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PB Predictions Competition 2026 – The Entries! – politicalbetting.com

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  • LeonLeon Posts: 66,434
    edited 3:00PM

    Leon said:

    Nigelb said:

    It's that liberal media in the US at it again.

    The world heard JD Vance being booed at the Olympics. Except for viewers in the US
    https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/feb/07/jd-vance-boos-winter-olympics
    ...When Team USA entered the San Siro during the parade of nations, the speed skater Erin Jackson led the delegation into a wall of cheers. Moments later, when cameras cut to US vice-president JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance, large sections of the crowd responded with boos. Not subtle ones, but audible and sustained ones. Canadian viewers heard them. Journalists seated in the press tribunes in the upper deck, myself included, clearly heard them. But as I quickly realized from a groupchat with friends back home, American viewers watching NBC did not...

    Thank God the BBC never doctors footage to make, say, Trump look really bad
    Or Johnson look good (Cenotaph 2019).
    Well indeed

    I watch a fair amount of BBC News out here in Bangkok. I like to catch up with events over my penang curry

    Quite often they wheel out “BBC Verify” like anyone remotely gives a fuck any more, or believes a word they say, let alone “verify”

    It’s really sad. I’m a patriot. The BBC had immense soft power and they have utterly trashed the brand because they hate Trump so much. The BBC is now just another bent and biased media corp amongst others - only the BBC has less money

    What a shameful waste of all that prestige. It is in a sense the story of Britain itself
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 133,842
    edited 2:59PM
    isam said:

    As Sir Keir said at the leadership debates, the buck stops with him, and he never blames his staff. Just ask Sue and Morgan

    He will hope McSweeney resigning for advising him to appoint Mandelson as Ambassador ends the matter. Unless Labour see some more poll damage, which Opinium suggested it hadn't, Starmer is probably right
  • TazTaz Posts: 24,666
    Thank you @Benpointer for taking the time and trouble to do this.
  • Stark_DawningStark_Dawning Posts: 10,660

    Leon said:

    Nigelb said:

    It's that liberal media in the US at it again.

    The world heard JD Vance being booed at the Olympics. Except for viewers in the US
    https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/feb/07/jd-vance-boos-winter-olympics
    ...When Team USA entered the San Siro during the parade of nations, the speed skater Erin Jackson led the delegation into a wall of cheers. Moments later, when cameras cut to US vice-president JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance, large sections of the crowd responded with boos. Not subtle ones, but audible and sustained ones. Canadian viewers heard them. Journalists seated in the press tribunes in the upper deck, myself included, clearly heard them. But as I quickly realized from a groupchat with friends back home, American viewers watching NBC did not...

    Thank God the BBC never doctors footage to make, say, Trump look really bad
    Or Johnson look good (Cenotaph 2019).
    The BBC once doctored footage to make it look as if Michael Howard was booed but Tony Blair wasn't.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/newswatch/ifs/hi/newsid_4730000/newsid_4735700/4735770.stm

    Yet the journalist who did it, Guto Hari, then went on to become a Boris underling. Odd.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 57,410
    https://x.com/bbclaurak/status/2020509577389707561

    'Keir is facing into the storm as the most talented campaigner in modern politics leaves his team. He would not be PM without Morgan, I wonder if he'll be PM for much longer now', says a Labour source
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 57,716
    Leon said:

    Nigelb said:

    It's that liberal media in the US at it again.

    The world heard JD Vance being booed at the Olympics. Except for viewers in the US
    https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/feb/07/jd-vance-boos-winter-olympics
    ...When Team USA entered the San Siro during the parade of nations, the speed skater Erin Jackson led the delegation into a wall of cheers. Moments later, when cameras cut to US vice-president JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance, large sections of the crowd responded with boos. Not subtle ones, but audible and sustained ones. Canadian viewers heard them. Journalists seated in the press tribunes in the upper deck, myself included, clearly heard them. But as I quickly realized from a groupchat with friends back home, American viewers watching NBC did not...

    Thank God the BBC never doctors footage to make, say, Trump look really bad
    Now you're talking semantics. He still wanted the 2020 election result overturned.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 57,410
    The problem of having a non-politician in Downing Street:

    https://x.com/bbclaurak/status/2020508224605044909

    There'll be enormous amounts of chat about McSweeney's exit in next couple of days - but this really is important beyond soap opera, for 4 big reasons
    1. PM really, really relied on his political instincts - much, much more than Johnson on Cummings, May on Barwell, Cameron on Llewellyn, the list goes on
    2. McS knew how to win + was central to rebuilding Labour after hammering in 2019 - who knows now?
    3. Losing a vital ally like this was one of Starmer's last plays to hold critics at bay - his exit shows how deep the problems are
    4. Don't underestimate the disruption of changes like this, especially when a govt is already struggling
    Starmer's critics in the PLP have a scalp, so what now?
  • glwglw Posts: 10,733
    Nigelb said:

    Leon said:

    Nigelb said:

    It's that liberal media in the US at it again.

    The world heard JD Vance being booed at the Olympics. Except for viewers in the US
    https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/feb/07/jd-vance-boos-winter-olympics
    ...When Team USA entered the San Siro during the parade of nations, the speed skater Erin Jackson led the delegation into a wall of cheers. Moments later, when cameras cut to US vice-president JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance, large sections of the crowd responded with boos. Not subtle ones, but audible and sustained ones. Canadian viewers heard them. Journalists seated in the press tribunes in the upper deck, myself included, clearly heard them. But as I quickly realized from a groupchat with friends back home, American viewers watching NBC did not...

    Thank God the BBC never doctors footage to make, say, Trump look really bad
    Whataboutery fail.

    It regularly edits his nonsense to make him sound semi-coherent.
    The whole media does this. Watch a Trump speech in full, or read a transcript, and it is way worse than his soundbites.

    You don't need to edit Trump to make him sound bad, he is bad, play what he says in full and let the audience decide. No reasonable person would listen to Trump speaking at length and think he sounds okay.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 37,334
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Nigelb said:

    It's that liberal media in the US at it again.

    The world heard JD Vance being booed at the Olympics. Except for viewers in the US
    https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/feb/07/jd-vance-boos-winter-olympics
    ...When Team USA entered the San Siro during the parade of nations, the speed skater Erin Jackson led the delegation into a wall of cheers. Moments later, when cameras cut to US vice-president JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance, large sections of the crowd responded with boos. Not subtle ones, but audible and sustained ones. Canadian viewers heard them. Journalists seated in the press tribunes in the upper deck, myself included, clearly heard them. But as I quickly realized from a groupchat with friends back home, American viewers watching NBC did not...

    Thank God the BBC never doctors footage to make, say, Trump look really bad
    Or Johnson look good (Cenotaph 2019).
    Well indeed

    I watch a fair amount of BBC News out here in Bangkok. I like to catch up with events over my penang curry

    Quite often they wheel out “BBC Verify” like anyone remotely gives a fuck any more, or believes a word they say, let alone “verify”

    It’s really sad. I’m a patriot. The BBC had immense soft power and they have utterly trashed the brand because they hate Trump so much. The BBC is now just another bent and biased media corp amongst others - only the BBC has less money

    What a shameful waste of all that prestige. It is in a sense the story of Britain itself
    Robbie Gibb is turning the tide. Jesse Watters and Sean Hannity presenting the One Show by Valentine's day.
  • Stark_DawningStark_Dawning Posts: 10,660
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Nigelb said:

    It's that liberal media in the US at it again.

    The world heard JD Vance being booed at the Olympics. Except for viewers in the US
    https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/feb/07/jd-vance-boos-winter-olympics
    ...When Team USA entered the San Siro during the parade of nations, the speed skater Erin Jackson led the delegation into a wall of cheers. Moments later, when cameras cut to US vice-president JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance, large sections of the crowd responded with boos. Not subtle ones, but audible and sustained ones. Canadian viewers heard them. Journalists seated in the press tribunes in the upper deck, myself included, clearly heard them. But as I quickly realized from a groupchat with friends back home, American viewers watching NBC did not...

