Not sure the first para is correct - I think any MP can engineer a by-election by resigning their position ?
Actually, formally an MP cannot resign their seat. Hence they get themselves disqualified instead by accepting an office of profit under the Crown (Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds or Manor of Northstead - Mike Amesbury and Scott Benton at present, which gives confidence that the Chiltern Hundreds and Manor of Northstead are in safe hands).
More relevantly, I don't think the point being made was that MPs can't decide to leave Parliament, causing a by-election. I think it was that electoral volatility means they cannot predict the result.
I have to say, I don't really agree with that anyway in this case. Burnham is a pretty popular mayor, and there are plenty of Remain-leaning constituencies in his area with large Labour majorities which tend to be rather unfavourable for RefUK, where Tories are unpopular, and Lib Dems just aren't a factor. I mean, RefUK only just won in heavily Leave-leaning Runcorn and, whilst polls have moved their way since, there are quite a few places where Burnham would win comfortably.
Sinn Fein tested the notion that "formally an MP cannot resign their seat" to destruction. They didn't want anything to do with this British royalty stuff, so one departing Sinn Fein MP sent in a letter saying they resigned, and the Commons authorities just interpreted that to mean that they should be appointed to an office of profit under the Crown. The end result of this is that, yes, an MP can resign their seat, because that's what the Sinn Fein MP did, even if there was some make-believe paperwork after the event.
India considering a huge Rafale purchase. ‘The defence ministry has begun examining a proposal from the Indian Air Force to procure 114 "Made in India" Rafale fighter jets https://x.com/shashj/status/1966953610111021100
The reasons are likely part political (no one trusts Trump) and partly practical - see our dismal experience with getting any F35 upgrades.
Ben Wallace’s comments yesterday were interesting
Ben Wallace is merely explaining why everyone else is looking at the Rafale - the US are no longer trustworthy...
...and the UK is locked in to several US procurement programs like the F-35 which turn out to be functionally useless. Arguably our SSBN fleet, supposedly an independent deterrent, is so bound up in the US systems that it could only be used to give the US multi national cover in any nuclear strike. So difficult it is to disentangle, that we have preferred the root of grovelling to Trump rather than actually doing what is now clearly necessary. The state visit this week will be a series of hostage negotiations.
That's a valuable short summary.
I like "a series of hostage negotiations", as a good soundbite wrt the need for Europe to be able to stand alone, which is the basic requirement for marginalising Trump and his successors. It's almost the necessary platform for an ability to negotiate. If the possibility exists to render the USA entirely irrelevent to, for example, Ukraine, then there is the opportunity to prevent the USA carving up Europe in their interest.
A NATCON5 talk I posted yesterday had the President of the Edmund Burke foundation suggesting that USA allies should be "between the 3 seas - Adriatic, Baltic and Black", and in countries that are "willing to fight". That is a chain centred on Poland through the Baltics to Romania etc. Western Europe is to be marginalised partly because in NATCON heads we have "surrendered to Islam".
I don't see it working, because most of those economies are in, or will be integrated into, the EU, and the NatConers are looking for unequal relationships, and offering little.
Starmer could always push through the Rayner plan to disqualify sitting elected mayors from standing for parliament
I am happy to be corrected, but don't think Manchester Mayor can be an MP.
Something to do with him being a joint mayor and police commissioner in one, unlike other mayors.
But I may be totally wrong.
He'd have to resign as Mayor if he won, yes. Rayners plan was to prevent mayors even standing during their term
Got to ask what the purpose of that would be - if the consequence of being an MP is that you need to resign and you thought the seat was winnable enough you would resign anyway.
I think he'd win loads of seats around south Manchester, where I live, Wythenshawe & Sale East, Stretford & Urmston, Withington and probably several others.
Think those away from the area massively underestimate the popularity he has in this part of the world.
Isn’t the real question of the weekend how will befriender of poor/rich waitresses Farage accommodate the new populist movement sweeping the kingdom (southern half); share or shaft?
Excellent question. Are we going to get a Party to the right of Farage? The Yaxley-Lennons? There would then be three parties swimming in the same fetid tank. Nothing much keeping them apart except for the ambitions of their leaders.
We have that party. It's called Advance UK. Yaxley-Lennon has joined it, Musk backs it.
Starmer could always push through the Rayner plan to disqualify sitting elected mayors from standing for parliament
I am happy to be corrected, but don't think Manchester Mayor can be an MP.
Something to do with him being a joint mayor and police commissioner in one, unlike other mayors.
But I may be totally wrong.
He'd have to resign as Mayor if he won, yes. Rayners plan was to prevent mayors even standing during their term
Got to ask what the purpose of that would be - if the consequence of being an MP is that you need to resign and you thought the seat was winnable enough you would resign anyway.
I think he'd win loads of seats around south Manchester, where I live, Wythenshawe & Sale East, Stretford & Urmston, Withington and probably several others.
Think those away from the area massively underestimate the popularity he has in this part of the world.
That was my point - any Mayor who decides they want to be an MP again is going to have safe options where winning is incredibly likely.
On topic, if the answer is Burnham you asked the wrong question.
Though, it does show what a shambles labour are in, and in particular Starmer and Reeves performance over the last 15 months
It speaks to the paucity of talent in British politics. Every party is led by the second rate. Backed by the fifth rate.
You look at Thatcher’s cabinets - sure, there were one or two clowns. But a good half of them could have been PM.
Well, it's often said we get the politicians we deserve but I think the quality of political journalism and analysis as presented on all media is disappointing. GB News is unwatchable as is Sky. Most questions are presented as simplistic binary options (which they aren't) and nobody is given time to put forward complex arguments for discussion. Trying to "discuss" immigration in two and a half minutes in an informed and reasoned way is impossible unless your sole argument is "sink the boats" or "deport them all".
I think the coming of social media and the 24/7 news cycle and the end of any kind of deference have made an enormous and negative impact to the quality (as distinct from the quantity) of our politics.
The counterpoint to this is it turns out there's an audience for really long politics podcasts. In the US it's mainly been Rogan, Lex Fridman, people like that. They tend not to do very hostile questions but they do talk about issues and give you a chance to hear an issue discussed in depth.
Politicians who are used to the soundbyte culture are scared of going on these because it'll create a lot of material and then the opposition will pick out the worst part and blast it across all the shallower channels. But with the actual listeners it seems to kind of inoculate them, because the people who listen feel like they know the candidate and they won't believe an attack that doesn't match what they heard.
Calling Rogan a political interviewer is like calling my cat a chef because he sometimes likes to take a bite of wet food and then a bite of dry food and then another bite of wet food. Sure, you can hear an issue discussed in depth, but the issue might be an entirey made up culture war confection. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
I mean I don't think it matters whether you call him a political interviewer or not? A politician can go on there and talk about politics, and Rogan or whoever will make various noises through his mouth that keep them talking about things his listeners want to hear about. It's definitely true that he (and other podcast hosts) won't provide a lot of well-informed pushback in the way that a TV interviewer is theoretically supposed to, but the upside of that is that the politians actually have an opportunity to develop and argument and don't have to talk in soundbytes all the time.
Starmer could always push through the Rayner plan to disqualify sitting elected mayors from standing for parliament
I am happy to be corrected, but don't think Manchester Mayor can be an MP.
Something to do with him being a joint mayor and police commissioner in one, unlike other mayors.
But I may be totally wrong.
He'd have to resign as Mayor if he won, yes. Rayners plan was to prevent mayors even standing during their term
Got to ask what the purpose of that would be - if the consequence of being an MP is that you need to resign and you thought the seat was winnable enough you would resign anyway.
Clive Lewis also had an unexpected view on the March (1/2)
Believe it or not, I had an old school friend on today’s marches in London. He sent me some photos from the crowd.
We went to middle school together and grew up on the same Eastern District council estate in Northampton.
I asked him why he was there. He gave me two answers: 1.“The government doesn’t listen to us.” 2.“I want to feel proud of my country again.”
He wore a Union Jack, not a St George’s Cross as he said that one had been hijacked by racists.
He wasn’t there for Hopkins, Musk, or any of the professional ‘grifters’ as he put it. He was there to feel part of something bigger, though he admitted there were a lot of, in his words, “assholes” there.
He’s an electrician. He’s smart. He’s not racist, but he’s not “PC” either. He’s not a fan of Keir Starmer but he also believes Farage would be a disaster.
Oh yes, he’s a bundle of contradictions! But aren’t we all?
I don’t know what ‘box’ we put him or the millions like him in. And I think pretending they’re all racists or fascists would be a massive mistake.
Some were. But not all.
This is about something bigger than immigration slogans or GDP numbers. For decades we’ve hollowed out our national life, underfunding and undermining the very institutions that once brought us together…
I would back Burnham to hold Gorton (although not by a massive margin).
The bigger problem is how to get the nomination. Normally in by-elections, the party HQs get involved in choosing a candidate. If Starmer loyalists get to pick the candidate, why would they let Burnham anywhere near the seat?
Clive Lewis also had an unexpected view on the March (1/2)
Believe it or not, I had an old school friend on today’s marches in London. He sent me some photos from the crowd.
We went to middle school together and grew up on the same Eastern District council estate in Northampton.
I asked him why he was there. He gave me two answers: 1.“The government doesn’t listen to us.” 2.“I want to feel proud of my country again.”
He wore a Union Jack, not a St George’s Cross as he said that one had been hijacked by racists.
He wasn’t there for Hopkins, Musk, or any of the professional ‘grifters’ as he put it. He was there to feel part of something bigger, though he admitted there were a lot of, in his words, “assholes” there.
He’s an electrician. He’s smart. He’s not racist, but he’s not “PC” either. He’s not a fan of Keir Starmer but he also believes Farage would be a disaster.
Oh yes, he’s a bundle of contradictions! But aren’t we all?
I don’t know what ‘box’ we put him or the millions like him in. And I think pretending they’re all racists or fascists would be a massive mistake.
Some were. But not all.
This is about something bigger than immigration slogans or GDP numbers. For decades we’ve hollowed out our national life, underfunding and undermining the very institutions that once brought us together…
Karl Polanyi, writing in The Great Transformation, argued that when markets are “disembodied” from society, when land, labour, and life itself are treated as commodities society pushes back. He called this the “double movement”: people seeking to protect themselves, to reclaim dignity and meaning when everything solid seems to melt into air.
That’s what I saw in my friend’s photos. Not just anger, but a demand for belonging.
We’ve replaced collective experience with atomisation. Without getting too nostalgic, programmes like the BBC’s Generation Game once pulled in millions every Saturday night, giving us something we could all talk about on Monday morning. Now we watch Netflix, Disney+, Prime, or Paramount, alone, in algorithmic silos.
Football used to be affordable and rooted in community; now it’s millionaires playing for the profitability of billionaires. The NHS, the post office, the railways - all chipped away, run down, sold off or centralised, leaving people feeling powerless and disconnected.
And don’t get me wrong: some kind of “Hovis Labour” nostalgia for the 1950s isn’t the answer. The country back then was often intolerant, grey, and deeply unequal. But what we’ve built since is a society that gives people little to hold in common, no collective story about who we are or what we’re for.
I reckon that’s partly why my mate marched. Not because he wants to turn back the clock. But because he wants to feel pride again. Pride in a country that is inclusive, fair, and offers a role for everyone. Pride in a nation that has a respected place in the world, tackles grotesque inequality, and gives people something real to believe in.
Polanyi warned that when democracies fail to provide a humane alternative, the backlash can turn authoritarian. This is how fascism grew in the 1930s, not because everyone became a true believer, but because millions felt abandoned and looked for strength, identity, and meaning wherever they could find it.
If Labour and progressives don’t offer that story of renewal, if we don’t rebuild our national institutions, restore collective pride, and re-embed markets within society, the far right will do it for us, in their own image.
Isn’t the real question of the weekend how will befriender of poor/rich waitresses Farage accommodate the new populist movement sweeping the kingdom (southern half); share or shaft?
Excellent question. Are we going to get a Party to the right of Farage? The Yaxley-Lennons? There would then be three parties swimming in the same fetid tank. Nothing much keeping them apart except for the ambitions of their leaders.
Robinson has already given his backing to Advance UK. Habib spoke at yesterday's rally
You've got to be on your toes to follow the shenanigans of the far right......,
What a time to rejoin the EU. If only we had a Labour leader with a little bit of backbone we could say goodbye to Trump and Mandy and steer a course back to civilisation
Sadly, I think that would lead to violent civil war.
Having a far right party on 25%+ in the polls is convergence with Europe - Italy, France, Germany. To name but a few.
Civilisation, eh?
As high as 56%, in Villefranche Sur Mer.
Whatever arguments there may be for rejoining the EU, marginalising the radical right is not one of them.
Apart from being a faster talker than Starmer (which is pretty much everyone) and not having been in government recently (gives you clean hands, sure, but is otherwise a downside), what exactly is Burnham's appeal?
How would his government be better?
Comms would be a million times better, and er...
He'd sound like a man of the people - to Northerners at least.
Starmer could always push through the Rayner plan to disqualify sitting elected mayors from standing for parliament
I am happy to be corrected, but don't think Manchester Mayor can be an MP.
Something to do with him being a joint mayor and police commissioner in one, unlike other mayors.
But I may be totally wrong.
He'd have to resign as Mayor if he won, yes. Rayners plan was to prevent mayors even standing during their term
Got to ask what the purpose of that would be - if the consequence of being an MP is that you need to resign and you thought the seat was winnable enough you would resign anyway.
I guess to stop them 'having a free punt'
The main purpose was to shut off the Boris route at both ends (running for Mayor as MP; returning to the Commons while still Mayor) – more cynically, to make it harder for Sadiq Khan to become Prime Minister.
Isn’t the real question of the weekend how will befriender of poor/rich waitresses Farage accommodate the new populist movement sweeping the kingdom (southern half); share or shaft?
Excellent question. Are we going to get a Party to the right of Farage? The Yaxley-Lennons? There would then be three parties swimming in the same fetid tank. Nothing much keeping them apart except for the ambitions of their leaders.
We have that party. It's called Advance UK. Yaxley-Lennon has joined it, Musk backs it.
Isn’t the real question of the weekend how will befriender of poor/rich waitresses Farage accommodate the new populist movement sweeping the kingdom (southern half); share or shaft?
Excellent question. Are we going to get a Party to the right of Farage? The Yaxley-Lennons? There would then be three parties swimming in the same fetid tank. Nothing much keeping them apart except for the ambitions of their leaders.
Robinson has already given his backing to Advance UK. Habib spoke at yesterday's rally
You've got to be on your toes to follow the shenanigans of the far right......,
What a time to rejoin the EU. If only we had a Labour leader with a little bit of backbone we could say goodbye to Trump and Mandy and steer a course back to civilisation
Sadly, I think that would lead to violent civil war.
Having a far right party on 25%+ in the polls is convergence with Europe - Italy, France, Germany. To name but a few.
Civilisation, eh?
As high as 56%, in Villefranche Sur Mer.
Whatever arguments there may be for rejoining the EU, marginalising the radical right is not one of them.
Otoh Brexiting doesn’t seem to have done much to marginalise the radical right either.
I would back Burnham to hold Gorton (although not by a massive margin).
The bigger problem is how to get the nomination. Normally in by-elections, the party HQs get involved in choosing a candidate. If Starmer loyalists get to pick the candidate, why would they let Burnham anywhere near the seat?
If Burnham announces he wants to stand, it would hardly look good if they stopped him from being the candidate.
On topic, if the answer is Burnham you asked the wrong question.
Though, it does show what a shambles labour are in, and in particular Starmer and Reeves performance over the last 15 months
It speaks to the paucity of talent in British politics. Every party is led by the second rate. Backed by the fifth rate.
You look at Thatcher’s cabinets - sure, there were one or two clowns. But a good half of them could have been PM.
Well, it's often said we get the politicians we deserve but I think the quality of political journalism and analysis as presented on all media is disappointing. GB News is unwatchable as is Sky. Most questions are presented as simplistic binary options (which they aren't) and nobody is given time to put forward complex arguments for discussion. Trying to "discuss" immigration in two and a half minutes in an informed and reasoned way is impossible unless your sole argument is "sink the boats" or "deport them all".
I think the coming of social media and the 24/7 news cycle and the end of any kind of deference have made an enormous and negative impact to the quality (as distinct from the quantity) of our politics.
The counterpoint to this is it turns out there's an audience for really long politics podcasts. In the US it's mainly been Rogan, Lex Fridman, people like that. They tend not to do very hostile questions but they do talk about issues and give you a chance to hear an issue discussed in depth.
Politicians who are used to the soundbyte culture are scared of going on these because it'll create a lot of material and then the opposition will pick out the worst part and blast it across all the shallower channels. But with the actual listeners it seems to kind of inoculate them, because the people who listen feel like they know the candidate and they won't believe an attack that doesn't match what they heard.
