And that there should be substantially fewer one hopes. 500k per year net migration is completely unsustainable.
I actually did a small bit of pub chat research the other weekend about this subject. Somehow it came onto immigration and the poll that said people mostly want less immigration not more, I didn't bring it up but did test out a theory. I asked for the consensus (and this is basically my middle class wanky liberal friends) on what they thought "lower immigration", all but one person equated the phrase less immigration with more immigrants leaving the country than arriving, that is to say net emigration. If that group is broadly in favour of net emigration not just lower immigration then the overton window is substantially further to the right on this subject than I think politicians realise.
Small sample size and all that but I think when pollsters ask the public the question "do you want lower immigration, the same number of higher immigration?" the public interpret the three options as negative migration (net emigration), no more additional immigrants (net zero immigration) and net migration of less than today's numbers but not zero or below.
I think the appetite for immigration is seriously a lot lower than the polling indicates at first glance. I'd like to see YouGov ask what people think "lower immigration" means, I'll be shocked if more than a handful think it means plus 300k migrants as Labour's plans seem to be.
It depends who you go to the pub* with. Polling shows support for the same or more immigration across most categories apart from asylum seekers.
*probably not the best place for a representative straw poll.
The idea the British want MORE immigration is insultingly stupid
It also doesn't disprove my hypothesis that the idea of lower/higher doesn't centre around the zero migration rather than 500k migration.
It doesn't.
On the other hand, the evidence is that people think levels of immigration and the number of immigrants in the UK are far higher tham they actually are too.
That’s not entirely true
During the Boriswave IIRC people were asked “how many migrants are coming in every year right now”
I don’t believe more than 5% guessed the true figure - one million per year - because it was so outlandishly high
Going in: Jonathan Richman - I'm a Little Dinosaur ("and I'm planning to go away....")
Going out: the sound of a Merlin engine in a Spitfire .
My late brother went for Highway to Hell. To be honest it’s kind of lost its shock value. Personally I have told my wife that a bin bag would suffice. Once you’re deid you’re deid.
I have left my body to medical students. It might not be acceptable, depending upon how I died, in which case the green bin will do. I recommend others do it. It is easy to set up.
“Really fascinating looking at voting intention by life satisfaction: Both the Green Party and Reform do much better with people with lower life satisfaction, Labour is only convincingly ahead with people who rate their life satisfaction at 10/10” - Ed Hodgson https://x.com/edhodgsoned/status/1932102321796005937/photo/1
And Reform is well ahead among life's losers - those scoring 0/10. No other party comes close. It's a USP of sorts, but not one to admire.
They are people who are not satisfied with their life.
That does not make them necessarily losers. They will be a cross section of society.
If they are not literally losers, you are suggesting they are miserable gits instead. I'm not sure that's better. If they are losers it might be because life has dealt them a bad hand, and it's not their fault.
I’m suggesting that, true, based on people I’ve known in work and also myself !!
As I get older I realise Victor Meldrew was right about everything and should be the hero of One Foot in the Grave.
Maybe. I find people being miserable all the time dreary, tiring and not productive. I'm not saying we should all be happy, clappy, but there's a lot to be said for making the best of the situation in my view.
And that there should be substantially fewer one hopes. 500k per year net migration is completely unsustainable.
I actually did a small bit of pub chat research the other weekend about this subject. Somehow it came onto immigration and the poll that said people mostly want less immigration not more, I didn't bring it up but did test out a theory. I asked for the consensus (and this is basically my middle class wanky liberal friends) on what they thought "lower immigration", all but one person equated the phrase less immigration with more immigrants leaving the country than arriving, that is to say net emigration. If that group is broadly in favour of net emigration not just lower immigration then the overton window is substantially further to the right on this subject than I think politicians realise.
Small sample size and all that but I think when pollsters ask the public the question "do you want lower immigration, the same number of higher immigration?" the public interpret the three options as negative migration (net emigration), no more additional immigrants (net zero immigration) and net migration of less than today's numbers but not zero or below.
I think the appetite for immigration is seriously a lot lower than the polling indicates at first glance. I'd like to see YouGov ask what people think "lower immigration" means, I'll be shocked if more than a handful think it means plus 300k migrants as Labour's plans seem to be.
It depends who you go to the pub* with. Polling shows support for the same or more immigration across most categories apart from asylum seekers.
*probably not the best place for a representative straw poll.
The idea the British want MORE immigration is insultingly stupid
It also doesn't disprove my hypothesis that the idea of lower/higher doesn't centre around the zero migration rather than 500k migration.
I suspect you’re right - indeed I recall a poll recently saying quite a large chunk of Brits want REMigration. They want some migrants here to start going home. The Boriswave is the obvious driver of this
I think Farage should come clean with voters and say “reducing net migration to zero and asking recent arrivals to go will cause economic pain, but we believe it is necessary to achieve greater cohesion and integration”. Because I reckon the voters would accept it. As a price that must be paid
Also this whole debate needs openness and truth from politicians. For twenty bloody years - at least - voters have made it obvious they want much lower immigration. Every election the parties on all sides have promised this. And every single time the parties have betrayed the people - the last Tory government being the very worst of all
Truth. We need truth. And we need a government that does what it promises
It’s not quantum physics. As that Danish politician said to simon reeves on the BBC - “the voters wanted lower immigration so we gave them lower immigration.” As a result of these firm honest policies on migration the Danish social democrats got reelected, and the Danish hard right has disappeared as a force
That’s it. That’s what you do. And it can be done
“reducing net migration to zero and asking recent arrivals to go will cause economic pain."
I know this is the accepted truth, but I'm increasingly of the view that the evidence for it is pretty ropey.
Communities are great things - if you flood a nation with people that don't quite fit you disrupt that. Over time everyone fits in and it's fine, but if you continually undermine the community such that it never quite gets itself together then perhaps you are creating a problem. I think this is the UK.
“Really fascinating looking at voting intention by life satisfaction: Both the Green Party and Reform do much better with people with lower life satisfaction, Labour is only convincingly ahead with people who rate their life satisfaction at 10/10” - Ed Hodgson https://x.com/edhodgsoned/status/1932102321796005937/photo/1
And Reform is well ahead among life's losers - those scoring 0/10. No other party comes close. It's a USP of sorts, but not one to admire.
Not so much losers as those who feel their life is bad. They may well be correct in this, the constant negativity of Reform eventually saps their souls, turning them into Gollum like creatures sulking in the dark, then emerging like Morlocks to inflict their misery on others.
Like Brexit...
Brexit has certainly turned you into a miserable git.
“Really fascinating looking at voting intention by life satisfaction: Both the Green Party and Reform do much better with people with lower life satisfaction, Labour is only convincingly ahead with people who rate their life satisfaction at 10/10” - Ed Hodgson https://x.com/edhodgsoned/status/1932102321796005937/photo/1
And Reform is well ahead among life's losers - those scoring 0/10. No other party comes close. It's a USP of sorts, but not one to admire.
They are people who are not satisfied with their life.
That does not make them necessarily losers. They will be a cross section of society.
If they are not literally losers, you are suggesting they are miserable gits instead. I'm not sure that's better. If they are losers it might be because life has dealt them a bad hand, and it's not their fault.
