On topic. FON has a distinctive sample method, but perhaps one that picks up the politically disengaged a bit better. Whether they truly turn out to vote is the key question.
Presumably the Postcode Lottery allows a good geographic spread, albeit one to low information gamblers. It might be of less interest to some demographics.
Once again - you are confusing their polling base. Its a different website where if you visit daily and watch adverts or answer survey questions you get entered into a daily draw. It's not the Postcode Lottery demographic - it's a lower one than that..
The response of the King seems quite mild, given the fact that Andrew has clearly misled the court as well as the media concerning his relationship with the Epstein circle. If I were the King I would be incandescent that his brother has clearly lied to his face. More to the point, there is the open question of what else Andrew has been doing that is, shall we say, unlikely to be popular in the country at large.
If, as I think we may suspect, it includes highly problematic financial arrangements, I think that Andrew will be exiled to the outer darkness for the rest of his life. Certainly the Prince of Wales seems to be of this opinion. This is notwithstanding the attempts of Beatrice and Eugenie to stay in good standing with the court, which I think are completely doomed.
Ironically it is not the size of the Royal family that is the problem- the Duke of Kent and the Gloucesters have been doing sterling work, as have the Edinburghs and the Princess Royal and Sir Tim... even Zara and Mike. The Yorks on the other hand...
It’s rare for someone not to possess a single redeeming feature, but I think Andrew achieves that distinction.
A friend of mine wrote a wonderful adult Harry Potter fanfic, where even Bellatrix is horrified by what she sees inside Andrew’s mind. She hands him over to Fenrir Greyback, to punish as he sees fit.
“Like you, Fenrir’s an animal, but even so, he has some standards, and he thinks you’ve fallen short of them.”
The curious thing is that the late Queen seemed very fond of Andrew. Perhaps it was as simple as being a person that only a mother could love.
In his 20s Andrew was actually quite good looking and dashing and after having flown helicopters in the Falklands War relatively popular as a war hero.
His older brother though was seen as rather stuffy, old fashioned, with overly large ears and strange interests such as talking to trees and soon overshadowed by his much more glamorous and charismatic and warm wife Princess Diana
You know, flying helicopters is actually quite hard. Flying them on and off ships is even harder. What a shame he couldn't stick with the whole piloting thing.
He just would have ended up flying Epstein one day and it would all go the same way.
The response of the King seems quite mild, given the fact that Andrew has clearly misled the court as well as the media concerning his relationship with the Epstein circle. If I were the King I would be incandescent that his brother has clearly lied to his face. More to the point, there is the open question of what else Andrew has been doing that is, shall we say, unlikely to be popular in the country at large.
If, as I think we may suspect, it includes highly problematic financial arrangements, I think that Andrew will be exiled to the outer darkness for the rest of his life. Certainly the Prince of Wales seems to be of this opinion. This is notwithstanding the attempts of Beatrice and Eugenie to stay in good standing with the court, which I think are completely doomed.
Ironically it is not the size of the Royal family that is the problem- the Duke of Kent and the Gloucesters have been doing sterling work, as have the Edinburghs and the Princess Royal and Sir Tim... even Zara and Mike. The Yorks on the other hand...
It’s rare for someone not to possess a single redeeming feature, but I think Andrew achieves that distinction.
A friend of mine wrote a wonderful adult Harry Potter fanfic, where even Bellatrix is horrified by what she sees inside Andrew’s mind. She hands him over to Fenrir Greyback, to punish as he sees fit.
“Like you, Fenrir’s an animal, but even so, he has some standards, and he thinks you’ve fallen short of them.”
The curious thing is that the late Queen seemed very fond of Andrew. Perhaps it was as simple as being a person that only a mother could love.
In his 20s Andrew was actually quite good looking and dashing and after having flown helicopters in the Falklands War relatively popular as a war hero.
His older brother though was seen as rather stuffy, old fashioned, with overly large ears and strange interests such as talking to trees and soon overshadowed by his much more glamorous and charismatic and warm wife Princess Diana
You know, flying helicopters is actually quite hard. Flying them on and off ships is even harder. What a shame he couldn't stick with the whole piloting thing.
I seem to remember reading that one of the jobs, during the Falklands, was flying the helicopter in such a way that it distracted the Exocets away from the warships. Not for everyone, but Andrew was up for it. So, maybe, one redeeming feature in his record?
On topic, the question is surely whether people who play post code lottery are more typical of the UK public than, say, those willing to be on a Yougov panel and get paid seriously under the NMW for filling in their surveys. I think the answer might well be yes.
The answer is that neither will be a represenative sample. The YouGov panel collects people who either (a) want to earn $5 a month answering questions about detergent, and (b) some political junkies. The Post Code Lottery one collects people who like the National Lottery, but realize the odds are slightly better with Post Code Lottery (and/or want a subscription lottery service).
The trick will come in the weighting. Because no matter what you start with, you are highly unlikely to get a balanced sample.
The response of the King seems quite mild, given the fact that Andrew has clearly misled the court as well as the media concerning his relationship with the Epstein circle. If I were the King I would be incandescent that his brother has clearly lied to his face. More to the point, there is the open question of what else Andrew has been doing that is, shall we say, unlikely to be popular in the country at large.
If, as I think we may suspect, it includes highly problematic financial arrangements, I think that Andrew will be exiled to the outer darkness for the rest of his life. Certainly the Prince of Wales seems to be of this opinion. This is notwithstanding the attempts of Beatrice and Eugenie to stay in good standing with the court, which I think are completely doomed.
Ironically it is not the size of the Royal family that is the problem- the Duke of Kent and the Gloucesters have been doing sterling work, as have the Edinburghs and the Princess Royal and Sir Tim... even Zara and Mike. The Yorks on the other hand...
It’s rare for someone not to possess a single redeeming feature, but I think Andrew achieves that distinction.
A friend of mine wrote a wonderful adult Harry Potter fanfic, where even Bellatrix is horrified by what she sees inside Andrew’s mind. She hands him over to Fenrir Greyback, to punish as he sees fit.
“Like you, Fenrir’s an animal, but even so, he has some standards, and he thinks you’ve fallen short of them.”
The curious thing is that the late Queen seemed very fond of Andrew. Perhaps it was as simple as being a person that only a mother could love.
In his 20s Andrew was actually quite good looking and dashing and after having flown helicopters in the Falklands War relatively popular as a war hero.
His older brother though was seen as rather stuffy, old fashioned, with overly large ears and strange interests such as talking to trees and soon overshadowed by his much more glamorous and charismatic and warm wife Princess Diana
You know, flying helicopters is actually quite hard. Flying them on and off ships is even harder. What a shame he couldn't stick with the whole piloting thing.
He just would have ended up flying Epstein one day and it would all go the same way.
I like the idea though of him being some gruff playboy helicopter pilot ferrying people around the Caribbean under the name Andy Windsor, giving a cheeky wink to rich American holidaymakers’ wives, drinking in a ramshackle bar with his friend the maverick island detective, helping him out by getting his contacts in MI6 to solve cases. He could have a calm inflatable style, the two of the, cracking cases without any hard work. maybe the series could be called “No sweat”.
I mean we know Lucy Powell is quite shit, but not sure that is Labour's core issue.
I doubt the average voter has even heard of Lucy Powell, let alone will decide their vote on whether she is Labour Deputy Leader or not
We’ve had a lot of newsworthy Lucys recently. Bloodthirsty baby killer / innocent victim of miscarriage of justice Lucy Letby, bloodthirsty inciter of racist Arson / blessed martyr of the woke mafia Lucy Connolly, and now [Burnham stan account / saviour of Labour?] Lucy Powell.
The response of the King seems quite mild, given the fact that Andrew has clearly misled the court as well as the media concerning his relationship with the Epstein circle. If I were the King I would be incandescent that his brother has clearly lied to his face. More to the point, there is the open question of what else Andrew has been doing that is, shall we say, unlikely to be popular in the country at large.
If, as I think we may suspect, it includes highly problematic financial arrangements, I think that Andrew will be exiled to the outer darkness for the rest of his life. Certainly the Prince of Wales seems to be of this opinion. This is notwithstanding the attempts of Beatrice and Eugenie to stay in good standing with the court, which I think are completely doomed.
