What’s this market going to look like tomorrow morning? – politicalbetting.com
Tonight sees the ridiculously premature American Presidential debate and this is a potential game changer and I can see this being the only debate of the campaign and if one of the candidates has a shocker it might be the narrative of the campaign.
O/T but from the regular English Heritage mailing - they are flagging up the engineers (inter alii), John Smeaton, and the early women engineers. Some surprises, too.
Normally after a debate both sides declare their guy the winner. The difference with this one is that the Democrat side will be connected enough to reality to talk about both candidates being far too old, and so that evenhandedness will push sentiment against Biden in terms of the immediate post-Debate reaction.
What the American voters will make of it, I wouldn't have a clue.
Labour has secured the backing of the cream of the cultural world, who have entered the election campaign with a call to end the “political chaos of recent years”.
Leading actors, artists and directors from Bill Nighy to Grayson Perry have signed up to Labour’s pledges and its manifesto promise of a “creative education for every child”.
The signatories said in the letter, published in The Times on Thursday, that they believed “our country needs change”.
In words echoing the “Luvvies for Labour” movement at the dawn of the Tony Blair era, the signatories said a Sir Keir Starmer administration would work with both commercial and not-for-profit sectors to help the nation’s £120 billion creative industries sector “lead the world”.
They said every part of the creative industries sector from advertising to video games would “benefit …. from a Labour government”.
Must have been around this point that the EdStone started to be chiselled...
Seriously, whilst clearly nobody’s expecting a Tory victory, both this site and the media (and local by-elections) keep finding people who, reluctant though they may claim to be, are going to end up voting Conservative after all. The @Big_G_NorthWales effect.
If this election ends up being much closer than predicted then we can thank BigG for the insight he gave us into this phenomenon at an early stage.
The CNN vs YouTube debate is still going on in the background, with the broadcaster still threatening automated DCMA takedown requests to anyone running a live commentary that includes their stream. Streaming the event with one’s own commentary is standard practice for events like this, and clearly falls under what Americans call the ‘fair use’ exemption to copyright law.
The problem is that the process is automated at YouTube’s end, so the streams will get nixed and the offenders banned from streaming for a week. Many commentators have decided to either host elsewhere (Twitter, Rumble, their own websites), or to see what happens, and possibly make the news tomorrow about CNN being dicks and the old media dying, rather than what happened at the debate.
Would be quite hilarious if the exit poll showed a hung parliament.
Big difference between a 2017-style hung parliament with Sunak able to form a government, and a 2010 style hung parliament with good Lib Dem performance.
Normally after a debate both sides declare their guy the winner. The difference with this one is that the Democrat side will be connected enough to reality to talk about both candidates being far too old, and so that evenhandedness will push sentiment against Biden in terms of the immediate post-Debate reaction.
What the American voters will make of it, I wouldn't have a clue.
"Just because Alfred is getting a bit old to run the Batcave doesn't mean you hand it over to the Joker."
O/T but from the regular English Heritage mailing - they are flagging up the engineers (inter alii), John Smeaton, and the early women engineers. Some surprises, too.
Must have been around this point that the EdStone started to be chiselled...
Seriously, whilst clearly nobody’s expecting a Tory victory, both this site and the media (and local by-elections) keep finding people who, reluctant though they may claim to be, are going to end up voting Conservative after all. The @Big_G_NorthWales effect.
If this election ends up being much closer than predicted then we can thank BigG for the insight he gave us into this phenomenon at an early stage.
Jonathan warned us about the shambling blue hordes heading to the polling booth to place their customary X against the Tory candidate before BigG shuffled back into the Tory fold.
Must have been around this point that the EdStone started to be chiselled...
Seriously, whilst clearly nobody’s expecting a Tory victory, both this site and the media (and local by-elections) keep finding people who, reluctant though they may claim to be, are going to end up voting Conservative after all. The @Big_G_NorthWales effect.
If this election ends up being much closer than predicted then we can thank BigG for the insight he gave us into this phenomenon at an early stage.
Jonathan warned us about the shambling blue hordes heading to the polling booth to place their customary X against the Tory candidate before BigG shuffled back into the Tory fold.
It was always a risk but BigG and his wife embody it, and thereby become the name for the phenomenon.
Clearly the focus will be on Biden. if he is as far gone as the images seem to suggest, he might struggle to hold it together for a full debate.
What if he exceeds expectations and does ok?
He doesn't even have to do brilliantly. Sure, he'll probably mince his words at some point or say something nonsensical (which will make the clip on TikTok) but all he has to do is look more level-headed than Trump and he's there.
Must have been around this point that the EdStone started to be chiselled...
Seriously, whilst clearly nobody’s expecting a Tory victory, both this site and the media (and local by-elections) keep finding people who, reluctant though they may claim to be, are going to end up voting Conservative after all. The @Big_G_NorthWales effect.
If this election ends up being much closer than predicted then we can thank BigG for the insight he gave us into this phenomenon at an early stage.
Jonathan warned us about the shambling blue hordes heading to the polling booth to place their customary X against the Tory candidate before BigG shuffled back into the Tory fold.
That is why I am tempted by Ladbrokes 14-1 on NOM.
Winning a majority when you need 120 seats to do so (140 incl boundary changes) is not a straightforward challenge, whatever the opinion polls say.
Would be quite hilarious if the exit poll showed a hung parliament.
That died the second Reform took off.
If (and this is a massive if) the Tories had (largely) stopped the boats, and brought net migration down a bit then, with everything else being equal and no Reform, I could see them being at 32-34% and Labour at 35-38% and we really would have a hung parliament.
Er excuse me. But you seem to have suddenly changed your methedology. Only a couple of days ago you were arguing that it was only 8 days to go because you don't count the day that has already started nor the actual day of the vote.
So now you are claiming it is 1 week to go when by your own methedology it should only be 6 days.
I don't mind which way you count it but if you are going to criticise others and make snide remarks at least be consistent in your own methedology.
This dosent feel like 1997. It feels like Majors exhausted and despised party of 1997 up against Kinnocks disliked Labour of 1992 and the SDP of 1983 performing Reforms disruptor role.
Would be quite hilarious if the exit poll showed a hung parliament.
That died the second Reform took off.
If (and this is a massive if) the Tories had (largely) stopped the boats, and brought net migration down a bit then, with everything else being equal and no Reform, I could see them being at 32-34% and Labour at 35-38% and we really would have a hung parliament.
SKS is a very lucky general.
The harder I practice, the luckier I get The more I practice, the luckier I get. The more they put out, the more luck they have. The harder he works, the luckier he gets. The more you know, the more luck you have.
I went looking for the supposed Gary Player quote but found this was the earliest known example of the aphorism from 1900.
O/T but from the regular English Heritage mailing - they are flagging up the engineers (inter alii), John Smeaton, and the early women engineers. Some surprises, too.
Not a NT member myself (but NTS, yes), so outwith my expertise to comment (shocking as that is on PB). Very different organizations in terms of their remits, obviously: roughly, with grey areas such as archaeology of farmland, EH are a government agency charged with the built heritage alone, and have statutory duties; NT also deals with landscape.
Edit: for instance EH have the records duty, which is reflected in their mailings (e.g. photographs of old sites).
The giveaway is that Reform (currently 1 MP, behind Conservatives in nearly all polls) are shorter odds than the Conservatives (currently have lots of MPs and ahead of Reform in the polls).
This dosent feel like 1997. It feels like Majors exhausted and despised party of 1997 up against Kinnocks disliked Labour of 1992 and the SDP of 1983 performing Reforms disruptor role.
This election, more than most, is sui generis. Comparing it to others is not illuminating.
