Yes, the self-destructive antics of Boris Johnson was the leading cause.
The Conservative party should have appointed a H&S officer and a financial ethics officer to keep him under some sort of control.
To the Tories, Boris was simply a mechanism to win an election.
Everyone knew he was totally unqualified to be Prime Minister.
In that all the problems of the 2019-2024 parliament were laid.
If everyone in the Conservative leadership why did the make no effort to control him ?
Just as Thatcher said "every prime minister needs a willie" referring to Willie Whitelaw then Boris needed someone to keep him in the straight and narrow.
That became even more important when the covid restriction were introduced.
Yet the Conservatives did nothing and let Boris, and for that matter plenty of others, run wild.
Question for the PB community in light of Reform's flagship policy of banning free biscuits.
Has anyone ever worked in an organisation providing free biscuits?
We get free biscuits in the office every day. But you need to arrive early to nab the bourbon creams. We also get free fruit on Wednesday and Thursday.
More CCS boondoggle ? 😏
Decades ago I worked in the City where tea and biscuits were brought round on a trolley twice a day.
Yes, the self-destructive antics of Boris Johnson was the leading cause.
The Conservative party should have appointed a H&S officer and a financial ethics officer to keep him under some sort of control.
To the Tories, Boris was simply a mechanism to win an election.
Everyone knew he was totally unqualified to be Prime Minister.
In that all the problems of the 2019-2024 parliament were laid.
If everyone in the Conservative leadership why did the make no effort to control him ?
Just as Thatcher said "every prime minister needs a willie" referring to Willie Whitelaw then Boris needed someone to keep him in the straight and narrow.
That became even more important when the covid restriction were introduced.
Yet the Conservatives did nothing and let Boris, and for that matter plenty of others, run wild.
Arguably, he appointed others knowing they would run wild. Especially Cummings.
Yes, the self-destructive antics of Boris Johnson was the leading cause.
The Conservative party should have appointed a H&S officer and a financial ethics officer to keep him under some sort of control.
To the Tories, Boris was simply a mechanism to win an election.
Everyone knew he was totally unqualified to be Prime Minister.
In that all the problems of the 2019-2024 parliament were laid.
Didn't John Major try to blackball him as a Conservative candidate? After all, his unsuitability was pretty obvious long before 2019. And once he was an MP, of course he would seek to become PM, no matter what harm that caused to the non-people who were non-BoJo.
Now there's a counterfactual. He's sacked from The Times, and that's the end of the matter. What happens next?
Becomes travel correspondent and PB regular.
Oh god, not another one! Maybe best to let him ruin party and country instead?
I was a Tory Councillor for 24 years and a member of a National Park Authority for 15.
I and many of my former Tory colleagues are not unsympathetic to the aspirations of the new Reform Councillors even if we can't abide Farage himself.
But what is to befall these councils where the entire controlling group is new to and ignorant of local government ?
You just have to go over to Guido to see some of the fundamental misconceptions of these people.
Presumably they will be able to scrabble together a Cabinet with some mainly ex-councillors. But how about a leader, deputy leader, chair and VC of Planning and Licencing. Scrutiny ? forget that, always was a way to sideline arseholes.
These people don't seem to be aware of Audit Committees, or Standards. Ironically these can at lease be lead by opposition councillors, and should be.
I know some of the councillors won't hack it. Fortunately for Reform their majorities are usually so great they can have half the councillors just attending every couple of months. That isn't an anti Reform point, a third of councillors are simply too think to do anything beyond sticking up their hand, that was always true and of all parties. I have yet to meet a Green councillor who meets the basic competency threshold. The couple I saw wouldn't even have been able to brew a cup of tea a la Rachel Reeves.
I know the Tories will have to go for the by-elections which will inevitably follow this coup. Hopefully at least a portion of the electorate will be ready for some measure of competence by then.
In Staffordshire every single one of Reform's 53 councillors is newly elected. I don't think any of them have even defected having previously served other parties.
I expect it to be utter chaos.
Gosh. I see Staffs first new policy is to sack all the "diversity officers". Unfortunately, they don't have any. Next will be to recruit auditors. Why did no one ever think of auditing a Council's budget before?
I should think that a broadly based audit - one which looked more widely than the accounts - for almost any local authority would advise the authority that in order to perform their statutory duties properly (there are said to be about 1000 of these) they need to roughly double their income, but rather more than that if they were to realistically address the need for social housing and the backlog in capital and maintenance works.
I am sure Reform want to hear this. They will soon discover that their voters in fact will expect services at that proper level and expect someone else will pay for it.
And that's the problem. The Reform vision, like the DOGE bit of Trumpism, rests on the theory that there's lots of government spending that simply shouldn't happen and won't be missed. Hence it's possible to cut taxes and borrowing, improve the services that matter and make everything great (again). Badenoch has said much the same, albeit in pastel shades not primary colours.
It might be true- we won't know until it is tried. But I personally will be surprised if it is the case, and am grimly fascinated as to what happens if it turns out not to be the case.
Isn't DOGE currently a net deficit? Due to falling IRS receipts? Or is that fake news.
Apparently they also fired Biden’s Covid fraud investigators, so that probably a few more billion going begging.
Question for the PB community in light of Reform's flagship policy of banning free biscuits.
Has anyone ever worked in an organisation providing free biscuits?
We get free biscuits in the office every day. But you need to arrive early to nab the bourbon creams. We also get free fruit on Wednesday and Thursday.
More CCS boondoggle ? 😏
The carbon is captured and stored in the Bourbon Creams. That is why they are brown. There is a plant in Didcot that made them, but they closed down when the power station was demolished. We now import the carbon from Chile in giant balloons, so we can capture it in the UK and gain the carbon credits and still make the biscuits.
Of course if they issued Hob-Nobs this would not be a problem.
Question for the PB community in light of Reform's flagship policy of banning free biscuits.
Has anyone ever worked in an organisation providing free biscuits?
We get free biscuits in the office every day. But you need to arrive early to nab the bourbon creams. We also get free fruit on Wednesday and Thursday.
Reform fully costed local government business plan:
Ban free biscuits ? Create three million social housing units for hard working indigenous families and free social care for their mum.
The reactions to this GB News are quite interesting, as a potential guide to questions where reality and reason will have no impact, and others means are needed to wash the sandcastle away. It's like a found poem.
TBF the comments will also include a fair proportion of bots from various place there to stir up patianship.
eg - @thetimeisnow6822 1 day ago STARMER IS DELUSIONAL Everything that he says is the TOTAL OPPOSITE OF REALITY" - @mrseddie5971 1 day ago Wages are up more than prices was my personal favourite
(Note: wages are up more than prices.)
- @oriel229 21 hours ago NHS waiting lists DOWN???? NOBODY is going to buy that lie. - @janeevans1859 - 12 hours ago @oriel229 why are the lists so high? I don’t get it - @einsam_aber_frei 10 hours ago NHS waiting list is getting shorter because those can’t wait has passed away.
(Note: lists are down, but there's a smidge of truth in the last comment.)
As I see it, Lab needs a media person, and some clued-up communicators - just for a start.
Labour needs confidence. It just doesn’t project that at the moment. Trump, Farage, Thatcher, Blair show how much (or how little) you can get away with if you do it with utter confidence and assurance.
Charisma plays a big part. Starmer was lucky that the Tories imploded so spectacularly he didn't need to do anything other than not lose too many votes to become PM. But now his stiff, awkward persona is in the spotlight having to get people onside, and the results are predictable
He is much worse than stiff. Watching Keir Starmer “lead” is like watching someone try to defuse a trifle: trembling hands, quiet panic, and a lingering fear that custard might be fatal. Also, why do you call him Sir? The United Kingdom is a piece of absurdist theater.
Yes, the self-destructive antics of Boris Johnson was the leading cause.
The Conservative party should have appointed a H&S officer and a financial ethics officer to keep him under some sort of control.
An even loonier take than none of the above's. Do you people even look at the polling?
Why are you in denial that Boris flouting his own covid restrictions had an negative effect on public opinion ?
Or that the ever increasing financial misbehaviour and general dishonesty of Boris in particular and the Conservatives in general was also hurting them electorally.
We know what the negative effect on the polling of Boris's general grubbiness was - the Tories were about 4 points behind when Boris left. That cannot be 'the leading cause' of a defeat the scale of Sunak's.
The Truss disaster was a direct consequence of Boris's self-destruction.
If Boris had managed self-control the Conservatives would likely have won in 2024.
Trouble is that’s like saying if Hitler had stopped at Czechoslovakia, he’d still have been in power in 1960. While that might have happened, it wasn’t in his nature.
Which is why he needed controlling.
Even if it that meant employing Cyclefree to continually stand next to him stopping him from doing things.
I've noticed an awful lot of podgy 8-10 year years (boys) and seriously overweight teenagers/young men (aka Rag'n'Bone man) with bad tattoos recently. There seems to be something of a class dimension to this.
I can't remember it being this noticeable 10-20 years ago.
Why, in 2025, are young boys and men getting so overweight so young?
Sitting inside playing video games while drinking sugary energy drinks and eating junk food delivered by Deliveroo?
An effect doubtless exacerbated by Covid lockdowns.
Yes, the self-destructive antics of Boris Johnson was the leading cause.
The Conservative party should have appointed a H&S officer and a financial ethics officer to keep him under some sort of control.
To the Tories, Boris was simply a mechanism to win an election.
Everyone knew he was totally unqualified to be Prime Minister.
In that all the problems of the 2019-2024 parliament were laid.
Didn't John Major try to blackball him as a Conservative candidate? After all, his unsuitability was pretty obvious long before 2019. And once he was an MP, of course he would seek to become PM, no matter what harm that caused to the non-people who were non-BoJo.
Now there's a counterfactual. He's sacked from The Times, and that's the end of the matter. What happens next?
Boris found his role in life as London Mayor. He could be a chipper envoy for the city - with minimal risk of him letting it crash into the Thames.
Yes, the self-destructive antics of Boris Johnson was the leading cause.
The Conservative party should have appointed a H&S officer and a financial ethics officer to keep him under some sort of control.
To the Tories, Boris was simply a mechanism to win an election.
Everyone knew he was totally unqualified to be Prime Minister.
In that all the problems of the 2019-2024 parliament were laid.
Didn't John Major try to blackball him as a Conservative candidate? After all, his unsuitability was pretty obvious long before 2019. And once he was an MP, of course he would seek to become PM, no matter what harm that caused to the non-people who were non-BoJo.
