Conrad Black and John Prescott have lost their seats in the House of Lords due to non-attendance.
Also Lord Willoughby de Broke, one of the hereditary peers so another byelection looms.
Probably a niche view, but I personally think it should be very hard to lose one’s Lords seat. It seems at odds with the whole point of a non-elected chamber which is allowed to take the long view.
For the same reason, I don’t much like the idea of retiring at 80. But both measures are preferable to an elected house, which would be a recipe for utter gridlock.
To be expelled for non-attendance is quite difficult . It requires total non-attendance a session of 6 months or more, and if they want to stay in they can ask for a "leave of absence". The House can also suspend the rule for that occasion by a resolution.
One thing that strikes me.about right wing commentary on the GE is denial. They are fundamentally unable to come to terms with what has happened. Look at John Gray's pathetic bit in the New Statesman, where he takes to alchemy to explain away the loss. Between demographic headwinds (a large section of very old voters), and the time scale of rebranding the right, reform con power struggles and developing a growth layer of new political talent means the right will be out for at least 2 terms. Farage will never win PM (the vast majority reject him).... not ever... and I don't see anybody with sufficient talent and charisma to step up reality is reality. The right cannot move forward till it comes to terms with it.
The reality is that Labour won by accepting the Johnsonian settlement with the UK outside the EU and single market. Have you accepted this yet or are you still in denial?
The "Johnsonian settlement" is a rather euphemistic term for what he left behind.
Johnsonian shit-smear seems more accurate. While I don’t see us rejoining the EU any time soon, next to nothing is likely to survive of the Johnson era.
In the sense that next to nothing survived of the Heath era, except one overriding constitutional change.
I’m no expert, but I’d want to add the “reform” of local government.
Yes, the older Yorkshire folk still moan about that. Also, school leaving age raised to 16, employee rights to industrial tribunal appeal, and ... Margaret Thatcher.
If they do, they will learn some surprising things. For example: 'You may not want to hear this, but when the history of twentieth century poliitics is written, George Bush will indeed be ranked as "the environmental president".
These things happened under Bush:the 1990 Clean Air Act, the strongest air-pollution legislation in the world; international agreements to abolish CFCs; the end of ocean disposal of sludge; , , , '
Easterbrook's list of Bush's achievements continues for a third of a page more. Incidentally, Bush brought in "cap-and-trade" laws that helped clean up the air in cities faster and more cheaply than regulations would have.
I haven't seen any formal estimates, but it seems certain that Bush's policies saved thousands of lives.
(By the way, you can see the clean-air progress in the US in many old TV programs, for example, Adam 12.)
I feel like I'm going blue in the face sometimes ranting about just how much better the environment has got in the last thirty years, and much of it initially spearheaded by the US in the seventies and early eighties, and then by Germany and the EU by late eighties early nineties. A lot of directives from the EU have had a major impact on air quality river quality and sea quality.
The incredibly destructive attacks on the environmental policies of the last government were driven by both Brexit derangement and Boris derangement. The damn good work of the EA and yes, I'll say it, the water companies has been ripped apart for cheap likes. And everybody gains from it, except those who had been doing a damn good job of cleaning up the waters.
Conrad Black and John Prescott have lost their seats in the House of Lords due to non-attendance.
Also Lord Willoughby de Broke, one of the hereditary peers so another byelection looms.
Probably a niche view, but I personally think it should be very hard to lose one’s Lords seat. It seems at odds with the whole point of a non-elected chamber which is allowed to take the long view.
For the same reason, I don’t much like the idea of retiring at 80. But both measures are preferable to an elected house, which would be a recipe for utter gridlock.
I've always thought an elected upper house on pure PR from the votes cast in a GE would be a good option.
Well, until about a week ago I did. I've now realised I was completely, tragically, hopelessly wrong.
If they do, they will learn some surprising things. For example: 'You may not want to hear this, but when the history of twentieth century poliitics is written, George Bush will indeed be ranked as "the environmental president".
These things happened under Bush:the 1990 Clean Air Act, the strongest air-pollution legislation in the world; international agreements to abolish CFCs; the end of ocean disposal of sludge; , , , '
Easterbrook's list of Bush's achievements continues for a third of a page more. Incidentally, Bush brought in "cap-and-trade" laws that helped clean up the air in cities faster and more cheaply than regulations would have.
I haven't seen any formal estimates, but it seems certain that Bush's policies saved thousands of lives.
(By the way, you can see the clean-air progress in the US in many old TV programs, for example, Adam 12.)
Mrs Thatcher was doing/saying similar things in 1990.
The reality is that Labour won by accepting the Johnsonian settlement with the UK outside the EU and single market. Have you accepted this yet or are you still in denial?
Eight years after the referendum and four years after leaving the EU, we are still talking about it...
I am interested that they went for the Jerusalem version, not the New Jerusalem version, as the "Catholic Bible".
I selected the New Jerusalem as my preferred translation back in about 1986-87, as the most scholarly translation, despite being at root a low church Anglican. I still remember that it cost £35 from my student income for the study version published by Dartman, Longman and Todd (DLT), which was about the same as a fortnight's rent.
That I guess has something to do with officially authorised translations.
Very late to the party (been doing that old work thing...). Thanks for the header - its great to have new people put their head above the parapet. I don't agree with a lot of what you write. As as example "Starmer is not personally popular, his policies are not popular, but left wing policies are. Voters for the Conservatives or Reform UK are never going to be persuaded to vote Labour" Left wing policies are popular to a point. People know that the left wing utopia also needs paying for. And as for Conservative or reform voters never going to be persuaded to vote for Labour - that's not true. Vast swathes of reform voters were surely Labour voters not that long ago (in the Red Wall). And Blair was able to convince voters on the centrist side of the Tory party to vote for him. Starmer has a chance of increasing his popularity. If he gets a good few years without outside shocks (e.g. Covid, Ukraine etc) and if the economy goes ok, a period of calm government will settle the addled state of the country.
I think what too many on the left fail to realise is that most people do not agree with them.
Very late to the party (been doing that old work thing...). Thanks for the header - its great to have new people put their head above the parapet. I don't agree with a lot of what you write. As as example "Starmer is not personally popular, his policies are not popular, but left wing policies are. Voters for the Conservatives or Reform UK are never going to be persuaded to vote Labour" Left wing policies are popular to a point. People know that the left wing utopia also needs paying for. And as for Conservative or reform voters never going to be persuaded to vote for Labour - that's not true. Vast swathes of reform voters were surely Labour voters not that long ago (in the Red Wall). And Blair was able to convince voters on the centrist side of the Tory party to vote for him. Starmer has a chance of increasing his popularity. If he gets a good few years without outside shocks (e.g. Covid, Ukraine etc) and if the economy goes ok, a period of calm government will settle the addled state of the country.
I think what too many on the left fail to realise is that most people do not agree with them.
Too many of any political viewpoint fail to realise that most people do not agree with them. But under FPTP you can win big if you get close enough to enough people's views on the key issues and, particularly so, if the other party seen as able to win overall has wandered off into the ideological wilderness.
Members may also swear in in Welsh on a Welsh Bible. See Virginia Crosbie in 2022
"I swear by almighty God, that I will be faithful and bare true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles, his heirs and successors according to law, so help me God."
"Yr wyf yn addo, trwy gymorth y goruchaf, y byddaf yn ffyddlon ac yn wir deyrngar i’w Fawrhydi, y Brenin Charles, Ei Etifeddion a’i Olynwyr, yn ôl y Ddeddf, yn wyneb Duw"
One thing that was noticeable in our neck of the woods was the lack of manpower the Tories had. They had a Facebook page that was updated daily and had a team of about 10 - 12 going out and we were impressed and maybe a little worried. our teams were typically about 3 - 5. Then it dawned on us. This was it. There was nothing else. This team visited about 5 different areas every day. They had one person for a number of big villages (he was highlighted doing so each day). Whereas we had multiple teams everyday as well as dozens of deliverers out everyday. They turned up at the end of my road one day and were gone within an hour.
As well as all the time spent travelling from one place to another they also stopped 3 or 4 times in cafes and pubs and did reviews of them together with pictures on their Facebook page. On polling day they were dressed up for the count in a pub before the polls had closed again posted on their Facebook page. We were knocking up until 10 pm.