I’m suggesting that, true, based on people I’ve known in work and also myself !!
As I get older I realise Victor Meldrew was right about everything and should be the hero of One Foot in the Grave.
Maybe. I find people being miserable all the time dreary, tiring and not productive. I'm not saying we should all be happy, clappy, but there's a lot to be said for making the best of the situation in my view.
I’m not miserable all the time. I’m most certainly very content at the moment. I was merely reflecting, like OKC, I have been at certain stages of my life and not related to my relative level of poverty.
Luke Tryl seems very adept at getting publicity for himself and his polls but they never seem as relevant or well framed as Yougov's. This one seems completely potty.
To be fair, the fact that there's a comparator - "But in our latest polling from this weekend their net united score has fallen from +15 to 0" - does tell us that recent news has shifted perception of the party in this respect.
And we know from long experience that the united/divided metric has pretty decent correlation with electoral outcomes.
To ask people to judge the unity of a Party with just five MPs only one of which is known seems a strange thing to want to know. The Party is Farage so even if the other four were thought to hate him would we be any wiser?
""All of the headLines said 'Passion Crime" 'Newly weds Groom Shot Dead 'Mystery Man.' God help the bride She's a widow, all in red With his red still wet."
Is there any evidence that Reeve's NI increase on employers has improved the UK's infamously low productivity? As in forcing businesses to invest in training, machinery etc instead of going for the cheaper option of always hiring low wage workers?
This is reasonable in theory but what are our values? It's not like every British person has the same values, or indeed the same culture. And a certain degree of cultural enrichment is actually one of the benefits of immigration, in my experience at least. Also, many immigrants come having already adopted many elements of British culture and values owing to colonialism and the hegemony of the English language.
Is there any evidence that Reeve's NI increase on employers has improved the UK's infamously low productivity? As in forcing businesses to invest in training, machinery etc instead of going for the cheaper option of always hiring low wage workers?
It's too early to tell tbf, we'll need to see if there's any discernable increase in business investment for the next year or so.
Is this maybe the worst headline any government has ever had, ever?
“Starmer’s Chagos ‘surrender’ will fund tax cuts for Mauritians Island nation’s £30bn windfall from UK will also help it raise minimum salaries and pay off national debt”
Is this maybe the worst headline any government has ever had, ever?
“Starmer’s Chagos ‘surrender’ will fund tax cuts for Mauritians Island nation’s £30bn windfall from UK will also help it raise minimum salaries and pay off national debt”
Is this maybe the worst headline any government has ever had, ever?
“Starmer’s Chagos ‘surrender’ will fund tax cuts for Mauritians Island nation’s £30bn windfall from UK will also help it raise minimum salaries and pay off national debt”
And that there should be substantially fewer one hopes. 500k per year net migration is completely unsustainable.
I actually did a small bit of pub chat research the other weekend about this subject. Somehow it came onto immigration and the poll that said people mostly want less immigration not more, I didn't bring it up but did test out a theory. I asked for the consensus (and this is basically my middle class wanky liberal friends) on what they thought "lower immigration", all but one person equated the phrase less immigration with more immigrants leaving the country than arriving, that is to say net emigration. If that group is broadly in favour of net emigration not just lower immigration then the overton window is substantially further to the right on this subject than I think politicians realise.
Small sample size and all that but I think when pollsters ask the public the question "do you want lower immigration, the same number of higher immigration?" the public interpret the three options as negative migration (net emigration), no more additional immigrants (net zero immigration) and net migration of less than today's numbers but not zero or below.
I think the appetite for immigration is seriously a lot lower than the polling indicates at first glance. I'd like to see YouGov ask what people think "lower immigration" means, I'll be shocked if more than a handful think it means plus 300k migrants as Labour's plans seem to be.
It depends who you go to the pub* with. Polling shows support for the same or more immigration across most categories apart from asylum seekers.
*probably not the best place for a representative straw poll.
The idea the British want MORE immigration is insultingly stupid
It also doesn't disprove my hypothesis that the idea of lower/higher doesn't centre around the zero migration rather than 500k migration.
It doesn't.
On the other hand, the evidence is that people think levels of immigration and the number of immigrants in the UK are far higher tham they actually are too.
That’s not entirely true
During the Boriswave IIRC people were asked “how many migrants are coming in every year right now”
I don’t believe more than 5% guessed the true figure - one million per year - because it was so outlandishly high
It was outlandishly high: I don't think there's more than one-in-a-hundred people who don't think that there was far too much immigration during the Boriswave.
On the other hand, they think a far greater proportion of the population are immigrants than actually are.
Is this maybe the worst headline any government has ever had, ever?
“Starmer’s Chagos ‘surrender’ will fund tax cuts for Mauritians Island nation’s £30bn windfall from UK will also help it raise minimum salaries and pay off national debt”
Looks like the good times are going to roll for Mauritius.
AI Overview In 2025, Mauritius's national debt is estimated at approximately 15.54 billion U.S. dollars. This debt represents a significant portion of the country's GDP, with the ratio of debt to GDP reaching about 83.40% in 2025, according to Statista.
Is there any evidence that Reeve's NI increase on employers has improved the UK's infamously low productivity? As in forcing businesses to invest in training, machinery etc instead of going for the cheaper option of always hiring low wage workers?
It's too early to tell tbf, we'll need to see if there's any discernable increase in business investment for the next year or so.
Unlikely, every company I know is reining in spending.
The reality is I don't think companies trust AI but equally they don't know if AI is going to actually work or not.
Hence they aren't investing in the productivity tools (MS Dynamics / Power Apps) that is my day to day work.
Saying that I know some Data firms that are booming but then again they are good and that's the sort of market you go to experts for rather than generic firms.
“Really fascinating looking at voting intention by life satisfaction: Both the Green Party and Reform do much better with people with lower life satisfaction, Labour is only convincingly ahead with people who rate their life satisfaction at 10/10” - Ed Hodgson https://x.com/edhodgsoned/status/1932102321796005937/photo/1
And Reform is well ahead among life's losers - those scoring 0/10. No other party comes close. It's a USP of sorts, but not one to admire.
Not so much losers as those who feel their life is bad. They may well be correct in this, the constant negativity of Reform eventually saps their souls, turning them into Gollum like creatures sulking in the dark, then emerging like Morlocks to inflict their misery on others.
Like Brexit...
Brexit has certainly turned you into a miserable git.
Of course he's miserable.
- 3 million unemployed (or was it 5 million - they never seemed quite sure?) - Scotland and Wales gone - all our alliances trashed and every foreign country ignoring us - a massive house price crash - all our ports in chaos for decades - supermarket shelves empty of basic foods - the dead rising and zombies stalking the land
Is this maybe the worst headline any government has ever had, ever?
“Starmer’s Chagos ‘surrender’ will fund tax cuts for Mauritians Island nation’s £30bn windfall from UK will also help it raise minimum salaries and pay off national debt”
Looks like the good times are going to roll for Mauritius.
AI Overview In 2025, Mauritius's national debt is estimated at approximately 15.54 billion U.S. dollars. This debt represents a significant portion of the country's GDP, with the ratio of debt to GDP reaching about 83.40% in 2025, according to Statista.
