With the local elections only a week ago I am very pleased to alert to you tomorrow’s PB/Polling Matters podcast when Keiran Pedley’s guest will be Professor Colin Rallings who with Professor Michael Thrasher are just about the country’s leading experts on local elections. Prof Rallings will also be known to those who watch the ITV general election programmes.
Comments
Have a pleasant and relaxing nights rest one and all
Good night
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/209433
FPT weddings, I certainly know people who have turned down a wedding invitation because it was a Catholic wedding or because the couple have previously been married and subsequently divorced. It's not typical, but people occasionally agonise over giving support to something they disagree with.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUHNFY1ksPw
It’s depressing how many expensive new homes have only one oven. It’s so limiting!
You just need to chillax
For many Britons, cooking is something to watch on TV, while eating confectionary. Gogglebox is not a random sample of Britons, but it certainly is a representatively obese sample.
Perhaps it’s time to charge VAT on foods other than fresh produce.
'Not enough fucks to give: An analysis of the British electorate'
Cooking is something where the dividing line between pleasant and unpleasant experience is narrow.
https://twitter.com/hendopolis/status/989260202917711874
https://splinternews.com/trumps-va-nominee-was-abusive-often-drunk-and-handed-1825546525
Cooking is fun
I do almost all the cooking in our household. Because I genuinely enjoy it. Of course, this does mean that my children are forced to endure my culinary creations...
Edit to add: you can also eat incredibly well and cheaply. Chicken risotto can probably be done (and delicious) for well under £1/portion.
Strange that his lawyer/fixer just did that:
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/04/trump-lawyer-michael-cohen-takes-the-fifth-in-stormy-daniels-civil-case.html
Priceless.
The Lords don’t care: they hate Brexit, the Lab-LD block is a solid one, and they will do anything they can to hobble and cripple Brexit, no matter what the consequences.
They are being egged on by those who agree with them.
Sometimes - after a long day at work - you just can’t be arsed.
Her evidence makes it quite clear* that she has little or no idea what is going on in her department, and ought to resign. What makes it less than inevitable is that some of the more significant lacunae in her knowledge - targets for deportation, for instance - were about policies clearly instituted when May was Home Secretary.
* I am assuming she was telling the truth.
Wouldn’t know an original thought if it bit her on the leg.
Tennis: Paire bet yesterday didn't come off. Think I might reduce my stakes even more....
It is ludicrous for her still to be in such ignorance of how immigration enforcement actually works.
Rudd gestured between herself and May, apparently seeking clarification. I don't think Theresa will have liked that...
It is of course quite clear that May holds every but as much, likely rather more responsibility for the whole mess.
From the Sun's account:
Respected crossbench peer Lord Lisvane said that instead of ministers being able to introduce post-Brexit regulations where "appropriate", the bar should be set higher at where it was "necessary".
He said: 'I accept "necessary" is a high bar but "appropriate" is a bar so low that it would challenge even the most lithe and determined limbo dancer.'
Lord Lisvane said the issue was about the balance of power between ministers and Parliament.
He added: 'Whichever side of the Brexit argument they stand, people might reasonably believe that "taking back control" would be under the sovereignty of Parliament rather than ceding swathes of power to the Executive.'
ETA links:
Hansard: https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/business-papers/lords/lords-divisions/?dd=2018-04-25&division=1
The Sun (from the tweet):
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6144496/unelected-lords-inflict-seventh-major-defeat-on-pms-eu-withdrawal-bill/
At the present time estimates of the number of illegal immigrants in the UK vary between 450k and 850k. It is, as they say, a target rich environment. Why on earth would the HO not have targets for expulsions given the present backlog will take between 10 and 20 years at the current rate? If Rudd really doesn't have targets now there is something far wrong with the way she runs her department. The number of expulsions actually achieved, roughly 40k a year, is pathetic given the money spent.
And would likely be counterproductive, as Rudd is useful distraction from May's own responsibility for the was the Home Office runs.
Extremely unlikely to be the new leader, and probably unwanted by May's replacement. If and when May goes, Rudd is now part of her toxic legacy.
She won’t be the next leader.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/germany-to-push-for-exemptions-on-u-s-sanctions-on-russia-1524047030?redirect=amp#click=https://t.co/coJXmaV0nS
A family member who lives in Thailand and is married to a Thai got a British passport for his new-born daughter in 2014. He and his wife (who has a visitors visa) and family (there are two older children) came to UK without problem later that year and have done so several times since. All three children have both British and Thai passports.
At 22/1 on betfair I think she is value.