@MarqueeMark I've noticed a disturbing absence of bees and butterflies in my garden this year - are you trapping fewer moths?
It was a REALLY bad year first half to the year - cold, wet and windy are awful conditions to run a moth trap. Carried on that way until mid-July, when numbers picked up some. Still large gaps in the species list though. The micromoths are
I have only had one confirmed new species for the garden this year (which was probably a migrant - very few of those too, considering there have been periods of warm weather coming up from Africa). Recent years I have had 20-30 additions to the garden list. They were always going to get more difficult as all the low-hanging fruit have been bagged. The Box Tree Moths however continue their advance across the SW. Global warming at its most obvious.
The butterflies are well down. Haven't seen a Fritillary yet this year. Nor (back to the moths) a Hummingbird Hawkmoth. Had three together in one small patch last year.
I haven't seen many ladybirds about either.
2 years ago it was the year of the wasp. Couldn’t move for them, couldn’t eat outside, a complete plague. This year virtually none.
We have a wasp nest on the side of our French barn. But it’s tiny and not growing, and the wasps aren’t any bother. It’s been liberating. All down to the wet winter, and possibly some sort of crash following the 2022 plague.
Lots of moths, crickets and other critters this year here in the Mâconnais though. And multiple bats.
Saw my first large spider in the house this year today as a precursor to so-called Spider season, where Randy males look to breed and sometimes make the ultimate sacrifice, glass over him, card underneath him and out he goes to sneak back in via the breathing gaps in the brickwork.
I don’t mind them, but they terrify my wife.
I thought I saw my first large spider in the house this year, but it turned out to be a ball of Mrs J's hair that she had thrown out of the shower and missed the bin....
Of course, one other point that neither Robert nor Jim mention is very different electoral map of '68. The South was a base of support for the Democrats starting to erode, attacked by Nixon's southern strategy - a process furthered by the candidacy of Wallace.
There's no comparable shift underway in 2024, with much the same battleground, or near battleground, states in play as has been the case for a decade at least.
Off topic: As someone who was living in Chicago in 1968*, I should tell you that the convention that year was not a great success for the Democratic Party. There are enough similarities this year to that 1968 convention year, so that this convention, too, might not be good for the Democrats.
(*I left before the convention started, since I thought it nearly certain that there would be trouble. But I was sharing an apartment with a local reporter, who told me about some of the incidents, later. For example, he was driving in a beat-up old car, which was attacked by both the Chicago police, who beat on it, and demonstrators, who three rocks at the car. I don't recall which was first, but one attack followed immediately after the other.)
What similarities do you see with '68 ? I'm seeing previous few, FWIW.
VP taking over as candidate after previous President dropped out? Activists very unhappy about perceived pro-war* stance of incumbent. Slippery and dishonest Republican opponent. Convention being held in Chicago.
* War not involving American servicemen this time around, of course
First, the VP had not 'taken over as candidate' - he was engaged in a bitter three way fight for the nomination in a party split down the middle over Vietnam. Only for the most popular contender to be assassinated.
Second, and currently, the vast majority of Democratic activists are enthusiastically in board with an already decided ticket. As is the retiring President.
Thirdly, their then GOP opponent was at the height of his political ability. As opposed to on the brink of senility.
But I'll grant you Chicago.
Oh come on, I was trying to force the analogy, and I think you should have given me credit for that.
You'll notice I didn't mention a number of the other similarities: such as the new Democratic candidates having odd names, and a Kennedy having died* on the campaign trail.
* Granted, in the case of RFK Jr it was merely metaphorical rather than actual.
Plus RFK would almost certainly have beaten Nixon in 1968 had he not been shot and won the nomination for the Democrats
Badenoch is a talented speaker and very articulate. I am coming to the view though, that she does not apply that talent in a way that shouts “party leader.”
She likes debating culture war topics. Great. Can she point to any great success in running her department, or a vision for the conservatism of the future? I think if they choose Badenoch they’re choosing someone who might give them a bit of a sugar rush at PMQs, but who I’m not convinced has what it takes to build back their electoral coalition.
Is anyone interested in rebuilding the Tory voter coalition? It's a party of and for wealthy pensioners. It's neither use nor ornament to any other significant fraction of the electorate.
For now, if Labour whacks up taxes on the middle aged and strikes result from Labour's ending the ballots threshold and the boats still come unchecked the Tories will start to appeal beyond their pensioner core vote again.
Truss. Did not do the pensioner core vote any good, in terms of the impact on the new cohorts of pensioners. They aren't forgetting that in a hurry.
Given Labour have now taken away most of their winter fuel allowance and the proposed social care cap they are
FWIW I'm a pensioner in a fairly prosperous area, and know a lot of pensioners who have lost out. I don't know anyone who grumbles about the means-testing, as the previous arrangement was seen as welcome but indefensible.
Saw my first large spider in the house this year today as a precursor to so-called Spider season, where Randy males look to breed and sometimes make the ultimate sacrifice, glass over him, card underneath him and out he goes to sneak back in via the breathing gaps in the brickwork.
Badenoch is a talented speaker and very articulate. I am coming to the view though, that she does not apply that talent in a way that shouts “party leader.”
She likes debating culture war topics. Great. Can she point to any great success in running her department, or a vision for the conservatism of the future? I think if they choose Badenoch they’re choosing someone who might give them a bit of a sugar rush at PMQs, but who I’m not convinced has what it takes to build back their electoral coalition.
FWIW (and its not much because I don't have a vote) that was the view I had come to as well. What the Tories need is someone who has a broader grasp and vision and I have yet to see that from her.
It's a pity because it's perfectly possible to hold Kemi's position on culture war topics at the same time as holding a voter friendly position on competent administration/wealth creation/provision of public services/all the other things voters want a government to do. Kemi's position is not by itself inimical to building vote-winning coalition for the Tories. But she needs to be seen to be interested in all the other things a government needs to do.
Badenoch is a talented speaker and very articulate. I am coming to the view though, that she does not apply that talent in a way that shouts “party leader.”
She likes debating culture war topics. Great. Can she point to any great success in running her department, or a vision for the conservatism of the future? I think if they choose Badenoch they’re choosing someone who might give them a bit of a sugar rush at PMQs, but who I’m not convinced has what it takes to build back their electoral coalition.
Is anyone interested in rebuilding the Tory voter coalition? It's a party of and for wealthy pensioners. It's neither use nor ornament to any other significant fraction of the electorate.
For now, if Labour whacks up taxes on the middle aged and strikes result from Labour's ending the ballots threshold and the boats still come unchecked the Tories will start to appeal beyond their pensioner core vote again.
Truss. Did not do the pensioner core vote any good, in terms of the impact on the new cohorts of pensioners. They aren't forgetting that in a hurry.
Given Labour have now taken away most of their winter fuel allowance and the proposed social care cap they are
FWIW I'm a pensioner in a fairly prosperous area, and know a lot of pensioners who have lost out. I don't know anyone who grumbles about the means-testing, as the previous arrangement was seen as welcome but indefensible.
If the Conservatives are going to be spending the next four years getting angry about everything, they'll get nowhere slowly.
The last two elections have shown positivity and optimism will always triumph over negativity and anger. The next Conservative leader has to find reasons for people to vote Conservative, not just be anti-Labour as the anti-Labour vote has a number of other options from which to choose.
Labour ran a campaign based on "We are not the conservatives" no optimistic vision I saw...they won
You can't look at the next election exclusively through the prism of the last. I suspect Labour will have a more coherent notion of what they will do if re-elected - the Conservatives in July had nothing.
Of course there will be an element of passing judgement on the Government's record but I suspect the next election will be more forward-looking in terms of what we can expect in the years 2028-32 than the last election which was primarily a judgement on the Conservative Party from 2010 and especially from 2016.
I didn't mention the next election, I merely said there was no positive vision from labour, nor conservatives nor the lib dems in 2024 so your claim of "optimism will always triumph over negativity and anger" is unproven because no party had one in 2024
Saw my first large spider in the house this year today as a precursor to so-called Spider season, where Randy males look to breed and sometimes make the ultimate sacrifice, glass over him, card underneath him and out he goes to sneak back in via the breathing gaps in the brickwork.
@MarqueeMark I've noticed a disturbing absence of bees and butterflies in my garden this year - are you trapping fewer moths?
It was a REALLY bad year first half to the year - cold, wet and windy are awful conditions to run a moth trap. Carried on that way until mid-July, when numbers picked up some. Still large gaps in the species list though. The micromoths are
I have only had one confirmed new species for the garden this year (which was probably a migrant - very few of those too, considering there have been periods of warm weather coming up from Africa). Recent years I have had 20-30 additions to the garden list. They were always going to get more difficult as all the low-hanging fruit have been bagged. The Box Tree Moths however continue their advance across the SW. Global warming at its most obvious.
The butterflies are well down. Haven't seen a Fritillary yet this year. Nor (back to the moths) a Hummingbird Hawkmoth. Had three together in one small patch last year.
Box Tree Moths have reached the Flatlands too. There goes the topiary...
We also seem to have a large number of Roesel's bush-cricket this year. I'm sure they used to be only found further south.
Saw my first large spider in the house this year today as a precursor to so-called Spider season, where Randy males look to breed and sometimes make the ultimate sacrifice, glass over him, card underneath him and out he goes to sneak back in via the breathing gaps in the brickwork.
I don’t mind them, but they terrify my wife.
I thought I saw my first large spider in the house this year, but it turned out to be a ball of Mrs J's hair that she had thrown out of the shower and missed the bin....
One of the things I have to do is get my wife’s hairs out of the bath plug. Usually using half a wooden tandoori skewer. As I’m a slaphead (quote from my wife) it’s not going to be me.
I find it quite therapeutic.
Talking of hairs some large tarantulas flick urticating hairs at things that menace them.
