Labour National Executive Committee elections results published
CLP section 9 reps elected are
Luke AKEHURST (Labour to Win) Laura PIDCOCK (Grassroots Voice) Johanna BAXTER (Labour to Win) Gemma BOLTON (Grassroots Voice) Gurinder Singh JOSAN (Labour to Win) Ann BLACK (Open Labour) Yasmine DAR (Grassroots Voice) Nadia JAMA (Grassroots Voice) Mish RAHMAN (Grassroots Voice)
For the first time they used STV for NEC elections.
Labour To Win voters clearly can't be arsed to scroll down, if you want to get on the NEC you need to change your name to Aardvark.
I can be arsed to scroll down but Black, Akehurst, Josan and Baxter were still my first four preferences.
I suppose the question now becomes how the Government's presentation and "tone" will adapt. Those that got Johnson into power are gone and he is now looking less Presidential and more like the leader of a collective Government (primus inter pares so to speak).
Is the parallel the departure of Sir Alan Walters from the Thatcher Government? Once again the lesson is politics is best left to the politicians - advisers can advise but that doesn't mean they are the Government. Ministers may feel a shade more empowered but a shade more exposed - that's no bad thing.
As for Johnson, I think this will help - he can be his own man (as long as he does what Allegra and Carrie tell him) but he has to now take that step forward and embrace the authority and the responsibility. It's been an incredibly difficult year and would have been for any PM but there's a huge opportunity to build on what has happened so that post-Covid Britain isn't just pre-Covid Britain.
Dom’s demise has obscured the news that the left appears to have lost two seats in Labour’s NEC elections, though a bit better than had been expected according to Labour List. Laura Pidcock (who she - ed) was successful.
That's a relatively good result for the Labour left getting 5/6 of the GV candidates elected and considering the no. of left wingers who may have recently quit the party. Ann Henderson presumably didn't get elected because there is a really low membership in Scotland and which is not skewed to the left.
It's a disasterous result for the Labour left. In the CLP section they were 9-0 at the start of this year. Now they are 5-4. They have lost their one Welsh rep too. So effectively that's 10-0 votes for the left back to 5-5 ie net 10 votes lost.
Starmer now has a very secure working majority on the NEC, something he couldn't bank on before.
It was always going to be difficult for an incomer who treats senior civil servants like something he'd wipe off his shoes to do so without consequences. They know their way around better than he does. They were going get their revenge and it's well deserved.
Lets hope it leaves Johnson as exposed as everyone expects. He's not in the Bullindon club anymore and behaving like an inconsiderate shit is no longer attractive
It's fascinating to read how American conservatives are reacting to the defeat of Donald Trump. On the one hand, there's an argument it wasn't a bad result in that it showed a clear constituency for what it is being defined as the "new conservative" message - a mix of social conservatism and economic populism.
It's an intriguing argument and replaces the previous economic liberalism with a greater emphasis on protectionism so how a "global" economy can operate a protectionist agenda isn't well explained.
The other side of American conservatism is those who continue to allege all kinds of electoral fraud and manipulation and are struggling to accept that their side might, this time, have lost.
In 2016, Beaver County voted 58-39 for Trump, the current results for the county this time are 58-41 for Trump so a swing of 1% to Biden. In 2020, Trump won Pennsylvania by 0.6% but he is now 0.9% behind so that's a swing of 0.75% so one could argue the strong Republican counties have moved as strongly to Biden as the rest of the county.
Yet apparently "everyone" voted for Trump or rather, a Trump supporter who attended a Trump rally told an American conservative reporter all his friends and everyone he knows also voted Trump so how could Biden win the state?
The answer is the swing required by Biden to win the State was tiny and he clearly achieved that across the State yet we are to believe there has been wholesale corruption and fraud.
I remember seeing a tweet the day before the election saying Trump needed a 16-point lead on ballots cast on the day to off-set the Biden advantage in mail-in ballots. In the end, Trump won on the day by 14 so he was always going to struggle to hold the state.
It's about creating a myth - a myth that Trump was "stabbed in the back" (pace 1918) by the election process even in states where Republicans controlled the process.
I'd go as far as to argue Republicans have a choice - perhaps they need to exorcise Trump and his supporters from the fold and let them run as a third party as Theodore Roosevelt did in 1912. Yes, they'll likely lose and lose big to the Democrats in 2024 but by 2028, with Trump and his kind marginalised, a moderate Republican would have a very good chance of regaining the White House.
To paraphrase what a wise man (Rassillon I believe) once said "to lose is to win and he who wins shall lose". Sometimes it's necessary to lose and take a loss to act as a final catalyst for change and progress.
I always assumed given his vast ambition and vaster ego that Cummings would have to be carried out of Downing Street in a box, rather than walk out carrying one.
It's fascinating to read how American conservatives are reacting to the defeat of Donald Trump. On the one hand, there's an argument it wasn't a bad result in that it showed a clear constituency for what it is being defined as the "new conservative" message - a mix of social conservatism and economic populism.
It's an intriguing argument and replaces the previous economic liberalism with a greater emphasis on protectionism so how a "global" economy can operate a protectionist agenda isn't well explained.
The other side of American conservatism is those who continue to allege all kinds of electoral fraud and manipulation and are struggling to accept that their side might, this time, have lost.
In 2016, Beaver County voted 58-39 for Trump, the current results for the county this time are 58-41 for Trump so a swing of 1% to Biden. In 2020, Trump won Pennsylvania by 0.6% but he is now 0.9% behind so that's a swing of 0.75% so one could argue the strong Republican counties have moved as strongly to Biden as the rest of the county.
Yet apparently "everyone" voted for Trump or rather, a Trump supporter who attended a Trump rally told an American conservative reporter all his friends and everyone he knows also voted Trump so how could Biden win the state?
The answer is the swing required by Biden to win the State was tiny and he clearly achieved that across the State yet we are to believe there has been wholesale corruption and fraud.
I remember seeing a tweet the day before the election saying Trump needed a 16-point lead on ballots cast on the day to off-set the Biden advantage in mail-in ballots. In the end, Trump won on the day by 14 so he was always going to struggle to hold the state.
It's about creating a myth - a myth that Trump was "stabbed in the back" (pace 1918) by the election process even in states where Republicans controlled the process.
I don't think many of us on this site (including me) understand American conservatism.
All I know is I'd have had no problem supporting Reagan and Bush, but I have no idea what's going on today.
