What a really excellent article, to which I would just add one more thing: the timing was not accidental. Hamas (Iran) is desperate to avoid the continued normalisation of relations between Israel and its Arab neighbours.
Yes, the Abraham Accords were transential in the region, and the idea of normalised relations between the Saudis and Israel was going to be the trigger for a permanent peace.
With what resolution for the Palestinians though?
You seem to be under the misapprehension anyone in the middle east gives the slightest shit about the palestians. All evidence indicates there so called brothers really dont
And the worst of it is, I clicked the link expecting it to be an east London story from my old patch, but it turns out to be another Tory MP entirely. How many rotten characters do they have?
There won't be a by-election regardless as by the time it gets through the courts (if he's charged), the election will have happened. He's also standing down anyway.
And the worst of it is, I clicked the link expecting it to be an east London story from my old patch, but it turns out to be another Tory MP entirely. How many rotten characters do they have?
There won't be a by-election regardless as by the time it gets through the courts (if he's charged), the election will have happened. He's also standing down anyway.
The replacement candidate is a Father Jack Hackett
I was just thinking of something that rhymed with his name but I couldn't come up with anything
His niece is Emily Blunt.
I've always felt a certain connection with the lovely Ms Blunt as she and I played characters who were married to each other. Not in the same production, sadly.
And the worst of it is, I clicked the link expecting it to be an east London story from my old patch, but it turns out to be another Tory MP entirely. How many rotten characters do they have?
There won't be a by-election regardless as by the time it gets through the courts (if he's charged), the election will have happened. He's also standing down anyway.
If charged I suspect that he'll stand down. there's still over a year before there has to be a general election. Sunak isn't looking like he's going any earlier than he has to.
We all assume that waiting as long as possible for something to turn up is in the Tories’ best interests. But what if this is as good as it gets? Every month there’s either a new example of an MP with his hands where they should be (the till or elsewhere) or a new policy failure. And the good or at least reasonable stuff just gets ignored.
Landslide remains underpriced I think. Every month that passes without Tories getting into the low to mid 30s gets us closer. As do new by-elections, and indeed the 2024 locals. And the prospect of Trump acting like even more of a c**t next Autumn than last time while appearing to make common cause with the conservatives.
Unfortunately landslide has become the betting favourite. It's clear odds on that the Cons go below 175 seats. I'm annoyed because I got to that view well before the consensus and couldn't find a way to back it.
Why not go for Tory landslide, you;ll get cracking odds.
That's a thought actually. Get on Tory majority @ 15s, then close out @ 12s if Keir comes out for Hamas and starts chanting "Jihad!" at PMQs.
And the worst of it is, I clicked the link expecting it to be an east London story from my old patch, but it turns out to be another Tory MP entirely. How many rotten characters do they have?
We need HYUFD to explain why their candidate selection process is so abysmal.
I can do that
The safe seats delivered by our rotten voting system enable the tiny clique of party activists to select people based on whether they are ‘sound’ on whatever their local obsessions are - hard Brexit, anti-HS2, whatever - and ignore entirely the sort of considerations the typical voter would be interested in, such as their integrity or honesty or morality. Or even basic competence.
What a really excellent article, to which I would just add one more thing: the timing was not accidental. Hamas (Iran) is desperate to avoid the continued normalisation of relations between Israel and its Arab neighbours.
Yes, the Abraham Accords were transential in the region, and the idea of normalised relations between the Saudis and Israel was going to be the trigger for a permanent peace.
With what resolution for the Palestinians though?
You seem to be under the misapprehension anyone in the middle east gives the slightest shit about the palestians. All evidence indicates there so called brothers really dont
And the worst of it is, I clicked the link expecting it to be an east London story from my old patch, but it turns out to be another Tory MP entirely. How many rotten characters do they have?
We need HYUFD to explain why their candidate selection process is so abysmal.
I can do that
The safe seats delivered by our rotten voting system enable the tiny clique of party activists to select people based on whether they are ‘sound’ on whatever their local obsessions are - hard Brexit, anti-HS2, whatever - and ignore entirely the sort of considerations the typical voter would be interested in, such as their integrity or honesty or morality.
I think safe seats do not help, but cannot be the full explanation, since there's plenty of awful candidates in non safe seats too, and not a problem for only one party too.
And the worst of it is, I clicked the link expecting it to be an east London story from my old patch, but it turns out to be another Tory MP entirely. How many rotten characters do they have?
We need HYUFD to explain why their candidate selection process is so abysmal.
I can do that
The safe seats delivered by our rotten voting system enable the tiny clique of party activists to select people based on whether they are ‘sound’ on whatever their local obsessions are - hard Brexit, anti-HS2, whatever - and ignore entirely the sort of considerations the typical voter would be interested in, such as their integrity or honesty or morality. Or even basic competence.
and that will drag the Tory party a lot further to the right following the next election where they only have the 'safe' seats left.
And the worst of it is, I clicked the link expecting it to be an east London story from my old patch, but it turns out to be another Tory MP entirely. How many rotten characters do they have?
We need HYUFD to explain why their candidate selection process is so abysmal.
What was the candidate selection process 26 years ago? That was when he was elected.
And the worst of it is, I clicked the link expecting it to be an east London story from my old patch, but it turns out to be another Tory MP entirely. How many rotten characters do they have?
We need HYUFD to explain why their candidate selection process is so abysmal.
I can do that
The safe seats delivered by our rotten voting system enable the tiny clique of party activists to select people based on whether they are ‘sound’ on whatever their local obsessions are - hard Brexit, anti-HS2, whatever - and ignore entirely the sort of considerations the typical voter would be interested in, such as their integrity or honesty or morality.
I think safe seats do not help, but cannot be the full explanation, since there's plenty of awful candidates in non safe seats too, and not a problem for only one party too.
you shouldn't trust anyone who actively wants to be an MP. get people in that don't want to do it.
What a really excellent article, to which I would just add one more thing: the timing was not accidental. Hamas (Iran) is desperate to avoid the continued normalisation of relations between Israel and its Arab neighbours.
Yes, the Abraham Accords were transential in the region, and the idea of normalised relations between the Saudis and Israel was going to be the trigger for a permanent peace.
With what resolution for the Palestinians though?
You seem to be under the misapprehension anyone in the middle east gives the slightest shit about the palestians. All evidence indicates there so called brothers really dont
Bit of a sweeping statement.
A sweeping statement I agree....so if its wrong you will be able to point to all the neighbouring arab states willing to give a home to the palestinians....oh thats right you cant because they dont exist. The neighbouring states prefer the palestinians kept where they are immiserated because it gives them a cause
And the worst of it is, I clicked the link expecting it to be an east London story from my old patch, but it turns out to be another Tory MP entirely. How many rotten characters do they have?
We need HYUFD to explain why their candidate selection process is so abysmal.