    Thank God the BBC never doctors footage to make, say, Trump look really bad
    Or Johnson look good (Cenotaph 2019).
    Well indeed

    I watch a fair amount of BBC News out here in Bangkok. I like to catch up with events over my penang curry

    Quite often they wheel out “BBC Verify” like anyone remotely gives a fuck any more, or believes a word they say, let alone “verify”

    It’s really sad. I’m a patriot. The BBC had immense soft power and they have utterly trashed the brand because they hate Triumph so much. The BBC is now just another bent and biased media corp amongst others - only the BBC has less money

    What a shameful waste of all that prestige. It is in a sense the story of Britain itself
    MAGA came out with 'the BBC has verified' for that footage of the guy breaking a car-headlight casing in Minnesota - the one Trump went on to murder a few days later.
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 69,521
    As Kemi has just said with Starmer its always somebody else's fault
  • squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 7,442
    edited 3:07PM
    HYUFD said:

    isam said:

    As Sir Keir said at the leadership debates, the buck stops with him, and he never blames his staff. Just ask Sue and Morgan

    He will hope McSweeney resigning for advising him to appoint Mandelson as Ambassador ends the matter. Unless Labour see some more poll damage, which Opinium suggested it hadn't, Starmer is probably right
    McSweeney is only small fry given what has occurred.. The country wants Starmer gone
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 23,041
    edited 3:08PM
    MaxPB said:

    Morgan rightly points out, while accepting full responsibility, that the screening process is obviously fucked.

    I don't see how that's true. The security services and vetting process worked as intended and provided the PM with a long list reasons to not put Mandelson in, he chose to ignore it.

    What more could they have done? The PM has final authority and they can't overrule him. Maybe you think they should but that puts more power into the hands of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats. At least when the PM makes a bad decision we have the power to kick him out, how do we do that for civil servant who continually makes poor decisions?
    I don’t think they did provide a very good list of reasons.
    Essentially they just asked Mandelson himself if he was fit for the job, and maybe did a Google search.

    One would have hoped that British Intelligence had a file as long as your arm on Mandelson, but it seems not. As I say, the issue is a deeply structural collapse in British state capacity. Keir’s uselessness merely makes that obvious and undeniable.
  • RandallFlaggRandallFlagg Posts: 1,435
    nico67 said:

    Does this mean now Labour will stop chasing Reform voters ?

    McSweeney was clueless and good riddance to him .

    If you were going for a Blue Labour strategy, Starmer wasn't the one to lead it. The likes of isam just think he is an insincere, phoney when he does stuff like his Island of Stranger's speech.
    Could he do a New Popular Front strategy better? Probably, but the issue there is much of the hard left hate him due to him and Sweeney successfully destroying the remnants of Corbynism within Labour and Gaza.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 41,248

    MaxPB said:

    Morgan rightly points out, while accepting full responsibility, that the screening process is obviously fucked.

    I don't see how that's true. The security services and vetting process worked as intended and provided the PM with a long list reasons to not put Mandelson in, he chose to ignore it.

    What more could they have done? The PM has final authority and they can't overrule him. Maybe you think they should but that puts more power into the hands of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats. At least when the PM makes a bad decision we have the power to kick him out, how do we do that for civil servant who continually makes poor decisions?
    I don’t think they did provide a very good list of reasons.
    Essentially they just asked Mandelson himself, and maybe did a Google search.

    One would have hoped that British Intelligence had a file as long as your arm on Mandelson, but it seems not. As I say, the issue is a deeply structural collapse in British state capacity. Keir’s uselessness merely makes that obvious and undeniable.
    But you're basing that on what the PM and McSweeney are saying. They're just blame shifting and you're buying it.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 57,410
    glw said:

    Nigelb said:

    Leon said:

    Nigelb said:

    It's that liberal media in the US at it again.

    The world heard JD Vance being booed at the Olympics. Except for viewers in the US
    https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/feb/07/jd-vance-boos-winter-olympics
    ...When Team USA entered the San Siro during the parade of nations, the speed skater Erin Jackson led the delegation into a wall of cheers. Moments later, when cameras cut to US vice-president JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance, large sections of the crowd responded with boos. Not subtle ones, but audible and sustained ones. Canadian viewers heard them. Journalists seated in the press tribunes in the upper deck, myself included, clearly heard them. But as I quickly realized from a groupchat with friends back home, American viewers watching NBC did not...

    Thank God the BBC never doctors footage to make, say, Trump look really bad
    Whataboutery fail.

    It regularly edits his nonsense to make him sound semi-coherent.
    The whole media does this. Watch a Trump speech in full, or read a transcript, and it is way worse than his soundbites.

    You don't need to edit Trump to make him sound bad, he is bad, play what he says in full and let the audience decide. No reasonable person would listen to Trump speaking at length and think he sounds okay.
    Reading transcripts of Blair speeches had a similar effect because they often consisted of a verbless list of slogans.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 31,987

    Who is Starmer going to appoint now?

    What a tragedy for the country. Starmer is freakishly bad at the politics thing, yet there is nobody in Labour, nor anywhere else, likely to do a better job.

    The issue is deeply structural, and the bond traders wait, licking their paws.

    Ben Wegg-Prosser.
    Cofounder of Mandelson's political consultancy, and still in a job there?

    That'll play well.

    Ooof !
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 57,410
    MattW said:

    Who is Starmer going to appoint now?

    What a tragedy for the country. Starmer is freakishly bad at the politics thing, yet there is nobody in Labour, nor anywhere else, likely to do a better job.

    The issue is deeply structural, and the bond traders wait, licking their paws.

    Ben Wegg-Prosser.
    Cofounder of Mandelson's political consultancy, and still in a job there?

    That'll play well.

    Ooof !
    He resigned from Global Counsel on Friday so he's available.
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 23,041
    edited 3:11PM
    MaxPB said:

    MaxPB said:

    Morgan rightly points out, while accepting full responsibility, that the screening process is obviously fucked.

    I don't see how that's true. The security services and vetting process worked as intended and provided the PM with a long list reasons to not put Mandelson in, he chose to ignore it.

    What more could they have done? The PM has final authority and they can't overrule him. Maybe you think they should but that puts more power into the hands of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats. At least when the PM makes a bad decision we have the power to kick him out, how do we do that for civil servant who continually makes poor decisions?
    I don’t think they did provide a very good list of reasons.
    Essentially they just asked Mandelson himself, and maybe did a Google search.

    One would have hoped that British Intelligence had a file as long as your arm on Mandelson, but it seems not. As I say, the issue is a deeply structural collapse in British state capacity. Keir’s uselessness merely makes that obvious and undeniable.
    But you're basing that on what the PM and McSweeney are saying. They're just blame shifting and you're buying it.
    Not really.
    I’m also noting things like Gordon Brown’s vocal fury.

    At the end of the day the Mandelson appointment was welcomed by much of the journalist class, and even many Tories - like Gove.

    The screeners did not uncover what we now understand to be much greater intimacy with Epstein than admitted, and stark evidence of misconduct in office.

    (I was the first PBer to call for Mandelson’s investigation for corruption/malfeasance on an overnight thread when the emails “broke”).
  • Brixian59Brixian59 Posts: 183

    As Kemi has just said with Starmer its always somebody else's fault

    Says the woman who just won't admit she's ever wrong. That by the way is from Tory quotes.

    Starmer has taken full responsibility that is crystal clear.

    If the investigation finds him at fault he'll l go no doubt about that.

    Kemi said one of them had to go one has.

    Her fecking arrogance again.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 66,434

    https://x.com/bbclaurak/status/2020509577389707561

    'Keir is facing into the storm as the most talented campaigner in modern politics leaves his team. He would not be PM without Morgan, I wonder if he'll be PM for much longer now', says a Labour source

    Barring a very friendly black swan, Starmer will be gone by the end of summer. It’s now a question of whether it is before the May elex or after
  • glw said:

    Nigelb said:

    Leon said:

    Nigelb said:

    It's that liberal media in the US at it again.

    The world heard JD Vance being booed at the Olympics. Except for viewers in the US
    https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/feb/07/jd-vance-boos-winter-olympics
    ...When Team USA entered the San Siro during the parade of nations, the speed skater Erin Jackson led the delegation into a wall of cheers. Moments later, when cameras cut to US vice-president JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance, large sections of the crowd responded with boos. Not subtle ones, but audible and sustained ones. Canadian viewers heard them. Journalists seated in the press tribunes in the upper deck, myself included, clearly heard them. But as I quickly realized from a groupchat with friends back home, American viewers watching NBC did not...

    Thank God the BBC never doctors footage to make, say, Trump look really bad
    Whataboutery fail.

    It regularly edits his nonsense to make him sound semi-coherent.
    The whole media does this. Watch a Trump speech in full, or read a transcript, and it is way worse than his soundbites.

