Rishi's team seem to be going out of their way to make him look weird - is it deliberate?
No - what you're seeing is Rishi after his team has moved heaven and earth to make him look as normal as possible.
I honestly don't mind politicians who aren't normal seeming - being that interested in and driven by politics is itself not normal - but I can appreciate it's hard to know how much a leader needs to portray such an image to ne 'relateable'.
If Labour (assuming they win) don't want a complete collapse of the £44b pa university sector in the short term , and I mean immediately feed are going to have to rise. They can then work out their funding model and recompense students subject to this rise in fees accordingly. The current crisis is an existential threat to even Russell Group establishments. Cardiff for example have had to recently sell real estate to keep a float
This isn't a problem for the Tories as they can allow the sector to die except for their preferred elite universities.
I think this isn't a problem for the Tories is all that matters as they will not form the next government
Some people may be in for a right shock on 5th July.
@Tomorrow'sMPs @tomorrowsmps · 57m 🔴I feel slightly dishonest announcing all these Labour candidates for hopeless seats, as many of them aren't serious. Many Labour candidates in seats roughly beyond target 200 have had to sign contracts pledging to campaign in more promising seats most of the time.
Sunak's approval ratings have ticked up since the campaign started. Still early days but one to watch.
I still think it will be a Labour victory but I am still not yet ready to decide between that being a Hung Parliament up to a landslide.
Its an artefact of the disengaged becoming engaged. A lot of the disinterested and DKs were Con leaning types. Labour will win. I think nearly 100 majority with 50 to 150 my 'range' at the moment
The case for Tories doing much better than expected in embedded in the data:
Of the 2019 Tory voters 41% plan to vote Tory, and 19% each for Reform and DK, totalling 38%.
If only a third of these people can switch from Reform and DK to Tory, than the Tories are on 33%. If events turn a little against Labour and they drop just 3 points, to 41% we are in line for a result that is not a disaster for the Tories.
This should not be regarded as out of the question. Those who pay no attention to politics are just warming up the valves on their medium wave radiograms for the first time sine Boris was in charge.
This could prove to be true of course but it relies on an assumption that 2019 Tory voters were in any way wedded to the party. I suspect for many it was a vote to 'get Brexit done' and/or pro-Johnson and/or anti-Corbyn.
Yes, I think voters are much more willing to change their minds from one election to the next than they were a generation ago. Over the last five GEs my wife has voted for five different parties (one each for the main five in England).
Perhaps a key campaign moment to watch for...... Labour have not been under 40 in a poll since a single one last year (if we discount the YouGov MRPwhich was mostly completed Dec 23). If they get a 38/39 with someone does it spark any panic? Of course they may stay comfortably in the 40s but they've had a couple 40 on the nose recently. How Labour react to any bad news like that may be instructive as to internal feeling. Unless we get Ref/Con crossover there's a limit to disaster polling for the blues as it stands, they're already garbage
Told Andy Street seriously weighing up bid to head to Westminster and become an MP after his very close West Mids loss. Likely to be Solihull.
Friends say he's still weighing it up...
A spokesperson for Andy Street said: “Following the West Midlands Mayoral election result earlier this month, Andy is taking some time away to consider and assess his options before deciding on his next move.”
He'd walk Solihull. If he wants to shape Conservatism he should go for it.
Candidates have to be signed, sealed and delivered by 7/6 so he has a fortnight from yesterday to weigh up his options, but in practice less because he (and Boris?) will want to grab a safe seat.
I thought that even Boris thought that his Parliamentary ship had sailed. I suspect both the Tories and Reform are doing some arm-twisting behind the scenes as far as candidates are concerned.
I think there is a high chance that Reform will not get candidates in every seat, and a small chance that the Tories might find a few missing too.
No party runs in every seat...... and hasn't for quite some time.
Sunak's team seem to have decided to copy the Ed Miliband approach of "actually he's one of the lads". If Sunak was just allowed to be the slightly nerdy, geeky, tech bro he is, nobody would mind.
I can totally buy him doing Park Run, so why not have him at one of those events? Or have him go to a cricket match or something.
Can Rishi sue for breach of copyright? Only Rishi has a plan. "Starmer has no plan, Labour will take you back to square one".
He should give them the benefit of his experience:
"I’ll tell you what happens with plans. You start with far-fetched goals. They are then pickled into a rigid dogma, a code, and you go through the months sticking to that - outdated, misplaced, irrelevant to the real needs - and you end up in the grotesque chaos of standing in the pouring rain in Downing Street, calling an election that you cannot win."
Still think Kinnock was better than he is portrayed, was treated appallingly by the right wing media, all he ever seems to be remembered is for falling in the water, done a lot of the hard yards for Blair, imo
Kinnock, Major, Hague, Brown, Miliband were all unfairly maligned. The people like Big_G having fits about how unfairly Sunak has been portrayed over the past few days are mostly of the type who didn't give a fuck when it was only happening to Labour leaders over the past 20 years, which is why I'm pretty short on sympathy with them. They are, strictly speaking, correct, of course: Sunak is getting it in the neck for non-mistakes. But if you only whine when it's affecting your team, you can stuff it.
Again its the old uk class system. None of those went to private school and were all with the possible exception of miliband from fairly modest backgrounds. The problem is these guys didnt have old public school pals in positions of power to cover for them.
Jesus, I hadn't noticed the pattern. I just reeled them off. That's... eye-opening.
The same hammering happened to Cameron. What was interesting was how he dealt with it - the chameleon (“my children rather like it”) or the Quattro thing.
Major was hammered at - and largely it failed to damage him. He was way more popular than his party, end to end.
Hague wasn’t much good outside of PMs questions in HoC.
Polls already dropping and it's not even Saturday evening yet? #Popcorn on standby
Looking good @GIN1138 . Do you think the eight point drop in Lab-Con in just a fortnight is down to Rishi's campaign start? The advantage of surprise over everyone else, allowing the Tories to hit the ground running- face first.
It's the rule of football. A blue team has won the League so PM will be blue too.
Wasn't it the FA Cup, rather than the league? Which implies good things for Man U this afternoon.
Misses the interesting point that the original script had everything happening on board an WW2 American bomber returning from a raid on Germany. Changed to a spaceship after Star Wars was a big hit
Can Rishi sue for breach of copyright? Only Rishi has a plan. "Starmer has no plan, Labour will take you back to square one".
He should give them the benefit of his experience:
"I’ll tell you what happens with plans. You start with far-fetched goals. They are then pickled into a rigid dogma, a code, and you go through the months sticking to that - outdated, misplaced, irrelevant to the real needs - and you end up in the grotesque chaos of standing in the pouring rain in Downing Street, calling an election that you cannot win."
Still think Kinnock was better than he is portrayed, was treated appallingly by the right wing media, all he ever seems to be remembered is for falling in the water, done a lot of the hard yards for Blair, imo
Kinnock, Major, Hague, Brown, Miliband were all unfairly maligned. The people like Big_G having fits about how unfairly Sunak has been portrayed over the past few days are mostly of the type who didn't give a fuck when it was only happening to Labour leaders over the past 20 years, which is why I'm pretty short on sympathy with them. They are, strictly speaking, correct, of course: Sunak is getting it in the neck for non-mistakes. But if you only whine when it's affecting your team, you can stuff it.
I have just read that and I am not having a fit and saying it is unfair, but suggesting some of it is unnecessary and adds to the general view that being in politics is not something many would aspire to in this environment
"This" environment has been around for many years. Nothing has changed, only the direction of the can't-do-right criticism. You just haven't noticed because you're a partisan for one of the two sides.
I voted for Blair twice so not that partisan and whilst I have criticised previous Labour figures I do not do use the language some have re Sunak
Sunak's team seem to have decided to copy the Ed Miliband approach of "actually he's one of the lads". If Sunak was just allowed to be the slightly nerdy, geeky, tech bro he is, nobody would mind.
I can totally buy him doing Park Run, so why not have him at one of those events? Or have him go to a cricket match or something.
At Parkrun he would have to avoid the Finish sign at the end though!
OT I have done 175 parkruns over about ten years and still to get a finishing time in seconds of 19,20 and 36 - Parkrun bingo!
Can Rishi sue for breach of copyright? Only Rishi has a plan. "Starmer has no plan, Labour will take you back to square one".
He should give them the benefit of his experience:
"I’ll tell you what happens with plans. You start with far-fetched goals. They are then pickled into a rigid dogma, a code, and you go through the months sticking to that - outdated, misplaced, irrelevant to the real needs - and you end up in the grotesque chaos of standing in the pouring rain in Downing Street, calling an election that you cannot win."
If Rishi Sunak wins on Thursday...
– I warn you not to be a 78 year old who watches GB News 19 hours a day
– I warn you not to be a Hedge Fund Manager
– I warn you not to be an arriviste who sends their kids to a school they can't afford
Misses the interesting point that the original script had everything happening on board an WW2 American bomber returning from a raid on Germany. Changed to a spaceship after Star Wars was a big hit
I would like to see that film..
It'd have to be one large bomber to not be over in 5 minutes.
Polls already dropping and it's not even Saturday evening yet? #Popcorn on standby
Looking good @GIN1138 . Do you think the eight point drop in Lab-Con in just a fortnight is down to Rishi's campaign start? The advantage of surprise over everyone else, allowing the Tories to hit the ground running- face first.
It's the rule of football. A blue team has won the League so PM will be blue too.
Wasn't it the FA Cup, rather than the league? Which implies good things for Man U this afternoon.
Or if City win Starmer is headed for the abbatoir.
Can Rishi sue for breach of copyright? Only Rishi has a plan. "Starmer has no plan, Labour will take you back to square one".
He should give them the benefit of his experience:
"I’ll tell you what happens with plans. You start with far-fetched goals. They are then pickled into a rigid dogma, a code, and you go through the months sticking to that - outdated, misplaced, irrelevant to the real needs - and you end up in the grotesque chaos of standing in the pouring rain in Downing Street, calling an election that you cannot win."
