Did any PBers chuckle like Reeves at Starmer's 'witty' "rubbish" response at PMQs?
I did.
I called 999 for Liz Savile Roberts because she got burned.
Dave would wince at your sense of 'humour'
I'd say it was neither particularly funny nor particularly terrible. Oppo MP asks crap-insult-disguised-as-question; PM replies with lame-but-functional comeback which wasn't sparkling but was no ruder than the question which prompted it. It's not an exchange either of them came out of with any real credit. It doesn't warrant any particular bewailing of unwoke behaviour, just a weary low-level lament that this is what our politics looks like.
It wasn't a proper question, and didn't deserve a proper answer
But wouldn't something about Welsh independence have been smarter?
He sounded like a stupid schoolboy; hardly prime ministerial..
SKS doesn't need to sound Prime Ministerial at PMQs because he is Prime Minister.
If I were a Reform MP, the thing I would be most concerned about would not be the reputational damage of legal actions against Reform, it would be the fact that Farage has fallen out with almost everyone he's ever worked with.
He fell out with Alan Sked, and Diane James, and Douglas Carswell, and Ben Habib, and now Rupert Lowe. And those are just the ones I can think of on the top of my head.
These fallings out aren't minor either: usually people end up leaving the party. (And sometimes fleeing to Alabama.)
So, I don't expect this to negatively impact Farage's poll ratings... but it might make me think twice as an MP if I wanted to jump ship.
Which means at some point it got angry and disrespectful, and then deeply personal (probably). He's (probably) utterly untrustworthy and impossible to work with, and never has anyone's back or interests at heart but his own. Maybe he knocks down anyone who vaguely approaches his profile too.
FWIW, I saw him speak when he was a 'regular' UKIP MEP back in 2001. He was absolutely the blokey guy with a pint at the bar - we had one - but he was very quick to anger when questioned, as one of the audience did. Very politely.
Is your last paragraph about Nige or Rupes?
Nige
One of my family worked 'near' him for a while. From what I was told it was Nigel's way or the highway!
Which means conflict is inevitable that he is totally unable to manage.
Politics is a dynamic art with different views and perspectives all the time.
So far no-one has joined Reform of whom the thoughtful normal person would say 'That's interesting' with the possible single exception of Tim Montgomerie - and I don't suppose anyone outside PB and anoraks (Venn diagram to follow) have heard of him.
It's quite possiblt that the reasons for this are twofold and linked: Farage is the leader so no-one self respecting will go near it; and without Farage Reform are a house of cards.
This would change if fifteen solid Tories defected together. They would both be a blunt instrument against Farage's Napolean tendency, and also an blood bank of replacements for him, and a few front benchers would could mostly count and read.
Succession is the key to Reform. Suella Braverman and Liz Truss might both fancy their chances should the Downing Street bus driver get Farage (60 but likes the fags and booze) but they can't both get the job and there is no point in defecting early to play Farage's lapdog, best wait and see, especially as there might be a vacancy closer to home first.
You set before us a vision if living in a country where in not all that long there might be a contest between Suella and Truss as to which will be the next Prime Minister. 'The horror, the horror'.
For obscure reasons, I've had cause today to get in touch with Deutsche Bahn. I tried to find an email address on their website. Not only was this easy to do, but it turned out to be even easier to phone them. They not only told you what their phone number was, they were actually quite open about it. For most British companies you have to hunt their number down like a hawk after a rodent - it's there but they don't want you to know it. It's actually easier to have an English-speaking conversation with Deutsche Bahn than with its British equivalent. Whatever that is.
Another thing the political class gets wrong, because they can't resist commenting on it, is Israel/Palestine.
The view of the average British voter is that they're as bad as each other, and we should stay out of it. And consequently they're not especially interested.
So why does the government continue to support Israel with arms exports and RAF surveillance flights? Curious that they aren't following public opinion, particularly a Labour government.
If public opinion is that they're not interested, then why shouldn't we have arms exports? Arms exports are good for business and good for our economy, so there should be a very good reason to prevent them.
Seems the Government is following public opinion, just not loudmouth opinion.
The polling is pretty clear, and consistent with what CR said. 58:18 for opposing exports to Israel, with 40% for strongly opposing.
And that was April 2024. It will be even more overwhelming now.
So the percentage opposing arms to Israel is no more than the percentage of Londoners saying immigration is too high?
And I'd be skeptical about the nature of that polling data. I doubt many people are bring up arms to Israel as an issue unprompted.
I just think your understanding of "not getting involved" is quite different to everyone else's.
(They aren't bringing up housing either, despite how important you think that is)
As a general principle we believe in the concepts of trade and supporting our allies.
So engaging in trade and supporting our allies is "not getting involved".
Cutting off trade is getting involved, given our general principles.
It is strange to sell arms to a country led by someone we're obliged to arrest on suspicion of war crimes if he enters our country. A general principle of not doing that would seem more consistent.
Ridiculous over-reach by a "court" we should not be a part of any more with such absurd rulings.
Some good news from the conflict yesterday in that it seems that Israel may have got another leader of Hamas. Its funny how often many here were saying early on that Israel was in the wrong as they weren't going after the leaders are Hamas but don't say anything supportive when they do.
Of course that leader was again as Hamas routinely does using a hospital as a base, meaning Israel were forced to hit a hospital to get to him.
The problem with this conflict is that until Hamas is defeated there is nowhere safe for the Palestinians as Hamas turn everything, even hospitals, into legitimate targets by weaponising them as human shields.
You can make a logical argument for either - or indeed both! - of:
Leaving the ICC
Stopping arms sales to Israel
but being both a member and selling arms to someone for whom the court has an arrest warrant out for war crimes seems inconsistent. Either the law/court is an ass or we should halt weapons sales until Israel has a new leader. Or both.
It's more complicated than that.
The arms in question (at least those of any significance) are parts for the F35, for which the UK is the second largest supplier after the US. These go into a worldwide pool from which Israel is supplied (by the US).
Contractually, there's no way in which we can place restrictions on the use of those parts. We either continue to supply them, or leave the program.
Which would be somewhat awkward...
The US is a steadfast ally and it would be ridiculous to withdraw from our cooperation with them... is what I would have said 6 months ago.
If I were a Reform MP, the thing I would be most concerned about would not be the reputational damage of legal actions against Reform, it would be the fact that Farage has fallen out with almost everyone he's ever worked with.
He fell out with Alan Sked, and Diane James, and Douglas Carswell, and Ben Habib, and now Rupert Lowe. And those are just the ones I can think of on the top of my head.
These fallings out aren't minor either: usually people end up leaving the party. (And sometimes fleeing to Alabama.)