It was interesting that there were lots of comments about how hard they were working. I don't think any of them would last 5 minutes on a LD team.
I suspect that partly reflected the age of their members; campaigning is a tiring business, especially on polling day, and my old routine of getting up at 5am for the early morning delivery, continuing all day with spells of telling the only break, then going to the count and staying alert through to a 5am declaration, is something I coulnd't do nowadays. Doing nothing all day and staying up in an armchair for Truss is tiring enough.
It's also hard to be motivated when yout tide is going out. Most of the LibDems won by decent margins - in some cases massive margins (e.g. Chichester), and so there really weren't many places where a red hot campaign would have made any difference for the Tories.
Election day is one of those activities where the reward to effort ratio is incredibly low, yet you have to do it to avoid the feeling you'll have if years of campaigning effort misses on the day by 50.
Luckily I am quite fit for a 69 year old. I pulled a 30 hour stint on election day (obviously slightly more than a day). I should have been in bed a few hours earlier than that but the adrenaline was still pumping and I couldn't sleep. I slept for a few hours late Saturday morning and afternoon and felt like rubbish when I got up. Back to bed at 9pm Saturday night. Surrey Heath and Woking were partying Saturday night.
Everywhere I said Saturday I should have said Friday. You see I still haven't recovered.
Probably, I could have done the same, had I skin in the game. Sadly, as a LibDem I find myself trapped into having voted Green three times running now, in a seat where my preferred party stands no chance.
Yep I agree. What happened to the LDs in the IofW. We used to win that in GEs.
The future of Reform depends almost entirely on immigration (legal and illegal) still being a 'hot' issue up to and during the next GE. They really have nothing else. Starmer is well aware of this, I'm sure.
Thanks all for the kind words - I know I have a tendency to write long comments here, so thought it best to do a full header to explain my relatively happy feelings from the outcomes of the election.
I can’t stay here long today due to work, but to answer a few questions:
1) I think Bristol Central shows that Greens will mostly be targeting urban seats - whilst we do have a surprising amount of support from otherwise conservative voters in rural areas, that is not where our members are from. On the other hand I know we won those seats without hiding our lefty credentials, so maybe some of those voters are more open to left wing policies than previously thought and just have a tribal hatred of Labour.
2) On tactical voting, there is a graph floating around that I did wonder whether I should include here and write a bit about showing that if people didn’t have to vote tactically the share for Labour would be less, not more. So the tactical anti-Tory vote was already part of why Labour did so well.
3) On policy specific questions - I’m kinda tired of saying here that I disagree with the underlying assumptions of neoliberalism where private investment and balancing the budget are the most important things. When it comes to funding and taxation and such I hold a position much closer to MMT. When it comes to “how do we afford x” that is my position.
4) On NATO specifically - it’s currently a necessary evil and arguably preferable to the alternative (much like my view of the EU).
5) My name comes from the assigned username I was given at university - random numbers and letters that I still remember and therefore use.
Thanks. The nearer a socialist alternative gets to actual power, the more it will be examined.
I think the chances that voters will vote consistently for MMT economics, once it is explained, in a manifesto that could be that of a governing party is about Zero. It will have the appearance of being the mirror image of Reform's economics.
Just suppose for a moment that the chief underlying assumption of what you call 'neoliberalism' is that more people on planet earth should have more access to rising prosperity and stuff like water, food, housing and education and the possibility of living in a reasonably free and peaceful society? And that the ways to achieve it with a deeply imperfect humanity is that everyone should have a vote, and empirically based policies are the chief instrument of change.
That isn't the chief underlying assumption of neoliberalism. The chief underlying assumption of neoliberalism is that it is better for things to be in the hands of the private sector and that a rising tide lifts all boats - it is trickle down economics. And it doesn't work. Neoliberalism doesn't really care about democracy - the first real testing ground for neoliberalism was Chile under Pinochet. It was packaged for the Western audience, who were used to things like autonomy and freedom, by suggesting it was a freedom based ideology - but freedom for the market and the capitalist only.
If you are a worker or poor - your freedoms reduced under neoliberalism. Establishment political parties looked more similar, unions were crushed, the social safety net was deconstructed. Multiple states went from owning their own assets and being able to make money off of them and subsidise any losses with taxation and debt, to selling off their assets, losing long term revenue, and creating a layer of rent seekers in between those assets and the public who depend on those services. All it is is a parasitic transference of wealth from the poor to the rich - because to get into that layer of rent seekers you had to have money already to buy them up when they were being sold off (usually on the cheap).
Thanks. 'neoliberalism' as a word has a problem in that there appears to be little or no common ground about its meaning, except that it is broadly a free market capitalist movement with a preference for a smaller state.
Well, we live in a very large state economy, with an overwhelming weight of regulation and law applying to every bit of human activity from the local Duck Pond Charity to the doings of BP.
Welfare state, education, NHS, all in state managed hands. We are nowhere close to your sort of neoliberal society, nor are we going t be.
Entire councils are essentially run by private profit seeking companies - like Capita. Entire sections of our security and prisons are run by G4S. School Academisation, whilst not technically allowing schools to be run for profit, have shifted ownership and responsibilities of schools from local councils to private companies. The same is already happening in the NHS; my local GP practice hosts private clinics and basically all consultants have a greater share of their workload going towards private work that is still based within publicly owned hospitals. Our public housing stock has been sold off bit by bit, first with right to buy, then with housing associations (again, technically not for profit organisations, but without the ability to secure the same level of debt a government can, and with someone at the top who is paid very handsomely indeed). All of these are examples of the clear march of neoliberalism.
FWIW I am sympathetic to your view. There is too much outsourcing; but all these things are state managed expenditure, involving a huge state enterprise. That is not the same as the small non regulating state.
If Labour starts heading off to the left after campaigning and winner on a center/center left platform, it will increase their chance of being a one term government with the landslide melting away like snow in June at election 2029, IMO.
Could be wrong of course...
Surely the election will be in May 2028. They would have to be just as desperate as Sunak to have to wait 4yrs and 10 mths
The future of Reform depends almost entirely on immigration (legal and illegal) still being a 'hot' issue up to and during the next GE. They really have nothing else. Starmer is well aware of this, I'm sure.
Despite Rwanda, and all the fury about channel crossers in inflatable dinghies, the real story is surely the legal immigration numbers. Now lots of that is students and its currently inflated by a covid unwind, but it does represent a huge influx of people, the kind of numbers that drove the Brexit rhetoric in the first place. Does Starmer grasp the nettle? Can it be changed without harming the economy? Whatever - it is an issue that will dominate politics until something changes.
The schemes costing £1.1bn were supposed to cut pollution into rivers by increasing the capacity at sewage works, adding phosphorus removal to the treatment process, and installing new storm tanks. The upgrades, which were promised in 2018, are being paid for by customers as part of a five-year spending round to 2025 but will not be delivered within that timeframe.
Meanwhile, Thames Water awaits a crucial decision on Thursday from the regulator Ofwat on the company’s new five-year business plan. Thames wants to increase customer bills 59% by 2030 to pay for record investment of £19.8bn to tackle sewage pollution, leaks and water shortages after decades in which the company has sweated assets and underinvested.
The company is asking the regulator to allow the late projects to be rolled over into the new spending round, known as PR24.
Ash Smith, the founder of the campaign group Windrush Against Sewage Pollution, said customers had already paid for the projects to upgrade ageing sewage treatment works, and were being asked to pay again...
Members may also swear in in Welsh on a Welsh Bible. See Virginia Crosbie in 2022
"I swear by almighty God, that I will be faithful and bare true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles, his heirs and successors according to law, so help me God."
"Yr wyf yn addo, trwy gymorth y goruchaf, y byddaf yn ffyddlon ac yn wir deyrngar i’w Fawrhydi, y Brenin Charles, Ei Etifeddion a’i Olynwyr, yn ôl y Ddeddf, yn wyneb Duw"
If Labour starts heading off to the left after campaigning and winner on a center/center left platform, it will increase their chance of being a one term government with the landslide melting away like snow in June at election 2029, IMO.
Could be wrong of course...