I like this bit: According to election officials, some of these suppositions stem from the challenger’s ignorance of how the process works. One rumor imagines a sinister plot behind computer entries for voter information reflecting birth dates of “Jan. 1, 1900,” making such voters 120 years old. The city’s attorneys noted that choosing such an implausible voter age would be a ludicrous way to execute a fraud, explaining that the date is nothing more than a placeholder in the system.
It's fascinating to read how American conservatives are reacting to the defeat of Donald Trump. On the one hand, there's an argument it wasn't a bad result in that it showed a clear constituency for what it is being defined as the "new conservative" message - a mix of social conservatism and economic populism.
It's an intriguing argument and replaces the previous economic liberalism with a greater emphasis on protectionism so how a "global" economy can operate a protectionist agenda isn't well explained. P The other side of American conservatism is those who continue to allege all kinds of electoral fraud and manipulation and are struggling to accept that their side might, this time, have lost.
In 2016, Beaver County voted 58-39 for Trump, the current results for the county this time are 58-41 for Trump so a swing of 1% to Biden. In 2020, Trump won Pennsylvania by 0.6% but he is now 0.9% behind so that's a swing of 0.75% so one could argue the strong Republican counties have moved as strongly to Biden as the rest of the county.
Yet apparently "everyone" voted for Trump or rather, a Trump supporter who attended a Trump rally told an American conservative reporter all his friends and everyone he knows also voted Trump so how could Biden win the state?
The answer is the swing required by Biden to win the State was tiny and he clearly achieved that across the State yet we are to believe there has been wholesale corruption and fraud.
I remember seeing a tweet the day before the election saying Trump needed a 16-point lead on ballots cast on the day to off-set the Biden advantage in mail-in ballots. In the end, Trump won on the day by 14 so he was always going to struggle to hold the state.
It's about creating a myth - a myth that Trump was "stabbed in the back" (pace 1918) by the election process even in states where Republicans controlled the process.
I don't think many of us on this site (including me) understand American conservatism.
All I know is I'd have had no problem supporting Reagan and Bush, but I have no idea what's going on today.
Even Clinton never had a problem with Bush, although there were other issues regarding bush in his term, of course.
It's fascinating to read how American conservatives are reacting to the defeat of Donald Trump. On the one hand, there's an argument it wasn't a bad result in that it showed a clear constituency for what it is being defined as the "new conservative" message - a mix of social conservatism and economic populism.
It's an intriguing argument and replaces the previous economic liberalism with a greater emphasis on protectionism so how a "global" economy can operate a protectionist agenda isn't well explained.
The other side of American conservatism is those who continue to allege all kinds of electoral fraud and manipulation and are struggling to accept that their side might, this time, have lost.
In 2016, Beaver County voted 58-39 for Trump, the current results for the county this time are 58-41 for Trump so a swing of 1% to Biden. In 2020, Trump won Pennsylvania by 0.6% but he is now 0.9% behind so that's a swing of 0.75% so one could argue the strong Republican counties have moved as strongly to Biden as the rest of the county.
Yet apparently "everyone" voted for Trump or rather, a Trump supporter who attended a Trump rally told an American conservative reporter all his friends and everyone he knows also voted Trump so how could Biden win the state?
The answer is the swing required by Biden to win the State was tiny and he clearly achieved that across the State yet we are to believe there has been wholesale corruption and fraud.
I remember seeing a tweet the day before the election saying Trump needed a 16-point lead on ballots cast on the day to off-set the Biden advantage in mail-in ballots. In the end, Trump won on the day by 14 so he was always going to struggle to hold the state.
It's about creating a myth - a myth that Trump was "stabbed in the back" (pace 1918) by the election process even in states where Republicans controlled the process.
There's a certain similarity with the way some Corbynistas reacted to defeat.
On the one hand, there's all the stuff about being a huge political movement with mass membership and more votes than predecessors (which more than slightly ignores the fact of defeat). On the other, there's the defeatism about never having a chance because the media is biased and enemies fundamentally corrupt.
I'm not sure the American right can have a proper conversation about it while Trump is determined to remain actively involved. So much of that discussion is about what they keep and what they abandon of Trumpism, and it inevitably involves some pretty harsh criticism of the man, his style, and his obsessions (as well as a lot of praise to be fair - he has undoubtedly cracked open new constituencies for the GOP).
I always assumed given his vast ambition and vaster ego that Cummings would have to be carried out of Downing Street in a box, rather than walk out carrying one.
I suspect he's been looking for a way to not be around when the lorries are queuing right across Kent.
Rumours swirl about Cummings and the Brexit "deal", but the reality is that now, unless there is significant row back by the UK, that even with a deal the situation in Kent will have broken down within a few hours of midnight Jan 1. Over 300 million new forms will be needed, even for zero return Northern Ireland, and less than 20% of exporters even have the faintest idea what will be needed either going in or coming out of the UK, Mixed loads, which are 80% of the traffic in trucks will require full paperwork for each part load. It is simply impossible to comply. So on the current trajectory the Uk will be in a trade emergency almost as soon as Big Ben stops chiming. No wonder Cummings is gone. I imagine the Conservative party is celebrating mightily, but there is now about 10 days to stop the January meltdown from happening, which means serious compromise. Its going to be a wild ride, and if Frost is gone too, then the time pressure will be overwhelming. Carries coup is not a moment too soon.
"Labour's ruling National Executive Committee - the NEC - matters. It can help or hinder Sir Keir Starmer in his efforts to prove the party really is under new leadership. And his control over it is on a knife edge."
Labour National Executive Committee elections results published
CLP section 9 reps elected are
Luke AKEHURST (Labour to Win) Laura PIDCOCK (Grassroots Voice) Johanna BAXTER (Labour to Win) Gemma BOLTON (Grassroots Voice) Gurinder Singh JOSAN (Labour to Win) Ann BLACK (Open Labour) Yasmine DAR (Grassroots Voice) Nadia JAMA (Grassroots Voice) Mish RAHMAN (Grassroots Voice)
For the first time they used STV for NEC elections.
Grassroots Voice is presumably the Communists?
Think so - momentum types. I'm very far from sure though and it's interesting how little is known about these people.
Sort of irrelevant this time round given the nailed on distance from a GE, but this doesn't seem like a result that Starmer will really like.
