And From The Other Side of the Pond… – politicalbetting.com

FrancisUrquhart said:

HYUFD said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

HYUFD said:

rottenborough said:

Rachel Wearmouth
@REWearmouth
·
5m
It’s completely unfathomable as to why any British Prime Minister would skip the 80th anniversary of D Day. It’s the job.

If a Labour Prime Minister had done such a thing, they would be shamed for the rest of their political career.

He DID NOT skip the 80th anniversary of D Day, he was there yesterday at Southsea and today in Normandy (which was primarily for heads of state and Rishi is not the King).

The same would apply to a Labour PM. Every other party leader is doing one of these ITV interviews, the main events in Normandy were over when Sunak recorded it. This story is utter rubbish and barrel scraping from Labour and Farage exploiting D Day for their party political ends.

Fortunately none of the mainstream media have it in their headlines and beyond the Westminster bubble nobody is interested

William spoke to President Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of the event. Mr Sunak did not attend the Omaha Beach ceremony, but UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron and Mr Starmer were both present.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn44ed7yelzo

He is going to need an excuse better than an XL Bully eat my homework.

I do not recall British soldiers at Omaha, it was a beach where US troops led the landings.

Sunak is also not the head of state or next head of state. Later in the day, 'Prince William joined heads of state at Omaha Beach'

The Canadians weren't at Omaha Beach either but Trudeau was there.

I am sure it will be revealed shortly was Sunak originally invited / accepted. If he was on the guest list along with Cameron and Starmer and didn't attend he is in big trouble.

Andy_JS said:

viewcode said:

Andy_JS said:

A number of the 1983 campaign polls had the Liberal/SDP Alliance ahead of Labour. But they faded towards the end.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_1983_United_Kingdom_general_election

That's actually very interesting. Despite the 1983 Conservatives achieving 42.4% of the vote and the SDP/Liberal alliance getting 25.4% of the vote, Labour, even on 27.6% of the vote, still got over 200 seats!

I don't know if it will still happen in the present day, with SNP even in its cups predicted to get over 20 seats? But it warns against complacency

I've been obsessed with the 1983 election for years, so it's surprising for me to find someone on PB who isn't familiar with it, but that probably says more about me than anyone else!

Interesting how there was such as small gap in votes between Labour and Alliance, but Labour winning nearly 10 times as many seats.

A few years ago someone sent me a VHS video tape they'd recorded of ITN's election night show for that year, and I put it on YouTube. Doesn't start at the beginning regrettably.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3eb5b5DOZs

FrancisUrquhart said:

williamglenn said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

HYUFD said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

HYUFD said:

rottenborough said:

Rachel Wearmouth
@REWearmouth
·
5m
It’s completely unfathomable as to why any British Prime Minister would skip the 80th anniversary of D Day. It’s the job.

If a Labour Prime Minister had done such a thing, they would be shamed for the rest of their political career.

He DID NOT skip the 80th anniversary of D Day, he was there yesterday at Southsea and today in Normandy (which was primarily for heads of state and Rishi is not the King).

The same would apply to a Labour PM. Every other party leader is doing one of these ITV interviews, the main events in Normandy were over when Sunak recorded it. This story is utter rubbish and barrel scraping from Labour and Farage exploiting D Day for their party political ends.

Fortunately none of the mainstream media have it in their headlines and beyond the Westminster bubble nobody is interested

William spoke to President Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of the event. Mr Sunak did not attend the Omaha Beach ceremony, but UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron and Mr Starmer were both present.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn44ed7yelzo

He is going to need an excuse better than an XL Bully eat my homework.

I do not recall British soldiers at Omaha, it was a beach where US troops led the landings.

Sunak is also not the head of state or next head of state. Later in the day, 'Prince William joined heads of state at Omaha Beach'

The Canadians weren't at Omaha Beach either but Trudeau was there.

I am sure it will be revealed shortly was Sunak originally invited / accepted. If he was on the guest list along with Cameron and Starmer and didn't attend he is in big trouble.

It looks like it was only briefed in the morning that he wouldn't attend:

"Sunak to Skip High-Profile D-Day Event with Biden, Macron"

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-06-06/sunak-to-skip-high-profile-d-day-event-with-biden-macron

Seems like proof that he was originally invited to what Bloomberg calls a "meeting of international leaders".

FrancisUrquhart said:

HYUFD said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

williamglenn said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

HYUFD said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

HYUFD said:

rottenborough said:

Rachel Wearmouth
@REWearmouth
·
5m
It’s completely unfathomable as to why any British Prime Minister would skip the 80th anniversary of D Day. It’s the job.

If a Labour Prime Minister had done such a thing, they would be shamed for the rest of their political career.

He DID NOT skip the 80th anniversary of D Day, he was there yesterday at Southsea and today in Normandy (which was primarily for heads of state and Rishi is not the King).

The same would apply to a Labour PM. Every other party leader is doing one of these ITV interviews, the main events in Normandy were over when Sunak recorded it. This story is utter rubbish and barrel scraping from Labour and Farage exploiting D Day for their party political ends.

Fortunately none of the mainstream media have it in their headlines and beyond the Westminster bubble nobody is interested

William spoke to President Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of the event. Mr Sunak did not attend the Omaha Beach ceremony, but UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron and Mr Starmer were both present.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn44ed7yelzo

He is going to need an excuse better than an XL Bully eat my homework.

