How has American fallen like this? No Kings and so on. Very sad.
It has been a remarkable transition over the last 10 years. No presidential candidate or president has engendered such passionate devotion that I can recall in my lifetime. Checks and balances, independence, dignity, all have been jettisoned as barriers to Trumpism.
The Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz, thinks it's OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. He doesn't know what he's talking about! If Iran had a Nuclear Weapon, the whole World would be held hostage. I am doing something with Iran, right now, that other Nations, or Presidents, should have done long ago. No wonder Germany is doing so poorly, both Economically, and otherwise! President DONALD J. TRUMP
He’s projecting again in yet another unhinged rant. How does he find time to do it in among all the other things he’s doing?
Or, incredibly, has he found a media manager who is as stupid and dishonest as he is?
James Comey has been indicted by the Trump Justice Department — again.
This time, Comey has been indicted on charges alleging he made threats against Trump in that May 2025 social post of a picture of shells on the beach that spelled out "8647." https://x.com/kylegriffin1/status/2049190337411780845
Can anyone explain the significance of that please?
86ing someone is killing them I believe. 47 is Trump's second presidential term.
That's a very large stretch. It could equally mean impeach the fucker. Or 25th him, etc.
James Comey has been indicted by the Trump Justice Department — again.
This time, Comey has been indicted on charges alleging he made threats against Trump in that May 2025 social post of a picture of shells on the beach that spelled out "8647." https://x.com/kylegriffin1/status/2049190337411780845
Can anyone explain the significance of that please?
The Justice Department are there to go after people who have upset Mushroom Shaped, however deranged the charges.
James Comey has been indicted by the Trump Justice Department — again.
This time, Comey has been indicted on charges alleging he made threats against Trump in that May 2025 social post of a picture of shells on the beach that spelled out "8647." https://x.com/kylegriffin1/status/2049190337411780845
Can anyone explain the significance of that please?
86ing someone is killing them I believe. 47 is Trump's second presidential term.
That's a very large stretch. It could equally mean impeach the fucker. Or 25th him, etc.
Indeed, I expect it meant 'get rid of Trump', and whilst I've heard 86 used to mean kill - typically in crime dramas - a conviction on that basis would seem like a stretch.
False precision is rife in this debate, as Fishing says, but one thing we can say for sure about Brexit is that people who voted for it on the grounds it would help the economy are still waiting for some decent evidence of it. The consensus is if anything the opposite. Ditto that it would make us stronger and more influential in the world. The opposite has transpired there too. Same on immigration. Far from taking the heat out of that it's become an even more contentious issue.
Which leaves the sovereignty angle. That the point of Brexit was Brexit itself. It's a success by dint of having happened. For better or worse - with most metrics thus far indicating worse - we have taken back control. Forget all the rest, it is argued, this is the Brexit benefit. Pretty much the only one but nevertheless potentially big enough to justify almost a decade of division, paralysis and distraction.
So what I'd like to ask Leave voters, given the importance of this, is do they feel it? Do they feel more sovereign now we aren't in the EU? Is the supposed Brexit dividend of being more in control something real and tangible to them? But wait, we don't have to ask them because the polls tell us the answer. Many of them now think it was a mistake and most of those who don't remain so hacked off they want to hand power to Nigel Farage and his bunch of chancers, fantasists and unsavouries. All in all, it's not a good report card.
Dan Hannan's ludicrous article with his fantasy of life after Brexit springs to mind. That's what Brexiteers promised.
Some in this thread suggest that the overall effect of Brexit on the economy, and perhaps more generally, was fairly minor. Maybe that's correct, but had that been the prospectus offered, would people have voted for Brexit? No.
I remember that. Bit of a pipedream. Fwiw I can accept (without agreeing with) a pov that the economic impact is marginal. It's impossible to prove that stuff because so many things impact the economy.
It's the 'sovereignty' argument that interests me more. I mean, technically, yes of course we have more now since less is pooled. But that for me is a reductive, superficial view of what sovereignty means.
I'd rather pose a couple of practical questions. As a consequence of Brexit is Britain more influential in the world? As a consequence of Brexit do the people of Britain have more control over their lives? It's hard to answer yes to either.
So what was it all for other than to gratify and empower a crew of reactionary right wing ideologues plus Boris Johnson? Answers on a postcard.
Broadly I would say Brexit has two upsides and four downsides for the UK.
Upsides: 1. Flexibility. The EU takes forever to come to decision. The UK can be more nimble, eg Covid vaccines. 2. Greater accountability due to decisions being made closer to those affected by them.
Downsides: 1. Stresses the integrity of the United Kingdom. I think Northern Ireland is probably gone long term. Scotland less certain but Brexit doesn't help. Both nations voted Remain for good reasons. If you are an English, Irish or Scottish nationalist you obviously don't care about the existence of the United Kingdom, but it is the country we live in. 2. Loss of personal freedom and liberty, particularly to trade and go where you want This aim is incompatible with greater government control afforded by Brexit, eg on immigration. Some people prefer government control to liberty, which is why I haven't put that as an upside. Mileages may vary on this. 3. Economic loss - the subject of this series of headers 4. Loss of influence. This a lot more hard nosed than people think. It means getting more of what we want as a nation.
