London is a city not 1 of the 4 countries and provinces of the UK like Scotland, Wales and NI. If there was going to be a new Secretary of State, I would have thought a Secretary of State for England more important than a Secretary of State for London? London at least has its own Mayor and Assembly anyway, England has no Parliament or Minister at all. Plus, if London gets its own Secretary of State, why not Birmingham or Manchester too?
Appealing to London is also largely a lost cause for the Tories now outside of Mayoral and Assembly elections, the Tories did not even win London in 2015 when they won a majority let alone 2017 when they did not. Until 1997 London was a key swing region at general elections, now it is safe Labour, the key swing regions now are the Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber.
Have the tweets of Henry Bolton's racist bidie-in been done yet? I keep thinking that UKIP's degradation with each successive leader has to stop at some point, but no.
Covered last night.
I thought about doing a thread on it but thought a Kippers being racist thread was up there with dog bites man.
Plus as TLG86 pointed out last night she’s incredibly thick/uneducated if she thinks the progeny of Harry and Meghan are going to end up on the throne.
Wasn’t she making a slippery slope argument? Like if we tolerate this then George might end up with an arranged marriage or something.
George wouldn't stand for that. Look how it ended the last time the Royals tried it.
With London profoundly alienated from the present government in the wake of the Brexit vote, that looks a dangerous line to take in the long term. There’s only so long that Londoners will put up with being taken for mugs.
Perhaps we could build a wall - and make the provinces pay for it.
Congrats AM, you have managed to find an issue even more provocative than Brexit.
Can we hope for the London Independence Party to make an appearnace in the May local elections ?
A July 2016 Evening Standard poll had just 11% of Londoners wanting independence, only 4% more than the 7% who wanted to scrap the London Assembly. The most popular option with 32% was the status quo and to keep the London Assembly
London is a city not 1 of the 4 countries and provinces of the UK like Scotland, Wales and NI. If there was going to be a new Secretary of State, I would have thought a Secretary of State for England more important than a Secretary of State for London? London at least has its own Mayor and Assembly anyway, England has no Parliament or Minister at all. Plus, if London gets its own Secretary of State, why not Birmingham or Manchester too?
Appealing to London is also largely a lost cause for the Tories now outside of Mayoral and Assembly elections, the Tories did not even win London in 2015 when they won a majority let alone 2017 when they did not. Until 1997 London was a key swing region at general elections, now it is safe Labour, the key swing regions now are the Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland do not have Secretaries of State because they are component parts of the UK: they were awarded them separately, relatively recently and for different reasons. You're retrofitting a rationale. London has a much better claim than any of them.
Pure anecdote - I was once told quite seriously by a Londoner that every graduate lives in London for a time. When I pointed out that I do not live in London, never have and almost certainly never will, he refused to believe me. He then told me I was a fool because I'd be on three times the money in London. When I pointed out that on my salary I have a three-bedroom house with garage and garden and in London I wouldn't even be able to afford a flat, he then started telling me that it was because of his subsidies that I could afford it and ranting about house prices in London. It never occurred to him to wonder if perhaps his choice to stay in London was the problem, rather than my salary.
According to the ONS media income in 2014/15 was £21,600 in Staffordshire and £26,400 in London.
I still cherish the memory of the poster from Surrey who thought three-bed ex council houses in Bury were worth £450,000 and was really shocked to see how wrong he was when I persuaded him to look on Zoopla.
LOL
House prices are almost a different language between North and South which need translating - "He's got a really posh house worth nearly £500k, that would be over a million down here".
Have the tweets of Henry Bolton's racist bidie-in been done yet? I keep thinking that UKIP's degradation with each successive leader has to stop at some point, but no.
I've been wondering from the get-go whether there isn't some sort of honeytrap/sting operation going on, in that Bolton hasn't the looks, charm or money that generally attract 25 y.o. models, and surely the "cachet" of leading UKIP isn't enough to bridge the gap? Then again, if she thinks harry n meg are going to put a little octoroon on the throne, she possibly also thinks Bolton is next PM, nailed on.
