Storm Henk being the new officer in charge of UK Border Police?
While Storm Henk has no doubt played a significant role recent role, it's worth digging into the numbers on people crossing the channel by small boats.
Back in 2022, Albanians were almost 30% of all the people making in the crossing. In the second half of 2023, they were under 10%. So - sure - weather probably played a role. But the biggest impact by far was the fact that Albanians no longer saw small boats as a sensible way to get into the UK.
And for all you cycling lovers: electronic shifting, OMG.
Is it really all that? I've always seen it as one of the perennial ways to try to over-commodify cycling with useless inventions cf Rapha bike clothing; titanium frames, diamong encrusted brake callipers (electric bikes being the exception).
We await the results of the Letby and PO inquiries to see if the managers involved to face more severe sanctions
The problem HY is it will be the little people who are punished. That is why I think we were so excited that politicians of Davy and Starmer's stature may end up serving jail time.
My mother died as part of the Princess of Wales Hospital neglect saga. Two Filipino nurses were given custodial sentences. The Hospital managers received no sanction. Many remain in post a dozen years later.
This sort of thing is what’s behind @Malmesbury’s thinking, that those taking the large pay cheques appear to be unable to be held to account for their failures; and on the rare occasions when they do resign, they usually take a large payout and pop up in a similar (or better!) high-paid job a few months later. None of them ever get ‘struck off’ the management grades, in the same way as often happens to those on the front line.
Being in charge of such things often is career ending, but while those directly involved can be sentenced for manslaughter, higher up it is often a corporate responsibility rather than any individual, so corporate manslaughter is the correct sanction.
There are plans to have a register for health service managers that people can be struck off if sanction is needed, and any managers with nursing, medical or similar registration already can be.
Good to hear that the NHS plans to set up a register of the paper-shufflers. That means they’ll have to lower themselves to working for local authorities after they’ve screwed up a hospital!
Storm Henk being the new officer in charge of UK Border Police?
While Storm Henk has no doubt played a significant role recent role, it's worth digging into the numbers on people crossing the channel by small boats.
Back in 2022, Albanians were almost 30% of all the people making in the crossing. In the second half of 2023, they were under 10%. So - sure - weather probably played a role. But the biggest impact by far was the fact that Albanians no longer saw small boats as a sensible way to get into the UK.
Which the government should take some credit for, no? It seems a genuine case where they asylum system was being abused, and the loophole seems to have been closed.
The most interesting NATO related story today was Turkey’s response to the Coalition air strikes.
Add in the Turkish foot dragging over the Scandawegian accession countries, and elements of support to Russia, and you start to have to wonder whether NATO needs to expel Turkey.
Eh. Just saw some video today of Turkish armoured vehicles in the Ukrainian army near the frontline.
I think you need to distinguish between the concrete actions Turkey has taken, from some of the things they say to manage public opinion, or for other reasons.
Turkey might be a bit of an awkward country, and they don't exactly burnish NATOs credentials as a club of democracies, but they're still a net asset to NATO, and far from, say, Hungary's position.
Storm Henk being the new officer in charge of UK Border Police?
While Storm Henk has no doubt played a significant role recent role, it's worth digging into the numbers on people crossing the channel by small boats.
Back in 2022, Albanians were almost 30% of all the people making in the crossing. In the second half of 2023, they were under 10%. So - sure - weather probably played a role. But the biggest impact by far was the fact that Albanians no longer saw small boats as a sensible way to get into the UK.
The Albanian agreement is perfectly sensible and is working. The proposed Rwanda arrangement is a stunt.
We await the results of the Letby and PO inquiries to see if the managers involved to face more severe sanctions
The problem HY is it will be the little people who are punished. That is why I think we were so excited that politicians of Davy and Starmer's stature may end up serving jail time.
My mother died as part of the Princess of Wales Hospital neglect saga. Two Filipino nurses were given custodial sentences. The Hospital managers received no sanction. Many remain in post a dozen years later.
This sort of thing is what’s behind @Malmesbury’s thinking, that those taking the large pay cheques appear to be unable to be held to account for their failures; and on the rare occasions when they do resign, they usually take a large payout and pop up in a similar (or better!) high-paid job a few months later. None of them ever get ‘struck off’ the management grades, in the same way as often happens to those on the front line.
Being in charge of such things often is career ending, but while those directly involved can be sentenced for manslaughter, higher up it is often a corporate responsibility rather than any individual, so corporate manslaughter is the correct sanction.
There are plans to have a register for health service managers that people can be struck off if sanction is needed, and any managers with nursing, medical or similar registration already can be.
Good to hear that the NHS plans to set up a register of the paper-shufflers. That means they’ll have to lower themselves to working for local authorities after they’ve screwed up a hospital!
This guy is a victim somehow his enemies got to shuffle his papers during his most important day on earth.
UK is set to give Ukraine £2.5 billion in military support
I thought we were out of money to feed kids and keep the NHS functional
New house for Zelensky!!
Well, you're advocating a new country for Putin.
(Several probably.)
Ukraine is a lost cause IMO
Russia gets more or all of Ukraine whether it takes 6 months or 6 years
How much we spend has a direct correlation with the number of dead Ukrainians and Russians thats all
And how far are you willing to let Russia come westwards before you think "Hmmm, perhaps we should have stopped him before Ukraine?"
The Baltics? Romania? Eastern Germany?
Because Putin's made it quite clear: he sees his empire as stretching as far west as he can take it. So what's your limit?
Ukraine and not all of Ukraine.
The sooner we negotiate a settlement the less they get.
As the ROTW catch up with me eventually the price literally financially and in death of Ukranians will grow exponentially and the outcome is going to be worse.
Ukraine cant win wont win and eventually the West will move on.
Zelensky has become very rich on the back of the massive death toll of his countrymen though so thats the main thing
So what will you do when a Russia - strengthened by its victory - goes for the rest of Ukraine, or other countries?
I don't believe thar Zelensky has become very rich on the back of the massive death toll; in fact, he was quite rich before he stood for president (he founded and ran a TV company, as well as being an actor). What's your evidence for that?
He'll stick his head in the sand and claim (presumably in a muffled kind of way) that it's all our fault because [who knows - empire, slavery, wibble].
And it will happen again if we don't draw a line now.
BJO is exactly the same sort of George Lansbury leftist who was still all for appeasing Hitler in 1939 because 'war is bad', completely ignoring that there was already a war going on and that the other guy wanted it and would continue it whatever we did or said.
We await the results of the Letby and PO inquiries to see if the managers involved to face more severe sanctions
The problem HY is it will be the little people who are punished. That is why I think we were so excited that politicians of Davy and Starmer's stature may end up serving jail time.
My mother died as part of the Princess of Wales Hospital neglect saga. Two Filipino nurses were given custodial sentences. The Hospital managers received no sanction. Many remain in post a dozen years later.
This sort of thing is what’s behind @Malmesbury’s thinking, that those taking the large pay cheques appear to be unable to be held to account for their failures; and on the rare occasions when they do resign, they usually take a large payout and pop up in a similar (or better!) high-paid job a few months later. None of them ever get ‘struck off’ the management grades, in the same way as often happens to those on the front line.
Being in charge of such things often is career ending, but while those directly involved can be sentenced for manslaughter, higher up it is often a corporate responsibility rather than any individual, so corporate manslaughter is the correct sanction.
There are plans to have a register for health service managers that people can be struck off if sanction is needed, and any managers with nursing, medical or similar registration already can be.
Good to hear that the NHS plans to set up a register of the paper-shufflers. That means they’ll have to lower themselves to working for local authorities after they’ve screwed up a hospital!
This guy is a victim somehow his enemies got to shuffle his papers during his most important day on earth.
🌹Labour 42% (-) 🌳Conservatives 27% (-1) 🔶Liberal Democrats 10% (-1) 🟣Reform UK 9% (+1) 💚Greens 8% (+2) Labour lead of 15 Field work 9/1-11/1
Bad news for Davey, in this first poll with the PO Scandal leading the news.
"People think Ed Davey should resign 42%-19% - again it isn't unusual for people to say a politician (even fictional ones should resign). But more worryingly for the Lib Dem leader his own supporters are split 28%-33% on the question of if he should go."
One thing I like of this pollster is how they break down by generation, and also try to squeeze the initial "Don't Knows" into a choice.
Lab ahead with all age groups under 75, even boomers. If forced to choose then DKs break fairly evenly, but narrowly for Labour.
Strewth. If don't knows are breaking for Labour (even slightly) then that's devastating. If the crossover age is 75+ then...well.
Yeah, but, no. All the don’t knows breaking Tory might vote on the day, whilst all those favouring Labour stay at home, might not remotely be even split from each.
Something has happened reasonably recently for large number of voters to decide conclusively against Tories. I think it might have been Conference Season. I think Radical Rishi Unleashed & The Great HS2 Surrender has gone down badly with voters. Conservative drift downward seems to stem from that week?
The HS2 decision really fucked the infrastructure industry in this country and has caused chaos, quite aside from it being economically devastating.
I'm still furious about it. And the idea that Sunak thought this was evidence of him taking great decisions for the long-term that would appeal to voters.
I mean, WTF?
It's particularly disappointing when you consider how successful the Elizabeth Line has been. It's possible the enormous construction bill will be paid off within 20 years because passenger numbers are so high.
Yes but London is so much more important than Manc. Apparently.
The whole decision is pure idiocy. Especially as the line will get built eventually, just for even more money. The HS2 decision took me from thinking Sunak was just an annoying wee prick to actively loathing him.
And still no direct trains from anywhere north, west, south or east of London, a couple of stations on HS1 excepted, on which one can go to the rest of Europe without a greater or lesser trek on foot with luggage and offspring etc through a still seedy part of London.
A bodge perhaps, but surely they can find a line along which to bore an airport style transit, moving walkways etc. between Euston, St Pancras and Kings Cross.
I know it's busy down there, but surely that's the minimum.
King's Cross and St Pancras are linked underground.
It's quite a way to Euston. I mean, it's a short walk on a nice day, but that would be a lot of tunnelling.
It’s about 600 yards from Euston to StP.
That’s a lovely 10m walk on a nice sunny day, but a total and utter pain in the arse in winter when carrying your bags for an international trip.
They should have built a tunnel, even if it was airport-style with travelators, and even if they had to go about 10 floors down to miss the numerous other tunnels in the area and the many basements of the British Library.
They should have linked the bloody lines. That is what they should have done. Pathetic British fudge to save a few quid. We should have had direct trains to Paris from Manchester, Birmingham etc.
We await the results of the Letby and PO inquiries to see if the managers involved to face more severe sanctions
The problem HY is it will be the little people who are punished. That is why I think we were so excited that politicians of Davy and Starmer's stature may end up serving jail time.
My mother died as part of the Princess of Wales Hospital neglect saga. Two Filipino nurses were given custodial sentences. The Hospital managers received no sanction. Many remain in post a dozen years later.
This sort of thing is what’s behind @Malmesbury’s thinking, that those taking the large pay cheques appear to be unable to be held to account for their failures; and on the rare occasions when they do resign, they usually take a large payout and pop up in a similar (or better!) high-paid job a few months later. None of them ever get ‘struck off’ the management grades, in the same way as often happens to those on the front line.
Being in charge of such things often is career ending, but while those directly involved can be sentenced for manslaughter, higher up it is often a corporate responsibility rather than any individual, so corporate manslaughter is the correct sanction.
There are plans to have a register for health service managers that people can be struck off if sanction is needed, and any managers with nursing, medical or similar registration already can be.
Good to hear that the NHS plans to set up a register of the paper-shufflers. That means they’ll have to lower themselves to working for local authorities after they’ve screwed up a hospital!
I don't think many LAs are hiring at the moment.
I think a lot of the problems that do go on are due to too few managers and administrators than too many. It's much easier to hide things from a manager that is never seen on the shopfloor.
🌹Labour 42% (-) 🌳Conservatives 27% (-1) 🔶Liberal Democrats 10% (-1) 🟣Reform UK 9% (+1) 💚Greens 8% (+2) Labour lead of 15 Field work 9/1-11/1
Bad news for Davey, in this first poll with the PO Scandal leading the news.
"People think Ed Davey should resign 42%-19% - again it isn't unusual for people to say a politician (even fictional ones should resign). But more worryingly for the Lib Dem leader his own supporters are split 28%-33% on the question of if he should go."
One thing I like of this pollster is how they break down by generation, and also try to squeeze the initial "Don't Knows" into a choice.
Lab ahead with all age groups under 75, even boomers. If forced to choose then DKs break fairly evenly, but narrowly for Labour.
Strewth. If don't knows are breaking for Labour (even slightly) then that's devastating. If the crossover age is 75+ then...well.
Yeah, but, no. All the don’t knows breaking Tory might vote on the day, whilst all those favouring Labour stay at home, might not remotely be even split from each.
Something has happened reasonably recently for large number of voters to decide conclusively against Tories. I think it might have been Conference Season. I think Radical Rishi Unleashed & The Great HS2 Surrender has gone down badly with voters. Conservative drift downward seems to stem from that week?
The HS2 decision really fucked the infrastructure industry in this country and has caused chaos, quite aside from it being economically devastating.
I'm still furious about it. And the idea that Sunak thought this was evidence of him taking great decisions for the long-term that would appeal to voters.