So, I don't expect this to negatively impact Farage's poll ratings... but it might make me think twice as an MP if I wanted to jump ship.
Which means at some point it got angry and disrespectful, and then deeply personal (probably). He's (probably) utterly untrustworthy and impossible to work with, and never has anyone's back or interests at heart but his own. Maybe he knocks down anyone who vaguely approaches his profile too.
FWIW, I saw him speak when he was a 'regular' UKIP MEP back in 2001. He was absolutely the blokey guy with a pint at the bar - we had one - but he was very quick to anger when questioned, as one of the audience did. Very politely.
Is your last paragraph about Nige or Rupes?
Nige
One of my family worked 'near' him for a while. From what I was told it was Nigel's way or the highway!
Which is probably quite closely connected to why Nigel is currently leading the most popular political party in the country.
His only route to power requires a degree of ruthless "get with the program or get out", especially when dealing with people who have hobby horses not very closely aigned to what the public wants.
'What the public wants' is a question linked to the constraints of reality. Otherwise it's a wishlist, and even I can produce one of those. Like other parties Farage has not yet articulated a properly costed vision of 'what the public wants' in parallel with their wants and needs WRT spend, tax, deficit, debt, borrowing, stable public finances, inflation, interest rates, and public services. Since there is no other matter which goes so to heart of the job he wants, it's a bit of a gap.
Well as both tories and labour over the last 100 years have produced manifesto's where the costs of what they promised to do had only the point of contact with the reality of what they would cost other than they used the pound as the currency not convinced it is the argument you think.
Most voters expect a parties manifesto to cost at least double what they claim it will even while assuming that the manifesto will only get half enacted
People like that must live in a bubble where SKS's studiously middle ground pronouncements on immigration genuinely is 'far right'. God knows what they'd think if they ever heard any opinions from the real world.
If I were a Reform MP, the thing I would be most concerned about would not be the reputational damage of legal actions against Reform, it would be the fact that Farage has fallen out with almost everyone he's ever worked with.
He fell out with Alan Sked, and Diane James, and Douglas Carswell, and Ben Habib, and now Rupert Lowe. And those are just the ones I can think of on the top of my head.
These fallings out aren't minor either: usually people end up leaving the party. (And sometimes fleeing to Alabama.)
So, I don't expect this to negatively impact Farage's poll ratings... but it might make me think twice as an MP if I wanted to jump ship.
Which means at some point it got angry and disrespectful, and then deeply personal (probably). He's (probably) utterly untrustworthy and impossible to work with, and never has anyone's back or interests at heart but his own. Maybe he knocks down anyone who vaguely approaches his profile too.
FWIW, I saw him speak when he was a 'regular' UKIP MEP back in 2001. He was absolutely the blokey guy with a pint at the bar - we had one - but he was very quick to anger when questioned, as one of the audience did. Very politely.
Is your last paragraph about Nige or Rupes?
Nige
One of my family worked 'near' him for a while. From what I was told it was Nigel's way or the highway!
Which is probably quite closely connected to why Nigel is currently leading the most popular political party in the country.
His only route to power requires a degree of ruthless "get with the program or get out", especially when dealing with people who have hobby horses not very closely aigned to what the public wants.
'What the public wants' is a question linked to the constraints of reality. Otherwise it's a wishlist, and even I can produce one of those. Like other parties Farage has not yet articulated a properly costed vision of 'what the public wants' in parallel with their wants and needs WRT spend, tax, deficit, debt, borrowing, stable public finances, inflation, interest rates, and public services. Since there is no other matter which goes so to heart of the job he wants, it's a bit of a gap.
BREAKING: A leaked recording reveals top Tory Chris Philp admitted the UK couldn’t return asylum seekers to Europe post-Brexit, despite promises made at the time.
Noted remainer Chris Philp. So more claimed than admitted.
Amusingly, his father was a UKIP candidate.
Nugget from the wiki: "In June 2024, it was announced that Philp's wife, Elizabeth, is being sued over allegations of corporate espionage. She was accused of illegally using confidential information from her former employer to set up a rival business.[65] When questioned about the case in a local hustings, Philp acknowledged the ongoing case, but refused to confirm or deny whether he was a stakeholder in the business."
I don't know how mobile you are, but Sicily has two world class outstanding historic monuments. Both utterly breathtaking, and both worth a day's drive to see
The first is well known: Agrigento, the Valley of the Temples
Probably the greatest collection of Greek temples anywhere on earth
Bring them back in so that he can return them again?
Labour strategists must really believe the way to get the public to warm to Sir Keir is to present him as a kind of Tough guy Ultimate Cop who is solely responsible for law & order in the country. He presented himself as the only arbiter of justice when DPP, other than the cases that ‘never crossed his desk’. These sound like they’ve been written by someone who has just done some steroids at the gym
Starmer’s like Batman.
Both wore capes*, both fought for justice.
*DavidL will tell you it is a gown but it is a cape.
As Edna explained in the Incredibles: “ no capes”.
This is why I decided to not become a barrister, the uniform is boring.
Tomorrow morning, on what is forecast to be one of the hottest days of the year so far, I will be in court wearing striped woollen trousers, a shirt with a detachable collar and studs, a woollen waistcoat, tails, a court gown topped off with a horsehair wig. It’s a lot of things , including completely daft , but it isn’t boring.
You're in Scotland, though, so hottest is relative.
Bring them back in so that he can return them again?
Labour strategists must really believe the way to get the public to warm to Sir Keir is to present him as a kind of Tough guy Ultimate Cop who is solely responsible for law & order in the country. He presented himself as the only arbiter of justice when DPP, other than the cases that ‘never crossed his desk’. These sound like they’ve been written by someone who has just done some steroids at the gym
Starmer’s like Batman.
Both wore capes*, both fought for justice.
*DavidL will tell you it is a gown but it is a cape.
As Edna explained in the Incredibles: “ no capes”.
This is why I decided to not become a barrister, the uniform is boring.
Tomorrow morning, on what is forecast to be one of the hottest days of the year so far, I will be in court wearing striped woollen trousers, a shirt with a detachable collar and studs, a woollen waistcoat, tails, a court gown topped off with a horsehair wig. It’s a lot of things , including completely daft , but it isn’t boring.
You're in Scotland, though, so hottest is relative.
Better than being in Lincolnshire, where your relative is hottest.
BREAKING: A leaked recording reveals top Tory Chris Philp admitted the UK couldn’t return asylum seekers to Europe post-Brexit, despite promises made at the time.
Noted remainer Chris Philp. So more claimed than admitted.
Amusingly, his father was a UKIP candidate.