With London profoundly alienated from the present government in the wake of the Brexit vote, that looks a dangerous line to take in the long term. There’s only so long that Londoners will put up with being taken for mugs.
Perhaps we could build a wall - and make the provinces pay for it.
If only, the provinces have no money. They depend on handouts from London...
London is a city not 1 of the 4 countries and provinces of the UK like Scotland, Wales and NI. If there was going to be a new Secretary of State, I would have thought a Secretary of State for England more important than a Secretary of State for London? London at least has its own Mayor and Assembly anyway, England has no Parliament or Minister at all. Plus, if London gets its own Secretary of State, why not Birmingham or Manchester too?
Appealing to London is also largely a lost cause for the Tories now outside of Mayoral and Assembly elections, the Tories did not even win London in 2015 when they won a majority let alone 2017 when they did not. Until 1997 London was a key swing region at general elections, now it is safe Labour, the key swing regions now are the Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber.
The Tories still have 21 seats - quite sizeable.
Agree that the direction of travel is strongly Labour though. Next GE moment will be "were you still up for Uxbridge" - can't wait....
With London profoundly alienated from the present government in the wake of the Brexit vote, that looks a dangerous line to take in the long term. There’s only so long that Londoners will put up with being taken for mugs.
Perhaps we could build a wall - and make the provinces pay for it.
If only, the provinces have no money. They depend on handouts from London...
In that case would you please have a word with HMRC so that I don't have to pay thousands and my employer millions in tax every year.
With London profoundly alienated from the present government in the wake of the Brexit vote, that looks a dangerous line to take in the long term. There’s only so long that Londoners will put up with being taken for mugs.
Perhaps we could build a wall - and make the provinces pay for it.
If only, the provinces have no money. They depend on handouts from London...
In that case would you please have a word with HMRC so that I don't have to pay thousands and my employer millions in tax every year.
Touchy much?? The general gist of my statement is of course true.
I don't really see the point of this proposal. But I did think Charles' suggeston of the Mayor of London attending Cabinet was an interesting and elegant seeming answer.
The response from our friends in the Scottish independence movement has been a bit muted. I seem to remember during the Indyref being regularly schooled by them that far from subsidising the rest of the country, London was in fact swallowing far too high a proportion of Government spending. A case of Remainerism making strange bedfellows?
London is a city not 1 of the 4 countries and provinces of the UK like Scotland, Wales and NI. If there was going to be a new Secretary of State, I would have thought a Secretary of State for England more important than a Secretary of State for London? London at least has its own Mayor and Assembly anyway, England has no Parliament or Minister at all. Plus, if London gets its own Secretary of State, why not Birmingham or Manchester too?
Appealing to London is also largely a lost cause for the Tories now outside of Mayoral and Assembly elections, the Tories did not even win London in 2015 when they won a majority let alone 2017 when they did not. Until 1997 London was a key swing region at general elections, now it is safe Labour, the key swing regions now are the Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland do not have Secretaries of State because they are component parts of the UK: they were awarded them separately, relatively recently and for different reasons. You're retrofitting a rationale. London has a much better claim than any of them.
Given England has neither a Parliament or Assembly I would say it has a better claim to its own Secretary of State than all of them
The values, aspirations, culture and outlook of London and other cosmopolitan sophisticated cities in the UK and other parts of the UK are very different. Brexit just exemplified this huge difference.
London is a city not 1 of the 4 countries and provinces of the UK like Scotland, Wales and NI. If there was going to be a new Secretary of State, I would have thought a Secretary of State for England more important than a Secretary of State for London? London at least has its own Mayor and Assembly anyway, England has no Parliament or Minister at all. Plus, if London gets its own Secretary of State, why not Birmingham or Manchester too?