Calling Rogan a political interviewer is like calling my cat a chef because he sometimes likes to take a bite of wet food and then a bite of dry food and then another bite of wet food. Sure, you can hear an issue discussed in depth, but the issue might be an entirey made up culture war confection. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
I mean I don't think it matters whether you call him a political interviewer or not? A politician can go on there and talk about politics, and Rogan or whoever will make various noises through his mouth that keep them talking about things his listeners want to hear about. It's definitely true that he (and other podcast hosts) won't provide a lot of well-informed pushback in the way that a TV interviewer is theoretically supposed to, but the upside of that is that the politians actually have an opportunity to develop and argument and don't have to talk in soundbytes all the time.
Yes, if you are the sort of person Rogan wants to interview* and want to talk about something, facing only some softball questions, it's a great opportunity to do that. Is this a good thing for society broadly? Given he's ended up promoting a bunch of conspiracy theories and radicalising audience members like @Sandpit , I'm not convinced it is.
Does it show there is an audience for long-form political discussion... Maybe? There are lots of long-form politics podcasts on the right and on the left, but I think they are largely preaching to the choir. They're sometimes just repeating platitudes, not digging into issues. There are some long-form podcasts that do topics justice and that are really interesting, but there are long-form podcasts about everything. You don't need much of an audience to keep a podcast going.
So thumbs up for (some) podcasts, but I don't think they solve the issues created by the 24/7 news cycle and TikTokification of media.
Clive Lewis also had an unexpected view on the March (1/2)
Believe it or not, I had an old school friend on today’s marches in London. He sent me some photos from the crowd.
We went to middle school together and grew up on the same Eastern District council estate in Northampton.
I asked him why he was there. He gave me two answers: 1.“The government doesn’t listen to us.” 2.“I want to feel proud of my country again.”
He wore a Union Jack, not a St George’s Cross as he said that one had been hijacked by racists.
He wasn’t there for Hopkins, Musk, or any of the professional ‘grifters’ as he put it. He was there to feel part of something bigger, though he admitted there were a lot of, in his words, “assholes” there.
He’s an electrician. He’s smart. He’s not racist, but he’s not “PC” either. He’s not a fan of Keir Starmer but he also believes Farage would be a disaster.
Oh yes, he’s a bundle of contradictions! But aren’t we all?
I don’t know what ‘box’ we put him or the millions like him in. And I think pretending they’re all racists or fascists would be a massive mistake.
Some were. But not all.
This is about something bigger than immigration slogans or GDP numbers. For decades we’ve hollowed out our national life, underfunding and undermining the very institutions that once brought us together…
Karl Polanyi, writing in The Great Transformation, argued that when markets are “disembodied” from society, when land, labour, and life itself are treated as commodities society pushes back. He called this the “double movement”: people seeking to protect themselves, to reclaim dignity and meaning when everything solid seems to melt into air.
That’s what I saw in my friend’s photos. Not just anger, but a demand for belonging.
We’ve replaced collective experience with atomisation. Without getting too nostalgic, programmes like the BBC’s Generation Game once pulled in millions every Saturday night, giving us something we could all talk about on Monday morning. Now we watch Netflix, Disney+, Prime, or Paramount, alone, in algorithmic silos.
Football used to be affordable and rooted in community; now it’s millionaires playing for the profitability of billionaires. The NHS, the post office, the railways - all chipped away, run down, sold off or centralised, leaving people feeling powerless and disconnected.
And don’t get me wrong: some kind of “Hovis Labour” nostalgia for the 1950s isn’t the answer. The country back then was often intolerant, grey, and deeply unequal. But what we’ve built since is a society that gives people little to hold in common, no collective story about who we are or what we’re for.
I reckon that’s partly why my mate marched. Not because he wants to turn back the clock. But because he wants to feel pride again. Pride in a country that is inclusive, fair, and offers a role for everyone. Pride in a nation that has a respected place in the world, tackles grotesque inequality, and gives people something real to believe in.
Polanyi warned that when democracies fail to provide a humane alternative, the backlash can turn authoritarian. This is how fascism grew in the 1930s, not because everyone became a true believer, but because millions felt abandoned and looked for strength, identity, and meaning wherever they could find it.
If Labour and progressives don’t offer that story of renewal, if we don’t rebuild our national institutions, restore collective pride, and re-embed markets within society, the far right will do it for us, in their own image.
The last time Labour changed leader in office was Blair to Brown. That transition lasted years. Labour is not the Tory party. There is no equivalent to sending letters to the 1922 committee.
Starmer's moment of peril will be May 26
Presumably you mean the local elections in May, 2026, or is there some event planned for the 26th of May?
I still expect Starmer to follow Harold Wilson and retire early. What concerns me is the supposed plots might make him want to hang on in order to make it clear he is going on his own terms.
26th May is a bit thin on events:
NATIONAL PAPER AIRPLANE DAY | May 26. MEMORIAL DAY - Last Monday in May. NATIONAL BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE DAY - May 26.
Defenestration of Starmer Day would bolster it some...
Clive Lewis also had an unexpected view on the March (1/2)
Believe it or not, I had an old school friend on today’s marches in London. He sent me some photos from the crowd.
We went to middle school together and grew up on the same Eastern District council estate in Northampton.
I asked him why he was there. He gave me two answers: 1.“The government doesn’t listen to us.” 2.“I want to feel proud of my country again.”
He wore a Union Jack, not a St George’s Cross as he said that one had been hijacked by racists.
He wasn’t there for Hopkins, Musk, or any of the professional ‘grifters’ as he put it. He was there to feel part of something bigger, though he admitted there were a lot of, in his words, “assholes” there.
He’s an electrician. He’s smart. He’s not racist, but he’s not “PC” either. He’s not a fan of Keir Starmer but he also believes Farage would be a disaster.
Oh yes, he’s a bundle of contradictions! But aren’t we all?
I don’t know what ‘box’ we put him or the millions like him in. And I think pretending they’re all racists or fascists would be a massive mistake.
Some were. But not all.
This is about something bigger than immigration slogans or GDP numbers. For decades we’ve hollowed out our national life, underfunding and undermining the very institutions that once brought us together…
Karl Polanyi, writing in The Great Transformation, argued that when markets are “disembodied” from society, when land, labour, and life itself are treated as commodities society pushes back. He called this the “double movement”: people seeking to protect themselves, to reclaim dignity and meaning when everything solid seems to melt into air.
That’s what I saw in my friend’s photos. Not just anger, but a demand for belonging.
We’ve replaced collective experience with atomisation. Without getting too nostalgic, programmes like the BBC’s Generation Game once pulled in millions every Saturday night, giving us something we could all talk about on Monday morning. Now we watch Netflix, Disney+, Prime, or Paramount, alone, in algorithmic silos.
Football used to be affordable and rooted in community; now it’s millionaires playing for the profitability of billionaires. The NHS, the post office, the railways - all chipped away, run down, sold off or centralised, leaving people feeling powerless and disconnected.
And don’t get me wrong: some kind of “Hovis Labour” nostalgia for the 1950s isn’t the answer. The country back then was often intolerant, grey, and deeply unequal. But what we’ve built since is a society that gives people little to hold in common, no collective story about who we are or what we’re for.
I reckon that’s partly why my mate marched. Not because he wants to turn back the clock. But because he wants to feel pride again. Pride in a country that is inclusive, fair, and offers a role for everyone. Pride in a nation that has a respected place in the world, tackles grotesque inequality, and gives people something real to believe in.
Polanyi warned that when democracies fail to provide a humane alternative, the backlash can turn authoritarian. This is how fascism grew in the 1930s, not because everyone became a true believer, but because millions felt abandoned and looked for strength, identity, and meaning wherever they could find it.
If Labour and progressives don’t offer that story of renewal, if we don’t rebuild our national institutions, restore collective pride, and re-embed markets within society, the far right will do it for us, in their own image.
While I think there is much in the broad thesis, I'm not certain that the emphasis on the media (from The Generation Game to Netflix) is correct. I suggest we should look at capitalism, and the move from people generally being employed by companies that were rooted in their local communities, who had an interest in the local community, to people being employed by international corporations that are distant from local communities and more focused on the extraction of financial value.
Isn’t the real question of the weekend how will befriender of poor/rich waitresses Farage accommodate the new populist movement sweeping the kingdom (southern half); share or shaft?
Excellent question. Are we going to get a Party to the right of Farage? The Yaxley-Lennons? There would then be three parties swimming in the same fetid tank. Nothing much keeping them apart except for the ambitions of their leaders.
We have that party. It's called Advance UK. Yaxley-Lennon has joined it, Musk backs it.
They will go nowhere at the next election (less than 1%). If Reform get in and don't deliver, then a window opens for a party further to the right.
I would guess that you are probably right, but we live in unpredictable times. I think some other outcome is possible. They could do better in vote share, but split the Reform UK vote and so reduce the number of radical right MPs. They could tarnish Farage's image. Maybe they could even take over from Reform UK before the next election.
Isn’t the real question of the weekend how will befriender of poor/rich waitresses Farage accommodate the new populist movement sweeping the kingdom (southern half); share or shaft?
Excellent question. Are we going to get a Party to the right of Farage? The Yaxley-Lennons? There would then be three parties swimming in the same fetid tank. Nothing much keeping them apart except for the ambitions of their leaders.
We have that party. It's called Advance UK. Yaxley-Lennon has joined it, Musk backs it.
They will go nowhere at the next election (less than 1%). If Reform get in and don't deliver, then a window opens for a party further to the right.
They've got 30,000 paid up members. I can see them putting in a similar performance to UKIP 2017 under Nuttall (1.8% stood in just over half the seats) or BNP 2010 (1.9% in just over half the seats)
Clive Lewis also had an unexpected view on the March (1/2)
Believe it or not, I had an old school friend on today’s marches in London. He sent me some photos from the crowd.
We went to middle school together and grew up on the same Eastern District council estate in Northampton.
I asked him why he was there. He gave me two answers: 1.“The government doesn’t listen to us.” 2.“I want to feel proud of my country again.”
He wore a Union Jack, not a St George’s Cross as he said that one had been hijacked by racists.
He wasn’t there for Hopkins, Musk, or any of the professional ‘grifters’ as he put it. He was there to feel part of something bigger, though he admitted there were a lot of, in his words, “assholes” there.
He’s an electrician. He’s smart. He’s not racist, but he’s not “PC” either. He’s not a fan of Keir Starmer but he also believes Farage would be a disaster.
Oh yes, he’s a bundle of contradictions! But aren’t we all?
I don’t know what ‘box’ we put him or the millions like him in. And I think pretending they’re all racists or fascists would be a massive mistake.
Some were. But not all.
This is about something bigger than immigration slogans or GDP numbers. For decades we’ve hollowed out our national life, underfunding and undermining the very institutions that once brought us together…
Karl Polanyi, writing in The Great Transformation, argued that when markets are “disembodied” from society, when land, labour, and life itself are treated as commodities society pushes back. He called this the “double movement”: people seeking to protect themselves, to reclaim dignity and meaning when everything solid seems to melt into air.
That’s what I saw in my friend’s photos. Not just anger, but a demand for belonging.
We’ve replaced collective experience with atomisation. Without getting too nostalgic, programmes like the BBC’s Generation Game once pulled in millions every Saturday night, giving us something we could all talk about on Monday morning. Now we watch Netflix, Disney+, Prime, or Paramount, alone, in algorithmic silos.
Football used to be affordable and rooted in community; now it’s millionaires playing for the profitability of billionaires. The NHS, the post office, the railways - all chipped away, run down, sold off or centralised, leaving people feeling powerless and disconnected.
And don’t get me wrong: some kind of “Hovis Labour” nostalgia for the 1950s isn’t the answer. The country back then was often intolerant, grey, and deeply unequal. But what we’ve built since is a society that gives people little to hold in common, no collective story about who we are or what we’re for.
I reckon that’s partly why my mate marched. Not because he wants to turn back the clock. But because he wants to feel pride again. Pride in a country that is inclusive, fair, and offers a role for everyone. Pride in a nation that has a respected place in the world, tackles grotesque inequality, and gives people something real to believe in.
Polanyi warned that when democracies fail to provide a humane alternative, the backlash can turn authoritarian. This is how fascism grew in the 1930s, not because everyone became a true believer, but because millions felt abandoned and looked for strength, identity, and meaning wherever they could find it.
If Labour and progressives don’t offer that story of renewal, if we don’t rebuild our national institutions, restore collective pride, and re-embed markets within society, the far right will do it for us, in their own image.
While I think there is much in the broad thesis, I'm not certain that the emphasis on the media (from The Generation Game to Netflix) is correct. I suggest we should look at capitalism, and the move from people generally being employed by companies that were rooted in their local communities, who had an interest in the local community, to people being employed by international corporations that are distant from local communities and more focused on the extraction of financial value.
There's the "tackling grotesque inequality" bit too. Stoller's Goliath... Not sure Elon Musk is the poster boy for that.
I've no strong view on Burnham, and doubt whether he's involved in the "secret plot" uncovered by The Sun - although if so, the "secret" bit of the plot has already failed. I think his support for Powell is also being over-egged - they are Mancunian mates, so it's hardly surprising that he backs her for the DL.
However, I do think that if politicians could replicate across the country the huge progress that the city of Manchester has made over the last 20 years or so then that would be some achievement. Manchester has been transformed since I was a young man, and is a great city now.
On topic, if the answer is Burnham you asked the wrong question.
Though, it does show what a shambles labour are in, and in particular Starmer and Reeves performance over the last 15 months
It speaks to the paucity of talent in British politics. Every party is led by the second rate. Backed by the fifth rate.
You look at Thatcher’s cabinets - sure, there were one or two clowns. But a good half of them could have been PM.
Well, it's often said we get the politicians we deserve but I think the quality of political journalism and analysis as presented on all media is disappointing. GB News is unwatchable as is Sky. Most questions are presented as simplistic binary options (which they aren't) and nobody is given time to put forward complex arguments for discussion. Trying to "discuss" immigration in two and a half minutes in an informed and reasoned way is impossible unless your sole argument is "sink the boats" or "deport them all".
I think the coming of social media and the 24/7 news cycle and the end of any kind of deference have made an enormous and negative impact to the quality (as distinct from the quantity) of our politics.
The counterpoint to this is it turns out there's an audience for really long politics podcasts. In the US it's mainly been Rogan, Lex Fridman, people like that. They tend not to do very hostile questions but they do talk about issues and give you a chance to hear an issue discussed in depth.
Politicians who are used to the soundbyte culture are scared of going on these because it'll create a lot of material and then the opposition will pick out the worst part and blast it across all the shallower channels. But with the actual listeners it seems to kind of inoculate them, because the people who listen feel like they know the candidate and they won't believe an attack that doesn't match what they heard.
Calling Rogan a political interviewer is like calling my cat a chef because he sometimes likes to take a bite of wet food and then a bite of dry food and then another bite of wet food. Sure, you can hear an issue discussed in depth, but the issue might be an entirey made up culture war confection. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
I mean I don't think it matters whether you call him a political interviewer or not? A politician can go on there and talk about politics, and Rogan or whoever will make various noises through his mouth that keep them talking about things his listeners want to hear about. It's definitely true that he (and other podcast hosts) won't provide a lot of well-informed pushback in the way that a TV interviewer is theoretically supposed to, but the upside of that is that the politians actually have an opportunity to develop and argument and don't have to talk in soundbytes all the time.
Yes, if you are the sort of person Rogan wants to interview* and want to talk about something, facing only some softball questions, it's a great opportunity to do that. Is this a good thing for society broadly? Given he's ended up promoting a bunch of conspiracy theories and radicalising audience members like @Sandpit , I'm not convinced it is.
Does it show there is an audience for long-form political discussion... Maybe? There are lots of long-form politics podcasts on the right and on the left, but I think they are largely preaching to the choir. They're sometimes just repeating platitudes, not digging into issues. There are some long-form podcasts that do topics justice and that are really interesting, but there are long-form podcasts about everything. You don't need much of an audience to keep a podcast going.
So thumbs up for (some) podcasts, but I don't think they solve the issues created by the 24/7 news cycle and TikTokification of media.
* He refused Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy did Lex Fridman though.
The point about these podcasters is that they have a lot of listeners who *aren't* dug in on party lines.
One of the big fuck-ups of the US left over the last 10 years has been to try to freeze out people who say things they think are mad and/or harmful. The Democrats used to be the party of all the health-and-wellbeing crankery, those idiots were all part of the coalition. It's nice to only take seriously people who deserve to be taken seriously, but the problem is that if you exclude the mad people and the somewhat racist people and the people who are mostly sane but have a few absolutely delusional beliefs and everyone else who although nice could create an embarassed silence at a dinner of educated sensible people, you represent at most 40% of the electorate.