So they are somewhat better off than we are then (with our ratio being in the mid to high 90s). The rationale for this deal just gets better and better. /sarcasm.
Is there any evidence that Reeve's NI increase on employers has improved the UK's infamously low productivity? As in forcing businesses to invest in training, machinery etc instead of going for the cheaper option of always hiring low wage workers?
It's too early to tell tbf, we'll need to see if there's any discernable increase in business investment for the next year or so.
Unlikely, every company I know is reining in spending.
There has been a boost in investment by industry driven by the 100% reliefs offered by Hunt. Whether it lasts remains to be seen.
Is this maybe the worst headline any government has ever had, ever?
“Starmer’s Chagos ‘surrender’ will fund tax cuts for Mauritians Island nation’s £30bn windfall from UK will also help it raise minimum salaries and pay off national debt”
“Really fascinating looking at voting intention by life satisfaction: Both the Green Party and Reform do much better with people with lower life satisfaction, Labour is only convincingly ahead with people who rate their life satisfaction at 10/10” - Ed Hodgson https://x.com/edhodgsoned/status/1932102321796005937/photo/1
And Reform is well ahead among life's losers - those scoring 0/10. No other party comes close. It's a USP of sorts, but not one to admire.
Not so much losers as those who feel their life is bad. They may well be correct in this, the constant negativity of Reform eventually saps their souls, turning them into Gollum like creatures sulking in the dark, then emerging like Morlocks to inflict their misery on others.
Like Brexit...
Brexit has certainly turned you into a miserable git.
Of course he's miserable.
- 3 million unemployed (or was it 5 million - they never seemed quite sure?) - Scotland and Wales gone - all our alliances trashed and every foreign country ignoring us - a massive house price crash - all our ports in chaos for decades - supermarket shelves empty of basic foods - the dead rising and zombies stalking the land
Wouldn't you be?
Well, I'd be utterly delighted if numbers 2 and 4 came about, but sadly they didn't.
“Really fascinating looking at voting intention by life satisfaction: Both the Green Party and Reform do much better with people with lower life satisfaction, Labour is only convincingly ahead with people who rate their life satisfaction at 10/10” - Ed Hodgson https://x.com/edhodgsoned/status/1932102321796005937/photo/1
And Reform is well ahead among life's losers - those scoring 0/10. No other party comes close. It's a USP of sorts, but not one to admire.
Not so much losers as those who feel their life is bad. They may well be correct in this, the constant negativity of Reform eventually saps their souls, turning them into Gollum like creatures sulking in the dark, then emerging like Morlocks to inflict their misery on others.
Like Brexit...
Brexit has certainly turned you into a miserable git.
Of course he's miserable.
- 3 million unemployed (or was it 5 million - they never seemed quite sure?) - Scotland and Wales gone - all our alliances trashed and every foreign country ignoring us - a massive house price crash - all our ports in chaos for decades - supermarket shelves empty of basic foods - the dead rising and zombies stalking the land
Wouldn't you be?
You know, I am not sure all of those actually happened. Happy to see links to prove me wrong...
And that there should be substantially fewer one hopes. 500k per year net migration is completely unsustainable.
I actually did a small bit of pub chat research the other weekend about this subject. Somehow it came onto immigration and the poll that said people mostly want less immigration not more, I didn't bring it up but did test out a theory. I asked for the consensus (and this is basically my middle class wanky liberal friends) on what they thought "lower immigration", all but one person equated the phrase less immigration with more immigrants leaving the country than arriving, that is to say net emigration. If that group is broadly in favour of net emigration not just lower immigration then the overton window is substantially further to the right on this subject than I think politicians realise.
Small sample size and all that but I think when pollsters ask the public the question "do you want lower immigration, the same number of higher immigration?" the public interpret the three options as negative migration (net emigration), no more additional immigrants (net zero immigration) and net migration of less than today's numbers but not zero or below.
I think the appetite for immigration is seriously a lot lower than the polling indicates at first glance. I'd like to see YouGov ask what people think "lower immigration" means, I'll be shocked if more than a handful think it means plus 300k migrants as Labour's plans seem to be.
It depends who you go to the pub* with. Polling shows support for the same or more immigration across most categories apart from asylum seekers.
*probably not the best place for a representative straw poll.
The idea the British want MORE immigration is insultingly stupid
It also doesn't disprove my hypothesis that the idea of lower/higher doesn't centre around the zero migration rather than 500k migration.
It doesn't.
On the other hand, the evidence is that people think levels of immigration and the number of immigrants in the UK are far higher tham they actually are too.
Two points on that. Firstly, people are bad at estimating percentages overall, so their getting it wrong isn't evidence of much at all. Secondly, if you go into many provincial town centres, particularly on working days, it genuinely is hard to find native British people.
There is a second issue. I live up north, when TCS arrived at a client a decade ago the appearance of a whole team of Indians from TCS took the company (and others elsewhere) by surprise as up to that point most people could literally name every none white person by name. There is some context required they just didn't seem to come to Darlington, Stockton and Middlesbrough has had Indian / Pakistani people for decades and I know multiple Pakistanis in Boro (avoid visiting unless you want to skip meals for the rest of the week).
Now I'm so used to seeing Indian people getting confused in Sainsbury's that its not a surprise. That isn't to say the numbers / ratio is massive, its little different from London 20 years ago but it's a shock to anyone paying attention.
Going in: Jonathan Richman - I'm a Little Dinosaur ("and I'm planning to go away....")
Going out: the sound of a Merlin engine in a Spitfire .
My late brother went for Highway to Hell. To be honest it’s kind of lost its shock value. Personally I have told my wife that a bin bag would suffice. Once you’re deid you’re deid.
I have left my body to medical students. It might not be acceptable, depending upon how I died, in which case the green bin will do. I recommend others do it. It is easy to set up.
My grandmother did that, without telling anyone that was what she was doing. She always loved a practical joke and would have thoroughly enjoyed setting it up.
It's fair to say that her body wasn't much use other than as a source or recycled gin, but it certainly made the cremation service we had organised somewhat more ephemeral.
This is reasonable in theory but what are our values? It's not like every British person has the same values, or indeed the same culture. And a certain degree of cultural enrichment is actually one of the benefits of immigration, in my experience at least. Also, many immigrants come having already adopted many elements of British culture and values owing to colonialism and the hegemony of the English language.
Our core political values are quite easy to define. Low taxes, high spending, high moaning.
As long as Reform is Farage then churn around him won't matter all that much in terms of perception of whether it's united. The impression that it is comes from the lack of evidence to the contrary (hence the hit this week with Yusuf).
But Reform can't always be just Farage and at that point people will start noticing the divisions, splits, resignations and arguments. At some point, Reform are going to have to have some proper policies too; they can't survive forever on opposition and cakeism.
I suspect we are currently at peak Reform. Spotting the decline, until it becomes obvious, will be difficult, but in some months time we will see it, as happened to the SDP during the early ‘80s.
Is there any evidence that Reeve's NI increase on employers has improved the UK's infamously low productivity? As in forcing businesses to invest in training, machinery etc instead of going for the cheaper option of always hiring low wage workers?
It's too early to tell tbf, we'll need to see if there's any discernable increase in business investment for the next year or so.
