Curtice is right. If the Tories lose control of big county councils in Tory heartlands like Norfolk and Suffolk and Sussex and Hampshire as well as weather vane marginal Harlow (all councils that until this week were due to have elections postponed ahead of planned reorganisation) that will be a big blow to Kemi. If the Tories also then fall to 3rd in the NEV behind Labour as well as Reform then a VONC by Tory MPs would be likely and Cleverly would likely replace Kemi as leader.
So the pressure is on both Kemi and SKS, whichever of them sees their party 3rd in May is likely a goner by the summer
They hold Harlow by one seat, its hardly going to rock the world if they lose it to NoC They lost Norfolk and East Sussex in 2013 of course so they are hardly monolithically Tory
Labour won the 2013 local elections and the Tories were still largest party in Norfolk and East Sussex in 2013
And?
Reform will almost certainly be largest party in Norfolk and probably East Sussex as well
Thats a natural extrapolation of their leading in the polls, yes. You thrn intetpret that as Cleverly time. Others disagree given its clearly not going to be
I really have no idea why @HYUFD includes Cleverly in near every post
The same Cleverly who sabotaged his own campaign by trying to be too 'cleverly' by half and can apparently now save the consevative party post May
I can understand the attacks on Kemi coming from her opponents but a so called conservative, not so
The whole 'they arent doing as well as when they got 35% NEV' argument for change 18 months after their heaviest ever defeat in a 5 party politcal set up is abject ridiculous nonsense and is in fact the sort of idiocy that has them where they are now
Fortunately i think the remaining Tory MPs arent so inclined
Only the half of them being protected by the "60 seat" strategy I suspect
Seriously, I know and if I know you know and if you know they know another leadership change will leave them open to even more ridicule than now. The corollary (as always) is to find the leader under whom they would be doing demonstrably better. The short answer is, there isn't one.
I've said for a while Badenoch has been doing well enough but May is likely to be difficult for the party with losses to Reform likely to offset gains from Labour. The truth is none of Cleverly, Coutinho or Lam would make any difference.
Cleverly would, for starters he would get more Labour and LD tactical votes in Tory seats to beat Reform, he also polls better with 2024 Tory voters
Curtice is right. If the Tories lose control of big county councils in Tory heartlands like Norfolk and Suffolk and Sussex and Hampshire as well as weather vane marginal Harlow (all councils that until this week were due to have elections postponed ahead of planned reorganisation) that will be a big blow to Kemi. If the Tories also then fall to 3rd in the NEV behind Labour as well as Reform then a VONC by Tory MPs would be likely and Cleverly would likely replace Kemi as leader.
So the pressure is on both Kemi and SKS, whichever of them sees their party 3rd in May is likely a goner by the summer
They hold Harlow by one seat, its hardly going to rock the world if they lose it to NoC They lost Norfolk and East Sussex in 2013 of course so they are hardly monolithically Tory
Labour won the 2013 local elections and the Tories were still largest party in Norfolk and East Sussex in 2013
And?
Reform will almost certainly be largest party in Norfolk and probably East Sussex as well
Thats a natural extrapolation of their leading in the polls, yes. You thrn intetpret that as Cleverly time. Others disagree given its clearly not going to be
I really have no idea why @HYUFD includes Cleverly in near every post
The same Cleverly who sabotaged his own campaign by trying to be too 'cleverly' by half and can apparently now save the consevative party post May
I can understand the attacks on Kemi coming from her opponents but a so called conservative, not so
The whole 'they arent doing as well as when they got 35% NEV' argument for change 18 months after their heaviest ever defeat in a 5 party politcal set up is abject ridiculous nonsense and is in fact the sort of idiocy that has them where they are now
Fortunately i think the remaining Tory MPs arent so inclined
When Rishi resigned the Tories were still 10% ahead of Reform, they are now 10% behind Reform.
Kemi has to at least stay second ahead of Labour in May or Tory MPs will decide most of them are goners anyway and they have no choice but to roll the dice on Cleverly, who could at least shore up the Sunak 2024 vote and win more Labour and LD tactical votes in Tory held seats to beat Reform than Kemi would have been able to
If the Tories get second are you going to stop ramping Cleverly?
If the Tories get second I will row in fully behind Kemi
Does character count? RFK, Jr. provides an interesting test:
On April 15, 1994, Kennedy married architect and designer Mary Kathleen Richardson, a close friend of his sister Kerry, aboard a research vessel on the Hudson River.[469][470] Kennedy has six children, two with Black and four with Richardson.[471]
During his marriage to Richardson, Kennedy was known among his friends for sending explicit nude photos of women that they presumed he had taken, according to Vanity Fair.[29] He reportedly engaged in multiple affairs during the marriage.[472][29][473] His friends later called him a “lifelong philanderer”.[474][475] On May 12, 2010, Kennedy filed for divorce from Richardson. On May 16, 2012, Richardson was found dead in a building on the grounds of her home in Bedford, New York. The Westchester County Medical Examiner ruled the death a suicide due to asphyxiation from hanging.
Before her death, Richardson had discovered Kennedy’s personal journal from 2001, in which he recorded sexual encounters with 37 different women. According to Kennedy, Richardson passed the journal along “to her sisters with instructions that, if anything happened to her, [it should be] published in the press”.
Labour are obviously scared of Kemi. Any Tories thinking about getting rid of her should reflect on that.
Labour are as scared of Kemi as they were of IDS and the Tories were at least still second in the polls under IDS not third like now
I am with you HY. She is going nowhere fast even whilst Starmer is firing blanks. Imagine the carnage if Labour could put someone into the PM roll who was even barely competent. Mind you as far as I am concerned I'd like to see her stay. Although I feel your frustration.
She is the Tories' answer to Ed Milliband.
No William Hague was the Tories Ed Miliband and both were very intelligent and deep thinkers even if too nerdy to be elected PM. Hague was also a great speaker and regularly beat Blair at PMQs.
Neither Hague nor Miliband saw their parties third either and Miliband often saw his Labour party leading the polls and even Hague saw the Tories win the 2000 local elections and make gains in 1998 and 1999
IDS did better in the 2003 local elections than Hague did in 2000. Maybe it was a mistake to force him out.
I expect it will be a bloodbath for both Tories and Labour. But the results in a handful of London Boroughs where journalists live will be the headline whatever happens.