Rumours swirl about Cummings and the Brexit "deal", but the reality is that now, unless there is significant row back by the UK, that even with a deal the situation in Kent will have broken down within a few hours of midnight Jan 1. Over 300 million new forms will be needed, even for zero return Northern Ireland, and less than 20% of exporters even have the faintest idea what will be needed either going in or coming out of the UK, Mixed loads, which are 80% of the traffic in trucks will require full paperwork for each part load. It is simply impossible to comply. So on the current trajectory the Uk will be in a trade emergency almost as soon as Big Ben stops chiming. No wonder Cummings is gone. I imagine the Conservative party is celebrating mightily, but there is now about 10 days to stop the January meltdown from happening, which means serious compromise. Its going to be a wild ride, and if Frost is gone too, then the time pressure will be overwhelming. Carries coup is not a moment too soon.
Several weeks too late. But probably needed the defeat of Trump to be certain of success. The quasi-Marxist notion that movement towards a Nationalist, reality denying, delusionist hegemony was historically inevitable, rather than a kink in the arc of history, needed killing first.
I always assumed given his vast ambition and vaster ego that Cummings would have to be carried out of Downing Street in a box, rather than walk out carrying one.
I suspect he's been looking for a way to not be around when the lorries are queuing right across Kent.
I don't think that's how Cummings works.
He's entirely able to take heat from the media and public. You don't brazen out Barnard Castle only to chicken out over the risk of being among many people criticised over lorries in Kent.
What Cummings thrives on is being acknowledged as the cleverest in the room (which is how he wrongly sees himself), and getting his way. It seems to me Johnson had a change of heart on that following a series of massive, Cummings-inspired f*ck-ups, but wanted Cummings to be part of a broader team... and that's what Cummings couldn't stomach.
Rumours swirl about Cummings and the Brexit "deal", but the reality is that now, unless there is significant row back by the UK, that even with a deal the situation in Kent will have broken down within a few hours of midnight Jan 1. Over 300 million new forms will be needed, even for zero return Northern Ireland, and less than 20% of exporters even have the faintest idea what will be needed either going in or coming out of the UK, Mixed loads, which are 80% of the traffic in trucks will require full paperwork for each part load. It is simply impossible to comply. So on the current trajectory the Uk will be in a trade emergency almost as soon as Big Ben stops chiming. No wonder Cummings is gone. I imagine the Conservative party is celebrating mightily, but there is now about 10 days to stop the January meltdown from happening, which means serious compromise. Its going to be a wild ride, and if Frost is gone too, then the time pressure will be overwhelming. Carries coup is not a moment too soon.
It's going to be amusing if there's no deal, the 1st Jan comes along, and nothing bad happens.
Rumours swirl about Cummings and the Brexit "deal", but the reality is that now, unless there is significant row back by the UK, that even with a deal the situation in Kent will have broken down within a few hours of midnight Jan 1. Over 300 million new forms will be needed, even for zero return Northern Ireland, and less than 20% of exporters even have the faintest idea what will be needed either going in or coming out of the UK, Mixed loads, which are 80% of the traffic in trucks will require full paperwork for each part load. It is simply impossible to comply. So on the current trajectory the Uk will be in a trade emergency almost as soon as Big Ben stops chiming. No wonder Cummings is gone. I imagine the Conservative party is celebrating mightily, but there is now about 10 days to stop the January meltdown from happening, which means serious compromise. Its going to be a wild ride, and if Frost is gone too, then the time pressure will be overwhelming. Carries coup is not a moment too soon.
It's going to be amusing if there's no deal, the 1st Jan comes along, and nothing bad happens.
That's not really possible. There's bound to be disruption even with a deal, the question is simply to what extent, I think.
I don't think many of us on this site (including me) understand American conservatism.
All I know is I'd have had no problem supporting Reagan and Bush, but I have no idea what's going on today.
Indeed, there's a fascinating piece when Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush were competing for the Republican nomination in 1980 and they did a Town Hall meeting and someone in the audience asked them both about immigration - the answers they gave then are so far away from what the modern Trump-era Republican would say as to belong to a different party let alone the same party.
That was a form of free-market liberal conservatism that was internationalist in outlook but also recognised the levels of relative poverty in parts of the USA. It was, as you say, a form of conservatism we would recognise.
Now, conservatism is this heady mix of social conservatism and economic populism.
The fascinating part of the argument is that it transcends traditional racial political barriers but only to create new ones whereby the Republicans are the party of the working class and the Democrats the party of the wealthy - it's interesting to look at conservative media coverage of Biden and to see how often they reference Biden's dependency on big business and "Big Tech".
It seems this new form of conservatism isn't anti-business but anti-globalised big business (presumably this also relates to hi-tech firms from liberal California) and the anti-globalisation agenda isn't just a question of "protecting" domestic jobs but it's also about a deeper concern for the preservation of national identity in a global world.
The anti-globalisation banner has passed from the radicals to the populists.
"Labour's ruling National Executive Committee - the NEC - matters. It can help or hinder Sir Keir Starmer in his efforts to prove the party really is under new leadership. And his control over it is on a knife edge."
I suppose the question now becomes how the Government's presentation and "tone" will adapt. Those that got Johnson into power are gone and he is now looking less Presidential and more like the leader of a collective Government (primus inter pares so to speak).
Is the parallel the departure of Sir Alan Walters from the Thatcher Government? Once again the lesson is politics is best left to the politicians - advisers can advise but that doesn't mean they are the Government. Ministers may feel a shade more empowered but a shade more exposed - that's no bad thing.
As for Johnson, I think this will help - he can be his own man (as long as he does what Allegra and Carrie tell him) but he has to now take that step forward and embrace the authority and the responsibility. It's been an incredibly difficult year and would have been for any PM but there's a huge opportunity to build on what has happened so that post-Covid Britain isn't just pre-Covid Britain.
Good post
For you, Big_G, it’s Lucy and the football every time when it comes to Tory leaders.
Dom’s demise has obscured the news that the left appears to have lost two seats in Labour’s NEC elections, though a bit better than had been expected according to Labour List. Laura Pidcock (who she - ed) was successful.
That's a relatively good result for the Labour left getting 5/6 of the GV candidates elected and considering the no. of left wingers who may have recently quit the party. Ann Henderson presumably didn't get elected because there is a really low membership in Scotland and which is not skewed to the left.
It's a disasterous result for the Labour left. In the CLP section they were 9-0 at the start of this year. Now they are 5-4. They have lost their one Welsh rep too. So effectively that's 10-0 votes for the left back to 5-5 ie net 10 votes lost.
