I've read the header (for which thanks) & read all the comments and I don't know how to respond. The outlook for the USA seems appalling and it looks as though we aren't far behind.
It really doesn't, they'll be an election and someone else will win.
There seems to be a lot of focus on Trump running while TSE's companion is saying that the desire will be a Republican in the White House - Trump is just a possibility but the need will be to have a Republican in the White House to stop prosecutions from being kicked off
That doesn't need to be Trump it could be a different Trump, Vance or A.N.Other. The point is the elections need to be rigged so that (Republican) candidate definitely wins...
Edit - on the other hand the democrats dealt with Trump's crimes so incompetently from 2021 to 2024 I don't see the Republicans have anything to worry about.
That depends on what the Dem strategy was.
If it was, as it should have been, to bring Trump to justice and put him in jail for the rest of his life then it was incompetent.
Instead they chose to make Trump a martyr to 'deplorables' and ruin his reputation among suburbanites. Expecting to get an embittered but unelectable Trump as the GOP candidate.
Hence dragging out the cases for electoral fraud and insurrection while waging lawfare against Trump on financial fraud and sexual assault.
The problem for the Dems (and the rest of the world) is that they got an embittered Trump as GOP candidate but he was also electable.
At this stage the national polling is probably a name recognition contest, and Newsom has been on a concerted effort to raise his national profile in the last few months. He’s a total and utter snake though, says whatever he thinks the audience in front of him wants to hear, even if it contradicts what he said to another audience last week. He’d be quickly found out during an actual run.
Buttigieg is an interesting one, I think he has a good chance of being in the last handful of candidates despite a pretty thin CV. He’s a good communicator and can articulate problems faced by ordinary Americans.
He’s trolling you all, and won’t be running in 2028.
Read the article, Trump running or not isn't the issue, will the likes of the Trump crime family, Vance, and Miller give up power after the shithousery/corruption they have engaged in?
They have made untold billions manipulating the markets with insider information. A quiet tithe of those billions will be quite enough to manipulate enough of the voters (by persuasion or exclusion) to win another close election.
I doubt it will be Trump himself, but someone from the billionaire class, put forward to prevent an investigation into how they have turned democracy into kleptocracy, or more accurately a kakistocracy if it is one of the Trump offspring.
The alternative - of losing - risks having billonaires hanging from lamp-posts by piano wire and confiscation of all their assets to resume paying for food stamps.
I am thankful for your posts. It is good to see at least one quite dry, hard line Tory is across this.
We've had a cornucopia of Tory minimisation this morning -
Sandpit: he's not running, so it's all OK. Casino: the Dems don't get it - possibly true, but for this discussion very much a second order question - the Dems getting it would help a little but it is not primarily about that any more Big G: Ho hum, Rachel Reeves
Cumbria: 🤡
What I don't know is how far, how fast the Republicans will go, a lot of norms have been torn apart, but I don't necessarily think the left narrative that we are at the edge of Naziism today is the best one - we still always default to Germany rather than Chile or many other elsewheres which perhaps give more credible trajectories, we know Trump has a tendency to push then back down, and there is a lot of road yet to go - a crumb of reassurance, but the amount yet to go is also a worry of how much further this can go. The question is, how far down this road are we and how far are we going.
Well up until recently, Orban's Hungary seemed to provide a great deal of tactical inspiration as a means of steadily eroding democracy. But the setting up, and radicalisation of ICE, together with the plans for deployment of the National Guard to states, suggest that they're likely to head some way beyond that. Presumably because there's insufficient time for the Hungary model to play out, along with the fact that Orban looks fairly likely to lose power.
Places like El Salvador probably provide some inspiration, but they're not exactly practical templates for a US authoritarian.
I've read the header (for which thanks) & read all the comments and I don't know how to respond. The outlook for the USA seems appalling and it looks as though we aren't far behind.
There are some important differences, for now anyway. We're nowhere near as siloed between red and blue, and a much higher proportion of our constituencies are genuinely competitive One third to one half isn't great, but it's better than the situation stateside. Our news media isn't as shamelessly partisan as America's, despite the best efforts of old and new media tycoons.
But the key players here are the firm-but-not-fash right. When push comes to shove, which what do they jump? Do they defend democracy (even if it means allying with the centre-left), or defend the right (perhaps even thinking that they can control them)?
The Republicans have made their bed, the Conservatives haven't quite had to face up to that question yet.
On the Reeves story, I tend to agree it’s probably not going to cause her resignation, though I would say that, as usual with these things, if the boot were on the other foot I’m quite sure Labour would be sticking the knife in now.
I suspect it will be viewed rather dimly by the general public, who won’t look into things in any great detail. In the same way as Rayner’s stamp duty became “minister avoids tax” rather than “minister caught out by a rather obscure tax rule.”
It does rather look as if she tweeted welcoming the extension of the Leeds scheme, in her home patch, and then the penny has dropped that maybe where her rental property is located might already have a scheme in place. Indeed it was London councils that led the way - it was trialled by Newham, as I recall, and then my own council at the time was one of the first to follow suit (subsequently catching out the multi-landlord council leader, now local MP, who also hadn't registered despite having launched the scheme himself).
My guess is one of Trump's acolytes runs, not him, and then wins against a Democrat candidate that still doesn't get it.
Get what exactly?
Why they lost to Trump fair and square in 2024; it wasn't voter intimidation or ballot rigging that did it.
I don't doubt Trump will pull every lever he can to protect himself in office, or even try and find a way to stay in office, but it's much easier to deal with the fact he might be trying to stack the deck in his favour than engage with why they keep losing to him because that might require them to ask some very hard questions of themselves.
Control of social media outside of any spending limits was a serious factor in moving votes. Fair and square? Dunno. Maybe that is the new normal.
Elon Musk’s $44bn intervention definitely can’t be overlooked in the 2024 election result.
It meant that both parties’ activists had an online voice.
28 will be harder to rig if the Dems win the 26 midterms so there must be a serious threat to those. That's the Alamo, I'd say, and coming fast. Just over a year to go.
My guess is one of Trump's acolytes runs, not him, and then wins against a Democrat candidate that still doesn't get it.
Get what exactly?
Why they lost to Trump fair and square in 2024; it wasn't voter intimidation or ballot rigging that did it.
I don't doubt Trump will pull every lever he can to protect himself in office, or even try and find a way to stay in office, but it's much easier to deal with the fact he might be trying to stack the deck in his favour than engage with why they keep losing to him because that might require them to ask some very hard questions of themselves.
Control of social media outside of any spending limits was a serious factor in moving votes. Fair and square? Dunno. Maybe that is the new normal.
Elon Musk’s $44bn intervention definitely can’t be overlooked in the 2024 election result.
It meant that both parties’ activists had an online voice.
An equal voice? I'd dispute that.
It's massively less so now. The liberal media in its traditional form barely exists any longer.
What deranged nonsense every side thinks each other is trying to steal the elections, and unlike the other side, this time it is serious, ive heard from a man who knows a man.
No, you've heard from the man himself.
Q: What did you mean last night when you said you were prepared to send 'more than the National Guard' into American cities?
TRUMP: Sure, I'd do that. As you know I'm allowed to do that
Q: Do you mean other branches of the military you'd send in?
TRUMP: If it were -- who are you with?
Q: The New York Times
TRUMP: That's very good. Well, if you write it correctly, I'll give you the answer. But if I want to enact a certain act, I'm allowed to do it. I'd be allowed to do whatever I want. The courts wouldn't get involved. Nobody would get involved. And I could send the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines -- I could send anybody I wanted. https://x.com/atrupar/status/1983526251156410480
This'll likely go nowhere, but a legal effort has been launched to stop MBS' bullshit approach to prevent anyone standing against him as president at the end of the year:
28 will be harder to rig if the Dems win the 26 midterms so there must be a serious threat to those. That's the Alamo, I'd say, and coming fast. Just over a year to go.
Presumably an Orion, from the four props in a clip the other day? Must have quite some fatigue life on the mainspar, at least when it began.
There’s an Orion and a C130 that I’ve seen, both heavily modified, presumably strengthening in the spar and wings. I read somewhere that they can take 5-6g rather than 2-3g of a regular plane. One of them bailed out of a mission earlier in the week for an overload that required an inspection.
The guys and gals (lady captain on that video) that do this for NOAA are totally crazy. Even if the plane breaks up and they leave with a parachute, they must know that they could get blown upwards, and that there’s no search and rescue helicopters going anywhere near for several hours.
2026 Midterms do not happen in the blue cities which are under Marshall Law. Congress resumes with reelected MAGA candidates only plus the Democrats from rural areas where the election actually took place
2028 General Election can't be held safely due to terrorists (e.g. Gavin Newsome) having control of the ballot in large parts of the US, so regretfully is "postponed"
The talk about "will Trump be fit / alive" misses the point. You only need a candidate if you have an election.
I know I can be prone to flights of fancy, catastrophising for entertainment. But MAGA are well on track to deliver this scenario and are openly telling journalists they are going to do so...
In which case with an approval rating of under 40% still Trump would need the army to maintain control, he didn't get it in Jan 2021 and also blue states could start to secede and we could even get US civil war 2
That's a fairly complaisant assessment, Huyfd. I would think Approval would have to be down below 30% before I would be confident the elections couldn't be rigged.
There is quite a bit of rigging goes on already, as you know.
This will get quietly passed over but it's an incredibly significant moment. They do not consider Democratic representatives or their voters to be legitimate participants in our politics. They want a single-party state in place of democracy and are making it so, piece by piece. https://x.com/Max_Fisher/status/1983651192220840273
This briefing is SOLELY for GOP senators, I’m told. Comes as some Republicans have publicly taken issue with the lack of information coming from the Trump administration on the escalating strikes. https://x.com/marksatter/status/1983607156319584636
South Korea's nuclear-powered submarines program appears started, and Trump has approved all, saying the US will share sensitive nuclear technology that he has not even shared with the UK or Australia. Korea has quietly been developing strategic-class SLBM and smart naval nuclear reactor, and It's unclear whether the KSS-N will be the Batch-III or KSS-IV. KSS-N is expected to be significantly larger even than the KSS-III Batch-II, which has a full-load displacement of nearly 4,000 tons. The next-gen SLBM is expected to be similar in size to the Ultra-High-Power variant Hyunmoo-V missile. The ADD task team, shipbuilding companies, and the Navy seem to have established dedicated departments. The photo shows the MADEX 2025 next-gen submarine and provides insight into the intentions of Hanwha Ocean, the Navy, and the Strategic Command. South Korea's nuclear-powered strategic attack submarines will be built in the US by Korean companies. President Trump reportedly expressed excitement after seeing a "big and beautiful" ancient golden crown he received as a gift from South Korea. https://x.com/mason_8718/status/1983715644039426096
The Dutch election is turning into a nail biter with several areas still to report and the overseas votes to be counted .
The overseas postal votes given they were iikely to have been posted earlier than the D66 surge in the polls mean they might not be as much help to the party .
The key area for D66 is part of the Amsterdam area where they’d need a big surge in their vote to mitigate two further stronger areas for the PVV.
On the Reeves story, I tend to agree it’s probably not going to cause her resignation, though I would say that, as usual with these things, if the boot were on the other foot I’m quite sure Labour would be sticking the knife in now.
I suspect it will be viewed rather dimly by the general public, who won’t look into things in any great detail. In the same way as Rayner’s stamp duty became “minister avoids tax” rather than “minister caught out by a rather obscure tax rule.”
Renting friends bought their property from a landlord. The both sides had it valued, the LL knocked fees off the price and the sale went through very quickly.
2026 Midterms do not happen in the blue cities which are under Marshall Law. Congress resumes with reelected MAGA candidates only plus the Democrats from rural areas where the election actually took place
2028 General Election can't be held safely due to terrorists (e.g. Gavin Newsome) having control of the ballot in large parts of the US, so regretfully is "postponed"
The talk about "will Trump be fit / alive" misses the point. You only need a candidate if you have an election.
I know I can be prone to flights of fancy, catastrophising for entertainment. But MAGA are well on track to deliver this scenario and are openly telling journalists they are going to do so...
In which case with an approval rating of under 40% still Trump would need the army to maintain control, he didn't get it in Jan 2021 and also blue states could start to secede and we could even get US civil war 2
Good job that the Administration isn't recruiting a parallel army who bypass the normal checks and balances then.
So US Civil War 2 then potentially
Keep up at the back - it already started. Elected governors are "Terrorists" and are having out of state troops flown in.
28 will be harder to rig if the Dems win the 26 midterms so there must be a serious threat to those. That's the Alamo, I'd say, and coming fast. Just over a year to go.
The Dems are not going to be allowed to win the 2026 mid-terms.