Tories will gain Westminster and Barnet and hold Kensington and Chelsea I expect, Kemi may not do well with common people like you compared to Nige but she is rather popular with very posh rich people
She is very popular with my wife who is sick of the mans club in politics and my wife is neither posh or rich but is the salt of the earth
In your neck of the woods BigG I suspect even your dear lady is relatively posh and rich
My wife comes from a Scottish fishing community over generations, and you cannot get further from posh or rich as they laboured hard and honestly founded in their faith to protect their men at sea
Indeed my late father in law, a successful Scots fisherman awarded a BEM by late King George did not want to accept it, but his mp said you would insult the King to which he responded 'I wouldnt want to insult any man' and went to the Palace
My father in law compared fishing to mining both of which had dangers but he admired miners for going underground into danger
How many of your neighbours fathers received a BEM from King George? In North Wales you are both relatively posh now
You miss the point as always
My father in law and his brothers spent their working lives at sea and they went to Ireland with their boats and helped the Irish fishermen to adopt successful new fishing practices and that was why he received his award
He was not posh and you insult fishermen and their communities by even suggesting it
And as an aside none of them or me went to university but they learnt life lessons the hard way and remain ordinary honest citizens
Does character count? RFK, Jr. provides an interesting test:
On April 15, 1994, Kennedy married architect and designer Mary Kathleen Richardson, a close friend of his sister Kerry, aboard a research vessel on the Hudson River.[469][470] Kennedy has six children, two with Black and four with Richardson.[471]
During his marriage to Richardson, Kennedy was known among his friends for sending explicit nude photos of women that they presumed he had taken, according to Vanity Fair.[29] He reportedly engaged in multiple affairs during the marriage.[472][29][473] His friends later called him a “lifelong philanderer”.[474][475] On May 12, 2010, Kennedy filed for divorce from Richardson. On May 16, 2012, Richardson was found dead in a building on the grounds of her home in Bedford, New York. The Westchester County Medical Examiner ruled the death a suicide due to asphyxiation from hanging.
Before her death, Richardson had discovered Kennedy’s personal journal from 2001, in which he recorded sexual encounters with 37 different women. According to Kennedy, Richardson passed the journal along “to her sisters with instructions that, if anything happened to her, [it should be] published in the press”.
I have long said that — if a man’s wife doesn’t trust him — neither should we.
I didn't think my opinion of this prat could get any lower but hey, live and learn.
I don't think being a shitty husband or wife in itself means someone may not be trustworthy in a political sense, but there is a point where the personal shittiness is at such a level that you can't blame people for no longer trusting anything else.
I expect it will be a bloodbath for both Tories and Labour. But the results in a handful of London Boroughs where journalists live will be the headline whatever happens.
Tories will gain Westminster and Barnet and hold Kensington and Chelsea I expect, Kemi may not do well with common people like you compared to Nige but she is rather popular with very posh rich people
She is very popular with my wife who is sick of the mans club in politics and my wife is neither posh or rich but is the salt of the earth
In your neck of the woods BigG I suspect even your dear lady is relatively posh and rich
My wife comes from a Scottish fishing community over generations, and you cannot get further from posh or rich as they laboured hard and honestly founded in their faith to protect their men at sea
Indeed my late father in law, a successful Scots fisherman awarded a BEM by late King George did not want to accept it, but his mp said you would insult the King to which he responded 'I wouldnt want to insult any man' and went to the Palace
My father in law compared fishing to mining both of which had dangers but he admired miners for going underground into danger
How many of your neighbours fathers received a BEM from King George? In North Wales you are both relatively posh now
I thought the BEM was awarded for meritorious service, not poshness. Otherwise Rees-Mogg would have been awarded it, not Big G’s father in law.
I'm not sure it's strictly plausible to describe David Lammy in being one of the better Labour ministers, but I feel comfortable in saying he's surprised on the upside?
Does character count? RFK, Jr. provides an interesting test:
On April 15, 1994, Kennedy married architect and designer Mary Kathleen Richardson, a close friend of his sister Kerry, aboard a research vessel on the Hudson River.[469][470] Kennedy has six children, two with Black and four with Richardson.[471]
During his marriage to Richardson, Kennedy was known among his friends for sending explicit nude photos of women that they presumed he had taken, according to Vanity Fair.[29] He reportedly engaged in multiple affairs during the marriage.[472][29][473] His friends later called him a “lifelong philanderer”.[474][475] On May 12, 2010, Kennedy filed for divorce from Richardson. On May 16, 2012, Richardson was found dead in a building on the grounds of her home in Bedford, New York. The Westchester County Medical Examiner ruled the death a suicide due to asphyxiation from hanging.
Before her death, Richardson had discovered Kennedy’s personal journal from 2001, in which he recorded sexual encounters with 37 different women. According to Kennedy, Richardson passed the journal along “to her sisters with instructions that, if anything happened to her, [it should be] published in the press”.
I have long said that — if a man’s wife doesn’t trust him — neither should we.
I didn't think my opinion of this prat could get any lower but hey, live and learn.
I don't think being a shitty husband or wife in itself means someone may not be trustworthy in a political sense, but there is a point where the personal shittiness is at such a level that you can't blame people for no longer trusting anything else.
He is vile. And, by the way, at least partly responsible for the deaths of 4 children in 2025 who died of measles, the first to do so in the US in a decade.
Only a monster like Trump could surely bare to be in the same room as him.
The 7 Kent county councillors who got kicked out of Reform in the great Medway schism have joined Restore
So Reform kicks outs their most troublesome members and replaces them with unreliable, but more mainstream, Tories - probably a net win in terms of appealing widely?
Has anyone here ever been positively roused by a Starmehung on his every word.r speech?
I tried knocking one out but, alas. Starmer is the anti-spooge
No.
None of the current Party leaders are good orators.
Kemi is pretty good imo.
Chatgpt reckons that Farage is one of the best orators since 1945, and was central to mobilising Leave voters in the Brexit campaign.
The full list: 1. Winston Churchill 2. Enoch Powell 3. Margaret Thatcher 4. Tony Blair 5. Aneurin Bevan 6. Denis Healey 7. Michael Foot 8. Nigel Farage 9. William Hague 10. David Lloyd George
Honourable Mentions Robin Cook George Galloway Boris Johnson.
AI dross.
Although my great-great Uncle Will attended Lloyd George's funeral in Llanystumdwy in 1945. My grandfather remembered hearing Lloyd George speak in 1924, the crowd was in the thousands, and all hung on his every word. Not the case today, but that seems to be more a loss of deference than the entire fault of the politicians themselves.
He is vile. And, by the way, at least partly responsible for the deaths of 4 children in 2025 who died of measles, the first to do so in the US in a decade.
Only a monster like Trump could surely bare to be in the same room as him.
The rise in distrust of vaccines in general (not just specific ones) which people like him have helped spread (even if, for sake of argument, we say that was not their intention), has and is going to have serious and deadly consequences. Unlearning one of the incalculably good things humanity has learned.
