I have been following politics for over 60 years. I have lost count of the times I've been told that Labour/the Conservatives (delete to taste) will never be in power again, or that the Conservative/Labour duopoly is over, that some other party will win the next election or that we will see permanent coalitions with no party able to win a majority. Somehow it has never happened. It may be that this time is different, but I wouldn't bet on it. Reform are going down in the polls. Labour and the Conservatives are on an upward trend, although recent events may push Labour back down again. And, unlike Gareth, I think the defections have been a net positive for the Conservatives. And, of course, the experience of Reform actually running things has not been good in many areas.
As things stand, we are probably at least 2 years away from a general election. A lot can change in that time. It may be that Reform will turn round its current decline and hold on to the lead in the polls. But, as I say, I wouldn't bet on it.
To get back to insiders, apols if I missed it but has there been anny comment on Bezos laying off a huge chunk of the Washington Post's journalists? That cnut arsing about with penis shaped rockets and multi $m weddings in Venice while turning a serious newspaper into Völkischer Beobachter epitomises the state we're in.
WashPo lost $100m last year, that’s why the redundancies.
How news is consumed is rapidly changing.
These redundant hacks need to consider their industry is rapidly changing and what they need to move onto and drop the entitlement I’ve seen on social media.
Would you say the same to those who run pubs or restaurants?
I’ve not seen the whining entitlement from local pubs and restaurants closing down that I’ve seen from WaPo hacks.
To get back to insiders, apols if I missed it but has there been anny comment on Bezos laying off a huge chunk of the Washington Post's journalists? That cnut arsing about with penis shaped rockets and multi $m weddings in Venice while turning a serious newspaper into Völkischer Beobachter epitomises the state we're in.
In the 2000s, there were few votes for outsider parties. The LDs took an outsider position on Iraq, but it would be hard to call them an outsider party.
I disagree, in the 2000s the LDs were the outsider party. They were the pox on both your houses, none of the above, party.
Yes their leadership were not that, but a very large chunk of their voters were.
The Coalition fractured that. More than tuition fees, it was the very act of going into Government that destroyed what for many LD voters were the LDs very nature of being outsiders and making them just another establishment party.
I remain firmly of the belief (both anecdotally and from data) that a large chunk of the 2015 UKIP vote were ex-LD voters.
You can argue the same will be true for both Reform and the Greens IF either finds themselves in such a position after the next election.
That's the thing about "outsider" parties - as long as they are on the outside, they can play that game but as soon as confronted with the consequences of their own electoral success (or the failings of others) they are forced to come "inside" and that, so to speak, taints them for all time (it would seem).
The other side of it is to ask why a party is in business - I've never heard of a party whose sole raison d'etre was to shout in futile anger from the sidelines. No, people form and join parties to achieve policy goals whether social, economic or both. The only way to achieve those goals (currently) is through the electoral system in our democracy but once you have achieved that you then have to do some (not all) of what you promise and on that you are then judged at the next election.
The Conservatives don't want to spend the next 10-15 years shouting at Labour and Reform Governments from the sidelines - they want to be there, in Government, enacting policies, enjoying "power" but as they know full well, the price of that power can be very high but do they want another go at Government? You better believe they do.
We've seen across Europe how outsider potatoes get elected and then sink at the next election.
'Outsider potatoes'? If that is autocorrect gone rogue it is glorious.
EDIT: And if it is deliberate it is even better and should become the standard term.
To get back to insiders, apols if I missed it but has there been anny comment on Bezos laying off a huge chunk of the Washington Post's journalists? That cnut arsing about with penis shaped rockets and multi $m weddings in Venice while turning a serious newspaper into Völkischer Beobachter epitomises the state we're in.
WashPo lost $100m last year, that’s why the redundancies.
Bezos can afford to lose that much for hundreds of years
But why would he want to sell Amazon shares, to throw good money after bad at a failing business?
Why would Bezos buy the Washington Post in the first place? It buys him a place at the top table. It makes him an insider, not an outsider. The trouble is now that his wealth depends on not upsetting the President, owning a paper with a history of investigative journalism works best if its glory days are safely behind it.
If it were just about money, Bezos could sell the Washington Post, or not buy it in the first place. He wants the prestige. He wants to be an insider. But he does not want Trump blocking Federal contracts because an investigative journalist writes about ICE ignoring injunctions. Trump brought Musk back into line by musing about NASA. You know who else builds rockets?
To get back to insiders, apols if I missed it but has there been anny comment on Bezos laying off a huge chunk of the Washington Post's journalists? That cnut arsing about with penis shaped rockets and multi $m weddings in Venice while turning a serious newspaper into Völkischer Beobachter epitomises the state we're in.
WashPo lost $100m last year, that’s why the redundancies.
How news is consumed is rapidly changing.
These redundant hacks need to consider their industry is rapidly changing and what they need to move onto and drop the entitlement I’ve seen on social media.
Would you say the same to those who run pubs or restaurants?
I’ve not seen the whining entitlement from local pubs and restaurants closing down that I’ve seen from WaPo hacks.
I have been following politics for over 60 years. I have lost count of the times I've been told that Labour/the Conservatives (delete to taste) will never be in power again, or that the Conservative/Labour duopoly is over, that some other party will win the next election or that we will see permanent coalitions with no party able to win a majority. Somehow it has never happened. It may be that this time is different, but I wouldn't bet on it. Reform are going down in the polls. Labour and the Conservatives are on an upward trend, although recent events may push Labour back down again. And, unlike Gareth, I think the defections have been a net positive for the Conservatives. And, of course, the experience of Reform actually running things has not been good in many areas.
As things stand, we are probably at least 2 years away from a general election. A lot can change in that time. It may be that Reform will turn round its current decline and hold on to the lead in the polls. But, as I say, I wouldn't bet on it.
Fair comments but 2024 was a change - Con/Lab won 59% of the vote and 532 seats which is still very high but a long way off the 90% they were getting in the 1960s.
There's a tipping point (and we weren't far from it last time) where the dominance ends - probably around 50% and with current polling putting Con/Lab at 40% there's a reasonable argument more seats will be won by other parties.
Yet we are two or perhaps three years off an election and we've seen this kind of thing before - UKIP polled strongly in the 2010s and the Alliance in the 1980s but even then Con/Lab still had at least 60%.
There's also a volatility in the electorate we've not seen for a while.
To get back to insiders, apols if I missed it but has there been anny comment on Bezos laying off a huge chunk of the Washington Post's journalists? That cnut arsing about with penis shaped rockets and multi $m weddings in Venice while turning a serious newspaper into Völkischer Beobachter epitomises the state we're in.
WashPo lost $100m last year, that’s why the redundancies.
How news is consumed is rapidly changing.
These redundant hacks need to consider their industry is rapidly changing and what they need to move onto and drop the entitlement I’ve seen on social media.
Would you say the same to those who run pubs or restaurants?
To those who rub puns, I'd say "You're a genieous"
A very interesting article indeed - thanks, @GarethoftheVale2 Two points, if I may.......
1. Don't be too quick to write off the Lib Dems as an "outsider" party. Yes, their MPs may all be as sleek and smooth as all other manifestations of "the blob", but out in the wild they have capitalised on the "plague on both your houses" idea long before it became a meme. Perhaps that might explain why their poll ratings are still so abnormally high - they are still taped in to the "sod the lot of them" vibe.
2. I am about as bourgeois as it's possible to be on my income, mainly because I have strived to become as middle class as possible. However, I have a number of working class friends, of all ages and races, because I am a regular church-goer. From an anthropological point of view they are still very interesting places where "all sorts and conditions of men" (and women) get together and socialise. I can't think of any other forums in my town where that happens.
The comment about working class friends is interesting. I had, when younger, many working class friends. Nowadays those I am still friends with would not be deemed working class. White colllar jobs, nice homes, comfortably off.
The working class has always had people who wallow in it and people who aspire to do better. That’s where most of my friendship group from my younger years ended up. I do also have posh friends who were privately educated.
This thread is key to me. There is little substantive consequence for misdeeds.
‘ We see scandal after scandal, and the politicians keep uttering the same trite phrase, “lessons will be learned”. The public want to see people being actually held to account.
After the collapse of RBS, Fred Goodwin lost part of his pension, but I doubt he is living in a council house. Paula Vennells of the Post Office handed back her CBE in 2024, but she was only awarded it in 2019, well after the scandal was known about.’
Well, Prince Andrew was evicted from his free house on a royal estate, so now he is forced to live in *checks notes* a free house on a different royal estate.
Labour backbenchers are now publicly warning Sir Keir Starmer that his own future will be in doubt unless he sacks his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney
It's effectively an ultimatum that's being echoed across the backbenches
Karl Turner, a Labour MP, says the mood on the backbenches is 'dire'. He says that unless Starmer sacks his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney he will be 'up against it' and have to make a decision about his own future
He tells @TimesRadio the atmosphere in the Commons was the 'angriest' he has ever seen it, but that the anger was directed at his advisers
He says he forwarded messages from people expressing their anger directly to the prime minister last night. 'He thanked me, and I suspect he thanked those who were then messaging him'
'My advice to the prime minister is get rid of those advisers who have frankly given terrible advice to him over weeks and months. The PM needs to deal with that and make a decision. If the PM decides he has to be surrounded by advisers who give him shoddy advice the reality of that is the prime minister is going to have to make a decision about his future some point soon
'If McSweeney is still in 10 Downing Street the PM is up against it'
I had a feeling the upshot of all this might be McSweeney being served up in a plater,
Which means SKS has no one to pin the blame on for the disaster that will be the May local elections...