The giveaway is that Reform (currently 1 MP, behind Conservatives in nearly all polls) are shorter odds than the Conservatives (currently have lots of MPs and ahead of Reform in the polls).
its the potential though- Whilst highly unlikely , it is possible to imagine Reform suddenly surging as people collectively get fed up with the current party politics system. It is not imaginable that everyone suddenly thinks the tories are so super again that they will suddenly vote for them en masse
O/T but from the regular English Heritage mailing - they are flagging up the engineers (inter alii), John Smeaton, and the early women engineers. Some surprises, too.
This dosent feel like 1997. It feels like Majors exhausted and despised party of 1997 up against Kinnocks disliked Labour of 1992 and the SDP of 1983 performing Reforms disruptor role.
Except reform are impacting the losing (Tory) side so creating a 1983 style landslide for Labour
Clearly the focus will be on Biden. if he is as far gone as the images seem to suggest, he might struggle to hold it together for a full debate.
What if he exceeds expectations and does ok?
He doesn't even have to do brilliantly. Sure, he'll probably mince his words at some point or say something nonsensical (which will make the clip on TikTok) but all he has to do is look more level-headed than Trump and he's there.
Having spent the last couple of years saying he has dementia, Republicans have switched to saying that he's mentally sharp, ahead of the debate. I think they left the counterspin a bit too late, though, so your analysis is about right.
Labour seems to have regained some lost ground in the past few days with vote share in most polls above forty and comfortably ahead of Con and Reform put together. Con are just ahead of Reform in the high teens.
This dosent feel like 1997. It feels like Majors exhausted and despised party of 1997 up against Kinnocks disliked Labour of 1992 and the SDP of 1983 performing Reforms disruptor role.
Feel is important in an election. In 1997 it was obvious Labour were whupping the Tories. You could taste it. In 2010? The Tories would have won that had we not had the Cleggasm. In the 2015 Stockton South campaign the wheel had fallen off the Labour bus weeks before polling day with fractious infighting within the camp. And with door after door saying they liked our candidate but feared Alex Salmond, we knew in our guts it wasn't going well. 2017? I co-authored and strategised Dr Paul Williams winning campaign. No infighting as we simply shut the party out, and won.
This time? I'm telling you, there is something in the air which the pollsters aren't picking up at least here in the true North East. That isn't me confidently saying we will win. But we're in the battle and getting heard and picking up support.
We know how the Tories feel. They feel that they are heading for the cliffs. Sunak out campaigning in seats they hold by 25k, kids with crayons running the social media campaign, and coming out swinging in the debates hoping desperately to land a punch on Penfold...
O/T but from the regular English Heritage mailing - they are flagging up the engineers (inter alii), John Smeaton, and the early women engineers. Some surprises, too.
Not a NT member myself (but NTS, yes), so outwith my expertise to comment (shocking as that is on PB). Very different organizations in terms of their remits, obviously: roughly, with grey areas such as archaeology of farmland, EH are a government agency charged with the built heritage alone, and have statutory duties; NT also deals with landscape.
Edit: for instance EH have the records duty, which is reflected in their mailings (e.g. photographs of old sites).
I dont think EH is a government agency anymore but turned itself into a charity a few years ago? Personallly I am a member of NT and a member of the civil service sports and lesiure society that gets you free entry to EH sites - I enjoy both but generally you spend longer at an NH site than EH. The exception being Brodsworth manor near Doncaster which is EH (but has a roof and furniture!) but one of the best gardens in England
When you look at our piss-poor choices on offer for next week a glance across the pond is a useful tonic. Things could be worse...
You don't even have to look across the Pond. Across the Channel will do.
Le Pen obviously. But I don't get the hatred for Macron in these parts. I mean, I get that the fash-curious hate him for having beaten their lass, but otherwise?
The French left seem to hate Macron more than Le Pen. So, if anything, I’d expect more centrist votes to go to RN than the Popular Front in the run offs.
This dosent feel like 1997. It feels like Majors exhausted and despised party of 1997 up against Kinnocks disliked Labour of 1992 and the SDP of 1983 performing Reforms disruptor role.
Except reform are impacting the losing (Tory) side so creating a 1983 style landslide for Labour
massive intervention in Farage Ukraine Dispute this evening on GB News. Michael Portillo who was Defence Minister at relevant time and a University Professor who is an Authority on the subject both agreed the attacks on Farage were willful and disreputable and had intent to smear. Both agreed his comments were a fair summing up of a reasonable view of the situation.
Obviously views varied and that if you went back to Gorbachev and the breakup of the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact the West ignored Gobachev’s wishes on NATO expansion and the need for a security pact between Russia and the West.
They both also recognized critical time we are living through, and Farage alone,amongst the leaders, had been the one who has brought up and was prepared to discuss the subject of Ukraine, the war and it’s possible implications. Both felt it was a discussion the country needs, especially in a General Election.
What a load of nonsense, the others are prepared to discuss it they just don't agree with Farage on it.
I see we're back to the idea quoting someone's views and responding to them is smearing though. What an absolute snowflake Farage and co are.
Hmm. To be fair, whilst I think Farage is completely wrong, it is fair to say that most of the attacks I have seen on him have been along the lines of him being a Putin shill and a traitor rather than any reasoned response.
I mean, as an example, plenty of us on here could have given a reasoned response which would have demolished him but I haven't actually seen anyone bother. And that includes me. We have been content just to say rude things about him. Same goes for the wider press and commentators.
I disagree, the reasoned takedowns have been alongside the intemperate ones, then he pretends the former don't exist.
For example, his ludicrous blaming the situation on EU expansion has been explained to be absurd. It is then noted how it makes him a Putin shill. He then whinges that people said a mean thing.
Interesting that five days on, the Conservatives social media still has absolutely nothing to say about Farage. It’s all about Labour and taxes. https://x.com/conservatives
Must have been around this point that the EdStone started to be chiselled...
Seriously, whilst clearly nobody’s expecting a Tory victory, both this site and the media (and local by-elections) keep finding people who, reluctant though they may claim to be, are going to end up voting Conservative after all. The @Big_G_NorthWales effect.
If this election ends up being much closer than predicted then we can thank BigG for the insight he gave us into this phenomenon at an early stage.
In the end, I’ll likely vote Conservative, grudgingly.
I think there’s a fair chance that Reform will poll 10% or so, and the Conservatives 25% or so. With Labour on 40% or just under, that would secure c.150 seats.
When you look at our piss-poor choices on offer for next week a glance across the pond is a useful tonic. Things could be worse...
You don't even have to look across the Pond. Across the Channel will do.
Le Pen obviously. But I don't get the hatred for Macron in these parts. I mean, I get that the fash-curious hate him for having beaten their lass, but otherwise?
If Macron = Sunak - centrist with record of failure - our alternatives to him are Starmer, Davey amd Farage. Even if Farage = Le Pen, Starmer and Davey are a far more appetising choice than Mechelon.
Clearly the focus will be on Biden. if he is as far gone as the images seem to suggest, he might struggle to hold it together for a full debate.
Yet his opponents accuse him of being drugged up if he does well, so they win either way.
Trump rambles incoherently constantly but unfortunately none of his supporters care, so an unedifying encounter of two very old men past their prime looks likely. Only one cares about democracy though.
Must have been around this point that the EdStone started to be chiselled...
Seriously, whilst clearly nobody’s expecting a Tory victory, both this site and the media (and local by-elections) keep finding people who, reluctant though they may claim to be, are going to end up voting Conservative after all. The @Big_G_NorthWales effect.
If this election ends up being much closer than predicted then we can thank BigG for the insight he gave us into this phenomenon at an early stage.
In the end, I’ll likely vote Conservative, grudgingly.
I think there’s a fair chance that Reform will poll 10% or so, and the Conservatives 25% or so. With Labour on 40% or just under, that would secure c.150 seats.
Yep.
Last minute silent-tories who have hesitated for weeks will come to the fore.
Would be quite hilarious if the exit poll showed a hung parliament.
That died the second Reform took off.