Isn’t the real question of the weekend how will befriender of poor/rich waitresses Farage accommodate the new populist movement sweeping the kingdom (southern half); share or shaft?
Excellent question. Are we going to get a Party to the right of Farage? The Yaxley-Lennons? There would then be three parties swimming in the same fetid tank. Nothing much keeping them apart except for the ambitions of their leaders.
We have that party. It's called Advance UK. Yaxley-Lennon has joined it, Musk backs it.
They will go nowhere at the next election (less than 1%). If Reform get in and don't deliver, then a window opens for a party further to the right.
They've got 30,000 paid up members. I can see them putting in a similar performance to UKIP 2017 under Nuttall (1.8% stood in just over half the seats) or BNP 2010 (1.9% in just over half the seats)
In fact the hard right Robinsonians peeling off to Advance is not a bad thing for Reform, it increases their chances of holding the 'concerned grandparent patriotic centrist' vote who probably start peeling off if the hardcore tub thumpers stay in Reform
The last time Labour changed leader in office was Blair to Brown. That transition lasted years. Labour is not the Tory party. There is no equivalent to sending letters to the 1922 committee.
Starmer's moment of peril will be May 26
Presumably you mean the local elections in May, 2026, or is there some event planned for the 26th of May?
I still expect Starmer to follow Harold Wilson and retire early. What concerns me is the supposed plots might make him want to hang on in order to make it clear he is going on his own terms.
26th May is a bit thin on events:
NATIONAL PAPER AIRPLANE DAY | May 26. MEMORIAL DAY - Last Monday in May. NATIONAL BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE DAY - May 26.
Defenestration of Starmer Day would bolster it some...
The 37th anniversary of the happiest night of my life
Clive Lewis also had an unexpected view on the March (1/2)
Believe it or not, I had an old school friend on today’s marches in London. He sent me some photos from the crowd.
We went to middle school together and grew up on the same Eastern District council estate in Northampton.
I asked him why he was there. He gave me two answers: 1.“The government doesn’t listen to us.” 2.“I want to feel proud of my country again.”
He wore a Union Jack, not a St George’s Cross as he said that one had been hijacked by racists.
He wasn’t there for Hopkins, Musk, or any of the professional ‘grifters’ as he put it. He was there to feel part of something bigger, though he admitted there were a lot of, in his words, “assholes” there.
He’s an electrician. He’s smart. He’s not racist, but he’s not “PC” either. He’s not a fan of Keir Starmer but he also believes Farage would be a disaster.
Oh yes, he’s a bundle of contradictions! But aren’t we all?
I don’t know what ‘box’ we put him or the millions like him in. And I think pretending they’re all racists or fascists would be a massive mistake.
Some were. But not all.
This is about something bigger than immigration slogans or GDP numbers. For decades we’ve hollowed out our national life, underfunding and undermining the very institutions that once brought us together…
Karl Polanyi, writing in The Great Transformation, argued that when markets are “disembodied” from society, when land, labour, and life itself are treated as commodities society pushes back. He called this the “double movement”: people seeking to protect themselves, to reclaim dignity and meaning when everything solid seems to melt into air.
That’s what I saw in my friend’s photos. Not just anger, but a demand for belonging.
We’ve replaced collective experience with atomisation. Without getting too nostalgic, programmes like the BBC’s Generation Game once pulled in millions every Saturday night, giving us something we could all talk about on Monday morning. Now we watch Netflix, Disney+, Prime, or Paramount, alone, in algorithmic silos.
Football used to be affordable and rooted in community; now it’s millionaires playing for the profitability of billionaires. The NHS, the post office, the railways - all chipped away, run down, sold off or centralised, leaving people feeling powerless and disconnected.
And don’t get me wrong: some kind of “Hovis Labour” nostalgia for the 1950s isn’t the answer. The country back then was often intolerant, grey, and deeply unequal. But what we’ve built since is a society that gives people little to hold in common, no collective story about who we are or what we’re for.
I reckon that’s partly why my mate marched. Not because he wants to turn back the clock. But because he wants to feel pride again. Pride in a country that is inclusive, fair, and offers a role for everyone. Pride in a nation that has a respected place in the world, tackles grotesque inequality, and gives people something real to believe in.
Polanyi warned that when democracies fail to provide a humane alternative, the backlash can turn authoritarian. This is how fascism grew in the 1930s, not because everyone became a true believer, but because millions felt abandoned and looked for strength, identity, and meaning wherever they could find it.
If Labour and progressives don’t offer that story of renewal, if we don’t rebuild our national institutions, restore collective pride, and re-embed markets within society, the far right will do it for us, in their own image.
It’s hard to understand why the modern Labour Party has so abandoned their core vote. Perhaps I am going back some way, but historically Labour were proud of British identity and culture, believed it needed to be underpinned by a strong national defence, and above all they championed the rights of British workers. Not non-workers, not immigrant workers, not workers overseas. British workers.
Instead we have this big blancmange of a party that has obsessed itself with free movement for foreigners and British professional classes, free trade and climate policy at the expense of British industry, and massive transfer payments to non workers, many of whom are not even British.
How refreshing to see a Labour politician show a modicum of understanding of how low his party has sunk.
I can’t imagine a scenario where I would vote for the Labour Party but I can recognise that there is a democratic need to have a party that fills the above gap. And it’s staggering to me that Labour are content to let this gap be filled by the latest Farage brand, seemingly for no reason other than they think he’s a nasty racist and anyone that backs him is hence an undesirable and they are welcome to each other.
I've no strong view on Burnham, and doubt whether he's involved in the "secret plot" uncovered by The Sun - although if so, the "secret" bit of the plot has already failed. I think his support for Powell is also being over-egged - they are Mancunian mates, so it's hardly surprising that he backs her for the DL.
However, I do think that if politicians could replicate across the country the huge progress that the city of Manchester has made over the last 20 years or so then that would be some achievement. Manchester has been transformed since I was a young man, and is a great city now.
Birmingham and the West Midlands by contrast have gone backwards.
I've no strong view on Burnham, and doubt whether he's involved in the "secret plot" uncovered by The Sun - although if so, the "secret" bit of the plot has already failed. I think his support for Powell is also being over-egged - they are Mancunian mates, so it's hardly surprising that he backs her for the DL.
However, I do think that if politicians could replicate across the country the huge progress that the city of Manchester has made over the last 20 years or so then that would be some achievement. Manchester has been transformed since I was a young man, and is a great city now.
Birmingham and the West Midlands by contrast have gone backwards.
Outside central Birmingham, I'd agree. As well as Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle have made great progress in my lifetime.
Isn’t the real question of the weekend how will befriender of poor/rich waitresses Farage accommodate the new populist movement sweeping the kingdom (southern half); share or shaft?
Excellent question. Are we going to get a Party to the right of Farage? The Yaxley-Lennons? There would then be three parties swimming in the same fetid tank. Nothing much keeping them apart except for the ambitions of their leaders.
Robinson has already given his backing to Advance UK. Habib spoke at yesterday's rally
You've got to be on your toes to follow the shenanigans of the far right......,
What a time to rejoin the EU. If only we had a Labour leader with a little bit of backbone we could say goodbye to Trump and Mandy and steer a course back to civilisation
Sadly, I think that would lead to violent civil war.
Having a far right party on 25%+ in the polls is convergence with Europe - Italy, France, Germany. To name but a few.
Civilisation, eh?
As high as 56%, in Villefranche Sur Mer.
Whatever arguments there may be for rejoining the EU, marginalising the radical right is not one of them.
Otoh Brexiting doesn’t seem to have done much to marginalise the radical right either.
It was part of the same flow. The politicians sold the people on -
1) The People are Sovereign (no deference to an aristocracy) and can do as they wish - True Democracy 2) You aren’t allowed to change a growing number of parts of public life. The Process State regards you as a tomatoes to be processed into canned chopped tomato. Your part in the process is to shut up and obey. And jump in the can.
Strangely, the Sovereign People didn’t take well to (2)
On topic, if the answer is Burnham you asked the wrong question.
Though, it does show what a shambles labour are in, and in particular Starmer and Reeves performance over the last 15 months
It speaks to the paucity of talent in British politics. Every party is led by the second rate. Backed by the fifth rate.
You look at Thatcher’s cabinets - sure, there were one or two clowns. But a good half of them could have been PM.
Well, it's often said we get the politicians we deserve but I think the quality of political journalism and analysis as presented on all media is disappointing. GB News is unwatchable as is Sky. Most questions are presented as simplistic binary options (which they aren't) and nobody is given time to put forward complex arguments for discussion. Trying to "discuss" immigration in two and a half minutes in an informed and reasoned way is impossible unless your sole argument is "sink the boats" or "deport them all".
I think the coming of social media and the 24/7 news cycle and the end of any kind of deference have made an enormous and negative impact to the quality (as distinct from the quantity) of our politics.
The counterpoint to this is it turns out there's an audience for really long politics podcasts. In the US it's mainly been Rogan, Lex Fridman, people like that. They tend not to do very hostile questions but they do talk about issues and give you a chance to hear an issue discussed in depth.
Politicians who are used to the soundbyte culture are scared of going on these because it'll create a lot of material and then the opposition will pick out the worst part and blast it across all the shallower channels. But with the actual listeners it seems to kind of inoculate them, because the people who listen feel like they know the candidate and they won't believe an attack that doesn't match what they heard.
Calling Rogan a political interviewer is like calling my cat a chef because he sometimes likes to take a bite of wet food and then a bite of dry food and then another bite of wet food. Sure, you can hear an issue discussed in depth, but the issue might be an entirey made up culture war confection. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
I mean I don't think it matters whether you call him a political interviewer or not? A politician can go on there and talk about politics, and Rogan or whoever will make various noises through his mouth that keep them talking about things his listeners want to hear about. It's definitely true that he (and other podcast hosts) won't provide a lot of well-informed pushback in the way that a TV interviewer is theoretically supposed to, but the upside of that is that the politians actually have an opportunity to develop and argument and don't have to talk in soundbytes all the time.
Yes, if you are the sort of person Rogan wants to interview* and want to talk about something, facing only some softball questions, it's a great opportunity to do that. Is this a good thing for society broadly? Given he's ended up promoting a bunch of conspiracy theories and radicalising audience members like @Sandpit , I'm not convinced it is.
Does it show there is an audience for long-form political discussion... Maybe? There are lots of long-form politics podcasts on the right and on the left, but I think they are largely preaching to the choir. They're sometimes just repeating platitudes, not digging into issues. There are some long-form podcasts that do topics justice and that are really interesting, but there are long-form podcasts about everything. You don't need much of an audience to keep a podcast going.
So thumbs up for (some) podcasts, but I don't think they solve the issues created by the 24/7 news cycle and TikTokification of media.
* He refused Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy did Lex Fridman though.
The point about these podcasters is that they have a lot of listeners who *aren't* dug in on party lines.
One of the big fuck-ups of the US left over the last 10 years has been to try to freeze out people who say things they think are mad and/or harmful. The Democrats used to be the party of all the health-and-wellbeing crankery, those idiots were all part of the coalition. It's nice to only take seriously people who deserve to be taken seriously, but the problem is that if you exclude the rich people and the mad people and the somewhat racist people and the people who are mostly sane but have a few absolutely delusional beliefs and everyone else who although nice could create an embarassed silence at a dinner of educated sensible people, you represent at most 40% of the electorate.
Well, pre-Web, traditional media froze out people who say things they thought were mad and/or harmful. Both right and left supported that. That stopped happening. So, how should you react?
I think Joe Rogan is a net negative for the world, but, sure, maybe it's the right move for some Democratic politicians to go on Rogan.
Isn’t the real question of the weekend how will befriender of poor/rich waitresses Farage accommodate the new populist movement sweeping the kingdom (southern half); share or shaft?
Excellent question. Are we going to get a Party to the right of Farage? The Yaxley-Lennons? There would then be three parties swimming in the same fetid tank. Nothing much keeping them apart except for the ambitions of their leaders.
Robinson has already given his backing to Advance UK. Habib spoke at yesterday's rally
You've got to be on your toes to follow the shenanigans of the far right......,
What a time to rejoin the EU. If only we had a Labour leader with a little bit of backbone we could say goodbye to Trump and Mandy and steer a course back to civilisation
Sadly, I think that would lead to violent civil war.
Having a far right party on 25%+ in the polls is convergence with Europe - Italy, France, Germany. To name but a few.
Civilisation, eh?
As high as 56%, in Villefranche Sur Mer.
Whatever arguments there may be for rejoining the EU, marginalising the radical right is not one of them.
Otoh Brexiting doesn’t seem to have done much to marginalise the radical right either.
It was part of the same flow. The politicians sold the people on -
1) The People are Sovereign (no deference to an aristocracy) and can do as they wish - True Democracy 2) You aren’t allowed to change a growing number of parts of public life. The Process State regards you as a tomatoes to be processed into canned chopped tomato. Your part in the process is to shut up and obey. And jump in the can.
Strangely, the Sovereign People didn’t take well to (2)
Again, I would say that analysis is flawed. It's not the "Process State" that has processed people into canned chopped tomatoes: it's large corporations chasing profit. It's not a powerful state, it's a state that has ceded power to international corporations.
I've no strong view on Burnham, and doubt whether he's involved in the "secret plot" uncovered by The Sun - although if so, the "secret" bit of the plot has already failed. I think his support for Powell is also being over-egged - they are Mancunian mates, so it's hardly surprising that he backs her for the DL.
However, I do think that if politicians could replicate across the country the huge progress that the city of Manchester has made over the last 20 years or so then that would be some achievement. Manchester has been transformed since I was a young man, and is a great city now.
Birmingham and the West Midlands by contrast have gone backwards.
Outside central Birmingham, I'd agree. As well as Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle have made great progress in my lifetime.
Even central Birmingham isn't looking so good these days. It certainly not what it was when they had all the redevelopment of Bull ring etc.
The Centrists like Burnham need to let SKS and his Red Tories crash and burn electorally before mounting a challenge. After GE 2029 only gonna need about 10 MP nominations to stand and people like Akehurst,Streeting,Reeves,Cooper will be retired to the Lkrds
Burnham isn't a centrist, he is challenging Starmer from the left, pushing for a wealth tax etc
Appears the lovely chaps from Bob Vylan have been celebrating Charlie Kirks death at their latest gig....
"I want to dedicate this next one to an absolute piece of shit of a human being. The pronouns was /were. Because if you talk shit, you will get Banged. Rest in peace Charlie Kirk you piece of shit"
I spotted a handful of St George crosses and union flags on the A2 out through Bexley on the way to the vineyard this morning.
(Which is looking bacchanalian by the way)
Then in the distance I spotted a huge red and white sheet slung over the side of the carriageway, with ominous red writing on it. I seemed to make out the word “first” and “go”. Things were taking a dark turn.
Then I reached it. The inscription read “Happy 40th Birthday Zoe Henderson!”.
Isn’t the real question of the weekend how will befriender of poor/rich waitresses Farage accommodate the new populist movement sweeping the kingdom (southern half); share or shaft?
Excellent question. Are we going to get a Party to the right of Farage? The Yaxley-Lennons? There would then be three parties swimming in the same fetid tank. Nothing much keeping them apart except for the ambitions of their leaders.
Robinson has already given his backing to Advance UK. Habib spoke at yesterday's rally
You've got to be on your toes to follow the shenanigans of the far right......,
What a time to rejoin the EU. If only we had a Labour leader with a little bit of backbone we could say goodbye to Trump and Mandy and steer a course back to civilisation
Sadly, I think that would lead to violent civil war.
Having a far right party on 25%+ in the polls is convergence with Europe - Italy, France, Germany. To name but a few.
Civilisation, eh?
As high as 56%, in Villefranche Sur Mer.
Whatever arguments there may be for rejoining the EU, marginalising the radical right is not one of them.
And of course they are now in government in Italy and part of the government in Sweden
The Centrists like Burnham need to let SKS and his Red Tories crash and burn electorally before mounting a challenge. After GE 2029 only gonna need about 10 MP nominations to stand and people like Akehurst,Streeting,Reeves,Cooper will be retired to the Lkrds
Burnham isn't a centrist, he is challenging Starmer from the left, pushing for a wealth tax etc
He’s soft left in Labour terminology.
The wealth tax is such a stupid red herring. It’s the Brexit of the left.
Allison Pearson @AllisonPearson · 6m The crowd was more like 400,000. Vast numbers were unable to get into the protest area as police shut the bridges.
Clive Lewis also had an unexpected view on the March (1/2)
Believe it or not, I had an old school friend on today’s marches in London. He sent me some photos from the crowd.