I do think the European Union is a net force for the good, so I am glad it exists, regardless of UK membership. Talking here about how Brexit affects the UK specifically.
The loss of influence argument works more in theory than in practice.
In theory we're no longer at the top table in Europe; in practice, it's the E3 states of Britain, France and Germany setting out a position on Iran and Britain has obviously been very influential over the course of events in Ukraine (more so than post-2014).
I would say the loss of influence through Brexit is real and of greater consequence than people think. Nevertheless it's a side effect of leaving rather than a reason to stay in the EU per se. Inhabitants of smaller countries don't spend a lot of time worrying their country has less influence than bigger countries.
As a Leaver I agree with this. We have obviously lost diplomatic and geopolitical clout by quitting the EU. One needs to be honest
On the upside we have gained important freedoms that we haven’t even tried to exploit (and Remainers seldom recognise this). It needs a proper right wing government with a clever leadership and some tungsten cullions to do that
Clearly, sadly, we could be waiting a long time
So Brexit only makes sense if accompanied by a very right wing government. That does explain a few things.
Well yes. If you are going to generate hassle in order to have the freedom to do things differently to our neighbours, you need to do things differently, or what's the point?
That the things that would justify the hassle are things that most Britons don't particularly want to do is part of why we are where we are.
James Comey has been indicted by the Trump Justice Department — again.
This time, Comey has been indicted on charges alleging he made threats against Trump in that May 2025 social post of a picture of shells on the beach that spelled out "8647." https://x.com/kylegriffin1/status/2049190337411780845
Can anyone explain the significance of that please?
86ing someone is killing them I believe. 47 is Trump's second presidential term.
That's a very large stretch. It could equally mean impeach the fucker. Or 25th him, etc.
Indeed, I expect it meant 'get rid of Trump', and whilst I've heard 86 used to mean kill - typically in crime dramas - a conviction on that basis would seem like a stretch.
I'm sure he'll be lambasted for this from all quarters..but we all know it's essentially the truth..😏
It is true, but our ambassadors shouldn't be saying such things in places they may be recorded or reported on. It isn't an ambassador's job to give on point political commentary to students, and though informal and not government position it can distract from his job.
James Comey has been indicted by the Trump Justice Department — again.
This time, Comey has been indicted on charges alleging he made threats against Trump in that May 2025 social post of a picture of shells on the beach that spelled out "8647." https://x.com/kylegriffin1/status/2049190337411780845
Can anyone explain the significance of that please?
Matthew @MatthewTorbitt · 1h No10 source confirms to me there will be a reshuffle next Saturday to try and move the news cycle on from what is expected to be a dreadful night for Labour
“Soft left” Lucy Powell expected to be back, Rayner to be offered, Kyle gone, Kendall possibly.
The Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz, thinks it's OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. He doesn't know what he's talking about! If Iran had a Nuclear Weapon, the whole World would be held hostage. I am doing something with Iran, right now, that other Nations, or Presidents, should have done long ago. No wonder Germany is doing so poorly, both Economically, and otherwise! President DONALD J. TRUMP
If only there's been some kind of negotiated agreement with Iran where they agreed not to work on a nuclear weapon.
Matthew @MatthewTorbitt · 1h No10 source confirms to me there will be a reshuffle next Saturday to try and move the news cycle on from what is expected to be a dreadful night for Labour
“Soft left” Lucy Powell expected to be back, Rayner to be offered, Kyle gone, Kendall possibly.
So after all the gloom, it looks that after our trade deal with the EU and trade deals with other nations our economy has grown. While it seems the slogan on the Leave bus of more money for our NHS from the end of net contributions to the EU had some merit after all.
Big applause for the King in his address to the Congress as he cites the citing of Magna Carta rights on curbing executive power in the Bill of Rights and US Constitution
As an aside, it has probably already been mentioned on here but according to the IMF the UK has regained 5th place in the largest GDP rankings.
I am amused because it obviously something for all sides to bemoan. Right wing Brexiteer types will hate it because it happened under Starmer's reign and left wing Remainer types will hate it because it undermines the argument that Brexit was an economic disaster.
I don't begin to actually understand what is going on. I leave it to you clever PB types to make the case one way or another.
It seems to me that the figure to keep an eye on is GDP per capita, adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP).
There we are 37th, which isn't a basket case, but a bit lower than we probs feel we should be. We are within 5% of countries like Canada, NZ, France, Italy, Finland.
In the middle, at 101% of world average is Egypt. In 100th place. China is 85th. India is 134th.
Standout among the plutocrats is Ireland, 3rd with GDP per capita, PPP, at 690% of the average. I have no idea how reliable all this data is.
As an aside, it has probably already been mentioned on here but according to the IMF the UK has regained 5th place in the largest GDP rankings.
I am amused because it obviously something for all sides to bemoan. Right wing Brexiteer types will hate it because it happened under Starmer's reign and left wing Remainer types will hate it because it undermines the argument that Brexit was an economic disaster.
I don't begin to actually understand what is going on. I leave it to you clever PB types to make the case one way or another.
It seems to me that the figure to keep an eye on is GDP per capita, adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP).
There we are 37th, which isn't a basket case, but a bit lower than we probs feel we should be. We are within 5% of countries like Canada, NZ, France, Italy, Finland.