Starmer now has a very secure working majority on the NEC, something he couldn't bank on before.
It's an OK result for the left, reflecting the fact that people haven't been resigning in droves, but as Phil says it leaves Starmer with a comfortable majority (interesting that Luke Akehurst, the most combative centrist, topped the poll). The use of the PR system was designed to weaken the strength of "slates", and the soft left candidates Ann Black and Alice Perry also got in quite comfortably (with two more just missing out).
John Sopel’s constant surprise at what is unsurprising, is.... unsurprising.
He's done ok in this. I've really never seen him do anything much of merit, and therefore I think he's improved on this. (My view may be very unfair, not for a moment claiming objectivity)
Last stage was between the Dar, Jama, Rahman and Henderson after Jermain Jackson (the The Voice winner)'s elimination. Dave Anderson (former Blaydon MP) was the one eliminated before Jackson. He did pretty well to beat the Tribune ladies and the 3 losing Lab2Win candidates.
Rumours swirl about Cummings and the Brexit "deal", but the reality is that now, unless there is significant row back by the UK, that even with a deal the situation in Kent will have broken down within a few hours of midnight Jan 1. Over 300 million new forms will be needed, even for zero return Northern Ireland, and less than 20% of exporters even have the faintest idea what will be needed either going in or coming out of the UK, Mixed loads, which are 80% of the traffic in trucks will require full paperwork for each part load. It is simply impossible to comply. So on the current trajectory the Uk will be in a trade emergency almost as soon as Big Ben stops chiming. No wonder Cummings is gone. I imagine the Conservative party is celebrating mightily, but there is now about 10 days to stop the January meltdown from happening, which means serious compromise. Its going to be a wild ride, and if Frost is gone too, then the time pressure will be overwhelming. Carries coup is not a moment too soon.
It's going to be amusing if there's no deal, the 1st Jan comes along, and nothing bad happens.
My brother lives near Ashford and has some knowledge of the commercial vehicle business and he doesn't see how it can work in terms of managing the flow of vehicles through the tunnel and on to the ferries if additional checks are required.
It may well be a modified form of "Operation Stack" will become the norm.
Rumours swirl about Cummings and the Brexit "deal", but the reality is that now, unless there is significant row back by the UK, that even with a deal the situation in Kent will have broken down within a few hours of midnight Jan 1. Over 300 million new forms will be needed, even for zero return Northern Ireland, and less than 20% of exporters even have the faintest idea what will be needed either going in or coming out of the UK, Mixed loads, which are 80% of the traffic in trucks will require full paperwork for each part load. It is simply impossible to comply. So on the current trajectory the Uk will be in a trade emergency almost as soon as Big Ben stops chiming. No wonder Cummings is gone. I imagine the Conservative party is celebrating mightily, but there is now about 10 days to stop the January meltdown from happening, which means serious compromise. Its going to be a wild ride, and if Frost is gone too, then the time pressure will be overwhelming. Carries coup is not a moment too soon.
It's going to be amusing if there's no deal, the 1st Jan comes along, and nothing bad happens.
Oh stuff would happen, we can ignore it but Kent will be a car park unless France decides not to play sill buggers.
John Sopel’s constant surprise at what is unsurprising, is.... unsurprising.
To be fair, I'm a little surprised on this.
All Trump's challenges are, as far as I can see, completely doomed and without merit. But he's pursuing them anyway.
So why drop this one? Is there an odd story there? Is the money running out (I know he'll have been getting donations in big numbers but he has other campaign debts)? Is it a precursor to a wider scaling down of the strategy?
The government really are crap at media management...no sooner do we get good vaccine news, they descend into the drama, and on the day Cummings leave, they actually have a positive announcement in that they have got universities to agree to overhaul their entry system to post results...something that they fought agaibst wheb Gove / Cummings suggested it. This is a really big change that should reduce the unfairness between kids from traditional good schools and bright kids at schools thought to be shit.
This really is levelling up stuff. But instead all most people will be hearing about for days is Big Dom said that, Boris said this, Carrie told Boris wedding off unless he fires Lee.
Rumours swirl about Cummings and the Brexit "deal", but the reality is that now, unless there is significant row back by the UK, that even with a deal the situation in Kent will have broken down within a few hours of midnight Jan 1. Over 300 million new forms will be needed, even for zero return Northern Ireland, and less than 20% of exporters even have the faintest idea what will be needed either going in or coming out of the UK, Mixed loads, which are 80% of the traffic in trucks will require full paperwork for each part load. It is simply impossible to comply. So on the current trajectory the Uk will be in a trade emergency almost as soon as Big Ben stops chiming. No wonder Cummings is gone. I imagine the Conservative party is celebrating mightily, but there is now about 10 days to stop the January meltdown from happening, which means serious compromise. Its going to be a wild ride, and if Frost is gone too, then the time pressure will be overwhelming. Carries coup is not a moment too soon.
It's going to be amusing if there's no deal, the 1st Jan comes along, and nothing bad happens.
Oh stuff would happen, we can ignore it but Kent will be a car park unless France decides not to play sill buggers.
And France does like to make things awkward
Garlic-chewing scoundrels though they are, casting them as the awkward guys in this requires ingenuity.
Rumours swirl about Cummings and the Brexit "deal", but the reality is that now, unless there is significant row back by the UK, that even with a deal the situation in Kent will have broken down within a few hours of midnight Jan 1. Over 300 million new forms will be needed, even for zero return Northern Ireland, and less than 20% of exporters even have the faintest idea what will be needed either going in or coming out of the UK, Mixed loads, which are 80% of the traffic in trucks will require full paperwork for each part load. It is simply impossible to comply. So on the current trajectory the Uk will be in a trade emergency almost as soon as Big Ben stops chiming. No wonder Cummings is gone. I imagine the Conservative party is celebrating mightily, but there is now about 10 days to stop the January meltdown from happening, which means serious compromise. Its going to be a wild ride, and if Frost is gone too, then the time pressure will be overwhelming. Carries coup is not a moment too soon.
It's going to be amusing if there's no deal, the 1st Jan comes along, and nothing bad happens.
Oh stuff would happen, we can ignore it but Kent will be a car park unless France decides not to play sill buggers.
And France does like to make things awkward
To be fair, after shooting ourselves so dramatically in the foot, and expecting special privileges even as a fully departing member, I think one of the world's major "silly buggers" awards surely belongs here.
John Sopel’s constant surprise at what is unsurprising, is.... unsurprising.