Nugget from the wiki: "In June 2024, it was announced that Philp's wife, Elizabeth, is being sued over allegations of corporate espionage. She was accused of illegally using confidential information from her former employer to set up a rival business.[65] When questioned about the case in a local hustings, Philp acknowledged the ongoing case, but refused to confirm or deny whether he was a stakeholder in the business."
"was accused of illegally using confidential information from her former employer to set up a rival business"
A number of investment banks would do this with analysts, so as to leave them in limbo and unable to start new jobs. Cases would then be quietly dropped after a year, because the goal was simply to delay the analyst from starting their new job, not that they really had performed any "corporate espionage".
If I were a Reform MP, the thing I would be most concerned about would not be the reputational damage of legal actions against Reform, it would be the fact that Farage has fallen out with almost everyone he's ever worked with.
He fell out with Alan Sked, and Diane James, and Douglas Carswell, and Ben Habib, and now Rupert Lowe. And those are just the ones I can think of on the top of my head.
These fallings out aren't minor either: usually people end up leaving the party. (And sometimes fleeing to Alabama.)
So, I don't expect this to negatively impact Farage's poll ratings... but it might make me think twice as an MP if I wanted to jump ship.
Which means at some point it got angry and disrespectful, and then deeply personal (probably). He's (probably) utterly untrustworthy and impossible to work with, and never has anyone's back or interests at heart but his own. Maybe he knocks down anyone who vaguely approaches his profile too.
FWIW, I saw him speak when he was a 'regular' UKIP MEP back in 2001. He was absolutely the blokey guy with a pint at the bar - we had one - but he was very quick to anger when questioned, as one of the audience did. Very politely.
Is your last paragraph about Nige or Rupes?
Nige
One of my family worked 'near' him for a while. From what I was told it was Nigel's way or the highway!
Which is probably quite closely connected to why Nigel is currently leading the most popular political party in the country.
His only route to power requires a degree of ruthless "get with the program or get out", especially when dealing with people who have hobby horses not very closely aigned to what the public wants.
'What the public wants' is a question linked to the constraints of reality. Otherwise it's a wishlist, and even I can produce one of those. Like other parties Farage has not yet articulated a properly costed vision of 'what the public wants' in parallel with their wants and needs WRT spend, tax, deficit, debt, borrowing, stable public finances, inflation, interest rates, and public services. Since there is no other matter which goes so to heart of the job he wants, it's a bit of a gap.
Well as both tories and labour over the last 100 years have produced manifesto's where the costs of what they promised to do had only the point of contact with the reality of what they would cost other than they used the pound as the currency not convinced it is the argument you think.
Most voters expect a parties manifesto to cost at least double what they claim it will even while assuming that the manifesto will only get half enacted
Yes, all fair points. However, Reform is the new kid on the block, who can see that lying to the public and not having a coherent plan has trashed the Tories and is even now trashing Labour. What I am hoping for, but not expecting, from the party emphasising how the other parties have failed us, is that they won't fail us in the identical manner. It seems an odd approach if they expect to be around for the longer term.
Bring them back in so that he can return them again?
Labour strategists must really believe the way to get the public to warm to Sir Keir is to present him as a kind of Tough guy Ultimate Cop who is solely responsible for law & order in the country. He presented himself as the only arbiter of justice when DPP, other than the cases that ‘never crossed his desk’. These sound like they’ve been written by someone who has just done some steroids at the gym
Starmer’s like Batman.
Both wore capes*, both fought for justice.
*DavidL will tell you it is a gown but it is a cape.
As Edna explained in the Incredibles: “ no capes”.
This is why I decided to not become a barrister, the uniform is boring.
Tomorrow morning, on what is forecast to be one of the hottest days of the year so far, I will be in court wearing striped woollen trousers, a shirt with a detachable collar and studs, a woollen waistcoat, tails, a court gown topped off with a horsehair wig. It’s a lot of things , including completely daft , but it isn’t boring.
You're in Scotland, though, so hottest is relative.
Better than being in Lincolnshire, where your relative is hottest.
If I were a Reform MP, the thing I would be most concerned about would not be the reputational damage of legal actions against Reform, it would be the fact that Farage has fallen out with almost everyone he's ever worked with.
He fell out with Alan Sked, and Diane James, and Douglas Carswell, and Ben Habib, and now Rupert Lowe. And those are just the ones I can think of on the top of my head.
These fallings out aren't minor either: usually people end up leaving the party. (And sometimes fleeing to Alabama.)
So, I don't expect this to negatively impact Farage's poll ratings... but it might make me think twice as an MP if I wanted to jump ship.
Which means at some point it got angry and disrespectful, and then deeply personal (probably). He's (probably) utterly untrustworthy and impossible to work with, and never has anyone's back or interests at heart but his own. Maybe he knocks down anyone who vaguely approaches his profile too.
FWIW, I saw him speak when he was a 'regular' UKIP MEP back in 2001. He was absolutely the blokey guy with a pint at the bar - we had one - but he was very quick to anger when questioned, as one of the audience did. Very politely.
Is your last paragraph about Nige or Rupes?
Nige
One of my family worked 'near' him for a while. From what I was told it was Nigel's way or the highway!
Which is probably quite closely connected to why Nigel is currently leading the most popular political party in the country.
His only route to power requires a degree of ruthless "get with the program or get out", especially when dealing with people who have hobby horses not very closely aigned to what the public wants.
'What the public wants' is a question linked to the constraints of reality. Otherwise it's a wishlist, and even I can produce one of those. Like other parties Farage has not yet articulated a properly costed vision of 'what the public wants' in parallel with their wants and needs WRT spend, tax, deficit, debt, borrowing, stable public finances, inflation, interest rates, and public services. Since there is no other matter which goes so to heart of the job he wants, it's a bit of a gap.
Ming Vase strategy
Of course. But Labour's support depended on borrowing votes from other parties on the basis that though were being cautious in what the promised, they had a coherent plan ready to go, with the '£22bn' black hole being the grounds for adopting a sensible and progressive approach to tax despite thie daft pledges.
Most egregious is the kicking into the period of the next government the issue of social care, now hanging fire since 2013 and the Dilnot report.
Reform are, in different ways, setting themselves up to fail; which makes them the 'same as all the others' not different.
I’ve already returned over 24,000 people with no right to be here.
And I won’t stop there.
He sounds quite mad
Also, that tweet gives the vague impression, "I have no right to do this, no right to be sitting here as prime minister"
Straw clutching there Leon.
He might sound quite mad but no reasonably literate person could misconstrue “24,000 people with no right to be here”.
