they instantly decide reasonable doubt must exist.
I hope the press get bored with trying to turn everything Rishi does into some new gaffe.
Actually it is interesting compared to Sunak leadership bid, they had the flashy video ready and a load of other stuff. Now him being crap at debates and the Tory party members wanted uncosted Trussonomics is another matter. But at the time, people said if anything Sunak for PM was too slick.
Sunaks biggest flaw is his inability to listen to other people when they are trying to help him.
Sucks for him and history may judge it a bit harsh, but them's the breaks. It's his job to overcome this sort of thing.
Mr. B, yeah, the practice results were fairly interesting. At the moment, Leclerc for pole/the win is something I've got in mind but the odds are trash, just over evens either way (and I need to check the weather). An untimely crash could scupper something like that.
That is, more than those who already believe anything they read online.
They actually have a serious model with their LLMs. The reason for all the weird image generation was they appended every query with very strong guardrails. Some said it was google being "woke", now i think there was probably a bit of that, but i also think they know their models aren't that well trained and so can't trust them not to do crazy things without the word salad appended to every query to really guide it.
But a nurse or other health care worker using their position of trust in order to harm is not that unusual. There was a similar case in Grantham with Beverley Allit some years ago. Indeed we had a near miss in my own Trust a few years back. There were a number of incidents where aneasthetic equipment in our emergency operating theatres malfunctioned, including blocked piping etc. Fortunately no one came to harm, but it was a covert camera that discovered what was happening. A member of staff was filmed sabotaging an anaesthetic machine. Further investigation found that they were present at the previous incidents. The motivation was that this person would appear at the moment of equipment failure, and sort it out by undoing their sabotage, thriving on being the hero on the day.
Journalism would be much better served if the individuals involved weren’t trying to simultaneously run commentary on the match and score the winning goals.
It's early days, so the Tories can recover their mojo, but currently Labour's campaign is the one looking well planned and on message.
I wonder if they've quietly made changes in methodology after the mayoral elections, or if the panel is just volatile.
ii) You can't join the Army after 43, or be in a front line unit after I think 50 or so, so should we strip 51-year-olds of the vote too?
I'm sure there are plenty of people with a hero complex in medicine, the army etc but don't go as far as causing the issue in the first place.
He reminds me of that England rugby captain who was awful.
Who was it? Chris Robshaw?
Betting PostF1: Monaco is my least favourite circuit. Anyway, backed Sainz at 23 each way to win. His recent qualifying record is highly similar to Leclerc's they're (for now) in the same car, and I'm anticipating him improving from practice. We shall see.
Edited extra bit: more waffle herein: https://enormo-haddock.blogspot.com/2024/05/monaco-pre-qualifying-2024.html
There's a lot of malicious gossip that flies around in politics.
It ended because it became repugnant to too many people, and we were no longer tolerant of the ethics of what was required to keep it in place.
The only real optics mistake I think he's made so far is announcing the election in a downpour.
He needs to team-talk and lift up his whole MP and candidate base. Get them to believe.
One senses he hasn't really bothered.
The interesting thing is that votes at 16 was often a topic raised with, or by, the pupils, and there was always a substantial number - occasionally even a majority - who felt they weren’t yet ready for the weighty responsibility of deciding who governs us. We councillors would race to be the first to share how lightly that responsibility sat on so many of their parents.
Since Brexit, my guess is that more of them will be up for it.
This is a government that has run out of ideas, cursed by the long term damage caused by short term policies.
Considering that we had to have an election within months the lack of preparedness is astonishing.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsufaClk5if2RGqABb-09Uw
“Inheritance tax is a 40 per cent tax on the value of an estate - including property, money and possessions - of someone who has died. Tax is usually paid if the estate is valued at less than £325,000.
As someone who is sixty soon, I recognise that I am past my peak mentally. To compensate there is the benefit of experience, so still functioning well, but aware of my limitations.
It's just the sort of thing that Tory governments are meant to sort out.
There's so much shithouse gesture politics these days, devoid of substance or logic, and that applies to all the political parties who chase soundbites, memes, and the chance to piss over each other rather than sensible long-term decisions.
But again its symptom of politicians won't take difficult decisions that might have losers / be unpopular in the short term.
Yes, not long term thinking, I know, but that's nothing new
Channel 4 To Air Episodes Of Hit Podcast ‘The Rest Is Politics' In General Election Run-Up
https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/channel-4-to-air-episodes-of-hit-podcast-the-rest-is-politics-in-general-election-run-up/ar-BB1mYNi3
Such a confusing message.
Nadine Dorries is appalled (on X)
"Rishi is taking Saturday off.
Boris Johnson worked every hour that god gave him during election campaign. Every single hour.
The idea of a day at home - even a couple of hours at home other than sleeping was out of the question. And this is only day 3!"
(Off topic how do you post photos etc on here?)
Using YouGov numbers from their megapoll, Westminster constituency data from the England and Wales census, and assuming no variation by constituency and that the age distribution of an electorate accounts for 100%* of the vote share, you can put together a rudimentary projection for the election.
This finds that Labour would win every single seat in England and Wales. This is even the case after adjusting for differential turnout, with younger people less likely to vote. The closest the Conservatives would come is in Isle of Wight East, but Labour would still have a 7,000 vote majority. The biggest Labour win would be in Poplar and Limehouse, at 26,000.
This is obviously nonsense, with Labour winning much larger majorities in 2019 (eg Knowsley at 40,000). But it does show the basic demographics are a major weakness for the Conservatives, with other factors like housing tenure and perhaps even the culture war what will bag them their constituencies. It suggests that these other factors differentiate constituencies rather than bring them closer together.
I also looked at the left/right wing split, adding Reform to the Tory vote and Green to the Labour vote. Labour still wins every seat, but it’s much closer. For example, Christchurch has a left wing lead of only 1,700 in this age-based projection. Older people voting for Reform is disaster for the Conservatives, while younger people voting Green is only an inconvenience for Labour.
I’ll post some more fatuous analysis based on employment status and housing tenure over the next couple of days.
*I’ve previously worked out that age distribution accounts for only around 40% of Tory vote share in Westminster constituencies.