    You don't need to edit Trump to make him sound bad, he is bad, play what he says in full and let the audience decide. No reasonable person would listen to Trump speaking at length and think he sounds okay.
    Agreed, his Davos speech taken as a whole is more shocking than any particular soundbite. Like a sundowning elderly relative holding court in the conservatory of the nursing home while everyone looks at their watch and wonders when residents' tea will be served so that they have an excuse to leave.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 133,842
    edited 3:16PM
    Leon said:

    https://x.com/bbclaurak/status/2020509577389707561

    'Keir is facing into the storm as the most talented campaigner in modern politics leaves his team. He would not be PM without Morgan, I wonder if he'll be PM for much longer now', says a Labour source

    Barring a very friendly black swan, Starmer will be gone by the end of summer. It’s now a question of whether it is before the May elex or after
    All depends on May.

    If Labour come second on NEV and seats won ahead of the Tories in the local and Holyrood and Senedd elections it will be Kemi gone not SKS and Starmer will survive another year.

    If Labour beat Reform in the Gorton and Denton by election that also gives SKS breating space
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 37,334

    As Kemi has just said with Starmer its always somebody else's fault

    That's a little bit juvenile.
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 23,041
    Liz Truss is obviously crazy, but her earlier tweet looks pretty astute to me.

    Labour won’t be able to help themselves but go for Angela, who will be a disaster. She may have more rizz than Starmer (mind you, so does last night’s leftovers), but she’s obviously thick as two short planks and achieved nothing at all in her brief spell as Minister.
  • sarissasarissa Posts: 2,290
    Leon said:

    Morgan McSweeney resigns.

    Personally I don't believe that is anything like enough at this stage.
    It’s not. Starmer will go

    This is a temporary human sacrifice that will last a few weeks or months and then the PM will climb the temple to be lain over the chac-mool
    How is the knitting going, Madame Defarge?
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 69,521
    Brixian59 said:

    As Kemi has just said with Starmer its always somebody else's fault

    Says the woman who just won't admit she's ever wrong. That by the way is from Tory quotes.

    Starmer has taken full responsibility that is crystal clear.

    If the investigation finds him at fault he'll l go no doubt about that.

    Kemi said one of them had to go one has.

    Her fecking arrogance again.
    Kemi Badenoch responds

    https://news.sky.com/video/share-13504932

  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 57,716

    As Kemi has just said with Starmer its always somebody else's fault

    That's a little bit juvenile.
    Not really, my mum just made the same remark re. SKS.
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 13,344
    MaxPB said:

    Morgan rightly points out, while accepting full responsibility, that the screening process is obviously fucked.

    I don't see how that's true. The security services and vetting process worked as intended and provided the PM with a long list reasons to not put Mandelson in, he chose to ignore it.

    What more could they have done? The PM has final authority and they can't overrule him. Maybe you think they should but that puts more power into the hands of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats. At least when the PM makes a bad decision we have the power to kick him out, how do we do that for civil servant who continually makes poor decisions?
    Agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment - too often "the blob" is blamed when anyone with two braincells would know that someone like Mandelson is a giant risk. The process excuse is pathetic, whether it's from the right or left.

    Though if it does turn out that the security services somehow missed all this stuff (or even ignored it under political direction?) then there should be accountability there too. Indeed the biggest scandal from partygate wasn't so much Johnson, but people like Simon Case and Martin Reynolds also breaking the rules. The senior civil service must be whiter than white on this kind of thing.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 133,842

    Liz Truss is obviously crazy, but her earlier tweet looks pretty astute to me.

    Labour won’t be able to help themselves but go for Angela, who will be a disaster. She may have more rizz than Starmer (mind you, so does last night’s leftovers), but she’s obviously thick as two short planks and achieved nothing at all in her brief spell as Minister.

    She might not even get the required 81 MPs to nominate her to get to the members anyway
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 23,041

    As Kemi has just said with Starmer its always somebody else's fault

    That's a little bit juvenile.
    Not really, my mum just made the same remark re. SKS.
    It’s always someone’s fault because Starmer has outsourced everything - including actual leadership - under the sound managerial principle that he’s not himself actually good at it.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 37,334
    HYUFD said:

    Leon said:

    https://x.com/bbclaurak/status/2020509577389707561

    'Keir is facing into the storm as the most talented campaigner in modern politics leaves his team. He would not be PM without Morgan, I wonder if he'll be PM for much longer now', says a Labour source

    Barring a very friendly black swan, Starmer will be gone by the end of summer. It’s now a question of whether it is before the May elex or after
    All depends on May.

    If Labour come second on NEV and seats won ahead of the Tories in the local and Holyrood and Senedd elections it will be Kemi gone not SKS and Starmer will survive another year.

    If Labour beat Reform in the Gorton and Denton by election that also gives SKS breating space
    If Starmer gets to May I'm really a Mexican.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 66,434
    HYUFD said:

    Leon said:

    https://x.com/bbclaurak/status/2020509577389707561

    'Keir is facing into the storm as the most talented campaigner in modern politics leaves his team. He would not be PM without Morgan, I wonder if he'll be PM for much longer now', says a Labour source

    Barring a very friendly black swan, Starmer will be gone by the end of summer. It’s now a question of whether it is before the May elex or after
    All depends on May.

    If Labour come second on NEV and seats won ahead of the Tories in the local and Holyrood and Senedd elections it will be Kemi gone not SKS and Starmer will survive another year
    You put far too much weight on opinion polls

    For Labour this is now about perceptions and morals and judgment and character, as much as it is electoral advantage. That is to say, yes Starmer polls disastrously but that might be survivable if he was of sound judgment, morals, character

    He’s not. He’s clearly not. He appointed Mandelson to the top job in British diplomacy knowing full well that Mandelson remained friends with a CONVICTED child rapist. For Labour MPs who love to preen themselves on their superior virtue and noble intentions this is deadly. Plus Starmer has very few friends left in the party. He doesn’t have a fan base like Boris did. He has no loyal guard who will shield him

    He’s gone. October at the latest

  • TazTaz Posts: 24,666
  • squareroot2squareroot2 Posts: 7,442
    Brixian59 said:

    As Kemi has just said with Starmer its always somebody else's fault

    Says the woman who just won't admit she's ever wrong. That by the way is from Tory quotes.

    Starmer has taken full responsibility that is crystal clear.

    If the investigation finds him at fault he'll l go no doubt about that.

    Kemi said one of them had to go one has.

    Her fecking arrogance again.
    Dont panic Mr Mannering!
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 57,716
    Brixian59 said:

    As Kemi has just said with Starmer its always somebody else's fault

    Says the woman who just won't admit she's ever wrong. That by the way is from Tory quotes.

    Starmer has taken full responsibility that is crystal clear.

    If the investigation finds him at fault he'll l go no doubt about that.

    Kemi said one of them had to go one has.

    Her fecking arrogance again.
    Fecking Kemi Derangement Syndrome!
  • spudgfshspudgfsh Posts: 1,600
    Taz said:
    It may buy him time but won't change the inevitable
  • TazTaz Posts: 24,666
    Brixian59 said:

    As Kemi has just said with Starmer its always somebody else's fault

    Says the woman who just won't admit she's ever wrong. That by the way is from Tory quotes.

    Starmer has taken full responsibility that is crystal clear.

    If the investigation finds him at fault he'll l go no doubt about that.

    Kemi said one of them had to go one has.

    Her fecking arrogance again.
    This is nuts. It’s all about Kemi Badenoch.

    Crazy. She has not really put a foot wrong this last six months.

    Oh, and why do,you keep posting stuff relating to me that I have posted on here, mainly prior to you joining. Four or five times now. I don’t know you. It’s a little creepy and a little stalkerish. Unless, of course, you’re a regular here posting under an alias. 🤔
  • TazTaz Posts: 24,666
    Well this is something from Liz Truss

    ‘ Keir Starmer is the Theresa May of the Labour Party.

    If we follow the logic of what happened in the Tory Party:

    Labour members will ultimately replace Starmer with their favourite Angela Rayner, much as Theresa was replaced by Boris.

    She will fail to achieve anything as the strings will still be pulled by the Labour illuminati and the British deep state.

    Labour MPs will tire of this and will eventually crown Wes Streeting, the Rishi Sunak, of the Labour Party - who is a creature of the system.

    Nothing will change and Labour will be crushed in the 2029 election.