28 will be harder to rig if the Dems win the 26 midterms so there must be a serious threat to those. That's the Alamo, I'd say, and coming fast. Just over a year to go.
Which is why the midterms won't happen everywhere: Unsafe to hold them in areas run by terrorists Elections reelect mostly MAGA Expired Democrats barred and still unsafe to hold elections
Big MAGA majority in Congress to enable whats left of the White House to do whatever it wants.
Even a few years ago this would have been conspiratorial batshittery. Now? Its not only happening in front of our eyes, the regime is boasting about it. And yet people's normalcy bias stops them from noticing.
As to the substantive question, never given it a thought. I'd probably assume yes until evidence to the contrary emerges.
To confirm, Newham has had a property licensing regime in place for some years ostensibly (one might argue) to protect tenants from rogue landlords but probably more as a source of income which works well in an area with a large amount of private rented accommodation (including the new build blocks at Fresh Wharf and other places which are almost all for rental).
I don't know what a licence costs - £500 I think - and this allows the council to carry out periodic inspections (they don't) and crack down on the worst examples of overcrowding such as 20 Romanians in a three bedroom terrace (plus accommodation in the garden). Unfortunately the local paper is always containing terrible stories of people forced to live in appalling conditions with damp, rodents, often with no means of heating and cooking.
A combination of housing policy and mass immigration has created a new generation of slums and building all the fancy apartment blocks by West Ham Station isn't going to make an iota of difference. If you can afford £600k for one of those you won't be in a slum in Forest Gate or Plaistow.
REAL housing reform comes from a concerted effort to improve people's living conditions, spending money cracking down on rogue landlords and making sure housing is genuinely affordable even if that means developers have to take a haircut.
I laid out my betting strategy for the 2028 White House race to which led to my companion calling me ‘a fucking idiot’
Care to set it out so we don't join you in the 'idiot' category?
The reason I bet Trump would win in 2024, the economy.
By 2028 the economy I expect will be more buggered than a gay porn star on OnlyFans and the Dems win.
The Dems still haven’t come to terms with why they lost last time. To Donald F*****g Trump!
See Kamala Harris on her book tour trying to blame everyone else, see AOC getting in an online fight with an advocate for women’s sports being for women, see Mamdani and his rent controls and state-owned groceries, see Democrat Senators describing food stamps as ‘leverage’ even if it means people starving… That’s all in the last 72 hours.
If they can regroup and find a sensible candidate, and there are a few decent Dem Governors out there, then they have a chance.
I’m betting on Rubio and Vance as the GOP ticket, but not sure which way around.
I can tell you, from what I am seeing as boots-on-the-ground in deep-red Southern Appalachia, this SNAP funding is going to be the final straw for the remaining MAGA in the area. Those affected are already pinning blame for this squarely on Trump, Vance & the House GOP. https://x.com/johnbourscheid/status/1983571078082412618
A lot of people that I know I'm their 30s that have bought have done so from landlords stopping renting.
Which I see as a net positive for society as a whole.
... I admit a balance needs to be struck so new building continues. But I'm not sure landlords regs are the main obstacle there.
The British obsession with (a) property ownership and (b) low-rise building in most small towns leads directly to the shortage of affordable rental properties and the gradual attrition of green space around them. It's AFAIK unique in Western Europe (though ownership in most countries is gradually rising anyway as prosperity increases) and also leads to people with minimal training making huge investments (e.g. property worth £250K) as the only way forward. I'm not arguing for all property to be rented, merely for it to be a reasonable option rather than the current extremes of luxury property or grim places that you try to buy your way out of ASAP.
The near-ban on no-fault evictions is a useful start on making renting a reasonable option. I can see that it will lead to some individual landlords selling up to property companies, but they do at least have a fair chance of understanding the regulations.
He’s trolling you all, and won’t be running in 2028.
Read the article, Trump running or not isn't the issue, will the likes of the Trump crime family, Vance, and Miller give up power after the shithousery/corruption they have engaged in?
They have made untold billions manipulating the markets with insider information. A quiet tithe of those billions will be quite enough to manipulate enough of the voters (by persuasion or exclusion) to win another close election.
I doubt it will be Trump himself, but someone from the billionaire class, put forward to prevent an investigation into how they have turned democracy into kleptocracy, or more accurately a kakistocracy if it is one of the Trump offspring.
The alternative - of losing - risks having billonaires hanging from lamp-posts by piano wire and confiscation of all their assets to resume paying for food stamps.
It’s not even about the money, for these people - in the sense of enjoying their ill-gotten gains. The money is simply a way of keeping score. And, it’s timeless.
The whole mentality of people who can never be satisfied, despite enjoying great wealth, status, and power, is fascinating. Alexander's generals could not be satisfied with ruling enormous territories and living in splendour, but squandered vast resources (and their own lives), trying to conquer the whole lot. Caesar and Octavian were simply the most successful of the multimillionaire aristocrats who pillaged the Mediterranean and Gaul, in order to be first man in Rome (and the vast majority ended up dying violently in the process). Even after Octavian won, his dynasty spent a century murdering each other, and potential rivals, before they died out (Nero murdered his mother, brother, and two wives).
So, a billionaire might be reclining on his yacht in Monaco harbour, a mistress young enough to be his granddaughter by his side, and then quite suddenly, someone sails into the harbour in an even bigger boat, and his enjoyment is destroyed, as he worries about the size of his ... yacht. What's a billion, when the other man has two billion? What's ten billion, when there are people with fortunes that exceed one hundred billion? Getting more money is just keeping score, at this point.
All true, and arguably more relevant than how badly the American Administration is behaving. In the past, the way to show your wealth was to spend it. Not always on philanthropy - though we could really do with a resurrection of "he who dies rich, dies disgraced" as a maxim. Goodness knows how, though. But even they yacht in the harbour provides useful work for other people.
Now we have people who accumulate higher scores to the extent that they can't even keep up with spending the interest on the interest on the interest. We know that businesses and investors like Warren Buffett struggle to find useful things to invest in. So the money just sits there as a number on a spreadsheet, doing nobody much good at all. Taxation may well be a crude way to get that money back into circulation, but does anyone have a better idea?
On the Reeves story, I tend to agree it’s probably not going to cause her resignation, though I would say that, as usual with these things, if the boot were on the other foot I’m quite sure Labour would be sticking the knife in now.
I suspect it will be viewed rather dimly by the general public, who won’t look into things in any great detail. In the same way as Rayner’s stamp duty became “minister avoids tax” rather than “minister caught out by a rather obscure tax rule.”
It does rather look as if she tweeted welcoming the extension of the Leeds scheme, in her home patch, and then the penny has dropped that maybe where her rental property is located might already have a scheme in place. Indeed it was London councils that led the way - it was trialled by Newham, as I recall, and then my own council at the time was one of the first to follow suit (subsequently catching out the multi-landlord council leader, now local MP, who also hadn't registered despite having launched the scheme himself).
Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has backed the expansion of a selective licencing scheme within her local constituency.
This is despite opposition to selective licencing among landlords being so strong that an initial pilot led to a group of them to launch Leeds Landlords Against Licencing (LLAL), which sought Judicial Reviews of the council’s decision making, although these were not successful.
Reeves, who is the MP for Leeds West, was taken by local councillors on a ‘walkabout’ to see her constituency’s private rented housing stock in the ward of Armley ahead of a council meeting next week during which a significant expansion of a local licencing scheme is to be discussed."
He’s trolling you all, and won’t be running in 2028.
Read the article, Trump running or not isn't the issue, will the likes of the Trump crime family, Vance, and Miller give up power after the shithousery/corruption they have engaged in?
They have made untold billions manipulating the markets with insider information. A quiet tithe of those billions will be quite enough to manipulate enough of the voters (by persuasion or exclusion) to win another close election.
I doubt it will be Trump himself, but someone from the billionaire class, put forward to prevent an investigation into how they have turned democracy into kleptocracy, or more accurately a kakistocracy if it is one of the Trump offspring.
The alternative - of losing - risks having billonaires hanging from lamp-posts by piano wire and confiscation of all their assets to resume paying for food stamps.
I am thankful for your posts. It is good to see at least one quite dry, hard line Tory is across this.
We've had a cornucopia of Tory minimisation this morning -
Sandpit: he's not running, so it's all OK. Casino: the Dems don't get it - possibly true, but for this discussion very much a second order question - the Dems getting it would help a little but it is not primarily about that any more Big G: Ho hum, Rachel Reeves
Cumbria: 🤡
What I don't know is how far, how fast the Republicans will go, a lot of norms have been torn apart, but I don't necessarily think the left narrative that we are at the edge of Naziism today is the best one - we still always default to Germany rather than Chile or many other elsewheres which perhaps give more credible trajectories, we know Trump has a tendency to push then back down, and there is a lot of road yet to go - a crumb of reassurance, but the amount yet to go is also a worry of how much further this can go. The question is, how far down this road are we and how far are we going.
I agree Nazi references are unhelpful. It's about the only way to make the Trump catastrophe look like nothing to fret about. Regarding the rate of progress towards an autocracy, consider what has been achieved in just nine months. It's impressive by any measure.
He’s trolling you all, and won’t be running in 2028.
Read the article, Trump running or not isn't the issue, will the likes of the Trump crime family, Vance, and Miller give up power after the shithousery/corruption they have engaged in?
They have made untold billions manipulating the markets with insider information. A quiet tithe of those billions will be quite enough to manipulate enough of the voters (by persuasion or exclusion) to win another close election.
I doubt it will be Trump himself, but someone from the billionaire class, put forward to prevent an investigation into how they have turned democracy into kleptocracy, or more accurately a kakistocracy if it is one of the Trump offspring.
The alternative - of losing - risks having billonaires hanging from lamp-posts by piano wire and confiscation of all their assets to resume paying for food stamps.
I am thankful for your posts. It is good to see at least one quite dry, hard line Tory is across this.
We've had a cornucopia of Tory minimisation this morning -
Sandpit: he's not running, so it's all OK. Casino: the Dems don't get it - possibly true, but for this discussion very much a second order question - the Dems getting it would help a little but it is not primarily about that any more Big G: Ho hum, Rachel Reeves
Cumbria: 🤡
What I don't know is how far, how fast the Republicans will go, a lot of norms have been torn apart, but I don't necessarily think the left narrative that we are at the edge of Naziism today is the best one - we still always default to Germany rather than Chile or many other elsewheres which perhaps give more credible trajectories, we know Trump has a tendency to push then back down, and there is a lot of road yet to go - a crumb of reassurance, but the amount yet to go is also a worry of how much further this can go. The question is, how far down this road are we and how far are we going.
Well up until recently, Orban's Hungary seemed to provide a great deal of tactical inspiration as a means of steadily eroding democracy. But the setting up, and radicalisation of ICE, together with the plans for deployment of the National Guard to states, suggest that they're likely to head some way beyond that. Presumably because there's insufficient time for the Hungary model to play out, along with the fact that Orban looks fairly likely to lose power.
Places like El Salvador probably provide some inspiration, but they're not exactly practical templates for a US authoritarian.
You might like to read the following, if you have not already done so:
He’s trolling you all, and won’t be running in 2028.
Read the article, Trump running or not isn't the issue, will the likes of the Trump crime family, Vance, and Miller give up power after the shithousery/corruption they have engaged in?
They have made untold billions manipulating the markets with insider information. A quiet tithe of those billions will be quite enough to manipulate enough of the voters (by persuasion or exclusion) to win another close election.
I doubt it will be Trump himself, but someone from the billionaire class, put forward to prevent an investigation into how they have turned democracy into kleptocracy, or more accurately a kakistocracy if it is one of the Trump offspring.
The alternative - of losing - risks having billonaires hanging from lamp-posts by piano wire and confiscation of all their assets to resume paying for food stamps.
I am thankful for your posts. It is good to see at least one quite dry, hard line Tory is across this.
We've had a cornucopia of Tory minimisation this morning -
Sandpit: he's not running, so it's all OK. Casino: the Dems don't get it - possibly true, but for this discussion very much a second order question - the Dems getting it would help a little but it is not primarily about that any more Big G: Ho hum, Rachel Reeves
Cumbria: 🤡
What I don't know is how far, how fast the Republicans will go, a lot of norms have been torn apart, but I don't necessarily think the left narrative that we are at the edge of Naziism today is the best one - we still always default to Germany rather than Chile or many other elsewheres which perhaps give more credible trajectories, we know Trump has a tendency to push then back down, and there is a lot of road yet to go - a crumb of reassurance, but the amount yet to go is also a worry of how much further this can go. The question is, how far down this road are we and how far are we going.
Yes. Countries like Hungary, Turkey or Serbia may be a better model for what happens in the US.
I've read the header (for which thanks) & read all the comments and I don't know how to respond. The outlook for the USA seems appalling and it looks as though we aren't far behind.