Still think Kinnock was better than he is portrayed, was treated appallingly by the right wing media, all he ever seems to be remembered is for falling in the water, done a lot of the hard yards for Blair, imo
Kinnock, Major, Hague, Brown, Miliband were all unfairly maligned. The people like Big_G having fits about how unfairly Sunak has been portrayed over the past few days are mostly of the type who didn't give a fuck when it was only happening to Labour leaders over the past 20 years, which is why I'm pretty short on sympathy with them. They are, strictly speaking, correct, of course: Sunak is getting it in the neck for non-mistakes. But if you only whine when it's affecting your team, you can stuff it.
Again its the old uk class system. None of those went to private school and were all with the possible exception of miliband from fairly modest backgrounds. The problem is these guys didnt have old public school pals in positions of power to cover for them.
Jesus, I hadn't noticed the pattern. I just reeled them off. That's... eye-opening.
The same hammering happened to Cameron. What was interesting was how he dealt with it - the chameleon (“my children rather like it”) or the Quattro thing.
Major was hammered at - and largely it failed to damage him. He was way more popular than his party, end to end.
Hague wasn’t much good outside of PMs questions in HoC.
All leaders are maligned, and yes that includes Cameron. My list was those I feel were unfairly maligned, people whom I believe are better than their reputation at the time. Naturally it's highly subjective, I expect your list differs. But, for me, Cameron was about on par with his reputation. I also think there are some leaders who were unfairly praised, whose reputations far exceed what they deserve. I mentioned a couple last night in an American context: Reagan and Clinton.
Sunak's approval ratings have ticked up since the campaign started. Still early days but one to watch.
I still think it will be a Labour victory but I am still not yet ready to decide between that being a Hung Parliament up to a landslide.
Its an artefact of the disengaged becoming engaged. A lot of the disinterested and DKs were Con leaning types. Labour will win. I think nearly 100 majority with 50 to 150 my 'range' at the moment
The case for Tories doing much better than expected in embedded in the data:
Of the 2019 Tory voters 41% plan to vote Tory, and 19% each for Reform and DK, totalling 38%.
If only a third of these people can switch from Reform and DK to Tory, than the Tories are on 33%. If events turn a little against Labour and they drop just 3 points, to 41% we are in line for a result that is not a disaster for the Tories.
This should not be regarded as out of the question. Those who pay no attention to politics are just warming up the valves on their medium wave radiograms for the first time sine Boris was in charge.
This could prove to be true of course but it relies on an assumption that 2019 Tory voters were in any way wedded to the party. I suspect for many it was a vote to 'get Brexit done' and/or pro-Johnson and/or anti-Corbyn.
Yes, I think voters are much more willing to change their minds from one election to the next than they were a generation ago. Over the last five GEs my wife has voted for five different parties (one each for the main five in England).
Why are the Tories talking about unfunded tax cuts for the wealthy? Do they think it’s an electoral win to resurrect Trussonomics? They should steer well clear from bold taxation moves. It undermines the core offer of Sunak and Hunt.
Such a confusing message.
£100k cliffedge is easy to change without costing anything. You can just change thresholds.
Bad optics. They should steer well clear.
Fuck the optics. The £100k cliffedge is a disaster that has serious real-world economic and productivity impacts.
The fact that everything in politics is about "optics" is one of our biggest problems.
Real leaders lead.
This was a party political broadcast by the Liz Truss Party.
Again, a silly little remark trying to play it for laughs rather than engage in the substance.
Even Nick Palmer ex-MP - who is pretty left-wing, let's remember - agrees this is an issue and regrets his part in bringing it in. Which was also about "optics".
Truss didn't propose to remove the 100k tax trap. It's one of the biggest marks against her 6 weeks in office, because she was also going for "optics" but of a different kind.
Politics is all about priorities and context. Making a feature of tax thresholds for the well off (however poorly designed) is not good politics today. It’s the sort of thing you do in budgets not election campaigns. You have to care about how policies are interpreted. As soon as you say 100k you’re on the defensive having to explain it.
It should be a priority. We elect our politicians to understand public opinion and then to lead it in the best interests of the country. Lots of people are now deliberately choosing jobs or working hours to avoid this tax-trap and it's sapping our productivity as a result. Even I've thought about giving up at times as I'm right in the middle of it.
On the "well-off" point here's one for you: the 2009 budget introduced the 100k cliff edge from April 2010, just before that election. That's 100k in 2010 pounds.
Do you know what that's worth today, inflation-adjusted for 2024?
£65,000.
A figure that most voters would dream of, that’s your political problem. Take a look at the household income distribution if you do not believe me.
Somewhere along the line conservatives forgot how to do politics. You need people to vote for you.
No, a level that many civil servants, GPs, consultants, head teachers, solicitors, businessmen and professionals now easily reach - they'd laugh at you calling them super-rich. You are hitting the successful middle-class.
But, your comment is very revealing.
It's very clear that under a Labour government your taxes will only be going in one direction: up.
Check out where a salary of 100k puts you on the income distribution. You’ll be surprised.
Now a salary of 65k.
Labour = taxes up
I don't think people have really figured out just how much the inflation of the past 3 years has effected things.
I was talking to an academic at a top university the other day and they said they are really struggling to get PhD students. I said Brexit? And he said, a bit, but stipend is the biggest problem. Its £18.5k outside of London. They said when they did their PhD their stipend in todays money would be £27k. Up until 3 years ago, yes stipends had fallen behind, I think they said it would have been about £20k in 2018 money, but equivalent of £7k inflated away.
Same with post-docs, their money is £20k below what it used to be in real times from 20 years ago.
Yes, totally agree. Allowances are sticky and take a long time to catch-up.
I struggle to find compliant hotels within my company's expenses policy when I travel for work, now, except Travelodges etc.
Net effect? I can't find staff who are willing to travel to do client work.
Yes hotels prices are crazy these days. Pre-pandemic, £100-150 could get your a half decent room in most places. Now we are talking £200-300 easy. I think I did £1000 in expenses on a 2 night trip overseas trip to Europe and it was literally just working and sleeping with some quick stops for pretty normal meals inbetween.
Being self employed my overnights come out of what I earn. Up until COVID I could get a late B&B package at a decent hotel ( I used Eastwood Hall for my Nottingham and Derby trips) for less than fifty quid. Prices are such that an overnight to the East Midlands is better served coming home and starting early the following day. Fifty quid in diesel being cheaper than £150 plus for an overnight stop.
I have just paid £460 for 4 nights in really awful accommodation in Glasgow, not even any hot water. I am getting £320 back from my employer but that still leaves me quite significantly out of pocket. Which, if I had been living it up would be fair enough but even basic accommodation is no longer within the allowances.
Back in the day, for £500 could buy your half of Glasgow....
Has it really got that expensive even in Glasgow? I haven't been for about 10 years, but I stayed in Raddison Blu and I don't think it cost me that for a week.
Yes, as others have pointed out hotel accommodation has had much higher inflation than most things since Covid. Getting even a modest hotel in Edinburgh room only for less than £150 a night is getting increasingly hard.
Not sure what is driving this. Minimum wage increases will have played a part but I begin to suspect some cartel activity.
You will be lucky to get a hotel room in the centre of Edinburgh for less than £200 per night. Even Manchester you would struggle to get much for less than £150 per night. Our standard of living is being adjusted downward.
My last visit to Edinburgh was in 2008. Too expensive.
Sunak's team seem to have decided to copy the Ed Miliband approach of "actually he's one of the lads". If Sunak was just allowed to be the slightly nerdy, geeky, tech bro he is, nobody would mind.
I can totally buy him doing Park Run, so why not have him at one of those events? Or have him go to a cricket match or something.
At Parkrun he would have to avoid the Finish sign at the end though!
OT I have done 175 parkruns over about ten years and still to get a finishing time in seconds of 19,20 and 36 - Parkrun bingo!
Can Rishi sue for breach of copyright? Only Rishi has a plan. "Starmer has no plan, Labour will take you back to square one".
He should give them the benefit of his experience:
"I’ll tell you what happens with plans. You start with far-fetched goals. They are then pickled into a rigid dogma, a code, and you go through the months sticking to that - outdated, misplaced, irrelevant to the real needs - and you end up in the grotesque chaos of standing in the pouring rain in Downing Street, calling an election that you cannot win."
Still think Kinnock was better than he is portrayed, was treated appallingly by the right wing media, all he ever seems to be remembered is for falling in the water, done a lot of the hard yards for Blair, imo
Kinnock, Major, Hague, Brown, Miliband were all unfairly maligned. The people like Big_G having fits about how unfairly Sunak has been portrayed over the past few days are mostly of the type who didn't give a fuck when it was only happening to Labour leaders over the past 20 years, which is why I'm pretty short on sympathy with them. They are, strictly speaking, correct, of course: Sunak is getting it in the neck for non-mistakes. But if you only whine when it's affecting your team, you can stuff it.
I have just read that and I am not having a fit and saying it is unfair, but suggesting some of it is unnecessary and adds to the general view that being in politics is not something many would aspire to in this environment
"This" environment has been around for many years. Nothing has changed, only the direction of the can't-do-right criticism. You just haven't noticed because you're a partisan for one of the two sides.
I voted for Blair twice so not that partisan and whilst I have criticised previous Labour figures I do not do use the language some have re Sunak
"Diane Abbott should be shot" takes some beating. That's my red line.
Can Rishi sue for breach of copyright? Only Rishi has a plan. "Starmer has no plan, Labour will take you back to square one".
He should give them the benefit of his experience:
"I’ll tell you what happens with plans. You start with far-fetched goals. They are then pickled into a rigid dogma, a code, and you go through the months sticking to that - outdated, misplaced, irrelevant to the real needs - and you end up in the grotesque chaos of standing in the pouring rain in Downing Street, calling an election that you cannot win."
