If the Tories don't crack on with their leadership election over the summer, everyone will have forgotten that they exist by the autumn.
What do they gain by delaying? The same handful of candidates will be installing phone lines, whether next week or in October.
When I was younger, so much younger than today (sorry), I used to cut code for a living (you know the drill, Perform A while B=C and all that old guff) and a wizened colleague once said to me "implement in haste, repent at leisure".
Why should the Conservatives rush to have a new leader and especially if they get the answer wrong? On July 5th, as the scale of the disaster was becoming apparent, thoughtful Tories were coming out with such platitudes as "we need to reflect on what happened and work out what went wrong and why" which, given it was the early hours, is about as good as it gets.
Barely ten days on and there seems an inordinate rush to figure out what happened and why it happened instead of asking the better questions of what might have happened and why did it not.
There will be different theories but all the Conservatives can do is carry out their own private post mortem (now) and public post mortem (the Party Conference).
From the outside, the first issue is those who were part of the problem now want to be part of the solution. Those who sat round the Cabinet table and followed Sunak's (and Truss's and even Johnson's) collective leadership look silly when they come out and say what the Government of which they were a part did wrong. If they thought a particular path or policy was wrong, why didn't they argue against it and then resign on principle?
If the Tories don't crack on with their leadership election over the summer, everyone will have forgotten that they exist by the autumn.
What do they gain by delaying? The same handful of candidates will be installing phone lines, whether next week or in October.
When I was younger, so much younger than today (sorry), I used to cut code for a living (you know the drill, Perform A while B=C and all that old guff) and a wizened colleague once said to me "implement in haste, repent at leisure".
Why should the Conservatives rush to have a new leader and especially if they get the answer wrong? On July 5th, as the scale of the disaster was becoming apparent, thoughtful Tories were coming out with such platitudes as "we need to reflect on what happened and work out what went wrong and why" which, given it was the early hours, is about as good as it gets.
Barely ten days on and there seems an inordinate rush to figure out what happened and why it happened instead of asking the better questions of what might have happened and why did it not.
There will be different theories but all the Conservatives can do is carry out their own private post mortem (now) and public post mortem (the Party Conference).
From the outside, the first issue is those who were part of the problem now want to be part of the solution. Those who sat round the Cabinet table and followed Sunak's (and Truss's and even Johnson's) collective leadership look silly when they come out and say what the Government of which they were a part did wrong. If they thought a particular path or policy was wrong, why didn't they argue against it and then resign on principle?
Quite. Kemi 'DON'T LEAK THIS' Badenoch has very little to show for her time in office. All very well raging against the machine now. Suella has more credibility in this regard.
"Why so few men take up the pen With publishing now such a female-dominated industry, it’s no surprise that there are so few men writing fiction By Paul Burke"
"Why so few men take up the pen With publishing now such a female-dominated industry, it’s no surprise that there are so few men writing fiction By Paul Burke"
Including me. I read about 40 books a year and maybe 1 or 2 will be fiction
I used to read about 10 novels a year but these days it's more like 3 or 4. My favourite writers are Kazuo Ishiguro and Zadie Smith, but I haven't got round to reading their most recent novels yet — "Klara and the Sun" and "The Fraud". Because of the distractions of websites like PB, etc.
If the Tories don't crack on with their leadership election over the summer, everyone will have forgotten that they exist by the autumn.
What do they gain by delaying? The same handful of candidates will be installing phone lines, whether next week or in October.
"everyone will have forgotten that they exist by the autumn"
This is the same Conservative Party that was going to be reduced to zero seats? Or replaced as the Official Opposition?
Leave it out...
They were definitely never ending up on zero seats!
Who had Leicester East down as the nominally 50th safest Tory seat for 2029 ?
or Harrow East as the safest seat. Although Hindu's swinging to the Conservatives was widely reported on here. The political local knowledge on this sit e is unmatched.
If the Tories don't crack on with their leadership election over the summer, everyone will have forgotten that they exist by the autumn.
What do they gain by delaying? The same handful of candidates will be installing phone lines, whether next week or in October.
When I was younger, so much younger than today (sorry), I used to cut code for a living (you know the drill, Perform A while B=C and all that old guff) and a wizened colleague once said to me "implement in haste, repent at leisure".
