While some quibble about smoking in beer gardens and let's face it, it isn't a hill (or garden) on which I would choose to die, much more serious matters don't get the attention they deserve:
A reminder that thirty days from now, that figure will reset to zero and stay there for good, bringing an end to coal burning for mass power in the UK.
Genuinely landmark moment.
Does that include imported electricity?
Does 'coal burning for mass power in the UK' include imported electricity?
Gee, well...
More seriously I think most of our imports are from Norway (hydro) and France (wind and nuclear) when they have a surplus, so I'm guessing very little of our imports are coal fired anyway.
It all depends on how one looks at it, given how interconnected the UK/EU now are. We currently are quite heavy net importers, as government policy has been to close down dispatchable power and replace it with wind/solar when it's available and imports when it isn't.
Looking at the EU as a whole it would be a lot better for the environment to have kept Radcliffe going flat out and turned off one of the German lignite plants instead, but as usual our policy is to offshore all the as many of our carbon emissions as possible and then pretend we've gone green.
Carbon dioxide. We emit carbon dioxide. Not graphite or diamonds.
Not particularly. The main issue is a lack of direct evidence. No bloody knife in hand standing over a dead baby. Lots of very ill children died, there were lots of issues on the ward. She might have killed kids. I don't know either way, but it's too facile to suggest people are only interested/making noises because she is a relatively attractive blond woman.
The attacks on the verdicts I have seen lack the crucial element needed. There is a series of convictions by juries on the evidence and a 58 page Court of Appeal judgement.
To attack the verdicts, critics need to be able to frame with precision exactly the grounds on which they think the verdicts are unsafe, and do this in relation to the evidence base as it emerged over several months, and show how these grounds go to the root of the matter, which is the evidence of guilt or innocence. This is a hard and expert task.
Nothing I have seen so far gets close to this.
In practice, though not in law, they need also to explain with relation to expert evidence why the defence did not attempt to adduce evidence to cast doubt on the prosecution case.
From para 5 of the Court of Appeal:
Two points may be noted at the outset. First, though the defence instructed a number of expert witnesses of their own, and many reports were served from them before and during the trial, no expert evidence was called on the applicant’s behalf
Your arguments apply equally to every single miscarriage of justice which has ever happened, including the near 1,000 post office convictions. Which sort of undermines them a bit.
This perfectly reasonable point is noted. However, the point applies to every single contested conviction. It applies here, but it has no special application in this case, and doesn't deal with the point that generalised dust throwing is no substitute for precise grounds for thinking a conviction is doubtful.
For myself I have an open mind but have not yet seen anything which seems to undermine in a precise way the safety of the verdicts.
It's just too nerdy for this site, but for starters the evidence about natural vs artificial insulin is desperately flawed. And the failure to introduce expert evidence by the defence is incomprehensible - if nothing else you can always legitimately point out limitations in the evidence against you even if you have no positive case to make.
Unless and until there is a reasoned account of the defence approach in not calling expert evidence (see para 5 of the Court of Appeal) then the critics are working in the dark. IIRC Private Eye even suggested (desperation) that they didn't because the tactic was to take strong case for no case to answer to the Court of Appeal rather than adduce expert evidence. Er...No.
The working assumption has to be that defence research with experts did not help them, though anything at all that cast doubt would have been seized on. We know that they tried. I fear that the limitations in the defence evidence was on account of the fact that the final verdicts were, tragically, correct. But I keep an open mind.
If there is a clear evidence fail in the insulin evidence then of course the CCRC will be very interested. IANAE.
While some quibble about smoking in beer gardens and let's face it, it isn't a hill (or garden) on which I would choose to die, much more serious matters don't get the attention they deserve:
Watching the mini-stooshie over a possible (no one has even put very specific proposals forward yet), I wonder what will happen when the proposal is made to reduce drink-driving limits to the level where driving is only say 300% or 50% more likely to kill you compared to no alcohol in the blood, and random blood tests for alcohol and drugs which have majority support.
Presumably Howard Cox will be having another fit, to match the one he has just had about the extended temporary duty reductions on fuel being ended .
The electorate are much more volatile , the landslide was shallow with lots of seats with small majorities.
A caveat being that in a closer election the Green , Lib Dem vote might feel less able to vote freely if they’re determined to keep the Tories out again .
Minority view I know, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by SKS in government. Early days, of course, but his focus appears to be on reform and improved efficiency rather than courting popularity. Very different to Blair in that respect and in a good way as far as I’m concerned.
It's simply too early to say. The summer has been a dead period politically as usual, so Sunak spoiled Starmers honeymoon. Let's see what things look like after 6 months and we have a new Tory leader.
I didn't vote Labour because of its statist approach to every problem, and it's unwillingness to call out Brexit as a mistake. I feel vindicated.
We laugh, but he has seemed to me to p*ss off a sizeable chunk of people in a very short space of time. I find him oddly charmless and rather prickly.
He can probably afford to p*ss people off, if he delivers meaningful results. But the jury will be out on that one for some time.
Remember, I've always said this will be a one term government, despite the landslide.
Starmer might be a one term PM, not sure Labour will be a one term government, if the polls suggest he is heading for defeat they will likely replace him with someone more Blairite like Streeting.
If they replaced him with someone more leftwing like Rayner however that Labour majority could soon go even if Labour still won most seats
Streeting is gone at the next election. He barely hung on 2024, so 2029? No chance!
Streeting will hold on next time, second place in his seat was a hard left Gaza activist and that will likely be less of an issue next time, he was still a comfortable 13% clear of the Tories ie he had a bigger lead over the Tories than the national average Labour lead. Albeit Dr Kaz Rizvi was a good local candidate who kept the Tory decline below the national swing
I think it's fair to say that smokers don't realise how much the rest of us (86%) resent them.
There will be a huge generational split too. This isn't government for the old anymore.
Read the data or read the data not: there is no "there will be"
18-24 has the strongest opposition to the ban. Smoking is cool and they are immortal.
No it doesn't. Indeed they have the lowest rate of Strong opposition.
Lowest rate of strong support, by a much wider margin.
And as usual more don't knows.
There really isn't an age or class bias to the survey. Perhaps Gen X least keen on the ban.
Old enough to be used to smoking, young enough to have not yet died of it.
Gen X is the most hedonistic and small-l libertarian. Live and let live.
There are far more pressing priorities than banning stuff.
I'm Gen X and you're right.
We're like the best of all worlds, IMO. We're quite conservative economically (as we grew up with Thatch and saw what she did) but we're quite socially liberal at the same time!
Lets have more Gen-X PM's after Keith to sort the country out!
We laugh, but he has seemed to me to p*ss off a sizeable chunk of people in a very short space of time. I find him oddly charmless and rather prickly.
He can probably afford to p*ss people off, if he delivers meaningful results. But the jury will be out on that one for some time.
Remember, I've always said this will be a one term government, despite the landslide.
Starmer might be a one term PM, not sure Labour will be a one term government, if the polls suggest he is heading for defeat they will likely replace him with someone more Blairite like Streeting.
If they replaced him with someone more leftwing like Rayner however that Labour majority could soon go even if Labour still won most seats
Streeting is gone at the next election. He barely hung on 2024, so 2029? No chance!
Streeting will hold on next term, second place was a hard left Gaza activist, he was still well clear of the Tories
You think the hard left will go away during SKS's government? Over the next five years this government will face pincer movement from both the left and the right, IMO.
Minority view I know, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by SKS in government. Early days, of course, but his focus appears to be on reform and improved efficiency rather than courting popularity. Very different to Blair in that respect and in a good way as far as I’m concerned.
It's simply too early to say. The summer has been a dead period politically as usual, so Sunak spoiled Starmers honeymoon. Let's see what things look like after 6 months and we have a new Tory leader.
I didn't vote Labour because of its statist approach to every problem, and it's unwillingness to call out Brexit as a mistake. I feel vindicated.
Oh indeed. But thinking about the early days of Blair. It was all Cool Britannia reception at Downing Street and the guff about the People’s Princess, where Starmer appears to have decided to get down to business. So far, I approve.
The electorate are much more volatile , the landslide was shallow with lots of seats with small majorities.
A caveat being that in a closer election the Green , Lib Dem vote might feel less able to vote freely if they’re determined to keep the Tories out again .
Yes. Far too early to call the next GE. For one thing, there's a lot of road left to run on the Reform/Tory psychodrama, and goodness knows how that one ends. And if the economy improves and people see even marginal improvements in services then it becomes a very different story.
But at the moment, this doesn't feel like a 1997-2001 story by any stretch.
I think it's fair to say that smokers don't realise how much the rest of us (86%) resent them.
There will be a huge generational split too.
Edit: I'm completely wrong haha! Pretty even across all age groups. Vapers influencing the figures for young people?
It's actually consistent across all groups polled except for, like usual, Reform voters.
I'm a non-smoker - I can count the cigarettes I've had on my fingers, but I don't see why anyone but a complete cretin would resent a group that pays exorbitant tax, goes and indulges their habit in the freezing cold, then kindly pops off about a decade earlier than anyone else, doesn’t get dementia, doesn’t need long term social care, doesn't end up in nappies etc. etc. etc.
Just realise that what other people do is *none of your business*. We are every bit as censorious as the Victorians these days, minus their overachieving work ethic.
When you have a public health service, the health of others is your business because it affects the quality of healthcare you receive and the amount of tax you pay. As we discussed earlier; spreadsheet accounting isn't sufficient - the UK would be a more prosperous and healthier country without smokers, and therefore better for everyone.
There is also an altruistic element to this - death by lung disease is a terrible way to go, and you also have higher risks of heart conditions, mental health issues, erectile dysfunction...
On a personal level, smokers have ruined many a beautiful day in Scotland. They don't come around very often, and I want to sit in the sun with my pint without putting up with it (including cherry bath bomb vapes).