Still think Kinnock was better than he is portrayed, was treated appallingly by the right wing media, all he ever seems to be remembered is for falling in the water, done a lot of the hard yards for Blair, imo
Kinnock, Major, Hague, Brown, Miliband were all unfairly maligned. The people like Big_G having fits about how unfairly Sunak has been portrayed over the past few days are mostly of the type who didn't give a fuck when it was only happening to Labour leaders over the past 20 years, which is why I'm pretty short on sympathy with them. They are, strictly speaking, correct, of course: Sunak is getting it in the neck for non-mistakes. But if you only whine when it's affecting your team, you can stuff it.
I have just read that and I am not having a fit and saying it is unfair, but suggesting some of it is unnecessary and adds to the general view that being in politics is not something many would aspire to in this environment
"This" environment has been around for many years. Nothing has changed, only the direction of the can't-do-right criticism. You just haven't noticed because you're a partisan for one of the two sides.
I voted for Blair twice so not that partisan and whilst I have criticised previous Labour figures I do not do use the language some have re Sunak
"You are a partisan" is a statement of how you are now. You wear your 20+ year old Labour votes like amulets, thinking people can't criticise you for being a Tory hack when you jangle them. But it doesn't matter. All it means is you're not a lifelong cultist. You're still a partisan.
Can Rishi sue for breach of copyright? Only Rishi has a plan. "Starmer has no plan, Labour will take you back to square one".
He should give them the benefit of his experience:
"I’ll tell you what happens with plans. You start with far-fetched goals. They are then pickled into a rigid dogma, a code, and you go through the months sticking to that - outdated, misplaced, irrelevant to the real needs - and you end up in the grotesque chaos of standing in the pouring rain in Downing Street, calling an election that you cannot win."
Still think Kinnock was better than he is portrayed, was treated appallingly by the right wing media, all he ever seems to be remembered is for falling in the water, done a lot of the hard yards for Blair, imo
Kinnock, Major, Hague, Brown, Miliband were all unfairly maligned. The people like Big_G having fits about how unfairly Sunak has been portrayed over the past few days are mostly of the type who didn't give a fuck when it was only happening to Labour leaders over the past 20 years, which is why I'm pretty short on sympathy with them. They are, strictly speaking, correct, of course: Sunak is getting it in the neck for non-mistakes. But if you only whine when it's affecting your team, you can stuff it.
I have just read that and I am not having a fit and saying it is unfair, but suggesting some of it is unnecessary and adds to the general view that being in politics is not something many would aspire to in this environment
"This" environment has been around for many years. Nothing has changed, only the direction of the can't-do-right criticism. You just haven't noticed because you're a partisan for one of the two sides.
I voted for Blair twice so not that partisan and whilst I have criticised previous Labour figures I do not do use the language some have re Sunak
"Diane Abbott should be shot" takes some beating. That's my red line.
I would suggest that is rather well beyond most people's red lines. So bringing it up doesn't really answer Big_G's point
Some people may be in for a right shock on 5th July.
@Tomorrow'sMPs @tomorrowsmps · 57m 🔴I feel slightly dishonest announcing all these Labour candidates for hopeless seats, as many of them aren't serious. Many Labour candidates in seats roughly beyond target 200 have had to sign contracts pledging to campaign in more promising seats most of the time.
Not really. The contracts specify that they need to spend a few hours in the "target" seat, admittedly including polling day (but it's too late to retaliate if they don't). Labour candidates who want to be taken seriously in their own seats can do it without trouble.
"The Tory Party, being the desperate and hopeless mess that it has become, has suddenly began ringing around people attempting to get them to stand in a seat because they don't have any candidates.
One person they rang said to them that he wasn't interested. He was self-employed and had a thriving business. "Why would I want to stand for you, in a seat I can't win, only to be ordered to go elsewhere and work in someone else's seat at my own expense, just to be dumped in the waste skip at the end of the campaign? Thanks, but no thanks."
Looks like the candidates department is finally reaping what they've sown over the years"
I saw UKIP has elected a new leader, one Lois Perry earlier this month. No idea which seat she's standing in (if she even stands) yet.
I'm surprised UKIP are still going. What little I learned last night when I was glancing through the parties is that they've fallen totally into infighting and factionalism, along with some accusations of certain party members favouring other party members whilst they were dating them.
They should just pack up and either join Reform or go home.
Does anyone think universities can cope with the same nominal funding in 2035?
We definitely shouldn't want governments who promise indefinite no increases in stuff.
The problem is its what too many people think they're entitled to.
So no increase in prices, no increase in housing costs and no increase in taxes for anything that applies to them.
And apparently its the government's responsibility to ensure it and make some other group take the cost.
When they get offered the free stuff and the client media pretends its possible too many voters prefer the free stuff. Thats why it is great that Labour aren't promising never ending free stuff this time.
Can Rishi sue for breach of copyright? Only Rishi has a plan. "Starmer has no plan, Labour will take you back to square one".
He should give them the benefit of his experience:
"I’ll tell you what happens with plans. You start with far-fetched goals. They are then pickled into a rigid dogma, a code, and you go through the months sticking to that - outdated, misplaced, irrelevant to the real needs - and you end up in the grotesque chaos of standing in the pouring rain in Downing Street, calling an election that you cannot win."
Still think Kinnock was better than he is portrayed, was treated appallingly by the right wing media, all he ever seems to be remembered is for falling in the water, done a lot of the hard yards for Blair, imo
Kinnock, Major, Hague, Brown, Miliband were all unfairly maligned. The people like Big_G having fits about how unfairly Sunak has been portrayed over the past few days are mostly of the type who didn't give a fuck when it was only happening to Labour leaders over the past 20 years, which is why I'm pretty short on sympathy with them. They are, strictly speaking, correct, of course: Sunak is getting it in the neck for non-mistakes. But if you only whine when it's affecting your team, you can stuff it.
I have just read that and I am not having a fit and saying it is unfair, but suggesting some of it is unnecessary and adds to the general view that being in politics is not something many would aspire to in this environment
"This" environment has been around for many years. Nothing has changed, only the direction of the can't-do-right criticism. You just haven't noticed because you're a partisan for one of the two sides.
I voted for Blair twice so not that partisan and whilst I have criticised previous Labour figures I do not do use the language some have re Sunak
"You are a partisan" is a statement of how you are now. You wear your 20+ year old Labour votes like amulets, thinking people can't criticise you for being a Tory hack when you jangle them. But it doesn't matter. All it means is you're not a lifelong cultist. You're still a partisan.
Why do you sound so bitter and angry when your party is about to win an election?
Can Rishi sue for breach of copyright? Only Rishi has a plan. "Starmer has no plan, Labour will take you back to square one".
He should give them the benefit of his experience:
"I’ll tell you what happens with plans. You start with far-fetched goals. They are then pickled into a rigid dogma, a code, and you go through the months sticking to that - outdated, misplaced, irrelevant to the real needs - and you end up in the grotesque chaos of standing in the pouring rain in Downing Street, calling an election that you cannot win."
Still think Kinnock was better than he is portrayed, was treated appallingly by the right wing media, all he ever seems to be remembered is for falling in the water, done a lot of the hard yards for Blair, imo
Kinnock, Major, Hague, Brown, Miliband were all unfairly maligned. The people like Big_G having fits about how unfairly Sunak has been portrayed over the past few days are mostly of the type who didn't give a fuck when it was only happening to Labour leaders over the past 20 years, which is why I'm pretty short on sympathy with them. They are, strictly speaking, correct, of course: Sunak is getting it in the neck for non-mistakes. But if you only whine when it's affecting your team, you can stuff it.
Again its the old uk class system. None of those went to private school and were all with the possible exception of miliband from fairly modest backgrounds. The problem is these guys didnt have old public school pals in positions of power to cover for them.
Jesus, I hadn't noticed the pattern. I just reeled them off. That's... eye-opening.
The same hammering happened to Cameron. What was interesting was how he dealt with it - the chameleon (“my children rather like it”) or the Quattro thing.
Major was hammered at - and largely it failed to damage him. He was way more popular than his party, end to end.
Hague wasn’t much good outside of PMs questions in HoC.
Not really. I recall the media quickly shutting down criticism of Cameron especially on the class thing. He certainly didnt get a relentless hammering which is interesting given how mediocre he was.
Does anyone think universities can cope with the same nominal funding in 2035?
We definitely shouldn't want governments who promise indefinite no increases in stuff.
The problem is its what too many people think they're entitled to.
So no increase in prices, no increase in housing costs and no increase in taxes for anything that applies to them.
And apparently its the government's responsibility to ensure it and make some other group take the cost.
When they get offered the free stuff and the client media pretends its possible too many voters prefer the free stuff. Thats why it is great that Labour aren't promising never ending free stuff this time.
Doesn't stop people think they are entitled to it or thinking they will get it or complaining when they don't get it.
There's always someone else they can point to and say "take it from them and give it to me".
Misses the interesting point that the original script had everything happening on board an WW2 American bomber returning from a raid on Germany. Changed to a spaceship after Star Wars was a big hit
I would like to see that film..
It'd have to be one large bomber to not be over in 5 minutes.
Even a B-36 would get overrun in about 12 minutes!
Some people may be in for a right shock on 5th July.
@Tomorrow'sMPs @tomorrowsmps · 57m 🔴I feel slightly dishonest announcing all these Labour candidates for hopeless seats, as many of them aren't serious. Many Labour candidates in seats roughly beyond target 200 have had to sign contracts pledging to campaign in more promising seats most of the time.
Not really. The contracts specify that they need to spend a few hours in the "target" seat, admittedly including polling day (but it's too late to retaliate if they don't). Labour candidates who want to be taken seriously in their own seats can do it without trouble.
Are the candidates paid by Labour? If not what is the consideration that makes it a contract?
Does anyone think universities can cope with the same nominal funding in 2035?
We definitely shouldn't want governments who promise indefinite no increases in stuff.
The problem is its what too many people think they're entitled to.
So no increase in prices, no increase in housing costs and no increase in taxes for anything that applies to them.
And apparently its the government's responsibility to ensure it and make some other group take the cost.
When they get offered the free stuff and the client media pretends its possible too many voters prefer the free stuff. Thats why it is great that Labour aren't promising never ending free stuff this time.