I do not recall British soldiers at Omaha, it was a beach where US troops led the landings.

Sunak is also not the head of state or next head of state. Later in the day, 'Prince William joined heads of state at Omaha Beach'

The Canadians weren't at Omaha Beach either but Trudeau was there.

I am sure it will be revealed shortly was Sunak originally invited / accepted. If he was on the guest list along with Cameron and Starmer and didn't attend he is in big trouble.

It looks like it was only briefed in the morning that he wouldn't attend:

"Sunak to Skip High-Profile D-Day Event with Biden, Macron"

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-06-06/sunak-to-skip-high-profile-d-day-event-with-biden-macron

Seems like proof that he was originally invited to what Bloomberg calls a "meeting of international leaders".

It was not the G7 summit and most of those in attendance were heads of state which Sunak isn't

If he was originally invited, passed on it at the last minute, and it was because he did an ITV interview, he is in the deep shit.

HYUFD said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

HYUFD said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

williamglenn said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

HYUFD said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

HYUFD said:

rottenborough said:

Rachel Wearmouth
@REWearmouth
·
5m
It’s completely unfathomable as to why any British Prime Minister would skip the 80th anniversary of D Day. It’s the job.

If a Labour Prime Minister had done such a thing, they would be shamed for the rest of their political career.

He DID NOT skip the 80th anniversary of D Day, he was there yesterday at Southsea and today in Normandy (which was primarily for heads of state and Rishi is not the King).

The same would apply to a Labour PM. Every other party leader is doing one of these ITV interviews, the main events in Normandy were over when Sunak recorded it. This story is utter rubbish and barrel scraping from Labour and Farage exploiting D Day for their party political ends.

Fortunately none of the mainstream media have it in their headlines and beyond the Westminster bubble nobody is interested

William spoke to President Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of the event. Mr Sunak did not attend the Omaha Beach ceremony, but UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron and Mr Starmer were both present.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn44ed7yelzo

He is going to need an excuse better than an XL Bully eat my homework.

I do not recall British soldiers at Omaha, it was a beach where US troops led the landings.

Sunak is also not the head of state or next head of state. Later in the day, 'Prince William joined heads of state at Omaha Beach'

The Canadians weren't at Omaha Beach either but Trudeau was there.

I am sure it will be revealed shortly was Sunak originally invited / accepted. If he was on the guest list along with Cameron and Starmer and didn't attend he is in big trouble.

It looks like it was only briefed in the morning that he wouldn't attend:

"Sunak to Skip High-Profile D-Day Event with Biden, Macron"

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-06-06/sunak-to-skip-high-profile-d-day-event-with-biden-macron

Seems like proof that he was originally invited to what Bloomberg calls a "meeting of international leaders".

It was not the G7 summit and most of those in attendance were heads of state which Sunak isn't

If he was originally invited, passed on it at the last minute, and it was because he did an ITV interview, he is in the deep shit.

No, he is in deep shit with the likes of you and Labour and Farage who want to make pathetic political points to exploit the D Day commemorations to boost your party. It is absolutely disgraceful.

He attended the British beach landing ceremonies, which is all he as UK head of government needed to attend. He is NOT US head of state, that is Biden, he is NOT Canadian head of state, that is the King with the Prince of Wales assisting him

Andy_JS said:

20 most popular politicians according to YouGov. Interesting how many of these are not active in frontline politics today.

Farage 38%
Starmer 30%
Blunkett 30%
Johnson 30%
Brown 26%
Mordaunt 26%
Kinnock 25%
Khan 24%
Miliband (Ed) 24%
Benn 24%
Rayner 24%
Major 24%
Heseltine 24%
Braverman 24%
Patel 23%
Burnham 23%
Tebbitt 23%
Skinner 22%
Prescott 22%
Davidson 22%

https://yougov.co.uk/ratings/politics/popularity/politicians-political-figures/all

williamglenn said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

HYUFD said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

HYUFD said:

rottenborough said:

Rachel Wearmouth
@REWearmouth
·
5m
It’s completely unfathomable as to why any British Prime Minister would skip the 80th anniversary of D Day. It’s the job.

If a Labour Prime Minister had done such a thing, they would be shamed for the rest of their political career.

He DID NOT skip the 80th anniversary of D Day, he was there yesterday at Southsea and today in Normandy (which was primarily for heads of state and Rishi is not the King).

The same would apply to a Labour PM. Every other party leader is doing one of these ITV interviews, the main events in Normandy were over when Sunak recorded it. This story is utter rubbish and barrel scraping from Labour and Farage exploiting D Day for their party political ends.

Fortunately none of the mainstream media have it in their headlines and beyond the Westminster bubble nobody is interested

William spoke to President Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of the event. Mr Sunak did not attend the Omaha Beach ceremony, but UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron and Mr Starmer were both present.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn44ed7yelzo

He is going to need an excuse better than an XL Bully eat my homework.

I do not recall British soldiers at Omaha, it was a beach where US troops led the landings.

Sunak is also not the head of state or next head of state. Later in the day, 'Prince William joined heads of state at Omaha Beach'

The Canadians weren't at Omaha Beach either but Trudeau was there.

Scholz was there too, although to be fair, the Germans were there.

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

British Normandy Memorial -

Designed by sculptor Charles Bergen, the five waymarkers – sculptural signposts located lower down the hillside from the memorial – point to the five D-Day landing beaches. They feature scenes representing different aspects of the landings. . . .