Ironically it is not the size of the Royal family that is the problem- the Duke of Kent and the Gloucesters have been doing sterling work, as have the Edinburghs and the Princess Royal and Sir Tim... even Zara and Mike. The Yorks on the other hand...
It’s rare for someone not to possess a single redeeming feature, but I think Andrew achieves that distinction.
A friend of mine wrote a wonderful adult Harry Potter fanfic, where even Bellatrix is horrified by what she sees inside Andrew’s mind. She hands him over to Fenrir Greyback, to punish as he sees fit.
“Like you, Fenrir’s an animal, but even so, he has some standards, and he thinks you’ve fallen short of them.”
The curious thing is that the late Queen seemed very fond of Andrew. Perhaps it was as simple as being a person that only a mother could love.
In his 20s Andrew was actually quite good looking and dashing and after having flown helicopters in the Falklands War relatively popular as a war hero.
His older brother though was seen as rather stuffy, old fashioned, with overly large ears and strange interests such as talking to trees and soon overshadowed by his much more glamorous and charismatic and warm wife Princess Diana
You know, flying helicopters is actually quite hard. Flying them on and off ships is even harder. What a shame he couldn't stick with the whole piloting thing.
I seem to remember reading that one of the jobs, during the Falklands, was flying the helicopter in such a way that it distracted the Exocets away from the warships. Not for everyone, but Andrew was up for it. So, maybe, one redeeming feature in his record?
Yup - with a blip enhancer turned on. By broadcasting at the right frequency to match the radar of the incoming missile, it would make the helicopter a more attractive target than any ship.
And because the missile was programmed to fly at a fixed altitude, a helicopter a couple of hundred feet up wasn’t in danger. Theoretically.
On topic, the question is surely whether people who play post code lottery are more typical of the UK public than, say, those willing to be on a Yougov panel and get paid seriously under the NMW for filling in their surveys. I think the answer might well be yes.
The answer is that neither will be a represenative sample. The YouGov panel collects people who either (a) want to earn $5 a month answering questions about detergent, and (b) some political junkies. The Post Code Lottery one collects people who like the National Lottery, but realize the odds are slightly better with Post Code Lottery (and/or want a subscription lottery service).
The trick will come in the weighting. Because no matter what you start with, you are highly unlikely to get a balanced sample.
You will note that I didn't say either of them were good. What I said was that of the two the post code lottery camp may well be better.
I mean we know Lucy Powell is quite shit, but not sure that is Labour's core issue.
I doubt the average voter has even heard of Lucy Powell, let alone will decide their vote on whether she is Labour Deputy Leader or not
We’ve had a lot of newsworthy Lucys recently. Bloodthirsty baby killer / innocent victim of miscarriage of justice Lucy Letby, bloodthirsty inciter of racist Arson / blessed martyr of the woke mafia Lucy Connolly, and now [Burnham stan account / saviour of Labour?] Lucy Powell.
Whither the next Lucy?
Lucy Beaumont Lucy Fallon Lucy Bronze
Glad to see Bronze is in third place on your list.
If the title of the Duke of York is vacant then I am wiling to take the title to restore some decency and dignity to the title.
Apart from the nursery rhyme I am not entirely sure why we need a Duke of York at all. I think keeping the title in abeyance until everyone even remotely associated with it is dead might be the best option.
Here is what the public think. It looks as if Starmer is out of step with public opinion, and so is a lot of PB.
Most of the public will be thinking this makes life easier for that particular day and stops some violence between two groups they look down on. Which is all true, but it sets a dangerous precedent. Ministers have to consider that in a way the person on the omnibus doesn't.
ps Governing by public opinion polling has been terrible for us. Lets not encourage it!
If the title of the Duke of York is vacant then I am wiling to take the title to restore some decency and dignity to the title.
Apart from the nursery rhyme I am not entirely sure why we need a Duke of York at all. I think keeping the title in abeyance until everyone even remotely associated with it is dead might be the best option.
Surely they can create new ones based on other historic cities. We have Edinburgh, Cambridge, Gloucester and Lancaster (sort of). Why not Winchester, Bath, or Oxford. A lot of the counties would probably work, Sussex is a bit naff now but we have Norfolk, Cornwall (again a bit of an outlier) so plenty of options, Duke of The Isle of Wight might be too much of a mouthful but otherwise open season. There are obvs loads of Scottish and Welsh options but my Scots and Welsh knowledge is bloody abysmal.
Here is what the public think. It looks as if Starmer is out of step with public opinion, and so is a lot of PB.
Most of the public will be thinking this makes life easier for that particular day and stops some violence between two groups they look down on. Which is all true, but it sets a dangerous precedent. Ministers have to consider that in a way the person on the omnibus doesn't.
ps Governing by public opinion polling has been terrible for us. Lets not encourage it!
What do the public know? Can we trust them to elect governments? I think you've made your point.
Here is what the public think. It looks as if Starmer is out of step with public opinion, and so is a lot of PB.
Suspect it's like the nightclub thing- the police, and most of the public, really would be happier if football fans didn't exist. They are noisy and hard work to manage.
The Tel Aviv "fans" do sound like the sort of people who, ignoring all religio-cultural stuff, we don't really want visiting here. Not because of their ethnicity or religion, but because of the thuggish behaviour many of them indulge in. But right now, we can't ignore that stuff.
If the title of the Duke of York is vacant then I am wiling to take the title to restore some decency and dignity to the title.
Apart from the nursery rhyme I am not entirely sure why we need a Duke of York at all. I think keeping the title in abeyance until everyone even remotely associated with it is dead might be the best option.
When he was up, he was up And when he was down, he was down.
I mean we know Lucy Powell is quite shit, but not sure that is Labour's core issue.
I doubt the average voter has even heard of Lucy Powell, let alone will decide their vote on whether she is Labour Deputy Leader or not
We’ve had a lot of newsworthy Lucys recently. Bloodthirsty baby killer / innocent victim of miscarriage of justice Lucy Letby, bloodthirsty inciter of racist Arson / blessed martyr of the woke mafia Lucy Connolly, and now [Burnham stan account / saviour of Labour?] Lucy Powell.
Whither the next Lucy?
Lucy Beaumont Lucy Fallon Lucy Bronze
Glad to see Bronze is in third place on your list.
The original famous Lucy - apart from Paddington's Aunt Lucy - was Lucinda Prior-Palmer who fell off her horse into the same water feature twice at the Badminton Horse Trials.
Here is what the public think. It looks as if Starmer is out of step with public opinion, and so is a lot of PB.
Most of the public will be thinking this makes life easier for that particular day and stops some violence between two groups they look down on. Which is all true, but it sets a dangerous precedent. Ministers have to consider that in a way the person on the omnibus doesn't.
ps Governing by public opinion polling has been terrible for us. Lets not encourage it!
What do the public know? Can we trust them to elect governments? I think you've made your point.
I don't mind them electing governments, I mind the people elected taking the easy route and not making unpopular decisions at times.
On topic, the question is surely whether people who play post code lottery are more typical of the UK public than, say, those willing to be on a Yougov panel and get paid seriously under the NMW for filling in their surveys. I think the answer might well be yes.
The answer is that neither will be a represenative sample. The YouGov panel collects people who either (a) want to earn $5 a month answering questions about detergent, and (b) some political junkies. The Post Code Lottery one collects people who like the National Lottery, but realize the odds are slightly better with Post Code Lottery (and/or want a subscription lottery service).
The trick will come in the weighting. Because no matter what you start with, you are highly unlikely to get a balanced sample.
You will note that I didn't say either of them were good. What I said was that of the two the post code lottery camp may well be better.
I would be interested to see the distribution of postcodes for people playing Postcode Lottery - and especially a demographic distribution.
I would also be interested in understanding how it works: do they weight postcodes by how many people have signed up from them? If not, then if you are in an underrepresented postcode (SW4, say), then it might make economic sense to play. If so, then it's just another lottery where the payout is going to be (say) 50%.
Here is what the public think. It looks as if Starmer is out of step with public opinion, and so is a lot of PB.
Most of the public will be thinking this makes life easier for that particular day and stops some violence between two groups they look down on. Which is all true, but it sets a dangerous precedent. Ministers have to consider that in a way the person on the omnibus doesn't.
ps Governing by public opinion polling has been terrible for us. Lets not encourage it!