I can do that
The safe seats delivered by our rotten voting system enable the tiny clique of party activists to select people based on whether they are ‘sound’ on whatever their local obsessions are - hard Brexit, anti-HS2, whatever - and ignore entirely the sort of considerations the typical voter would be interested in, such as their integrity or honesty or morality.
I think safe seats do not help, but cannot be the full explanation, since there's plenty of awful candidates in non safe seats too, and not a problem for only one party too.
you shouldn't trust anyone who actively wants to be an MP. get people in that don't want to do it.
Kurt Vonnegut once proposed an electoral system where random individuals would be leaders, with no opting out.
Not sure the betting opportunities would be up to much.
What a really excellent article, to which I would just add one more thing: the timing was not accidental. Hamas (Iran) is desperate to avoid the continued normalisation of relations between Israel and its Arab neighbours.
Yes, the Abraham Accords were transential in the region, and the idea of normalised relations between the Saudis and Israel was going to be the trigger for a permanent peace.
With what resolution for the Palestinians though?
You seem to be under the misapprehension anyone in the middle east gives the slightest shit about the palestians. All evidence indicates there so called brothers really dont
Bit of a sweeping statement.
A sweeping statement I agree....so if its wrong you will be able to point to all the neighbouring arab states willing to give a home to the palestinians....oh thats right you cant because they dont exist. The neighbouring states prefer the palestinians kept where they are immiserated because it gives them a cause
I was just thinking of something that rhymed with his name but I couldn't come up with anything
His niece is Emily Blunt.
And Emily Blunt's sister is Felicity Blunt. Who is married to Stanley Tucci.
Is there anymore nepotistic industry than show business?
Should I have heard of these people?
I would suggest the Royal family are even more nepotistic...
A lot of people in showbusiness, for example will smith and his talentless son get their kids into it not through talent but connections. The royal family is another example it is true but being royal is not an industry.
And the worst of it is, I clicked the link expecting it to be an east London story from my old patch, but it turns out to be another Tory MP entirely. How many rotten characters do they have?
We need HYUFD to explain why their candidate selection process is so abysmal.
I can do that
The safe seats delivered by our rotten voting system enable the tiny clique of party activists to select people based on whether they are ‘sound’ on whatever their local obsessions are - hard Brexit, anti-HS2, whatever - and ignore entirely the sort of considerations the typical voter would be interested in, such as their integrity or honesty or morality.
I think safe seats do not help, but cannot be the full explanation, since there's plenty of awful candidates in non safe seats too, and not a problem for only one party too.
you shouldn't trust anyone who actively wants to be an MP. get people in that don't want to do it.
The Tory experiment with open primaries is that Devon seat quickly self aborted, once it threw up someone genuinely capable and open minded.
And the worst of it is, I clicked the link expecting it to be an east London story from my old patch, but it turns out to be another Tory MP entirely. How many rotten characters do they have?
We need HYUFD to explain why their candidate selection process is so abysmal.
I can do that
The safe seats delivered by our rotten voting system enable the tiny clique of party activists to select people based on whether they are ‘sound’ on whatever their local obsessions are - hard Brexit, anti-HS2, whatever - and ignore entirely the sort of considerations the typical voter would be interested in, such as their integrity or honesty or morality. Or even basic competence.
Blunts constituency party tried to get him deselected in 2010 after he came out as gay.
What a really excellent article, to which I would just add one more thing: the timing was not accidental. Hamas (Iran) is desperate to avoid the continued normalisation of relations between Israel and its Arab neighbours.
Yes, the Abraham Accords were transential in the region, and the idea of normalised relations between the Saudis and Israel was going to be the trigger for a permanent peace.
With what resolution for the Palestinians though?
You seem to be under the misapprehension anyone in the middle east gives the slightest shit about the palestians. All evidence indicates there so called brothers really dont
Bit of a sweeping statement.
A sweeping statement I agree....so if its wrong you will be able to point to all the neighbouring arab states willing to give a home to the palestinians....oh thats right you cant because they dont exist. The neighbouring states prefer the palestinians kept where they are immiserated because it gives them a cause
And the worst of it is, I clicked the link expecting it to be an east London story from my old patch, but it turns out to be another Tory MP entirely. How many rotten characters do they have?
We need HYUFD to explain why their candidate selection process is so abysmal.
I can do that
The safe seats delivered by our rotten voting system enable the tiny clique of party activists to select people based on whether they are ‘sound’ on whatever their local obsessions are - hard Brexit, anti-HS2, whatever - and ignore entirely the sort of considerations the typical voter would be interested in, such as their integrity or honesty or morality.
I think safe seats do not help, but cannot be the full explanation, since there's plenty of awful candidates in non safe seats too, and not a problem for only one party too.
you shouldn't trust anyone who actively wants to be an MP. get people in that don't want to do it.
I'm going to be contrarian and disagree.
I have this vague sense that we're in a an awful feedback loop where some awful types become MPs, and politics in general puts off sensible, talented people from wanting to be MPs, so only the worst try, and that means more awful types become MPs and politics even more so puts off sensible and so on and so forth.
People should want to be MPs, for the right reasons naturally. Such people do exist, and having it as an ambition could be arrogant, but would not automatically be so if the reasoning is right.
The tricky thing is how to have a system which incentivises those people to try and helps them succeed. Certainly parliament does not reward being analytical, or a good legislator, or co-operation, so those are not the skills that even the good MPs develop. The culture grinds them down.
And the worst of it is, I clicked the link expecting it to be an east London story from my old patch, but it turns out to be another Tory MP entirely. How many rotten characters do they have?
We need HYUFD to explain why their candidate selection process is so abysmal.
I can do that
The safe seats delivered by our rotten voting system enable the tiny clique of party activists to select people based on whether they are ‘sound’ on whatever their local obsessions are - hard Brexit, anti-HS2, whatever - and ignore entirely the sort of considerations the typical voter would be interested in, such as their integrity or honesty or morality.
I think safe seats do not help, but cannot be the full explanation, since there's plenty of awful candidates in non safe seats too, and not a problem for only one party too.
you shouldn't trust anyone who actively wants to be an MP. get people in that don't want to do it.
The Tory experiment with open primaries is that Devon seat quickly self aborted, once it threw up someone genuinely capable and open minded.
Wollaston was neither capable nor open minded....she was a left wing moron
Long way off, if ever of course, but I wonder at the argument over primary anti-Tory choice in the seat given this result.
Of course in reality a result like that in a seat like that should suggest a focus on the LDs, given wins from far less advantageous situations.
Mid Beds probably makes this harder. In hindsight if the LDs had given up on that when things looked unpromising they might have got an easier ride here. I still think they’d win a By-election easily. But as commented, we may not actually see this one before the GE.
Long way off, if ever of course, but I wonder at the argument over primary anti-Tory choice in the seat given this result.
Of course in reality a result like that in a seat like that should suggest a focus on the LDs, given wins from far less advantageous situations.