Saw my first large spider in the house this year today as a precursor to so-called Spider season, where Randy males look to breed and sometimes make the ultimate sacrifice, glass over him, card underneath him and out he goes to sneak back in via the breathing gaps in the brickwork.
I don’t mind them, but they terrify my wife.
I'm going into Aliens: Romulus
I've heard it will scar you for life.
Report back later.
It has put me off sex and women.
Perhaps Judge Merchan could compromise by sentencing Trump to watch it on a loop 134 times?
Badenoch is a talented speaker and very articulate. I am coming to the view though, that she does not apply that talent in a way that shouts “party leader.”
She likes debating culture war topics. Great. Can she point to any great success in running her department, or a vision for the conservatism of the future? I think if they choose Badenoch they’re choosing someone who might give them a bit of a sugar rush at PMQs, but who I’m not convinced has what it takes to build back their electoral coalition.
FWIW (and its not much because I don't have a vote) that was the view I had come to as well. What the Tories need is someone who has a broader grasp and vision and I have yet to see that from her.
It's a pity because it's perfectly possible to hold Kemi's position on culture war topics at the same time as holding a voter friendly position on competent administration/wealth creation/provision of public services/all the other things voters want a government to do. Kemi's position is not by itself inimical to building vote-winning coalition for the Tories. But she needs to be seen to be interested in all the other things a government needs to do.
Yes, I do not understand those who say Kemi is a dull speaker. She may have gone AWOL during the Post Office scandal but so did every other minister.
I’m not sure she could have done much about the PO, she was the minister when the inquiry was already underway, so her saying anything would be the same as a minister commenting on an active court case. IIRC It was up to the Inquiry Chair to request anything from the Relevant Minister, rather than the other way around.
If the Conservatives are going to be spending the next four years getting angry about everything, they'll get nowhere slowly.
The last two elections have shown positivity and optimism will always triumph over negativity and anger. The next Conservative leader has to find reasons for people to vote Conservative, not just be anti-Labour as the anti-Labour vote has a number of other options from which to choose.
Labour ran a campaign based on "We are not the conservatives" no optimistic vision I saw...they won
This is part of the problem for the Conservatives. The Toryphobic vote will probably always be a thing; indeed often a thing of quite priapic engorgement. No amount of detoxification will get rid of it altogether.
Even when Labour had a landslide majority and was deeply unpopular because of the Iraq war, the Lib Dem strategy was to 'decaptitate' Tories, including many of the moderates.
I think there is also a graduation in the degree of Toryphobia, and whether and how they can be recovered, if at all.
I've been centre-right since forever, but having seen the cycnicism with which politics were in my view handled by the last Government, I am within a whisker of being NEVER , EVER Tory. My formulation is that there is zero chance of me voting Conservative until there has been a complete replacement of the leadership generation, and a major change of philosophy.
If the Conservatives are going to be spending the next four years getting angry about everything, they'll get nowhere slowly.
The last two elections have shown positivity and optimism will always triumph over negativity and anger. The next Conservative leader has to find reasons for people to vote Conservative, not just be anti-Labour as the anti-Labour vote has a number of other options from which to choose.
Labour ran a campaign based on "We are not the conservatives" no optimistic vision I saw...they won
You can't look at the next election exclusively through the prism of the last. I suspect Labour will have a more coherent notion of what they will do if re-elected - the Conservatives in July had nothing.
Of course there will be an element of passing judgement on the Government's record but I suspect the next election will be more forward-looking in terms of what we can expect in the years 2028-32 than the last election which was primarily a judgement on the Conservative Party from 2010 and especially from 2016.
I didn't mention the next election, I merely said there was no positive vision from labour, nor conservatives nor the lib dems in 2024 so your claim of "optimism will always triumph over negativity and anger" is unproven because no party had one in 2024
Which is simply your opinion which I accept even though I don't agree with it.
An interesting piece about links being built between US evangelicals / Right and a long-term undeclared group hosted in the House of Lords described as "anti-Islam", with several peers (Baroness Cox, Lord Pearson, Lord Rannoch) and with Christian Concern and various right / far-right figures (eg Anne-Marie Waters, Gerard Batten, Alan Craig).
Warning: it's Hope Not Hate house style, which is detailed, and piling detail on detail, therefore long.
The question is how correct are they with their conclusions and implications. I think "yes, definitely worrying stuff, but there are a couple of 'buts'".
I do think Lords Reform could help somewhat on this kind of question.
Albeit Reform would like win seats in an elected upper house, especially with PR
Cleverly certainly could win if he got to the membership, although given this poll was commissioned by the Cleverly campaign would be a bit wary.
His problem will be getting to the last 2 with Tory MPs. Like Mordaunt who found herself squeezed in the final rounds in 2022 with the ERG and right going to Truss and the liberal and One Nation wing going to Sunak, Cleverly may find the ERG and right goes to Jenrick and Badenoch and to a lesser extent now Patel and the liberal and One Nation wing to Tugendhat and Stride
One problem is that no-one really knows where the 121 Tory MPs are on the political spectrum (within normal Tory limits).
Indeed and I would expect the majority are leaning to the centre and away from the extremes of the right
I don't think any of the candidates represent an extreme of the right but, that aside, do you think, Big G, that the priority should be a leader with the balls and courage to make their case and attack the opposition (i.e. a move away from weak Johnson and timid Sunak)?
Very much so but not a Farage tribute act
But who of the six represent that?
The choices are poor but Cleverly or Tugendhat are probably better than the rest
I think you are contradicting yourself Big G.
You agree that the Cons need a leader with the balls and courage to make their case and attack the opposition. There is no way Tugendat is that. Neither is Stride. Cleverly might be I suppose, not sure. I'm not convinced Patel is smart enough. Or Jenrick.
So there is one left - who also coincidentally is the one Labour fears most. Badenoch.
Is she really "the one Labour fears most"? She strikes me as a dullard. Her appeal/fear factor must be lost on me for some reason.
Kemi is certainly timing her cavalry charge very late if she's going to make one. At the moment she gives me the impression of having fallen out with Gove's dark forces brigade, therefore being on the receiving end of dirty tricks, and being a bit on the back foot because of it all. Who knows, she could still become a force in the campaign.
Going on holiday to avoid the hustings is hardly leadership qualities
Mrs J works like the devil. She works really hard, and generally loves her work. Because of her position and role, it can be hard to organise time off for holidays. But she needs to take a break occasionally, and there is always something urgent at work that needs doing.
We're in that state now: she's on holiday from midweek, and there's lots of urgent (*) work that needs either delaying, passing off to other people, or putting on the 'not-a-task' pile. The other option is working the holiday - which she would get compensated for - and then burning out later.
And then there's the effect on the family: our son would be devastated if our family holiday - one of only one or two a year he gets with mum - became yet another road trip with dad. Not that he doesn't enjoy the latter - I hope he does! - but because he misses mum.
Saying Kemi took a holiday to 'avoid the hustings' during school holidays seems a little off from a pensioner who can go on holiday whenever they like.
(*) Work other people do is always urgent.
Not sure your comment about as a pensioner I can go on holiday anytime I like is relevant, not least because I worked full time in employment and my own businesses from 1962 to 2009, had a family of 3 children, but was not standing for a position that leads possibly to Prime Minister, especially when the actual Prime Minister cancelled his holidays
It certainly did not go down well at the hustings
I don't think I've ever had much of an issue on here with you, but your comment really struck me, particularly at this time. I want a PM who will be there when important things happen; but also one who is so not burnt out from not taking holidays that they make (even) worse decisions.
People need holidays; even PMs. And they should have enough trust in their teams to make good decisions in anything that are not of national importance. More so, when they have young families. I assume that you took holidays?
Thatcher was LOTO or PM between 1975 and 1990 - 15 years. Her children were in their twenties at the start of that period, but even so, are you saying she should never have been able to take a holiday? Because there would (if she had been PM in the Internet age) decisions that needed to be made when she was on hliday.
It's an impossible call for a politician to make. *IF* she booked the holidays before the hustings were announced, good on her, IMV. You can bet there will be people missing the hustings because they had pre-arranged holidays.
I do not want to sound harsh and certainly do not have an issue with you, but in this case it was a choice and a difficult one but her opponents are obviously going to attempt to make capital over it
I really have little enthusiasm for any of the candidates, nor do I have anything personal about Badenoch, but it maybe was unfortunate for her that at the time she went on holiday, the actual PM cancelled his
I do agree it is an impossible choice for politicians and one that many are caught out with, both before this and certainly will be again in the future
PB needs a gay copy editor to spot my accidental innuendos.
You can’t spot things that don’t exist, Mr Eagles.
The first time I ever put a blatant innuendo in a work report the only reason HR didn't get involved was that everyone concluded that only an innocent could have made such a comment.
Cleverly certainly could win if he got to the membership, although given this poll was commissioned by the Cleverly campaign would be a bit wary.
His problem will be getting to the last 2 with Tory MPs. Like Mordaunt who found herself squeezed in the final rounds in 2022 with the ERG and right going to Truss and the liberal and One Nation wing going to Sunak, Cleverly may find the ERG and right goes to Jenrick and Badenoch and to a lesser extent now Patel and the liberal and One Nation wing to Tugendhat and Stride
One problem is that no-one really knows where the 121 Tory MPs are on the political spectrum (within normal Tory limits).
Indeed and I would expect the majority are leaning to the centre and away from the extremes of the right
I don't think any of the candidates represent an extreme of the right but, that aside, do you think, Big G, that the priority should be a leader with the balls and courage to make their case and attack the opposition (i.e. a move away from weak Johnson and timid Sunak)?
Very much so but not a Farage tribute act
But who of the six represent that?
The choices are poor but Cleverly or Tugendhat are probably better than the rest
I think you are contradicting yourself Big G.