Surely the election will be in May 2028. They would have to be just as desperate as Sunak to have to wait 4yrs and 10 mths
It depends doesn't it? If things go well for the government it'll be May 2028. If things go badly it'll be May 2029.
Lieu: Something I’ve heard that doesn’t seem to be being covered are the Epstein files. These files were released. Donald Trump is sort of all over this. There are pictures of him with Epstein. He’s taken plane flights with Epstein. He’s in call logs with Epstein… https://x.com/Acyn/status/1810744824477405193
Digging a little more, it says No Oath, No Salary.
MPs cannot take their seat, speak in debates, vote or receive a salary until taking the oath or affirmation. They could also be fined £500 and have their seat declared vacant “as if they were dead” if they attempted to do so. https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/elections-and-voting/swearingin/
So, the claim that young people were flocking in their droves to Reform, as repeatedly touted on here by @Leon turns out to be complete and utter rubbish. Why should we be surprised?
That YouGov analysis is an interesting read, according to their analysis Voting Labour positively correlates with level of education and salary, not sure how that aligns with the PB subset
No that wasn't entirely true in 2024, certainly on salary level. This year it was the Tories and LDs who did best with upper middle class ABs relative to the rest of their voters and the LDs did better with middle class C1s than working class C2s and DEs. Labour did almost as well with DEs as ABs and better with DEs than lower middle class C1s.
"Those with a higher household income were more likely to vote Labour than those with a lower household income. A third (32-34%) of those income groups below £50,000 voted for Labour compared to four in ten (40%) of those in household income groups making £50,000 a year or more."
£50k-70k 40% Labour £70k+ 40% Labour
Basically in terms of poshness and wealt of their voters it now goes: Least Posh Reform, SNP, Green, Conservative, Labour, LD Most Posh
Which is the mystery of our Leon’s self-claimed super IQ. Despite his purported super-intelligence, it seems very peculiar that after thinking everything through and analysing all the relevant considerations in depth (lol), almost every policy position he has arrived at is the same as those supported by the least educated part of our electorate.
You're committing several logical fallacies there. Truth isn't determined by opinion polling and wisdom isn't determined by social rank.
Yougov have statistics by educational attainment as well as social ranking, though I'd agree educational attainment and IQ (or wisdom) are not necessarily correlated. In the Yougov stats both voting Conservative and Reform negatively correlate with educational attainment... Strongly!!
Not entirely true as a 70 year old with straight As at A level could have left school and become a chartered accountant rather than gone to university as many did then. Whereas a 25 year old with 3 C grades who went to the University of Bradford to do media studies would on your stats be more educated than the 70 year old was.
Hence social and professional class AB, C1, C2 or DE is a better measure of educational attainment really than whether someone went to university or not.
Digging a little more, it says No Oath, No Salary.
MPs cannot take their seat, speak in debates, vote or receive a salary until taking the oath or affirmation. They could also be fined £500 and have their seat declared vacant “as if they were dead” if they attempted to do so. https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/elections-and-voting/swearingin/
How do Sinn Fein handle that?
Office costs are claimed for, no salary - I'd imagine the coffers aren't short mind tbh...
So, the claim that young people were flocking in their droves to Reform, as repeatedly touted on here by @Leon turns out to be complete and utter rubbish. Why should we be surprised?
That YouGov analysis is an interesting read, according to their analysis Voting Labour positively correlates with level of education and salary, not sure how that aligns with the PB subset
No that wasn't entirely true in 2024, certainly on salary level. This year it was the Tories and LDs who did best with upper middle class ABs relative to the rest of their voters and the LDs did better with middle class C1s than working class C2s and DEs. Labour did almost as well with DEs as ABs and better with DEs than lower middle class C1s.
"Those with a higher household income were more likely to vote Labour than those with a lower household income. A third (32-34%) of those income groups below £50,000 voted for Labour compared to four in ten (40%) of those in household income groups making £50,000 a year or more."
£50k-70k 40% Labour £70k+ 40% Labour
Basically in terms of poshness and wealt of their voters it now goes: Least Posh Reform, SNP, Green, Conservative, Labour, LD Most Posh
Which is the mystery of our Leon’s self-claimed super IQ. Despite his purported super-intelligence, it seems very peculiar that after thinking everything through and analysing all the relevant considerations in depth (lol), almost every policy position he has arrived at is the same as those supported by the least educated part of our electorate.
You're committing several logical fallacies there. Truth isn't determined by opinion polling and wisdom isn't determined by social rank.
Yougov have statistics by educational attainment as well as social ranking, though I'd agree educational attainment and IQ (or wisdom) are not necessarily correlated. In the Yougov stats both voting Conservative and Reform negatively correlate with educational attainment... Strongly!!
Not entirely true as a 70 year old with straight As at A level could have left school and become a chartered accountant rather than go to university as many did then. Whereas a 25 year old with 3 C grades who went to the University of Bradford to do media studies would on your stats be more educated than the 70 year old was
The odd exception notwithstanding, the data holds. Dilberts vote Reform.
The future of Reform depends almost entirely on immigration (legal and illegal) still being a 'hot' issue up to and during the next GE. They really have nothing else. Starmer is well aware of this, I'm sure.
Despite Rwanda, and all the fury about channel crossers in inflatable dinghies, the real story is surely the legal immigration numbers. Now lots of that is students and its currently inflated by a covid unwind, but it does represent a huge influx of people, the kind of numbers that drove the Brexit rhetoric in the first place. Does Starmer grasp the nettle? Can it be changed without harming the economy? Whatever - it is an issue that will dominate politics until something changes.
Good interview with Lord Vallance pointing out the damage caused by Brexit to science in the UK and how cooperation would have to be much closer with the EU to get back to where we were and regain our position at the top of the top table.
We have at least five years where we can ignore the Luddites and Neanderthals
The schemes costing £1.1bn were supposed to cut pollution into rivers by increasing the capacity at sewage works, adding phosphorus removal to the treatment process, and installing new storm tanks. The upgrades, which were promised in 2018, are being paid for by customers as part of a five-year spending round to 2025 but will not be delivered within that timeframe.
Meanwhile, Thames Water awaits a crucial decision on Thursday from the regulator Ofwat on the company’s new five-year business plan. Thames wants to increase customer bills 59% by 2030 to pay for record investment of £19.8bn to tackle sewage pollution, leaks and water shortages after decades in which the company has sweated assets and underinvested.
The company is asking the regulator to allow the late projects to be rolled over into the new spending round, known as PR24.
Ash Smith, the founder of the campaign group Windrush Against Sewage Pollution, said customers had already paid for the projects to upgrade ageing sewage treatment works, and were being asked to pay again...
Why is Thames Water still in business? If there was any degree of market discipline they would have gone bust ages ago.
Similarly, the only thing that prevents Boeing deservedly going out of business is that the market for large civil aircraft is essentially a duopoly.
If the Tories want a big idea, they could do with thinking about how to make capitalism work better. Too many private companies have escaped the discipline of market competition, and so poorly run companies are not being replaced by better companies.
The schemes costing £1.1bn were supposed to cut pollution into rivers by increasing the capacity at sewage works, adding phosphorus removal to the treatment process, and installing new storm tanks. The upgrades, which were promised in 2018, are being paid for by customers as part of a five-year spending round to 2025 but will not be delivered within that timeframe.
Meanwhile, Thames Water awaits a crucial decision on Thursday from the regulator Ofwat on the company’s new five-year business plan. Thames wants to increase customer bills 59% by 2030 to pay for record investment of £19.8bn to tackle sewage pollution, leaks and water shortages after decades in which the company has sweated assets and underinvested.
The company is asking the regulator to allow the late projects to be rolled over into the new spending round, known as PR24.
Ash Smith, the founder of the campaign group Windrush Against Sewage Pollution, said customers had already paid for the projects to upgrade ageing sewage treatment works, and were being asked to pay again...
Why is Thames Water still in business? If there was any degree of market discipline they would have gone bust ages ago.
Similarly, the only thing that prevents Boeing deservedly going out of business is that the market for large civil aircraft is essentially a duopoly.
If the Tories want a big idea, they could do with thinking about how to make capitalism work better. Too many private companies have escaped the discipline of market competition, and so poorly run companies are not being replaced by better companies.