Mid Beds probably makes this harder. In hindsight if the LDs had given up on that when things looked unpromising they might have got an easier ride here. I still think they’d win a By-election easily. But as commented, we may not actually see this one before the GE.
I think Mid Beds shows it doesn't really matter if one side goes hard or not, if the seat wants to punish the Tories enough. Labour could throw the kitchen sink at Reigate and I don't think it would matter.
And the worst of it is, I clicked the link expecting it to be an east London story from my old patch, but it turns out to be another Tory MP entirely. How many rotten characters do they have?
We need HYUFD to explain why their candidate selection process is so abysmal.
I can do that
The safe seats delivered by our rotten voting system enable the tiny clique of party activists to select people based on whether they are ‘sound’ on whatever their local obsessions are - hard Brexit, anti-HS2, whatever - and ignore entirely the sort of considerations the typical voter would be interested in, such as their integrity or honesty or morality.
I think safe seats do not help, but cannot be the full explanation, since there's plenty of awful candidates in non safe seats too, and not a problem for only one party too.
you shouldn't trust anyone who actively wants to be an MP. get people in that don't want to do it.
The Tory experiment with open primaries is that Devon seat quickly self aborted, once it threw up someone genuinely capable and open minded.
Well it didn't abort that quickly since it was used in both 2010 and 2015 in some constituencies. Moreover that MP you are referring to lied to both her party and her constituents in 2017 just to get reelected so I would question the 'genuinely capable' bit.
Long way off, if ever of course, but I wonder at the argument over primary anti-Tory choice in the seat given this result.
Of course in reality a result like that in a seat like that should suggest a focus on the LDs, given wins from far less advantageous situations.
Mid Beds probably makes this harder. In hindsight if the LDs had given up on that when things looked unpromising they might have got an easier ride here. I still think they’d win a By-election easily. But as commented, we may not actually see this one before the GE.
I think Mid Beds shows it doesn't really matter if one side goes hard or not, if the seat wants to punish the Tories enough. Labour could throw the kitchen sink at Reigate and I don't think it would matter.
If he is charged then this will not become a BE since the Commons will not wish to be seen to be pre-judging the case and the current awful legal backlogs mean the case wouldn't come up for over a year. Note the similar case over in Essex
What a really excellent article, to which I would just add one more thing: the timing was not accidental. Hamas (Iran) is desperate to avoid the continued normalisation of relations between Israel and its Arab neighbours.
Yes, the Abraham Accords were transential in the region, and the idea of normalised relations between the Saudis and Israel was going to be the trigger for a permanent peace.
With what resolution for the Palestinians though?
You seem to be under the misapprehension anyone in the middle east gives the slightest shit about the palestians. All evidence indicates there so called brothers really dont
Bit of a sweeping statement.
A sweeping statement I agree....so if its wrong you will be able to point to all the neighbouring arab states willing to give a home to the palestinians....oh thats right you cant because they dont exist. The neighbouring states prefer the palestinians kept where they are immiserated because it gives them a cause
Neither Palestinians nor the other Arab counties want to collaborate in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.
And the worst of it is, I clicked the link expecting it to be an east London story from my old patch, but it turns out to be another Tory MP entirely. How many rotten characters do they have?
We need HYUFD to explain why their candidate selection process is so abysmal.
I can do that
The safe seats delivered by our rotten voting system enable the tiny clique of party activists to select people based on whether they are ‘sound’ on whatever their local obsessions are - hard Brexit, anti-HS2, whatever - and ignore entirely the sort of considerations the typical voter would be interested in, such as their integrity or honesty or morality.
I think safe seats do not help, but cannot be the full explanation, since there's plenty of awful candidates in non safe seats too, and not a problem for only one party too.
you shouldn't trust anyone who actively wants to be an MP. get people in that don't want to do it.
Kurt Vonnegut once proposed an electoral system where random individuals would be leaders, with no opting out.
Not sure the betting opportunities would be up to much.
Asimov wrote a great short story called 'Franchise' where one person is picked by computer to be the Voter of the Year. They are not allowed to refuse. The computer then asks them a series of questions and on the basis of the answers makes all the political decisions for the next year.
What a really excellent article, to which I would just add one more thing: the timing was not accidental. Hamas (Iran) is desperate to avoid the continued normalisation of relations between Israel and its Arab neighbours.
Yes, the Abraham Accords were transential in the region, and the idea of normalised relations between the Saudis and Israel was going to be the trigger for a permanent peace.
With what resolution for the Palestinians though?
You seem to be under the misapprehension anyone in the middle east gives the slightest shit about the palestians. All evidence indicates there so called brothers really dont
Bit of a sweeping statement.
A sweeping statement I agree....so if its wrong you will be able to point to all the neighbouring arab states willing to give a home to the palestinians....oh thats right you cant because they dont exist. The neighbouring states prefer the palestinians kept where they are immiserated because it gives them a cause
Neither Palestinians nor the other Arab counties want to collaborate in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.
Providing Israel with a casus belli could be seen as a form of collaboration.
If I remember correctly one Aaron Bell wanted to become a MP and has served his constituency and country to the best of his abilities. Most MPs aren't bad people. They do have many, many other problems (list available upon request) but they are not ex officio bad.
What a really excellent article, to which I would just add one more thing: the timing was not accidental. Hamas (Iran) is desperate to avoid the continued normalisation of relations between Israel and its Arab neighbours.
Yes, the Abraham Accords were transential in the region, and the idea of normalised relations between the Saudis and Israel was going to be the trigger for a permanent peace.
With what resolution for the Palestinians though?
You seem to be under the misapprehension anyone in the middle east gives the slightest shit about the palestians. All evidence indicates there so called brothers really dont
Bit of a sweeping statement.
A sweeping statement I agree....so if its wrong you will be able to point to all the neighbouring arab states willing to give a home to the palestinians....oh thats right you cant because they dont exist. The neighbouring states prefer the palestinians kept where they are immiserated because it gives them a cause
Neither Palestinians nor the other Arab counties want to collaborate in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.
Where did i say they wanted to? I merely pointed out the arab "brethren" also did not want to help by relieving the multi generation camps because they see the palestinian cause as a political plus. They dont give a shit about palestinians they just see them as a political plus
Long way off, if ever of course, but I wonder at the argument over primary anti-Tory choice in the seat given this result.
Of course in reality a result like that in a seat like that should suggest a focus on the LDs, given wins from far less advantageous situations.
Mid Beds probably makes this harder. In hindsight if the LDs had given up on that when things looked unpromising they might have got an easier ride here. I still think they’d win a By-election easily. But as commented, we may not actually see this one before the GE.
I look forward to seeing the Lib Dem bar chart for this (by-election if it occurs).
DougSeal - I didn't intend to imply The Economist had anything to do with the Israeli intelligence failure. Rather, the magazine's failure strikes me as an example they should learn from, and we can learn from. In particular, that money isn't the only motivation leaders have.
