Oh my god. 1.5 days in - Tragic speed in the rain, awful launch, annoying journos from the sun, planted qs, welsh euros gafe and visiting the titanic. Just incredible density of screw-ups. And this is things they likely had planned!
Aussie Isaac Levido is Sunak's campaign manager I believe.
I take issue with the idea of mentioning the Euros in Wales is somehow a gaffe. Are you not allowed to be interested in a major tournament if your team isn't competing? Will no-one other than Man Utd and Man City fans watch the FA Cup final? Desperate times.
I mean, sure, but put the question in a different way. It was obvious he didn’t realise Wales didn’t make it through. Just a complete lack of awareness. The guy hasn’t got a clue about ordinary people.
Bollocks. I think those who don't like Sunak/Tories just want every stick to beat them with. He asked - "are you looking forward to the football", not "are you looking forward to watching Wales in the football".
How widespread is this? Dunno. But it is certainly surprising to see apparently affluent white Germans openly doing Hitler moustache-and-salute moves while dancing
Young people are increasingly distant from WW2. Growing up, the war was an ever present reference point in my life, as it had shaped my grandparents' lives, and hung over my parents'. For my kids it's ancient history, like the Boer war was for me. As memories of the war fade I think a lot of the taboos around the far right are fading with them. Perhaps we have to relearn the lessons of where this kind of politics leads.
Also, how about reducing the insane levels of immigration? Young people are noticing
I'd quite like to avoid the point where these views become widespread
It might help or it might not. Young people are generally more positive on immigration than older people, and more tolerant in areas of high immigration than in areas of low immigration. I'm not convinced that London is swarming with young white men who are violently opposed to multiculturalism - they all speak with a Jamaican accent for a start. But my kids aren't white so I'm not an expert on young white people and their cultural practices.
Young people are overwhelmingly the ones who pay the price for mass immigration, in a literal sense, in the form of competition for housing and suppression of wages.
Sure: but young people are also by far the most likely to have friends who are from different countries, and they are the ones who will pay the most for an unbalanced population pyramid.
So, it's swings and roundabouts.
Isn't it better for the young to have a top heavy pyramid if immigration is zero? Wouldn't it drive wages in the services sectors up and over time reduce the demand for housing?
Except for the fact that the government needs to extract money from a diminishing number of workers to pay for the care of an increasingly number elderly.
Look at the proportion of the UK government budget taken up by pensions and healthcare.
This is a policy choice. Without state intervention, a situation where a large number of pensioners in aggregate have lots of assets and the pool of workers is restricted would lead to a transfer of wealth in favour of the young.
I agree. In a world where there was no government, the outcome would be as you suggest.
However, that is not the world we live in. In the world we live in, retirees have votes, and make up an increasing proportion of voters.
Look around the world: in Italy the old have shafted the young by keeping them in the Euro. Look at the rust belt in the US: the reason the young are fleeing to the sunbelt is because of the high taxes needed to pay benefits to retirees. And every young person that leaves makes the voter base ever more dominated by oldies. Look at Japan, where ghost towns proliferate and the birth rate continues to plummet, because who needs the twin burdens of paying for oldies and paying for children.
Somebody once said that democracy dies when we realize we can all vote ourselves a pay rise. The greying of the electorate is causing exactly that scenario: a class of voters who are deeply invested in the status quo, at the expense of the young.
How will it end? Will the young rebel against democracy?
The labour leads seem to be pulling ahead now...wow.. . Just inching ahead across all the polling firms. What a horrific start to the campaign for the tories.
Remember that the big lead of 50-25 from ComRes came a few days after the 2017 election was called, and that was the high point before things went downhill.
So, if this was going to be a re-run of 2017, where the party with a huge lead blows it, we are still exactly on the flightpath.
For all his faults, Corbyn is a much better campaigner than Sunak.
Corbyn skill in life is campaigning. Although it is much easier if you never change your mind on anything for 40 years to have your lines down pat and your ideas have come back into fashion. He was also in a goldie locks zone of people wanted change towards a larger more active state and his simple sounding solutions to everything chimed with a decent proportion of the population.