The key will be the NEV after the May local elections, if Labour beat the Tories for second behind Reform it will likely be Kemi going not Starmer
To get back to insiders, apols if I missed it but has there been anny comment on Bezos laying off a huge chunk of the Washington Post's journalists? That cnut arsing about with penis shaped rockets and multi $m weddings in Venice while turning a serious newspaper into Völkischer Beobachter epitomises the state we're in.
WashPo lost $100m last year, that’s why the redundancies.
How news is consumed is rapidly changing.
These redundant hacks need to consider their industry is rapidly changing and what they need to move onto and drop the entitlement I’ve seen on social media.
Would you say the same to those who run pubs or restaurants?
I’ve not seen the whining entitlement from local pubs and restaurants closing down that I’ve seen from WaPo hacks.
You did not read pb during the pandemic then.
Only part of it.
I remember polling that showed around 20% of people wanted night clubs shut and never reopened.
The comment about working class friends is interesting. I had, when younger, many working class friends. Nowadays those I am still friends with would not be deemed working class. White colllar jobs, nice homes, comfortably off.
The working class has always had people who wallow in it and people who aspire to do better. That’s where most of my friendship group from my younger years ended up. I do also have posh friends who were privately educated.
This thread is key to me. There is little substantive consequence for misdeeds.
‘ We see scandal after scandal, and the politicians keep uttering the same trite phrase, “lessons will be learned”. The public want to see people being actually held to account.
After the collapse of RBS, Fred Goodwin lost part of his pension, but I doubt he is living in a council house. Paula Vennells of the Post Office handed back her CBE in 2024, but she was only awarded it in 2019, well after the scandal was known about.’
It's an interesting trait of society that once a person gets into a high enough position, they're almost always protected from consequences of their actions.
To get back to insiders, apols if I missed it but has there been anny comment on Bezos laying off a huge chunk of the Washington Post's journalists? That cnut arsing about with penis shaped rockets and multi $m weddings in Venice while turning a serious newspaper into Völkischer Beobachter epitomises the state we're in.
How do the Labour rules work when there’s a non anointed change of leader when in govt? Can we pay three quid to get a vote still?
No. And unless you have been a party member for 6 months, you won't get a vote either. I assume that that time restriction also applies to those who are not party members but who get a vote thanks to being a member of an affiliated trade union who pays into the political levy.
🔥 Amol Rajan nails it: "The Prime Minister's a former prosecutor, he's talked a lot throughout his career about victims being first and foremost. If that were really the case, why would he appoint a man who he knew had an ongoing relationship with a convicted paedophile."
To get back to insiders, apols if I missed it but has there been anny comment on Bezos laying off a huge chunk of the Washington Post's journalists? That cnut arsing about with penis shaped rockets and multi $m weddings in Venice while turning a serious newspaper into Völkischer Beobachter epitomises the state we're in.
WashPo lost $100m last year, that’s why the redundancies.
How news is consumed is rapidly changing.
These redundant hacks need to consider their industry is rapidly changing and what they need to move onto and drop the entitlement I’ve seen on social media.
Would you say the same to those who run pubs or restaurants?
I’ve not seen the whining entitlement from local pubs and restaurants closing down that I’ve seen from WaPo hacks.
You did not read pb during the pandemic then.
To be fair if the government forceably closes your business down, you have a bit of a point.
Labour backbenchers are now publicly warning Sir Keir Starmer that his own future will be in doubt unless he sacks his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney
It's effectively an ultimatum that's being echoed across the backbenches
Karl Turner, a Labour MP, says the mood on the backbenches is 'dire'. He says that unless Starmer sacks his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney he will be 'up against it' and have to make a decision about his own future
He tells @TimesRadio the atmosphere in the Commons was the 'angriest' he has ever seen it, but that the anger was directed at his advisers
He says he forwarded messages from people expressing their anger directly to the prime minister last night. 'He thanked me, and I suspect he thanked those who were then messaging him'
'My advice to the prime minister is get rid of those advisers who have frankly given terrible advice to him over weeks and months. The PM needs to deal with that and make a decision. If the PM decides he has to be surrounded by advisers who give him shoddy advice the reality of that is the prime minister is going to have to make a decision about his future some point soon
'If McSweeney is still in 10 Downing Street the PM is up against it'
I had a feeling the upshot of all this might be McSweeney being served up in a plater,
Which means SKS has no one to pin the blame on for the disaster that will be the May local elections...
The key will be the NEV after the May local elections, if Labour beat the Tories for second behind Reform it will likely be Kemi going not Starmer
The comment about working class friends is interesting. I had, when younger, many working class friends. Nowadays those I am still friends with would not be deemed working class. White colllar jobs, nice homes, comfortably off.
The working class has always had people who wallow in it and people who aspire to do better. That’s where most of my friendship group from my younger years ended up. I do also have posh friends who were privately educated.
This thread is key to me. There is little substantive consequence for misdeeds.
‘ We see scandal after scandal, and the politicians keep uttering the same trite phrase, “lessons will be learned”. The public want to see people being actually held to account.
After the collapse of RBS, Fred Goodwin lost part of his pension, but I doubt he is living in a council house. Paula Vennells of the Post Office handed back her CBE in 2024, but she was only awarded it in 2019, well after the scandal was known about.’
Well, Prince Andrew was evicted from his free house on a royal estate, so now he is forced to live in *checks notes* a free house on a different royal estate.
Yes, for all the guff in the press and on the TV/radio etc, he is still living a pretty good life.
To get back to insiders, apols if I missed it but has there been anny comment on Bezos laying off a huge chunk of the Washington Post's journalists? That cnut arsing about with penis shaped rockets and multi $m weddings in Venice while turning a serious newspaper into Völkischer Beobachter epitomises the state we're in.
To get back to insiders, apols if I missed it but has there been anny comment on Bezos laying off a huge chunk of the Washington Post's journalists? That cnut arsing about with penis shaped rockets and multi $m weddings in Venice while turning a serious newspaper into Völkischer Beobachter epitomises the state we're in.
Excellent header, Gareth. I hope that Reform/Green are able to radically transform the country and make the elites bend to the Government’s will, but I don’t expect it to happen. In my opinion, a major issue has been the ever increasing centralisation that has taken place over the past few decades. This has concentrated power In Westminster, and therefore in the Civil Service, which, at senior levels, is the epitome of the elite. Decision making needs to be devolved to local authorities and the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish parliaments. Within Scotland, there has also been far too much centralisation in Edinburgh, with the same corrosive effects as the centralisation In Westminster. This also needs to be remedied. Someone asked whether the SNP are now an insider party. I think they have been since 2014. The question in Scotland is whether the Scottish Greens are also now an insider party? I would argue that they are.
Labour With Starmer can't win Streeting may win Burnham can't win Rayner can win Dark horse need to be soft left
Tories With Badenoch can't win Cleverly may win Mordaunt can win Dark horse can't see a winner
LD with Davey minimal scope to improve Daisy Cooper significantly improve
Reform Simple it's a 1 man cult With him they might hold balance of power Without him they fragment to Advance
PC and SNP
Can both hold majority of Westminster MPs Won't supply or help Tories
Green With Polanski will be a Red Party less and less Green bore and more left of Labour I think they have 1 chance 2029 after which they split genuine Green and hard left In many ways Polanski projects as a cult figure.
"We removed Mandelson in the middle of the night, so there" will be the Lab defence for hiring Sweetpea
Kevin Schofield @KevinASchofield Given how often he's mentioned it, Steve Reed seems to think Keir Starmer deserves enormous credit for waking Peter Mandelson at 5am up to sack him.
The comment about working class friends is interesting. I had, when younger, many working class friends. Nowadays those I am still friends with would not be deemed working class. White colllar jobs, nice homes, comfortably off.
The working class has always had people who wallow in it and people who aspire to do better. That’s where most of my friendship group from my younger years ended up. I do also have posh friends who were privately educated.
This thread is key to me. There is little substantive consequence for misdeeds.
‘ We see scandal after scandal, and the politicians keep uttering the same trite phrase, “lessons will be learned”. The public want to see people being actually held to account.
After the collapse of RBS, Fred Goodwin lost part of his pension, but I doubt he is living in a council house. Paula Vennells of the Post Office handed back her CBE in 2024, but she was only awarded it in 2019, well after the scandal was known about.’
Well, Prince Andrew was evicted from his free house on a royal estate, so now he is forced to live in *checks notes* a free house on a different royal estate.
Yes, for all the guff in the press and on the TV/radio etc, he is still living a pretty good life.
Every royal family has the odd black sheep, who steps out of line and ends up exiled to somewhere remote - but they still look after them.
🔥 Amol Rajan nails it: "The Prime Minister's a former prosecutor, he's talked a lot throughout his career about victims being first and foremost. If that were really the case, why would he appoint a man who he knew had an ongoing relationship with a convicted paedophile."
🔥 Amol Rajan nails it: "The Prime Minister's a former prosecutor, he's talked a lot throughout his career about victims being first and foremost. If that were really the case, why would he appoint a man who he knew had an ongoing relationship with a convicted paedophile."
Loads of the press thought it was a tactically genius move at the time and laughed along when Starmer was joking about he is just Peter to us. Now they seem to be well of course it was a terrible decision only an idiot would do that.
Labour backbenchers are now publicly warning Sir Keir Starmer that his own future will be in doubt unless he sacks his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney
It's effectively an ultimatum that's being echoed across the backbenches
Karl Turner, a Labour MP, says the mood on the backbenches is 'dire'. He says that unless Starmer sacks his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney he will be 'up against it' and have to make a decision about his own future
He tells @TimesRadio the atmosphere in the Commons was the 'angriest' he has ever seen it, but that the anger was directed at his advisers
He says he forwarded messages from people expressing their anger directly to the prime minister last night. 'He thanked me, and I suspect he thanked those who were then messaging him'
'My advice to the prime minister is get rid of those advisers who have frankly given terrible advice to him over weeks and months. The PM needs to deal with that and make a decision. If the PM decides he has to be surrounded by advisers who give him shoddy advice the reality of that is the prime minister is going to have to make a decision about his future some point soon
'If McSweeney is still in 10 Downing Street the PM is up against it'
I had a feeling the upshot of all this might be McSweeney being served up in a plater,
Which means SKS has no one to pin the blame on for the disaster that will be the May local elections...