Watch and then imagine a second or two later, Malcolm Tucker walks into the room and says "What the fuck do you two lameducks think you are up to?"
I have never liked Sir Keir at all, but his USP was as a boring, but competent, safe pair of hands, especially relative to Boris Johnson, and obviously the Boris haters lapped that up. Because they loathed Johnson, they saw charisma and humour as negatives, and therefore thought his polar opposite must be virtuous and sincere, because he was boring and humourless
Now Starmer has proven to weak and incompetent as PM, he is straining every sinew to be likeable and funny, and it is as painful as watching Theresa May dance on to stage at a Tory Conference. Apeing the kind of social media antics his fans used to tut over when it was the enemy. Humiliation
Labour are obviously scared of Kemi. Any Tories thinking about getting rid of her should reflect on that.
Labour are as scared of Kemi as they were of IDS and the Tories were at least still second in the polls under IDS not third like now
I am with you HY. She is going nowhere fast even whilst Starmer is firing blanks. Imagine the carnage if Labour could put someone into the PM roll who was even barely competent. Mind you as far as I am concerned I'd like to see her stay. Although I feel your frustration.
She is the Tories' answer to Ed Milliband.
No William Hague was the Tories Ed Miliband and both were very intelligent and deep thinkers even if too nerdy to be elected PM. Hague was also a great speaker and regularly beat Blair at PMQs.
Neither Hague nor Miliband saw their parties third either and Miliband often saw his Labour party leading the polls and even Hague saw the Tories win the 2000 local elections and make gains in 1998 and 1999
IDS did better in the 2003 local elections than Hague did in 2000. Maybe it was a mistake to force him out.
There's probably a paradox in such questions, since if someone was able to be forced out in such a way then does that suggest it was correct to happen even if later results were not good, since a good leader could have gotten through without being ousted?
Starting to think the Greens are most lilely to win the by-election.
That's funny, I was just thinking about a small lay bet on them.
Just watched an Owen Jones podcast about it. Framed around being a positive story on the greens, but the vox pops to me told a different story. A Burberry cap wearing lady annoyed at 'the immigrants' ended her segment by saying she would probably vote Green - which of course she won't. If that sort of thing is indicative of the wider population telling Green canvassers what they want to hear, the Greens will be massively overestimating their own support. Hannah seemed very nice, but fairly out of her depth. She had no idea what she'd do upon her election, just seemed to think the very fact that a Green female plumber would be elected would change politics.
I expect it will be a bloodbath for both Tories and Labour. But the results in a handful of London Boroughs where journalists live will be the headline whatever happens.
Tories will gain Westminster and Barnet and hold Kensington and Chelsea I expect, Kemi may not do well with common people like you compared to Nige but she is rather popular with very posh rich people
She is very popular with my wife who is sick of the mans club in politics and my wife is neither posh or rich but is the salt of the earth
In your neck of the woods BigG I suspect even your dear lady is relatively posh and rich
My wife comes from a Scottish fishing community over generations, and you cannot get further from posh or rich as they laboured hard and honestly founded in their faith to protect their men at sea
Indeed my late father in law, a successful Scots fisherman awarded a BEM by late King George did not want to accept it, but his mp said you would insult the King to which he responded 'I wouldnt want to insult any man' and went to the Palace
My father in law compared fishing to mining both of which had dangers but he admired miners for going underground into danger
How many of your neighbours fathers received a BEM from King George? In North Wales you are both relatively posh now
You miss the point as always
My father in law and his brothers spent their working lives at sea and they went to Ireland with their boats and helped the Irish fishermen to adopt successful new fishing practices and that was why he received his award
He was not posh and you insult fishermen and their communities by even suggesting it
And as an aside none of them or me went to university but they learnt life lessons the hard way and remain ordinary honest citizens
HYFUD. Stop it. BGW has explained. He’s the Cod father. You have no Plaice in this argument. It’s shellfish for you to continue. If you keep Carping on to knock BGW off his Perch then your Sole argument becomes no more than a red Herring. Bass-ically your arguments are small Fry so don’t get so Puff-ed up.
I expect it will be a bloodbath for both Tories and Labour. But the results in a handful of London Boroughs where journalists live will be the headline whatever happens.
Tories will gain Westminster and Barnet and hold Kensington and Chelsea I expect, Kemi may not do well with common people like you compared to Nige but she is rather popular with very posh rich people
She is very popular with my wife who is sick of the mans club in politics and my wife is neither posh or rich but is the salt of the earth
In your neck of the woods BigG I suspect even your dear lady is relatively posh and rich
My wife comes from a Scottish fishing community over generations, and you cannot get further from posh or rich as they laboured hard and honestly founded in their faith to protect their men at sea
Indeed my late father in law, a successful Scots fisherman awarded a BEM by late King George did not want to accept it, but his mp said you would insult the King to which he responded 'I wouldnt want to insult any man' and went to the Palace
My father in law compared fishing to mining both of which had dangers but he admired miners for going underground into danger
How many of your neighbours fathers received a BEM from King George? In North Wales you are both relatively posh now
You miss the point as always
My father in law and his brothers spent their working lives at sea and they went to Ireland with their boats and helped the Irish fishermen to adopt successful new fishing practices and that was why he received his award
He was not posh and you insult fishermen and their communities by even suggesting it
And as an aside none of them or me went to university but they learnt life lessons the hard way and remain ordinary honest citizens
HYFUD. Stop it. BGW has explained. He’s the Cod father. You have no Plaice in this argument. It’s shellfish for you to continue. If you keep Carping on to knock BGW off his Perch then your Sole argument becomes no more than a red Herring. Bass-ically your arguments are small Fry so don’t get so Puff-ed up.
Has anyone here ever been positively roused by a Starmehung on his every word.r speech?
I tried knocking one out but, alas. Starmer is the anti-spooge
No.
None of the current Party leaders are good orators.
Kemi is pretty good imo.
Chatgpt reckons that Farage is one of the best orators since 1945, and was central to mobilising Leave voters in the Brexit campaign.
The full list: 1. Winston Churchill 2. Enoch Powell 3. Margaret Thatcher 4. Tony Blair 5. Aneurin Bevan 6. Denis Healey 7. Michael Foot 8. Nigel Farage 9. William Hague 10. David Lloyd George
Honourable Mentions Robin Cook George Galloway Boris Johnson.
AI dross.
Although my great-great Uncle Will attended Lloyd George's funeral in Llanystumdwy in 1945. My grandfather remembered hearing Lloyd George speak in 1924, the crowd was in the thousands, and all hung on his every word. Not the case today, but that seems to be more a loss of deference than the entire fault of the politicians themselves.