Do it in your own garden and stop wanting to ruin the rest of the population's day you selfish arsehole. You are not forced to sit next to them and any halfwit talking about beer gardens in Scotland is obviously a loony, at best you are talking twice a year and then only if you are stupid enough to sit next to a smoker. Is there anything you don't want banned or restricted. You must be a laugh a minute down the pub.
Given a large majority don't smoke, it's the smoker who is the selfish arsehole.
(and we get some beautiful weather on the east coast - only 53mm so far in August, compared with 215mm (lol) in Glasgow)
No idea on Glasgow , but on West coast this year anyone attempting to smoke in a beer garden would be on their lonesome, been 2 days max when you could have sat outside without drowning and/or hypothermia.
I have to say having a go at Harris for working in McDonalds when she was at university seems particularly stupid. It shows she's got work ethic and doesn't mind doing whatever it takes to pay her own way. Saying it's not transparent of her to leave it off her CV is ridiculous, I haven't put my uni job at Topman on my CV since probably 2008 after I got my first actual job I binned it.
We laugh, but he has seemed to me to p*ss off a sizeable chunk of people in a very short space of time. I find him oddly charmless and rather prickly.
He can probably afford to p*ss people off, if he delivers meaningful results. But the jury will be out on that one for some time.
Remember, I've always said this will be a one term government, despite the landslide.
Starmer might be a one term PM, not sure Labour will be a one term government, if the polls suggest he is heading for defeat they will likely replace him with someone more Blairite like Streeting.
If they replaced him with someone more leftwing like Rayner however that Labour majority could soon go even if Labour still won most seats
Streeting is gone at the next election. He barely hung on 2024, so 2029? No chance!
Streeting will hold on next term, second place was a hard left Gaza activist, he was still well clear of the Tories
You think the hard left will go away during SKS's government? Over the next five years this government will face pincer movement from both the left and the right, IMO.
If there is further leftwing leakage it will be to the Greens, not continuity Corbyn anti Israel hard left Gaza fanatics. If they couldn't win in Ilford N this year when the issue was at its peak they never will!
While some quibble about smoking in beer gardens and let's face it, it isn't a hill (or garden) on which I would choose to die, much more serious matters don't get the attention they deserve:
I've only scanned the story but no mention of one obvious issue - immigration.
Not sure what you mean by that remark.
The contest of providing temporary accommodation for the homeless is being carried by local Councils like Newham and is a big factor in a number of authorities heading towards Section 114 notices.
@BartholomewRoberts is right - we need a lot more housing but we need housing not just for developers to make profits or for a new generation of future Conservative voters to own. No, we need to provide suitable accommodation for those who don't have it and if that means providing heavily-subsidised accommodation at a loss for developers, so be it.
Providing adequate and safe accommodation for children should be a basic priority for all Governments.
We laugh, but he has seemed to me to p*ss off a sizeable chunk of people in a very short space of time. I find him oddly charmless and rather prickly.
He can probably afford to p*ss people off, if he delivers meaningful results. But the jury will be out on that one for some time.
Remember, I've always said this will be a one term government, despite the landslide.
I said it first! Before the election.
Got pilloried on here for it.
Yes, Starmer’s/Labour’s ratings are heading one way.
The issue is, who of Conservatives, Lib Dem’s, Reform benefits.
Until the Tories have a leader in place it will be difficult for them to benefit and if it's not Cleverly or Tugendhat then I think they will struggle to win people over from Labour, though Jenrick and Kemi will find it easier to win Reform voters back.
Why is Labour so terrified of a youth mobility scheme with the EU . We have these with a host of countries .
It’s not FOM and Starmer needs to get a grip and realize many Remainers have stomached his new found Brexit zeal and held their noses to vote Labour at the last GE to ensure the Tories would get sent packing .
Remainers want more opportunities for younger people to at least have the chance to spend a few years in an EU country .
My granddaughter has just spent the last year studying at Turin University
About one third fewer students at a similar cost for the scheme and tuition fees aren't covered by the scheme (the sending university either has to forgo the revenue or the student pays twice).
So kind of OK but not as good as what had before, as with everything else to do with Brexit.
The electorate are much more volatile , the landslide was shallow with lots of seats with small majorities.
A caveat being that in a closer election the Green , Lib Dem vote might feel less able to vote freely if they’re determined to keep the Tories out again .
For a serious answer, I think it really depends on progress being made in quite a lot of directions; there's a huge pile of crap to sort out. And a huge list of things that are merely obvious and sensible that have just been neglected for 5 or 10 years - an example of these is a BSI or Type Approval standard for e-bike / e-scooter batteries, and those that do not reach it being barred from the market.
I don't think Mr S is worried about the Right vote, who will vote against him no matter what, but could potentially be motivated / not motivated to turn out, depending on how the Conservatives sort themselves out or not, and how knuckle-dragging Reform UK are by then.
One populist pebble I will throw in the pool that might be smart politics if the numbers add up around Council Tax reform, is that Stamp Duty could be reduced or removed as a sweetener. It sounds as though the Chancellor is inclined towards a 0.5% tax on market value for Council Tax, and the Proportional Property Tax proposals whence that came include the removing of Stamp Duty.
I think if serious and demonstrable headway is made on some of the big things, then it will be 2 terms. But it could go both ways. I don't think the way ahead for either Tories or RefUK is to become ever more niche.
I have to say having a go at Harris for working in McDonalds when she was at university seems particularly stupid. It shows she's got work ethic and doesn't mind doing whatever it takes to pay her own way. Saying it's not transparent of her to leave it off her CV is ridiculous, I haven't put my uni job at Topman on my CV since probably 2008 after I got my first actual job I binned it.
There's a reason that the Republican campaign is doing stupid and desperate things right now...
I think it's fair to say that smokers don't realise how much the rest of us (86%) resent them.
There will be a huge generational split too.
Edit: I'm completely wrong haha! Pretty even across all age groups. Vapers influencing the figures for young people?
It's actually consistent across all groups polled except for, like usual, Reform voters.
I'm a non-smoker - I can count the cigarettes I've had on my fingers, but I don't see why anyone but a complete cretin would resent a group that pays exorbitant tax, goes and indulges their habit in the freezing cold, then kindly pops off about a decade earlier than anyone else, doesn’t get dementia, doesn’t need long term social care, doesn't end up in nappies etc. etc. etc.
Just realise that what other people do is *none of your business*. We are every bit as censorious as the Victorians these days, minus their overachieving work ethic.
When you have a public health service, the health of others is your business because it affects the quality of healthcare you receive and the amount of tax you pay. As we discussed earlier; spreadsheet accounting isn't sufficient - the UK would be a more prosperous and healthier country without smokers, and therefore better for everyone.
There is also an altruistic element to this - death by lung disease is a terrible way to go, and you also have higher risks of heart conditions, mental health issues, erectile dysfunction...
On a personal level, smokers have ruined many a beautiful day in Scotland. They don't come around very often, and I want to sit in the sun with my pint without putting up with it (including cherry bath bomb vapes).
Do it in your own garden and stop wanting to ruin the rest of the population's day you selfish arsehole. You are not forced to sit next to them and any halfwit talking about beer gardens in Scotland is obviously a loony, at best you are talking twice a year and then only if you are stupid enough to sit next to a smoker. Is there anything you don't want banned or restricted. You must be a laugh a minute down the pub.
Well I'm a never-smoker, but I've got to say if I ever head "oooopppp north" I think I'd rather enjoy a session in the pub with @malcolmg
Drunk Malc would be very entertaining! 😂
Never drunk nowadays Topping , but I was a terror as a youngster. Still be entertaining though. I would be happy to have abeer with your goodself or Gin if occasion arose.
I think it's fair to say that smokers don't realise how much the rest of us (86%) resent them.
There will be a huge generational split too.
Edit: I'm completely wrong haha! Pretty even across all age groups. Vapers influencing the figures for young people?
It's actually consistent across all groups polled except for, like usual, Reform voters.
I'm a non-smoker - I can count the cigarettes I've had on my fingers, but I don't see why anyone but a complete cretin would resent a group that pays exorbitant tax, goes and indulges their habit in the freezing cold, then kindly pops off about a decade earlier than anyone else, doesn’t get dementia, doesn’t need long term social care, doesn't end up in nappies etc. etc. etc.
Just realise that what other people do is *none of your business*. We are every bit as censorious as the Victorians these days, minus their overachieving work ethic.
When you have a public health service, the health of others is your business because it affects the quality of healthcare you receive and the amount of tax you pay. As we discussed earlier; spreadsheet accounting isn't sufficient - the UK would be a more prosperous and healthier country without smokers, and therefore better for everyone.
There is also an altruistic element to this - death by lung disease is a terrible way to go, and you also have higher risks of heart conditions, mental health issues, erectile dysfunction...
On a personal level, smokers have ruined many a beautiful day in Scotland. They don't come around very often, and I want to sit in the sun with my pint without putting up with it (including cherry bath bomb vapes).
Do it in your own garden and stop wanting to ruin the rest of the population's day you selfish arsehole. You are not forced to sit next to them and any halfwit talking about beer gardens in Scotland is obviously a loony, at best you are talking twice a year and then only if you are stupid enough to sit next to a smoker. Is there anything you don't want banned or restricted. You must be a laugh a minute down the pub.
Well I'm a never-smoker, but I've got to say if I ever head "oooopppp north" I think I'd rather enjoy a session in the pub with @malcolmg
Drunk Malc would be very entertaining! 😂
Never drunk nowadays Topping , but I was a terror as a youngster. Still be entertaining though. I would be happy to have abeer with your goodself or Gin if occasion arose.
This is GIN! And maybe next summer I'll head oppppp north and have a wee dram or two with your good self!
I read that the weekend strikes by ASLEF on LNER have been called off, as the dispute has been settled.
It's amazing how effective constructive talks (as well as sensible pay offers) are in settling industrial disputes. I think all the disputes inherited by Labour have now been settled, though I may be wrong.
