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Things can only get better – politicalbetting.com
Things can only get better – politicalbetting.com
Reform UK and Green voters are the most likely to believe a government led by their party would make a "very positive difference" to the UKCurrent Reform UK voters: 55% say very positive differenceGreen: 49%Conservative: 28%Lib Dem: 27%Labour: 22%yougov.co.uk/politics/art…
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Things are better already
Ironic, as plenty of scope for them to get worse for Labour. Much worse. As next year's locals will demonstrate.
"I have a D:Ream..."
"Er, kill the music..."
So far Reform's agenda in local government seems to extend no further than taking down the Ukrainian flag - perhaps unsurprising given Farage's past relationship with Russia Today. The comments from the independent Durham councillor at the end of the article seem quite perceptive. I would guess a Reform government would be quite a disappointment to its supporters. Complex problems are not easily fixed by simplistic solutions.
Evidence: every other failed populist in history. And they pretty much always fail, because you can't defeat arithmetic.
In reality, there's a reason why we do some things why we do. We need reform and *significant* reform, but you have to replace x with y, you can't just scrap x because it is "woke"
So I assume if they had won they would be mainly working on potholing.
As it happens they were beaten by an indie who has been around a while.
I’d like to see public information campaigns that start to talk about housing as a key store of wealth that we should be using to help fund retirement. The Government should also look for other ways to incentivise downsizing, such as reducing or even scrapping stamp duty for “last-time” buyers.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/retirement/millions-only-able-retire-cash-in-properties
It's like those pathetic groups of Russians petitioning Putin/Stalin/The Tsar, convinced that their great leader has made some administrative error by shafting them.
Thanks for the header, it's nice to know some of us feel cause for optimism in any of our politicians.
Yuk.
‘I’m not looking for a deal’: Trump revives global trade war
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/23/trump-global-trade-war-apple-eu-00368401
Trump turns the screws on big companies amid tariff fight
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/23/trump-tariffs-apple-walmart-00367595
President Donald Trump promised that his administration would be able to make quick trade deals with more than 50 trading partners. But halfway into his self-imposed deadline, talks have gotten bogged down.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/23/trump-tariff-trade-july-deadline-00366404
The decidedly mediocre deals that Starmer has agreed might turn out to be relatively attractive.
Trump is making the US harder and harder to trade with. And a less attractive place to invest.
Two teams competing for the chance to be relegated next season.
So the UK might yet be forced to decide whether to try to hold on to its gains in its deal with the US even if doing so risks retaliatory measures from the EU
Lilico - telegraph
What they are proposing is to cripple one of America's most profitable companies.
Blackburn: This is all part of making sure the country is affordable. 80% of all iPhones are made in China currently… This manufacturing needs to come back to the U.S. It is jobs, it is wages..
Chaffetz: By next year, people will understand that’s part of the America first agenda. So, just eat it
https://x.com/Acyn/status/1926093453298954288
Nike isn't going to make trainers in the US either.
Trump is acting more as a Chinese agent than a Russian one.
It's either desperate, or disparate.
You can't build a future around this.
Trying to find either is a complete fool's errand.
In fact he's acting like a narcissistic 13-year-old with the ethics of the New York property scammers where his formative experiences were and the attention span of a gnat, who gets all his ideas from the stranger parts of right-wing cable TV and repeats whatever the last person he met told him.
https://shepwayvox.org/2025/05/23/reform-led-kent-council-under-fire-for-excluding-deaf-residents-from-democracy/
It has good commentary, and has a neat summary of indirect discrimination:
"Legal experts now argue this is a textbook case of indirect discrimination under Section 19 of the Act: a seemingly neutral practice—streaming without subtitles—that puts disabled people at a clear disadvantage, without objective justification."
That's a good example of why the Equality Act 2010 is massively important, (never mind definitions of woman
This is I think a continuing case, not related to Reform UK now leading Kent Council.
If the Mackems lose it will round off a good footballing week.
1 Why choose to draw the line here? Version 1 of the flag ban would have excluded county flags as well, so why reverse ferret on that but not on the Ukrainian flag?
2 Where is this initiative from? Elected county councillors, or the unelected Zia Yusuf?
There really does need to be a hard-nosed look at all those people who wish to pass on current cost/spending to future generations. The young can only pay (or suffer) so much.
I’m not a Reform supporter and will never vote for Farage. But this sort of misrepresentation just pisses me when off. This board relies on accurate information / assessment for people to for their betting judgements.
The new leader of Kent County Council (KCC) has sparked a backlash over plans to remove the Ukraine flag from the chamber.
