Gotta say I agree with some of the Reform bods on twitter asking why we don't have a Type 45 off Cyprus. And wtf is our only submarine doing in Australia.
Deeply sceptical of increases to Defence spending but making sure what we have works, and we have the personnel and facilities to allow that to happen, would be a worthy investment. Along with our own missile system for Trident.
French-Greek force to defend Cyprus. Macron sending a frigate.and anti-drone systems, to back up the Greek F-16's and frigates. Interestimg development, although the French influence in the Mediterranean has been building for more than a decade now, via the EU-Med organisation.
The thanks the Cypriots get for having their tourism industry trashed by being a target because of the British bases there is a big fat zero from the UK government.
So, a question for the Greens. Are they going to be able to field enough candidates in May to make the sort of breakthrough results we saw with Reform that could translate into a more sustained boost? I'm thinking yes in London, not a chance elsewhere?
Remember folks: there is no right answer for who to vote for. All the parties have it wrong in one way or another. I read the usual complaints about the Greens doing Bad Things to the economy. How does that make them any different to the Tories or Labour?
This country has stagnated to a stop. The only movement is debt repayment as everything else crumbles. That chart yesterday showing the state of the Royal Navy was all you need to see about how pathetic we now are.
Voting for the LabCon as "they're not as extreme as Reform/Greens" isn't enough. And it isn't true - in the last decade we have had both halves of the LabCon led by a lunatic.
Pointing out the Greens faults with their economic policies, as I did a few posts back hence your dig, is hardly an endorsement of Labour or the Tories or any other party when it comes to the economy. I’ve merrily criticised the both of them as have many others.
The Greens are second now, they should be subject to scrutiny, and quite frankly their belief in MMT and taking on the bond markets is nuts and, at least, the other parties aren’t that daft.
Or, now, when we criticise a party do we need to add a rider condemning other parties too ?
Wasn't having a dig at you or anyone individually. Our politics as a whole is throwing a collective fit at the rise of Reform and now the rise of the Greens.
I have little doubt that the political establishment would be quite happy for the challenger parties to recede and go back to the good old days of the duopoly. Its safe, predictable, easy to manipulate. And has slowly and now with increasing speed brought our country to its knees.
So we need to do *something* different, which is why I keep saying Liz Truss was right. Her analysis at least, even though her political skills were dreadful. So you're right that the Greens need scrutiny - as do Reform and yet no scrutiny has been forthcoming.
In any crisis you need that moment of clarity - we are in crisis, here is the issue, what can we do. The reason why we are in such a mess is that people keep denying the crisis. At least the populists recognise that, whether we agree with their policies or not.
I do agree that we need to try different things, but this “crisis” narrative needs to go. At some point in the next few years, more by luck than judgement and driven by international policies and events which have nothing to do with us, one government or another will get a couple of years of decent growth, leveraging the underlying strength of our economy, and everything will look a bit different.
Ladbrokes has scrapped its whole list of UK politics specials! I guess whoever got the job of funding the next staff Xmas party with far-fetched but sounding-halfway-possible eventualities for credulous punters to back, will soon be looking for new employment?!
Surely the chump at sky vegas that offered 10/1 on SKS getting less votes than Corbyn 2017 had been sacked on the back of my winnings alone.
Pollster note: This is the highest we've had the Greens, the first time we've had them in second. It is also the lowest we have had Labour.
Stats fans..... Reform - lowest with YG since LE 25 and 1 point above lowest since the GE with YG Green - highest with anyone, ever Lab - lowest ever share with YG Con - joint lowest with YG since GE LD - one above lowest with YG since GE
I think 9 points is the lowest 5 party spread ever
There's more political acumen in a flea circus than in the British public.
2019 - Boris Johnson - "Yay - give him a big majority!"
2024 - Keir Starmer - "Yay - give him a huge majority!"
2025 - Nigel Farage - "Yay - give him the PM job!"
2026 - that Green plumber with the mountain of crazy hair "She'll do..."
Relatedly more ability to deliver in a flea circus than in the British political classes.
Remind me who leads Relatedly again? I can't keep track of all the new Re- parties!