Appealing to London is also largely a lost cause for the Tories now outside of Mayoral and Assembly elections, the Tories did not even win London in 2015 when they won a majority let alone 2017 when they did not. Until 1997 London was a key swing region at general elections, now it is safe Labour, the key swing regions now are the Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber.
The Tories still have 21 seats - quite sizeable.
Agree that the direction of travel is strongly Labour though. Next GE moment will be "were you still up for Uxbridge" - can't wait....
21 seats out of 73 in London ie less than a third.
Short of a Labour landslide though the Tories should still win Uxbridge, Labour did not even win it in 1997
With London profoundly alienated from the present government in the wake of the Brexit vote, that looks a dangerous line to take in the long term. There’s only so long that Londoners will put up with being taken for mugs.
Perhaps we could build a wall - and make the provinces pay for it.
If only, the provinces have no money. They depend on handouts from London...
In that case would you please have a word with HMRC so that I don't have to pay thousands and my employer millions in tax every year.
Touchy much?? The general gist of my statement is of course true.
Not touchy at all, merely trying to be amusing.
Of course you could extend your argument to 'London has no money, it depends on handouts from financial services'.
I don't really see the point of this proposal. But I did think Charles' suggeston of the Mayor of London attending Cabinet was an interesting and elegant seeming answer.
The response from our friends in the Scottish independence movement has been a bit muted. I seem to remember during the Indyref being regularly schooled by them that far from subsidising the rest of the country, London was in fact swallowing far too high a proportion of Government spending. A case of Remainerism making strange bedfellows?
Well a lot more money is spent on subsidising transport around London than in the rest of the country...
London is a city not 1 of the 4 countries and provinces of the UK like Scotland, Wales and NI. If there was going to be a new Secretary of State, I would have thought a Secretary of State for England more important than a Secretary of State for London? London at least has its own Mayor and Assembly anyway, England has no Parliament or Minister at all. Plus, if London gets its own Secretary of State, why not Birmingham or Manchester too?
Appealing to London is also largely a lost cause for the Tories now outside of Mayoral and Assembly elections, the Tories did not even win London in 2015 when they won a majority let alone 2017 when they did not. Until 1997 London was a key swing region at general elections, now it is safe Labour, the key swing regions now are the Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber.
The Tories still have 21 seats - quite sizeable.
Agree that the direction of travel is strongly Labour though. Next GE moment will be "were you still up for Uxbridge" - can't wait....
21 seats out of 73 in London ie less than a third.
Short of a Labour landslide though the Tories should still win Uxbridge, Labour did not even win it in 1997
Labour didn't win Kensington or Canterbury in 1997 either.
I really think Boris must know where some bodies are buried, or has some very powerful friends - he should have been chopped in the reshuffle and 100 times before. I can't see anyone being particularly upset. And I can't see him being any kind of threat from the backbenches - he's not wholehearted enough Brexiteer to attack May from that angle, and he can't very well join the Remoaners. It is unfathomable. She could even be nice and throw him a bone like DCMS if she really wanted, but personally I think the country would applaud her if she gave him the Osborne taxi treatment.
London is a city not 1 of the 4 countries and provinces of the UK like Scotland, Wales and NI. If there was going to be a new Secretary of State, I would have thought a Secretary of State for England more important than a Secretary of State for London? London at least has its own Mayor and Assembly anyway, England has no Parliament or Minister at all. Plus, if London gets its own Secretary of State, why not Birmingham or Manchester too?
Appealing to London is also largely a lost cause for the Tories now outside of Mayoral and Assembly elections, the Tories did not even win London in 2015 when they won a majority let alone 2017 when they did not. Until 1997 London was a key swing region at general elections, now it is safe Labour, the key swing regions now are the Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber.
The Tories still have 21 seats - quite sizeable.
Agree that the direction of travel is strongly Labour though. Next GE moment will be "were you still up for Uxbridge" - can't wait....