The key will be the NEV after the May local elections, if Labour beat the Tories for second behind Reform it will likely be Kemi going not Starmer
If Labour part lance the boil and remove McSweeney before locals I see them beating Tories and Kemi gone.
If Kemi replaced by right winger elongates Starmer.
If Kemi replaced by centrist it speeds up Starmer removal
Tory right leader boosts Streeting and Cooper Tory Centrist boosts Rayner or Burnham
Labour would ease left v centrist would remain centrist v right wing tory options
As a film it suffers a little from continuity - there are quite a few gaps in the story and the narrative is a little broken. It does, however, get the vibes. It would actually benefit from being a bit longer but perhaps that would have made rather tedious for the general audience. The atmosphere and the music are both good.
It is probably a little sympathetic to Stephen Ward - the Epstein like character of the story - played perfectly by John Hirt - but clearly he wasn't _quite_ as depraved as Epstein and was the scapegoat in the fallout despite having been engaged by the security services to some degree.
Joanne Whalley as Christine Keeler was good and Bridget Fonda as Mandy Rice-Davies was excellent despite the slightly iffy accent.
I couldn't quite see Ian McKellen as Profumo, though...
As you'd expect there is a lot of flesh, particularly in the first half. It meanders slowly from glamour to sleaze.
Worth a watch, probably. There are plenty of parallels.
Excellent article, @Garethofthevale, thank you. Seems to me the most important bit is at the end - politicians and parties must start addressing people's concerns. Who could possibly have guessed that? Very, very few of the 'elite' or whatever one likes to call them.
I've just come across Amelia, a figment of someone's imagination.
“Amelia” started life in a government-funded public information film, as the bad character trying to entice people into right-wing extremism.
Except that they made her cute and fun, so the online right adopted her and made their own videos.
Every guy needs an Amelia.
It's quite funny that the government's own pro immigration propaganda had to be taken down because the only likeable character from it was the one they wanted everyone to hate.
Sounds like Gene Hunt and the Milibands portraying David Cameron as him.
I have been following politics for over 60 years. I have lost count of the times I've been told that Labour/the Conservatives (delete to taste) will never be in power again, or that the Conservative/Labour duopoly is over, that some other party will win the next election or that we will see permanent coalitions with no party able to win a majority. Somehow it has never happened. It may be that this time is different, but I wouldn't bet on it. Reform are going down in the polls. Labour and the Conservatives are on an upward trend, although recent events may push Labour back down again. And, unlike Gareth, I think the defections have been a net positive for the Conservatives. And, of course, the experience of Reform actually running things has not been good in many areas.
As things stand, we are probably at least 2 years away from a general election. A lot can change in that time. It may be that Reform will turn round its current decline and hold on to the lead in the polls. But, as I say, I wouldn't bet on it.
Fair comments but 2024 was a change - Con/Lab won 59% of the vote and 532 seats which is still very high but a long way off the 90% they were getting in the 1960s.
There's a tipping point (and we weren't far from it last time) where the dominance ends - probably around 50% and with current polling putting Con/Lab at 40% there's a reasonable argument more seats will be won by other parties.
Yet we are two or perhaps three years off an election and we've seen this kind of thing before - UKIP polled strongly in the 2010s and the Alliance in the 1980s but even then Con/Lab still had at least 60%.
There's also a volatility in the electorate we've not seen for a while.
Also need to consider the points at which vote efficiency starts to outweigh insurgent surge (for want of a better way of putting it) a 'national 26%' for the Tories or Labour starts to see them hold swathes of seats in the 'South, East etc' or 'Lab heartlands' respectively versus a national 30 to 31% Reform (who have not had time to develop more specific areas of strength)
Campaign will also be crucial - 37% will win most English seats, 30% will be enough in a fair few so there are likely to be hundreds of very tight marginals
Is Reform an outsider party? It and it's predecessors have been used to shift the overtime window right. It's policies are promoted by most of the mainstream media. while the Greens are portrayed as loonies. On mainland UK the lurch to the right and insular nationalism seems to be an English problem, Scottish and Welsh nationalism being for devolution within the EU.
Reform wants the electorate to THINK they are an outsider party.
What does the line up of MPs look like?
Perhaps Lee Anderson is an outsider.
The rest are last year's committee of the Tunbridge Wells Conservative Party Branch.
Left-wing revolutionaries have got away for centuries with being themselves often well-off, middle class intellectuals and self-appointed champions of the proletariat, whose views and lifestyle they neither shared. Now it's the turn of the 'hedge fund board members' of Reform to try the same trick....
Left wing revolutionaries have never had a serious chance at power in modern times in this country.
And most of them become more sensible as they grow older.
Labour backbenchers are now publicly warning Sir Keir Starmer that his own future will be in doubt unless he sacks his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney
It's effectively an ultimatum that's being echoed across the backbenches
Karl Turner, a Labour MP, says the mood on the backbenches is 'dire'. He says that unless Starmer sacks his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney he will be 'up against it' and have to make a decision about his own future
He tells @TimesRadio the atmosphere in the Commons was the 'angriest' he has ever seen it, but that the anger was directed at his advisers
He says he forwarded messages from people expressing their anger directly to the prime minister last night. 'He thanked me, and I suspect he thanked those who were then messaging him'
'My advice to the prime minister is get rid of those advisers who have frankly given terrible advice to him over weeks and months. The PM needs to deal with that and make a decision. If the PM decides he has to be surrounded by advisers who give him shoddy advice the reality of that is the prime minister is going to have to make a decision about his future some point soon
'If McSweeney is still in 10 Downing Street the PM is up against it'
I had a feeling the upshot of all this might be McSweeney being served up in a plater,
Which means SKS has no one to pin the blame on for the disaster that will be the May local elections...
The key will be the NEV after the May local elections, if Labour beat the Tories for second behind Reform it will likely be Kemi going not Starmer
If Labour part lance the boil and remove McSweeney before locals I see them beating Tories and Kemi gone.
If Kemi replaced by right winger elongates Starmer.
If Kemi replaced by centrist it speeds up Starmer removal
Tory right leader boosts Streeting and Cooper Tory Centrist boosts Rayner or Burnham
Labour would ease left v centrist would remain centrist v right wing tory options
I guess you can only suggest part-lancing yourself
A lance is a tricky weapon with which to commit suicide
On the Greens and the markets I listened to the podcast recommended on here with Polanski talking to a left-wing economist. It was interesting that they both recognised the mistake Truss has made - of failing to retain the confidence of the markets - and accepted the necessity of retaining that confidence, rather than seeing the market as something that could be faced down or bypassed.
I think perceptions of the Greens are out of kilter with reality to an extent.
I have been following politics for over 60 years. I have lost count of the times I've been told that Labour/the Conservatives (delete to taste) will never be in power again, or that the Conservative/Labour duopoly is over, that some other party will win the next election or that we will see permanent coalitions with no party able to win a majority. Somehow it has never happened. It may be that this time is different, but I wouldn't bet on it. Reform are going down in the polls. Labour and the Conservatives are on an upward trend, although recent events may push Labour back down again. And, unlike Gareth, I think the defections have been a net positive for the Conservatives. And, of course, the experience of Reform actually running things has not been good in many areas.
As things stand, we are probably at least 2 years away from a general election. A lot can change in that time. It may be that Reform will turn round its current decline and hold on to the lead in the polls. But, as I say, I wouldn't bet on it.
Fair comments but 2024 was a change - Con/Lab won 59% of the vote and 532 seats which is still very high but a long way off the 90% they were getting in the 1960s.
There's a tipping point (and we weren't far from it last time) where the dominance ends - probably around 50% and with current polling putting Con/Lab at 40% there's a reasonable argument more seats will be won by other parties.
Yet we are two or perhaps three years off an election and we've seen this kind of thing before - UKIP polled strongly in the 2010s and the Alliance in the 1980s but even then Con/Lab still had at least 60%.
There's also a volatility in the electorate we've not seen for a while.
Also need to consider the points at which vote efficiency starts to outweigh insurgent surge (for want of a better way of putting it) a 'national 26%' for the Tories or Labour starts to see them hold swathes of seats in the 'South, East etc' or 'Lab heartlands' respectively versus a national 30 to 31% Reform (who have not had time to develop more specific areas of strength)
Campaign will also be crucial - 37% will win most English seats, 30% will be enough in a fair few so there are likely to be hundreds of very tight marginals
Otoh a Reform win nationally by 7% plus sees them romp home imo
The comment about working class friends is interesting. I had, when younger, many working class friends. Nowadays those I am still friends with would not be deemed working class. White colllar jobs, nice homes, comfortably off.
The working class has always had people who wallow in it and people who aspire to do better. That’s where most of my friendship group from my younger years ended up. I do also have posh friends who were privately educated.
This thread is key to me. There is little substantive consequence for misdeeds.
‘ We see scandal after scandal, and the politicians keep uttering the same trite phrase, “lessons will be learned”. The public want to see people being actually held to account.
After the collapse of RBS, Fred Goodwin lost part of his pension, but I doubt he is living in a council house. Paula Vennells of the Post Office handed back her CBE in 2024, but she was only awarded it in 2019, well after the scandal was known about.’
Well, Prince Andrew was evicted from his free house on a royal estate, so now he is forced to live in *checks notes* a free house on a different royal estate.