Doesn't stop people think they are entitled to it or thinking they will get it or complaining when they don't get it.
There's always someone else they can point to and say "take it from them and give it to me".
Sure, some people will complain especially if they are getting worse off. Thats just to be expected, not a big deal if parties don't massively over promise as they have tended to under the likes of Corbyn and Johnson.
Can Rishi sue for breach of copyright? Only Rishi has a plan. "Starmer has no plan, Labour will take you back to square one".
He should give them the benefit of his experience:
"I’ll tell you what happens with plans. You start with far-fetched goals. They are then pickled into a rigid dogma, a code, and you go through the months sticking to that - outdated, misplaced, irrelevant to the real needs - and you end up in the grotesque chaos of standing in the pouring rain in Downing Street, calling an election that you cannot win."
Still think Kinnock was better than he is portrayed, was treated appallingly by the right wing media, all he ever seems to be remembered is for falling in the water, done a lot of the hard yards for Blair, imo
Kinnock, Major, Hague, Brown, Miliband were all unfairly maligned. The people like Big_G having fits about how unfairly Sunak has been portrayed over the past few days are mostly of the type who didn't give a fuck when it was only happening to Labour leaders over the past 20 years, which is why I'm pretty short on sympathy with them. They are, strictly speaking, correct, of course: Sunak is getting it in the neck for non-mistakes. But if you only whine when it's affecting your team, you can stuff it.
I have just read that and I am not having a fit and saying it is unfair, but suggesting some of it is unnecessary and adds to the general view that being in politics is not something many would aspire to in this environment
"This" environment has been around for many years. Nothing has changed, only the direction of the can't-do-right criticism. You just haven't noticed because you're a partisan for one of the two sides.
I voted for Blair twice so not that partisan and whilst I have criticised previous Labour figures I do not do use the language some have re Sunak
"You are a partisan" is a statement of how you are now. You wear your 20+ year old Labour votes like amulets, thinking people can't criticise you for being a Tory hack when you jangle them. But it doesn't matter. All it means is you're not a lifelong cultist. You're still a partisan.
Why do you sound so bitter and angry when your party is about to win an election?
My party? I don't have one. Labour are probably going to win, but I'm probably not going to vote for them.
Can Rishi sue for breach of copyright? Only Rishi has a plan. "Starmer has no plan, Labour will take you back to square one".
He should give them the benefit of his experience:
"I’ll tell you what happens with plans. You start with far-fetched goals. They are then pickled into a rigid dogma, a code, and you go through the months sticking to that - outdated, misplaced, irrelevant to the real needs - and you end up in the grotesque chaos of standing in the pouring rain in Downing Street, calling an election that you cannot win."
Still think Kinnock was better than he is portrayed, was treated appallingly by the right wing media, all he ever seems to be remembered is for falling in the water, done a lot of the hard yards for Blair, imo
Kinnock, Major, Hague, Brown, Miliband were all unfairly maligned. The people like Big_G having fits about how unfairly Sunak has been portrayed over the past few days are mostly of the type who didn't give a fuck when it was only happening to Labour leaders over the past 20 years, which is why I'm pretty short on sympathy with them. They are, strictly speaking, correct, of course: Sunak is getting it in the neck for non-mistakes. But if you only whine when it's affecting your team, you can stuff it.
I have just read that and I am not having a fit and saying it is unfair, but suggesting some of it is unnecessary and adds to the general view that being in politics is not something many would aspire to in this environment
"This" environment has been around for many years. Nothing has changed, only the direction of the can't-do-right criticism. You just haven't noticed because you're a partisan for one of the two sides.
I voted for Blair twice so not that partisan and whilst I have criticised previous Labour figures I do not do use the language some have re Sunak
"You are a partisan" is a statement of how you are now. You wear your 20+ year old Labour votes like amulets, thinking people can't criticise you for being a Tory hack when you jangle them. But it doesn't matter. All it means is you're not a lifelong cultist. You're still a partisan.
Why do you sound so bitter and angry when your party is about to win an election?
My party? I don't have one. Labour are probably going to win, but I'm probably not going to vote for them.
You are PHENOMENALLY angry and bitter, tho. To an extent it is quite entertaining
Can Rishi sue for breach of copyright? Only Rishi has a plan. "Starmer has no plan, Labour will take you back to square one".
He should give them the benefit of his experience:
"I’ll tell you what happens with plans. You start with far-fetched goals. They are then pickled into a rigid dogma, a code, and you go through the months sticking to that - outdated, misplaced, irrelevant to the real needs - and you end up in the grotesque chaos of standing in the pouring rain in Downing Street, calling an election that you cannot win."
Still think Kinnock was better than he is portrayed, was treated appallingly by the right wing media, all he ever seems to be remembered is for falling in the water, done a lot of the hard yards for Blair, imo
Kinnock, Major, Hague, Brown, Miliband were all unfairly maligned. The people like Big_G having fits about how unfairly Sunak has been portrayed over the past few days are mostly of the type who didn't give a fuck when it was only happening to Labour leaders over the past 20 years, which is why I'm pretty short on sympathy with them. They are, strictly speaking, correct, of course: Sunak is getting it in the neck for non-mistakes. But if you only whine when it's affecting your team, you can stuff it.
Again its the old uk class system. None of those went to private school and were all with the possible exception of miliband from fairly modest backgrounds. The problem is these guys didnt have old public school pals in positions of power to cover for them.
Jesus, I hadn't noticed the pattern. I just reeled them off. That's... eye-opening.
The same hammering happened to Cameron. What was interesting was how he dealt with it - the chameleon (“my children rather like it”) or the Quattro thing.
Major was hammered at - and largely it failed to damage him. He was way more popular than his party, end to end.
Hague wasn’t much good outside of PMs questions in HoC.
Not really. I recall the media quickly shutting down criticism of Cameron especially on the class thing. He certainly didnt get a relentless hammering which is interesting given how mediocre he was.
Perhaps because Cameron had "gravitas" (rightly or wrongly ) - People like this tend to not get ridiculed
If Andrew Bridgen is standing as an indie in NW Leicestershire , then its not on the radar of bet365 who make it a toss up between labour and the tories with Reform the only other party will less than a 100/1 tag
The BBC reports from Sunak's breakfast photo-opportunity in a pub, when asked about his sodden Downing Street speech: "no pneumonia yet, my suit on the other hand ... I'm not quite sure what state it will be in when I get back down to London."
Given that his suits are variously stated to cost £2,000-3,000, I wonder how this bit of humour will resonate with people struggling to make ends meet.
Does anyone think universities can cope with the same nominal funding in 2035?
We definitely shouldn't want governments who promise indefinite no increases in stuff.
The problem is its what too many people think they're entitled to.
So no increase in prices, no increase in housing costs and no increase in taxes for anything that applies to them.
And apparently its the government's responsibility to ensure it and make some other group take the cost.
When they get offered the free stuff and the client media pretends its possible too many voters prefer the free stuff. Thats why it is great that Labour aren't promising never ending free stuff this time.
Doesn't stop people think they are entitled to it or thinking they will get it or complaining when they don't get it.
There's always someone else they can point to and say "take it from them and give it to me".
Sure, some people will complain especially if they are getting worse off. Thats just to be expected, not a big deal if parties don't massively over promise as they have tended to under the likes of Corbyn and Johnson.
What people think they are entitled to is independent of what politicians promise.
People merely attach what they think they're entitled to to a political party and then complain if they don't get it irrespective of whether any politician promised it them.
There are some egregious cases of politicians making precise promises and then blatantly breaking them - Clegg and tuition fees for example - but overall I actually feel sympathetic to politicians on this.
The BBC reports from Sunak's breakfast photo-opportunity in a pub, when asked about his sodden Downing Street speech: "no pneumonia yet, my suit on the other hand ... I'm not quite sure what state it will be in when I get back down to London."
Given that his suits are variously stated to cost £2,000-3,000, I wonder how this bit of humour will resonate with people struggling to make ends meet.
The BBC reports from Sunak's breakfast photo-opportunity in a pub, when asked about his sodden Downing Street speech: "no pneumonia yet, my suit on the other hand ... I'm not quite sure what state it will be in when I get back down to London."
Given that his suits are variously stated to cost £2,000-3,000, I wonder how this bit of humour will resonate with people struggling to make ends meet.
Can Rishi sue for breach of copyright? Only Rishi has a plan. "Starmer has no plan, Labour will take you back to square one".
He should give them the benefit of his experience:
"I’ll tell you what happens with plans. You start with far-fetched goals. They are then pickled into a rigid dogma, a code, and you go through the months sticking to that - outdated, misplaced, irrelevant to the real needs - and you end up in the grotesque chaos of standing in the pouring rain in Downing Street, calling an election that you cannot win."
Still think Kinnock was better than he is portrayed, was treated appallingly by the right wing media, all he ever seems to be remembered is for falling in the water, done a lot of the hard yards for Blair, imo
Kinnock, Major, Hague, Brown, Miliband were all unfairly maligned. The people like Big_G having fits about how unfairly Sunak has been portrayed over the past few days are mostly of the type who didn't give a fuck when it was only happening to Labour leaders over the past 20 years, which is why I'm pretty short on sympathy with them. They are, strictly speaking, correct, of course: Sunak is getting it in the neck for non-mistakes. But if you only whine when it's affecting your team, you can stuff it.
Again its the old uk class system. None of those went to private school and were all with the possible exception of miliband from fairly modest backgrounds. The problem is these guys didnt have old public school pals in positions of power to cover for them.
Jesus, I hadn't noticed the pattern. I just reeled them off. That's... eye-opening.
The same hammering happened to Cameron. What was interesting was how he dealt with it - the chameleon (“my children rather like it”) or the Quattro thing.
Major was hammered at - and largely it failed to damage him. He was way more popular than his party, end to end.
Hague wasn’t much good outside of PMs questions in HoC.
Not really. I recall the media quickly shutting down criticism of Cameron especially on the class thing. He certainly didnt get a relentless hammering which is interesting given how mediocre he was.