    NB there is no Labour Liz Truss!’


    https://x.com/trussliz/status/2020476823524524196?s=61
  • RandallFlaggRandallFlagg Posts: 1,435

    Liz Truss is obviously crazy, but her earlier tweet looks pretty astute to me.

    Labour won’t be able to help themselves but go for Angela, who will be a disaster. She may have more rizz than Starmer (mind you, so does last night’s leftovers), but she’s obviously thick as two short planks and achieved nothing at all in her brief spell as Minister.

    Maybe could work if she gets herself a very good Chief of Staff, along with a prudent Chancellor (Darren Jones?), and astute person to run the Cabinet Office. She's actually fairly good at politics and would help deal with the Greens... but you'd basically need a Labour 'Osborne' or 'Whitelaw' to help her out when it came to policy and strategy.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 41,248
    Eabhal said:

    MaxPB said:

    Morgan rightly points out, while accepting full responsibility, that the screening process is obviously fucked.

    I don't see how that's true. The security services and vetting process worked as intended and provided the PM with a long list reasons to not put Mandelson in, he chose to ignore it.

    What more could they have done? The PM has final authority and they can't overrule him. Maybe you think they should but that puts more power into the hands of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats. At least when the PM makes a bad decision we have the power to kick him out, how do we do that for civil servant who continually makes poor decisions?
    Agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment - too often "the blob" is blamed when anyone with two braincells would know that someone like Mandelson is a giant risk. The process excuse is pathetic, whether it's from the right or left.

    Though if it does turn out that the security services somehow missed all this stuff (or even ignored it under political direction?) then there should be accountability there too. Indeed the biggest scandal from partygate wasn't so much Johnson, but people like Simon Case and Martin Reynolds also breaking the rules. The senior civil service must be whiter than white on this kind of thing.
    Indeed and I'm hardly one to stick up for the civil service. The buck stops with the elected politicians and if the PM was being honest the clear thought process was they needed an Epstien cabal crook to deal with the Epstein cabal crook in White House. On that basis whatever the vetting said the decision was made already.

    Any moves to hand more power to unelected bureaucrats and committees should be resisted. Politicians are trying to dodge accountability for their decisions and somehow people are falling for it.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 37,334
    Taz said:
    I doubt Kuennsberg is telling you anything new there. She really is a dreadful journalist.

    Starmer manages his resignation from this week.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 66,434
    Still. At least Britain is now leading the world in Truly Hideous New Buildings




    LOOK AT IT

  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 57,410
    Leon said:

    Still. At least Britain is now leading the world in Truly Hideous New Buildings




    LOOK AT IT

    It looks like something that belongs in Post-Soviet central Asia.
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 9,393
    The vast majority of people neither know nor care who Morgan McSweeney is, and will only have heard his name in the last few days. Those who are very familiar with him, particularly Labour MPs and Labour members, will largely welcome his resignation. Despite what Laura K and others say, his demise will take a bit of heat off Starmer, at least in the short to medium term.
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 13,344
    MaxPB said:

    Eabhal said:

    MaxPB said:

    Morgan rightly points out, while accepting full responsibility, that the screening process is obviously fucked.

    I don't see how that's true. The security services and vetting process worked as intended and provided the PM with a long list reasons to not put Mandelson in, he chose to ignore it.

    What more could they have done? The PM has final authority and they can't overrule him. Maybe you think they should but that puts more power into the hands of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats. At least when the PM makes a bad decision we have the power to kick him out, how do we do that for civil servant who continually makes poor decisions?
    Agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment - too often "the blob" is blamed when anyone with two braincells would know that someone like Mandelson is a giant risk. The process excuse is pathetic, whether it's from the right or left.

    Though if it does turn out that the security services somehow missed all this stuff (or even ignored it under political direction?) then there should be accountability there too. Indeed the biggest scandal from partygate wasn't so much Johnson, but people like Simon Case and Martin Reynolds also breaking the rules. The senior civil service must be whiter than white on this kind of thing.
    Indeed and I'm hardly one to stick up for the civil service. The buck stops with the elected politicians and if the PM was being honest the clear thought process was they needed an Epstien cabal crook to deal with the Epstein cabal crook in White House. On that basis whatever the vetting said the decision was made already.

    Any moves to hand more power to unelected bureaucrats and committees should be resisted. Politicians are trying to dodge accountability for their decisions and somehow people are falling for it.
    For me this is the equivalent to Truss blaming the OBR (or BoE or the FT or whatever) for her budget going disastrously wrong. And we know what that meant for her time in No 10.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 57,716
    Leon said:

    Still. At least Britain is now leading the world in Truly Hideous New Buildings




    LOOK AT IT

    Yes, I agree - hideous! And directly opposite two of the finest station buildings in the UK, if not the world - Kings Cross, and St Pancras.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 133,842
    edited 3:35PM
    Leon said:

    HYUFD said:

    Leon said:

    https://x.com/bbclaurak/status/2020509577389707561

    'Keir is facing into the storm as the most talented campaigner in modern politics leaves his team. He would not be PM without Morgan, I wonder if he'll be PM for much longer now', says a Labour source

    Barring a very friendly black swan, Starmer will be gone by the end of summer. It’s now a question of whether it is before the May elex or after
    All depends on May.

    If Labour come second on NEV and seats won ahead of the Tories in the local and Holyrood and Senedd elections it will be Kemi gone not SKS and Starmer will survive another year
    You put far too much weight on opinion polls

    For Labour this is now about perceptions and morals and judgment and character, as much as it is electoral advantage. That is to say, yes Starmer polls disastrously but that might be survivable if he was of sound judgment, morals, character

    He’s not. He’s clearly not. He appointed Mandelson to the top job in British diplomacy knowing full well that Mandelson remained friends with a CONVICTED child rapist. For Labour MPs who love to preen themselves on their superior virtue and noble intentions this is deadly. Plus Starmer has very few friends left in the party. He doesn’t have a fan base like Boris did. He has no loyal guard who will shield him

    He’s gone. October at the latest

    It isn't, Labour MPs and members never get rid of their leaders, even Foot and Corbyn survived. Labour is far more sentimental with its leadership.

    Tory MPs however are ruthless in dispatching their leaders once they are under performing in the polls and local elections, hence for now Kemi remains more at risk than Starmer.

    Starmer also ensured Burnham, his biggest rival, did not return as an MP. Kemi however has a replacement in waiting in Cleverly if the Tories bomb in the May local and devolved elections
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 69,521
    Daisy Cooper

    The PM can change his advisors all he likes, but the buck stops with him

    We need to see an end to this political soap opera with answers for the british public and most importantly justice for the victims and survivors from Epstein and his network
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 33,958
    Leon said:

    Still. At least Britain is now leading the world in Truly Hideous New Buildings




    LOOK AT IT

    People who allow this sort of thing should be up on criminal charges. I'm not joking.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 37,334

    Brixian59 said:

    As Kemi has just said with Starmer its always somebody else's fault

    Says the woman who just won't admit she's ever wrong. That by the way is from Tory quotes.

    Starmer has taken full responsibility that is crystal clear.

    If the investigation finds him at fault he'll l go no doubt about that.

    Kemi said one of them had to go one has.

    Her fecking arrogance again.
    Dont panic Mr Mannering!
    Captain Mainwaring.
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 13,344
    edited 3:35PM
    Leon said:

    Still. At least Britain is now leading the world in Truly Hideous New Buildings




    LOOK AT IT

    I think that looks quite cool tbh - and I reckon the angle on the photo is exaggerating it somewhat. Battersea power station vibes.

    Though my frame of reference has been warped by the turd hotel. And the security wart on the Scottish Parliament.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 57,410
    https://x.com/benrileysmith/status/2020510424165171516

    **NEW Starmer statement on McSweeney quitting**

    Keir Starmer:
    “It’s been an honour working with Morgan McSweeney for many years. He turned our party around after one of its worst ever defeats and played a central role running our election campaign. It is largely thanks to his dedication, loyalty and leadership that we won a landslide majority and have the chance to change the country.

    “Having worked closely with Morgan in opposition and in government, I have seen every day his commitment to the Labour Party and to our country. Our party and I owe him a debt of gratitude, and I thank him for his service.”
  • Brixian59Brixian59 Posts: 183
    Taz said:

    Brixian59 said:

    As Kemi has just said with Starmer its always somebody else's fault

    Says the woman who just won't admit she's ever wrong. That by the way is from Tory quotes.

    Starmer has taken full responsibility that is crystal clear.

    If the investigation finds him at fault he'll l go no doubt about that.