Unison have just sent me an email inviting me to vote to strike. Although this is about this year's pay offer.
While some quibble about smoking in beer gardens and let's face it, it isn't a hill (or garden) on which I would choose to die, much more serious matters don't get the attention they deserve:
I've only scanned the story but no mention of one obvious issue - immigration.
Not sure what you mean by that remark.
The contest of providing temporary accommodation for the homeless is being carried by local Councils like Newham and is a big factor in a number of authorities heading towards Section 114 notices.
@BartholomewRoberts is right - we need a lot more housing but we need housing not just for developers to make profits or for a new generation of future Conservative voters to own. No, we need to provide suitable accommodation for those who don't have it and if that means providing heavily-subsidised accommodation at a loss for developers, so be it.
Providing adequate and safe accommodation for children should be a basic priority for all Governments.
It's an obvious factor in why there is not enough housing to go around, yet no mention is made in the story. Pretty obvious point, I would have thought.
The electorate are much more volatile , the landslide was shallow with lots of seats with small majorities.
A caveat being that in a closer election the Green , Lib Dem vote might feel less able to vote freely if they’re determined to keep the Tories out again .
For a serious answer, I think it really depends on progress being made in quite a lot of directions; there's a huge pile of crap to sort out.
I don't think Mr S is worried about the Right vote, who will vote against him no matter what, but could potentially be motivated / not motivated to turn out, depending on how the Conservatives sort themselves out or not, and how knuckle-dragging Reform UK are by then.
One populist pebble I will throw in the pool that might be smart politics if the numbers add up around Council Tax reform, is that Stamp Duty could be reduced or removed as a sweetener. It sounds as though the Chancellor is inclined towards a 0.5% tax on market value for Council Tax, and the Proportional Property Tax proposals whence that came include the removing of Stamp Duty.
Voters do seem to agree that the economy is in a bad place after Tory misrule.
We laugh, but he has seemed to me to p*ss off a sizeable chunk of people in a very short space of time. I find him oddly charmless and rather prickly.
He can probably afford to p*ss people off, if he delivers meaningful results. But the jury will be out on that one for some time.
Remember, I've always said this will be a one term government, despite the landslide.
I said it first! Before the election.
Got pilloried on here for it.
Yes, Starmer’s/Labour’s ratings are heading one way.
The issue is, who of Conservatives, Lib Dem’s, Reform benefits.
Until the Tories have a leader in place it will be difficult for them to benefit and if it's not Cleverly or Tugendhat then I think they will struggle to win people over from Labour, though Jenrick and Kemi will find it easier to win Reform voters back.
The problem is how do the Conservatives attract voters from one side without shipping roughly as many voters on the other side. Sunak never solved that, which is why he spent so much of the time looking like a rabbit caught in headlights.
This has nothing to do with whether Starmer is a good PM or not, or whether any of the Conservative options would be better. It's just that the shape of the party system is much harder for the Conservatives to navigate than it has been in the past.
I read that the weekend strikes by ASLEF on LNER have been called off, as the dispute has been settled.
It's amazing how effective constructive talks (as well as sensible pay offers) are in settling industrial disputes. I think all the disputes inherited by Labour have now been settled, though I may be wrong.
Who thought banning smoking in the garden of pubs should be on the No 10 grid the day after telling the country in massively major speech that the economy is fucked and swinging by Germany to confirm young people will not be able to travel on visa any easier?
Who thought banning smoking in the garden of pubs should be on the No 10 grid the day after telling the country in massively major speech that the economy is fucked and swinging by Germany to confirm young people will not be able to travel on visa any easier?
What is this all adding up to?
It's a mess.
There's no strategy because Starmer is a second rate politician and the Labour front bench is full of pygmies. We're in a continuity government from the Tories but with much lower economic growth incoming.
We laugh, but he has seemed to me to p*ss off a sizeable chunk of people in a very short space of time. I find him oddly charmless and rather prickly.
He can probably afford to p*ss people off, if he delivers meaningful results. But the jury will be out on that one for some time.
Remember, I've always said this will be a one term government, despite the landslide.
I said it first! Before the election.
Got pilloried on here for it.
Yes, Starmer’s/Labour’s ratings are heading one way.
The issue is, who of Conservatives, Lib Dem’s, Reform benefits.
Until the Tories have a leader in place it will be difficult for them to benefit and if it's not Cleverly or Tugendhat then I think they will struggle to win people over from Labour, though Jenrick and Kemi will find it easier to win Reform voters back.
Oppositions don't win elections, Governments lose them. The Tories won't need to 'win voters' back from Labour - they need to have a clear set of good conservative policies, and oppose. If Starmer goes on like this he won't make it to the next election.
Minority view I know, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by SKS in government. Early days, of course, but his focus appears to be on reform and improved efficiency rather than courting popularity. Very different to Blair in that respect and in a good way as far as I’m concerned.
You must be the sort of guy who smiles pleasantly when stepping in dogshit as good luck.
I read that the weekend strikes by ASLEF on LNER have been called off, as the dispute has been settled.
It's amazing how effective constructive talks (as well as sensible pay offers) are in settling industrial disputes. I think all the disputes inherited by Labour have now been settled, though I may be wrong.
We laugh, but he has seemed to me to p*ss off a sizeable chunk of people in a very short space of time. I find him oddly charmless and rather prickly.
He can probably afford to p*ss people off, if he delivers meaningful results. But the jury will be out on that one for some time.
Remember, I've always said this will be a one term government, despite the landslide.
I said it first! Before the election.
Got pilloried on here for it.
Yes, Starmer’s/Labour’s ratings are heading one way.
The issue is, who of Conservatives, Lib Dem’s, Reform benefits.
Until the Tories have a leader in place it will be difficult for them to benefit and if it's not Cleverly or Tugendhat then I think they will struggle to win people over from Labour, though Jenrick and Kemi will find it easier to win Reform voters back.
The problem is how do the Conservatives attract voters from one side without shipping roughly as many voters on the other side. Sunak never solved that, which is why he spent so much of the time looking like a rabbit caught in headlights.
This has nothing to do with whether Starmer is a good PM or not, or whether any of the Conservative options would be better. It's just that the shape of the party system is much harder for the Conservatives to navigate than it has been in the past.
It's clear that the Tories need a leader who makes the weather, carves out a new course, creates a new politics leads rather than follows and communicates a clear set of beliefs, aims and objectives. In addition, absolutely top leadership skills are required (hard to spot but can be tested for).
It is equally clear that at the moment no-one appears close to this. The next leader will be the 10th since Thatcher. Cameron could have come close to being good but failed the crucial test in 2016 by resigning at the one moment this was impossible. No-one else since MrsT comes close to what is needed. This will continue unless a miracle occurs.
I read that the weekend strikes by ASLEF on LNER have been called off, as the dispute has been settled.
It's amazing how effective constructive talks (as well as sensible pay offers) are in settling industrial disputes. I think all the disputes inherited by Labour have now been settled, though I may be wrong.
We laugh, but he has seemed to me to p*ss off a sizeable chunk of people in a very short space of time. I find him oddly charmless and rather prickly.
He can probably afford to p*ss people off, if he delivers meaningful results. But the jury will be out on that one for some time.
Remember, I've always said this will be a one term government, despite the landslide.
I said it first! Before the election.
Got pilloried on here for it.
Yes, Starmer’s/Labour’s ratings are heading one way.
The issue is, who of Conservatives, Lib Dem’s, Reform benefits.
Until the Tories have a leader in place it will be difficult for them to benefit and if it's not Cleverly or Tugendhat then I think they will struggle to win people over from Labour, though Jenrick and Kemi will find it easier to win Reform voters back.
Oppositions don't win elections, Governments lose them. The Tories won't need to 'win voters' back from Labour - they need to have a clear set of good conservative policies, and oppose. If Starmer goes on like this he won't make it to the next election.
We laugh, but he has seemed to me to p*ss off a sizeable chunk of people in a very short space of time. I find him oddly charmless and rather prickly.
He can probably afford to p*ss people off, if he delivers meaningful results. But the jury will be out on that one for some time.
Remember, I've always said this will be a one term government, despite the landslide.
I said it first! Before the election.
Got pilloried on here for it.
Yes, Starmer’s/Labour’s ratings are heading one way.
The issue is, who of Conservatives, Lib Dem’s, Reform benefits.
I doubt it will be the Lib Dems. Their average voter base is now way to the Right of where they're comfortable, and Starmer is about to hit affluent voters hard.
I have to say having a go at Harris for working in McDonalds when she was at university seems particularly stupid. It shows she's got work ethic and doesn't mind doing whatever it takes to pay her own way. Saying it's not transparent of her to leave it off her CV is ridiculous, I haven't put my uni job at Topman on my CV since probably 2008 after I got my first actual job I binned it.
We laugh, but he has seemed to me to p*ss off a sizeable chunk of people in a very short space of time. I find him oddly charmless and rather prickly.
He can probably afford to p*ss people off, if he delivers meaningful results. But the jury will be out on that one for some time.
Remember, I've always said this will be a one term government, despite the landslide.
I said it first! Before the election.
Got pilloried on here for it.
Yes, Starmer’s/Labour’s ratings are heading one way.
The issue is, who of Conservatives, Lib Dem’s, Reform benefits.
Until the Tories have a leader in place it will be difficult for them to benefit and if it's not Cleverly or Tugendhat then I think they will struggle to win people over from Labour, though Jenrick and Kemi will find it easier to win Reform voters back.
I don't think Tugendhat is wet, not in the slightest, but the trouble is he looks like he's cosplaying Mark Darcy in Bridget Jones' Diary.
Who thought banning smoking in the garden of pubs should be on the No 10 grid the day after telling the country in massively major speech that the economy is fucked and swinging by Germany to confirm young people will not be able to travel on visa any easier?
What is this all adding up to?
It's a mess.