Perhaps because Cameron had "gravitas" (rightly or wrongly ) - People like this tend to not get ridiculed
Yes he certainly had that public school confidence.
The BBC reports from Sunak's breakfast photo-opportunity in a pub, when asked about his sodden Downing Street speech: "no pneumonia yet, my suit on the other hand ... I'm not quite sure what state it will be in when I get back down to London."
Given that his suits are variously stated to cost £2,000-3,000, I wonder how this bit of humour will resonate with people struggling to make ends meet.
Misses the interesting point that the original script had everything happening on board an WW2 American bomber returning from a raid on Germany. Changed to a spaceship after Star Wars was a big hit
I don’t think that’s entirely right is it? The idea was gremlins on the Bomber, not an Alien. That film was always intended to be sci fi.
Does anyone think universities can cope with the same nominal funding in 2035?
We definitely shouldn't want governments who promise indefinite no increases in stuff.
The problem is its what too many people think they're entitled to.
So no increase in prices, no increase in housing costs and no increase in taxes for anything that applies to them.
And apparently its the government's responsibility to ensure it and make some other group take the cost.
When they get offered the free stuff and the client media pretends its possible too many voters prefer the free stuff. Thats why it is great that Labour aren't promising never ending free stuff this time.
Doesn't stop people think they are entitled to it or thinking they will get it or complaining when they don't get it.
There's always someone else they can point to and say "take it from them and give it to me".
Sure, some people will complain especially if they are getting worse off. Thats just to be expected, not a big deal if parties don't massively over promise as they have tended to under the likes of Corbyn and Johnson.
What people think they are entitled to is independent of what politicians promise.
People merely attach what they think they're entitled to to a political party and then complain if they don't get it irrespective of whether any politician promised it them.
There are some egregious cases of politicians making precise promises and then blatantly breaking them - Clegg and tuition fees for example - but overall I actually feel sympathetic to politicians on this.
The public also don't complaint or don't negatively react to a failed promise or u-turn, if they think its a good idea or it's just not that important to them. A failure to meet immigration targets has not hurt the Tories until very recently.
Sunak's team seem to have decided to copy the Ed Miliband approach of "actually he's one of the lads". If Sunak was just allowed to be the slightly nerdy, geeky, tech bro he is, nobody would mind.
I can totally buy him doing Park Run, so why not have him at one of those events? Or have him go to a cricket match or something.
Can Rishi sue for breach of copyright? Only Rishi has a plan. "Starmer has no plan, Labour will take you back to square one".
He should give them the benefit of his experience:
"I’ll tell you what happens with plans. You start with far-fetched goals. They are then pickled into a rigid dogma, a code, and you go through the months sticking to that - outdated, misplaced, irrelevant to the real needs - and you end up in the grotesque chaos of standing in the pouring rain in Downing Street, calling an election that you cannot win."
Still think Kinnock was better than he is portrayed, was treated appallingly by the right wing media, all he ever seems to be remembered is for falling in the water, done a lot of the hard yards for Blair, imo
Kinnock, Major, Hague, Brown, Miliband were all unfairly maligned. The people like Big_G having fits about how unfairly Sunak has been portrayed over the past few days are mostly of the type who didn't give a fuck when it was only happening to Labour leaders over the past 20 years, which is why I'm pretty short on sympathy with them. They are, strictly speaking, correct, of course: Sunak is getting it in the neck for non-mistakes. But if you only whine when it's affecting your team, you can stuff it.
I have just read that and I am not having a fit and saying it is unfair, but suggesting some of it is unnecessary and adds to the general view that being in politics is not something many would aspire to in this environment
"This" environment has been around for many years. Nothing has changed, only the direction of the can't-do-right criticism. You just haven't noticed because you're a partisan for one of the two sides.
My complaint is that a lot of it has been ridiculous - see the alleged football ‘gaffe’. You may feel that Tory voters on PB have been doing this to Labour politicians but can you give me an example of anything so rubbish?
The BBC reports from Sunak's breakfast photo-opportunity in a pub, when asked about his sodden Downing Street speech: "no pneumonia yet, my suit on the other hand ... I'm not quite sure what state it will be in when I get back down to London."
Given that his suits are variously stated to cost £2,000-3,000, I wonder how this bit of humour will resonate with people struggling to make ends meet.
I thought it was a fair enough line.
The poor man can’t do anything right it seems.
Laughing at himself and still people have to mock? We are a weird country.
Sunak's team seem to have decided to copy the Ed Miliband approach of "actually he's one of the lads". If Sunak was just allowed to be the slightly nerdy, geeky, tech bro he is, nobody would mind.
I can totally buy him doing Park Run, so why not have him at one of those events? Or have him go to a cricket match or something.
(Labour were out leafletting people before my local Parkrun this morning - they seemed to be getting a fairly cheery reception...)
That's a good idea, although I'd think you're better off catching people when they're finishing. Nobody wants to clutch a leaflet going round the course. And after they've done a run and the endorphins are going, you'll get people in a better frame of mind to take (and maybe even read!) the leaflet.
One suggestion is that Ed Davey is deliberately being (involuntarily?) boring to avoid an experience like Cleggmania.
A bit of a silly comment.
Sir Ed is has a detailed election campaign plan and is not going to be much distracted from it. The Lib Dems campaign team is extremely focussed across the board and pretty ruthless about getting the target seats across the line. I don´t believe they think anything else really matters at this point.
Can Rishi sue for breach of copyright? Only Rishi has a plan. "Starmer has no plan, Labour will take you back to square one".
He should give them the benefit of his experience:
"I’ll tell you what happens with plans. You start with far-fetched goals. They are then pickled into a rigid dogma, a code, and you go through the months sticking to that - outdated, misplaced, irrelevant to the real needs - and you end up in the grotesque chaos of standing in the pouring rain in Downing Street, calling an election that you cannot win."
Still think Kinnock was better than he is portrayed, was treated appallingly by the right wing media, all he ever seems to be remembered is for falling in the water, done a lot of the hard yards for Blair, imo
Kinnock, Major, Hague, Brown, Miliband were all unfairly maligned. The people like Big_G having fits about how unfairly Sunak has been portrayed over the past few days are mostly of the type who didn't give a fuck when it was only happening to Labour leaders over the past 20 years, which is why I'm pretty short on sympathy with them. They are, strictly speaking, correct, of course: Sunak is getting it in the neck for non-mistakes. But if you only whine when it's affecting your team, you can stuff it.
I have just read that and I am not having a fit and saying it is unfair, but suggesting some of it is unnecessary and adds to the general view that being in politics is not something many would aspire to in this environment
"This" environment has been around for many years. Nothing has changed, only the direction of the can't-do-right criticism. You just haven't noticed because you're a partisan for one of the two sides.
My complaint is that a lot of it has been ridiculous - see the alleged football ‘gaffe’. You may feel that Tory voters on PB have been doing this to Labour politicians but can you give me an example of anything so rubbish?
SOME of it absolutely has been ridiculous. I'm not sure about the Wales / football one. I've heard some people say it was awkward silence after he asked (if so, yeah, it was a gaffe) but I haven't watched the clip. But that's not my point. My point it that suddenly the boot is on the other foot and people who were quite silent about unfair press treatment of one party are now rending their garments over the unfair press treatment of their party. And that's the kind of whining that I have no sympathy for, even if they're right in some cases.
Misses the interesting point that the original script had everything happening on board an WW2 American bomber returning from a raid on Germany. Changed to a spaceship after Star Wars was a big hit
I would like to see that film..
It'd have to be one large bomber to not be over in 5 minutes.
That would be where ingenuity would come in. I can imagine the end scene, battered B17 rolls to a halt, no crew disembarking or visible, puzzled ground crew approaches..
Troubling if correct. HRH The Princess of Wales will probably “not appear in public for the rest of the year,” and is being “surrounded” by her birth family as she continues a course of preventive chemotherapy having been diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. God bless, Kate!
Can Rishi sue for breach of copyright? Only Rishi has a plan. "Starmer has no plan, Labour will take you back to square one".
He should give them the benefit of his experience:
"I’ll tell you what happens with plans. You start with far-fetched goals. They are then pickled into a rigid dogma, a code, and you go through the months sticking to that - outdated, misplaced, irrelevant to the real needs - and you end up in the grotesque chaos of standing in the pouring rain in Downing Street, calling an election that you cannot win."
Still think Kinnock was better than he is portrayed, was treated appallingly by the right wing media, all he ever seems to be remembered is for falling in the water, done a lot of the hard yards for Blair, imo
Kinnock, Major, Hague, Brown, Miliband were all unfairly maligned. The people like Big_G having fits about how unfairly Sunak has been portrayed over the past few days are mostly of the type who didn't give a fuck when it was only happening to Labour leaders over the past 20 years, which is why I'm pretty short on sympathy with them. They are, strictly speaking, correct, of course: Sunak is getting it in the neck for non-mistakes. But if you only whine when it's affecting your team, you can stuff it.
I have just read that and I am not having a fit and saying it is unfair, but suggesting some of it is unnecessary and adds to the general view that being in politics is not something many would aspire to in this environment
"This" environment has been around for many years. Nothing has changed, only the direction of the can't-do-right criticism. You just haven't noticed because you're a partisan for one of the two sides.
My complaint is that a lot of it has been ridiculous - see the alleged football ‘gaffe’. You may feel that Tory voters on PB have been doing this to Labour politicians but can you give me an example of anything so rubbish?
Can you imaging how mind numbingly wearying it was to read about Bliar in posts from those with the kind of eleven year old mentality that finds that sort of thing hilarious? First time, maybe....but some were clinging to the witless misspelling long after he had retired.
We all have to put up with that kind of childishness in all walks of life. Fact is some people never grow up. It's best ignored, though it can be difficult sometimes.
Picking through the entrails of the YouGov from this morning:
The England Sub Sample has Labour on 45%, Conservatives 23%, Reform 15%, LDs 10%, Greens 7% - the previous poll had 47-22-12-10-7
Now, those of you on the sharp side will notice the first poll numbers add up to 100 and the second adds up to 98 so Labour -2, Conservative +1 and Reform +3 are more likely to be rounding changes than any significant move.