(Historical note: During the negotiations before Pearl Harbor, a careful reader of the New York Times or Herald Tribune would have had a good understanding of the status of the negotiations up until the last two weeks before the attack.
As I recall, I learned that from Wohlstetter's classic on Pearl Harbor. In contrast, the Honolulu newspapers were terrible, which is one of the reasons the sailors were surprised. One asked -- during the attack -- who was attacking them. When told, he said he didn't even know the Japanese were "sore" at us.)
Are wrong 'uns disproportionately attracted to politics, or does it simply corrupt those who are?
Or a bit of both?
Extroverts tend to be active in lots of areas of life. Do we think politicians were just better at getting away with it in the old days?
Possibly. I wonder if a formal HR/disciplinary process hanging over your head, and using it from time to time, is essential to get (some) adults to behave in most organisations- which politicians don't have, and that's one side of the equation.
The other is the power and ego going to their heads so easily, and people fawning over them, combined with alcohol, attention and (quite frankly) far too many backbenchers not having anything meaningful or constructive to do.
And the worst of it is, I clicked the link expecting it to be an east London story from my old patch, but it turns out to be another Tory MP entirely. How many rotten characters do they have?
We need HYUFD to explain why their candidate selection process is so abysmal.
I can do that
The safe seats delivered by our rotten voting system enable the tiny clique of party activists to select people based on whether they are ‘sound’ on whatever their local obsessions are - hard Brexit, anti-HS2, whatever - and ignore entirely the sort of considerations the typical voter would be interested in, such as their integrity or honesty or morality.
I think safe seats do not help, but cannot be the full explanation, since there's plenty of awful candidates in non safe seats too, and not a problem for only one party too.
you shouldn't trust anyone who actively wants to be an MP. get people in that don't want to do it.
I'm going to be contrarian and disagree.
I have this vague sense that we're in a an awful feedback loop where some awful types become MPs, and politics in general puts off sensible, talented people from wanting to be MPs, so only the worst try, and that means more awful types become MPs and politics even more so puts off sensible and so on and so forth.
People should want to be MPs, for the right reasons naturally. Such people do exist, and having it as an ambition could be arrogant, but would not automatically be so if the reasoning is right.
The tricky thing is how to have a system which incentivises those people to try and helps them succeed. Certainly parliament does not reward being analytical, or a good legislator, or co-operation, so those are not the skills that even the good MPs develop. The culture grinds them down.
Increasingly, the job only seems to attract the financially corrupt or sexual offenders.
The Reigate Conservatives had the chance to deselect Blunt in 2013, but the party hierarchy rallied round him.
They tried to deselect him in 2010 and failed. Looking at the statements at the time it appears because they were a bunch of homophobic fuckwits.
They were. But, Given Blunt’s intemperate response to the conviction of Imran Khan for sexual assault (denouncing it as victimisation for being gay) , and now this, it seems they had the measure of him.
And the worst of it is, I clicked the link expecting it to be an east London story from my old patch, but it turns out to be another Tory MP entirely. How many rotten characters do they have?
We need HYUFD to explain why their candidate selection process is so abysmal.
I can do that
The safe seats delivered by our rotten voting system enable the tiny clique of party activists to select people based on whether they are ‘sound’ on whatever their local obsessions are - hard Brexit, anti-HS2, whatever - and ignore entirely the sort of considerations the typical voter would be interested in, such as their integrity or honesty or morality.
I think safe seats do not help, but cannot be the full explanation, since there's plenty of awful candidates in non safe seats too, and not a problem for only one party too.
you shouldn't trust anyone who actively wants to be an MP. get people in that don't want to do it.
I'm going to be contrarian and disagree.
I have this vague sense that we're in a an awful feedback loop where some awful types become MPs, and politics in general puts off sensible, talented people from wanting to be MPs, so only the worst try, and that means more awful types become MPs and politics even more so puts off sensible and so on and so forth.
People should want to be MPs, for the right reasons naturally. Such people do exist, and having it as an ambition could be arrogant, but would not automatically be so if the reasoning is right.
The tricky thing is how to have a system which incentivises those people to try and helps them succeed. Certainly parliament does not reward being analytical, or a good legislator, or co-operation, so those are not the skills that even the good MPs develop. The culture grinds them down.
Increasingly, the job only seems to attract the financially corrupt or sexual offenders.
Is there an argument for a term limit on an MP - 10 or 15 years? My local MP, Stephen Timms, will celebrate 30 years as an MP tomorrow - I yield to no one in my admiration for him as a constituency MP but 30 years? How does that provide opportunities for new MPs to get elected?
And the worst of it is, I clicked the link expecting it to be an east London story from my old patch, but it turns out to be another Tory MP entirely. How many rotten characters do they have?
We need HYUFD to explain why their candidate selection process is so abysmal.
I can do that
The safe seats delivered by our rotten voting system enable the tiny clique of party activists to select people based on whether they are ‘sound’ on whatever their local obsessions are - hard Brexit, anti-HS2, whatever - and ignore entirely the sort of considerations the typical voter would be interested in, such as their integrity or honesty or morality.
I think safe seats do not help, but cannot be the full explanation, since there's plenty of awful candidates in non safe seats too, and not a problem for only one party too.
you shouldn't trust anyone who actively wants to be an MP. get people in that don't want to do it.
I'm going to be contrarian and disagree.
I have this vague sense that we're in a an awful feedback loop where some awful types become MPs, and politics in general puts off sensible, talented people from wanting to be MPs, so only the worst try, and that means more awful types become MPs and politics even more so puts off sensible and so on and so forth.
People should want to be MPs, for the right reasons naturally. Such people do exist, and having it as an ambition could be arrogant, but would not automatically be so if the reasoning is right.
The tricky thing is how to have a system which incentivises those people to try and helps them succeed. Certainly parliament does not reward being analytical, or a good legislator, or co-operation, so those are not the skills that even the good MPs develop. The culture grinds them down.
Increasingly, the job only seems to attract the financially corrupt or sexual offenders.
Is there an argument for a term limit on an MP - 10 or 15 years? My local MP, Stephen Timms, will celebrate 30 years as an MP tomorrow - I yield to no one in my admiration for him as a constituency MP but 30 years? How does that provide opportunities for new MPs to get elected?
While the first to castigate mps as mostly useless. You say you admire him presumable he is an effective mp for you so why do you want to limit his term where you are likely to get a typical fuckwit mp? The question should be rather how do we stop the idiots getting in and instead get those that actually give a shit?
The Reigate Conservatives had the chance to deselect Blunt in 2013, but the party hierarchy rallied round him.
They tried to deselect him in 2010 and failed. Looking at the statements at the time it appears because they were a bunch of homophobic fuckwits.
They were. But, Given Blunt’s intemperate response to the conviction of Imran Khan for sexual assault (denouncing it as victimisation for being gay) , and now this, it seems they had the measure of him.