How widespread is this? Dunno. But it is certainly surprising to see apparently affluent white Germans openly doing Hitler moustache-and-salute moves while dancing
Young people are increasingly distant from WW2. Growing up, the war was an ever present reference point in my life, as it had shaped my grandparents' lives, and hung over my parents'. For my kids it's ancient history, like the Boer war was for me. As memories of the war fade I think a lot of the taboos around the far right are fading with them. Perhaps we have to relearn the lessons of where this kind of politics leads.
Anyone can read about WW2. This "distant in time" thing doesn't wash for me.
No, these things do fade. Young Germans - under 30 - have zero guilt about the war. I’ve noticed it (and I don’t blame them)
It’s a human universal. At some point even the greatest atrocity becomes a quaint or eye raising passage in history books. Some fade away very quickly - the Armenian genocide. Some last much longer like WW2, Nazism and the Holocaust - but they too are now losing emotional force, even in Germany itself
I read a tweet the other day about young people knowing F all about Anne Frank, for instance
Yet the German government seems obsessed about causing no offence to Israel, more so than any other European government afaIcs. I can’t think that isn’t connected to Holocaust guilt.
That’s my point. Middle aged and old Germans - politicians - still guilt. Young Germans? Not at all
How widespread is this? Dunno. But it is certainly surprising to see apparently affluent white Germans openly doing Hitler moustache-and-salute moves while dancing
Young people are increasingly distant from WW2. Growing up, the war was an ever present reference point in my life, as it had shaped my grandparents' lives, and hung over my parents'. For my kids it's ancient history, like the Boer war was for me. As memories of the war fade I think a lot of the taboos around the far right are fading with them. Perhaps we have to relearn the lessons of where this kind of politics leads.
Also, how about reducing the insane levels of immigration? Young people are noticing
I'd quite like to avoid the point where these views become widespread
It might help or it might not. Young people are generally more positive on immigration than older people, and more tolerant in areas of high immigration than in areas of low immigration. I'm not convinced that London is swarming with young white men who are violently opposed to multiculturalism - they all speak with a Jamaican accent for a start. But my kids aren't white so I'm not an expert on young white people and their cultural practices.
Young people are overwhelmingly the ones who pay the price for mass immigration, in a literal sense, in the form of competition for housing and suppression of wages.
Sure: but young people are also by far the most likely to have friends who are from different countries, and they are the ones who will pay the most for an unbalanced population pyramid.
So, it's swings and roundabouts.
Isn't it better for the young to have a top heavy pyramid if immigration is zero? Wouldn't it drive wages in the services sectors up and over time reduce the demand for housing?
Except for the fact that the government needs to extract money from a diminishing number of workers to pay for the care of an increasingly number elderly.
Look at the proportion of the UK government budget taken up by pensions and healthcare.
I don't know what you think, Robert, but I think the underlying economic numbers point quite positively to the future. Investment is well up, over the past three years, the savings ratio is high, retail sales down, and the trade deficit falling.
Well, I'm generally negative - economically - on pretty much the entire developed world.
Look at Italy and Japan. Lots of old people. Not a lot of young people.
There's a broad philosophical point which I think is really misunderstood, and that is that care for the old always comes out of the economic output of workers. If you have saving and pensions, then it comes out of companies' profits via dividends and bond payments. If you do not, then it comes out via taxation.
But economic output cannot be bottled up and stored. Saving is just a time transfer of work, and work is (largely) ephemeral. Someone needs to be there in the future to actually provide the healthcare, harvest the food, and wipe the butt.
In the UK, and I've shown a chart of this in the past, the proportion of government spending on oldies has risen inexorably. And will continue to do so. It's why we both have austerity (reduced government spending as a % of GDP in most departments), and record government taxes and spending.
People have worked all their lives, and paid taxes, and expect the government to keep their part of the deal. But young people, seeing their taxes rise to pay for the oldies, are likely to cry foul. And the solution the government has - import more workers! - brings with it a host of other issues.
So, I'm pretty pessimistic, all things considered.
The other possible solution, as Alanbrooke sensibly points out, is a significant increase in productivity. Though it's not at all clear how that's to come about in the UK in a manner which solves our problems.
Remember that every person working in an old age people's home, is a person who isn't building things for export. Remember too, that the jobs looking after the oldies are the least automatable out there.
Or every job automated frees up someone for the care sector.
If only we had a manufacturing base to automate, eh @Alanbrooke
We.ve hidden it all in services. Feel free to chop.
I have worked in manufacturing all my adult life, since 1982.