The Thames is the cleanest river going through a large city in the world. The rivers throughout England are the cleanest they've been since the industrial revolution and we have the cleanest drinking water in the world. Almost forgot, we now have more blue flag beach awards than ever before.
Members may also swear in in Welsh on a Welsh Bible. See Virginia Crosbie in 2022
"I swear by almighty God, that I will be faithful and bare true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles, his heirs and successors according to law, so help me God."
"Yr wyf yn addo, trwy gymorth y goruchaf, y byddaf yn ffyddlon ac yn wir deyrngar i’w Fawrhydi, y Brenin Charles, Ei Etifeddion a’i Olynwyr, yn ôl y Ddeddf, yn wyneb Duw"
Harrington is 1000/1 with Bet365. He won't win but he should be shorter than that. He's playing well and the course and conditions will suit him. I've backed him 1/5 odds 12 places at a reduced price (450/1).
The future of Reform depends almost entirely on immigration (legal and illegal) still being a 'hot' issue up to and during the next GE. They really have nothing else. Starmer is well aware of this, I'm sure.
Despite Rwanda, and all the fury about channel crossers in inflatable dinghies, the real story is surely the legal immigration numbers. Now lots of that is students and its currently inflated by a covid unwind, but it does represent a huge influx of people, the kind of numbers that drove the Brexit rhetoric in the first place. Does Starmer grasp the nettle? Can it be changed without harming the economy? Whatever - it is an issue that will dominate politics until something changes.
Will it? The NHS and the economy are well ahead of immigration when people are polled. Sunak willed small boats into becoming a big issue, and it bit him on the arse via Farage.
Starmer will probably respond with something boring, sensible, ineffective like coordination with the French and crackdowns on employers and leave it to the Right to fight it out. On legal immigration, split students off from the official total and all fixed. Easy.
The schemes costing £1.1bn were supposed to cut pollution into rivers by increasing the capacity at sewage works, adding phosphorus removal to the treatment process, and installing new storm tanks. The upgrades, which were promised in 2018, are being paid for by customers as part of a five-year spending round to 2025 but will not be delivered within that timeframe.
Meanwhile, Thames Water awaits a crucial decision on Thursday from the regulator Ofwat on the company’s new five-year business plan. Thames wants to increase customer bills 59% by 2030 to pay for record investment of £19.8bn to tackle sewage pollution, leaks and water shortages after decades in which the company has sweated assets and underinvested.
The company is asking the regulator to allow the late projects to be rolled over into the new spending round, known as PR24.
Ash Smith, the founder of the campaign group Windrush Against Sewage Pollution, said customers had already paid for the projects to upgrade ageing sewage treatment works, and were being asked to pay again...
Why is Thames Water still in business? If there was any degree of market discipline they would have gone bust ages ago.
Similarly, the only thing that prevents Boeing deservedly going out of business is that the market for large civil aircraft is essentially a duopoly.
If the Tories want a big idea, they could do with thinking about how to make capitalism work better. Too many private companies have escaped the discipline of market competition, and so poorly run companies are not being replaced by better companies.
The right needs to deal with the fact that they have more or less abandoned "capitalism" (with all its nuanced forms and flows of capital) for some simplified nonsense that might broadly be called "Finance". I know economists are beginning to grapple with it, but tragically they are being dismissed as "lefties" by the right.
Reform got 4 million votes and 5 seats. Next time they'll probably get a lot more than 4 million votes. Who knows how many seats they'll win.
Note that "probably" is doing a heck of a lot of work here.
Further note that in aftermath of 1912 presidential election, many Americans were convinced that the Progressive Party, whose nominee came in second in 1912 AHEAD of the Republican incumbent.
Thanks all for the kind words - I know I have a tendency to write long comments here, so thought it best to do a full header to explain my relatively happy feelings from the outcomes of the election.
I can’t stay here long today due to work, but to answer a few questions:
1) I think Bristol Central shows that Greens will mostly be targeting urban seats - whilst we do have a surprising amount of support from otherwise conservative voters in rural areas, that is not where our members are from. On the other hand I know we won those seats without hiding our lefty credentials, so maybe some of those voters are more open to left wing policies than previously thought and just have a tribal hatred of Labour.
2) On tactical voting, there is a graph floating around that I did wonder whether I should include here and write a bit about showing that if people didn’t have to vote tactically the share for Labour would be less, not more. So the tactical anti-Tory vote was already part of why Labour did so well.
3) On policy specific questions - I’m kinda tired of saying here that I disagree with the underlying assumptions of neoliberalism where private investment and balancing the budget are the most important things. When it comes to funding and taxation and such I hold a position much closer to MMT. When it comes to “how do we afford x” that is my position.
4) On NATO specifically - it’s currently a necessary evil and arguably preferable to the alternative (much like my view of the EU).
5) My name comes from the assigned username I was given at university - random numbers and letters that I still remember and therefore use.
Thanks. The nearer a socialist alternative gets to actual power, the more it will be examined.
I think the chances that voters will vote consistently for MMT economics, once it is explained, in a manifesto that could be that of a governing party is about Zero. It will have the appearance of being the mirror image of Reform's economics.
Just suppose for a moment that the chief underlying assumption of what you call 'neoliberalism' is that more people on planet earth should have more access to rising prosperity and stuff like water, food, housing and education and the possibility of living in a reasonably free and peaceful society? And that the ways to achieve it with a deeply imperfect humanity is that everyone should have a vote, and empirically based policies are the chief instrument of change.
That isn't the chief underlying assumption of neoliberalism. The chief underlying assumption of neoliberalism is that it is better for things to be in the hands of the private sector and that a rising tide lifts all boats - it is trickle down economics. And it doesn't work. Neoliberalism doesn't really care about democracy - the first real testing ground for neoliberalism was Chile under Pinochet. It was packaged for the Western audience, who were used to things like autonomy and freedom, by suggesting it was a freedom based ideology - but freedom for the market and the capitalist only.
If you are a worker or poor - your freedoms reduced under neoliberalism. Establishment political parties looked more similar, unions were crushed, the social safety net was deconstructed. Multiple states went from owning their own assets and being able to make money off of them and subsidise any losses with taxation and debt, to selling off their assets, losing long term revenue, and creating a layer of rent seekers in between those assets and the public who depend on those services. All it is is a parasitic transference of wealth from the poor to the rich - because to get into that layer of rent seekers you had to have money already to buy them up when they were being sold off (usually on the cheap).
Thanks. 'neoliberalism' as a word has a problem in that there appears to be little or no common ground about its meaning, except that it is broadly a free market capitalist movement with a preference for a smaller state.
Well, we live in a very large state economy, with an overwhelming weight of regulation and law applying to every bit of human activity from the local Duck Pond Charity to the doings of BP.
Welfare state, education, NHS, all in state managed hands. We are nowhere close to your sort of neoliberal society, nor are we going t be.
Entire councils are essentially run by private profit seeking companies - like Capita. Entire sections of our security and prisons are run by G4S. School Academisation, whilst not technically allowing schools to be run for profit, have shifted ownership and responsibilities of schools from local councils to private companies. The same is already happening in the NHS; my local GP practice hosts private clinics and basically all consultants have a greater share of their workload going towards private work that is still based within publicly owned hospitals. Our public housing stock has been sold off bit by bit, first with right to buy, then with housing associations (again, technically not for profit organisations, but without the ability to secure the same level of debt a government can, and with someone at the top who is paid very handsomely indeed). All of these are examples of the clear march of neoliberalism.
FWIW I am sympathetic to your view. There is too much outsourcing; but all these things are state managed expenditure, involving a huge state enterprise. That is not the same as the small non regulating state.
Entire councils are not run by Capita. Some councils would have contracts with capita to manage their CRM aspects. All of these contracts can be ended when they end. A very small number of prisons are run byG4s (five prisons), there are 141 prisons in the UK and 14 are privately run. Maybe the problem isnt with the 10%. GP surgeries have been private enterprises since the formation of the NHS.
The schemes costing £1.1bn were supposed to cut pollution into rivers by increasing the capacity at sewage works, adding phosphorus removal to the treatment process, and installing new storm tanks. The upgrades, which were promised in 2018, are being paid for by customers as part of a five-year spending round to 2025 but will not be delivered within that timeframe.