Omaha Beach

The main force landing on Omaha Beach was American, but British forces were in support.

In the centre of the waymarker, an LCA (‘Landing Craft, Assault’) of the Royal Navy delivers American infantry to the beach. A significant proportion of the troops landing here on D-Day were put ashore by British landing craft. . .

On the edge of the waymarker, men of the US Rangers climb the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc, several miles further west . . . Two B-26 medium bombers fly overhead: this type was operated by both American and British air forces. . . . Minesweepers led the Allied fleet across the English Channel. Many of the minesweepers at this beach were British or Canadian.

Next to the minesweepers are a pair of ships of the Merchant Navy. These civilian-manned ships arrived off Normandy from D-Day onwards, and played an essential role in bringing additional troops and supplies to France.

https://www.britishnormandymemorial.org/the-memorial/waymarkers/#:~:text=The main force landing on,ashore by British landing craft.

FrancisUrquhart said:

williamglenn said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

MoonRabbit said:

wooliedyed said:

Gonna have to hold up my hands and say i was wrong. I thought there may be overreaction but now we know it was apparently just to do a pre recorded interview..... that could be done any time.
Its astonishing and becoming more so as the clock ticks on tonight.
He needs to get his arse in front of the cameras to explain and if there is no explanation, apologise. Profusely.

“ I thought there may be overreaction”

Well it hasn’t made any of the paper front pages or on any of the news web pages. The Guardian and “i” weren’t interested in it. The Star didn’t have biggles flying back across the channel above the troop landers going the other way.

so it might just be a social media over reaction, a PB gasm on drunk tank Thursday, if mainstream media deems it so unimportant.

I think that might be that it looks just as bad as Sunak if they run a big thing on the story and not on D-Day. We will see what later today brings.

Yes, it's a slow burn story for that reason, but it's starting to gain traction:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/07/rishi-sunak-criticised-for-leaving-d-day-event-early-to-record-itv-interview

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-did-rishi-leave-the-d-day-commemorations-early/

The Speccy really really don't like Sunak do they. Normally the left and right media roll in behind their team by now with the well they aren't perfect, but look squirrel over there, much worse, much more dangerous.

MoonRabbit said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

williamglenn said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

MoonRabbit said:

wooliedyed said:

Gonna have to hold up my hands and say i was wrong. I thought there may be overreaction but now we know it was apparently just to do a pre recorded interview..... that could be done any time.
Its astonishing and becoming more so as the clock ticks on tonight.
He needs to get his arse in front of the cameras to explain and if there is no explanation, apologise. Profusely.

“ I thought there may be overreaction”

Well it hasn’t made any of the paper front pages or on any of the news web pages. The Guardian and “i” weren’t interested in it. The Star didn’t have biggles flying back across the channel above the troop landers going the other way.

so it might just be a social media over reaction, a PB gasm on drunk tank Thursday, if mainstream media deems it so unimportant.

I think that might be that it looks just as bad as Sunak if they run a big thing on the story and not on D-Day. We will see what later today brings.

Yes, it's a slow burn story for that reason, but it's starting to gain traction:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/07/rishi-sunak-criticised-for-leaving-d-day-event-early-to-record-itv-interview

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-did-rishi-leave-the-d-day-commemorations-early/

The Speccy really really don't like Sunak do they. Normally the left and right media roll in behind their team by now with the well they aren't perfect, but look squirrel over there, much worse, much more dangerous.

Squirrels can be dangerous, they are little different to rats.

The Grey invader Squirrel very dangerous for the Red ones. Chewed their nuts so they couldn’t make babies. So i was told.

FrancisUrquhart said:

Andy_JS said:

HYUFD said:

Andy_JS said:

20 most popular politicians according to YouGov. Interesting how many of these are not active in frontline politics today.

Farage 38%
Starmer 30%
Blunkett 30%
Johnson 30%
Brown 26%
Mordaunt 26%
Kinnock 25%
Khan 24%
Miliband (Ed) 24%
Benn 24%
Rayner 24%
Major 24%
Heseltine 24%
Braverman 24%
Patel 23%
Burnham 23%
Tebbitt 23%
Skinner 22%
Prescott 22%
Davidson 22%

https://yougov.co.uk/ratings/politics/popularity/politicians-political-figures/all

Fails to mention 42% have a negative view of Farage too

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/public_figure/Nigel_Farage

Also he has a 53% popularity rating with men, but only 24% with women.

https://yougov.co.uk/ratings/politics/popularity/politicians-political-figures/men

I am struggling to really believe many of those anything to do with popularity rather just from name recognition.

HYUFD said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Telegraph now running the story,

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/06/farage-hits-out-sunak-leaving-d-day-commemorations-early/

Below a big picture of Sunak with a wreath next to the King and Queen and Macron.

Which kills this farcical story stome dead even if you bothered to read the article

williamglenn said:

Virginia is looking like a toss-up between Trump and Biden

https://www.foxnews.com/official-polls/fox-news-poll-biden-trump-dead-heat-virginia

Biden 48%
Trump 48%

Richard_Tyndall said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Andy_JS said:

HYUFD said:

Andy_JS said:

20 most popular politicians according to YouGov. Interesting how many of these are not active in frontline politics today.