    Kemi said one of them had to go one has.

    Her fecking arrogance again.
    This is nuts. It’s all about Kemi Badenoch.

    Crazy. She has not really put a foot wrong this last six months.

    Oh, and why do,you keep posting stuff relating to me that I have posted on here, mainly prior to you joining. Four or five times now. I don’t know you. It’s a little creepy and a little stalkerish. Unless, of course, you’re a regular here posting under an alias. 🤔
    Calling out Bravermans mental health not a mistake

    Losing a load of MPs not a mistake

  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 35,093

    isam said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Cookie said:

    HYUFD said:

    isam said:

    HYUFD said:

    HYUFD said:

    If Starmer resigned then yes a Healey or Benn could replace Sir Keir. Yet there is no sign Starmer will resign and after last night’s Opinium poll putting Labour 7% ahead of the Tories and Reform
    unchanged despite Mandelson, why would he? Rayner would also need 81 MPs to challenge Starmer and no sign of that at present.

    Indeed unless Kemi improves the Tory voteshare and manages to see the Conservatives beat Labour on the NEV after the May local and devolved elections it will likely be her going not Starmer. Not least as Tory MPs have no mercy historically for leaders clearly failing to perform electorally unlike Labour MPs

    The ladies on the panel on Trevor Phillips furiously attacked the man's club in politics which you certainly qualify for with your relentless anti Kemi propaganda

    The Telegraph does not agree with you

    Kemi Badenoch: ‘Starmer knew Mandelson was still friends with Epstein. He chose not to care’

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02/07/kemi-badenoch-interview-starmer-mandelson-epstein/
    I am not anti Kemi because she is a woman, the Japanese PM is female and has won a landslide re election victory today.

    If Kemi was making progress in the polls she would be fine but she isn’t, the Tories are now trailing even a deeply unpopular Labour government let alone Reform. She has to improve that to survive
    Things take time. If a leader can't be given the space to develop their ideas at the start of opposition after fourteen years in power and a diabolical defeat, when can they?

    Mikel Arteta took Arsenal to consecutive eighth place finishes in his first two seasons in charge, but the board believed in him, gave him time, and he has transformed the club to the point where they are regarded as one of the top three sides in the world. Other clubs roll the dice and make the situation worse.

    Kemi has a unique opportunity, her personal ratings are improving fast and, if that continues, the Tories polling will surely follow
    She has been, she is into her second year in the job and the Tories are polling even worse than they did at the 2024 general election.

    She was elected to unite the right and push back Reform, she failed to do that and has lost Jenrick, Kruger, Braverman, Rosindell etc to Reform and just boosted Farage further.

    She also has trashed centrists in her party and has less appeal to swing voters than Cleverly. Tory MPs have given her plenty of chances but if the Tories bomb in May Kemi will be gone
    Personally, I rate Kemi considerably higher than any alternative.
    I quite like Kemi, also slightly fancy her

    She is said to be hard to work for, and somewhat scatter brained. And rubs people the wrong way. On the other hand she has good instincts on Woke, she is definitely getting better at a really difficult job. Of late she has made Skyr look an absolute muppet several times in PMQs

    The problem is not Kemi, it is the Tory brand. It is Ratnered to fuckistan and back again. It will take two general elections to recover if it ever does. Who else would do better? Cleverly is boring and woke and responsible for Chagos, Lam is too young and possibly just a white Kemi. Jenrick has gone. Mel Stride does not actually exist. Likewise Chris “Philp”. The late Keith Chegwin is dead and was a children’s TV presenter FFS, why would they choose him, and what could he do from the grave? Jeremy Hunt?????
    The Tories understand money and stewarding the economy. And they are also the only party on the table that, at least nominally, pushed back against a larger state.

    Their trouble is (a) their confidence and courage of their conviction and (b) their utter reliance on the elderly.
    And (c) their appalling record in office over fourteen fucking dreadful years, when the country went into total decline, on all fronts, and they allowed Woke and immigration to get catastrophically out of hand (and of course, for many voters, Brexit)

    What sane person would vote for them again on the basis of “no honestly we’ve learned our lesson, this time we really will be right wing and do actual right wing things instead of pretending to do them”

    The Tories are ugly, dickless, treacherous morons. They would do the same shit all over again given the chance. Their MPs are all woke Lib Dems in disguise. Remember Chagos STARTED under them. i despise them. I more than despise them. I want the Tories to fucking die and be buried in a noisome pit and then I will go the noisome pit and build the world’s biggest urinal on top of it. And THEN I will cover it in thirteen megatons of putrid Albanian taxi drivers’ manure and then I will dig the corpse of the Tories up again only so it can be brutally sodomised by a massive tumescent necrophiliac waxwork of 80s popster Shaking Stevens and then reburied at the abyssal bottom of the Mariana Trench
    The majority of the people with any power in those fourteen years have either retired or defected. I would say that Kemi's Tories are less tainted with the 2019-24 period than Reform's politicians are now. They needed a bit of time to collect their thoughts and rebrand. I think Kemi has done that and her personal appeal, along with the likes of Lam, Trott and Lopez will see the party appear to be quite a refreshing change
    It's not my Party and hardly my subject, Sam, but didn't Boris hollow out the Party so much from within that reconstruction is now very difficult, if not impossible?
    BiB: QTWAIN.

    This myth is spread by quite a few die hard Remoaners who refused to accept the Brexit referendum result, but no Boris did not hollow out the party.

    He did the exact same thing that Major did to pass Maastricht in making it a confidence matter and removing the whip from anyone who voted against, just as Major had done decades ago and many other Prime Ministers had done for many years, past and present (including the current incumbent).

    The very small number of MPs who lost the whip did so voluntarily knowing the consequence, and at the subsequent election they were all much more than replaced by a big increase in numbers, not a reduction in them.
    No, Boris did not do the exact same thing as John Major. If this had been a genuine matter of confidence, Boris would have resigned when the vote was lost. He did not. This was Schrodinger's confidence vote.
  • Brixian59Brixian59 Posts: 183

    Brixian59 said:

    As Kemi has just said with Starmer its always somebody else's fault

    Says the woman who just won't admit she's ever wrong. That by the way is from Tory quotes.

    Starmer has taken full responsibility that is crystal clear.

    If the investigation finds him at fault he'll l go no doubt about that.

    Kemi said one of them had to go one has.

    Her fecking arrogance again.
    Kemi Badenoch responds

    https://news.sky.com/video/share-13504932

    Does she intend running the Country on X the 4 days a week she can't get childcare
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 27,537
    Taz said:

    Thank you @Benpointer for taking the time and trouble to do this.

    Yes, thank you @Benpointer
  • LeonLeon Posts: 66,434

    Leon said:

    Still. At least Britain is now leading the world in Truly Hideous New Buildings




    LOOK AT IT

    People who allow this sort of thing should be up on criminal charges. I'm not joking.
    I completely agree. I want them in jail
  • bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 23,226

    HYUFD said:

    Leon said:

    https://x.com/bbclaurak/status/2020509577389707561

    'Keir is facing into the storm as the most talented campaigner in modern politics leaves his team. He would not be PM without Morgan, I wonder if he'll be PM for much longer now', says a Labour source

    Barring a very friendly black swan, Starmer will be gone by the end of summer. It’s now a question of whether it is before the May elex or after
    All depends on May.

    If Labour come second on NEV and seats won ahead of the Tories in the local and Holyrood and Senedd elections it will be Kemi gone not SKS and Starmer will survive another year.

    If Labour beat Reform in the Gorton and Denton by election that also gives SKS breating space
    If Starmer gets to May I'm really a Mexican.
    He should do IMO.

    Nobody in their right mind would want to take the blame for LE2026.
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 35,093

    https://x.com/benrileysmith/status/2020510424165171516

    **NEW Starmer statement on McSweeney quitting**

    Keir Starmer:
    “It’s been an honour working with Morgan McSweeney for many years. He turned our party around after one of its worst ever defeats and played a central role running our election campaign. It is largely thanks to his dedication, loyalty and leadership that we won a landslide majority and have the chance to change the country.

    “Having worked closely with Morgan in opposition and in government, I have seen every day his commitment to the Labour Party and to our country. Our party and I owe him a debt of gratitude, and I thank him for his service.”