For me automotive, then rail, then food and beverage. Most interesting project I worked on was a new production line to make Turkish Delight when the line was moved from Keynsham to Poland.
It is a great profession and I feel nowadays it is no longer looked down on. Can't always have said that.
On balance I have had a long and generally happy career. Worked on some great projects and met some great people and managed some great people.
How widespread is this? Dunno. But it is certainly surprising to see apparently affluent white Germans openly doing Hitler moustache-and-salute moves while dancing
Young people are increasingly distant from WW2. Growing up, the war was an ever present reference point in my life, as it had shaped my grandparents' lives, and hung over my parents'. For my kids it's ancient history, like the Boer war was for me. As memories of the war fade I think a lot of the taboos around the far right are fading with them. Perhaps we have to relearn the lessons of where this kind of politics leads.
Also, how about reducing the insane levels of immigration? Young people are noticing
I'd quite like to avoid the point where these views become widespread
It might help or it might not. Young people are generally more positive on immigration than older people, and more tolerant in areas of high immigration than in areas of low immigration. I'm not convinced that London is swarming with young white men who are violently opposed to multiculturalism - they all speak with a Jamaican accent for a start. But my kids aren't white so I'm not an expert on young white people and their cultural practices.
Do you have a source on the claim that they are more tolerant in areas of high immigration than low?
Yes London is more tolerant, but elsewhere I'm not convinced that places like Blackpool, Burnley, Blackburn, Bolton etc are full of just tolerance. And they have high migration levels too.
So maybe it's not migration levels but prosperity and investment that builds tolerance?
Those B towns have had the migration but haven't had the investment London has had.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with a growing population, but it needs to be met with growing investment and construction.
Quite so - I’ve just been for a picnic with my older daughter - her 18th birthday! - on the lawns of kenwood in the sun
Delightful
I’m now walking back to Camden past this really nice little pub in Belsize Park with a 9 acre beer garden and it’s easy to believe Britain is this nice affluent handsome super tolerant multicultural place - but this is LONDON. A prosperous world city (and one of the nicest parts of it)
The rest of the UK….. mmmmmnot so much
We don’t have no-go areas in Britain - yet - but we certainly have ethnic ghettoes. Indeed we have corners of london where it is not bearable to be a young white woman
I suspect that Sunak hoped that his surprise GE announcement would catch Labour on the back foot, as they were assuming an autumn election.
Unfortunately for him, it appears that the announcement has caught his own party much more on the back foot, as they were sure it would be an autumn election.
Already, there's no doubt which party is more pissed off with his precipitous election call.
Two days on and still no-one knows why now.
WHY are you being SO insulting to MoonRabit? Unless you a hardened, unrepentant antilunarlapinite!
The £38.5 billion stuff is especially weak as it invites comparison with the Tory black hole, which is even bigger.
They're making a dull, sensible guy seem like Action Man. This is not incompetence from the Tories, it's suicide. They are trying to erase themselves.
Yes, it reminds three separate groups of voters why they might like him.
I mean - there is the kernel of a point in there. He's a bit all-things-to-all-men. But all men like someone who is all things to them. I'm no expert, but I'd have thought you're surely better off picking one thing your opponent is probably going to do and saying why that's bad.
There is clearly a group of people for whom Starmers flip flopping clearly aggravates, look at Isam on here who gets frustrated that most of pb don't take issue with it. But its probably like 10% of the electorate, and there are another 10% who positively approve of him being a bit Machiavellian and pragmatic, and another 80% who aren't bothered either way.
Not to mention this parliament has been the most flip floppy set of governments in our lifetimes by far, and flip flopping for reasons of personal ambition and party disagreements, not pragmatism.
It is true that Starmer can be criticised for changing his position on a range of policies. But the current Conservative Party (since 2016) are the very last group of people who can make that criticism, which is why it won't cut through.
Oh my god. 1.5 days in - Tragic speed in the rain, awful launch, annoying journos from the sun, planted qs, welsh euros gafe and visiting the titanic. Just incredible density of screw-ups. And this is things they likely had planned!
Aussie Isaac Levido is Sunak's campaign manager I believe.
I take issue with the idea of mentioning the Euros in Wales is somehow a gaffe. Are you not allowed to be interested in a major tournament if your team isn't competing? Will no-one other than Man Utd and Man City fans watch the FA Cup final? Desperate times.