You agree that the Cons need a leader with the balls and courage to make their case and attack the opposition. There is no way Tugendat is that. Neither is Stride. Cleverly might be I suppose, not sure. I'm not convinced Patel is smart enough. Or Jenrick.
So there is one left - who also coincidentally is the one Labour fears most. Badenoch.
Is she really "the one Labour fears most"? She strikes me as a dullard. Her appeal/fear factor must be lost on me for some reason.
Kemi is certainly timing her cavalry charge very late if she's going to make one. At the moment she gives me the impression of having fallen out with Gove's dark forces brigade, therefore being on the receiving end of dirty tricks, and being a bit on the back foot because of it all. Who knows, she could still become a force in the campaign.
Going on holiday to avoid the hustings is hardly leadership qualities
Mrs J works like the devil. She works really hard, and generally loves her work. Because of her position and role, it can be hard to organise time off for holidays. But she needs to take a break occasionally, and there is always something urgent at work that needs doing.
We're in that state now: she's on holiday from midweek, and there's lots of urgent (*) work that needs either delaying, passing off to other people, or putting on the 'not-a-task' pile. The other option is working the holiday - which she would get compensated for - and then burning out later.
And then there's the effect on the family: our son would be devastated if our family holiday - one of only one or two a year he gets with mum - became yet another road trip with dad. Not that he doesn't enjoy the latter - I hope he does! - but because he misses mum.
Saying Kemi took a holiday to 'avoid the hustings' during school holidays seems a little off from a pensioner who can go on holiday whenever they like.
(*) Work other people do is always urgent.
Not sure your comment about as a pensioner I can go on holiday anytime I like is relevant, not least because I worked full time in employment and my own businesses from 1962 to 2009, had a family of 3 children, but was not standing for a position that leads possibly to Prime Minister, especially when the actual Prime Minister cancelled his holidays
It certainly did not go down well at the hustings
I don't think I've ever had much of an issue on here with you, but your comment really struck me, particularly at this time. I want a PM who will be there when important things happen; but also one who is so not burnt out from not taking holidays that they make (even) worse decisions.
People need holidays; even PMs. And they should have enough trust in their teams to make good decisions in anything that are not of national importance. More so, when they have young families. I assume that you took holidays?
Thatcher was LOTO or PM between 1975 and 1990 - 15 years. Her children were in their twenties at the start of that period, but even so, are you saying she should never have been able to take a holiday? Because there would (if she had been PM in the Internet age) decisions that needed to be made when she was on hliday.
It's an impossible call for a politician to make. *IF* she booked the holidays before the hustings were announced, good on her, IMV. You can bet there will be people missing the hustings because they had pre-arranged holidays.
I do not want to sound harsh and certainly do not have an issue with you, but in this case it was a choice and a difficult one but her opponents are obviously going to attempt to make capital over it
I really have little enthusiasm for any of the candidates, nor do I have anything personal about Badenoch, but it maybe was unfortunate for her that at the time she went on holiday, the actual PM cancelled his
I do agree it is an impossible choice for politicians and one that many are caught out with, both before this and certainly will be again in the future
I don't have any enthusiasm for any of the candidates either; but if they criticise her over it, would like to see details of when they've been on holiday over the last couple of years.
Cleverly certainly could win if he got to the membership, although given this poll was commissioned by the Cleverly campaign would be a bit wary.
His problem will be getting to the last 2 with Tory MPs. Like Mordaunt who found herself squeezed in the final rounds in 2022 with the ERG and right going to Truss and the liberal and One Nation wing going to Sunak, Cleverly may find the ERG and right goes to Jenrick and Badenoch and to a lesser extent now Patel and the liberal and One Nation wing to Tugendhat and Stride
One problem is that no-one really knows where the 121 Tory MPs are on the political spectrum (within normal Tory limits).
Indeed and I would expect the majority are leaning to the centre and away from the extremes of the right
I don't think any of the candidates represent an extreme of the right but, that aside, do you think, Big G, that the priority should be a leader with the balls and courage to make their case and attack the opposition (i.e. a move away from weak Johnson and timid Sunak)?
Very much so but not a Farage tribute act
But who of the six represent that?
The choices are poor but Cleverly or Tugendhat are probably better than the rest
I think you are contradicting yourself Big G.
You agree that the Cons need a leader with the balls and courage to make their case and attack the opposition. There is no way Tugendat is that. Neither is Stride. Cleverly might be I suppose, not sure. I'm not convinced Patel is smart enough. Or Jenrick.
So there is one left - who also coincidentally is the one Labour fears most. Badenoch.
Is she really "the one Labour fears most"? She strikes me as a dullard. Her appeal/fear factor must be lost on me for some reason.
Kemi is certainly timing her cavalry charge very late if she's going to make one. At the moment she gives me the impression of having fallen out with Gove's dark forces brigade, therefore being on the receiving end of dirty tricks, and being a bit on the back foot because of it all. Who knows, she could still become a force in the campaign.
Going on holiday to avoid the hustings is hardly leadership qualities
Mrs J works like the devil. She works really hard, and generally loves her work. Because of her position and role, it can be hard to organise time off for holidays. But she needs to take a break occasionally, and there is always something urgent at work that needs doing.
We're in that state now: she's on holiday from midweek, and there's lots of urgent (*) work that needs either delaying, passing off to other people, or putting on the 'not-a-task' pile. The other option is working the holiday - which she would get compensated for - and then burning out later.
And then there's the effect on the family: our son would be devastated if our family holiday - one of only one or two a year he gets with mum - became yet another road trip with dad. Not that he doesn't enjoy the latter - I hope he does! - but because he misses mum.
Saying Kemi took a holiday to 'avoid the hustings' during school holidays seems a little off from a pensioner who can go on holiday whenever they like.
(*) Work other people do is always urgent.
Not sure your comment about as a pensioner I can go on holiday anytime I like is relevant, not least because I worked full time in employment and my own businesses from 1962 to 2009, had a family of 3 children, but was not standing for a position that leads possibly to Prime Minister, especially when the actual Prime Minister cancelled his holidays
It certainly did not go down well at the hustings
I don't think I've ever had much of an issue on here with you, but your comment really struck me, particularly at this time. I want a PM who will be there when important things happen; but also one who is so not burnt out from not taking holidays that they make (even) worse decisions.
People need holidays; even PMs. And they should have enough trust in their teams to make good decisions in anything that are not of national importance. More so, when they have young families. I assume that you took holidays?
Thatcher was LOTO or PM between 1975 and 1990 - 15 years. Her children were in their twenties at the start of that period, but even so, are you saying she should never have been able to take a holiday? Because there would (if she had been PM in the Internet age) decisions that needed to be made when she was on hliday.
It's an impossible call for a politician to make. *IF* she booked the holidays before the hustings were announced, good on her, IMV. You can bet there will be people missing the hustings because they had pre-arranged holidays.
I do not want to sound harsh and certainly do not have an issue with you, but in this case it was a choice and a difficult one but her opponents are obviously going to attempt to make capital over it
I really have little enthusiasm for any of the candidates, nor do I have anything personal about Badenoch, but it maybe was unfortunate for her that at the time she went on holiday, the actual PM cancelled his
I do agree it is an impossible choice for politicians and one that many are caught out with, both before this and certainly will be again in the future
The actual PM cancelled his holiday, at the public’s expense, to chair a series of COBRA meetings about serious public disorder.
Kemi would have been cancelling her holiday, at her own expense, to attend one of many political rallies to which almost no-one was paying attention - because the Lobby are all on holiday too.
PB needs a gay copy editor to spot my accidental innuendos.
You can’t spot things that don’t exist, Mr Eagles.
The first time I ever put a blatant innuendo in a work report the only reason HR didn't get involved was that everyone concluded that only an innocent could have made such a comment.
Saw my first large spider in the house this year today as a precursor to so-called Spider season, where Randy males look to breed and sometimes make the ultimate sacrifice, glass over him, card underneath him and out he goes to sneak back in via the breathing gaps in the brickwork.
PB needs a gay copy editor to spot my accidental innuendos.
You can’t spot things that don’t exist, Mr Eagles.
The first time I ever put a blatant innuendo in a work report the only reason HR didn't get involved was that everyone concluded that only an innocent could have made such a comment.
So they don't know you at all?
Nope, when I meet new people, I am genuinely very quite and reserved, after a few weeks/months, then they get to see my humour if I think they can cope with it.
Cleverly certainly could win if he got to the membership, although given this poll was commissioned by the Cleverly campaign would be a bit wary.
His problem will be getting to the last 2, like Mordaunt who found herself squeezed in the final rounds in 2022 with the ERG and right going to Truss and the liberal and One Nation wing going to Sunak, Cleverly may find the ERG and right goes to Jenrick and Badenoch and to a lesser extent now Patel and the liberal and One Nation wing to Tugendhat and Stride
The key is the 121 conservative mps and which group wants to see the party back to credibility or sink down the ERG and right of centre path
On your view surely the party has credibility now under the liberal Sunak and One Nation Hunt?
BigG is talking about potential votes. Follow the ERG / attract Reform voter solution and the Tory party will be rejecting a lot of the centre / middle of the road voters.
Possibly but the biggest voteshare shift in July was Tory to Reform, Reform up 11% on the BXP's 3% in 2019 to 14%. Labour were up just 2% on the 32% they got in 2019 GB wide to 34% and the LDs up just 1% on the 11% they got in 2019 to 12% (albeit Labour did pick up a few more Tories than that given leakage to the Greens who were up 3%, though in Scotland Labour also picked up SNP votes)
Just to examine this in a little more detail.
According to YouGov, 53% of 2019 Conservative voters stayed with the Conservatives, 25% went to Reform, 10% to Labour and 7% to the LDs. That's your 11% vote shift.