Why should the Conservatives rush to have a new leader and especially if they get the answer wrong? On July 5th, as the scale of the disaster was becoming apparent, thoughtful Tories were coming out with such platitudes as "we need to reflect on what happened and work out what went wrong and why" which, given it was the early hours, is about as good as it gets.
Barely ten days on and there seems an inordinate rush to figure out what happened and why it happened instead of asking the better questions of what might have happened and why did it not.
There will be different theories but all the Conservatives can do is carry out their own private post mortem (now) and public post mortem (the Party Conference).
From the outside, the first issue is those who were part of the problem now want to be part of the solution. Those who sat round the Cabinet table and followed Sunak's (and Truss's and even Johnson's) collective leadership look silly when they come out and say what the Government of which they were a part did wrong. If they thought a particular path or policy was wrong, why didn't they argue against it and then resign on principle?
Quite. Kemi 'DON'T LEAK THIS' Badenoch has very little to show for her time in office. All very well raging against the machine now. Suella has more credibility in this regard.
Because she resigned once over Brexit, resigned a second time before she was sacked, and the third time was just sacked?
"Why so few men take up the pen With publishing now such a female-dominated industry, it’s no surprise that there are so few men writing fiction By Paul Burke"
Including me. I read about 40 books a year and maybe 1 or 2 will be fiction
I used to read about 10 novels a year but these days it's more like 3 or 4. My favourite writers are Kazuo Ishiguro and Zadie Smith, but I haven't got round to reading their most recent novels yet — "Klara and the Sun" and "The Fraud". Because of the distractions of websites like PB, etc.
I read something over 100 books a year. About half of them fiction of all types... well almost all types. Currently working hrogh the back catalogues of Stefan Zweig and Laurie Lee as well as rereading all of STP's books in publication order.
So I guess Biden is staying then? His handlers are handling him very tightly.
I can't see how he can. The endgame still looks like Harris to me, but it looks increasingly messy getting there.
What I don't really understand is that there aren't enough people close to Biden who recognise that they are handing the Presidency to Trump on a plate right now.
Consider the people who backed our recent run of prime ministers.
Denial is not just a river in Egypt. We have previously commented on the near delusional self belief in many top politicians - this probably extends to their immediate supporters.
It’s worth considering, as well, that those close to Biden will be swept away if Harris becomes President. The first thing she will do is bring in her own people. So you are asking people to take the 50/50 possibility of losing theirs jobs and power and turn it into a 100% certainty.
It was the same with Pelosi - her staff were propping her up for a long time, because that was the direction their self-interest pointed. Without her they were out of a job.
If the Tories don't crack on with their leadership election over the summer, everyone will have forgotten that they exist by the autumn.
What do they gain by delaying? The same handful of candidates will be installing phone lines, whether next week or in October.
"everyone will have forgotten that they exist by the autumn"
This is the same Conservative Party that was going to be reduced to zero seats? Or replaced as the Official Opposition?
Leave it out...
They were definitely never ending up on zero seats!
Who had Leicester East down as the nominally 50th safest Tory seat for 2029 ?
or Harrow East as the safest seat. Although Hindu's swinging to the Conservatives was widely reported on here. The political local knowledge on this sit e is unmatched.
I predicted the best 3 seats for the Tories would be Leicester East, Harrow East, and Harrow West. I was wrong about the last one. In fact Brent West was better for them.
If the Tories don't crack on with their leadership election over the summer, everyone will have forgotten that they exist by the autumn.
What do they gain by delaying? The same handful of candidates will be installing phone lines, whether next week or in October.
When I was younger, so much younger than today (sorry), I used to cut code for a living (you know the drill, Perform A while B=C and all that old guff) and a wizened colleague once said to me "implement in haste, repent at leisure".
Why should the Conservatives rush to have a new leader and especially if they get the answer wrong? On July 5th, as the scale of the disaster was becoming apparent, thoughtful Tories were coming out with such platitudes as "we need to reflect on what happened and work out what went wrong and why" which, given it was the early hours, is about as good as it gets.
Barely ten days on and there seems an inordinate rush to figure out what happened and why it happened instead of asking the better questions of what might have happened and why did it not.