I mean, sure, but put the question in a different way. It was obvious he didn’t realise Wales didn’t make it through. Just a complete lack of awareness. The guy hasn’t got a clue about ordinary people.
He was asking the people in a brewery with a tap room about the football and it is clear from the longer piece he was talking about it in terms of the additional custom.
These events always drive additonal custom
This will only excite a few political anoraks and hacks looking for likes and retweets. It is a nothing story.
How widespread is this? Dunno. But it is certainly surprising to see apparently affluent white Germans openly doing Hitler moustache-and-salute moves while dancing
Young people are increasingly distant from WW2. Growing up, the war was an ever present reference point in my life, as it had shaped my grandparents' lives, and hung over my parents'. For my kids it's ancient history, like the Boer war was for me. As memories of the war fade I think a lot of the taboos around the far right are fading with them. Perhaps we have to relearn the lessons of where this kind of politics leads.
Also, how about reducing the insane levels of immigration? Young people are noticing
I'd quite like to avoid the point where these views become widespread
It might help or it might not. Young people are generally more positive on immigration than older people, and more tolerant in areas of high immigration than in areas of low immigration. I'm not convinced that London is swarming with young white men who are violently opposed to multiculturalism - they all speak with a Jamaican accent for a start. But my kids aren't white so I'm not an expert on young white people and their cultural practices.
Do you have a source on the claim that they are more tolerant in areas of high immigration than low?
Yes London is more tolerant, but elsewhere I'm not convinced that places like Blackpool, Burnley, Blackburn, Bolton etc are full of just tolerance. And they have high migration levels too.
So maybe it's not migration levels but prosperity and investment that builds tolerance?
Those B towns have had the migration but haven't had the investment London has had.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with a growing population, but it needs to be met with growing investment and construction.
I know views on London vary but...
London and its immediate surroundings (the commuter belt outside of London itself) is extremely successful. It is in part because it is a megacity with huge investment in infrastructure and development.
We should aim to replicate that success in 2-3 other places. Let's say Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow for example, but I don't really mind which. And invest in them. Public and private transport. Housing. Offices. Other infrastructure. Create other hub cities with a melting pot of different service jobs that the UK is good at.
Internal migration can then be focussed on these cities. Legacy cities and towns remain and thrive to the extent they are linked to the main city. Such as Kingston, St Albans or even Reading in relation to London.
People are then able to move to a thriving city with a range of opportunities without being the other end of the country from where they grew up.
And, as you suggest, tolerance to migration will be much better in such a melting pot than within a dying town.
He brings the total number of Tory MPs quitting ahead of the number who left in 1997
I do find this obsession with the number of Tory MPs standing down to be slightly strange. I don't remember PB being so preoccupied with this in 2010 when 100 Labour MPs stood down.
I remember it being discussed a fair bit, and it was indeed taken as an indicator that a lot of them saw change coming and quite a useful straw in the wind in betting terms.
With hindsight, those who did so were vindicated - change was coming, and they'd have had a long, hard slog in opposition ahead of them. The Tory MPs retiring now will probably be similarly vindicated.
The more interesting thing with the Tories is *where* they are standing down. We've not seen too many of the red wallers do so but a tranche of Tory MPs in what should be relatively safe seats in the south where ordinarily even an MP who thought the party was in for a bad night might hang on knowing they would be quite important in the aftermath.
Not sure of the make-up of Lab MPs standing down in 2010 but I can't remember many being still young MPs in Labour heartlands.
In Ohio they are trying to keep Biden off the ballot.
As a Democrat, personally feel that this is partly - if not mainly - the fault of the Democratic National Committee. For agreeing to schedule 2024 Democratic National Convention AFTER the Ohio legal deadline.
Especially since this was also an issue FOUR YEARS AGO, when the Buckeye State legislature took action to suspend the deadline for 2020 general election.
OF COURSE the legislature SHOULD do so again - that's up to the Republican majority in both houses.
The £38.5 billion stuff is especially weak as it invites comparison with the Tory black hole, which is even bigger.
They're making a dull, sensible guy seem like Action Man. This is not incompetence from the Tories, it's suicide. They are trying to erase themselves.
The trouble the Conservatives have is that they've retreated into talking to themselves. If you spend your time in the CCHQ Banter Bunker, this probably seems both really funny and the thing that, if only the public would understand it, would turn the election around.