I mean, WTF?
It's particularly disappointing when you consider how successful the Elizabeth Line has been. It's possible the enormous construction bill will be paid off within 20 years because passenger numbers are so high.
Yes but London is so much more important than Manc. Apparently.
The whole decision is pure idiocy. Especially as the line will get built eventually, just for even more money. The HS2 decision took me from thinking Sunak was just an annoying wee prick to actively loathing him.
And still no direct trains from anywhere north, west, south or east of London, a couple of stations on HS1 excepted, on which one can go to the rest of Europe without a greater or lesser trek on foot with luggage and offspring etc through a still seedy part of London.
A bodge perhaps, but surely they can find a line along which to bore an airport style transit, moving walkways etc. between Euston, St Pancras and Kings Cross.
I know it's busy down there, but surely that's the minimum.
King's Cross and St Pancras are linked underground.
It's quite a way to Euston. I mean, it's a short walk on a nice day, but that would be a lot of tunnelling.
It’s about 600 yards from Euston to StP.
That’s a lovely 10m walk on a nice sunny day, but a total and utter pain in the arse in winter when carrying your bags for an international trip.
They should have built a tunnel, even if it was airport-style with travelators, and even if they had to go about 10 floors down to miss the numerous other tunnels in the area and the many basements of the British Library.
They should have linked the bloody lines. That is what they should have done. Pathetic British fudge to save a few quid. We should have had direct trains to Paris from Manchester, Birmingham etc.
You say that, but the reality is that once you get to north of - say - Watford Gap, then getting the train to Paris no longer looks a great option relative to flying.
And how many trains a day are we talking? Trains are amazing for super dense routes (like - errr - London to Paris). But for Manchester? Well, (a) it's going to take a lot longer than flying and (b) you're going to have a lot less choice about when you travel.
Now, if we were in Schengen, and there were no passport checks, then adding services would be pretty cost free, and why not. But we're not. And therefore running services is expensive because you need occasional - but proper - passport checks.
Storm Henk being the new officer in charge of UK Border Police?
While Storm Henk has no doubt played a significant role recent role, it's worth digging into the numbers on people crossing the channel by small boats.
Back in 2022, Albanians were almost 30% of all the people making in the crossing. In the second half of 2023, they were under 10%. So - sure - weather probably played a role. But the biggest impact by far was the fact that Albanians no longer saw small boats as a sensible way to get into the UK.
Which the government should take some credit for, no? It seems a genuine case where they asylum system was being abused, and the loophole seems to have been closed.
UK is set to give Ukraine £2.5 billion in military support
I thought we were out of money to feed kids and keep the NHS functional
New house for Zelensky!!
Well, you're advocating a new country for Putin.
(Several probably.)
Ukraine is a lost cause IMO
Russia gets more or all of Ukraine whether it takes 6 months or 6 years
How much we spend has a direct correlation with the number of dead Ukrainians and Russians thats all
And how far are you willing to let Russia come westwards before you think "Hmmm, perhaps we should have stopped him before Ukraine?"
The Baltics? Romania? Eastern Germany?
Because Putin's made it quite clear: he sees his empire as stretching as far west as he can take it. So what's your limit?
Ukraine and not all of Ukraine.
The sooner we negotiate a settlement the less they get.
As the ROTW catch up with me eventually the price literally financially and in death of Ukranians will grow exponentially and the outcome is going to be worse.
Ukraine cant win wont win and eventually the West will move on.
Zelensky has become very rich on the back of the massive death toll of his countrymen though so thats the main thing
Pimping for Putin ain't a good look for anybody - especially you.
🌹Labour 42% (-) 🌳Conservatives 27% (-1) 🔶Liberal Democrats 10% (-1) 🟣Reform UK 9% (+1) 💚Greens 8% (+2) Labour lead of 15 Field work 9/1-11/1
Bad news for Davey, in this first poll with the PO Scandal leading the news.
"People think Ed Davey should resign 42%-19% - again it isn't unusual for people to say a politician (even fictional ones should resign). But more worryingly for the Lib Dem leader his own supporters are split 28%-33% on the question of if he should go."
One thing I like of this pollster is how they break down by generation, and also try to squeeze the initial "Don't Knows" into a choice.
Lab ahead with all age groups under 75, even boomers. If forced to choose then DKs break fairly evenly, but narrowly for Labour.
Strewth. If don't knows are breaking for Labour (even slightly) then that's devastating. If the crossover age is 75+ then...well.
Yeah, but, no. All the don’t knows breaking Tory might vote on the day, whilst all those favouring Labour stay at home, might not remotely be even split from each.
Something has happened reasonably recently for large number of voters to decide conclusively against Tories. I think it might have been Conference Season. I think Radical Rishi Unleashed & The Great HS2 Surrender has gone down badly with voters. Conservative drift downward seems to stem from that week?
The HS2 decision really fucked the infrastructure industry in this country and has caused chaos, quite aside from it being economically devastating.
I'm still furious about it. And the idea that Sunak thought this was evidence of him taking great decisions for the long-term that would appeal to voters.
I mean, WTF?
It's particularly disappointing when you consider how successful the Elizabeth Line has been. It's possible the enormous construction bill will be paid off within 20 years because passenger numbers are so high.
Yes but London is so much more important than Manc. Apparently.
The whole decision is pure idiocy. Especially as the line will get built eventually, just for even more money. The HS2 decision took me from thinking Sunak was just an annoying wee prick to actively loathing him.
And still no direct trains from anywhere north, west, south or east of London, a couple of stations on HS1 excepted, on which one can go to the rest of Europe without a greater or lesser trek on foot with luggage and offspring etc through a still seedy part of London.
A bodge perhaps, but surely they can find a line along which to bore an airport style transit, moving walkways etc. between Euston, St Pancras and Kings Cross.
I know it's busy down there, but surely that's the minimum.
King's Cross and St Pancras are linked underground.
It's quite a way to Euston. I mean, it's a short walk on a nice day, but that would be a lot of tunnelling.
It’s about 600 yards from Euston to StP.
That’s a lovely 10m walk on a nice sunny day, but a total and utter pain in the arse in winter when carrying your bags for an international trip.
They should have built a tunnel, even if it was airport-style with travelators, and even if they had to go about 10 floors down to miss the numerous other tunnels in the area and the many basements of the British Library.
They should have linked the bloody lines. That is what they should have done. Pathetic British fudge to save a few quid. We should have had direct trains to Paris from Manchester, Birmingham etc.
You say that, but the reality is that once you get to north of - say - Watford Gap, then getting the train to Paris no longer looks a great option relative to flying.
And how many trains a day are we talking? Trains are amazing for super dense routes (like - errr - London to Paris). But for Manchester? Well, (a) it's going to take a lot longer than flying and (b) you're going to have a lot less choice about when you travel.
Now, if we were in Schengen, and there were no passport checks, then adding services would be pretty cost free, and why not. But we're not. And therefore running services is expensive because you need occasional - but proper - passport checks.
Wrong. Show your working Manchester City Centre to Paris City Centre. We have had this argument several times before. I won it.
UK is set to give Ukraine £2.5 billion in military support
I thought we were out of money to feed kids and keep the NHS functional
New house for Zelensky!!
Well, you're advocating a new country for Putin.
(Several probably.)
Ukraine is a lost cause IMO
Russia gets more or all of Ukraine whether it takes 6 months or 6 years
How much we spend has a direct correlation with the number of dead Ukrainians and Russians thats all
When did the left become apologists for Fascism and Imperialism?
I am old enough to remember when the left fought them by any means necessary.
Then I'm afraid your memory is either defective, or, more likely, highly selective.
- the Nazi-Soviet Pact and the reaction on the western Left, a large part of which devoted the next two years to sabotaging the British and French war effort? - Labour's opposition to rearming and conscription before World War 2? - Lansbury's opposition of sanctions on Mussolini during the Abyssinian crisis? - many on the Left's excuses for Soviet and Chinese imperialism throughout the Cold War? - etc etc.
Appeasing Putin's Russia is entirely consistent with the craven leftist approach to any foreign tyranny, fascist, communist, theocratic or just plain mad as long as they are anti-Western.
🌹Labour 42% (-) 🌳Conservatives 27% (-1) 🔶Liberal Democrats 10% (-1) 🟣Reform UK 9% (+1) 💚Greens 8% (+2) Labour lead of 15 Field work 9/1-11/1
Bad news for Davey, in this first poll with the PO Scandal leading the news.
"People think Ed Davey should resign 42%-19% - again it isn't unusual for people to say a politician (even fictional ones should resign). But more worryingly for the Lib Dem leader his own supporters are split 28%-33% on the question of if he should go."
One thing I like of this pollster is how they break down by generation, and also try to squeeze the initial "Don't Knows" into a choice.
Lab ahead with all age groups under 75, even boomers. If forced to choose then DKs break fairly evenly, but narrowly for Labour.
Strewth. If don't knows are breaking for Labour (even slightly) then that's devastating. If the crossover age is 75+ then...well.
Yeah, but, no. All the don’t knows breaking Tory might vote on the day, whilst all those favouring Labour stay at home, might not remotely be even split from each.
Something has happened reasonably recently for large number of voters to decide conclusively against Tories. I think it might have been Conference Season. I think Radical Rishi Unleashed & The Great HS2 Surrender has gone down badly with voters. Conservative drift downward seems to stem from that week?
The HS2 decision really fucked the infrastructure industry in this country and has caused chaos, quite aside from it being economically devastating.
I'm still furious about it. And the idea that Sunak thought this was evidence of him taking great decisions for the long-term that would appeal to voters.
I mean, WTF?
It's particularly disappointing when you consider how successful the Elizabeth Line has been. It's possible the enormous construction bill will be paid off within 20 years because passenger numbers are so high.
Yes but London is so much more important than Manc. Apparently.
The whole decision is pure idiocy. Especially as the line will get built eventually, just for even more money. The HS2 decision took me from thinking Sunak was just an annoying wee prick to actively loathing him.
And still no direct trains from anywhere north, west, south or east of London, a couple of stations on HS1 excepted, on which one can go to the rest of Europe without a greater or lesser trek on foot with luggage and offspring etc through a still seedy part of London.
A bodge perhaps, but surely they can find a line along which to bore an airport style transit, moving walkways etc. between Euston, St Pancras and Kings Cross.
I know it's busy down there, but surely that's the minimum.
King's Cross and St Pancras are linked underground.
It's quite a way to Euston. I mean, it's a short walk on a nice day, but that would be a lot of tunnelling.
It’s about 600 yards from Euston to StP.
That’s a lovely 10m walk on a nice sunny day, but a total and utter pain in the arse in winter when carrying your bags for an international trip.
They should have built a tunnel, even if it was airport-style with travelators, and even if they had to go about 10 floors down to miss the numerous other tunnels in the area and the many basements of the British Library.
They should have linked the bloody lines. That is what they should have done. Pathetic British fudge to save a few quid. We should have had direct trains to Paris from Manchester, Birmingham etc.
You say that, but the reality is that once you get to north of - say - Watford Gap, then getting the train to Paris no longer looks a great option relative to flying.
And how many trains a day are we talking? Trains are amazing for super dense routes (like - errr - London to Paris). But for Manchester? Well, (a) it's going to take a lot longer than flying and (b) you're going to have a lot less choice about when you travel.
Now, if we were in Schengen, and there were no passport checks, then adding services would be pretty cost free, and why not. But we're not. And therefore running services is expensive because you need occasional - but proper - passport checks.
My view - and this should have been decided a decade or more ago - would be to have used Crossrail as the link. HS2 and Crossrail are next to each other at Old Oak Common, an Crossrail and HS1 at Stratford. From memory, you would not even need to make the Crossrail tunnels larger for classic-compatible trainsets. Allow paths for one train per hour from up north via HS2 to go through to Stratford and then the CTRL.
🌹Labour 42% (-) 🌳Conservatives 27% (-1) 🔶Liberal Democrats 10% (-1) 🟣Reform UK 9% (+1) 💚Greens 8% (+2) Labour lead of 15 Field work 9/1-11/1
Bad news for Davey, in this first poll with the PO Scandal leading the news.
"People think Ed Davey should resign 42%-19% - again it isn't unusual for people to say a politician (even fictional ones should resign). But more worryingly for the Lib Dem leader his own supporters are split 28%-33% on the question of if he should go."
One thing I like of this pollster is how they break down by generation, and also try to squeeze the initial "Don't Knows" into a choice.
Lab ahead with all age groups under 75, even boomers. If forced to choose then DKs break fairly evenly, but narrowly for Labour.
Strewth. If don't knows are breaking for Labour (even slightly) then that's devastating. If the crossover age is 75+ then...well.
Yeah, but, no. All the don’t knows breaking Tory might vote on the day, whilst all those favouring Labour stay at home, might not remotely be even split from each.
Something has happened reasonably recently for large number of voters to decide conclusively against Tories. I think it might have been Conference Season. I think Radical Rishi Unleashed & The Great HS2 Surrender has gone down badly with voters. Conservative drift downward seems to stem from that week?
The HS2 decision really fucked the infrastructure industry in this country and has caused chaos, quite aside from it being economically devastating.
I'm still furious about it. And the idea that Sunak thought this was evidence of him taking great decisions for the long-term that would appeal to voters.
I mean, WTF?