When it comes to the Ineffable Shiteness of Sir Kier Starmer, you don't have to "clutch at straws", because he throws entire bales of straw at you; indeed he will drive to your house and deposit a complete hayrick in your garage
He's very cleverly set up the Treasury, Home office, and Health (perhaps Education too) to be led by strong-ish people, and he's not nailing his colours to the policies in all of these.
Setting his most capable deputies hard tasks keeps them busy. Meanwhile he's used his most accommodating deputy to allow himself to appear on the world stage.
It's what John Major should have done, and I doubt Starmer is likely to shag any mooses soon.
Bring them back in so that he can return them again?
Labour strategists must really believe the way to get the public to warm to Sir Keir is to present him as a kind of Tough guy Ultimate Cop who is solely responsible for law & order in the country. He presented himself as the only arbiter of justice when DPP, other than the cases that ‘never crossed his desk’. These sound like they’ve been written by someone who has just done some steroids at the gym
Starmer’s like Batman.
Both wore capes*, both fought for justice.
*DavidL will tell you it is a gown but it is a cape.
It does seem like they’re trying to make him into some kind of superhero, the way his social media is written.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
If I were a Reform MP, the thing I would be most concerned about would not be the reputational damage of legal actions against Reform, it would be the fact that Farage has fallen out with almost everyone he's ever worked with.
He fell out with Alan Sked, and Diane James, and Douglas Carswell, and Ben Habib, and now Rupert Lowe. And those are just the ones I can think of on the top of my head.
These fallings out aren't minor either: usually people end up leaving the party. (And sometimes fleeing to Alabama.)
So, I don't expect this to negatively impact Farage's poll ratings... but it might make me think twice as an MP if I wanted to jump ship.
It depends on how this spat plays out.
If Lowe and Farage go all two scorpions in a bottle, tearing lumps out of each other via the courts for the next year or so, it's not going to do much for the party's prospects. And for now, that seems a bit more likely than a friendly chat over a pint to sort out their differences.
I don't think most Reform voters care that much: this isn't really a story that breaks through the Westminster bubble.
However: possible Conservative defectors to Reform are entirely in the Westminster bubble.
I think that needs broadening out a little. Looking at my local Counties now in Reform control, they are using defectors in more than half - a small sample of course. There is a strong argument that these people have relevant or semi-relevant experience, and in one way are lower risk. But we need to see what their values are and how they perform, and how they are held to account. The Mansfield Independents, for example, did not do very well afaik. Derbyshire. Leader Alan Graves. Formerly Labour, Independent, UKIP, Brexit Party and finally Reform.
Lincs. Mayor Andrea Jenkyns. Former Conservative. Leader. Sean Matthews. Unsure about any history, apart from an interesting twitter account.
Notts. Leader has Mick Barton. Mansfield Independent Councillor since 2003. Defected tp Reform 2023. MI are Reform-style independents.
Staffs. Leader Ian Cooper. Unsure about any history.
Bring them back in so that he can return them again?
Labour strategists must really believe the way to get the public to warm to Sir Keir is to present him as a kind of Tough guy Ultimate Cop who is solely responsible for law & order in the country. He presented himself as the only arbiter of justice when DPP, other than the cases that ‘never crossed his desk’. These sound like they’ve been written by someone who has just done some steroids at the gym
Starmer’s like Batman.
Both wore capes*, both fought for justice.
*DavidL will tell you it is a gown but it is a cape.
As Edna explained in the Incredibles: “ no capes”.
This is why I decided to not become a barrister, the uniform is boring.
Tomorrow morning, on what is forecast to be one of the hottest days of the year so far, I will be in court wearing striped woollen trousers, a shirt with a detachable collar and studs, a woollen waistcoat, tails, a court gown topped off with a horsehair wig. It’s a lot of things , including completely daft , but it isn’t boring.
You're in Scotland, though, so hottest is relative.
Better than being in Lincolnshire, where your relative is hottest.
Ba da boom!
Lincs is the "exquisite taste in ties" County, especially the Council Leader in the middle !
BREAKING: A leaked recording reveals top Tory Chris Philp admitted the UK couldn’t return asylum seekers to Europe post-Brexit, despite promises made at the time.
Someone mentioned the other day that UK has the best crisp flavours, and that they're very limited in Europe
I just had a packet of French brand Lebanese falafel flavour. Damn nice too
It’s an oddity of the market that the UK seems to have far more independent (or erstwhile independent before being snaffled up) crisp manufacturers than most of the continent, but yes rather like with craft beer the French are catching up.
BREAKING: A leaked recording reveals top Tory Chris Philp admitted the UK couldn’t return asylum seekers to Europe post-Brexit, despite promises made at the time.
It was more stopping them coming here in the first place that was the issue and that required co operation with France and stopping them crossing the Mediterranean
BREAKING: A leaked recording reveals top Tory Chris Philp admitted the UK couldn’t return asylum seekers to Europe post-Brexit, despite promises made at the time.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
I did wonder. £600 seemed cheap for that distance.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
I did wonder. £600 seemed cheap for that distance.
Yeah, £800 feels like the best price deal and £1400 toppy. So not sure if a scam or a misunderstanding.
Rights and wrongs of rapprochement with the Syrian authorities - it's a compelx situation and there are clearly some big risks along with potential benefits - this is a classically odd Trump way of talking about it. Trump said his meeting with Syrian President Al-Sharaa went “great”, saying he is a “young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter.” https://nitter.poast.org/iclalturan/status/1922619116004753772#m
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
The £800 was paid by the tour operator. He or the FO paid for a package including a cheaper cab
For obscure reasons, I've had cause today to get in touch with Deutsche Bahn. I tried to find an email address on their website. Not only was this easy to do, but it turned out to be even easier to phone them. They not only told you what their phone number was, they were actually quite open about it. For most British companies you have to hunt their number down like a hawk after a rodent - it's there but they don't want you to know it. It's actually easier to have an English-speaking conversation with Deutsche Bahn than with its British equivalent. Whatever that is.
It's such horseshit. Even if they can demonstrate a lower customer services "overhead" I bet the brand damage costs more.
It's probably more that Brits don't want to talk to other people if they can possibly avoid it.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
Half up front, half at the end style payments are not uncommon. If it was that, the money is due.
I've often wondered about how many spare papal outfits they cart around, in case the pope spills their drink or accidentally dips their sleeve on their dinner plate and causes a mess.
For obscure reasons, I've had cause today to get in touch with Deutsche Bahn. I tried to find an email address on their website. Not only was this easy to do, but it turned out to be even easier to phone them. They not only told you what their phone number was, they were actually quite open about it. For most British companies you have to hunt their number down like a hawk after a rodent - it's there but they don't want you to know it. It's actually easier to have an English-speaking conversation with Deutsche Bahn than with its British equivalent. Whatever that is.