In the middle, at 101% of world average is Egypt. In 100th place. China is 85th. India is 134th.
Standout among the plutocrats is Ireland, 3rd with GDP per capita, PPP, at 690% of the average. I have no idea how reliable all this data is.
As an aside, it has probably already been mentioned on here but according to the IMF the UK has regained 5th place in the largest GDP rankings.
I am amused because it obviously something for all sides to bemoan. Right wing Brexiteer types will hate it because it happened under Starmer's reign and left wing Remainer types will hate it because it undermines the argument that Brexit was an economic disaster.
I don't begin to actually understand what is going on. I leave it to you clever PB types to make the case one way or another.
It seems to me that the figure to keep an eye on is GDP per capita, adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP).
There we are 37th, which isn't a basket case, but a bit lower than we probs feel we should be. We are within 5% of countries like Canada, NZ, France, Italy, Finland.
In the middle, at 101% of world average is Egypt. In 100th place. China is 85th. India is 134th.
Standout among the plutocrats is Ireland, 3rd with GDP per capita, PPP, at 690% of the average. I have no idea how reliable all this data is.
Big applause for the King in his address to the Congress as he cites the citing of Magna Carta rights on curbing executive power in the Bill of Rights and US Constitution
I'd love if he played it as a regretful change.
"Sadly, my ancestors had their powers curtailed over time, I am glad to see the USA appears to be reversing that approach".
James Comey has been indicted by the Trump Justice Department — again.
This time, Comey has been indicted on charges alleging he made threats against Trump in that May 2025 social post of a picture of shells on the beach that spelled out "8647." https://x.com/kylegriffin1/status/2049190337411780845
Can anyone explain the significance of that please?
47th President of the US being 86ed?
86 being restaurant code for 'cancelled'.
Precisely.
Along those lines, the next Democratic Senate should seek to revive the Roman damnatio memoriae.
As an aside, it has probably already been mentioned on here but according to the IMF the UK has regained 5th place in the largest GDP rankings.
I am amused because it obviously something for all sides to bemoan. Right wing Brexiteer types will hate it because it happened under Starmer's reign and left wing Remainer types will hate it because it undermines the argument that Brexit was an economic disaster.
I don't begin to actually understand what is going on. I leave it to you clever PB types to make the case one way or another.
It seems to me that the figure to keep an eye on is GDP per capita, adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP).
There we are 37th, which isn't a basket case, but a bit lower than we probs feel we should be. We are within 5% of countries like Canada, NZ, France, Italy, Finland.
In the middle, at 101% of world average is Egypt. In 100th place. China is 85th. India is 134th.
Standout among the plutocrats is Ireland, 3rd with GDP per capita, PPP, at 690% of the average. I have no idea how reliable all this data is.
James Comey has been indicted by the Trump Justice Department — again.
This time, Comey has been indicted on charges alleging he made threats against Trump in that May 2025 social post of a picture of shells on the beach that spelled out "8647." https://x.com/kylegriffin1/status/2049190337411780845
Can anyone explain the significance of that please?
Big applause for the King in his address to the Congress as he cites the citing of Magna Carta rights on curbing executive power in the Bill of Rights and US Constitution
Whoever wrote the speech did a good job of making it bipartisan while giving the Democrats plenty of applause lines. Charles has them eating out of his hand.
They should have let Charles wear his state robes and crown when speaking to Congress, that woud make for an amusing image - though it might give Trump ideas.
Big applause for the King in his address to the Congress as he cites the citing of Magna Carta rights on curbing executive power in the Bill of Rights and US Constitution
Whoever wrote the speech did a good job of making it bipartisan while giving the Democrats plenty of applause lines. Charles has them eating out of his hand.
As an aside, it has probably already been mentioned on here but according to the IMF the UK has regained 5th place in the largest GDP rankings.
I am amused because it obviously something for all sides to bemoan. Right wing Brexiteer types will hate it because it happened under Starmer's reign and left wing Remainer types will hate it because it undermines the argument that Brexit was an economic disaster.
I don't begin to actually understand what is going on. I leave it to you clever PB types to make the case one way or another.
It seems to me that the figure to keep an eye on is GDP per capita, adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP).
There we are 37th, which isn't a basket case, but a bit lower than we probs feel we should be. We are within 5% of countries like Canada, NZ, France, Italy, Finland.
In the middle, at 101% of world average is Egypt. In 100th place. China is 85th. India is 134th.
Standout among the plutocrats is Ireland, 3rd with GDP per capita, PPP, at 690% of the average. I have no idea how reliable all this data is.
The data is reasonably reliable, but for a country that is a tax haven like Ireland it's not particularly meaningful.
In Ireland's case you have a bunch of companies who are reporting economic activity that has happened across Europe, or EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), to their European office in Ireland, inflating Ireland's GDP statistics, providing a public financing boost, but not reflecting economic activity that is happening in Ireland.
Ireland itself tends to look more at a statistic called Modified Domestic Demand to measure the performance of the local economy, but I wouldn't know where that would put Ireland in such a table.
Big applause for the King in his address to the Congress as he cites the citing of Magna Carta rights on curbing executive power in the Bill of Rights and US Constitution
I'd love if he played it as a regretful change.
"Sadly, my ancestors had their powers curtailed over time, I am glad to see the USA appears to be reversing that approach".