That's never a good thing for any political party, but when they are as much of a niche clique as today's Conservative Party, it's fatal. See what happened to Labour in the runup to 2019.
One wonders if another underrated problem is what is now the age, and to a lesser extent, educational profile of Conservative support. According to the polls if for a while now if you're in your 30s or under you're more likely to believe the moon landings are faked than vote Tory.
It's not been quite this bad, but has drifting that way for 10 or so years now - and is quite different to the old "left-wing" student vote in that people began becoming more conservative from their mid-20s onwards.
Older voters have kept them more than competitive thanks to demographics until the Boris/Truss scandals/shambles - but it may have badly thinned out the pool you draw upon for the kind of clever, young junior aides who tend to do the legwork of coming up with ideas and ensuring the basics are run smoothly.
Among those in their 20s and 30s who will apply for those roles the Tories are currently drawing from a very online, group of ideologically committed, posh, largely male people who think they are Dominic Cummings or Steve Bannon and understand the country despite living on another planet. Or Durham University as it's otherwise known.
A well-educated but vaguely normal talented person in their 20s, interested in politics and with some media experience simply isn't applying to work for CCHQ - because they're voting Labour en masse.
The slightly-weird 20-somethings in CCHQ are trying to build a campaign which speaks to the over-50s. They barely have a handle on what most people of their own age are like, so how can they possibly understand their audience at any level beyond that of simple stereotypes?
It's no wonder that much of the campaign will misfire. They should probably have tried to recruit a load of retirees into CCHQ for the duration.
The £38.5 billion stuff is especially weak as it invites comparison with the Tory black hole, which is even bigger.
They're making a dull, sensible guy seem like Action Man. This is not incompetence from the Tories, it's suicide. They are trying to erase themselves.
The trouble the Conservatives have is that they've retreated into talking to themselves. If you spend your time in the CCHQ Banter Bunker, this probably seems both really funny and the thing that, if only the public would understand it, would turn the election around.
That's never a good thing for any political party, but when they are as much of a niche clique as today's Conservative Party, it's fatal. See what happened to Labour in the runup to 2019.
One wonders if another underrated problem is what is now the age, and to a lesser extent, educational profile of Conservative support. According to the polls if for a while now if you're in your 30s or under you're more likely to believe the moon landings are faked than vote Tory.
It's not been quite this bad, but has drifting that way for 10 or so years now - and is quite different to the old "left-wing" student vote in that people began becoming more conservative from their mid-20s onwards.
Older voters have kept them more than competitive thanks to demographics until the Boris/Truss scandals/shambles - but it may have badly thinned out the pool you draw upon for the kind of clever, young junior aides who tend to do the legwork of coming up with ideas and ensuring the basics are run smoothly.
Among those in their 20s and 30s who will apply for those roles the Tories are currently drawing from a very online, group of ideologically committed, posh, largely male people who think they are Dominic Cummings or Steve Bannon and understand the country despite living on another planet. Or Durham University as it's otherwise known.
A well-educated but vaguely normal talented person in their 20s, interested in politics and with some media experience simply isn't applying to work for CCHQ - because they're voting Labour en masse.
The pendulum will swing. It always does
The AFD are the most popular party amongst young people in Germany. Le Pen is likewise popular with the young. Ditto elsewhere in Europe
Britain is the outlier here. After 5 years of tepid Starmerism not solving many problems even Britain will fall into line with its peers. There is no logical reason we should be immune
Tho I agree this is a major problem for the Tories right now
How widespread is this? Dunno. But it is certainly surprising to see apparently affluent white Germans openly doing Hitler moustache-and-salute moves while dancing
Young people are increasingly distant from WW2. Growing up, the war was an ever present reference point in my life, as it had shaped my grandparents' lives, and hung over my parents'. For my kids it's ancient history, like the Boer war was for me. As memories of the war fade I think a lot of the taboos around the far right are fading with them. Perhaps we have to relearn the lessons of where this kind of politics leads.
Also, how about reducing the insane levels of immigration? Young people are noticing
I'd quite like to avoid the point where these views become widespread
It might help or it might not. Young people are generally more positive on immigration than older people, and more tolerant in areas of high immigration than in areas of low immigration. I'm not convinced that London is swarming with young white men who are violently opposed to multiculturalism - they all speak with a Jamaican accent for a start. But my kids aren't white so I'm not an expert on young white people and their cultural practices.