If a decent chunk of those green voters actually understand what policies they are voting for, then the country is screwed. Reform would be bad, but reversible after they fell. The Greens? At that stage it would be everyone for themselves and try to hang in and survive it.
Thinking Reform are less dangerous than the Greens... tell me you're white without telling me you're white...
French-Greek force to defend Cyprus. Macron sending a frigate.and anti-drone systems, to back up the Greek F-16's and frigates. Curious times.
Good morning, everyone.
Not a good look for Starmer/the UK.
Mind you, the Greeks need to be on their toes given maritime disputes with Turkey.
Consequence of historic Labour and Tory defence decisions. We have no useful ships free to send.
This is one of the things that shows we weren’t really consulted or warned. In “normal times” we’d have been able to line something up to paper over the cracks.
Remember folks: there is no right answer for who to vote for. All the parties have it wrong in one way or another. I read the usual complaints about the Greens doing Bad Things to the economy. How does that make them any different to the Tories or Labour?
This country has stagnated to a stop. The only movement is debt repayment as everything else crumbles. That chart yesterday showing the state of the Royal Navy was all you need to see about how pathetic we now are.
Voting for the LabCon as "they're not as extreme as Reform/Greens" isn't enough. And it isn't true - in the last decade we have had both halves of the LabCon led by a lunatic.
Pointing out the Greens faults with their economic policies, as I did a few posts back hence your dig, is hardly an endorsement of Labour or the Tories or any other party when it comes to the economy. I’ve merrily criticised the both of them as have many others.
The Greens are second now, they should be subject to scrutiny, and quite frankly their belief in MMT and taking on the bond markets is nuts and, at least, the other parties aren’t that daft.
Or, now, when we criticise a party do we need to add a rider condemning other parties too ?
Wasn't having a dig at you or anyone individually. Our politics as a whole is throwing a collective fit at the rise of Reform and now the rise of the Greens.
I have little doubt that the political establishment would be quite happy for the challenger parties to recede and go back to the good old days of the duopoly. Its safe, predictable, easy to manipulate. And has slowly and now with increasing speed brought our country to its knees.
So we need to do *something* different, which is why I keep saying Liz Truss was right. Her analysis at least, even though her political skills were dreadful. So you're right that the Greens need scrutiny - as do Reform and yet no scrutiny has been forthcoming.
In any crisis you need that moment of clarity - we are in crisis, here is the issue, what can we do. The reason why we are in such a mess is that people keep denying the crisis. At least the populists recognise that, whether we agree with their policies or not.
I do agree that we need to try different things, but this “crisis” narrative needs to go. At some point in the next few years, more by luck than judgement and driven by international policies and events which have nothing to do with us, one government or another will get a couple of years of decent growth, leveraging the underlying strength of our economy, and everything will look a bit different.
What underlying strength of our economy? What do we make? What do we own? Far less than we should on both measures.
A couple of years of weak growth won't fix anything. We need a long term plan for restoring our economy and that means a shitload of smart investment.
If a decent chunk of those green voters actually understand what policies they are voting for, then the country is screwed. Reform would be bad, but reversible after they fell. The Greens? At that stage it would be everyone for themselves and try to hang in and survive it.
Maybe f***ing up the country by accident is way more easy than actually doing it deliberately?
French-Greek force to defend Cyprus. Macron sending a frigate.and anti-drone systems, to back up the Greek F-16's and frigates. Interestimg development, although the French influence in the Mediterranean has been building for more than a decade now, via the EU-Med organisation.
Looks more like logistics. Better to have a frigate from Toulon than wait for something out of Portsmouth.
Mind you I was in Cadiz this week. Some scary looking tough guys about but they’ve taken their ball home.
So, a question for the Greens. Are they going to be able to field enough candidates in May to make the sort of breakthrough results we saw with Reform that could translate into a more sustained boost? I'm thinking yes in London, not a chance elsewhere?
Greens now have over 200 000 members, but also a core that have been around for years. They are looking in a strong position going into the May locals in England. I think PC have their ecological niche in Wales.
Pollster note: This is the highest we've had the Greens, the first time we've had them in second. It is also the lowest we have had Labour.