There will be different theories but all the Conservatives can do is carry out their own private post mortem (now) and public post mortem (the Party Conference).
From the outside, the first issue is those who were part of the problem now want to be part of the solution. Those who sat round the Cabinet table and followed Sunak's (and Truss's and even Johnson's) collective leadership look silly when they come out and say what the Government of which they were a part did wrong. If they thought a particular path or policy was wrong, why didn't they argue against it and then resign on principle?
Quite. Kemi 'DON'T LEAK THIS' Badenoch has very little to show for her time in office. All very well raging against the machine now. Suella has more credibility in this regard.
Because she resigned once over Brexit, resigned a second time before she was sacked, and the third time was just sacked?
"Why so few men take up the pen With publishing now such a female-dominated industry, it’s no surprise that there are so few men writing fiction By Paul Burke"
Including me. I read about 40 books a year and maybe 1 or 2 will be fiction
I used to read about 10 novels a year but these days it's more like 3 or 4. My favourite writers are Kazuo Ishiguro and Zadie Smith, but I haven't got round to reading their most recent novels yet — "Klara and the Sun" and "The Fraud". Because of the distractions of websites like PB, etc.
I read novels on my commute. However, with WFH three days a week it takes a fair old while to get through a book - especially when they are close to 700 pages as with my current project. I did spend an hour or two reading earlier this afternoon in order to make progress, and it is an enjoyable book.
You Can't Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe.
I have another 30 or so in my "to be read" shelf. Thankfully, all with fewer pages!
ProRata and Andy_JS - In the US -- and, I suspect, the UK --rather few books are being published that might appeal to boys. And that shortage is in spite of the astonishing success of the Harry Potter books.
Or the past success of series like Tom Swift, and the Hardy Boys.
Or, the "juveniles", as they were called then, written by Robert Heinlein, for example, "Farmer in the Sky", "The Rolling Stones", "Citizen of the Galaxy", and "The Star Beast".
No doubt those familiar with books in the UK can think of other examples.
But here is a point that fascinates me: In the US, publishers, and some authors, are giving up a lot of money, rather than write for boys.
There are quite a lot of books being published in the juvenile spy genre. The Alex Rider books by Anthony Horowitz and the Young James Bond books by Charlie Higson. There are also a lot of book series that are for both sexes but which have male protagonists from both the UK and US - The Gone series by Michael Grant, Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer and the Young Sherlock Holmes series by Andrew Lane. I have a 16 year old son and he has had no trouble finding plenty to read although he has now moved ontyo more adult books.
Brandon Sanderson seems to be churning out books for this audience (young men looking for books that feature protagonists like them). My boys are hooked on them.
Every day that Biden manages to get through without a major embarrassment seems to be taken as an excuse for the Democrats to stick their heads back into the sand.
They are starting to make the Tory Party look competent.
Yep. Exactement
I was convinced he’s finished. Gone in a fortnight
Yet now I wonder. The democrats have intention tremor. It’s like killing Dad. They just can’t do it
And they will cherry pick polls and pretend it’s gonna be ok and disaster will ensue
Or maybe it will all be fine or maybe he will actually resign. 🤷🏼♂️🤷🏼♂️
He's gone, no doubt about it. Just when. It currently looks likely he'll hang on until he has to hand over the keys to Trump. It's almost impossible to imagine that he'll get to be the next President. The territory somewhere in between is what's interesting.
Unfortunately Biden is a bit of a plank, so we'll just get Trump.
If they are smart, they will install America's frst female President this week - and put Trump's Convention completely in the shade.
They may as well install Hillary, she at least has more common touch than Harris.
A Trump v Harris battle is exactly what he wants, a repeat of 2016 and an elitist coastal liberal with zero interest in the views of workers in the rustbelt
Time for a reminder of the mountain that the new Government has to climb to fulfil its house building targets. It's not just determined Nimby resistance and the question marks over the capacity of the construction industry to deliver. It's also the terrible game of financial Russian roulette that buyers of new builds have to play.
When Dayle Dixon and Mark Lee bought an attractive new house on the outskirts of Ivybridge in Devon in 2018, they believed it would be their forever home. But less than six years later it has been valued at just £1, and the couple are desperate to move out...