Meanwhile, Thames Water awaits a crucial decision on Thursday from the regulator Ofwat on the company’s new five-year business plan. Thames wants to increase customer bills 59% by 2030 to pay for record investment of £19.8bn to tackle sewage pollution, leaks and water shortages after decades in which the company has sweated assets and underinvested.
The company is asking the regulator to allow the late projects to be rolled over into the new spending round, known as PR24.
Ash Smith, the founder of the campaign group Windrush Against Sewage Pollution, said customers had already paid for the projects to upgrade ageing sewage treatment works, and were being asked to pay again...
Why is Thames Water still in business? If there was any degree of market discipline they would have gone bust ages ago.
Similarly, the only thing that prevents Boeing deservedly going out of business is that the market for large civil aircraft is essentially a duopoly.
If the Tories want a big idea, they could do with thinking about how to make capitalism work better. Too many private companies have escaped the discipline of market competition, and so poorly run companies are not being replaced by better companies.
The Thames is the cleanest river going through a large city in the world. The rivers throughout England are the cleanest they've been since the industrial revolution and we have the cleanest drinking water in the world. Almost forgot, we now have more blue flag beach awards than ever before.
Water quality in England and Wales has been flatlining for well over a decade and one off sewage releases have increased sharply.
The schemes costing £1.1bn were supposed to cut pollution into rivers by increasing the capacity at sewage works, adding phosphorus removal to the treatment process, and installing new storm tanks. The upgrades, which were promised in 2018, are being paid for by customers as part of a five-year spending round to 2025 but will not be delivered within that timeframe.
Meanwhile, Thames Water awaits a crucial decision on Thursday from the regulator Ofwat on the company’s new five-year business plan. Thames wants to increase customer bills 59% by 2030 to pay for record investment of £19.8bn to tackle sewage pollution, leaks and water shortages after decades in which the company has sweated assets and underinvested.
The company is asking the regulator to allow the late projects to be rolled over into the new spending round, known as PR24.
Ash Smith, the founder of the campaign group Windrush Against Sewage Pollution, said customers had already paid for the projects to upgrade ageing sewage treatment works, and were being asked to pay again...
Why is Thames Water still in business? If there was any degree of market discipline they would have gone bust ages ago.
Similarly, the only thing that prevents Boeing deservedly going out of business is that the market for large civil aircraft is essentially a duopoly.
If the Tories want a big idea, they could do with thinking about how to make capitalism work better. Too many private companies have escaped the discipline of market competition, and so poorly run companies are not being replaced by better companies.
The Thames is the cleanest river going through a large city in the world. The rivers throughout England are the cleanest they've been since the industrial revolution and we have the cleanest drinking water in the world. Almost forgot, we now have more blue flag beach awards than ever before.
Water quality in England and Wales has been flatlining for well over a decade and one off sewage releases have increased sharply.
Recording of sewage releases has increased dramatically.
So flatlining? Not actually getting worse despite population growth of 10%?
That last article is amusing some ways in its mischievous attempts to deceive. The EA reset essentially its measurements of what was classed as 'good' because the rivers had become so free of measured contaminants it was pointless so set itself a challenging set of targets identifying other contaminants and relentlessly working at reducing those. This is where the derangement kicks in. One year 95% of rivers are good, the next year with the new targets and action plan to improve the quality further, 14% are good. Shyster journalists and those that should know better but just f*cking hate the tories and Brexit put the boot in and talk about how awful it is.
Members may also swear in in Welsh on a Welsh Bible. See Virginia Crosbie in 2022
"I swear by almighty God, that I will be faithful and bare true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles, his heirs and successors according to law, so help me God."
"Yr wyf yn addo, trwy gymorth y goruchaf, y byddaf yn ffyddlon ac yn wir deyrngar i’w Fawrhydi, y Brenin Charles, Ei Etifeddion a’i Olynwyr, yn ôl y Ddeddf, yn wyneb Duw"
One thing that strikes me.about right wing commentary on the GE is denial. They are fundamentally unable to come to terms with what has happened. Look at John Gray's pathetic bit in the New Statesman, where he takes to alchemy to explain away the loss. Between demographic headwinds (a large section of very old voters), and the time scale of rebranding the right, reform con power struggles and developing a growth layer of new political talent means the right will be out for at least 2 terms. Farage will never win PM (the vast majority reject him).... not ever... and I don't see anybody with sufficient talent and charisma to step up reality is reality. The right cannot move forward till it comes to terms with it.
"Citizen groups will resort to civil disobedience to resist the restrictive low-emission zones that are part of the Energy Secretary Ed Miliband’s costly net-zero agenda."
Badenoch beats all comers if she gets to the members in my view, so only MPs can stop her
She should stop herself. Spend some time achieving something in politics, go for a more important shadow brief, use her ears and mouth in proportion to their number. Maybe read “the hare and the tortoise”.
At present she seems like a bit of an immature teenager who is cross and mouthy about things they aren’t happy about but largely unable to articulate why and what they would do about it.
Badenoch beats all comers if she gets to the members in my view, so only MPs can stop her
They only way to stop her with MPs would be some sort of arrangement between the others, but it's difficult to see that happening because she'd probably be the second choice of Braverman/Patel/Jenrick supporters.
The schemes costing £1.1bn were supposed to cut pollution into rivers by increasing the capacity at sewage works, adding phosphorus removal to the treatment process, and installing new storm tanks. The upgrades, which were promised in 2018, are being paid for by customers as part of a five-year spending round to 2025 but will not be delivered within that timeframe.
Meanwhile, Thames Water awaits a crucial decision on Thursday from the regulator Ofwat on the company’s new five-year business plan. Thames wants to increase customer bills 59% by 2030 to pay for record investment of £19.8bn to tackle sewage pollution, leaks and water shortages after decades in which the company has sweated assets and underinvested.
The company is asking the regulator to allow the late projects to be rolled over into the new spending round, known as PR24.
Ash Smith, the founder of the campaign group Windrush Against Sewage Pollution, said customers had already paid for the projects to upgrade ageing sewage treatment works, and were being asked to pay again...
Why is Thames Water still in business? If there was any degree of market discipline they would have gone bust ages ago.
Similarly, the only thing that prevents Boeing deservedly going out of business is that the market for large civil aircraft is essentially a duopoly.
If the Tories want a big idea, they could do with thinking about how to make capitalism work better. Too many private companies have escaped the discipline of market competition, and so poorly run companies are not being replaced by better companies.
The Thames is the cleanest river going through a large city in the world. The rivers throughout England are the cleanest they've been since the industrial revolution and we have the cleanest drinking water in the world. Almost forgot, we now have more blue flag beach awards than ever before.
Water quality in England and Wales has been flatlining for well over a decade and one off sewage releases have increased sharply.
Recording of sewage releases has increased dramatically.
So flatlining? Not actually getting worse despite population growth of 10%?
This is politics. If you can literally see sewage floating past a wild swimming spot you outrage and unite all the wrong(right) people. Fishermen, Guardian readers, RSPB members. Very few issues could lead to solid Tory seats voting Green - this is one.
Interesting watching the swearing in in the Commons, I did not realise they had multiple Bibles.
"Which Holy Book?" "Catholic Bible."
One reason (of many) why recent state laws in US - for example Louisiana - requiring that the Ten Commandments be posted in public school classroom, is (to put it mildly) problematic.
Because the Catholic and (standard) Protestant versions of the Big Ten are different.
Digging a little more, it says No Oath, No Salary.
MPs cannot take their seat, speak in debates, vote or receive a salary until taking the oath or affirmation. They could also be fined £500 and have their seat declared vacant “as if they were dead” if they attempted to do so. https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/elections-and-voting/swearingin/
Lieu: Something I’ve heard that doesn’t seem to be being covered are the Epstein files. These files were released. Donald Trump is sort of all over this. There are pictures of him with Epstein. He’s taken plane flights with Epstein. He’s in call logs with Epstein… https://x.com/Acyn/status/1810744824477405193
They’re probably not covering it because of loads of eminent American lefties are also implicated. Not least, Bill Clinton
Interesting watching the swearing in in the Commons, I did not realise they had multiple Bibles.