It's particularly disappointing when you consider how successful the Elizabeth Line has been. It's possible the enormous construction bill will be paid off within 20 years because passenger numbers are so high.
Yes but London is so much more important than Manc. Apparently.
The whole decision is pure idiocy. Especially as the line will get built eventually, just for even more money. The HS2 decision took me from thinking Sunak was just an annoying wee prick to actively loathing him.
And still no direct trains from anywhere north, west, south or east of London, a couple of stations on HS1 excepted, on which one can go to the rest of Europe without a greater or lesser trek on foot with luggage and offspring etc through a still seedy part of London.
A bodge perhaps, but surely they can find a line along which to bore an airport style transit, moving walkways etc. between Euston, St Pancras and Kings Cross.
I know it's busy down there, but surely that's the minimum.
King's Cross and St Pancras are linked underground.
It's quite a way to Euston. I mean, it's a short walk on a nice day, but that would be a lot of tunnelling.
It’s about 600 yards from Euston to StP.
That’s a lovely 10m walk on a nice sunny day, but a total and utter pain in the arse in winter when carrying your bags for an international trip.
They should have built a tunnel, even if it was airport-style with travelators, and even if they had to go about 10 floors down to miss the numerous other tunnels in the area and the many basements of the British Library.
They should have linked the bloody lines. That is what they should have done. Pathetic British fudge to save a few quid. We should have had direct trains to Paris from Manchester, Birmingham etc.
You say that, but the reality is that once you get to north of - say - Watford Gap, then getting the train to Paris no longer looks a great option relative to flying.
And how many trains a day are we talking? Trains are amazing for super dense routes (like - errr - London to Paris). But for Manchester? Well, (a) it's going to take a lot longer than flying and (b) you're going to have a lot less choice about when you travel.
Now, if we were in Schengen, and there were no passport checks, then adding services would be pretty cost free, and why not. But we're not. And therefore running services is expensive because you need occasional - but proper - passport checks.
The great things about trains is that - unlike planes - you can get on and off them at interim stations. So a Leeds-Paris service (for example), in a proper HS2 & Schengen world, would still stop at Birmingham and London and Lille and other places between. Using the service doesn't mean having to go all the way to Paris.
For me, travelling from Wakefield to Paris would almost certainly be quicker door to door (assuming my destination was fairly central Paris) going by train than plane, if there were no passport checks (or if they could be done on board) and leaving about 30 mins connection time, even without HS2.
Slightly comical, Michael Howard-esque repetition of a stock phrase from Ed Davey here, but he has a point that it’s for the Post Office & Fujitsu to apologise rather than him doesn’t he?
🌹Labour 42% (-) 🌳Conservatives 27% (-1) 🔶Liberal Democrats 10% (-1) 🟣Reform UK 9% (+1) 💚Greens 8% (+2) Labour lead of 15 Field work 9/1-11/1
Bad news for Davey, in this first poll with the PO Scandal leading the news.
"People think Ed Davey should resign 42%-19% - again it isn't unusual for people to say a politician (even fictional ones should resign). But more worryingly for the Lib Dem leader his own supporters are split 28%-33% on the question of if he should go."
One thing I like of this pollster is how they break down by generation, and also try to squeeze the initial "Don't Knows" into a choice.
Lab ahead with all age groups under 75, even boomers. If forced to choose then DKs break fairly evenly, but narrowly for Labour.
Strewth. If don't knows are breaking for Labour (even slightly) then that's devastating. If the crossover age is 75+ then...well.
Yeah, but, no. All the don’t knows breaking Tory might vote on the day, whilst all those favouring Labour stay at home, might not remotely be even split from each.
Something has happened reasonably recently for large number of voters to decide conclusively against Tories. I think it might have been Conference Season. I think Radical Rishi Unleashed & The Great HS2 Surrender has gone down badly with voters. Conservative drift downward seems to stem from that week?
The HS2 decision really fucked the infrastructure industry in this country and has caused chaos, quite aside from it being economically devastating.
I'm still furious about it. And the idea that Sunak thought this was evidence of him taking great decisions for the long-term that would appeal to voters.
I mean, WTF?
It's particularly disappointing when you consider how successful the Elizabeth Line has been. It's possible the enormous construction bill will be paid off within 20 years because passenger numbers are so high.
Yes but London is so much more important than Manc. Apparently.
The whole decision is pure idiocy. Especially as the line will get built eventually, just for even more money. The HS2 decision took me from thinking Sunak was just an annoying wee prick to actively loathing him.
And still no direct trains from anywhere north, west, south or east of London, a couple of stations on HS1 excepted, on which one can go to the rest of Europe without a greater or lesser trek on foot with luggage and offspring etc through a still seedy part of London.
A bodge perhaps, but surely they can find a line along which to bore an airport style transit, moving walkways etc. between Euston, St Pancras and Kings Cross.
I know it's busy down there, but surely that's the minimum.
King's Cross and St Pancras are linked underground.
It's quite a way to Euston. I mean, it's a short walk on a nice day, but that would be a lot of tunnelling.
It’s about 600 yards from Euston to StP.
That’s a lovely 10m walk on a nice sunny day, but a total and utter pain in the arse in winter when carrying your bags for an international trip.
They should have built a tunnel, even if it was airport-style with travelators, and even if they had to go about 10 floors down to miss the numerous other tunnels in the area and the many basements of the British Library.
They should have linked the bloody lines. That is what they should have done. Pathetic British fudge to save a few quid. We should have had direct trains to Paris from Manchester, Birmingham etc.
You say that, but the reality is that once you get to north of - say - Watford Gap, then getting the train to Paris no longer looks a great option relative to flying.
And how many trains a day are we talking? Trains are amazing for super dense routes (like - errr - London to Paris). But for Manchester? Well, (a) it's going to take a lot longer than flying and (b) you're going to have a lot less choice about when you travel.
Now, if we were in Schengen, and there were no passport checks, then adding services would be pretty cost free, and why not. But we're not. And therefore running services is expensive because you need occasional - but proper - passport checks.
The great things about trains is that - unlike planes - you can get on and off them at interim stations. So a Leeds-Paris service (for example), in a proper HS2 & Schengen world, would still stop at Birmingham and London and Lille and other places between. Using the service doesn't mean having to go all the way to Paris.
For me, travelling from Wakefield to Paris would almost certainly be quicker door to door (assuming my destination was fairly central Paris) going by train than plane, if there were no passport checks (or if they could be done on board) and leaving about 30 mins connection time, even without HS2.
Doing passport checks on board is not easy, because how do you make 100% sure you get everybody?
And at what point do you do them? You can't do them when there are still people to pick up before you change country, and doing them any later is challenging for different reasons.
In Schengen, yes, trains make sense. Outside, not so much
🌹Labour 42% (-) 🌳Conservatives 27% (-1) 🔶Liberal Democrats 10% (-1) 🟣Reform UK 9% (+1) 💚Greens 8% (+2) Labour lead of 15 Field work 9/1-11/1
Bad news for Davey, in this first poll with the PO Scandal leading the news.
"People think Ed Davey should resign 42%-19% - again it isn't unusual for people to say a politician (even fictional ones should resign). But more worryingly for the Lib Dem leader his own supporters are split 28%-33% on the question of if he should go."
One thing I like of this pollster is how they break down by generation, and also try to squeeze the initial "Don't Knows" into a choice.
Lab ahead with all age groups under 75, even boomers. If forced to choose then DKs break fairly evenly, but narrowly for Labour.
Strewth. If don't knows are breaking for Labour (even slightly) then that's devastating. If the crossover age is 75+ then...well.
Yeah, but, no. All the don’t knows breaking Tory might vote on the day, whilst all those favouring Labour stay at home, might not remotely be even split from each.
Something has happened reasonably recently for large number of voters to decide conclusively against Tories. I think it might have been Conference Season. I think Radical Rishi Unleashed & The Great HS2 Surrender has gone down badly with voters. Conservative drift downward seems to stem from that week?
The HS2 decision really fucked the infrastructure industry in this country and has caused chaos, quite aside from it being economically devastating.
I'm still furious about it. And the idea that Sunak thought this was evidence of him taking great decisions for the long-term that would appeal to voters.
I mean, WTF?
It's particularly disappointing when you consider how successful the Elizabeth Line has been. It's possible the enormous construction bill will be paid off within 20 years because passenger numbers are so high.
Yes but London is so much more important than Manc. Apparently.
The whole decision is pure idiocy. Especially as the line will get built eventually, just for even more money. The HS2 decision took me from thinking Sunak was just an annoying wee prick to actively loathing him.
And still no direct trains from anywhere north, west, south or east of London, a couple of stations on HS1 excepted, on which one can go to the rest of Europe without a greater or lesser trek on foot with luggage and offspring etc through a still seedy part of London.
A bodge perhaps, but surely they can find a line along which to bore an airport style transit, moving walkways etc. between Euston, St Pancras and Kings Cross.
I know it's busy down there, but surely that's the minimum.
King's Cross and St Pancras are linked underground.
It's quite a way to Euston. I mean, it's a short walk on a nice day, but that would be a lot of tunnelling.
It’s about 600 yards from Euston to StP.
That’s a lovely 10m walk on a nice sunny day, but a total and utter pain in the arse in winter when carrying your bags for an international trip.
They should have built a tunnel, even if it was airport-style with travelators, and even if they had to go about 10 floors down to miss the numerous other tunnels in the area and the many basements of the British Library.
They should have linked the bloody lines. That is what they should have done. Pathetic British fudge to save a few quid. We should have had direct trains to Paris from Manchester, Birmingham etc.
You say that, but the reality is that once you get to north of - say - Watford Gap, then getting the train to Paris no longer looks a great option relative to flying.
And how many trains a day are we talking? Trains are amazing for super dense routes (like - errr - London to Paris). But for Manchester? Well, (a) it's going to take a lot longer than flying and (b) you're going to have a lot less choice about when you travel.
Now, if we were in Schengen, and there were no passport checks, then adding services would be pretty cost free, and why not. But we're not. And therefore running services is expensive because you need occasional - but proper - passport checks.
Wrong. Show your working Manchester City Centre to Paris City Centre. We have had this argument several times before. I won it.
🌹Labour 42% (-) 🌳Conservatives 27% (-1) 🔶Liberal Democrats 10% (-1) 🟣Reform UK 9% (+1) 💚Greens 8% (+2) Labour lead of 15 Field work 9/1-11/1
Bad news for Davey, in this first poll with the PO Scandal leading the news.
"People think Ed Davey should resign 42%-19% - again it isn't unusual for people to say a politician (even fictional ones should resign). But more worryingly for the Lib Dem leader his own supporters are split 28%-33% on the question of if he should go."
One thing I like of this pollster is how they break down by generation, and also try to squeeze the initial "Don't Knows" into a choice.
Lab ahead with all age groups under 75, even boomers. If forced to choose then DKs break fairly evenly, but narrowly for Labour.
Strewth. If don't knows are breaking for Labour (even slightly) then that's devastating. If the crossover age is 75+ then...well.
Yeah, but, no. All the don’t knows breaking Tory might vote on the day, whilst all those favouring Labour stay at home, might not remotely be even split from each.
Something has happened reasonably recently for large number of voters to decide conclusively against Tories. I think it might have been Conference Season. I think Radical Rishi Unleashed & The Great HS2 Surrender has gone down badly with voters. Conservative drift downward seems to stem from that week?
The HS2 decision really fucked the infrastructure industry in this country and has caused chaos, quite aside from it being economically devastating.
I'm still furious about it. And the idea that Sunak thought this was evidence of him taking great decisions for the long-term that would appeal to voters.
I mean, WTF?
It's particularly disappointing when you consider how successful the Elizabeth Line has been. It's possible the enormous construction bill will be paid off within 20 years because passenger numbers are so high.
Yes but London is so much more important than Manc. Apparently.
The whole decision is pure idiocy. Especially as the line will get built eventually, just for even more money. The HS2 decision took me from thinking Sunak was just an annoying wee prick to actively loathing him.
And still no direct trains from anywhere north, west, south or east of London, a couple of stations on HS1 excepted, on which one can go to the rest of Europe without a greater or lesser trek on foot with luggage and offspring etc through a still seedy part of London.
A bodge perhaps, but surely they can find a line along which to bore an airport style transit, moving walkways etc. between Euston, St Pancras and Kings Cross.
I know it's busy down there, but surely that's the minimum.
King's Cross and St Pancras are linked underground.
It's quite a way to Euston. I mean, it's a short walk on a nice day, but that would be a lot of tunnelling.
It’s about 600 yards from Euston to StP.
That’s a lovely 10m walk on a nice sunny day, but a total and utter pain in the arse in winter when carrying your bags for an international trip.
They should have built a tunnel, even if it was airport-style with travelators, and even if they had to go about 10 floors down to miss the numerous other tunnels in the area and the many basements of the British Library.
They should have linked the bloody lines. That is what they should have done. Pathetic British fudge to save a few quid. We should have had direct trains to Paris from Manchester, Birmingham etc.
You say that, but the reality is that once you get to north of - say - Watford Gap, then getting the train to Paris no longer looks a great option relative to flying.
And how many trains a day are we talking? Trains are amazing for super dense routes (like - errr - London to Paris). But for Manchester? Well, (a) it's going to take a lot longer than flying and (b) you're going to have a lot less choice about when you travel.