No they didn't. Read the statements at the time. They simply objected to having a gay MP. Whatever he may have done a decade after that in no way excuses their choices or their statements then.
And the worst of it is, I clicked the link expecting it to be an east London story from my old patch, but it turns out to be another Tory MP entirely. How many rotten characters do they have?
We need HYUFD to explain why their candidate selection process is so abysmal.
I can do that
The safe seats delivered by our rotten voting system enable the tiny clique of party activists to select people based on whether they are ‘sound’ on whatever their local obsessions are - hard Brexit, anti-HS2, whatever - and ignore entirely the sort of considerations the typical voter would be interested in, such as their integrity or honesty or morality.
I think safe seats do not help, but cannot be the full explanation, since there's plenty of awful candidates in non safe seats too, and not a problem for only one party too.
you shouldn't trust anyone who actively wants to be an MP. get people in that don't want to do it.
I'm going to be contrarian and disagree.
I have this vague sense that we're in a an awful feedback loop where some awful types become MPs, and politics in general puts off sensible, talented people from wanting to be MPs, so only the worst try, and that means more awful types become MPs and politics even more so puts off sensible and so on and so forth.
People should want to be MPs, for the right reasons naturally. Such people do exist, and having it as an ambition could be arrogant, but would not automatically be so if the reasoning is right.
The tricky thing is how to have a system which incentivises those people to try and helps them succeed. Certainly parliament does not reward being analytical, or a good legislator, or co-operation, so those are not the skills that even the good MPs develop. The culture grinds them down.
Increasingly, the job only seems to attract the financially corrupt or sexual offenders.
Is there an argument for a term limit on an MP - 10 or 15 years? My local MP, Stephen Timms, will celebrate 30 years as an MP tomorrow - I yield to no one in my admiration for him as a constituency MP but 30 years? How does that provide opportunities for new MPs to get elected?
There may be reasonable arguments for term limits but 'giving someone else a chance' doesn't really strike me as a strong argument.
And the worst of it is, I clicked the link expecting it to be an east London story from my old patch, but it turns out to be another Tory MP entirely. How many rotten characters do they have?
We need HYUFD to explain why their candidate selection process is so abysmal.
I can do that
The safe seats delivered by our rotten voting system enable the tiny clique of party activists to select people based on whether they are ‘sound’ on whatever their local obsessions are - hard Brexit, anti-HS2, whatever - and ignore entirely the sort of considerations the typical voter would be interested in, such as their integrity or honesty or morality.
I think safe seats do not help, but cannot be the full explanation, since there's plenty of awful candidates in non safe seats too, and not a problem for only one party too.
you shouldn't trust anyone who actively wants to be an MP. get people in that don't want to do it.
I'm going to be contrarian and disagree.
I have this vague sense that we're in a an awful feedback loop where some awful types become MPs, and politics in general puts off sensible, talented people from wanting to be MPs, so only the worst try, and that means more awful types become MPs and politics even more so puts off sensible and so on and so forth.
People should want to be MPs, for the right reasons naturally. Such people do exist, and having it as an ambition could be arrogant, but would not automatically be so if the reasoning is right.
The tricky thing is how to have a system which incentivises those people to try and helps them succeed. Certainly parliament does not reward being analytical, or a good legislator, or co-operation, so those are not the skills that even the good MPs develop. The culture grinds them down.
Increasingly, the job only seems to attract the financially corrupt or sexual offenders.
Is there an argument for a term limit on an MP - 10 or 15 years? My local MP, Stephen Timms, will celebrate 30 years as an MP tomorrow - I yield to no one in my admiration for him as a constituency MP but 30 years? How does that provide opportunities for new MPs to get elected?
Where people are elected and of more limited power (eg MPs not Presidents) I don't see term limits as being necessary or appropriate. If they want to do it and people still want them to, I think that takes precedence.
You are reliant on parties doing more to take action on those who are beyond their effectiveness, but if they cannot they will be punished eventually.
The Reigate Conservatives had the chance to deselect Blunt in 2013, but the party hierarchy rallied round him.
They tried to deselect him in 2010 and failed. Looking at the statements at the time it appears because they were a bunch of homophobic fuckwits.
They were. But, Given Blunt’s intemperate response to the conviction of Imran Khan for sexual assault (denouncing it as victimisation for being gay) , and now this, it seems they had the measure of him.
No they didn't. Read the statements at the time. They simply objected to having a gay MP. Whatever he may have done a decade after that in no way excuses their choices or their statements then.
It's a bit of a stretch to call unrelated criticism 10 years ago somehow merited because much later they have allegedly done a bad thing.
If someone was accused of being financially dodgy and then 10 years later they are accused of theft, sure, there's an argument the accuser had the measure of the accused, but not if they were accused of, say, drunk and disorderly.
And the worst of it is, I clicked the link expecting it to be an east London story from my old patch, but it turns out to be another Tory MP entirely. How many rotten characters do they have?
We need HYUFD to explain why their candidate selection process is so abysmal.
I can do that
The safe seats delivered by our rotten voting system enable the tiny clique of party activists to select people based on whether they are ‘sound’ on whatever their local obsessions are - hard Brexit, anti-HS2, whatever - and ignore entirely the sort of considerations the typical voter would be interested in, such as their integrity or honesty or morality.
I think safe seats do not help, but cannot be the full explanation, since there's plenty of awful candidates in non safe seats too, and not a problem for only one party too.
you shouldn't trust anyone who actively wants to be an MP. get people in that don't want to do it.
I'm going to be contrarian and disagree.
I have this vague sense that we're in a an awful feedback loop where some awful types become MPs, and politics in general puts off sensible, talented people from wanting to be MPs, so only the worst try, and that means more awful types become MPs and politics even more so puts off sensible and so on and so forth.
People should want to be MPs, for the right reasons naturally. Such people do exist, and having it as an ambition could be arrogant, but would not automatically be so if the reasoning is right.
The tricky thing is how to have a system which incentivises those people to try and helps them succeed. Certainly parliament does not reward being analytical, or a good legislator, or co-operation, so those are not the skills that even the good MPs develop. The culture grinds them down.
Increasingly, the job only seems to attract the financially corrupt or sexual offenders.
Let us hope we can move to the sexually corrupt (which dependent on details might not even be illegal, so not our businss) and financial offenders.
Are wrong 'uns disproportionately attracted to politics, or does it simply corrupt those who are?
Or a bit of both?
Extroverts tend to be active in lots of areas of life. Do we think politicians were just better at getting away with it in the old days?
Possibly. I wonder if a formal HR/disciplinary process hanging over your head, and using it from time to time, is essential to get (some) adults to behave in most organisations- which politicians don't have, and that's one side of the equation.
The other is the power and ego going to their heads so easily, and people fawning over them, combined with alcohol, attention and (quite frankly) far too many backbenchers not having anything meaningful or constructive to do.