We went to middle school together and grew up on the same Eastern District council estate in Northampton.
I asked him why he was there. He gave me two answers: 1.“The government doesn’t listen to us.” 2.“I want to feel proud of my country again.”
He wore a Union Jack, not a St George’s Cross as he said that one had been hijacked by racists.
He wasn’t there for Hopkins, Musk, or any of the professional ‘grifters’ as he put it. He was there to feel part of something bigger, though he admitted there were a lot of, in his words, “assholes” there.
He’s an electrician. He’s smart. He’s not racist, but he’s not “PC” either. He’s not a fan of Keir Starmer but he also believes Farage would be a disaster.
Oh yes, he’s a bundle of contradictions! But aren’t we all?
I don’t know what ‘box’ we put him or the millions like him in. And I think pretending they’re all racists or fascists would be a massive mistake.
Some were. But not all.
This is about something bigger than immigration slogans or GDP numbers. For decades we’ve hollowed out our national life, underfunding and undermining the very institutions that once brought us together…
Karl Polanyi, writing in The Great Transformation, argued that when markets are “disembodied” from society, when land, labour, and life itself are treated as commodities society pushes back. He called this the “double movement”: people seeking to protect themselves, to reclaim dignity and meaning when everything solid seems to melt into air.
That’s what I saw in my friend’s photos. Not just anger, but a demand for belonging.
We’ve replaced collective experience with atomisation. Without getting too nostalgic, programmes like the BBC’s Generation Game once pulled in millions every Saturday night, giving us something we could all talk about on Monday morning. Now we watch Netflix, Disney+, Prime, or Paramount, alone, in algorithmic silos.
Football used to be affordable and rooted in community; now it’s millionaires playing for the profitability of billionaires. The NHS, the post office, the railways - all chipped away, run down, sold off or centralised, leaving people feeling powerless and disconnected.
And don’t get me wrong: some kind of “Hovis Labour” nostalgia for the 1950s isn’t the answer. The country back then was often intolerant, grey, and deeply unequal. But what we’ve built since is a society that gives people little to hold in common, no collective story about who we are or what we’re for.
I reckon that’s partly why my mate marched. Not because he wants to turn back the clock. But because he wants to feel pride again. Pride in a country that is inclusive, fair, and offers a role for everyone. Pride in a nation that has a respected place in the world, tackles grotesque inequality, and gives people something real to believe in.
Polanyi warned that when democracies fail to provide a humane alternative, the backlash can turn authoritarian. This is how fascism grew in the 1930s, not because everyone became a true believer, but because millions felt abandoned and looked for strength, identity, and meaning wherever they could find it.
If Labour and progressives don’t offer that story of renewal, if we don’t rebuild our national institutions, restore collective pride, and re-embed markets within society, the far right will do it for us, in their own image.
It’s hard to understand why the modern Labour Party has so abandoned their core vote. Perhaps I am going back some way, but historically Labour were proud of British identity and culture, believed it needed to be underpinned by a strong national defence, and above all they championed the rights of British workers. Not non-workers, not immigrant workers, not workers overseas. British workers.
Instead we have this big blancmange of a party that has obsessed itself with free movement for foreigners and British professional classes, free trade and climate policy at the expense of British industry, and massive transfer payments to non workers, many of whom are not even British.
How refreshing to see a Labour politician show a modicum of understanding of how low his party has sunk.
I can’t imagine a scenario where I would vote for the Labour Party but I can recognise that there is a democratic need to have a party that fills the above gap. And it’s staggering to me that Labour are content to let this gap be filled by the latest Farage brand, seemingly for no reason other than they think he’s a nasty racist and anyone that backs him is hence an undesirable and they are welcome to each other.
Yes, exactly.
I just couldn't believe how they were so wedded to FOM. It seemed to go against all the principles of the kind of trade union Labour I was brought up to believe was "us". Opening up the market on low paid jobs to a whole continent, with the result being big corps getting richer whilst the blue collar Brits voted for someone else, unreal
Allison Pearson @AllisonPearson · 6m The crowd was more like 400,000. Vast numbers were unable to get into the protest area as police shut the bridges.
Even 4 million, maybe. No, it was 400 million, and virtually no violence.
The black chap getting beaten up so badly the police had to drag him out, as per the Mail, was just a minor detail, Elon to the rescue, who understands real British people.
Bad Al made a massive twat of himself over Charlie Kirk, now frantically back pedal-ling.
Its amazing how strong people's feeling are from both sides over a guy who really had nothing to do with the UK, wasn't part of the discourse and I doubt a lot of people like Bad Al had more than a passing knowledge of him (hence the fake news from the likes of Bad Al and Adam Boulton).
Allison Pearson @AllisonPearson · 6m The crowd was more like 400,000. Vast numbers were unable to get into the protest area as police shut the bridges.
I have seen tweets from people who were at the counter-demo who have said obviously 3 million is horseshit, but having been on lots of big demos (naturally) it was very well attended. They seem to think a lot more than the 150k.
Bad Al made a massive twat of himself over Charlie Kirk, now frantically back pedal-ling.
Its amazing how strong people's feeling are from both sides over a guy who really had nothing to do with the UK, wasn't part of the discourse and I doubt a lot of people like Bad Al had more than a passing knowledge of him (hence the fake news from the likes of Bad Al and Adam Boulton).
Isn’t the real question of the weekend how will befriender of poor/rich waitresses Farage accommodate the new populist movement sweeping the kingdom (southern half); share or shaft?
Excellent question. Are we going to get a Party to the right of Farage? The Yaxley-Lennons? There would then be three parties swimming in the same fetid tank. Nothing much keeping them apart except for the ambitions of their leaders.
Robinson has already given his backing to Advance UK. Habib spoke at yesterday's rally
You've got to be on your toes to follow the shenanigans of the far right......,
What a time to rejoin the EU. If only we had a Labour leader with a little bit of backbone we could say goodbye to Trump and Mandy and steer a course back to civilisation
Sadly, I think that would lead to violent civil war.
Having a far right party on 25%+ in the polls is convergence with Europe - Italy, France, Germany. To name but a few.
Civilisation, eh?
As high as 56%, in Villefranche Sur Mer.
Whatever arguments there may be for rejoining the EU, marginalising the radical right is not one of them.
Otoh Brexiting doesn’t seem to have done much to marginalise the radical right either.
It was part of the same flow. The politicians sold the people on -
1) The People are Sovereign (no deference to an aristocracy) and can do as they wish - True Democracy 2) You aren’t allowed to change a growing number of parts of public life. The Process State regards you as a tomatoes to be processed into canned chopped tomato. Your part in the process is to shut up and obey. And jump in the can.
Strangely, the Sovereign People didn’t take well to (2)
Again, I would say that analysis is flawed. It's not the "Process State" that has processed people into canned chopped tomatoes: it's large corporations chasing profit. It's not a powerful state, it's a state that has ceded power to international corporations.
Yep. It isn't "the process state" that has closed down the High St in "left behind towns" it is Amazon.
It isn't "the process state" that has closed down your local butcher, greengrocer and pub, it's Asda, Tesco and Aldi.
It isn't "the process state" that has destroyed local and national newspapers, it is Social Media.
Etc etc.
And of course as consumers we have all played our part.
Isn’t the real question of the weekend how will befriender of poor/rich waitresses Farage accommodate the new populist movement sweeping the kingdom (southern half); share or shaft?
Excellent question. Are we going to get a Party to the right of Farage? The Yaxley-Lennons? There would then be three parties swimming in the same fetid tank. Nothing much keeping them apart except for the ambitions of their leaders.
Robinson has already given his backing to Advance UK. Habib spoke at yesterday's rally
You've got to be on your toes to follow the shenanigans of the far right......,
What a time to rejoin the EU. If only we had a Labour leader with a little bit of backbone we could say goodbye to Trump and Mandy and steer a course back to civilisation
Sadly, I think that would lead to violent civil war.
Having a far right party on 25%+ in the polls is convergence with Europe - Italy, France, Germany. To name but a few.
Civilisation, eh?
As high as 56%, in Villefranche Sur Mer.
Whatever arguments there may be for rejoining the EU, marginalising the radical right is not one of them.
Otoh Brexiting doesn’t seem to have done much to marginalise the radical right either.
It was part of the same flow. The politicians sold the people on -
1) The People are Sovereign (no deference to an aristocracy) and can do as they wish - True Democracy 2) You aren’t allowed to change a growing number of parts of public life. The Process State regards you as a tomatoes to be processed into canned chopped tomato. Your part in the process is to shut up and obey. And jump in the can.
Strangely, the Sovereign People didn’t take well to (2)
Again, I would say that analysis is flawed. It's not the "Process State" that has processed people into canned chopped tomatoes: it's large corporations chasing profit. It's not a powerful state, it's a state that has ceded power to international corporations.
Yep. It isn't "the process state" that has closed down the High St in "left behind towns" it is Amazon.
It isn't "the process state" that has closed down your local butcher, greengrocer and pub, it's Asda, Tesco and Aldi.
It isn't "the process state" that has destroyed local and national newspapers, it is Social Media.
Etc etc.
And of course as consumers we have all played our part.
The process state though has massively increased turn over taxes which has absolutely hammered all those small businesses while Amazon can absorb them. I understand the thinking, turn-over taxes are hard to dodge so you get your money out of Amazon, but the level of turn over taxes is insane for small business.
There is a small business guy on YouTube who owns a wide range of successful businesses and employs over his various companies several 1000 people. A few years ago he bought an ice cream factory and the shops. He recently broke down the finances of his most successful ice cream cafe / shop location. On £1.5 million in gross turnover, once he has paid all the costs (remember he makes the ice cream himself), then the turn over taxes etc, he is down to less than £50k in profit. He had 10 shops and down to 2, because he said unless you can do over £1 million in gross turnover you will never make any money on a high street cafe. Its the turn over taxes that are the killer.
A massive problem that is hardly talked about in the UK (that isn't true in Germany), we have a small number of very large employers and a massive number of tiny employers. Now yes medium sized companies since the war have merged and been bought out, but the process system makes it incredible difficult to grow new small companies in the UK. We have hardly any that employ in the 1000s range.
Isn’t the real question of the weekend how will befriender of poor/rich waitresses Farage accommodate the new populist movement sweeping the kingdom (southern half); share or shaft?
Excellent question. Are we going to get a Party to the right of Farage? The Yaxley-Lennons? There would then be three parties swimming in the same fetid tank. Nothing much keeping them apart except for the ambitions of their leaders.
Robinson has already given his backing to Advance UK. Habib spoke at yesterday's rally
You've got to be on your toes to follow the shenanigans of the far right......,
What a time to rejoin the EU. If only we had a Labour leader with a little bit of backbone we could say goodbye to Trump and Mandy and steer a course back to civilisation
Sadly, I think that would lead to violent civil war.
Having a far right party on 25%+ in the polls is convergence with Europe - Italy, France, Germany. To name but a few.
Civilisation, eh?
As high as 56%, in Villefranche Sur Mer.
Whatever arguments there may be for rejoining the EU, marginalising the radical right is not one of them.
Otoh Brexiting doesn’t seem to have done much to marginalise the radical right either.
It was part of the same flow. The politicians sold the people on -
1) The People are Sovereign (no deference to an aristocracy) and can do as they wish - True Democracy 2) You aren’t allowed to change a growing number of parts of public life. The Process State regards you as a tomatoes to be processed into canned chopped tomato. Your part in the process is to shut up and obey. And jump in the can.
Strangely, the Sovereign People didn’t take well to (2)
Again, I would say that analysis is flawed. It's not the "Process State" that has processed people into canned chopped tomatoes: it's large corporations chasing profit. It's not a powerful state, it's a state that has ceded power to international corporations.
Yep. It isn't "the process state" that has closed down the High St in "left behind towns" it is Amazon.
It isn't "the process state" that has closed down your local butcher, greengrocer and pub, it's Asda, Tesco and Aldi.
It isn't "the process state" that has destroyed local and national newspapers, it is Social Media.
Etc etc.
And of course as consumers we have all played our part.
But the most potent words in any language are "It's not your fault."
Isn’t the real question of the weekend how will befriender of poor/rich waitresses Farage accommodate the new populist movement sweeping the kingdom (southern half); share or shaft?
Excellent question. Are we going to get a Party to the right of Farage? The Yaxley-Lennons? There would then be three parties swimming in the same fetid tank. Nothing much keeping them apart except for the ambitions of their leaders.
Robinson has already given his backing to Advance UK. Habib spoke at yesterday's rally
You've got to be on your toes to follow the shenanigans of the far right......,
What a time to rejoin the EU. If only we had a Labour leader with a little bit of backbone we could say goodbye to Trump and Mandy and steer a course back to civilisation
Sadly, I think that would lead to violent civil war.
Having a far right party on 25%+ in the polls is convergence with Europe - Italy, France, Germany. To name but a few.
Civilisation, eh?
As high as 56%, in Villefranche Sur Mer.
Whatever arguments there may be for rejoining the EU, marginalising the radical right is not one of them.
Otoh Brexiting doesn’t seem to have done much to marginalise the radical right either.
It was part of the same flow. The politicians sold the people on -
1) The People are Sovereign (no deference to an aristocracy) and can do as they wish - True Democracy 2) You aren’t allowed to change a growing number of parts of public life. The Process State regards you as a tomatoes to be processed into canned chopped tomato. Your part in the process is to shut up and obey. And jump in the can.
Strangely, the Sovereign People didn’t take well to (2)
Again, I would say that analysis is flawed. It's not the "Process State" that has processed people into canned chopped tomatoes: it's large corporations chasing profit. It's not a powerful state, it's a state that has ceded power to international corporations.
Yep. It isn't "the process state" that has closed down the High St in "left behind towns" it is Amazon.
It isn't "the process state" that has closed down your local butcher, greengrocer and pub, it's Asda, Tesco and Aldi.
It isn't "the process state" that has destroyed local and national newspapers, it is Social Media.
Etc etc.
And of course as consumers we have all played our part.
To an extent, although the post-Thatcherite approach to any monopoly regulation has played a big part, too.
Many other Eurooean nations haven't suffered anything like the loss of specificity in their town centres and shops that we have. It's much the same in our public culture, television, film and media. The huge irony is that people like Farage and Musk a are at the forefront of this process.
Clive Lewis also had an unexpected view on the March (1/2)
Believe it or not, I had an old school friend on today’s marches in London. He sent me some photos from the crowd.
We went to middle school together and grew up on the same Eastern District council estate in Northampton.
I asked him why he was there. He gave me two answers: 1.“The government doesn’t listen to us.” 2.“I want to feel proud of my country again.”
He wore a Union Jack, not a St George’s Cross as he said that one had been hijacked by racists.
He wasn’t there for Hopkins, Musk, or any of the professional ‘grifters’ as he put it. He was there to feel part of something bigger, though he admitted there were a lot of, in his words, “assholes” there.
He’s an electrician. He’s smart. He’s not racist, but he’s not “PC” either. He’s not a fan of Keir Starmer but he also believes Farage would be a disaster.
Oh yes, he’s a bundle of contradictions! But aren’t we all?
I don’t know what ‘box’ we put him or the millions like him in. And I think pretending they’re all racists or fascists would be a massive mistake.
Some were. But not all.
This is about something bigger than immigration slogans or GDP numbers. For decades we’ve hollowed out our national life, underfunding and undermining the very institutions that once brought us together…
I think people from mainstream left and right could agree with that analysis. The undermining of faith in our institutions is catnip for the populists. Not sure what the answer is but it really is a thing. Maybe we need to regionalise more?
It's interesting how some of the mayors - the ones who are really active and seem to fight for their communities -regardless of politics are now the most popular politicians. Obvs Burnham, but the ability of Houchen to hold on to the Tees Valley Mayoralty last year was possibly the most extraordinary electoral performance of anyone in recent years. And Andy Street - though he lost - managed to make the West Midlands competitive.
I spotted a handful of St George crosses and union flags on the A2 out through Bexley on the way to the vineyard this morning.
(Which is looking bacchanalian by the way)
Then in the distance I spotted a huge red and white sheet slung over the side of the carriageway, with ominous red writing on it. I seemed to make out the word “first” and “go”. Things were taking a dark turn.
Then I reached it. The inscription read “Happy 40th Birthday Zoe Henderson!”.
We now have England flags on most of our main road lamp posts, but the time it has taken suggests actually putting them up is a minority interest.
Isn’t the real question of the weekend how will befriender of poor/rich waitresses Farage accommodate the new populist movement sweeping the kingdom (southern half); share or shaft?
Excellent question. Are we going to get a Party to the right of Farage? The Yaxley-Lennons? There would then be three parties swimming in the same fetid tank. Nothing much keeping them apart except for the ambitions of their leaders.