I am especially pleased to see that the son of an illegal immigrant is poised to become your King...
I’ve been in Sunderland today ahead of local elections. To say Labour is facing an absolute bloodbath in a city that has been Red since 1974 doesn’t do it justice. The local elections are just the start; Bridget Phillipson will lose Houghton and Sunderland South. But it’s not rage that I picked up on. More an ice-cold disdain. And a resolve that felt almost eerie. After decades of being taken for granted, voters aren’t after revenge. They seek liquidation. While the Mandelson saga hasn’t particularly cut through, Starmer’s name is mud. Words I heard today: “arrogant”, “fake”, “snake”, “a total gobshite”. An extinction-level event is brewing in the North East.
Guess no-one else is watching the Welsh debate then...
I hope they have to answer half the questions in welsh.
That would have been a problem for Vaughan Gething or Neil Hamilton, but Eluned Morgan and Rhun ap Iorwerth are native speakers and Millar at least speaks it.
Guess no-one else is watching the Welsh debate then...
I hope they have to answer half the questions in welsh.
That would have been a problem for Vaughan Gething or Neil Hamilton, but Eluned Morgan and Rhun ap Iorwerth are native speakers and Millar at least speaks it.
Now be fair to Hamilton, he was probably the best resident of Wiltshire to serve in the Welsh Parliament.
They should have let Charles wear his state robes and crown when speaking to Congress, that woud make for an amusing image - though it might give Trump ideas.
Trump looked a bit of a fool the last time he put on robes and a crown. He thought he was a doctor, apparently.
I’ve been in Sunderland today ahead of local elections. To say Labour is facing an absolute bloodbath in a city that has been Red since 1974 doesn’t do it justice. The local elections are just the start; Bridget Phillipson will lose Houghton and Sunderland South. But it’s not rage that I picked up on. More an ice-cold disdain. And a resolve that felt almost eerie. After decades of being taken for granted, voters aren’t after revenge. They seek liquidation. While the Mandelson saga hasn’t particularly cut through, Starmer’s name is mud. Words I heard today: “arrogant”, “fake”, “snake”, “a total gobshite”. An extinction-level event is brewing in the North East.
Sunderland has been rocking for awhile. In 2019 Tory plus Brexit was higher than the Labour voteshare in two of the three seats, and whilst we cannot assume the two could actually be combined without any loss, I think it shows some proper potential. And I think in some locals in the last 10 years there's been some major swings in the city, even if in the end it all returned home.
As an aside, it has probably already been mentioned on here but according to the IMF the UK has regained 5th place in the largest GDP rankings.
I am amused because it obviously something for all sides to bemoan. Right wing Brexiteer types will hate it because it happened under Starmer's reign and left wing Remainer types will hate it because it undermines the argument that Brexit was an economic disaster.
I don't begin to actually understand what is going on. I leave it to you clever PB types to make the case one way or another.
It seems to me that the figure to keep an eye on is GDP per capita, adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP).
There we are 37th, which isn't a basket case, but a bit lower than we probs feel we should be. We are within 5% of countries like Canada, NZ, France, Italy, Finland.
In the middle, at 101% of world average is Egypt. In 100th place. China is 85th. India is 134th.
Standout among the plutocrats is Ireland, 3rd with GDP per capita, PPP, at 690% of the average. I have no idea how reliable all this data is.
PPP is very subjective - just like those comparator indices in the Brexit paper I analysed. If you change some of the weights in your indices relatively little, you can cause a huge change in the results. And those weights are always a matter of opinion.
So, in their own way, they are as flawed as the unadjusted GDP numbers they are supposed to replace.
And they're relevant for different things. Unadjusted GDP is useful for looking at international financial and economic clout. PPP GDP is, if you get the indices right, a better indicator of standard of living.
Finally, the GDP numbers on which they are both based are pretty ropey and incomparable in many ways. Some countries use the income approach, some (most obviously the US) the expenditure approach and some a mixture of the income, expenditure and output approaches (the UK), which should reconcile, but of course never do. And you have all the problems about survey data, and some countries fiddling them and so on.
So both PPP and unadjusted GDP are valuable but not the answer - they're better thought of as big pieces of a larger puzzle.
It is all looking very much like they intercepted communications and KNEW the shooter was intending an attempted assassination. Many people commented on how lax the security was to get into the building, but very tight to get into the ballroom where the event was held.
I strongly suspect that Cash Patel knew of the Cole Allen plan. He told Trump, maybe others. It was agreed to let Allen get into the building but then take him out/down once inside. The 7 shots fired by the Secret Service went God knows where. (Apart from the one fired into a bullet proof vest - what happened to get one of their own shot when the "gunman" didn't discharge a weapon? Did they subcontract ICE guys for the job?)
The subsequent comments about the ballroom and the "librul weaponistion of the media" all played so pat that they looked well briefed on what was going to go down ahead of time and had talking points at the ready.
I’ve been in Sunderland today ahead of local elections. To say Labour is facing an absolute bloodbath in a city that has been Red since 1974 doesn’t do it justice. The local elections are just the start; Bridget Phillipson will lose Houghton and Sunderland South. But it’s not rage that I picked up on. More an ice-cold disdain. And a resolve that felt almost eerie. After decades of being taken for granted, voters aren’t after revenge. They seek liquidation. While the Mandelson saga hasn’t particularly cut through, Starmer’s name is mud. Words I heard today: “arrogant”, “fake”, “snake”, “a total gobshite”. An extinction-level event is brewing in the North East.