There's no strategy because Starmer is a second rate politician and the Labour front bench is full of pygmies. We're in a continuity government from the Tories but with much lower economic growth incoming.
It's been very disappointing so far.
Reeves has been useless and now Starmer seems to handing government policy over to Sue Gray.
"Sir Keir Starmer is facing a backlash from Labour MPs and ministers over his “mad” plan to outlaw smoking in pub beer gardens.
One MP called it “an attack on working-class culture”, while another source claimed some ministers believed Sue Gray, Sir Keir’s chief of staff, was behind the proposal. "
We laugh, but he has seemed to me to p*ss off a sizeable chunk of people in a very short space of time. I find him oddly charmless and rather prickly.
He can probably afford to p*ss people off, if he delivers meaningful results. But the jury will be out on that one for some time.
Remember, I've always said this will be a one term government, despite the landslide.
I said it first! Before the election.
Got pilloried on here for it.
Yes, Starmer’s/Labour’s ratings are heading one way.
The issue is, who of Conservatives, Lib Dem’s, Reform benefits.
Until the Tories have a leader in place it will be difficult for them to benefit and if it's not Cleverly or Tugendhat then I think they will struggle to win people over from Labour, though Jenrick and Kemi will find it easier to win Reform voters back.
The problem is how do the Conservatives attract voters from one side without shipping roughly as many voters on the other side. Sunak never solved that, which is why he spent so much of the time looking like a rabbit caught in headlights.
This has nothing to do with whether Starmer is a good PM or not, or whether any of the Conservative options would be better. It's just that the shape of the party system is much harder for the Conservatives to navigate than it has been in the past.
It's quite simple. The Conservatives reduce and control immigration, whilst delivering economic competence, low tax and investing in infrastructure, industry and business in the north. Without corruption or bad behaviour.
SKS reported to have removed a painting of Margaret Thatcher from 10 Downing Street study.
Later he realised it was a mirror.
I don't remember Thatcher hammering pensioners and whacking up taxes on those with assets and entrepreneurs with higher CGT? Starmer has also overseen the biggest jailing of nationalist far right activists in modern history
We laugh, but he has seemed to me to p*ss off a sizeable chunk of people in a very short space of time. I find him oddly charmless and rather prickly.
He can probably afford to p*ss people off, if he delivers meaningful results. But the jury will be out on that one for some time.
Remember, I've always said this will be a one term government, despite the landslide.
I said it first! Before the election.
Got pilloried on here for it.
Yes, Starmer’s/Labour’s ratings are heading one way.
The issue is, who of Conservatives, Lib Dem’s, Reform benefits.
Until the Tories have a leader in place it will be difficult for them to benefit and if it's not Cleverly or Tugendhat then I think they will struggle to win people over from Labour, though Jenrick and Kemi will find it easier to win Reform voters back.
Oppositions don't win elections, Governments lose them. The Tories won't need to 'win voters' back from Labour - they need to have a clear set of good conservative policies, and oppose. If Starmer goes on like this he won't make it to the next election.
I think that's generally true, but it will matter who the Tories have leading them and if they're able to sell some kind of realistic alternative when it comes down to the crunch. Starmer wasn't very inspiring in the GE campaign, but people saw him as an acceptable proposition.
The interesting one for me is whether the main beneficiary could be the "pox on both your houses" vote. If that's the case, parties like the Greens, LDs and Reform might suddenly surge. We might start seeing some bonkers poll results.
Who thought banning smoking in the garden of pubs should be on the No 10 grid the day after telling the country in massively major speech that the economy is fucked and swinging by Germany to confirm young people will not be able to travel on visa any easier?
What is this all adding up to?
It's a mess.
There's no strategy because Starmer is a second rate politician and the Labour front bench is full of pygmies. We're in a continuity government from the Tories but with much lower economic growth incoming.
It's been very disappointing so far.
Reeves has been useless and now Starmer seems to handing government policy over to Sue Gray.
"Sir Keir Starmer is facing a backlash from Labour MPs and ministers over his “mad” plan to outlaw smoking in pub beer gardens.
One MP called it “an attack on working-class culture”, while another source claimed some ministers believed Sue Gray, Sir Keir’s chief of staff, was behind the proposal. "
We laugh, but he has seemed to me to p*ss off a sizeable chunk of people in a very short space of time. I find him oddly charmless and rather prickly.
He can probably afford to p*ss people off, if he delivers meaningful results. But the jury will be out on that one for some time.
Remember, I've always said this will be a one term government, despite the landslide.
I said it first! Before the election.
Got pilloried on here for it.
Yes, Starmer’s/Labour’s ratings are heading one way.
The issue is, who of Conservatives, Lib Dem’s, Reform benefits.
I doubt it will be the Lib Dems. Their average voter base is now way to the Right of where they're comfortable, and Starmer is about to hit affluent voters hard.
It's going to be hard to push up the number of LD seats from a high not reached for a century, but not impossible. Davey is a much more experienced and competent campaigner than either Starmer or any of the dirty half dozen Tory candidates.
Davey doesn't support withdrawing the WFA or taxing school fees for example, and if disquiet grows over the Brexit drag on our economy more likely to benefit than the Tories.
We laugh, but he has seemed to me to p*ss off a sizeable chunk of people in a very short space of time. I find him oddly charmless and rather prickly.
He can probably afford to p*ss people off, if he delivers meaningful results. But the jury will be out on that one for some time.
Remember, I've always said this will be a one term government, despite the landslide.
I said it first! Before the election.
Got pilloried on here for it.
Yes, Starmer’s/Labour’s ratings are heading one way.
The issue is, who of Conservatives, Lib Dem’s, Reform benefits.
Until the Tories have a leader in place it will be difficult for them to benefit and if it's not Cleverly or Tugendhat then I think they will struggle to win people over from Labour, though Jenrick and Kemi will find it easier to win Reform voters back.
Oppositions don't win elections, Governments lose them. The Tories won't need to 'win voters' back from Labour - they need to have a clear set of good conservative policies, and oppose. If Starmer goes on like this he won't make it to the next election.
Tories should get Truss back as Leader.
Aww. A little like Led By Donkeys, facing up to the stalinist misery of living under the Sir Sauron, your only comfort is to go back to lame Truss jokes. Tell me, have you had the moment where you wonder if you're the baddies yet?
SKS reported to have removed a painting of Margaret Thatcher from 10 Downing Street study.
Later he realised it was a mirror.
I don't remember Thatcher hammering pensioners and whacking up taxes on those with assets and entrepreneurs with higher CGT? Starmer has also overseen the biggest jailing of nationalist far right activists in modern history
One of Thatcher's first acts was to cut benefits to pensioners and put up taxes - and she was happy to see criminals jailed.
SKS reported to have removed a painting of Margaret Thatcher from 10 Downing Street study.
Later he realised it was a mirror.
I saw that earlier. All I'll say is... it's up to him. BUT, given he doesn't own Downing St. and he doesn't own that painting, I hope it's being stored somewhere for safe keeping so when he's booted out on his arse in 2029, the next PM can restore it to it's rightful place....
We laugh, but he has seemed to me to p*ss off a sizeable chunk of people in a very short space of time. I find him oddly charmless and rather prickly.
He can probably afford to p*ss people off, if he delivers meaningful results. But the jury will be out on that one for some time.
Remember, I've always said this will be a one term government, despite the landslide.
I said it first! Before the election.
Got pilloried on here for it.
Yes, Starmer’s/Labour’s ratings are heading one way.
The issue is, who of Conservatives, Lib Dem’s, Reform benefits.
Until the Tories have a leader in place it will be difficult for them to benefit and if it's not Cleverly or Tugendhat then I think they will struggle to win people over from Labour, though Jenrick and Kemi will find it easier to win Reform voters back.
Oppositions don't win elections, Governments lose them. The Tories won't need to 'win voters' back from Labour - they need to have a clear set of good conservative policies, and oppose. If Starmer goes on like this he won't make it to the next election.
Tories should get Truss back as Leader.
Aww. A little like Led By Donkeys, facing up to the stalinist misery of living under the Sir Sauron, your only comfort is to go back to lame Truss jokes. Tell me, have you had the moment where you wonder if you're the baddies yet?
Sorry, I've checked and Truss jokes are actually still funny.
We laugh, but he has seemed to me to p*ss off a sizeable chunk of people in a very short space of time. I find him oddly charmless and rather prickly.
He can probably afford to p*ss people off, if he delivers meaningful results. But the jury will be out on that one for some time.
Remember, I've always said this will be a one term government, despite the landslide.
Starmer might be a one term PM, not sure Labour will be a one term government, if the polls suggest he is heading for defeat they will likely replace him with someone more Blairite like Streeting.
If they replaced him with someone more leftwing like Rayner however that Labour majority could soon go even if Labour still won most seats
Streeting is gone at the next election. He barely hung on 2024, so 2029? No chance!
We laugh, but he has seemed to me to p*ss off a sizeable chunk of people in a very short space of time. I find him oddly charmless and rather prickly.
He can probably afford to p*ss people off, if he delivers meaningful results. But the jury will be out on that one for some time.
Remember, I've always said this will be a one term government, despite the landslide.
I said it first! Before the election.
Got pilloried on here for it.
Yes, Starmer’s/Labour’s ratings are heading one way.
The issue is, who of Conservatives, Lib Dem’s, Reform benefits.
Until the Tories have a leader in place it will be difficult for them to benefit and if it's not Cleverly or Tugendhat then I think they will struggle to win people over from Labour, though Jenrick and Kemi will find it easier to win Reform voters back.
Oppositions don't win elections, Governments lose them. The Tories won't need to 'win voters' back from Labour - they need to have a clear set of good conservative policies, and oppose. If Starmer goes on like this he won't make it to the next election.
Tories should get Truss back as Leader.