If (and this is a massive if) the Tories had (largely) stopped the boats, and brought net migration down a bit then, with everything else being equal and no Reform, I could see them being at 32-34% and Labour at 35-38% and we really would have a hung parliament.
SKS is a very lucky general.
I think this narrative is likely to win out, post defeat.
It is, of course, bollocks.
There is no appeasing the bastard tendency on the right. The supply creates the demand as the right's combined market share inexorably shrinks.
Would be quite hilarious if the exit poll showed a hung parliament.
That died the second Reform took off.
If (and this is a massive if) the Tories had (largely) stopped the boats, and brought net migration down a bit then, with everything else being equal and no Reform, I could see them being at 32-34% and Labour at 35-38% and we really would have a hung parliament.
SKS is a very lucky general.
Elections are zero sum games. Starmer is lucky because his party is perceived to be better by most people than a worn out, morally bankrupt and incompetent Conservative Party. If the opposition was better he would find it more difficult to win. This is the case for all contests.
This dosent feel like 1997. It feels like Majors exhausted and despised party of 1997 up against Kinnocks disliked Labour of 1992 and the SDP of 1983 performing Reforms disruptor role.
Feel is important in an election. In 1997 it was obvious Labour were whupping the Tories. You could taste it. In 2010? The Tories would have won that had we not had the Cleggasm. In the 2015 Stockton South campaign the wheel had fallen off the Labour bus weeks before polling day with fractious infighting within the camp. And with door after door saying they liked our candidate but feared Alex Salmond, we knew in our guts it wasn't going well. 2017? I co-authored and strategised Dr Paul Williams winning campaign. No infighting as we simply shut the party out, and won.
This time? I'm telling you, there is something in the air which the pollsters aren't picking up at least here in the true North East. That isn't me confidently saying we will win. But we're in the battle and getting heard and picking up support.
We know how the Tories feel. They feel that they are heading for the cliffs. Sunak out campaigning in seats they hold by 25k, kids with crayons running the social media campaign, and coming out swinging in the debates hoping desperately to land a punch on Penfold...
It feels the same here in Dorset but... the 'reluctantly going to vote Tory' voices on here make me think it will end up disappointingly much closer than the polls suggest.
Clearly the focus will be on Biden. if he is as far gone as the images seem to suggest, he might struggle to hold it together for a full debate.
What if he exceeds expectations and does ok?
He doesn't even have to do brilliantly. Sure, he'll probably mince his words at some point or say something nonsensical (which will make the clip on TikTok) but all he has to do is look more level-headed than Trump and he's there.
I expect he can manage that. His problem is he sounds about 95, so if someone is really concerned about it even doing well doesn't change that.
Worth noting that Trump would be older than Biden was if he wins again, and he's made a lot about how Biden is too old, so logically anyone concerned by Biden's age should vote for neither, but politics has never been very logical.
Must have been around this point that the EdStone started to be chiselled...
Seriously, whilst clearly nobody’s expecting a Tory victory, both this site and the media (and local by-elections) keep finding people who, reluctant though they may claim to be, are going to end up voting Conservative after all. The @Big_G_NorthWales effect.
If this election ends up being much closer than predicted then we can thank BigG for the insight he gave us into this phenomenon at an early stage.
Jonathan warned us about the shambling blue hordes heading to the polling booth to place their customary X against the Tory candidate before BigG shuffled back into the Tory fold.
That is why I am tempted by Ladbrokes 14-1 on NOM.
Winning a majority when you need 120 seats to do so (140 incl boundary changes) is not a straightforward challenge, whatever the opinion polls say.
On topic. I am on the top deck of a boat, the Inez-Sun, burning under a cloudless sky, heading out to a mystical island - Ile de Sein - known in ancient times for its virgin witches and female druids, who wore black hats and who could shapeshift into evil hares, as they cursed the world with Satanic magic. In later times the island was notorious for its wreckers, luring sailors to a grisly death, their skulls smashed to bloody pieces on the infamous rocks of this bleak and treeless shore
Perhaps to make up for this slightly checkered history, in 1940, after Charles De Gaulle’s famous appeal to the “free French” in his June 18 London radio broadcast, the entire able bodied male population got in their fishing boats and sailed to England, so as to fight the Nazis. Many never returned. This provoked De Gaulle to say: “a quarter of the French Resistance is from the Ile de Sein”
O/T but from the regular English Heritage mailing - they are flagging up the engineers (inter alii), John Smeaton, and the early women engineers. Some surprises, too.
Not a NT member myself (but NTS, yes), so outwith my expertise to comment (shocking as that is on PB). Very different organizations in terms of their remits, obviously: roughly, with grey areas such as archaeology of farmland, EH are a government agency charged with the built heritage alone, and have statutory duties; NT also deals with landscape.
Edit: for instance EH have the records duty, which is reflected in their mailings (e.g. photographs of old sites).
I dont think EH is a government agency anymore but turned itself into a charity a few years ago? Personallly I am a member of NT and a member of the civil service sports and lesiure society that gets you free entry to EH sites - I enjoy both but generally you spend longer at an NH site than EH. The exception being Brodsworth manor near Doncaster which is EH (but has a roof and furniture!) but one of the best gardens in England
Thyanks. On checking, EH actually spliut into two bodies, Historic England (gmt agency) and English Heritage which is the offloaded charity with the ruins. CAmeronian principle presumably.
Labour seems to have regained some lost ground in the past few days with vote share in most polls above forty and comfortably ahead of Con and Reform put together. Con are just ahead of Reform in the high teens.
This suggests a Con seat total below 100.
Agreed. A late Tory surge gets them into 3 figures but not much else. 150 feels like a best case scenario if Reform voters get cold feet at the moment of decision.
Q: What will you do to assist people with illnesses and disabilities get back into work?
Starmer: Ensure that they receive the medical treatment they need, and work with employers to develop transition plans to facilitate people re-entering the workplace.
Sunak: Most of them are just swinging the lead. We want to take their benefits away. Workshy, scroungers, layabouts.
Clearly the focus will be on Biden. if he is as far gone as the images seem to suggest, he might struggle to hold it together for a full debate.
What if he exceeds expectations and does ok?
He doesn't even have to do brilliantly. Sure, he'll probably mince his words at some point or say something nonsensical (which will make the clip on TikTok) but all he has to do is look more level-headed than Trump and he's there.
I expect he can manage that. His problem is he sounds about 95, so if someone is really concerned about it even doing well doesn't change that.
Worth noting that Trump would be older than Biden was if he wins again, and he's made a lot about how Biden is too old, so logically anyone concerned by Biden's age should vote for neither, but politics has never been very logical.
US politics would be so much better if there was an age limit of 70 on running for President or Senator, or on lifetime appointments such as to the Supreme Court.
Sadly not happening though, as it requires amending the Constitution.
When you look at our piss-poor choices on offer for next week a glance across the pond is a useful tonic. Things could be worse...
You don't even have to look across the Pond. Across the Channel will do.
Le Pen obviously. But I don't get the hatred for Macron in these parts. I mean, I get that the fash-curious hate him for having beaten their lass, but otherwise?
The French left seem to hate Macron more than Le Pen. So, if anything, I’d expect more centrist votes to go to RN than the Popular Front in the run offs.
We'll see, but not quite what we were talking about. We were talking about our perceptions of their candidates. Given that 95% of American voters will apparently vote for Biden or Trump there's clearly some willingness there. But I wouldn't want that choice. Contrast that with France. Obviously Le Pen is a nightmare, but would I vote for Macron? Yes. No qualms.
I think he got plenty of grudging praise on here when reelected as best of the options, and his rise has been impressive.
When you look at our piss-poor choices on offer for next week a glance across the pond is a useful tonic. Things could be worse...
You don't even have to look across the Pond. Across the Channel will do.