However, more going on than you might think - only 71% of 2019 Labour voters voted Labour this time, 10% voted Green and 8% LD. Only 49% of the 2019 LD vote stayed with the party, 30% voted Labour and 10% Conservative.
Might be interesting to see how 2019 non-voters (including first time voters in 2024) split but we can assume it was friendlier to Labour and the Greens than the Conservatives.
So even on the Yougov figures 8% more 2019 Tories went to Reform than Labour and the LDs combined.
(Just it seems some Tories went LD to more than make up for some LDs going Labour and some Tories went Labour to more than make up for Labour voters going Green)
Overall the Conservative vote fell by 20% so your 2024 vote was made up of just over half of whose who voted for you in 2019 (the true Conservative core - 22% of the total electorate), 10% of the 2019 LD vote, 2% of the 2019 Labour vote, 9% of the 2019 Brexit Party vote and 7% of the Green vote, which combined together probably adds up to 2% and that's the Conservative vote - half of what they had plus a few fragments from elsewhere.
Your substantive conclusion is therefore correct - the significant vote moves from 2019 were a) the 25% of 2019 Conservatives who moved to Reform and b) the 10% of Conservatives who moved to Labour.
Yet this only records those who voted - what proportion of the 2019 Conservative vote stayed at home?
Here is the infographic you seek;
Flow of the vote, 2019-24, provisional version (will wait for the BES data to be released to make a final version, plus some deeper cuts).
Quite a lot of those 2019 Conservative voters are not coming back, no matter how badly Starmer does.
Why? LD, Labour and Reform defectors return Tory, and Labour are fucked.
How do they get back all three at the same time? With a promise of "see all those things we failed to do in 14 years, we really really will do them this time" ?
PB needs a gay copy editor to spot my accidental innuendos.
You can’t spot things that don’t exist, Mr Eagles.
The first time I ever put a blatant innuendo in a work report the only reason HR didn't get involved was that everyone concluded that only an innocent could have made such a comment.
Saw my first large spider in the house this year today as a precursor to so-called Spider season, where Randy males look to breed and sometimes make the ultimate sacrifice, glass over him, card underneath him and out he goes to sneak back in via the breathing gaps in the brickwork.
I don’t mind them, but they terrify my wife.
I'm going into Aliens: Romulus
I've heard it will scar you for life.
Report back later.
It has put me off sex and women.
That leaves sex and…..?
Well, actually I did make sex noises in the cinema watching that film, but I cannot talk about it without giving away massive spoilers
Saw my first large spider in the house this year today as a precursor to so-called Spider season, where Randy males look to breed and sometimes make the ultimate sacrifice, glass over him, card underneath him and out he goes to sneak back in via the breathing gaps in the brickwork.
If anynone's got the stomache for it an extraordinary expose on Israel jails which is like something out of the middle ages. Men being raped with batons while citizens bay for more. It's now an irredeemably sick society.
"Avoid meetings in ‘racist’ buildings, Welsh librarians told Staff will be instructed in ‘critical whiteness studies’ and dealing with the ‘dominant paradigm of whiteness’"
"Avoid meetings in ‘racist’ buildings, Welsh librarians told Staff will be instructed in ‘critical whiteness studies’ and dealing with the ‘dominant paradigm of whiteness’"
The campaign to eliminate unconscious bias in the media stepped up a notch today when journalists were instructed in avoiding certain websites.
‘It’s really important they understand that it says something about how bad you are when you file with the Telegraph,’ said one instructor.
‘You reveal, even if you don’t realise it, that you’re completely untrustworthy and prefer sensation seeking headlines and mindless badly-researched bullshit to proper reporting.’
Journalists instead will be encouraged to publish through sites that take accuracy seriously, such as the The Daily Sport, possibly with the Daily Mash as backup.
The problem with that article is the phrase "beloved Arsenal".
Why were the Premier League giving very expensive hospitality to a party leader in the middle of an election campaign, for a pop concert totally unrelated to football?
Surely Starmer wasn’t an MP in June, and the cost of the tickets should be treated as part of his campaign expenses?
I think its blatantly clear what they are doing - the new Football Governance Bill on regulation of the game is being brought in by the new Govt based on work done in an enquiry under the old Govt, and the PL are on a charm offensive scattering tickets to a lot of MPs of both parties to get their view across.
Here is an Indy piece written in April, which mentions football tickets for Keir Starmer, Damian Collins, Theresa Coffey, Justin Tomlinson, Brendan Clarke-Smith, and Michael Gove. https://archive.ph/OBY6i
Plus there are various concert tickets and Brit Awards.
I imagine that shifted as the political balance changed, or was expected to change.
I'm not sure how timing of payments vs the event date works; that will be in the Register of Interests, whenever it comes out.
AIUI the concerts were on 21st and 22nd June, a fortnight before the election, with Parliament very much dissolved and an obvious electoral benefit accruing to any candidate being pictured at the event, especially in the very comfy seats at someone else’s expense.
So my point is, that when Mr Starmer posted photos of himself at the event, he was incurring £4,000 of election-related spending, which needs to be seen in that context rather than just as hospitality afforded to a sitting MP. Because, on those dates, he wasn’t a sitting MP but a Parliamentary candidate.
Yes, I can see why the Premier League wants to spend their money entertaining ministers and potential ministers. Good luck with that.
How exactly is someone attending a concert 'election-related spending'?
"Lovely quote heard this morning on the BBC World Service, "The only way Donald Trump could get smaller attendances at his rallies is if he were to invite Nigel Farage to speak""
Looks to me that the 1.7 on Spurs to beat my team is free money. These are always high scoring games, my team is worse than this time last year, the preseason was awful with us looking disorganised and clueless, not scoring in the last 3 games, the fans are restive.
"Avoid meetings in ‘racist’ buildings, Welsh librarians told Staff will be instructed in ‘critical whiteness studies’ and dealing with the ‘dominant paradigm of whiteness’"
The campaign to eliminate unconscious bias in the media stepped up a notch today when journalists were instructed in avoiding certain websites.
‘It’s really important they understand that it says something about how bad you are when you file with the Telegraph,’ said one instructor.
‘You reveal, even if you don’t realise it, that you’re completely untrustworthy and prefer sensation seeking headlines and mindless badly-researched bullshit to proper reporting.’
Journalists instead will be encouraged to publish through sites that take accuracy seriously, such as the The Daily Sport, possibly with the Daily Mash as backup.
How many Welsh Librarians remain? They used to graze unhindered, but are they now under threat?
"Lovely quote heard this morning on the BBC World Service, "The only way Donald Trump could get smaller attendances at his rallies is if he were to invite Nigel Farage to speak""
"Avoid meetings in ‘racist’ buildings, Welsh librarians told Staff will be instructed in ‘critical whiteness studies’ and dealing with the ‘dominant paradigm of whiteness’"
The campaign to eliminate unconscious bias in the media stepped up a notch today when journalists were instructed in avoiding certain websites.
‘It’s really important they understand that it says something about how bad you are when you file with the Telegraph,’ said one instructor.
‘You reveal, even if you don’t realise it, that you’re completely untrustworthy and prefer sensation seeking headlines and mindless badly-researched bullshit to proper reporting.’
Journalists instead will be encouraged to publish through sites that take accuracy seriously, such as the The Daily Sport, possibly with the Daily Mash as backup.
How many Welsh Librarians remain? They used to graze unhindered, but are they now under threat?
They’ve survived by interbreeding. You don’t get many pedigree examples now but some still remain doubling up as archivists or ‘Council Hub’ receptionists.
"Lovely quote heard this morning on the BBC World Service, "The only way Donald Trump could get smaller attendances at his rallies is if he were to invite Nigel Farage to speak""
"Avoid meetings in ‘racist’ buildings, Welsh librarians told Staff will be instructed in ‘critical whiteness studies’ and dealing with the ‘dominant paradigm of whiteness’"
The campaign to eliminate unconscious bias in the media stepped up a notch today when journalists were instructed in avoiding certain websites.
‘It’s really important they understand that it says something about how bad you are when you file with the Telegraph,’ said one instructor.
‘You reveal, even if you don’t realise it, that you’re completely untrustworthy and prefer sensation seeking headlines and mindless badly-researched bullshit to proper reporting.’
Journalists instead will be encouraged to publish through sites that take accuracy seriously, such as the The Daily Sport, possibly with the Daily Mash as backup.
How many Welsh Librarians remain? They used to graze unhindered, but are they now under threat?
They’ve survived by interbreeding. You don’t get many pedigree examples now but some still remain doubling up as archivists or ‘Council Hub’ receptionists.
It's the quality of the bookfield that creates a good Librarian. A bit of all things won't go amiss, but if you feed them wrong they'll turn on you - they could shut you out of their turf, or stamp and glare.
Badenoch is a talented speaker and very articulate. I am coming to the view though, that she does not apply that talent in a way that shouts “party leader.”
She likes debating culture war topics. Great. Can she point to any great success in running her department, or a vision for the conservatism of the future? I think if they choose Badenoch they’re choosing someone who might give them a bit of a sugar rush at PMQs, but who I’m not convinced has what it takes to build back their electoral coalition.
FWIW (and its not much because I don't have a vote) that was the view I had come to as well. What the Tories need is someone who has a broader grasp and vision and I have yet to see that from her.
It's a pity because it's perfectly possible to hold Kemi's position on culture war topics at the same time as holding a voter friendly position on competent administration/wealth creation/provision of public services/all the other things voters want a government to do. Kemi's position is not by itself inimical to building vote-winning coalition for the Tories. But she needs to be seen to be interested in all the other things a government needs to do.
Hats off to Kemi. She manages to patronise the new Labour government for inevitably failing to meet the same housebuilding target her government failed to meet by a country mile
WH24. Even though I’m relaxed given I think Harris will win the PV by over 5 pts and therefore has about a million paths in the EC I’ve done a deep dive into the states to see how that’s looking. Please ignore the following if you don’t value rigorous grinding sweat-infused ‘bottoms up’ analysis.