It's such horseshit. Even if they can demonstrate a lower customer services "overhead" I bet the brand damage costs more.
It's probably more that Brits don't want to talk to other people if they can possibly avoid it.
Many don't, but those that do care about it a significant amount, so doing it badly or making it more difficult will really piss people off.
I suppose it would have been an unusual tweet if he’d written “and I’ll stop there, I think. That’ll do.”
I thought it was an unusual tweet as it is. Big ‘Hell yeah I’m tough” vibes
Oh dear, that embarrassing time Ed Miliband thought he was Stone Cold Steve Austin (but without the charisma)
I've tried to think what would have been a good way of answering that question. I think a simple 'of course' in confident tone is probably the best that could be done without being cringey.
OT, looking for advice from our seasoned travellers for a proposed trip to Sicily - a second day in Siracusa or a third day in Lipari? Already set on Cefalu and Stromboli.
Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Lipari is essentially the Greek island experience transported to Italy, and I could happily spend days there. But just one day in Siracusa would be a crime.
Bring them back in so that he can return them again?
Labour strategists must really believe the way to get the public to warm to Sir Keir is to present him as a kind of Tough guy Ultimate Cop who is solely responsible for law & order in the country. He presented himself as the only arbiter of justice when DPP, other than the cases that ‘never crossed his desk’. These sound like they’ve been written by someone who has just done some steroids at the gym
Starmer’s like Batman.
Both wore capes*, both fought for justice.
*DavidL will tell you it is a gown but it is a cape.
As Edna explained in the Incredibles: “ no capes”.
This is why I decided to not become a barrister, the uniform is boring.
Tomorrow morning, on what is forecast to be one of the hottest days of the year so far, I will be in court wearing striped woollen trousers, a shirt with a detachable collar and studs, a woollen waistcoat, tails, a court gown topped off with a horsehair wig. It’s a lot of things , including completely daft , but it isn’t boring.
You're in Scotland, though, so hottest is relative.
True, but I forgot to mention the white bow tie as well.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
The £800 was paid by the tour operator. He or the FO paid for a package including a cheaper cab
The driver has been sacked and is being prosecuted according to the Telegraph......
People like that must live in a bubble where SKS's studiously middle ground pronouncements on immigration genuinely is 'far right'. God knows what they'd think if they ever heard any opinions from the real world.
The reality of this ‘far right’ announcement which emboldens ‘fascism’ according to some is that net inward migration is now accepted in the hundreds of thousands a year not the tens of thousands and it is now forecast as being 240K a year not 300K.
Wow. True far right fascism 🙄
I don’t think he will care about losing Dr Shola. One of a bunch of tedious daytime/breakfast TV talking heads who will appear on crap like Vine and GMB to spout shit about any subject from an extreme POV.
All that does it make me want to back and defend Starmer.
Starmer won't mind the Corbynites and loopy left having a pop at all. On the other side also puts off some lefty centrists from voting Green now they have become the Corbynites residence du jour.
People like that must live in a bubble where SKS's studiously middle ground pronouncements on immigration genuinely is 'far right'. God knows what they'd think if they ever heard any opinions from the real world.
The reality of this ‘far right’ announcement which emboldens ‘fascism’ according to some is that net inward migration is now accepted in the hundreds of thousands a year not the tens of thousands and it is now forecast as being 240K a year not 300K.
Wow. True far right fascism 🙄
I don’t think he will care about losing Dr Shola. One of a bunch of tedious daytime/breakfast TV talking heads who will appear on crap like Vine and GMB to spout shit about any subject from an extreme POV.
Starmer did well in the year before the election when the far left wing of the party (and non Labour people who had liked Corbyn) attacked him and thus reassured centrists. In the end he didn't even get great numbers of votes, but no one hated him so they picked it up where needed.
I think he's not really well liked now so won't get a boost per se, but there is such a thing as the right people being mad at you, even if it shouldn't be your whole thing.
Sir Gobble Gobble fluffed his lines, though with the Tories' recent travails, that was lucky for Badenoch.
Were you really listening to this week’s?
Kemi trying to make something of a moribund department store closing, which the company owner (who by coincidence is a known Tory member) tried to jokingly link to Reeves by having a Reeves closing down sale, when it transpires that the company closed most of its stores during the last government and went into liquidation three years ago? So no link with the NI changes in the budget at all! Kemi clearly read the poorly researched little item in the Torygraph and rushed to PMQs to blurt it out, without doing any checking or research at all. Is that the sort of person we need running our country??
If I were a Reform MP, the thing I would be most concerned about would not be the reputational damage of legal actions against Reform, it would be the fact that Farage has fallen out with almost everyone he's ever worked with.
He fell out with Alan Sked, and Diane James, and Douglas Carswell, and Ben Habib, and now Rupert Lowe. And those are just the ones I can think of on the top of my head.
These fallings out aren't minor either: usually people end up leaving the party. (And sometimes fleeing to Alabama.)
So, I don't expect this to negatively impact Farage's poll ratings... but it might make me think twice as an MP if I wanted to jump ship.
Which means at some point it got angry and disrespectful, and then deeply personal (probably). He's (probably) utterly untrustworthy and impossible to work with, and never has anyone's back or interests at heart but his own. Maybe he knocks down anyone who vaguely approaches his profile too.
FWIW, I saw him speak when he was a 'regular' UKIP MEP back in 2001. He was absolutely the blokey guy with a pint at the bar - we had one - but he was very quick to anger when questioned, as one of the audience did. Very politely.
Is your last paragraph about Nige or Rupes?
Nige
One of my family worked 'near' him for a while. From what I was told it was Nigel's way or the highway!
Which is probably quite closely connected to why Nigel is currently leading the most popular political party in the country.
His only route to power requires a degree of ruthless "get with the program or get out", especially when dealing with people who have hobby horses not very closely aigned to what the public wants.
'What the public wants' is a question linked to the constraints of reality. Otherwise it's a wishlist, and even I can produce one of those. Like other parties Farage has not yet articulated a properly costed vision of 'what the public wants' in parallel with their wants and needs WRT spend, tax, deficit, debt, borrowing, stable public finances, inflation, interest rates, and public services. Since there is no other matter which goes so to heart of the job he wants, it's a bit of a gap.
Ming Vase strategy
Of course. But Labour's support depended on borrowing votes from other parties on the basis that though were being cautious in what the promised, they had a coherent plan ready to go, with the '£22bn' black hole being the grounds for adopting a sensible and progressive approach to tax despite thie daft pledges.
Most egregious is the kicking into the period of the next government the issue of social care, now hanging fire since 2013 and the Dilnot report.