Redfield & Wilton publish actual numbers rather than just percentages so we can see the tiny difference between a percentage rounded down or one rounded up.
Perhaps the BPC should ask all pollsters to report their figures to one decimal place.
As YouGov themselves say These changes are all within the margin of error from our last poll
The Don't Knows are running at 15% while the Won't Votes are at 10% - now, the 8-10 likelihood to vote has gone from 68% to 72%. The Conservatives have only 66% certain to vote but moving to the 8-10 likelihood, the Conservatives are at 87%, Labour at 89% and the LDs at 86%.
Can Rishi sue for breach of copyright? Only Rishi has a plan. "Starmer has no plan, Labour will take you back to square one".
He should give them the benefit of his experience:
"I’ll tell you what happens with plans. You start with far-fetched goals. They are then pickled into a rigid dogma, a code, and you go through the months sticking to that - outdated, misplaced, irrelevant to the real needs - and you end up in the grotesque chaos of standing in the pouring rain in Downing Street, calling an election that you cannot win."
Still think Kinnock was better than he is portrayed, was treated appallingly by the right wing media, all he ever seems to be remembered is for falling in the water, done a lot of the hard yards for Blair, imo
Kinnock, Major, Hague, Brown, Miliband were all unfairly maligned. The people like Big_G having fits about how unfairly Sunak has been portrayed over the past few days are mostly of the type who didn't give a fuck when it was only happening to Labour leaders over the past 20 years, which is why I'm pretty short on sympathy with them. They are, strictly speaking, correct, of course: Sunak is getting it in the neck for non-mistakes. But if you only whine when it's affecting your team, you can stuff it.
I have just read that and I am not having a fit and saying it is unfair, but suggesting some of it is unnecessary and adds to the general view that being in politics is not something many would aspire to in this environment
"This" environment has been around for many years. Nothing has changed, only the direction of the can't-do-right criticism. You just haven't noticed because you're a partisan for one of the two sides.
My complaint is that a lot of it has been ridiculous - see the alleged football ‘gaffe’. You may feel that Tory voters on PB have been doing this to Labour politicians but can you give me an example of anything so rubbish?
SOME of it absolutely has been ridiculous. I'm not sure about the Wales / football one. I've heard some people say it was awkward silence after he asked (if so, yeah, it was a gaffe) but I haven't watched the clip. But that's not my point. My point it that suddenly the boot is on the other foot and people who were quite silent about unfair press treatment of one party are now rending their garments over the unfair press treatment of their party. And that's the kind of whining that I have no sympathy for, even if they're right in some cases.
In short, turnaround is fair game.
I can confirm that here is Wales no-one seems to care.
Starmer has said something interesting. He wants to lower the voting age to 16. It would nice if someone would ask him how he feels about young people increasingly getting their news from TikTok.
Troubling if correct. HRH The Princess of Wales will probably “not appear in public for the rest of the year,” and is being “surrounded” by her birth family as she continues a course of preventive chemotherapy having been diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. God bless, Kate!
Sounds like tabloid bollocks to me. There’s no way a decision like that will have been taken that far in advance if she is on a treatment course. It will require constant monitoring of her health condition and adaptation to those circumstances.
Troubling if correct. HRH The Princess of Wales will probably “not appear in public for the rest of the year,” and is being “surrounded” by her birth family as she continues a course of preventive chemotherapy having been diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. God bless, Kate!
Starmer will not be so naive to claim that "[England] have only ever won a major tournament when Labour were in government". About half the UK population will immediately point out that England won the Euros with Boris Johnson in No. 10 in Summer 2022.
Can Rishi sue for breach of copyright? Only Rishi has a plan. "Starmer has no plan, Labour will take you back to square one".
He should give them the benefit of his experience:
"I’ll tell you what happens with plans. You start with far-fetched goals. They are then pickled into a rigid dogma, a code, and you go through the months sticking to that - outdated, misplaced, irrelevant to the real needs - and you end up in the grotesque chaos of standing in the pouring rain in Downing Street, calling an election that you cannot win."
Still think Kinnock was better than he is portrayed, was treated appallingly by the right wing media, all he ever seems to be remembered is for falling in the water, done a lot of the hard yards for Blair, imo
Kinnock, Major, Hague, Brown, Miliband were all unfairly maligned. The people like Big_G having fits about how unfairly Sunak has been portrayed over the past few days are mostly of the type who didn't give a fuck when it was only happening to Labour leaders over the past 20 years, which is why I'm pretty short on sympathy with them. They are, strictly speaking, correct, of course: Sunak is getting it in the neck for non-mistakes. But if you only whine when it's affecting your team, you can stuff it.
I have just read that and I am not having a fit and saying it is unfair, but suggesting some of it is unnecessary and adds to the general view that being in politics is not something many would aspire to in this environment
"This" environment has been around for many years. Nothing has changed, only the direction of the can't-do-right criticism. You just haven't noticed because you're a partisan for one of the two sides.
My complaint is that a lot of it has been ridiculous - see the alleged football ‘gaffe’. You may feel that Tory voters on PB have been doing this to Labour politicians but can you give me an example of anything so rubbish?
Can you imaging how mind numbingly wearying it was to read about Bliar in posts from those with the kind of eleven year old mentality that finds that sort of thing hilarious? First time, maybe....but some were clinging to the witless misspelling long after he had retired.
We all have to put up with that kind of childishness in all walks of life. Fact is some people never grow up. It's best ignored, though it can be difficult sometimes.
"ZaNuLabour" was another one the witless enjoyed sharing on here.
The BBC reports from Sunak's breakfast photo-opportunity in a pub, when asked about his sodden Downing Street speech: "no pneumonia yet, my suit on the other hand ... I'm not quite sure what state it will be in when I get back down to London."
Given that his suits are variously stated to cost £2,000-3,000, I wonder how this bit of humour will resonate with people struggling to make ends meet.
The BBC reports from Sunak's breakfast photo-opportunity in a pub, when asked about his sodden Downing Street speech: "no pneumonia yet, my suit on the other hand ... I'm not quite sure what state it will be in when I get back down to London."
Given that his suits are variously stated to cost £2,000-3,000, I wonder how this bit of humour will resonate with people struggling to make ends meet.
I thought it was a fair enough line.
The poor man can’t do anything right it seems.
Laughing at himself and still people have to mock? We are a weird country.
No, we aren't. Part of the role of Prime Minister (and LOTO and indeed any Party leader) is to have a thick skin. Your opponents will find a stick with which to beat you whatever you say and whatever you do.
EVERY Prime Minister gets this treatment - once it was deferential satire in Punch, in the age of television it became more visible - look at how The Frost Report lampooned MacMillan and Spitting Image's treatment of Thatcher and Major.
As to why Sunak went out without an umbrella, that's a different question but once he did he must have known what was going to happen. Unintentional "gaffes" are so much easier in the digital image, quicker to spread and harder to shut down.
Would you rather we return to an age of deference? Fine but that requires a lot of people whose self interest is derived from mocking their political opponents to cease and desist and they won't, they never have and they never will.
Starmer will get it constantly if he becomes PM - he'll be attacked every day by some on here who simply either son't like him or his politics.
The BBC reports from Sunak's breakfast photo-opportunity in a pub, when asked about his sodden Downing Street speech: "no pneumonia yet, my suit on the other hand ... I'm not quite sure what state it will be in when I get back down to London."
Given that his suits are variously stated to cost £2,000-3,000, I wonder how this bit of humour will resonate with people struggling to make ends meet.
I thought it was a fair enough line.
The poor man can’t do anything right it seems.
Laughing at himself and still people have to mock? We are a weird country.
No, we aren't. Part of the role of Prime Minister (and LOTO and indeed any Party leader) is to have a thick skin. Your opponents will find a stick with which to beat you whatever you say and whatever you do.
EVERY Prime Minister gets this treatment - once it was deferential satire in Punch, in the age of television it became more visible - look at how The Frost Report lampooned MacMillan and Spitting Image's treatment of Thatcher and Major.
As to why Sunak went out without an umbrella, that's a different question but once he did he must have known what was going to happen. Unintentional "gaffes" are so much easier in the digital image, quicker to spread and harder to shut down.
Would you rather we return to an age of deference? Fine but that requires a lot of people whose self interest is derived from mocking their political opponents to cease and desist and they won't, they never have and they never will.
Starmer will get it constantly if he becomes PM - he'll be attacked every day by some on here who simply either son't like him or his politics.
And such people will be tiresome bores. The rest of us will stick to putting the boot in when required.
Troubling if correct. HRH The Princess of Wales will probably “not appear in public for the rest of the year,” and is being “surrounded” by her birth family as she continues a course of preventive chemotherapy having been diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. God bless, Kate!
Can Rishi sue for breach of copyright? Only Rishi has a plan. "Starmer has no plan, Labour will take you back to square one".
He should give them the benefit of his experience:
"I’ll tell you what happens with plans. You start with far-fetched goals. They are then pickled into a rigid dogma, a code, and you go through the months sticking to that - outdated, misplaced, irrelevant to the real needs - and you end up in the grotesque chaos of standing in the pouring rain in Downing Street, calling an election that you cannot win."
Still think Kinnock was better than he is portrayed, was treated appallingly by the right wing media, all he ever seems to be remembered is for falling in the water, done a lot of the hard yards for Blair, imo
Kinnock, Major, Hague, Brown, Miliband were all unfairly maligned. The people like Big_G having fits about how unfairly Sunak has been portrayed over the past few days are mostly of the type who didn't give a fuck when it was only happening to Labour leaders over the past 20 years, which is why I'm pretty short on sympathy with them. They are, strictly speaking, correct, of course: Sunak is getting it in the neck for non-mistakes. But if you only whine when it's affecting your team, you can stuff it.