Yes, for all the guff in the press and on the TV/radio etc, he is still living a pretty good life.
Every royal family has the odd black sheep, who steps out of line and ends up exiled to somewhere remote - but they still look after them.
Tell that to Agrippa Postumus. And his mother, Julia.
Jeff Bezos’s wealth has increased an average of $70 million every day of 2026, meaning that he could have offset The Post’s losses with what he’s made since Monday.
Labour backbenchers are now publicly warning Sir Keir Starmer that his own future will be in doubt unless he sacks his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney
It's effectively an ultimatum that's being echoed across the backbenches
Karl Turner, a Labour MP, says the mood on the backbenches is 'dire'. He says that unless Starmer sacks his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney he will be 'up against it' and have to make a decision about his own future
He tells @TimesRadio the atmosphere in the Commons was the 'angriest' he has ever seen it, but that the anger was directed at his advisers
He says he forwarded messages from people expressing their anger directly to the prime minister last night. 'He thanked me, and I suspect he thanked those who were then messaging him'
'My advice to the prime minister is get rid of those advisers who have frankly given terrible advice to him over weeks and months. The PM needs to deal with that and make a decision. If the PM decides he has to be surrounded by advisers who give him shoddy advice the reality of that is the prime minister is going to have to make a decision about his future some point soon
'If McSweeney is still in 10 Downing Street the PM is up against it'
I had a feeling the upshot of all this might be McSweeney being served up in a plater,
Which means SKS has no one to pin the blame on for the disaster that will be the May local elections...
The key will be the NEV after the May local elections, if Labour beat the Tories for second behind Reform it will likely be Kemi going not Starmer
If Labour part lance the boil and remove McSweeney before locals I see them beating Tories and Kemi gone.
If Kemi replaced by right winger elongates Starmer.
If Kemi replaced by centrist it speeds up Starmer removal
Tory right leader boosts Streeting and Cooper Tory Centrist boosts Rayner or Burnham
Labour would ease left v centrist would remain centrist v right wing tory options
I guess you can only suggest part-lancing yourself
A lance is a tricky weapon with which to commit suicide
Theoderic Strabo accidentally killed himself by falling off his horse and spearing himself to death. This allowed Theoderic (the Great) to unite the Goths and invade and conquer the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy.
Jeff Bezos’s wealth has increased an average of $70 million every day of 2026, meaning that he could have offset The Post’s losses with what he’s made since Monday.
Dread thought, he could pretty much make a Melania movie every day of the year.
In the 2000s, there were few votes for outsider parties. The LDs took an outsider position on Iraq, but it would be hard to call them an outsider party.
I disagree, in the 2000s the LDs were the outsider party. They were the pox on both your houses, none of the above, party.
Yes their leadership were not that, but a very large chunk of their voters were.
The Coalition fractured that. More than tuition fees, it was the very act of going into Government that destroyed what for many LD voters were the LDs very nature of being outsiders and making them just another establishment party.
I remain firmly of the belief (both anecdotally and from data) that a large chunk of the 2015 UKIP vote were ex-LD voters.
You can argue the same will be true for both Reform and the Greens IF either finds themselves in such a position after the next election.
That's the thing about "outsider" parties - as long as they are on the outside, they can play that game but as soon as confronted with the consequences of their own electoral success (or the failings of others) they are forced to come "inside" and that, so to speak, taints them for all time (it would seem).
The other side of it is to ask why a party is in business - I've never heard of a party whose sole raison d'etre was to shout in futile anger from the sidelines. No, people form and join parties to achieve policy goals whether social, economic or both. The only way to achieve those goals (currently) is through the electoral system in our democracy but once you have achieved that you then have to do some (not all) of what you promise and on that you are then judged at the next election.
The Conservatives don't want to spend the next 10-15 years shouting at Labour and Reform Governments from the sidelines - they want to be there, in Government, enacting policies, enjoying "power" but as they know full well, the price of that power can be very high but do they want another go at Government? You better believe they do.
We've seen across Europe how outsider potatoes get elected and then sink at the next election.
🔥 Amol Rajan nails it: "The Prime Minister's a former prosecutor, he's talked a lot throughout his career about victims being first and foremost. If that were really the case, why would he appoint a man who he knew had an ongoing relationship with a convicted paedophile."
Loads of the press thought it was a tactically genius move at the time and laughed along when Starmer was joking about he is just Peter to us. Now they seem to be well of course it was a terrible decision only an idiot would do that.
That was probably Sir Keir’s best ever joke but, in retrospect, it damns him more than anything else
🔥 Amol Rajan nails it: "The Prime Minister's a former prosecutor, he's talked a lot throughout his career about victims being first and foremost. If that were really the case, why would he appoint a man who he knew had an ongoing relationship with a convicted paedophile."
A very interesting article indeed - thanks, @GarethoftheVale2 Two points, if I may.......
1. Don't be too quick to write off the Lib Dems as an "outsider" party. Yes, their MPs may all be as sleek and smooth as all other manifestations of "the blob", but out in the wild they have capitalised on the "plague on both your houses" idea long before it became a meme. Perhaps that might explain why their poll ratings are still so abnormally high - they are still taped in to the "sod the lot of them" vibe.
2. I am about as bourgeois as it's possible to be on my income, mainly because I have strived to become as middle class as possible. However, I have a number of working class friends, of all ages and races, because I am a regular church-goer. From an anthropological point of view they are still very interesting places where "all sorts and conditions of men" (and women) get together and socialise. I can't think of any other forums in my town where that happens.
I would not describe the LDs' poll ratings as "abnormally high". In a context where Labour have lost about 15% of their GE vote share and the Conservatives about 5% of theirs, in the context of a general mood that the country has gone to the dogs under government by both main parties in succession and the Conservatives under Badenoch have abandoned any pretext of appealing to the moderate centre, it is an extraordinarily bad performance for them just to be treading water, averaging no more than 1% up on 2024 currently. Davey should be doing far better.
Labour backbenchers are now publicly warning Sir Keir Starmer that his own future will be in doubt unless he sacks his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney
It's effectively an ultimatum that's being echoed across the backbenches
Karl Turner, a Labour MP, says the mood on the backbenches is 'dire'. He says that unless Starmer sacks his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney he will be 'up against it' and have to make a decision about his own future
He tells @TimesRadio the atmosphere in the Commons was the 'angriest' he has ever seen it, but that the anger was directed at his advisers
He says he forwarded messages from people expressing their anger directly to the prime minister last night. 'He thanked me, and I suspect he thanked those who were then messaging him'
'My advice to the prime minister is get rid of those advisers who have frankly given terrible advice to him over weeks and months. The PM needs to deal with that and make a decision. If the PM decides he has to be surrounded by advisers who give him shoddy advice the reality of that is the prime minister is going to have to make a decision about his future some point soon
'If McSweeney is still in 10 Downing Street the PM is up against it'
That's a tricky one, because aiui the top team are essentially McSweeney Todd appointees.
So SKS is in no position to remove one without potentially losing a lot more.
Reportedly it is about an expectation that MPs be rubber stamps, and that No 10 is a bit of an ivory tower at present with little engagement.
As a film it suffers a little from continuity - there are quite a few gaps in the story and the narrative is a little broken. It does, however, get the vibes. It would actually benefit from being a bit longer but perhaps that would have made rather tedious for the general audience. The atmosphere and the music are both good.
It is probably a little sympathetic to Stephen Ward - the Epstein like character of the story - played perfectly by John Hirt - but clearly he wasn't _quite_ as depraved as Epstein and was the scapegoat in the fallout despite having been engaged by the security services to some degree.
Joanne Whalley as Christine Keeler was good and Bridget Fonda as Mandy Rice-Davies was excellent despite the slightly iffy accent.
I couldn't quite see Ian McKellen as Profumo, though...
As you'd expect there is a lot of flesh, particularly in the first half. It meanders slowly from glamour to sleaze.
Worth a watch, probably. There are plenty of parallels.
According to this book, Stephen Ward was the out-and-out victim of the story, stitched up by the establishment, desperate to cover their own backsides, and various bent coppers.
On the Greens and the markets I listened to the podcast recommended on here with Polanski talking to a left-wing economist. It was interesting that they both recognised the mistake Truss has made - of failing to retain the confidence of the markets - and accepted the necessity of retaining that confidence, rather than seeing the market as something that could be faced down or bypassed.
I think perceptions of the Greens are out of kilter with reality to an extent.
Then what differentiates them from Labour? If they really believe in retaining the confidence of the markets then they'll be exactly the same, an economically orthodox party with slightly leftist rhetoric. What choices could they have made differently over the past year and still retained the confidence of the markets? Apologies for the somewhat rhetorical question.
The comment about working class friends is interesting. I had, when younger, many working class friends. Nowadays those I am still friends with would not be deemed working class. White colllar jobs, nice homes, comfortably off.
The working class has always had people who wallow in it and people who aspire to do better. That’s where most of my friendship group from my younger years ended up. I do also have posh friends who were privately educated.
This thread is key to me. There is little substantive consequence for misdeeds.
‘ We see scandal after scandal, and the politicians keep uttering the same trite phrase, “lessons will be learned”. The public want to see people being actually held to account.
After the collapse of RBS, Fred Goodwin lost part of his pension, but I doubt he is living in a council house. Paula Vennells of the Post Office handed back her CBE in 2024, but she was only awarded it in 2019, well after the scandal was known about.’
Well, Prince Andrew was evicted from his free house on a royal estate, so now he is forced to live in *checks notes* a free house on a different royal estate.
Andrew should be sent to live in a homeless shelter.
The comment about working class friends is interesting. I had, when younger, many working class friends. Nowadays those I am still friends with would not be deemed working class. White colllar jobs, nice homes, comfortably off.