Now there's a counterfactual. He's sacked from The Times, and that's the end of the matter. What happens next?
Boris would have become a Latin teacher at his alma mater (that's Latin, you know).
It is easy and lazy to knock Boris but his spoken French seems to me to better than that of any leading British politician for a very long time. I guess but can't judge that his Latin is pretty good as well. Also he writes well in English, well better than ANY of his critics.
Yes, the self-destructive antics of Boris Johnson was the leading cause.
The Conservative party should have appointed a H&S officer and a financial ethics officer to keep him under some sort of control.
To the Tories, Boris was simply a mechanism to win an election.
Everyone knew he was totally unqualified to be Prime Minister.
In that all the problems of the 2019-2024 parliament were laid.
Didn't John Major try to blackball him as a Conservative candidate? After all, his unsuitability was pretty obvious long before 2019. And once he was an MP, of course he would seek to become PM, no matter what harm that caused to the non-people who were non-BoJo.
Now there's a counterfactual. He's sacked from The Times, and that's the end of the matter. What happens next?
Boris would have become a Latin teacher at his alma mater (that's Latin, you know).
It is easy and lazy to knock Boris but his spoken French seems to me to better than that of any leading British politician for a very long time. I guess but can't judge that his Latin is pretty good as well. Also he writes well in English, well better than ANY of his critics.
Blair was fluent in French. Clegg was trilingual in English, Spanish and French.
Yes, the self-destructive antics of Boris Johnson was the leading cause.
The Conservative party should have appointed a H&S officer and a financial ethics officer to keep him under some sort of control.
To the Tories, Boris was simply a mechanism to win an election.
Everyone knew he was totally unqualified to be Prime Minister.
In that all the problems of the 2019-2024 parliament were laid.
Didn't John Major try to blackball him as a Conservative candidate? After all, his unsuitability was pretty obvious long before 2019. And once he was an MP, of course he would seek to become PM, no matter what harm that caused to the non-people who were non-BoJo.
Now there's a counterfactual. He's sacked from The Times, and that's the end of the matter. What happens next?
Boris would have become a Latin teacher at his alma mater (that's Latin, you know).
It is easy and lazy to knock Boris but his spoken French seems to me to better than that of any leading British politician for a very long time. I guess but can't judge that his Latin is pretty good as well. Also he writes well in English, well better than ANY of his critics.
He has many good points. His one great failing is that he's incompetent at being a grown up. That has and will undermine all of his life.
Yes, the self-destructive antics of Boris Johnson was the leading cause.
The Conservative party should have appointed a H&S officer and a financial ethics officer to keep him under some sort of control.
To the Tories, Boris was simply a mechanism to win an election.
Everyone knew he was totally unqualified to be Prime Minister.
In that all the problems of the 2019-2024 parliament were laid.
Didn't John Major try to blackball him as a Conservative candidate? After all, his unsuitability was pretty obvious long before 2019. And once he was an MP, of course he would seek to become PM, no matter what harm that caused to the non-people who were non-BoJo.
Now there's a counterfactual. He's sacked from The Times, and that's the end of the matter. What happens next?
Boris would have become a Latin teacher at his alma mater (that's Latin, you know).
It is easy and lazy to knock Boris but his spoken French seems to me to better than that of any leading British politician for a very long time. I guess but can't judge that his Latin is pretty good as well. Also he writes well in English, well better than ANY of his critics.
Blair was fluent in French.
Alastair Campbell and Suella Braverman spoke good French too. Maybe it should be disqualifying.
I was a Tory Councillor for 24 years and a member of a National Park Authority for 15.
I and many of my former Tory colleagues are not unsympathetic to the aspirations of the new Reform Councillors even if we can't abide Farage himself.
But what is to befall these councils where the entire controlling group is new to and ignorant of local government ?
You just have to go over to Guido to see some of the fundamental misconceptions of these people.
Presumably they will be able to scrabble together a Cabinet with some mainly ex-councillors. But how about a leader, deputy leader, chair and VC of Planning and Licencing. Scrutiny ? forget that, always was a way to sideline arseholes.
These people don't seem to be aware of Audit Committees, or Standards. Ironically these can at lease be lead by opposition councillors, and should be.
I know some of the councillors won't hack it. Fortunately for Reform their majorities are usually so great they can have half the councillors just attending every couple of months. That isn't an anti Reform point, a third of councillors are simply too think to do anything beyond sticking up their hand, that was always true and of all parties. I have yet to meet a Green councillor who meets the basic competency threshold. The couple I saw wouldn't even have been able to brew a cup of tea a la Rachel Reeves.
I know the Tories will have to go for the by-elections which will inevitably follow this coup. Hopefully at least a portion of the electorate will be ready for some measure of competence by then.
In Staffordshire every single one of Reform's 53 councillors is newly elected. I don't think any of them have even defected having previously served other parties.
I expect it to be utter chaos.
Gosh. I see Staffs first new policy is to sack all the "diversity officers". Unfortunately, they don't have any. Next will be to recruit auditors. Why did no one ever think of auditing a Council's budget before?
I should think that a broadly based audit - one which looked more widely than the accounts - for almost any local authority would advise the authority that in order to perform their statutory duties properly (there are said to be about 1000 of these) they need to roughly double their income, but rather more than that if they were to realistically address the need for social housing and the backlog in capital and maintenance works.
I am sure Reform want to hear this. They will soon discover that their voters in fact will expect services at that proper level and expect someone else will pay for it.
And that's the problem. The Reform vision, like the DOGE bit of Trumpism, rests on the theory that there's lots of government spending that simply shouldn't happen and won't be missed. Hence it's possible to cut taxes and borrowing, improve the services that matter and make everything great (again). Badenoch has said much the same, albeit in pastel shades not primary colours.
It might be true- we won't know until it is tried. But I personally will be surprised if it is the case, and am grimly fascinated as to what happens if it turns out not to be the case.
Isn't DOGE currently a net deficit? Due to falling IRS receipts? Or is that fake news.
Apparently they also fired Biden’s Covid fraud investigators, so that probably a few more billion going begging.
Question for the PB community in light of Reform's flagship policy of banning free biscuits.
Has anyone ever worked in an organisation providing free biscuits?
We get free biscuits in the office every day. But you need to arrive early to nab the bourbon creams. We also get free fruit on Wednesday and Thursday.
More CCS boondoggle ? 😏
Decades ago I worked in the City where tea and biscuits were brought round on a trolley twice a day.
Experienced that at the Bank of England. Also china cups in meetings.
Those were the days. No checkboxes, just a nod and a wink, or in a genuine emergency a quiet word to the wise in the appropriate shellhole.
Only the UK government could invent a system where fake asylum seekers from North Africa end up in four-star hotels, while the locals who voted for border control can’t get a dentist
And then PB wonders why Reform are prospering
I don't think people much care whether it's 4-star or a Travellodge with their crappy "party pack" breakfast.
They don't think they should be here in the first place, and don't understand why the government can't just kick them out.
I think the only way to stop them is to withdraw from the international conventions on asylum entirely.
That might well be where we get to.
Indeed, I think it's time for Europe to start this process now, the asylum conventions were written decades ago in a different era when mobility was a lot lower and honesty was much higher. A 5 year pause and redrawing the rules so that asylum can only be claimed by people who are invited, if "international conventions" don't allow this then tell the UN etc... to get fucked. I'm pretty sure we'd get American (and probably French) backing for moves to curtail asylum seeking.
Yes, the self-destructive antics of Boris Johnson was the leading cause.
The Conservative party should have appointed a H&S officer and a financial ethics officer to keep him under some sort of control.
To the Tories, Boris was simply a mechanism to win an election.
Everyone knew he was totally unqualified to be Prime Minister.
In that all the problems of the 2019-2024 parliament were laid.
Didn't John Major try to blackball him as a Conservative candidate? After all, his unsuitability was pretty obvious long before 2019. And once he was an MP, of course he would seek to become PM, no matter what harm that caused to the non-people who were non-BoJo.
Now there's a counterfactual. He's sacked from The Times, and that's the end of the matter. What happens next?
Boris would have become a Latin teacher at his alma mater (that's Latin, you know).
It is easy and lazy to knock Boris but his spoken French seems to me to better than that of any leading British politician for a very long time. I guess but can't judge that his Latin is pretty good as well. Also he writes well in English, well better than ANY of his critics.
Blair was fluent in French.
Alastair Campbell and Suella Braverman spoke good French too. Maybe it should be disqualifying.
However, it has to be said that none of them, not even Blair, talk bullshit with the same facility as Johnson and Farage.
The reactions to this GB News are quite interesting, as a potential guide to questions where reality and reason will have no impact, and others means are needed to wash the sandcastle away. It's like a found poem.
TBF the comments will also include a fair proportion of bots from various place there to stir up patianship.
eg - @thetimeisnow6822 1 day ago STARMER IS DELUSIONAL Everything that he says is the TOTAL OPPOSITE OF REALITY" - @mrseddie5971 1 day ago Wages are up more than prices was my personal favourite
(Note: wages are up more than prices.)
- @oriel229 21 hours ago NHS waiting lists DOWN???? NOBODY is going to buy that lie. - @janeevans1859 - 12 hours ago @oriel229 why are the lists so high? I don’t get it - @einsam_aber_frei 10 hours ago NHS waiting list is getting shorter because those can’t wait has passed away.
(Note: lists are down, but there's a smidge of truth in the last comment.)
As I see it, Lab needs a media person, and some clued-up communicators - just for a start.
Labour needs confidence. It just doesn’t project that at the moment. Trump, Farage, Thatcher, Blair show how much (or how little) you can get away with if you do it with utter confidence and assurance.
Charisma plays a big part. Starmer was lucky that the Tories imploded so spectacularly he didn't need to do anything other than not lose too many votes to become PM. But now his stiff, awkward persona is in the spotlight having to get people onside, and the results are predictable
He is much worse than stiff. Watching Keir Starmer “lead” is like watching someone try to defuse a trifle: trembling hands, quiet panic, and a lingering fear that custard might be fatal. Also, why do you call him Sir? The United Kingdom is a piece of absurdist theater.
Yes, the self-destructive antics of Boris Johnson was the leading cause.
The Conservative party should have appointed a H&S officer and a financial ethics officer to keep him under some sort of control.
To the Tories, Boris was simply a mechanism to win an election.
Everyone knew he was totally unqualified to be Prime Minister.
In that all the problems of the 2019-2024 parliament were laid.