Aww. A little like Led By Donkeys, facing up to the stalinist misery of living under the Sir Sauron, your only comfort is to go back to lame Truss jokes. Tell me, have you had the moment where you wonder if you're the baddies yet?
Sorry, I've checked and Truss jokes are actually still funny.
Foxy's one was about as funny as an appendectomy. It's like he didn't even have the heart to make it a proper joke.
SKS reported to have removed a painting of Margaret Thatcher from 10 Downing Street study.
Later he realised it was a mirror.
I saw that earlier. All I'll say is... it's up to him. BUT, given he doesn't own Downing St. and he doesn't own that painting, I hope it's being stored somewhere for safe keeping so when he's booted out on his arse in 2029, the next PM can restore it to it's rightful place....
Of course it's being stored somewhere for safekeeping.
SKS reported to have removed a painting of Margaret Thatcher from 10 Downing Street study.
Later he realised it was a mirror.
I don't remember Thatcher hammering pensioners and whacking up taxes on those with assets and entrepreneurs with higher CGT? Starmer has also overseen the biggest jailing of nationalist far right activists in modern history
Nor did Thatcher impose VAT on private school fees and remove all hereditary peers from the Lords
SKS reported to have removed a painting of Margaret Thatcher from 10 Downing Street study.
Later he realised it was a mirror.
I don't remember Thatcher hammering pensioners and whacking up taxes on those with assets and entrepreneurs with higher CGT? Starmer has also overseen the biggest jailing of nationalist far right activists in modern history
"Nationalist Far Right activists"
Don't you mean violent offenders who assault police, loot shops and attempt arson?
SKS reported to have removed a painting of Margaret Thatcher from 10 Downing Street study.
Later he realised it was a mirror.
I don't remember Thatcher hammering pensioners and whacking up taxes on those with assets and entrepreneurs with higher CGT? Starmer has also overseen the biggest jailing of nationalist far right activists in modern history
One of Thatcher's first acts was to cut benefits to pensioners and put up taxes - and she was happy to see criminals jailed.
She slashed the top income tax rate from the near 90% she inherited by a third within her first term and to 40% by the time she left while also cutting the basic rate
We laugh, but he has seemed to me to p*ss off a sizeable chunk of people in a very short space of time. I find him oddly charmless and rather prickly.
He can probably afford to p*ss people off, if he delivers meaningful results. But the jury will be out on that one for some time.
Remember, I've always said this will be a one term government, despite the landslide.
I said it first! Before the election.
Got pilloried on here for it.
Yes, Starmer’s/Labour’s ratings are heading one way.
The issue is, who of Conservatives, Lib Dem’s, Reform benefits.
Until the Tories have a leader in place it will be difficult for them to benefit and if it's not Cleverly or Tugendhat then I think they will struggle to win people over from Labour, though Jenrick and Kemi will find it easier to win Reform voters back.
The problem is how do the Conservatives attract voters from one side without shipping roughly as many voters on the other side. Sunak never solved that, which is why he spent so much of the time looking like a rabbit caught in headlights.
This has nothing to do with whether Starmer is a good PM or not, or whether any of the Conservative options would be better. It's just that the shape of the party system is much harder for the Conservatives to navigate than it has been in the past.
It's quite simple. The Conservatives reduce and control immigration, whilst delivering economic competence, low tax and investing in infrastructure, industry and business in the north. Without corruption or bad behaviour.
This stuff isn't that complicated.
That’s their credibility problem though isn’t it?
The Conservatives reduce and control immigration: immigration rose to record levels under the last Tory govt and will almost certainly fall significantly in this parliament through simple maths (reversal of post Covid student anomalies, Ukraine and HK)
whilst delivering economic competence: Liz Truss
low tax: tax rose under the last government
and investing in infrastructure, industry and business in the north: they cancelled HS2 and spent levelling up funds on fixing London potholes
Without corruption or bad behaviour: Boris Johnson
We laugh, but he has seemed to me to p*ss off a sizeable chunk of people in a very short space of time. I find him oddly charmless and rather prickly.
He can probably afford to p*ss people off, if he delivers meaningful results. But the jury will be out on that one for some time.
Remember, I've always said this will be a one term government, despite the landslide.
I said it first! Before the election.
Got pilloried on here for it.
Yes, Starmer’s/Labour’s ratings are heading one way.
The issue is, who of Conservatives, Lib Dem’s, Reform benefits.
Until the Tories have a leader in place it will be difficult for them to benefit and if it's not Cleverly or Tugendhat then I think they will struggle to win people over from Labour, though Jenrick and Kemi will find it easier to win Reform voters back.
The problem is how do the Conservatives attract voters from one side without shipping roughly as many voters on the other side. Sunak never solved that, which is why he spent so much of the time looking like a rabbit caught in headlights.
This has nothing to do with whether Starmer is a good PM or not, or whether any of the Conservative options would be better. It's just that the shape of the party system is much harder for the Conservatives to navigate than it has been in the past.
It's quite simple. The Conservatives reduce and control immigration, whilst delivering economic competence, low tax and investing in infrastructure, industry and business in the north. Without corruption or bad behaviour.
This stuff isn't that complicated.
But they had 14 years and did the opposite. So why should they now?
SKS reported to have removed a painting of Margaret Thatcher from 10 Downing Street study.
Later he realised it was a mirror.
I don't remember Thatcher hammering pensioners and whacking up taxes on those with assets and entrepreneurs with higher CGT? Starmer has also overseen the biggest jailing of nationalist far right activists in modern history
One of Thatcher's first acts was to cut benefits to pensioners and put up taxes - and she was happy to see criminals jailed.
And Lawson equalised the CGT and income tax rates.
SKS reported to have removed a painting of Margaret Thatcher from 10 Downing Street study.
Later he realised it was a mirror.
I don't remember Thatcher hammering pensioners and whacking up taxes on those with assets and entrepreneurs with higher CGT? Starmer has also overseen the biggest jailing of nationalist far right activists in modern history
One of Thatcher's first acts was to cut benefits to pensioners and put up taxes - and she was happy to see criminals jailed.
She slashed the top income tax rate from the near 90% she inherited by a third within her first term and to 40% by the time she left while also cutting the basic rate
Her most stunning move, out of the blue, was to abolish exchange controls
SKS reported to have removed a painting of Margaret Thatcher from 10 Downing Street study.
Later he realised it was a mirror.
I saw that earlier. All I'll say is... it's up to him. BUT, given he doesn't own Downing St. and he doesn't own that painting, I hope it's being stored somewhere for safe keeping so when he's booted out on his arse in 2029, the next PM can restore it to it's rightful place....
Of course it's being stored somewhere for safekeeping.
I hope so.
Mrs Thatcher won her elections with 43.9%, 42.4% and 42.2% of the vote and Keith "won" his election with... checks... 33.7% of the vote... He's not fit to lick her boots, honestly!
SKS reported to have removed a painting of Margaret Thatcher from 10 Downing Street study.
Later he realised it was a mirror.
I don't remember Thatcher hammering pensioners and whacking up taxes on those with assets and entrepreneurs with higher CGT? Starmer has also overseen the biggest jailing of nationalist far right activists in modern history
One of Thatcher's first acts was to cut benefits to pensioners and put up taxes - and she was happy to see criminals jailed.
Yes, but that (plus some hefty public sector pay awards to prevent a second Winter of Discontent) was your actual historical Thatcher, rather than the storybook version you hear round the campfire on Institute for Economic Affairs holidays.
(Or at least I imagine you do. Was in the Woodcraft Folk, the youth wing of the co-op, myself.)
We laugh, but he has seemed to me to p*ss off a sizeable chunk of people in a very short space of time. I find him oddly charmless and rather prickly.
He can probably afford to p*ss people off, if he delivers meaningful results. But the jury will be out on that one for some time.
Remember, I've always said this will be a one term government, despite the landslide.
I said it first! Before the election.
Got pilloried on here for it.
Yes, Starmer’s/Labour’s ratings are heading one way.
The issue is, who of Conservatives, Lib Dem’s, Reform benefits.
Until the Tories have a leader in place it will be difficult for them to benefit and if it's not Cleverly or Tugendhat then I think they will struggle to win people over from Labour, though Jenrick and Kemi will find it easier to win Reform voters back.
Oppositions don't win elections, Governments lose them. The Tories won't need to 'win voters' back from Labour - they need to have a clear set of good conservative policies, and oppose. If Starmer goes on like this he won't make it to the next election.
Tories should get Truss back as Leader.
Aww. A little like Led By Donkeys, facing up to the stalinist misery of living under the Sir Sauron, your only comfort is to go back to lame Truss jokes. Tell me, have you had the moment where you wonder if you're the baddies yet?
No, I didn't vote Labour so feel no obligation to Starmer, I voted against him for reasons.
But recommendations on how to win elections from the sites most fanatical Trussite are really not worth a tinkers cuss.
SKS reported to have removed a painting of Margaret Thatcher from 10 Downing Street study.
Later he realised it was a mirror.
I don't remember Thatcher hammering pensioners and whacking up taxes on those with assets and entrepreneurs with higher CGT? Starmer has also overseen the biggest jailing of nationalist far right activists in modern history
One of Thatcher's first acts was to cut benefits to pensioners and put up taxes - and she was happy to see criminals jailed.
She slashed the top income tax rate from the near 90% she inherited by a third within her first term and to 40% by the time she left while also cutting the basic rate
Which she was able to do because she cut unnecessary spending on rubbish like splashing money on pensioners etc as well as getting control of the budget by putting up other taxes when necessary.
You don't get to be the party of high welfare while cutting taxes.
SKS reported to have removed a painting of Margaret Thatcher from 10 Downing Street study.
Later he realised it was a mirror.
I don't remember Thatcher hammering pensioners and whacking up taxes on those with assets and entrepreneurs with higher CGT? Starmer has also overseen the biggest jailing of nationalist far right activists in modern history
Nor did Thatcher impose VAT on private school fees and remove all hereditary peers from the Lords
Howe increased VAT from 8 to 15% as soon as they got in in 1979.