I’ve been in Sunderland today ahead of local elections. To say Labour is facing an absolute bloodbath in a city that has been Red since 1974 doesn’t do it justice. The local elections are just the start; Bridget Phillipson will lose Houghton and Sunderland South. But it’s not rage that I picked up on. More an ice-cold disdain. And a resolve that felt almost eerie. After decades of being taken for granted, voters aren’t after revenge. They seek liquidation. While the Mandelson saga hasn’t particularly cut through, Starmer’s name is mud. Words I heard today: “arrogant”, “fake”, “snake”, “a total gobshite”. An extinction-level event is brewing in the North East.
I’ve been in Sunderland today ahead of local elections. To say Labour is facing an absolute bloodbath in a city that has been Red since 1974 doesn’t do it justice. The local elections are just the start; Bridget Phillipson will lose Houghton and Sunderland South. But it’s not rage that I picked up on. More an ice-cold disdain. And a resolve that felt almost eerie. After decades of being taken for granted, voters aren’t after revenge. They seek liquidation. While the Mandelson saga hasn’t particularly cut through, Starmer’s name is mud. Words I heard today: “arrogant”, “fake”, “snake”, “a total gobshite”. An extinction-level event is brewing in the North East.
I think, hailing from there with lots of family and friends, she's probably on the money. Unless the polls change dramatically in the next 3 years all 3 Sunderland seats would go to Reform.
I’ve been in Sunderland today ahead of local elections. To say Labour is facing an absolute bloodbath in a city that has been Red since 1974 doesn’t do it justice. The local elections are just the start; Bridget Phillipson will lose Houghton and Sunderland South. But it’s not rage that I picked up on. More an ice-cold disdain. And a resolve that felt almost eerie. After decades of being taken for granted, voters aren’t after revenge. They seek liquidation. While the Mandelson saga hasn’t particularly cut through, Starmer’s name is mud. Words I heard today: “arrogant”, “fake”, “snake”, “a total gobshite”. An extinction-level event is brewing in the North East.
I think, hailing from there with lots of family and friends, she's probably on the money. Unless the polls change dramatically in the next 3 years all 3 Sunderland seats would go to Reform.
It’s what happens next that bothers me. They vote Reform desperate for change, things get worse, then what?
The Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz, thinks it's OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. He doesn't know what he's talking about! If Iran had a Nuclear Weapon, the whole World would be held hostage. I am doing something with Iran, right now, that other Nations, or Presidents, should have done long ago. No wonder Germany is doing so poorly, both Economically, and otherwise! President DONALD J. TRUMP
The senile dullard threatens the end of Iranian civilization, clearly implying a nuclear strike, and then thinks that its the Iranians that would hold the world to hostage?? If history teaches us anything, then don't start a war without any reference to your allies- except Netanyahu- then threaten those same allies, after you have already cost them billions.
NATO certainly was "there" in 2001, Now- as we say back home "get tae f*ck",
JD Vance, the only one in this administration sophisticated enough to actually understand how quietly subversive and trunculently critical that speech was, looked like a bulldog chewing a wasp, behind Charles III.
The others will have it explained to them later. Expect "rage-truth-ing" tonight.
I’ve been in Sunderland today ahead of local elections. To say Labour is facing an absolute bloodbath in a city that has been Red since 1974 doesn’t do it justice. The local elections are just the start; Bridget Phillipson will lose Houghton and Sunderland South. But it’s not rage that I picked up on. More an ice-cold disdain. And a resolve that felt almost eerie. After decades of being taken for granted, voters aren’t after revenge. They seek liquidation. While the Mandelson saga hasn’t particularly cut through, Starmer’s name is mud. Words I heard today: “arrogant”, “fake”, “snake”, “a total gobshite”. An extinction-level event is brewing in the North East.
I think, hailing from there with lots of family and friends, she's probably on the money. Unless the polls change dramatically in the next 3 years all 3 Sunderland seats would go to Reform.
It’s what happens next that bothers me. They vote Reform desperate for change, things get worse, then what?
Of course, but then this is pretty much true for all parties and so the decline, despair and disillusionment continues.
I’ve been in Sunderland today ahead of local elections. To say Labour is facing an absolute bloodbath in a city that has been Red since 1974 doesn’t do it justice. The local elections are just the start; Bridget Phillipson will lose Houghton and Sunderland South. But it’s not rage that I picked up on. More an ice-cold disdain. And a resolve that felt almost eerie. After decades of being taken for granted, voters aren’t after revenge. They seek liquidation. While the Mandelson saga hasn’t particularly cut through, Starmer’s name is mud. Words I heard today: “arrogant”, “fake”, “snake”, “a total gobshite”. An extinction-level event is brewing in the North East.
I think, hailing from there with lots of family and friends, she's probably on the money. Unless the polls change dramatically in the next 3 years all 3 Sunderland seats would go to Reform.
It’s what happens next that bothers me. They vote Reform desperate for change, things get worse, then what?