There are some important differences, for now anyway. We're nowhere near as siloed between red and blue, and a much higher proportion of our constituencies are genuinely competitive One third to one half isn't great, but it's better than the situation stateside. Our news media isn't as shamelessly partisan as America's, despite the best efforts of old and new media tycoons.
But the key players here are the firm-but-not-fash right. When push comes to shove, which what do they jump? Do they defend democracy (even if it means allying with the centre-left), or defend the right (perhaps even thinking that they can control them)?
The Republicans have made their bed, the Conservatives haven't quite had to face up to that question yet.
Yes, indeed at the next GE I think far more than the usual 20% or so of constituencies will change hands. There will most likely be a huge influx of novice MPs.
Indeed the loss of continuity and preparation in terms of individual MPs is as likely to be as big of problem as the mix of parties. It will be unprecedented confusion.
My guess is one of Trump's acolytes runs, not him, and then wins against a Democrat candidate that still doesn't get it.
Get what exactly?
Why they lost to Trump fair and square in 2024; it wasn't voter intimidation or ballot rigging that did it.
I don't doubt Trump will pull every lever he can to protect himself in office, or even try and find a way to stay in office, but it's much easier to deal with the fact he might be trying to stack the deck in his favour than engage with why they keep losing to him because that might require them to ask some very hard questions of themselves.
They don’t “keep losing to him”. They’ve lost 2 out of 3 times. In 2016, they got 3 million more votes, but lost the electoral college. They had a comprehensive win in 2020. And then a narrow loss in 2024.
Yes, they should reflect on why they lost, but it’s been close. So, why did they lose in 2024? As TSE said upthread, they lost ont he economy. Inflation was high. That was for reasons largely out of Biden’s control. Lots of other governing parties around the world lost for the same reason around the same time.
I laid out my betting strategy for the 2028 White House race to which led to my companion calling me ‘a fucking idiot’
Care to set it out so we don't join you in the 'idiot' category?
The reason I bet Trump would win in 2024, the economy.
By 2028 the economy I expect will be more buggered than a gay porn star on OnlyFans and the Dems win.
The Dems still haven’t come to terms with why they lost last time. To Donald F*****g Trump!
See Kamala Harris on her book tour trying to blame everyone else, see AOC getting in an online fight with an advocate for women’s sports being for women, see Mamdani and his rent controls and state-owned groceries, see Democrat Senators describing food stamps as ‘leverage’ even if it means people starving… That’s all in the last 72 hours.
If they can regroup and find a sensible candidate, and there are a few decent Dem Governors out there, then they have a chance.
I’m betting on Rubio and Vance as the GOP ticket, but not sure which way around.
I can tell you, from what I am seeing as boots-on-the-ground in deep-red Southern Appalachia, this SNAP funding is going to be the final straw for the remaining MAGA in the area. Those affected are already pinning blame for this squarely on Trump, Vance & the House GOP. https://x.com/johnbourscheid/status/1983571078082412618
Meanwhile, CNN polling has the GOP up 8 points with independents, and the Dems 8pts back on their 2017 position a year into Trump’s presidency.
He’s trolling you all, and won’t be running in 2028.
Read the article, Trump running or not isn't the issue, will the likes of the Trump crime family, Vance, and Miller give up power after the shithousery/corruption they have engaged in?
They have made untold billions manipulating the markets with insider information. A quiet tithe of those billions will be quite enough to manipulate enough of the voters (by persuasion or exclusion) to win another close election.
I doubt it will be Trump himself, but someone from the billionaire class, put forward to prevent an investigation into how they have turned democracy into kleptocracy, or more accurately a kakistocracy if it is one of the Trump offspring.
The alternative - of losing - risks having billonaires hanging from lamp-posts by piano wire and confiscation of all their assets to resume paying for food stamps.
I am thankful for your posts. It is good to see at least one quite dry, hard line Tory is across this.
We've had a cornucopia of Tory minimisation this morning -
Sandpit: he's not running, so it's all OK. Casino: the Dems don't get it - possibly true, but for this discussion very much a second order question - the Dems getting it would help a little but it is not primarily about that any more Big G: Ho hum, Rachel Reeves
Cumbria: 🤡
What I don't know is how far, how fast the Republicans will go, a lot of norms have been torn apart, but I don't necessarily think the left narrative that we are at the edge of Naziism today is the best one - we still always default to Germany rather than Chile or many other elsewheres which perhaps give more credible trajectories, we know Trump has a tendency to push then back down, and there is a lot of road yet to go - a crumb of reassurance, but the amount yet to go is also a worry of how much further this can go. The question is, how far down this road are we and how far are we going.
I agree Nazi references are unhelpful. It's about the only way to make the Trump catastrophe look like nothing to fret about. Regarding the rate of progress towards an autocracy, consider what has been achieved in just nine months. It's impressive by any measure.
Project 2025 was well mapped out.
The only surprise is how acquiescent the Republican Party has been in the trashing of the Constitution and the separation of powers.
Excellent news, get parasite landlords out of the housing market. It's literally asset rich thieving from the young.
It's literally not. Landlords are simply capitalists providing a service and earning a return on their capital investment. The main reason, IMHO, that the landord/tenant relationships feels so unfair is income tax. If I had to rent my house I'm guessing it would cost about £48k a year. If my landlords were a couple like me and my wife they would pay over £20k to the government in income tax every year on the rental income. That's a huge tax saving I get from owning my own home. A tenant is paying up to 45% of their rent to the government. More if the landlord also pays agency fees that are subject to VAT. I'm not complaining about these taxes, BTW, I am simply pointing out that one of the reasons renting feels "unfair" is because owner occupation has such significant tax advantages.
I've read the header (for which thanks) & read all the comments and I don't know how to respond. The outlook for the USA seems appalling and it looks as though we aren't far behind.
There are some important differences, for now anyway. We're nowhere near as siloed between red and blue, and a much higher proportion of our constituencies are genuinely competitive One third to one half isn't great, but it's better than the situation stateside. Our news media isn't as shamelessly partisan as America's, despite the best efforts of old and new media tycoons.
But the key players here are the firm-but-not-fash right. When push comes to shove, which what do they jump? Do they defend democracy (even if it means allying with the centre-left), or defend the right (perhaps even thinking that they can control them)?
The Republicans have made their bed, the Conservatives haven't quite had to face up to that question yet.
Yes, indeed at the next GE I think far more than the usual 20% or so of constituencies will change hands. There will most likely be a huge influx of novice MPs.
Indeed the loss of continuity and preparation in terms of individual MPs is as likely to be as big of problem as the mix of parties. It will be unprecedented confusion.
There was a large turnover at the last election as well which happens when one party loses two thirds of its seats.
I've never stood for Parliament but I believe candidates in all parties, once approved, get levels of training and preparation which are enhanced if they are chosen for a winnable seat. In truth, most candidates don't win and most of those don't even try - I can't imagine the Conservatives or LDs pouring resources into East Ham for example.
There's probably only a core of around 1000-1250 who have any sort of chance - if you are succeeding a sitting MP, there can be a proper handover before the election (assuming you are re-elected). I don't know what happens when an MP for one party loses - do they as a curtesy hand over ongoing casework to their successor? I'd like to think so.
If the new MP has been in the area for sometime, they might be a councillor or have taken on some local campaigning so will know what to do but going to Westminster is different with all the arcane customs but again all parties have some sort of training and preparation and the new Parliamentary groups, I believe, have a mentoring operation where more experienced MPs help out the "newbies" but if you, as seems likely with Reform, have a huge number of newbies, it may be an issue.
A lot of people that I know I'm their 30s that have bought have done so from landlords stopping renting.
Which I see as a net positive for society as a whole.
... I admit a balance needs to be struck so new building continues. But I'm not sure landlords regs are the main obstacle there.
The British obsession with (a) property ownership and (b) low-rise building in most small towns leads directly to the shortage of affordable rental properties and the gradual attrition of green space around them. It's AFAIK unique in Western Europe (though ownership in most countries is gradually rising anyway as prosperity increases) and also leads to people with minimal training making huge investments (e.g. property worth £250K) as the only way forward. I'm not arguing for all property to be rented, merely for it to be a reasonable option rather than the current extremes of luxury property or grim places that you try to buy your way out of ASAP.
The near-ban on no-fault evictions is a useful start on making renting a reasonable option. I can see that it will lead to some individual landlords selling up to property companies, but they do at least have a fair chance of understanding the regulations.
There’s plenty of medium and high rise being built. Well, there was. Until conflicting regulations and other costs stopped building medium rise and above in London.
He’s trolling you all, and won’t be running in 2028.
Read the article, Trump running or not isn't the issue, will the likes of the Trump crime family, Vance, and Miller give up power after the shithousery/corruption they have engaged in?
They have made untold billions manipulating the markets with insider information. A quiet tithe of those billions will be quite enough to manipulate enough of the voters (by persuasion or exclusion) to win another close election.
I doubt it will be Trump himself, but someone from the billionaire class, put forward to prevent an investigation into how they have turned democracy into kleptocracy, or more accurately a kakistocracy if it is one of the Trump offspring.
The alternative - of losing - risks having billonaires hanging from lamp-posts by piano wire and confiscation of all their assets to resume paying for food stamps.
I am thankful for your posts. It is good to see at least one quite dry, hard line Tory is across this.
We've had a cornucopia of Tory minimisation this morning -
Sandpit: he's not running, so it's all OK. Casino: the Dems don't get it - possibly true, but for this discussion very much a second order question - the Dems getting it would help a little but it is not primarily about that any more Big G: Ho hum, Rachel Reeves
Cumbria: 🤡
What I don't know is how far, how fast the Republicans will go, a lot of norms have been torn apart, but I don't necessarily think the left narrative that we are at the edge of Naziism today is the best one - we still always default to Germany rather than Chile or many other elsewheres which perhaps give more credible trajectories, we know Trump has a tendency to push then back down, and there is a lot of road yet to go - a crumb of reassurance, but the amount yet to go is also a worry of how much further this can go. The question is, how far down this road are we and how far are we going.
Yes. Countries like Hungary, Turkey or Serbia may be a better model for what happens in the US.
He’s trolling you all, and won’t be running in 2028.
Read the article, Trump running or not isn't the issue, will the likes of the Trump crime family, Vance, and Miller give up power after the shithousery/corruption they have engaged in?
They have made untold billions manipulating the markets with insider information. A quiet tithe of those billions will be quite enough to manipulate enough of the voters (by persuasion or exclusion) to win another close election.
I doubt it will be Trump himself, but someone from the billionaire class, put forward to prevent an investigation into how they have turned democracy into kleptocracy, or more accurately a kakistocracy if it is one of the Trump offspring.
The alternative - of losing - risks having billonaires hanging from lamp-posts by piano wire and confiscation of all their assets to resume paying for food stamps.
I am thankful for your posts. It is good to see at least one quite dry, hard line Tory is across this.
We've had a cornucopia of Tory minimisation this morning -
Sandpit: he's not running, so it's all OK. Casino: the Dems don't get it - possibly true, but for this discussion very much a second order question - the Dems getting it would help a little but it is not primarily about that any more Big G: Ho hum, Rachel Reeves
Cumbria: 🤡
What I don't know is how far, how fast the Republicans will go, a lot of norms have been torn apart, but I don't necessarily think the left narrative that we are at the edge of Naziism today is the best one - we still always default to Germany rather than Chile or many other elsewheres which perhaps give more credible trajectories, we know Trump has a tendency to push then back down, and there is a lot of road yet to go - a crumb of reassurance, but the amount yet to go is also a worry of how much further this can go. The question is, how far down this road are we and how far are we going.
I agree Nazi references are unhelpful. It's about the only way to make the Trump catastrophe look like nothing to fret about. Regarding the rate of progress towards an autocracy, consider what has been achieved in just nine months. It's impressive by any measure.
Project 2025 was well mapped out.
The only surprise is how acquiescent the Republican Party has been in the trashing of the Constitution and the separation of powers.
A lot of people that I know I'm their 30s that have bought have done so from landlords stopping renting.
Which I see as a net positive for society as a whole.
... I admit a balance needs to be struck so new building continues. But I'm not sure landlords regs are the main obstacle there.
The British obsession with (a) property ownership and (b) low-rise building in most small towns leads directly to the shortage of affordable rental properties and the gradual attrition of green space around them. It's AFAIK unique in Western Europe (though ownership in most countries is gradually rising anyway as prosperity increases) and also leads to people with minimal training making huge investments (e.g. property worth £250K) as the only way forward. I'm not arguing for all property to be rented, merely for it to be a reasonable option rather than the current extremes of luxury property or grim places that you try to buy your way out of ASAP.