So the core fact is if she holds the rustbelt she wins the election. This is the backstop outcome. It’s not what she wants, there’s barely room to swing a cat, but she’d take it. Better, though, is to also hold or partially hold the sunbelt. Doing that creates some space. Eg if she loses GA but holds NV/AZ she can afford to lose MI or WI, although not both, so long as she doesn’t drop PA. If she holds just one of AZ/NV it’s still ok but it’s squeaky bum time. Holding AZ means she can afford to lose a rustbelt state so long as that state is WI. However if she holds only NV she’s back to having to cling like grim death to the whole of the rustbelt.
NV adds no value then? It does because what if she flips NC? This is more likely than her holding GA per the current betting. She’s 2.5 for NC and 2.8 for GA. Point is, if she flips NC, having won NV but lost GA/AZ, she can upend conventional wisdom by winning without PA. If she hadn’t got NV, even having flipped NC she would still require PA. That’s NV making its presence felt in no uncertain terms. A mere 6 votes but it could decide everything. Finally, a long shot that’s within the Overton window, if she wins NC and also FL she can lose all of Biden’s swing states, every last one of them, rustbelt and sunbelt, and still squeeze home by 272/266. There’ll be ructions down at Mar-a-Lago if that happens.
On that last point, the Democrats haven’t won N Carolina, while losing Pennsylvania, since 1932.
The problem with that article is the phrase "beloved Arsenal".
Why were the Premier League giving very expensive hospitality to a party leader in the middle of an election campaign, for a pop concert totally unrelated to football?
Surely Starmer wasn’t an MP in June, and the cost of the tickets should be treated as part of his campaign expenses?
I think its blatantly clear what they are doing - the new Football Governance Bill on regulation of the game is being brought in by the new Govt based on work done in an enquiry under the old Govt, and the PL are on a charm offensive scattering tickets to a lot of MPs of both parties to get their view across.
Here is an Indy piece written in April, which mentions football tickets for Keir Starmer, Damian Collins, Theresa Coffey, Justin Tomlinson, Brendan Clarke-Smith, and Michael Gove. https://archive.ph/OBY6i
Plus there are various concert tickets and Brit Awards.
I imagine that shifted as the political balance changed, or was expected to change.
I'm not sure how timing of payments vs the event date works; that will be in the Register of Interests, whenever it comes out.
AIUI the concerts were on 21st and 22nd June, a fortnight before the election, with Parliament very much dissolved and an obvious electoral benefit accruing to any candidate being pictured at the event, especially in the very comfy seats at someone else’s expense.
So my point is, that when Mr Starmer posted photos of himself at the event, he was incurring £4,000 of election-related spending, which needs to be seen in that context rather than just as hospitality afforded to a sitting MP. Because, on those dates, he wasn’t a sitting MP but a Parliamentary candidate.
Yes, I can see why the Premier League wants to spend their money entertaining ministers and potential ministers. Good luck with that.
How exactly is someone attending a concert 'election-related spending'?
Because he was promoting his attendance at the event, a week before the election, but someone else was paying for it.
"Avoid meetings in ‘racist’ buildings, Welsh librarians told Staff will be instructed in ‘critical whiteness studies’ and dealing with the ‘dominant paradigm of whiteness’"
The campaign to eliminate unconscious bias in the media stepped up a notch today when journalists were instructed in avoiding certain websites.
‘It’s really important they understand that it says something about how bad you are when you file with the Telegraph,’ said one instructor.
‘You reveal, even if you don’t realise it, that you’re completely untrustworthy and prefer sensation seeking headlines and mindless badly-researched bullshit to proper reporting.’
Journalists instead will be encouraged to publish through sites that take accuracy seriously, such as the The Daily Sport, possibly with the Daily Mash as backup.
And yet, if a Certain Someone is given a senior role at the paper by the Zahawi consortium, we could look back on the current Telegraph as the last moments of a golden age of accuracy.
Badenoch is a talented speaker and very articulate. I am coming to the view though, that she does not apply that talent in a way that shouts “party leader.”
She likes debating culture war topics. Great. Can she point to any great success in running her department, or a vision for the conservatism of the future? I think if they choose Badenoch they’re choosing someone who might give them a bit of a sugar rush at PMQs, but who I’m not convinced has what it takes to build back their electoral coalition.
FWIW (and its not much because I don't have a vote) that was the view I had come to as well. What the Tories need is someone who has a broader grasp and vision and I have yet to see that from her.
It's a pity because it's perfectly possible to hold Kemi's position on culture war topics at the same time as holding a voter friendly position on competent administration/wealth creation/provision of public services/all the other things voters want a government to do. Kemi's position is not by itself inimical to building vote-winning coalition for the Tories. But she needs to be seen to be interested in all the other things a government needs to do.
Hats off to Kemi. She manages to patronise the new Labour government for inevitably failing to meet the same housebuilding target her government failed to meet by a country mile
Honestly that type of maneuverability is an important political skill, if you can manage to do it in a way the public accepts without calling you a hypocrite.
"Lovely quote heard this morning on the BBC World Service, "The only way Donald Trump could get smaller attendances at his rallies is if he were to invite Nigel Farage to speak""
These rallies, for either side, seem like they might be fun for a few minutes at a time, but hours of waiting and then hours of the rally itself? Just bloody exhausting and tiresome, even if you like the person involved.
With Trump he's doing the same act he has for years and goes on forever (all about himself, naturally), at least fewer people will have seen Harris and Walz before so it is a bit more fresh.
Normally, "This cannot be" is a line uttered by a supervillan beginning their nemesis.
I will maintain a realistic assessment of my strengths and weaknesses. Even though this takes some of the fun out of the job, at least I will never utter the line 'No, this cannot be! I AM INVINCIBLE!!!' (After that, death is usually instantaneous.) — Evil Overlord List, Rule #24
Badenoch is a talented speaker and very articulate. I am coming to the view though, that she does not apply that talent in a way that shouts “party leader.”
She likes debating culture war topics. Great. Can she point to any great success in running her department, or a vision for the conservatism of the future? I think if they choose Badenoch they’re choosing someone who might give them a bit of a sugar rush at PMQs, but who I’m not convinced has what it takes to build back their electoral coalition.
FWIW (and its not much because I don't have a vote) that was the view I had come to as well. What the Tories need is someone who has a broader grasp and vision and I have yet to see that from her.
It's a pity because it's perfectly possible to hold Kemi's position on culture war topics at the same time as holding a voter friendly position on competent administration/wealth creation/provision of public services/all the other things voters want a government to do. Kemi's position is not by itself inimical to building vote-winning coalition for the Tories. But she needs to be seen to be interested in all the other things a government needs to do.
Hats off to Kemi. She manages to patronise the new Labour government for inevitably failing to meet the same housebuilding target her government failed to meet by a country mile
Honestly that type of maneuverability is an important political skill, if you can manage to do it in a way the public accepts without calling you a hypocrite.
Oh I agree. Badenoch's hypocrisy is off the scale in this speech, but I think she just about gets away with it. As I mentioned before I think Starmer in particular has a problem with rhetoric. Badenoch clearly doesn't.
Normally, "This cannot be" is a line uttered by a supervillan beginning their nemesis.
It would be a sudden volte-face towards rationality by the Conservative membership, given their 2 choices since 'moron have been Johnson and Truss. Cleverly would be the sensible choice, I'm hoping for Badenoch because I think it would be hilarious. I see that Truss won't handover her casework to the new MP, her office claiming she's diligently still working on it. Which is apparently a huge surprise to the constituents and probably illegal under DPA.
Off topic: As someone who was living in Chicago in 1968*, I should tell you that the convention that year was not a great success for the Democratic Party. There are enough similarities this year to that 1968 convention year, so that this convention, too, might not be good for the Democrats.
(*I left before the convention started, since I thought it nearly certain that there would be trouble. But I was sharing an apartment with a local reporter, who told me about some of the incidents, later. For example, he was driving in a beat-up old car, which was attacked by both the Chicago police, who beat on it, and demonstrators, who three rocks at the car. I don't recall which was first, but one attack followed immediately after the other.)
What similarities do you see with '68 ? I'm seeing previous few, FWIW.
VP taking over as candidate after previous President dropped out? Activists very unhappy about perceived pro-war* stance of incumbent. Slippery and dishonest Republican opponent. Convention being held in Chicago.
* War not involving American servicemen this time around, of course
Your caveat is the key factor, methinks. Thus unless MAGA-maniacs act as agents procacateur, the number of "activists very unhappy" will be a fraction of Chicago 1968.
Further note that
> RN was FAR more esteemed in 1968 than DJT is in 2024; the former's maximum unpopularity with liberals/moderates was AFTER he was elected POTUS.
> Fact that 1968 Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago was NOT in itself a major factor behind protests, which would have taken place WHEREVER the DNC was held
> As for the Windy City, note that Richard Daley (the Elder OR Younger) is NOT mayor and also NOT the major local figure convention-wise THIS year; that person is Illinois Gov J.B Pritzker.
"Lovely quote heard this morning on the BBC World Service, "The only way Donald Trump could get smaller attendances at his rallies is if he were to invite Nigel Farage to speak""
Normally, "This cannot be" is a line uttered by a supervillan beginning their nemesis.
I will maintain a realistic assessment of my strengths and weaknesses. Even though this takes some of the fun out of the job, at least I will never utter the line 'No, this cannot be! I AM INVINCIBLE!!!' (After that, death is usually instantaneous.) — Evil Overlord List, Rule #24
"Lovely quote heard this morning on the BBC World Service, "The only way Donald Trump could get smaller attendances at his rallies is if he were to invite Nigel Farage to speak""
The problem with that article is the phrase "beloved Arsenal".