Linden Kemkaran made the pledge after she was voted into her new post last Thursday evening, saying the gesture is a “distraction”.
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/bitter-backlash-over-reform-plans-to-remove-flag-from-counci-324209/
I have no doubt that Reform is both hostile to Ukraine and sympathetic to Putin. They take their lead from Trump.
Items and reports on the forward plan for future meetings are fixed so if some significant work has been carried out it will still need to be discussed and reviewed even if the new ruling group neither instigated it nor had any involvement. It's rare you get a whole new group come onto the council and win a majority - usually changes of administration occur within the current parties so you would have had previously Opposition councillors on Scrutiny & Oversight Committee so there's an element of continuity.
Senior officers would have had to spend days bringing the new Reform councillors up to speed with what is the Council is doing via Members' Induction explaining the property portfolio and the various businesses through which the Council operates, the medium term financial plan agreed by the last administration etc, etc.
There's also the Member-Officer protocols and the Standards Committee. There are set ways by which Members and Officers interact - Members can't storm around the headquarters sounding off about what Officers should and shouldn't be doing. The relationship is far more nuanced.
Flags are symbolic but nothing more - normally you have the Union flag, the Cross of St George and the Authority flag (if you have a fourth flagpole you can use that for other things). Armed Forces Day is the 28th June so it'll be interesting to see who flies the flag then.
Though the other attitude these defences of Reform show is hardly wholesome: “it’s ok they aren’t targeting Ukraine, just the gays”.
Then use the proceeds to reduce stamp duty - both at the higher levels (which are a real limitation on transactions) and potentially to advantage downsizing.
A story about people smuggling via Yachting Marinas, which also has a note about how the shouting about / media focus on small boats may result in over-allocation of resources to that one smallish part of illegal immigration.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c70664266plo
Yachts easy way to bring in migrants - ex-smuggler
If you think the country is totally down the shitter - which it is - then you want radical change. The only “big” parties offering that are Green and Reform. The other three are more-of-the-same uniparty that has driven the UK over a cliff
And, you have to laugh at the Labour 22%. That’s a lot of bitterly disappointed Labourites
None of us enjoys the prospect of impending decrepitude, dependence and broad impotence. The current senior generation seems to be taking it particularly badly, whether that's Biden refusing to shuffle off the stage in good time, or boomers holding on to their money as hard as they can.
https://youtu.be/slvGKU7HF6M
Huge panic as winter clothes are being retrieved from the loft.
So, either Reform are dim, or they really don't want to fly the Ukrainian flag from their poles. Or, if I were being really provocative, the Pride flag is a MacGuffin; a loud ban on woke Pride flags to sneak in a quiet ban on Ukrainian flags.
I won’t post Good Morning today because it isn’t!
The problem was very few Councils had an Israeli flag and those who didn't and tried to get hold of one had huge problems as there was a huge demand (understandably). The instruction was withdrawn some days later so to answer your question some might well have flown the Israeli flag, most didn't.
As for the Palestinian flag, I don't recall an instruction about that. I don't think even Newham flew the Palestinian flag though there were plenty on lamp posts in the more Muslim Wards but not I think on Council buildings. Newham mostly flies the Union flag, its own flag and does on special occasion fly other flags. When I go past the Town Hall today, I'll see what's flying currently.
At the moment they have achieved their objective (being homophobic) but their opponents are calling them pro-Russian which seems to have little salience with the ordinary voter.
The US Government banned all flags apart from the Stars and Stripes, State and City flags.
So the Mayor of Salt Lake City* made the Pride flag the City flag (by adding a beehive, the state symbol) and the council unanimously confirmed it.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/07/salt-lake-city-boise-pride-flags?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
*slightly surprised for it to be SLC, but America has lots of blue spots even in the reddest states.
It suggests their motive is purely anti-Ukrainian which it isn’t. There’s a whole lot of nastiness going on 😉
Edit: I don’t have an issue with councils flying flags on specific days. But as a general rules they shouldn’t fly more than the main 3 all the time
https://youtu.be/gJJmDzVXCx8
It can only be interpreted as opposition to those movements that are currently represented by flags. The Ukrainian flag is a common symbol of support for Ukraine (my local church flies it); not making an exception for it is all the evidence you need.
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=israeli+flag+flown+at+council+building
This will never be bettered though.
I mean, The Ship That Died of Shame was only published in 1952.
Whisper about private aircraft. There are basically no checks there, either.
Maybe they will get to visa sales, eventually. That’s where the real business is - best money.