    Assistant heads must roll. Any more departures from Number 10 and there will be only Starmer himself and Larry the Cat left from July 2024.
  • Jim_MillerJim_Miller Posts: 3,710
    Off topic, but timely: Some stories on Super Bowl LX betting: https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/betting/article/super-bowl-60-odds-betting-bettor-hedges-seahawks-futures-bet-potentially-worth-3-million-to-guarantee-multimillion-dollar-profit-165906728.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAMDJtPX8zruK_jK7Cj3NVau7TuPZg0R3FqEzBD4B--JfCCljALsn0OCAzDUStIZ37XknMHXFlhO3-_kWHexLLODjLjIgpZsuaCmHz5BpkgKvtEkr7hg4MQlWTawDHDBNTjYdA2Ksu-ytnbiHqO5ZkTkXiWEz2H9dYcAijT6AnR5a

    Fun detail:
    Yahoo Sports was first to report a Nevada bettor at BetMGM wagered $50,000 on three separate Seahawks-related futures back in August — $150,000 in total — which would win just under $4.5 million if Seattle wins Super Bowl LX, marking the franchise's first championship since Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014.
    About 1.8 billion will be bet legally on the game.

    (For the record: I am grateful that the Seahawks coverage -- which can be annoying -- has cut back on the time given to stories about the Loser. At least in this area.)
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 27,537
    Eabhal said:

    Leon said:

    Still. At least Britain is now leading the world in Truly Hideous New Buildings




    LOOK AT IT

    I think that looks quite cool tbh - and I reckon the angle on the photo is exaggerating it somewhat. Battersea power station vibes.

    Though my frame of reference has been warped by the turd hotel. And the security wart on the Scottish Parliament.
    You can see it here:

    https://www.google.com/maps/place/King’s+Cross/@51.5300843,-0.1242034,3a,75y,128.56h,99.29t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sd_ZxrvVDoXaiMUFUcoN93Q!2e0!5s20250901T000000!6shttps://streetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com/v1/thumbnail?cb_client=maps_sv.tactile&w=900&h=600&pitch=-9.287157001855547&panoid=d_ZxrvVDoXaiMUFUcoN93Q&yaw=128.56295556341684!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x48761b3c5cbf139b:0x7be9c9cf71db38fb!8m2!3d51.5316034!4d-0.1235978!16zL20vMG0xMmg?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDIwNC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw==

    It doesn't look very nice, tbh.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 70,047
    Thanks @Benpointer

    Some interesting entries in there!!

    I see @algarkirk thinks the mid-terms will be voided. He/she could be right!!

  • TazTaz Posts: 24,666
    edited 3:44PM
    Super Bowl

    What happened to the team that singer’s boyfriend played for ?
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 37,334

    https://x.com/benrileysmith/status/2020510424165171516

    **NEW Starmer statement on McSweeney quitting**

    Keir Starmer:
    “It’s been an honour working with Morgan McSweeney for many years. He turned our party around after one of its worst ever defeats and played a central role running our election campaign. It is largely thanks to his dedication, loyalty and leadership that we won a landslide majority and have the chance to change the country.

    “Having worked closely with Morgan in opposition and in government, I have seen every day his commitment to the Labour Party and to our country. Our party and I owe him a debt of gratitude, and I thank him for his service.”

    Assistant heads must roll. Any more departures from Number 10 and there will be only Starmer himself and Larry the Cat left from July 2024.
    Has Larry been fired yet?
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 57,410
    Angela Rayner on TikTok at the hairdressers perfecting her Prime Ministerial look:

    https://www.tiktok.com/@natalie.blow51.jones/video/7604432342505082134
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 35,093
    Eabhal said:

    MaxPB said:

    Eabhal said:

    MaxPB said:

    Morgan rightly points out, while accepting full responsibility, that the screening process is obviously fucked.

    I don't see how that's true. The security services and vetting process worked as intended and provided the PM with a long list reasons to not put Mandelson in, he chose to ignore it.

    What more could they have done? The PM has final authority and they can't overrule him. Maybe you think they should but that puts more power into the hands of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats. At least when the PM makes a bad decision we have the power to kick him out, how do we do that for civil servant who continually makes poor decisions?
    Agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment - too often "the blob" is blamed when anyone with two braincells would know that someone like Mandelson is a giant risk. The process excuse is pathetic, whether it's from the right or left.

    Though if it does turn out that the security services somehow missed all this stuff (or even ignored it under political direction?) then there should be accountability there too. Indeed the biggest scandal from partygate wasn't so much Johnson, but people like Simon Case and Martin Reynolds also breaking the rules. The senior civil service must be whiter than white on this kind of thing.
    Indeed and I'm hardly one to stick up for the civil service. The buck stops with the elected politicians and if the PM was being honest the clear thought process was they needed an Epstien cabal crook to deal with the Epstein cabal crook in White House. On that basis whatever the vetting said the decision was made already.

    Any moves to hand more power to unelected bureaucrats and committees should be resisted. Politicians are trying to dodge accountability for their decisions and somehow people are falling for it.
    For me this is the equivalent to Truss blaming the OBR (or BoE or the FT or whatever) for her budget going disastrously wrong. And we know what that meant for her time in No 10.
    More like Theresa May being forced to ditch Nick and Fiona, perhaps? She managed to hang on for longer than many expected but was replaced before the next election by the new man, renouncing all her works in the process.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 16,592
    The key line in Morgan's resignation statement is this:

    The decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong.


    He also of course says his advice was wrong blah blah, but as he has to go because the advice was flawed he is very obviously opening the door to 'the PM must go because the decision was wrong.

    Others advise. The PM decides.
  • StereodogStereodog Posts: 1,263

    HYUFD said:

    Leon said:

    https://x.com/bbclaurak/status/2020509577389707561

    'Keir is facing into the storm as the most talented campaigner in modern politics leaves his team. He would not be PM without Morgan, I wonder if he'll be PM for much longer now', says a Labour source

    Barring a very friendly black swan, Starmer will be gone by the end of summer. It’s now a question of whether it is before the May elex or after
    All depends on May.

    If Labour come second on NEV and seats won ahead of the Tories in the local and Holyrood and Senedd elections it will be Kemi gone not SKS and Starmer will survive another year.

    If Labour beat Reform in the Gorton and Denton by election that also gives SKS breating space
    If Starmer gets to May I'm really a Mexican.
    He should do IMO.

    Nobody in their right mind would want to take the blame for LE2026.
    I've been thinking about that particular piece of received wisdom and I wonder whether it's true. If you take over and Labour perform as badly as expected than you can always blame it on the previous guy. If your polling bounce means Labour do a bit better than expected then you can take the credit.
  • EabhalEabhal Posts: 13,344
    viewcode said:

    Eabhal said:

    Leon said:

    Still. At least Britain is now leading the world in Truly Hideous New Buildings




    LOOK AT IT

    I think that looks quite cool tbh - and I reckon the angle on the photo is exaggerating it somewhat. Battersea power station vibes.

    Though my frame of reference has been warped by the turd hotel. And the security wart on the Scottish Parliament.
    You can see it here:

    https://www.google.com/maps/place/King’s+Cross/@51.5300843,-0.1242034,3a,75y,128.56h,99.29t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sd_ZxrvVDoXaiMUFUcoN93Q!2e0!5s20250901T000000!6shttps://streetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com/v1/thumbnail?cb_client=maps_sv.tactile&w=900&h=600&pitch=-9.287157001855547&panoid=d_ZxrvVDoXaiMUFUcoN93Q&yaw=128.56295556341684!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x48761b3c5cbf139b:0x7be9c9cf71db38fb!8m2!3d51.5316034!4d-0.1235978!16zL20vMG0xMmg?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDIwNC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw==

    It doesn't look very nice, tbh.
    It's just too big. It's not the worst thing in the world but at least 50% too high.
  • DumbosaurusDumbosaurus Posts: 1,002
    edited 3:54PM
    Leon said:

    Still. At least Britain is now leading the world in Truly Hideous New Buildings




    LOOK AT IT

    The multicoloured place to its right (from the perspective of the photographer) - the Megaro Hotel - on the other hand looks far better in person, I stay there fairly often as it's convenient for me (office on Euston Road, commute from Durham). It's as if Camila Batmanghelidjh decorated a Premier Inn.
  • Starmer won’t last much longer.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 31,987

    MattW said:

    Who is Starmer going to appoint now?

    What a tragedy for the country. Starmer is freakishly bad at the politics thing, yet there is nobody in Labour, nor anywhere else, likely to do a better job.

    The issue is deeply structural, and the bond traders wait, licking their paws.