Unlikely, every company I know is reining in spending.
There has been a boost in investment by industry driven by the 100% reliefs offered by Hunt. Whether it lasts remains to be seen.
Surely they are all investing in the AI. We are due to be mainlining it soon going by Keir's statements. And if there's one thing Keir understands, it's the potential transformation brought about by machine learning and 'AI'.
I'm sure.
It's not just a hot, buzzy thing his SPADs are on about that he spouts about. Got a question about transformer architectures? Diffusion models? Keir's your guy!
What's the full context of the quote, I expect Lowe has missed out the big glaring "however" that comes after the sentence.
David Bull praised Merkel on immigration, he's a very odd choice
Maybe this is Farage's attempt to tack to the centre to win more votes. Not sure it'll work.
Two potential problems.
Centrists hate Farage, and I'm not sure that going more reasonable will work for him.
If he does go centrist, his current supporters are likely to see it as another betrayal, and someone else (Lowe?) will grab his crown.
As long as he is tougher on immigration than Labour & the Tories that’s all that matters really. There’s no chance of anyone else on the right stealing his crown
There is a fair chance, probably big odds on actually, that had Enoch Powell been active in politics right now he would be calling for all cultures to rub along as best they could. His call for repatriation was based on the fact that there was a chance then to prevent what we have now. As things stand, with the stable door unable to be closed, I think he would say real patriots have to accept where we are and make the best of it which seems to be Farage’s conclusion
I disagree. Reforms vote is built in large part on the usual non voter. If they think Reform are softer on immigration than theyd like they will go back to not voting.
Or move on to fervently believe in the Piers Morgan "Common Sense" party.
And that there should be substantially fewer one hopes. 500k per year net migration is completely unsustainable.
I actually did a small bit of pub chat research the other weekend about this subject. Somehow it came onto immigration and the poll that said people mostly want less immigration not more, I didn't bring it up but did test out a theory. I asked for the consensus (and this is basically my middle class wanky liberal friends) on what they thought "lower immigration", all but one person equated the phrase less immigration with more immigrants leaving the country than arriving, that is to say net emigration. If that group is broadly in favour of net emigration not just lower immigration then the overton window is substantially further to the right on this subject than I think politicians realise.
Small sample size and all that but I think when pollsters ask the public the question "do you want lower immigration, the same number of higher immigration?" the public interpret the three options as negative migration (net emigration), no more additional immigrants (net zero immigration) and net migration of less than today's numbers but not zero or below.
I think the appetite for immigration is seriously a lot lower than the polling indicates at first glance. I'd like to see YouGov ask what people think "lower immigration" means, I'll be shocked if more than a handful think it means plus 300k migrants as Labour's plans seem to be.
In his first intervention, Reform’s new chairman has said: ‘Immigration is the lifeblood of this country, it always has been.’
This is just nonsense.
Of course, many skilled migrants have come to Britain legally and contributed to our economy and society. The UK should be the grammar school of the Western world: welcoming, highly-selectively, the best.
But not all immigration is equal. The unprecedented mass, unskilled migration we’ve experienced has been severely economically and culturally damaging.
The idea that it is the ‘lifeblood of our country’, without which things would fall apart, couldn’t be further from the truth.
Take the NHS. We’re told it would collapse without mass migration. But in 2022, just 3% of visas granted were for nurses and doctors.
Mass, low-skilled migration over the last few decades is the root cause of so many of our problems. It has suppressed wages, made housing unaffordable, placed intolerable pressure on public services, and made the country more divided than ever.
I’d expect this tired analysis from Labour, not a party that is supposed to understand the public’s deep frustration with broken promises.
Going in: Jonathan Richman - I'm a Little Dinosaur ("and I'm planning to go away....")
Going out: the sound of a Merlin engine in a Spitfire .
A Merlin in a Fairey Battle might be more appropriate as taking off on a mission in one was invariably a one way ticket. No flying examples left unfortunately.
In his first intervention, Reform’s new chairman has said: ‘Immigration is the lifeblood of this country, it always has been.’
This is just nonsense.
Of course, many skilled migrants have come to Britain legally and contributed to our economy and society. The UK should be the grammar school of the Western world: welcoming, highly-selectively, the best.
But not all immigration is equal. The unprecedented mass, unskilled migration we’ve experienced has been severely economically and culturally damaging.
The idea that it is the ‘lifeblood of our country’, without which things would fall apart, couldn’t be further from the truth.
Take the NHS. We’re told it would collapse without mass migration. But in 2022, just 3% of visas granted were for nurses and doctors.
Mass, low-skilled migration over the last few decades is the root cause of so many of our problems. It has suppressed wages, made housing unaffordable, placed intolerable pressure on public services, and made the country more divided than ever.
I’d expect this tired analysis from Labour, not a party that is supposed to understand the public’s deep frustration with broken promises.
He should have words with the cabinet members who allowed such massive migration.
It would require a bit of talking to the mirror though.
I’m about to have “sea urchin toast”. And “salmon kobujime with cucumber sorbet”. Then “blue mussels with ‘Nduja”. Join me at uber trendy Roks. It’s got turf on the roof
As long as Reform is Farage then churn around him won't matter all that much in terms of perception of whether it's united. The impression that it is comes from the lack of evidence to the contrary (hence the hit this week with Yusuf).
But Reform can't always be just Farage and at that point people will start noticing the divisions, splits, resignations and arguments. At some point, Reform are going to have to have some proper policies too; they can't survive forever on opposition and cakeism.
I suspect we are currently at peak Reform. Spotting the decline, until it becomes obvious, will be difficult, but in some months time we will see it, as happened to the SDP during the early ‘80s.
Yes, I think that we well be at that turning point, or perhaps next Mays Welsh and English Local elections
Was it CHB who correctly called the Hartlepool by-election as peak Johnson to much mocking? They were correct though.
Is there any evidence that Reeve's NI increase on employers has improved the UK's infamously low productivity? As in forcing businesses to invest in training, machinery etc instead of going for the cheaper option of always hiring low wage workers?
It's too early to tell tbf, we'll need to see if there's any discernable increase in business investment for the next year or so.
Looking at the number of small businesses going bust I think it unllikely.
Is there any evidence that Reeve's NI increase on employers has improved the UK's infamously low productivity? As in forcing businesses to invest in training, machinery etc instead of going for the cheaper option of always hiring low wage workers?
It's too early to tell tbf, we'll need to see if there's any discernable increase in business investment for the next year or so.
Unlikely, every company I know is reining in spending.
There has been a boost in investment by industry driven by the 100% reliefs offered by Hunt. Whether it lasts remains to be seen.
Surely they are all investing in the AI. We are due to be mainlining it soon going by Keir's statements. And if there's one thing Keir understands, it's the potential transformation brought about by machine learning and 'AI'.
I'm sure.
It's not just a hot, buzzy thing his SPADs are on about that he spouts about. Got a question about transformer architectures? Diffusion models? Keir's your guy!
He even wrote a song about it: you can call me Al.
DNI Tulsi Gabbard repeats Putin’s talking points today, releasing an unhinged video where she claims that “political elites” want a nuclear war with Russia because they have sophisticated bomb shelters that will help them survive it.