Le Pen obviously. But I don't get the hatred for Macron in these parts. I mean, I get that the fash-curious hate him for having beaten their lass, but otherwise?
If Macron = Sunak - centrist with record of failure - our alternatives to him are Starmer, Davey amd Farage. Even if Farage = Le Pen, Starmer and Davey are a far more appetising choice than Mechelon.
I’d vote Le Pen in preference to Melenchon. She’s less bigoted than he is.
Would be quite hilarious if the exit poll showed a hung parliament.
That died the second Reform took off.
If (and this is a massive if) the Tories had (largely) stopped the boats, and brought net migration down a bit then, with everything else being equal and no Reform, I could see them being at 32-34% and Labour at 35-38% and we really would have a hung parliament.
SKS is a very lucky general.
I think this narrative is likely to win out, post defeat.
It is, of course, bollocks.
There is no appeasing the bastard tendency on the right. The supply creates the demand as the right's combined market share inexorably shrinks.
Rather reminiscent of the German generals in October 1918 disclaiming all responsibility for the defeat and carefully laying the foundations for the Dolchstoßlegende.
Would be quite hilarious if the exit poll showed a hung parliament.
That died the second Reform took off.
If (and this is a massive if) the Tories had (largely) stopped the boats, and brought net migration down a bit then, with everything else being equal and no Reform, I could see them being at 32-34% and Labour at 35-38% and we really would have a hung parliament.
SKS is a very lucky general.
Look at the long term trend. The Tories would be on about 25% without Reform, Labour 45%. I think the very best result would have been 40:30 with some swing back.
This dosent feel like 1997. It feels like Majors exhausted and despised party of 1997 up against Kinnocks disliked Labour of 1992 and the SDP of 1983 performing Reforms disruptor role.
Feel is important in an election. In 1997 it was obvious Labour were whupping the Tories. You could taste it. In 2010? The Tories would have won that had we not had the Cleggasm. In the 2015 Stockton South campaign the wheel had fallen off the Labour bus weeks before polling day with fractious infighting within the camp. And with door after door saying they liked our candidate but feared Alex Salmond, we knew in our guts it wasn't going well. 2017? I co-authored and strategised Dr Paul Williams winning campaign. No infighting as we simply shut the party out, and won.
This time? I'm telling you, there is something in the air which the pollsters aren't picking up at least here in the true North East. That isn't me confidently saying we will win. But we're in the battle and getting heard and picking up support.
We know how the Tories feel. They feel that they are heading for the cliffs. Sunak out campaigning in seats they hold by 25k, kids with crayons running the social media campaign, and coming out swinging in the debates hoping desperately to land a punch on Penfold...
It feels the same here in Dorset but... the 'reluctantly going to vote Tory' voices on here make me think it will end up disappointingly much closer than the polls suggest.
just observer bias imho- On a site like this you get lots of "tories" - by definition they are politicly engaged (why would they be on the site if not) and therefore will at some point be angry with whats happened either by the government or by the campaign - Of this mass a lot will then not vote tory again but probably then dont feel the need to admit who they are going to vote for instead but some out of the mass will state they are "reluctantly " going to vote tory. Nothing that contradicts the polls ,indeed supports them , otherwise the tories would be on zero percent .
I for instance have voted tory at all general elections but will this time vote Reform .
Would be quite hilarious if the exit poll showed a hung parliament.
That died the second Reform took off.
If (and this is a massive if) the Tories had (largely) stopped the boats, and brought net migration down a bit then, with everything else being equal and no Reform, I could see them being at 32-34% and Labour at 35-38% and we really would have a hung parliament.
SKS is a very lucky general.
Even a hung parliament would spell the last week of this Tory government.
When you look at our piss-poor choices on offer for next week a glance across the pond is a useful tonic. Things could be worse...
You don't even have to look across the Pond. Across the Channel will do.
Le Pen obviously. But I don't get the hatred for Macron in these parts. I mean, I get that the fash-curious hate him for having beaten their lass, but otherwise?
The French left seem to hate Macron more than Le Pen. So, if anything, I’d expect more centrist votes to go to RN than the Popular Front in the run offs.
RN went from something like 8 seats to 80 last time, as for the first time the second round system did not see them lose en masse. If that is amplified further this time it will be quite interesting.
Long time to the next presidentials though, and Le Pen has already had multiple tries.
This dosent feel like 1997. It feels like Majors exhausted and despised party of 1997 up against Kinnocks disliked Labour of 1992 and the SDP of 1983 performing Reforms disruptor role.
Feel is important in an election. In 1997 it was obvious Labour were whupping the Tories. You could taste it. In 2010? The Tories would have won that had we not had the Cleggasm. In the 2015 Stockton South campaign the wheel had fallen off the Labour bus weeks before polling day with fractious infighting within the camp. And with door after door saying they liked our candidate but feared Alex Salmond, we knew in our guts it wasn't going well. 2017? I co-authored and strategised Dr Paul Williams winning campaign. No infighting as we simply shut the party out, and won.
This time? I'm telling you, there is something in the air which the pollsters aren't picking up at least here in the true North East. That isn't me confidently saying we will win. But we're in the battle and getting heard and picking up support.
We know how the Tories feel. They feel that they are heading for the cliffs. Sunak out campaigning in seats they hold by 25k, kids with crayons running the social media campaign, and coming out swinging in the debates hoping desperately to land a punch on Penfold...
It feels the same here in Dorset but... the 'reluctantly going to vote Tory' voices on here make me think it will end up disappointingly much closer than the polls suggest.
just observer bias imho- On a site like this you get lots of "tories" - by definition they are politicly engaged (why would they be on the site if not) and therefore will at some point be angry with whats happened either by the government or by the campaign - Of this mass a lot will then not vote tory again but probably then dont feel the need to admit who they are going to vote for instead but some out of the mass will state they are "reluctantly " going to vote tory. Nothing that contradicts the polls ,indeed supports them , otherwise the tories would be on zero percent .
I for instance have voted tory at all general elections but will this time vote Reform .
First paragraph, good point.
Second paragraph, I think you're deeply misguided but your choice obvs, and no doubt you are not alone.
O/T but from the regular English Heritage mailing - they are flagging up the engineers (inter alii), John Smeaton, and the early women engineers. Some surprises, too.
Not a NT member myself (but NTS, yes), so outwith my expertise to comment (shocking as that is on PB). Very different organizations in terms of their remits, obviously: roughly, with grey areas such as archaeology of farmland, EH are a government agency charged with the built heritage alone, and have statutory duties; NT also deals with landscape.
Edit: for instance EH have the records duty, which is reflected in their mailings (e.g. photographs of old sites).
In my neck of the woods EH are quite active, with for example Bolsover Castle where they do events including Cavalier Costumed Horse Dancing in the Riding School that was rebuilt after Cromwell & Co slighted it. And they have at four significant ruins within 10 miles of here - Old Hardwick Hall, Sutton Scarsdale, Rufford Abbey and Wingfield Manor. https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/bolsover-castle/events/
This dosent feel like 1997. It feels like Majors exhausted and despised party of 1997 up against Kinnocks disliked Labour of 1992 and the SDP of 1983 performing Reforms disruptor role.
Feel is important in an election. In 1997 it was obvious Labour were whupping the Tories. You could taste it. In 2010? The Tories would have won that had we not had the Cleggasm. In the 2015 Stockton South campaign the wheel had fallen off the Labour bus weeks before polling day with fractious infighting within the camp. And with door after door saying they liked our candidate but feared Alex Salmond, we knew in our guts it wasn't going well. 2017? I co-authored and strategised Dr Paul Williams winning campaign. No infighting as we simply shut the party out, and won.
This time? I'm telling you, there is something in the air which the pollsters aren't picking up at least here in the true North East. That isn't me confidently saying we will win. But we're in the battle and getting heard and picking up support.