The near-ban on no-fault evictions is a useful start on making renting a reasonable option. I can see that it will lead to some individual landlords selling up to property companies, but they do at least have a fair chance of understanding the regulations.
Home ownership 2024:
Belgium 70% Ireland 69% Netherlands 69% UK 65% Luxemburg 64% France 61% Germany 47%
Might I suggest that people get this impression that the UK has uniquely high levels of home ownership and low rise building because visitors to other European countries predominantly visit cities and holiday resorts, both of which have above average levels of high rise building.
The 2023 election insurgency which saw the rise of the PVV and the NSC, has been brutally crushed. The NSC has been wiped out, the small BBB has lost three of its seven seats and the PVV has suffered losses. Interestingly, of all the parties associated with the post-2023 Government, only the VVD has come out the other side more or less unscathed.
That's not to say it's been a triumph for parties of the "left" - indeed, the Labour/Green alliance has gone backwards and that's probably the end of Frans Timmermans but the winners have been D66 (the Dutch LDs) and the CDA (Christian Democrats) so a liberal party and a socially conservative centrist party.
Personal triumphs for the respective leaders - Rob Jetten and Henri Bontenbal (38 and 42 respectively - basically Nick Clegg and Tony Blair). It goes to show the old adage voters like a nice young man in charge.
Government formation? D66 have never led the Government but it's their time and it's a question of whether they can work with the VVD and CDA (they have before in the Rutte Governments) and they can get support from the Labour/Green bloc. The CU, among the minor parties, would probably back them.
It's far from a disaster for the "right", however, PVV's losses were matched by gains for JA21 and FvD so there's still a formidable bloc (a bit like if Reform lost seats to Advance) but I'd also note two seats for the 50+ Party. Imagine if we had a strong pro-pensioners party in the UK given the size of the elderly vote.
A lot of people that I know I'm their 30s that have bought have done so from landlords stopping renting.
Which I see as a net positive for society as a whole.
... I admit a balance needs to be struck so new building continues. But I'm not sure landlords regs are the main obstacle there.
The British obsession with (a) property ownership and (b) low-rise building in most small towns leads directly to the shortage of affordable rental properties and the gradual attrition of green space around them. It's AFAIK unique in Western Europe (though ownership in most countries is gradually rising anyway as prosperity increases) and also leads to people with minimal training making huge investments (e.g. property worth £250K) as the only way forward. I'm not arguing for all property to be rented, merely for it to be a reasonable option rather than the current extremes of luxury property or grim places that you try to buy your way out of ASAP.
The near-ban on no-fault evictions is a useful start on making renting a reasonable option. I can see that it will lead to some individual landlords selling up to property companies, but they do at least have a fair chance of understanding the regulations.
Home ownership 2024:
Belgium 70% Ireland 69% Netherlands 69% UK 65% Luxemburg 64% France 61% Germany 47%
Might I suggest that people get this impression that the UK has uniquely high levels of home ownership and low rise building because visitors to other European countries predominantly visit cities and holiday resorts, both of which have above average levels of high rise building.
An interesting correlation between home ownership levels and wealth per adult:
The 2023 election insurgency which saw the rise of the PVV and the NSC, has been brutally crushed. The NSC has been wiped out, the small BBB has lost three of its seven seats and the PVV has suffered losses. Interestingly, of all the parties associated with the post-2023 Government, only the VVD has come out the other side more or less unscathed.
That's not to say it's been a triumph for parties of the "left" - indeed, the Labour/Green alliance has gone backwards and that's probably the end of Frans Timmermans but the winners have been D66 (the Dutch LDs) and the CDA (Christian Democrats) so a liberal party and a socially conservative centrist party.
Personal triumphs for the respective leaders - Rob Jetten and Henri Bontenbal (38 and 42 respectively - basically Nick Clegg and Tony Blair). It goes to show the old adage voters like a nice young man in charge.
Government formation? D66 have never led the Government but it's their time and it's a question of whether they can work with the VVD and CDA (they have before in the Rutte Governments) and they can get support from the Labour/Green bloc. The CU, among the minor parties, would probably back them.
It's far from a disaster for the "right", however, PVV's losses were matched by gains for JA21 and FvD so there's still a formidable bloc (a bit like if Reform lost seats to Advance) but I'd also note two seats for the 50+ Party. Imagine if we had a strong pro-pensioners party in the UK given the size of the elderly vote.
'Imagine if we had a strong pro-pensioners party in the UK given the size of the elderly vote.'
Isn't that all the UK parties? Basically Tories and Lab are only running scared more from the 'legitimate concern' lads painting roundabouts (some of whom may be pensioners).
A lot of people that I know I'm their 30s that have bought have done so from landlords stopping renting.
Which I see as a net positive for society as a whole.
... I admit a balance needs to be struck so new building continues. But I'm not sure landlords regs are the main obstacle there.
The British obsession with (a) property ownership and (b) low-rise building in most small towns leads directly to the shortage of affordable rental properties and the gradual attrition of green space around them. It's AFAIK unique in Western Europe (though ownership in most countries is gradually rising anyway as prosperity increases) and also leads to people with minimal training making huge investments (e.g. property worth £250K) as the only way forward. I'm not arguing for all property to be rented, merely for it to be a reasonable option rather than the current extremes of luxury property or grim places that you try to buy your way out of ASAP.
The near-ban on no-fault evictions is a useful start on making renting a reasonable option. I can see that it will lead to some individual landlords selling up to property companies, but they do at least have a fair chance of understanding the regulations.
Home ownership 2024:
Belgium 70% Ireland 69% Netherlands 69% UK 65% Luxemburg 64% France 61% Germany 47%
Might I suggest that people get this impression that the UK has uniquely high levels of home ownership and low rise building because visitors to other European countries predominantly visit cities and holiday resorts, both of which have above average levels of high rise building.
That's easily disproven because we have data on people living in flats: (eyeballing graph)
On the Reeves story, I tend to agree it’s probably not going to cause her resignation, though I would say that, as usual with these things, if the boot were on the other foot I’m quite sure Labour would be sticking the knife in now.
I suspect it will be viewed rather dimly by the general public, who won’t look into things in any great detail. In the same way as Rayner’s stamp duty became “minister avoids tax” rather than “minister caught out by a rather obscure tax rule.”
It does rather look as if she tweeted welcoming the extension of the Leeds scheme, in her home patch, and then the penny has dropped that maybe where her rental property is located might already have a scheme in place. Indeed it was London councils that led the way - it was trialled by Newham, as I recall, and then my own council at the time was one of the first to follow suit (subsequently catching out the multi-landlord council leader, now local MP, who also hadn't registered despite having launched the scheme himself).
Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has backed the expansion of a selective licencing scheme within her local constituency.
This is despite opposition to selective licencing among landlords being so strong that an initial pilot led to a group of them to launch Leeds Landlords Against Licencing (LLAL), which sought Judicial Reviews of the council’s decision making, although these were not successful.
Reeves, who is the MP for Leeds West, was taken by local councillors on a ‘walkabout’ to see her constituency’s private rented housing stock in the ward of Armley ahead of a council meeting next week during which a significant expansion of a local licencing scheme is to be discussed."
Labour campaigning for crackdown on rogue landlords in Armley area of Leeds with selective landlord licensing policy
Although there is confidence that the policy will be introduced in Armley, Labour councillors and MP Rachel Reeves are pushing to have it brought in as soon as possible. Coun Smart said: “I'm confident this will eventually come in in Armley from the conversations I've had. What we're pushing for is for it come in as soon as possible.”
Wealth creators and higher earners likely to be heading to airports in significant numbers after the tax raising budget expected from Reeves.
Fewer landlords likely too, making it more difficult to find properties to rent and with unemployment likely to rise further and growth slow with higher tax, more redtape and regulation and a minimum wage level that makes it too costly for small businesses to do much hiring fewer will be able to buy a home either.
We are heading for the worst Labour government for the economy since the 1970s
To be fair there’s only been one other Labour government since the 1970s!
My guess is one of Trump's acolytes runs, not him, and then wins against a Democrat candidate that still doesn't get it.
Get what exactly?
Why people feel overlooked by their leadership and vote for Trump
Wasn't it a global trend throughout 2024 that incumbents everywhere got a kicking, because voters everywhere are narked about the cost of living? Harris was just another point on that trend, and failed less badly than many.
(Not seen comparable figures for this year- are governments doing any better?)
South Korea's nuclear-powered submarines program appears started, and Trump has approved all, saying the US will share sensitive nuclear technology that he has not even shared with the UK or Australia. Korea has quietly been developing strategic-class SLBM and smart naval nuclear reactor, and It's unclear whether the KSS-N will be the Batch-III or KSS-IV. KSS-N is expected to be significantly larger even than the KSS-III Batch-II, which has a full-load displacement of nearly 4,000 tons. The next-gen SLBM is expected to be similar in size to the Ultra-High-Power variant Hyunmoo-V missile. The ADD task team, shipbuilding companies, and the Navy seem to have established dedicated departments. The photo shows the MADEX 2025 next-gen submarine and provides insight into the intentions of Hanwha Ocean, the Navy, and the Strategic Command. South Korea's nuclear-powered strategic attack submarines will be built in the US by Korean companies. President Trump reportedly expressed excitement after seeing a "big and beautiful" ancient golden crown he received as a gift from South Korea. https://x.com/mason_8718/status/1983715644039426096
He said they will be built at the Philadelphia Naval yard, which is total bullshit
He’s trolling you all, and won’t be running in 2028.
Read the article, Trump running or not isn't the issue, will the likes of the Trump crime family, Vance, and Miller give up power after the shithousery/corruption they have engaged in?
They have made untold billions manipulating the markets with insider information. A quiet tithe of those billions will be quite enough to manipulate enough of the voters (by persuasion or exclusion) to win another close election.
I doubt it will be Trump himself, but someone from the billionaire class, put forward to prevent an investigation into how they have turned democracy into kleptocracy, or more accurately a kakistocracy if it is one of the Trump offspring.
The alternative - of losing - risks having billonaires hanging from lamp-posts by piano wire and confiscation of all their assets to resume paying for food stamps.
It’s not even about the money, for these people - in the sense of enjoying their ill-gotten gains. The money is simply a way of keeping score. And, it’s timeless.
The whole mentality of people who can never be satisfied, despite enjoying great wealth, status, and power, is fascinating. Alexander's generals could not be satisfied with ruling enormous territories and living in splendour, but squandered vast resources (and their own lives), trying to conquer the whole lot. Caesar and Octavian were simply the most successful of the multimillionaire aristocrats who pillaged the Mediterranean and Gaul, in order to be first man in Rome (and the vast majority ended up dying violently in the process). Even after Octavian won, his dynasty spent a century murdering each other, and potential rivals, before they died out (Nero murdered his mother, brother, and two wives).
So, a billionaire might be reclining on his yacht in Monaco harbour, a mistress young enough to be his granddaughter by his side, and then quite suddenly, someone sails into the harbour in an even bigger boat, and his enjoyment is destroyed, as he worries about the size of his ... yacht. What's a billion, when the other man has two billion? What's ten billion, when there are people with fortunes that exceed one hundred billion? Getting more money is just keeping score, at this point.
All true, and arguably more relevant than how badly the American Administration is behaving. In the past, the way to show your wealth was to spend it. Not always on philanthropy - though we could really do with a resurrection of "he who dies rich, dies disgraced" as a maxim. Goodness knows how, though. But even they yacht in the harbour provides useful work for other people.
Now we have people who accumulate higher scores to the extent that they can't even keep up with spending the interest on the interest on the interest. We know that businesses and investors like Warren Buffett struggle to find useful things to invest in. So the money just sits there as a number on a spreadsheet, doing nobody much good at all. Taxation may well be a crude way to get that money back into circulation, but does anyone have a better idea?
Make Unions stronger to stop asset owners from taking all the gains and ensuring that Labour has its share too.
That and more robust anti-trust action to prevent the charging of monopoly rents.
On the Reeves story, I tend to agree it’s probably not going to cause her resignation, though I would say that, as usual with these things, if the boot were on the other foot I’m quite sure Labour would be sticking the knife in now.
I suspect it will be viewed rather dimly by the general public, who won’t look into things in any great detail. In the same way as Rayner’s stamp duty became “minister avoids tax” rather than “minister caught out by a rather obscure tax rule.”
It does rather look as if she tweeted welcoming the extension of the Leeds scheme, in her home patch, and then the penny has dropped that maybe where her rental property is located might already have a scheme in place. Indeed it was London councils that led the way - it was trialled by Newham, as I recall, and then my own council at the time was one of the first to follow suit (subsequently catching out the multi-landlord council leader, now local MP, who also hadn't registered despite having launched the scheme himself).
