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The government sinks to a new low yet still leads the Tories who remain in third place
The government sinks to a new low yet still leads the Tories who remain in third place
Disapproval in the government reaches its highest level since the electionApprove: 16% (-4 from 18-20 Jan)Disapprove: 64% (+4)Net: -48 (-8)yougov.co.uk/topics/polit…
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There are ways - an appearance of competence would be a good start - but I'm unsure SKS or his team have it in them.
We must ‘cure the sickness of stagnation and decline’ in Britain, the PM says while taking aim at ‘overreach’ by watchdogs
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/keir-starmer-invokes-margaret-thatcher-as-he-goes-for-growth-kvp2fhbmg
I am becoming increasingly convinced this government talks the talk on deregulation without any real resolve to do what is needed to fix it. To do so would be to drive fundamental reform of the bureaucratic state that has been built and would cause significant disruption. If this is what they’re after then time is slipping away from them - it’s a huge undertaking.
As an aside, the two Canadian EKOS polls, which show a big rise in Liberal support, look like outliers.
Notice how the top placed team - FC Magdeburg - has managed to win exactly zero games at home.
All I can assume is that SKS is moonlighting as their manager.
There is a lack of a clear ideological or mission-driven underpinning to all this.
Presumably because all the alternatives are worse, which largely explains the polling too.
It's only 6 months in to a 5 year term, but there is no sign of a functioning opposition developing, just a bunch of keyboard warriors spamming each other.
https://x.com/jayinkyiv/status/1884457729827242307
Last weekend’s one was the 3rd biggest in the country, this one is 4th biggest with a capacity of 17m tonnes per year.
Oh well, what a shame.
Roman Abramovich could owe UK £1bn over tax dodge that helped bankroll Chelsea FC
Sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich could owe the UK up to £1bn after a botched attempt to avoid tax on hedge fund investments, evidence seen by the BBC suggests.
Leaked papers reveal investments worth $6bn (£4.7bn) were routed through companies in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). But evidence suggests they were managed from the UK, so should have been taxed there.
Some of the money that funded Chelsea FC when Mr Abramovich owned it can be traced back to companies involved in the scheme, the BBC and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) also found.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgrnqvqek4ro
So someone comes along and deregulates unthinkingly, or regulates with a “light touch”. Then we get a disaster - a physical one like Grenfell, or a financial one like 2008, and everyone asks “how was this allowed to happen”?
What the current government has started doing seems sensible, looking at ways in which regulations can be made fit for purpose. But if they start getting carried away, well that’s when things will start to go wrong.
Perhaps we should not laugh: we are very susceptible to bad actors playing the sort of tactics Ukraine are. Given Russia's 'trials' at setting commercial aircraft afire, I would not rule it out, from them or a.n.other...
(There are also videos of trails of fibre-optic cables across fields, from the wired drones Russia have started using to get round jamming.)
Which minister has initiated by far the biggest volume of infrastructure investment since the election? Ed Miliband.
“We need to build infrastructure!” “Oh, no not THAT sort of infrastructure.”
Possibly the quote of the week, the year, the century and for eternity.
"The minute we start going down that track *of looking for evidence*, I think we start to lose our way"
Kemi Badenoch
For the past two months, many families have been skint owing to Christmas. Not only is it a huge expense in itself but for people living from one payday to the next, there is a large gap caused by many employers paying wages early before Christmas, which then means a six or seven week gap to January's payday. (You can see service workers complaining about the lack of tips, btw, as both a corollary of this and an aggravating factor.)
And much of the country has suffered the most appalling weather, with one named storm after another bringing wind and rain and floods and power cuts. Oh, and snow just after some idiot axed the heating or eating allowance.
And on top of that, one of the worst flu seasons in memory.
All of these things will naturally get better with time. Winter storms will end, temperatures will rise, money will flow into bank accounts this week, and so on.
People will feel better, and as their woes evaporate, there is less reason to blame the government.
I'm not sure it does demonstrate how damaged the Tory brand has become. In the past, how many times has a newly elected government become so unpopular so quickly? Maybe, in the past, the previous government has had time for memories to fade and refreshment to happen before the new government's honeymoon ended.
Kemi will turn it around, but it will take a couple of years for people to be willing to take a fresh look at the Tories, IMO.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/05/social-media-democracy-trust-babel
In the contemporary political environment, it is hard to envisage what a government that does command majority approval would look like? Trump might be managing it for a short while through performative stunts, but when the hard work of governing begins….
Many people still pay their Council Tax in ten installments with a payment holiday in February and March. So there's a nice surprise coming up.
Besides, today was the first day when it was plausibly light when I left the house.
Government: we should go for growth and deregulate.
PB Right: don’t believe them.
What is the point of this discourse? There is no analysis, no engagement, just blind opposition for the sake of it.
I guess City have the heads up that they will get a fine and transfer ban hence the big spending on expensive young players this window too.
I’ll be first in line to give him his dues, when he actually produces growth through his actions and those of his government.
A winning strategy.