I've visited his grave in Llanystumdwy.
Smooth stones, with leaf mould, above a waterfall. Hauntingly beautiful but fuck me it was slippery. I went over and nearly broke my ankle.
Starting to think the Greens are most lilely to win the by-election.
Goodwin's problem is his humourlessness.
Also his invincible belief in his own infallibility and his inability to believe that somebody who disagrees with him may have a point. Plus if he's in a black suit and white shirt he looks like a monochrome photograph.
Starting to think the Greens are most lilely to win the by-election.
Goodwin's problem is his humourlessness.
Also his invincible belief in his own infallibility and his inability to believe that somebody who disagrees with him may have a point. Plus if he's in a black suit and white shirt he looks like a monochrome photograph.
For a moment I thought that you were probably describing the PM
He is vile. And, by the way, at least partly responsible for the deaths of 4 children in 2025 who died of measles, the first to do so in the US in a decade.
Only a monster like Trump could surely bare to be in the same room as him.
The rise in distrust of vaccines in general (not just specific ones) which people like him have helped spread (even if, for sake of argument, we say that was not their intention), has and is going to have serious and deadly consequences. Unlearning one of the incalculably good things humanity has learned.
Clearly the posts under the line after he posted his Ramadan greetings last year hit home, this year he made sure not to forget Christians preparing for Lent
Literally every day there is some mad story about something Matt Goodwin, who in terms of 'actually viable candidates for a parliamentary seat' is the by-election candidate furthest from public opinion since, what...Bermondsey 1983?
He is vile. And, by the way, at least partly responsible for the deaths of 4 children in 2025 who died of measles, the first to do so in the US in a decade.
Only a monster like Trump could surely bare to be in the same room as him.
The rise in distrust of vaccines in general (not just specific ones) which people like him have helped spread (even if, for sake of argument, we say that was not their intention), has and is going to have serious and deadly consequences. Unlearning one of the incalculably good things humanity has learned.
Starting to think the Greens are most lilely to win the by-election.
Goodwin's problem is his humourlessness.
Also his invincible belief in his own infallibility and his inability to believe that somebody who disagrees with him may have a point. Plus if he's in a black suit and white shirt he looks like a monochrome photograph.
For a moment I thought that you were probably describing the PM
Goodwin has convictions and the courage of them. Starmer gets up in the morning and waits for somebody to tell him what to think.
I expect it will be a bloodbath for both Tories and Labour. But the results in a handful of London Boroughs where journalists live will be the headline whatever happens.
Tories will gain Westminster and Barnet and hold Kensington and Chelsea I expect, Kemi may not do well with common people like you compared to Nige but she is rather popular with very posh rich people
She is very popular with my wife who is sick of the mans club in politics and my wife is neither posh or rich but is the salt of the earth
In your neck of the woods BigG I suspect even your dear lady is relatively posh and rich
My wife comes from a Scottish fishing community over generations, and you cannot get further from posh or rich as they laboured hard and honestly founded in their faith to protect their men at sea
Indeed my late father in law, a successful Scots fisherman awarded a BEM by late King George did not want to accept it, but his mp said you would insult the King to which he responded 'I wouldnt want to insult any man' and went to the Palace
My father in law compared fishing to mining both of which had dangers but he admired miners for going underground into danger
How many of your neighbours fathers received a BEM from King George? In North Wales you are both relatively posh now
You miss the point as always
My father in law and his brothers spent their working lives at sea and they went to Ireland with their boats and helped the Irish fishermen to adopt successful new fishing practices and that was why he received his award
He was not posh and you insult fishermen and their communities by even suggesting it
And as an aside none of them or me went to university but they learnt life lessons the hard way and remain ordinary honest citizens
HYFUD. Stop it. BGW has explained. He’s the Cod father. You have no Plaice in this argument. It’s shellfish for you to continue. If you keep Carping on to knock BGW off his Perch then your Sole argument becomes no more than a red Herring. Bass-ically your arguments are small Fry so don’t get so Puff-ed up.
Starting to think the Greens are most lilely to win the by-election.
Goodwin's problem is his humourlessness.
Also his invincible belief in his own infallibility and his inability to believe that somebody who disagrees with him may have a point. Plus if he's in a black suit and white shirt he looks like a monochrome photograph.
For a moment I thought that you were probably describing the PM
Goodwin has convictions and the courage of them. Starmer gets up in the morning and waits for somebody to tell him what to think.
I reckon that Starmer is convinced that he's a goodie, so all of his decisions are good
The trans rights backlash is extremely real and very worrying for progressives.
The public is aligned with conservatives on several issues like sports, restrooms, and minors' access to care. It's possibly the worst issue for progressives I've ever polled.
The 7 Kent county councillors who got kicked out of Reform in the great Medway schism have joined Restore
So Reform kicks outs their most troublesome members and replaces them with unreliable, but more mainstream, Tories - probably a net win in terms of appealing widely?
Except, how long before the first Reform Tory retread wanders off to Restore?
In immigration news, FO has found a new wheeze to pi** off the British but not British. They can F.O. if they think they can collect £589 from me. Another U-turn in the making.
Under the existing rules, a dual national is able to travel to the UK using a passport issued by a second country - but from 25 February that will no longer be the case.
Instead, they will need to show either a British passport, or a document called a certificate of entitlement - and without one of them, they could face being denied the right to travel back to the UK.
Emirates Airlines in Dubai tried something similar about a year ago and got educated.
Nope. Irish passports are like upgraded British ones.
The Irish passport really is the king of passports. Watching the Brits sweat in various European passport queues as they sail through serenely must be some sweet Irish karma for those centuries of oppression.
I am generally a big fan of the legacy of Empire, but we really should have ended the bizarre and anomalous status of Irish citizens in this country when we left the EU. Either they should have taken British citizenship, or be treated as any other foreigners, which they are. And of course got rid of Northern Ireland too and saved ourselves more even than our outrageous EU contributions..
In fact, we really should have done all that after the Second World War, when their sympathies were so obviously on the Nazi side.