Farage 38%
Starmer 30%
Blunkett 30%
Johnson 30%
Brown 26%
Mordaunt 26%
Kinnock 25%
Khan 24%
Miliband (Ed) 24%
Benn 24%
Rayner 24%
Major 24%
Heseltine 24%
Braverman 24%
Patel 23%
Burnham 23%
Tebbitt 23%
Skinner 22%
Prescott 22%
Davidson 22%

https://yougov.co.uk/ratings/politics/popularity/politicians-political-figures/all

Fails to mention 42% have a negative view of Farage too

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/public_figure/Nigel_Farage

Also he has a 53% popularity rating with men, but only 24% with women.

https://yougov.co.uk/ratings/politics/popularity/politicians-political-figures/men

I am struggling to really believe many of those anything to do with popularity rather just from name recognition.

Not suire. There is a separate column/question for name recognition.

HYUFD said:

MoonRabbit said:

wooliedyed said:

Gonna have to hold up my hands and say i was wrong. I thought there may be overreaction but now we know it was apparently just to do a pre recorded interview..... that could be done any time.
Its astonishing and becoming more so as the clock ticks on tonight.
He needs to get his arse in front of the cameras to explain and if there is no explanation, apologise. Profusely.

“ I thought there may be overreaction”

Well it hasn’t made any of the paper front pages or on any of the news web pages. The Guardian and “i” weren’t interested in it. The Star didn’t have biggles flying back across the channel above the troop landers going the other way.

so it might just be a social media over reaction, a PB gasm on drunk tank Thursday, if mainstream media deems it so unimportant.

Nobody is interested in the mainstream media beyond the Labour partisan Mirror because this is an appalling political spin by Labour and Farage to exploit D Day for their own ends (which a few anti Sunak Tories are jumping on the bandwagon of).

Sunak attended the main commemorations today and the commemorations at Southsea yesterday, he even pushed a vet in his wheelchair this morning. The main complaint seems to be he didn't stay to grab poor Zelensky for a shameless photo op like Starmer!!!

HYUFD said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

wooliedyed said:

Farage is scheduled to have a day off campaigning tomorrow, i wonder if he might not put in an appearance......

Does Farage need half a chance to wrap himself in the Union Jack and stick the boot in...its what he lives for.

This would be the same Farage who on a CCF camp at secondary school '... had marched through a quiet Sussex village very late at night shouting Hitler-youth songs?' And he has the audacity to criticise Sunak for allegedly not showing enough respect to those who defeated Hitler!
https://www.channel4.com/news/nigel-farage-ukip-letter-school-concerns-racism-fascism

Anabobazina said:

MattW said:

biggles said:

MattW said:

First data coming in about the likely impact of the Welsh 20mph speed limit in residential areas.

The casualties on 20 and 30mph roads down by 29%. Difficult to split down as so many have changed category between the two. Also worth noting that that does not identify categories of casualty.

It's nice to have some numbers during the Election campaign, though only one quarter's worth.

The number of people injured on 20 and 30mph roads in Wales fell by almost a third in the final quarter of last year, new data published by the Welsh government shows.

The figures show there were 463 casualties on such roads between October and December, down from 681 in the same period a year earlier.

The Welsh Labour government has credited the introduction of default 20mph default speed limits, which took effect last September, but Conservatives said more data was needed. Plaid Cymru, which supported the policy, said the figures were "encouraging".

Labour has since committed to a review of the new law.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjee04vlqglo

I’m not sure about that as a success metric.

If we limited cars to 5mph on all roads, fatalities would drop to near zero. We don’t do that, because we balance the need to move around more quickly, and so we find a balance - in the past set to about 30mph.

The only meaningful figure here would be deaths vs productivity/embuggerance, and there’s no “right” answer.

I agree that reduction to 5mph is a red herring by reductio ad adsurbam. No one is proposing that, and it's really a distraction from the serious argument you suggest - the question is choosing a balance.

Is 20mph is a better balance than 30mph, and where and how extensively should it be used?

I suggest that 30 years of experience with hundreds of 20mph schemes in the UK, and extensive experience abroad, shows that it is a better balance for extensive use in urban environments - such as residential and shopping areas.

On speed of moving around, we need data. I'm sure that will become available.

There are also a mass of subjective factors, such as pleasantness of environment for us all to live in, noise, systematic safety (ie the system we use for H&S applied to the road / street environment) and so on.

I’ve got this weird theory that I get around by north London suburb quicker under the 20mph regime than the old 30mph system. Less reversing required to let another car through bottlenecks. But I can’t prove it, the driving just feels less staccato.

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

In addition to France, United Kingdom, United States and Germany, national leader guest list for D-Day anniversary - for all beaches - would logically also include Poland.

As in "Six Armies in Normandy" by John Keegan.

Don't know the (literally) gory details, but am 100% sure there was Poles in the fray on D-Day.

BTW, I knew a guy who was NOT a D-Day veteran, but did land in Normandy shortly after. Serving as a cook for General Patton. He was Jimmy Locke, a Chinese immigrant, whose son Gary became the first Asian American governor on the US outside of Hawaii.

There's also the interesting story of a Korean who was drafted into the Japanese Army labor corps in late 1930s. Just in time to take place in pre-WW2 border fighting against the Soviet Union (which the Soviets won) and get captured, then drafted into the Red Army. When Hitler invaded Russia, he was among the millions of other by the Wehrmacht. Which not unsurprisingly drafted him into it's labor corps, then sent him westward to help build the Atlantic Wall.