We know how the Tories feel. They feel that they are heading for the cliffs. Sunak out campaigning in seats they hold by 25k, kids with crayons running the social media campaign, and coming out swinging in the debates hoping desperately to land a punch on Penfold...
It feels the same here in Dorset but... the 'reluctantly going to vote Tory' voices on here make me think it will end up disappointingly much closer than the polls suggest.
just observer bias imho- On a site like this you get lots of "tories" - by definition they are politicly engaged (why would they be on the site if not) and therefore will at some point be angry with whats happened either by the government or by the campaign - Of this mass a lot will then not vote tory again but probably then dont feel the need to admit who they are going to vote for instead but some out of the mass will state they are "reluctantly " going to vote tory. Nothing that contradicts the polls ,indeed supports them , otherwise the tories would be on zero percent .
I for instance have voted tory at all general elections but will this time vote Reform .
I have a moral dilemma here. I have two votes. Two postal votes. One for me and one for my ex wife (who is now in distant parts and doesn’t care)
How shall I cast them? I am torn between starmer (to give him a chance and annoy @kinabalu) and Reform (I want the Tories destroyed and every vote for Reform adds to that)
However my two vote sitch seems to solve the dilemma. I shall personally vote for Starmer but my ex wife will vote Reform. Sorted
Clearly the focus will be on Biden. if he is as far gone as the images seem to suggest, he might struggle to hold it together for a full debate.
Yet his opponents accuse him of being drugged up if he does well, so they win either way.
Trump rambles incoherently constantly but unfortunately none of his supporters care, so an unedifying encounter of two very old men past their prime looks likely. Only one cares about democracy though.
'Drugging up' someone with dementia would be highly unlikely to improve their debate performance.
And we know whose White House was an actual pill mill.
Q: What will you do to assist people with illnesses and disabilities get back into work?
Starmer: Ensure that they receive the medical treatment they need, and work with employers to develop transition plans to facilitate people re-entering the workplace.
Sunak: Most of them are just swinging the lead. We want to take their benefits away. Workshy, scroungers, layabouts.
We had a similar debate a few years ago. Curiously, rather more PBers were in favour of forcing workshy and possibly mentally ill scroungers back into work than wanted to recruit them to their own companies.
Clearly the focus will be on Biden. if he is as far gone as the images seem to suggest, he might struggle to hold it together for a full debate.
Yet his opponents accuse him of being drugged up if he does well, so they win either way.
Trump rambles incoherently constantly but unfortunately none of his supporters care, so an unedifying encounter of two very old men past their prime looks likely. Only one cares about democracy though.
'Drugging up' someone with dementia would be highly unlikely to improve their debate performance.
And we know whose White House was an actual pill mill.
The allegation that he was on some kind of amphetamines for the State of the Union looks quite convincing to me - the sudden extraordinary improvement in lucidity and eloquence was striking, as was the massive relapse to his normal senility thereafter
Moreover they will want to avoid any “accidents”. A medically informed (and left wing) friend of mine recently gave me a plausible explanation for Biden’s weird behaviour on the White House lawn the other day. I’ll spare PB the unhappy details and precise medical words my friend used, but it all made sense
Also, how many octogenarians are NOT on multiple drugs? It’s normal. I am sure Trump is as well. He’s definitely been guzzling ozempic you can see it in his face
This dosent feel like 1997. It feels like Majors exhausted and despised party of 1997 up against Kinnocks disliked Labour of 1992 and the SDP of 1983 performing Reforms disruptor role.
Feel is important in an election. In 1997 it was obvious Labour were whupping the Tories. You could taste it. In 2010? The Tories would have won that had we not had the Cleggasm. In the 2015 Stockton South campaign the wheel had fallen off the Labour bus weeks before polling day with fractious infighting within the camp. And with door after door saying they liked our candidate but feared Alex Salmond, we knew in our guts it wasn't going well. 2017? I co-authored and strategised Dr Paul Williams winning campaign. No infighting as we simply shut the party out, and won.
This time? I'm telling you, there is something in the air which the pollsters aren't picking up at least here in the true North East. That isn't me confidently saying we will win. But we're in the battle and getting heard and picking up support.
We know how the Tories feel. They feel that they are heading for the cliffs. Sunak out campaigning in seats they hold by 25k, kids with crayons running the social media campaign, and coming out swinging in the debates hoping desperately to land a punch on Penfold...
It feels the same here in Dorset but... the 'reluctantly going to vote Tory' voices on here make me think it will end up disappointingly much closer than the polls suggest.
just observer bias imho- On a site like this you get lots of "tories" - by definition they are politicly engaged (why would they be on the site if not) and therefore will at some point be angry with whats happened either by the government or by the campaign - Of this mass a lot will then not vote tory again but probably then dont feel the need to admit who they are going to vote for instead but some out of the mass will state they are "reluctantly " going to vote tory. Nothing that contradicts the polls ,indeed supports them , otherwise the tories would be on zero percent .
I for instance have voted tory at all general elections but will this time vote Reform .
I tend to agree with this. The polling has been so consistently, across all companies, showing the Tories in the doldrums that it would pretty much end the polling industry if it is a major upset now.
Caveats:
There will be a lot of seats on razor's edge. A small swing one way or the other could be a difference of 50-odd seats.
Turnout. I'm genuinely unsure where this will end up, but my instinct is that a lower turnout will help the Conservatives as a lot ex-Conservative voters will simply not bother rather than actually switching their vote. Equally, apathy/complacency towards a Labour win may not GOTV for the disengaged who are leaning Lab.
At this stage, I still think we'll have a strong win for Starmer - all the available evidence points to this being the case - but I remain unconvinced by the Con ELE scenario.
On topic. I am on the top deck of a boat, the Inez-Sun, burning under a cloudless sky, heading out to a mystical island - Ile de Sein - known in ancient times for its virgin witches and female druids, who wore black hats and who could shapeshift into evil hares, as they cursed the world with Satanic magic. In later times the island was notorious for its wreckers, luring sailors to a grisly death, their skulls smashed to bloody pieces on the infamous rocks of this bleak and treeless shore
Perhaps to make up for this slightly checkered history, in 1940, after Charles De Gaulle’s famous appeal to the “free French” in his June 18 London radio broadcast, the entire able bodied male population got in their fishing boats and sailed to England, so as to fight the Nazis. Many never returned. This provoked De Gaulle to say: “a quarter of the French Resistance is from the Ile de Sein”
On topic. I am on the top deck of a boat, the Inez-Sun, burning under a cloudless sky, heading out to a mystical island - Ile de Sein - known in ancient times for its virgin witches and female druids, who wore black hats and who could shapeshift into evil hares, as they cursed the world with Satanic magic. In later times the island was notorious for its wreckers, luring sailors to a grisly death, their skulls smashed to bloody pieces on the infamous rocks of this bleak and treeless shore
Perhaps to make up for this slightly checkered history, in 1940, after Charles De Gaulle’s famous appeal to the “free French” in his June 18 London radio broadcast, the entire able bodied male population got in their fishing boats and sailed to England, so as to fight the Nazis. Many never returned. This provoked De Gaulle to say: “a quarter of the French Resistance is from the Ile de Sein”
This dosent feel like 1997. It feels like Majors exhausted and despised party of 1997 up against Kinnocks disliked Labour of 1992 and the SDP of 1983 performing Reforms disruptor role.
Feel is important in an election. In 1997 it was obvious Labour were whupping the Tories. You could taste it. In 2010? The Tories would have won that had we not had the Cleggasm. In the 2015 Stockton South campaign the wheel had fallen off the Labour bus weeks before polling day with fractious infighting within the camp. And with door after door saying they liked our candidate but feared Alex Salmond, we knew in our guts it wasn't going well. 2017? I co-authored and strategised Dr Paul Williams winning campaign. No infighting as we simply shut the party out, and won.