What do the public know? Can we trust them to elect governments? I think you've made your point.
I don't mind them electing governments, I mind the people elected taking the easy route and not making unpopular decisions at times.
I actually agree with you. My political maxims are:
His predecessor, Hollande, was so unpopular that he didn't even try to run for re-election. And his predecessor, Sarkozy, is shortly going to jail.
Maybe France is simply ungovernable? Or is it that people's expectations there, here, and most places in the democratic world, are now so unrealistic that the slide to populism/authoritarianism is unavoidable? We (UK & France & USA) avoided it in the 30's. Maybe not so lucky this time?
Here is what the public think. It looks as if Starmer is out of step with public opinion, and so is a lot of PB.
Most of the public will be thinking this makes life easier for that particular day and stops some violence between two groups they look down on. Which is all true, but it sets a dangerous precedent. Ministers have to consider that in a way the person on the omnibus doesn't.
ps Governing by public opinion polling has been terrible for us. Lets not encourage it!
What do the public know? Can we trust them to elect governments? I think you've made your point.
I don't mind them electing governments, I mind the people elected taking the easy route and not making unpopular decisions at times.
I actually agree with you. My political maxims are:
Lead don't follow
Keep it simple
Be brave
Be controversial
Be honest
My favourite politicians so far have been Ken Clarke and Paddy Ashdown. I think they tick those boxes as well as any.
A solid series of by election results in the new "heartland" of Surrey for the LDs with gains at both County and District/Borough level.
The County Council now has 39 Conservative and 42 non-Conservative Councillors and it will be interesting to see, IF the elections for the Shadow Authorities due to take place next year are postponed a year, whether some of the remaining County Councillors will fancy serving up to a seven year term.
That's how to suspend democracy - not through authoritarianism but reorganisation.
I do wonder if the UK is heading towards a French type election, which pits the Liberal Democrats against Reform.
They don't seem to overlap. Reform are/have found themselves in Red Wall territory mainly because the Conservatives 'one-nation' Tories have been gutted from the party by Boris. LibDems have the largest share of the leafy shires constituencies. How Reform can pivot from the left behind to bank managers (see previous quote) will be difficult especially since they are a one-man band.
Labour have a spread throughout the spectrum from RW to LS but it's definitely weaker at the RW end and stronger at the LS end. Kemi's chasing the Reform rhetoric will simply reinforce the damage done by Boris. Have I mentioned she's a dud*.
* It would be more appropriate to say she was the least-worst option for LOTO though that penny hasn't dropped yet. She has an unusually high opinion of her own abilities.
As a conservative I am content that Badenoch is the best leader for the party and she had an excellent conference and is appearing more in the media
Her "excellent Conference" was mainly excellent because it has been talked up by loyalists like yourself. The fact it wasn't the anticipated clown show (much the same as Labour- no coughing, no letters falling off sign boards) it was deemed a win.
Most commentators were complimentary and general it is accepted she had a good conference
Most commentators said Starmer had a good conference until Farage offered his withering right to reply, which was given more of an airing and gained more traction than Starmer's original. And after that, polled voters stated they hated Starmer and his speech, even as mainstream commentators were still nodding in approval with Starmer.
I may have misplaced the timeline, but wasn't that the conference which was overshadowed with Angela Rayner resigning? Fairly sure it was a bit of a shambles?
No that was the "reset".
The Conference was widely anticipated to be a disaster as King over the Water Burnham arrived to claim his crown. He left early with his tail between his legs and Starmer made a dreary but gaff- free speech which was hailed because contrary to expectations the wheels remained on the Labour bus. Then Farage struck like a Cobra...
Politics would be so much easier without opposition politicians criticising. Nobly, Labour never did that when they were in opposition
Here is what the public think. It looks as if Starmer is out of step with public opinion, and so is a lot of PB.
Most of the public will be thinking this makes life easier for that particular day and stops some violence between two groups they look down on. Which is all true, but it sets a dangerous precedent. Ministers have to consider that in a way the person on the omnibus doesn't.
ps Governing by public opinion polling has been terrible for us. Lets not encourage it!
What do the public know? Can we trust them to elect governments? I think you've made your point.
I don't mind them electing governments, I mind the people elected taking the easy route and not making unpopular decisions at times.
I actually agree with you. My political maxims are:
Lead don't follow
Keep it simple
Be brave
Be controversial
Be honest
My favourite politicians so far have been Ken Clarke and Paddy Ashdown. I think they tick those boxes as well as any.
I think Mrs Ashdown might have a dispute with you about the last one.
Here is what the public think. It looks as if Starmer is out of step with public opinion, and so is a lot of PB.
Most of the public will be thinking this makes life easier for that particular day and stops some violence between two groups they look down on. Which is all true, but it sets a dangerous precedent. Ministers have to consider that in a way the person on the omnibus doesn't.
ps Governing by public opinion polling has been terrible for us. Lets not encourage it!
What do the public know? Can we trust them to elect governments? I think you've made your point.
I don't mind them electing governments, I mind the people elected taking the easy route and not making unpopular decisions at times.
I actually agree with you. My political maxims are:
Lead don't follow
Keep it simple
Be brave
Be controversial
Be honest
My favourite politicians so far have been Ken Clarke and Paddy Ashdown. I think they tick those boxes as well as any.
I think Mrs Ashdown might have a dispute with you about the last one.
Expecting politicians to live like saints doesn't help governance either!
Here is what the public think. It looks as if Starmer is out of step with public opinion, and so is a lot of PB.
Most of the public will be thinking this makes life easier for that particular day and stops some violence between two groups they look down on. Which is all true, but it sets a dangerous precedent. Ministers have to consider that in a way the person on the omnibus doesn't.
ps Governing by public opinion polling has been terrible for us. Lets not encourage it!
What do the public know? Can we trust them to elect governments? I think you've made your point.
I don't mind them electing governments, I mind the people elected taking the easy route and not making unpopular decisions at times.
I actually agree with you. My political maxims are:
Lead don't follow
Keep it simple
Be brave
Be controversial
Be honest
My favourite politicians so far have been Ken Clarke and Paddy Ashdown. I think they tick those boxes as well as any.
@Barnesian's list is actually pretty good. Interesting.
A solid series of by election results in the new "heartland" of Surrey for the LDs with gains at both County and District/Borough level.
The County Council now has 39 Conservative and 42 non-Conservative Councillors and it will be interesting to see, IF the elections for the Shadow Authorities due to take place next year are postponed a year, whether some of the remaining County Councillors will fancy serving up to a seven year term.
That's how to suspend democracy - not through authoritarianism but reorganisation.
I do wonder if the UK is heading towards a French type election, which pits the Liberal Democrats against Reform.
They don't seem to overlap. Reform are/have found themselves in Red Wall territory mainly because the Conservatives 'one-nation' Tories have been gutted from the party by Boris. LibDems have the largest share of the leafy shires constituencies. How Reform can pivot from the left behind to bank managers (see previous quote) will be difficult especially since they are a one-man band.
Labour have a spread throughout the spectrum from RW to LS but it's definitely weaker at the RW end and stronger at the LS end. Kemi's chasing the Reform rhetoric will simply reinforce the damage done by Boris. Have I mentioned she's a dud*.
* It would be more appropriate to say she was the least-worst option for LOTO though that penny hasn't dropped yet. She has an unusually high opinion of her own abilities.
As a conservative I am content that Badenoch is the best leader for the party and she had an excellent conference and is appearing more in the media
Her "excellent Conference" was mainly excellent because it has been talked up by loyalists like yourself. The fact it wasn't the anticipated clown show (much the same as Labour- no coughing, no letters falling off sign boards) it was deemed a win.
Most commentators were complimentary and general it is accepted she had a good conference
Most commentators said Starmer had a good conference until Farage offered his withering right to reply, which was given more of an airing and gained more traction than Starmer's original. And after that, polled voters stated they hated Starmer and his speech, even as mainstream commentators were still nodding in approval with Starmer.
I may have misplaced the timeline, but wasn't that the conference which was overshadowed with Angela Rayner resigning? Fairly sure it was a bit of a shambles?
No that was the "reset".
The Conference was widely anticipated to be a disaster as King over the Water Burnham arrived to claim his crown. He left early with his tail between his legs and Starmer made a dreary but gaff- free speech which was hailed because contrary to expectations the wheels remained on the Labour bus. Then Farage struck like a Cobra...