...the property, which they bought from the Barratt Developments subsidiary David Wilson Homes for £274,995, was valued last year by independent chartered surveyors at £1 after a catalogue of major defects emerged. The surveyors said that without the problems, it would have been worth £330,000...
...Since they moved in Dixon has had time signed off work suffering from stress and anxiety, which she blames on the problems.
“I have developed PTSD, suffer from nightmares and sweats and can’t function properly. A lot of the time I feel physically sick,” she says. “We are living in a house that is a complete mess.”
The chartered surveyors who last year valued the couple’s house at £1 listed numerous defects in their valuation report, including inadequate damp proofing, water ingress, inadequate floor screed (used to create an even floor surface), inadequate window design, and damaged and corroding structural floor beams.
The report stated: “The ground floor will have to be stripped back to shell stage, sections of structural walls and floors will have to be removed, and it is likely that further defects which will require repair will be identified as works progress.”
House builders destroy people's lives when they flog them grossly deficient properties which, for reasons known only unto God, aren't covered by the same consumer protections applied to other products. If you buy a dodgy kettle for a tenner from Tesco and it won't work properly you can take it back to the shop and demand a refund. If you spend half-a-million quid on a new house that turns out to be structurally unsound then all you can do is plead desperately, and with no guarantee of success, with the builder for their mistakes to be corrected. As a result, I would never even consider buying a new build and I'm sure I'm not alone.
Incidentally, for another one of David Wilson Homes' greatest hits, just search "David Wilson Homes Cambridge demolition." The best that can be said of that example is that the build quality was so bad that the properties concerned were never inflicted upon unsuspecting and very unlucky buyers.
I've been commenting on here for years about the low-quality of many new builds. Many are terrible, and cost a fortune. That story is exceptional, but not too exceptional.
The ones in my hometown suffer from surface flooding. They bulldozed a field to make it completely level (standard procedure) and *shocked Pikachu*.
In Abingdon, a local(ish) house builder proposed building an elevated roadway (sort of snaking around the site, with the houses elevated on pillars off it. The design was similar to some existing houses near the river.
The idea was that when the area flooded, as it does every decade or so, water could flow around as it always does - your garden would get a bit damp, but your services, access etc would be fine.
The design was rejected because it would have impacted local property values. The clowns at the council thought that such building “implied the area flooded”.
That's more likely to be the Nimby clowns living next door - Council refusal, decision not to Appeal - surely?
When I did mine it was amazing how many people suddenly became interested in the welfare of foxes.
London seemed to be Rishi's best region outside Scotland. Below national average swing and a key hold in Harrow East with a high Hindu vote and a hold against the odds for IDS in Chingford
This would be the Scotland where the Conservatives get a record low of 12.7% ?
Revealed: Newly elected Reform MP James McMurdock was once jailed for attacking an ex-girlfriend outside a nightclub - as victim's mother slams 'monster' who 'should not be representing people'
Reform were aware and legally nothing to stop the ex banker staying an MP as his conviction and sentence were before his election. Though may raise some questions he is saying he is reformed
Also raises some questions about the competence of the Tory team that were campaigning against him.
On what grounds? No other party were aware and given it was 20 years ago and he does not seem to have offended again but reformed himself I would have been uncomfortable making it an issue
London seemed to be Rishi's best region outside Scotland. Below national average swing and a key hold in Harrow East with a high Hindu vote and a hold against the odds for IDS in Chingford
This would be the Scotland where the Conservatives get a record low of 12.7% ?
And held all but 1 seat
They didn’t lose any at all in Northern Ireland. Their best result by far.
Revealed: Newly elected Reform MP James McMurdock was once jailed for attacking an ex-girlfriend outside a nightclub - as victim's mother slams 'monster' who 'should not be representing people'
Reform were aware and legally nothing to stop the ex banker staying an MP as his conviction and sentence were before his election. Though may raise some questions he is saying he is reformed
Also raises some questions about the competence of the Tory team that were campaigning against him.
On what grounds? No other party were aware and given it was 20 years ago and he does not seem to have offended again but reformed himself I would have been uncomfortable making it an issue
Daily Fail report says he got "a short prison term" implying there's no official record or they would know how long.