Just to be clear the penny dropped for the media… not for our Rach 😂
My guess is one of Trump's acolytes runs, not him, and then wins against a Democrat candidate that still doesn't get it.
Get what exactly?
Why people feel overlooked by their leadership and vote for Trump
Wasn't it a global trend throughout 2024 that incumbents everywhere got a kicking, because voters everywhere are narked about the cost of living? Harris was just another point on that trend, and failed less badly than many.
(Not seen comparable figures for this year- are governments doing any better?)
I guess that explains why he won in 2016 as well
Nah, that was mostly HRC's flaws as a candidate and her campaign failing to make the Electoral College work for them.
The bigger question is- given Trump's obvious flaws as a candidate and President, why have the Republicans let him steamroller the primary process three times running? Especially 2024?
He’s trolling you all, and won’t be running in 2028.
Read the article, Trump running or not isn't the issue, will the likes of the Trump crime family, Vance, and Miller give up power after the shithousery/corruption they have engaged in?
They have made untold billions manipulating the markets with insider information. A quiet tithe of those billions will be quite enough to manipulate enough of the voters (by persuasion or exclusion) to win another close election.
I doubt it will be Trump himself, but someone from the billionaire class, put forward to prevent an investigation into how they have turned democracy into kleptocracy, or more accurately a kakistocracy if it is one of the Trump offspring.
The alternative - of losing - risks having billonaires hanging from lamp-posts by piano wire and confiscation of all their assets to resume paying for food stamps.
I am thankful for your posts. It is good to see at least one quite dry, hard line Tory is across this.
We've had a cornucopia of Tory minimisation this morning -
Sandpit: he's not running, so it's all OK. Casino: the Dems don't get it - possibly true, but for this discussion very much a second order question - the Dems getting it would help a little but it is not primarily about that any more Big G: Ho hum, Rachel Reeves
Cumbria: 🤡
What I don't know is how far, how fast the Republicans will go, a lot of norms have been torn apart, but I don't necessarily think the left narrative that we are at the edge of Naziism today is the best one - we still always default to Germany rather than Chile or many other elsewheres which perhaps give more credible trajectories, we know Trump has a tendency to push then back down, and there is a lot of road yet to go - a crumb of reassurance, but the amount yet to go is also a worry of how much further this can go. The question is, how far down this road are we and how far are we going.
Yes. Countries like Hungary, Turkey or Serbia may be a better model for what happens in the US.
Mussolini style Fascism, not Hitler style Nazism.
The only direct Nazi analogy is probably Stephen Miller, who does bear an uncanny resemblance to Goebbels.
My guess is one of Trump's acolytes runs, not him, and then wins against a Democrat candidate that still doesn't get it.
Get what exactly?
Why people feel overlooked by their leadership and vote for Trump
Wasn't it a global trend throughout 2024 that incumbents everywhere got a kicking, because voters everywhere are narked about the cost of living? Harris was just another point on that trend, and failed less badly than many. Ok
(Not seen comparable figures for this year- are governments doing any better?)
I guess that explains why he won in 2016 as well
Nah, that was mostly HRC's flaws as a candidate and her campaign failing to make the Electoral College work for them.
The bigger question is- given Trump's obvious flaws as a candidate and President, why have the Republicans let him steamroller the primary process three times running? Especially 2024?
The most important question is that governments are supposed to govern for the entire nation. There is a whole swathe of society who are ignored by London (or Washington) based politicians who just look at macro statistics rather than the issues and concerns of the population at an individual level.
One example is looking at GDP rather than GDP per capita but there are plenty of others
My guess is one of Trump's acolytes runs, not him, and then wins against a Democrat candidate that still doesn't get it.
Get what exactly?
Why people feel overlooked by their leadership and vote for Trump
Wasn't it a global trend throughout 2024 that incumbents everywhere got a kicking, because voters everywhere are narked about the cost of living? Harris was just another point on that trend, and failed less badly than many.
(Not seen comparable figures for this year- are governments doing any better?)
I guess that explains why he won in 2016 as well
Nah, that was mostly HRC's flaws as a candidate and her campaign failing to make the Electoral College work for them.
The bigger question is- given Trump's obvious flaws as a candidate and President, why have the Republicans let him steamroller the primary process three times running? Especially 2024?
What do you mean,"let him?" They lost to him because they're all crap, and they'd paved the way for his no apologies bullshit with their years of pushing the limits on lying and casting the Democrats as the enemy within.
Trump is the daemon they called into being with their persistent subversion of the democratic process.
Stopping him would require the fortitude of an alcoholic going dry. It's not impossible, but it's damn hard. I admire those Republicans, like Liz Cheney, who had the strength of will to choose that path, but I'd no more expect most Republicans to do so than I would expect that I'd be able to resist my next chocolate bar.
My guess is one of Trump's acolytes runs, not him, and then wins against a Democrat candidate that still doesn't get it.
Get what exactly?
Why people feel overlooked by their leadership and vote for Trump
Wasn't it a global trend throughout 2024 that incumbents everywhere got a kicking, because voters everywhere are narked about the cost of living? Harris was just another point on that trend, and failed less badly than many.
(Not seen comparable figures for this year- are governments doing any better?)
I guess that explains why he won in 2016 as well
Nah, that was mostly HRC's flaws as a candidate and her campaign failing to make the Electoral College work for them.
The bigger question is- given Trump's obvious flaws as a candidate and President, why have the Republicans let him steamroller the primary process three times running? Especially 2024?
The reason was that MAGA (or what became MAGA) had taken over the lower levels of the party.
So when the Republican Party elite tried to stop Trump the first time, they failed - he won too many primaries to be stoppable.
Then Trump & Co. purged the party of anyone seriously opposed to them.
South Korea's nuclear-powered submarines program appears started, and Trump has approved all, saying the US will share sensitive nuclear technology that he has not even shared with the UK or Australia. Korea has quietly been developing strategic-class SLBM and smart naval nuclear reactor, and It's unclear whether the KSS-N will be the Batch-III or KSS-IV. KSS-N is expected to be significantly larger even than the KSS-III Batch-II, which has a full-load displacement of nearly 4,000 tons. The next-gen SLBM is expected to be similar in size to the Ultra-High-Power variant Hyunmoo-V missile. The ADD task team, shipbuilding companies, and the Navy seem to have established dedicated departments. The photo shows the MADEX 2025 next-gen submarine and provides insight into the intentions of Hanwha Ocean, the Navy, and the Strategic Command. South Korea's nuclear-powered strategic attack submarines will be built in the US by Korean companies. President Trump reportedly expressed excitement after seeing a "big and beautiful" ancient golden crown he received as a gift from South Korea. https://x.com/mason_8718/status/1983715644039426096
He said they will be built at the Philadelphia Naval yard, which is total bullshit
That does seem unlikely. S Korean investment in US naval yards rather less unlikely.
Excellent news, get parasite landlords out of the housing market. It's literally asset rich thieving from the young.
It's literally not. Landlords are simply capitalists providing a service and earning a return on their capital investment. The main reason, IMHO, that the landord/tenant relationships feels so unfair is income tax. If I had to rent my house I'm guessing it would cost about £48k a year. If my landlords were a couple like me and my wife they would pay over £20k to the government in income tax every year on the rental income. That's a huge tax saving I get from owning my own home. A tenant is paying up to 45% of their rent to the government. More if the landlord also pays agency fees that are subject to VAT. I'm not complaining about these taxes, BTW, I am simply pointing out that one of the reasons renting feels "unfair" is because owner occupation has such significant tax advantages.
Ah so the solution from the left is more landlords leeching from younger people and blocking them from the housing ladder. Good to know.
Wealth creators and higher earners likely to be heading to airports in significant numbers after the tax raising budget expected from Reeves.
Fewer landlords likely too, making it more difficult to find properties to rent and with unemployment likely to rise further and growth slow with higher tax, more redtape and regulation and a minimum wage level that makes it too costly for small businesses to do much hiring fewer will be able to buy a home either.
We are heading for the worst Labour government for the economy since the 1970s
To be fair there’s only been one other Labour government since the 1970s!
I think you can make a case that Brown's government was different from Blairs. After all people bang on endlessly about Truss's government.
A lot of people that I know I'm their 30s that have bought have done so from landlords stopping renting.
Which I see as a net positive for society as a whole.
... I admit a balance needs to be struck so new building continues. But I'm not sure landlords regs are the main obstacle there.
The British obsession with (a) property ownership and (b) low-rise building in most small towns leads directly to the shortage of affordable rental properties and the gradual attrition of green space around them. It's AFAIK unique in Western Europe (though ownership in most countries is gradually rising anyway as prosperity increases) and also leads to people with minimal training making huge investments (e.g. property worth £250K) as the only way forward. I'm not arguing for all property to be rented, merely for it to be a reasonable option rather than the current extremes of luxury property or grim places that you try to buy your way out of ASAP.
The near-ban on no-fault evictions is a useful start on making renting a reasonable option. I can see that it will lead to some individual landlords selling up to property companies, but they do at least have a fair chance of understanding the regulations.
Home ownership 2024:
Belgium 70% Ireland 69% Netherlands 69% UK 65% Luxemburg 64% France 61% Germany 47%
Might I suggest that people get this impression that the UK has uniquely high levels of home ownership and low rise building because visitors to other European countries predominantly visit cities and holiday resorts, both of which have above average levels of high rise building.
That's easily disproven because we have data on people living in flats: (eyeballing graph)
Expect a lot more of this sort of thing with "AI" and relying on incomplete data, badly combined with other incomplete data. This sort of attitude from government towards its citizens is infuriating. Ordinary people feel like they are being victimised, while miscreants and criminals act with impunity.
A woman who booked a flight from London to Oslo but never checked in or travelled has had her child benefit stopped by the UK government. Tax authorities told her their records showed she had emigrated.
South Korea's nuclear-powered submarines program appears started, and Trump has approved all, saying the US will share sensitive nuclear technology that he has not even shared with the UK or Australia. Korea has quietly been developing strategic-class SLBM and smart naval nuclear reactor, and It's unclear whether the KSS-N will be the Batch-III or KSS-IV. KSS-N is expected to be significantly larger even than the KSS-III Batch-II, which has a full-load displacement of nearly 4,000 tons. The next-gen SLBM is expected to be similar in size to the Ultra-High-Power variant Hyunmoo-V missile. The ADD task team, shipbuilding companies, and the Navy seem to have established dedicated departments. The photo shows the MADEX 2025 next-gen submarine and provides insight into the intentions of Hanwha Ocean, the Navy, and the Strategic Command. South Korea's nuclear-powered strategic attack submarines will be built in the US by Korean companies. President Trump reportedly expressed excitement after seeing a "big and beautiful" ancient golden crown he received as a gift from South Korea. https://x.com/mason_8718/status/1983715644039426096
He said they will be built at the Philadelphia Naval yard, which is total bullshit
That does seem unlikely. S Korean investment in US naval yards rather less unlikely.
Observers say the move also underscores Seoul's deeper alignment with Washington's strategy to contain China in the Indo-Pacific region, which could provoke a backlash from Beijing.
The agreement was reached following a summit on Wednesday between President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, held on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
"I have given them approval to build a Nuclear Powered Submarine, rather than the old fashioned, and far less nimble, diesel powered Submarines that they have now," Trump wrote on social media Thursday, referring to his meeting with Lee.
In a separate post, Trump added that Seoul will build its first nuclear submarine at Hanwha Philly Shipyard, which is now owned by Hanwha Ocean, a major Korean defense company.
Hanwa acquired the Philadelphia shipyard at the end of last year.
A lot of people that I know I'm their 30s that have bought have done so from landlords stopping renting.
Which I see as a net positive for society as a whole.
... I admit a balance needs to be struck so new building continues. But I'm not sure landlords regs are the main obstacle there.
The British obsession with (a) property ownership and (b) low-rise building in most small towns leads directly to the shortage of affordable rental properties and the gradual attrition of green space around them. It's AFAIK unique in Western Europe (though ownership in most countries is gradually rising anyway as prosperity increases) and also leads to people with minimal training making huge investments (e.g. property worth £250K) as the only way forward. I'm not arguing for all property to be rented, merely for it to be a reasonable option rather than the current extremes of luxury property or grim places that you try to buy your way out of ASAP.
The near-ban on no-fault evictions is a useful start on making renting a reasonable option. I can see that it will lead to some individual landlords selling up to property companies, but they do at least have a fair chance of understanding the regulations.
Says the single older person who never had a family or wanted one on a government guaranteed salary and pension.
The obsession, as you call it, of owning a property is about security. You have financial security because you have the insanely generous MP pension, the rest of the country doesn't have that.