Politics would be so much easier without opposition politicians criticising. Nobly, Labour never did that when they were in opposition
I don't understand what I wrote that warranted that post.
Are you upset by my laughing at Burnham or my commenting on the whining Farage?
His predecessor, Hollande, was so unpopular that he didn't even try to run for re-election. And his predecessor, Sarkozy, is shortly going to jail.
Maybe France is simply ungovernable? Or is it that people's expectations there, here, and most places in the democratic world, are now so unrealistic that the slide to populism/authoritarianism is unavoidable? We (UK & France & USA) avoided it in the 30's. Maybe not so lucky this time?
That’s a perceptive article. Political disillusionment is surely the product of expectations x delivery.
France like Britain and the US suffers from exceptionalism. France should be the greatest country on earth, by divine right. That it falls somewhat short (though it is still one of the best countries on the planet) must therefore be the fault of the politicians.
Perhaps this has already been noticed, so forgive the repetition if it is, but yesterday in Surrey there were six by-elections. The Lib Dems won all six (which is perhaps to be expected) but the surprise for me is that, on average, the Conservatives polled 15%. That's got to be a cause for concern in Conservative Party HQ. They really ought to be getting a lot more than 15% in Surrey.
I’ve made my peace that for the next four years elections for the Tories including the general election will be like the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
Bad on the left flank but highly successful in the south (as long as the French are there)?
First day of the Somme is both a terrible tragedy and a missed opportunity. The inability to communicate easily to the front and the lack of ability to get follow up troops lost the chance of cracking the front wide open. In the South the cavalry were set to go in, and the line was broken.
The response of the King seems quite mild, given the fact that Andrew has clearly misled the court as well as the media concerning his relationship with the Epstein circle. If I were the King I would be incandescent that his brother has clearly lied to his face. More to the point, there is the open question of what else Andrew has been doing that is, shall we say, unlikely to be popular in the country at large.
If, as I think we may suspect, it includes highly problematic financial arrangements, I think that Andrew will be exiled to the outer darkness for the rest of his life. Certainly the Prince of Wales seems to be of this opinion. This is notwithstanding the attempts of Beatrice and Eugenie to stay in good standing with the court, which I think are completely doomed.
Ironically it is not the size of the Royal family that is the problem- the Duke of Kent and the Gloucesters have been doing sterling work, as have the Edinburghs and the Princess Royal and Sir Tim... even Zara and Mike. The Yorks on the other hand...
It’s rare for someone not to possess a single redeeming feature, but I think Andrew achieves that distinction.
A friend of mine wrote a wonderful adult Harry Potter fanfic, where even Bellatrix is horrified by what she sees inside Andrew’s mind. She hands him over to Fenrir Greyback, to punish as he sees fit.
“Like you, Fenrir’s an animal, but even so, he has some standards, and he thinks you’ve fallen short of them.”
The curious thing is that the late Queen seemed very fond of Andrew. Perhaps it was as simple as being a person that only a mother could love.
In his 20s Andrew was actually quite good looking and dashing and after having flown helicopters in the Falklands War relatively popular as a war hero.
His older brother though was seen as rather stuffy, old fashioned, with overly large ears and strange interests such as talking to trees and soon overshadowed by his much more glamorous and charismatic and warm wife Princess Diana
You know, flying helicopters is actually quite hard. Flying them on and off ships is even harder. What a shame he couldn't stick with the whole piloting thing.
A solid series of by election results in the new "heartland" of Surrey for the LDs with gains at both County and District/Borough level.
The County Council now has 39 Conservative and 42 non-Conservative Councillors and it will be interesting to see, IF the elections for the Shadow Authorities due to take place next year are postponed a year, whether some of the remaining County Councillors will fancy serving up to a seven year term.
That's how to suspend democracy - not through authoritarianism but reorganisation.
I do wonder if the UK is heading towards a French type election, which pits the Liberal Democrats against Reform.
They don't seem to overlap. Reform are/have found themselves in Red Wall territory mainly because the Conservatives 'one-nation' Tories have been gutted from the party by Boris. LibDems have the largest share of the leafy shires constituencies. How Reform can pivot from the left behind to bank managers (see previous quote) will be difficult especially since they are a one-man band.
Labour have a spread throughout the spectrum from RW to LS but it's definitely weaker at the RW end and stronger at the LS end. Kemi's chasing the Reform rhetoric will simply reinforce the damage done by Boris. Have I mentioned she's a dud*.
* It would be more appropriate to say she was the least-worst option for LOTO though that penny hasn't dropped yet. She has an unusually high opinion of her own abilities.
As a conservative I am content that Badenoch is the best leader for the party and she had an excellent conference and is appearing more in the media
Her "excellent Conference" was mainly excellent because it has been talked up by loyalists like yourself. The fact it wasn't the anticipated clown show (much the same as Labour- no coughing, no letters falling off sign boards) it was deemed a win.
Most commentators were complimentary and general it is accepted she had a good conference
Most commentators said Starmer had a good conference until Farage offered his withering right to reply, which was given more of an airing and gained more traction than Starmer's original. And after that, polled voters stated they hated Starmer and his speech, even as mainstream commentators were still nodding in approval with Starmer.
I may have misplaced the timeline, but wasn't that the conference which was overshadowed with Angela Rayner resigning? Fairly sure it was a bit of a shambles?
No that was the "reset".
The Conference was widely anticipated to be a disaster as King over the Water Burnham arrived to claim his crown. He left early with his tail between his legs and Starmer made a dreary but gaff- free speech which was hailed because contrary to expectations the wheels remained on the Labour bus. Then Farage struck like a Cobra...
Politics would be so much easier without opposition politicians criticising. Nobly, Labour never did that when they were in opposition
For shame.
Starmer, in opposition, took an unexpected interest in biology and tried to name a variant of a new species in honour the Prime Minister
Prince Andrew has been forced to relinquish all his titles including the Duke of York and Knight of the Garter after his friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein threatened to overshadow the reign of his brother, King Charles.
He will remain known as Prince Andrew, in accordance with a law first set down by George V in 1917 which stipulates that a son of a monarch can be called a prince.
His predecessor, Hollande, was so unpopular that he didn't even try to run for re-election. And his predecessor, Sarkozy, is shortly going to jail.
Maybe France is simply ungovernable? Or is it that people's expectations there, here, and most places in the democratic world, are now so unrealistic that the slide to populism/authoritarianism is unavoidable? We (UK & France & USA) avoided it in the 30's. Maybe not so lucky this time?
That’s a perceptive article. Political disillusionment is surely the product of expectations x delivery.
France like Britain and the US suffers from exceptionalism. France should be the greatest country on earth, by divine right. That it falls somewhat short (though it is still one of the best countries on the planet) must therefore be the fault of the politicians.
A history of “greatness” can be a terrible ball and chain. On a human basis if you were very successful and lost everything you would suffer more than someone who had always been steady and unexceptional. We still have witching recent times the French and British controlling large parts of the globe and our cultures shaping the modern world but our power is gone.
Perhaps this has already been noticed, so forgive the repetition if it is, but yesterday in Surrey there were six by-elections. The Lib Dems won all six (which is perhaps to be expected) but the surprise for me is that, on average, the Conservatives polled 15%. That's got to be a cause for concern in Conservative Party HQ. They really ought to be getting a lot more than 15% in Surrey.
I’ve made my peace that for the next four years elections for the Tories including the general election will be like the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
Bad on the left flank but highly successful in the south (as long as the French are there)?
First day of the Somme is both a terrible tragedy and a missed opportunity. The inability to communicate easily to the front and the lack of ability to get follow up troops lost the chance of cracking the front wide open. In the South the cavalry were set to go in, and the line was broken.
As a student I couldn't process the fact my teacher said British casualties on the first day numbered 57,000.
Prince Andrew has been forced to relinquish all his titles including the Duke of York and Knight of the Garter after his friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein threatened to overshadow the reign of his brother, King Charles.
He will remain known as Prince Andrew, in accordance with a law first set down by George V in 1917 which stipulates that a son of a monarch can be called a prince.
He could be the second most famous person to change his name from Prince.
Number 10 has asked West Midlands to set out what extra resource they need to police the game.
The IDF?