21 seats out of 73 in London ie less than a third.
Short of a Labour landslide though the Tories should still win Uxbridge, Labour did not even win it in 1997
Labour didn't win Kensington or Canterbury in 1997 either.
Labour won Regent's Park and Kensington North in 1997 which covered most of the current Kensington seat. Canterbury was down to the student vote
I really think Boris must know where some bodies are buried, or has some very powerful friends - he should have been chopped in the reshuffle and 100 times before. I can't see anyone being particularly upset. And I can't see him being any kind of threat from the backbenches - he's not wholehearted enough Brexiteer to attack May from that angle, and he can't very well join the Remoaners. It is unfathomable. She could even be nice and throw him a bone like DCMS if she really wanted, but personally I think the country would applaud her if she gave him the Osborne taxi treatment.
Boris is still the most electable and charismatic current Tory MP as his record proves and perhaps the only Tory at the moment who can win a majority against Corbyn
I really think Boris must know where some bodies are buried, or has some very powerful friends - he should have been chopped in the reshuffle and 100 times before. I can't see anyone being particularly upset. And I can't see him being any kind of threat from the backbenches - he's not wholehearted enough Brexiteer to attack May from that angle, and he can't very well join the Remoaners. It is unfathomable. She could even be nice and throw him a bone like DCMS if she really wanted, but personally I think the country would applaud her if she gave him the Osborne taxi treatment.
If Boris is sacked then he can trigger a leadership challenge that Theresa May will lose. That is why the Prime Minister cannot move against Boris or any of the other big beasts. We, and they, cannot be sure who will win, which is why there is no leadership challenge yet -- but it is a racing certainty Theresa May will be forced out. Boris survives on that basis.
The values, aspirations, culture and outlook of London and other cosmopolitan sophisticated cities in the UK and other parts of the UK are very different. Brexit just exemplified this huge difference.
I dunno, people set up these differences in their minds, but having lived in Brighton, London, Nottingham and now Surrey. I'm not convinced the cultures are as different as one thinks - or rather the obvious differences are outweighed by underlying similarities.
The values, aspirations, culture and outlook of London and other cosmopolitan sophisticated cities in the UK and other parts of the UK are very different. Brexit just exemplified this huge difference.
I dunno, people set up these differences in their minds, but having lived in Brighton, London, Nottingham and now Surrey. I'm not convinced the cultures are as different as one thinks - or rather the obvious differences are outweighed by underlying similarities.
I really think Boris must know where some bodies are buried, or has some very powerful friends - he should have been chopped in the reshuffle and 100 times before. I can't see anyone being particularly upset. And I can't see him being any kind of threat from the backbenches - he's not wholehearted enough Brexiteer to attack May from that angle, and he can't very well join the Remoaners. It is unfathomable. She could even be nice and throw him a bone like DCMS if she really wanted, but personally I think the country would applaud her if she gave him the Osborne taxi treatment.
If Boris is sacked then he can trigger a leadership challenge that Theresa May will lose. That is why the Prime Minister cannot move against Boris or any of the other big beasts. We, and they, cannot be sure who will win, which is why there is no leadership challenge yet -- but it is a racing certainty Theresa May will be forced out. Boris survives on that basis.
I really think Boris must know where some bodies are buried, or has some very powerful friends - he should have been chopped in the reshuffle and 100 times before. I can't see anyone being particularly upset. And I can't see him being any kind of threat from the backbenches - he's not wholehearted enough Brexiteer to attack May from that angle, and he can't very well join the Remoaners. It is unfathomable. She could even be nice and throw him a bone like DCMS if she really wanted, but personally I think the country would applaud her if she gave him the Osborne taxi treatment.
Don't be silly. Boris was the face of Brexit in the referendum, he would be a very powerful enemy. Lyndon Johnson's tent maxim works very well.