Reform are, in different ways, setting themselves up to fail; which makes them the 'same as all the others' not different.
Admittedly I'm starting from a point of not particularly liking them, but I've always been skeptical of how different Reform allegedly are. Everyone says that they mean what they say, unlike those others, and will make tough choices, unlike others. Certain policy positions can be distinct, but there's no reason to believe morally or otherwise Reform UK MPs will be better than others.
The counter is we've tried the others so give them a chance, sure, but that's not really the same as expecting the difference to be there, as opposed to hoping it will.
All that does it make me want to back and defend Starmer.
Alex Phillips was defending him on Talk today, Tom Swarbrick on LBC yesterday. It's not the left rushing to his aid lol
Many on the left, and in the Lib Dem’s, won’t rush to defend him as they will agree with Dr Shola.
I dont think its many judging by pb. And even those that do struggle to articulate what are the actual words Starmer used that are at all offensive. Its hardcore committed Corbynistas plus some not paying attention to the changes brought on by the Boris wave.
Lowe seems to have represented a strand of opinion that wanted to steer Reform to the right and he won the Musk endorsement as a result. Farrage strongly resisted this and politely told Musk where he could go (and Lowe too, far less politely.) By firmly rejecting any shift to the (dare we say radical?) right Farrage has gained more by this then he has lost.
Indeed: but the issue for Reform in attracting Conservative defections (which they should want to do), is that it helps when people get on with the Party leader.
If you don't get on with the Party leader, and get kicked out of the Party, and you get the police sicc'ed on you.
Well, it makes you think twice about jumping ship.
I'm sure you are correct Robert and that probably does explain why there have been no defections yet.
I just think If the polls hold on like this, we will start to get reluctant and very nervous Conservative MPs defecting anyway, on the basis that better 'pot luck' with Nigel today than 'humble pie' and the dole come the GE tommorow.
There are going to be some constituencies where staying Conservative essentially guarantees a loss, so you are probably right.
I'd be surprised if the Conservatives still had MPs in triple figures by the end of this Parliament.
But, there are 4 years to go and all sorts of events that could take place - so let's see.
"Estonian navy attempted to seize a Russian tanker today named JAGUAR which had been acting suspiciously in its water, Russia deployed an SU-35 fighter jet to protect the tanker which flew several runs around the Estonian military vessel violating its airspace."
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
All that does it make me want to back and defend Starmer.
Starmer won't mind the Corbynites and loopy left having a pop at all. On the other side also puts off some lefty centrists from voting Green now they have become the Corbynites residence du jour.
The leadership election will be interesting. Basically middle class, middle aged, rural NIMBY Greens versus young, city based, watermelon, Gaza obsessive Green.
All that does it make me want to back and defend Starmer.
Starmer won't mind the Corbynites and loopy left having a pop at all. On the other side also puts off some lefty centrists from voting Green now they have become the Corbynites residence du jour.
The voting coalition for Labour could look quite different in 2029 compared to 2024.
The Tories pulled this trick - twice. Why shouldn't they?
All that does it make me want to back and defend Starmer.
Alex Phillips was defending him on Talk today, Tom Swarbrick on LBC yesterday. It's not the left rushing to his aid lol
Many on the left, and in the Lib Dem’s, won’t rush to defend him as they will agree with Dr Shola.
I dont think its many judging by pb. And even those that do struggle to articulate what are the actual words Starmer used that are at all offensive. Its hardcore committed Corbynistas plus some not paying attention to the changes brought on by the Boris wave.
No, but it isn’t just PB, but also other social media. Even Twitter which still has a very left wing presence.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
People like that must live in a bubble where SKS's studiously middle ground pronouncements on immigration genuinely is 'far right'. God knows what they'd think if they ever heard any opinions from the real world.
The reality of this ‘far right’ announcement which emboldens ‘fascism’ according to some is that net inward migration is now accepted in the hundreds of thousands a year not the tens of thousands and it is now forecast as being 240K a year not 300K.
Wow. True far right fascism 🙄
I don’t think he will care about losing Dr Shola. One of a bunch of tedious daytime/breakfast TV talking heads who will appear on crap like Vine and GMB to spout shit about any subject from an extreme POV.
The trouble is that extreme hyperbolic language like that does have real-world political effects.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
1. Lammy paid £800 through GetTransfers.com, which contracted the cab 2. The cab driver believed he was owed an additional £580 on arrival 3. When not paid the £580, the cab driver drove to the police station (with the Lammy's luggage) to complain about Lammy 4. The Lammy's complained to the police about the theft of their luggage 5. The cab driver, after failing to get satisfaction from the police, removed cash from Ms Green's luggage
It sounds to me like it was an initial misunderstanding (I have no doubt the cab driver was sincere in his belief he was still owed money, hence his visit to the police). On the other hand, his removal of money from the Lammy's luggage was clearly theft, and hence he is being prosecuted.
(Edit to add: I would not be surprised if turned out that GetTransfers.com was the "guilty party" here.)
Sir Gobble Gobble fluffed his lines, though with the Tories' recent travails, that was lucky for Badenoch.
Were you really listening to this week’s?
Kemi trying to make something of a moribund department store closing, which the company owner (who by coincidence is a known Tory member) tried to jokingly link to Reeves by having a Reeves closing down sale, when it transpires that the company closed most of its stores during the last government and went into liquidation three years ago? So no link with the NI changes in the budget at all! Kemi clearly read the poorly researched little item in the Torygraph and rushed to PMQs to blurt it out, without doing any checking or research at all. Is that the sort of person we need running our country??
You undermine your own argument. My verdict was pronounced on who had the best of the exchange. You on the other hand had to go off and research why Kemi was wrong. Whether or not upon reflection and research I agree with your points or not (I suspect I wouldn't), that has nothing to do with who had the best of the exchange - if you're explaining, you're losing.
Kemi was clear and lucid in her attacks, and responded in real time when Sir Useless made a false claim about Government support for hospices. He was evasive (which focus groups hate) and tried to go on the attack, but even judged purely on how he executed that strategy, he gobbled his 'dead party walking' attack lines and threw them away.
All that does it make me want to back and defend Starmer.
Alex Phillips was defending him on Talk today, Tom Swarbrick on LBC yesterday. It's not the left rushing to his aid lol
Many on the left, and in the Lib Dem’s, won’t rush to defend him as they will agree with Dr Shola.
I dont think its many judging by pb. And even those that do struggle to articulate what are the actual words Starmer used that are at all offensive. Its hardcore committed Corbynistas plus some not paying attention to the changes brought on by the Boris wave.
No, but it isn’t just PB, but also other social media. Even Twitter which still has a very left wing presence.