    Ben Wegg-Prosser.
    Cofounder of Mandelson's political consultancy, and still in a job there?

    That'll play well.

    Ooof !
    He resigned from Global Counsel on Friday so he's available.
    The CV will look a bit rancid, though.

    Imagine the meal the press would make of it.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 70,047
    I would say that McSweeney news means that Starmer, having talked it through with his family, has decided not to resign immediately (ie this coming week).

    Clearly, given he is, according to friends quoted in the STimes, "mortified" at what he has allowed to happen that was a distinct possibility.

    Otherwise why bother with CoStaff going on sunday afternoon?

  • Jim_MillerJim_Miller Posts: 3,710
    Here's a good summary of the Kansas Chiefs seasons:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Kansas_City_Chiefs_seasons

    As you can see, the last season must have been especially disappointing, because they had been doing so well.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 16,592

    Thanks @Benpointer

    Some interesting entries in there!!

    I see @algarkirk thinks the mid-terms will be voided. He/she could be right!!

    Yes. My prediction is that either they will not be held, or not be held in full, or held in circumstances where the 'international democratic community' knows the race to be fixed, or held apparently fairly but with suspect results and that in any of these cases there can be no 'number' which wins.

  • BattlebusBattlebus Posts: 2,452
    isam said:

    Keir Starmer is the Theresa May of the Labour Party.

    If we follow the logic of what happened in the Tory Party:

    Labour members will ultimately replace Starmer with their favourite Angela Rayner, much as Theresa was replaced by Boris.

    She will fail to achieve anything as the strings will still be pulled by the Labour illuminati and the British deep state.

    Labour MPs will tire of this and will eventually crown Wes Streeting, the Rishi Sunak, of the Labour Party - who is a creature of the system.

    Nothing will change and Labour will be crushed in the 2029 election.

    NB there is no Labour Liz Truss!


    https://x.com/trussliz/status/2020476823524524196?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q

    Labour have illuminati??
  • Brixian59Brixian59 Posts: 183
    McSweeney replacement will be key.

    It will need to be someone who allows MPs far more access to No 10 and 11 Downing Street than McSweeney did.

    Politically savvy
    Able to liase with Downing Street operation
    Popular across the general base.
    Respected across the parliamentary estate, at least by those reasonable enough not to be over tribal.

    One name springs to mind who could start today.

    Jonathan Ashworth

  • MattWMattW Posts: 31,987
    viewcode said:

    Eabhal said:

    Leon said:

    Still. At least Britain is now leading the world in Truly Hideous New Buildings




    LOOK AT IT

    I think that looks quite cool tbh - and I reckon the angle on the photo is exaggerating it somewhat. Battersea power station vibes.

    Though my frame of reference has been warped by the turd hotel. And the security wart on the Scottish Parliament.
    You can see it here:

    https://www.google.com/maps/place/King’s+Cross/@51.5300843,-0.1242034,3a,75y,128.56h,99.29t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sd_ZxrvVDoXaiMUFUcoN93Q!2e0!5s20250901T000000!6shttps://streetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com/v1/thumbnail?cb_client=maps_sv.tactile&w=900&h=600&pitch=-9.287157001855547&panoid=d_ZxrvVDoXaiMUFUcoN93Q&yaw=128.56295556341684!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x48761b3c5cbf139b:0x7be9c9cf71db38fb!8m2!3d51.5316034!4d-0.1235978!16zL20vMG0xMmg?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDIwNC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw==

    It doesn't look very nice, tbh.
    Helpful hint.

    Click on "share" in Streetview, then on "Copy Link", and you get this:

    https://maps.app.goo.gl/CGAKYfJM52AGWgoF6

  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 27,537
    MattW said:

    viewcode said:

    Eabhal said:

    Leon said:

    Still. At least Britain is now leading the world in Truly Hideous New Buildings




    LOOK AT IT

    I think that looks quite cool tbh - and I reckon the angle on the photo is exaggerating it somewhat. Battersea power station vibes.

    Though my frame of reference has been warped by the turd hotel. And the security wart on the Scottish Parliament.
    You can see it here:

    https://www.google.com/maps/place/King’s+Cross/@51.5300843,-0.1242034,3a,75y,128.56h,99.29t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sd_ZxrvVDoXaiMUFUcoN93Q!2e0!5s20250901T000000!6shttps://streetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com/v1/thumbnail?cb_client=maps_sv.tactile&w=900&h=600&pitch=-9.287157001855547&panoid=d_ZxrvVDoXaiMUFUcoN93Q&yaw=128.56295556341684!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x48761b3c5cbf139b:0x7be9c9cf71db38fb!8m2!3d51.5316034!4d-0.1235978!16zL20vMG0xMmg?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDIwNC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw==

    It doesn't look very nice, tbh.
    Helpful hint.

    Click on "share" in Streetview, then on "Copy Link", and you get this:

    https://maps.app.goo.gl/CGAKYfJM52AGWgoF6

    Helpful indeed, @MattW, thank you
  • AnneJGPAnneJGP Posts: 4,682

    MaxPB said:

    Morgan rightly points out, while accepting full responsibility, that the screening process is obviously fucked.

    I don't see how that's true. The security services and vetting process worked as intended and provided the PM with a long list reasons to not put Mandelson in, he chose to ignore it.

    What more could they have done? The PM has final authority and they can't overrule him. Maybe you think they should but that puts more power into the hands of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats. At least when the PM makes a bad decision we have the power to kick him out, how do we do that for civil servant who continually makes poor decisions?
    I don’t think they did provide a very good list of reasons.
    Essentially they just asked Mandelson himself if he was fit for the job, and maybe did a Google search.

    One would have hoped that British Intelligence had a file as long as your arm on Mandelson, but it seems not. As I say, the issue is a deeply structural collapse in British state capacity. Keir’s uselessness merely makes that obvious and undeniable.
    They are probably at full stretch watching out for hurtful tweets.
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 16,592

    Starmer won’t last much longer.

    My guess is that it's now matter of timing. When McS says:

    "The decision to appoint Peter Mandelson was wrong"

    that translates into ordinary words as:

    "The PM's decision to appoint Mandelson was wrong."

    He adds of course that McS himself was responsible for the advice but interestingly does not add that his advice was 'wrong'.

    Looked at carefully McS is actually saying that as night follows day, as the decision was wrong, the decider must follow him out of the window.

    Then rest is, of course flim-flam.
  • TazTaz Posts: 24,666
    Ouch

    ‘ Process: Prime Minister, we must warn you. Mandelson is still friends with a paedophile.

    PM: OK, but I'm going appoint him anyway.

    PM: the process let me down.’

    https://x.com/nj_timothy/status/2020509771791573416?s=61
  • LeonLeon Posts: 66,434
    MattW said:

    viewcode said:

    Eabhal said:

    Leon said:

    Still. At least Britain is now leading the world in Truly Hideous New Buildings




    LOOK AT IT

    I think that looks quite cool tbh - and I reckon the angle on the photo is exaggerating it somewhat. Battersea power station vibes.

    Though my frame of reference has been warped by the turd hotel. And the security wart on the Scottish Parliament.
    You can see it here:

    https://www.google.com/maps/place/King’s+Cross/@51.5300843,-0.1242034,3a,75y,128.56h,99.29t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sd_ZxrvVDoXaiMUFUcoN93Q!2e0!5s20250901T000000!6shttps://streetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com/v1/thumbnail?cb_client=maps_sv.tactile&w=900&h=600&pitch=-9.287157001855547&panoid=d_ZxrvVDoXaiMUFUcoN93Q&yaw=128.56295556341684!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x48761b3c5cbf139b:0x7be9c9cf71db38fb!8m2!3d51.5316034!4d-0.1235978!16zL20vMG0xMmg?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDIwNC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw==

    It doesn't look very nice, tbh.
    Helpful hint.

    Click on "share" in Streetview, then on "Copy Link", and you get this:

    https://maps.app.goo.gl/CGAKYfJM52AGWgoF6

    Sweet Jesus it’s far worse in reality. Facing the restrained delicacy of Kings Cross

    We are a nation determined on self harm. Determined to mutilate ourselves aesthetically, culturally, demographically, politically

    We are in every sense in a terrifying decline
  • Jim_MillerJim_Miller Posts: 3,710
    Taz asked: "Do they just play the other 3 teams repeatedly then ?"