It's a toxic mix.
I wonder if also there's a generational changing of the guard. A shift in what's accepted and what is beyond the pale. And some MPs just don't keep up.
The sort of stuff that did for Bone, for example, would probably have been accepted as how things are when he was a lad. Maybe even when he became an MP in 2005. Bosses abused their minions into shape and the minions were grateful.
Are wrong 'uns disproportionately attracted to politics, or does it simply corrupt those who are?
Or a bit of both?
Extroverts tend to be active in lots of areas of life. Do we think politicians were just better at getting away with it in the old days?
Possibly. I wonder if a formal HR/disciplinary process hanging over your head, and using it from time to time, is essential to get (some) adults to behave in most organisations- which politicians don't have, and that's one side of the equation.
The other is the power and ego going to their heads so easily, and people fawning over them, combined with alcohol, attention and (quite frankly) far too many backbenchers not having anything meaningful or constructive to do.
It's a toxic mix.
I wonder if also there's a generational changing of the guard. A shift in what's accepted and what is beyond the pale. And some MPs just don't keep up.
The sort of stuff that did for Bone, for example, would probably have been accepted as how things are when he was a lad. Maybe even when he became an MP in 2005. Bosses abused their minions into shape and the minions were grateful.
No doubt The Youth are wrong in other ways.
As @Sean_F says I wonder if it's a way to access easy sex and money for some that they simply wouldn't get any other way.
Are wrong 'uns disproportionately attracted to politics, or does it simply corrupt those who are?
Or a bit of both?
Extroverts tend to be active in lots of areas of life. Do we think politicians were just better at getting away with it in the old days?
Possibly. I wonder if a formal HR/disciplinary process hanging over your head, and using it from time to time, is essential to get (some) adults to behave in most organisations- which politicians don't have, and that's one side of the equation.
The other is the power and ego going to their heads so easily, and people fawning over them, combined with alcohol, attention and (quite frankly) far too many backbenchers not having anything meaningful or constructive to do.
It's a toxic mix.
I wonder if also there's a generational changing of the guard. A shift in what's accepted and what is beyond the pale. And some MPs just don't keep up.
The sort of stuff that did for Bone, for example, would probably have been accepted as how things are when he was a lad. Maybe even when he became an MP in 2005. Bosses abused their minions into shape and the minions were grateful.
No doubt The Youth are wrong in other ways.
I don’t think the proposition that earlier generations would have been happy to have Bone’s … bone waved in their face is a particularly persuasive one.
And the worst of it is, I clicked the link expecting it to be an east London story from my old patch, but it turns out to be another Tory MP entirely. How many rotten characters do they have?
We need HYUFD to explain why their candidate selection process is so abysmal.
I can do that
The safe seats delivered by our rotten voting system enable the tiny clique of party activists to select people based on whether they are ‘sound’ on whatever their local obsessions are - hard Brexit, anti-HS2, whatever - and ignore entirely the sort of considerations the typical voter would be interested in, such as their integrity or honesty or morality.
I think safe seats do not help, but cannot be the full explanation, since there's plenty of awful candidates in non safe seats too, and not a problem for only one party too.
you shouldn't trust anyone who actively wants to be an MP. get people in that don't want to do it.
I'm going to be contrarian and disagree.
I have this vague sense that we're in a an awful feedback loop where some awful types become MPs, and politics in general puts off sensible, talented people from wanting to be MPs, so only the worst try, and that means more awful types become MPs and politics even more so puts off sensible and so on and so forth.
People should want to be MPs, for the right reasons naturally. Such people do exist, and having it as an ambition could be arrogant, but would not automatically be so if the reasoning is right.
The tricky thing is how to have a system which incentivises those people to try and helps them succeed. Certainly parliament does not reward being analytical, or a good legislator, or co-operation, so those are not the skills that even the good MPs develop. The culture grinds them down.
Increasingly, the job only seems to attract the financially corrupt or sexual offenders.
Is there an argument for a term limit on an MP - 10 or 15 years? My local MP, Stephen Timms, will celebrate 30 years as an MP tomorrow - I yield to no one in my admiration for him as a constituency MP but 30 years? How does that provide opportunities for new MPs to get elected?
While the first to castigate mps as mostly useless. You say you admire him presumable he is an effective mp for you so why do you want to limit his term where you are likely to get a typical fuckwit mp? The question should be rather how do we stop the idiots getting in and instead get those that actually give a shit?
I don't know the answer. There's an assumption anyone else selected by East Ham Labour could and would be a "f*ckwit" as you put it. I don't know - MPs can of course go on forever and aren't subject to the same rules of retirement as other professions. Timms is only 69 and can certainly serve another term if he and the electorate of East Ham so wish.
We need only look across the Atlantic to see two much older men dominating politics - do they succeed before everyone else younger in the Democrat and Republican parties is a "f*ckwit" by your definition? I find that incredibly hard to believe.
Are wrong 'uns disproportionately attracted to politics, or does it simply corrupt those who are?
Or a bit of both?
Extroverts tend to be active in lots of areas of life. Do we think politicians were just better at getting away with it in the old days?
Possibly. I wonder if a formal HR/disciplinary process hanging over your head, and using it from time to time, is essential to get (some) adults to behave in most organisations- which politicians don't have, and that's one side of the equation.
The other is the power and ego going to their heads so easily, and people fawning over them, combined with alcohol, attention and (quite frankly) far too many backbenchers not having anything meaningful or constructive to do.
It's a toxic mix.
I wonder if also there's a generational changing of the guard. A shift in what's accepted and what is beyond the pale. And some MPs just don't keep up.
The sort of stuff that did for Bone, for example, would probably have been accepted as how things are when he was a lad. Maybe even when he became an MP in 2005. Bosses abused their minions into shape and the minions were grateful.
No doubt The Youth are wrong in other ways.
I don’t think the proposition that earlier generations would have been happy to have Bone’s … bone waved in their face is a particularly persuasive one.
My theory is that, overall, we're more relaxed about sex (especially colourful sex) than N years ago, but more sensitive to power, especially abuses of power.
I was having sex with a friend of hers. She wanted to watched (so I said yes, bit weird but ok and i was a bit drunk) and then she said, "can I be next?"
I turned that down. So just the conversion of a twosome to a threesome, not sex altogether.
Just didn't fancy her and it was a bit odd. So she just slept awkwardly on the floor all night next to us and was generally moody in the morning.
And the worst of it is, I clicked the link expecting it to be an east London story from my old patch, but it turns out to be another Tory MP entirely. How many rotten characters do they have?
We need HYUFD to explain why their candidate selection process is so abysmal.
I can do that
The safe seats delivered by our rotten voting system enable the tiny clique of party activists to select people based on whether they are ‘sound’ on whatever their local obsessions are - hard Brexit, anti-HS2, whatever - and ignore entirely the sort of considerations the typical voter would be interested in, such as their integrity or honesty or morality.