This time? I'm telling you, there is something in the air which the pollsters aren't picking up at least here in the true North East. That isn't me confidently saying we will win. But we're in the battle and getting heard and picking up support.
We know how the Tories feel. They feel that they are heading for the cliffs. Sunak out campaigning in seats they hold by 25k, kids with crayons running the social media campaign, and coming out swinging in the debates hoping desperately to land a punch on Penfold...
It feels the same here in Dorset but... the 'reluctantly going to vote Tory' voices on here make me think it will end up disappointingly much closer than the polls suggest.
just observer bias imho- On a site like this you get lots of "tories" - by definition they are politicly engaged (why would they be on the site if not) and therefore will at some point be angry with whats happened either by the government or by the campaign - Of this mass a lot will then not vote tory again but probably then dont feel the need to admit who they are going to vote for instead but some out of the mass will state they are "reluctantly " going to vote tory. Nothing that contradicts the polls ,indeed supports them , otherwise the tories would be on zero percent .
I for instance have voted tory at all general elections but will this time vote Reform .
I have a moral dilemma here. I have two votes. Two postal votes. One for me and one for my ex wife (who is now in distant parts and doesn’t care)
How shall I cast them? I am torn between starmer (to give him a chance and annoy @kinabalu) and Reform (I want the Tories destroyed and every vote for Reform adds to that)
However my two vote sitch seems to solve the dilemma. I shall personally vote for Starmer but my ex wife will vote Reform. Sorted
Don't cast the one for the ex-wife unless she tells you to because although you probably wouldn't be prosecuted that would be a crime and you just confessed to it on the internet.
Seems a large number of seats for Reform. Can it be so?
skybet have Reform winning 7 seats or more at 2/1 which I think is the current best GE bet out there. They dont even need more than 15% to do this as I think their vote is more lumpy and less evenly distributed that seat calculators think
This dosent feel like 1997. It feels like Majors exhausted and despised party of 1997 up against Kinnocks disliked Labour of 1992 and the SDP of 1983 performing Reforms disruptor role.
Feel is important in an election. In 1997 it was obvious Labour were whupping the Tories. You could taste it. In 2010? The Tories would have won that had we not had the Cleggasm. In the 2015 Stockton South campaign the wheel had fallen off the Labour bus weeks before polling day with fractious infighting within the camp. And with door after door saying they liked our candidate but feared Alex Salmond, we knew in our guts it wasn't going well. 2017? I co-authored and strategised Dr Paul Williams winning campaign. No infighting as we simply shut the party out, and won.
This time? I'm telling you, there is something in the air which the pollsters aren't picking up at least here in the true North East. That isn't me confidently saying we will win. But we're in the battle and getting heard and picking up support.
We know how the Tories feel. They feel that they are heading for the cliffs. Sunak out campaigning in seats they hold by 25k, kids with crayons running the social media campaign, and coming out swinging in the debates hoping desperately to land a punch on Penfold...
It feels the same here in Dorset but... the 'reluctantly going to vote Tory' voices on here make me think it will end up disappointingly much closer than the polls suggest.
just observer bias imho- On a site like this you get lots of "tories" - by definition they are politicly engaged (why would they be on the site if not) and therefore will at some point be angry with whats happened either by the government or by the campaign - Of this mass a lot will then not vote tory again but probably then dont feel the need to admit who they are going to vote for instead but some out of the mass will state they are "reluctantly " going to vote tory. Nothing that contradicts the polls ,indeed supports them , otherwise the tories would be on zero percent .
I for instance have voted tory at all general elections but will this time vote Reform .
I have a moral dilemma here. I have two votes. Two postal votes. One for me and one for my ex wife (who is now in distant parts and doesn’t care)
How shall I cast them? I am torn between starmer (to give him a chance and annoy @kinabalu) and Reform (I want the Tories destroyed and every vote for Reform adds to that)
However my two vote sitch seems to solve the dilemma. I shall personally vote for Starmer but my ex wife will vote Reform. Sorted
Completing a postal vote for someone else is a criminal offence.
When you look at our piss-poor choices on offer for next week a glance across the pond is a useful tonic. Things could be worse...
You don't even have to look across the Pond. Across the Channel will do.
Le Pen obviously. But I don't get the hatred for Macron in these parts. I mean, I get that the fash-curious hate him for having beaten their lass, but otherwise?
The French left seem to hate Macron more than Le Pen. So, if anything, I’d expect more centrist votes to go to RN than the Popular Front in the run offs.
RN went from something like 8 seats to 80 last time, as for the first time the second round system did not see them lose en masse. If that is amplified further this time it will be quite interesting.
Long time to the next presidentials though, and Le Pen has already had multiple tries.
There was nothing unusual about RN's first round vote share, 19%, in 2022. What was unusual was the willingness of voters to support their candidates in round 2, whereas in the past, they tended to switch behind whoever was best placed to defeat them.
This time RN (and the Ciotti Republicans) are on about 37% in the polls, and in round 2, the choice will mostly be between them and a left wing, rather than centrist, candidate.
Kevin Hollinrake, the business minister, has said he placed a bet on the Conservatives to win the election, but added that gambling on his constituency seat would be “wrong”.
Although Mr Hollinrake said he bet on the outcome of the General Election, he claimed he would not put a wager on the result of the Thirsk and Malton seat, where he is a candidate.
Asked whether he had bet on a Tory victory, Mr Hollinrake said: “Yes, I did. Not my seat, I think that would be wrong.”
Westminster has been engulfed by a gambling scandal with five Conservatives being investigated by the commission over alleged election bets.
He added: “This situation has definitely opened up a debate that we should have a proper debate about and decide whether it’s right or wrong that people have a bet on things they are involved in.”
The odds of the Conservative Party winning the election on July 4 are 125/1, according to Oddschecker, as the party trails Labour by around 20 points in the opinion polls.
This dosent feel like 1997. It feels like Majors exhausted and despised party of 1997 up against Kinnocks disliked Labour of 1992 and the SDP of 1983 performing Reforms disruptor role.
Feel is important in an election. In 1997 it was obvious Labour were whupping the Tories. You could taste it. In 2010? The Tories would have won that had we not had the Cleggasm. In the 2015 Stockton South campaign the wheel had fallen off the Labour bus weeks before polling day with fractious infighting within the camp. And with door after door saying they liked our candidate but feared Alex Salmond, we knew in our guts it wasn't going well. 2017? I co-authored and strategised Dr Paul Williams winning campaign. No infighting as we simply shut the party out, and won.
This time? I'm telling you, there is something in the air which the pollsters aren't picking up at least here in the true North East. That isn't me confidently saying we will win. But we're in the battle and getting heard and picking up support.
We know how the Tories feel. They feel that they are heading for the cliffs. Sunak out campaigning in seats they hold by 25k, kids with crayons running the social media campaign, and coming out swinging in the debates hoping desperately to land a punch on Penfold...
It feels the same here in Dorset but... the 'reluctantly going to vote Tory' voices on here make me think it will end up disappointingly much closer than the polls suggest.
just observer bias imho- On a site like this you get lots of "tories" - by definition they are politicly engaged (why would they be on the site if not) and therefore will at some point be angry with whats happened either by the government or by the campaign - Of this mass a lot will then not vote tory again but probably then dont feel the need to admit who they are going to vote for instead but some out of the mass will state they are "reluctantly " going to vote tory. Nothing that contradicts the polls ,indeed supports them , otherwise the tories would be on zero percent .
I for instance have voted tory at all general elections but will this time vote Reform .
I have a moral dilemma here. I have two votes. Two postal votes. One for me and one for my ex wife (who is now in distant parts and doesn’t care)
How shall I cast them? I am torn between starmer (to give him a chance and annoy @kinabalu) and Reform (I want the Tories destroyed and every vote for Reform adds to that)
However my two vote sitch seems to solve the dilemma. I shall personally vote for Starmer but my ex wife will vote Reform. Sorted
Completing a postal vote for someone else is a criminal offence.