What the Luftwaffe did to Birmingham is not dissimilar to what the IDF did to Gaza.
Let's hope the Gazans have better luck with their town planners
Too many places in the U.K. suffered from a double whammy of Luftwaffe bombs AND truly terrible town planning/architects. So much of continental Europe was rebuilt in the style it had been before the war. Not so for poor old Blighty.
A solid series of by election results in the new "heartland" of Surrey for the LDs with gains at both County and District/Borough level.
The County Council now has 39 Conservative and 42 non-Conservative Councillors and it will be interesting to see, IF the elections for the Shadow Authorities due to take place next year are postponed a year, whether some of the remaining County Councillors will fancy serving up to a seven year term.
That's how to suspend democracy - not through authoritarianism but reorganisation.
I do wonder if the UK is heading towards a French type election, which pits the Liberal Democrats against Reform.
They don't seem to overlap. Reform are/have found themselves in Red Wall territory mainly because the Conservatives 'one-nation' Tories have been gutted from the party by Boris. LibDems have the largest share of the leafy shires constituencies. How Reform can pivot from the left behind to bank managers (see previous quote) will be difficult especially since they are a one-man band.
Labour have a spread throughout the spectrum from RW to LS but it's definitely weaker at the RW end and stronger at the LS end. Kemi's chasing the Reform rhetoric will simply reinforce the damage done by Boris. Have I mentioned she's a dud*.
* It would be more appropriate to say she was the least-worst option for LOTO though that penny hasn't dropped yet. She has an unusually high opinion of her own abilities.
As a conservative I am content that Badenoch is the best leader for the party and she had an excellent conference and is appearing more in the media
Her "excellent Conference" was mainly excellent because it has been talked up by loyalists like yourself. The fact it wasn't the anticipated clown show (much the same as Labour- no coughing, no letters falling off sign boards) it was deemed a win.
Most commentators were complimentary and general it is accepted she had a good conference
Most commentators said Starmer had a good conference until Farage offered his withering right to reply, which was given more of an airing and gained more traction than Starmer's original. And after that, polled voters stated they hated Starmer and his speech, even as mainstream commentators were still nodding in approval with Starmer.
I may have misplaced the timeline, but wasn't that the conference which was overshadowed with Angela Rayner resigning? Fairly sure it was a bit of a shambles?
No that was the "reset".
The Conference was widely anticipated to be a disaster as King over the Water Burnham arrived to claim his crown. He left early with his tail between his legs and Starmer made a dreary but gaff- free speech which was hailed because contrary to expectations the wheels remained on the Labour bus. Then Farage struck like a Cobra...
Politics would be so much easier without opposition politicians criticising. Nobly, Labour never did that when they were in opposition
For shame.
Starmer, in opposition, took an unexpected interest in biology and tried to name a variant of a new species in honour the Prime Minister
I suspect an awful lot of Starmer hatred stems from his being nasty to poor Boris, our King of Hearts
A solid series of by election results in the new "heartland" of Surrey for the LDs with gains at both County and District/Borough level.
The County Council now has 39 Conservative and 42 non-Conservative Councillors and it will be interesting to see, IF the elections for the Shadow Authorities due to take place next year are postponed a year, whether some of the remaining County Councillors will fancy serving up to a seven year term.
That's how to suspend democracy - not through authoritarianism but reorganisation.
I do wonder if the UK is heading towards a French type election, which pits the Liberal Democrats against Reform.
They don't seem to overlap. Reform are/have found themselves in Red Wall territory mainly because the Conservatives 'one-nation' Tories have been gutted from the party by Boris. LibDems have the largest share of the leafy shires constituencies. How Reform can pivot from the left behind to bank managers (see previous quote) will be difficult especially since they are a one-man band.
Labour have a spread throughout the spectrum from RW to LS but it's definitely weaker at the RW end and stronger at the LS end. Kemi's chasing the Reform rhetoric will simply reinforce the damage done by Boris. Have I mentioned she's a dud*.
* It would be more appropriate to say she was the least-worst option for LOTO though that penny hasn't dropped yet. She has an unusually high opinion of her own abilities.
As a conservative I am content that Badenoch is the best leader for the party and she had an excellent conference and is appearing more in the media
Her "excellent Conference" was mainly excellent because it has been talked up by loyalists like yourself. The fact it wasn't the anticipated clown show (much the same as Labour- no coughing, no letters falling off sign boards) it was deemed a win.
Most commentators were complimentary and general it is accepted she had a good conference
Most commentators said Starmer had a good conference until Farage offered his withering right to reply, which was given more of an airing and gained more traction than Starmer's original. And after that, polled voters stated they hated Starmer and his speech, even as mainstream commentators were still nodding in approval with Starmer.
I may have misplaced the timeline, but wasn't that the conference which was overshadowed with Angela Rayner resigning? Fairly sure it was a bit of a shambles?
No that was the "reset".
The Conference was widely anticipated to be a disaster as King over the Water Burnham arrived to claim his crown. He left early with his tail between his legs and Starmer made a dreary but gaff- free speech which was hailed because contrary to expectations the wheels remained on the Labour bus. Then Farage struck like a Cobra...
Politics would be so much easier without opposition politicians criticising. Nobly, Labour never did that when they were in opposition
For shame.
Starmer, in opposition, took an unexpected interest in biology and tried to name a variant of a new species in honour the Prime Minister
I suspect an awful lot of Starmer hatred stems from his being nasty to poor Boris, our King of Hearts
I think that much of it stems from the opposition having nothing else substantive to talk about.
A solid series of by election results in the new "heartland" of Surrey for the LDs with gains at both County and District/Borough level.
The County Council now has 39 Conservative and 42 non-Conservative Councillors and it will be interesting to see, IF the elections for the Shadow Authorities due to take place next year are postponed a year, whether some of the remaining County Councillors will fancy serving up to a seven year term.
That's how to suspend democracy - not through authoritarianism but reorganisation.
I do wonder if the UK is heading towards a French type election, which pits the Liberal Democrats against Reform.
They don't seem to overlap. Reform are/have found themselves in Red Wall territory mainly because the Conservatives 'one-nation' Tories have been gutted from the party by Boris. LibDems have the largest share of the leafy shires constituencies. How Reform can pivot from the left behind to bank managers (see previous quote) will be difficult especially since they are a one-man band.
Labour have a spread throughout the spectrum from RW to LS but it's definitely weaker at the RW end and stronger at the LS end. Kemi's chasing the Reform rhetoric will simply reinforce the damage done by Boris. Have I mentioned she's a dud*.
* It would be more appropriate to say she was the least-worst option for LOTO though that penny hasn't dropped yet. She has an unusually high opinion of her own abilities.
As a conservative I am content that Badenoch is the best leader for the party and she had an excellent conference and is appearing more in the media
Her "excellent Conference" was mainly excellent because it has been talked up by loyalists like yourself. The fact it wasn't the anticipated clown show (much the same as Labour- no coughing, no letters falling off sign boards) it was deemed a win.
Most commentators were complimentary and general it is accepted she had a good conference
Most commentators said Starmer had a good conference until Farage offered his withering right to reply, which was given more of an airing and gained more traction than Starmer's original. And after that, polled voters stated they hated Starmer and his speech, even as mainstream commentators were still nodding in approval with Starmer.
I may have misplaced the timeline, but wasn't that the conference which was overshadowed with Angela Rayner resigning? Fairly sure it was a bit of a shambles?
No that was the "reset".
The Conference was widely anticipated to be a disaster as King over the Water Burnham arrived to claim his crown. He left early with his tail between his legs and Starmer made a dreary but gaff- free speech which was hailed because contrary to expectations the wheels remained on the Labour bus. Then Farage struck like a Cobra...
Politics would be so much easier without opposition politicians criticising. Nobly, Labour never did that when they were in opposition
For shame.
Starmer, in opposition, took an unexpected interest in biology and tried to name a variant of a new species in honour the Prime Minister
I suspect an awful lot of Starmer hatred stems from his being nasty to poor Boris, our King of Hearts
You are saying that the Green/Fruit&Nut Part types are motivated by him dissing Boris? Or the Labour membership?
Starmer is simply a C- Prime Minister - a tin ear for politics and no leadership skills
A solid series of by election results in the new "heartland" of Surrey for the LDs with gains at both County and District/Borough level.