I have just read that and I am not having a fit and saying it is unfair, but suggesting some of it is unnecessary and adds to the general view that being in politics is not something many would aspire to in this environment
"This" environment has been around for many years. Nothing has changed, only the direction of the can't-do-right criticism. You just haven't noticed because you're a partisan for one of the two sides.
My complaint is that a lot of it has been ridiculous - see the alleged football ‘gaffe’. You may feel that Tory voters on PB have been doing this to Labour politicians but can you give me an example of anything so rubbish?
Can you imaging how mind numbingly wearying it was to read about Bliar in posts from those with the kind of eleven year old mentality that finds that sort of thing hilarious? First time, maybe....but some were clinging to the witless misspelling long after he had retired.
We all have to put up with that kind of childishness in all walks of life. Fact is some people never grow up. It's best ignored, though it can be difficult sometimes.
"ZaNuLabour" was another one the witless enjoyed sharing on here.
You can kind of imagine them grinning inanely as they wait for you to laugh in admiration at the originality of their wit. Of course no organisation, group or clique has a monopoly of such tedious buffoonery, but it does seem to be overrepresented in political parties - of all color.
The BBC reports from Sunak's breakfast photo-opportunity in a pub, when asked about his sodden Downing Street speech: "no pneumonia yet, my suit on the other hand ... I'm not quite sure what state it will be in when I get back down to London."
Given that his suits are variously stated to cost £2,000-3,000, I wonder how this bit of humour will resonate with people struggling to make ends meet.
I thought it was a fair enough line.
The poor man can’t do anything right it seems.
Laughing at himself and still people have to mock? We are a weird country.
One thing I've noticed from lefties is criticism of Asian minorities when it comes to spending money on clothes and shoes.
How dare we get uppity by refusing to shop at M&S.
Comments like 'more money than sense' or 'did you get dressed in the dark?' are designed to keep us in our place.
Polls already dropping and it's not even Saturday evening yet? #Popcorn on standby
Looking good @GIN1138 . Do you think the eight point drop in Lab-Con in just a fortnight is down to Rishi's campaign start? The advantage of surprise over everyone else, allowing the Tories to hit the ground running- face first.
It's the rule of football. A blue team has won the League so PM will be blue too.
With regards to the Premier League ou are right, except for 2005 which I think Chelski won. Although if we retrospectively apply fair financial play rules, Arsenal take the title. So yeah 100%.
The BBC reports from Sunak's breakfast photo-opportunity in a pub, when asked about his sodden Downing Street speech: "no pneumonia yet, my suit on the other hand ... I'm not quite sure what state it will be in when I get back down to London."
Given that his suits are variously stated to cost £2,000-3,000, I wonder how this bit of humour will resonate with people struggling to make ends meet.
I thought it was a fair enough line.
The poor man can’t do anything right it seems.
Laughing at himself and still people have to mock? We are a weird country.
One thing I've noticed from lefties is criticism of Asian minorities when it comes to spending money on clothes and shoes.
How dare we get uppity by refusing to shop at M&S.
Comments like 'more money than sense' or 'did you get dressed in the dark?' are designed to keep us in our place.
Wait, are you saying M&S is the cheap option? There's a world out there I'm not party to.
Can Rishi sue for breach of copyright? Only Rishi has a plan. "Starmer has no plan, Labour will take you back to square one".
He should give them the benefit of his experience:
"I’ll tell you what happens with plans. You start with far-fetched goals. They are then pickled into a rigid dogma, a code, and you go through the months sticking to that - outdated, misplaced, irrelevant to the real needs - and you end up in the grotesque chaos of standing in the pouring rain in Downing Street, calling an election that you cannot win."
Still think Kinnock was better than he is portrayed, was treated appallingly by the right wing media, all he ever seems to be remembered is for falling in the water, done a lot of the hard yards for Blair, imo
Kinnock, Major, Hague, Brown, Miliband were all unfairly maligned. The people like Big_G having fits about how unfairly Sunak has been portrayed over the past few days are mostly of the type who didn't give a fuck when it was only happening to Labour leaders over the past 20 years, which is why I'm pretty short on sympathy with them. They are, strictly speaking, correct, of course: Sunak is getting it in the neck for non-mistakes. But if you only whine when it's affecting your team, you can stuff it.
I have just read that and I am not having a fit and saying it is unfair, but suggesting some of it is unnecessary and adds to the general view that being in politics is not something many would aspire to in this environment
"This" environment has been around for many years. Nothing has changed, only the direction of the can't-do-right criticism. You just haven't noticed because you're a partisan for one of the two sides.
My complaint is that a lot of it has been ridiculous - see the alleged football ‘gaffe’. You may feel that Tory voters on PB have been doing this to Labour politicians but can you give me an example of anything so rubbish?
The football gaffe was a gaffe. The ruined suit line was a self-deprecating joke.
Picking through the entrails of the YouGov from this morning:
The England Sub Sample has Labour on 45%, Conservatives 23%, Reform 15%, LDs 10%, Greens 7% - the previous poll had 47-22-12-10-7
Now, those of you on the sharp side will notice the first poll numbers add up to 100 and the second adds up to 98 so Labour -2, Conservative +1 and Reform +3 are more likely to be rounding changes than any significant move.
Redfield & Wilton publish actual numbers rather than just percentages so we can see the tiny difference between a percentage rounded down or one rounded up.
Perhaps the BPC should ask all pollsters to report their figures to one decimal place.
As YouGov themselves say These changes are all within the margin of error from our last poll
The Don't Knows are running at 15% while the Won't Votes are at 10% - now, the 8-10 likelihood to vote has gone from 68% to 72%. The Conservatives have only 66% certain to vote but moving to the 8-10 likelihood, the Conservatives are at 87%, Labour at 89% and the LDs at 86%.
YG seems to have moved from biggest Labour lead (30 only 16 days ago) to middle of the pack
The BBC reports from Sunak's breakfast photo-opportunity in a pub, when asked about his sodden Downing Street speech: "no pneumonia yet, my suit on the other hand ... I'm not quite sure what state it will be in when I get back down to London."
Given that his suits are variously stated to cost £2,000-3,000, I wonder how this bit of humour will resonate with people struggling to make ends meet.
I thought it was a fair enough line.
The poor man can’t do anything right it seems.
Laughing at himself and still people have to mock? We are a weird country.
No, we aren't. Part of the role of Prime Minister (and LOTO and indeed any Party leader) is to have a thick skin. Your opponents will find a stick with which to beat you whatever you say and whatever you do.
EVERY Prime Minister gets this treatment - once it was deferential satire in Punch, in the age of television it became more visible - look at how The Frost Report lampooned MacMillan and Spitting Image's treatment of Thatcher and Major.
As to why Sunak went out without an umbrella, that's a different question but once he did he must have known what was going to happen. Unintentional "gaffes" are so much easier in the digital image, quicker to spread and harder to shut down.
Would you rather we return to an age of deference? Fine but that requires a lot of people whose self interest is derived from mocking their political opponents to cease and desist and they won't, they never have and they never will.
Starmer will get it constantly if he becomes PM - he'll be attacked every day by some on here who simply either son't like him or his politics.
And such people will be tiresome bores. The rest of us will stick to putting the boot in when required.
You're not wrong - I'm more than happy to criticise (or praise) Sunak for his actions as Prime Minister and for the policies and actions of the Government which he leads and there's plenty of ammunition which can be deployed on that subject.
I would much rather hear about the record of the Government and its performance but part of the nature of modern GE campaigning is to prevent that kind of serious interrogation. The PM (or LOTO) goes to a friendly place surrounded by friendly faces who would cheer him if he read out extracts from the local phone book.
In essence, during a GE, the electorate, rather than Parliament, becomes the instigator of accountability as MPs cease to be MPs on dissolution yet holding the Government (and Opposition) to account is what an election should be about rather than a Presidential style series of video opportunities or vox pops where the most difficult question is asking what you had for breakfast that morning.
The BBC reports from Sunak's breakfast photo-opportunity in a pub, when asked about his sodden Downing Street speech: "no pneumonia yet, my suit on the other hand ... I'm not quite sure what state it will be in when I get back down to London."
Given that his suits are variously stated to cost £2,000-3,000, I wonder how this bit of humour will resonate with people struggling to make ends meet.
I thought it was a fair enough line.
The poor man can’t do anything right it seems.
Laughing at himself and still people have to mock? We are a weird country.
One thing I've noticed from lefties is criticism of Asian minorities when it comes to spending money on clothes and shoes.
How dare we get uppity by refusing to shop at M&S.
Comments like 'more money than sense' or 'did you get dressed in the dark?' are designed to keep us in our place.
Wait, are you saying M&S is the cheap option? There's a world out there I'm not party to.
Have a look at the price of Canada Goose jackets as an example.
The BBC reports from Sunak's breakfast photo-opportunity in a pub, when asked about his sodden Downing Street speech: "no pneumonia yet, my suit on the other hand ... I'm not quite sure what state it will be in when I get back down to London."
Given that his suits are variously stated to cost £2,000-3,000, I wonder how this bit of humour will resonate with people struggling to make ends meet.
I thought it was a fair enough line.
The poor man can’t do anything right it seems.
Laughing at himself and still people have to mock? We are a weird country.
One thing I've noticed from lefties is criticism of Asian minorities when it comes to spending money on clothes and shoes.
How dare we get uppity by refusing to shop at M&S.
Comments like 'more money than sense' or 'did you get dressed in the dark?' are designed to keep us in our place.
If you're so defensive of Sunak, I'm afraid you're going to be in for an uncomfortable few weeks!
Please let me know if I have to apply for special permission from you to make such an obvious comment.
The BBC reports from Sunak's breakfast photo-opportunity in a pub, when asked about his sodden Downing Street speech: "no pneumonia yet, my suit on the other hand ... I'm not quite sure what state it will be in when I get back down to London."
Given that his suits are variously stated to cost £2,000-3,000, I wonder how this bit of humour will resonate with people struggling to make ends meet.
I thought it was a fair enough line.
The poor man can’t do anything right it seems.