On 21 February 1945 Viscount Cranborne, the British Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, presented a memorandum to the British War Cabinet regarding Irish–British collaboration during 1939–1945:[43]
They agreed to our use of Lough Foyle for naval and air purposes. The ownership of the Lough is disputed, but the Southern Irish authorities are tacitly not pressing their claim in present conditions and are also ignoring any flying by our aircraft over the Donegal shore of the Lough, which is necessary in certain wind conditions to enable flying boats to take off from the Lough. They have agreed to use by our aircraft based on Lough Erne of a corridor over Southern Irish territory and territorial waters for the purpose of flying out to the Atlantic. They have arranged for the immediate transmission to the United Kingdom Representative's Office in Dublin of reports of submarine activity received from their coast watching service. They arranged for the broadening of reports by their Air observation Corps of aircraft sighted over or approaching Southern Irish territory. (This does not include our aircraft using the corridor referred to in (b) above.) They arranged for the extinction of trade and business lighting in coastal towns where such lighting was alleged to afford a useful landmark for German aircraft. They have continued to supply us with meteorological reports. They have agreed to the use by our ships and aircraft of two wireless direction-finding stations at Malin Head. They have supplied particulars of German crashed aircraft and personnel crashed or washed ashore or arrested on land. They arranged for staff talks on the question of co-operation against a possible German invasion of Southern Ireland, and close contact has since been maintained between the respective military authorities. They continue to intern all German fighting personnel reaching Southern Ireland. On the other hand, though after protracted negotiations, Allied service personnel are now allowed to depart freely and full assistance is given in recovering damaged aircraft. Recently, in connection with the establishment of prisoner of war camps in Northern Ireland, they have agreed to return or at least intern any German prisoners who may escape from Northern Ireland across the border to Southern Ireland. They have throughout offered no objection to the departure from Southern Ireland of persons wishing to serve in the United Kingdom Forces nor to the journey on leave of such persons to and from Southern Ireland (in plain clothes). They have continued to exchange information with our security authorities regarding all aliens (including Germans) in Southern Ireland. They have (within the last few days) agreed to our establishing a radar station in Southern Ireland for use against the latest form of submarine activity.
I expect it will be a bloodbath for both Tories and Labour. But the results in a handful of London Boroughs where journalists live will be the headline whatever happens.
Tories will gain Westminster and Barnet and hold Kensington and Chelsea I expect, Kemi may not do well with common people like you compared to Nige but she is rather popular with very posh rich people
She is very popular with my wife who is sick of the mans club in politics and my wife is neither posh or rich but is the salt of the earth
In your neck of the woods BigG I suspect even your dear lady is relatively posh and rich
My wife comes from a Scottish fishing community over generations, and you cannot get further from posh or rich as they laboured hard and honestly founded in their faith to protect their men at sea
Indeed my late father in law, a successful Scots fisherman awarded a BEM by late King George did not want to accept it, but his mp said you would insult the King to which he responded 'I wouldnt want to insult any man' and went to the Palace
My father in law compared fishing to mining both of which had dangers but he admired miners for going underground into danger
How many of your neighbours fathers received a BEM from King George? In North Wales you are both relatively posh now
You miss the point as always
My father in law and his brothers spent their working lives at sea and they went to Ireland with their boats and helped the Irish fishermen to adopt successful new fishing practices and that was why he received his award
He was not posh and you insult fishermen and their communities by even suggesting it
And as an aside none of them or me went to university but they learnt life lessons the hard way and remain ordinary honest citizens
90% of people never went to uni then and I expect most of your neighbours don't have the rather ample ex senior police officer's pension you have
Labour are obviously scared of Kemi. Any Tories thinking about getting rid of her should reflect on that.
Labour are as scared of Kemi as they were of IDS and the Tories were at least still second in the polls under IDS not third like now
I am with you HY. She is going nowhere fast even whilst Starmer is firing blanks. Imagine the carnage if Labour could put someone into the PM roll who was even barely competent. Mind you as far as I am concerned I'd like to see her stay. Although I feel your frustration.
She is the Tories' answer to Ed Milliband.
No William Hague was the Tories Ed Miliband and both were very intelligent and deep thinkers even if too nerdy to be elected PM. Hague was also a great speaker and regularly beat Blair at PMQs.
Neither Hague nor Miliband saw their parties third either and Miliband often saw his Labour party leading the polls and even Hague saw the Tories win the 2000 local elections and make gains in 1998 and 1999
IDS did better in the 2003 local elections than Hague did in 2000. Maybe it was a mistake to force him out.
Starting to think the Greens are most lilely to win the by-election.
Goodwin's problem is his humourlessness.
Also his invincible belief in his own infallibility and his inability to believe that somebody who disagrees with him may have a point. Plus if he's in a black suit and white shirt he looks like a monochrome photograph.
For a moment I thought that you were probably describing the PM
Goodwin has convictions and the courage of them. Starmer gets up in the morning and waits for somebody to tell him what to think.
I reckon that Starmer is convinced that he's a goodie, so all of his decisions are good
Starting to think the Greens are most lilely to win the by-election.
Goodwin's problem is his humourlessness.
Also his invincible belief in his own infallibility and his inability to believe that somebody who disagrees with him may have a point. Plus if he's in a black suit and white shirt he looks like a monochrome photograph.
For a moment I thought that you were probably describing the PM
Goodwin has convictions and the courage of them. Starmer gets up in the morning and waits for somebody to tell him what to think.
I reckon that Starmer is convinced that he's a goodie, so all of his decisions are good
The 7 Kent county councillors who got kicked out of Reform in the great Medway schism have joined Restore
So Reform kicks outs their most troublesome members and replaces them with unreliable, but more mainstream, Tories - probably a net win in terms of appealing widely?
Except, how long before the first Reform Tory retread wanders off to Restore?
A few maybe, but probably not the high profile ones - they scent power.
I expect it will be a bloodbath for both Tories and Labour. But the results in a handful of London Boroughs where journalists live will be the headline whatever happens.
Tories will gain Westminster and Barnet and hold Kensington and Chelsea I expect, Kemi may not do well with common people like you compared to Nige but she is rather popular with very posh rich people
She is very popular with my wife who is sick of the mans club in politics and my wife is neither posh or rich but is the salt of the earth
In your neck of the woods BigG I suspect even your dear lady is relatively posh and rich
My wife comes from a Scottish fishing community over generations, and you cannot get further from posh or rich as they laboured hard and honestly founded in their faith to protect their men at sea
Indeed my late father in law, a successful Scots fisherman awarded a BEM by late King George did not want to accept it, but his mp said you would insult the King to which he responded 'I wouldnt want to insult any man' and went to the Palace
My father in law compared fishing to mining both of which had dangers but he admired miners for going underground into danger
How many of your neighbours fathers received a BEM from King George? In North Wales you are both relatively posh now
You miss the point as always
My father in law and his brothers spent their working lives at sea and they went to Ireland with their boats and helped the Irish fishermen to adopt successful new fishing practices and that was why he received his award
He was not posh and you insult fishermen and their communities by even suggesting it
And as an aside none of them or me went to university but they learnt life lessons the hard way and remain ordinary honest citizens
90% of people never went to uni then and I expect most of your neighbours don't have the rather ample ex senior police officer's pension you have
What senior officer police pension ?