To be fair, I'm a little surprised on this.
All Trump's challenges are, as far as I can see, completely doomed and without merit. But he's pursuing them anyway.
So why drop this one? Is there an odd story there? Is the money running out (I know he'll have been getting donations in big numbers but he has other campaign debts)? Is it a precursor to a wider scaling down of the strategy?
Rumours swirl about Cummings and the Brexit "deal", but the reality is that now, unless there is significant row back by the UK, that even with a deal the situation in Kent will have broken down within a few hours of midnight Jan 1. Over 300 million new forms will be needed, even for zero return Northern Ireland, and less than 20% of exporters even have the faintest idea what will be needed either going in or coming out of the UK, Mixed loads, which are 80% of the traffic in trucks will require full paperwork for each part load. It is simply impossible to comply. So on the current trajectory the Uk will be in a trade emergency almost as soon as Big Ben stops chiming. No wonder Cummings is gone. I imagine the Conservative party is celebrating mightily, but there is now about 10 days to stop the January meltdown from happening, which means serious compromise. Its going to be a wild ride, and if Frost is gone too, then the time pressure will be overwhelming. Carries coup is not a moment too soon.
It's going to be amusing if there's no deal, the 1st Jan comes along, and nothing bad happens.
Oh stuff would happen, we can ignore it but Kent will be a car park unless France decides not to play sill buggers.
And France does like to make things awkward
Garlic-chewing scoundrels though they are, casting them as the awkward guys in this requires ingenuity.
Rumours swirl about Cummings and the Brexit "deal", but the reality is that now, unless there is significant row back by the UK, that even with a deal the situation in Kent will have broken down within a few hours of midnight Jan 1. Over 300 million new forms will be needed, even for zero return Northern Ireland, and less than 20% of exporters even have the faintest idea what will be needed either going in or coming out of the UK, Mixed loads, which are 80% of the traffic in trucks will require full paperwork for each part load. It is simply impossible to comply. So on the current trajectory the Uk will be in a trade emergency almost as soon as Big Ben stops chiming. No wonder Cummings is gone. I imagine the Conservative party is celebrating mightily, but there is now about 10 days to stop the January meltdown from happening, which means serious compromise. Its going to be a wild ride, and if Frost is gone too, then the time pressure will be overwhelming. Carries coup is not a moment too soon.
It's going to be amusing if there's no deal, the 1st Jan comes along, and nothing bad happens.
My brother lives near Ashford and has some knowledge of the commercial vehicle business and he doesn't see how it can work in terms of managing the flow of vehicles through the tunnel and on to the ferries if additional checks are required.
It may well be a modified form of "Operation Stack" will become the norm.
That's what I mean though. Most of the country isn't going to be bothered about Kent becoming a car park UNLESS it impacts delivery of stuff they want.
So farewell then, Dominic Cummings You wanted to do radical things, apparently And you had your fans But others thought you were a menace who should be fired And now you have been.
Rumours swirl about Cummings and the Brexit "deal", but the reality is that now, unless there is significant row back by the UK, that even with a deal the situation in Kent will have broken down within a few hours of midnight Jan 1. Over 300 million new forms will be needed, even for zero return Northern Ireland, and less than 20% of exporters even have the faintest idea what will be needed either going in or coming out of the UK, Mixed loads, which are 80% of the traffic in trucks will require full paperwork for each part load. It is simply impossible to comply. So on the current trajectory the Uk will be in a trade emergency almost as soon as Big Ben stops chiming. No wonder Cummings is gone. I imagine the Conservative party is celebrating mightily, but there is now about 10 days to stop the January meltdown from happening, which means serious compromise. Its going to be a wild ride, and if Frost is gone too, then the time pressure will be overwhelming. Carries coup is not a moment too soon.
It's going to be amusing if there's no deal, the 1st Jan comes along, and nothing bad happens.
My brother lives near Ashford and has some knowledge of the commercial vehicle business and he doesn't see how it can work in terms of managing the flow of vehicles through the tunnel and on to the ferries if additional checks are required.
It may well be a modified form of "Operation Stack" will become the norm.
That's what I mean though. Most of the country isn't going to be bothered about Kent becoming a car park UNLESS it impacts delivery of stuff they want.
I'm glad I went to Dover last year (to see longtsanding ambitions - the Napoleonic era Grand Redoubt and Shaft, and the Dover Boat in the museum, and as a bonus have whitebait and chips in a great pub near the mediaeval harbour). No idea what it will be like to visit.
Dom’s demise has obscured the news that the left appears to have lost two seats in Labour’s NEC elections, though a bit better than had been expected according to Labour List. Laura Pidcock (who she - ed) was successful.
That's a relatively good result for the Labour left getting 5/6 of the GV candidates elected and considering the no. of left wingers who may have recently quit the party. Ann Henderson presumably didn't get elected because there is a really low membership in Scotland and which is not skewed to the left.
It's a disasterous result for the Labour left. In the CLP section they were 9-0 at the start of this year. Now they are 5-4. They have lost their one Welsh rep too. So effectively that's 10-0 votes for the left back to 5-5 ie net 10 votes lost.
Starmer now has a very secure working majority on the NEC, something he couldn't bank on before.
It's an OK result for the left, reflecting the fact that people haven't been resigning in droves, but as Phil says it leaves Starmer with a comfortable majority (interesting that Luke Akehurst, the most combative centrist, topped the poll). The use of the PR system was designed to weaken the strength of "slates", and the soft left candidates Ann Black and Alice Perry also got in quite comfortably (with two more just missing out).
Luke Akehurst is the interesting one - I wonder if his surname helped (it was a long alphabetical list, and I certainly lost the will to live before getting to the end)? Nevertheless, for the most vehement anti-Corbynite to come top of the poll is quite something. He's spent four year excoriating Corbyn and Corbynism on Labour Uncut, and is despised by the (far) left. But yes, the left has won some seats as well - why shouldn't it? The result is actually a fair reflection of where the party is post-Corbyn. Starmer will be perfectly content with the outcome.
So farewell then, Dominic Cummings You wanted to do radical things, apparently And you had your fans But others thought you were a menace who should be fired And now you have been.
I don't think many of us on this site (including me) understand American conservatism.
All I know is I'd have had no problem supporting Reagan and Bush, but I have no idea what's going on today.