If Reeves hiked it from 20 to the Irish rate of 23% all our fiscal holes would be filled.
SKS reported to have removed a painting of Margaret Thatcher from 10 Downing Street study.
Later he realised it was a mirror.
I saw that earlier. All I'll say is... it's up to him. BUT, given he doesn't own Downing St. and he doesn't own that painting, I hope it's being stored somewhere for safe keeping so when he's booted out on his arse in 2029, the next PM can restore it to it's rightful place....
Of course it's being stored somewhere for safekeeping.
I hope so.
Mrs Thatcher won her elections with 43.9%, 42.4% and 42.2% of the vote and Keith "won" his election with... checks... 33.7% of the vote... He's not fit to lick her boots, honestly!
Doesn't like a good Prime Minister looking over his shoulder. Gives him the heebie jeebies as he puts up taxes, bans things, and destroys the justice system, as well it might.
SKS reported to have removed a painting of Margaret Thatcher from 10 Downing Street study.
Later he realised it was a mirror.
I saw that earlier. All I'll say is... it's up to him. BUT, given he doesn't own Downing St. and he doesn't own that painting, I hope it's being stored somewhere for safe keeping so when he's booted out on his arse in 2029, the next PM can restore it to it's rightful place....
Of course it's being stored somewhere for safekeeping.
I hope so.
Mrs Thatcher won her elections with 43.9%, 42.4% and 42.2% of the vote and Keith "won" his election with... checks... 33.7% of the vote... He's not fit to lick her boots, honestly!
Did Sir Maggie ever win over 400 seats like Sir Keir?
SKS reported to have removed a painting of Margaret Thatcher from 10 Downing Street study.
Later he realised it was a mirror.
I saw that earlier. All I'll say is... it's up to him. BUT, given he doesn't own Downing St. and he doesn't own that painting, I hope it's being stored somewhere for safe keeping so when he's booted out on his arse in 2029, the next PM can restore it to it's rightful place....
Of course it's being stored somewhere for safekeeping.
I hope so.
Mrs Thatcher won her elections with 43.9%, 42.4% and 42.2% of the vote and Keith "won" his election with... checks... 33.7% of the vote... He's not fit to lick her boots, honestly!
We laugh, but he has seemed to me to p*ss off a sizeable chunk of people in a very short space of time. I find him oddly charmless and rather prickly.
He can probably afford to p*ss people off, if he delivers meaningful results. But the jury will be out on that one for some time.
Remember, I've always said this will be a one term government, despite the landslide.
I said it first! Before the election.
Got pilloried on here for it.
Yes, Starmer’s/Labour’s ratings are heading one way.
The issue is, who of Conservatives, Lib Dem’s, Reform benefits.
Until the Tories have a leader in place it will be difficult for them to benefit and if it's not Cleverly or Tugendhat then I think they will struggle to win people over from Labour, though Jenrick and Kemi will find it easier to win Reform voters back.
Oppositions don't win elections, Governments lose them. The Tories won't need to 'win voters' back from Labour - they need to have a clear set of good conservative policies, and oppose. If Starmer goes on like this he won't make it to the next election.
Tories should get Truss back as Leader.
Aww. A little like Led By Donkeys, facing up to the stalinist misery of living under the Sir Sauron, your only comfort is to go back to lame Truss jokes. Tell me, have you had the moment where you wonder if you're the baddies yet?
No, I didn't vote Labour so feel no obligation to Starmer, I voted against him for reasons.
But recommendations on how to win elections from the sites most fanatical Trussite are really not worth a tinkers cuss.
Truss never faced election, nor implemented her programme for Government - had she done so, such a point might be valid.
Who thought banning smoking in the garden of pubs should be on the No 10 grid the day after telling the country in massively major speech that the economy is fucked and swinging by Germany to confirm young people will not be able to travel on visa any easier?
What is this all adding up to?
It's a mess.
There's no strategy because Starmer is a second rate politician and the Labour front bench is full of pygmies. We're in a continuity government from the Tories but with much lower economic growth incoming.
It's been very disappointing so far.
Reeves has been useless and now Starmer seems to handing government policy over to Sue Gray.
"Sir Keir Starmer is facing a backlash from Labour MPs and ministers over his “mad” plan to outlaw smoking in pub beer gardens.
One MP called it “an attack on working-class culture”, while another source claimed some ministers believed Sue Gray, Sir Keir’s chief of staff, was behind the proposal. "
Telegraph
It's almost as if Sue Gray is an eminence grise
Though strangely the only one in government who spent years running a pub.
Or at least that's what she was supposed to be doing before resuming her Civil Service career.
Who thought banning smoking in the garden of pubs should be on the No 10 grid the day after telling the country in massively major speech that the economy is fucked and swinging by Germany to confirm young people will not be able to travel on visa any easier?
What is this all adding up to?
It's a mess.
There's no strategy because Starmer is a second rate politician and the Labour front bench is full of pygmies. We're in a continuity government from the Tories but with much lower economic growth incoming.
It's been very disappointing so far.
Reeves has been useless and now Starmer seems to handing government policy over to Sue Gray.
"Sir Keir Starmer is facing a backlash from Labour MPs and ministers over his “mad” plan to outlaw smoking in pub beer gardens.
One MP called it “an attack on working-class culture”, while another source claimed some ministers believed Sue Gray, Sir Keir’s chief of staff, was behind the proposal. "
Telegraph
It's almost as if Sue Gray is an eminence grise
Though strangely the only one in government who spent years running a pub.
Or at least that's what she was supposed to be doing before resuming her Civil Service career.
We laugh, but he has seemed to me to p*ss off a sizeable chunk of people in a very short space of time. I find him oddly charmless and rather prickly.
He can probably afford to p*ss people off, if he delivers meaningful results. But the jury will be out on that one for some time.
Remember, I've always said this will be a one term government, despite the landslide.
I said it first! Before the election.
Got pilloried on here for it.
Yes, Starmer’s/Labour’s ratings are heading one way.
The issue is, who of Conservatives, Lib Dem’s, Reform benefits.
Until the Tories have a leader in place it will be difficult for them to benefit and if it's not Cleverly or Tugendhat then I think they will struggle to win people over from Labour, though Jenrick and Kemi will find it easier to win Reform voters back.
Oppositions don't win elections, Governments lose them. The Tories won't need to 'win voters' back from Labour - they need to have a clear set of good conservative policies, and oppose. If Starmer goes on like this he won't make it to the next election.
Tories should get Truss back as Leader.
Aww. A little like Led By Donkeys, facing up to the stalinist misery of living under the Sir Sauron, your only comfort is to go back to lame Truss jokes. Tell me, have you had the moment where you wonder if you're the baddies yet?
No, I didn't vote Labour so feel no obligation to Starmer, I voted against him for reasons.
But recommendations on how to win elections from the sites most fanatical Trussite are really not worth a tinkers cuss.
Truss never faced election, nor implemented her programme for Government - had she done so, such a point might be valid.
The polls suggest that she would have lost worse than Sunak.
And she couldn't even hold her own seat in the deepest blue bit of England.
We laugh, but he has seemed to me to p*ss off a sizeable chunk of people in a very short space of time. I find him oddly charmless and rather prickly.
He can probably afford to p*ss people off, if he delivers meaningful results. But the jury will be out on that one for some time.
Remember, I've always said this will be a one term government, despite the landslide.
I said it first! Before the election.
Got pilloried on here for it.
Yes, Starmer’s/Labour’s ratings are heading one way.
The issue is, who of Conservatives, Lib Dem’s, Reform benefits.
Until the Tories have a leader in place it will be difficult for them to benefit and if it's not Cleverly or Tugendhat then I think they will struggle to win people over from Labour, though Jenrick and Kemi will find it easier to win Reform voters back.
The problem is how do the Conservatives attract voters from one side without shipping roughly as many voters on the other side. Sunak never solved that, which is why he spent so much of the time looking like a rabbit caught in headlights.
This has nothing to do with whether Starmer is a good PM or not, or whether any of the Conservative options would be better. It's just that the shape of the party system is much harder for the Conservatives to navigate than it has been in the past.
It's quite simple. The Conservatives reduce and control immigration, whilst delivering economic competence, low tax and investing in infrastructure, industry and business in the north. Without corruption or bad behaviour.
This stuff isn't that complicated.
That’s their credibility problem though isn’t it?
The Conservatives reduce and control immigration: immigration rose to record levels under the last Tory govt and will almost certainly fall significantly in this parliament through simple maths (reversal of post Covid student anomalies, Ukraine and HK)
whilst delivering economic competence: Liz Truss
low tax: tax rose under the last government
and investing in infrastructure, industry and business in the north: they cancelled HS2 and spent levelling up funds on fixing London potholes
Without corruption or bad behaviour: Boris Johnson
Immigration fell this summer due to Sunak's tighter Visa rules and higher salary requirements. Cameron and Osborne and Truss and Kwarteng cut tax.
SKS reported to have removed a painting of Margaret Thatcher from 10 Downing Street study.
Later he realised it was a mirror.
I saw that earlier. All I'll say is... it's up to him. BUT, given he doesn't own Downing St. and he doesn't own that painting, I hope it's being stored somewhere for safe keeping so when he's booted out on his arse in 2029, the next PM can restore it to it's rightful place....
Of course it's being stored somewhere for safekeeping.
I hope so.
Mrs Thatcher won her elections with 43.9%, 42.4% and 42.2% of the vote and Keith "won" his election with... checks... 33.7% of the vote... He's not fit to lick her boots, honestly!
Did Sir Maggie ever win over 400 seats like Sir Keir?
397 in 1983.
And both Starmer's 33.7% and Sunak's 23.7% have a bit of context. Back in Maggie's day, the Greens weren't on 6% and there was nobody like Reform on 14%. That's hoovering up a lot of voters that would either have gone to the big two in previous years, or stayed at home (inflating the percentages of the others.)