    No. As I recall, each team plays each of the other teams in their division twice in a season.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 27,537
    edited 4:14PM
    Belgrove House Awards
    • 2023 World Architecture Festival Award (awarded)
    • 2025 BD Architect of the Year Awards 2025 (shortlisted)
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 57,716

    Eabhal said:

    MaxPB said:

    Eabhal said:

    MaxPB said:

    Morgan rightly points out, while accepting full responsibility, that the screening process is obviously fucked.

    I don't see how that's true. The security services and vetting process worked as intended and provided the PM with a long list reasons to not put Mandelson in, he chose to ignore it.

    What more could they have done? The PM has final authority and they can't overrule him. Maybe you think they should but that puts more power into the hands of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats. At least when the PM makes a bad decision we have the power to kick him out, how do we do that for civil servant who continually makes poor decisions?
    Agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment - too often "the blob" is blamed when anyone with two braincells would know that someone like Mandelson is a giant risk. The process excuse is pathetic, whether it's from the right or left.

    Though if it does turn out that the security services somehow missed all this stuff (or even ignored it under political direction?) then there should be accountability there too. Indeed the biggest scandal from partygate wasn't so much Johnson, but people like Simon Case and Martin Reynolds also breaking the rules. The senior civil service must be whiter than white on this kind of thing.
    Indeed and I'm hardly one to stick up for the civil service. The buck stops with the elected politicians and if the PM was being honest the clear thought process was they needed an Epstien cabal crook to deal with the Epstein cabal crook in White House. On that basis whatever the vetting said the decision was made already.

    Any moves to hand more power to unelected bureaucrats and committees should be resisted. Politicians are trying to dodge accountability for their decisions and somehow people are falling for it.
    For me this is the equivalent to Truss blaming the OBR (or BoE or the FT or whatever) for her budget going disastrously wrong. And we know what that meant for her time in No 10.
    More like Theresa May being forced to ditch Nick and Fiona, perhaps? She managed to hang on for longer than many expected but was replaced before the next election by the new man, renouncing all her works in the process.
    As Johnson's namesake Rian followed J J Abrams?
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 69,521
    It's clear that McSweeney wanted Mandelson as US Ambassador but he doesn't make the appointment, it is the PM and as the Lib Dems says the buck stops with the PM

    Starmer has no crediblity no matter how long he hangs on
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 59,815

    MaxPB said:

    Morgan rightly points out, while accepting full responsibility, that the screening process is obviously fucked.

    I don't see how that's true. The security services and vetting process worked as intended and provided the PM with a long list reasons to not put Mandelson in, he chose to ignore it.

    What more could they have done? The PM has final authority and they can't overrule him. Maybe you think they should but that puts more power into the hands of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats. At least when the PM makes a bad decision we have the power to kick him out, how do we do that for civil servant who continually makes poor decisions?
    I don’t think they did provide a very good list of reasons.
    Essentially they just asked Mandelson himself if he was fit for the job, and maybe did a Google search.

    One would have hoped that British Intelligence had a file as long as your arm on Mandelson, but it seems not. As I say, the issue is a deeply structural collapse in British state capacity. Keir’s uselessness merely makes that obvious and undeniable.
    So McSweeney’s gone, for apparently advising Starmer against hiring Mandy and then being overruled by the boss.

    As you say, it sounds like the decision had been made to put Mandy in Washington in the wake of Trump’s re-election, but everyone knew it was a risky appointment that could blow up in Starmer’s face.

    It was already known that Mandy was hanging around Epstein, and many Trump supporters (if not the president himself) went very big on releasing what the government had on file. It would be amazing if the PM didn’t ask the question of Mandy, if there was anything else that could possibly come out about him.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 33,958
    Battlebus said:

    isam said:

    Keir Starmer is the Theresa May of the Labour Party.

    If we follow the logic of what happened in the Tory Party:

    Labour members will ultimately replace Starmer with their favourite Angela Rayner, much as Theresa was replaced by Boris.

    She will fail to achieve anything as the strings will still be pulled by the Labour illuminati and the British deep state.

    Labour MPs will tire of this and will eventually crown Wes Streeting, the Rishi Sunak, of the Labour Party - who is a creature of the system.

    Nothing will change and Labour will be crushed in the 2029 election.

    NB there is no Labour Liz Truss!


    https://x.com/trussliz/status/2020476823524524196?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q

    Labour have illuminati??
    Liz Truss has a habit, even when she's making a good point, of introducing some bizarre concept from the outer reaches of Twitter (or perhaps just her own fancy), that makes her sound utterly bonkers.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 57,410
    Taz said:
    He looks like he needs extra vetting.
  • bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 23,226
    Brixian59 said:

    McSweeney replacement will be key.

    It will need to be someone who allows MPs far more access to No 10 and 11 Downing Street than McSweeney did.

    Politically savvy
    Able to liase with Downing Street operation
    Popular across the general base.
    Respected across the parliamentary estate, at least by those reasonable enough not to be over tribal.

    One name springs to mind who could start today.

    Jonathan Ashworth

    Lord Austin or John Would Cock
  • I’m backing either Streeting or Carns.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 31,987
    Leon said:

    MattW said:

    viewcode said:

    Eabhal said:

    Leon said:

    Still. At least Britain is now leading the world in Truly Hideous New Buildings




    LOOK AT IT

    I think that looks quite cool tbh - and I reckon the angle on the photo is exaggerating it somewhat. Battersea power station vibes.

    Though my frame of reference has been warped by the turd hotel. And the security wart on the Scottish Parliament.
    You can see it here:

    https://www.google.com/maps/place/King’s+Cross/@51.5300843,-0.1242034,3a,75y,128.56h,99.29t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sd_ZxrvVDoXaiMUFUcoN93Q!2e0!5s20250901T000000!6shttps://streetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com/v1/thumbnail?cb_client=maps_sv.tactile&w=900&h=600&pitch=-9.287157001855547&panoid=d_ZxrvVDoXaiMUFUcoN93Q&yaw=128.56295556341684!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x48761b3c5cbf139b:0x7be9c9cf71db38fb!8m2!3d51.5316034!4d-0.1235978!16zL20vMG0xMmg?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDIwNC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw==

    It doesn't look very nice, tbh.
    Helpful hint.

    Click on "share" in Streetview, then on "Copy Link", and you get this:

    https://maps.app.goo.gl/CGAKYfJM52AGWgoF6

    Sweet Jesus it’s far worse in reality. Facing the restrained delicacy of Kings Cross

    We are a nation determined on self harm. Determined to mutilate ourselves aesthetically, culturally, demographically, politically

    We are in every sense in a terrifying decline
    Leon said:

    MattW said:

    viewcode said:

    Eabhal said:

    Leon said:

    Still. At least Britain is now leading the world in Truly Hideous New Buildings




    LOOK AT IT

    I think that looks quite cool tbh - and I reckon the angle on the photo is exaggerating it somewhat. Battersea power station vibes.

    Though my frame of reference has been warped by the turd hotel. And the security wart on the Scottish Parliament.
    You can see it here:

    https://www.google.com/maps/place/King’s+Cross/@51.5300843,-0.1242034,3a,75y,128.56h,99.29t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sd_ZxrvVDoXaiMUFUcoN93Q!2e0!5s20250901T000000!6shttps://streetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com/v1/thumbnail?cb_client=maps_sv.tactile&w=900&h=600&pitch=-9.287157001855547&panoid=d_ZxrvVDoXaiMUFUcoN93Q&yaw=128.56295556341684!7i16384!8i8192!4m6!3m5!1s0x48761b3c5cbf139b:0x7be9c9cf71db38fb!8m2!3d51.5316034!4d-0.1235978!16zL20vMG0xMmg?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDIwNC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw==

    It doesn't look very nice, tbh.
    Helpful hint.

    Click on "share" in Streetview, then on "Copy Link", and you get this:

    https://maps.app.goo.gl/CGAKYfJM52AGWgoF6

    Sweet Jesus it’s far worse in reality. Facing the restrained delicacy of Kings Cross

    We are a nation determined on self harm. Determined to mutilate ourselves aesthetically, culturally, demographically, politically

    We are in every sense in a terrifying decline
    You need to write a column about this. For once I'll support a full on Spectator mutton chop rant.

    Somewhere there will be some Grade A architectural bollocks about how the monumental use of London Stock Yellow reflects the iconic use of brick in Kings Cross and the British Library.
  • BlancheLivermoreBlancheLivermore Posts: 7,499
    I’m very much hoping that Sir Keir goes a week tomorrow, during the Olympic Men’s Slalom final
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