The 2023 election insurgency which saw the rise of the PVV and the NSC, has been brutally crushed. The NSC has been wiped out, the small BBB has lost three of its seven seats and the PVV has suffered losses. Interestingly, of all the parties associated with the post-2023 Government, only the VVD has come out the other side more or less unscathed.
That's not to say it's been a triumph for parties of the "left" - indeed, the Labour/Green alliance has gone backwards and that's probably the end of Frans Timmermans but the winners have been D66 (the Dutch LDs) and the CDA (Christian Democrats) so a liberal party and a socially conservative centrist party.
Personal triumphs for the respective leaders - Rob Jetten and Henri Bontenbal (38 and 42 respectively - basically Nick Clegg and Tony Blair). It goes to show the old adage voters like a nice young man in charge.
Government formation? D66 have never led the Government but it's their time and it's a question of whether they can work with the VVD and CDA (they have before in the Rutte Governments) and they can get support from the Labour/Green bloc. The CU, among the minor parties, would probably back them.
It's far from a disaster for the "right", however, PVV's losses were matched by gains for JA21 and FvD so there's still a formidable bloc (a bit like if Reform lost seats to Advance) but I'd also note two seats for the 50+ Party. Imagine if we had a strong pro-pensioners party in the UK given the size of the elderly vote.
He’s trolling you all, and won’t be running in 2028.
Read the article, Trump running or not isn't the issue, will the likes of the Trump crime family, Vance, and Miller give up power after the shithousery/corruption they have engaged in?
They have made untold billions manipulating the markets with insider information. A quiet tithe of those billions will be quite enough to manipulate enough of the voters (by persuasion or exclusion) to win another close election.
I doubt it will be Trump himself, but someone from the billionaire class, put forward to prevent an investigation into how they have turned democracy into kleptocracy, or more accurately a kakistocracy if it is one of the Trump offspring.
The alternative - of losing - risks having billonaires hanging from lamp-posts by piano wire and confiscation of all their assets to resume paying for food stamps.
I am thankful for your posts. It is good to see at least one quite dry, hard line Tory is across this.
We've had a cornucopia of Tory minimisation this morning -
Sandpit: he's not running, so it's all OK. Casino: the Dems don't get it - possibly true, but for this discussion very much a second order question - the Dems getting it would help a little but it is not primarily about that any more Big G: Ho hum, Rachel Reeves
Cumbria: 🤡
What I don't know is how far, how fast the Republicans will go, a lot of norms have been torn apart, but I don't necessarily think the left narrative that we are at the edge of Naziism today is the best one - we still always default to Germany rather than Chile or many other elsewheres which perhaps give more credible trajectories, we know Trump has a tendency to push then back down, and there is a lot of road yet to go - a crumb of reassurance, but the amount yet to go is also a worry of how much further this can go. The question is, how far down this road are we and how far are we going.
Yes. Countries like Hungary, Turkey or Serbia may be a better model for what happens in the US.
Mussolini style Fascism, not Hitler style Nazism.
The type of thing I typically see on my feeds that we are stage 6 of 7 of authoritarian takeover, and those elements are all present, judicial overturn, sacking and appointment of the pliant, ICE deployed in cities with the military present, a new level of kleptocracy.
The thing is, a lot of those elements in themselves are sat in the early stages, done very selectively - much of the ordinary judiciary is unaffected, if you read the Wikis on each ICE deployment there are day by day flashpoints, but they are small in number and full military rule doesn't seem too apparent on the streets yet - touches of it in Chicago perhaps.
If you say we are nearly there, a lot of people might go, well if we're at stage 6 already, authoritarianism isn't that bad. They didn't come to eat the face of anyone I know yet. What that misses is that stage 4/5/6 themselves are in their very early rollout, select cities even on the Blue side, deployments still claimed to be time limited for fiscal reasons. It's sort of like saying Universal Credit was rolled out by 2013.
This is what I'm saying comes with a risk and an opportunity. Trump could hold back if there is any political expedience to be had in not going too much further with this. But also, those mid stages could still be applied far, far more widely.
There is also a loyalty factor - loyalty to the flag, the constitution. I don't see this as being done by outright military disobedience, for which people would be replaced, but almost every US soldier from the brass down has grown up in a full democracy with that drilled into them. Any command can be diluted and minimally complied with if it looks too obviously anti-democratic, and in the end the clash politics is trying to invite doesn't come to pass and not much hapoens. You might think ICE have already passed this point, but day by day, action by action, perhaps some element of this does apply.
It could be wishful thinking, but the extent to which democracy is culturally embedded in the US is materially different from post-WW1 German democracy, from Hungarian or South American democracy and that might dictate that some of the individual flashpoints that could happen don't, that the standard playbook of sending Texans into Chicago doesn't play out as full impunity, and that the way back from this is less fraught than supposed.
Yes, it's serious, but I retain the chink of hope that America's slide is not terminal.
Claiming that she deliberately flouted the law is about as credible as Liz Truss.
Ignorance of theaw is not a credible defence. She's an MP and should know better. Why is it that Labour MPs seem to think it's ok for them to be ignorant of the law.
He’s trolling you all, and won’t be running in 2028.
Read the article, Trump running or not isn't the issue, will the likes of the Trump crime family, Vance, and Miller give up power after the shithousery/corruption they have engaged in?
They have made untold billions manipulating the markets with insider information. A quiet tithe of those billions will be quite enough to manipulate enough of the voters (by persuasion or exclusion) to win another close election.
I doubt it will be Trump himself, but someone from the billionaire class, put forward to prevent an investigation into how they have turned democracy into kleptocracy, or more accurately a kakistocracy if it is one of the Trump offspring.
The alternative - of losing - risks having billonaires hanging from lamp-posts by piano wire and confiscation of all their assets to resume paying for food stamps.
I am thankful for your posts. It is good to see at least one quite dry, hard line Tory is across this.
We've had a cornucopia of Tory minimisation this morning -
Sandpit: he's not running, so it's all OK. Casino: the Dems don't get it - possibly true, but for this discussion very much a second order question - the Dems getting it would help a little but it is not primarily about that any more Big G: Ho hum, Rachel Reeves
Cumbria: 🤡
What I don't know is how far, how fast the Republicans will go, a lot of norms have been torn apart, but I don't necessarily think the left narrative that we are at the edge of Naziism today is the best one - we still always default to Germany rather than Chile or many other elsewheres which perhaps give more credible trajectories, we know Trump has a tendency to push then back down, and there is a lot of road yet to go - a crumb of reassurance, but the amount yet to go is also a worry of how much further this can go. The question is, how far down this road are we and how far are we going.
Yes. Countries like Hungary, Turkey or Serbia may be a better model for what happens in the US.
Mussolini style Fascism, not Hitler style Nazism.
The only direct Nazi analogy is probably Stephen Miller, who does bear an uncanny resemblance to Goebbels.
The original version of the piece called Stephen Miller the Temu Goebbels but I deleted it as I am usually uncomfortable calling Jewish people Nazis with the exception of some in Bibi’s cabinet.
A lot of people that I know I'm their 30s that have bought have done so from landlords stopping renting.
Which I see as a net positive for society as a whole.
... I admit a balance needs to be struck so new building continues. But I'm not sure landlords regs are the main obstacle there.
The British obsession with (a) property ownership and (b) low-rise building in most small towns leads directly to the shortage of affordable rental properties and the gradual attrition of green space around them. It's AFAIK unique in Western Europe (though ownership in most countries is gradually rising anyway as prosperity increases) and also leads to people with minimal training making huge investments (e.g. property worth £250K) as the only way forward. I'm not arguing for all property to be rented, merely for it to be a reasonable option rather than the current extremes of luxury property or grim places that you try to buy your way out of ASAP.
The near-ban on no-fault evictions is a useful start on making renting a reasonable option. I can see that it will lead to some individual landlords selling up to property companies, but they do at least have a fair chance of understanding the regulations.
Home ownership 2024:
Belgium 70% Ireland 69% Netherlands 69% UK 65% Luxemburg 64% France 61% Germany 47%
Might I suggest that people get this impression that the UK has uniquely high levels of home ownership and low rise building because visitors to other European countries predominantly visit cities and holiday resorts, both of which have above average levels of high rise building.
That's easily disproven because we have data on people living in flats: (eyeballing graph)
Presumably an Orion, from the four props in a clip the other day? Must have quite some fatigue life on the mainspar, at least when it began.
There’s an Orion and a C130 that I’ve seen, both heavily modified, presumably strengthening in the spar and wings. I read somewhere that they can take 5-6g rather than 2-3g of a regular plane. One of them bailed out of a mission earlier in the week for an overload that required an inspection.
The guys and gals (lady captain on that video) that do this for NOAA are totally crazy. Even if the plane breaks up and they leave with a parachute, they must know that they could get blown upwards, and that there’s no search and rescue helicopters going anywhere near for several hours.
He’s trolling you all, and won’t be running in 2028.
Read the article, Trump running or not isn't the issue, will the likes of the Trump crime family, Vance, and Miller give up power after the shithousery/corruption they have engaged in?
They have made untold billions manipulating the markets with insider information. A quiet tithe of those billions will be quite enough to manipulate enough of the voters (by persuasion or exclusion) to win another close election.
I doubt it will be Trump himself, but someone from the billionaire class, put forward to prevent an investigation into how they have turned democracy into kleptocracy, or more accurately a kakistocracy if it is one of the Trump offspring.
The alternative - of losing - risks having billonaires hanging from lamp-posts by piano wire and confiscation of all their assets to resume paying for food stamps.
I am thankful for your posts. It is good to see at least one quite dry, hard line Tory is across this.
We've had a cornucopia of Tory minimisation this morning -
Sandpit: he's not running, so it's all OK. Casino: the Dems don't get it - possibly true, but for this discussion very much a second order question - the Dems getting it would help a little but it is not primarily about that any more Big G: Ho hum, Rachel Reeves
Cumbria: 🤡
What I don't know is how far, how fast the Republicans will go, a lot of norms have been torn apart, but I don't necessarily think the left narrative that we are at the edge of Naziism today is the best one - we still always default to Germany rather than Chile or many other elsewheres which perhaps give more credible trajectories, we know Trump has a tendency to push then back down, and there is a lot of road yet to go - a crumb of reassurance, but the amount yet to go is also a worry of how much further this can go. The question is, how far down this road are we and how far are we going.
Yes. Countries like Hungary, Turkey or Serbia may be a better model for what happens in the US.
Mussolini style Fascism, not Hitler style Nazism.
The only direct Nazi analogy is probably Stephen Miller, who does bear an uncanny resemblance to Goebbels.
The original version of the piece called Stephen Miller the Temu Goebbels but I deleted it as I am usually uncomfortable calling Jewish people Nazis with the exception of some in Bibi’s cabinet.
Claiming that she deliberately flouted the law is about as credible as Liz Truss.
She campaigned for it eighteen months before she became Chancellor. If it wasn't deliberate, it was monumentally stupid
"If it wasn't deliberate, it was monumentally stupid"
I really like that. From economic policy to sucking up to China to housing reform to screwing up our education system, it should be this government's epitaph.
He’s trolling you all, and won’t be running in 2028.
Read the article, Trump running or not isn't the issue, will the likes of the Trump crime family, Vance, and Miller give up power after the shithousery/corruption they have engaged in?
They have made untold billions manipulating the markets with insider information. A quiet tithe of those billions will be quite enough to manipulate enough of the voters (by persuasion or exclusion) to win another close election.
I doubt it will be Trump himself, but someone from the billionaire class, put forward to prevent an investigation into how they have turned democracy into kleptocracy, or more accurately a kakistocracy if it is one of the Trump offspring.
The alternative - of losing - risks having billonaires hanging from lamp-posts by piano wire and confiscation of all their assets to resume paying for food stamps.
I am thankful for your posts. It is good to see at least one quite dry, hard line Tory is across this.
We've had a cornucopia of Tory minimisation this morning -
Sandpit: he's not running, so it's all OK. Casino: the Dems don't get it - possibly true, but for this discussion very much a second order question - the Dems getting it would help a little but it is not primarily about that any more Big G: Ho hum, Rachel Reeves
Cumbria: 🤡
What I don't know is how far, how fast the Republicans will go, a lot of norms have been torn apart, but I don't necessarily think the left narrative that we are at the edge of Naziism today is the best one - we still always default to Germany rather than Chile or many other elsewheres which perhaps give more credible trajectories, we know Trump has a tendency to push then back down, and there is a lot of road yet to go - a crumb of reassurance, but the amount yet to go is also a worry of how much further this can go. The question is, how far down this road are we and how far are we going.
Yes. Countries like Hungary, Turkey or Serbia may be a better model for what happens in the US.
Mussolini style Fascism, not Hitler style Nazism.
The only direct Nazi analogy is probably Stephen Miller, who does bear an uncanny resemblance to Goebbels.