Young people are overwhelmingly the ones who pay the price for mass immigration, in a literal sense, in the form of competition for housing and suppression of wages.
Sure: but young people are also by far the most likely to have friends who are from different countries, and they are the ones who will pay the most for an unbalanced population pyramid.
So, it's swings and roundabouts.
Isn't it better for the young to have a top heavy pyramid if immigration is zero? Wouldn't it drive wages in the services sectors up and over time reduce the demand for housing?
Except for the fact that the government needs to extract money from a diminishing number of workers to pay for the care of an increasingly number elderly.
Look at the proportion of the UK government budget taken up by pensions and healthcare.
I don't know what you think, Robert, but I think the underlying economic numbers point quite positively to the future. Investment is well up, over the past three years, the savings ratio is high, retail sales down, and the trade deficit falling.
Well, I'm generally negative - economically - on pretty much the entire developed world.
Look at Italy and Japan. Lots of old people. Not a lot of young people.
There's a broad philosophical point which I think is really misunderstood, and that is that care for the old always comes out of the economic output of workers. If you have saving and pensions, then it comes out of companies' profits via dividends and bond payments. If you do not, then it comes out via taxation.
But economic output cannot be bottled up and stored. Saving is just a time transfer of work, and work is (largely) ephemeral. Someone needs to be there in the future to actually provide the healthcare, harvest the food, and wipe the butt.
In the UK, and I've shown a chart of this in the past, the proportion of government spending on oldies has risen inexorably. And will continue to do so. It's why we both have austerity (reduced government spending as a % of GDP in most departments), and record government taxes and spending.
People have worked all their lives, and paid taxes, and expect the government to keep their part of the deal. But young people, seeing their taxes rise to pay for the oldies, are likely to cry foul. And the solution the government has - import more workers! - brings with it a host of other issues.
So, I'm pretty pessimistic, all things considered.
The other possible solution, as Alanbrooke sensibly points out, is a significant increase in productivity. Though it's not at all clear how that's to come about in the UK in a manner which solves our problems.
Remember that every person working in an old age people's home, is a person who isn't building things for export. Remember too, that the jobs looking after the oldies are the least automatable out there.
Or every job automated frees up someone for the care sector.
If only we had a manufacturing base to automate, eh @Alanbrooke
We.ve hidden it all in services. Feel free to chop.
I have worked in manufacturing all my adult life, since 1982.
For me automotive, then rail, then food and beverage. Most interesting project I worked on was a new production line to make Turkish Delight when the line was moved from Keynsham to Poland.
It is a great profession and I feel nowadays it is no longer looked down on. Can't always have said that.
On balance I have had a long and generally happy career. Worked on some great projects and met some great people and managed some great people.
Including the daughter of a TV hero of my youth.
For me automotive - pressed parts and assemblies - Train and bus washes Laser and assembly Water industry Marine
Ive worked in nearly every country in EU at some point. Belgium is the worst, Czech Republic the best.
Oh no, how awful this whole process must be for Mrs Vennells…
F**k off you bitch, you’re looking at serious prison time.
Hold on, as we learnt from Rogerdamus the other day, she is the real victim here.
Show some sympathy.
Funnily enough I've just received a reply from Ch4 News. As you'll remember my complaint was that Alex Thompson had gone too far by lifting her umbrella as she was leaving the tribuneral and despite her being clearly upset showed no compassion whatsoever. So for your interest.........
"Thank you for contacting Channel 4 Viewer Enquiries regarding Channel 4 News.
In response to your comments regarding the interview by Alex Thompson, Channel 4 news have responded with the following: We have requested interviews with all the key Post Office Executives to ask questions about their knowledge of the scandal that unfolded. All the executives have been elusive or refused to be held to account publicly. Channel 4 News has been at the forefront of revealing the high level knowledge of miscarriages of justice. It is a matter of the highest public interest to hear from Post Office executives as to why sub postmasters were still being sent to prison when there was senior management knowledge that the Horizon system had computer bugs and there may have been miscarriages of justice. This remains a matter of the highest public interest.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact us. We appreciate all feedback from our viewers; complimentary or otherwise. "
There should be some sort of inquiry imo.