Didn't John Major try to blackball him as a Conservative candidate? After all, his unsuitability was pretty obvious long before 2019. And once he was an MP, of course he would seek to become PM, no matter what harm that caused to the non-people who were non-BoJo.
Now there's a counterfactual. He's sacked from The Times, and that's the end of the matter. What happens next?
Boris would have become a Latin teacher at his alma mater (that's Latin, you know).
It is easy and lazy to knock Boris but his spoken French seems to me to better than that of any leading British politician for a very long time. I guess but can't judge that his Latin is pretty good as well. Also he writes well in English, well better than ANY of his critics.
Blair was fluent in French.
Alastair Campbell and Suella Braverman spoke good French too. Maybe it should be disqualifying.
Blair was not fluent in French. He did a speech in halting schoolboy French and was highly praised for it. I believe Mrs. Thatcher did the exact same on one occasion, though hers was learned off-by-heart because she didn't speak French at all.
Only the UK government could invent a system where fake asylum seekers from North Africa end up in four-star hotels, while the locals who voted for border control can’t get a dentist
And then PB wonders why Reform are prospering
I don't think people much care whether it's 4-star or a Travellodge with their crappy "party pack" breakfast.
They don't think they should be here in the first place, and don't understand why the government can't just kick them out.
I think the only way to stop them is to withdraw from the international conventions on asylum entirely.
That might well be where we get to.
Indeed, I think it's time for Europe to start this process now, the asylum conventions were written decades ago in a different era when mobility was a lot lower and honesty was much higher. A 5 year pause and redrawing the rules so that asylum can only be claimed by people who are invited, if "international conventions" don't allow this then tell the UN etc... to get fucked. I'm pretty sure we'd get American (and probably French) backing for moves to curtail asylum seeking.
It’s not just necessary, it is inevitable. This will inevitably happen - ending asylum rights - because otherwise the entire western world will vote Nazi. There are only so many times you can “find a reason” to prohibit AfD, cancel Le Pen, exile annoying Romanian candidates etc
In the end the far right will break through unless this is done. So it will be done. In which case: get on and do it ASAP
Yes, the self-destructive antics of Boris Johnson was the leading cause.
The Conservative party should have appointed a H&S officer and a financial ethics officer to keep him under some sort of control.
To the Tories, Boris was simply a mechanism to win an election.
Everyone knew he was totally unqualified to be Prime Minister.
In that all the problems of the 2019-2024 parliament were laid.
Didn't John Major try to blackball him as a Conservative candidate? After all, his unsuitability was pretty obvious long before 2019. And once he was an MP, of course he would seek to become PM, no matter what harm that caused to the non-people who were non-BoJo.
Now there's a counterfactual. He's sacked from The Times, and that's the end of the matter. What happens next?
Boris would have become a Latin teacher at his alma mater (that's Latin, you know).
It is easy and lazy to knock Boris but his spoken French seems to me to better than that of any leading British politician for a very long time. I guess but can't judge that his Latin is pretty good as well. Also he writes well in English, well better than ANY of his critics.
He has many good points. His one great failing is that he's incompetent at being a grown up. That has and will undermine all of his life.
I think it's more surrounding himself with the wrong people. You can be almost any style of leader with the right team. And Thatcher herself lost it eventually when she lost key team members like Tebbit.
Asylum seekers housed in Home Office hotels are paying off people smuggler debts by illegally working as bike couriers for fast food and grocery delivery companies.
In 2023, the Home Office found that two in five delivery drivers stopped during random checks were working illegally.
The apps could surely stop this by requiring the account holder to be tied to a specific phone and that at any random time they are required to show their face on a video call.
Question for the PB community in light of Reform's flagship policy of banning free biscuits.
Has anyone ever worked in an organisation providing free biscuits?
We get free biscuits in the office every day. But you need to arrive early to nab the bourbon creams. We also get free fruit on Wednesday and Thursday.
Reform fully costed local government business plan:
Ban free biscuits ? Create three million social housing units for hard working indigenous families and free social care for their mum.
The social care is provided by people who got here on small boats though...
Yes, the self-destructive antics of Boris Johnson was the leading cause.
The Conservative party should have appointed a H&S officer and a financial ethics officer to keep him under some sort of control.
To the Tories, Boris was simply a mechanism to win an election.
Everyone knew he was totally unqualified to be Prime Minister.
In that all the problems of the 2019-2024 parliament were laid.
Didn't John Major try to blackball him as a Conservative candidate? After all, his unsuitability was pretty obvious long before 2019. And once he was an MP, of course he would seek to become PM, no matter what harm that caused to the non-people who were non-BoJo.
Now there's a counterfactual. He's sacked from The Times, and that's the end of the matter. What happens next?
Boris would have become a Latin teacher at his alma mater (that's Latin, you know).
It is easy and lazy to knock Boris but his spoken French seems to me to better than that of any leading British politician for a very long time. I guess but can't judge that his Latin is pretty good as well. Also he writes well in English, well better than ANY of his critics.
Knocking Boris is not lazy. He inherited a golden legacy of abilities and opportunity, and had the privilege of being PM of the UK. his abilities got him a decent majority in 2019.
The PM of the UK can call on the advice and talents of anyone he likes, which he needed because of the gaps in ability that everyone has. But he had to do two things with his golden legacy: choose the right team of politicians and advisors, and conduct himself with effort in a way which didn't disgrace his office.
Because of his popular character he was given more leeway than most. He failed the tests by bad choices of people, and disgraced his office by the sort of corruption which was unworthy of a banana republic and a lack of self discipline of anarchist and self destructive proportions.
Question for the PB community in light of Reform's flagship policy of banning free biscuits.
Has anyone ever worked in an organisation providing free biscuits?
We get free biscuits in the office every day. But you need to arrive early to nab the bourbon creams. We also get free fruit on Wednesday and Thursday.
Reform fully costed local government business plan:
Ban free biscuits ? Create three million social housing units for hard working indigenous families and free social care for their mum.
The social care is provided by people who got here on small boats though...
They have thought of that too. Tents will be provided out of the Sinking Biscuits Fund (assets in excess of £8 trillion).
Only the UK government could invent a system where fake asylum seekers from North Africa end up in four-star hotels, while the locals who voted for border control can’t get a dentist
And then PB wonders why Reform are prospering
I don't think people much care whether it's 4-star or a Travellodge with their crappy "party pack" breakfast.
They don't think they should be here in the first place, and don't understand why the government can't just kick them out.
I think the only way to stop them is to withdraw from the international conventions on asylum entirely.
That might well be where we get to.
Indeed, I think it's time for Europe to start this process now, the asylum conventions were written decades ago in a different era when mobility was a lot lower and honesty was much higher. A 5 year pause and redrawing the rules so that asylum can only be claimed by people who are invited, if "international conventions" don't allow this then tell the UN etc... to get fucked. I'm pretty sure we'd get American (and probably French) backing for moves to curtail asylum seeking.
It’s not just necessary, it is inevitable. This will inevitably happen - ending asylum rights - because otherwise the entire western world will vote Nazi. There are only so many times you can “find a reason” to prohibit AfD, cancel Le Pen, exile annoying Romanian candidates etc
In the end the far right will break through unless this is done. So it will be done. In which case: get on and do it ASAP
The AfD hasn't been prohibited even once so far, and won't be (my prediction). At least you agree that they are neo-Nazis
Yes, the self-destructive antics of Boris Johnson was the leading cause.
The Conservative party should have appointed a H&S officer and a financial ethics officer to keep him under some sort of control.
To the Tories, Boris was simply a mechanism to win an election.
Everyone knew he was totally unqualified to be Prime Minister.
In that all the problems of the 2019-2024 parliament were laid.
Didn't John Major try to blackball him as a Conservative candidate? After all, his unsuitability was pretty obvious long before 2019. And once he was an MP, of course he would seek to become PM, no matter what harm that caused to the non-people who were non-BoJo.
Now there's a counterfactual. He's sacked from The Times, and that's the end of the matter. What happens next?
Boris would have become a Latin teacher at his alma mater (that's Latin, you know).
It is easy and lazy to knock Boris but his spoken French seems to me to better than that of any leading British politician for a very long time. I guess but can't judge that his Latin is pretty good as well. Also he writes well in English, well better than ANY of his critics.
Blair was fluent in French.
Alastair Campbell and Suella Braverman spoke good French too. Maybe it should be disqualifying.
Blair was not fluent in French. He did a speech in halting schoolboy French and was highly praised for it. I believe Mrs. Thatcher did the exact same on one occasion, though hers was learned off-by-heart because she didn't speak French at all.
He's done more than that. His French is as good as Mark Carney's.
I've noticed an awful lot of podgy 8-10 year years (boys) and seriously overweight teenagers/young men (aka Rag'n'Bone man) with bad tattoos recently. There seems to be something of a class dimension to this.
I can't remember it being this noticeable 10-20 years ago.
Why, in 2025, are young boys and men getting so overweight so young?
The average 12 year old range had an enormous roving range 50 years ago. Whole towns and areas of cities by foot and bicycle. Now they hardly go beyond the end of the street.
But honestly, it's 90% diet. A mars bar takes a 3 mile run to burn off. You'd have to do an huge amount of exercise to burn off the crap young people eat.
Yes, the self-destructive antics of Boris Johnson was the leading cause.
The Conservative party should have appointed a H&S officer and a financial ethics officer to keep him under some sort of control.
To the Tories, Boris was simply a mechanism to win an election.
Everyone knew he was totally unqualified to be Prime Minister.
In that all the problems of the 2019-2024 parliament were laid.
Didn't John Major try to blackball him as a Conservative candidate? After all, his unsuitability was pretty obvious long before 2019. And once he was an MP, of course he would seek to become PM, no matter what harm that caused to the non-people who were non-BoJo.
Now there's a counterfactual. He's sacked from The Times, and that's the end of the matter. What happens next?
Boris would have become a Latin teacher at his alma mater (that's Latin, you know).
It is easy and lazy to knock Boris but his spoken French seems to me to better than that of any leading British politician for a very long time. I guess but can't judge that his Latin is pretty good as well. Also he writes well in English, well better than ANY of his critics.
He has many good points. His one great failing is that he's incompetent at being a grown up. That has and will undermine all of his life.
I think it's more surrounding himself with the wrong people. You can be almost any style of leader with the right team. And Thatcher herself lost it eventually when she lost key team members like Tebbit.
Yep. I agree. Losing Howe was a significant blow too.