Now, if we were in Schengen, and there were no passport checks, then adding services would be pretty cost free, and why not. But we're not. And therefore running services is expensive because you need occasional - but proper - passport checks.
The great things about trains is that - unlike planes - you can get on and off them at interim stations. So a Leeds-Paris service (for example), in a proper HS2 & Schengen world, would still stop at Birmingham and London and Lille and other places between. Using the service doesn't mean having to go all the way to Paris.
For me, travelling from Wakefield to Paris would almost certainly be quicker door to door (assuming my destination was fairly central Paris) going by train than plane, if there were no passport checks (or if they could be done on board) and leaving about 30 mins connection time, even without HS2.
Doing passport checks on board is not easy, because how do you make 100% sure you get everybody?
And at what point do you do them? You can't do them when there are still people to pick up before you change country, and doing them any later is challenging for different reasons.
In Schengen, yes, trains make sense. Outside, not so much
How much do you like trains?
Weren’t on board checks commonplace on many cross border trains?
🌹Labour 42% (-) 🌳Conservatives 27% (-1) 🔶Liberal Democrats 10% (-1) 🟣Reform UK 9% (+1) 💚Greens 8% (+2) Labour lead of 15 Field work 9/1-11/1
Bad news for Davey, in this first poll with the PO Scandal leading the news.
"People think Ed Davey should resign 42%-19% - again it isn't unusual for people to say a politician (even fictional ones should resign). But more worryingly for the Lib Dem leader his own supporters are split 28%-33% on the question of if he should go."
One thing I like of this pollster is how they break down by generation, and also try to squeeze the initial "Don't Knows" into a choice.
Lab ahead with all age groups under 75, even boomers. If forced to choose then DKs break fairly evenly, but narrowly for Labour.
Strewth. If don't knows are breaking for Labour (even slightly) then that's devastating. If the crossover age is 75+ then...well.
Yeah, but, no. All the don’t knows breaking Tory might vote on the day, whilst all those favouring Labour stay at home, might not remotely be even split from each.
Something has happened reasonably recently for large number of voters to decide conclusively against Tories. I think it might have been Conference Season. I think Radical Rishi Unleashed & The Great HS2 Surrender has gone down badly with voters. Conservative drift downward seems to stem from that week?
The HS2 decision really fucked the infrastructure industry in this country and has caused chaos, quite aside from it being economically devastating.
I'm still furious about it. And the idea that Sunak thought this was evidence of him taking great decisions for the long-term that would appeal to voters.
I mean, WTF?
It's particularly disappointing when you consider how successful the Elizabeth Line has been. It's possible the enormous construction bill will be paid off within 20 years because passenger numbers are so high.
Yes but London is so much more important than Manc. Apparently.
The whole decision is pure idiocy. Especially as the line will get built eventually, just for even more money. The HS2 decision took me from thinking Sunak was just an annoying wee prick to actively loathing him.
And still no direct trains from anywhere north, west, south or east of London, a couple of stations on HS1 excepted, on which one can go to the rest of Europe without a greater or lesser trek on foot with luggage and offspring etc through a still seedy part of London.
A bodge perhaps, but surely they can find a line along which to bore an airport style transit, moving walkways etc. between Euston, St Pancras and Kings Cross.
I know it's busy down there, but surely that's the minimum.
King's Cross and St Pancras are linked underground.
It's quite a way to Euston. I mean, it's a short walk on a nice day, but that would be a lot of tunnelling.
It’s about 600 yards from Euston to StP.
That’s a lovely 10m walk on a nice sunny day, but a total and utter pain in the arse in winter when carrying your bags for an international trip.
They should have built a tunnel, even if it was airport-style with travelators, and even if they had to go about 10 floors down to miss the numerous other tunnels in the area and the many basements of the British Library.
They should have linked the bloody lines. That is what they should have done. Pathetic British fudge to save a few quid. We should have had direct trains to Paris from Manchester, Birmingham etc.
You say that, but the reality is that once you get to north of - say - Watford Gap, then getting the train to Paris no longer looks a great option relative to flying.
And how many trains a day are we talking? Trains are amazing for super dense routes (like - errr - London to Paris). But for Manchester? Well, (a) it's going to take a lot longer than flying and (b) you're going to have a lot less choice about when you travel.
Now, if we were in Schengen, and there were no passport checks, then adding services would be pretty cost free, and why not. But we're not. And therefore running services is expensive because you need occasional - but proper - passport checks.
Wrong. Show your working Manchester City Centre to Paris City Centre. We have had this argument several times before. I won it.
The most interesting NATO related story today was Turkey’s response to the Coalition air strikes.
Add in the Turkish foot dragging over the Scandawegian accession countries, and elements of support to Russia, and you start to have to wonder whether NATO needs to expel Turkey.
It needs to be put on the table. Same with Hungary. At the moment, both are benefiting from a correct assumption that they can play silly, deal with the enemy and be appeased with concessions. Hungary in particular needs to go. Turkey is harder due to it being so strategically important but Erdogan needs to understand that there are limits.
Turkey has been awkward for a decade at least. Talking about expulsion from NATO is self defeating, and dangerous, IMO.
There is little we can do about Erdogan, who blows hot and cold on a regular basis. The rhetoric isn't as important as what he actually does in the end - see, for example his acceding to Sweden joining NATO, or Turkey's not insubstantial (non government) help to Ukraine against Russia.
Don't be a complete twat, it doesnt matter in the least what anyone in the uk thinks we cant impose a ceasefire regardless of if the polls were a 100% in favour. It is not our business let them decide what to do because we really have no say in it
Don't be a complete twat, it doesnt matter in the least what anyone in the uk thinks we cant impose a ceasefire regardless of if the polls were a 100% in favour. It is not our business let them decide what to do because we really have no say in it
Slightly comical, Michael Howard-esque repetition of a stock phrase from Ed Davey here, but he has a point that it’s for the Post Office & Fujitsu to apologise rather than him doesn’t he?
What a snivelling little weasel. If Davey saw another public figure dodge accountability like this, he’d demand they resign, as he has done many times over the years. He should live up to his own high standard bar and go.
Should he resign? I think if he did the motivation would be because he may become a drag on his party rather than because he’s done anything wrong. He has been pretty unlucky that this has come up now
UK is set to give Ukraine £2.5 billion in military support
I thought we were out of money to feed kids and keep the NHS functional
New house for Zelensky!!
Well, you're advocating a new country for Putin.
(Several probably.)
Ukraine is a lost cause IMO
Russia gets more or all of Ukraine whether it takes 6 months or 6 years
How much we spend has a direct correlation with the number of dead Ukrainians and Russians thats all
And how far are you willing to let Russia come westwards before you think "Hmmm, perhaps we should have stopped him before Ukraine?"
The Baltics? Romania? Eastern Germany?
Because Putin's made it quite clear: he sees his empire as stretching as far west as he can take it. So what's your limit?
Ukraine and not all of Ukraine.
The sooner we negotiate a settlement the less they get.
As the ROTW catch up with me eventually the price literally financially and in death of Ukranians will grow exponentially and the outcome is going to be worse.
Ukraine cant win wont win and eventually the West will move on.
Zelensky has become very rich on the back of the massive death toll of his countrymen though so thats the main thing
So what will you do when a Russia - strengthened by its victory - goes for the rest of Ukraine, or other countries?
I don't believe thar Zelensky has become very rich on the back of the massive death toll; in fact, he was quite rich before he stood for president (he founded and ran a TV company, as well as being an actor). What's your evidence for that?
He'll stick his head in the sand and claim (presumably in a muffled kind of way) that it's all our fault because [who knows - empire, slavery, wibble].
And it will happen again if we don't draw a line now.
BJO is exactly the same sort of George Lansbury leftist who was still all for appeasing Hitler in 1939 because 'war is bad', completely ignoring that there was already a war going on and that the other guy wanted it and would continue it whatever we did or said.
And he's talking nonsense when he complains about it costing us an unaffordable £2.5bn a year. In the late 70s/early 80s, we were spending about 5% of GDP on defence. If Europe were to abandon Ukraine to Russia on the basis of some demented cost/benefit analysis, we'd quite possibly find ourselves having to do the same again within a few years.
🌹Labour 42% (-) 🌳Conservatives 27% (-1) 🔶Liberal Democrats 10% (-1) 🟣Reform UK 9% (+1) 💚Greens 8% (+2) Labour lead of 15 Field work 9/1-11/1
Bad news for Davey, in this first poll with the PO Scandal leading the news.
"People think Ed Davey should resign 42%-19% - again it isn't unusual for people to say a politician (even fictional ones should resign). But more worryingly for the Lib Dem leader his own supporters are split 28%-33% on the question of if he should go."
One thing I like of this pollster is how they break down by generation, and also try to squeeze the initial "Don't Knows" into a choice.
Lab ahead with all age groups under 75, even boomers. If forced to choose then DKs break fairly evenly, but narrowly for Labour.
Strewth. If don't knows are breaking for Labour (even slightly) then that's devastating. If the crossover age is 75+ then...well.
Yeah, but, no. All the don’t knows breaking Tory might vote on the day, whilst all those favouring Labour stay at home, might not remotely be even split from each.
Something has happened reasonably recently for large number of voters to decide conclusively against Tories. I think it might have been Conference Season. I think Radical Rishi Unleashed & The Great HS2 Surrender has gone down badly with voters. Conservative drift downward seems to stem from that week?
The HS2 decision really fucked the infrastructure industry in this country and has caused chaos, quite aside from it being economically devastating.
I'm still furious about it. And the idea that Sunak thought this was evidence of him taking great decisions for the long-term that would appeal to voters.
I mean, WTF?
It's particularly disappointing when you consider how successful the Elizabeth Line has been. It's possible the enormous construction bill will be paid off within 20 years because passenger numbers are so high.
Yes but London is so much more important than Manc. Apparently.
The whole decision is pure idiocy. Especially as the line will get built eventually, just for even more money. The HS2 decision took me from thinking Sunak was just an annoying wee prick to actively loathing him.
And still no direct trains from anywhere north, west, south or east of London, a couple of stations on HS1 excepted, on which one can go to the rest of Europe without a greater or lesser trek on foot with luggage and offspring etc through a still seedy part of London.
A bodge perhaps, but surely they can find a line along which to bore an airport style transit, moving walkways etc. between Euston, St Pancras and Kings Cross.
I know it's busy down there, but surely that's the minimum.
King's Cross and St Pancras are linked underground.
It's quite a way to Euston. I mean, it's a short walk on a nice day, but that would be a lot of tunnelling.
It’s about 600 yards from Euston to StP.
That’s a lovely 10m walk on a nice sunny day, but a total and utter pain in the arse in winter when carrying your bags for an international trip.
They should have built a tunnel, even if it was airport-style with travelators, and even if they had to go about 10 floors down to miss the numerous other tunnels in the area and the many basements of the British Library.
They should have linked the bloody lines. That is what they should have done. Pathetic British fudge to save a few quid. We should have had direct trains to Paris from Manchester, Birmingham etc.
That meant smashing through Camden. We objected; as did then PM Boris Johnson’s dad, and also the MP for Camden, our next PM, Keir Starmer
The most interesting NATO related story today was Turkey’s response to the Coalition air strikes.
Add in the Turkish foot dragging over the Scandawegian accession countries, and elements of support to Russia, and you start to have to wonder whether NATO needs to expel Turkey.
It needs to be put on the table. Same with Hungary. At the moment, both are benefiting from a correct assumption that they can play silly, deal with the enemy and be appeased with concessions. Hungary in particular needs to go. Turkey is harder due to it being so strategically important but Erdogan needs to understand that there are limits.
Turkey has been awkward for a decade at least. Talking about expulsion from NATO is self defeating, and dangerous, IMO.
There is little we can do about Erdogan, who blows hot and cold on a regular basis. The rhetoric isn't as important as what he actually does in the end - see, for example his acceding to Sweden joining NATO, or Turkey's not insubstantial (non government) help to Ukraine against Russia.
Hungary under Orban is worse.
Hungary has the rotating presidency of the EU for the second half of 2024.
🌹Labour 42% (-) 🌳Conservatives 27% (-1) 🔶Liberal Democrats 10% (-1) 🟣Reform UK 9% (+1) 💚Greens 8% (+2) Labour lead of 15 Field work 9/1-11/1
Bad news for Davey, in this first poll with the PO Scandal leading the news.
"People think Ed Davey should resign 42%-19% - again it isn't unusual for people to say a politician (even fictional ones should resign). But more worryingly for the Lib Dem leader his own supporters are split 28%-33% on the question of if he should go."
One thing I like of this pollster is how they break down by generation, and also try to squeeze the initial "Don't Knows" into a choice.
Lab ahead with all age groups under 75, even boomers. If forced to choose then DKs break fairly evenly, but narrowly for Labour.
Strewth. If don't knows are breaking for Labour (even slightly) then that's devastating. If the crossover age is 75+ then...well.
Yeah, but, no. All the don’t knows breaking Tory might vote on the day, whilst all those favouring Labour stay at home, might not remotely be even split from each.
Something has happened reasonably recently for large number of voters to decide conclusively against Tories. I think it might have been Conference Season. I think Radical Rishi Unleashed & The Great HS2 Surrender has gone down badly with voters. Conservative drift downward seems to stem from that week?