Indeed, there's a fascinating piece when Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush were competing for the Republican nomination in 1980 and they did a Town Hall meeting and someone in the audience asked them both about immigration - the answers they gave then are so far away from what the modern Trump-era Republican would say as to belong to a different party let alone the same party.
That was a form of free-market liberal conservatism that was internationalist in outlook but also recognised the levels of relative poverty in parts of the USA. It was, as you say, a form of conservatism we would recognise.
Now, conservatism is this heady mix of social conservatism and economic populism.
The fascinating part of the argument is that it transcends traditional racial political barriers but only to create new ones whereby the Republicans are the party of the working class and the Democrats the party of the wealthy - it's interesting to look at conservative media coverage of Biden and to see how often they reference Biden's dependency on big business and "Big Tech".
It seems this new form of conservatism isn't anti-business but anti-globalised big business (presumably this also relates to hi-tech firms from liberal California) and the anti-globalisation agenda isn't just a question of "protecting" domestic jobs but it's also about a deeper concern for the preservation of national identity in a global world.
The anti-globalisation banner has passed from the radicals to the populists.
The central flaw in their argument is, however, that the working class did not vote for Trump either in 2016 or 2020, no matter how much they may wish it to be so. Indeed he went backwards in voter share on under$ 100k. And why should they? He did bugger all for them. A massive tax cut for the top 2% and a non-stop effort to deny the working class health care shows where his priorities lay. Oh and sod all concern for H+S and working conditions in the middle of a pandemic. A few whinges about wokeness does not make the GOP the magical channel of the voice of the dispossessed.
I see on the BBC they report that not only has Trump not been on camera much since the election, but his tweeting is way down too. If that's not a sign he knows the end is coming I dont know what is - only defeat could make him button it even half heartedly.
The government really are crap at media management...no sooner do we get good vaccine news, they descend into the drama, and on the day Cummings leave, they actually have a positive announcement in that they have got universities to agree to overhaul their entry system to post results...something that they fought agaibst wheb Gove / Cummings suggested it. This is a really big change that should reduce the unfairness between kids from traditional good schools and bright kids at schools thought to be shit.
This really is levelling up stuff. But instead all most people will be hearing about for days is Big Dom said that, Boris said this, Carrie told Boris wedding off unless he fires Lee.
Maybe Carrie and Boris had a guest list for their wedding that was too long under Covid restrictions, so they had to whittle it down? Cummings and Cain are now off the list - job done.
AZ Dem 1.03 GA Dem 1.09 MI Dem 1.05 NV Dem 1.05 NC Rep 1.01 PA Dem 1.05 WI Dem 1.06
Presumably these prices reflect a degree of uncertainty about when Betfair will actually settle the markets, and the opportunity cost in tying up stakes for this unknown period.
Well, I have no doubt if you want a third wave of Covid, putting Gove in charge of public health with a brief to get the disease under control would be an effective way of achieving it.
AZ Dem 1.03 GA Dem 1.09 MI Dem 1.05 NV Dem 1.05 NC Rep 1.01 PA Dem 1.05 WI Dem 1.06
Presumably these prices reflect a degree of uncertainty about when Betfair will actually settle the markets, and the opportunity cost in tying up stakes for this unknown period.
The bookie's price depends on the punters' assessment of the said bookie's likelihood of stumping up! Self-referential betting or what?
Dom’s demise has obscured the news that the left appears to have lost two seats in Labour’s NEC elections, though a bit better than had been expected according to Labour List. Laura Pidcock (who she - ed) was successful.
That's a relatively good result for the Labour left getting 5/6 of the GV candidates elected and considering the no. of left wingers who may have recently quit the party. Ann Henderson presumably didn't get elected because there is a really low membership in Scotland and which is not skewed to the left.
It's a disasterous result for the Labour left. In the CLP section they were 9-0 at the start of this year. Now they are 5-4. They have lost their one Welsh rep too. So effectively that's 10-0 votes for the left back to 5-5 ie net 10 votes lost.
Starmer now has a very secure working majority on the NEC, something he couldn't bank on before.
It's an OK result for the left, reflecting the fact that people haven't been resigning in droves, but as Phil says it leaves Starmer with a comfortable majority (interesting that Luke Akehurst, the most combative centrist, topped the poll). The use of the PR system was designed to weaken the strength of "slates", and the soft left candidates Ann Black and Alice Perry also got in quite comfortably (with two more just missing out).
I think you have to focus on practical outcomes Nick. I'm judging it on the fact that Keir Starmer is going to be very content, as the people who are still very clearly out to undermine him have had the rug cut out from under them. Starmer had a very tenuous majority on the NEC of about 2 votes, with one CLP seat vacant, but now it's up to a comfortable 6 or so.
I always thought that the NEC by-elections back in February flattered the two Labour to Win candidates, because they won on the back of a high turnout at the same time as the leadership election, whereas with lower turnouts Momentum still had a good chance of prevailing, as evidenced by the CLP nominations. So the fact that the far left now only have 1 more seat than the other 4 reps from the CLP section is pretty significant. Not so long ago they had all 9, before Starmer succeeded in changing the voting system.
I also think that, now that Starmer's position is secure, the longer term drift in membership will continue. Some of the entryists who joined in 2015 will now lose heart or drift back into the far left sectarian groups from where they came. Having witnessed how my once friendly, welcoming, collegiate, broad church of a constituency party has been torn apart by them over the past five years, I can't say that I would be sorry.
Gove at Health? His natural empathy and soothing bedside manner, allied to a stainless reputation for honesty no doubt?
Speaking as somebody who is hardly Gove’s biggest fan, I’m startled by the charge of dishonesty. What does that stem from?
He gives the impression, to me at least, of dissembling, even if he isn't. It's the darting eyes. I start from a default position of not believing a word he says. Maybe that is unkind and unfair of me, but there you have it.
Putting the least liked member of the Cabinet in charge of the public service most liked indeed revered by the general public would not be a good look for the Conservatives.
Mind, it wasn't a good look keeping Cummings on after Barnard Castle, so who knows what Johnson will do?
I've been researching corporate insolvency all day and I thought I was going to top myself. Luckily Cummings saved the day.
Although I am relieved that you have lifted from the darker place you were in, it is in itself rather sad to reflect that Cummings had made himself so hated that we’re all celebrating him losing his job, his career and his whole idea of himself in a matter of 48 hours.