Perhaps she's just leaking Trump's plans. He's obviously the US political elite these days, and he's quite clearly itching to go to condition orange (aka chaos).
Very odd.
Well NATO isnt pushing 5% for peace, it's intending to fight a war
It's intending to end a war and deter a follow up.
Hmm. Arms races often end in war. Sooner or later the generals want to play with their new toys.
This one started with a war. If Europe doesn't rearm then it's hard to say where Russia would stop.
In his first intervention, Reform’s new chairman has said: ‘Immigration is the lifeblood of this country, it always has been.’
This is just nonsense.
Of course, many skilled migrants have come to Britain legally and contributed to our economy and society. The UK should be the grammar school of the Western world: welcoming, highly-selectively, the best.
But not all immigration is equal. The unprecedented mass, unskilled migration we’ve experienced has been severely economically and culturally damaging.
The idea that it is the ‘lifeblood of our country’, without which things would fall apart, couldn’t be further from the truth.
Take the NHS. We’re told it would collapse without mass migration. But in 2022, just 3% of visas granted were for nurses and doctors.
Mass, low-skilled migration over the last few decades is the root cause of so many of our problems. It has suppressed wages, made housing unaffordable, placed intolerable pressure on public services, and made the country more divided than ever.
I’d expect this tired analysis from Labour, not a party that is supposed to understand the public’s deep frustration with broken promises.
Is this maybe the worst headline any government has ever had, ever?
“Starmer’s Chagos ‘surrender’ will fund tax cuts for Mauritians Island nation’s £30bn windfall from UK will also help it raise minimum salaries and pay off national debt”
In his first intervention, Reform’s new chairman has said: ‘Immigration is the lifeblood of this country, it always has been.’
This is just nonsense.
Of course, many skilled migrants have come to Britain legally and contributed to our economy and society. The UK should be the grammar school of the Western world: welcoming, highly-selectively, the best.
But not all immigration is equal. The unprecedented mass, unskilled migration we’ve experienced has been severely economically and culturally damaging.
The idea that it is the ‘lifeblood of our country’, without which things would fall apart, couldn’t be further from the truth.
Take the NHS. We’re told it would collapse without mass migration. But in 2022, just 3% of visas granted were for nurses and doctors.
Mass, low-skilled migration over the last few decades is the root cause of so many of our problems. It has suppressed wages, made housing unaffordable, placed intolerable pressure on public services, and made the country more divided than ever.
I’d expect this tired analysis from Labour, not a party that is supposed to understand the public’s deep frustration with broken promises.
Err..would those be Tory broken promises?
No, Brave Sir Boris promised us mega immigration from Asia after Brexit. One of the few occasions he told the truth.
This is reasonable in theory but what are our values? It's not like every British person has the same values, or indeed the same culture. And a certain degree of cultural enrichment is actually one of the benefits of immigration, in my experience at least. Also, many immigrants come having already adopted many elements of British culture and values owing to colonialism and the hegemony of the English language.
When I wasn’t on PB for a while, I had a twitter debate with someone on this; I said that assimilation from the Caribbean had been pretty good on the whole, but from Islamic countries it had been bad. They replied that was down to the fact we’d imposed our British values on Caribbeans for centuries beforehand, which I thought made my point for me.
To be frank, if we’d only had non Islamic immigration I don’t think there’d be much of a problem with assimilation or immigration at all.
As long as Reform is Farage then churn around him won't matter all that much in terms of perception of whether it's united. The impression that it is comes from the lack of evidence to the contrary (hence the hit this week with Yusuf).
But Reform can't always be just Farage and at that point people will start noticing the divisions, splits, resignations and arguments. At some point, Reform are going to have to have some proper policies too; they can't survive forever on opposition and cakeism.
I suspect we are currently at peak Reform. Spotting the decline, until it becomes obvious, will be difficult, but in some months time we will see it, as happened to the SDP during the early ‘80s.
Yes, I think that we well be at that turning point, or perhaps next Mays Welsh and English Local elections
Was it CHB who correctly called the Hartlepool by-election as peak Johnson to much mocking? They were correct though.
CHB just called every non Labour victory ‘peak non Labour’ and people who agree with him remember the ones that turned out to be right whilst forgetting the rest. He called 2019 for Labour on the day of the GE based on Putney I think
Could Israeli spokespeople make themselves more horrible if they tried?
Apart from anything else it suggests a massive failure of collective self awareness, these spokespeople are supposed to make a country’s case to the world rather than further alienate. The Israeli government obviously blew their international PR budget on getting into Eurovision and a campaign to get people to vote 20 times.
This is reasonable in theory but what are our values? It's not like every British person has the same values, or indeed the same culture. And a certain degree of cultural enrichment is actually one of the benefits of immigration, in my experience at least. Also, many immigrants come having already adopted many elements of British culture and values owing to colonialism and the hegemony of the English language.
When I wasn’t on PB for a while, I had a twitter debate with someone on this; I said that assimilation from the Caribbean had been pretty good on the whole, but from Islamic countries it had been bad. They replied that was down to the fact we’d imposed our British values on Caribbeans for centuries beforehand, which I thought made my point for me.
To be frank, if we’d only had non Islamic immigration I don’t think there’d be much of a problem with assimilation or immigration at all.
The sea urchin toast is better than any dish I had in a week in wealthy Luxembourg
The creamy orange gonads are piped onto a slice of burnt brioche soaked in soy sauce. Superb
I knew it. I knew the food here would be better than Luxembourg. So far so good
Luxembourg not being renowned for its marine produce.
Tbf this is one of the best restaurants in the Faroes but then they also sent me to a couple of the “best restaurants in Luxembourg”
And this win hands down. Inventive delicious refreshing zizzy mmm. I’ve now got salmon in a light tempura batter with chimmichuri and cucumber sorbet. So clever
This is reasonable in theory but what are our values? It's not like every British person has the same values, or indeed the same culture. And a certain degree of cultural enrichment is actually one of the benefits of immigration, in my experience at least. Also, many immigrants come having already adopted many elements of British culture and values owing to colonialism and the hegemony of the English language.
When I wasn’t on PB for a while, I had a twitter debate with someone on this; I said that assimilation from the Caribbean had been pretty good on the whole, but from Islamic countries it had been bad. They replied that was down to the fact we’d imposed our British values on Caribbeans for centuries beforehand, which I thought made my point for me.
To be frank, if we’d only had non Islamic immigration I don’t think there’d be much of a problem with assimilation or immigration at all.
If only they wouldn't wear such shoes and enjoy pineapple pizza then England would be back to its old glories.
This is reasonable in theory but what are our values? It's not like every British person has the same values, or indeed the same culture. And a certain degree of cultural enrichment is actually one of the benefits of immigration, in my experience at least. Also, many immigrants come having already adopted many elements of British culture and values owing to colonialism and the hegemony of the English language.
When I wasn’t on PB for a while, I had a twitter debate with someone on this; I said that assimilation from the Caribbean had been pretty good on the whole, but from Islamic countries it had been bad. They replied that was down to the fact we’d imposed our British values on Caribbeans for centuries beforehand, which I thought made my point for me.
To be frank, if we’d only had non Islamic immigration I don’t think there’d be much of a problem with assimilation or immigration at all.