How many stories are going to be written about no change in Sturgeon's position. This is like the 100th where she's reiterated her position.
Given June's result im Scotland May and Parliament would block any new indyref2 demand anyway
If they do you may see a bit of a sea change in the Scottish political media - Unionist of impeccable credentials like David Clegg and Kenny Farquarson have made it clear that Sturgeon has the moral right via vote in Holyrood to bring forward IndyRef2 and blocking it at Westminster (where the SNP hold a majority of Scottish MPs) would affront to democracy.
They are happy to write SNP-bad articles as their bread and butter but they are still democrats at their core.
The values, aspirations, culture and outlook of London and other cosmopolitan sophisticated cities in the UK and other parts of the UK are very different. Brexit just exemplified this huge difference.
I dunno, people set up these differences in their minds, but having lived in Brighton, London, Nottingham and now Surrey. I'm not convinced the cultures are as different as one thinks - or rather the obvious differences are outweighed by underlying similarities.
True, but also true of us and our Continental cousins
How many stories are going to be written about no change in Sturgeon's position. This is like the 100th where she's reiterated her position.
Given June's result im Scotland May and Parliament would block any new indyref2 demand anyway
If they do you may see a bit of a sea change in the Scottish political media - Unionist of impeccable credentials like David Clegg and Kenny Farquarson have made it clear that Sturgeon has the moral right via vote in Holyrood to bring forward IndyRef2 and blocking it at Westminster (where the SNP hold a majority of Scottish MPs) would affront to democracy.
They are happy to write SNP-bad articles as their bread and butter but they are still democrats at their core.
So what, given Spain's actions in Catalonia May will easily get away with quietly refusing an indyref2. Plus on current polls there will be a unionist majority at the next Holyrood elections anyway
The values, aspirations, culture and outlook of London and other cosmopolitan sophisticated cities in the UK and other parts of the UK are very different. Brexit just exemplified this huge difference.
I dunno, people set up these differences in their minds, but having lived in Brighton, London, Nottingham and now Surrey. I'm not convinced the cultures are as different as one thinks - or rather the obvious differences are outweighed by underlying similarities.
True, but also true of us and our Continental cousins
Yes. In my last job I went to 25 countries in 3 years - it really struck me how alike people in the same sort of jobs were in different countries.
Comments
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/L10386/2018/03/31/advanced
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-42674567
Appealing to London is also largely a lost cause for the Tories now outside of Mayoral and Assembly elections, the Tories did not even win London in 2015 when they won a majority let alone 2017 when they did not. Until 1997 London was a key swing region at general elections, now it is safe Labour, the key swing regions now are the Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber.
Can we hope for the London Independence Party to make an appearnace in the May local elections ?
I forgot some of you Leavers are such snowflakes that you get easily triggered.
For the reggae....
(We are the ones still having a laugh about that result in June 2016. Your lot? Not so much....)
Perhaps we could build a wall - and make the provinces pay for it.
So far Sadiq Khan is successfully running ahead of the whip. He has judged London's mood well.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_independence
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/952525384242876416
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-and-tax-by-borough-and-district-or-unitary-authority-2010-to-2011#history LOL
House prices are almost a different language between North and South which need translating - "He's got a really posh house worth nearly £500k, that would be over a million down here".
Agree that the direction of travel is strongly Labour though. Next GE moment will be "were you still up for Uxbridge" - can't wait....
says all that needs to be said.
The response from our friends in the Scottish independence movement has been a bit muted. I seem to remember during the Indyref being regularly schooled by them that far from subsidising the rest of the country, London was in fact swallowing far too high a proportion of Government spending. A case of Remainerism making strange bedfellows?
Short of a Labour landslide though the Tories should still win Uxbridge, Labour did not even win it in 1997
Of course you could extend your argument to 'London has no money, it depends on handouts from financial services'.
NEW THREAD
They are happy to write SNP-bad articles as their bread and butter but they are still democrats at their core.