After 6 months in Edinburgh City Police my father, mother , sister , wife and I came to Llandudno and took over a very busy newsagents and grocers
The 7 Kent county councillors who got kicked out of Reform in the great Medway schism have joined Restore
So Reform kicks outs their most troublesome members and replaces them with unreliable, but more mainstream, Tories - probably a net win in terms of appealing widely?
Except, how long before the first Reform Tory retread wanders off to Restore?
Dorries, Gullis, Berry. Never mind the quality, feel the width
Starting to think the Greens are most lilely to win the by-election.
That's funny, I was just thinking about a small lay bet on them.
Just watched an Owen Jones podcast about it. Framed around being a positive story on the greens, but the vox pops to me told a different story. A Burberry cap wearing lady annoyed at 'the immigrants' ended her segment by saying she would probably vote Green - which of course she won't. If that sort of thing is indicative of the wider population telling Green canvassers what they want to hear, the Greens will be massively overestimating their own support. Hannah seemed very nice, but fairly out of her depth. She had no idea what she'd do upon her election, just seemed to think the very fact that a Green female plumber would be elected would change politics.
It's between Reform and Labour for me.
To nail my colours to the mast: if there's value in the market, I think it's the bet on Reform... but I think the Greens are most likely to win.
I've just watched Small Prophets on BBC iPlayer. Very weird and wonderful. Highly recommend.
I note that it teased more with a to be continued. In some ways, yes, I’d love more. But in others irs almost a perfect package. Hope series two doesn’t drop off.
I expect it will be a bloodbath for both Tories and Labour. But the results in a handful of London Boroughs where journalists live will be the headline whatever happens.
Tories will gain Westminster and Barnet and hold Kensington and Chelsea I expect, Kemi may not do well with common people like you compared to Nige but she is rather popular with very posh rich people
She is very popular with my wife who is sick of the mans club in politics and my wife is neither posh or rich but is the salt of the earth
In your neck of the woods BigG I suspect even your dear lady is relatively posh and rich
My wife comes from a Scottish fishing community over generations, and you cannot get further from posh or rich as they laboured hard and honestly founded in their faith to protect their men at sea
Indeed my late father in law, a successful Scots fisherman awarded a BEM by late King George did not want to accept it, but his mp said you would insult the King to which he responded 'I wouldnt want to insult any man' and went to the Palace
My father in law compared fishing to mining both of which had dangers but he admired miners for going underground into danger
How many of your neighbours fathers received a BEM from King George? In North Wales you are both relatively posh now
You miss the point as always
My father in law and his brothers spent their working lives at sea and they went to Ireland with their boats and helped the Irish fishermen to adopt successful new fishing practices and that was why he received his award
He was not posh and you insult fishermen and their communities by even suggesting it
And as an aside none of them or me went to university but they learnt life lessons the hard way and remain ordinary honest citizens
90% of people never went to uni then and I expect most of your neighbours don't have the rather ample ex senior police officer's pension you have
What senior officer police pension ?
After 6 months in Edinburgh City Police my father, mother , sister , wife and I came to Llandudno and took over a very busy newsagents and grocers
So you became a business owner not a member of the proletariat
The only good news, if any, in this comes from my friends brother in law. He’s a police detective who works on these cases. The good news? Many, many of these sick fuckers are terminally stupid and computer illiterate, so catching them and finding evidence is trivial.
The only good news, if any, in this comes from my friends brother in law. He’s a police detective who works on these cases. The good news? Many, many of these sick fuckers are terminally stupid and computer illiterate, so catching them and finding evidence is trivial.
With between 710 000 and 840 000 expressing sexual interest in children, it is still only the tip of the iceberg.
So around 1% of the population, or as most are men close to 1 in 50 men. So pretty much one on every street. No wonder Epstein found so many like minds.
I expect it will be a bloodbath for both Tories and Labour. But the results in a handful of London Boroughs where journalists live will be the headline whatever happens.
Tories will gain Westminster and Barnet and hold Kensington and Chelsea I expect, Kemi may not do well with common people like you compared to Nige but she is rather popular with very posh rich people
She is very popular with my wife who is sick of the mans club in politics and my wife is neither posh or rich but is the salt of the earth
In your neck of the woods BigG I suspect even your dear lady is relatively posh and rich
My wife comes from a Scottish fishing community over generations, and you cannot get further from posh or rich as they laboured hard and honestly founded in their faith to protect their men at sea
Indeed my late father in law, a successful Scots fisherman awarded a BEM by late King George did not want to accept it, but his mp said you would insult the King to which he responded 'I wouldnt want to insult any man' and went to the Palace
My father in law compared fishing to mining both of which had dangers but he admired miners for going underground into danger
How many of your neighbours fathers received a BEM from King George? In North Wales you are both relatively posh now
You miss the point as always
My father in law and his brothers spent their working lives at sea and they went to Ireland with their boats and helped the Irish fishermen to adopt successful new fishing practices and that was why he received his award
He was not posh and you insult fishermen and their communities by even suggesting it
And as an aside none of them or me went to university but they learnt life lessons the hard way and remain ordinary honest citizens
90% of people never went to uni then and I expect most of your neighbours don't have the rather ample ex senior police officer's pension you have
What senior officer police pension ?
After 6 months in Edinburgh City Police my father, mother , sister , wife and I came to Llandudno and took over a very busy newsagents and grocers
So you became a business owner not a member of the proletariat
I owned and developed two successful businesses and prided in the way I treated my staff and in particular the female staff who were respected equal to male staff
Even years after I retired they remain in contact and good friends
The 7 Kent county councillors who got kicked out of Reform in the great Medway schism have joined Restore
So Reform kicks outs their most troublesome members and replaces them with unreliable, but more mainstream, Tories - probably a net win in terms of appealing widely?
Except, how long before the first Reform Tory retread wanders off to Restore?
Dorries, Gullis, Berry. Never mind the quality, feel the width
I expect it will be a bloodbath for both Tories and Labour. But the results in a handful of London Boroughs where journalists live will be the headline whatever happens.