I think safe seats do not help, but cannot be the full explanation, since there's plenty of awful candidates in non safe seats too, and not a problem for only one party too.
you shouldn't trust anyone who actively wants to be an MP. get people in that don't want to do it.
I'm going to be contrarian and disagree.
I have this vague sense that we're in a an awful feedback loop where some awful types become MPs, and politics in general puts off sensible, talented people from wanting to be MPs, so only the worst try, and that means more awful types become MPs and politics even more so puts off sensible and so on and so forth.
People should want to be MPs, for the right reasons naturally. Such people do exist, and having it as an ambition could be arrogant, but would not automatically be so if the reasoning is right.
The tricky thing is how to have a system which incentivises those people to try and helps them succeed. Certainly parliament does not reward being analytical, or a good legislator, or co-operation, so those are not the skills that even the good MPs develop. The culture grinds them down.
Increasingly, the job only seems to attract the financially corrupt or sexual offenders.
Is there an argument for a term limit on an MP - 10 or 15 years? My local MP, Stephen Timms, will celebrate 30 years as an MP tomorrow - I yield to no one in my admiration for him as a constituency MP but 30 years? How does that provide opportunities for new MPs to get elected?
While the first to castigate mps as mostly useless. You say you admire him presumable he is an effective mp for you so why do you want to limit his term where you are likely to get a typical fuckwit mp? The question should be rather how do we stop the idiots getting in and instead get those that actually give a shit?
I don't know the answer. There's an assumption anyone else selected by East Ham Labour could and would be a "f*ckwit" as you put it. I don't know - MPs can of course go on forever and aren't subject to the same rules of retirement as other professions. Timms is only 69 and can certainly serve another term if he and the electorate of East Ham so wish.
We need only look across the Atlantic to see two much older men dominating politics - do they succeed before everyone else younger in the Democrat and Republican parties is a "f*ckwit" by your definition? I find that incredibly hard to believe.
It's one of Parkinson's subsidiary Laws, I think.
Generation A has to be nudged off the summit unwillingly. Not because their performance starts to fall off, but because otherwise Generation B stagnates below them.
Long way off, if ever of course, but I wonder at the argument over primary anti-Tory choice in the seat given this result.
Of course in reality a result like that in a seat like that should suggest a focus on the LDs, given wins from far less advantageous situations.
Mid Beds probably makes this harder. In hindsight if the LDs had given up on that when things looked unpromising they might have got an easier ride here. I still think they’d win a By-election easily. But as commented, we may not actually see this one before the GE.
I think Mid Beds shows it doesn't really matter if one side goes hard or not, if the seat wants to punish the Tories enough. Labour could throw the kitchen sink at Reigate and I don't think it would matter.
If he is charged then this will not become a BE since the Commons will not wish to be seen to be pre-judging the case and the current awful legal backlogs mean the case wouldn't come up for over a year. Note the similar case over in Essex
And, for different reasons, but still a lengthy legal process, for Rutherglen.
I was having sex with a friend of hers. She wanted to watched (so I said yes, bit weird but ok and i was a bit drunk) and then she said, "can I be next?"
I turned that down. So just the conversion of a twosome to a threesome, not sex altogether.
Just didn't fancy her and it was a bit odd. So she just slept awkwardly on the floor all night next to us and was generally moody in the morning.
We are off to Firenze (Florence) for a long weekend.
Due to flight delays I’ve just done Schiphol airport including 2 bus connections and passport control in 22 minutes. What’s even more remarkable is that our bags (so obvious we can spot them from 100 yards away have made it as well.
Slightly annoying as I was hoping for the £600 late arrival refund fo pay for the next flight
Just been quoted a 35% increase in rent for a 3 bed flat in east London, zone 3
My brother recently stuck a 5 bed HOMO on the market for 290, no takers. Hes got it all rented for a 10% yield on that value now though, which covers his increased mortgage.
Are wrong 'uns disproportionately attracted to politics, or does it simply corrupt those who are?
Or a bit of both?
Extroverts tend to be active in lots of areas of life. Do we think politicians were just better at getting away with it in the old days?
Possibly. I wonder if a formal HR/disciplinary process hanging over your head, and using it from time to time, is essential to get (some) adults to behave in most organisations- which politicians don't have, and that's one side of the equation.
The other is the power and ego going to their heads so easily, and people fawning over them, combined with alcohol, attention and (quite frankly) far too many backbenchers not having anything meaningful or constructive to do.
It's a toxic mix.
I wonder if also there's a generational changing of the guard. A shift in what's accepted and what is beyond the pale. And some MPs just don't keep up.
The sort of stuff that did for Bone, for example, would probably have been accepted as how things are when he was a lad. Maybe even when he became an MP in 2005. Bosses abused their minions into shape and the minions were grateful.
No doubt The Youth are wrong in other ways.
As @Sean_F says I wonder if it's a way to access easy sex and money for some that they simply wouldn't get any other way.
Very muc doubt it. There's a lot of competition and hassle involved with getting selected to stand in a winnable seat. Do you really want to go around on a wet and windy night knocking on the doors of people you don't know? You really would have to have other motivations, and I think the vast majority of MPs do.
Are wrong 'uns disproportionately attracted to politics, or does it simply corrupt those who are?
Or a bit of both?
Extroverts tend to be active in lots of areas of life. Do we think politicians were just better at getting away with it in the old days?
Possibly. I wonder if a formal HR/disciplinary process hanging over your head, and using it from time to time, is essential to get (some) adults to behave in most organisations- which politicians don't have, and that's one side of the equation.
The other is the power and ego going to their heads so easily, and people fawning over them, combined with alcohol, attention and (quite frankly) far too many backbenchers not having anything meaningful or constructive to do.
It's a toxic mix.
I wonder if also there's a generational changing of the guard. A shift in what's accepted and what is beyond the pale. And some MPs just don't keep up.
The sort of stuff that did for Bone, for example, would probably have been accepted as how things are when he was a lad. Maybe even when he became an MP in 2005. Bosses abused their minions into shape and the minions were grateful.
No doubt The Youth are wrong in other ways.
As @Sean_F says I wonder if it's a way to access easy sex and money for some that they simply wouldn't get any other way.
Very muc doubt it. There's a lot of competition and hassle involved with getting selected to stand in a winnable seat. Do you really want to go around on a wet and windy night knocking on the doors of people you don't know? You really would have to have other motivations, and I think the vast majority of MPs do.
I think most go into it with positive intentions and aspirations, but also pretty unreaslitic about their own abilities and the chances to make it to top.
The number who are happy to pootle along on the backbenches is lower, a mixture of cranks and the genuinely content. Then there are those smaller number burning with ambition, likely to be in and out before they turn 55, the grasping, self aggrandizing types who will likely be the ones who push themselves to the front of our attention.