Wow he is literally just out the door and his erstwhile colleagues are already tripping over themselves to stab him in the back. They really are a nest of vipers. But also just so fucking trivial. We are about to face the most jarring disruption to our international trading relationships in decades, in the midst of a global pandemic that has already killed tens of thousands of British people, while UK GDP has fallen more than that of any other major economy and the Treasury has run up record amounts of debt, and here they all are, obsessed with this tawdry Oxford Union soap opera. Pathetic.
But the reason we are facing "the most jarring disruption to our international trading relationships in decades" is precisely because of this man. Without his wittering about State Aid, a deal would have been done weeks ago.
Without this idiot whipping up anti-EU hysteria, we would be a lot better off in many ways.
I've been researching corporate insolvency all day and I thought I was going to top myself. Luckily Cummings saved the day.
Although I am relieved that you have lifted from the darker place you were in, it is in itself rather sad to reflect that Cummings had made himself so hated that we’re all celebrating him losing his job, his career and his whole idea of himself in a matter of 48 hours.
That said, it’s his own fault we feel that way.
Has he lost his career? He'll be on think tanks for the rest of his life earning a ton I can imagine.
Rumours swirl about Cummings and the Brexit "deal", but the reality is that now, unless there is significant row back by the UK, that even with a deal the situation in Kent will have broken down within a few hours of midnight Jan 1. Over 300 million new forms will be needed, even for zero return Northern Ireland, and less than 20% of exporters even have the faintest idea what will be needed either going in or coming out of the UK, Mixed loads, which are 80% of the traffic in trucks will require full paperwork for each part load. It is simply impossible to comply. So on the current trajectory the Uk will be in a trade emergency almost as soon as Big Ben stops chiming. No wonder Cummings is gone. I imagine the Conservative party is celebrating mightily, but there is now about 10 days to stop the January meltdown from happening, which means serious compromise. Its going to be a wild ride, and if Frost is gone too, then the time pressure will be overwhelming. Carries coup is not a moment too soon.
It's going to be amusing if there's no deal, the 1st Jan comes along, and nothing bad happens.
That's pretty much exactly what I expect.
There will be trivial changes that if you have a magnifying glass and go looking for them are there, but big picture not much is going to happen. A bit of disruption but we will get over it quote quickly.
I've been researching corporate insolvency all day and I thought I was going to top myself. Luckily Cummings saved the day.
Although I am relieved that you have lifted from the darker place you were in, it is in itself rather sad to reflect that Cummings had made himself so hated that we’re all celebrating him losing his job, his career and his whole idea of himself in a matter of 48 hours.
That said, it’s his own fault we feel that way.
Has he lost his career? He'll be on think tanks for the rest of his life earning a ton I can imagine.
He’s had several attempts at that and they’ve all been disasters. He can’t work comfortably for other people because of his ego, but he can’t run a business himself because of his incompetence.
I've been researching corporate insolvency all day and I thought I was going to top myself. Luckily Cummings saved the day.
Although I am relieved that you have lifted from the darker place you were in, it is in itself rather sad to reflect that Cummings had made himself so hated that we’re all celebrating him losing his job, his career and his whole idea of himself in a matter of 48 hours.
That said, it’s his own fault we feel that way.
Has he lost his career? He'll be on think tanks for the rest of his life earning a ton I can imagine.
He’s had several attempts at that and they’ve all been disasters. He can’t work comfortably for other people because of his ego, but he can’t run a business himself because of his incompetence.
He should stick to what he's good at - he should run the "No" campaign during IndyRef2!
I've been researching corporate insolvency all day and I thought I was going to top myself. Luckily Cummings saved the day.
Although I am relieved that you have lifted from the darker place you were in, it is in itself rather sad to reflect that Cummings had made himself so hated that we’re all celebrating him losing his job, his career and his whole idea of himself in a matter of 48 hours.
That said, it’s his own fault we feel that way.
Has he lost his career? He'll be on think tanks for the rest of his life earning a ton I can imagine.
He’s had several attempts at that and they’ve all been disasters. He can’t work comfortably for other people because of his ego, but he can’t run a business himself because of his incompetence.
He should stick to what he's good at - he should run the "No" campaign during IndyRef2!
Given how hated he’s become, he could guarantee the union for another 300 years by endorsing ‘Yes.’
Comments
I am glad Cummings has gone, worm of a man.
https://lawandcrime.com/2020-election/michigan-judge-puts-the-kibosh-on-trump-supporters-conspiracy-theories-about-detroit/
Starmer now has a very secure working majority on the NEC, something he couldn't bank on before.
Lets hope it leaves Johnson as exposed as everyone expects. He's not in the Bullindon club anymore and behaving like an inconsiderate shit is no longer attractive
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-54936547
https://twitter.com/Loma_Usyk/status/1326519846021050368?s=20
Which Sunday will have the exclusive, I was betrayed by Boris by Dominic Cummings.
It's an intriguing argument and replaces the previous economic liberalism with a greater emphasis on protectionism so how a "global" economy can operate a protectionist agenda isn't well explained.
The other side of American conservatism is those who continue to allege all kinds of electoral fraud and manipulation and are struggling to accept that their side might, this time, have lost.
https://spectator.org/pennsylvania-voting-doesnt-add-up/
In 2016, Beaver County voted 58-39 for Trump, the current results for the county this time are 58-41 for Trump so a swing of 1% to Biden. In 2020, Trump won Pennsylvania by 0.6% but he is now 0.9% behind so that's a swing of 0.75% so one could argue the strong Republican counties have moved as strongly to Biden as the rest of the county.
Yet apparently "everyone" voted for Trump or rather, a Trump supporter who attended a Trump rally told an American conservative reporter all his friends and everyone he knows also voted Trump so how could Biden win the state?
The answer is the swing required by Biden to win the State was tiny and he clearly achieved that across the State yet we are to believe there has been wholesale corruption and fraud.
I remember seeing a tweet the day before the election saying Trump needed a 16-point lead on ballots cast on the day to off-set the Biden advantage in mail-in ballots. In the end, Trump won on the day by 14 so he was always going to struggle to hold the state.
It's about creating a myth - a myth that Trump was "stabbed in the back" (pace 1918) by the election process even in states where Republicans controlled the process.
To paraphrase what a wise man (Rassillon I believe) once said "to lose is to win and he who wins shall lose". Sometimes it's necessary to lose and take a loss to act as a final catalyst for change and progress.
I always assumed given his vast ambition and vaster ego that Cummings would have to be carried out of Downing Street in a box, rather than walk out carrying one.
All I know is I'd have had no problem supporting Reagan and Bush, but I have no idea what's going on today.