Why were the Premier League giving very expensive hospitality to a party leader in the middle of an election campaign, for a pop concert totally unrelated to football?
Surely Starmer wasn’t an MP in June, and the cost of the tickets should be treated as part of his campaign expenses?
I think its blatantly clear what they are doing - the new Football Governance Bill on regulation of the game is being brought in by the new Govt based on work done in an enquiry under the old Govt, and the PL are on a charm offensive scattering tickets to a lot of MPs of both parties to get their view across.
Here is an Indy piece written in April, which mentions football tickets for Keir Starmer, Damian Collins, Theresa Coffey, Justin Tomlinson, Brendan Clarke-Smith, and Michael Gove. https://archive.ph/OBY6i
Plus there are various concert tickets and Brit Awards.
I imagine that shifted as the political balance changed, or was expected to change.
I'm not sure how timing of payments vs the event date works; that will be in the Register of Interests, whenever it comes out.
AIUI the concerts were on 21st and 22nd June, a fortnight before the election, with Parliament very much dissolved and an obvious electoral benefit accruing to any candidate being pictured at the event, especially in the very comfy seats at someone else’s expense.
So my point is, that when Mr Starmer posted photos of himself at the event, he was incurring £4,000 of election-related spending, which needs to be seen in that context rather than just as hospitality afforded to a sitting MP. Because, on those dates, he wasn’t a sitting MP but a Parliamentary candidate.
Yes, I can see why the Premier League wants to spend their money entertaining ministers and potential ministers. Good luck with that.
How exactly is someone attending a concert 'election-related spending'?
Because he was promoting his attendance at the event, a week before the election, but someone else was paying for it.
The electoral commission says that attending pop concerts is not an activity that counts as campaign expenditure.
"Lovely quote heard this morning on the BBC World Service, "The only way Donald Trump could get smaller attendances at his rallies is if he were to invite Nigel Farage to speak""
Most American politos, pundits & chattering classes do NOT know who Nigel Farage or Liz Truss are, or care.
At best they will be geek-shows to amuse the MAGA-maniacs.
All the more odd that Truss would get suckered into that role.
Farage I get.
Truss is NOT one of Trump's boon companions, unlike Farage who is among the favored who have been invited 3 or more times to Mar-a-Lardo (as documented by NYT last week).
She's a groupie who is tagging along with the MAGA band as best (or worst) she can.
"Lovely quote heard this morning on the BBC World Service, "The only way Donald Trump could get smaller attendances at his rallies is if he were to invite Nigel Farage to speak""
Most American politos, pundits & chattering classes do NOT know who Nigel Farage or Liz Truss are, or care.
At best they will be geek-shows to amuse the MAGA-maniacs.
All the more odd that Truss would get suckered into that role.
Farage I get.
Truss is NOT one of Trump's boon companions, unlike Farage who is among the favored who have been invited 3 or more times to Mar-a-Lardo (as documented by NYT last week).
She's a groupie who is tagging along with the MAGA band as best (or worst) she can.
Truss will be a historical footnote in months, a joke as PM and very unlikely to get selected as a PPC again.
"Lovely quote heard this morning on the BBC World Service, "The only way Donald Trump could get smaller attendances at his rallies is if he were to invite Nigel Farage to speak""
Most American politos, pundits & chattering classes do NOT know who Nigel Farage or Liz Truss are, or care.
At best they will be geek-shows to amuse the MAGA-maniacs.
All the more odd that Truss would get suckered into that role.
Farage I get.
Truss is NOT one of Trump's boon companions, unlike Farage who is among the favored who have been invited 3 or more times to Mar-a-Lardo (as documented by NYT last week).
She's a groupie who is tagging along with the MAGA band as best (or worst) she can.
I'm not sure it's so much 'tagging along with' but more 'stumbled into the flow, tripped, was helped up, tripped again, got confused, helped up, asked where her carer was, exclaimed "GROWTH!" with a hopeful glint, and was carried along with the stragglers'.
Badenoch is a talented speaker and very articulate. I am coming to the view though, that she does not apply that talent in a way that shouts “party leader.”
She likes debating culture war topics. Great. Can she point to any great success in running her department, or a vision for the conservatism of the future? I think if they choose Badenoch they’re choosing someone who might give them a bit of a sugar rush at PMQs, but who I’m not convinced has what it takes to build back their electoral coalition.
FWIW (and its not much because I don't have a vote) that was the view I had come to as well. What the Tories need is someone who has a broader grasp and vision and I have yet to see that from her.
It's a pity because it's perfectly possible to hold Kemi's position on culture war topics at the same time as holding a voter friendly position on competent administration/wealth creation/provision of public services/all the other things voters want a government to do. Kemi's position is not by itself inimical to building vote-winning coalition for the Tories. But she needs to be seen to be interested in all the other things a government needs to do.
Hats off to Kemi. She manages to patronise the new Labour government for inevitably failing to meet the same housebuilding target her government failed to meet by a country mile
Honestly that type of maneuverability is an important political skill, if you can manage to do it in a way the public accepts without calling you a hypocrite.
I think she'd be wise to at least wait until the autumn budget when people might begin to forget that 'this lot' haven't been in power for the past 14 years. Somewhere, there is a politics diagram of the ideal Venn diagram of 'the previous government' overlap.
"We're gonna deport a lot of people, 10 million people and growing - anchor babies, their parents, their grandparents. We're gonna put kids in cages. It's gonna be glorious." @JasonSCampbell
"Lovely quote heard this morning on the BBC World Service, "The only way Donald Trump could get smaller attendances at his rallies is if he were to invite Nigel Farage to speak""
Most American politos, pundits & chattering classes do NOT know who Nigel Farage or Liz Truss are, or care.
At best they will be geek-shows to amuse the MAGA-maniacs.
All the more odd that Truss would get suckered into that role.
Farage I get.
Truss is NOT one of Trump's boon companions, unlike Farage who is among the favored who have been invited 3 or more times to Mar-a-Lardo (as documented by NYT last week).
She's a groupie who is tagging along with the MAGA band as best (or worst) she can.
Truss will be a historical footnote in months, a joke as PM and very unlikely to get selected as a PPC again.
She already is. She’s an Alan Partridge like figure. Desperate to remain relevant and the world has passed her by.
Normally, "This cannot be" is a line uttered by a supervillan beginning their nemesis.
It would be a sudden volte-face towards rationality by the Conservative membership, given their 2 choices since 'moron have been Johnson and Truss. Cleverly would be the sensible choice, I'm hoping for Badenoch because I think it would be hilarious. I see that Truss won't handover her casework to the new MP, her office claiming she's diligently still working on it. Which is apparently a huge surprise to the constituents and probably illegal under DPA.
"We're gonna deport a lot of people, 10 million people and growing - anchor babies, their parents, their grandparents. We're gonna put kids in cages. It's gonna be glorious." @JasonSCampbell
"Lovely quote heard this morning on the BBC World Service, "The only way Donald Trump could get smaller attendances at his rallies is if he were to invite Nigel Farage to speak""
Most American politos, pundits & chattering classes do NOT know who Nigel Farage or Liz Truss are, or care.
At best they will be geek-shows to amuse the MAGA-maniacs.
All the more odd that Truss would get suckered into that role.
Farage I get.
Truss is NOT one of Trump's boon companions, unlike Farage who is among the favored who have been invited 3 or more times to Mar-a-Lardo (as documented by NYT last week).
She's a groupie who is tagging along with the MAGA band as best (or worst) she can.
Truss will be a historical footnote in months, a joke as PM and very unlikely to get selected as a PPC again.
She already is. She’s an Alan Partridge like figure. Desperate to remain relevant and the world has passed her by.
I wonder if it’s time for TRUSS to stage a remarkable - and overdue - coup of the Conservative & Unionist Party? Her strong leadership and spirit of policy innovation could be quite the tonic for the organisation.
Badenoch is a talented speaker and very articulate. I am coming to the view though, that she does not apply that talent in a way that shouts “party leader.”
She likes debating culture war topics. Great. Can she point to any great success in running her department, or a vision for the conservatism of the future? I think if they choose Badenoch they’re choosing someone who might give them a bit of a sugar rush at PMQs, but who I’m not convinced has what it takes to build back their electoral coalition.
FWIW (and its not much because I don't have a vote) that was the view I had come to as well. What the Tories need is someone who has a broader grasp and vision and I have yet to see that from her.
It's a pity because it's perfectly possible to hold Kemi's position on culture war topics at the same time as holding a voter friendly position on competent administration/wealth creation/provision of public services/all the other things voters want a government to do. Kemi's position is not by itself inimical to building vote-winning coalition for the Tories. But she needs to be seen to be interested in all the other things a government needs to do.
Yes, I do not understand those who say Kemi is a dull speaker. She may have gone AWOL during the Post Office scandal but so did every other minister.
She went AWOL during the election campaign, too. She did a total of three national media interviews, and spent the majority of two of those bickering with the interviewers about the questions they asked. Mel Stride did over 140, Cleverly did plenty too. Even Jenrick and Patel - neither of whom were ministers at the time - did more campaigning than Badenoch.
So she went missing during the biggest news story impacting on any job she's ever held. And went missing during the election campaign. And has now gone missing during the hustings.
You might forgive one of those. Maybe even excuse away two of them. But three is surely pushing it too far.
The main part of the LoTO's job is to oppose the government - and to do that, they need to actually turn up and show some interest in whatever ministers are saying and doing.
Badenoch is a talented speaker and very articulate. I am coming to the view though, that she does not apply that talent in a way that shouts “party leader.”
She likes debating culture war topics. Great. Can she point to any great success in running her department, or a vision for the conservatism of the future? I think if they choose Badenoch they’re choosing someone who might give them a bit of a sugar rush at PMQs, but who I’m not convinced has what it takes to build back their electoral coalition.