Robinson has already given his backing to Advance UK. Habib spoke at yesterday's rally
You've got to be on your toes to follow the shenanigans of the far right......,
What a time to rejoin the EU. If only we had a Labour leader with a little bit of backbone we could say goodbye to Trump and Mandy and steer a course back to civilisation
Sadly, I think that would lead to violent civil war.
Having a far right party on 25%+ in the polls is convergence with Europe - Italy, France, Germany. To name but a few.
Civilisation, eh?
As high as 56%, in Villefranche Sur Mer.
Whatever arguments there may be for rejoining the EU, marginalising the radical right is not one of them.
Otoh Brexiting doesn’t seem to have done much to marginalise the radical right either.
It was part of the same flow. The politicians sold the people on -
1) The People are Sovereign (no deference to an aristocracy) and can do as they wish - True Democracy 2) You aren’t allowed to change a growing number of parts of public life. The Process State regards you as a tomatoes to be processed into canned chopped tomato. Your part in the process is to shut up and obey. And jump in the can.
Strangely, the Sovereign People didn’t take well to (2)
Again, I would say that analysis is flawed. It's not the "Process State" that has processed people into canned chopped tomatoes: it's large corporations chasing profit. It's not a powerful state, it's a state that has ceded power to international corporations.
Yep. It isn't "the process state" that has closed down the High St in "left behind towns" it is Amazon.
It isn't "the process state" that has closed down your local butcher, greengrocer and pub, it's Asda, Tesco and Aldi.
It isn't "the process state" that has destroyed local and national newspapers, it is Social Media.
Etc etc.
And of course as consumers we have all played our part.
The process state though has massively increased turn over taxes which has absolutely hammered all those small businesses while Amazon can absorb them. I understand the thinking, turn-over taxes are hard to dodge so you get your money out of Amazon, but the level of turn over taxes is insane for small business.
There is a small business guy on YouTube who owns a wide range of successful businesses and employs over his various companies several 1000 people. A few years ago he bought an ice cream factory and the shops. He recently broke down the finances of his most successful ice cream cafe / shop location. On £1.5 million in gross turnover, once he has paid all the costs (remember he makes the ice cream himself), then the turn over taxes etc, he is down to less than £50k in profit. He had 10 shops and down to 2, because he said unless you can do over £1 million in gross turnover you will never make any money on a high street cafe. Its the turn over taxes that are the killer.
Again, that's sort of on us.
We want the government to spend money on us, but howl furiously at any visible taxes on us.
Whoever said "we know what needs to be done, but not how to win an election doing it" was right.
Isn’t the real question of the weekend how will befriender of poor/rich waitresses Farage accommodate the new populist movement sweeping the kingdom (southern half); share or shaft?
Excellent question. Are we going to get a Party to the right of Farage? The Yaxley-Lennons? There would then be three parties swimming in the same fetid tank. Nothing much keeping them apart except for the ambitions of their leaders.
Robinson has already given his backing to Advance UK. Habib spoke at yesterday's rally
You've got to be on your toes to follow the shenanigans of the far right......,
What a time to rejoin the EU. If only we had a Labour leader with a little bit of backbone we could say goodbye to Trump and Mandy and steer a course back to civilisation
Sadly, I think that would lead to violent civil war.
Having a far right party on 25%+ in the polls is convergence with Europe - Italy, France, Germany. To name but a few.
Civilisation, eh?
As high as 56%, in Villefranche Sur Mer.
Whatever arguments there may be for rejoining the EU, marginalising the radical right is not one of them.
Otoh Brexiting doesn’t seem to have done much to marginalise the radical right either.
It was part of the same flow. The politicians sold the people on -
1) The People are Sovereign (no deference to an aristocracy) and can do as they wish - True Democracy 2) You aren’t allowed to change a growing number of parts of public life. The Process State regards you as a tomatoes to be processed into canned chopped tomato. Your part in the process is to shut up and obey. And jump in the can.
Strangely, the Sovereign People didn’t take well to (2)
Again, I would say that analysis is flawed. It's not the "Process State" that has processed people into canned chopped tomatoes: it's large corporations chasing profit. It's not a powerful state, it's a state that has ceded power to international corporations.
Remember that the NHS is the mega corp of Britain. By far the largest employer… And look how it behaves to its employees and customers.
Process State is the belief that for every eventuality, there is a process. And if we just write enough processes, we won’t need judgement, morality or compassion. Or even thinking. We will just need to tick off items 1-1,342
It’s prevalent in all large organisations. See Boeing and the comedy of multiple systems of sign off. Which generated metric tons of paperwork. Which didn’t include whether the bloody door was bolted on, or held by chewing gum.
Or Grenfell, where the building remodel had metric tons of paperwork. That proved the remodelling was fireproof, pest proof, non-racist, non-misogynistic, equitable and inclusive. Given that point one was a bit of a bust, the rest are probably bollocks as well.
It’s not so much that the State has given up power as a merger between the State and various Quangos, third sector providers and chunks of the very largest corporations. The advantage for the state is that they can use this structure to firewall (ha) people wanting accountability and change.
Isn’t the real question of the weekend how will befriender of poor/rich waitresses Farage accommodate the new populist movement sweeping the kingdom (southern half); share or shaft?
Excellent question. Are we going to get a Party to the right of Farage? The Yaxley-Lennons? There would then be three parties swimming in the same fetid tank. Nothing much keeping them apart except for the ambitions of their leaders.
Robinson has already given his backing to Advance UK. Habib spoke at yesterday's rally
You've got to be on your toes to follow the shenanigans of the far right......,
What a time to rejoin the EU. If only we had a Labour leader with a little bit of backbone we could say goodbye to Trump and Mandy and steer a course back to civilisation
Sadly, I think that would lead to violent civil war.
Having a far right party on 25%+ in the polls is convergence with Europe - Italy, France, Germany. To name but a few.
Civilisation, eh?
As high as 56%, in Villefranche Sur Mer.
Whatever arguments there may be for rejoining the EU, marginalising the radical right is not one of them.
Otoh Brexiting doesn’t seem to have done much to marginalise the radical right either.
It was part of the same flow. The politicians sold the people on -
1) The People are Sovereign (no deference to an aristocracy) and can do as they wish - True Democracy 2) You aren’t allowed to change a growing number of parts of public life. The Process State regards you as a tomatoes to be processed into canned chopped tomato. Your part in the process is to shut up and obey. And jump in the can.
Strangely, the Sovereign People didn’t take well to (2)
Again, I would say that analysis is flawed. It's not the "Process State" that has processed people into canned chopped tomatoes: it's large corporations chasing profit. It's not a powerful state, it's a state that has ceded power to international corporations.
Yep. It isn't "the process state" that has closed down the High St in "left behind towns" it is Amazon.
It isn't "the process state" that has closed down your local butcher, greengrocer and pub, it's Asda, Tesco and Aldi.
It isn't "the process state" that has destroyed local and national newspapers, it is Social Media.
Etc etc.
And of course as consumers we have all played our part.
The process state though has massively increased turn over taxes which has absolutely hammered all those small businesses while Amazon can absorb them. I understand the thinking, turn-over taxes are hard to dodge so you get your money out of Amazon, but the level of turn over taxes is insane for small business.
There is a small business guy on YouTube who owns a wide range of successful businesses and employs over his various companies several 1000 people. A few years ago he bought an ice cream factory and the shops. He recently broke down the finances of his most successful ice cream cafe / shop location. On £1.5 million in gross turnover, once he has paid all the costs (remember he makes the ice cream himself), then the turn over taxes etc, he is down to less than £50k in profit. He had 10 shops and down to 2, because he said unless you can do over £1 million in gross turnover you will never make any money on a high street cafe. Its the turn over taxes that are the killer.
Again, that's sort of on us.
We want the government to spend money on us, but howl furiously at any visible taxes on us.
Whoever said "we know what needs to be done, but not how to win an election doing it" was right.
No, its poor policy from the government. Not just current one. They see too much of the world through must have these massive employers, but we must get tax out of them (but not too much as they might go away). And the polices they come up with have massive knock on effects to those that aren't doing the multi-national tax merry go round. So they get the worst of both worlds, high turn over taxes, zero chance to dodge corp tax and so always fighting with one arm tied behind their back.
We have an incredibly unhealthy economical balance.
There is also the issue of how risk averse those that can fund businesses are, but again I sort of understand it. In recent history there isn't much evidence that if I back your start-up, you will become a business employing 1000s.
Isn’t the real question of the weekend how will befriender of poor/rich waitresses Farage accommodate the new populist movement sweeping the kingdom (southern half); share or shaft?
Excellent question. Are we going to get a Party to the right of Farage? The Yaxley-Lennons? There would then be three parties swimming in the same fetid tank. Nothing much keeping them apart except for the ambitions of their leaders.
Robinson has already given his backing to Advance UK. Habib spoke at yesterday's rally
You've got to be on your toes to follow the shenanigans of the far right......,
What a time to rejoin the EU. If only we had a Labour leader with a little bit of backbone we could say goodbye to Trump and Mandy and steer a course back to civilisation
Sadly, I think that would lead to violent civil war.
Having a far right party on 25%+ in the polls is convergence with Europe - Italy, France, Germany. To name but a few.
Civilisation, eh?
As high as 56%, in Villefranche Sur Mer.
Whatever arguments there may be for rejoining the EU, marginalising the radical right is not one of them.
Otoh Brexiting doesn’t seem to have done much to marginalise the radical right either.
It was part of the same flow. The politicians sold the people on -
1) The People are Sovereign (no deference to an aristocracy) and can do as they wish - True Democracy 2) You aren’t allowed to change a growing number of parts of public life. The Process State regards you as a tomatoes to be processed into canned chopped tomato. Your part in the process is to shut up and obey. And jump in the can.
Strangely, the Sovereign People didn’t take well to (2)
Again, I would say that analysis is flawed. It's not the "Process State" that has processed people into canned chopped tomatoes: it's large corporations chasing profit. It's not a powerful state, it's a state that has ceded power to international corporations.
Yep. It isn't "the process state" that has closed down the High St in "left behind towns" it is Amazon.
It isn't "the process state" that has closed down your local butcher, greengrocer and pub, it's Asda, Tesco and Aldi.
It isn't "the process state" that has destroyed local and national newspapers, it is Social Media.
Etc etc.
And of course as consumers we have all played our part.
To an extent, although the post-Thatcherite approach to any monopoly regulation has played a big part, too.
Many other Eurooean nations haven't suffered anything like the loss of specificity in their town centres and shops that we have. It's much the same in our public culture, television, film and media. The huge irony is that people like Farage and Musk a are at the forefront of this process.
Generally, they've achieved that by having more state, not less.
Isn’t the real question of the weekend how will befriender of poor/rich waitresses Farage accommodate the new populist movement sweeping the kingdom (southern half); share or shaft?
Excellent question. Are we going to get a Party to the right of Farage? The Yaxley-Lennons? There would then be three parties swimming in the same fetid tank. Nothing much keeping them apart except for the ambitions of their leaders.
Robinson has already given his backing to Advance UK. Habib spoke at yesterday's rally
You've got to be on your toes to follow the shenanigans of the far right......,
What a time to rejoin the EU. If only we had a Labour leader with a little bit of backbone we could say goodbye to Trump and Mandy and steer a course back to civilisation
Sadly, I think that would lead to violent civil war.
Having a far right party on 25%+ in the polls is convergence with Europe - Italy, France, Germany. To name but a few.
Civilisation, eh?
As high as 56%, in Villefranche Sur Mer.
Whatever arguments there may be for rejoining the EU, marginalising the radical right is not one of them.
Otoh Brexiting doesn’t seem to have done much to marginalise the radical right either.
It was part of the same flow. The politicians sold the people on -
1) The People are Sovereign (no deference to an aristocracy) and can do as they wish - True Democracy 2) You aren’t allowed to change a growing number of parts of public life. The Process State regards you as a tomatoes to be processed into canned chopped tomato. Your part in the process is to shut up and obey. And jump in the can.
Strangely, the Sovereign People didn’t take well to (2)
Again, I would say that analysis is flawed. It's not the "Process State" that has processed people into canned chopped tomatoes: it's large corporations chasing profit. It's not a powerful state, it's a state that has ceded power to international corporations.
Remember that the NHS is the mega corp of Britain. By far the largest employer… And look how it behaves to its employees and customers.
Process State is the belief that for every eventuality, there is a process. And if we just write enough processes, we won’t need judgement, morality or compassion. Or even thinking. We will just need to tick off items 1-1,342
It’s prevalent in all large organisations. See Boeing and the comedy of multiple systems of sign off. Which generated metric tons of paperwork. Which didn’t include whether the bloody door was bolted on, or held by chewing gum.
Or Grenfell, where the building remodel had metric tons of paperwork. That proved the remodelling was fireproof, pest proof, non-racist, non-misogynistic, equitable and inclusive. Given that point one was a bit of a bust, the rest are probably bollocks as well.
It’s not so much that the State has given up power as a merger between the State and various Quangos, third sector providers and chunks of the very largest corporations. The advantage for the state is that they can use this structure to firewall (ha) people wanting accountability and change.
So, it's not the Process State. That's clearly a bad term to use for something that isn't just about the state. What you are railing against is managerialism. So call it that.
Isn’t the real question of the weekend how will befriender of poor/rich waitresses Farage accommodate the new populist movement sweeping the kingdom (southern half); share or shaft?
Excellent question. Are we going to get a Party to the right of Farage? The Yaxley-Lennons? There would then be three parties swimming in the same fetid tank. Nothing much keeping them apart except for the ambitions of their leaders.
Robinson has already given his backing to Advance UK. Habib spoke at yesterday's rally
You've got to be on your toes to follow the shenanigans of the far right......,
What a time to rejoin the EU. If only we had a Labour leader with a little bit of backbone we could say goodbye to Trump and Mandy and steer a course back to civilisation
Sadly, I think that would lead to violent civil war.
Having a far right party on 25%+ in the polls is convergence with Europe - Italy, France, Germany. To name but a few.
Civilisation, eh?
As high as 56%, in Villefranche Sur Mer.
Whatever arguments there may be for rejoining the EU, marginalising the radical right is not one of them.
Otoh Brexiting doesn’t seem to have done much to marginalise the radical right either.
It was part of the same flow. The politicians sold the people on -
1) The People are Sovereign (no deference to an aristocracy) and can do as they wish - True Democracy 2) You aren’t allowed to change a growing number of parts of public life. The Process State regards you as a tomatoes to be processed into canned chopped tomato. Your part in the process is to shut up and obey. And jump in the can.
Strangely, the Sovereign People didn’t take well to (2)
Again, I would say that analysis is flawed. It's not the "Process State" that has processed people into canned chopped tomatoes: it's large corporations chasing profit. It's not a powerful state, it's a state that has ceded power to international corporations.
Remember that the NHS is the mega corp of Britain. By far the largest employer… And look how it behaves to its employees and customers.
Process State is the belief that for every eventuality, there is a process. And if we just write enough processes, we won’t need judgement, morality or compassion. Or even thinking. We will just need to tick off items 1-1,342
It’s prevalent in all large organisations. See Boeing and the comedy of multiple systems of sign off. Which generated metric tons of paperwork. Which didn’t include whether the bloody door was bolted on, or held by chewing gum.
Or Grenfell, where the building remodel had metric tons of paperwork. That proved the remodelling was fireproof, pest proof, non-racist, non-misogynistic, equitable and inclusive. Given that point one was a bit of a bust, the rest are probably bollocks as well.
It’s not so much that the State has given up power as a merger between the State and various Quangos, third sector providers and chunks of the very largest corporations. The advantage for the state is that they can use this structure to firewall (ha) people wanting accountability and change.
The flawed thinking is always these things won't cost too much. In isolation, that can be true. But as a whole again for smaller businesses they are a huge burden. And for mega corps they have economies of scale, costing millions is still a small fraction and often buy in dedicated software for instance to do reporting on make up of demographics of employees, that they have ticked all the right boxes for the ever increasing amount of regulation etc. But if you employ just too many to not be a small / micro business e.g. you employ a few 100 people, you get the full weight of this burden without the economy of scale.
You get these building projects with 100,000s of pages of docs. Not only costly, but only certain groups can even tackle undertaking such a task.
Isn’t the real question of the weekend how will befriender of poor/rich waitresses Farage accommodate the new populist movement sweeping the kingdom (southern half); share or shaft?
Excellent question. Are we going to get a Party to the right of Farage? The Yaxley-Lennons? There would then be three parties swimming in the same fetid tank. Nothing much keeping them apart except for the ambitions of their leaders.