Among the professional metro remainer capitalist world this government really annoyed everyone in the run up to and the month or so after the budget. There was a sense of real disillusionment at a seeming lack of ideas or common sense. But that has definitely changed since new year. I’m sensing more positivity towards the government again. Probably associated with the vibe shift on the economy.
I’d guess the ceasefire in Gaza probably helps shore up Labour support in the cities too.
Meanwhile as we see on this forum, the more Brexity, Red wally Labour vote that left in 2019 but returned last year appears to be switching away in droves.
If they do it, great, Reeves is starting to say the right things IMV on growth and I have said as much here but there comes a time when you have to walk the walk rather than just talk the talk.
Hopefully that time is now.
But yes, proof of pudding, eating and all that. For the next four years, all most of us can do is wait and see and heckle.
“I want infrastructure, but not in my ideological back yard”.
Assuming this is correct, it is something people have commented on social media about, is this something we can simply opt out of to ensure they pay the full cost incurred.
https://www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/TB-Aarhus-costs-rules.pdf
She was talking about people looking for fake news in that quote to justify not having the vaccine.
@rcs1000 and @TheScreamingEagles may wish to comment - or tell us what to say.
https://x.com/yanisvaroufakis/status/1754175896146080157
It’s just that the performative bullshit didn’t including proper risk management in the banks. And buildings covered in firelighters was AOK according to the regs - though there was additional lying at Grenfell.
Edited extra bit: oh, and good morning, everyone.
Edit: damn, beaten to it.
But one can only hope the positivity now emanating from the govt cascades through into the wider economy.
https://x.com/njhochman/status/1883885981092438059
If you want change / growth / whatever you want to call it, some jobs/companies have to die if they cannot adapt to the pressures.
France - Monsieur (miss your) Titz.
The big area where we are recalcitrant and extremely difficult to navigate is the planning regime. Yes there are other aspects of regulation that should be looked at, but when it comes to regulation that strangles growth it’s planning planning planning.
https://x.com/maks_nafo_fella/status/1884332534751977932
And redevelop the site as social housing...
Because, even if we did manage to sweep away all the stifling red tape and wankery, if we were still in the EU we would then confront an immovable second layer of EU rules and regs. Which are now destroying the EU economically
Sub-optimal
But kind of better to be saying nice things now than carrying on with the negging, right?
She said people ask what the evidence is and then conversations turn to language.
“The minute you start going down that sort of track, we start to lose our way,” she said.
Badenoch added: “It’s very difficult to get this kind of evidence, we do need personal experience, we do need anecdotes, those are things that really help us shift the dial. We need a whole society approach and integration, I’m not scared to tell these hard truths.”
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/kemi-badenoch-says-no-further-115508311.html
S Korea seems to be having less luck.
https://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=391171
For bigger businesses there’s also a wish not to proliferate different regulatory regimes if the EU one is already familiar. It’s easier to deal with one set of rules than multiple.
I make a point of never adding my name to an objection, and writing in support of developments (including one literally in - well overlooking - my backyard).
I’ll believe this new “growth strategy” when a spade goes in the dirt at Heathrow. Not until
https://publicaccess.northumberland.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=details&keyVal=SOC7YZQSG1700
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/keir-starmer-invokes-margaret-thatcher-as-he-goes-for-growth-kvp2fhbmg
Sorry, what was that, "join the single market" you say...
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/temporary-withdrawal-of-all-areas-on-the-outer-continental-shelf-from-offshore-wind-leasing-and-review-of-the-federal-governments-leasing-and-permitting-practices-for-wind-projects/
https://www.montrealgazette.com/news/article710168.html
"Montreal library cites language law for refusing space to anglo book club."
I suppose we should be glad they're not kidnapping diplomats any more.
It’s all about “growth” here as well and Prime Minister Luxon’s latest gimmick has been to increase speed limits on parts of the State Highway network from 80 kph to 100 kph as part of “accelerating New Zealand”.
Well, yes, and 100 kph is interesting on a worn single carriage way road masquerading as a major arterial road. To be fair, there seems plenty of support for the changes but whether they will deliver high levels of growth remains to be seen.
The Luxon/Willis/Bishop axis is about doing things the old fashioned way with a nod to Cameron-Osborne-Clegg austerity but the intended sale of some State “assets” has drawn the ire of Winston Peters, the head of New Zealand First, who, rather like Reform, quite likes public spending especially in rural parts of New Zealand.
New Zealand depends on a strong export market and the chill wind of protectionism is worrying many here.
However Labour would scrape home with a tiny majority under FPTP because of the divide on the right between Tories and Reform despite Starmer only matching Foot's voteshare in 1983
Incidentally I think you can look at end IHT allowance for Farmers in this context too. The NPPF is going to provide development opportunities for some of that land and if Farmers (or, more importantly, people who brought as an IHT dodge) end up downsizing they might get a pretty good price. It seems to me that the Government is at least incentivising development.
Less convincing than Reeves.
Perhaps it was Eadric that did it?