FWIW (and its not much because I don't have a vote) that was the view I had come to as well. What the Tories need is someone who has a broader grasp and vision and I have yet to see that from her.
It's a pity because it's perfectly possible to hold Kemi's position on culture war topics at the same time as holding a voter friendly position on competent administration/wealth creation/provision of public services/all the other things voters want a government to do. Kemi's position is not by itself inimical to building vote-winning coalition for the Tories. But she needs to be seen to be interested in all the other things a government needs to do.
Hats off to Kemi. She manages to patronise the new Labour government for inevitably failing to meet the same housebuilding target her government failed to meet by a country mile
Honestly that type of maneuverability is an important political skill, if you can manage to do it in a way the public accepts without calling you a hypocrite.
I think she'd be wise to at least wait until the autumn budget when people might begin to forget that 'this lot' haven't been in power for the past 14 years. Somewhere, there is a politics diagram of the ideal Venn diagram of 'the previous government' overlap.
People expect Labour to crash and burn. While I think it likely they will disappoint, it is actually difficult to be quite totally as useless as the last Tory government. Which is a problem for a Conservative opposition hoping to displace Labour. Badenoch's approach to this conundrum is to pretend the last government was actually pretty good, if this speech is anything to go by.
An interesting approach The risk is people will see through her. I don't think it's would work in government but as leader of the opposition she is much less likely to be challenged.
Mr Ross in the news again: of course this concerns his election (or rather not) as MP, so I'm not sure what bearing any (so far very hypothetical) adverse report would have on his MSP position, apart of course from possibly affecting his constituents' vote at the next Holyrood election.
Mr Ross in the news again: of course this concerns his election (or rather not) as MP, so I'm not sure what bearing any (so far very hypothetical) adverse report would have on his MSP position, apart of course from possibly affecting his constituents' vote at the next Holyrood election.
'Hit by a car whilst out running in Cambridgeshire.'
I've walked the Fen Rivers Way through Stretham on many, many occasions; had a good friend who used to live there, and have walked and run there as well. (It's just south of Ely on the A10).
I'm not one for tinfoil-hatting, but is this stretching coincidences too far?
Normally, "This cannot be" is a line uttered by a supervillan beginning their nemesis.
It would be a sudden volte-face towards rationality by the Conservative membership, given their 2 choices since 'moron have been Johnson and Truss. Cleverly would be the sensible choice, I'm hoping for Badenoch because I think it would be hilarious. I see that Truss won't handover her casework to the new MP, her office claiming she's diligently still working on it. Which is apparently a huge surprise to the constituents and probably illegal under DPA.
Oh, undoubtedly. She is now a private person with no authority to handle anyone's personal data coming from her employment - or at least occupation - as a MP.
For that matter, her staff/volunteers will be in an even weaker position, especially if they had no previous service when Ms Truss was a MP.
And if I had an inquiry from her I'd reply that I couldn't possibly discuss people's private and personal matters unless I had a written confirmation from these persons. I couldn't even *confirm* if I had anything to do with the Mr X or Ms Y of 22 Mangelwurzel View.
A highly placed Zelensky admin source to me: “Keeping the Americans in the dark was also key to keeping the Russian intelligence services and army from being able to prepare. “We have learned some very hard lessons from the events of the previous counteroffensive,” a highly placed member of Zelenskyy’s team informed Tablet.
Mr Ross in the news again: of course this concerns his election (or rather not) as MP, so I'm not sure what bearing any (so far very hypothetical) adverse report would have on his MSP position, apart of course from possibly affecting his constituents' vote at the next Holyrood election.
Mr Ross in the news again: of course this concerns his election (or rather not) as MP, so I'm not sure what bearing any (so far very hypothetical) adverse report would have on his MSP position, apart of course from possibly affecting his constituents' vote at the next Holyrood election.
SKS Labour have just approved an expansion to London City Airport - a hub for private jets.
City Airport is dominated by short-haul flights taken by London's monied elite.
But Labour will always choose their corporate mates over tackling the climate crisis.
As someone who flew out of LCY regularly at one point to visit clients on the continent I certainly didn’t see myself as “monied elite” at the time!
I was just another working stiff, turning the wheels of the economy by doing things that other people valued enough to pay for them, like most people taking flights out of London City I suspect.
Badenoch is a talented speaker and very articulate. I am coming to the view though, that she does not apply that talent in a way that shouts “party leader.”
She likes debating culture war topics. Great. Can she point to any great success in running her department, or a vision for the conservatism of the future? I think if they choose Badenoch they’re choosing someone who might give them a bit of a sugar rush at PMQs, but who I’m not convinced has what it takes to build back their electoral coalition.
FWIW (and its not much because I don't have a vote) that was the view I had come to as well. What the Tories need is someone who has a broader grasp and vision and I have yet to see that from her.
It's a pity because it's perfectly possible to hold Kemi's position on culture war topics at the same time as holding a voter friendly position on competent administration/wealth creation/provision of public services/all the other things voters want a government to do. Kemi's position is not by itself inimical to building vote-winning coalition for the Tories. But she needs to be seen to be interested in all the other things a government needs to do.
Hats off to Kemi. She manages to patronise the new Labour government for inevitably failing to meet the same housebuilding target her government failed to meet by a country mile
I think that speech sums up my views of Badenoch. It’s a clever opposition speech, it needles, it exposes fault lines, and it’s well delivered. But it essentially boils down to “we didn’t deliver as much as we should have done and you won’t either.”
Maybe it wasn’t the time for the grand vision, but I can see Badenoch falling into this pattern - being good at opposing, but having very little to say in return. We have just elected a government that didn’t say very much during the campaign or in opposition, but I am not sure it’s a tactic that any opposition party should rely on, nor one that should be particularly credited. Labour got away with it because they were the only credible choice for many, and the opposition was divided.
SKS Labour have just approved an expansion to London City Airport - a hub for private jets.
City Airport is dominated by short-haul flights taken by London's monied elite.
But Labour will always choose their corporate mates over tackling the climate crisis.
As someone who flew out of LCY regularly at one point to visit clients on the continent I certainly didn’t see myself as “monied elite” at the time!
I was just another working stiff, turning the wheels of the economy by doing things that other people valued enough to pay for them, like most people taking flights out of London City I suspect.
I suspect the name ‘City’ has rather misled him. If he’d looked a little closer, he might have discovered that it’s located in Newham, which is by many measures London’s most deprived borough.
'Hit by a car whilst out running in Cambridgeshire.'
I've walked the Fen Rivers Way through Stretham on many, many occasions; had a good friend who used to live there, and have walked and run there as well. (It's just south of Ely on the A10).
I'm not one for tinfoil-hatting, but is this stretching coincidences too far?
I don't know - I know I dislike driving in Cambridgeshire (my main experience is the area around Huntingdon / St Ives and there and back) as larger roads often have a 1950s feel, and smaller rural roads are quite featureless with invisible right-angles, that make relaxing even a little quite difficult. This may in part be that I have been there often for short periods, rather than say for some months at a stretch.
Badenoch is a talented speaker and very articulate. I am coming to the view though, that she does not apply that talent in a way that shouts “party leader.”
She likes debating culture war topics. Great. Can she point to any great success in running her department, or a vision for the conservatism of the future? I think if they choose Badenoch they’re choosing someone who might give them a bit of a sugar rush at PMQs, but who I’m not convinced has what it takes to build back their electoral coalition.
FWIW (and its not much because I don't have a vote) that was the view I had come to as well. What the Tories need is someone who has a broader grasp and vision and I have yet to see that from her.
It's a pity because it's perfectly possible to hold Kemi's position on culture war topics at the same time as holding a voter friendly position on competent administration/wealth creation/provision of public services/all the other things voters want a government to do. Kemi's position is not by itself inimical to building vote-winning coalition for the Tories. But she needs to be seen to be interested in all the other things a government needs to do.
Hats off to Kemi. She manages to patronise the new Labour government for inevitably failing to meet the same housebuilding target her government failed to meet by a country mile
Honestly that type of maneuverability is an important political skill, if you can manage to do it in a way the public accepts without calling you a hypocrite.
I think she'd be wise to at least wait until the autumn budget when people might begin to forget that 'this lot' haven't been in power for the past 14 years. Somewhere, there is a politics diagram of the ideal Venn diagram of 'the previous government' overlap.
People expect Labour to crash and burn. While I think it likely they will disappoint, it is actually difficult to be quite totally as useless as the last Tory government. Which is a problem for a Conservative opposition hoping to displace Labour. Badenoch's approach to this conundrum is to pretend the last government was actually pretty good, if this speech is anything to go by.
An interesting approach The risk is people will see through her. I don't think it's would work in government but as leader of the opposition she is much less likely to be challenged.
Labour’s danger probably comes less from being completely useless (though it can’t be ruled out) but more from being disappointing, not delivering, and not being what people expected them to be, because (broken record alert, sorry) they failed to play the expectations game before the GE.
Of course, it’s quite a stretch to think people are suddenly going to jump back aboard the Tory train, but our politics is volatile. It’s equally possible we get a LAB/CON/REF 3 way split and the next GE is bonkers.
SKS Labour have just approved an expansion to London City Airport - a hub for private jets.
City Airport is dominated by short-haul flights taken by London's monied elite.
But Labour will always choose their corporate mates over tackling the climate crisis.
As someone who flew out of LCY regularly at one point to visit clients on the continent I certainly didn’t see myself as “monied elite” at the time!
I was just another working stiff, turning the wheels of the economy by doing things that other people valued enough to pay for them, like most people taking flights out of London City I suspect.
I suspect the name ‘City’ has rather misled him. If he’d looked a little closer, he might have discovered that it’s located in Newham, which is by many measures London’s most deprived borough.