Enoch would disagree.
Perhaps, yes.
There is an interview with him where he specifically cites the falling rate in the 60s of children born of Pakistanis and Brits as a major problem in the cause of assimilation
As long as Reform is Farage then churn around him won't matter all that much in terms of perception of whether it's united. The impression that it is comes from the lack of evidence to the contrary (hence the hit this week with Yusuf).
But Reform can't always be just Farage and at that point people will start noticing the divisions, splits, resignations and arguments. At some point, Reform are going to have to have some proper policies too; they can't survive forever on opposition and cakeism.
I suspect we are currently at peak Reform. Spotting the decline, until it becomes obvious, will be difficult, but in some months time we will see it, as happened to the SDP during the early ‘80s.
Yes, I think that we well be at that turning point, or perhaps next Mays Welsh and English Local elections
Was it CHB who correctly called the Hartlepool by-election as peak Johnson to much mocking? They were correct though.
It was @kinabalu. But I don't remember the mocking. It was, after all, hard to see how much better Boris could have done than won a previously safe Labour seat at a by-election while in government.
DNI Tulsi Gabbard repeats Putin’s talking points today, releasing an unhinged video where she claims that “political elites” want a nuclear war with Russia because they have sophisticated bomb shelters that will help them survive it.
Perhaps she's just leaking Trump's plans. He's obviously the US political elite these days, and he's quite clearly itching to go to condition orange (aka chaos).
Very odd.
Well NATO isnt pushing 5% for peace, it's intending to fight a war
It's intending to end a war and deter a follow up.
Hmm. Arms races often end in war. Sooner or later the generals want to play with their new toys.
This one started with a war. If Europe doesn't rearm then it's hard to say where Russia would stop.
As I said.
“Russia Won’t End Ukraine War Until NATO ‘Pulls Out’ of the Baltics.”
In his first intervention, Reform’s new chairman has said: ‘Immigration is the lifeblood of this country, it always has been.’
This is just nonsense.
Of course, many skilled migrants have come to Britain legally and contributed to our economy and society. The UK should be the grammar school of the Western world: welcoming, highly-selectively, the best.
But not all immigration is equal. The unprecedented mass, unskilled migration we’ve experienced has been severely economically and culturally damaging.
The idea that it is the ‘lifeblood of our country’, without which things would fall apart, couldn’t be further from the truth.
Take the NHS. We’re told it would collapse without mass migration. But in 2022, just 3% of visas granted were for nurses and doctors.
Mass, low-skilled migration over the last few decades is the root cause of so many of our problems. It has suppressed wages, made housing unaffordable, placed intolerable pressure on public services, and made the country more divided than ever.
I’d expect this tired analysis from Labour, not a party that is supposed to understand the public’s deep frustration with broken promises.
Err..would those be Tory broken promises?
I think the attacks by Lowe & Jenrick will end-up helping Reform, by making Reform look like a more moderate political Party.
As long as Reform is Farage then churn around him won't matter all that much in terms of perception of whether it's united. The impression that it is comes from the lack of evidence to the contrary (hence the hit this week with Yusuf).
But Reform can't always be just Farage and at that point people will start noticing the divisions, splits, resignations and arguments. At some point, Reform are going to have to have some proper policies too; they can't survive forever on opposition and cakeism.
I suspect we are currently at peak Reform. Spotting the decline, until it becomes obvious, will be difficult, but in some months time we will see it, as happened to the SDP during the early ‘80s.
Yes, I think that we well be at that turning point, or perhaps next Mays Welsh and English Local elections
Was it CHB who correctly called the Hartlepool by-election as peak Johnson to much mocking? They were correct though.
It was @kinabalu. But I don't remember the mocking. It was, after all, hard to see how much better Boris could have done than won a previously safe Labour seat at a by-election while in government.
I was good back then. A four year period (18/22) where I really felt the waves. The Stones 68 to 72 is the obvious comparison.
But it's all over now. I'm still trying but I'm nothing special anymore.
This is reasonable in theory but what are our values? It's not like every British person has the same values, or indeed the same culture. And a certain degree of cultural enrichment is actually one of the benefits of immigration, in my experience at least. Also, many immigrants come having already adopted many elements of British culture and values owing to colonialism and the hegemony of the English language.
When I wasn’t on PB for a while, I had a twitter debate with someone on this; I said that assimilation from the Caribbean had been pretty good on the whole, but from Islamic countries it had been bad. They replied that was down to the fact we’d imposed our British values on Caribbeans for centuries beforehand, which I thought made my point for me.
To be frank, if we’d only had non Islamic immigration I don’t think there’d be much of a problem with assimilation or immigration at all.
If only they wouldn't wear such shoes and enjoy pineapple pizza then England would be back to its old glories.
If the majority of British Muslims had become members of the Conservative Party, married non Muslim women, had wealthy parents, not take religion too seriously and gone to a top university I doubt there’d be much of a problem either
In his first intervention, Reform’s new chairman has said: ‘Immigration is the lifeblood of this country, it always has been.’
This is just nonsense.
Of course, many skilled migrants have come to Britain legally and contributed to our economy and society. The UK should be the grammar school of the Western world: welcoming, highly-selectively, the best.
But not all immigration is equal. The unprecedented mass, unskilled migration we’ve experienced has been severely economically and culturally damaging.
The idea that it is the ‘lifeblood of our country’, without which things would fall apart, couldn’t be further from the truth.
Take the NHS. We’re told it would collapse without mass migration. But in 2022, just 3% of visas granted were for nurses and doctors.
Mass, low-skilled migration over the last few decades is the root cause of so many of our problems. It has suppressed wages, made housing unaffordable, placed intolerable pressure on public services, and made the country more divided than ever.
I’d expect this tired analysis from Labour, not a party that is supposed to understand the public’s deep frustration with broken promises.
Slight problem most of that unskilled migration came while Jenrick was sat in the cabinet, not doing a thing about it
The US press wakes up, about a decade too late, to set aside their Trump sanewashing for this story.
Incredible work being done by the press to keep facts building on facts. Grateful. This entire WSJ report overnight starting with this lede on how White House orders sparked LA crackdown is both chilling and informative. /1.. https://x.com/jason_kint/status/1932404815868604795
As long as Reform is Farage then churn around him won't matter all that much in terms of perception of whether it's united. The impression that it is comes from the lack of evidence to the contrary (hence the hit this week with Yusuf).
But Reform can't always be just Farage and at that point people will start noticing the divisions, splits, resignations and arguments. At some point, Reform are going to have to have some proper policies too; they can't survive forever on opposition and cakeism.
I suspect we are currently at peak Reform. Spotting the decline, until it becomes obvious, will be difficult, but in some months time we will see it, as happened to the SDP during the early ‘80s.
Yes, I think that we well be at that turning point, or perhaps next Mays Welsh and English Local elections
Was it CHB who correctly called the Hartlepool by-election as peak Johnson to much mocking? They were correct though.
It was @kinabalu. But I don't remember the mocking. It was, after all, hard to see how much better Boris could have done than won a previously safe Labour seat at a by-election while in government.