The 2010 coalition government was better than the 2015 Tory one because in the latter they lost the annoying, but not unwise, voices of some of the LDs.
Council workers are lazy and inefficient. They’ll go to court over migrants in their council area and the press will lap it up . They can gain more media attention than they already have by these publicity stunts . Even if their councils crash and burn the real audience is the wider electorate .
Then we have the “ youth of today are un-patriotic “ and need re-education which the blue rinse brigade will lap up .
A lot of the youth of today are supporting Reform.
This wasn't the case at the GE. Reform didn't have the same age correlation as the Conservatives did, but they still picked up very few young people.
That might have changed since but I don't think we have any evidence for it.
I've noticed an awful lot of podgy 8-10 year years (boys) and seriously overweight teenagers/young men (aka Rag'n'Bone man) with bad tattoos recently. There seems to be something of a class dimension to this.
I can't remember it being this noticeable 10-20 years ago.
Why, in 2025, are young boys and men getting so overweight so young?
The average 12 year old range had an enormous roving range 50 years ago. Whole towns and areas of cities by foot and bicycle. Now they hardly go beyond the end of the street.
But honestly, it's 90% diet. A mars bar takes a 3 mile run to burn off. You'd have to do an huge amount of exercise to burn off the crap young people eat.
Well also if you are out and about on your bike, not only are you burning some calories, you are far less likely to be shovelling extra calories in.
Where as if you are sitting in your home its dead easy just to pop to the kitchen for 80th time that day to nibble on a snack...as most people found out during COVID.
Question for the PB community in light of Reform's flagship policy of banning free biscuits.
Has anyone ever worked in an organisation providing free biscuits?
We get free biscuits in the office every day. But you need to arrive early to nab the bourbon creams. We also get free fruit on Wednesday and Thursday.
Reform fully costed local government business plan:
Ban free biscuits ? Create three million social housing units for hard working indigenous families and free social care for their mum.
The social care is provided by people who got here on small boats though...
They have thought of that too. Tents will be provided out of the Sinking Biscuits Fund (assets in excess of £8 trillion).
But they'll pitch the tents in the local park. Probably on the cricket square.
The reactions to this GB News are quite interesting, as a potential guide to questions where reality and reason will have no impact, and others means are needed to wash the sandcastle away. It's like a found poem.
TBF the comments will also include a fair proportion of bots from various place there to stir up patianship.
eg - @thetimeisnow6822 1 day ago STARMER IS DELUSIONAL Everything that he says is the TOTAL OPPOSITE OF REALITY" - @mrseddie5971 1 day ago Wages are up more than prices was my personal favourite
(Note: wages are up more than prices.)
- @oriel229 21 hours ago NHS waiting lists DOWN???? NOBODY is going to buy that lie. - @janeevans1859 - 12 hours ago @oriel229 why are the lists so high? I don’t get it - @einsam_aber_frei 10 hours ago NHS waiting list is getting shorter because those can’t wait has passed away.
(Note: lists are down, but there's a smidge of truth in the last comment.)
As I see it, Lab needs a media person, and some clued-up communicators - just for a start.
Labour needs confidence. It just doesn’t project that at the moment. Trump, Farage, Thatcher, Blair show how much (or how little) you can get away with if you do it with utter confidence and assurance.
Charisma plays a big part. Starmer was lucky that the Tories imploded so spectacularly he didn't need to do anything other than not lose too many votes to become PM. But now his stiff, awkward persona is in the spotlight having to get people onside, and the results are predictable
He is much worse than stiff. Watching Keir Starmer “lead” is like watching someone try to defuse a trifle: trembling hands, quiet panic, and a lingering fear that custard might be fatal. Also, why do you call him Sir? The United Kingdom is a piece of absurdist theater.
Says an American.
Indeed. They call Donald Trump (and lots of other people) "the Honorable"
One thing that everyone can agree on except Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries: Boris Johnson should not be PM again.
Boris is 8/1 to be next Tory leader and 16/1 to be next PM. Of course he should not be PM again, but it is far from impossible. The hard question in politics is not who shouldn't, but who should?
If I could pick the PM from anywhere my top five in no particular order would be: Hilary Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt. This is not stuff to make you feel optimistic.
Question for the PB community in light of Reform's flagship policy of banning free biscuits.
Has anyone ever worked in an organisation providing free biscuits?
We get free biscuits in the office every day. But you need to arrive early to nab the bourbon creams. We also get free fruit on Wednesday and Thursday.
Reform fully costed local government business plan:
Ban free biscuits ? Create three million social housing units for hard working indigenous families and free social care for their mum.
The social care is provided by people who got here on small boats though...
They have thought of that too. Tents will be provided out of the Sinking Biscuits Fund (assets in excess of £8 trillion).
But they'll pitch the tents in the local park. Probably on the cricket square.
That won't do. That won't do at all.
Not on the square unless they have a good short leg. Someone has to field at third man.
Have some sympathy for the deputy Indian defence minister who has now been called upon to attend the 9 May parade in Moscow. A surprising number of people seem to have fallen ill and decided not to attend.
One thing that everyone can agree on except Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries: Boris Johnson should not be PM again.
Boris is 8/1 to be next Tory leader and 16/1 to be next PM. Of course he should not be PM again, but it is far from impossible. The hard question in politics is not who shouldn't, but who should?
If I could pick the PM from anywhere my top five in no particular order would be: Hilary Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt. This is not stuff to make you feel optimistic.
Boris is knocking on a bit
By 2033 he'd be nearly 70. So really if he is ever going to be PM again he somehow has to regain the leadership of the Tories after Badenoch but before 28-29 to win a GE, and there are so many obstacles to that, it is borderline impossible
The odds on him as "next PM" should be 30/1 at least
Only the UK government could invent a system where fake asylum seekers from North Africa end up in four-star hotels, while the locals who voted for border control can’t get a dentist
And then PB wonders why Reform are prospering
I don't think people much care whether it's 4-star or a Travellodge with their crappy "party pack" breakfast.
They don't think they should be here in the first place, and don't understand why the government can't just kick them out.
I think the only way to stop them is to withdraw from the international conventions on asylum entirely.
That might well be where we get to.
Indeed, I think it's time for Europe to start this process now, the asylum conventions were written decades ago in a different era when mobility was a lot lower and honesty was much higher. A 5 year pause and redrawing the rules so that asylum can only be claimed by people who are invited, if "international conventions" don't allow this then tell the UN etc... to get fucked. I'm pretty sure we'd get American (and probably French) backing for moves to curtail asylum seeking.
I think you would have to agree a quota, otherwise a few bad actors would refuse to issue any invitations and you'd get a cascading effect across all countries.
I'm pretty convinced that we could welcome 2x, even 3x as many refugees as we do now under such a system. Reduce the strain on the courts and Border Force, and we know Brits are highly hospitable to legit asylum seekers - see Ukrainians, Hong Kong, Afghan translators.
It's the "queue jumpers" that are what really riles people, not asylum in general. And that's the phrase I'd advise Labour to use.
(Not convinced any of this would fix small boats though. It's ultimately a separate issue - illegal economic migrants with a few poor desperate people caught up in with the Albanians etc)
One thing that everyone can agree on except Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries: Boris Johnson should not be PM again.
Boris is 8/1 to be next Tory leader and 16/1 to be next PM. Of course he should not be PM again, but it is far from impossible. The hard question in politics is not who shouldn't, but who should?
If I could pick the PM from anywhere my top five in no particular order would be: Hilary Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt. This is not stuff to make you feel optimistic.
Jesus what a pathetic list of clueless wankers. You are beyond hope, Centrist Grandad
(I was walking, er, behind the most exquisite bottom in London the other day. One of the benefits of the hot weather is the lack of pants.
I could probably have walked a little faster and eventually overtaken her. But didn't.
Does that make me a perv? Or just somebody who appreciates the delights of the human form?)
No. Perv is a much misused word. It is hard to think of anything which is more squarely in the range of the normal that what you describe. 'Perv' etc are often used when the right word is 'inappropriate' or 'unwanted'. In this case you don't seem even to have managed that. Unless sharing it with the whole planet counts.
I've noticed an awful lot of podgy 8-10 year years (boys) and seriously overweight teenagers/young men (aka Rag'n'Bone man) with bad tattoos recently. There seems to be something of a class dimension to this.
I can't remember it being this noticeable 10-20 years ago.
Why, in 2025, are young boys and men getting so overweight so young?
Earlier in the year, my son (yr 6) was weighted and height measured as part of a standard national survey. I'd expect that this is not unusual, and has probably been going on for some time. So it'd be interesting to see how much the stats show the weight of the issue developing over time.
Incidentally, at least one kid the same age (a boy) has exactly the opposite problem, and is being helped with a borderline eating disorder where he simply does not eat enough.
Robinson said his Political Thinking podcast, which offered longer, more conversational exchanges with politicians, was one way of adapting. The podcast is to be broadcast regularly on BBC Two at Friday lunchtimes, starting next week.
(I was walking, er, behind the most exquisite bottom in London the other day. One of the benefits of the hot weather is the lack of pants.
I could probably have walked a little faster and eventually overtaken her. But didn't.
Does that make me a perv? Or just somebody who appreciates the delights of the human form?)
I daresay there some very nice posteriors around me earlier on, not wearing very much. But as we were running, I was too busy to pay much attention. And after a swim, a bike, and a run, all those posteriors probably needed a good shower before anyone would want to go near them...
Zia Yusuf confirms Reform UK will look to use injunctions, judicial reviews and planning laws to block housing asylum seekers in hotels in areas they govern https://x.com/PolitlcsUK/status/1918943321445007690
Sounds expensive.
They can afford it as they are using taxpayers' money. They didn't think of trying before they got their hands into someone else's pocket. They will fail, of course, and then complain about the judges interfering with their democratic mandate. They may have seen this ploy somewhere else.
One thing that everyone can agree on except Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries: Boris Johnson should not be PM again.
Boris is 8/1 to be next Tory leader and 16/1 to be next PM. Of course he should not be PM again, but it is far from impossible. The hard question in politics is not who shouldn't, but who should?
If I could pick the PM from anywhere my top five in no particular order would be: Hilary Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt. This is not stuff to make you feel optimistic.
Jesus what a pathetic list of clueless wankers. You are beyond hope, Centrist Grandad
Hope is an ineradicable condition of the human heart. Neither the condition of UK politics nor your best efforts can entirely eclipse it. It's buttercup time, and last Sunday I was in one of our great cathedrals in my minor role of centrist grandad at the baptism of my latest grandchild. Centrist grandad, Yes. Beyond hope: No.