According to election officials, some of these suppositions stem from the challenger’s ignorance of how the process works. One rumor imagines a sinister plot behind computer entries for voter information reflecting birth dates of “Jan. 1, 1900,” making such voters 120 years old. The city’s attorneys noted that choosing such an implausible voter age would be a ludicrous way to execute a fraud, explaining that the date is nothing more than a placeholder in the system.
On the one hand, there's all the stuff about being a huge political movement with mass membership and more votes than predecessors (which more than slightly ignores the fact of defeat). On the other, there's the defeatism about never having a chance because the media is biased and enemies fundamentally corrupt.
I'm not sure the American right can have a proper conversation about it while Trump is determined to remain actively involved. So much of that discussion is about what they keep and what they abandon of Trumpism, and it inevitably involves some pretty harsh criticism of the man, his style, and his obsessions (as well as a lot of praise to be fair - he has undoubtedly cracked open new constituencies for the GOP).
"Labour's ruling National Executive Committee - the NEC - matters. It can help or hinder Sir Keir Starmer in his efforts to prove the party really is under new leadership. And his control over it is on a knife edge."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54900942
Not any more.
Sort of irrelevant this time round given the nailed on distance from a GE, but this doesn't seem like a result that Starmer will really like.
The quasi-Marxist notion that movement towards a Nationalist, reality denying, delusionist hegemony was historically inevitable, rather than a kink in the arc of history, needed killing first.
He's entirely able to take heat from the media and public. You don't brazen out Barnard Castle only to chicken out over the risk of being among many people criticised over lorries in Kent.
What Cummings thrives on is being acknowledged as the cleverest in the room (which is how he wrongly sees himself), and getting his way. It seems to me Johnson had a change of heart on that following a series of massive, Cummings-inspired f*ck-ups, but wanted Cummings to be part of a broader team... and that's what Cummings couldn't stomach.
That was a form of free-market liberal conservatism that was internationalist in outlook but also recognised the levels of relative poverty in parts of the USA. It was, as you say, a form of conservatism we would recognise.
Now, conservatism is this heady mix of social conservatism and economic populism.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-realignment-is-real/
The fascinating part of the argument is that it transcends traditional racial political barriers but only to create new ones whereby the Republicans are the party of the working class and the Democrats the party of the wealthy - it's interesting to look at conservative media coverage of Biden and to see how often they reference Biden's dependency on big business and "Big Tech".
It seems this new form of conservatism isn't anti-business but anti-globalised big business (presumably this also relates to hi-tech firms from liberal California) and the anti-globalisation agenda isn't just a question of "protecting" domestic jobs but it's also about a deeper concern for the preservation of national identity in a global world.
The anti-globalisation banner has passed from the radicals to the populists.
It may well be a modified form of "Operation Stack" will become the norm.
And France does like to make things awkward
Plus North Carolina + ME2 for Trump.
So everything called, final result 306-232, a precise reverse of 2016.
All Trump's challenges are, as far as I can see, completely doomed and without merit. But he's pursuing them anyway.
So why drop this one? Is there an odd story there? Is the money running out (I know he'll have been getting donations in big numbers but he has other campaign debts)? Is it a precursor to a wider scaling down of the strategy?
This really is levelling up stuff. But instead all most people will be hearing about for days is Big Dom said that, Boris said this, Carrie told Boris wedding off unless he fires Lee.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/13/trump-interview-reelection-hopes-436432
Shameless.
Anyhow, we did.
The important thing is the narrative. He’s not going to stop saying ‘I was robbed’.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/11/13/trumps-crazy-and-confoundingly-successful-conspiracy-theory-436404
You wanted to do radical things,
apparently
And you had your fans
But others thought you were a menace
who should be fired
And now you have been.
@RealDonaldTrump wins 306 to 232! Who knew!
https://twitter.com/christopherhope/status/1327330539343405061
Possibly when Boris needs to win an election/referendum, but probably before.
And why should they? He did bugger all for them. A massive tax cut for the top 2% and a non-stop effort to deny the working class health care shows where his priorities lay. Oh and sod all concern for H+S and working conditions in the middle of a pandemic.
A few whinges about wokeness does not make the GOP the magical channel of the voice of the dispossessed.
Gove would not have done better and will not do better.
If Boris starts ditching people simply because a replacement might be perceived as better then he's surely signing his own exit papers.
Biden 1.06
Democrats 1.06
Biden PV 1.04
Biden PV 49-51.9% 1.06
Trump ECV 210-239 1.1
Biden ECV 300-329 1.1
Biden ECV Hcap -48.5 1.06
Biden ECV Hcap -63.5 1.07
Trump ECV Hcap +81.5 1.02
AZ Dem 1.03
GA Dem 1.09
MI Dem 1.05
NV Dem 1.05
NC Rep 1.01
PA Dem 1.05
WI Dem 1.06
Presumably these prices reflect a degree of uncertainty about when Betfair will actually settle the markets, and the opportunity cost in tying up stakes for this unknown period.
His natural empathy and soothing bedside manner, allied to a stainless reputation for honesty no doubt?
I always thought that the NEC by-elections back in February flattered the two Labour to Win candidates, because they won on the back of a high turnout at the same time as the leadership election, whereas with lower turnouts Momentum still had a good chance of prevailing, as evidenced by the CLP nominations. So the fact that the far left now only have 1 more seat than the other 4 reps from the CLP section is pretty significant. Not so long ago they had all 9, before Starmer succeeded in changing the voting system.
I also think that, now that Starmer's position is secure, the longer term drift in membership will continue. Some of the entryists who joined in 2015 will now lose heart or drift back into the far left sectarian groups from where they came. Having witnessed how my once friendly, welcoming, collegiate, broad church of a constituency party has been torn apart by them over the past five years, I can't say that I would be sorry.
It's the darting eyes.
I start from a default position of not believing a word he says.
Maybe that is unkind and unfair of me, but there you have it.
Mind, it wasn't a good look keeping Cummings on after Barnard Castle, so who knows what Johnson will do?
That said, it’s his own fault we feel that way.
There will be trivial changes that if you have a magnifying glass and go looking for them are there, but big picture not much is going to happen. A bit of disruption but we will get over it quote quickly.
https://twitter.com/SebastianEPayne/status/1327345552380600322
However, they really need to put a small blue stripey blob on there to locate Omaha, and to smudge a bit of red on the Northern part of Maine.