Stats fans..... Reform - lowest with YG since LE 25 and 1 point above lowest since the GE with YG Green - highest with anyone, ever Lab - lowest ever share with YG Con - joint lowest with YG since GE LD - one above lowest with YG since GE
I think 9 points is the lowest 5 party spread ever
There's more political acumen in a flea circus than in the British public.
2019 - Boris Johnson - "Yay - give him a big majority!"
2024 - Keir Starmer - "Yay - give him a huge majority!"
2025 - Nigel Farage - "Yay - give him the PM job!"
2026 - that Green plumber with the mountain of crazy hair "She'll do..."
We're not happy campers right now. Life is not quite as good as it was a couple of decades ago, and a fair bit worse than it would have been had easy economic growth continued.
So it's not surprising that we're all looking for a new face pointing to a way out, or a way back. It was the sentiment that underpinned 2016 as well.
Trouble is, that's the kind of mindset that leads to individuals and electorates making really bad decisions, putting a lot of trust in people who can promise the Earth because they haven't begun to think about the challenges in delivering it.
Blaming billionaires for the loss of the Good Old Days is probably preferable to blaming immigrants; punching up is always more wholesome than punching down. But it's still blaming a Them, so it's probably little more useful.
Pollster note: This is the highest we've had the Greens, the first time we've had them in second. It is also the lowest we have had Labour.
Stats fans..... Reform - lowest with YG since LE 25 and 1 point above lowest since the GE with YG Green - highest with anyone, ever Lab - lowest ever share with YG Con - joint lowest with YG since GE LD - one above lowest with YG since GE
I think 9 points is the lowest 5 party spread ever
There's more political acumen in a flea circus than in the British public.
2019 - Boris Johnson - "Yay - give him a big majority!"
2024 - Keir Starmer - "Yay - give him a huge majority!"
2025 - Nigel Farage - "Yay - give him the PM job!"
2026 - that Green plumber with the mountain of crazy hair "She'll do..."
We're not happy campers right now. Life is not quite as good as it was a couple of decades ago, and a fair bit worse than it would have been had easy economic growth continued.
So it's not surprising that we're all looking for a new face pointing to a way out, or a way back. It was the sentiment that underpinned 2016 as well.
Trouble is, that's the kind of mindset that leads to individuals and electorates making really bad decisions, putting a lot of trust in people who can promise the Earth because they haven't begun to think about the challenges in delivering it.
Blaming billionaires for the loss of the Good Old Days is probably preferable to blaming immigrants; punching up is always more wholesome than punching down. But it's still blaming a Them, so it's probably little more useful.
The problem is that blaming “billionaires”, people who have choices as to where they live and where they operate or list their companies, can very quickly make your country’s finances considerably worse for everyone.
Pollster note: This is the highest we've had the Greens, the first time we've had them in second. It is also the lowest we have had Labour.
Stats fans..... Reform - lowest with YG since LE 25 and 1 point above lowest since the GE with YG Green - highest with anyone, ever Lab - lowest ever share with YG Con - joint lowest with YG since GE LD - one above lowest with YG since GE
I think 9 points is the lowest 5 party spread ever
There's more political acumen in a flea circus than in the British public.
2019 - Boris Johnson - "Yay - give him a big majority!"
2024 - Keir Starmer - "Yay - give him a huge majority!"
2025 - Nigel Farage - "Yay - give him the PM job!"
2026 - that Green plumber with the mountain of crazy hair "She'll do..."
We're not happy campers right now. Life is not quite as good as it was a couple of decades ago, and a fair bit worse than it would have been had easy economic growth continued.
So it's not surprising that we're all looking for a new face pointing to a way out, or a way back. It was the sentiment that underpinned 2016 as well.
Trouble is, that's the kind of mindset that leads to individuals and electorates making really bad decisions, putting a lot of trust in people who can promise the Earth because they haven't begun to think about the challenges in delivering it.
Blaming billionaires for the loss of the Good Old Days is probably preferable to blaming immigrants; punching up is always more wholesome than punching down. But it's still blaming a Them, so it's probably little more useful.
Hence Farage's masterstroke of bringing in a bunch of new top people with experience of having failed already, forcing voters to view his lot more dispassionately?