Only the UK government could invent a system where fake asylum seekers from North Africa end up in four-star hotels, while the locals who voted for border control can’t get a dentist
And then PB wonders why Reform are prospering
I don't think people much care whether it's 4-star or a Travellodge with their crappy "party pack" breakfast.
They don't think they should be here in the first place, and don't understand why the government can't just kick them out.
I think the only way to stop them is to withdraw from the international conventions on asylum entirely.
That might well be where we get to.
Indeed, I think it's time for Europe to start this process now, the asylum conventions were written decades ago in a different era when mobility was a lot lower and honesty was much higher. A 5 year pause and redrawing the rules so that asylum can only be claimed by people who are invited, if "international conventions" don't allow this then tell the UN etc... to get fucked. I'm pretty sure we'd get American (and probably French) backing for moves to curtail asylum seeking.
I think you would have to agree a quota, otherwise a few bad actors would refuse to issue any invitations and you'd get a cascading effect across all countries.
I'm pretty convinced that we could welcome 2x, even 3x as many refugees as we do now under such a system. Reduce the strain on the courts and Border Force, and we know Brits are highly hospitable to legit asylum seekers - see Ukrainians, Hong Kong, Afghan translators.
It's the "queue jumpers" that are what really riles people, not asylum in general. And that's the phrase I'd advise Labour to use.
(Not convinced any of this would fix small boats though. It's ultimately a separate issue - illegal economic migrants with a few poor desperate people caught up in with the Albanians etc)
We really do need to physically be seen to bring people in from a refugee Centre somewhere and ship the illegal arrivals back there to wait their turn.
Nah, Thatcher would still have won. There was excitement amongst women voters for a first female Prime Miniter. Plus the right to buy council houses was a policy Labour would never match.
She might have had a smaller majority, but Britain had had enough of unions and broken nationalised industries well before the Winter of Discontent.
That doesn't match the polling at all. It was very much neck and neck throughout 1978, Tories surged to a very large lead over the Winter of Discontent, and Labour closed the gap significantly over the campaign.
Would a Labour government with such a small majority really have used the ScotDev referendum result as an excuse to let devolution fail? They would have been dependent on 30-40 Scottish MPs.
One thing that everyone can agree on except Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries: Boris Johnson should not be PM again.
Boris is 8/1 to be next Tory leader and 16/1 to be next PM. Of course he should not be PM again, but it is far from impossible. The hard question in politics is not who shouldn't, but who should?
If I could pick the PM from anywhere my top five in no particular order would be: Hilary Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt. This is not stuff to make you feel optimistic.
Jesus what a pathetic list of clueless wankers. You are beyond hope, Centrist Grandad
Hope is an ineradicable condition of the human heart. Neither the condition of UK politics nor your best efforts can entirely eclipse it. It's buttercup time, and last Sunday I was in one of our great cathedrals in my minor role of centrist grandad at the baptism of my latest grandchild. Centrist grandad, Yes. Beyond hope: No.
It may be worth asking why such people are not flavour of the month right now.
I was a Tory Councillor for 24 years and a member of a National Park Authority for 15.
I and many of my former Tory colleagues are not unsympathetic to the aspirations of the new Reform Councillors even if we can't abide Farage himself.
But what is to befall these councils where the entire controlling group is new to and ignorant of local government ?
You just have to go over to Guido to see some of the fundamental misconceptions of these people.
Presumably they will be able to scrabble together a Cabinet with some mainly ex-councillors. But how about a leader, deputy leader, chair and VC of Planning and Licencing. Scrutiny ? forget that, always was a way to sideline arseholes.
These people don't seem to be aware of Audit Committees, or Standards. Ironically these can at lease be lead by opposition councillors, and should be.
I know some of the councillors won't hack it. Fortunately for Reform their majorities are usually so great they can have half the councillors just attending every couple of months. That isn't an anti Reform point, a third of councillors are simply too think to do anything beyond sticking up their hand, that was always true and of all parties. I have yet to meet a Green councillor who meets the basic competency threshold. The couple I saw wouldn't even have been able to brew a cup of tea a la Rachel Reeves.
I know the Tories will have to go for the by-elections which will inevitably follow this coup. Hopefully at least a portion of the electorate will be ready for some measure of competence by then.
In Staffordshire every single one of Reform's 53 councillors is newly elected. I don't think any of them have even defected having previously served other parties.
I expect it to be utter chaos.
Gosh. I see Staffs first new policy is to sack all the "diversity officers". Unfortunately, they don't have any. Next will be to recruit auditors. Why did no one ever think of auditing a Council's budget before?
I should think that a broadly based audit - one which looked more widely than the accounts - for almost any local authority would advise the authority that in order to perform their statutory duties properly (there are said to be about 1000 of these) they need to roughly double their income, but rather more than that if they were to realistically address the need for social housing and the backlog in capital and maintenance works.
I am sure Reform want to hear this. They will soon discover that their voters in fact will expect services at that proper level and expect someone else will pay for it.
The only obvious waste of council money is subsidising bus services. Everyone wants a bus service from nowhere to back of beyond, every hour every day. The parade of empty buses on Cumbria's roads is a spectacle to behold. But, to cut one route even in the middle of the night, Suicide is not painless.
The former Cumbria County Council stopped subsidising all (or nearly all) bus services several years before it was abolished in 2024 (to be replaced by 2 separate unitary authorities for Cumberland and Westmorland & Furness). By contrast, TfGM under the guidance of Mayor Burnham seems to spend a lot of money on subsidising public transport in Greater Manchester. Since mid 2024, Westminster has been providing money to English local authorities to fund additional bus services via its Bus Service Improvement Plan programme, and this taxpayers' money is not always being spent wisely.
One thing that everyone can agree on except Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries: Boris Johnson should not be PM again.
Boris is 8/1 to be next Tory leader and 16/1 to be next PM. Of course he should not be PM again, but it is far from impossible. The hard question in politics is not who shouldn't, but who should?
If I could pick the PM from anywhere my top five in no particular order would be: Hilary Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt. This is not stuff to make you feel optimistic.
Jesus what a pathetic list of clueless wankers. You are beyond hope, Centrist Grandad
Hope is an ineradicable condition of the human heart. Neither the condition of UK politics nor your best efforts can entirely eclipse it. It's buttercup time, and last Sunday I was in one of our great cathedrals in my minor role of centrist grandad at the baptism of my latest grandchild. Centrist grandad, Yes. Beyond hope: No.
And good luck to you: enjoy life, it is brief
But consider the possibility that the reason Britain is now in such a state is BECAUSE of hapless lying mediocrities like Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt, and so forth
There are many worse people, of course. But oh my God this country can and should and must do so much BETTER
Zia Yusuf confirms Reform UK will look to use injunctions, judicial reviews and planning laws to block housing asylum seekers in hotels in areas they govern https://x.com/PolitlcsUK/status/1918943321445007690
Sounds expensive.
They can afford it as they are using taxpayers' money. They didn't think of trying before they got their hands into someone else's pocket. They will fail, of course, and then complain about the judges interfering with their democratic mandate. They may have seen this ploy somewhere else.
It's a sound political strategy and they will be right. Nobody ever voted for this policy but they have voted against it. The government can't expect to implement it without a fight.
One thing that everyone can agree on except Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries: Boris Johnson should not be PM again.
Boris is 8/1 to be next Tory leader and 16/1 to be next PM. Of course he should not be PM again, but it is far from impossible. The hard question in politics is not who shouldn't, but who should?
If I could pick the PM from anywhere my top five in no particular order would be: Hilary Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt. This is not stuff to make you feel optimistic.
Jesus what a pathetic list of clueless wankers. You are beyond hope, Centrist Grandad
Hope is an ineradicable condition of the human heart. Neither the condition of UK politics nor your best efforts can entirely eclipse it. It's buttercup time, and last Sunday I was in one of our great cathedrals in my minor role of centrist grandad at the baptism of my latest grandchild. Centrist grandad, Yes. Beyond hope: No.
And good luck to you: enjoy life, it is brief
But consider the possibility that the reason Britain is now in such a state is BECAUSE of hapless lying mediocrities like Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt, and so forth
There are many worse people, of course. But oh my God this country can and should and must do so much BETTER
Yes, I hope it can. I don't think the better thing is Farage. But we shall surely find out
So disheartening to plan a big event and then everyone makes their excuses.
Its not that long ago Lula got lots of fawning coverage in lots of Western media outlets, the tale of how he had been done a wrong'un over been banged up for corruption and he has come back and got rid of Brazilian Trump.
Yes, the self-destructive antics of Boris Johnson was the leading cause.
The Conservative party should have appointed a H&S officer and a financial ethics officer to keep him under some sort of control.
To the Tories, Boris was simply a mechanism to win an election.
Everyone knew he was totally unqualified to be Prime Minister.
In that all the problems of the 2019-2024 parliament were laid.
Didn't John Major try to blackball him as a Conservative candidate? After all, his unsuitability was pretty obvious long before 2019. And once he was an MP, of course he would seek to become PM, no matter what harm that caused to the non-people who were non-BoJo.
Now there's a counterfactual. He's sacked from The Times, and that's the end of the matter. What happens next?
Boris would have become a Latin teacher at his alma mater (that's Latin, you know).
It is easy and lazy to knock Boris but his spoken French seems to me to better than that of any leading British politician for a very long time. I guess but can't judge that his Latin is pretty good as well. Also he writes well in English, well better than ANY of his critics.
Blair was fluent in French. Clegg was trilingual in English, Spanish and French.
Yes, the self-destructive antics of Boris Johnson was the leading cause.
The Conservative party should have appointed a H&S officer and a financial ethics officer to keep him under some sort of control.
To the Tories, Boris was simply a mechanism to win an election.
Everyone knew he was totally unqualified to be Prime Minister.
In that all the problems of the 2019-2024 parliament were laid.
Didn't John Major try to blackball him as a Conservative candidate? After all, his unsuitability was pretty obvious long before 2019. And once he was an MP, of course he would seek to become PM, no matter what harm that caused to the non-people who were non-BoJo.
Now there's a counterfactual. He's sacked from The Times, and that's the end of the matter. What happens next?
Boris would have become a Latin teacher at his alma mater (that's Latin, you know).
It is easy and lazy to knock Boris but his spoken French seems to me to better than that of any leading British politician for a very long time. I guess but can't judge that his Latin is pretty good as well. Also he writes well in English, well better than ANY of his critics.