Revealed: Newly elected Reform MP James McMurdock was once jailed for attacking an ex-girlfriend outside a nightclub - as victim's mother slams 'monster' who 'should not be representing people'
Reform were aware and legally nothing to stop the ex banker staying an MP as his conviction and sentence were before his election. Though may raise some questions he is saying he is reformed
Also raises some questions about the competence of the Tory team that were campaigning against him.
On what grounds? No other party were aware and given it was 20 years ago and he does not seem to have offended again but reformed himself I would have been uncomfortable making it an issue
On the grounds they let an MP lose a seat to a guy convicted for beating a woman.
London seemed to be Rishi's best region outside Scotland. Below national average swing and a key hold in Harrow East with a high Hindu vote and a hold against the odds for IDS in Chingford
This would be the Scotland where the Conservatives get a record low of 12.7% ?
And held all but 1 seat
They didn’t lose any at all in Northern Ireland. Their best result by far.
If the Tories don't crack on with their leadership election over the summer, everyone will have forgotten that they exist by the autumn.
What do they gain by delaying? The same handful of candidates will be installing phone lines, whether next week or in October.
When I was younger, so much younger than today (sorry), I used to cut code for a living (you know the drill, Perform A while B=C and all that old guff) and a wizened colleague once said to me "implement in haste, repent at leisure".
Why should the Conservatives rush to have a new leader and especially if they get the answer wrong? On July 5th, as the scale of the disaster was becoming apparent, thoughtful Tories were coming out with such platitudes as "we need to reflect on what happened and work out what went wrong and why" which, given it was the early hours, is about as good as it gets.
Barely ten days on and there seems an inordinate rush to figure out what happened and why it happened instead of asking the better questions of what might have happened and why did it not.
There will be different theories but all the Conservatives can do is carry out their own private post mortem (now) and public post mortem (the Party Conference).
From the outside, the first issue is those who were part of the problem now want to be part of the solution. Those who sat round the Cabinet table and followed Sunak's (and Truss's and even Johnson's) collective leadership look silly when they come out and say what the Government of which they were a part did wrong. If they thought a particular path or policy was wrong, why didn't they argue against it and then resign on principle?
There is more than one sort of problem. The nature of the Tory party is a problem. It used to be a workable coalition but now the rift between those who vote for it because 'One Nation' and those who vote for it because 'Stop the Boats Support Reform' is not bridgeable.
The other problem is what makes an outstanding leader. Charisma (Boris) Application (May) Dogma (Truss) Mastery of detail (Sunak) are no good if you are not a good leader. This is about character and personality type most of all.
Unless the MPs work this out (it can be done) and put two outstanding leaders to the members they are sunk. And they are sunk anyway until they decide which voters they have lost they want back and get it right.
BTW I think there is a realistic prospect, though well short of certainty, that Starmer is the most outstanding leader qua leader as PM we have had since the 50s. The competition is Blair and Thatcher. Both, outstanding of course, but both succumbed to hubris. Starmer is less likely to. For the sake of our poor old country we can but hope.
Revealed: Newly elected Reform MP James McMurdock was once jailed for attacking an ex-girlfriend outside a nightclub - as victim's mother slams 'monster' who 'should not be representing people'
Reform were aware and legally nothing to stop the ex banker staying an MP as his conviction and sentence were before his election. Though may raise some questions he is saying he is reformed
Also raises some questions about the competence of the Tory team that were campaigning against him.
On what grounds? No other party were aware and given it was 20 years ago and he does not seem to have offended again but reformed himself I would have been uncomfortable making it an issue
On the grounds they let an MP lose a seat to a guy convicted for beating a woman.
So? I would welcome having a few MPs with criminal records who have gone straight since and turned their lives around and have some experience of the criminal justice system.
It is not as if most of those in Parliament are saints anyway
"Why so few men take up the pen With publishing now such a female-dominated industry, it’s no surprise that there are so few men writing fiction By Paul Burke"
Including me. I read about 40 books a year and maybe 1 or 2 will be fiction
If I were honest, it would be about 20pa: more than one a month, less than one a week. If I'm WFH I go to a local shop for sit down and tea at lunchtime, so I just take the book and work thru it. Since my later-life switch from science-fiction to military history and politics and philosophy, it's very unlikely to be fiction these days and the fiction I do read tends to be legacy authors. I don't really have the time or wish to develop a younger-author habit.