It becomes a regular place, switching between parties offering little difference locally because there isn't a Reform or Labour way to deliver social care commissioning or filling potholes.
Not exactly inspiring stuff, they will probably be disappointed, but change at least gives chance for renewal, and it is a rare place that never switches up its politics but stays well run (I remember being told Manchester was one such place, but I don't know if that is still true, outside whatever Byrnham is doing).
JD Vance, the only one in this administration sophisticated enough to actually understand how quietly subversive and trunculently critical that speech was, looked like a bulldog chewing a wasp, behind Charles III.
The others will have it explained to them later. Expect "rage-truth-ing" tonight.
I’ve been in Sunderland today ahead of local elections. To say Labour is facing an absolute bloodbath in a city that has been Red since 1974 doesn’t do it justice. The local elections are just the start; Bridget Phillipson will lose Houghton and Sunderland South. But it’s not rage that I picked up on. More an ice-cold disdain. And a resolve that felt almost eerie. After decades of being taken for granted, voters aren’t after revenge. They seek liquidation. While the Mandelson saga hasn’t particularly cut through, Starmer’s name is mud. Words I heard today: “arrogant”, “fake”, “snake”, “a total gobshite”. An extinction-level event is brewing in the North East.
I think, hailing from there with lots of family and friends, she's probably on the money. Unless the polls change dramatically in the next 3 years all 3 Sunderland seats would go to Reform.
It’s what happens next that bothers me. They vote Reform desperate for change, things get worse, then what?
Well, there's a hell of way to go until we reach the 2034 general election and Reform are about to be kicked out having made everything twice as worse - so who knows.
JD Vance, the only one in this administration sophisticated enough to actually understand how quietly subversive and trunculently critical that speech was, looked like a bulldog chewing a wasp, behind Charles III.
The others will have it explained to them later. Expect "rage-truth-ing" tonight.
Leaflet update - today got a leaflet from Mr Naresh, an independent candidate, but not part of Redbridge Independents.
Also noticed on Redbridge Council's website, the three Tories call themselves "Local Conservatives". Is that true in your area too?
Not sure how long they've been doing that, certainly they did in my area in 2025 - apart from a few candidates whose agent obviously didn't get the email about what label to use.
Building on our beautiful green spaces is wrong on every level. 🌳
Useless.
So Reform join the LDs and Greens in the crowded Nimby field and if they all gain from Labour, who at least have promised more houses and to reclassify greenbelt as greybelt and Tory councils with Local Plans setting clear targets for new homes that will be another blow for the new homes camp
Building on our beautiful green spaces is wrong on every level. 🌳
Useless.
He's probably one of those people who think everywhere in the Green Belt is a beautiful pristine field, and that every field not in the Green Belt should be treated as if it were.
Acyn @Acyn Standing ovation for this line from King Charles: The U.S. Supreme court historical society has calculated that Magna Carta is cited in at least 160 supreme court cases since 1789, not least as the foundation of the principle that executive power is subject to checks and balances.
Big applause for the King in his address to the Congress as he cites the citing of Magna Carta rights on curbing executive power in the Bill of Rights and US Constitution
The Founding Fathers were bold and imaginative rebels with a cause. 250 years ago (or, as we say in the United Kingdom, just the other day….) they declared Independence. By balancing contending forces and drawing strength in diversity, they united thirteen disparate colonies to forge a Nation on the revolutionary idea of ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’. They carried with them, and carried forward, the great inheritance of the British Enlightenment – as well as the ideals which had an even deeper history in English Common Law and Magna Carta. These roots run deep, and they are still vital.
Our Declaration of Rights of 1689 was not only the foundation of our constitutional Monarchy, but also provided the source of so many of the principles reiterated – often verbatim – in the American Bill of Rights of 1791. And those roots go even further back in our history: the U.S. Supreme Court Historical Society has calculated that Magna Carta is cited in at least 160 Supreme Court cases since 1789, not least as the foundation of the principle that executive power is subject to checks and balances. This is the reason why there stands a stone, by the River Thames at Runnymede where Magna Carta was signed in the year 1215. This stone records that an acre of that ancient and historic site was given to the U.S.A. by the people of the United Kingdom, to symbolise our shared resolve in support of liberty, and in memory of President John F. Kennedy.
Not sure how wise it is to remind Trump that an acre of England is sovereign US territory...
Leaflet update - today got a leaflet from Mr Naresh, an independent candidate, but not part of Redbridge Independents.
Also noticed on Redbridge Council's website, the three Tories call themselves "Local Conservatives". Is that true in your area too?
Not sure how long they've been doing that, certainly they did in my area in 2025 - apart from a few candidates whose agent obviously didn't get the email about what label to use.
Local conservative is an allowed name according to the electoral commission.
I’ve been in Sunderland today ahead of local elections. To say Labour is facing an absolute bloodbath in a city that has been Red since 1974 doesn’t do it justice. The local elections are just the start; Bridget Phillipson will lose Houghton and Sunderland South. But it’s not rage that I picked up on. More an ice-cold disdain. And a resolve that felt almost eerie. After decades of being taken for granted, voters aren’t after revenge. They seek liquidation. While the Mandelson saga hasn’t particularly cut through, Starmer’s name is mud. Words I heard today: “arrogant”, “fake”, “snake”, “a total gobshite”. An extinction-level event is brewing in the North East.