Pollster note: This is the highest we've had the Greens, the first time we've had them in second. It is also the lowest we have had Labour.
Suspicious family voting patterns in the Yougov polling respondents?
Not surprising in immediate aftermath of Denton.
Equal drop in Tory vote to Labour vote to Greens is a surprise.
It will be interesting to to see first Polls done totally Sunday and Monday to see Iran fall out as Tory and reform unequivocally supporting war has seen specific polling suggesting very unpopular.
Labour change of leader has been factored in for months, Tory change now looks equally inevitable based on both Polls
I have no doubt that a Green government would have a run from Mr. Market that would make Truss's descent look glacial in comparison.
What we really need is for a smaller unit to be run by the Greens, with full exposure of their policies. So we can look on in slack-jawed amazement at how bad it gets, how quickly.
Maybe the Isle of Man?
Or Frome.
The Greens are well aware of the need to keep the bond market happy, in a way that Truss was not. I think they're less likely to see a bond market revolt than Burnham would be.
Gotta say I agree with some of the Reform bods on twitter asking why we don't have a Type 45 off Cyprus. And wtf is our only submarine doing in Australia.
Deeply sceptical of increases to Defence spending but making sure what we have works, and we have the personnel and facilities to allow that to happen, would be a worthy investment. Along with our own missile system for Trident.
Britain has had several decades of cheese-paring defence spending, with consequent short-term decisions being made to save money, while the politicians use the military to pose on the global stage, and commit to buying big ticket items (like the carriers, or Trident replacement) without allocating the funding to pay for them.
The capability has been hollowed out, what remains is massively reliant on acting together with the US to prop it up, and Starmer is cutting funding for conventional capability even further (because Trident replacement is cannibalising the defence budget) so things are only going to get worse.
Britain is heading for another shock to its military self-esteem to rival the fall of Singapore. Only this time it could come in the form of Russian missiles plunging the country into darkness for weeks.
Pollster note: This is the highest we've had the Greens, the first time we've had them in second. It is also the lowest we have had Labour.
Too many lessons to learn in one go. But chief amongst them if this isn't a flash in the pan
1. Green becoming the leading party of the left is great news. Zack has done what Blair did and managed to tune into left leaning and centrist voters by having decent values.
The Greens are about to recruit Lord Mandelson, flog peerages for loans and invade a random Middle Eastern country?
Just when you thought British politics could get no more insane...
Comments
Deeply sceptical of increases to Defence spending but making sure what we have works, and we have the personnel and facilities to allow that to happen, would be a worthy investment. Along with our own missile system for Trident.
I'm thinking yes in London, not a chance elsewhere?
NEW THREAD
This is one of the things that shows we weren’t really consulted or warned. In “normal times” we’d have been able to line something up to paper over the cracks.
A couple of years of weak growth won't fix anything. We need a long term plan for restoring our economy and that means a shitload of smart investment.
What next, a cinema for maggots? A financial district for aphids?
This catering to tiny minorities has gone way too far
Mind you I was in Cadiz this week. Some scary looking tough guys about but they’ve taken their ball home.
(OK, this joke may need more work.)
Ask Francois Hollande. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/31/france-drops-75percent-supertax
Equal drop in Tory vote to Labour vote to Greens is a surprise.
It will be interesting to to see first Polls done totally Sunday and Monday to see Iran fall out as Tory and reform unequivocally supporting war has seen specific polling suggesting very unpopular.
Labour change of leader has been factored in for months, Tory change now looks equally inevitable based on both Polls
Friday’s running being delayed or cancelled would be a good market though, there’s a lot of F1 peeps affected by the Gulf airspace closures.
The capability has been hollowed out, what remains is massively reliant on acting together with the US to prop it up, and Starmer is cutting funding for conventional capability even further (because Trident replacement is cannibalising the defence budget) so things are only going to get worse.
Britain is heading for another shock to its military self-esteem to rival the fall of Singapore. Only this time it could come in the form of Russian missiles plunging the country into darkness for weeks.
As for the UK, I think we just don't have the ships.
It seems quite a liberty to take away in the middle of a city.