Thus he found himself on one of the "American" beaches of Normandy on 6/6/1944, and was soon a POW in US Army custody. Who at first had no clue who he was, as nobody could understand a word he said, and visa versa. Eventually they rounded up a Korean American GI, who translated the guys amazing story of being drafted into three different armies, captured twice and crossing the from the Sea of Japan to the English Channel.

Then they did the obvious: they drafted him into the US Army labor corps.

HYUFD said:

SeaShantyIrish2 said:

British Normandy Memorial -

Designed by sculptor Charles Bergen, the five waymarkers – sculptural signposts located lower down the hillside from the memorial – point to the five D-Day landing beaches. They feature scenes representing different aspects of the landings. . . .

Omaha Beach

The main force landing on Omaha Beach was American, but British forces were in support.

In the centre of the waymarker, an LCA (‘Landing Craft, Assault’) of the Royal Navy delivers American infantry to the beach. A significant proportion of the troops landing here on D-Day were put ashore by British landing craft. . .

On the edge of the waymarker, men of the US Rangers climb the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc, several miles further west . . . Two B-26 medium bombers fly overhead: this type was operated by both American and British air forces. . . . Minesweepers led the Allied fleet across the English Channel. Many of the minesweepers at this beach were British or Canadian.

Next to the minesweepers are a pair of ships of the Merchant Navy. These civilian-manned ships arrived off Normandy from D-Day onwards, and played an essential role in bringing additional troops and supplies to France.

https://www.britishnormandymemorial.org/the-memorial/waymarkers/#:~:text=The main force landing on,ashore by British landing craft.

So not a single British soldier actually landed on Omaha beach then, the Navy was supporting every beach

Eabhal said:

Eabhal said:

Richard_Tyndall said:

MattW said:

Richard_Tyndall said:

MattW said:

First data coming in about the likely impact of the Welsh 20mph speed limit in residential areas.

The casualties on 20 and 30mph roads down by 29%. Difficult to split down as so many have changed category between the two. Also worth noting that that does not identify categories of casualty.

It's nice to have some numbers during the Election campaign, though only one quarter's worth.

The number of people injured on 20 and 30mph roads in Wales fell by almost a third in the final quarter of last year, new data published by the Welsh government shows.

The figures show there were 463 casualties on such roads between October and December, down from 681 in the same period a year earlier.

The Welsh Labour government has credited the introduction of default 20mph default speed limits, which took effect last September, but Conservatives said more data was needed. Plaid Cymru, which supported the policy, said the figures were "encouraging".

Labour has since committed to a review of the new law.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjee04vlqglo

Lies, damned lies and statistics. It took about 2 minutes to find that road casualties have been falling continuously from a (very high) peak in 2005 and that the trend over the last 2 years is no different to the overall trend of the last 18 years (accepting a trough in 2020 when far fewer people were driving because of covid.)

I think you need to provide a cite on that TBH. You have data showing that trend for this subset of roads over 20 years?

You can't evaluate a particular intervention related to a particular subset by quoting a general trend; that's introducing noise into the data.

It's the Welsh Government's own statistics for road safety for 2022. It includes trends for the road casualties all the way back to 1979.

Unless of course you don’t trust the Welsh Government's own figures.

Careful - I'm don't know about Welsh stats but in Scotland much of the improvement has come from car occupants. Cars are very good at protecting at people inside in the event of a collision.

So 20mph is great news for people outside cars. And good news for car occupants too, if you consider all the costs and inconvenience of a prang, even if you escape uninjured.

Lies, damned lies and statistics.

In fact, just checking the stats - 20mph's biggest effect in Edinburgh was a reduction in slight injuries for car occupants, falling 1:1 with car on car collisions. Whiplash, I presume.

Flatlander said:

MoonRabbit said:

rottenborough said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

rottenborough said:

I think we can stop worrying about Diane Abbot and the mythical £2K tax bollocks making a dent on this campaign now.

Every time you think the Tory campaign has hit rock bottom, they find a way to go worse. Making the announcement in the rain seems absolute tiny mistake in comparison.

Has there been a worse Tory / Labour campaign in modern history? And we thought awful Elvis tribute act was embarrassingly shit.

May's 2017 campaign is now seen in a new light.

My Dad say Labour 1983 was worse than this.

Mind you, as I relate all the latest developments to him straight off of PB, he appears in a state of shock.

Hmmm. 1983 is an interesting comparison.

Labour could have been wiped out as a party in 1983 if the SDP had done just a little better. They barely avoided crossover.

It took another 14 years before they got into power.

Are we buying or selling the Tory party at 14 years in the wilderness?

FrancisUrquhart said:

Help to Buy is to getting a rebrand as Freedom to Buy...

https://news.sky.com/story/labour-to-offer-freedom-to-buy-for-young-people-with-mortgage-guarantee-scheme-13148889

Permanent very low deposits guaranteed by government has other negatives above the risk of bad loans.

HYUFD said:

Andy_JS said:

20 most popular politicians according to YouGov. Interesting how many of these are not active in frontline politics today.