I think, hailing from there with lots of family and friends, she's probably on the money. Unless the polls change dramatically in the next 3 years all 3 Sunderland seats would go to Reform.
It’s what happens next that bothers me. They vote Reform desperate for change, things get worse, then what?
Nigel will have Let The People Down, same as Boris did. And some other shyster will make a bid for what they think is a throne, but is actually an iron maiden. Argentina shows us that that process can repeat over a lot of cycles and many years.
In the meantime, there are the same two paths in front of us. Embrace the Eastern Tiger model... except we don't want the meanness of that sort of lean, mean state. Not if it's mean to us. Or embrace our European psyche and raise broadly-based taxes to pay for the sort of government provision we want. But we don't want those taxes if we have to pay them.
That's it. Charlie Croker is not going to save us from that decision with a great idea.
False precision is rife in this debate, as Fishing says, but one thing we can say for sure about Brexit is that people who voted for it on the grounds it would help the economy are still waiting for some decent evidence of it. The consensus is if anything the opposite. Ditto that it would make us stronger and more influential in the world. The opposite has transpired there too. Same on immigration. Far from taking the heat out of that it's become an even more contentious issue.
Which leaves the sovereignty angle. That the point of Brexit was Brexit itself. It's a success by dint of having happened. For better or worse - with most metrics thus far indicating worse - we have taken back control. Forget all the rest, it is argued, this is the Brexit benefit. Pretty much the only one but nevertheless potentially big enough to justify almost a decade of division, paralysis and distraction.
So what I'd like to ask Leave voters, given the importance of this, is do they feel it? Do they feel more sovereign now we aren't in the EU? Is the supposed Brexit dividend of being more in control something real and tangible to them? But wait, we don't have to ask them because the polls tell us the answer. Many of them now think it was a mistake and most of those who don't remain so hacked off they want to hand power to Nigel Farage and his bunch of chancers, fantasists and unsavouries. All in all, it's not a good report card.
Dan Hannan's ludicrous article with his fantasy of life after Brexit springs to mind. That's what Brexiteers promised.
Some in this thread suggest that the overall effect of Brexit on the economy, and perhaps more generally, was fairly minor. Maybe that's correct, but had that been the prospectus offered, would people have voted for Brexit? No.
I remember that. Bit of a pipedream. Fwiw I can accept (without agreeing with) a pov that the economic impact is marginal. It's impossible to prove that stuff because so many things impact the economy.
It's the 'sovereignty' argument that interests me more. I mean, technically, yes of course we have more now since less is pooled. But that for me is a reductive, superficial view of what sovereignty means.
I'd rather pose a couple of practical questions. As a consequence of Brexit is Britain more influential in the world? As a consequence of Brexit do the people of Britain have more control over their lives? It's hard to answer yes to either.
So what was it all for other than to gratify and empower a crew of reactionary right wing ideologues plus Boris Johnson? Answers on a postcard.
Broadly I would say Brexit has two upsides and four downsides for the UK.
Upsides: 1. Flexibility. The EU takes forever to come to decision. The UK can be more nimble, eg Covid vaccines. 2. Greater accountability due to decisions being made closer to those affected by them.
Downsides: 1. Stresses the integrity of the United Kingdom. I think Northern Ireland is probably gone long term. Scotland less certain but Brexit doesn't help. Both nations voted Remain for good reasons. If you are an English, Irish or Scottish nationalist you obviously don't care about the existence of the United Kingdom, but it is the country we live in. 2. Loss of personal freedom and liberty, particularly to trade and go where you want This aim is incompatible with greater government control afforded by Brexit, eg on immigration. Some people prefer government control to liberty, which is why I haven't put that as an upside. Mileages may vary on this. 3. Economic loss - the subject of this series of headers 4. Loss of influence. This a lot more hard nosed than people think. It means getting more of what we want as a nation.
I do think the European Union is a net force for the good, so I am glad it exists, regardless of UK membership. Talking here about how Brexit affects the UK specifically.
The loss of influence argument works more in theory than in practice.
In theory we're no longer at the top table in Europe; in practice, it's the E3 states of Britain, France and Germany setting out a position on Iran and Britain has obviously been very influential over the course of events in Ukraine (more so than post-2014).
I would say the loss of influence through Brexit is real and of greater consequence than people think. Nevertheless it's a side effect of leaving rather than a reason to stay in the EU per se. Inhabitants of smaller countries don't spend a lot of time worrying their country has less influence than bigger countries.
As a Leaver I agree with this. We have obviously lost diplomatic and geopolitical clout by quitting the EU. One needs to be honest
On the upside we have gained important freedoms that we haven’t even tried to exploit (and Remainers seldom recognise this). It needs a proper right wing government with a clever leadership and some tungsten cullions to do that
Clearly, sadly, we could be waiting a long time
So Brexit only makes sense if accompanied by a very right wing government. That does explain a few things.
Well yes. If you are going to generate hassle in order to have the freedom to do things differently to our neighbours, you need to do things differently, or what's the point?
That the things that would justify the hassle are things that most Britons don't particularly want to do is part of why we are where we are.
Yep. It facilitates extremes of left and right, neither of which has popular support. Bizarre situation.