The HS2 decision really fucked the infrastructure industry in this country and has caused chaos, quite aside from it being economically devastating.
I'm still furious about it. And the idea that Sunak thought this was evidence of him taking great decisions for the long-term that would appeal to voters.
I mean, WTF?
It's particularly disappointing when you consider how successful the Elizabeth Line has been. It's possible the enormous construction bill will be paid off within 20 years because passenger numbers are so high.
Yes but London is so much more important than Manc. Apparently.
The whole decision is pure idiocy. Especially as the line will get built eventually, just for even more money. The HS2 decision took me from thinking Sunak was just an annoying wee prick to actively loathing him.
And still no direct trains from anywhere north, west, south or east of London, a couple of stations on HS1 excepted, on which one can go to the rest of Europe without a greater or lesser trek on foot with luggage and offspring etc through a still seedy part of London.
A bodge perhaps, but surely they can find a line along which to bore an airport style transit, moving walkways etc. between Euston, St Pancras and Kings Cross.
I know it's busy down there, but surely that's the minimum.
King's Cross and St Pancras are linked underground.
It's quite a way to Euston. I mean, it's a short walk on a nice day, but that would be a lot of tunnelling.
It’s about 600 yards from Euston to StP.
That’s a lovely 10m walk on a nice sunny day, but a total and utter pain in the arse in winter when carrying your bags for an international trip.
They should have built a tunnel, even if it was airport-style with travelators, and even if they had to go about 10 floors down to miss the numerous other tunnels in the area and the many basements of the British Library.
They should have linked the bloody lines. That is what they should have done. Pathetic British fudge to save a few quid. We should have had direct trains to Paris from Manchester, Birmingham etc.
That meant smashing through Camden. We objected; as did then PM Boris Johnson’s dad, and also the MP for Camden, our next PM, Keir Starmer
It helps to have influential next-door neighbours
Manchester/Birmingham > Camden Town. Although probably fewer elite residents.
"The US and British attacks on the Houthis in Yemen are not just, as ministers in London have suggested, about the freedom of navigation and world trade. They are directly linked to events in Gaza and represent an escalation of the crisis that is gripping the region."
The escalation has been by the Houthis and Iran, who started attacking vessels on a massively important waterway for world trade. I'm unsure what Bowen expects us to do about it. Perhaps he should sail on ships through the area and see how he likes to be on the receiving end.
"They are getting increasingly sophisticated weapons from Iran, but it is best to think of them as allies rather than Tehran's proxy."
AIUI this is wrong, e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Abu_Dhabi_attack - " Investigations by the United Nations found little evidence that such a sophisticated operation could not have been carried out by the Houthis without direct assistance from a foreign power"
Slightly comical, Michael Howard-esque repetition of a stock phrase from Ed Davey here, but he has a point that it’s for the Post Office & Fujitsu to apologise rather than him doesn’t he?
What a snivelling little weasel. If Davey saw another public figure dodge accountability like this, he’d demand they resign, as he has done many times over the years. He should live up to his own high standard bar and go.
Should he resign? I think if he did the motivation would be because he may become a drag on his party rather than because he’s done anything wrong. He has been pretty unlucky that this has come up now
Crick says go
This is a truly dreadful interview by Davey & will be used by media trainers for ever as a model of what not to do. "Of course, I regret..." goodness knows how many times. So insensitive & ill-prepared. Davey's aides also failed to advise him properly. I'm afraid he has to go
Slightly comical, Michael Howard-esque repetition of a stock phrase from Ed Davey here, but he has a point that it’s for the Post Office & Fujitsu to apologise rather than him doesn’t he?
What a snivelling little weasel. If Davey saw another public figure dodge accountability like this, he’d demand they resign, as he has done many times over the years. He should live up to his own high standard bar and go.
Should he resign? I think if he did the motivation would be because he may become a drag on his party rather than because he’s done anything wrong. He has been pretty unlucky that this has come up now
Jesus fucking Christ that’s terrible. Catastrophic
I am actually a touch simpatico with Ed Davey on this subject, he just got unlucky in his timing, but why not just say sorry????
Is there some legal reason?! How can saying “I’m sorry, the UK government failed you” put you in jeopardy?
UK is set to give Ukraine £2.5 billion in military support
I thought we were out of money to feed kids and keep the NHS functional
New house for Zelensky!!
Well, you're advocating a new country for Putin.
(Several probably.)
Ukraine is a lost cause IMO
Russia gets more or all of Ukraine whether it takes 6 months or 6 years
How much we spend has a direct correlation with the number of dead Ukrainians and Russians thats all
And how far are you willing to let Russia come westwards before you think "Hmmm, perhaps we should have stopped him before Ukraine?"
The Baltics? Romania? Eastern Germany?
Because Putin's made it quite clear: he sees his empire as stretching as far west as he can take it. So what's your limit?
Ukraine and not all of Ukraine.
The sooner we negotiate a settlement the less they get.
As the ROTW catch up with me eventually the price literally financially and in death of Ukranians will grow exponentially and the outcome is going to be worse.
Ukraine cant win wont win and eventually the West will move on.
Zelensky has become very rich on the back of the massive death toll of his countrymen though so thats the main thing
So what will you do when a Russia - strengthened by its victory - goes for the rest of Ukraine, or other countries?
I don't believe thar Zelensky has become very rich on the back of the massive death toll; in fact, he was quite rich before he stood for president (he founded and ran a TV company, as well as being an actor). What's your evidence for that?
He'll stick his head in the sand and claim (presumably in a muffled kind of way) that it's all our fault because [who knows - empire, slavery, wibble].
And it will happen again if we don't draw a line now.
BJO is exactly the same sort of George Lansbury leftist who was still all for appeasing Hitler in 1939 because 'war is bad', completely ignoring that there was already a war going on and that the other guy wanted it and would continue it whatever we did or said.
And he's talking nonsense when he complains about it costing us an unaffordable £2.5bn a year. In the late 70s/early 80s, we were spending about 5% of GDP on defence. If Europe were to abandon Ukraine to Russia on the basis of some demented cost/benefit analysis, we'd quite possibly find ourselves having to do the same again within a few years.
UK is set to give Ukraine £2.5 billion in military support
I thought we were out of money to feed kids and keep the NHS functional
New house for Zelensky!!
Well, you're advocating a new country for Putin.
(Several probably.)
Ukraine is a lost cause IMO
Russia gets more or all of Ukraine whether it takes 6 months or 6 years
How much we spend has a direct correlation with the number of dead Ukrainians and Russians thats all
And how far are you willing to let Russia come westwards before you think "Hmmm, perhaps we should have stopped him before Ukraine?"
The Baltics? Romania? Eastern Germany?
Because Putin's made it quite clear: he sees his empire as stretching as far west as he can take it. So what's your limit?
Ukraine and not all of Ukraine.
The sooner we negotiate a settlement the less they get.
As the ROTW catch up with me eventually the price literally financially and in death of Ukranians will grow exponentially and the outcome is going to be worse.
Ukraine cant win wont win and eventually the West will move on.
Zelensky has become very rich on the back of the massive death toll of his countrymen though so thats the main thing
So what will you do when a Russia - strengthened by its victory - goes for the rest of Ukraine, or other countries?
I don't believe thar Zelensky has become very rich on the back of the massive death toll; in fact, he was quite rich before he stood for president (he founded and ran a TV company, as well as being an actor). What's your evidence for that?
He'll stick his head in the sand and claim (presumably in a muffled kind of way) that it's all our fault because [who knows - empire, slavery, wibble].
And it will happen again if we don't draw a line now.
BJO is exactly the same sort of George Lansbury leftist who was still all for appeasing Hitler in 1939 because 'war is bad', completely ignoring that there was already a war going on and that the other guy wanted it and would continue it whatever we did or said.
And he's talking nonsense when he complains about it costing us an unaffordable £2.5bn a year. In the late 70s/early 80s, we were spending about 5% of GDP on defence. If Europe were to abandon Ukraine to Russia on the basis of some demented cost/benefit analysis, we'd quite possibly find ourselves having to do the same again within a few years.
European defence spending has been propped up by the Americans for most of our lives. Now they’re shifting their focus towards China as the primary enemy, and European nations are increasingly going to have to hold the big angry bear back from their own defence resources.
Slightly comical, Michael Howard-esque repetition of a stock phrase from Ed Davey here, but he has a point that it’s for the Post Office & Fujitsu to apologise rather than him doesn’t he?
What a snivelling little weasel. If Davey saw another public figure dodge accountability like this, he’d demand they resign, as he has done many times over the years. He should live up to his own high standard bar and go.
Should he resign? I think if he did the motivation would be because he may become a drag on his party rather than because he’s done anything wrong. He has been pretty unlucky that this has come up now
Jesus fucking Christ that’s terrible. Catastrophic
I am actually a touch simpatico with Ed Davey on this subject, he just got unlucky in his timing, but why not just say sorry????
Is there some legal reason?! How can saying “I’m sorry, the UK government failed you” put you in jeopardy?
That looks like a career ender
It just looks like a parody of a politician. Something Harry Enfield might do
Quite amazing how the method of dodging a question hasn’t changed at all in twenty odd years. It would have actually looked a lot better if he’d said “I’m not going to say sorry, because I did my job to the best of my ability given the information I had to work with”
Don't be a complete twat, it doesnt matter in the least what anyone in the uk thinks we cant impose a ceasefire regardless of if the polls were a 100% in favour. It is not our business let them decide what to do because we really have no say in it
We did, we had a Mandate.
that was most of 70 years ago...if we tried to dictate now we would have bjo complaining about us being imperialists or something
A shame this website isn't about political betting these days (and hasn't for a long time).
Offer us a betting proposition, and we’ll all pile in…
Either on here, with discussion, or quietly on Betfair, with our £££
If you already have a book (or intend to have a book) on democratic nominee then Michelle Obama available to lay at 13 is ridiculous.
I managed to lay Ramaswany at shorter odds than that. There's a lot of ridiculous in this presidential contest.
He ran into a ditch in Iowa . . . literally.
Wonder how many passers-by on that highway slowed down to offer assistance . . . then kept on going after spotting the "Ramaswamy for President" bumper sticker?
Reform surge. If they keep going at this rate they will overtake Libs.
Let's see how they do at the byelections. They have never been able to translate their polling to real votes.
An interesting quote from a recent Reform leaning focus group this morning:
"There was real anger towards those profiting from misery. Jordan said: “When you see the record-breaking profits [of energy companies] it’s like a kick in the nuts.” Darron fumed at “multinational corporations making billions and billions in profit and hiding their money offshore” and Dale said the public suffer while politicians’ “mates are doing well”.
In fact, immigration aside, when this group talked about corporate greed, NHS underfunding or the PPE scandal, you could be forgiven for presuming this was in fact a group of hardcore Jeremy Corbyn supporters, rather than voters tempted to back the populist right."
"The US and British attacks on the Houthis in Yemen are not just, as ministers in London have suggested, about the freedom of navigation and world trade. They are directly linked to events in Gaza and represent an escalation of the crisis that is gripping the region."
The escalation has been by the Houthis and Iran, who started attacking vessels on a massively important waterway for world trade. I'm unsure what Bowen expects us to do about it. Perhaps he should sail on ships through the area and see how he likes to be on the receiving end.
"They are getting increasingly sophisticated weapons from Iran, but it is best to think of them as allies rather than Tehran's proxy."
AIUI this is wrong, e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Abu_Dhabi_attack - " Investigations by the United Nations found little evidence that such a sophisticated operation could not have been carried out by the Houthis without direct assistance from a foreign power"
This is all about keeping the shipping lanes open - it’s a huge part of why major trading nations have navies in the first place. What’s the point of a keeping a navy, if not to protect your trade as it navigates difficult waters?
🌹Labour 42% (-) 🌳Conservatives 27% (-1) 🔶Liberal Democrats 10% (-1) 🟣Reform UK 9% (+1) 💚Greens 8% (+2) Labour lead of 15 Field work 9/1-11/1
Bad news for Davey, in this first poll with the PO Scandal leading the news.
"People think Ed Davey should resign 42%-19% - again it isn't unusual for people to say a politician (even fictional ones should resign). But more worryingly for the Lib Dem leader his own supporters are split 28%-33% on the question of if he should go."
One thing I like of this pollster is how they break down by generation, and also try to squeeze the initial "Don't Knows" into a choice.
Lab ahead with all age groups under 75, even boomers. If forced to choose then DKs break fairly evenly, but narrowly for Labour.
Strewth. If don't knows are breaking for Labour (even slightly) then that's devastating. If the crossover age is 75+ then...well.
Yeah, but, no. All the don’t knows breaking Tory might vote on the day, whilst all those favouring Labour stay at home, might not remotely be even split from each.
Something has happened reasonably recently for large number of voters to decide conclusively against Tories. I think it might have been Conference Season. I think Radical Rishi Unleashed & The Great HS2 Surrender has gone down badly with voters. Conservative drift downward seems to stem from that week?
The HS2 decision really fucked the infrastructure industry in this country and has caused chaos, quite aside from it being economically devastating.
I'm still furious about it. And the idea that Sunak thought this was evidence of him taking great decisions for the long-term that would appeal to voters.
I mean, WTF?