The working class has always had people who wallow in it and people who aspire to do better. That’s where most of my friendship group from my younger years ended up. I do also have posh friends who were privately educated.
This thread is key to me. There is little substantive consequence for misdeeds.
‘ We see scandal after scandal, and the politicians keep uttering the same trite phrase, “lessons will be learned”. The public want to see people being actually held to account.
After the collapse of RBS, Fred Goodwin lost part of his pension, but I doubt he is living in a council house. Paula Vennells of the Post Office handed back her CBE in 2024, but she was only awarded it in 2019, well after the scandal was known about.’
Well, Prince Andrew was evicted from his free house on a royal estate, so now he is forced to live in *checks notes* a free house on a different royal estate.
Andrew should be sent to live in a homeless shelter.
TBF (slightly) to Andrew, it was hardly "free" as he spent umpteen million up front.
Since it is Norfolk, surely it should be a static caravan next to the beach?
For those considering Sir Keir Starmer's potential replacement, NB since 1902 every Prime Minister who has ascended to that position, as opposed to being elected, has in the past been Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary or Chancellor of the Exchequer.
If that rule were followed here, that means we consider Reeves, Lammy, Cooper and Mahmood. That's a short list.
I'd also consider Miliband, as a former leader, and Rayner and Powell by virtue of their party role.
You'll note even Streeting is lightweight on this test.
In the new world of directly elected mayors I suppose you might add Khan and Burnham as major figures in devolved govt.
But if it's happening in the next few weeks, you can pretty much ignore anyone else.
The comment about working class friends is interesting. I had, when younger, many working class friends. Nowadays those I am still friends with would not be deemed working class. White colllar jobs, nice homes, comfortably off.
The working class has always had people who wallow in it and people who aspire to do better. That’s where most of my friendship group from my younger years ended up. I do also have posh friends who were privately educated.
This thread is key to me. There is little substantive consequence for misdeeds.
‘ We see scandal after scandal, and the politicians keep uttering the same trite phrase, “lessons will be learned”. The public want to see people being actually held to account.
After the collapse of RBS, Fred Goodwin lost part of his pension, but I doubt he is living in a council house. Paula Vennells of the Post Office handed back her CBE in 2024, but she was only awarded it in 2019, well after the scandal was known about.’
Well, Prince Andrew was evicted from his free house on a royal estate, so now he is forced to live in *checks notes* a free house on a different royal estate.
Andrew should be sent to live in a homeless shelter.
Bit unfair on the homeless, haven't they suffered enough already?
🔥 Amol Rajan nails it: "The Prime Minister's a former prosecutor, he's talked a lot throughout his career about victims being first and foremost. If that were really the case, why would he appoint a man who he knew had an ongoing relationship with a convicted paedophile."
The comment about working class friends is interesting. I had, when younger, many working class friends. Nowadays those I am still friends with would not be deemed working class. White colllar jobs, nice homes, comfortably off.
The working class has always had people who wallow in it and people who aspire to do better. That’s where most of my friendship group from my younger years ended up. I do also have posh friends who were privately educated.
This thread is key to me. There is little substantive consequence for misdeeds.
‘ We see scandal after scandal, and the politicians keep uttering the same trite phrase, “lessons will be learned”. The public want to see people being actually held to account.
After the collapse of RBS, Fred Goodwin lost part of his pension, but I doubt he is living in a council house. Paula Vennells of the Post Office handed back her CBE in 2024, but she was only awarded it in 2019, well after the scandal was known about.’
Well, Prince Andrew was evicted from his free house on a royal estate, so now he is forced to live in *checks notes* a free house on a different royal estate.
Yes, for all the guff in the press and on the TV/radio etc, he is still living a pretty good life.
Every royal family has the odd black sheep, who steps out of line and ends up exiled to somewhere remote - but they still look after them.
Tell that to Agrippa Postumus. And his mother, Julia.
A very interesting article indeed - thanks, @GarethoftheVale2 Two points, if I may.......
1. Don't be too quick to write off the Lib Dems as an "outsider" party. Yes, their MPs may all be as sleek and smooth as all other manifestations of "the blob", but out in the wild they have capitalised on the "plague on both your houses" idea long before it became a meme. Perhaps that might explain why their poll ratings are still so abnormally high - they are still taped in to the "sod the lot of them" vibe.
2. I am about as bourgeois as it's possible to be on my income, mainly because I have strived to become as middle class as possible. However, I have a number of working class friends, of all ages and races, because I am a regular church-goer. From an anthropological point of view they are still very interesting places where "all sorts and conditions of men" (and women) get together and socialise. I can't think of any other forums in my town where that happens.
I would not describe the LDs' poll ratings as "abnormally high". In a context where Labour have lost about 15% of their GE vote share and the Conservatives about 5% of theirs, in the context of a general mood that the country has gone to the dogs under government by both main parties in succession and the Conservatives under Badenoch have abandoned any pretext of appealing to the moderate centre, it is an extraordinarily bad performance for them just to be treading water, averaging no more than 1% up on 2024 currently. Davey should be doing far better.
Indeed, perhaps he should, but ever since the 1970s the general rule of thumb seems to be that, about six months after a General Election, the Lib/LibDem share of the opinion polls would be about half of the percentage they polled at the ballot box. The collapse in their opinion poll ratings hasn't happened. But yes, in view of the abject competition they are facing, peraps they should be doing better. Still on for 100 seats at the next election, though....
The comment about working class friends is interesting. I had, when younger, many working class friends. Nowadays those I am still friends with would not be deemed working class. White colllar jobs, nice homes, comfortably off.
The working class has always had people who wallow in it and people who aspire to do better. That’s where most of my friendship group from my younger years ended up. I do also have posh friends who were privately educated.
This thread is key to me. There is little substantive consequence for misdeeds.
‘ We see scandal after scandal, and the politicians keep uttering the same trite phrase, “lessons will be learned”. The public want to see people being actually held to account.
After the collapse of RBS, Fred Goodwin lost part of his pension, but I doubt he is living in a council house. Paula Vennells of the Post Office handed back her CBE in 2024, but she was only awarded it in 2019, well after the scandal was known about.’
Well, Prince Andrew was evicted from his free house on a royal estate, so now he is forced to live in *checks notes* a free house on a different royal estate.
Yes, for all the guff in the press and on the TV/radio etc, he is still living a pretty good life.
Every royal family has the odd black sheep, who steps out of line and ends up exiled to somewhere remote - but they still look after them.
In the 2000s, there were few votes for outsider parties. The LDs took an outsider position on Iraq, but it would be hard to call them an outsider party.
I disagree, in the 2000s the LDs were the outsider party. They were the pox on both your houses, none of the above, party.
Yes their leadership were not that, but a very large chunk of their voters were.
The Coalition fractured that. More than tuition fees, it was the very act of going into Government that destroyed what for many LD voters were the LDs very nature of being outsiders and making them just another establishment party.
I remain firmly of the belief (both anecdotally and from data) that a large chunk of the 2015 UKIP vote were ex-LD voters.
You can argue the same will be true for both Reform and the Greens IF either finds themselves in such a position after the next election.
That's the thing about "outsider" parties - as long as they are on the outside, they can play that game but as soon as confronted with the consequences of their own electoral success (or the failings of others) they are forced to come "inside" and that, so to speak, taints them for all time (it would seem).
The other side of it is to ask why a party is in business - I've never heard of a party whose sole raison d'etre was to shout in futile anger from the sidelines. No, people form and join parties to achieve policy goals whether social, economic or both. The only way to achieve those goals (currently) is through the electoral system in our democracy but once you have achieved that you then have to do some (not all) of what you promise and on that you are then judged at the next election.
The Conservatives don't want to spend the next 10-15 years shouting at Labour and Reform Governments from the sidelines - they want to be there, in Government, enacting policies, enjoying "power" but as they know full well, the price of that power can be very high but do they want another go at Government? You better believe they do.
We've seen across Europe how outsider potatoes get elected and then sink at the next election.
Potatoes should be parties, obv.
Potato, potatoes. Bonkers, bonkers Na, na, nah. Funny things happen to friendly potatoes.
Excellent header, Gareth. I hope that Reform/Green are able to radically transform the country and make the elites bend to the Government’s will, but I don’t expect it to happen. In my opinion, a major issue has been the ever increasing centralisation that has taken place over the past few decades. This has concentrated power In Westminster, and therefore in the Civil Service, which, at senior levels, is the epitome of the elite. Decision making needs to be devolved to local authorities and the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish parliaments. Within Scotland, there has also been far too much centralisation in Edinburgh, with the same corrosive effects as the centralisation In Westminster. This also needs to be remedied. Someone asked whether the SNP are now an insider party. I think they have been since 2014. The question in Scotland is whether the Scottish Greens are also now an insider party? I would argue that they are.
Reform won't make the elites bend to the government's will. Reform are the elites. They're just the big money/tech bros/fossil fuel elites rather than the public sector elites. Farage wants lower taxes and less regulation.
Of interest to me is the wider reason for the general sense of ennui that pervades not just the UK but the whole West (and, as a far as I know the world).
I would contend that on most measures the population of the UK is on average better off than it was 20 years ago. But no one 'feels' that way for some reason.
I think social media is in part to blame for this, as Edmund mentions above.
I also think it depends on which economic metrics you are looking at. I think the economy has become better at extracting money from ordinary people - things like broadband contracts with an automatic price ratchet every year. Or having people treat cars like phones - something they buy on a contract (on finance) that they replace every few years.
So, sure, if you look at average real earnings the figures don't look so bad, but when people look at how much money they have left on the 25th of the month it doesn't look too pretty.
To get back to insiders, apols if I missed it but has there been anny comment on Bezos laying off a huge chunk of the Washington Post's journalists? That cnut arsing about with penis shaped rockets and multi $m weddings in Venice while turning a serious newspaper into Völkischer Beobachter epitomises the state we're in.