It was always likely to fall. The Brexit Party it fought hard in 2019- Richard Tice got about 26%. Then last year, Reform got 25%. At the by-election, Reform fell to 1.2%, below even the Heritage Party. There wasn't much that Labour could have done in 2021, or the Conservatives in 2024.
DNI Tulsi Gabbard repeats Putin’s talking points today, releasing an unhinged video where she claims that “political elites” want a nuclear war with Russia because they have sophisticated bomb shelters that will help them survive it.
Perhaps she's just leaking Trump's plans. He's obviously the US political elite these days, and he's quite clearly itching to go to condition orange (aka chaos).
Very odd.
Well NATO isnt pushing 5% for peace, it's intending to fight a war
It's intending to end a war and deter a follow up.
Hmm. Arms races often end in war. Sooner or later the generals want to play with their new toys.
This one started with a war. If Europe doesn't rearm then it's hard to say where Russia would stop.
As I said.
“Russia Won’t End Ukraine War Until NATO ‘Pulls Out’ of the Baltics.”
And that there should be substantially fewer one hopes. 500k per year net migration is completely unsustainable.
I actually did a small bit of pub chat research the other weekend about this subject. Somehow it came onto immigration and the poll that said people mostly want less immigration not more, I didn't bring it up but did test out a theory. I asked for the consensus (and this is basically my middle class wanky liberal friends) on what they thought "lower immigration", all but one person equated the phrase less immigration with more immigrants leaving the country than arriving, that is to say net emigration. If that group is broadly in favour of net emigration not just lower immigration then the overton window is substantially further to the right on this subject than I think politicians realise.
Small sample size and all that but I think when pollsters ask the public the question "do you want lower immigration, the same number of higher immigration?" the public interpret the three options as negative migration (net emigration), no more additional immigrants (net zero immigration) and net migration of less than today's numbers but not zero or below.
I think the appetite for immigration is seriously a lot lower than the polling indicates at first glance. I'd like to see YouGov ask what people think "lower immigration" means, I'll be shocked if more than a handful think it means plus 300k migrants as Labour's plans seem to be.
It depends who you go to the pub* with. Polling shows support for the same or more immigration across most categories apart from asylum seekers.
*probably not the best place for a representative straw poll.
The idea the British want MORE immigration is insultingly stupid
It also doesn't disprove my hypothesis that the idea of lower/higher doesn't centre around the zero migration rather than 500k migration.
It doesn't.
On the other hand, the evidence is that people think levels of immigration and the number of immigrants in the UK are far higher tham they actually are too.
Two points on that. Firstly, people are bad at estimating percentages overall, so their getting it wrong isn't evidence of much at all. Secondly, if you go into many provincial town centres, particularly on working days, it genuinely is hard to find native British people.
There is a second issue. I live up north, when TCS arrived at a client a decade ago the appearance of a whole team of Indians from TCS took the company (and others elsewhere) by surprise as up to that point most people could literally name every none white person by name. There is some context required they just didn't seem to come to Darlington, Stockton and Middlesbrough has had Indian / Pakistani people for decades and I know multiple Pakistanis in Boro (avoid visiting unless you want to skip meals for the rest of the week).
Now I'm so used to seeing Indian people getting confused in Sainsbury's that its not a surprise. That isn't to say the numbers / ratio is massive, its little different from London 20 years ago but it's a shock to anyone paying attention.
Looking out of the window right now, 95% of passersby are white. However, my daughters are at three diffetent schools locally which are roughly 40% non-white, 30% non-white and 60% non-white respectively. These aren't all immigrants, but many are. Which is a bugger if you're trying to get your daughter into grammar school, because there are 40% more people taking the 11+ than there were three years ago, but no more places. It is however great news for the local cricket club.
The ethinic mix has shifted a bit, but the ethnic mix of the next generation here will be very different.
And that there should be substantially fewer one hopes. 500k per year net migration is completely unsustainable.
I actually did a small bit of pub chat research the other weekend about this subject. Somehow it came onto immigration and the poll that said people mostly want less immigration not more, I didn't bring it up but did test out a theory. I asked for the consensus (and this is basically my middle class wanky liberal friends) on what they thought "lower immigration", all but one person equated the phrase less immigration with more immigrants leaving the country than arriving, that is to say net emigration. If that group is broadly in favour of net emigration not just lower immigration then the overton window is substantially further to the right on this subject than I think politicians realise.
Small sample size and all that but I think when pollsters ask the public the question "do you want lower immigration, the same number of higher immigration?" the public interpret the three options as negative migration (net emigration), no more additional immigrants (net zero immigration) and net migration of less than today's numbers but not zero or below.
I think the appetite for immigration is seriously a lot lower than the polling indicates at first glance. I'd like to see YouGov ask what people think "lower immigration" means, I'll be shocked if more than a handful think it means plus 300k migrants as Labour's plans seem to be.
It depends who you go to the pub* with. Polling shows support for the same or more immigration across most categories apart from asylum seekers.
*probably not the best place for a representative straw poll.
The idea the British want MORE immigration is insultingly stupid
It also doesn't disprove my hypothesis that the idea of lower/higher doesn't centre around the zero migration rather than 500k migration.
It doesn't.
On the other hand, the evidence is that people think levels of immigration and the number of immigrants in the UK are far higher tham they actually are too.
Two points on that. Firstly, people are bad at estimating percentages overall, so their getting it wrong isn't evidence of much at all. Secondly, if you go into many provincial town centres, particularly on working days, it genuinely is hard to find native British people.
There is a second issue. I live up north, when TCS arrived at a client a decade ago the appearance of a whole team of Indians from TCS took the company (and others elsewhere) by surprise as up to that point most people could literally name every none white person by name. There is some context required they just didn't seem to come to Darlington, Stockton and Middlesbrough has had Indian / Pakistani people for decades and I know multiple Pakistanis in Boro (avoid visiting unless you want to skip meals for the rest of the week).
Now I'm so used to seeing Indian people getting confused in Sainsbury's that its not a surprise. That isn't to say the numbers / ratio is massive, its little different from London 20 years ago but it's a shock to anyone paying attention.
Looking out of the window right now, 95% of passersby are white. However, my daughters are at three diffetent schools locally which are roughly 40% non-white, 30% non-white and 60% non-white respectively. These aren't all immigrants, but many are. Which is a bugger if you're trying to get your daughter into grammar school, because there are 40% more people taking the 11+ than there were three years ago, but no more places. It is however great news for the local cricket club.
The ethinic mix has shifted a bit, but the ethnic mix of the next generation here will be very different.
One of the tenants my daughter has next year went to my old school. I’m looking forward to asking how it was 30+ years later - I know the admission areas are different to when I went there
Luke Tryl seems very adept at getting publicity for himself and his polls but they never seem as relevant or well framed as Yougov's. This one seems completely potty.
It's like casting Billie Piper as The Doctor It's genuinely stupid but garners clicks
Of course we don't know if she has been cast as the Dr yet, do we.
We do, it was officially confirmed on Doctor Who: Unleashed.
I'm not sure that's true. In fact, the ambiguity of RTD's comments make me think it's not so. Or has there been another ep since the regen ep, with Ncuti etc al lying thru their teeth?