The County Council now has 39 Conservative and 42 non-Conservative Councillors and it will be interesting to see, IF the elections for the Shadow Authorities due to take place next year are postponed a year, whether some of the remaining County Councillors will fancy serving up to a seven year term.
That's how to suspend democracy - not through authoritarianism but reorganisation.
I do wonder if the UK is heading towards a French type election, which pits the Liberal Democrats against Reform.
They don't seem to overlap. Reform are/have found themselves in Red Wall territory mainly because the Conservatives 'one-nation' Tories have been gutted from the party by Boris. LibDems have the largest share of the leafy shires constituencies. How Reform can pivot from the left behind to bank managers (see previous quote) will be difficult especially since they are a one-man band.
Labour have a spread throughout the spectrum from RW to LS but it's definitely weaker at the RW end and stronger at the LS end. Kemi's chasing the Reform rhetoric will simply reinforce the damage done by Boris. Have I mentioned she's a dud*.
* It would be more appropriate to say she was the least-worst option for LOTO though that penny hasn't dropped yet. She has an unusually high opinion of her own abilities.
As a conservative I am content that Badenoch is the best leader for the party and she had an excellent conference and is appearing more in the media
Her "excellent Conference" was mainly excellent because it has been talked up by loyalists like yourself. The fact it wasn't the anticipated clown show (much the same as Labour- no coughing, no letters falling off sign boards) it was deemed a win.
Most commentators were complimentary and general it is accepted she had a good conference
Most commentators said Starmer had a good conference until Farage offered his withering right to reply, which was given more of an airing and gained more traction than Starmer's original. And after that, polled voters stated they hated Starmer and his speech, even as mainstream commentators were still nodding in approval with Starmer.
I may have misplaced the timeline, but wasn't that the conference which was overshadowed with Angela Rayner resigning? Fairly sure it was a bit of a shambles?
No that was the "reset".
The Conference was widely anticipated to be a disaster as King over the Water Burnham arrived to claim his crown. He left early with his tail between his legs and Starmer made a dreary but gaff- free speech which was hailed because contrary to expectations the wheels remained on the Labour bus. Then Farage struck like a Cobra...
Politics would be so much easier without opposition politicians criticising. Nobly, Labour never did that when they were in opposition
For shame.
Starmer, in opposition, took an unexpected interest in biology and tried to name a variant of a new species in honour the Prime Minister
I suspect an awful lot of Starmer hatred stems from his being nasty to poor Boris, our King of Hearts
Who knows quite how and why Starmer became the very unpopular figure that he now seems to be. (Perhaps best to get away from 'hatred')
He's obviously done little to endear himself to the nation, but it seems that somehow, for inexplicable reasons, he has tipped many otherwise sensible people over the edge.
I remember having a conversation with a chap called Gary from Yorkshire - he didn't care about facts, he just hated Maggie. I think time has proved him rather misguided - Thatcher is probably our greatest ever PM. So perhaps this seemingly unfounded disapproval might actually mean that Starmer is set to become a great PM too.
Evening all Telegraph has a piece on analysis of local elections results since May. National equivalent shares are Ref 29 LD 18 Con 18 Lab 16 Green 9 with seats projected at Ref just short of majority 311, Lab 107, LD 84, Con 63 Actual shares before adjusting for NEV are Ref 31 LD 18 Con 17 Lab 17 Green 9
Local elections in line with national polling but with a 4 point swing Lab to LD.........
Prince Andrew has been forced to relinquish all his titles including the Duke of York and Knight of the Garter after his friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein threatened to overshadow the reign of his brother, King Charles.
He will remain known as Prince Andrew, in accordance with a law first set down by George V in 1917 which stipulates that a son of a monarch can be called a prince.
A solid series of by election results in the new "heartland" of Surrey for the LDs with gains at both County and District/Borough level.
The County Council now has 39 Conservative and 42 non-Conservative Councillors and it will be interesting to see, IF the elections for the Shadow Authorities due to take place next year are postponed a year, whether some of the remaining County Councillors will fancy serving up to a seven year term.
That's how to suspend democracy - not through authoritarianism but reorganisation.
I do wonder if the UK is heading towards a French type election, which pits the Liberal Democrats against Reform.
They don't seem to overlap. Reform are/have found themselves in Red Wall territory mainly because the Conservatives 'one-nation' Tories have been gutted from the party by Boris. LibDems have the largest share of the leafy shires constituencies. How Reform can pivot from the left behind to bank managers (see previous quote) will be difficult especially since they are a one-man band.
Labour have a spread throughout the spectrum from RW to LS but it's definitely weaker at the RW end and stronger at the LS end. Kemi's chasing the Reform rhetoric will simply reinforce the damage done by Boris. Have I mentioned she's a dud*.
* It would be more appropriate to say she was the least-worst option for LOTO though that penny hasn't dropped yet. She has an unusually high opinion of her own abilities.
As a conservative I am content that Badenoch is the best leader for the party and she had an excellent conference and is appearing more in the media
Her "excellent Conference" was mainly excellent because it has been talked up by loyalists like yourself. The fact it wasn't the anticipated clown show (much the same as Labour- no coughing, no letters falling off sign boards) it was deemed a win.
Most commentators were complimentary and general it is accepted she had a good conference
Most commentators said Starmer had a good conference until Farage offered his withering right to reply, which was given more of an airing and gained more traction than Starmer's original. And after that, polled voters stated they hated Starmer and his speech, even as mainstream commentators were still nodding in approval with Starmer.
I may have misplaced the timeline, but wasn't that the conference which was overshadowed with Angela Rayner resigning? Fairly sure it was a bit of a shambles?
No that was the "reset".
The Conference was widely anticipated to be a disaster as King over the Water Burnham arrived to claim his crown. He left early with his tail between his legs and Starmer made a dreary but gaff- free speech which was hailed because contrary to expectations the wheels remained on the Labour bus. Then Farage struck like a Cobra...
Politics would be so much easier without opposition politicians criticising. Nobly, Labour never did that when they were in opposition
For shame.
Starmer, in opposition, took an unexpected interest in biology and tried to name a variant of a new species in honour the Prime Minister
I suspect an awful lot of Starmer hatred stems from his being nasty to poor Boris, our King of Hearts
Who knows quite how and why Starmer became the very unpopular figure that he now seems to be. (Perhaps best to get away from 'hatred')
He's obviously done little to endear himself to the nation, but it seems that somehow, for inexplicable reasons, he has tipped many otherwise sensible people over the edge.
I remember having a conversation with a chap called Gary from Yorkshire - he didn't care about facts, he just hated Maggie. I think time has proved him rather misguided - Thatcher is probably our greatest ever PM. So perhaps this seemingly unfounded disapproval might actually mean that Starmer is set to become a great PM too.
I am not convinced by Mrs Thatcher, and I certainly don't believe Starmer is set to be anything other than Labour 's last or penultimate PM.
I remain interested but non-committal until after the conference. It's taken the opposite approach from Reform, which had Farage cheerily sketching policies off the cuff and modifying them as he went along - this one is determinedly member-led and consequently slow to lay down detailed policies. There are a host of regional conferences before the national one building up. We'll see...
Number 10 has asked West Midlands to set out what extra resource they need to police the game.
The IDF?
What the Luftwaffe did to Birmingham is not dissimilar to what the IDF did to Gaza.
Let's hope the Gazans have better luck with their town planners
Had the Luftwaffe possessed that capability, we'd likely have lost the war.
Birmingham's former Debenhams building suggests we might have lost the war. We wouldn't have done that to ourselves, would we?
I went to a local history exhibition a while ago and looked at photos of my town from just after the war. I commented to an old boy that it was a shame that a lot of the Victorian buildings had been torn down. He seemed indifferent and said "Maybe but at the time we just saw them as old, run down and dirty". It made me think that the problem with post war architecture wasn't the intention but the cheap materials and lack of infrastructure mandated by cash strapped local councils.
A solid series of by election results in the new "heartland" of Surrey for the LDs with gains at both County and District/Borough level.
The County Council now has 39 Conservative and 42 non-Conservative Councillors and it will be interesting to see, IF the elections for the Shadow Authorities due to take place next year are postponed a year, whether some of the remaining County Councillors will fancy serving up to a seven year term.
That's how to suspend democracy - not through authoritarianism but reorganisation.