Of course on twatter it will be a mega storm, for a day, as everything is. It is not the real world and I continue to be baffled why so many people pay it interest.
Lowe seems to have represented a strand of opinion that wanted to steer Reform to the right and he won the Musk endorsement as a result. Farrage strongly resisted this and politely told Musk where he could go (and Lowe too, far less politely.) By firmly rejecting any shift to the (dare we say radical?) right Farrage has gained more by this then he has lost.
Indeed: but the issue for Reform in attracting Conservative defections (which they should want to do), is that it helps when people get on with the Party leader.
If you don't get on with the Party leader, and get kicked out of the Party, and you get the police sicc'ed on you.
Well, it makes you think twice about jumping ship.
I'm sure you are correct Robert and that probably does explain why there have been no defections yet.
I just think If the polls hold on like this, we will start to get reluctant and very nervous Conservative MPs defecting anyway, on the basis that better 'pot luck' with Nigel today than 'humble pie' and the dole come the GE tommorow.
There are going to be some constituencies where staying Conservative essentially guarantees a loss, so you are probably right.
I'd be surprised if the Conservatives still had MPs in triple figures by the end of this Parliament.
But, there are 4 years to go and all sorts of events that could take place - so let's see.
Which is also why those people (such as our little HY) who imagine that anyone is going to vote tactically for the Tories against Reform are most likely pissing in the wind. Personally I’d vote Reform against Tory, if only to see the two-party and unfair voting system that we’ve endured during our lifetimes come crashing down.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
He had paid £800 and was asked for another £600 cash at the end.
1. Lammy paid £800 through GetTransfers.com, which contracted the cab 2. The cab driver believed he was owed an additional £580 on arrival 3. When not paid the £580, the cab driver drove to the police station (with the Lammy's luggage) to complain about Lammy 4. The Lammy's complained to the police about the theft of their luggage 5. The cab driver, after failing to get satisfaction from the police, removed cash from Ms Green's luggage
It sounds to me like it was an initial misunderstanding (I have no doubt the cab driver was sincere in his belief he was still owed money, hence his visit to the police). On the other hand, his removal of money from the Lammy's luggage was clearly theft, and hence he is being prosecuted.
(Edit to add: I would not be surprised if turned out that GetTransfers.com was the "guilty party" here.)
Would the cab firm sack the driver in that scenario? More likely local taxi trying it on over a tourist late at night shocker as happens every day across the world.
Sir Gobble Gobble fluffed his lines, though with the Tories' recent travails, that was lucky for Badenoch.
Were you really listening to this week’s?
Kemi trying to make something of a moribund department store closing, which the company owner (who by coincidence is a known Tory member) tried to jokingly link to Reeves by having a Reeves closing down sale, when it transpires that the company closed most of its stores during the last government and went into liquidation three years ago? So no link with the NI changes in the budget at all! Kemi clearly read the poorly researched little item in the Torygraph and rushed to PMQs to blurt it out, without doing any checking or research at all. Is that the sort of person we need running our country??
You undermine your own argument. My verdict was pronounced on who had the best of the exchange. You on the other hand had to go off and research why Kemi was wrong. Whether or not upon reflection and research I agree with your points or not (I suspect I wouldn't), that has nothing to do with who had the best of the exchange - if you're explaining, you're losing.
Kemi was clear and lucid in her attacks, and responded in real time when Sir Useless made a false claim about Government support for hospices. He was evasive (which focus groups hate) and tried to go on the attack, but even judged purely on how he executed that strategy, he gobbled his 'dead party walking' attack lines and threw them away.
Let’s see how things look when the facts come out…
Not that I think Starmer did well. The most notable thing is how wary he is of Ed Davey’s questions, his knowing that they are very carefully aimed at the real views of most of the MPs sitting behind our PM.
People like that must live in a bubble where SKS's studiously middle ground pronouncements on immigration genuinely is 'far right'. God knows what they'd think if they ever heard any opinions from the real world.
The reality of this ‘far right’ announcement which emboldens ‘fascism’ according to some is that net inward migration is now accepted in the hundreds of thousands a year not the tens of thousands and it is now forecast as being 240K a year not 300K.
Wow. True far right fascism 🙄
I don’t think he will care about losing Dr Shola. One of a bunch of tedious daytime/breakfast TV talking heads who will appear on crap like Vine and GMB to spout shit about any subject from an extreme POV.
The trouble is that extreme hyperbolic language like that does have real-world political effects.
It's why social media is so toxic. Words matter.
Not just social media, but TV too. Especially daytime and breakfast TV with politics slots to fill.
They want loud mouthed gobshites like Dr Shola because she can then be used to drive traffic and engagement for the media which in turn drives viewers.
Lowe seems to have represented a strand of opinion that wanted to steer Reform to the right and he won the Musk endorsement as a result. Farrage strongly resisted this and politely told Musk where he could go (and Lowe too, far less politely.) By firmly rejecting any shift to the (dare we say radical?) right Farrage has gained more by this then he has lost.
Indeed: but the issue for Reform in attracting Conservative defections (which they should want to do), is that it helps when people get on with the Party leader.
If you don't get on with the Party leader, and get kicked out of the Party, and you get the police sicc'ed on you.
Well, it makes you think twice about jumping ship.
I'm sure you are correct Robert and that probably does explain why there have been no defections yet.
I just think If the polls hold on like this, we will start to get reluctant and very nervous Conservative MPs defecting anyway, on the basis that better 'pot luck' with Nigel today than 'humble pie' and the dole come the GE tommorow.
There are going to be some constituencies where staying Conservative essentially guarantees a loss, so you are probably right.
I'd be surprised if the Conservatives still had MPs in triple figures by the end of this Parliament.
But, there are 4 years to go and all sorts of events that could take place - so let's see.
Which is also why those people (such as our little HY) who imagine that anyone is going to vote tactically for the Tories against Reform are most likely pissing in the wind. Personally I’d vote Reform against Tory, if only to see the two-party and unfair voting system that we’ve endured during our lifetimes come crashing down.
Might that see it replaced by a two party and unfair voting system just with different parties (or one anyway) at the top?
Which might be reason enough for it for many of course.
(In fairness Reform, presently anyway, support PR for the Commons as well)
Comments
"Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu
@SholaMos1
You are a shameless panderer to the far right.
Reform voters & Tory will never vote for you.
You spineless racist political prostitute."
https://x.com/SholaMos1/status/1922685018507260001
It's actually easier to have an English-speaking conversation with Deutsche Bahn than with its British equivalent. Whatever that is.