This dosent feel like 1997. It feels like Majors exhausted and despised party of 1997 up against Kinnocks disliked Labour of 1992 and the SDP of 1983 performing Reforms disruptor role.
Feel is important in an election. In 1997 it was obvious Labour were whupping the Tories. You could taste it. In 2010? The Tories would have won that had we not had the Cleggasm. In the 2015 Stockton South campaign the wheel had fallen off the Labour bus weeks before polling day with fractious infighting within the camp. And with door after door saying they liked our candidate but feared Alex Salmond, we knew in our guts it wasn't going well. 2017? I co-authored and strategised Dr Paul Williams winning campaign. No infighting as we simply shut the party out, and won.
This time? I'm telling you, there is something in the air which the pollsters aren't picking up at least here in the true North East. That isn't me confidently saying we will win. But we're in the battle and getting heard and picking up support.
We know how the Tories feel. They feel that they are heading for the cliffs. Sunak out campaigning in seats they hold by 25k, kids with crayons running the social media campaign, and coming out swinging in the debates hoping desperately to land a punch on Penfold...
It feels the same here in Dorset but... the 'reluctantly going to vote Tory' voices on here make me think it will end up disappointingly much closer than the polls suggest.
just observer bias imho- On a site like this you get lots of "tories" - by definition they are politicly engaged (why would they be on the site if not) and therefore will at some point be angry with whats happened either by the government or by the campaign - Of this mass a lot will then not vote tory again but probably then dont feel the need to admit who they are going to vote for instead but some out of the mass will state they are "reluctantly " going to vote tory. Nothing that contradicts the polls ,indeed supports them , otherwise the tories would be on zero percent .
I for instance have voted tory at all general elections but will this time vote Reform .
I have a moral dilemma here. I have two votes. Two postal votes. One for me and one for my ex wife (who is now in distant parts and doesn’t care)
How shall I cast them? I am torn between starmer (to give him a chance and annoy @kinabalu) and Reform (I want the Tories destroyed and every vote for Reform adds to that)
However my two vote sitch seems to solve the dilemma. I shall personally vote for Starmer but my ex wife will vote Reform. Sorted
You don't have 2 votes. You have 1. It is a crime to use your ex wife's vote. Not likely to get caught, but you have admitted it here and voter fraud is usually harshly punished.
Seems a large number of seats for Reform. Can it be so?
skybet have Reform winning 7 seats or more at 2/1 which I think is the current best GE bet out there. They dont even need more than 15% to do this as I think their vote is more lumpy and less evenly distributed that seat calculators think
This dosent feel like 1997. It feels like Majors exhausted and despised party of 1997 up against Kinnocks disliked Labour of 1992 and the SDP of 1983 performing Reforms disruptor role.
Feel is important in an election. In 1997 it was obvious Labour were whupping the Tories. You could taste it. In 2010? The Tories would have won that had we not had the Cleggasm. In the 2015 Stockton South campaign the wheel had fallen off the Labour bus weeks before polling day with fractious infighting within the camp. And with door after door saying they liked our candidate but feared Alex Salmond, we knew in our guts it wasn't going well. 2017? I co-authored and strategised Dr Paul Williams winning campaign. No infighting as we simply shut the party out, and won.
This time? I'm telling you, there is something in the air which the pollsters aren't picking up at least here in the true North East. That isn't me confidently saying we will win. But we're in the battle and getting heard and picking up support.
We know how the Tories feel. They feel that they are heading for the cliffs. Sunak out campaigning in seats they hold by 25k, kids with crayons running the social media campaign, and coming out swinging in the debates hoping desperately to land a punch on Penfold...
It feels the same here in Dorset but... the 'reluctantly going to vote Tory' voices on here make me think it will end up disappointingly much closer than the polls suggest.
just observer bias imho- On a site like this you get lots of "tories" - by definition they are politicly engaged (why would they be on the site if not) and therefore will at some point be angry with whats happened either by the government or by the campaign - Of this mass a lot will then not vote tory again but probably then dont feel the need to admit who they are going to vote for instead but some out of the mass will state they are "reluctantly " going to vote tory. Nothing that contradicts the polls ,indeed supports them , otherwise the tories would be on zero percent .
I for instance have voted tory at all general elections but will this time vote Reform .
I tend to agree with this. The polling has been so consistently, across all companies, showing the Tories in the doldrums that it would pretty much end the polling industry if it is a major upset now.
Caveats:
There will be a lot of seats on razor's edge. A small swing one way or the other could be a difference of 50-odd seats.
Turnout. I'm genuinely unsure where this will end up, but my instinct is that a lower turnout will help the Conservatives as a lot ex-Conservative voters will simply not bother rather than actually switching their vote. Equally, apathy/complacency towards a Labour win may not GOTV for the disengaged who are leaning Lab.
At this stage, I still think we'll have a strong win for Starmer - all the available evidence points to this being the case - but I remain unconvinced by the Con ELE scenario.
Reform seem to be dropping back now. If that trend continues up to polling day and/or polls overstate them, that will mean the difference between the Conservatives becoming the third party, and getting well into three figures.
This dosent feel like 1997. It feels like Majors exhausted and despised party of 1997 up against Kinnocks disliked Labour of 1992 and the SDP of 1983 performing Reforms disruptor role.
Feel is important in an election. In 1997 it was obvious Labour were whupping the Tories. You could taste it. In 2010? The Tories would have won that had we not had the Cleggasm. In the 2015 Stockton South campaign the wheel had fallen off the Labour bus weeks before polling day with fractious infighting within the camp. And with door after door saying they liked our candidate but feared Alex Salmond, we knew in our guts it wasn't going well. 2017? I co-authored and strategised Dr Paul Williams winning campaign. No infighting as we simply shut the party out, and won.
This time? I'm telling you, there is something in the air which the pollsters aren't picking up at least here in the true North East. That isn't me confidently saying we will win. But we're in the battle and getting heard and picking up support.
We know how the Tories feel. They feel that they are heading for the cliffs. Sunak out campaigning in seats they hold by 25k, kids with crayons running the social media campaign, and coming out swinging in the debates hoping desperately to land a punch on Penfold...
It feels the same here in Dorset but... the 'reluctantly going to vote Tory' voices on here make me think it will end up disappointingly much closer than the polls suggest.
just observer bias imho- On a site like this you get lots of "tories" - by definition they are politicly engaged (why would they be on the site if not) and therefore will at some point be angry with whats happened either by the government or by the campaign - Of this mass a lot will then not vote tory again but probably then dont feel the need to admit who they are going to vote for instead but some out of the mass will state they are "reluctantly " going to vote tory. Nothing that contradicts the polls ,indeed supports them , otherwise the tories would be on zero percent .
I for instance have voted tory at all general elections but will this time vote Reform .
I tend to agree with this. The polling has been so consistently, across all companies, showing the Tories in the doldrums that it would pretty much end the polling industry if it is a major upset now.
Caveats:
There will be a lot of seats on razor's edge. A small swing one way or the other could be a difference of 50-odd seats.
Turnout. I'm genuinely unsure where this will end up, but my instinct is that a lower turnout will help the Conservatives as a lot ex-Conservative voters will simply not bother rather than actually switching their vote. Equally, apathy/complacency towards a Labour win may not GOTV for the disengaged who are leaning Lab.
At this stage, I still think we'll have a strong win for Starmer - all the available evidence points to this being the case - but I remain unconvinced by the Con ELE scenario.
When that bong goes at ten and we see the exit poll forecast translated into seats...its reliability this year is far from guaranteed.