Robinson has already given his backing to Advance UK. Habib spoke at yesterday's rally
You've got to be on your toes to follow the shenanigans of the far right......,
What a time to rejoin the EU. If only we had a Labour leader with a little bit of backbone we could say goodbye to Trump and Mandy and steer a course back to civilisation
Sadly, I think that would lead to violent civil war.
Having a far right party on 25%+ in the polls is convergence with Europe - Italy, France, Germany. To name but a few.
Civilisation, eh?
As high as 56%, in Villefranche Sur Mer.
Whatever arguments there may be for rejoining the EU, marginalising the radical right is not one of them.
Otoh Brexiting doesn’t seem to have done much to marginalise the radical right either.
It was part of the same flow. The politicians sold the people on -
1) The People are Sovereign (no deference to an aristocracy) and can do as they wish - True Democracy 2) You aren’t allowed to change a growing number of parts of public life. The Process State regards you as a tomatoes to be processed into canned chopped tomato. Your part in the process is to shut up and obey. And jump in the can.
Strangely, the Sovereign People didn’t take well to (2)
Again, I would say that analysis is flawed. It's not the "Process State" that has processed people into canned chopped tomatoes: it's large corporations chasing profit. It's not a powerful state, it's a state that has ceded power to international corporations.
Remember that the NHS is the mega corp of Britain. By far the largest employer… And look how it behaves to its employees and customers.
Process State is the belief that for every eventuality, there is a process. And if we just write enough processes, we won’t need judgement, morality or compassion. Or even thinking. We will just need to tick off items 1-1,342
It’s prevalent in all large organisations. See Boeing and the comedy of multiple systems of sign off. Which generated metric tons of paperwork. Which didn’t include whether the bloody door was bolted on, or held by chewing gum.
Or Grenfell, where the building remodel had metric tons of paperwork. That proved the remodelling was fireproof, pest proof, non-racist, non-misogynistic, equitable and inclusive. Given that point one was a bit of a bust, the rest are probably bollocks as well.
It’s not so much that the State has given up power as a merger between the State and various Quangos, third sector providers and chunks of the very largest corporations. The advantage for the state is that they can use this structure to firewall (ha) people wanting accountability and change.
The flawed thinking is always these things won't cost too much. In isolation, that can be true. But as a whole again for smaller businesses they are a huge burden. And for mega corps they have economies of scale, costing millions is still a small fraction and often buy in dedicated software for instance to do reporting on make up of demographics of employees, that they have ticked all the right boxes for the ever increasing amount of regulation etc. But if you employ just too many to not be a small / micro business, you get the full weight of this shit.
But all that tick-boxing dedicated software is frequently nothing to do with regulation. It's internal processes. Again, it's managerialism.
Isn’t the real question of the weekend how will befriender of poor/rich waitresses Farage accommodate the new populist movement sweeping the kingdom (southern half); share or shaft?
Excellent question. Are we going to get a Party to the right of Farage? The Yaxley-Lennons? There would then be three parties swimming in the same fetid tank. Nothing much keeping them apart except for the ambitions of their leaders.
Robinson has already given his backing to Advance UK. Habib spoke at yesterday's rally
You've got to be on your toes to follow the shenanigans of the far right......,
What a time to rejoin the EU. If only we had a Labour leader with a little bit of backbone we could say goodbye to Trump and Mandy and steer a course back to civilisation
Sadly, I think that would lead to violent civil war.
Having a far right party on 25%+ in the polls is convergence with Europe - Italy, France, Germany. To name but a few.
Civilisation, eh?
As high as 56%, in Villefranche Sur Mer.
Whatever arguments there may be for rejoining the EU, marginalising the radical right is not one of them.
Otoh Brexiting doesn’t seem to have done much to marginalise the radical right either.
It was part of the same flow. The politicians sold the people on -
1) The People are Sovereign (no deference to an aristocracy) and can do as they wish - True Democracy 2) You aren’t allowed to change a growing number of parts of public life. The Process State regards you as a tomatoes to be processed into canned chopped tomato. Your part in the process is to shut up and obey. And jump in the can.
Strangely, the Sovereign People didn’t take well to (2)
Again, I would say that analysis is flawed. It's not the "Process State" that has processed people into canned chopped tomatoes: it's large corporations chasing profit. It's not a powerful state, it's a state that has ceded power to international corporations.
Remember that the NHS is the mega corp of Britain. By far the largest employer… And look how it behaves to its employees and customers.
Process State is the belief that for every eventuality, there is a process. And if we just write enough processes, we won’t need judgement, morality or compassion. Or even thinking. We will just need to tick off items 1-1,342
It’s prevalent in all large organisations. See Boeing and the comedy of multiple systems of sign off. Which generated metric tons of paperwork. Which didn’t include whether the bloody door was bolted on, or held by chewing gum.
Or Grenfell, where the building remodel had metric tons of paperwork. That proved the remodelling was fireproof, pest proof, non-racist, non-misogynistic, equitable and inclusive. Given that point one was a bit of a bust, the rest are probably bollocks as well.
It’s not so much that the State has given up power as a merger between the State and various Quangos, third sector providers and chunks of the very largest corporations. The advantage for the state is that they can use this structure to firewall (ha) people wanting accountability and change.
The flawed thinking is always these things won't cost too much. In isolation, that can be true. But as a whole again for smaller businesses they are a huge burden. And for mega corps they have economies of scale, costing millions is still a small fraction and often buy in dedicated software for instance to do reporting on make up of demographics of employees, that they have ticked all the right boxes for the ever increasing amount of regulation etc. But if you employ just too many to not be a small / micro business, you get the full weight of this shit.
But all that tick-boxing dedicated software is frequently nothing to do with regulation. It's internal processes. Again, it's managerialism.
Not for small and medium businesses, it is overwhelmingly government policy driven. And even in big business a lot of "internal processes" are a reaction to government policy or signalling that if they don't play their part they will have to regulate. And it snowballs.
India considering a huge Rafale purchase. ‘The defence ministry has begun examining a proposal from the Indian Air Force to procure 114 "Made in India" Rafale fighter jets https://x.com/shashj/status/1966953610111021100
The reasons are likely part political (no one trusts Trump) and partly practical - see our dismal experience with getting any F35 upgrades.
Ben Wallace’s comments yesterday were interesting
What were his comments?
The issue is the integration with the underwing missiles we ordered has been pushed back until the mid 2030s.
He said that when he was defence secretary he threatened to cancel the contract and the timetable was brought forward. It’s now slipped back again .
Isn’t the real question of the weekend how will befriender of poor/rich waitresses Farage accommodate the new populist movement sweeping the kingdom (southern half); share or shaft?
Excellent question. Are we going to get a Party to the right of Farage? The Yaxley-Lennons? There would then be three parties swimming in the same fetid tank. Nothing much keeping them apart except for the ambitions of their leaders.
Robinson has already given his backing to Advance UK. Habib spoke at yesterday's rally
You've got to be on your toes to follow the shenanigans of the far right......,
What a time to rejoin the EU. If only we had a Labour leader with a little bit of backbone we could say goodbye to Trump and Mandy and steer a course back to civilisation
Sadly, I think that would lead to violent civil war.
Having a far right party on 25%+ in the polls is convergence with Europe - Italy, France, Germany. To name but a few.
Civilisation, eh?
As high as 56%, in Villefranche Sur Mer.
Whatever arguments there may be for rejoining the EU, marginalising the radical right is not one of them.
Otoh Brexiting doesn’t seem to have done much to marginalise the radical right either.
It was part of the same flow. The politicians sold the people on -
1) The People are Sovereign (no deference to an aristocracy) and can do as they wish - True Democracy 2) You aren’t allowed to change a growing number of parts of public life. The Process State regards you as a tomatoes to be processed into canned chopped tomato. Your part in the process is to shut up and obey. And jump in the can.
Strangely, the Sovereign People didn’t take well to (2)
Again, I would say that analysis is flawed. It's not the "Process State" that has processed people into canned chopped tomatoes: it's large corporations chasing profit. It's not a powerful state, it's a state that has ceded power to international corporations.
Yep. It isn't "the process state" that has closed down the High St in "left behind towns" it is Amazon.
It isn't "the process state" that has closed down your local butcher, greengrocer and pub, it's Asda, Tesco and Aldi.
It isn't "the process state" that has destroyed local and national newspapers, it is Social Media.
Etc etc.
And of course as consumers we have all played our part.
The Process Stare, by its nature loves Big Deals with Big Companies. See granting local monopolies in house building.
So aggregating things into Too Big Too Fail is seen as a plus.
See the comedy mentioned yesterday - either Teeside will get an epically vast hydrogen plant or an epically vast datacentre. The projects are so big, there isn’t space for both. So they are planning a single employer for the area. What could go wrong?
The burden of regulation is heaviest on small business. Most small building companies (for example) are operating in massive breach of regulations - because they can’t afford to do all The Proper Paperwork. AI helps by generating the documents that no one reads.
This article massively misses the mark. The most worrying aspect of this is not poor diet or spending too much of your spare time in the gym, is it the widespread abuse of PEDs by very young people and often ones that there is little known about their long term effects. It is all over TikTok.
Isn’t the real question of the weekend how will befriender of poor/rich waitresses Farage accommodate the new populist movement sweeping the kingdom (southern half); share or shaft?
Excellent question. Are we going to get a Party to the right of Farage? The Yaxley-Lennons? There would then be three parties swimming in the same fetid tank. Nothing much keeping them apart except for the ambitions of their leaders.
Robinson has already given his backing to Advance UK. Habib spoke at yesterday's rally
You've got to be on your toes to follow the shenanigans of the far right......,
What a time to rejoin the EU. If only we had a Labour leader with a little bit of backbone we could say goodbye to Trump and Mandy and steer a course back to civilisation
Sadly, I think that would lead to violent civil war.
Having a far right party on 25%+ in the polls is convergence with Europe - Italy, France, Germany. To name but a few.
Civilisation, eh?
As high as 56%, in Villefranche Sur Mer.
Whatever arguments there may be for rejoining the EU, marginalising the radical right is not one of them.
Otoh Brexiting doesn’t seem to have done much to marginalise the radical right either.
It was part of the same flow. The politicians sold the people on -
1) The People are Sovereign (no deference to an aristocracy) and can do as they wish - True Democracy 2) You aren’t allowed to change a growing number of parts of public life. The Process State regards you as a tomatoes to be processed into canned chopped tomato. Your part in the process is to shut up and obey. And jump in the can.
Strangely, the Sovereign People didn’t take well to (2)
Again, I would say that analysis is flawed. It's not the "Process State" that has processed people into canned chopped tomatoes: it's large corporations chasing profit. It's not a powerful state, it's a state that has ceded power to international corporations.
Yep. It isn't "the process state" that has closed down the High St in "left behind towns" it is Amazon.
It isn't "the process state" that has closed down your local butcher, greengrocer and pub, it's Asda, Tesco and Aldi.
It isn't "the process state" that has destroyed local and national newspapers, it is Social Media.
Etc etc.
And of course as consumers we have all played our part.
The process state though has massively increased turn over taxes which has absolutely hammered all those small businesses while Amazon can absorb them. I understand the thinking, turn-over taxes are hard to dodge so you get your money out of Amazon, but the level of turn over taxes is insane for small business.
There is a small business guy on YouTube who owns a wide range of successful businesses and employs over his various companies several 1000 people. A few years ago he bought an ice cream factory and the shops. He recently broke down the finances of his most successful ice cream cafe / shop location. On £1.5 million in gross turnover, once he has paid all the costs (remember he makes the ice cream himself), then the turn over taxes etc, he is down to less than £50k in profit. He had 10 shops and down to 2, because he said unless you can do over £1 million in gross turnover you will never make any money on a high street cafe. Its the turn over taxes that are the killer.
Again, that's sort of on us.
We want the government to spend money on us, but howl furiously at any visible taxes on us.
Whoever said "we know what needs to be done, but not how to win an election doing it" was right.
It also shows how much we need a different (lower) rate of VAT for hospitality to allow profits to be made so keep places open..
India considering a huge Rafale purchase. ‘The defence ministry has begun examining a proposal from the Indian Air Force to procure 114 "Made in India" Rafale fighter jets https://x.com/shashj/status/1966953610111021100
The reasons are likely part political (no one trusts Trump) and partly practical - see our dismal experience with getting any F35 upgrades.
Ben Wallace’s comments yesterday were interesting
What were his comments?
The issue is the integration with the underwing missiles we ordered has been pushed back until the mid 2030s.
He said that when he was defence secretary he threatened to cancel the contract and the timetable was brought forward. It’s now slipped back again .
A cynic might wonder whether any of the underlying material facts (amount of effort/work being put into the project, our position in order queue, etc) actually changed when they brought forward the timetable...
I have asked a few times, and no answers so far, but does anyone have an idea why Farage would choose to buy a place in Clacton rather than rent?
Someone, we assume Farage somehow, has coughed up almost £900k to buy a place outright. This was surely unnecessary for a man who has a million pound house within an hour or so's journey from the constituency anyway. Renting a flat would have been more than sufficient. It doesn't make any sense to me
Isn’t the real question of the weekend how will befriender of poor/rich waitresses Farage accommodate the new populist movement sweeping the kingdom (southern half); share or shaft?
Excellent question. Are we going to get a Party to the right of Farage? The Yaxley-Lennons? There would then be three parties swimming in the same fetid tank. Nothing much keeping them apart except for the ambitions of their leaders.
Robinson has already given his backing to Advance UK. Habib spoke at yesterday's rally
You've got to be on your toes to follow the shenanigans of the far right......,
What a time to rejoin the EU. If only we had a Labour leader with a little bit of backbone we could say goodbye to Trump and Mandy and steer a course back to civilisation
Sadly, I think that would lead to violent civil war.
Having a far right party on 25%+ in the polls is convergence with Europe - Italy, France, Germany. To name but a few.
Civilisation, eh?
As high as 56%, in Villefranche Sur Mer.
Whatever arguments there may be for rejoining the EU, marginalising the radical right is not one of them.
Otoh Brexiting doesn’t seem to have done much to marginalise the radical right either.
It was part of the same flow. The politicians sold the people on -
1) The People are Sovereign (no deference to an aristocracy) and can do as they wish - True Democracy 2) You aren’t allowed to change a growing number of parts of public life. The Process State regards you as a tomatoes to be processed into canned chopped tomato. Your part in the process is to shut up and obey. And jump in the can.
Strangely, the Sovereign People didn’t take well to (2)
Again, I would say that analysis is flawed. It's not the "Process State" that has processed people into canned chopped tomatoes: it's large corporations chasing profit. It's not a powerful state, it's a state that has ceded power to international corporations.
Yep. It isn't "the process state" that has closed down the High St in "left behind towns" it is Amazon.
It isn't "the process state" that has closed down your local butcher, greengrocer and pub, it's Asda, Tesco and Aldi.
It isn't "the process state" that has destroyed local and national newspapers, it is Social Media.
Etc etc.
And of course as consumers we have all played our part.
The process state though has massively increased turn over taxes which has absolutely hammered all those small businesses while Amazon can absorb them. I understand the thinking, turn-over taxes are hard to dodge so you get your money out of Amazon, but the level of turn over taxes is insane for small business.
There is a small business guy on YouTube who owns a wide range of successful businesses and employs over his various companies several 1000 people. A few years ago he bought an ice cream factory and the shops. He recently broke down the finances of his most successful ice cream cafe / shop location. On £1.5 million in gross turnover, once he has paid all the costs (remember he makes the ice cream himself), then the turn over taxes etc, he is down to less than £50k in profit. He had 10 shops and down to 2, because he said unless you can do over £1 million in gross turnover you will never make any money on a high street cafe. Its the turn over taxes that are the killer.
Again, that's sort of on us.
We want the government to spend money on us, but howl furiously at any visible taxes on us.
Whoever said "we know what needs to be done, but not how to win an election doing it" was right.
It also shows how much we need a different (lower) rate of VAT for hospitality to allow profits to be made so keep places open..
I know Osborne got in a mess over the pasty tax, but VAT really needs a close look at and reform. Even on food, go to a CostCo and try and work out any logic behind what has VAT and what doesn't.
This article massively misses the mark. The most worrying aspect of this is not poor diet or spending too much of your spare time in the gym, is it the widespread abuse of PEDs by very young people and often ones that there is little known about their long term effects. It is all over TikTok.
Another American import. See the teenagers playing American football - who for years have managed to quite vast amounts of muscle aged 16 or so.
Did you know where the medical knowledge of puberty blocking came from?
India considering a huge Rafale purchase. ‘The defence ministry has begun examining a proposal from the Indian Air Force to procure 114 "Made in India" Rafale fighter jets https://x.com/shashj/status/1966953610111021100
The reasons are likely part political (no one trusts Trump) and partly practical - see our dismal experience with getting any F35 upgrades.