The original version of the piece called Stephen Miller the Temu Goebbels but I deleted it as I am usually uncomfortable calling Jewish people Nazis with the exception of some in Bibi’s cabinet.
I share the discomfort, but it's hard to call it otherwise, given his rhetoric.
A lot of people that I know I'm their 30s that have bought have done so from landlords stopping renting.
Which I see as a net positive for society as a whole.
... I admit a balance needs to be struck so new building continues. But I'm not sure landlords regs are the main obstacle there.
The British obsession with (a) property ownership and (b) low-rise building in most small towns leads directly to the shortage of affordable rental properties and the gradual attrition of green space around them. It's AFAIK unique in Western Europe (though ownership in most countries is gradually rising anyway as prosperity increases) and also leads to people with minimal training making huge investments (e.g. property worth £250K) as the only way forward. I'm not arguing for all property to be rented, merely for it to be a reasonable option rather than the current extremes of luxury property or grim places that you try to buy your way out of ASAP.
The near-ban on no-fault evictions is a useful start on making renting a reasonable option. I can see that it will lead to some individual landlords selling up to property companies, but they do at least have a fair chance of understanding the regulations.
Home ownership 2024:
Belgium 70% Ireland 69% Netherlands 69% UK 65% Luxemburg 64% France 61% Germany 47%
Might I suggest that people get this impression that the UK has uniquely high levels of home ownership and low rise building because visitors to other European countries predominantly visit cities and holiday resorts, both of which have above average levels of high rise building.
That's easily disproven because we have data on people living in flats: (eyeballing graph)
So in Germany people rent flats and have little financial wealth and in the UK people own houses and have more than double the financial wealth.
With France in the middle.
Hardly a recommendation of NPXMP's vision of high rise renting.
Though if we are wealthy because we own somewhere expensive to live, and we need a lot of wealth because places to live are expensive, how far does that benefit us?
Claiming that she deliberately flouted the law is about as credible as Liz Truss.
Ignorance of the law is not a credible defence. She's an MP and should know better. Why is it that Labour MPs seem to think it's ok for them to be ignorant of the law.
Is that what they are saying ? Or is it that she inadvertently breached the regulation, is taking steps to correct that, and that should (probably) be the end of the matter ?
As I commented on the last thread, assuming that Reeves is not a rogue landlord (which so far seems to be the case), and has in place gas and electric verification, EPC, etc, then it is ridiculous to be calling for her resignation.
The purpose of regulation is to ensure the safety of the property. It is not an end in itself, and to see an inadvertent breach of the rules, quickly rectified, as a resignation matter is effectively to say that regulation is indeed an end in itself.
Does the Tory party really want to take that stance, that regulation is an end in itself, and any technical breach should result in fines or criminal prosecution ? If so, then the party is in a worse state than I thought.
Claiming that she deliberately flouted the law is about as credible as Liz Truss.
This attempt at a defence might fly if Sir Keir hadn’t presented himself as Mr Rules and Integrity in opposition to Boris’s slack approach to crossing the t’s and dotting the… lower case j’s.
Claiming that she deliberately flouted the law is about as credible as Liz Truss.
Ignorance of the law is not a credible defence. She's an MP and should know better. Why is it that Labour MPs seem to think it's ok for them to be ignorant of the law.
Is that what they are saying ? Or is it that she inadvertently breached the regulation, is taking steps to correct that, and that should (probably) be the end of the matter ?
As I commented on the last thread, assuming that Reeves is not a rogue landlord (which so far seems to be the case), and has in place gas and electric verification, EPC, etc, then it is ridiculous to be calling for her resignation.
The purpose of regulation is to ensure the safety of the property. It is not an end in itself, and to see an inadvertent breach of the rules, quickly rectified, as a resignation matter is effectively to say that regulation is indeed an end in itself.
Does the Tory party really want to take that stance, that regulation is an end in itself, and any technical breach should result in fines or criminal prosecution ? If so, then the party is in a worse state than I thought.
1 At the moment, it's all they've got.
2 Part of the current Conservative denial is "the things we did weren't so bad, it was awfully unfair that we were punished so badly for them". See "ambushed by a cake", the attempt to make Currygate a thing, passim ad nauseum. Letting him without sin cast the first stone is an excellent ideal (and I try, unsucessfully, to live by it), but it isn't practical politics or the basis of a good legal system.
3 It's a local council rule, so whatever happens in Leeds has little to do with what happens in South London. It's a squirming offence, not a sacking one.
4 I do hope that every Conservative MP has their landlording paperwork totally up-to-date.
They've had to deal with a nearby, unpredictable, and not very friendly superpower since the inception of the republic. The US is just a bit further away.
A lot of people that I know I'm their 30s that have bought have done so from landlords stopping renting.
Which I see as a net positive for society as a whole.
... I admit a balance needs to be struck so new building continues. But I'm not sure landlords regs are the main obstacle there.
The British obsession with (a) property ownership and (b) low-rise building in most small towns leads directly to the shortage of affordable rental properties and the gradual attrition of green space around them. It's AFAIK unique in Western Europe (though ownership in most countries is gradually rising anyway as prosperity increases) and also leads to people with minimal training making huge investments (e.g. property worth £250K) as the only way forward. I'm not arguing for all property to be rented, merely for it to be a reasonable option rather than the current extremes of luxury property or grim places that you try to buy your way out of ASAP.
The near-ban on no-fault evictions is a useful start on making renting a reasonable option. I can see that it will lead to some individual landlords selling up to property companies, but they do at least have a fair chance of understanding the regulations.
Home ownership 2024:
Belgium 70% Ireland 69% Netherlands 69% UK 65% Luxemburg 64% France 61% Germany 47%
Might I suggest that people get this impression that the UK has uniquely high levels of home ownership and low rise building because visitors to other European countries predominantly visit cities and holiday resorts, both of which have above average levels of high rise building.
That's easily disproven because we have data on people living in flats: (eyeballing graph)
So in Germany people rent flats and have little financial wealth and in the UK people own houses and have more than double the financial wealth.
With France in the middle.
Hardly a recommendation of NPXMP's vision of high rise renting.
I rented a small flat in Stuttgart for a year or so. My landlord rented a much nicer and bigger flat a few miles away.
Many of the younger PB's (well probably almost all of us) went to uni and experienced a range of flat/house renting. In my case I was shown one with hundreds of slug and snail trails on the carpet (never going to move into than one) and lived in one with no communal space bar the kitchen (i.e. no lounge). Others were excellent. A favourite was the one in the block of flats for older people - literally a six bed flat amongst a bunch of oldies. Amazing.
I believe but don't know that on the continent extremely long rentals is common. My experience in the UK has been short term. I think that makes a difference.
Claiming that she deliberately flouted the law is about as credible as Liz Truss.
Ignorance of the law is not a credible defence. She's an MP and should know better. Why is it that Labour MPs seem to think it's ok for them to be ignorant of the law.
Is that what they are saying ? Or is it that she inadvertently breached the regulation, is taking steps to correct that, and that should (probably) be the end of the matter ?
As I commented on the last thread, assuming that Reeves is not a rogue landlord (which so far seems to be the case), and has in place gas and electric verification, EPC, etc, then it is ridiculous to be calling for her resignation.
The purpose of regulation is to ensure the safety of the property. It is not an end in itself, and to see an inadvertent breach of the rules, quickly rectified, as a resignation matter is effectively to say that regulation is indeed an end in itself.
Does the Tory party really want to take that stance, that regulation is an end in itself, and any technical breach should result in fines or criminal prosecution ? If so, then the party is in a worse state than I thought.
1 At the moment, it's all they've got.
2 Part of the current Conservative denial is "the things we did weren't so bad, it was awfully unfair that we were punished so badly for them". See "ambushed by a cake", the attempt to make Currygate a thing, passim ad nauseum. Letting him without sin cast the first stone is an excellent ideal (and I try, unsucessfully, to live by it), but it isn't practical politics or the basis of a good legal system.
3 It's a local council rule, so whatever happens in Leeds has little to do with what happens in South London. It's a squirming offence, not a sacking one.
4 I do hope that every Conservative MP has their landlording paperwork totally up-to-date.
There's actually a larger and far more important argument here, about the efficacy of regulation, and to what extent (quite a lot) that it impinges on economic growth. That neither the government nor anyone in opposition seems to be interested in even considering that argument is deeply depressing.
This in itself is a very minor example, and looks to be not much more than a temporary embarrassment for Reeves. But a smart opposition could be making a much larger point from it, rather than make themselves look as petty as every other politician.
Comments
If it was, as it should have been, to bring Trump to justice and put him in jail for the rest of his life then it was incompetent.
Instead they chose to make Trump a martyr to 'deplorables' and ruin his reputation among suburbanites. Expecting to get an embittered but unelectable Trump as the GOP candidate.
Hence dragging out the cases for electoral fraud and insurrection while waging lawfare against Trump on financial fraud and sexual assault.
The problem for the Dems (and the rest of the world) is that they got an embittered Trump as GOP candidate but he was also electable.
Buttigieg is an interesting one, I think he has a good chance of being in the last handful of candidates despite a pretty thin CV. He’s a good communicator and can articulate problems faced by ordinary Americans.
But the setting up, and radicalisation of ICE, together with the plans for deployment of the National Guard to states, suggest that they're likely to head some way beyond that. Presumably because there's insufficient time for the Hungary model to play out, along with the fact that Orban looks fairly likely to lose power.
Places like El Salvador probably provide some inspiration, but they're not exactly practical templates for a US authoritarian.
Presumably an Orion, from the four props in a clip the other day? Must have quite some fatigue life on the mainspar, at least when it began.
But the key players here are the firm-but-not-fash right. When push comes to shove, which what do they jump? Do they defend democracy (even if it means allying with the centre-left), or defend the right (perhaps even thinking that they can control them)?
The Republicans have made their bed, the Conservatives haven't quite had to face up to that question yet.
The liberal media in its traditional form barely exists any longer.
Q: What did you mean last night when you said you were prepared to send 'more than the National Guard' into American cities?
TRUMP: Sure, I'd do that. As you know I'm allowed to do that
Q: Do you mean other branches of the military you'd send in?
TRUMP: If it were -- who are you with?
Q: The New York Times
TRUMP: That's very good. Well, if you write it correctly, I'll give you the answer. But if I want to enact a certain act, I'm allowed to do it. I'd be allowed to do whatever I want. The courts wouldn't get involved. Nobody would get involved. And I could send the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines -- I could send anybody I wanted.
https://x.com/atrupar/status/1983526251156410480
https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/articles/c04grkxke09o
The Texans lost at the Alamo but won the war.
The guys and gals (lady captain on that video) that do this for NOAA are totally crazy. Even if the plane breaks up and they leave with a parachute, they must know that they could get blown upwards, and that there’s no search and rescue helicopters going anywhere near for several hours.
Not for me, but massive kudos to those that do.
There is quite a bit of rigging goes on already, as you know.
https://x.com/Max_Fisher/status/1983651192220840273
This briefing is SOLELY for GOP senators, I’m told.
Comes as some Republicans have publicly taken issue with the lack of information coming from the Trump administration on the escalating strikes.
https://x.com/marksatter/status/1983607156319584636
The photo shows the MADEX 2025 next-gen submarine and provides insight into the intentions of Hanwha Ocean, the Navy, and the Strategic Command.
South Korea's nuclear-powered strategic attack submarines will be built in the US by Korean companies.
President Trump reportedly expressed excitement after seeing a "big and beautiful" ancient golden crown he received as a gift from South Korea.
https://x.com/mason_8718/status/1983715644039426096
The overseas postal votes given they were iikely to have been posted earlier than the D66 surge in the polls mean they might not be as much help to the party .
The key area for D66 is part of the Amsterdam area where they’d need a big surge in their vote to mitigate two further stronger areas for the PVV.
The Phoney War in late 1939 was still war.
Unsafe to hold them in areas run by terrorists
Elections reelect mostly MAGA
Expired Democrats barred and still unsafe to hold elections
Big MAGA majority in Congress to enable whats left of the White House to do whatever it wants.
Even a few years ago this would have been conspiratorial batshittery. Now? Its not only happening in front of our eyes, the regime is boasting about it. And yet people's normalcy bias stops them from noticing.
As to the substantive question, never given it a thought. I'd probably assume yes until evidence to the contrary emerges.
To confirm, Newham has had a property licensing regime in place for some years ostensibly (one might argue) to protect tenants from rogue landlords but probably more as a source of income which works well in an area with a large amount of private rented accommodation (including the new build blocks at Fresh Wharf and other places which are almost all for rental).