Tories will gain Westminster and Barnet and hold Kensington and Chelsea I expect, Kemi may not do well with common people like you compared to Nige but she is rather popular with very posh rich people
She is very popular with my wife who is sick of the mans club in politics and my wife is neither posh or rich but is the salt of the earth
In your neck of the woods BigG I suspect even your dear lady is relatively posh and rich
My wife comes from a Scottish fishing community over generations, and you cannot get further from posh or rich as they laboured hard and honestly founded in their faith to protect their men at sea
Indeed my late father in law, a successful Scots fisherman awarded a BEM by late King George did not want to accept it, but his mp said you would insult the King to which he responded 'I wouldnt want to insult any man' and went to the Palace
My father in law compared fishing to mining both of which had dangers but he admired miners for going underground into danger
How many of your neighbours fathers received a BEM from King George? In North Wales you are both relatively posh now
You miss the point as always
My father in law and his brothers spent their working lives at sea and they went to Ireland with their boats and helped the Irish fishermen to adopt successful new fishing practices and that was why he received his award
He was not posh and you insult fishermen and their communities by even suggesting it
And as an aside none of them or me went to university but they learnt life lessons the hard way and remain ordinary honest citizens
HYFUD. Stop it. BGW has explained. He’s the Cod father. You have no Plaice in this argument. It’s shellfish for you to continue. If you keep Carping on to knock BGW off his Perch then your Sole argument becomes no more than a red Herring. Bass-ically your arguments are small Fry so don’t get so Puff-ed up.
Some turbot-charged fish punning there...
He was only asking him to be an Angel, and Cuttle it out.
I expect it will be a bloodbath for both Tories and Labour. But the results in a handful of London Boroughs where journalists live will be the headline whatever happens.
Tories will gain Westminster and Barnet and hold Kensington and Chelsea I expect, Kemi may not do well with common people like you compared to Nige but she is rather popular with very posh rich people
She is very popular with my wife who is sick of the mans club in politics and my wife is neither posh or rich but is the salt of the earth
In your neck of the woods BigG I suspect even your dear lady is relatively posh and rich
My wife comes from a Scottish fishing community over generations, and you cannot get further from posh or rich as they laboured hard and honestly founded in their faith to protect their men at sea
Indeed my late father in law, a successful Scots fisherman awarded a BEM by late King George did not want to accept it, but his mp said you would insult the King to which he responded 'I wouldnt want to insult any man' and went to the Palace
My father in law compared fishing to mining both of which had dangers but he admired miners for going underground into danger
How many of your neighbours fathers received a BEM from King George? In North Wales you are both relatively posh now
You miss the point as always
My father in law and his brothers spent their working lives at sea and they went to Ireland with their boats and helped the Irish fishermen to adopt successful new fishing practices and that was why he received his award
He was not posh and you insult fishermen and their communities by even suggesting it
And as an aside none of them or me went to university but they learnt life lessons the hard way and remain ordinary honest citizens
90% of people never went to uni then and I expect most of your neighbours don't have the rather ample ex senior police officer's pension you have
What senior officer police pension ?
After 6 months in Edinburgh City Police my father, mother , sister , wife and I came to Llandudno and took over a very busy newsagents and grocers
So you became a business owner not a member of the proletariat
“Norfolk and Suffolk, East and West Sussex… these are just the kind of shire Tory councils where Reform made a breakthrough in last year’s local elections,” he writes.
Not like the Independent to make such an obvious typo.
I've just watched Small Prophets on BBC iPlayer. Very weird and wonderful. Highly recommend.
I note that it teased more with a to be continued. In some ways, yes, I’d love more. But in others irs almost a perfect package. Hope series two doesn’t drop off.
I hope they stop there. It was a perfect ending.
When Casey first shouted at The King, he put his tail in his mouth. It was full of little touches like that.
EXCL: Kemi Badenoch is mulling a plan to ease the student debt crisis crippling millions.
The Tory leader is looking at help for graduates on controversial plan 2 student loans.
The Sun understands Ms Badenoch wants to seize the issue as a vote-winner while rivals avoid it.
A Tory source said: "This is about who we stand for as Conservatives under Kemi. Labour are spending more & more on benefits for people to sit at home on their backside, while punishing people in work who want to get on. That it isn’t fair and we need a proper plan to sort it.”
EXCL: Kemi Badenoch is mulling a plan to ease the student debt crisis crippling millions.
The Tory leader is looking at help for graduates on controversial plan 2 student loans.
The Sun understands Ms Badenoch wants to seize the issue as a vote-winner while rivals avoid it.
A Tory source said: "This is about who we stand for as Conservatives under Kemi. Labour are spending more & more on benefits for people to sit at home on their backside, while punishing people in work who want to get on. That it isn’t fair and we need a proper plan to sort it.”
EXCL: Kemi Badenoch is mulling a plan to ease the student debt crisis crippling millions.
The Tory leader is looking at help for graduates on controversial plan 2 student loans.
The Sun understands Ms Badenoch wants to seize the issue as a vote-winner while rivals avoid it.
A Tory source said: "This is about who we stand for as Conservatives under Kemi. Labour are spending more & more on benefits for people to sit at home on their backside, while punishing people in work who want to get on. That it isn’t fair and we need a proper plan to sort it.”
EXCL: Kemi Badenoch is mulling a plan to ease the student debt crisis crippling millions.
The Tory leader is looking at help for graduates on controversial plan 2 student loans.
The Sun understands Ms Badenoch wants to seize the issue as a vote-winner while rivals avoid it.
A Tory source said: "This is about who we stand for as Conservatives under Kemi. Labour are spending more & more on benefits for people to sit at home on their backside, while punishing people in work who want to get on. That it isn’t fair and we need a proper plan to sort it.”
EXCL: Kemi Badenoch is mulling a plan to ease the student debt crisis crippling millions.
The Tory leader is looking at help for graduates on controversial plan 2 student loans.
The Sun understands Ms Badenoch wants to seize the issue as a vote-winner while rivals avoid it.
A Tory source said: "This is about who we stand for as Conservatives under Kemi. Labour are spending more & more on benefits for people to sit at home on their backside, while punishing people in work who want to get on. That it isn’t fair and we need a proper plan to sort it.”
Comments
Farage lies outside the overlap.
You can certainly see why RFK would fit in very well with the Trump crowd. Just their kind of bro.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_United_Kingdom_local_elections
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_United_Kingdom_local_elections
My father in law and his brothers spent their working lives at sea and they went to Ireland with their boats and helped the Irish fishermen to adopt successful new fishing practices and that was why he received his award
He was not posh and you insult fishermen and their communities by even suggesting it
And as an aside none of them or me went to university but they learnt life lessons the hard way and remain ordinary honest citizens
https://x.com/i/status/2023855525566267542
I don't think being a shitty husband or wife in itself means someone may not be trustworthy in a political sense, but there is a point where the personal shittiness is at such a level that you can't blame people for no longer trusting anything else.
BBC News - Cabinet secretary frontrunner faced multiple bullying complaints
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0zjw5pz48o
Old news 10 years ago.
Rehash by Mason
The Tories loved this woman, highly impressed them.