Ben Wallace’s comments yesterday were interesting
What were his comments?
The issue is the integration with the underwing missiles we ordered has been pushed back until the mid 2030s.
He said that when he was defence secretary he threatened to cancel the contract and the timetable was brought forward. It’s now slipped back again .
A cynic might wonder whether any of the underlying material facts (amount of effort/work being put into the project, our position in order queue, etc) actually changed when they brought forward the timetable...
Priorities, mostly. The squeakiest wheel gets the most grease, today.
The Centrists like Burnham need to let SKS and his Red Tories crash and burn electorally before mounting a challenge. After GE 2029 only gonna need about 10 MP nominations to stand and people like Akehurst, Streeting, Reeves, Cooper will be retired to the Lords
Isn’t the real question of the weekend how will befriender of poor/rich waitresses Farage accommodate the new populist movement sweeping the kingdom (southern half); share or shaft?
Excellent question. Are we going to get a Party to the right of Farage? The Yaxley-Lennons? There would then be three parties swimming in the same fetid tank. Nothing much keeping them apart except for the ambitions of their leaders.
Robinson has already given his backing to Advance UK. Habib spoke at yesterday's rally
You've got to be on your toes to follow the shenanigans of the far right......,
What a time to rejoin the EU. If only we had a Labour leader with a little bit of backbone we could say goodbye to Trump and Mandy and steer a course back to civilisation
Sadly, I think that would lead to violent civil war.
Having a far right party on 25%+ in the polls is convergence with Europe - Italy, France, Germany. To name but a few.
Civilisation, eh?
As high as 56%, in Villefranche Sur Mer.
Whatever arguments there may be for rejoining the EU, marginalising the radical right is not one of them.
Otoh Brexiting doesn’t seem to have done much to marginalise the radical right either.
It was part of the same flow. The politicians sold the people on -
1) The People are Sovereign (no deference to an aristocracy) and can do as they wish - True Democracy 2) You aren’t allowed to change a growing number of parts of public life. The Process State regards you as a tomatoes to be processed into canned chopped tomato. Your part in the process is to shut up and obey. And jump in the can.
Strangely, the Sovereign People didn’t take well to (2)
Again, I would say that analysis is flawed. It's not the "Process State" that has processed people into canned chopped tomatoes: it's large corporations chasing profit. It's not a powerful state, it's a state that has ceded power to international corporations.
Yep. It isn't "the process state" that has closed down the High St in "left behind towns" it is Amazon.
It isn't "the process state" that has closed down your local butcher, greengrocer and pub, it's Asda, Tesco and Aldi.
It isn't "the process state" that has destroyed local and national newspapers, it is Social Media.
Etc etc.
And of course as consumers we have all played our part.
The process state though has massively increased turn over taxes which has absolutely hammered all those small businesses while Amazon can absorb them. I understand the thinking, turn-over taxes are hard to dodge so you get your money out of Amazon, but the level of turn over taxes is insane for small business.
There is a small business guy on YouTube who owns a wide range of successful businesses and employs over his various companies several 1000 people. A few years ago he bought an ice cream factory and the shops. He recently broke down the finances of his most successful ice cream cafe / shop location. On £1.5 million in gross turnover, once he has paid all the costs (remember he makes the ice cream himself), then the turn over taxes etc, he is down to less than £50k in profit. He had 10 shops and down to 2, because he said unless you can do over £1 million in gross turnover you will never make any money on a high street cafe. Its the turn over taxes that are the killer.
Again, that's sort of on us.
We want the government to spend money on us, but howl furiously at any visible taxes on us.
Whoever said "we know what needs to be done, but not how to win an election doing it" was right.
It also shows how much we need a different (lower) rate of VAT for hospitality to allow profits to be made so keep places open..
I know Osborne got in a mess over the pasty tax, but VAT really needs a close look at and reform. Even on food, go to a CostCo and try and work out any logic behind what has VAT and what doesn't.
And Amazon isn’t being caught by turnover taxes either.
Needing to turnover £1m to make a profit on the High Street - any wonder that the High Street is looking a bit empty?
I have asked a few times, and no answers so far, but does anyone have an idea why Farage would choose to buy a place in Clacton rather than rent?
Someone, we assume Farage somehow, has coughed up almost £900k to buy a place outright. This was surely unnecessary for a man who has a million pound house within an hour or so's journey from the constituency anyway. Renting a flat would have been more than sufficient. It doesn't make any sense to me
Isn’t the real question of the weekend how will befriender of poor/rich waitresses Farage accommodate the new populist movement sweeping the kingdom (southern half); share or shaft?
Excellent question. Are we going to get a Party to the right of Farage? The Yaxley-Lennons? There would then be three parties swimming in the same fetid tank. Nothing much keeping them apart except for the ambitions of their leaders.
Robinson has already given his backing to Advance UK. Habib spoke at yesterday's rally
You've got to be on your toes to follow the shenanigans of the far right......,
What a time to rejoin the EU. If only we had a Labour leader with a little bit of backbone we could say goodbye to Trump and Mandy and steer a course back to civilisation
Sadly, I think that would lead to violent civil war.
Having a far right party on 25%+ in the polls is convergence with Europe - Italy, France, Germany. To name but a few.
Civilisation, eh?
As high as 56%, in Villefranche Sur Mer.
Whatever arguments there may be for rejoining the EU, marginalising the radical right is not one of them.
Otoh Brexiting doesn’t seem to have done much to marginalise the radical right either.
It was part of the same flow. The politicians sold the people on -
1) The People are Sovereign (no deference to an aristocracy) and can do as they wish - True Democracy 2) You aren’t allowed to change a growing number of parts of public life. The Process State regards you as a tomatoes to be processed into canned chopped tomato. Your part in the process is to shut up and obey. And jump in the can.
Strangely, the Sovereign People didn’t take well to (2)
Again, I would say that analysis is flawed. It's not the "Process State" that has processed people into canned chopped tomatoes: it's large corporations chasing profit. It's not a powerful state, it's a state that has ceded power to international corporations.
Yep. It isn't "the process state" that has closed down the High St in "left behind towns" it is Amazon.
It isn't "the process state" that has closed down your local butcher, greengrocer and pub, it's Asda, Tesco and Aldi.
It isn't "the process state" that has destroyed local and national newspapers, it is Social Media.
Etc etc.
And of course as consumers we have all played our part.
The process state though has massively increased turn over taxes which has absolutely hammered all those small businesses while Amazon can absorb them. I understand the thinking, turn-over taxes are hard to dodge so you get your money out of Amazon, but the level of turn over taxes is insane for small business.
There is a small business guy on YouTube who owns a wide range of successful businesses and employs over his various companies several 1000 people. A few years ago he bought an ice cream factory and the shops. He recently broke down the finances of his most successful ice cream cafe / shop location. On £1.5 million in gross turnover, once he has paid all the costs (remember he makes the ice cream himself), then the turn over taxes etc, he is down to less than £50k in profit. He had 10 shops and down to 2, because he said unless you can do over £1 million in gross turnover you will never make any money on a high street cafe. Its the turn over taxes that are the killer.
Again, that's sort of on us.
We want the government to spend money on us, but howl furiously at any visible taxes on us.
Whoever said "we know what needs to be done, but not how to win an election doing it" was right.
It also shows how much we need a different (lower) rate of VAT for hospitality to allow profits to be made so keep places open..
I know Osborne got in a mess over the pasty tax, but VAT really needs a close look at and reform. Even on food, go to a CostCo and try and work out any logic behind what has VAT and what doesn't.
Most supermarkets put a V next to any line item on the receipt where VAT was charged.
Allison Pearson @AllisonPearson · 6m The crowd was more like 400,000. Vast numbers were unable to get into the protest area as police shut the bridges.
Isn’t the real question of the weekend how will befriender of poor/rich waitresses Farage accommodate the new populist movement sweeping the kingdom (southern half); share or shaft?
Excellent question. Are we going to get a Party to the right of Farage? The Yaxley-Lennons? There would then be three parties swimming in the same fetid tank. Nothing much keeping them apart except for the ambitions of their leaders.
Robinson has already given his backing to Advance UK. Habib spoke at yesterday's rally
You've got to be on your toes to follow the shenanigans of the far right......,
What a time to rejoin the EU. If only we had a Labour leader with a little bit of backbone we could say goodbye to Trump and Mandy and steer a course back to civilisation
Sadly, I think that would lead to violent civil war.
Having a far right party on 25%+ in the polls is convergence with Europe - Italy, France, Germany. To name but a few.
Civilisation, eh?
As high as 56%, in Villefranche Sur Mer.
Whatever arguments there may be for rejoining the EU, marginalising the radical right is not one of them.
Otoh Brexiting doesn’t seem to have done much to marginalise the radical right either.
It was part of the same flow. The politicians sold the people on -
1) The People are Sovereign (no deference to an aristocracy) and can do as they wish - True Democracy 2) You aren’t allowed to change a growing number of parts of public life. The Process State regards you as a tomatoes to be processed into canned chopped tomato. Your part in the process is to shut up and obey. And jump in the can.
Strangely, the Sovereign People didn’t take well to (2)
Again, I would say that analysis is flawed. It's not the "Process State" that has processed people into canned chopped tomatoes: it's large corporations chasing profit. It's not a powerful state, it's a state that has ceded power to international corporations.
Yep. It isn't "the process state" that has closed down the High St in "left behind towns" it is Amazon.
It isn't "the process state" that has closed down your local butcher, greengrocer and pub, it's Asda, Tesco and Aldi.
It isn't "the process state" that has destroyed local and national newspapers, it is Social Media.
Etc etc.
And of course as consumers we have all played our part.
The process state though has massively increased turn over taxes which has absolutely hammered all those small businesses while Amazon can absorb them. I understand the thinking, turn-over taxes are hard to dodge so you get your money out of Amazon, but the level of turn over taxes is insane for small business.
There is a small business guy on YouTube who owns a wide range of successful businesses and employs over his various companies several 1000 people. A few years ago he bought an ice cream factory and the shops. He recently broke down the finances of his most successful ice cream cafe / shop location. On £1.5 million in gross turnover, once he has paid all the costs (remember he makes the ice cream himself), then the turn over taxes etc, he is down to less than £50k in profit. He had 10 shops and down to 2, because he said unless you can do over £1 million in gross turnover you will never make any money on a high street cafe. Its the turn over taxes that are the killer.
Again, that's sort of on us.
We want the government to spend money on us, but howl furiously at any visible taxes on us.
Whoever said "we know what needs to be done, but not how to win an election doing it" was right.
It also shows how much we need a different (lower) rate of VAT for hospitality to allow profits to be made so keep places open..
I know Osborne got in a mess over the pasty tax, but VAT really needs a close look at and reform. Even on food, go to a CostCo and try and work out any logic behind what has VAT and what doesn't.
VAT is regressive. Sticking 5% on food would multiply yesterday's anti-Starmer marches a thousand fold.
Isn’t the real question of the weekend how will befriender of poor/rich waitresses Farage accommodate the new populist movement sweeping the kingdom (southern half); share or shaft?
Excellent question. Are we going to get a Party to the right of Farage? The Yaxley-Lennons? There would then be three parties swimming in the same fetid tank. Nothing much keeping them apart except for the ambitions of their leaders.
Robinson has already given his backing to Advance UK. Habib spoke at yesterday's rally
You've got to be on your toes to follow the shenanigans of the far right......,
What a time to rejoin the EU. If only we had a Labour leader with a little bit of backbone we could say goodbye to Trump and Mandy and steer a course back to civilisation
Sadly, I think that would lead to violent civil war.
Having a far right party on 25%+ in the polls is convergence with Europe - Italy, France, Germany. To name but a few.
Civilisation, eh?
As high as 56%, in Villefranche Sur Mer.
Whatever arguments there may be for rejoining the EU, marginalising the radical right is not one of them.
Otoh Brexiting doesn’t seem to have done much to marginalise the radical right either.
It was part of the same flow. The politicians sold the people on -
1) The People are Sovereign (no deference to an aristocracy) and can do as they wish - True Democracy 2) You aren’t allowed to change a growing number of parts of public life. The Process State regards you as a tomatoes to be processed into canned chopped tomato. Your part in the process is to shut up and obey. And jump in the can.
Strangely, the Sovereign People didn’t take well to (2)
Again, I would say that analysis is flawed. It's not the "Process State" that has processed people into canned chopped tomatoes: it's large corporations chasing profit. It's not a powerful state, it's a state that has ceded power to international corporations.
Yep. It isn't "the process state" that has closed down the High St in "left behind towns" it is Amazon.
It isn't "the process state" that has closed down your local butcher, greengrocer and pub, it's Asda, Tesco and Aldi.
It isn't "the process state" that has destroyed local and national newspapers, it is Social Media.
Etc etc.
And of course as consumers we have all played our part.
The process state though has massively increased turn over taxes which has absolutely hammered all those small businesses while Amazon can absorb them. I understand the thinking, turn-over taxes are hard to dodge so you get your money out of Amazon, but the level of turn over taxes is insane for small business.
There is a small business guy on YouTube who owns a wide range of successful businesses and employs over his various companies several 1000 people. A few years ago he bought an ice cream factory and the shops. He recently broke down the finances of his most successful ice cream cafe / shop location. On £1.5 million in gross turnover, once he has paid all the costs (remember he makes the ice cream himself), then the turn over taxes etc, he is down to less than £50k in profit. He had 10 shops and down to 2, because he said unless you can do over £1 million in gross turnover you will never make any money on a high street cafe. Its the turn over taxes that are the killer.
Again, that's sort of on us.
We want the government to spend money on us, but howl furiously at any visible taxes on us.
Whoever said "we know what needs to be done, but not how to win an election doing it" was right.
It also shows how much we need a different (lower) rate of VAT for hospitality to allow profits to be made so keep places open..
I know Osborne got in a mess over the pasty tax, but VAT really needs a close look at and reform. Even on food, go to a CostCo and try and work out any logic behind what has VAT and what doesn't.
VAT is regressive. Sticking 5% on food would multiply yesterday's anti-Starmer marches a thousand fold.
“We see wild parties, holidays, weddings, family outings and close-knit friendship groups,” wrote one Guardian journalist in 2015. She went on: “Apart from commemorating a deceased person’s life, you’ll be hard pushed to find a really bad moment in your feed.”
Hmmm....In general I don't think that was true at all. Remember, Trump got elected in 2016, on the back of lots of people being very angry and again claims it was social media that radicalised them.
I notice even John Harris is doing "real name". There has to be some editorial guidance across all media that you must put this, even in the context you are writing about is irrelevant.
I have asked a few times, and no answers so far, but does anyone have an idea why Farage would choose to buy a place in Clacton rather than rent?
Someone, we assume Farage somehow, has coughed up almost £900k to buy a place outright. This was surely unnecessary for a man who has a million pound house within an hour or so's journey from the constituency anyway. Renting a flat would have been more than sufficient. It doesn't make any sense to me
The only reason I can think off is that he’s stood for many seats in different parts of the world and so easily accused of being a blow-in who was just renting and having no real personal stake in the constituency. By buying (as part of a “household” to stretch it) it probably felt like neutralising any attacks on that.
A bit of belt and braces as he was likely to win but he might have thought it a sensible punt without thinking of the long term optics by not buying it himself in his own name.
I honestly think he’s savvy enough to know there are plenty of people gunning for him and so has the money and contacts to ensure the legal and tax issues are watertight if not the smell of it. I’m sure if anyone finds anything that’s not legal or avoids tax that they are legally obligated to pay then their will be journalists on the case though.
“We see wild parties, holidays, weddings, family outings and close-knit friendship groups,” wrote one Guardian journalist in 2015. She went on: “Apart from commemorating a deceased person’s life, you’ll be hard pushed to find a really bad moment in your feed.”
Hmmm....In general I don't think that was true at all. Remember, Trump got elected in 2016, on the back of lots of people being very angry and again claims it was social media that radicalised them.
I notice even John Harris is doing "real name". There has to be some editorial guidance across all media that you must put this, even in the context you are writing about is irrelevant.
I like a lot of John Harris stuff, but I think he misses the mark here. There wasn't a golden age 10 years ago of lovely social media. Twitter and Facebook were the platforms at the time that was held up as radicalizing people over Trump and Brexit, all that has changed is the platform has changed to TikTok, Twitch and X. Tommy Ten Names was doing the same back then that he is doing now.
And you can have a nice experience on social media, you just have to stick to only feeds of people you follow and be careful about who you follow. My main X account doesn't contain any of this stuff of extreme violence, racism, etc. Its dead boring world of people talking Machine Learning.
I have asked a few times, and no answers so far, but does anyone have an idea why Farage would choose to buy a place in Clacton rather than rent?