I'm not generally someone who does protests or boycotts, but I am so revolted by Bezos' recent antics that I have actually resolved to stop using Amazon. I have been spending £3k-6k a year with them for at least 20 years. No more. No Prime, no Audible, no physical goods through the post. It's going to cost me maybe 5% extra on that spend, plus some extra time finding new sources for some stuff, but I'm so p****d off at this new kakistocracy.
The comment about working class friends is interesting. I had, when younger, many working class friends. Nowadays those I am still friends with would not be deemed working class. White colllar jobs, nice homes, comfortably off.
The working class has always had people who wallow in it and people who aspire to do better. That’s where most of my friendship group from my younger years ended up. I do also have posh friends who were privately educated.
This thread is key to me. There is little substantive consequence for misdeeds.
‘ We see scandal after scandal, and the politicians keep uttering the same trite phrase, “lessons will be learned”. The public want to see people being actually held to account.
After the collapse of RBS, Fred Goodwin lost part of his pension, but I doubt he is living in a council house. Paula Vennells of the Post Office handed back her CBE in 2024, but she was only awarded it in 2019, well after the scandal was known about.’
Well, Prince Andrew was evicted from his free house on a royal estate, so now he is forced to live in *checks notes* a free house on a different royal estate.
Yes, for all the guff in the press and on the TV/radio etc, he is still living a pretty good life.
Every royal family has the odd black sheep, who steps out of line and ends up exiled to somewhere remote - but they still look after them.
Remote? He's in fucking Norfolk not Magadan.
Andrew on being told that there are young women with 6 fingers on each hand in the vicinity..
Labour backbenchers are now publicly warning Sir Keir Starmer that his own future will be in doubt unless he sacks his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney
It's effectively an ultimatum that's being echoed across the backbenches
Karl Turner, a Labour MP, says the mood on the backbenches is 'dire'. He says that unless Starmer sacks his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney he will be 'up against it' and have to make a decision about his own future
He tells @TimesRadio the atmosphere in the Commons was the 'angriest' he has ever seen it, but that the anger was directed at his advisers
He says he forwarded messages from people expressing their anger directly to the prime minister last night. 'He thanked me, and I suspect he thanked those who were then messaging him'
'My advice to the prime minister is get rid of those advisers who have frankly given terrible advice to him over weeks and months. The PM needs to deal with that and make a decision. If the PM decides he has to be surrounded by advisers who give him shoddy advice the reality of that is the prime minister is going to have to make a decision about his future some point soon
'If McSweeney is still in 10 Downing Street the PM is up against it'
That's a tricky one, because aiui the top team are essentially McSweeney Todd appointees.
So SKS is in no position to remove one without potentially losing a lot more.
Reportedly it is about an expectation that MPs be rubber stamps, and that No 10 is a bit of an ivory tower at present with little engagement.
Just one other thing. If anybody seriously thinks we have reached the bottom of the allegations about Mandelson, Epstein, Russia, and what Starmer knew (or should have known) they're living in cloud-cuckoo land.
If it turns out that Mandelson was feeding national security and finance stuff to the Russians via his bestie then the entire government could be brought down never mind changing PMs.
To get back to insiders, apols if I missed it but has there been anny comment on Bezos laying off a huge chunk of the Washington Post's journalists? That cnut arsing about with penis shaped rockets and multi $m weddings in Venice while turning a serious newspaper into Völkischer Beobachter epitomises the state we're in.
I'm not generally someone who does protests or boycotts, but I am so revolted by Bezos' recent antics that I have actually resolved to stop using Amazon. I have been spending £3k-6k a year with them for at least 20 years. No more. No Prime, no Audible, no physical goods through the post. It's going to cost me maybe 5% extra on that spend, plus some extra time finding new sources for some stuff, but I'm so p****d off at this new kakistocracy.
Amazon are often not the cheapest places to buy things these days. The plague of dodgy Chinese sellers (both brands you never heard of playing the algorithm to get listed high up and as FBA sellers) is also a big negative.
🔥 Amol Rajan nails it: "The Prime Minister's a former prosecutor, he's talked a lot throughout his career about victims being first and foremost. If that were really the case, why would he appoint a man who he knew had an ongoing relationship with a convicted paedophile."
Why did SKS appoint a slimeball known and liked by President Slimeball to be the liaison between us and them.
Hmm
Chris Pincher knew his way round the whips office, but I didn’t hear many saying that made him an inspired appointment
I doubt 5% of pb-ers or 2% of the general public had heard of Chris Pincher at the time of his appointment, let alone knew enough about him to have any opinion at all on his appointment.
To get back to insiders, apols if I missed it but has there been anny comment on Bezos laying off a huge chunk of the Washington Post's journalists? That cnut arsing about with penis shaped rockets and multi $m weddings in Venice while turning a serious newspaper into Völkischer Beobachter epitomises the state we're in.
A fine header, thanks. My only slight disagreement is on Corbyn. Yes, he was an outsider leading an insider party. But I don't think him getting 40% at the 2017 GE provides much evidence of an attempt to overturn the status quo. He certainly had his followers, but I'd guess that over half of that 40% voted Labour despite, not because of, Corbyn being leader. He just hoovered up most of the loyal Labour vote, and added that section of the electorate who have now drifted off to Polanski. Without the 'insider' Labour Party label, I doubt Corbyn would have reached 20%.
Labour backbenchers are now publicly warning Sir Keir Starmer that his own future will be in doubt unless he sacks his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney
It's effectively an ultimatum that's being echoed across the backbenches
Karl Turner, a Labour MP, says the mood on the backbenches is 'dire'. He says that unless Starmer sacks his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney he will be 'up against it' and have to make a decision about his own future
He tells @TimesRadio the atmosphere in the Commons was the 'angriest' he has ever seen it, but that the anger was directed at his advisers
He says he forwarded messages from people expressing their anger directly to the prime minister last night. 'He thanked me, and I suspect he thanked those who were then messaging him'
'My advice to the prime minister is get rid of those advisers who have frankly given terrible advice to him over weeks and months. The PM needs to deal with that and make a decision. If the PM decides he has to be surrounded by advisers who give him shoddy advice the reality of that is the prime minister is going to have to make a decision about his future some point soon
'If McSweeney is still in 10 Downing Street the PM is up against it'
That's a tricky one, because aiui the top team are essentially McSweeney Todd appointees.
So SKS is in no position to remove one without potentially losing a lot more.
Reportedly it is about an expectation that MPs be rubber stamps, and that No 10 is a bit of an ivory tower at present with little engagement.
Just one other thing. If anybody seriously thinks we have reached the bottom of the allegations about Mandelson, Epstein, Russia, and what Starmer knew (or should have known) they're living in cloud-cuckoo land.
If it turns out that Mandelson was feeding national security and finance stuff to the Russians via his bestie then the entire government could be brought down never mind changing PMs.
Its a good job his bt interenet email can't be recovered....
The comment about working class friends is interesting. I had, when younger, many working class friends. Nowadays those I am still friends with would not be deemed working class. White colllar jobs, nice homes, comfortably off.
The working class has always had people who wallow in it and people who aspire to do better. That’s where most of my friendship group from my younger years ended up. I do also have posh friends who were privately educated.
This thread is key to me. There is little substantive consequence for misdeeds.
‘ We see scandal after scandal, and the politicians keep uttering the same trite phrase, “lessons will be learned”. The public want to see people being actually held to account.
After the collapse of RBS, Fred Goodwin lost part of his pension, but I doubt he is living in a council house. Paula Vennells of the Post Office handed back her CBE in 2024, but she was only awarded it in 2019, well after the scandal was known about.’
Well, Prince Andrew was evicted from his free house on a royal estate, so now he is forced to live in *checks notes* a free house on a different royal estate.
Andrew should be sent to live in a homeless shelter.
TBF (slightly) to Andrew, it was hardly "free" as he spent umpteen million up front.
Since it is Norfolk, surely it should be a static caravan next to the beach?
Well, there's always Cromer, but maybe that's being a bit too harsh.
Labour backbenchers are now publicly warning Sir Keir Starmer that his own future will be in doubt unless he sacks his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney
It's effectively an ultimatum that's being echoed across the backbenches
Karl Turner, a Labour MP, says the mood on the backbenches is 'dire'. He says that unless Starmer sacks his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney he will be 'up against it' and have to make a decision about his own future
He tells @TimesRadio the atmosphere in the Commons was the 'angriest' he has ever seen it, but that the anger was directed at his advisers
He says he forwarded messages from people expressing their anger directly to the prime minister last night. 'He thanked me, and I suspect he thanked those who were then messaging him'
'My advice to the prime minister is get rid of those advisers who have frankly given terrible advice to him over weeks and months. The PM needs to deal with that and make a decision. If the PM decides he has to be surrounded by advisers who give him shoddy advice the reality of that is the prime minister is going to have to make a decision about his future some point soon
'If McSweeney is still in 10 Downing Street the PM is up against it'
That's a tricky one, because aiui the top team are essentially McSweeney Todd appointees.
So SKS is in no position to remove one without potentially losing a lot more.
Reportedly it is about an expectation that MPs be rubber stamps, and that No 10 is a bit of an ivory tower at present with little engagement.
Just one other thing. If anybody seriously thinks we have reached the bottom of the allegations about Mandelson, Epstein, Russia, and what Starmer knew (or should have known) they're living in cloud-cuckoo land.
If it turns out that Mandelson was feeding national security and finance stuff to the Russians via his bestie then the entire government could be brought down never mind changing PMs.
Hold on, I thought the Russian stuff was just a stick to beat Reform with before the locals.