Farage 38%
Starmer 30%
Blunkett 30%
Johnson 30%
Brown 26%
Mordaunt 26%
Kinnock 25%
Khan 24%
Miliband (Ed) 24%
Benn 24%
Rayner 24%
Major 24%
Heseltine 24%
Braverman 24%
Patel 23%
Burnham 23%
Tebbitt 23%
Skinner 22%
Prescott 22%
Davidson 22%

https://yougov.co.uk/ratings/politics/popularity/politicians-political-figures/all

Fails to mention 42% have a negative view of Farage too

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/public_figure/Nigel_Farage

ToryJim said:

MoonRabbit said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Telegraph now running the story,

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/06/farage-hits-out-sunak-leaving-d-day-commemorations-early/

Got to wonder whose side that papers on these days.

If one of the Nationals came out of the closet to endorse Reform, it would be an historic moment in UK political history do we think?

The Telegraph possibly will endorse Farage’s mob this time aa they often seem very much a tribute to the Völkischer Beobachter these days.

Casino_Royale said:

nico679 said:

Sunak had better hope his early departure from the D Day events doesn’t gain further traction . I still can’t understand the logic of what he did . Saying you’ll see world leaders next week at the G7 is irrelevant . This is probably the last time any of those veterans will be there and it just looks like he could care less .

If he'd stayed and missed other interviews and appointments he'd have been criticised as well for being absent from the campaign. The mood is to criticise Sunak for being Sunak.

Absolutely no-one cares about this and it will have zero impact on the campaign or the GE result.

Taz said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Help to Buy is to getting a rebrand as Freedom to Buy...

https://news.sky.com/story/labour-to-offer-freedom-to-buy-for-young-people-with-mortgage-guarantee-scheme-13148889

Permanent very low deposits guaranteed by government has other negatives above the risk of bad loans.

Help to sell, more like.

Heathener said:

Cleitophon said:

ToryJim said:

MoonRabbit said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

Telegraph now running the story,

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/06/farage-hits-out-sunak-leaving-d-day-commemorations-early/

Got to wonder whose side that papers on these days.

If one of the Nationals came out of the closet to endorse Reform, it would be an historic moment in UK political history do we think?

The Telegraph possibly will endorse Farage’s mob this time aa they often seem very much a tribute to the Völkischer Beobachter these days.

Alistair Heath's articles for example, are just so shrill and dumb.... so full of right win hyperbole and agitation.... it is terrifying to see that kind of hitlerian rhetoric going unchecked in a major newspaper.

+1

To which we can add Charles Moore, Camilla Tominey, Allison Pearson, Janet Daley, Danniel Hannan …

I take the Saturday Telegraph. The paper has lost its way these past couple of years and they now come across as bewildered by events.

It has become an echo chamber of the reactionary right.

nico679 said:

Casino_Royale said:

nico679 said:

Sunak had better hope his early departure from the D Day events doesn’t gain further traction . I still can’t understand the logic of what he did . Saying you’ll see world leaders next week at the G7 is irrelevant . This is probably the last time any of those veterans will be there and it just looks like he could care less .

If he'd stayed and missed other interviews and appointments he'd have been criticised as well for being absent from the campaign. The mood is to criticise Sunak for being Sunak.

Absolutely no-one cares about this and it will have zero impact on the campaign or the GE result.

No one was going to criticize Sunak for staying in France longer . I do admire your spin on this but it was completely avoidable.

So Sunak being Sunak is exactly the problem !

Casino_Royale said:

Chris said:

Casino_Royale said:

nico679 said:

Sunak had better hope his early departure from the D Day events doesn’t gain further traction . I still can’t understand the logic of what he did . Saying you’ll see world leaders next week at the G7 is irrelevant . This is probably the last time any of those veterans will be there and it just looks like he could care less .

If he'd stayed and missed other interviews and appointments he'd have been criticised as well for being absent from the campaign. The mood is to criticise Sunak for being Sunak.

Your mood is to defend Sunak whatever he does.

Not really, I've criticised Sunak plenty in the past.

Your trite comment is simply because I'm not joining in the pile-on, and that bothers you.

FrancisUrquhart said:

Help to Buy is to getting a rebrand as Freedom to Buy...

https://news.sky.com/story/labour-to-offer-freedom-to-buy-for-young-people-with-mortgage-guarantee-scheme-13148889

Permanent very low deposits guaranteed by government has other negatives above the risk of bad loans.

Alanbrooke said:

Casino_Royale said:

Chris said:

Casino_Royale said:

nico679 said:

Sunak had better hope his early departure from the D Day events doesn’t gain further traction . I still can’t understand the logic of what he did . Saying you’ll see world leaders next week at the G7 is irrelevant . This is probably the last time any of those veterans will be there and it just looks like he could care less .

If he'd stayed and missed other interviews and appointments he'd have been criticised as well for being absent from the campaign. The mood is to criticise Sunak for being Sunak.

Your mood is to defend Sunak whatever he does.

Not really, I've criticised Sunak plenty in the past.

Your trite comment is simply because I'm not joining in the pile-on, and that bothers you.

It is as you said a bit of a pile on, however come \July the fun starts as Starmer has to deliver.

Suddenly the attack will be on the defensive.

HYUFD said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

HYUFD said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

williamglenn said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

HYUFD said:

FrancisUrquhart said:

HYUFD said:

rottenborough said:

Rachel Wearmouth
@REWearmouth
·
5m
It’s completely unfathomable as to why any British Prime Minister would skip the 80th anniversary of D Day. It’s the job.

If a Labour Prime Minister had done such a thing, they would be shamed for the rest of their political career.