I do wonder if the UK is heading towards a French type election, which pits the Liberal Democrats against Reform.
They don't seem to overlap. Reform are/have found themselves in Red Wall territory mainly because the Conservatives 'one-nation' Tories have been gutted from the party by Boris. LibDems have the largest share of the leafy shires constituencies. How Reform can pivot from the left behind to bank managers (see previous quote) will be difficult especially since they are a one-man band.
Labour have a spread throughout the spectrum from RW to LS but it's definitely weaker at the RW end and stronger at the LS end. Kemi's chasing the Reform rhetoric will simply reinforce the damage done by Boris. Have I mentioned she's a dud*.
* It would be more appropriate to say she was the least-worst option for LOTO though that penny hasn't dropped yet. She has an unusually high opinion of her own abilities.
As a conservative I am content that Badenoch is the best leader for the party and she had an excellent conference and is appearing more in the media
Her "excellent Conference" was mainly excellent because it has been talked up by loyalists like yourself. The fact it wasn't the anticipated clown show (much the same as Labour- no coughing, no letters falling off sign boards) it was deemed a win.
Most commentators were complimentary and general it is accepted she had a good conference
Most commentators said Starmer had a good conference until Farage offered his withering right to reply, which was given more of an airing and gained more traction than Starmer's original. And after that, polled voters stated they hated Starmer and his speech, even as mainstream commentators were still nodding in approval with Starmer.
I may have misplaced the timeline, but wasn't that the conference which was overshadowed with Angela Rayner resigning? Fairly sure it was a bit of a shambles?
No that was the "reset".
The Conference was widely anticipated to be a disaster as King over the Water Burnham arrived to claim his crown. He left early with his tail between his legs and Starmer made a dreary but gaff- free speech which was hailed because contrary to expectations the wheels remained on the Labour bus. Then Farage struck like a Cobra...
Politics would be so much easier without opposition politicians criticising. Nobly, Labour never did that when they were in opposition
No upset was taken or intended! You seemed slightly miffed that an opposition party leader was criticising the government. But only slightly. Hence the smiley. Because I know Labour are not your party anyway (I think your first choice is LD?)
Evening all Telegraph has a piece on analysis of local elections results since May. National equivalent shares are Ref 29 LD 18 Con 18 Lab 16 Green 9 with seats projected at Ref just short of majority 311, Lab 107, LD 84, Con 63 Actual shares before adjusting for NEV are Ref 31 LD 18 Con 17 Lab 17 Green 9
Local elections in line with national polling but with a 4 point swing Lab to LD.........
So again if Reform get a majority on just 29% it will be as their opposition is divided, if anti Farage voters vote tactically for whichever party is the non Reform incumbent in a seat or ward they can certainly prevent a Reform majority
His predecessor, Hollande, was so unpopular that he didn't even try to run for re-election. And his predecessor, Sarkozy, is shortly going to jail.
Maybe France is simply ungovernable? Or is it that people's expectations there, here, and most places in the democratic world, are now so unrealistic that the slide to populism/authoritarianism is unavoidable? We (UK & France & USA) avoided it in the 30's. Maybe not so lucky this time?
Macron's centrist block still has a majority in the French Parliament with support from the centre right Les Republicains and centre left Socialists. So far left and nationalist hard right can be kept from power but it does require the centrist parties to work together, as in Germany too for example.
Macron won't be running for re election anyway, his former PM Philippe is the likely centrist successor candidate who again will need to beat Le Pen with centrist and leftwing votes in the runoff as Macron did, twice
Here is what the public think. It looks as if Starmer is out of step with public opinion, and so is a lot of PB.
Maccabi Tel Aviv have notorious Ultras spoiling for trouble.
If they want to be at the game then they should be bussed directly from the airport and directly home again, not to parade and smash up the city centre.
Prince Andrew has been forced to relinquish all his titles including the Duke of York and Knight of the Garter after his friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein threatened to overshadow the reign of his brother, King Charles.
He will remain known as Prince Andrew, in accordance with a law first set down by George V in 1917 which stipulates that a son of a monarch can be called a prince.
Evening all Telegraph has a piece on analysis of local elections results since May. National equivalent shares are Ref 29 LD 18 Con 18 Lab 16 Green 9 with seats projected at Ref just short of majority 311, Lab 107, LD 84, Con 63 Actual shares before adjusting for NEV are Ref 31 LD 18 Con 17 Lab 17 Green 9
Local elections in line with national polling but with a 4 point swing Lab to LD.........
So again if Reform get a majority on just 29% it will be as their opposition is divided, if anti Farage voters vote tactically for whichever party is the non Reform incumbent in a seat or ward they can certainly prevent a Reform majority
Any reasonably well accepted tactical voting effort will deeply hinder Reform id think because of their start from effective scratch and not knowing where their absolute bankers are versus what needs working harder
Here is what the public think. It looks as if Starmer is out of step with public opinion, and so is a lot of PB.
If the question had been phrased "Police have told Jews to stay away from Birmingham because they don't want to protect them from anti-Semiites. Do you approve?" the result may have been different.
Prince Andrew has been forced to relinquish all his titles including the Duke of York and Knight of the Garter after his friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein threatened to overshadow the reign of his brother, King Charles.
He will remain known as Prince Andrew, in accordance with a law first set down by George V in 1917 which stipulates that a son of a monarch can be called a prince.
The artist formerly known as...
The sex addict formerly known as (I think that covers both of them)...
Evening all Telegraph has a piece on analysis of local elections results since May. National equivalent shares are Ref 29 LD 18 Con 18 Lab 16 Green 9 with seats projected at Ref just short of majority 311, Lab 107, LD 84, Con 63 Actual shares before adjusting for NEV are Ref 31 LD 18 Con 17 Lab 17 Green 9
Local elections in line with national polling but with a 4 point swing Lab to LD.........
I remain interested but non-committal until after the conference. It's taken the opposite approach from Reform, which had Farage cheerily sketching policies off the cuff and modifying them as he went along - this one is determinedly member-led and consequently slow to lay down detailed policies. There are a host of regional conferences before the national one building up. We'll see...
Not tempted by Polanski's Green Party? He smashed it out of the park on #BBCQT last week, and this sort of Social Media presence is just what the country needs:
Here is what the public think. It looks as if Starmer is out of step with public opinion, and so is a lot of PB.
Maccabi Tel Aviv have notorious Ultras spoiling for trouble.
If they want to be at the game then they should be bussed directly from the airport and directly home again, not to parade and smash up the city centre.
An international version of the bubble employed at Southampton v Portsmouth matches is probably where this ends up.
I remain interested but non-committal until after the conference. It's taken the opposite approach from Reform, which had Farage cheerily sketching policies off the cuff and modifying them as he went along - this one is determinedly member-led and consequently slow to lay down detailed policies. There are a host of regional conferences before the national one building up. We'll see...
Not tempted by Polanski's Green Party? He smashed it out of the park on #BBCQT last week, and this sort of Social Media presence is just what the country needs:
Here is what the public think. It looks as if Starmer is out of step with public opinion, and so is a lot of PB.
If the question had been phrased "Police have told Jews to stay away from Birmingham because they don't want to protect them from anti-Semiites. Do you approve?" the result may have been different.
Here is what the public think. It looks as if Starmer is out of step with public opinion, and so is a lot of PB.
Maccabi Tel Aviv have notorious Ultras spoiling for trouble.
If they want to be at the game then they should be bussed directly from the airport and directly home again, not to parade and smash up the city centre.
An international version of the bubble employed at Southampton v Portsmouth matches is probably where this ends up.
I only get to a few away games a season, and tend to pick the local ones as I dont want to occupy the whole day so have been to Aston Villa, Birmingham City, Coventry City and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Of these the only one where heavy policing was needed was vs Coventry, and I was quite happy to be marched back to our busses under police escort to get home.
At Leicester home games generally its a positive atmosphere but there are some away sides that the police prefer to escort to the trains and busses.
Isn't this the same with Arsenal at more heated games?
Prince Andrew has been forced to relinquish all his titles including the Duke of York and Knight of the Garter after his friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein threatened to overshadow the reign of his brother, King Charles.
He will remain known as Prince Andrew, in accordance with a law first set down by George V in 1917 which stipulates that a son of a monarch can be called a prince.