The comment about working class friends is interesting. I had, when younger, many working class friends. Nowadays those I am still friends with would not be deemed working class. White colllar jobs, nice homes, comfortably off.
The working class has always had people who wallow in it and people who aspire to do better. That’s where most of my friendship group from my younger years ended up. I do also have posh friends who were privately educated.
This thread is key to me. There is little substantive consequence for misdeeds.
‘ We see scandal after scandal, and the politicians keep uttering the same trite phrase, “lessons will be learned”. The public want to see people being actually held to account.
After the collapse of RBS, Fred Goodwin lost part of his pension, but I doubt he is living in a council house. Paula Vennells of the Post Office handed back her CBE in 2024, but she was only awarded it in 2019, well after the scandal was known about.’
Well, Prince Andrew was evicted from his free house on a royal estate, so now he is forced to live in *checks notes* a free house on a different royal estate.
Yes, for all the guff in the press and on the TV/radio etc, he is still living a pretty good life.
Every royal family has the odd black sheep, who steps out of line and ends up exiled to somewhere remote - but they still look after them.
Remote? He's in fucking Norfolk not Magadan.
He's very popular in Kazakhstan, they could buy him a place out there
To get back to insiders, apols if I missed it but has there been anny comment on Bezos laying off a huge chunk of the Washington Post's journalists? That cnut arsing about with penis shaped rockets and multi $m weddings in Venice while turning a serious newspaper into Völkischer Beobachter epitomises the state we're in.
I'm not generally someone who does protests or boycotts, but I am so revolted by Bezos' recent antics that I have actually resolved to stop using Amazon. I have been spending £3k-6k a year with them for at least 20 years. No more. No Prime, no Audible, no physical goods through the post. It's going to cost me maybe 5% extra on that spend, plus some extra time finding new sources for some stuff, but I'm so p****d off at this new kakistocracy.
No physical goods through the post? Why?
A sensible way to de-Amazon involves working out how to buy direct for many things.
More and more vendors are setting up to sell direct - seems the trend to shut down their own sites and move 100% to Amazon has reversed.
They still have store fronts there, but they are emphasising their own
The comment about working class friends is interesting. I had, when younger, many working class friends. Nowadays those I am still friends with would not be deemed working class. White colllar jobs, nice homes, comfortably off.
The working class has always had people who wallow in it and people who aspire to do better. That’s where most of my friendship group from my younger years ended up. I do also have posh friends who were privately educated.
This thread is key to me. There is little substantive consequence for misdeeds.
‘ We see scandal after scandal, and the politicians keep uttering the same trite phrase, “lessons will be learned”. The public want to see people being actually held to account.
After the collapse of RBS, Fred Goodwin lost part of his pension, but I doubt he is living in a council house. Paula Vennells of the Post Office handed back her CBE in 2024, but she was only awarded it in 2019, well after the scandal was known about.’
Well, Prince Andrew was evicted from his free house on a royal estate, so now he is forced to live in *checks notes* a free house on a different royal estate.
Andrew should be sent to live in a homeless shelter.
If he has committed crimes they should be investigated and prosecuted. He shouldn't receive money from the tax payer. Where he lives should be no concern to the rest of us.
Labour backbenchers are now publicly warning Sir Keir Starmer that his own future will be in doubt unless he sacks his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney
It's effectively an ultimatum that's being echoed across the backbenches
Karl Turner, a Labour MP, says the mood on the backbenches is 'dire'. He says that unless Starmer sacks his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney he will be 'up against it' and have to make a decision about his own future
He tells @TimesRadio the atmosphere in the Commons was the 'angriest' he has ever seen it, but that the anger was directed at his advisers
He says he forwarded messages from people expressing their anger directly to the prime minister last night. 'He thanked me, and I suspect he thanked those who were then messaging him'
'My advice to the prime minister is get rid of those advisers who have frankly given terrible advice to him over weeks and months. The PM needs to deal with that and make a decision. If the PM decides he has to be surrounded by advisers who give him shoddy advice the reality of that is the prime minister is going to have to make a decision about his future some point soon
'If McSweeney is still in 10 Downing Street the PM is up against it'
That's a tricky one, because aiui the top team are essentially McSweeney Todd appointees.
So SKS is in no position to remove one without potentially losing a lot more.
Reportedly it is about an expectation that MPs be rubber stamps, and that No 10 is a bit of an ivory tower at present with little engagement.
Just one other thing. If anybody seriously thinks we have reached the bottom of the allegations about Mandelson, Epstein, Russia, and what Starmer knew (or should have known) they're living in cloud-cuckoo land.
If it turns out that Mandelson was feeding national security and finance stuff to the Russians via his bestie then the entire government could be brought down never mind changing PMs.
What feels to be missing in this narrative is an Israeli connection.
A very interesting article indeed - thanks, @GarethoftheVale2 Two points, if I may.......
1. Don't be too quick to write off the Lib Dems as an "outsider" party. Yes, their MPs may all be as sleek and smooth as all other manifestations of "the blob", but out in the wild they have capitalised on the "plague on both your houses" idea long before it became a meme. Perhaps that might explain why their poll ratings are still so abnormally high - they are still taped in to the "sod the lot of them" vibe.
2. I am about as bourgeois as it's possible to be on my income, mainly because I have strived to become as middle class as possible. However, I have a number of working class friends, of all ages and races, because I am a regular church-goer. From an anthropological point of view they are still very interesting places where "all sorts and conditions of men" (and women) get together and socialise. I can't think of any other forums in my town where that happens.
Our village has one pub. All classes meet there, from the retired Army Major to the road sweeper. That’s an advantage of living in a village.
The comment about working class friends is interesting. I had, when younger, many working class friends. Nowadays those I am still friends with would not be deemed working class. White colllar jobs, nice homes, comfortably off.
The working class has always had people who wallow in it and people who aspire to do better. That’s where most of my friendship group from my younger years ended up. I do also have posh friends who were privately educated.
This thread is key to me. There is little substantive consequence for misdeeds.
‘ We see scandal after scandal, and the politicians keep uttering the same trite phrase, “lessons will be learned”. The public want to see people being actually held to account.
After the collapse of RBS, Fred Goodwin lost part of his pension, but I doubt he is living in a council house. Paula Vennells of the Post Office handed back her CBE in 2024, but she was only awarded it in 2019, well after the scandal was known about.’
Well, Prince Andrew was evicted from his free house on a royal estate, so now he is forced to live in *checks notes* a free house on a different royal estate.
Andrew should be sent to live in a homeless shelter.
If he has committed crimes they should be investigated and prosecuted. He shouldn't receive money from the tax payer. Where he lives should be no concern to the rest of us.
As long as he’s not poncing off us, of course it shouldn’t.
Labour backbenchers are now publicly warning Sir Keir Starmer that his own future will be in doubt unless he sacks his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney
It's effectively an ultimatum that's being echoed across the backbenches
Karl Turner, a Labour MP, says the mood on the backbenches is 'dire'. He says that unless Starmer sacks his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney he will be 'up against it' and have to make a decision about his own future
He tells @TimesRadio the atmosphere in the Commons was the 'angriest' he has ever seen it, but that the anger was directed at his advisers
He says he forwarded messages from people expressing their anger directly to the prime minister last night. 'He thanked me, and I suspect he thanked those who were then messaging him'
'My advice to the prime minister is get rid of those advisers who have frankly given terrible advice to him over weeks and months. The PM needs to deal with that and make a decision. If the PM decides he has to be surrounded by advisers who give him shoddy advice the reality of that is the prime minister is going to have to make a decision about his future some point soon
'If McSweeney is still in 10 Downing Street the PM is up against it'
That's a tricky one, because aiui the top team are essentially McSweeney Todd appointees.
So SKS is in no position to remove one without potentially losing a lot more.
Reportedly it is about an expectation that MPs be rubber stamps, and that No 10 is a bit of an ivory tower at present with little engagement.
Just one other thing. If anybody seriously thinks we have reached the bottom of the allegations about Mandelson, Epstein, Russia, and what Starmer knew (or should have known) they're living in cloud-cuckoo land.
If it turns out that Mandelson was feeding national security and finance stuff to the Russians via his bestie then the entire government could be brought down never mind changing PMs.
What feels to be missing in this narrative is an Israeli connection.
Surely Maxwell is an obvious contender.
I’m quite sure that if Epstein was trading information to Russia, he was doing so to China as well.
Labour backbenchers are now publicly warning Sir Keir Starmer that his own future will be in doubt unless he sacks his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney
It's effectively an ultimatum that's being echoed across the backbenches
Karl Turner, a Labour MP, says the mood on the backbenches is 'dire'. He says that unless Starmer sacks his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney he will be 'up against it' and have to make a decision about his own future
He tells @TimesRadio the atmosphere in the Commons was the 'angriest' he has ever seen it, but that the anger was directed at his advisers
He says he forwarded messages from people expressing their anger directly to the prime minister last night. 'He thanked me, and I suspect he thanked those who were then messaging him'
'My advice to the prime minister is get rid of those advisers who have frankly given terrible advice to him over weeks and months. The PM needs to deal with that and make a decision. If the PM decides he has to be surrounded by advisers who give him shoddy advice the reality of that is the prime minister is going to have to make a decision about his future some point soon
'If McSweeney is still in 10 Downing Street the PM is up against it'
That's a tricky one, because aiui the top team are essentially McSweeney Todd appointees.
So SKS is in no position to remove one without potentially losing a lot more.
Reportedly it is about an expectation that MPs be rubber stamps, and that No 10 is a bit of an ivory tower at present with little engagement.
Just one other thing. If anybody seriously thinks we have reached the bottom of the allegations about Mandelson, Epstein, Russia, and what Starmer knew (or should have known) they're living in cloud-cuckoo land.