Comments
https://heritagecalling.com/2024/06/06/the-life-and-work-of-john-smeaton-the-father-of-civil-engineering/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=brand
https://heritagecalling.com/2023/06/22/6-inspirational-women-engineers-from-history/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=brand
What the American voters will make of it, I wouldn't have a clue.
Leading actors, artists and directors from Bill Nighy to Grayson Perry have signed up to Labour’s pledges and its manifesto promise of a “creative education for every child”.
The signatories said in the letter, published in The Times on Thursday, that they believed “our country needs change”.
In words echoing the “Luvvies for Labour” movement at the dawn of the Tony Blair era, the signatories said a Sir Keir Starmer administration would work with both commercial and not-for-profit sectors to help the nation’s £120 billion creative industries sector “lead the world”.
They said every part of the creative industries sector from advertising to video games would “benefit …. from a Labour government”.
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/luvvies-for-labour-again-as-arts-stars-sign-letter-backing-starmer-rzrj95jn6
If this election ends up being much closer than predicted then we can thank BigG for the insight he gave us into this phenomenon at an early stage.
The problem is that the process is automated at YouTube’s end, so the streams will get nixed and the offenders banned from streaming for a week. Many commentators have decided to either host elsewhere (Twitter, Rumble, their own websites), or to see what happens, and possibly make the news tomorrow about CNN being dicks and the old media dying, rather than what happened at the debate.
“Llandudno couple”.
Conservative 66/1 overal majority.
-Ladbrokes.
Not what you expect to see.
He doesn't even have to do brilliantly. Sure, he'll probably mince his words at some point or say something nonsensical (which will make the clip on TikTok) but all he has to do is look more level-headed than Trump and he's there.
Winning a majority when you need 120 seats to do so (140 incl boundary changes) is not a straightforward challenge, whatever the opinion polls say.
If (and this is a massive if) the Tories had (largely) stopped the boats, and brought net migration down a bit then, with everything else being equal and no Reform, I could see them being at 32-34% and Labour at 35-38% and we really would have a hung parliament.
SKS is a very lucky general.
So now you are claiming it is 1 week to go when by your own methedology it should only be 6 days.
I don't mind which way you count it but if you are going to criticise others and make snide remarks at least be consistent in your own methedology.
The more I practice, the luckier I get.
The more they put out, the more luck they have.
The harder he works, the luckier he gets.
The more you know, the more luck you have.
I went looking for the supposed Gary Player quote but found this was the earliest known example of the aphorism from 1900.
Edit: for instance EH have the records duty, which is reflected in their mailings (e.g. photographs of old sites).
I see the government polling in ROK ain't great either.
https://x.com/AsiaElects/status/1806152313045930212?t=J89dUrzjUyoOFufMspapbA&s=19
The giveaway is that Reform (currently 1 MP, behind Conservatives in nearly all polls) are shorter odds than the Conservatives (currently have lots of MPs and ahead of Reform in the polls).
His party already lost the parliamentary elections.
S Korea's politics is strange. Their most popular president is a dictator who was assassinated nearly half a century ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yND9hDpPwYA
I think they left the counterspin a bit too late, though, so your analysis is about right.
This suggests a Con seat total below 100.
This time? I'm telling you, there is something in the air which the pollsters aren't picking up at least here in the true North East. That isn't me confidently saying we will win. But we're in the battle and getting heard and picking up support.
We know how the Tories feel. They feel that they are heading for the cliffs. Sunak out campaigning in seats they hold by 25k, kids with crayons running the social media campaign, and coming out swinging in the debates hoping desperately to land a punch on Penfold...
For example, his ludicrous blaming the situation on EU expansion has been explained to be absurd. It is then noted how it makes him a Putin shill. He then whinges that people said a mean thing.
I think there’s a fair chance that Reform will poll 10% or so, and the Conservatives 25% or so. With Labour on 40% or just under, that would secure c.150 seats.
Trump rambles incoherently constantly but unfortunately none of his supporters care, so an unedifying encounter of two very old men past their prime looks likely. Only one cares about democracy though.
Last minute silent-tories who have hesitated for weeks will come to the fore.
It is, of course, bollocks.
There is no appeasing the bastard tendency on the right. The supply creates the demand as the right's combined market share inexorably shrinks.
Worth noting that Trump would be older than Biden was if he wins again, and he's made a lot about how Biden is too old, so logically anyone concerned by Biden's age should vote for neither, but politics has never been very logical.
Perhaps to make up for this slightly checkered history, in 1940, after Charles De Gaulle’s famous appeal to the “free French” in his June 18 London radio broadcast, the entire able bodied male population got in their fishing boats and sailed to England, so as to fight the Nazis. Many never returned. This provoked De Gaulle to say: “a quarter of the French Resistance is from the Ile de Sein”
I hear they have good moules
https://historicengland.org.uk/about/how-we-are-funded/
Q: What will you do to assist people with illnesses and disabilities get back into work?
Starmer: Ensure that they receive the medical treatment they need, and work with employers to develop transition plans to facilitate people re-entering the workplace.
Sunak: Most of them are just swinging the lead. We want to take their benefits away. Workshy, scroungers, layabouts.
Sadly not happening though, as it requires amending the Constitution.
(Assuming the polls are legit)
I for instance have voted tory at all general elections but will this time vote Reform .
A: “In the end, I’ll likely vote Conservative, grudgingly”.
Long time to the next presidentials though, and Le Pen has already had multiple tries.
66/1 for something highly unlikely
50/1for something practically impossible
Second paragraph, I think you're deeply misguided but your choice obvs, and no doubt you are not alone.
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/bolsover-castle/events/
How shall I cast them? I am torn between starmer (to give him a chance and annoy @kinabalu) and Reform (I want the Tories destroyed and every vote for Reform adds to that)
However my two vote sitch seems to solve the dilemma. I shall personally vote for Starmer but my ex wife will vote Reform. Sorted
And we know whose White House was an actual pill mill.
Moreover they will want to avoid any “accidents”. A medically informed (and left wing) friend of mine recently gave me a plausible explanation for Biden’s weird behaviour on the White House lawn the other day. I’ll spare PB the unhappy details and precise medical words my friend used, but it all made sense
Also, how many octogenarians are NOT on multiple drugs? It’s normal. I am sure Trump is as well. He’s definitely been guzzling ozempic you can see it in his face
Caveats:
There will be a lot of seats on razor's edge. A small swing one way or the other could be a difference of 50-odd seats.
Turnout. I'm genuinely unsure where this will end up, but my instinct is that a lower turnout will help the Conservatives as a lot ex-Conservative voters will simply not bother rather than actually switching their vote. Equally, apathy/complacency towards a Labour win may not GOTV for the disengaged who are leaning Lab.
At this stage, I still think we'll have a strong win for Starmer - all the available evidence points to this being the case - but I remain unconvinced by the Con ELE scenario.
Rail route of the month: Nantes to Quimper, France – a Breton classic
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/article/2024/jun/27/nantes-to-quimper-france-rail-route-breton-classic
https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/prediction_main.html
Seems a large number of seats for Reform. Can it be so?
This time RN (and the Ciotti Republicans) are on about 37% in the polls, and in round 2, the choice will mostly be between them and a left wing, rather than centrist, candidate.
Although Mr Hollinrake said he bet on the outcome of the General Election, he claimed he would not put a wager on the result of the Thirsk and Malton seat, where he is a candidate.
Asked whether he had bet on a Tory victory, Mr Hollinrake said: “Yes, I did. Not my seat, I think that would be wrong.”
Westminster has been engulfed by a gambling scandal with five Conservatives being investigated by the commission over alleged election bets.
He added: “This situation has definitely opened up a debate that we should have a proper debate about and decide whether it’s right or wrong that people have a bet on things they are involved in.”
The odds of the Conservative Party winning the election on July 4 are 125/1, according to Oddschecker, as the party trails Labour by around 20 points in the opinion polls.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/27/general-election-live-sunak-starmer-farage/