"Which Holy Book?" "Catholic Bible."
One reason (of many) why recent state laws in US - for example Louisiana - requiring that the Ten Commandments be posted in public school classroom, is (to put it mildly) problematic.
Because the Catholic and (standard) Protestant versions of the Big Ten are different.
And, I see, it is alleged that one such law mandated the Version according to, not King James VI & I, but King Cecil of the de Mille dynasty (as in the eponymous film).
Talking of Kemi, she's denying being the "leaker" lol!
Kemi Badenoch @KemiBadenoch It’s a shame our discussions in Shadow Cabinet were leaked yesterday. If there is no private space to discuss our Party's challenges, we will never fully address what the electorate told us last week.
The views of those outside these meetings matter too. Not just backbench MPs, but our party activists, members and friends who lost seats after giving everything to the campaign.
In government, we had too much nodding along in the room and arguments outside it. That culture needs to change. We need to be honest with one another in private, and united in the direction we take afterwards.
Interesting watching the swearing in in the Commons, I did not realise they had multiple Bibles.
"Which Holy Book?" "Catholic Bible."
One reason (of many) why recent state laws in US - for example Louisiana - requiring that the Ten Commandments be posted in public school classroom, is (to put it mildly) problematic.
Because the Catholic and (standard) Protestant versions of the Big Ten are different.
1) A strong economic foundation 2) Higher living standards for working families 3) An NHS with the time to care 4) Controls on immigration 5) A country where the next generation can do better than the last 6) Homes to buy and action on rents
Members may also swear in in Welsh on a Welsh Bible. See Virginia Crosbie in 2022
"I swear by almighty God, that I will be faithful and bare true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles, his heirs and successors according to law, so help me God."
"Yr wyf yn addo, trwy gymorth y goruchaf, y byddaf yn ffyddlon ac yn wir deyrngar i’w Fawrhydi, y Brenin Charles, Ei Etifeddion a’i Olynwyr, yn ôl y Ddeddf, yn wyneb Duw"
Interesting watching the swearing in in the Commons, I did not realise they had multiple Bibles.
"Which Holy Book?" "Catholic Bible."
One reason (of many) why recent state laws in US - for example Louisiana - requiring that the Ten Commandments be posted in public school classroom, is (to put it mildly) problematic.
Because the Catholic and (standard) Protestant versions of the Big Ten are different.
But the issue there is that one of Trump's, and some parts of the Evangelical Lobby's, primary aims is to destroy the separation between church and state in the USA.
AIUI that's one demonstration that their claims about being concerned with the 'original' constitutional are simple Machiavellian lies. But we all know that.
One of the even more reckless ones I have become aware of recently is their aim to shackle powers of Federal Agencies, which is a threat to the USA version of our Health and Safety Executive.
One thing that strikes me.about right wing commentary on the GE is denial. They are fundamentally unable to come to terms with what has happened. Look at John Gray's pathetic bit in the New Statesman, where he takes to alchemy to explain away the loss. Between demographic headwinds (a large section of very old voters), and the time scale of rebranding the right, reform con power struggles and developing a growth layer of new political talent means the right will be out for at least 2 terms. Farage will never win PM (the vast majority reject him).... not ever... and I don't see anybody with sufficient talent and charisma to step up reality is reality. The right cannot move forward till it comes to terms with it.
Denial is not surprising it's not been a week yet. The party needs to think about what it is about. And doing opposition is different to offering an alternative. There is no need to rush and try and get headlines because no one is really listening, and I'm sure even some who voted Tory are glad to see the back of them. I wouldnt be surprised if it takes a while for Conservatives to regain support, and for Labour to consolidate a bit of what it lost.
Nothing wrong with an MP doing this, its what MPs do. Lets see if the government are able to stand up to it.
My guess is that the Greens, Lib Dems, Reform and Conservatives will be trying to out NIMBY each other. Every Labour MP with a small majority will be phoning Number 10.
Wait until the "supplementary planning documents" start coming out of councils when obliged to reassess land previously rejected for housing development to be suitable. Those councils that dont bother to put the documents together will be told that in the absence of a policy the assumption will be that the site is suitable by the very virtue of an application being submitted.
It's not quite like that now, but a local authority that doesnt have enough suitable land available for housing will often/always lose appeals when their councillor committees reject a planning application.
You've not met any group so incensed and angry as a bunch of residents losing the view at the back of their house.
And the irony is that the 1948 planning act is one of the crowning achievements of Attlee’s majority government after the war. He’s well buried, but the soil around his grave may be about to get a fresh churning.
IIRC there a number of fairly large powers in the Town and Country Planning Act 1947 that have never been really used. It was created to be directive.
They may just need to take some old legislation out of the store cupboard.
Badenoch beats all comers if she gets to the members in my view, so only MPs can stop her
Unless, and this is my suspicion, there is a big racist section among members. I'll be happy to be proven wrong.
I don't think there is any more, to be honest. A party with Cleverley, Braverman, Patel, Badenoch and Sunak isn't racist in the 1970's BNP sense. I'd argue its far too biased towards wealthy citizens of nowhere, but that's not colour-specific. If she pails with the membership it won't be due to her race.
Badenoch beats all comers if she gets to the members in my view, so only MPs can stop her
Unless, and this is my suspicion, there is a big racist section among members. I'll be happy to be proven wrong.
She is the darling of the membership and was last time also. Which is why the parliamentary party didnt put her through.
You're wrong - you see, Badenoch is really a White Man (well, orange gammon), because she doesn't have the political opinions that Guardian columnists express on her behalf*.
So the Tory membership are being racist, by liking her.
*I'm not impressed by a lot of what she says. But she has the right to say it. And then be judged on it.
From the once and future previous next now pulled thread
I don't know what to say about this. Surely he must realise that it will take any pretence to dignity that he may have and throw it straight in the bin? I thought his affectations were expressions of his personality, not baubles to attract attention. People are people, not narratives to be gawped at, and things like this just rots the self.
I don't know what to say about this. Surely he must realise that it will take any pretence to dignity that he may have and throw it straight in the bin? I thought his affectations were expressions of his personality, not baubles to attract attention. People are people, not narratives to be gawped at, and things like this just rots the self.
JRM has became intoxicated by his own publicity unfortunately.
I feel sorry for his kids as they probably haven't had a say about being pushed into the public eye by their dad turning their family life into a reality show.
Talking of Kemi, she's denying being the "leaker" lol!
Kemi Badenoch @KemiBadenoch It’s a shame our discussions in Shadow Cabinet were leaked yesterday. If there is no private space to discuss our Party's challenges, we will never fully address what the electorate told us last week.
The views of those outside these meetings matter too. Not just backbench MPs, but our party activists, members and friends who lost seats after giving everything to the campaign.
In government, we had too much nodding along in the room and arguments outside it. That culture needs to change. We need to be honest with one another in private, and united in the direction we take afterwards.
Like I said yesterday, Kemi Badenoch did NOT have to leak her blast at Rishi Sunak, given that her words were startling (albeit incontrovertible) enough to ensure that SOMEBODY was gonna doing the leaking for her.
From the once and future previous next now pulled thread
I don't know what to say about this. Surely he must realise that it will take any pretence to dignity that he may have and throw it straight in the bin? I thought his affectations were expressions of his personality, not baubles to attract attention. People are people, not narratives to be gawped at, and things like this just rots the self.
The series will follow the ex-MP through the run up to the election and its aftermath, as his 14-year tenure in the Commons came to an end.
I don't know. A fly on the wall examination of a politician's life, or exploiting a bunch of children? Which will it be?
One thing that strikes me.about right wing commentary on the GE is denial. They are fundamentally unable to come to terms with what has happened. Look at John Gray's pathetic bit in the New Statesman, where he takes to alchemy to explain away the loss. Between demographic headwinds (a large section of very old voters), and the time scale of rebranding the right, reform con power struggles and developing a growth layer of new political talent means the right will be out for at least 2 terms. Farage will never win PM (the vast majority reject him).... not ever... and I don't see anybody with sufficient talent and charisma to step up reality is reality. The right cannot move forward till it comes to terms with it.