No doubt on the doorstep many pensioners have told Labour politicians, including the chancellor, that they simply can’t do without the £200 winter fuel allowance; it’s a choice between heating and eating, according to them. Yet for many pensioners this is simply not true. If we take the bottom 20 per cent of pensioner households we find they spend 17 per cent of their income on recreation, hotels, restaurants, alcohol and tobacco, or, around £2,000 a year. To balance the books, these pensioners could have cut their leisure expenditure by 10 per cent
Comments
During the Boriswave IIRC people were asked “how many migrants are coming in every year right now”
I don’t believe more than 5% guessed the true figure - one million per year - because it was so outlandishly high
I know this is the accepted truth, but I'm increasingly of the view that the evidence for it is pretty ropey.
Communities are great things - if you flood a nation with people that don't quite fit you disrupt that. Over time everyone fits in and it's fine, but if you continually undermine the community such that it never quite gets itself together then perhaps you are creating a problem. I think this is the UK.
I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour….
Which seems like a lovely song; until you notice the lyrics...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ymxgS4XHRA
""All of the headLines said 'Passion Crime"
'Newly weds Groom Shot Dead
'Mystery Man.' God help the bride
She's a widow, all in red
With his red still wet."
“Starmer’s Chagos ‘surrender’ will fund tax cuts for Mauritians
Island nation’s £30bn windfall from UK will also help it raise minimum salaries and pay off national debt”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/06/10/starmers-chagos-surrender-to-fund-tax-cuts-for-mauritians/
Sometimes I wonder if Starmer is actually a plant designed to destroy the Labour Party for all eternity
https://x.com/Simone_Biles/status/1932470954610901259
https://order-order.com/2025/06/10/un-human-rights-council-slams-starmers-chagos-surrender/
On the other hand, they think a far greater proportion of the population are immigrants than actually are.
AI Overview
In 2025, Mauritius's national debt is estimated at approximately 15.54 billion U.S. dollars. This debt represents a significant portion of the country's GDP, with the ratio of debt to GDP reaching about 83.40% in 2025, according to Statista.
The reality is I don't think companies trust AI but equally they don't know if AI is going to actually work or not.
Hence they aren't investing in the productivity tools (MS Dynamics / Power Apps) that is my day to day work.
Saying that I know some Data firms that are booming but then again they are good and that's the sort of market you go to experts for rather than generic firms.
- 3 million unemployed (or was it 5 million - they never seemed quite sure?)
- Scotland and Wales gone
- all our alliances trashed and every foreign country ignoring us
- a massive house price crash
- all our ports in chaos for decades
- supermarket shelves empty of basic foods
- the dead rising and zombies stalking the land
Wouldn't you be?
Now I'm so used to seeing Indian people getting confused in Sainsbury's that its not a surprise. That isn't to say the numbers / ratio is massive, its little different from London 20 years ago but it's a shock to anyone paying attention.
@grok
summarize this post as a rap song, introduce yourself as "MC Grok", and go "Boom chicka boom" between every line.
https://x.com/irateRACISM/status/1932471840577822739
It's fair to say that her body wasn't much use other than as a source or recycled gin, but it certainly made the cremation service we had organised somewhat more ephemeral.
I love someone calling peak Reform.
I'm sure.
It's not just a hot, buzzy thing his SPADs are on about that he spouts about. Got a question about transformer architectures? Diffusion models? Keir's your guy!
Come In Out Of The Rain by Parliament from 1970
https://youtu.be/8a_2RhTFKEk
https://x.com/robertjenrick/status/1932475041175797929
In his first intervention, Reform’s new chairman has said: ‘Immigration is the lifeblood of this country, it always has been.’
This is just nonsense.
Of course, many skilled migrants have come to Britain legally and contributed to our economy and society. The UK should be the grammar school of the Western world: welcoming, highly-selectively, the best.
But not all immigration is equal. The unprecedented mass, unskilled migration we’ve experienced has been severely economically and culturally damaging.
The idea that it is the ‘lifeblood of our country’, without which things would fall apart, couldn’t be further from the truth.
Take the NHS. We’re told it would collapse without mass migration. But in 2022, just 3% of visas granted were for nurses and doctors.
Mass, low-skilled migration over the last few decades is the root cause of so many of our problems. It has suppressed wages, made housing unaffordable, placed intolerable pressure on public services, and made the country more divided than ever.
I’d expect this tired analysis from Labour, not a party that is supposed to understand the public’s deep frustration with broken promises.
It would require a bit of talking to the mirror though.
https://www.roks.fo/en/roks
Was it CHB who correctly called the Hartlepool by-election as peak Johnson to much mocking? They were correct though.
If Europe doesn't rearm then it's hard to say where Russia would stop.
The creamy orange gonads are piped onto a slice of burnt brioche soaked in soy sauce. Superb
I knew it. I knew the food here would be better than Luxembourg. So far so good
To be frank, if we’d only had non Islamic immigration I don’t think there’d be much of a problem with assimilation or immigration at all.
The Israeli government obviously blew their international PR budget on getting into Eurovision and a campaign to get people to vote 20 times.
And this win hands down. Inventive delicious refreshing zizzy mmm. I’ve now got salmon in a light tempura batter with chimmichuri and cucumber sorbet. So clever
That he's made it considerably worse is the unspoken part of the truth.
There is an interview with him where he specifically cites the falling rate in the 60s of children born of Pakistanis and Brits as a major problem in the cause of assimilation
“Russia Won’t End Ukraine War Until NATO ‘Pulls Out’ of the Baltics.”
This is what happens when weakness invites aggression...
https://x.com/rshereme/status/1932463745802088565
This is madness.
It is not the state’s job to set private sector salaries. That’s what the jobs market does.
I wrote about this for The @Telegraph. Have a read below👇
https://x.com/katie_lam_mp/status/1932458607024468048?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
But it's all over now. I'm still trying but I'm nothing special anymore.
Incredible work being done by the press to keep facts building on facts. Grateful. This entire WSJ report overnight starting with this lede on how White House orders sparked LA crackdown is both chilling and informative. /1..
https://x.com/jason_kint/status/1932404815868604795
It may be a vote winner but it won’t help the Tories if he’s their leader
However, my daughters are at three diffetent schools locally which are roughly 40% non-white, 30% non-white and 60% non-white respectively. These aren't all immigrants, but many are. Which is a bugger if you're trying to get your daughter into grammar school, because there are 40% more people taking the 11+ than there were three years ago, but no more places. It is however great news for the local cricket club.
The ethinic mix has shifted a bit, but the ethnic mix of the next generation here will be very different.
Totally unrelated....
🍷🍽️ Busy day in Mayfair, my spies tell me.
Hear David Cameron, George Osborne and Deripaska’s old mate Lord Barker lunching Robert Jenrick
Only to find Nigel Farage, Nick Candy and Bear Grylls at a nearby table.
Jacob Rees Mogg also in the same restaurant
Awks!
https://x.com/MrHarryCole/status/1932505206752743533
Greenlandic snow crab (who knew??) with a drizzle of butter sauce infused with burnt onion. And a little fresh baked brioche
Just that. Fantastic
If only I could upload 73 photos, I know everyone likes to see them
Paying more WFA means more trade for pub chains which do carveries and garden centres which do cooked breakfasts.