For the several people here who have an interest in electric vehicles a very informative thread and linked article on batteries. Takeaways: production way more than demand; battery prices have halved in the past year; eVs in some markets are cheaper than ICEs now; Chinese battery manufacturers have the industry sewn up - probably too late for any new entrants.
"Why so few men take up the pen With publishing now such a female-dominated industry, it’s no surprise that there are so few men writing fiction By Paul Burke"
Including me. I read about 40 books a year and maybe 1 or 2 will be fiction
I used to read about 10 novels a year but these days it's more like 3 or 4. My favourite writers are Kazuo Ishiguro and Zadie Smith, but I haven't got round to reading their most recent novels yet — "Klara and the Sun" and "The Fraud". Because of the distractions of websites like PB, etc.
I read something over 100 books a year. About half of them fiction of all types... well almost all types. Currently working hrogh the back catalogues of Stefan Zweig and Laurie Lee as well as rereading all of STP's books in publication order.
Have been reading Muriel Spark's novels in sequence. Very spiky - keeps you on your toes. But even she's as nothing compared to Dame Ivy Compton Burnett whom I'm just beginning, well read three. An utterly original novelist who deserves to be revived.
Comments
Like Rorke's Drift.
Why should the Conservatives rush to have a new leader and especially if they get the answer wrong? On July 5th, as the scale of the disaster was becoming apparent, thoughtful Tories were coming out with such platitudes as "we need to reflect on what happened and work out what went wrong and why" which, given it was the early hours, is about as good as it gets.
Barely ten days on and there seems an inordinate rush to figure out what happened and why it happened instead of asking the better questions of what might have happened and why did it not.
There will be different theories but all the Conservatives can do is carry out their own private post mortem (now) and public post mortem (the Party Conference).
From the outside, the first issue is those who were part of the problem now want to be part of the solution. Those who sat round the Cabinet table and followed Sunak's (and Truss's and even Johnson's) collective leadership look silly when they come out and say what the Government of which they were a part did wrong. If they thought a particular path or policy was wrong, why didn't they argue against it and then resign on principle?
Including me. I read about 40 books a year and maybe 1 or 2 will be fiction
You Can't Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe.
I have another 30 or so in my "to be read" shelf. Thankfully, all with fewer pages!
A Trump v Harris battle is exactly what he wants, a repeat of 2016 and an elitist coastal liberal with zero interest in the views of workers in the rustbelt
When I did mine it was amazing how many people suddenly became interested in the welfare of foxes.
1. Harrow East 53.3
2. Richmond & Northallerton 47.5
3. Stone, Great Wyrley & Penkridge 46.5
4. Ruislip, Northwood & Pinner 45.4
5. Hertsmere 44.7
6. Rutland & Stamford 43.7
7. Epping Forest 43.2
8. Middlesbrough South & East Cleveland* 42.7
9. Godalming & Ash 42.6
10.Stockton West 41.9
11.North East Cambridgeshire 41.5
12.Tonbridge 40.8
13.Mid Dorset & North Poole* 40.6
14.Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk 40.5
15.Gosport 40.3
16.Keighley 40.3
17.Kingswinford & South Staffordshire 40.3
18.Arundel & South Downs 40.2
19.Droitwich & Evesham 40.1
20.Croydon South 40.0
https://www.ft.com/content/7104f221-da21-492b-be5f-2cb3bedefe6f
Sunak held secret talks about Farage Red Wall deal
The Tories are idiots.
The other problem is what makes an outstanding leader. Charisma (Boris) Application (May) Dogma (Truss) Mastery of detail (Sunak) are no good if you are not a good leader. This is about character and personality type most of all.
Unless the MPs work this out (it can be done) and put two outstanding leaders to the members they are sunk. And they are sunk anyway until they decide which voters they have lost they want back and get it right.
BTW I think there is a realistic prospect, though well short of certainty, that Starmer is the most outstanding leader qua leader as PM we have had since the 50s. The competition is Blair and Thatcher. Both, outstanding of course, but both succumbed to hubris. Starmer is less likely to. For the sake of our poor old country we can but hope.
It is not as if most of those in Parliament are saints anyway
https://twitter.com/colinmckerrache/status/1810926635660488915
NEW THREAD