I don't know what a licence costs - £500 I think - and this allows the council to carry out periodic inspections (they don't) and crack down on the worst examples of overcrowding such as 20 Romanians in a three bedroom terrace (plus accommodation in the garden). Unfortunately the local paper is always containing terrible stories of people forced to live in appalling conditions with damp, rodents, often with no means of heating and cooking.
A combination of housing policy and mass immigration has created a new generation of slums and building all the fancy apartment blocks by West Ham Station isn't going to make an iota of difference. If you can afford £600k for one of those you won't be in a slum in Forest Gate or Plaistow.
REAL housing reform comes from a concerted effort to improve people's living conditions, spending money cracking down on rogue landlords and making sure housing is genuinely affordable even if that means developers have to take a haircut.
https://x.com/johnbourscheid/status/1983571078082412618
The near-ban on no-fault evictions is a useful start on making renting a reasonable option. I can see that it will lead to some individual landlords selling up to property companies, but they do at least have a fair chance of understanding the regulations.
Now we have people who accumulate higher scores to the extent that they can't even keep up with spending the interest on the interest on the interest. We know that businesses and investors like Warren Buffett struggle to find useful things to invest in. So the money just sits there as a number on a spreadsheet, doing nobody much good at all. Taxation may well be a crude way to get that money back into circulation, but does anyone have a better idea?
https://www.landlordzone.co.uk/news/shadow-chancellor-backs-selective-licencing-expansion
March 6, 2024
"Shadow chancellor backs selective licencing expansionLabour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has backed the expansion of a selective licencing scheme within her local constituency.
This is despite opposition to selective licencing among landlords being so strong that an initial pilot led to a group of them to launch Leeds Landlords Against Licencing (LLAL), which sought Judicial Reviews of the council’s decision making, although these were not successful.
Reeves, who is the MP for Leeds West, was taken by local councillors on a ‘walkabout’ to see her constituency’s private rented housing stock in the ward of Armley ahead of a council meeting next week during which a significant expansion of a local licencing scheme is to be discussed."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_of_Democracy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autocracy,_Inc.
https://yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300279467/how-to-rig-an-election/
Indeed the loss of continuity and preparation in terms of individual MPs is as likely to be as big of problem as the mix of parties. It will be unprecedented confusion.
Yes, they should reflect on why they lost, but it’s been close. So, why did they lose in 2024? As TSE said upthread, they lost ont he economy. Inflation was high. That was for reasons largely out of Biden’s control. Lots of other governing parties around the world lost for the same reason around the same time.
https://x.com/livexclique/status/1983214033567175076
The only surprise is how acquiescent the Republican Party has been in the trashing of the Constitution and the separation of powers.
https://x.com/anneapplebaum/status/1983157831395356844#m
I've never stood for Parliament but I believe candidates in all parties, once approved, get levels of training and preparation which are enhanced if they are chosen for a winnable seat. In truth, most candidates don't win and most of those don't even try - I can't imagine the Conservatives or LDs pouring resources into East Ham for example.
There's probably only a core of around 1000-1250 who have any sort of chance - if you are succeeding a sitting MP, there can be a proper handover before the election (assuming you are re-elected). I don't know what happens when an MP for one party loses - do they as a curtesy hand over ongoing casework to their successor? I'd like to think so.
If the new MP has been in the area for sometime, they might be a councillor or have taken on some local campaigning so will know what to do but going to Westminster is different with all the arcane customs but again all parties have some sort of training and preparation and the new Parliamentary groups, I believe, have a mentoring operation where more experienced MPs help out the "newbies" but if you, as seems likely with Reform, have a huge number of newbies, it may be an issue.
https://x.com/armanddoma/status/1983728764174717161
The British newspaper of record confused him with the former mayor of New York. Their journalists initiated the conversation.
Worth remembering when they run shock stories.
https://x.com/jasonjournodc/status/1983668579439403429
She can’t possibly run again.
Belgium 70%
Ireland 69%
Netherlands 69%
UK 65%
Luxemburg 64%
France 61%
Germany 47%
https://www.statista.com/statistics/246355/home-ownership-rate-in-europe/
Might I suggest that people get this impression that the UK has uniquely high levels of home ownership and low rise building because visitors to other European countries predominantly visit cities and holiday resorts, both of which have above average levels of high rise building.
The 2023 election insurgency which saw the rise of the PVV and the NSC, has been brutally crushed. The NSC has been wiped out, the small BBB has lost three of its seven seats and the PVV has suffered losses. Interestingly, of all the parties associated with the post-2023 Government, only the VVD has come out the other side more or less unscathed.
That's not to say it's been a triumph for parties of the "left" - indeed, the Labour/Green alliance has gone backwards and that's probably the end of Frans Timmermans but the winners have been D66 (the Dutch LDs) and the CDA (Christian Democrats) so a liberal party and a socially conservative centrist party.
Personal triumphs for the respective leaders - Rob Jetten and Henri Bontenbal (38 and 42 respectively - basically Nick Clegg and Tony Blair). It goes to show the old adage voters like a nice young man in charge.
Government formation? D66 have never led the Government but it's their time and it's a question of whether they can work with the VVD and CDA (they have before in the Rutte Governments) and they can get support from the Labour/Green bloc. The CU, among the minor parties, would probably back them.
It's far from a disaster for the "right", however, PVV's losses were matched by gains for JA21 and FvD so there's still a formidable bloc (a bit like if Reform lost seats to Advance) but I'd also note two seats for the 50+ Party. Imagine if we had a strong pro-pensioners party in the UK given the size of the elderly vote.
Belgium
Median $256k, Mean $362k
UK
Median $163k, Mean $350k
Germany
Median $66k, Mean $264k
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_per_adult
Isn't that all the UK parties?
Basically Tories and Lab are only running scared more from the 'legitimate concern' lads painting roundabouts (some of whom may be pensioners).
Germany 60%
France 30%
UK 15%
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/ddn-20170412-1 (old because we aren't included in EU data anymore...)
11th Jan 2023
https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/politics/council/labour-campaigning-for-crackdown-on-rogue-landlords-in-armley-area-of-leeds-with-selective-landlord-licensing-policy-3981833Labour campaigning for crackdown on rogue landlords in Armley area of Leeds with selective landlord licensing policy
Although there is confidence that the policy will be introduced in Armley, Labour councillors and MP Rachel Reeves are pushing to have it brought in as soon as possible. Coun Smart said: “I'm confident this will eventually come in in Armley from the conversations I've had. What we're pushing for is for it come in as soon as possible.”
That and more robust anti-trust action to prevent the charging of monopoly rents.
The bigger question is- given Trump's obvious flaws as a candidate and President, why have the Republicans let him steamroller the primary process three times running? Especially 2024?
One example is looking at GDP rather than GDP per capita but there are plenty of others
Trump is the daemon they called into being with their persistent subversion of the democratic process.
Stopping him would require the fortitude of an alcoholic going dry. It's not impossible, but it's damn hard. I admire those Republicans, like Liz Cheney, who had the strength of will to choose that path, but I'd no more expect most Republicans to do so than I would expect that I'd be able to resist my next chocolate bar.
So when the Republican Party elite tried to stop Trump the first time, they failed - he won too many primaries to be stoppable.
Then Trump & Co. purged the party of anyone seriously opposed to them.
S Korean investment in US naval yards rather less unlikely.
Rachel Reeves was celebrating the renting law being expanded in her constituency, at the same time she was breaking that law with her own house👇
Claiming that she wasn’t aware of these laws is about as credible as her CV.
https://x.com/kemibadenoch/status/1983802829971100152?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
With France in the middle.
Hardly a recommendation of NPXMP's vision of high rise renting.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/oct/30/uk-woman-who-booked-oslo-flight-but-did-not-fly-loses-child-benefit-because-she-emigrated
A woman who booked a flight from London to Oslo but never checked in or travelled has had her child benefit stopped by the UK government. Tax authorities told her their records showed she had emigrated.
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/foreignaffairs/20251030/seoul-scores-diplomatic-victory-as-trump-gives-nod-to-nuclear-sub-plan
South Korea has received Washington's approval to build its first nuclear-powered submarine, in what analysts describe as a diplomatic win for Seoul in its long-sought bid to strengthen maritime power amid growing nuclear threats from North Korea.
Observers say the move also underscores Seoul's deeper alignment with Washington's strategy to contain China in the Indo-Pacific region, which could provoke a backlash from Beijing.
The agreement was reached following a summit on Wednesday between President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, held on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
"I have given them approval to build a Nuclear Powered Submarine, rather than the old fashioned, and far less nimble, diesel powered Submarines that they have now," Trump wrote on social media Thursday, referring to his meeting with Lee.
In a separate post, Trump added that Seoul will build its first nuclear submarine at Hanwha Philly Shipyard, which is now owned by Hanwha Ocean, a major Korean defense company.
Hanwa acquired the Philadelphia shipyard at the end of last year.
The obsession, as you call it, of owning a property is about security. You have financial security because you have the insanely generous MP pension, the rest of the country doesn't have that.
We’ve underestimated the power of humour in political revolutions
If Keir Starmer could make us laugh like Donald Trump or Nigel Farage, he’d be doing far better in the opinion polls
https://www.thetimes.com/article/8bf371f4-60cd-43cd-8630-38b3379d4234?shareToken=ba355668e6540468ea33650392785872
The thing is, a lot of those elements in themselves are sat in the early stages, done very selectively - much of the ordinary judiciary is unaffected, if you read the Wikis on each ICE deployment there are day by day flashpoints, but they are small in number and full military rule doesn't seem too apparent on the streets yet - touches of it in Chicago perhaps.
If you say we are nearly there, a lot of people might go, well if we're at stage 6 already, authoritarianism isn't that bad. They didn't come to eat the face of anyone I know yet. What that misses is that stage 4/5/6 themselves are in their very early rollout, select cities even on the Blue side, deployments still claimed to be time limited for fiscal reasons. It's sort of like saying Universal Credit was rolled out by 2013.
This is what I'm saying comes with a risk and an opportunity. Trump could hold back if there is any political expedience to be had in not going too much further with this. But also, those mid stages could still be applied far, far more widely.
There is also a loyalty factor - loyalty to the flag, the constitution. I don't see this as being done by outright military disobedience, for which people would be replaced, but almost every US soldier from the brass down has grown up in a full democracy with that drilled into them. Any command can be diluted and minimally complied with if it looks too obviously anti-democratic, and in the end the clash politics is trying to invite doesn't come to pass and not much hapoens. You might think ICE have already passed this point, but day by day, action by action, perhaps some element of this does apply.
It could be wishful thinking, but the extent to which democracy is culturally embedded in the US is materially different from post-WW1 German democracy, from Hungarian or South American democracy and that might dictate that some of the individual flashpoints that could happen don't, that the standard playbook of sending Texans into Chicago doesn't play out as full impunity, and that the way back from this is less fraught than supposed.
Yes, it's serious, but I retain the chink of hope that America's slide is not terminal.
I really like that. From economic policy to sucking up to China to housing reform to screwing up our education system, it should be this government's epitaph.
Or is it that she inadvertently breached the regulation, is taking steps to correct that, and that should (probably) be the end of the matter ?
As I commented on the last thread, assuming that Reeves is not a rogue landlord (which so far seems to be the case), and has in place gas and electric verification, EPC, etc, then it is ridiculous to be calling for her resignation.
The purpose of regulation is to ensure the safety of the property. It is not an end in itself, and to see an inadvertent breach of the rules, quickly rectified, as a resignation matter is effectively to say that regulation is indeed an end in itself.
Does the Tory party really want to take that stance, that regulation is an end in itself, and any technical breach should result in fines or criminal prosecution ?
If so, then the party is in a worse state than I thought.
https://x.com/ProjectLincoln/status/1983847598365798785
@DesiLydic
https://x.com/TheDailyShow/status/1983716467502612922
2 Part of the current Conservative denial is "the things we did weren't so bad, it was awfully unfair that we were punished so badly for them". See "ambushed by a cake", the attempt to make Currygate a thing, passim ad nauseum. Letting him without sin cast the first stone is an excellent ideal (and I try, unsucessfully, to live by it), but it isn't practical politics or the basis of a good legal system.
3 It's a local council rule, so whatever happens in Leeds has little to do with what happens in South London. It's a squirming offence, not a sacking one.
4 I do hope that every Conservative MP has their landlording paperwork totally up-to-date.
They've had to deal with a nearby, unpredictable, and not very friendly superpower since the inception of the republic.
The US is just a bit further away.
I believe but don't know that on the continent extremely long rentals is common. My experience in the UK has been short term. I think that makes a difference.
That neither the government nor anyone in opposition seems to be interested in even considering that argument is deeply depressing.
This in itself is a very minor example, and looks to be not much more than a temporary embarrassment for Reeves.
But a smart opposition could be making a much larger point from it, rather than make themselves look as petty as every other politician.