There's an opportunity for any party that can reverse those effects. But I'm not convinced it can be done without alienating too many other voters.
SKS reported to have removed a painting of Margaret Thatcher from 10 Downing Street study.
Later he realised it was a mirror.
I don't remember Thatcher hammering pensioners and whacking up taxes on those with assets and entrepreneurs with higher CGT? Starmer has also overseen the biggest jailing of nationalist far right activists in modern history
Nor did Thatcher impose VAT on private school fees and remove all hereditary peers from the Lords
Howe increased VAT from 8 to 15% as soon as they got in in 1979.
If Reeves hiked it from 20 to the Irish rate of 23% all our fiscal holes would be filled.
Labour and its supporters have decided VAT is "regressive". Never quite understood it myself, given someone on a low income is mostly buying VAT-free or lower-rate things (housing, basic food, bills).
SKS reported to have removed a painting of Margaret Thatcher from 10 Downing Street study.
Later he realised it was a mirror.
I saw that earlier. All I'll say is... it's up to him. BUT, given he doesn't own Downing St. and he doesn't own that painting, I hope it's being stored somewhere for safe keeping so when he's booted out on his arse in 2029, the next PM can restore it to it's rightful place....
Of course it's being stored somewhere for safekeeping.
I hope so.
Mrs Thatcher won her elections with 43.9%, 42.4% and 42.2% of the vote and Keith "won" his election with... checks... 33.7% of the vote... He's not fit to lick her boots, honestly!
Did Sir Maggie ever win over 400 seats like Sir Keir?
397 in 1983.
And both Starmer's 33.7% and Sunak's 23.7% have a bit of context. Back in Maggie's day, the Greens weren't on 6% and there was nobody like Reform on 14%. That's hoovering up a lot of voters that would either have gone to the big two in previous years, or stayed at home (inflating the percentages of the others.)
There's an opportunity for any party that can reverse those effects. But I'm not convinced it can be done without alienating too many other voters.
We’ve had a long period of decline in major party vote share at the expense of the smaller parties and that seems likely to continue unless there’s a freak election like 2017.
That’s what was fascinating about 2024. A PR-style set of vote shares under a FPTP system (albeit with more regional concentration).
SKS reported to have removed a painting of Margaret Thatcher from 10 Downing Street study.
Later he realised it was a mirror.
I saw that earlier. All I'll say is... it's up to him. BUT, given he doesn't own Downing St. and he doesn't own that painting, I hope it's being stored somewhere for safe keeping so when he's booted out on his arse in 2029, the next PM can restore it to it's rightful place....
Of course it's being stored somewhere for safekeeping.
I hope so.
Mrs Thatcher won her elections with 43.9%, 42.4% and 42.2% of the vote and Keith "won" his election with... checks... 33.7% of the vote... He's not fit to lick her boots, honestly!
Did Sir Maggie ever win over 400 seats like Sir Keir?
That was purely a one off anomaly with REF splitting the Con vote.
In any other election Lab would have lost with their 2024 vote share... As they will in 2029. 👌
We laugh, but he has seemed to me to p*ss off a sizeable chunk of people in a very short space of time. I find him oddly charmless and rather prickly.
He can probably afford to p*ss people off, if he delivers meaningful results. But the jury will be out on that one for some time.
Remember, I've always said this will be a one term government, despite the landslide.
I said it first! Before the election.
Got pilloried on here for it.
Yes, Starmer’s/Labour’s ratings are heading one way.
The issue is, who of Conservatives, Lib Dem’s, Reform benefits.
Until the Tories have a leader in place it will be difficult for them to benefit and if it's not Cleverly or Tugendhat then I think they will struggle to win people over from Labour, though Jenrick and Kemi will find it easier to win Reform voters back.
The problem is how do the Conservatives attract voters from one side without shipping roughly as many voters on the other side. Sunak never solved that, which is why he spent so much of the time looking like a rabbit caught in headlights.
This has nothing to do with whether Starmer is a good PM or not, or whether any of the Conservative options would be better. It's just that the shape of the party system is much harder for the Conservatives to navigate than it has been in the past.
It's quite simple. The Conservatives reduce and control immigration, whilst delivering economic competence, low tax and investing in infrastructure, industry and business in the north. Without corruption or bad behaviour.
This stuff isn't that complicated.
While that sounds simple, it also needs to be weighed against the current expenditure budget which has skyrocketed under the Tories since 2019. A proper Tory government needs to put a 10 year brake on current spending including stuff like the state pension and other welfare. We will never be in a position as a country to invest in infrastructure if the priority is for current expenditure.
SKS reported to have removed a painting of Margaret Thatcher from 10 Downing Street study.
Later he realised it was a mirror.
I don't remember Thatcher hammering pensioners and whacking up taxes on those with assets and entrepreneurs with higher CGT? Starmer has also overseen the biggest jailing of nationalist far right activists in modern history
Nor did Thatcher impose VAT on private school fees and remove all hereditary peers from the Lords
Howe increased VAT from 8 to 15% as soon as they got in in 1979.
If Reeves hiked it from 20 to the Irish rate of 23% all our fiscal holes would be filled.
Labour and its supporters have decided VAT is "regressive". Never quite understood it myself, given someone on a low income is mostly buying VAT-free or lower-rate things (housing, basic food, bills).
SKS reported to have removed a painting of Margaret Thatcher from 10 Downing Street study.
Later he realised it was a mirror.
I saw that earlier. All I'll say is... it's up to him. BUT, given he doesn't own Downing St. and he doesn't own that painting, I hope it's being stored somewhere for safe keeping so when he's booted out on his arse in 2029, the next PM can restore it to it's rightful place....
Of course it's being stored somewhere for safekeeping.
I hope so.
Mrs Thatcher won her elections with 43.9%, 42.4% and 42.2% of the vote and Keith "won" his election with... checks... 33.7% of the vote... He's not fit to lick her boots, honestly!
Did Sir Maggie ever win over 400 seats like Sir Keir?
That was purely a one off anomaly with REF splitting the Con vote.
In any other election Lab would have lost with their 2024 vote share... As they will in 2029. 👌
Michael Foot won 28% of the vote, way more than Conservative current standing despite his longest suicide note.
We laugh, but he has seemed to me to p*ss off a sizeable chunk of people in a very short space of time. I find him oddly charmless and rather prickly.
He can probably afford to p*ss people off, if he delivers meaningful results. But the jury will be out on that one for some time.
Remember, I've always said this will be a one term government, despite the landslide.
I said it first! Before the election.
Got pilloried on here for it.
Yes, Starmer’s/Labour’s ratings are heading one way.
The issue is, who of Conservatives, Lib Dem’s, Reform benefits.
Until the Tories have a leader in place it will be difficult for them to benefit and if it's not Cleverly or Tugendhat then I think they will struggle to win people over from Labour, though Jenrick and Kemi will find it easier to win Reform voters back.
The problem is how do the Conservatives attract voters from one side without shipping roughly as many voters on the other side. Sunak never solved that, which is why he spent so much of the time looking like a rabbit caught in headlights.
This has nothing to do with whether Starmer is a good PM or not, or whether any of the Conservative options would be better. It's just that the shape of the party system is much harder for the Conservatives to navigate than it has been in the past.
It's quite simple. The Conservatives reduce and control immigration, whilst delivering economic competence, low tax and investing in infrastructure, industry and business in the north. Without corruption or bad behaviour.
This stuff isn't that complicated.
While that sounds simple, it also needs to be weighed against the current expenditure budget which has skyrocketed under the Tories since 2019. A proper Tory government needs to put a 10 year brake on current spending including stuff like the state pension and other welfare. We will never be in a position as a country to invest in infrastructure if the priority is for current expenditure.
We laugh, but he has seemed to me to p*ss off a sizeable chunk of people in a very short space of time. I find him oddly charmless and rather prickly.
He can probably afford to p*ss people off, if he delivers meaningful results. But the jury will be out on that one for some time.
Remember, I've always said this will be a one term government, despite the landslide.
I said it first! Before the election.
Got pilloried on here for it.
Yes, Starmer’s/Labour’s ratings are heading one way.
The issue is, who of Conservatives, Lib Dem’s, Reform benefits.
Until the Tories have a leader in place it will be difficult for them to benefit and if it's not Cleverly or Tugendhat then I think they will struggle to win people over from Labour, though Jenrick and Kemi will find it easier to win Reform voters back.
The problem is how do the Conservatives attract voters from one side without shipping roughly as many voters on the other side. Sunak never solved that, which is why he spent so much of the time looking like a rabbit caught in headlights.
This has nothing to do with whether Starmer is a good PM or not, or whether any of the Conservative options would be better. It's just that the shape of the party system is much harder for the Conservatives to navigate than it has been in the past.
It's quite simple. The Conservatives reduce and control immigration, whilst delivering economic competence, low tax and investing in infrastructure, industry and business in the north. Without corruption or bad behaviour.
This stuff isn't that complicated.
While that sounds simple, it also needs to be weighed against the current expenditure budget which has skyrocketed under the Tories since 2019. A proper Tory government needs to put a 10 year brake on current spending including stuff like the state pension and other welfare. We will never be in a position as a country to invest in infrastructure if the priority is for current expenditure.
Scrap the Triple Lock. It's the only way.
And universal credit, move back to JSA and ESA. It was a better system.
SKS reported to have removed a painting of Margaret Thatcher from 10 Downing Street study.
Later he realised it was a mirror.
I saw that earlier. All I'll say is... it's up to him. BUT, given he doesn't own Downing St. and he doesn't own that painting, I hope it's being stored somewhere for safe keeping so when he's booted out on his arse in 2029, the next PM can restore it to it's rightful place....
Of course it's being stored somewhere for safekeeping.
I hope so.