He DID NOT skip the 80th anniversary of D Day, he was there yesterday at Southsea and today in Normandy (which was primarily for heads of state and Rishi is not the King).

The same would apply to a Labour PM. Every other party leader is doing one of these ITV interviews, the main events in Normandy were over when Sunak recorded it. This story is utter rubbish and barrel scraping from Labour and Farage exploiting D Day for their party political ends.

Fortunately none of the mainstream media have it in their headlines and beyond the Westminster bubble nobody is interested

William spoke to President Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of the event. Mr Sunak did not attend the Omaha Beach ceremony, but UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron and Mr Starmer were both present.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn44ed7yelzo

He is going to need an excuse better than an XL Bully eat my homework.

I do not recall British soldiers at Omaha, it was a beach where US troops led the landings.

Sunak is also not the head of state or next head of state. Later in the day, 'Prince William joined heads of state at Omaha Beach'

The Canadians weren't at Omaha Beach either but Trudeau was there.

I am sure it will be revealed shortly was Sunak originally invited / accepted. If he was on the guest list along with Cameron and Starmer and didn't attend he is in big trouble.

It looks like it was only briefed in the morning that he wouldn't attend:

"Sunak to Skip High-Profile D-Day Event with Biden, Macron"

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-06-06/sunak-to-skip-high-profile-d-day-event-with-biden-macron

Seems like proof that he was originally invited to what Bloomberg calls a "meeting of international leaders".

It was not the G7 summit and most of those in attendance were heads of state which Sunak isn't

If he was originally invited, passed on it at the last minute, and it was because he did an ITV interview, he is in the deep shit.

No, he is in deep shit with the likes of you and Labour and Farage who want to make pathetic political points to exploit the D Day commemorations to boost your party. It is absolutely disgraceful.

He attended the British beach landing ceremonies, which is all he as UK head of government needed to attend. He is NOT US head of state, that is Biden, he is NOT Canadian head of state, that is the King with the Prince of Wales assisting him

Chris said:

Casino_Royale said:

Chris said:

Casino_Royale said:

nico679 said:

Sunak had better hope his early departure from the D Day events doesn’t gain further traction . I still can’t understand the logic of what he did . Saying you’ll see world leaders next week at the G7 is irrelevant . This is probably the last time any of those veterans will be there and it just looks like he could care less .

If he'd stayed and missed other interviews and appointments he'd have been criticised as well for being absent from the campaign. The mood is to criticise Sunak for being Sunak.

Your mood is to defend Sunak whatever he does.

Not really, I've criticised Sunak plenty in the past.

Your trite comment is simply because I'm not joining in the pile-on, and that bothers you.

I just think it's silly to suggest he would have been criticised for not leaving the D-Day event early. It tells me you're not being objective.

Alanbrooke said:

Casino_Royale said:

Chris said:

Casino_Royale said:

nico679 said:

Sunak had better hope his early departure from the D Day events doesn’t gain further traction . I still can’t understand the logic of what he did . Saying you’ll see world leaders next week at the G7 is irrelevant . This is probably the last time any of those veterans will be there and it just looks like he could care less .

If he'd stayed and missed other interviews and appointments he'd have been criticised as well for being absent from the campaign. The mood is to criticise Sunak for being Sunak.

Your mood is to defend Sunak whatever he does.

Not really, I've criticised Sunak plenty in the past.

Your trite comment is simply because I'm not joining in the pile-on, and that bothers you.

It is as you said a bit of a pile on, however come \July the fun starts as Starmer has to deliver.

Suddenly the attack will be on the defensive.

Scott_xP said:

@jessicaelgot

Tory MP texts tonight in total disgust about PM leaving the D Day commemorations early. Said when they saw the picture of Cameron with the other world leaders at the ceremony, they initially thought the BBC had chosen the wrong picture.

Heathener said:

Alanbrooke said:

Casino_Royale said:

Chris said:

Casino_Royale said:

nico679 said:

Sunak had better hope his early departure from the D Day events doesn’t gain further traction . I still can’t understand the logic of what he did . Saying you’ll see world leaders next week at the G7 is irrelevant . This is probably the last time any of those veterans will be there and it just looks like he could care less .

If he'd stayed and missed other interviews and appointments he'd have been criticised as well for being absent from the campaign. The mood is to criticise Sunak for being Sunak.

Your mood is to defend Sunak whatever he does.

Not really, I've criticised Sunak plenty in the past.

Your trite comment is simply because I'm not joining in the pile-on, and that bothers you.

It is as you said a bit of a pile on, however come \July the fun starts as Starmer has to deliver.

Suddenly the attack will be on the defensive.

You’re clinging on to this but it’s a bit desperate.

If the election goes as it currently now looks then come July 5th the mood will become very different. Labour will sweep in on a tide of good will and the tories will be down and out.

So, yes, Labour will make some mistakes but at least to start with there will be little attack left from the Opposition parties. And if they secure a 150+ majority then electorally speaking you can forget getting back to power for a decade.

And that’s if the tories sort themselves out. They might be in-fighting for some time and the country will be in no mood to forgive them for the utter shitshow for a very very long time.

Really? Truly? The Conservatives won’t recover from this for 15 years, if they do at all. Tell yourself otherwise if it helps you bear the defeat but you’ll be kidding yourself.