It's particularly disappointing when you consider how successful the Elizabeth Line has been. It's possible the enormous construction bill will be paid off within 20 years because passenger numbers are so high.
Yes but London is so much more important than Manc. Apparently.
The whole decision is pure idiocy. Especially as the line will get built eventually, just for even more money. The HS2 decision took me from thinking Sunak was just an annoying wee prick to actively loathing him.
And still no direct trains from anywhere north, west, south or east of London, a couple of stations on HS1 excepted, on which one can go to the rest of Europe without a greater or lesser trek on foot with luggage and offspring etc through a still seedy part of London.
A bodge perhaps, but surely they can find a line along which to bore an airport style transit, moving walkways etc. between Euston, St Pancras and Kings Cross.
I know it's busy down there, but surely that's the minimum.
King's Cross and St Pancras are linked underground.
It's quite a way to Euston. I mean, it's a short walk on a nice day, but that would be a lot of tunnelling.
It’s about 600 yards from Euston to StP.
That’s a lovely 10m walk on a nice sunny day, but a total and utter pain in the arse in winter when carrying your bags for an international trip.
They should have built a tunnel, even if it was airport-style with travelators, and even if they had to go about 10 floors down to miss the numerous other tunnels in the area and the many basements of the British Library.
They should have linked the bloody lines. That is what they should have done. Pathetic British fudge to save a few quid. We should have had direct trains to Paris from Manchester, Birmingham etc.
You say that, but the reality is that once you get to north of - say - Watford Gap, then getting the train to Paris no longer looks a great option relative to flying.
And how many trains a day are we talking? Trains are amazing for super dense routes (like - errr - London to Paris). But for Manchester? Well, (a) it's going to take a lot longer than flying and (b) you're going to have a lot less choice about when you travel.
Now, if we were in Schengen, and there were no passport checks, then adding services would be pretty cost free, and why not. But we're not. And therefore running services is expensive because you need occasional - but proper - passport checks.
The great things about trains is that - unlike planes - you can get on and off them at interim stations. So a Leeds-Paris service (for example), in a proper HS2 & Schengen world, would still stop at Birmingham and London and Lille and other places between. Using the service doesn't mean having to go all the way to Paris.
For me, travelling from Wakefield to Paris would almost certainly be quicker door to door (assuming my destination was fairly central Paris) going by train than plane, if there were no passport checks (or if they could be done on board) and leaving about 30 mins connection time, even without HS2.
Doing passport checks on board is not easy, because how do you make 100% sure you get everybody?
And at what point do you do them? You can't do them when there are still people to pick up before you change country, and doing them any later is challenging for different reasons.
In Schengen, yes, trains make sense. Outside, not so much
How much do you like trains?
I've had my passport checked on board trains many times. It's clearly not as fool-proof / secure as airport-style scans with hard barriers but other countries seem to accept that.
How much do I like trains? A lot. I miss my long-distance journeys.
He missed out a fucking big television, washing machines, compact disc players, and electrical tin openers from his list of working class aspirations. Got the cars in though, so safe for your vote, Bart? Maybe needs to re-watch trainspotting.
Slightly comical, Michael Howard-esque repetition of a stock phrase from Ed Davey here, but he has a point that it’s for the Post Office & Fujitsu to apologise rather than him doesn’t he?
What a snivelling little weasel. If Davey saw another public figure dodge accountability like this, he’d demand they resign, as he has done many times over the years. He should live up to his own high standard bar and go.
Should he resign? I think if he did the motivation would be because he may become a drag on his party rather than because he’s done anything wrong. He has been pretty unlucky that this has come up now
Jesus fucking Christ that’s terrible. Catastrophic
I am actually a touch simpatico with Ed Davey on this subject, he just got unlucky in his timing, but why not just say sorry????
Is there some legal reason?! How can saying “I’m sorry, the UK government failed you” put you in jeopardy?
That looks like a career ender
It just looks like a parody of a politician. Something Harry Enfield might do
Quite amazing how the method of dodging a question hasn’t changed at all in twenty odd years. It would have actually looked a lot better if he’d said “I’m not going to say sorry, because I did my job to the best of my ability given the information I had to work with”
Yes it’s borderline surreal
There must be some legal reason for this: he’s been advised not to use the words “I’m sorry”, maybe? But how does that work? How can that locution be used against him?
Either way, he agreed to this interview, so it’s his choice to look like a flailing, mendacious feckwit. I suspect that is the end of him as LD leader
Slightly comical, Michael Howard-esque repetition of a stock phrase from Ed Davey here, but he has a point that it’s for the Post Office & Fujitsu to apologise rather than him doesn’t he?
What a snivelling little weasel. If Davey saw another public figure dodge accountability like this, he’d demand they resign, as he has done many times over the years. He should live up to his own high standard bar and go.
Should he resign? I think if he did the motivation would be because he may become a drag on his party rather than because he’s done anything wrong. He has been pretty unlucky that this has come up now
Regardless of the rights and wrongs at the time, the way he's handling it now shows that he's not up to the job of leading a major party.
Slightly comical, Michael Howard-esque repetition of a stock phrase from Ed Davey here, but he has a point that it’s for the Post Office & Fujitsu to apologise rather than him doesn’t he?
What a snivelling little weasel. If Davey saw another public figure dodge accountability like this, he’d demand they resign, as he has done many times over the years. He should live up to his own high standard bar and go.
Should he resign? I think if he did the motivation would be because he may become a drag on his party rather than because he’s done anything wrong. He has been pretty unlucky that this has come up now
Regardless of the rights and wrongs at the time, the way he's handling it now shows that he's not up to the job of leading a major party.
I don't consider the lib dems to be a major political party nor do most people
Don't be a complete twat, it doesnt matter in the least what anyone in the uk thinks we cant impose a ceasefire regardless of if the polls were a 100% in favour. It is not our business let them decide what to do because we really have no say in it
We have little say, but we are involved e.g.
>Rearming and resupplying Israel from RAF Akrotiri >Providing signals intelligence from drones and planes in the med >Supporting the American med fleet with a RN task group and ships near Iran
There's a narrative that we talk about Israel to the exclusion of other world conflicts. Maybe, but we also act in supporting Israel 'unconditionally' and are being drawn into the Yemen problem. Something that was much less of a problem before the conflict.
Slightly comical, Michael Howard-esque repetition of a stock phrase from Ed Davey here, but he has a point that it’s for the Post Office & Fujitsu to apologise rather than him doesn’t he?
What a snivelling little weasel. If Davey saw another public figure dodge accountability like this, he’d demand they resign, as he has done many times over the years. He should live up to his own high standard bar and go.
Should he resign? I think if he did the motivation would be because he may become a drag on his party rather than because he’s done anything wrong. He has been pretty unlucky that this has come up now
Jesus fucking Christ that’s terrible. Catastrophic
I am actually a touch simpatico with Ed Davey on this subject, he just got unlucky in his timing, but why not just say sorry????
Is there some legal reason?! How can saying “I’m sorry, the UK government failed you” put you in jeopardy?
That looks like a career ender
It just looks like a parody of a politician. Something Harry Enfield might do
Quite amazing how the method of dodging a question hasn’t changed at all in twenty odd years. It would have actually looked a lot better if he’d said “I’m not going to say sorry, because I did my job to the best of my ability given the information I had to work with”
Again, this seems AFAICS to miss the main Davey issue, which is that he was paid vast amounts in consultancy fees by the lawyers acting for PO management who were trying to bang up innocent SPMs. Unless I am misunderstanding? The issue isn't one of incompetence but of actively helping out the bad guys. I think?
Slightly comical, Michael Howard-esque repetition of a stock phrase from Ed Davey here, but he has a point that it’s for the Post Office & Fujitsu to apologise rather than him doesn’t he?
What a snivelling little weasel. If Davey saw another public figure dodge accountability like this, he’d demand they resign, as he has done many times over the years. He should live up to his own high standard bar and go.
Should he resign? I think if he did the motivation would be because he may become a drag on his party rather than because he’s done anything wrong. He has been pretty unlucky that this has come up now
Jesus fucking Christ that’s terrible. Catastrophic
I am actually a touch simpatico with Ed Davey on this subject, he just got unlucky in his timing, but why not just say sorry????
Is there some legal reason?! How can saying “I’m sorry, the UK government failed you” put you in jeopardy?
That looks like a career ender
It just looks like a parody of a politician. Something Harry Enfield might do
Quite amazing how the method of dodging a question hasn’t changed at all in twenty odd years. It would have actually looked a lot better if he’d said “I’m not going to say sorry, because I did my job to the best of my ability given the information I had to work with”
Yes it’s borderline surreal
There must be some legal reason for this: he’s been advised not to use the words “I’m sorry”, maybe? But how does that work? How can that locution be used against him?
Either way, he agreed to this interview, so it’s his choice to look like a flailing, mendacious feckwit. I suspect that is the end of him as LD leader
Slightly comical, Michael Howard-esque repetition of a stock phrase from Ed Davey here, but he has a point that it’s for the Post Office & Fujitsu to apologise rather than him doesn’t he?
What a snivelling little weasel. If Davey saw another public figure dodge accountability like this, he’d demand they resign, as he has done many times over the years. He should live up to his own high standard bar and go.
Should he resign? I think if he did the motivation would be because he may become a drag on his party rather than because he’s done anything wrong. He has been pretty unlucky that this has come up now
Jesus fucking Christ that’s terrible. Catastrophic
I am actually a touch simpatico with Ed Davey on this subject, he just got unlucky in his timing, but why not just say sorry????
Is there some legal reason?! How can saying “I’m sorry, the UK government failed you” put you in jeopardy?
That looks like a career ender
It just looks like a parody of a politician. Something Harry Enfield might do
Quite amazing how the method of dodging a question hasn’t changed at all in twenty odd years. It would have actually looked a lot better if he’d said “I’m not going to say sorry, because I did my job to the best of my ability given the information I had to work with”
Yes it’s borderline surreal
There must be some legal reason for this: he’s been advised not to use the words “I’m sorry”, maybe? But how does that work? How can that locution be used against him?
Either way, he agreed to this interview, so it’s his choice to look like a flailing, mendacious feckwit. I suspect that is the end of him as LD leader
With medico-legal issues it is perfectly possible to say sorry without creating legal liability, so that is what we are trained to do.
Davey is toast I am afraid, unfairly perhaps, but that's politics. I am not alone as an LD feeling that, LDs are fairly evenly for or against:
If you are a constitutional originalist, the evidence against presidential immunity is absolutely overwhelming.
I'm interrupting my 2-month Twitter hiatus b/c I've just found a highly relevant speech from the Ratification debates (1788): Against Presidential Immunity & Unitary Executive theory (interpreting the Opinions Clause). Future SCOTUS Justice Iredell, NC Convention, 7/28/1788:M https://twitter.com/jedshug/status/1745830406526505085
Don't be a complete twat, it doesnt matter in the least what anyone in the uk thinks we cant impose a ceasefire regardless of if the polls were a 100% in favour. It is not our business let them decide what to do because we really have no say in it
We have little say, but we are involved e.g.
>Rearming and resupplying Israel from RAF Akrotiri >Providing signals intelligence from drones and planes in the med >Supporting the American med fleet with a RN task group and ships near Iran
There's a narrative that we talk about Israel to the exclusion of other world conflicts. Maybe, but we also act in supporting Israel 'unconditionally' and are being drawn into the Yemen problem. Something that was much less of a problem before the conflict.
We should I agree not get involved in any of the middle east and let it burn, if we are lucky the issues will be solved when either they wipe each other out or we finally get a single power. The middle east has been a powder keg for 100's of years. One of the two options is the only way its ever getting sorted so let it burn
He is going to crumble like a cheap mince pie in a GE
But Starmer still more working class than Jeremy Corybyn.
Question for you, with what is going on at the moment, do you think Shapps should stand down from defence because he is Jewish?
Cause not.
What a stupid question what has him been Jewish got to do with anything
If it were proven he was a paid agent of a foreign power like Luke Akehurst then maybe.
Did we ever get to the bottom of DONKEYGATE?
I answered this when you asked yesterday, keep up.
I assumed you were muling it over.
You’re the donkey. You’re the donkey in donkey gate.
What are you drinking this afternoon? Pints of Camden Hels? We know how this ends - by 10:30 you are posting T R U S S at all angles, and sleep it off in the PB spam trap.
Donkey gate. Mail got excited when they learned of people really angry at Starmer over selling some land. But all it boiled down to was anger at what the buyer stuck on it, no problem with a citizen making honest money from a land sale.
Slightly comical, Michael Howard-esque repetition of a stock phrase from Ed Davey here, but he has a point that it’s for the Post Office & Fujitsu to apologise rather than him doesn’t he?
What a snivelling little weasel. If Davey saw another public figure dodge accountability like this, he’d demand they resign, as he has done many times over the years. He should live up to his own high standard bar and go.
Should he resign? I think if he did the motivation would be because he may become a drag on his party rather than because he’s done anything wrong. He has been pretty unlucky that this has come up now
Jesus fucking Christ that’s terrible. Catastrophic
I am actually a touch simpatico with Ed Davey on this subject, he just got unlucky in his timing, but why not just say sorry????
Is there some legal reason?! How can saying “I’m sorry, the UK government failed you” put you in jeopardy?