Mrs Thatcher won her elections with 43.9%, 42.4% and 42.2% of the vote and Keith "won" his election with... checks... 33.7% of the vote... He's not fit to lick her boots, honestly!
Did Sir Maggie ever win over 400 seats like Sir Keir?
That was purely a one off anomaly with REF splitting the Con vote.
In any other election Lab would have lost with their 2024 vote share... As they will in 2029. 👌
Michael Foot won 28% of the vote, way more than Conservative current standing despite his longest suicide note.
And the Lib Dems + Green even without the sundry lefty independents got far more votes than Reform this year.
SKS reported to have removed a painting of Margaret Thatcher from 10 Downing Street study.
Later he realised it was a mirror.
I don't remember Thatcher hammering pensioners and whacking up taxes on those with assets and entrepreneurs with higher CGT? Starmer has also overseen the biggest jailing of nationalist far right activists in modern history
Nor did Thatcher impose VAT on private school fees and remove all hereditary peers from the Lords
Howe increased VAT from 8 to 15% as soon as they got in in 1979.
If Reeves hiked it from 20 to the Irish rate of 23% all our fiscal holes would be filled.
Labour and its supporters have decided VAT is "regressive". Never quite understood it myself, given someone on a low income is mostly buying VAT-free or lower-rate things (housing, basic food, bills).
Clothes (no joke if a parent), services, fuel (car and housing, thoiugh some reduction in rate), and so on, all attract VAT. As do chocolate digestives.
In practice, Mr Millionaire tends to buy more upmarket stuff. But there are only so many biscuits one can eat. Nevertheless, VAT does affect the poor particularly, because it's not tapered unlike NI (pretending for the oment it is a tax), and income tax, savings tax, and so on.
SKS reported to have removed a painting of Margaret Thatcher from 10 Downing Street study.
Later he realised it was a mirror.
I saw that earlier. All I'll say is... it's up to him. BUT, given he doesn't own Downing St. and he doesn't own that painting, I hope it's being stored somewhere for safe keeping so when he's booted out on his arse in 2029, the next PM can restore it to it's rightful place....
Of course it's being stored somewhere for safekeeping.
I hope so.
Mrs Thatcher won her elections with 43.9%, 42.4% and 42.2% of the vote and Keith "won" his election with... checks... 33.7% of the vote... He's not fit to lick her boots, honestly!
Did Sir Maggie ever win over 400 seats like Sir Keir?
That was purely a one off anomaly with REF splitting the Con vote.
In any other election Lab would have lost with their 2024 vote share... As they will in 2029. 👌
Michael Foot won 28% of the vote, way more than Conservative current standing despite his longest suicide note.
Foot was challenging from four years in Opposition. Con was defending from 14 years in government.
Comments
There are far more pressing priorities than banning stuff.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj9l8njg2rzo
The working assumption has to be that defence research with experts did not help them, though anything at all that cast doubt would have been seized on. We know that they tried. I fear that the limitations in the defence evidence was on account of the fact that the final verdicts were, tragically, correct. But I keep an open mind.
If there is a clear evidence fail in the insulin evidence then of course the CCRC will be very interested. IANAE.
Watching the mini-stooshie over a possible (no one has even put very specific proposals forward yet), I wonder what will happen when the proposal is made to reduce drink-driving limits to the level where driving is only say 300% or 50% more likely to kill you compared to no alcohol in the blood, and random blood tests for alcohol and drugs which have majority support.
Presumably Howard Cox will be having another fit, to match the one he has just had about the extended temporary duty reductions on fuel being ended
The electorate are much more volatile , the landslide was shallow with lots of seats with small majorities.
A caveat being that in a closer election the Green , Lib Dem vote might feel less able to vote freely if they’re determined to keep the Tories out again .
I didn't vote Labour because of its statist approach to every problem, and it's unwillingness to call out Brexit as a mistake. I feel vindicated.
We're like the best of all worlds, IMO. We're quite conservative economically (as we grew up with Thatch and saw what she did) but we're quite socially liberal at the same time!
Lets have more Gen-X PM's after Keith to sort the country out!
The issue is, who of Conservatives, Lib Dem’s, Reform benefits.
But at the moment, this doesn't feel like a 1997-2001 story by any stretch.
The contest of providing temporary accommodation for the homeless is being carried by local Councils like Newham and is a big factor in a number of authorities heading towards Section 114 notices.
@BartholomewRoberts is right - we need a lot more housing but we need housing not just for developers to make profits or for a new generation of future Conservative voters to own. No, we need to provide suitable accommodation for those who don't have it and if that means providing heavily-subsidised accommodation at a loss for developers, so be it.
Providing adequate and safe accommodation for children should be a basic priority for all Governments.
So kind of OK but not as good as what had before, as with everything else to do with Brexit.
I don't think Mr S is worried about the Right vote, who will vote against him no matter what, but could potentially be motivated / not motivated to turn out, depending on how the Conservatives sort themselves out or not, and how knuckle-dragging Reform UK are by then.
One populist pebble I will throw in the pool that might be smart politics if the numbers add up around Council Tax reform, is that Stamp Duty could be reduced or removed as a sweetener. It sounds as though the Chancellor is inclined towards a 0.5% tax on market value for Council Tax, and the Proportional Property Tax proposals whence that came include the removing of Stamp Duty.
I think if serious and demonstrable headway is made on some of the big things, then it will be 2 terms. But it could go both ways. I don't think the way ahead for either Tories or RefUK is to become ever more niche.
I would be happy to have abeer with your goodself or Gin if occasion arose.
Although this is about this year's pay offer.
https://x.com/keiranpedley/status/1829069379281014875?t=0vSxF5pCF3HNH77GI_ODZg&s=19
This has nothing to do with whether Starmer is a good PM or not, or whether any of the Conservative options would be better. It's just that the shape of the party system is much harder for the Conservatives to navigate than it has been in the past.
https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/train-drivers-pay-aslef-dispute-strikes-b2596135.html
Who thought banning smoking in the garden of pubs should be on the No 10 grid the day after telling the country in massively major speech that the economy is fucked and swinging by Germany to confirm young people will not be able to travel on visa any easier?
What is this all adding up to?
It's a mess.
Anyways. It's been settled. Rather than interminably dragging on pointlessly.
Later he realised it was a mirror.
His EU "moves" might be the only thing that appeals to some of his base, but even there that carries real risk for him - in both directions.
It is equally clear that at the moment no-one appears close to this. The next leader will be the 10th since Thatcher. Cameron could have come close to being good but failed the crucial test in 2016 by resigning at the one moment this was impossible. No-one else since MrsT comes close to what is needed. This will continue unless a miracle occurs.
Yes. A day. It was that good.
Reeves has been useless and now Starmer seems to handing government policy over to Sue Gray.
"Sir Keir Starmer is facing a backlash from Labour MPs and ministers over his “mad” plan to outlaw smoking in pub beer gardens.
One MP called it “an attack on working-class culture”, while another source claimed some ministers believed Sue Gray, Sir Keir’s chief of staff, was behind the proposal. "
Telegraph
This stuff isn't that complicated.
The interesting one for me is whether the main beneficiary could be the "pox on both your houses" vote. If that's the case, parties like the Greens, LDs and Reform might suddenly surge. We might start seeing some bonkers poll results.
Davey doesn't support withdrawing the WFA or taxing school fees for example, and if disquiet grows over the Brexit drag on our economy more likely to benefit than the Tories.
Don't you mean violent offenders who assault police, loot shops and attempt arson?
The Conservatives reduce and control immigration: immigration rose to record levels under the last Tory govt and will almost certainly fall significantly in this parliament through simple maths (reversal of post Covid student anomalies, Ukraine and HK)
whilst delivering economic competence: Liz Truss
low tax: tax rose under the last government
and investing in infrastructure, industry and business in the north: they cancelled HS2 and spent levelling up funds on fixing London potholes
Without corruption or bad behaviour: Boris Johnson
So why should they now?
Mrs Thatcher won her elections with 43.9%, 42.4% and 42.2% of the vote and Keith "won" his election with... checks... 33.7% of the vote... He's not fit to lick her boots, honestly!
(Or at least I imagine you do. Was in the Woodcraft Folk, the youth wing of the co-op, myself.)
But recommendations on how to win elections from the sites most fanatical Trussite are really not worth a tinkers cuss.
You don't get to be the party of high welfare while cutting taxes.
If Reeves hiked it from 20 to the Irish rate of 23% all our fiscal holes would be filled.
Or at least that's what she was supposed to be doing before resuming her Civil Service career.
And she couldn't even hold her own seat in the deepest blue bit of England.
Most voters want potholes fixed
And both Starmer's 33.7% and Sunak's 23.7% have a bit of context. Back in Maggie's day, the Greens weren't on 6% and there was nobody like Reform on 14%. That's hoovering up a lot of voters that would either have gone to the big two in previous years, or stayed at home (inflating the percentages of the others.)
There's an opportunity for any party that can reverse those effects. But I'm not convinced it can be done without alienating too many other voters.
@hendopolis
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13m
INDEPENDENT: Starmer’s smoking ban plan has pubs and clubs fuming #TomorrowsPapersToday
https://x.com/hendopolis
But Labour have not performed brilliantly in the first few weeks, and have not hit the ground running. Your scenario is much more likely than it was.
Having said that; so far they're an order of magnitude better than their predecessors.
That’s what was fascinating about 2024. A PR-style set of vote shares under a FPTP system (albeit with more regional concentration).
In any other election Lab would have lost with their 2024 vote share... As they will in 2029. 👌
https://x.com/politicsmoments/status/1829237142993940887?s=61&t=LYVEHh2mqFy1oUJAdCfe-Q
In practice, Mr Millionaire tends to buy more upmarket stuff. But there are only so many biscuits one can eat. Nevertheless, VAT does affect the poor particularly, because it's not tapered unlike NI (pretending for the oment it is a tax), and income tax, savings tax, and so on.