Laughing at himself and still people have to mock? We are a weird country.
One thing I've noticed from lefties is criticism of Asian minorities when it comes to spending money on clothes and shoes.
How dare we get uppity by refusing to shop at M&S.
Comments like 'more money than sense' or 'did you get dressed in the dark?' are designed to keep us in our place.
Wait, are you saying M&S is the cheap option? There's a world out there I'm not party to.
Have a look at the price of Canada Goose jackets as an example.
The BBC reports from Sunak's breakfast photo-opportunity in a pub, when asked about his sodden Downing Street speech: "no pneumonia yet, my suit on the other hand ... I'm not quite sure what state it will be in when I get back down to London."
Given that his suits are variously stated to cost £2,000-3,000, I wonder how this bit of humour will resonate with people struggling to make ends meet.
I thought it was a fair enough line.
The poor man can’t do anything right it seems.
Laughing at himself and still people have to mock? We are a weird country.
One thing I've noticed from lefties is criticism of Asian minorities when it comes to spending money on clothes and shoes.
How dare we get uppity by refusing to shop at M&S.
Comments like 'more money than sense' or 'did you get dressed in the dark?' are designed to keep us in our place.
Shoes you say? Any examples of the type of shoes that get criticised or is this a hypothetical case?
The BBC reports from Sunak's breakfast photo-opportunity in a pub, when asked about his sodden Downing Street speech: "no pneumonia yet, my suit on the other hand ... I'm not quite sure what state it will be in when I get back down to London."
Given that his suits are variously stated to cost £2,000-3,000, I wonder how this bit of humour will resonate with people struggling to make ends meet.
I thought it was a fair enough line.
The poor man can’t do anything right it seems.
Laughing at himself and still people have to mock? We are a weird country.
One thing I've noticed from lefties is criticism of Asian minorities when it comes to spending money on clothes and shoes.
How dare we get uppity by refusing to shop at M&S.
Comments like 'more money than sense' or 'did you get dressed in the dark?' are designed to keep us in our place.
Wait, are you saying M&S is the cheap option? There's a world out there I'm not party to.
Have a look at the price of Canada Goose jackets as an example.
Comments
@Tomorrow'sMPs
@tomorrowsmps
·
57m
🔴I feel slightly dishonest announcing all these Labour candidates for hopeless seats, as many of them aren't serious. Many Labour candidates in seats roughly beyond target 200 have had to sign contracts pledging to campaign in more promising seats most of the time.
https://x.com/tomorrowsmps
Labour have not been under 40 in a poll since a single one last year (if we discount the YouGov MRPwhich was mostly completed Dec 23). If they get a 38/39 with someone does it spark any panic?
Of course they may stay comfortably in the 40s but they've had a couple 40 on the nose recently.
How Labour react to any bad news like that may be instructive as to internal feeling.
Unless we get Ref/Con crossover there's a limit to disaster polling for the blues as it stands, they're already garbage
I can totally buy him doing Park Run, so why not have him at one of those events? Or have him go to a cricket match or something.
Major was hammered at - and largely it failed to damage him. He was way more popular than his party, end to end.
Hague wasn’t much good outside of PMs questions in HoC.
Which implies good things for Man U this afternoon.
We definitely shouldn't want governments who promise indefinite no increases in stuff.
Well second and third - students and graduates have already been told they're behind the oldies in order of priority.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
https://youtu.be/UDfAdHBtK_Q?t=469
OT I have done 175 parkruns over about ten years and still to get a finishing time in seconds of 19,20 and 36 - Parkrun bingo!
– I warn you not to be a 78 year old who watches GB News 19 hours a day
– I warn you not to be a Hedge Fund Manager
– I warn you not to be an arriviste who sends their kids to a school they can't afford
– I warn you not to be terrified of 'woke'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001zlvh
One suggestion is that Ed Davey is deliberately being (involuntarily?) boring to avoid an experience like Cleggmania.
So no increase in prices, no increase in housing costs and no increase in taxes for anything that applies to them.
And apparently its the government's responsibility to ensure it and make some other group take the cost.
Totally unsustainable.
You wear your 20+ year old Labour votes like amulets, thinking people can't criticise you for being a Tory hack when you jangle them. But it doesn't matter. All it means is you're not a lifelong cultist. You're still a partisan.
One can but hope.
Nothing is currently operating on a sustainable basis, and the fiscal sums only sort of add up by pretending that even more savings can be made.
And that is why the government deserves to lose and might be why they couldn't hold on until the autumn.
https://vote-2012.proboards.com/thread/15767/retirements-2021?page=81
"The Tory Party, being the desperate and hopeless mess that it has become, has suddenly began ringing around people attempting to get them to stand in a seat because they don't have any candidates.
One person they rang said to them that he wasn't interested. He was self-employed and had a thriving business. "Why would I want to stand for you, in a seat I can't win, only to be ordered to go elsewhere and work in someone else's seat at my own expense, just to be dumped in the waste skip at the end of the campaign? Thanks, but no thanks."
Looks like the candidates department is finally reaping what they've sown over the years"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vichy_France
The quality of UK universities hasn't improved by 900% over the last two decades.
I'd rather that it was universities which suffered the financial pain than inflicting more lifetime financial abuse upon teenagers.
https://news.sky.com/story/more-than-10-000-migrants-arrive-in-uk-by-crossing-channel-in-small-boats-this-year-13142577
10,000! We did it!
There's always someone else they can point to and say "take it from them and give it to me".
And that is what too many people, too many organisations and almost all governments refuse to do.
And as a whole what this country has done for over a generation.
@dailymail @dailyexpress
"no pneumonia yet, my suit on the other hand ... I'm not quite sure what state it will be in when I get back down to London."
Given that his suits are variously stated to cost £2,000-3,000, I wonder how this bit of humour will resonate with people struggling to make ends meet.
People merely attach what they think they're entitled to to a political party and then complain if they don't get it irrespective of whether any politician promised it them.
There are some egregious cases of politicians making precise promises and then blatantly breaking them - Clegg and tuition fees for example - but overall I actually feel sympathetic to politicians on this.
The poor man can’t do anything right it seems.
Weirdly, for all that, he only appears to have actually registered for a single race: https://www.parkrun.org.uk/northallerton/parkrunner/4770263/ (he managed a pretty decent time, though!)
(Labour were out leafletting people before my local Parkrun this morning - they seemed to be getting a fairly cheery reception...)
Sir Ed is has a detailed election campaign plan and is not going to be much distracted from it. The Lib Dems campaign team is extremely focussed across the board and pretty ruthless about getting the target seats across the line. I don´t believe they think anything else really matters at this point.
But that's not my point. My point it that suddenly the boot is on the other foot and people who were quite silent about unfair press treatment of one party are now rending their garments over the unfair press treatment of their party. And that's the kind of whining that I have no sympathy for, even if they're right in some cases.
In short, turnaround is fair game.
I can imagine the end scene, battered B17 rolls to a halt, no crew disembarking or visible, puzzled ground crew approaches..
Troubling if correct. HRH The Princess of Wales will probably “not appear in public for the rest of the year,” and is being “surrounded” by her birth family as she continues a course of preventive chemotherapy having been diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. God bless, Kate!
https://x.com/darrengrimes_/status/1794252766019285264
We all have to put up with that kind of childishness in all walks of life. Fact is some people never grow up. It's best ignored, though it can be difficult sometimes.
Picking through the entrails of the YouGov from this morning:
The England Sub Sample has Labour on 45%, Conservatives 23%, Reform 15%, LDs 10%, Greens 7% - the previous poll had 47-22-12-10-7
Now, those of you on the sharp side will notice the first poll numbers add up to 100 and the second adds up to 98 so Labour -2, Conservative +1 and Reform +3 are more likely to be rounding changes than any significant move.
Redfield & Wilton publish actual numbers rather than just percentages so we can see the tiny difference between a percentage rounded down or one rounded up.
Perhaps the BPC should ask all pollsters to report their figures to one decimal place.
As YouGov themselves say These changes are all within the margin of error from our last poll
The Don't Knows are running at 15% while the Won't Votes are at 10% - now, the 8-10 likelihood to vote has gone from 68% to 72%. The Conservatives have only 66% certain to vote but moving to the 8-10 likelihood, the Conservatives are at 87%, Labour at 89% and the LDs at 86%.
Starmer has said something interesting. He wants to lower the voting age to 16. It would nice if someone would ask him how he feels about young people increasingly getting their news from TikTok.
EVERY Prime Minister gets this treatment - once it was deferential satire in Punch, in the age of television it became more visible - look at how The Frost Report lampooned MacMillan and Spitting Image's treatment of Thatcher and Major.
As to why Sunak went out without an umbrella, that's a different question but once he did he must have known what was going to happen. Unintentional "gaffes" are so much easier in the digital image, quicker to spread and harder to shut down.
Would you rather we return to an age of deference? Fine but that requires a lot of people whose self interest is derived from mocking their political opponents to cease and desist and they won't, they never have and they never will.
Starmer will get it constantly if he becomes PM - he'll be attacked every day by some on here who simply either son't like him or his politics.
How dare we get uppity by refusing to shop at M&S.
Comments like 'more money than sense' or 'did you get dressed in the dark?' are designed to keep us in our place.
There's a world out there I'm not party to.
I would much rather hear about the record of the Government and its performance but part of the nature of modern GE campaigning is to prevent that kind of serious interrogation. The PM (or LOTO) goes to a friendly place surrounded by friendly faces who would cheer him if he read out extracts from the local phone book.
In essence, during a GE, the electorate, rather than Parliament, becomes the instigator of accountability as MPs cease to be MPs on dissolution yet holding the Government (and Opposition) to account is what an election should be about rather than a Presidential style series of video opportunities or vox pops where the most difficult question is asking what you had for breakfast that morning.
https://www.canadagoose.com/uk/en/expedition-parka-heritage-4660M.html
Please let me know if I have to apply for special permission from you to make such an obvious comment.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/may/25/loved-islington-voters-40-year-connection-to-jeremy-corbyn