That looks like a career ender
It just looks like a parody of a politician. Something Harry Enfield might do
Quite amazing how the method of dodging a question hasn’t changed at all in twenty odd years. It would have actually looked a lot better if he’d said “I’m not going to say sorry, because I did my job to the best of my ability given the information I had to work with”
Again, this seems AFAICS to miss the main Davey issue, which is that he was paid vast amounts in consultancy fees by the lawyers acting for PO management who were trying to bang up innocent SPMs. Unless I am misunderstanding? The issue isn't one of incompetence but of actively helping out the bad guys. I think?
His work for them (they are a big firm) was purely to do with environmental and energy issues.
Slightly comical, Michael Howard-esque repetition of a stock phrase from Ed Davey here, but he has a point that it’s for the Post Office & Fujitsu to apologise rather than him doesn’t he?
What a snivelling little weasel. If Davey saw another public figure dodge accountability like this, he’d demand they resign, as he has done many times over the years. He should live up to his own high standard bar and go.
Should he resign? I think if he did the motivation would be because he may become a drag on his party rather than because he’s done anything wrong. He has been pretty unlucky that this has come up now
Regardless of the rights and wrongs at the time, the way he's handling it now shows that he's not up to the job of leading a major party.
Yes. That is not the TV performance of a major party leader. It is a nervous, intellectually mediocre politico who has never been under any serious scrutiny before, who fails in the real spotlight. It is a middle aged male version of Jo Swinson
He is going to crumble like a cheap mince pie in a GE
But Starmer still more working class than Jeremy Corybyn.
Question for you, with what is going on at the moment, do you think Shapps should stand down from defence because he is Jewish?
Cause not.
What a stupid question what has him been Jewish got to do with anything
If it were proven he was a paid agent of a foreign power like Luke Akehurst then maybe.
Did we ever get to the bottom of DONKEYGATE?
I answered this when you asked yesterday, keep up.
I assumed you were muling it over.
You’re the donkey. You’re the donkey in donkey gate.
What are you drinking this afternoon? Pints of Camden Hels? We know how this ends - by 10:30 you are posting T R U S S at all angles, and sleep it off in the PB spam trap.
Donkey gate. Mail got excited when they learned of people really angry after Starmer over selling some land. But all it boiled down to was anger at what the buyer stuck on it, no problem with a citizen making honest money from a land sale.
The land had been bought by SKS for, and used for years for, Mrs SKS (mum, not wife) to keep her guests in the way of Distressed and Elderly Donkeys - it was a field next to her house. It was sold when she passed on and it was no longer required. Not exactly a way for the DM to work up much hate of SKS.
Reform surge. If they keep going at this rate they will overtake Libs.
Errrr.
That poll has the LDs catching up with Reform, when they were previously behind.
The LDs are behind reform? Do we have stats on how many people have even heard of Reform? My guess is well under 50%, with under 10% being able to name its leader.
He is going to crumble like a cheap mince pie in a GE
But Starmer still more working class than Jeremy Corybyn.
Question for you, with what is going on at the moment, do you think Shapps should stand down from defence because he is Jewish?
Cause not.
What a stupid question what has him been Jewish got to do with anything
If it were proven he was a paid agent of a foreign power like Luke Akehurst then maybe.
Did we ever get to the bottom of DONKEYGATE?
I answered this when you asked yesterday, keep up.
I assumed you were muling it over.
You’re the donkey. You’re the donkey in donkey gate.
What are you drinking this afternoon? Pints of Camden Hels? We know how this ends - by 10:30 you are posting T R U S S at all angles, and sleep it off in the PB spam trap.
Donkey gate. Mail got excited when they learned of people really angry after Starmer over selling some land. But all it boiled down to was anger at what the buyer stuck on it, no problem with a citizen making honest money from a land sale.
I'm entirely sober. I want ANSWERS on DONKEYGATE. Frankly, you remind me of that Sir Ted Gravy with your duplicitous attempts to avoid my questions.
Slightly comical, Michael Howard-esque repetition of a stock phrase from Ed Davey here, but he has a point that it’s for the Post Office & Fujitsu to apologise rather than him doesn’t he?
What a snivelling little weasel. If Davey saw another public figure dodge accountability like this, he’d demand they resign, as he has done many times over the years. He should live up to his own high standard bar and go.
Should he resign? I think if he did the motivation would be because he may become a drag on his party rather than because he’s done anything wrong. He has been pretty unlucky that this has come up now
Regardless of the rights and wrongs at the time, the way he's handling it now shows that he's not up to the job of leading a major party.
I don't consider the lib dems to be a major political party nor do most people
Reform surge. If they keep going at this rate they will overtake Libs.
Errrr.
That poll has the LDs catching up with Reform, when they were previously behind.
The LDs are behind reform? Do we have stats on how many people have even heard of Reform? My guess is well under 50%, with under 10% being able to name its leader.
Even the Reform Focus group I linked to couldn't name the leader!
Slightly comical, Michael Howard-esque repetition of a stock phrase from Ed Davey here, but he has a point that it’s for the Post Office & Fujitsu to apologise rather than him doesn’t he?
What a snivelling little weasel. If Davey saw another public figure dodge accountability like this, he’d demand they resign, as he has done many times over the years. He should live up to his own high standard bar and go.
Should he resign? I think if he did the motivation would be because he may become a drag on his party rather than because he’s done anything wrong. He has been pretty unlucky that this has come up now
Regardless of the rights and wrongs at the time, the way he's handling it now shows that he's not up to the job of leading a major party.
"The US and British attacks on the Houthis in Yemen are not just, as ministers in London have suggested, about the freedom of navigation and world trade. They are directly linked to events in Gaza and represent an escalation of the crisis that is gripping the region."
The escalation has been by the Houthis and Iran, who started attacking vessels on a massively important waterway for world trade. I'm unsure what Bowen expects us to do about it. Perhaps he should sail on ships through the area and see how he likes to be on the receiving end.
"They are getting increasingly sophisticated weapons from Iran, but it is best to think of them as allies rather than Tehran's proxy."
AIUI this is wrong, e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Abu_Dhabi_attack - " Investigations by the United Nations found little evidence that such a sophisticated operation could not have been carried out by the Houthis without direct assistance from a foreign power"
Correct. And this is all part of a much wider assault by the likes of Iran, Russia and China on the democratic West. Iran is absolutely bound up in that. I don't know whether Bowen is choosing to look the other way or whether he is genuinely morally corrupted but this is a low-level (but intensifying) global conflict that will shape the 21st century.
He seems to think it is wrong to fight back when you are attacked, or that doing so will make it worse (whereas not doing so won't encourage more of the same!). He's also implicitly arguing that the West should give in to the blackmail the Houthis are engaging in and stop the Israeli actions in Gaza. Leaving aside that it's not that simple (and that Israel is being excessively aggressive), you simply cannot allow terrorist organisations and their hostile state backers to lay down the rules. That way lies their domination.
Slightly comical, Michael Howard-esque repetition of a stock phrase from Ed Davey here, but he has a point that it’s for the Post Office & Fujitsu to apologise rather than him doesn’t he?
What a snivelling little weasel. If Davey saw another public figure dodge accountability like this, he’d demand they resign, as he has done many times over the years. He should live up to his own high standard bar and go.
Should he resign? I think if he did the motivation would be because he may become a drag on his party rather than because he’s done anything wrong. He has been pretty unlucky that this has come up now
Jesus fucking Christ that’s terrible. Catastrophic
I am actually a touch simpatico with Ed Davey on this subject, he just got unlucky in his timing, but why not just say sorry????
Is there some legal reason?! How can saying “I’m sorry, the UK government failed you” put you in jeopardy?
That looks like a career ender
It just looks like a parody of a politician. Something Harry Enfield might do
Quite amazing how the method of dodging a question hasn’t changed at all in twenty odd years. It would have actually looked a lot better if he’d said “I’m not going to say sorry, because I did my job to the best of my ability given the information I had to work with”
Yes it’s borderline surreal
There must be some legal reason for this: he’s been advised not to use the words “I’m sorry”, maybe? But how does that work? How can that locution be used against him?
Either way, he agreed to this interview, so it’s his choice to look like a flailing, mendacious feckwit. I suspect that is the end of him as LD leader
With medico-legal issues it is perfectly possible to say sorry without creating legal liability, so that is what we are trained to do.
Davey is toast I am afraid, unfairly perhaps, but that's politics. I am not alone as an LD feeling that, LDs are fairly evenly for or against:
Fair play. And admirably honest
Yes you are much better off dumping him now. Ed Davey seems like a nice bloke, and he has a really tough backstory - and good luck to him at that, on a human level, of course - but this narrative is really bad for the LDs and Davey has now made it a lot worse. Best get in someone new for the GE
Slightly comical, Michael Howard-esque repetition of a stock phrase from Ed Davey here, but he has a point that it’s for the Post Office & Fujitsu to apologise rather than him doesn’t he?
What a snivelling little weasel. If Davey saw another public figure dodge accountability like this, he’d demand they resign, as he has done many times over the years. He should live up to his own high standard bar and go.
Should he resign? I think if he did the motivation would be because he may become a drag on his party rather than because he’s done anything wrong. He has been pretty unlucky that this has come up now
Regardless of the rights and wrongs at the time, the way he's handling it now shows that he's not up to the job of leading a major party.
Slightly comical, Michael Howard-esque repetition of a stock phrase from Ed Davey here, but he has a point that it’s for the Post Office & Fujitsu to apologise rather than him doesn’t he?
What a snivelling little weasel. If Davey saw another public figure dodge accountability like this, he’d demand they resign, as he has done many times over the years. He should live up to his own high standard bar and go.
Should he resign? I think if he did the motivation would be because he may become a drag on his party rather than because he’s done anything wrong. He has been pretty unlucky that this has come up now
Jesus fucking Christ that’s terrible. Catastrophic
I am actually a touch simpatico with Ed Davey on this subject, he just got unlucky in his timing, but why not just say sorry????
Is there some legal reason?! How can saying “I’m sorry, the UK government failed you” put you in jeopardy?
That looks like a career ender
It just looks like a parody of a politician. Something Harry Enfield might do
Quite amazing how the method of dodging a question hasn’t changed at all in twenty odd years. It would have actually looked a lot better if he’d said “I’m not going to say sorry, because I did my job to the best of my ability given the information I had to work with”
Again, this seems AFAICS to miss the main Davey issue, which is that he was paid vast amounts in consultancy fees by the lawyers acting for PO management who were trying to bang up innocent SPMs. Unless I am misunderstanding? The issue isn't one of incompetence but of actively helping out the bad guys. I think?
His work for them (they are a big firm) was purely to do with environmental and energy issues.
He is going to crumble like a cheap mince pie in a GE
But Starmer still more working class than Jeremy Corybyn.
Question for you, with what is going on at the moment, do you think Shapps should stand down from defence because he is Jewish?
Cause not.
What a stupid question what has him been Jewish got to do with anything
If it were proven he was a paid agent of a foreign power like Luke Akehurst then maybe.
Did we ever get to the bottom of DONKEYGATE?
I answered this when you asked yesterday, keep up.
I assumed you were muling it over.
You’re the donkey. You’re the donkey in donkey gate.
What are you drinking this afternoon? Pints of Camden Hels? We know how this ends - by 10:30 you are posting T R U S S at all angles, and sleep it off in the PB spam trap.
Donkey gate. Mail got excited when they learned of people really angry after Starmer over selling some land. But all it boiled down to was anger at what the buyer stuck on it, no problem with a citizen making honest money from a land sale.
I'm entirely sober. I want ANSWERS on DONKEYGATE. Frankly, you remind me of that Sir Ted Gravy with your duplicitous attempts to avoid my questions.
Fujitsu won Foreign Office contract despite concerns https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67944525 Fujitsu won a £184m government contract in 2021 despite concerns from officials that the system it was offering was likely to be "unfit for purpose". The Japanese-owned firm is at the heart of the long-running Post Office IT scandal.
Court documents reveal the Foreign Office had originally wanted to rehire Vodafone for the contract to supply communications equipment. But it re-ran its procurement following a legal challenge from Fujitsu.
Last autumn the most senior civil servant in the department told MPs scrutinising government spending that the programme to replace its communications system would also be 12 months late being delivered. A government spokesperson said, as with all contracts, it continued to keep Fujitsu's conduct and commercial performance under review. Fujitsu declined to comment...
He is going to crumble like a cheap mince pie in a GE
But Starmer still more working class than Jeremy Corybyn.
Question for you, with what is going on at the moment, do you think Shapps should stand down from defence because he is Jewish?
Cause not.
What a stupid question what has him been Jewish got to do with anything
If it were proven he was a paid agent of a foreign power like Luke Akehurst then maybe.
Did we ever get to the bottom of DONKEYGATE?
I answered this when you asked yesterday, keep up.
I assumed you were muling it over.
You’re the donkey. You’re the donkey in donkey gate.
What are you drinking this afternoon? Pints of Camden Hels? We know how this ends - by 10:30 you are posting T R U S S at all angles, and sleep it off in the PB spam trap.
Donkey gate. Mail got excited when they learned of people really angry after Starmer over selling some land. But all it boiled down to was anger at what the buyer stuck on it, no problem with a citizen making honest money from a land sale.