Someone, we assume Farage somehow, has coughed up almost £900k to buy a place outright. This was surely unnecessary for a man who has a million pound house within an hour or so's journey from the constituency anyway. Renting a flat would have been more than sufficient. It doesn't make any sense to me
The only reason I can think off is that he’s stood for many seats in different parts of the world and so easily accused of being a blow-in who was just renting and having no real personal stake in the constituency. By buying (as part of a “household” to stretch it) it probably felt like neutralising any attacks on that.
A bit of belt and braces as he was likely to win but he might have thought it a sensible punt without thinking of the long term optics by not buying it himself in his own name.
I honestly think he’s savvy enough to know there are plenty of people gunning for him and so has the money and contacts to ensure the legal and tax issues are watertight if not the smell of it. I’m sure if anyone finds anything that’s not legal or avoids tax that they are legally obligated to pay then their will be journalists on the case though.
One of the claims in the BBC piece was that both Farage and his girlfriend had employed the use of a very expensive tax specialist lawyers, which suggests whatever arrangements they have used it has all the i's dotted and t's crossed. The sort of people Big Ange should have used.
“We see wild parties, holidays, weddings, family outings and close-knit friendship groups,” wrote one Guardian journalist in 2015. She went on: “Apart from commemorating a deceased person’s life, you’ll be hard pushed to find a really bad moment in your feed.”
Hmmm....In general I don't think that was true at all. Remember, Trump got elected in 2016, on the back of lots of people being very angry and again claims it was social media that radicalised them.
I notice even John Harris is doing "real name". There has to be some editorial guidance across all media that you must put this, even in the context you are writing about is irrelevant.
I like a lot of John Harris stuff, but I think he misses the mark here. There wasn't a golden age 10 years ago of lovely social media. Twitter and Facebook were the platforms at the time that was held up as radicalizing people over Trump and Brexit, all that has changed is the platform has changed to TikTok, Twitch and X. Tommy Ten Names was doing the same back then that he is doing now.
And you can have a nice experience on social media, you just have to stick to only feeds of people you follow and be careful about who you follow. My main X account doesn't contain any of this stuff of extreme violence, racism, etc. Its dead boring world of people talking Machine Learning.
Yes, this is one of his most feeble articles. “Social media is quite inflammatory”. Wow
I don’t know who’s lying or fibbing or whatever in regards to the size of the Tommy March, but this is an insanely large, dense crowd, which I have never personally seen the like of, in London
Comments
I like "a series of hostage negotiations", as a good soundbite wrt the need for Europe to be able to stand alone, which is the basic requirement for marginalising Trump and his successors. It's almost the necessary platform for an ability to negotiate. If the possibility exists to render the USA entirely irrelevent to, for example, Ukraine, then there is the opportunity to prevent the USA carving up Europe in their interest.
A NATCON5 talk I posted yesterday had the President of the Edmund Burke foundation suggesting that USA allies should be "between the 3 seas - Adriatic, Baltic and Black", and in countries that are "willing to fight". That is a chain centred on Poland through the Baltics to Romania etc. Western Europe is to be marginalised partly because in NATCON heads we have "surrendered to Islam".
I don't see it working, because most of those economies are in, or will be integrated into, the EU, and the NatConers are looking for unequal relationships, and offering little.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fo4-4clc8w (20 minutes).
Think those away from the area massively underestimate the popularity he has in this part of the world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance_UK
"The most alarming aspect of the event was just how normal the vast majority of the marches were."
@TrevorPTweets shares his thoughts of the day, including on those who attended the 'Unite the Kingdom' protest
trib.al/Wf702kx
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233
https://x.com/skynews/status/1967131789136113933?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
Believe it or not, I had an old school friend on today’s marches in London. He sent me some photos from the crowd.
We went to middle school together and grew up on the same Eastern District council estate in Northampton.
I asked him why he was there. He gave me two answers:
1.“The government doesn’t listen to us.”
2.“I want to feel proud of my country again.”
He wore a Union Jack, not a St George’s Cross as he said that one had been hijacked by racists.
He wasn’t there for Hopkins, Musk, or any of the professional ‘grifters’ as he put it. He was there to feel part of something bigger, though he admitted there were a lot of, in his words, “assholes” there.
He’s an electrician. He’s smart. He’s not racist, but he’s not “PC” either. He’s not a fan of Keir Starmer but he also believes Farage would be a disaster.
Oh yes, he’s a bundle of contradictions! But aren’t we all?
I don’t know what ‘box’ we put him or the millions like him in. And I think pretending they’re all racists or fascists would be a massive mistake.
Some were. But not all.
This is about something bigger than immigration slogans or GDP numbers. For decades we’ve hollowed out our national life, underfunding and undermining the very institutions that once brought us together…
https://x.com/labourlewis/status/1966988870890963361?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
The bigger problem is how to get the nomination. Normally in by-elections, the party HQs get involved in choosing a candidate. If Starmer loyalists get to pick the candidate, why would they let Burnham anywhere near the seat?
(2/2)
Karl Polanyi, writing in The Great Transformation, argued that when markets are “disembodied” from society, when land, labour, and life itself are treated as commodities
society pushes back. He called this the “double movement”: people seeking to protect themselves, to reclaim dignity and meaning when everything solid seems to melt into air.
That’s what I saw in my friend’s photos. Not just anger, but a demand for belonging.
We’ve replaced collective experience with atomisation. Without getting too nostalgic, programmes like the BBC’s Generation Game once pulled in millions every Saturday night, giving us something we could all talk about on Monday morning. Now we watch Netflix, Disney+, Prime, or Paramount, alone, in algorithmic silos.
Football used to be affordable and rooted in community; now it’s millionaires playing for the profitability of billionaires. The NHS, the post office, the railways - all chipped away, run down, sold off or centralised, leaving people feeling powerless and disconnected.
And don’t get me wrong: some kind of “Hovis Labour” nostalgia for the 1950s isn’t the answer. The country back then was often intolerant, grey, and deeply unequal. But what we’ve built since is a society that gives people little to hold in common, no collective story about who we are or what we’re for.
I reckon that’s partly why my mate marched. Not because he wants to turn back the clock. But because he wants to feel pride again. Pride in a country that is inclusive, fair, and offers a role for everyone. Pride in a nation that has a respected place in the world, tackles grotesque inequality, and gives people something real to believe in.
Polanyi warned that when democracies fail to provide a humane alternative, the backlash can turn authoritarian. This is how fascism grew in the 1930s, not because everyone became a true believer, but because millions felt abandoned and looked for strength, identity, and meaning wherever they could find it.
If Labour and progressives don’t offer that story of renewal, if we don’t rebuild our national institutions, restore collective pride, and re-embed markets within society, the far right will do it for us, in their own image.
And by then, it will be too late.
https://x.com/labourlewis/status/1966988870890963361?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
Whatever arguments there may be for rejoining the EU, marginalising the radical right is not one of them.
Does it show there is an audience for long-form political discussion... Maybe? There are lots of long-form politics podcasts on the right and on the left, but I think they are largely preaching to the choir. They're sometimes just repeating platitudes, not digging into issues. There are some long-form podcasts that do topics justice and that are really interesting, but there are long-form podcasts about everything. You don't need much of an audience to keep a podcast going.
So thumbs up for (some) podcasts, but I don't think they solve the issues created by the 24/7 news cycle and TikTokification of media.
* He refused Zelenskyy.
NATIONAL PAPER AIRPLANE DAY | May 26.
MEMORIAL DAY - Last Monday in May.
NATIONAL BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE DAY - May 26.
Defenestration of Starmer Day would bolster it some...
While I think there is much in the broad thesis, I'm not certain that the emphasis on the media (from The Generation Game to Netflix) is correct. I suggest we should look at capitalism, and the move from people generally being employed by companies that were rooted in their local communities, who had an interest in the local community, to people being employed by international corporations that are distant from local communities and more focused on the extraction of financial value.
Not sure Elon Musk is the poster boy for that.
However, I do think that if politicians could replicate across the country the huge progress that the city of Manchester has made over the last 20 years or so then that would be some achievement. Manchester has been transformed since I was a young man, and is a great city now.
The point about these podcasters is that they have a lot of listeners who *aren't* dug in on party lines.
One of the big fuck-ups of the US left over the last 10 years has been to try to freeze out people who say things they think are mad and/or harmful. The Democrats used to be the party of all the health-and-wellbeing crankery, those idiots were all part of the coalition. It's nice to only take seriously people who deserve to be taken seriously, but the problem is that if you exclude the mad people and the somewhat racist people and the people who are mostly sane but have a few absolutely delusional beliefs and everyone else who although nice could create an embarassed silence at a dinner of educated sensible people, you represent at most 40% of the electorate.
Instead we have this big blancmange of a party that has obsessed itself with free movement for foreigners and British professional classes, free trade and climate policy at the expense of British industry, and massive transfer payments to non workers, many of whom are not even British.
How refreshing to see a Labour politician show a modicum of understanding of how low his party has sunk.
I can’t imagine a scenario where I would vote for the Labour Party but I can recognise that there is a democratic need to have a party that fills the above gap. And it’s staggering to me that Labour are content to let this gap be filled by the latest Farage brand, seemingly for no reason other than they think he’s a nasty racist and anyone that backs him is hence an undesirable and they are welcome to each other.
1) The People are Sovereign (no deference to an aristocracy) and can do as they wish - True Democracy
2) You aren’t allowed to change a growing number of parts of public life. The Process State regards you as a tomatoes to be processed into canned chopped tomato. Your part in the process is to shut up and obey. And jump in the can.
Strangely, the Sovereign People didn’t take well to (2)
I think Joe Rogan is a net negative for the world, but, sure, maybe it's the right move for some Democratic politicians to go on Rogan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8iWLDmmjr0
"I want to dedicate this next one to an absolute piece of shit of a human being. The pronouns was /were. Because if you talk shit, you will get Banged. Rest in peace Charlie Kirk you piece of shit"
https://x.com/Miss_Snuffy/status/1967189305509736729
I spotted a handful of St George crosses and union flags on the A2 out through Bexley on the way to the vineyard this morning.
(Which is looking bacchanalian by the way)
Then in the distance I spotted a huge red and white sheet slung over the side of the carriageway, with ominous red writing on it. I seemed to make out the word “first” and “go”. Things were taking a dark turn.
Then I reached it. The inscription read “Happy 40th Birthday Zoe Henderson!”.
The wealth tax is such a stupid red herring. It’s the Brexit of the left.
@AllisonPearson
·
6m
The crowd was more like 400,000. Vast numbers were unable to get into the protest area as police shut the bridges.
https://x.com/AllisonPearson/status/1967191637047799961
I just couldn't believe how they were so wedded to FOM. It seemed to go against all the principles of the kind of trade union Labour I was brought up to believe was "us". Opening up the market on low paid jobs to a whole continent, with the result being big corps getting richer whilst the blue collar Brits voted for someone else, unreal
The black chap getting beaten up so badly the police had to drag him out, as per the Mail, was just a minor detail, Elon to the rescue, who understands real British people.
Its amazing how strong people's feeling are from both sides over a guy who really had nothing to do with the UK, wasn't part of the discourse and I doubt a lot of people like Bad Al had more than a passing knowledge of him (hence the fake news from the likes of Bad Al and Adam Boulton).
It isn't "the process state" that has closed down your local butcher, greengrocer and pub, it's Asda, Tesco and Aldi.
It isn't "the process state" that has destroyed local and national newspapers, it is Social Media.
Etc etc.
And of course as consumers we have all played our part.
There is a small business guy on YouTube who owns a wide range of successful businesses and employs over his various companies several 1000 people. A few years ago he bought an ice cream factory and the shops. He recently broke down the finances of his most successful ice cream cafe / shop location. On £1.5 million in gross turnover, once he has paid all the costs (remember he makes the ice cream himself), then the turn over taxes etc, he is down to less than £50k in profit. He had 10 shops and down to 2, because he said unless you can do over £1 million in gross turnover you will never make any money on a high street cafe. Its the turn over taxes that are the killer.
A massive problem that is hardly talked about in the UK (that isn't true in Germany), we have a small number of very large employers and a massive number of tiny employers. Now yes medium sized companies since the war have merged and been bought out, but the process system makes it incredible difficult to grow new small companies in the UK. We have hardly any that employ in the 1000s range.
Has anyone seen bilberries yet this year?
I'm having a home day today, having been away yesterday, and I'm going on a sloe hunt again I hope for another 1-2kh of sloes..
It's nearly bilberry time, and my favourite bilberry spot is 20 miles away plus I need to get there early (6am) ideally after rain 24-48 hours before.
Many other Eurooean nations haven't suffered anything like the loss of specificity in their town centres and shops that we have. It's much the same in our public culture, television, film and media. The huge irony is that people like Farage and Musk a
are at the forefront of this process.
It's interesting how some of the mayors - the ones who are really active and seem to fight for their communities -regardless of politics are now the most popular politicians. Obvs Burnham, but the ability of Houchen to hold on to the Tees Valley Mayoralty last year was possibly the most extraordinary electoral performance of anyone in recent years. And Andy Street - though he lost - managed to make the West Midlands competitive.
We want the government to spend money on us, but howl furiously at any visible taxes on us.
Whoever said "we know what needs to be done, but not how to win an election doing it" was right.
Process State is the belief that for every eventuality, there is a process. And if we just write enough processes, we won’t need judgement, morality or compassion. Or even thinking. We will just need to tick off items 1-1,342
It’s prevalent in all large organisations. See Boeing and the comedy of multiple systems of sign off. Which generated metric tons of paperwork. Which didn’t include whether the bloody door was bolted on, or held by chewing gum.
Or Grenfell, where the building remodel had metric tons of paperwork. That proved the remodelling was fireproof, pest proof, non-racist, non-misogynistic, equitable and inclusive. Given that point one was a bit of a bust, the rest are probably bollocks as well.
It’s not so much that the State has given up power as a merger between the State and various Quangos, third sector providers and chunks of the very largest corporations. The advantage for the state is that they can use this structure to firewall (ha) people wanting accountability and change.
We have an incredibly unhealthy economical balance.
There is also the issue of how risk averse those that can fund businesses are, but again I sort of understand it. In recent history there isn't much evidence that if I back your start-up, you will become a business employing 1000s.
You get these building projects with 100,000s of pages of docs. Not only costly, but only certain groups can even tackle undertaking such a task.
He said that when he was defence secretary he threatened to cancel the contract and the timetable was brought forward. It’s now slipped back again .
So aggregating things into Too Big Too Fail is seen as a plus.
See the comedy mentioned yesterday - either Teeside will get an epically vast hydrogen plant or an epically vast datacentre. The projects are so big, there isn’t space for both. So they are planning a single employer for the area. What could go wrong?
The burden of regulation is heaviest on small business. Most small building companies (for example) are operating in massive breach of regulations - because they can’t afford to do all The Proper Paperwork. AI helps by generating the documents that no one reads.
https://bsky.app/profile/rhodri.biz/post/3lyrwbkrgb22a
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg964v18l6o
This article massively misses the mark. The most worrying aspect of this is not poor diet or spending too much of your spare time in the gym, is it the widespread abuse of PEDs by very young people and often ones that there is little known about their long term effects. It is all over TikTok.
Someone, we assume Farage somehow, has coughed up almost £900k to buy a place outright. This was surely unnecessary for a man who has a million pound house within an hour or so's journey from the constituency anyway. Renting a flat would have been more than sufficient. It doesn't make any sense to me
Did you know where the medical knowledge of puberty blocking came from?
Next in the banned foods of the world: Surströmming...
Needing to turnover £1m to make a profit on the High Street - any wonder that the High Street is looking a bit empty?
A really excellent piece by John Harris.
Hmmm....In general I don't think that was true at all. Remember, Trump got elected in 2016, on the back of lots of people being very angry and again claims it was social media that radicalised them.
I notice even John Harris is doing "real name". There has to be some editorial guidance across all media that you must put this, even in the context you are writing about is irrelevant.
A bit of belt and braces as he was likely to win but he might have thought it a sensible punt without thinking of the long term optics by not buying it himself in his own name.
I honestly think he’s savvy enough to know there are plenty of people gunning for him and so has the money and contacts to ensure the legal and tax issues are watertight if not the smell of it. I’m sure if anyone finds anything that’s not legal or avoids tax that they are legally obligated to pay then their will be journalists on the case though.
And you can have a nice experience on social media, you just have to stick to only feeds of people you follow and be careful about who you follow. My main X account doesn't contain any of this stuff of extreme violence, racism, etc. Its dead boring world of people talking Machine Learning.
https://x.com/dannyka89610573/status/1967190169800581489?s=61&t=GGp3Vs1t1kTWDiyA-odnZg