Denial is not surprising it's not been a week yet. The party needs to think about what it is about. And doing opposition is different to offering an alternative. There is no need to rush and try and get headlines because no one is really listening, and I'm sure even some who voted Tory are glad to see the back of them. I wouldnt be surprised if it takes a while for Conservatives to regain support, and for Labour to consolidate a bit of what it lost.
Nothing wrong with an MP doing this, its what MPs do. Lets see if the government are able to stand up to it.
My guess is that the Greens, Lib Dems, Reform and Conservatives will be trying to out NIMBY each other. Every Labour MP with a small majority will be phoning Number 10.
Wait until the "supplementary planning documents" start coming out of councils when obliged to reassess land previously rejected for housing development to be suitable. Those councils that dont bother to put the documents together will be told that in the absence of a policy the assumption will be that the site is suitable by the very virtue of an application being submitted.
It's not quite like that now, but a local authority that doesnt have enough suitable land available for housing will often/always lose appeals when their councillor committees reject a planning application.
You've not met any group so incensed and angry as a bunch of residents losing the view at the back of their house.
And the irony is that the 1948 planning act is one of the crowning achievements of Attlee’s majority government after the war. He’s well buried, but the soil around his grave may be about to get a fresh churning.
IIRC there a number of fairly large powers in the Town and Country Planning Act 1947 that have never been really used. It was created to be directive.
They may just need to take some old legislation out of the store cupboard.
An example is the Right to Develop Land being nationalised, as described - which, if recovered, could form a coherent basis for a system to replace all the complicated Planning Gain bureaucracy which currently raised approx. £5-10bn per annum in England.
Martin Brundle's apology to Sir Brian May probably just makes things worse... For Sir Brian 😂
Martin Brundle @MBrundleF1 It is me who should be apologising to Sir Brian May, not him to me for the gridwalk on Sunday at Silverstone. I didn’t address him as Sir Brian, and I shouldn’t have approached him twice when he wasn’t up for a chat on live TV. Nobody is ever obliged to talk to me on the grid, or anywhere else for that matter.
Badenoch beats all comers if she gets to the members in my view, so only MPs can stop her
Unless, and this is my suspicion, there is a big racist section among members. I'll be happy to be proven wrong.
She is the darling of the membership and was last time also. Which is why the parliamentary party didnt put her through.
You're wrong - you see, Badenoch is really a White Man (well, orange gammon), because she doesn't have the political opinions that Guardian columnists express on her behalf*.
So the Tory membership are being racist, by liking her.
*I'm not impressed by a lot of what she says. But she has the right to say it. And then be judged on it.
The problem with that is that Badenoch plays her own version of the identity politics game so often - "I'm not going to be silenced by a white man" and so on.
I don't know what to say about this. Surely he must realise that it will take any pretence to dignity that he may have and throw it straight in the bin? I thought his affectations were expressions of his personality, not baubles to attract attention. People are people, not narratives to be gawped at, and things like this just rots the self.
JRM has became intoxicated by his own publicity unfortunately.
I feel sorry for his kids as they probably haven't had a say about being pushed into the public eye by their dad turning their family life into a reality show.
Presumably the show will be modelled on 'The Osbournes'. JRM did get some attention in the US when he first became a bit of a thing, so maybe there will be a market there.
Martin Brundle's apology to Sir Brian May probably just makes things worse... For Sir Brian 😂
Martin Brundle @MBrundleF1 It is me who should be apologising to Sir Brian May, not him to me for the gridwalk on Sunday at Silverstone. I didn’t address him as Sir Brian, and I shouldn’t have approached him twice when he wasn’t up for a chat on live TV. Nobody is ever obliged to talk to me on the grid, or anywhere else for that matter.
Badenoch beats all comers if she gets to the members in my view, so only MPs can stop her
Unless, and this is my suspicion, there is a big racist section among members. I'll be happy to be proven wrong.
She is the darling of the membership and was last time also. Which is why the parliamentary party didnt put her through.
You're wrong - you see, Badenoch is really a White Man (well, orange gammon), because she doesn't have the political opinions that Guardian columnists express on her behalf*.
So the Tory membership are being racist, by liking her.
*I'm not impressed by a lot of what she says. But she has the right to say it. And then be judged on it.
The problem with that is that Badenoch plays her own version of the identity politics game so often - "I'm not going to be silenced by a white man" and so on.
The Tennant comments reminded me of the furore that Antonia Fraser created. She pointed out, in her book on female leaders, that opponents of Thatcher often used the classic attacks on women with power, against her. "But she was a Toreeeee!?!" - seemed to be level of many of the responses.
Martin Brundle's apology to Sir Brian May probably just makes things worse... For Sir Brian 😂
Martin Brundle @MBrundleF1 It is me who should be apologising to Sir Brian May, not him to me for the gridwalk on Sunday at Silverstone. I didn’t address him as Sir Brian, and I shouldn’t have approached him twice when he wasn’t up for a chat on live TV. Nobody is ever obliged to talk to me on the grid, or anywhere else for that matter.
I don't know what to say about this. Surely he must realise that it will take any pretence to dignity that he may have and throw it straight in the bin? I thought his affectations were expressions of his personality, not baubles to attract attention. People are people, not narratives to be gawped at, and things like this just rots the self.
JRM has became intoxicated by his own publicity unfortunately.
I feel sorry for his kids as they probably haven't had a say about being pushed into the public eye by their dad turning their family life into a reality show.
Presumably the show will be modelled on 'The Osbournes'. JRM did get some attention in the US when he first became a bit of a thing, so maybe there will be a market there.
I think it’s going to be more like Succession, except with all the main characters being vile people who everybody dislikes.
Comments
To me that seems quite mild.
1.29 A member of the House who is a peer and does not attend the House during a session of six months or longer ceases to be a member at the beginning of the following session.
https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/house-of-lords-publications/rules-and-guides-for-business/companion-to-the-standing-orders/companion-chapter-1/
Badenoch 2.7
Jenrick 6.6
Tugendhat 7.6
Patel 14.5
Braverman 36
Atkins 40
Cleverly 70
https://www.betfair.com/exchange/plus/en/politics/uk-party-leaders/next-conservative-leader-betting-1.205526560
"Which Holy Book?"
"Catholic Bible."
US politicians don't seem to believe in retirement, lol!
Also, school leaving age raised to 16, employee rights to industrial tribunal appeal, and ... Margaret Thatcher.
The incredibly destructive attacks on the environmental policies of the last government were driven by both Brexit derangement and Boris derangement. The damn good work of the EA and yes, I'll say it, the water companies has been ripped apart for cheap likes. And everybody gains from it, except those who had been doing a damn good job of cleaning up the waters.
⚛️ 11 Affirmed
✝️ 8 swore on the KJV
🇻🇦 1 swore on the Jerusalem Bible
☪️ 1 swore on the Koran
https://x.com/jhallwood/status/1810699783171916033
Here's a list of nations by air pollution: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_air_pollution
(The US has lower air pollution than most European nations, in spite of higher per capita energy use.)
Was it you ?
I am interested that they went for the Jerusalem version, not the New Jerusalem version, as the "Catholic Bible".
I selected the New Jerusalem as my preferred translation back in about 1986-87, as the most scholarly translation, despite being at root a low church Anglican. I still remember that it cost £35 from my student income for the study version published by Dartman, Longman and Todd (DLT), which was about the same as a fortnight's rent.
That I guess has something to do with officially authorised translations.
(Hence CO2 party animals Australia having even lower levels).
Possibly plus some impact from the greater prevalence of diesel cars.
"Starmer is not personally popular, his policies are not popular, but left wing policies are. Voters for the Conservatives or Reform UK are never going to be persuaded to vote Labour"
Left wing policies are popular to a point. People know that the left wing utopia also needs paying for.
And as for Conservative or reform voters never going to be persuaded to vote for Labour - that's not true. Vast swathes of reform voters were surely Labour voters not that long ago (in the Red Wall). And Blair was able to convince voters on the centrist side of the Tory party to vote for him.
Starmer has a chance of increasing his popularity. If he gets a good few years without outside shocks (e.g. Covid, Ukraine etc) and if the economy goes ok, a period of calm government will settle the addled state of the country.