Alanbrooke said:

bondegezou said:

Alanbrooke said:

Casino_Royale said:

Chris said:

Casino_Royale said:

nico679 said:

Sunak had better hope his early departure from the D Day events doesn’t gain further traction . I still can’t understand the logic of what he did . Saying you’ll see world leaders next week at the G7 is irrelevant . This is probably the last time any of those veterans will be there and it just looks like he could care less .

If he'd stayed and missed other interviews and appointments he'd have been criticised as well for being absent from the campaign. The mood is to criticise Sunak for being Sunak.

Your mood is to defend Sunak whatever he does.

Not really, I've criticised Sunak plenty in the past.

Your trite comment is simply because I'm not joining in the pile-on, and that bothers you.

It is as you said a bit of a pile on, however come \July the fun starts as Starmer has to deliver.

Suddenly the attack will be on the defensive.

I don’t think Prime Minister Starmer is going to be unhappy about that.

I suspect youre wrong. He will be getting more scrutiny post election and he doesnt handle it well. Expect more U turns and wibbling.

Casino_Royale said:

Heathener said:

Alanbrooke said:

Casino_Royale said:

Chris said:

Casino_Royale said:

nico679 said:

Sunak had better hope his early departure from the D Day events doesn’t gain further traction . I still can’t understand the logic of what he did . Saying you’ll see world leaders next week at the G7 is irrelevant . This is probably the last time any of those veterans will be there and it just looks like he could care less .

If he'd stayed and missed other interviews and appointments he'd have been criticised as well for being absent from the campaign. The mood is to criticise Sunak for being Sunak.

Your mood is to defend Sunak whatever he does.

Not really, I've criticised Sunak plenty in the past.

Your trite comment is simply because I'm not joining in the pile-on, and that bothers you.

It is as you said a bit of a pile on, however come \July the fun starts as Starmer has to deliver.

Suddenly the attack will be on the defensive.

You’re clinging on to this but it’s a bit desperate.

If the election goes as it currently now looks then come July 5th the mood will become very different. Labour will sweep in on a tide of good will and the tories will be down and out.

So, yes, Labour will make some mistakes but at least to start with there will be little attack left from the Opposition parties. And if they secure a 150+ majority then electorally speaking you can forget getting back to power for a decade.

And that’s if the tories sort themselves out. They might be in-fighting for some time and the country will be in no mood to forgive them for the utter shitshow for a very very long time.

Really? Truly? The Conservatives won’t recover from this for 15 years, if they do at all. Tell yourself otherwise if it helps you bear the defeat but you’ll be kidding yourself.

Hubris.

bondegezou said:

Casino_Royale said:

Chris said:

Casino_Royale said:

Chris said:

Casino_Royale said:

nico679 said:

Sunak had better hope his early departure from the D Day events doesn’t gain further traction . I still can’t understand the logic of what he did . Saying you’ll see world leaders next week at the G7 is irrelevant . This is probably the last time any of those veterans will be there and it just looks like he could care less .

If he'd stayed and missed other interviews and appointments he'd have been criticised as well for being absent from the campaign. The mood is to criticise Sunak for being Sunak.

Your mood is to defend Sunak whatever he does.

Not really, I've criticised Sunak plenty in the past.

Your trite comment is simply because I'm not joining in the pile-on, and that bothers you.

I just think it's silly to suggest he would have been criticised for not leaving the D-Day event early. It tells me you're not being objective.

No, it tells me you have no perception whatsoever.

You'd have found a way to criticise Sunak no matter what he did, which tells me you're not being objective.

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-did-rishi-leave-the-d-day-commemorations-early/ The Spectator is criticising Sunak too. Would you say the same of them? They are a shit publication, but they’re generally friendly towards the Conservatives.

Scott_xP said:

@ayeshahazarika

Just casting my mind back to Tuesday’s leaders’ debate where Sunak argued that Starmer didn’t get the importance of the armed forces & was a threat to national security… and then left the D Day anniversary early for a media interview which won’t be broadcast for days.

@KevinASchofield

Tory minister David Johnston on Sunak's early exit from the D-Day commemorations

"The PM was at the service in Portsmouth on Wednesday and he was in Normandy yesterday. I don't know exactly when he left."

It's going to be a long broadcast round for him ...

bondegezou said:

Alanbrooke said:

bondegezou said:

Alanbrooke said:

Casino_Royale said:

Chris said:

Casino_Royale said:

nico679 said:

Sunak had better hope his early departure from the D Day events doesn’t gain further traction . I still can’t understand the logic of what he did . Saying you’ll see world leaders next week at the G7 is irrelevant . This is probably the last time any of those veterans will be there and it just looks like he could care less .

If he'd stayed and missed other interviews and appointments he'd have been criticised as well for being absent from the campaign. The mood is to criticise Sunak for being Sunak.

Your mood is to defend Sunak whatever he does.

Not really, I've criticised Sunak plenty in the past.

Your trite comment is simply because I'm not joining in the pile-on, and that bothers you.

It is as you said a bit of a pile on, however come \July the fun starts as Starmer has to deliver.

Suddenly the attack will be on the defensive.

I don’t think Prime Minister Starmer is going to be unhappy about that.

I suspect youre wrong. He will be getting more scrutiny post election and he doesnt handle it well. Expect more U turns and wibbling.

He’s campaigning to be PM, he knows what being PM means. If the fantasy that he won’t enjoy being PM gets you through the night, good for you.