Just been quoted a 35% increase in rent for a 3 bed flat in east London, zone 3
My brother recently stuck a 5 bed HOMO on the market for 290, no takers. Hes got it all rented for a 10% yield on that value now though, which covers his increased mortgage.
so you're brother is renting out bedrooms at £483 per month?
As a youngster I was far too faithful to girlfriends I knew weren’t ‘the one’, to the point of spending a summer working in Greece, and staying faithful to a girl I split up with the week I got back!
And the worst of it is, I clicked the link expecting it to be an east London story from my old patch, but it turns out to be another Tory MP entirely. How many rotten characters do they have?
We need HYUFD to explain why their candidate selection process is so abysmal.
I can do that
The safe seats delivered by our rotten voting system enable the tiny clique of party activists to select people based on whether they are ‘sound’ on whatever their local obsessions are - hard Brexit, anti-HS2, whatever - and ignore entirely the sort of considerations the typical voter would be interested in, such as their integrity or honesty or morality. Or even basic competence.
As far as I can see none of these allegations came before Crispin Blunt was first selected as a candidate. Whether they are true or not we don't yet know, he has only been arrested not charged or convicted.
Of course the Tory MP for Reigate before Blunt was famous anti Maastricht rebel Sir George Gardiner who defected to the Referendum Party before the 1997 general election and stood against Blunt campaigning with a donkey he called Crispin
Comments
The safe seats delivered by our rotten voting system enable the tiny clique of party activists to select people based on whether they are ‘sound’ on whatever their local obsessions are - hard Brexit, anti-HS2, whatever - and ignore entirely the sort of considerations the typical voter would be interested in, such as their integrity or honesty or morality. Or even basic competence.
I would suggest the Royal family are even more nepotistic...
Of course in reality a result like that in a seat like that should suggest a focus on the LDs, given wins from far less advantageous situations.
Not sure the betting opportunities would be up to much.
I have this vague sense that we're in a an awful feedback loop where some awful types become MPs, and politics in general puts off sensible, talented people from wanting to be MPs, so only the worst try, and that means more awful types become MPs and politics even more so puts off sensible and so on and so forth.
People should want to be MPs, for the right reasons naturally. Such people do exist, and having it as an ambition could be arrogant, but would not automatically be so if the reasoning is right.
The tricky thing is how to have a system which incentivises those people to try and helps them succeed. Certainly parliament does not reward being analytical, or a good legislator, or co-operation, so those are not the skills that even the good MPs develop. The culture grinds them down.
Hipgnosis investors vote against UK-listed song royalties group continuing
Business that bought rights to Neil Young and Béyonce back catalogues must now restructure or face being wound up
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/oct/26/hipgnosis-investors-vote-against-uk-listed-music-trust-continuing
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/oct/21/emily-blunt-actor-apologises-restaurant-worker-jonathan-ross-interview
(Historical note: During the negotiations before Pearl Harbor, a careful reader of the New York Times or Herald Tribune would have had a good understanding of the status of the negotiations up until the last two weeks before the attack.
As I recall, I learned that from Wohlstetter's classic on Pearl Harbor. In contrast, the Honolulu newspapers were terrible, which is one of the reasons the sailors were surprised. One asked -- during the attack -- who was attacking them. When told, he said he didn't even know the Japanese were "sore" at us.)
Are wrong 'uns disproportionately attracted to politics, or does it simply corrupt those who are?
Or a bit of both?
Andre Onana could miss a huge number of games when he goes to the Africa Cup of Nations
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/24524030/man-utd-de-gea-free-transfer-onana/
So it is not just the public sector with a revolving door.
The other is the power and ego going to their heads so easily, and people fawning over them, combined with alcohol, attention and (quite frankly) far too many backbenchers not having anything meaningful or constructive to do.
It's a toxic mix.
At the last local elections in Reigate & Banstead, it was the Greens who finished second and form the lead opposition group on the council.
Their candidate last time is a prominent County Councillor well known especially in the south of the constituency.
You are reliant on parties doing more to take action on those who are beyond their effectiveness, but if they cannot they will be punished eventually.
If someone was accused of being financially dodgy and then 10 years later they are accused of theft, sure, there's an argument the accuser had the measure of the accused, but not if they were accused of, say, drunk and disorderly.
The sort of stuff that did for Bone, for example, would probably have been accepted as how things are when he was a lad. Maybe even when he became an MP in 2005. Bosses abused their minions into shape and the minions were grateful.
No doubt The Youth are wrong in other ways.
I failed (essentially refused) to have a threesome whilst fairly inebriated in my mid 20s at a house party too.
A US recession is effectively certain in the next 12 months.
https://twitter.com/business/status/1585280566252867589
🦕 A senior physiotherapist and a consultant gastroenterologist have sprayed orange cornstarch over the Titanosaur skeleton in @NHM_London
https://twitter.com/JustStop_Oil/status/1717545878448189592
So that's what doctors get up to on strike days.
Funnily enough, JSO also tweeted they were missing the usual condemnation from Conservative MPs and had something happened?
We need only look across the Atlantic to see two much older men dominating politics - do they succeed before everyone else younger in the Democrat and Republican parties is a "f*ckwit" by your definition? I find that incredibly hard to believe.
(Get a grip Rusbridger!)
I turned that down. So just the conversion of a twosome to a threesome, not sex altogether.
Just didn't fancy her and it was a bit odd. So she just slept awkwardly on the floor all night next to us and was generally moody in the morning.
Generation A has to be nudged off the summit unwillingly. Not because their performance starts to fall off, but because otherwise Generation B stagnates below them.
But that's blooming hard to do.
Due to flight delays I’ve just done Schiphol airport including 2 bus connections and passport control in 22 minutes. What’s even more remarkable is that our bags (so obvious we can spot them from 100 yards away have made it as well.
Slightly annoying as I was hoping for the £600 late arrival refund fo pay for the next flight
Plus sex with someone ugly or travel to a warzone or dictatorship plenty would turn down
"Russian Telegram channels report that the video shows the destruction of three Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile complexes.
Yesterday, Shoigu reported that the Russian army destroyed ATACMS missiles."
https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1717618432529539243
The number who are happy to pootle along on the backbenches is lower, a mixture of cranks and the genuinely content. Then there are those smaller number burning with ambition, likely to be in and out before they turn 55, the grasping, self aggrandizing types who will likely be the ones who push themselves to the front of our attention.
Still haunts me
Of course the Tory MP for Reigate before Blunt was famous anti Maastricht rebel Sir George Gardiner who
defected to the Referendum Party before the 1997 general election and stood against Blunt campaigning with a donkey he called Crispin
"Donkey Referendum Partys George Gardiner Campaigning Editorial Stock Photo - Stock Image | Shutterstock" https://www.shutterstock.com/editorial/image-editorial/donkey-referendum-partys-george-gardiner-campaigning-reigate-1124345a