Blair was fluent in French. Clegg was trilingual in English, Spanish and French.
Clegg also spoke Dutch.
Yeah but that's not a proper language ;-) Its German for those that couldn't get the hang of the grammar.
One thing that everyone can agree on except Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries: Boris Johnson should not be PM again.
Boris is 8/1 to be next Tory leader and 16/1 to be next PM. Of course he should not be PM again, but it is far from impossible. The hard question in politics is not who shouldn't, but who should?
If I could pick the PM from anywhere my top five in no particular order would be: Hilary Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt. This is not stuff to make you feel optimistic.
Jesus what a pathetic list of clueless wankers. You are beyond hope, Centrist Grandad
Hope is an ineradicable condition of the human heart. Neither the condition of UK politics nor your best efforts can entirely eclipse it. It's buttercup time, and last Sunday I was in one of our great cathedrals in my minor role of centrist grandad at the baptism of my latest grandchild. Centrist grandad, Yes. Beyond hope: No.
And good luck to you: enjoy life, it is brief
But consider the possibility that the reason Britain is now in such a state is BECAUSE of hapless lying mediocrities like Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt, and so forth
There are many worse people, of course. But oh my God this country can and should and must do so much BETTER
And the people you want to rule the country are worse. Farage is a lying grifter who falls out with virtually everyone he works with. He pretends to know what the common man in Britain wants, when he spends f-all time in his constituency and instead decides to brown-tongue the world's richest man and America's worse president.
If you want BETTER, don't look towards Farage and Reform.
consider the possibility that the reason Britain is now in such a state is BECAUSE of hapless lying mediocrities like Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt, and so forth
There are many worse people, of course. But oh my God this country can and should and must do so much BETTER
There are many worse people, and apparently you voted for all of them
Yes, the self-destructive antics of Boris Johnson was the leading cause.
The Conservative party should have appointed a H&S officer and a financial ethics officer to keep him under some sort of control.
To the Tories, Boris was simply a mechanism to win an election.
Everyone knew he was totally unqualified to be Prime Minister.
In that all the problems of the 2019-2024 parliament were laid.
Didn't John Major try to blackball him as a Conservative candidate? After all, his unsuitability was pretty obvious long before 2019. And once he was an MP, of course he would seek to become PM, no matter what harm that caused to the non-people who were non-BoJo.
Now there's a counterfactual. He's sacked from The Times, and that's the end of the matter. What happens next?
Boris would have become a Latin teacher at his alma mater (that's Latin, you know).
It is easy and lazy to knock Boris but his spoken French seems to me to better than that of any leading British politician for a very long time. I guess but can't judge that his Latin is pretty good as well. Also he writes well in English, well better than ANY of his critics.
Blair was fluent in French.
Alastair Campbell and Suella Braverman spoke good French too. Maybe it should be disqualifying.
Blair was not fluent in French. He did a speech in halting schoolboy French and was highly praised for it. I believe Mrs. Thatcher did the exact same on one occasion, though hers was learned off-by-heart because she didn't speak French at all.
He's done more than that. His French is as good as Mark Carney's.
(I was walking, er, behind the most exquisite bottom in London the other day. One of the benefits of the hot weather is the lack of pants.
I could probably have walked a little faster and eventually overtaken her. But didn't.
Does that make me a perv? Or just somebody who appreciates the delights of the human form?)
No. Perv is a much misused word. It is hard to think of anything which is more squarely in the range of the normal that what you describe. 'Perv' etc are often used when the right word is 'inappropriate' or 'unwanted'. In this case you don't seem even to have managed that. Unless sharing it with the whole planet counts.
Yes but Mark omitted the detail of walking half a mile out of his way to prolong the experience.
Only the UK government could invent a system where fake asylum seekers from North Africa end up in four-star hotels, while the locals who voted for border control can’t get a dentist
And then PB wonders why Reform are prospering
I don't think people much care whether it's 4-star or a Travellodge with their crappy "party pack" breakfast.
They don't think they should be here in the first place, and don't understand why the government can't just kick them out.
I think the only way to stop them is to withdraw from the international conventions on asylum entirely.
That might well be where we get to.
Indeed, I think it's time for Europe to start this process now, the asylum conventions were written decades ago in a different era when mobility was a lot lower and honesty was much higher. A 5 year pause and redrawing the rules so that asylum can only be claimed by people who are invited, if "international conventions" don't allow this then tell the UN etc... to get fucked. I'm pretty sure we'd get American (and probably French) backing for moves to curtail asylum seeking.
I think you would have to agree a quota, otherwise a few bad actors would refuse to issue any invitations and you'd get a cascading effect across all countries.
I'm pretty convinced that we could welcome 2x, even 3x as many refugees as we do now under such a system. Reduce the strain on the courts and Border Force, and we know Brits are highly hospitable to legit asylum seekers - see Ukrainians, Hong Kong, Afghan translators.
It's the "queue jumpers" that are what really riles people, not asylum in general. And that's the phrase I'd advise Labour to use.
(Not convinced any of this would fix small boats though. It's ultimately a separate issue - illegal economic migrants with a few poor desperate people caught up in with the Albanians etc)
Maybe, any system would need to be restricted to invite only peoples. Everyone else gets automatically deported to a declared safe third country with no right of appeal if they refuse to voluntarily return to their homeland.
I'd also say that we should be comfortable with countries saying no to any refugees or asylum seekers. It's a system that is fundamentally broken. Indeed, I think the UK should do so except for Hong Kongers and Ukrainians, and even for the latter group it should be on the basis that they return home once the war is over. Dictators and warlords use the "international conventions" on asylum and leave other countries to clear up their messes, we should not allow it.
I think we need to have much harder hearts on illegal immigration and asylum seekers, especially for people coming from stone age cultures with medieval values that are opposed to our own. They bring little to nothing of value to the country and cost us billions that we don't have to house, feed, educate and keep healthy while many plot to kill us because they despise our values.
Yes, the self-destructive antics of Boris Johnson was the leading cause.
The Conservative party should have appointed a H&S officer and a financial ethics officer to keep him under some sort of control.
To the Tories, Boris was simply a mechanism to win an election.
Everyone knew he was totally unqualified to be Prime Minister.
In that all the problems of the 2019-2024 parliament were laid.
Didn't John Major try to blackball him as a Conservative candidate? After all, his unsuitability was pretty obvious long before 2019. And once he was an MP, of course he would seek to become PM, no matter what harm that caused to the non-people who were non-BoJo.
Now there's a counterfactual. He's sacked from The Times, and that's the end of the matter. What happens next?
Boris would have become a Latin teacher at his alma mater (that's Latin, you know).
It is easy and lazy to knock Boris but his spoken French seems to me to better than that of any leading British politician for a very long time. I guess but can't judge that his Latin is pretty good as well. Also he writes well in English, well better than ANY of his critics.
Blair was fluent in French.
Alastair Campbell and Suella Braverman spoke good French too. Maybe it should be disqualifying.
Blair was not fluent in French. He did a speech in halting schoolboy French and was highly praised for it. I believe Mrs. Thatcher did the exact same on one occasion, though hers was learned off-by-heart because she didn't speak French at all.
He's done more than that. His French is as good as Mark Carney's.
One thing that everyone can agree on except Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries: Boris Johnson should not be PM again.
Boris is 8/1 to be next Tory leader and 16/1 to be next PM. Of course he should not be PM again, but it is far from impossible. The hard question in politics is not who shouldn't, but who should?
If I could pick the PM from anywhere my top five in no particular order would be: Hilary Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt. This is not stuff to make you feel optimistic.
Jesus what a pathetic list of clueless wankers. You are beyond hope, Centrist Grandad
This from the person who's only political belief is 'do what the fascists want and maybe they won't need to assume power '.
Question for the PB community in light of Reform's flagship policy of banning free biscuits.
Has anyone ever worked in an organisation providing free biscuits?
We get free biscuits in the office every day. But you need to arrive early to nab the bourbon creams. We also get free fruit on Wednesday and Thursday.
More CCS boondoggle ? 😏
Decades ago I worked in the City where tea and biscuits were brought round on a trolley twice a day.
When I attend meetings hosted by a certain law firm, their in-house barista comes to the meeting room to take the drinks order.
Whilst I increased my vote slightly by 171 (2021 share in brackets) by persuading Labour and Green voters to support me against the Conservatives clearly our tactics of not mentioning Reform were a mistake. The Reform candidate did not put out any literature. From a few hours standing at polling stations, I think that many of the Reform voters did not usually bother to vote in local elections but had turned out this time. I expect in future elections to expend effort encouraging non voters (turnout was 38%) of the dangers of not voting.
County Council result Bruntingthorpe Division (very rural South Leicestershire) Reform 34% (New) Conservative 31% (60%) Liberal Democrat 21% (18%) Labour 7% (13%) Green 7% (9%)
FPT-ing @Icarus in order to highlight this: many of the Reform voters did not usually bother to vote in local elections but had turned out this time.
This supports two contentions: Reform is NOTA; Reform support was underestimated by most pollsters and canvassers because they miss (or avoid or discount) habitual non-voters.
And hence if Reform sells out to, or turns into, the ‘old politics’, many of those folks will go back to sitting polling day out in their armchairs.
They may well find the next vehicle for their desire for someone to listen to them.
Exactly.
The thing is Reform may or may not have the answers. However to lots of left behind communities at least Reform are talking to them. All they get from the other parties and their supporters is being told they’re stupid etc etc. Hardly a plan to win these voters back.
I’m pleased to see some in Labour get it, like my MP. But then you have Lucy Powell and her performance on AQ’s to show Labour has a long way to go.
I'll have to listen to that. As I mentioned the spat was with Tim Montgomerie, who is perhaps trying to demonstrate his new Reform credentials (joined last December?).
My view is that Reform deal precisely in dog whistles and fictional narratives, to the exclusion of much else.
"Illegal immigrants in 4* hotels" is one such, as is "Two Tier Keir", and others.
Those who now have Reform Councils are about to find that out, because the Councillors in said Councils are about to discover that Farage's windy rhetoric does not quite fit reality as it exists outside the political rally, the pub, or the TV studio - so they will need to shout even more loudly to give the impression of doing something.
I'm currently wondering how I can tackle a Reform lead Notts County Council to further a mobility aid accessible network of Public Rights of Way and other paths, in accordance with the law. I need to 4 dimensional chess, and influencing strategies.