If it turns out that Mandelson was feeding national security and finance stuff to the Russians via his bestie then the entire government could be brought down never mind changing PMs.
Reminder that no-one cared when Boris left his security detail to meet privately with a KGB agent and then made the dad of the KGB agent a peer.
The global elite deal with the global elite at a level above mere national politics, make their own rules and distract us with trivia to avoid accountability.
NEW: Labour MP Brian Leishman joins the calls for Morgan McSweeney to go.
"You can't just look at this in isolation. When we look at the historic missteps and misjudgments we've made, Morgan McSweeney is at the heart of that and it's time he was removed from power."
As a film it suffers a little from continuity - there are quite a few gaps in the story and the narrative is a little broken. It does, however, get the vibes. It would actually benefit from being a bit longer but perhaps that would have made rather tedious for the general audience. The atmosphere and the music are both good.
It is probably a little sympathetic to Stephen Ward - the Epstein like character of the story - played perfectly by John Hirt - but clearly he wasn't _quite_ as depraved as Epstein and was the scapegoat in the fallout despite having been engaged by the security services to some degree.
Joanne Whalley as Christine Keeler was good and Bridget Fonda as Mandy Rice-Davies was excellent despite the slightly iffy accent.
I couldn't quite see Ian McKellen as Profumo, though...
As you'd expect there is a lot of flesh, particularly in the first half. It meanders slowly from glamour to sleaze.
Worth a watch, probably. There are plenty of parallels.
According to this book, Stephen Ward was the out-and-out victim of the story, stitched up by the establishment, desperate to cover their own backsides, and various bent coppers.
Comments
As things stand, we are probably at least 2 years away from a general election. A lot can change in that time. It may be that Reform will turn round its current decline and hold on to the lead in the polls. But, as I say, I wouldn't bet on it.
autocorrect gone rogue it is glorious.
EDIT: And if it is deliberate it is even better and should become the standard term.
If it were just about money, Bezos could sell the Washington Post, or not buy it in the first place. He wants the prestige. He wants to be an insider. But he does not want Trump blocking Federal contracts because an investigative journalist writes about ICE ignoring injunctions. Trump brought Musk back into line by musing about NASA. You know who else builds rockets?
There's a tipping point (and we weren't far from it last time) where the dominance ends - probably around 50% and with current polling putting Con/Lab at 40% there's a reasonable argument more seats will be won by other parties.
Yet we are two or perhaps three years off an election and we've seen this kind of thing before - UKIP polled strongly in the 2010s and the Alliance in the 1980s but even then Con/Lab still had at least 60%.
There's also a volatility in the electorate we've not seen for a while.
1. Don't be too quick to write off the Lib Dems as an "outsider" party. Yes, their MPs may all be as sleek and smooth as all other manifestations of "the blob", but out in the wild they have capitalised on the "plague on both your houses" idea long before it became a meme. Perhaps that might explain why their poll ratings are still so abnormally high - they are still taped in to the "sod the lot of them" vibe.
2. I am about as bourgeois as it's possible to be on my income, mainly because I have strived to become as middle class as possible. However, I have a number of working class friends, of all ages and races, because I am a regular church-goer. From an anthropological point of view they are still very interesting places where "all sorts and conditions of men" (and women) get together and socialise. I can't think of any other forums in my town where that happens.
https://x.com/autismcapital/status/2019276673594847362?s=61
I remember polling that showed around 20% of people wanted night clubs shut and never reopened.
It’s a common theme in Big Tech firms - every now and again, fire 10%
It very, very unsurprising.
https://x.com/kevinaschofield/status/2019326222891954667?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
https://x.com/anna_soubry/status/2019325657575288986?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
I hope that Reform/Green are able to radically transform the country and make the elites bend to the Government’s will, but I don’t expect it to happen.
In my opinion, a major issue has been the ever increasing centralisation that has taken place over the past few decades. This has concentrated power In Westminster, and therefore in the Civil Service, which, at senior levels, is the epitome of the elite. Decision making needs to be devolved to local authorities and the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish parliaments. Within Scotland, there has also been far too much centralisation in Edinburgh, with the same corrosive effects as the centralisation In Westminster. This also needs to be remedied.
Someone asked whether the SNP are now an insider party. I think they have been since 2014. The question in Scotland is whether the Scottish Greens are also now an insider party? I would argue that they are.
My perception as of now
Labour
With
Starmer can't win
Streeting may win
Burnham can't win
Rayner can win
Dark horse need to be soft left
Tories
With
Badenoch can't win
Cleverly may win
Mordaunt can win
Dark horse can't see a winner
LD
with
Davey minimal scope to improve
Daisy Cooper significantly improve
Reform
Simple it's a 1 man cult
With him they might hold balance of power
Without him they fragment to Advance
PC and SNP
Can both hold majority of Westminster MPs
Won't supply or help Tories
Green
With
Polanski will be a Red Party less and less Green bore and more left of Labour
I think they have 1 chance 2029 after which they split genuine Green and hard left
In many ways Polanski projects as a cult figure.
Kevin Schofield
@KevinASchofield
Given how often he's mentioned it, Steve Reed seems to think Keir Starmer deserves enormous credit for waking Peter Mandelson at 5am up to sack him.
Just a bizarre line of defence.
https://x.com/KevinASchofield/status/2019316881442927037
Politics is a tough game.
If Kemi replaced by right winger elongates Starmer.
If Kemi replaced by centrist it speeds up Starmer removal
Tory right leader boosts Streeting and Cooper
Tory Centrist boosts Rayner or Burnham
Labour would ease left v centrist would remain centrist v right wing tory options
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098260/?ref_=fn_t_4
As a film it suffers a little from continuity - there are quite a few gaps in the story and the narrative is a little broken. It does, however, get the vibes. It would actually benefit from being a bit longer but perhaps that would have made rather tedious for the general audience. The atmosphere and the music are both good.
It is probably a little sympathetic to Stephen Ward - the Epstein like character of the story - played perfectly by John Hirt - but clearly he wasn't _quite_ as depraved as Epstein and was the scapegoat in the fallout despite having been engaged by the security services to some degree.
Joanne Whalley as Christine Keeler was good and Bridget Fonda as Mandy Rice-Davies was excellent despite the slightly iffy accent.
I couldn't quite see Ian McKellen as Profumo, though...
As you'd expect there is a lot of flesh, particularly in the first half. It meanders slowly from glamour to sleaze.
Worth a watch, probably. There are plenty of parallels.
Campaign will also be crucial - 37% will win most English seats, 30% will be enough in a fair few so there are likely to be hundreds of very tight marginals
And most of them become more sensible as they grow older.
A lance is a tricky weapon with which to commit suicide
I think perceptions of the Greens are out of kilter with reality to an extent.
Jeff Bezos’s wealth has increased an average of $70 million every day of 2026, meaning that he could have offset The Post’s losses with what he’s made since Monday.
We have a mini-scandal in Notts now, to follow up on Kent.
First class' pothole repairs in car park of Reform's Nottinghamshire HQ
A Reform councillor has questioned whether there are repairs of a similar 'quality' elsewhere in Nottinghamshire
https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/local-news/first-class-pothole-repairs-car-10791032
Spes quae numquam moritur
Hmm
So SKS is in no position to remove one without potentially losing a lot more.
Reportedly it is about an expectation that MPs be rubber stamps, and that No 10 is a bit of an ivory tower at present with little engagement.
According to this book, Stephen Ward was the out-and-out victim of the story, stitched up by the establishment, desperate to cover their own backsides, and various bent coppers.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stephen-Ward-Was-Innocent-OK/dp/1849546908
Since it is Norfolk, surely it should be a static caravan next to the beach?
For those considering Sir Keir Starmer's potential replacement, NB since 1902 every Prime Minister who has ascended to that position, as opposed to being elected, has in the past been Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary or Chancellor of the Exchequer.
If that rule were followed here, that means we consider Reeves, Lammy, Cooper and Mahmood. That's a short list.
I'd also consider Miliband, as a former leader, and Rayner and Powell by virtue of their party role.
You'll note even Streeting is lightweight on this test.
In the new world of directly elected mayors I suppose you might add Khan and Burnham as major figures in devolved govt.
But if it's happening in the next few weeks, you can pretty much ignore anyone else.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06rvgtg
(Not my speciality, so I may have the wrong one.)
There *must* be versions of all those MPs in Trollope.
I also think it depends on which economic metrics you are looking at. I think the economy has become better at extracting money from ordinary people - things like broadband contracts with an automatic price ratchet every year. Or having people treat cars like phones - something they buy on a contract (on finance) that they replace every few years.
So, sure, if you look at average real earnings the figures don't look so bad, but when people look at how much money they have left on the 25th of the month it doesn't look too pretty.
(((Dan Hodges)))
@DPJHodges
Just one other thing. If anybody seriously thinks we have reached the bottom of the allegations about Mandelson, Epstein, Russia, and what Starmer knew (or should have known) they're living in cloud-cuckoo land.
https://x.com/DPJHodges/status/2019342101981589561
===
If it turns out that Mandelson was feeding national security and finance stuff to the Russians via his bestie then the entire government could be brought down never mind changing PMs.
😂😂😂😂
A sensible way to de-Amazon involves working out how to buy direct for many things.
More and more vendors are setting up to sell direct - seems the trend to shut down their own sites and move 100% to Amazon has reversed.
They still have store fronts there, but they are emphasising their own
Surely Maxwell is an obvious contender.
The global elite deal with the global elite at a level above mere national politics, make their own rules and distract us with trivia to avoid accountability.
NEW: Labour MP Brian Leishman joins the calls for Morgan McSweeney to go.
"You can't just look at this in isolation. When we look at the historic missteps and misjudgments we've made, Morgan McSweeney is at the heart of that and it's time he was removed from power."