Very good! They've obviously got time on their hands. I only sent them two lines and quite geneel-not a disgusted of Cheam anywhere- and it is my favourite news program.
Reform twice as popular with 18-24s compared to 25-29s, 6% vs 3%.
I was most struck how LD support is pretty much the same for every age band.
Suggests the yellows are underperforming with younger people given they're more likely to have educational qualifications, and usually that increases the LD vote. Maybe they're going Green instead.
How have they managed to have different age ranges for overall, gender and educational attainment?
The £38.5 billion stuff is especially weak as it invites comparison with the Tory black hole, which is even bigger.
They're making a dull, sensible guy seem like Action Man. This is not incompetence from the Tories, it's suicide. They are trying to erase themselves.
The trouble the Conservatives have is that they've retreated into talking to themselves. If you spend your time in the CCHQ Banter Bunker, this probably seems both really funny and the thing that, if only the public would understand it, would turn the election around.
That's never a good thing for any political party, but when they are as much of a niche clique as today's Conservative Party, it's fatal. See what happened to Labour in the runup to 2019.
One wonders if another underrated problem is what is now the age, and to a lesser extent, educational profile of Conservative support. According to the polls if for a while now if you're in your 30s or under you're more likely to believe the moon landings are faked than vote Tory.
It's not been quite this bad, but has drifting that way for 10 or so years now - and is quite different to the old "left-wing" student vote in that people began becoming more conservative from their mid-20s onwards.
Older voters have kept them more than competitive thanks to demographics until the Boris/Truss scandals/shambles - but it may have badly thinned out the pool you draw upon for the kind of clever, young junior aides who tend to do the legwork of coming up with ideas and ensuring the basics are run smoothly.
Among those in their 20s and 30s who will apply for those roles the Tories are currently drawing from a very online, group of ideologically committed, posh, largely male people who think they are Dominic Cummings or Steve Bannon and understand the country despite living on another planet. Or Durham University as it's otherwise known.
A well-educated but vaguely normal talented person in their 20s, interested in politics and with some media experience simply isn't applying to work for CCHQ - because they're voting Labour en masse.
The pendulum will swing. It always does
The AFD are the most popular party amongst young people in Germany. Le Pen is likewise popular with the young. Ditto elsewhere in Europe
Britain is the outlier here. After 5 years of tepid Starmerism not solving many problems even Britain will fall into line with its peers. There is no logical reason we should be immune
Tho I agree this is a major problem for the Tories right now
I think we have discussed this in the past, and yup it's true of Europe. Though I said I think Britain is an outlier in Europe for a reason - in that the Conservatives' general dominance over British politics' direction over the past 45 years is very much seen among (my own) cohort (first election could vote in was 2010) as responsible. In many European countries it's seen as stolid social or Christian Democrats.
The pendulum may, likely one day, swing, but I'm not sure it'll be tepid Starmerism that does it. The backlash among the young is as likely to be liberal/left and to minor parties. The scars of anger at the right are too deep - hence why you got a phenomenon like Corbynism in 2015.
Ironically, the less stolidly ineffective Starmer is and the *more* he is a significant PM who tilts the country his way, the more likely the backlash you talk about is, as the disengruntled young will see that rather than failed ideas on the right as responsible rather than a failure to properly repudiate the Tories.
Jonny Diamond on WATO having a good old go at Starmer. Jonny is bigging up Corbyn. He's also trying to get Sharon Graham to back Corbyn, and she's just cut Corbyn adrift. Jonny seemed disappointed.
BBC News seems to be generating rather than reporting news.
I thought Sara Montague interviewing Yvette Cooper on WATO yesterday was bloody awful. She was asking Cooper gotcha questions and then interrupting all the time when Cooper was explaining how she was wrong in the basis of her questions (which she was). It was obvious throughout the whole interview that she was depsrate for the soundbite/statement that she could twist and that Cooper was way too well briefed and prepared to allow that to happen. In fact Cooper was answering all of her questions clearly and showing an understanding of the law which Montague clearly lacked.
I won't be voting for Labour but journalists like Montague being put in their place so thoroughly certainly endear me to some of the prospective ministers.
Reform twice as popular with 18-24s compared to 25-29s, 6% vs 3%.
I was most struck how LD support is pretty much the same for every age band.
Suggests the yellows are underperforming with younger people given they're more likely to have educational qualifications, and usually that increases the LD vote. Maybe they're going Green instead.