She gets the job on merit
He is vile. And, by the way, at least partly responsible for the deaths of 4 children in 2025 who died of measles, the first to do so in the US in a decade.
Only a monster like Trump could surely bare to be in the same room as him.
Although my great-great Uncle Will attended Lloyd George's funeral in Llanystumdwy in 1945. My grandfather remembered hearing Lloyd George speak in 1924, the crowd was in the thousands, and all hung on his every word. Not the case today, but that seems to be more a loss of deference than the entire fault of the politicians themselves.
Now Starmer has proven to weak and incompetent as PM, he is straining every sinew to be likeable and funny, and it is as painful as watching Theresa May dance on to stage at a Tory Conference. Apeing the kind of social media antics his fans used to tut over when it was the enemy. Humiliation
In your world allegations of bullying can be dismissed
It is that poor judgment that saw Starmer appoint Mandelson and Doyle
Just watched an Owen Jones podcast about it. Framed around being a positive story on the greens, but the vox pops to me told a different story. A Burberry cap wearing lady annoyed at 'the immigrants' ended her segment by saying she would probably vote Green - which of course she won't. If that sort of thing is indicative of the wider population telling Green canvassers what they want to hear, the Greens will be massively overestimating their own support. Hannah seemed very nice, but fairly out of her depth. She had no idea what she'd do upon her election, just seemed to think the very fact that a Green female plumber would be elected would change politics.
It's between Reform and Labour for me.
Smooth stones, with leaf mould, above a waterfall. Hauntingly beautiful but fuck me it was slippery. I went over and nearly broke my ankle.
https://x.com/i/status/2023700931351634216
@Keir_Starmer
Wishing a happy Shrove Tuesday to everyone who is celebrating.
Rooted in Christian tradition, today is an opportunity to reflect on the values that bring us together.
https://x.com/Keir_Starmer/status/2023728127407538393
Nine years ago, under the then administration.
https://bsky.app/profile/teaforpterosaur.bsky.social/post/3mf2r24pzvs26
And tossed.
Stephen Bush
@stephenkb.bsky.social
Literally every day there is some mad story about something Matt Goodwin, who in terms of 'actually viable candidates for a parliamentary seat' is the by-election candidate furthest from public opinion since, what...Bermondsey 1983?
https://bsky.app/profile/stephenkb.bsky.social/post/3mf2idfwbhk2r
Treat as amusement only.
Is it? Isn't Shrove the period of repentance and confession?
Starmer gets up in the morning and waits for somebody to tell him what to think.
Even if someone else makes them for him
https://x.com/lxeagle17/status/2023744570308317232
The trans rights backlash is extremely real and very worrying for progressives.
The public is aligned with conservatives on several issues like sports, restrooms, and minors' access to care. It's possibly the worst issue for progressives I've ever polled.
They agreed to our use of Lough Foyle for naval and air purposes. The ownership of the Lough is disputed, but the Southern Irish authorities are tacitly not pressing their claim in present conditions and are also ignoring any flying by our aircraft over the Donegal shore of the Lough, which is necessary in certain wind conditions to enable flying boats to take off from the Lough.
They have agreed to use by our aircraft based on Lough Erne of a corridor over Southern Irish territory and territorial waters for the purpose of flying out to the Atlantic.
They have arranged for the immediate transmission to the United Kingdom Representative's Office in Dublin of reports of submarine activity received from their coast watching service.
They arranged for the broadening of reports by their Air observation Corps of aircraft sighted over or approaching Southern Irish territory. (This does not include our aircraft using the corridor referred to in (b) above.)
They arranged for the extinction of trade and business lighting in coastal towns where such lighting was alleged to afford a useful landmark for German aircraft.
They have continued to supply us with meteorological reports.
They have agreed to the use by our ships and aircraft of two wireless direction-finding stations at Malin Head.
They have supplied particulars of German crashed aircraft and personnel crashed or washed ashore or arrested on land.
They arranged for staff talks on the question of co-operation against a possible German invasion of Southern Ireland, and close contact has since been maintained between the respective military authorities.
They continue to intern all German fighting personnel reaching Southern Ireland. On the other hand, though after protracted negotiations, Allied service personnel are now allowed to depart freely and full assistance is given in recovering damaged aircraft.
Recently, in connection with the establishment of prisoner of war camps in Northern Ireland, they have agreed to return or at least intern any German prisoners who may escape from Northern Ireland across the border to Southern Ireland.
They have throughout offered no objection to the departure from Southern Ireland of persons wishing to serve in the United Kingdom Forces nor to the journey on leave of such persons to and from Southern Ireland (in plain clothes).
They have continued to exchange information with our security authorities regarding all aliens (including Germans) in Southern Ireland.
They have (within the last few days) agreed to our establishing a radar station in Southern Ireland for use against the latest form of submarine activity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_neutrality_during_World_War_II#The_Cranborne_Report
After 6 months in Edinburgh City Police my father, mother , sister , wife and I came to Llandudno and took over a very busy newsagents and grocers
Daisy Eastlake
@daisyeastlake
EXCL: Zack Polanski will take on a Labour grandee for a north London seat at the next election
The leader of the Green Party said he was considering running in Hackney, Walthamstow or Tottenham, close to where he lives
https://x.com/daisyeastlake/status/2023851514335494237
Mike Rounds says Republicans just want to make you show your document with a yellow star in order to vote
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3mf3jeuseu72a
Netflix has started streaming Stargate SG-1 today.
Chevron seven locked.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/feb/17/police-arresting-1000-paedophile-suspects-a-month-across-uk?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
MacKenzie Crook has a happy knack of making funny and relatable comedies, Detectorists was equally good
https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/threats-2025/nsa-csa-2025
So around 1% of the population, or as most are men close to 1 in 50 men. So pretty much one on every street. No wonder Epstein found so many like minds.
Even years after I retired they remain in contact and good friends
Not like the Independent to make such an obvious typo.
When Casey first shouted at The King, he put his tail in his mouth. It was full of little touches like that.
Oh. And “do you sell buckets?”
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DU3Tc78D_vn/
https://x.com/hoffman_noa/status/2023874848016265674
EXCL: Kemi Badenoch is mulling a plan to ease the student debt crisis crippling millions.
The Tory leader is looking at help for graduates on controversial plan 2 student loans.
The Sun understands Ms Badenoch wants to seize the issue as a vote-winner while rivals avoid it.
A Tory source said: "This is about who we stand for as Conservatives under Kemi. Labour are spending more & more on benefits for people to sit at home on their backside, while punishing people in work who want to get on. That it isn’t fair and we need a proper plan to sort it.”
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/38255041/kemi-badenoch-student-debt-crisis-plans/
So no.
No-one else is.