Nigel has declared war on one of the pieces of legislation that requires the Local Highways Authority to provide access, but it's also his own voter base which he will increasingly be taking rights away from. And one of his positions depends on the Supreme Courts clarified understanding of the Equality Act which he is out to destroy.
He needs some 4-dimensional chess as well if he isn't going to shoot himself in both feet.
Yep - that's the issue with Reform they generate lies that are very easy to sell and almost impossible to disprove because the people the lies are targeted at don't care enough to listen to reality.
It's very much Trump's audience where America shows only reality will demonstrate to people the reality involved.
Are you saying it’s a lie that migrants are in 4 star hotels?
They are staying in buildings that were run down 4 star hotels of the 80s/90s which were usually slowly dying where the Government has given them one final massive pile of money to solve a problem...
The issue is that people see the 4 star hotel and miss the dingy, dying, no customers needing a complete refurbishment part of the sentence...
No, the issue is that @MattW lied. He claimed there are no migrants in 4* hotels. I’ve proved that there are
He didn’t qualify his remark by saying “yes ok they’re 4 star but check the meagre new offerings at the breakfast buffet”
Also, a lot of these hotels are not crappy, declining shacks - quite often they are the go-to place for locals who want a wedding, a function, a meet up. Suddenly it is taken away to house Eritreans for free, on our shilling
The whole issue is unbelievably toxic and explosive and Labour’s only idea is to make it worse by giving the asylum seekers guaranteed housing
Er .. what?
Posting a claim that I said something just below the point where it's clear I didn't say it is ... innovative.
One thing that everyone can agree on except Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries: Boris Johnson should not be PM again.
Boris is 8/1 to be next Tory leader and 16/1 to be next PM. Of course he should not be PM again, but it is far from impossible. The hard question in politics is not who shouldn't, but who should?
If I could pick the PM from anywhere my top five in no particular order would be: Hilary Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt. This is not stuff to make you feel optimistic.
Jesus what a pathetic list of clueless wankers. You are beyond hope, Centrist Grandad
Four of those, I find actively malign. Their accompanying ineptitude is a redeeming feature.
One thing that everyone can agree on except Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries: Boris Johnson should not be PM again.
Boris is 8/1 to be next Tory leader and 16/1 to be next PM. Of course he should not be PM again, but it is far from impossible. The hard question in politics is not who shouldn't, but who should?
If I could pick the PM from anywhere my top five in no particular order would be: Hilary Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt. This is not stuff to make you feel optimistic.
Jesus what a pathetic list of clueless wankers. You are beyond hope, Centrist Grandad
This from the person who's only political belief is 'do what the fascists want and maybe they won't need to assume power '.
Are you really unable to interpret those answers in any other way than to see Trump as stupid?
The second question is pretty basic. He literally swore an oath to uphold the constitution, so the only correct answer is 'yes'.
In the context of an attempt to box him in politically, the only correct answer is 'I don't know'. It's the equivalent of Pierre Trudeau's 'Just watch me':
"I think the society must take every means at its disposal to defend itself against the emergence of a parallel power which defies the elected power in this country and I think that goes to any distance. So long as there is a power in here which is challenging the elected representative of the people I think that power must be stopped and I think it's only, I repeat, weak-kneed bleeding hearts who are afraid to take these measures."
Are you really unable to interpret those answers in any other way than to see Trump as stupid?
The second question is pretty basic. He literally swore an oath to uphold the constitution, so the only correct answer is 'yes'.
Trump is quite clearly going gaga in front of our eyes. He was always a corrupt lying racist sociopathic gangster, admittedly all things that @williamglenn admires, but denying that he is clearly losing the plot is just silly at this point.
One thing that everyone can agree on except Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries: Boris Johnson should not be PM again.
Boris is 8/1 to be next Tory leader and 16/1 to be next PM. Of course he should not be PM again, but it is far from impossible. The hard question in politics is not who shouldn't, but who should?
If I could pick the PM from anywhere my top five in no particular order would be: Hilary Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt. This is not stuff to make you feel optimistic.
Jesus what a pathetic list of clueless wankers. You are beyond hope, Centrist Grandad
This from the person who's only political belief is 'do what the fascists want and maybe they won't need to assume power '.
Where 'the fascists' = 'the voters'.
We’re moving to ‘Everyone who disagrees with me is Hitler’ territory.
Are you really unable to interpret those answers in any other way than to see Trump as stupid?
The second question is pretty basic. He literally swore an oath to uphold the constitution, so the only correct answer is 'yes'.
Trump is quite clearly going gaga in front of our eyes. He was always a corrupt lying racist sociopathic gangster, admittedly all things that @williamglenn admires, but denying that he is clearly losing the plot is just silly at this point.
One thing that everyone can agree on except Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries: Boris Johnson should not be PM again.
Boris is 8/1 to be next Tory leader and 16/1 to be next PM. Of course he should not be PM again, but it is far from impossible. The hard question in politics is not who shouldn't, but who should?
If I could pick the PM from anywhere my top five in no particular order would be: Hilary Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt. This is not stuff to make you feel optimistic.
Jesus what a pathetic list of clueless wankers. You are beyond hope, Centrist Grandad
This from the person who's only political belief is 'do what the fascists want and maybe they won't need to assume power '.
Where 'the fascists' = 'the voters'.
We’re moving to ‘Everyone who disagrees with me is Hitler’ territory.
Yes - @williamglenn is already at the stage of "deny the vote to everyone who doesn't vote how I want"
One thing that everyone can agree on except Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries: Boris Johnson should not be PM again.
Boris is 8/1 to be next Tory leader and 16/1 to be next PM. Of course he should not be PM again, but it is far from impossible. The hard question in politics is not who shouldn't, but who should?
If I could pick the PM from anywhere my top five in no particular order would be: Hilary Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt. This is not stuff to make you feel optimistic.
Jesus what a pathetic list of clueless wankers. You are beyond hope, Centrist Grandad
This from the person who's only political belief is 'do what the fascists want and maybe they won't need to assume power '.
Where 'the fascists' = 'the voters'.
I really don't understand the mindset of people who less than a year out from losing a general election feel that what the voters really want the government to do is what the 3rd placed party in terms of votes proposed.
Do you actually believe in democracy or only when it agrees with you?
One thing that everyone can agree on except Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries: Boris Johnson should not be PM again.
Boris is 8/1 to be next Tory leader and 16/1 to be next PM. Of course he should not be PM again, but it is far from impossible. The hard question in politics is not who shouldn't, but who should?
If I could pick the PM from anywhere my top five in no particular order would be: Hilary Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt. This is not stuff to make you feel optimistic.
Jesus what a pathetic list of clueless wankers. You are beyond hope, Centrist Grandad
Hope is an ineradicable condition of the human heart. Neither the condition of UK politics nor your best efforts can entirely eclipse it. It's buttercup time, and last Sunday I was in one of our great cathedrals in my minor role of centrist grandad at the baptism of my latest grandchild. Centrist grandad, Yes. Beyond hope: No.
And good luck to you: enjoy life, it is brief
But consider the possibility that the reason Britain is now in such a state is BECAUSE of hapless lying mediocrities like Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt, and so forth
There are many worse people, of course. But oh my God this country can and should and must do so much BETTER
And the people you want to rule the country are worse. Farage is a lying grifter who falls out with virtually everyone he works with. He pretends to know what the common man in Britain wants, when he spends f-all time in his constituency and instead decides to brown-tongue the world's richest man and America's worse president.
If you want BETTER, don't look towards Farage and Reform.
Yeah, well look to Starmer, Badenoch and Davey as well as them Green loons for ‘better’
One thing that everyone can agree on except Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries: Boris Johnson should not be PM again.
Boris is 8/1 to be next Tory leader and 16/1 to be next PM. Of course he should not be PM again, but it is far from impossible. The hard question in politics is not who shouldn't, but who should?
If I could pick the PM from anywhere my top five in no particular order would be: Hilary Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt. This is not stuff to make you feel optimistic.
Jesus what a pathetic list of clueless wankers. You are beyond hope, Centrist Grandad
This from the person who's only political belief is 'do what the fascists want and maybe they won't need to assume power '.
Where 'the fascists' = 'the voters'.
I really don't understand the mindset of people who less than a year out from losing a general election feel that what the voters really want the government to do is what the 3rd placed party in terms of votes proposed.
Do you actually believe in democracy or only when it agrees with you?
Starmer ran on a platform of deportations and cutting immigration. What did you think you were voting for?
One thing that everyone can agree on except Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries: Boris Johnson should not be PM again.
Boris is 8/1 to be next Tory leader and 16/1 to be next PM. Of course he should not be PM again, but it is far from impossible. The hard question in politics is not who shouldn't, but who should?
If I could pick the PM from anywhere my top five in no particular order would be: Hilary Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt. This is not stuff to make you feel optimistic.
Jesus what a pathetic list of clueless wankers. You are beyond hope, Centrist Grandad
This from the person who's only political belief is 'do what the fascists want and maybe they won't need to assume power '.
Where 'the fascists' = 'the voters'.
We’re moving to ‘Everyone who disagrees with me is Hitler’ territory.
Yes - @williamglenn is already at the stage of "deny the vote to everyone who doesn't vote how I want"
Are you really unable to interpret those answers in any other way than to see Trump as stupid?
The second question is pretty basic. He literally swore an oath to uphold the constitution, so the only correct answer is 'yes'.
Trump is quite clearly going gaga in front of our eyes. He was always a corrupt lying racist sociopathic gangster, admittedly all things that @williamglenn admires, but denying that he is clearly losing the plot is just silly at this point.
One thing that everyone can agree on except Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries: Boris Johnson should not be PM again.
Boris is 8/1 to be next Tory leader and 16/1 to be next PM. Of course he should not be PM again, but it is far from impossible. The hard question in politics is not who shouldn't, but who should?
If I could pick the PM from anywhere my top five in no particular order would be: Hilary Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt. This is not stuff to make you feel optimistic.
Jesus what a pathetic list of clueless wankers. You are beyond hope, Centrist Grandad
This from the person who's only political belief is 'do what the fascists want and maybe they won't need to assume power '.
Where 'the fascists' = 'the voters'.
I really don't understand the mindset of people who less than a year out from losing a general election feel that what the voters really want the government to do is what the 3rd placed party in terms of votes proposed.
Do you actually believe in democracy or only when it agrees with you?
Starmer ran on a platform of deportations and cutting immigration. What did you think you were voting for?
Why not have the courage for once in your life to answer a simple question?
It's obvious from your posts that you don't believe in democracy so why not just say so. I'd have a tiny bit more respect for you if you weren't such a coward.