Prince Andrew has been forced to relinquish all his titles including the Duke of York and Knight of the Garter after his friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein threatened to overshadow the reign of his brother, King Charles.
He will remain known as Prince Andrew, in accordance with a law first set down by George V in 1917 which stipulates that a son of a monarch can be called a prince.
Evening all Telegraph has a piece on analysis of local elections results since May. National equivalent shares are Ref 29 LD 18 Con 18 Lab 16 Green 9 with seats projected at Ref just short of majority 311, Lab 107, LD 84, Con 63 Actual shares before adjusting for NEV are Ref 31 LD 18 Con 17 Lab 17 Green 9
Local elections in line with national polling but with a 4 point swing Lab to LD.........
The LibDems always do better in locals.
That was my thought too. The polling appears to be fairly reflective of current real voting trends. If Reform are turning out now whilst Lab/Con sit at home in a bad mood and there arent many reluctant Reformers waiting for a GE then they probably fall well short of majority.
Here is what the public think. It looks as if Starmer is out of step with public opinion, and so is a lot of PB.
Maccabi Tel Aviv have notorious Ultras spoiling for trouble.
If they want to be at the game then they should be bussed directly from the airport and directly home again, not to parade and smash up the city centre.
An international version of the bubble employed at Southampton v Portsmouth matches is probably where this ends up.
I only get to a few away games a season, and tend to pick the local ones as I dont want to occupy the whole day so have been to Aston Villa, Birmingham City, Coventry City and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Of these the only one where heavy policing was needed was vs Coventry, and I was quite happy to be marched back to our busses under police escort to get home.
At Leicester home games generally its a positive atmosphere but there are some away sides that the police prefer to escort to the trains and busses.
Isn't this the same with Arsenal at more heated games?
Only once have I experienced a police escort after a game in this country. September 2015, League Cup tie at Spurs. And what an utterly stupid decision that was. We got kettled out on to the High Road only for Spurs fans to burst through a side gate from the back garden of a pub. Of course, they were massively outnumbered so ran back inside.
In Europe, well. An hour lock in is not unusual. Got tear gassed by the old bill on the Paris Metro in May. Delightful.
Here is what the public think. It looks as if Starmer is out of step with public opinion, and so is a lot of PB.
If the question had been phrased "Police have told Jews to stay away from Birmingham because they don't want to protect them from anti-Semiites. Do you approve?" the result may have been different.
Comments
The trick will come in the weighting. Because no matter what you start with, you are highly unlikely to get a balanced sample.
The development follows a string of new scandals concerning his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and his relationship with an alleged Chinese spy.
It is understood he will put all his titles “in abeyance” having come under huge pressure from the King.
He will also give up his membership of the Order of the Garter but will, however, remain a prince, having been born the son of Elizabeth II.
The Duke’s ex-wife, Sarah, Duchess of York, will also relinquish her title and will simply be known as Sarah Ferguson.
Lucy Fallon
Lucy Bronze
And because the missile was programmed to fly at a fixed altitude, a helicopter a couple of hundred feet up wasn’t in danger. Theoretically.
Not a job I would queue up for.
*As a Brummie I can say that. About a decade ago I was kept up for hours by the drive by gunshots whilst staying at the Campanile in Nechells.
Here is what the public think. It looks as if Starmer is out of step with public opinion, and so is a lot of PB.
ps Governing by public opinion polling has been terrible for us. Lets not encourage it!
Let's hope the Gazans have better luck with their town planners
bbc.com/news/articles/cdjxv18g2p4o
The Council had better control the dangerous ASBO if this happens, or some people will be getting the tin tacks in.
Can we trust them to elect governments?
I think you've made your point.
The Tel Aviv "fans" do sound like the sort of people who, ignoring all religio-cultural stuff, we don't really want visiting here. Not because of their ethnicity or religion, but because of the thuggish behaviour many of them indulge in. But right now, we can't ignore that stuff.
And when he was down, he was down.
I would also be interested in understanding how it works: do they weight postcodes by how many people have signed up from them? If not, then if you are in an underrepresented postcode (SW4, say), then it might make economic sense to play. If so, then it's just another lottery where the payout is going to be (say) 50%.
My political maxims are:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/17/broken-promises-and-political-crises-how-emmanuel-macron-fell-from-french-favour
His predecessor, Hollande, was so unpopular that he didn't even try to run for re-election. And his predecessor, Sarkozy, is shortly going to jail.
Maybe France is simply ungovernable? Or is it that people's expectations there, here, and most places in the democratic world, are now so unrealistic that the slide to populism/authoritarianism is unavoidable? We (UK & France & USA) avoided it in the 30's. Maybe not so lucky this time?
(For a while, I lived in a 1970s rebuild in the middle of a Victorian suburb. It didn't look right, but it was at least blandly inoffensive.)
Presumably overflying Bulgaria and Serbia?
Are you upset by my laughing at Burnham or my commenting on the whining Farage?
France like Britain and the US suffers from exceptionalism. France should be the greatest country on earth, by divine right. That it falls somewhat short (though it is still one of the best countries on the planet) must therefore be the fault of the politicians.
First day of the Somme is both a terrible tragedy and a missed opportunity. The inability to communicate easily to the front and the lack of ability to get follow up troops lost the chance of cracking the front wide open. In the South the cavalry were set to go in, and the line was broken.
https://www.newsweek.com/prince-andrew-interaction-princess-eugenie-raises-eyebrows-online-1741984
Starmer, in opposition, took an unexpected interest in biology and tried to name a variant of a new species in honour the Prime Minister
Prince Andrew has been forced to relinquish all his titles including the Duke of York and Knight of the Garter after his friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein threatened to overshadow the reign of his brother, King Charles.
He will remain known as Prince Andrew, in accordance with a law first set down by George V in 1917 which stipulates that a son of a monarch can be called a prince.
To some extent I still cannot.
Starmer is simply a C- Prime Minister - a tin ear for politics and no leadership skills
He's obviously done little to endear himself to the nation, but it seems that somehow, for inexplicable reasons, he has tipped many otherwise sensible people over the edge.
I remember having a conversation with a chap called Gary from Yorkshire - he didn't care about facts, he just hated Maggie. I think time has proved him rather misguided - Thatcher is probably our greatest ever PM. So perhaps this seemingly unfounded disapproval might actually mean that Starmer is set to become a great PM too.
Telegraph has a piece on analysis of local elections results since May.
National equivalent shares are Ref 29 LD 18 Con 18 Lab 16 Green 9 with seats projected at Ref just short of majority 311, Lab 107, LD 84, Con 63
Actual shares before adjusting for NEV are Ref 31 LD 18 Con 17 Lab 17 Green 9
Local elections in line with national polling but with a 4 point swing Lab to LD.........
https://youtu.be/E2aOxNr7s1g
It’s about time politicians did what is right and not based on opinion polls.
https://www.yourparty.uk/about/
I remain interested but non-committal until after the conference. It's taken the opposite approach from Reform, which had Farage cheerily sketching policies off the cuff and modifying them as he went along - this one is determinedly member-led and consequently slow to lay down detailed policies. There are a host of regional conferences before the national one building up. We'll see...
But only slightly. Hence the smiley. Because I know Labour are not your party anyway (I think your first choice is LD?)
Shouldn't that be Mr Andrew Windsor?
Macron won't be running for re election anyway, his former PM Philippe is the likely centrist successor candidate who again will need to beat Le Pen with centrist and leftwing votes in the runoff as Macron did, twice
If they want to be at the game then they should be bussed directly from the airport and directly home again, not to parade and smash up the city centre.
https://bsky.app/profile/zackpolanski.bsky.social/post/3m3dag3xh2s2o
(Relatively.)
Some of the anti-Semites will be in for a surprise if the police don't keep them away from the fans.
At Leicester home games generally its a positive atmosphere but there are some away sides that the police prefer to escort to the trains and busses.
Isn't this the same with Arsenal at more heated games?
https://x.com/trobinsonnewera/status/1979240504299511912?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
If Reform are turning out now whilst Lab/Con sit at home in a bad mood and there arent many reluctant Reformers waiting for a GE then they probably fall well short of majority.
In Europe, well. An hour lock in is not unusual. Got tear gassed by the old bill on the Paris Metro in May. Delightful.