Most voters expect a parties manifesto to cost at least double what they claim it will even while assuming that the manifesto will only get half enacted
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/05/13/business/egg-prices-trump-inflation
Trump’s egg price fiction has suddenly become reality
For months, President Donald Trump has falsely claimed that egg prices are tumbling. It wasn’t true then, but it’s true now.
Amusingly, his father was a UKIP candidate.
Nugget from the wiki: "In June 2024, it was announced that Philp's wife, Elizabeth, is being sued over allegations of corporate espionage. She was accused of illegally using confidential information from her former employer to set up a rival business.[65] When questioned about the case in a local hustings, Philp acknowledged the ongoing case, but refused to confirm or deny whether he was a stakeholder in the business."
I give the more off the wall excursions and you go for the cruise ship itinerary trips and you get all the "likes".
https://x.com/christophclarey/status/1922686644961862123?s=61&t=LYVEHh2mqFy1oUJAdCfe-Q
A number of investment banks would do this with analysts, so as to leave them in limbo and unable to start new jobs. Cases would then be quietly dropped after a year, because the goal was simply to delay the analyst from starting their new job, not that they really had performed any "corporate espionage".
He might sound quite mad but no reasonably literate person could misconstrue “24,000 people with no right to be here”.
Most egregious is the kicking into the period of the next government the issue of social care, now hanging fire since 2013 and the Dilnot report.
Reform are, in different ways, setting themselves up to fail; which makes them the 'same as all the others' not different.
I defer to his expertise.
The man who, inter alia, predicted Liz Truss would surprise on the upside?
He's very cleverly set up the Treasury, Home office, and Health (perhaps Education too) to be led by strong-ish people, and he's not nailing his colours to the policies in all of these.
Setting his most capable deputies hard tasks keeps them busy. Meanwhile he's used his most accommodating deputy to allow himself to appear on the world stage.
It's what John Major should have done, and I doubt Starmer is likely to shag any mooses soon.
A taxi driver has claimed British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his wife Nicola Green refused to pay a fare of nearly £600 after he drove them more than 360 miles from Italy to a ski resort in France.
The driver said he collected Lammy, 52 and his artist wife, 53, on April 10 at the town of Forli near Bologna after they had accompanied King Charles and Queen Camilla on a three-day state visit to Italy.
But he alleges that Lammy 'became aggressive' when asked for payment after he drove some six hours into the night to reach Flaine, a ski village in Haute Savoie in the French Alps.
Only Reform will freeze immigration, deport illegals and regain control of our borders.
https://x.com/reformparty_uk/status/1922592684352446975?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
Democrat ousts incumbent Republican in Omaha mayoral race
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5299111-democrat-ousts-republican-omaha-mayoral-race/
Or have you just naturally assumed the position?
Derbyshire. Leader Alan Graves. Formerly Labour, Independent, UKIP, Brexit Party and finally Reform.
Lincs. Mayor Andrea Jenkyns. Former Conservative.
Leader. Sean Matthews. Unsure about any history, apart from an interesting twitter account.
Notts. Leader has Mick Barton. Mansfield Independent Councillor since 2003. Defected tp Reform 2023. MI are Reform-style independents.
Staffs. Leader Ian Cooper. Unsure about any history.
The calm down dear was a reference to this PMQs.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13211577
You often talk about Keir like he's the second coming of Cameron
https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/976/cpsprodpb/5135/live/cbc003b0-2c06-11f0-8da1-ad2bbee6cda5.jpg.webp
I just had a packet of French brand Lebanese falafel flavour. Damn nice too
Original, accurate, punny and funny
Roll a new leaf over.
It’s time to get right to the heart of matters. It’s the heart that matters more.
Stay humble.
Sir Gobble Gobble fluffed his lines, though with the Tories' recent travails, that was lucky for Badenoch.
Trump said his meeting with Syrian President Al-Sharaa went “great”, saying he is a “young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter.”
https://nitter.poast.org/iclalturan/status/1922619116004753772#m
It's probably more that Brits don't want to talk to other people if they can possibly avoid it.
I wonder if it was lost in translation?
Wow. True far right fascism 🙄
I don’t think he will care about losing Dr Shola. One of a bunch of tedious daytime/breakfast TV talking heads who will appear on crap like Vine and GMB to spout shit about any subject from an extreme POV.
I think he's not really well liked now so won't get a boost per se, but there is such a thing as the right people being mad at you, even if it shouldn't be your whole thing.
Kemi trying to make something of a moribund department store closing, which the company owner (who by coincidence is a known Tory member) tried to jokingly link to Reeves by having a Reeves closing down sale, when it transpires that the company closed most of its stores during the last government and went into liquidation three years ago? So no link with the NI changes in the budget at all! Kemi clearly read the poorly researched little item in the Torygraph and rushed to PMQs to blurt it out, without doing any checking or research at all. Is that the sort of person we need running our country??
The counter is we've tried the others so give them a chance, sure, but that's not really the same as expecting the difference to be there, as opposed to hoping it will.
But, there are 4 years to go and all sorts of events that could take place - so let's see.
https://x.com/WarMonitor3/status/1922708515954602301
The taxi driver is being prosecuted.
The Tories pulled this trick - twice. Why shouldn't they?
That's amazing.
It's why social media is so toxic. Words matter.
On the other hand, there are some hot women - but badly outnumbered by smelly men.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz9ygl5g5n9o
1. Lammy paid £800 through GetTransfers.com, which contracted the cab
2. The cab driver believed he was owed an additional £580 on arrival
3. When not paid the £580, the cab driver drove to the police station (with the Lammy's luggage) to complain about Lammy
4. The Lammy's complained to the police about the theft of their luggage
5. The cab driver, after failing to get satisfaction from the police, removed cash from Ms Green's luggage
It sounds to me like it was an initial misunderstanding (I have no doubt the cab driver was sincere in his belief he was still owed money, hence his visit to the police). On the other hand, his removal of money from the Lammy's luggage was clearly theft, and hence he is being prosecuted.
(Edit to add: I would not be surprised if turned out that GetTransfers.com was the "guilty party" here.)
Kemi was clear and lucid in her attacks, and responded in real time when Sir Useless made a false claim about Government support for hospices. He was evasive (which focus groups hate) and tried to go on the attack, but even judged purely on how he executed that strategy, he gobbled his 'dead party walking' attack lines and threw them away.
Coming to the Spectator this week.
Not that I think Starmer did well. The most notable thing is how wary he is of Ed Davey’s questions, his knowing that they are very carefully aimed at the real views of most of the MPs sitting behind our PM.
They want loud mouthed gobshites like Dr Shola because she can then be used to drive traffic and engagement for the media which in turn drives viewers.
Which might be reason enough for it for many of course.
(In fairness Reform, presently anyway, support PR for the Commons as well)