I think what too many on the left fail to realise is that most people do not agree with them.
Majid Novsarka has been a vocal supporter of new MP Shockat Adam, who ousted Labour's former shadow paymaster general in last week's election."
https://news.sky.com/story/jonathan-ashworth-calls-on-new-leicester-south-mp-to-explain-dealings-with-man-charged-with-terror-offences-13176088
- "I swear by almighty God, that I will be faithful and bare true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles, his heirs and successors according to law, so help me God."
- "Yr wyf yn addo, trwy gymorth y goruchaf, y byddaf yn ffyddlon ac yn wir deyrngar i’w Fawrhydi, y Brenin Charles, Ei Etifeddion a’i Olynwyr, yn ôl y Ddeddf, yn wyneb Duw"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTt5sLPxxmMThey really have nothing else.
Starmer is well aware of this, I'm sure.
Thames Water fails to complete 108 upgrades to ageing sewage works
https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/jul/10/thames-water-fails-to-complete-108-upgrades-ageing-sewage-works-legal-pollution-limits
Thames Water has failed to complete more than 100 upgrades to ageing sewage treatment works to meet legal pollution limits, the Guardian can reveal.
The schemes costing £1.1bn were supposed to cut pollution into rivers by increasing the capacity at sewage works, adding phosphorus removal to the treatment process, and installing new storm tanks. The upgrades, which were promised in 2018, are being paid for by customers as part of a five-year spending round to 2025 but will not be delivered within that timeframe.
Meanwhile, Thames Water awaits a crucial decision on Thursday from the regulator Ofwat on the company’s new five-year business plan. Thames wants to increase customer bills 59% by 2030 to pay for record investment of £19.8bn to tackle sewage pollution, leaks and water shortages after decades in which the company has sweated assets and underinvested.
The company is asking the regulator to allow the late projects to be rolled over into the new spending round, known as PR24.
Ash Smith, the founder of the campaign group Windrush Against Sewage Pollution, said customers had already paid for the projects to upgrade ageing sewage treatment works, and were being asked to pay again...
14:44:30 ish I think.
https://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/d96ede5c-f944-4c06-b8de-326ba904b5bc
https://x.com/Acyn/status/1810744824477405193
MPs cannot take their seat, speak in debates, vote or receive a salary until taking the oath or affirmation. They could also be fined £500 and have their seat declared vacant “as if they were dead” if they attempted to do so.
https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/elections-and-voting/swearingin/
How do Sinn Fein handle that?
Hmm. By not taking a salary. I did not know that aspect.
https://fullfact.org/news/sinn-fein-salaries/
Hence social and professional class AB, C1, C2 or DE is a better measure of educational attainment really than whether someone went to university or not.
On the latter the Tories still did better with middle class ABC1s on 25% to 23% for working class C2DEs. Though yes Reform still did better with C2DEs on 20% to 11% with ABC1s
https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/49978-how-britain-voted-in-the-2024-general-election
We have at least five years where we can ignore the Luddites and Neanderthals
Similarly, the only thing that prevents Boeing deservedly going out of business is that the market for large civil aircraft is essentially a duopoly.
If the Tories want a big idea, they could do with thinking about how to make capitalism work better. Too many private companies have escaped the discipline of market competition, and so poorly run companies are not being replaced by better companies.
Harrington is 1000/1 with Bet365. He won't win but he should be shorter than that. He's playing well and the course and conditions will suit him. I've backed him 1/5 odds 12 places at a reduced price (450/1).
Starmer will probably respond with something boring, sensible, ineffective like coordination with the French and crackdowns on employers and leave it to the Right to fight it out. On legal immigration, split students off from the official total and all fixed. Easy.
Eventually, they wont be...
Further note that in aftermath of 1912 presidential election, many Americans were convinced that the Progressive Party, whose nominee came in second in 1912 AHEAD of the Republican incumbent.
BUT twas NOT to be . . .
GP surgeries have been private enterprises since the formation of the NHS.
https://environmentagency.blog.gov.uk/2020/10/02/the-state-of-our-waters-the-facts/
Overall UK water quality is among the worst in Europe, including our beaches.
https://www.lboro.ac.uk/news-events/news/2023/april/uk-waters-too-polluted-to-swim/
So flatlining? Not actually getting worse despite population growth of 10%?
That last article is amusing some ways in its mischievous attempts to deceive. The EA reset essentially its measurements of what was classed as 'good' because the rivers had become so free of measured contaminants it was pointless so set itself a challenging set of targets identifying other contaminants and relentlessly working at reducing those.
This is where the derangement kicks in. One year 95% of rivers are good, the next year with the new targets and action plan to improve the quality further, 14% are good. Shyster journalists and those that should know better but just f*cking hate the tories and Brexit put the boot in and talk about how awful it is.
Mike Kane, Wythenshawe and Sale East, just asked for the NEW Jerusalem Bible when asked "which Bible?". He didn't get it though.
https://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/d96ede5c-f944-4c06-b8de-326ba904b5bc at 59:30.
"Citizen groups will resort to civil disobedience to resist the restrictive low-emission zones that are part of the Energy Secretary Ed Miliband’s costly net-zero agenda."
At present she seems like a bit of an immature teenager who is cross and mouthy about things they aren’t happy about but largely unable to articulate why and what they would do about it.
Because the Catholic and (standard) Protestant versions of the Big Ten are different.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments
Kemi Badenoch
@KemiBadenoch
It’s a shame our discussions in Shadow Cabinet were leaked yesterday. If there is no private space to discuss our Party's challenges, we will never fully address what the electorate told us last week.
The views of those outside these meetings matter too. Not just backbench MPs, but our party activists, members and friends who lost seats after giving everything to the campaign.
In government, we had too much nodding along in the room and arguments outside it. That culture needs to change. We need to be honest with one another in private, and united in the direction we take afterwards.
1) A strong economic foundation
2) Higher living standards for working families
3) An NHS with the time to care
4) Controls on immigration
5) A country where the next generation can do better than the last
6) Homes to buy and action on rents
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-48899228
But the issue there is that one of Trump's, and some parts of the Evangelical Lobby's, primary aims is to destroy the separation between church and state in the USA.
AIUI that's one demonstration that their claims about being concerned with the 'original' constitutional are simple Machiavellian lies. But we all know that.
One of the even more reckless ones I have become aware of recently is their aim to shackle powers of Federal Agencies, which is a threat to the USA version of our Health and Safety Executive.
They may just need to take some old legislation out of the store cupboard.
More analysis here:
https://historicengland.org.uk/whats-new/debate/recent/town-and-country-planning-act-70th-anniversary/rise-and-fall-of-1947-planning-system/
Former Cabinet secretary says the series, to be released later this year, ‘may be a bit more Fawlty Towers than Downton Abbey’
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/07/10/jacob-rees-mogg-family-discovery-plus-documentary/
Even so that's a truly weird non-sequitur.
So the Tory membership are being racist, by liking her.
*I'm not impressed by a lot of what she says. But she has the right to say it. And then be judged on it.
I don't know what to say about this. Surely he must realise that it will take any pretence to dignity that he may have and throw it straight in the bin? I thought his affectations were expressions of his personality, not baubles to attract attention. People are people, not narratives to be gawped at, and things like this just rots the self.
Looks like a Djokovic-Fritz final - Fritz's first grand slam final (and semi final, in fact).
I feel sorry for his kids as they probably haven't had a say about being pushed into the public eye by their dad turning their family life into a reality show.
This did not go well. Mainly because Chris Eubank is not a nice person.
I don't know. A fly on the wall examination of a politician's life, or exploiting a bunch of children? Which will it be?
Said right could be licensed.
Martin Brundle
@MBrundleF1
It is me who should be apologising to Sir Brian May, not him to me for the gridwalk on Sunday at Silverstone. I didn’t address him as Sir Brian, and I shouldn’t have approached him twice when he wasn’t up for a chat on live TV. Nobody is ever obliged to talk to me on the grid, or anywhere else for that matter.
Or is that his own (or somebdy else's) podcast?
https://www.youtube.com/c/MoggTheWeek
(In the latest episode from some time ago, Rishi accuses Liz Truss of SOCIALISM in the last Tory leadership debate.)