City airport doesn’t even have business class lounges, except for the one they used for the long haul flights to JFK. Everyone sits together, it’s a truly socially integrated terminal.
Used to love it when the place was even smaller and it was like turning up at the bus station for a flight.
Badenoch is a talented speaker and very articulate. I am coming to the view though, that she does not apply that talent in a way that shouts “party leader.”
She likes debating culture war topics. Great. Can she point to any great success in running her department, or a vision for the conservatism of the future? I think if they choose Badenoch they’re choosing someone who might give them a bit of a sugar rush at PMQs, but who I’m not convinced has what it takes to build back their electoral coalition.
FWIW (and its not much because I don't have a vote) that was the view I had come to as well. What the Tories need is someone who has a broader grasp and vision and I have yet to see that from her.
It's a pity because it's perfectly possible to hold Kemi's position on culture war topics at the same time as holding a voter friendly position on competent administration/wealth creation/provision of public services/all the other things voters want a government to do. Kemi's position is not by itself inimical to building vote-winning coalition for the Tories. But she needs to be seen to be interested in all the other things a government needs to do.
Hats off to Kemi. She manages to patronise the new Labour government for inevitably failing to meet the same housebuilding target her government failed to meet by a country mile
I think that speech sums up my views of Badenoch. It’s a clever opposition speech, it needles, it exposes fault lines, and it’s well delivered. But it essentially boils down to “we didn’t deliver as much as we should have done and you won’t either.”
Maybe it wasn’t the time for the grand vision, but I can see Badenoch falling into this pattern - being good at opposing, but having very little to say in return. We have just elected a government that didn’t say very much during the campaign or in opposition, but I am not sure it’s a tactic that any opposition party should rely on, nor one that should be particularly credited. Labour got away with it because they were the only credible choice for many, and the opposition was divided.
Labour's Ming Vase strategy, tedious and defensive as it was, did depend on them being gifted a Ming Vase by the 2019-24 government(s). Until the Conservative party comes to terms with how badly the public views them, pointing out the mediocrity of Starmer's Labour isn't going to get them very far.
And clever, needling speeches, well delivered... they were the stock in trade of another talented Conservative leader elected after a landslide defeat. Hague's result in 2001 shows the limits of that approach, and frankly he was easier for the public to warm to than Badenoch.
Comments
We have a wasp nest on the side of our French barn. But it’s tiny and not growing, and
the wasps aren’t any bother. It’s been liberating. All down to the wet winter, and possibly some sort of crash following the 2022 plague.
Lots of moths, crickets and other critters this year here in the Mâconnais though. And multiple bats.
The South was a base of support for the Democrats starting to erode, attacked by Nixon's southern strategy - a process furthered by the candidacy of Wallace.
There's no comparable shift underway in 2024, with much the same battleground, or near battleground, states in play as has been the case for a decade at least.
https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/survey-results/daily/2024/07/30/65187/1
I've heard it will scar you for life.
Report back later.
We also seem to have a large number of Roesel's bush-cricket this year. I'm sure they used to be only found further south.
The Telegraph have lost not so much the plot as the collected works of Agatha Christie.
I find it quite therapeutic.
Talking of hairs some large tarantulas flick urticating hairs at things that menace them.
I've been centre-right since forever, but having seen the cycnicism with which politics were in my view handled by the last Government, I am within a whisker of being NEVER , EVER Tory. My formulation is that there is zero chance of me voting Conservative until there has been a complete replacement of the leadership generation, and a major change of philosophy.
I really have little enthusiasm for any of the candidates, nor do I have anything personal about Badenoch, but it maybe was unfortunate for her that at the time she went on holiday, the actual PM cancelled his
I do agree it is an impossible choice for politicians and one that many are caught out with, both before this and certainly will be again in the future
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0jfyb9w
https://x.com/atrupar/status/1825580900802761011
The Democratic nominees can talk about the border, despite acknowledging it as a point on which they can be attacked.
Trump and Vance are really struggling to give a coherent answer on the abortion question, to anyone but the true believers.
Kemi would have been cancelling her holiday, at her own expense, to attend one of many political rallies to which almost no-one was paying attention - because the Lobby are all on holiday too.
With a promise of "see all those things we failed to do in 14 years, we really really will do them this time" ?
https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/mike-lynchs-co-defendant-us-trial-critically-injured-uk-road-accident-source-2024-08-19/
It was a proper geekgasm.
Channel 4 News.
Staff will be instructed in ‘critical whiteness studies’ and dealing with the ‘dominant paradigm of whiteness’"
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/19/avoid-meetings-in-racist-buildings-welsh-librarians-told/
‘It’s really important they understand that it says something about how bad you are when you file with the Telegraph,’ said one instructor.
‘You reveal, even if you don’t realise it, that you’re completely untrustworthy and prefer sensation seeking headlines and mindless badly-researched bullshit to proper reporting.’
Journalists instead will be encouraged to publish through sites that take accuracy seriously, such as the The Daily Sport, possibly with the Daily Mash as backup.
"Lovely quote heard this morning on the BBC World Service,
"The only way Donald Trump could get smaller attendances at his rallies is if he were to invite Nigel Farage to speak""
https://x.com/archer_rs/status/1825400385097302527
I reckon Spurs will beat us at least 3 nil.
He could also invite Liz Truss.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/13/israel-gaza-historian-omer-bartov
Allison Pearson
@AllisonPearson
·
7h
Neither of these can be true.
What sort of poll is this?
https://x.com/AllisonPearson/status/1825494348164632798
===
Looks like a Cleverly landslide then?
With Trump he's doing the same act he has for years and goes on forever (all about himself, naturally), at least fewer people will have seen Harris and Walz before so it is a bit more fresh.
— Evil Overlord List, Rule #24
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThisCannotBe
Cleverly would be the sensible choice, I'm hoping for Badenoch because I think it would be hilarious.
I see that Truss won't handover her casework to the new MP, her office claiming she's diligently still working on it. Which is apparently a huge surprise to the constituents and probably illegal under DPA.
Further note that
> RN was FAR more esteemed in 1968 than DJT is in 2024; the former's maximum unpopularity with liberals/moderates was AFTER he was elected POTUS.
> Fact that 1968 Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago was NOT in itself a major factor behind protests, which would have taken place WHEREVER the DNC was held
> As for the Windy City, note that Richard Daley (the Elder OR Younger) is NOT mayor and also NOT the major local figure convention-wise THIS year; that person is Illinois Gov J.B Pritzker.
At best they will be geek-shows to amuse the MAGA-maniacs.
Farage I get.
She's a groupie who is tagging along with the MAGA band as best (or worst) she can.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0jkc9l9
Apologies if this is a repost - not sure where I found it from.
"We're gonna deport a lot of people, 10 million people and growing - anchor babies, their parents, their grandparents. We're gonna put kids in cages. It's gonna be glorious." @JasonSCampbell
- Mike Davis, The Article III Project. Ex-Gorsuch clerk.
https://x.com/highbrow_nobrow/status/1825607724379582555
I wonder if it’s time for TRUSS to stage a remarkable - and overdue - coup of the Conservative & Unionist Party? Her strong leadership and spirit of policy innovation could be quite the tonic for the organisation.
#Time4Truss
So she went missing during the biggest news story impacting on any job she's ever held. And went missing during the election campaign. And has now gone missing during the hustings.
You might forgive one of those. Maybe even excuse away two of them. But three is surely pushing it too far.
The main part of the LoTO's job is to oppose the government - and to do that, they need to actually turn up and show some interest in whatever ministers are saying and doing.
An interesting approach The risk is people will see through her. I don't think it's would work in government but as leader of the opposition she is much less likely to be challenged.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/24528546.probe-launched-sky-news-election-interview-douglas-ross/?ref=ebbn&nid=1457&u=f140ec39d500193051a33e140c12bd95&date=190824
I'm not one for tinfoil-hatting, but is this stretching coincidences too far?
For that matter, her staff/volunteers will be in an even weaker position, especially if they had no previous service when Ms Truss was a MP.
And if I had an inquiry from her I'd reply that I couldn't possibly discuss people's private and personal matters unless I had a written confirmation from these persons. I couldn't even *confirm* if I had anything to do with the Mr X or Ms Y of 22 Mangelwurzel View.
https://x.com/vladdavidzon/status/1825618401160475018
A highly placed Zelensky admin source to me: “Keeping the Americans in the dark was also key to keeping the Russian intelligence services and army from being able to prepare. “We have learned some very hard lessons from the events of the previous counteroffensive,” a highly placed member of Zelenskyy’s team informed Tablet.
City Airport is dominated by short-haul flights taken by London's monied elite.
But Labour will always choose their corporate mates over tackling the climate crisis.
I was just another working stiff, turning the wheels of the economy by doing things that other people valued enough to pay for them, like most people taking flights out of London City I suspect.
Maybe it wasn’t the time for the grand vision, but I can see Badenoch falling into this pattern - being good at opposing, but having very little to say in return. We have just elected a government that didn’t say very much during the campaign or in opposition, but I am not sure it’s a tactic that any opposition party should rely on, nor one that should be particularly credited. Labour got away with it because they were the only credible choice for many, and the opposition was divided.
Thanks for the detailed comment.
Of course, it’s quite a stretch to think people are suddenly going to jump back aboard the Tory train, but our politics is volatile. It’s equally possible we get a LAB/CON/REF 3 way split and the next GE is bonkers.
Kyle is like a rolled-up copy of the Daily Express, but the POA guy is very good and keeps him on the backfoot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq2A5SgJVNE
Used to love it when the place was even smaller and it was like turning up at the bus station for a flight.
And clever, needling speeches, well delivered... they were the stock in trade of another talented Conservative leader elected after a landslide defeat. Hague's result in 2001 shows the limits of that approach, and frankly he was easier for the public to warm to than Badenoch.