How have they managed to have different age ranges for overall, gender and educational attainment?
Reform twice as popular with 18-24s compared to 25-29s, 6% vs 3%.
I was most struck how LD support is pretty much the same for every age band.
They are spread thin but consistently.
However they are concentrated by educational attainment. The more education you have, they more likely you vote Lib Dem.
People so smart they cant get elected.
The education effect is the same for Labour and even more so for Greens.
Obvious answer is tuition fees. It still harms the Lib Dems in a way that they just can't run a Charlie Kennedy style campaign leaning into cuddly left-wing liberalism and have failed to capitalise on the anger at Brexit.
People who see statements saying they are £40,000 in debt - even debt that is paid in a higher tax rate - aren't voting for the party notoriously seen as responsible for allowing it.
I knew Claire Wright pretty well though we haven't met since she stepped down from politics. She is a force of nature. In a seat more demographically favourable she would have won. The only reason she didn't was her views were way out line with most of her potential constituents, but it almost seemed not to matter.
The only comparable campaigner I have encountered was Paddy Ashdown.
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It is a great profession and I feel nowadays it is no longer looked down on. Can't always have said that.
On balance I have had a long and generally happy career. Worked on some great projects and met some great people and managed some great people.
Including the daughter of a TV hero of my youth.
Delightful
I’m now walking back to Camden past this really nice little pub in Belsize Park with a 9 acre beer garden and it’s easy to believe Britain is this nice affluent handsome super tolerant multicultural place - but this is LONDON. A prosperous world city (and one of the nicest parts of it)
The rest of the UK….. mmmmmnot so much
We don’t have no-go areas in Britain - yet - but we certainly have ethnic ghettoes. Indeed we have corners of london where it is not bearable to be a young white woman
These events always drive additonal custom
This will only excite a few political anoraks and hacks looking for likes and retweets. It is a nothing story.
London and its immediate surroundings (the commuter belt outside of London itself) is extremely successful. It is in part because it is a megacity with huge investment in infrastructure and development.
We should aim to replicate that success in 2-3 other places. Let's say Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow for example, but I don't really mind which. And invest in them. Public and private transport. Housing. Offices. Other infrastructure. Create other hub cities with a melting pot of different service jobs that the UK is good at.
Internal migration can then be focussed on these cities. Legacy cities and towns remain and thrive to the extent they are linked to the main city. Such as Kingston, St Albans or even Reading in relation to London.
People are then able to move to a thriving city with a range of opportunities without being the other end of the country from where they grew up.
And, as you suggest, tolerance to migration will be much better in such a melting pot than within a dying town.
You looking out for her Rog ?
Not sure of the make-up of Lab MPs standing down in 2010 but I can't remember many being still young MPs in Labour heartlands.
Especially since this was also an issue FOUR YEARS AGO, when the Buckeye State legislature took action to suspend the deadline for 2020 general election.
OF COURSE the legislature SHOULD do so again - that's up to the Republican majority in both houses.
It's no wonder that much of the campaign will misfire. They should probably have tried to recruit a load of retirees into CCHQ for the duration.
The AFD are the most popular party amongst young people in Germany. Le Pen is likewise popular with the young. Ditto elsewhere in Europe
Britain is the outlier here. After 5 years of tepid Starmerism not solving many problems even Britain will fall into line with its peers. There is no logical reason we should be immune
Tho I agree this is a major problem for the Tories right now
Train and bus washes
Laser and assembly
Water industry
Marine
Ive worked in nearly every country in EU at some point. Belgium is the worst, Czech Republic the best.
The pendulum may, likely one day, swing, but I'm not sure it'll be tepid Starmerism that does it. The backlash among the young is as likely to be liberal/left and to minor parties. The scars of anger at the right are too deep - hence why you got a phenomenon like Corbynism in 2015.
Ironically, the less stolidly ineffective Starmer is and the *more* he is a significant PM who tilts the country his way, the more likely the backlash you talk about is, as the disengruntled young will see that rather than failed ideas on the right as responsible rather than a failure to properly repudiate the Tories.
People who see statements saying they are £40,000 in debt - even debt that is paid in a higher tax rate - aren't voting for the party notoriously seen as responsible for allowing it.
The only comparable campaigner I have encountered was Paddy Ashdown.