I'm entirely sober. I want ANSWERS on DONKEYGATE. Frankly, you remind me of that Sir Ted Gravy with your duplicitous attempts to avoid my questions.
Slightly comical, Michael Howard-esque repetition of a stock phrase from Ed Davey here, but he has a point that it’s for the Post Office & Fujitsu to apologise rather than him doesn’t he?
What a snivelling little weasel. If Davey saw another public figure dodge accountability like this, he’d demand they resign, as he has done many times over the years. He should live up to his own high standard bar and go.
Should he resign? I think if he did the motivation would be because he may become a drag on his party rather than because he’s done anything wrong. He has been pretty unlucky that this has come up now
Regardless of the rights and wrongs at the time, the way he's handling it now shows that he's not up to the job of leading a major party.
I don't consider the lib dems to be a major political party nor do most people
He is going to crumble like a cheap mince pie in a GE
But Starmer still more working class than Jeremy Corybyn.
Question for you, with what is going on at the moment, do you think Shapps should stand down from defence because he is Jewish?
Cause not.
What a stupid question what has him been Jewish got to do with anything
If it were proven he was a paid agent of a foreign power like Luke Akehurst then maybe.
Did we ever get to the bottom of DONKEYGATE?
I answered this when you asked yesterday, keep up.
I assumed you were muling it over.
You’re the donkey. You’re the donkey in donkey gate.
What are you drinking this afternoon? Pints of Camden Hels? We know how this ends - by 10:30 you are posting T R U S S at all angles, and sleep it off in the PB spam trap.
Donkey gate. Mail got excited when they learned of people really angry after Starmer over selling some land. But all it boiled down to was anger at what the buyer stuck on it, no problem with a citizen making honest money from a land sale.
The land had been bought by SKS for, and used for years for, Mrs SKS (mum, not wife) to keep her guests in the way of Distressed and Elderly Donkeys - it was a field next to her house. It was sold when she passed on and it was no longer required. Not exactly a way for the DM to work up much hate of SKS.
Exactly. They failed. Apart from Big G and Beergate, no punch yet has properly landed or stung Starmer.
It’s at the point now, why do Tories want to nobble Starmer? It would ruin absolutely everything. Sunak and his government would have to stay in power, and that could finish the Conservative party off forever.
Has there been research on the effect of politicians saying “Sorry”?
Not “Sorry if” just “Sorry”
My instinct is the public would prefer it to mealy mouthed, weasel words; people forgive mistakes
Absolutely
Remember Richie Benaud the Aussie cricket commentator? He had this weird habit of turning direct to the camera and speaking to YOU as a viewer. It was odd, but sometimes effective
I reckon it would be much more effective from politicians. Stop, wait, turn directly to the camera, and say “SORRY, WE FAILED YOU”
I reckon that would earn you seven trillion votes and - if @foxy is right - it does not create any legal liability. Also, it is better for everyone if you JUST SAY SORRY if you have clearly screwed up
Davey has done the opposite, he’s got all the negatives of looking sorry and guilty with none of the positives of fessing up and reaching out. Derrr
Comments
Back in 2022, Albanians were almost 30% of all the people making in the crossing. In the second half of 2023, they were under 10%. So - sure - weather probably played a role. But the biggest impact by far was the fact that Albanians no longer saw small boats as a sensible way to get into the UK.
But the tech nerd in me is drawn to it.
What a stupid question what has him been Jewish got to do with anything
If it were proven he was a paid agent of a foreign power like Luke Akehurst then maybe.
I think you need to distinguish between the concrete actions Turkey has taken, from some of the things they say to manage public opinion, or for other reasons.
Turkey might be a bit of an awkward country, and they don't exactly burnish NATOs credentials as a club of democracies, but they're still a net asset to NATO, and far from, say, Hungary's position.
https://twitter.com/josephattard02/status/1745804027504230704
And it will happen again if we don't draw a line now.
BJO is exactly the same sort of George Lansbury leftist who was still all for appeasing Hitler in 1939 because 'war is bad', completely ignoring that there was already a war going on and that the other guy wanted it and would continue it whatever we did or said.
Still funny.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/are-the-tories-cooling-on-their-support-for-israel/
I think a lot of the problems that do go on are due to too few managers and administrators than too many. It's much easier to hide things from a manager that is never seen on the shopfloor.
And how many trains a day are we talking? Trains are amazing for super dense routes (like - errr - London to Paris). But for Manchester? Well, (a) it's going to take a lot longer than flying and (b) you're going to have a lot less choice about when you travel.
Now, if we were in Schengen, and there were no passport checks, then adding services would be pretty cost free, and why not. But we're not. And therefore running services is expensive because you need occasional - but proper - passport checks.
- the Nazi-Soviet Pact and the reaction on the western Left, a large part of which devoted the next two years to sabotaging the British and French war effort?
- Labour's opposition to rearming and conscription before World War 2?
- Lansbury's opposition of sanctions on Mussolini during the Abyssinian crisis?
- many on the Left's excuses for Soviet and Chinese imperialism throughout the Cold War?
- etc etc.
Appeasing Putin's Russia is entirely consistent with the craven leftist approach to any foreign tyranny, fascist, communist, theocratic or just plain mad as long as they are anti-Western.
That would have been sane, joined-up thinking...
For me, travelling from Wakefield to Paris would almost certainly be quicker door to door (assuming my destination was fairly central Paris) going by train than plane, if there were no passport checks (or if they could be done on board) and leaving about 30 mins connection time, even without HS2.
DONKEYGATE
https://x.com/itvnewspolitics/status/1745812161002197495?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
And at what point do you do them? You can't do them when there are still people to pick up before you change country, and doing them any later is challenging for different reasons.
In Schengen, yes, trains make sense. Outside, not so much
How much do you like trains?
There is little we can do about Erdogan, who blows hot and cold on a regular basis.
The rhetoric isn't as important as what he actually does in the end - see, for example his acceding to Sweden joining NATO, or Turkey's not insubstantial (non government) help to Ukraine against Russia.
Hungary under Orban is worse.
We need answers. And we need them now.
What a snivelling little weasel. If Davey saw another public figure dodge accountability like this, he’d demand they resign, as he has done many times over the years. He should live up to his own high standard bar and
go.
https://x.com/piersmorgan/status/1745813838195212452?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
Should he resign? I think if he did the motivation would be because he may become a drag on his party rather than because he’s done anything wrong. He has been pretty unlucky that this has come up now
In the late 70s/early 80s, we were spending about 5% of GDP on defence. If Europe were to abandon Ukraine to Russia on the basis of some demented cost/benefit analysis, we'd quite possibly find ourselves having to do the same again within a few years.
It helps to have influential next-door neighbours
Actually, I see your point.
Lib Dem surge!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67955729
"The US and British attacks on the Houthis in Yemen are not just, as ministers in London have suggested, about the freedom of navigation and world trade. They are directly linked to events in Gaza and represent an escalation of the crisis that is gripping the region."
The escalation has been by the Houthis and Iran, who started attacking vessels on a massively important waterway for world trade. I'm unsure what Bowen expects us to do about it. Perhaps he should sail on ships through the area and see how he likes to be on the receiving end.
"They are getting increasingly sophisticated weapons from Iran, but it is best to think of them as allies rather than Tehran's proxy."
AIUI this is wrong, e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Abu_Dhabi_attack - " Investigations by the United Nations found little evidence that such a sophisticated operation could not have been carried out by the Houthis without direct assistance from a foreign power"
There's a lot of ridiculous in this presidential contest.
This is a truly dreadful interview by Davey & will be used by media trainers for ever as a model of what not to do. "Of course, I regret..." goodness knows how many times. So insensitive & ill-prepared. Davey's aides also failed to advise him properly. I'm afraid he has to go
https://x.com/michaellcrick/status/1745828017916486058?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
I am actually a touch simpatico with Ed Davey on this subject, he just got unlucky in his timing, but why not just say sorry????
Is there some legal reason?! How can saying “I’m sorry, the UK government failed you” put you in jeopardy?
That looks like a career ender
Caveat - this is NOT to confuse ED with like of DJT. But similar has happened before, with other countries, parties & politicos.
Quite amazing how the method of dodging a question hasn’t changed at all in twenty odd years. It would have actually looked a lot better if he’d said “I’m not going to say sorry, because I did my job to the best of my ability given the information I had to work with”
Wonder how many passers-by on that highway slowed down to offer assistance . . . then kept on going after spotting the "Ramaswamy for President" bumper sticker?
An interesting quote from a recent Reform leaning focus group this morning:
"There was real anger towards those profiting from misery. Jordan said: “When you see the record-breaking profits [of energy companies] it’s like a kick in the nuts.” Darron fumed at “multinational corporations making billions and billions in profit and hiding their money offshore” and Dale said the public suffer while politicians’ “mates are doing well”.
In fact, immigration aside, when this group talked about corporate greed, NHS underfunding or the PPE scandal, you could be forgiven for presuming this was in fact a group of hardcore Jeremy Corbyn supporters, rather than voters tempted to back the populist right."
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/jan/12/done-with-labour-and-tories-reform-uk-angry-voters
These are not easy votes for the Tories to gain, they are not right-wing, at least on economic issues.
How much do I like trains? A lot. I miss my long-distance journeys.
There must be some legal reason for this: he’s been advised not to use the words “I’m sorry”, maybe? But how does that work? How can that locution be used against him?
Either way, he agreed to this interview, so it’s his choice to look like a flailing, mendacious feckwit. I suspect that is the end of him as LD leader
That poll has the LDs catching up with Reform, when they were previously behind.
(if you include the whole AFL-UKIP-BxP-RefUK timeline, then it's their joint-highest since Oct 2019).
>Rearming and resupplying Israel from RAF Akrotiri
>Providing signals intelligence from drones and planes in the med
>Supporting the American med fleet with a RN task group and ships near Iran
There's a narrative that we talk about Israel to the exclusion of other world conflicts. Maybe, but we also act in supporting Israel 'unconditionally' and are being drawn into the Yemen problem. Something that was much less of a problem before the conflict.
Davey is toast I am afraid, unfairly perhaps, but that's politics. I am not alone as an LD feeling that, LDs are fairly evenly for or against:
I'm interrupting my 2-month Twitter hiatus b/c I've just found a highly relevant speech from the Ratification debates (1788):
Against Presidential Immunity & Unitary Executive theory (interpreting the Opinions Clause).
Future SCOTUS Justice Iredell, NC Convention, 7/28/1788:M
https://twitter.com/jedshug/status/1745830406526505085
What are you drinking this afternoon? Pints of Camden Hels? We know how this ends - by 10:30 you are posting T R U S S at all angles, and sleep it off in the PB spam trap.
Donkey gate. Mail got excited when they learned of people really angry at Starmer over selling some land. But all it boiled down to was anger at what the buyer stuck on it, no problem with a citizen making honest money from a land sale.
Maybe the LDs simply don’t have anyone “good”
But the question is, how do the Tory’s get them back, when it’s the very existence of PM Sunak and his government that drove them there.
My guess is, not much above 30%? More after people being polled are told that he's leader of Liberal Democrats.
Of course ED's name ID has risen substantially in past week or so.
He seems to think it is wrong to fight back when you are attacked, or that doing so will make it worse (whereas not doing so won't encourage more of the same!). He's also implicitly arguing that the West should give in to the blackmail the Houthis are engaging in and stop the Israeli actions in Gaza. Leaving aside that it's not that simple (and that Israel is being excessively aggressive), you simply cannot allow terrorist organisations and their hostile state backers to lay down the rules. That way lies their domination.
Yes you are much better off dumping him now. Ed Davey seems like a nice bloke, and he has a really tough backstory - and good luck to him at that, on a human level, of course - but this narrative is really bad for the LDs and Davey has now made it a lot worse. Best get in someone new for the GE
Not “Sorry if” just “Sorry”
My instinct is the public would prefer it to mealy mouthed, weasel words; people forgive mistakes
Fujitsu won Foreign Office contract despite concerns
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67944525
Fujitsu won a £184m government contract in 2021 despite concerns from officials that the system it was offering was likely to be "unfit for purpose".
The Japanese-owned firm is at the heart of the long-running Post Office IT scandal.
Court documents reveal the Foreign Office had originally wanted to rehire Vodafone for the contract to supply communications equipment.
But it re-ran its procurement following a legal challenge from Fujitsu.
Last autumn the most senior civil servant in the department told MPs scrutinising government spending that the programme to replace its communications system would also be 12 months late being delivered.
A government spokesperson said, as with all contracts, it continued to keep Fujitsu's conduct and commercial performance under review.
Fujitsu declined to comment...
It’s at the point now, why do Tories want to nobble Starmer? It would ruin absolutely everything. Sunak and his government would have to stay in power, and that could finish the Conservative party off forever.
Remember Richie Benaud the Aussie cricket commentator? He had this weird habit of turning direct to the camera and speaking to YOU as a viewer. It was odd, but sometimes effective
I reckon it would be much more effective from politicians. Stop, wait, turn directly to the camera, and say “SORRY, WE FAILED YOU”
I reckon that would earn you seven trillion votes and - if @foxy is right - it does not create any legal liability. Also, it is better for everyone if you JUST SAY SORRY if you have clearly screwed up
Davey has done the opposite, he’s got all the negatives of looking sorry and guilty with none of the positives of fessing up and reaching out. Derrr