One thing that everyone can agree on except Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries: Boris Johnson should not be PM again.
Boris is 8/1 to be next Tory leader and 16/1 to be next PM. Of course he should not be PM again, but it is far from impossible. The hard question in politics is not who shouldn't, but who should?
If I could pick the PM from anywhere my top five in no particular order would be: Hilary Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt. This is not stuff to make you feel optimistic.
Jesus what a pathetic list of clueless wankers. You are beyond hope, Centrist Grandad
This from the person who's only political belief is 'do what the fascists want and maybe they won't need to assume power '.
Where 'the fascists' = 'the voters'.
I really don't understand the mindset of people who less than a year out from losing a general election feel that what the voters really want the government to do is what the 3rd placed party in terms of votes proposed.
Do you actually believe in democracy or only when it agrees with you?
Starmer ran on a platform of deportations and cutting immigration. What did you think you were voting for?
Which is happening, Enforced returns are up by by a quarter year on year.
One thing that everyone can agree on except Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries: Boris Johnson should not be PM again.
Boris is 8/1 to be next Tory leader and 16/1 to be next PM. Of course he should not be PM again, but it is far from impossible. The hard question in politics is not who shouldn't, but who should?
If I could pick the PM from anywhere my top five in no particular order would be: Hilary Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt. This is not stuff to make you feel optimistic.
Jesus what a pathetic list of clueless wankers. You are beyond hope, Centrist Grandad
This from the person who's only political belief is 'do what the fascists want and maybe they won't need to assume power '.
Where 'the fascists' = 'the voters'.
I really don't understand the mindset of people who less than a year out from losing a general election feel that what the voters really want the government to do is what the 3rd placed party in terms of votes proposed.
Do you actually believe in democracy or only when it agrees with you?
Starmer ran on a platform of deportations and cutting immigration. What did you think you were voting for?
Why not have the courage for once in your life to answer a simple question?
It's obvious from your posts that you don't believe in democracy so why not just say so. I'd have a tiny bit more respect for you if you weren't such a coward.
People who profess a ‘belief’ in democracy are invariably hypocrites. As soon as it is convenient they come up with excuses for why the people must be ignored.
One thing that everyone can agree on except Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries: Boris Johnson should not be PM again.
Boris is 8/1 to be next Tory leader and 16/1 to be next PM. Of course he should not be PM again, but it is far from impossible. The hard question in politics is not who shouldn't, but who should?
If I could pick the PM from anywhere my top five in no particular order would be: Hilary Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt. This is not stuff to make you feel optimistic.
Jesus what a pathetic list of clueless wankers. You are beyond hope, Centrist Grandad
This from the person who's only political belief is 'do what the fascists want and maybe they won't need to assume power '.
Where 'the fascists' = 'the voters'.
I really don't understand the mindset of people who less than a year out from losing a general election feel that what the voters really want the government to do is what the 3rd placed party in terms of votes proposed.
Do you actually believe in democracy or only when it agrees with you?
Starmer ran on a platform of deportations and cutting immigration. What did you think you were voting for?
Which is happening, Enforced returns are up by by a quarter year on year.
And you support Starmer going “further and faster”?
One thing that everyone can agree on except Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries: Boris Johnson should not be PM again.
Boris is 8/1 to be next Tory leader and 16/1 to be next PM. Of course he should not be PM again, but it is far from impossible. The hard question in politics is not who shouldn't, but who should?
If I could pick the PM from anywhere my top five in no particular order would be: Hilary Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt. This is not stuff to make you feel optimistic.
Jesus what a pathetic list of clueless wankers. You are beyond hope, Centrist Grandad
Hope is an ineradicable condition of the human heart. Neither the condition of UK politics nor your best efforts can entirely eclipse it. It's buttercup time, and last Sunday I was in one of our great cathedrals in my minor role of centrist grandad at the baptism of my latest grandchild. Centrist grandad, Yes. Beyond hope: No.
And good luck to you: enjoy life, it is brief
But consider the possibility that the reason Britain is now in such a state is BECAUSE of hapless lying mediocrities like Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt, and so forth
There are many worse people, of course. But oh my God this country can and should and must do so much BETTER
And the people you want to rule the country are worse. Farage is a lying grifter who falls out with virtually everyone he works with. He pretends to know what the common man in Britain wants, when he spends f-all time in his constituency and instead decides to brown-tongue the world's richest man and America's worse president.
If you want BETTER, don't look towards Farage and Reform.
Yeah, well look to Starmer, Badenoch and Davey as well as them Green loons for ‘better’
😂
Do you really think, given his history, that Farage is 'better' than any of the above? If so, why?
Comments
Just as Thatcher said "every prime minister needs a willie" referring to Willie Whitelaw then Boris needed someone to keep him in the straight and narrow.
That became even more important when the covid restriction were introduced.
Yet the Conservatives did nothing and let Boris, and for that matter plenty of others, run wild.
Of course if they issued Hob-Nobs this would not be a problem.
Ban free biscuits
?
Create three million social housing units for hard working indigenous families and free social care for their mum.
Even if it that meant employing Cyclefree to continually stand next to him stopping him from doing things.
Those were the days. No checkboxes, just a nod and a wink, or in a genuine emergency a quiet word to the wise in the appropriate shellhole.
In the end the far right will break through unless this is done. So it will be done. In which case: get on and do it ASAP
Reasons to be cheerful.
(I was walking, er, behind the most exquisite bottom in London the other day. One of the benefits of the hot weather is the lack of pants.
I could probably have walked a little faster and eventually overtaken her. But didn't.
Does that make me a perv? Or just somebody who appreciates the delights of the human form?)
In 2023, the Home Office found that two in five delivery drivers stopped during random checks were working illegally.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/04/illegal-migrants-britain-easy-money-deliveroo-jobs/
The apps could surely stop this by requiring the account holder to be tied to a specific phone and that at any random time they are required to show their face on a video call.
The PM of the UK can call on the advice and talents of anyone he likes, which he needed because of the gaps in ability that everyone has. But he had to do two things with his golden legacy: choose the right team of politicians and advisors, and conduct himself with effort in a way which didn't disgrace his office.
Because of his popular character he was given more leeway than most. He failed the tests by bad choices of people, and disgraced his office by the sort of corruption which was unworthy of a banana republic and a lack of self discipline of anarchist and self destructive proportions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4dgnicqaaU
But honestly, it's 90% diet. A mars bar takes a 3 mile run to burn off. You'd have to do an huge amount of exercise to burn off the crap young people eat.
Your Titanias also.
The 2010 coalition government was better than the 2015 Tory one because in the latter they lost the annoying, but not unwise, voices of some of the LDs.
That might have changed since but I don't think we have any evidence for it.
Oh, he wanted the title. The acclaim. The prestige. The percs.
He absolutely never wanted to do the work.
If we never hear from him again it will be too soon
Where as if you are sitting in your home its dead easy just to pop to the kitchen for 80th time that day to nibble on a snack...as most people found out during COVID.
That won't do. That won't do at all.
If I could pick the PM from anywhere my top five in no particular order would be: Hilary Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt. This is not stuff to make you feel optimistic.
By 2033 he'd be nearly 70. So really if he is ever going to be PM again he somehow has to regain the leadership of the Tories after Badenoch but before 28-29 to win a GE, and there are so many obstacles to that, it is borderline impossible
The odds on him as "next PM" should be 30/1 at least
I'm pretty convinced that we could welcome 2x, even 3x as many refugees as we do now under such a system. Reduce the strain on the courts and Border Force, and we know Brits are highly hospitable to legit asylum seekers - see Ukrainians, Hong Kong, Afghan translators.
It's the "queue jumpers" that are what really riles people, not asylum in general. And that's the phrase I'd advise Labour to use.
(Not convinced any of this would fix small boats though. It's ultimately a separate issue - illegal economic migrants with a few poor desperate people caught up in with the Albanians etc)
Incidentally, at least one kid the same age (a boy) has exactly the opposite problem, and is being helped with a borderline eating disorder where he simply does not eat enough.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/may/04/nick-robinson-partisan-interviews-danger-democracy-bbc-us-media
I wonder how much the guest gets to talk and how much is him interrupting?
(No-one looks good in a trisuit.)
But consider the possibility that the reason Britain is now in such a state is BECAUSE of hapless lying mediocrities like Benn, Rory, Cameron, Davey, Hunt, and so forth
There are many worse people, of course. But oh my God this country can and should and must do so much BETTER
https://x.com/secretsqrl123/status/1918813829842051380
So disheartening to plan a big event and then everyone makes their excuses.
https://x.com/days_scottish/status/1918986653902782845?s=61&t=LYVEHh2mqFy1oUJAdCfe-Q
If you want BETTER, don't look towards Farage and Reform.
I'd also say that we should be comfortable with countries saying no to any refugees or asylum seekers. It's a system that is fundamentally broken. Indeed, I think the UK should do so except for Hong Kongers and Ukrainians, and even for the latter group it should be on the basis that they return home once the war is over. Dictators and warlords use the "international conventions" on asylum and leave other countries to clear up their messes, we should not allow it.
I think we need to have much harder hearts on illegal immigration and asylum seekers, especially for people coming from stone age cultures with medieval values that are opposed to our own. They bring little to nothing of value to the country and cost us billions that we don't have to house, feed, educate and keep healthy while many plot to kill us because they despise our values.
@atrupar.com
WELKER: Your secretary of state says everyone who's here, citizens and non-citizens, deserve due process. Do you agree?
TRUMP: I don't know. I'm not a lawyer. I don't know.
WELKER: Don't you need to uphold the Constitution?
TRUMP: I don't know
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3lodz6fabi22e
Posting a claim that I said something just below the point where it's clear I didn't say it is ... innovative.
The Clacton Pier Popinjay comes to town
I'm off for a walk. Have a great ruckus, all.
"I think the society must take every means at its disposal to defend itself against the emergence of a parallel power which defies the elected power in this country and I think that goes to any distance. So long as there is a power in here which is challenging the elected representative of the people I think that power must be stopped and I think it's only, I repeat, weak-kneed bleeding hearts who are afraid to take these measures."
@atrupar.com
· 34m
WELKER: When does it become the Trump economy?
TRUMP: It partially is right now. I think the good parts are the Trump economy and the bad parts are the Biden economy
Do you actually believe in democracy or only when it agrees with you?
😂
Quality projection.
It's obvious from your posts that you don't believe in democracy so why not just say so. I'd have a tiny bit more respect for you if you weren't such a coward.