I’ve been in Sunderland today ahead of local elections. To say Labour is facing an absolute bloodbath in a city that has been Red since 1974 doesn’t do it justice. The local elections are just the start; Bridget Phillipson will lose Houghton and Sunderland South. But it’s not rage that I picked up on. More an ice-cold disdain. And a resolve that felt almost eerie. After decades of being taken for granted, voters aren’t after revenge. They seek liquidation. While the Mandelson saga hasn’t particularly cut through, Starmer’s name is mud. Words I heard today: “arrogant”, “fake”, “snake”, “a total gobshite”. An extinction-level event is brewing in the North East.
One thing is indisputable; Charles is a better orator than Starmer.
I should hope so, it's a big part of his job - delivering bland stuff in a rousing fashion should be a core royal skill, considering they cannot generally say controversial things.
Comments
Or, incredibly, has he found a media manager who is as stupid and dishonest as he is?
It could equally mean impeach the fucker. Or 25th him, etc.
But with Trump the process is the punishment.
That the things that would justify the hassle are things that most Britons don't particularly want to do is part of why we are where we are.
Sorry Donald....
@MatthewTorbitt
·
1h
No10 source confirms to me there will be a reshuffle next Saturday to try and move the news cycle on from what is expected to be a dreadful night for Labour
“Soft left” Lucy Powell expected to be back, Rayner to be offered, Kyle gone, Kendall possibly.
https://x.com/MatthewTorbitt/status/2049185682112016721
===
Kyle's been doing a good job I thought? Guess this about factions?
Edit: Also they mean Saturday week surely?
"A close reading of DOJ’s charges against 31-year-old Cole Allen hint that he didn’t fire any weapon at all.
In fact, it’s not clear from what we know that this was a 'shooting' at all."
https://x.com/dcpoll/status/2049161455111430590
The thing to watch is who gets a massive promotion. Darren Jones, maybe?
There we are 37th, which isn't a basket case, but a bit lower than we probs feel we should be. We are within 5% of countries like Canada, NZ, France, Italy, Finland.
In the middle, at 101% of world average is Egypt. In 100th place. China is 85th. India is 134th.
Standout among the plutocrats is Ireland, 3rd with GDP per capita, PPP, at 690% of the average. I have no idea how reliable all this data is.
https://www.worldometers.info/gdp/gdp-per-capita/?source=imf®ion=worldwide&year=2026&metric=ppp
"Sadly, my ancestors had their powers curtailed over time, I am glad to see the USA appears to be reversing that approach".
Along those lines, the next Democratic Senate should seek to revive the Roman damnatio memoriae.
In Ireland's case you have a bunch of companies who are reporting economic activity that has happened across Europe, or EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), to their European office in Ireland, inflating Ireland's GDP statistics, providing a public financing boost, but not reflecting economic activity that is happening in Ireland.
Ireland itself tends to look more at a statistic called Modified Domestic Demand to measure the performance of the local economy, but I wouldn't know where that would put Ireland in such a table.
Sherelle Jacobs
@Sherelle_E_J
I’ve been in Sunderland today ahead of local elections. To say Labour is facing an absolute bloodbath in a city that has been Red since 1974 doesn’t do it justice. The local elections are just the start; Bridget Phillipson will lose Houghton and Sunderland South. But it’s not rage that I picked up on. More an ice-cold disdain. And a resolve that felt almost eerie. After decades of being taken for granted, voters aren’t after revenge. They seek liquidation. While the Mandelson saga hasn’t particularly cut through, Starmer’s name is mud. Words I heard today: “arrogant”, “fake”, “snake”, “a total gobshite”. An extinction-level event is brewing in the North East.
https://x.com/Sherelle_E_J/status/2049200386465210747
Stunning football
So, in their own way, they are as flawed as the unadjusted GDP numbers they are supposed to replace.
And they're relevant for different things. Unadjusted GDP is useful for looking at international financial and economic clout. PPP GDP is, if you get the indices right, a better indicator of standard of living.
Finally, the GDP numbers on which they are both based are pretty ropey and incomparable in many ways. Some countries use the income approach, some (most obviously the US) the expenditure approach and some a mixture of the income, expenditure and output approaches (the UK), which should reconcile, but of course never do. And you have all the problems about survey data, and some countries fiddling them and so on.
So both PPP and unadjusted GDP are valuable but not the answer - they're better thought of as big pieces of a larger puzzle.
I strongly suspect that Cash Patel knew of the Cole Allen plan. He told Trump, maybe others. It was agreed to let Allen get into the building but then take him out/down once inside. The 7 shots fired by the Secret Service went God knows where. (Apart from the one fired into a bullet proof vest - what happened to get one of their own shot when the "gunman" didn't discharge a weapon? Did they subcontract ICE guys for the job?)
The subsequent comments about the ballroom and the "librul weaponistion of the media" all played so pat that they looked well briefed on what was going to go down ahead of time and had talking points at the ready.
Starmer must go. That’s the only way to start the rebuilding.
NATO certainly was "there" in 2001, Now- as we say back home "get tae f*ck",
Building on our beautiful green spaces is wrong on every level. 🌳
Useless.
JD Vance, the only one in this administration sophisticated enough to actually understand how quietly subversive and trunculently critical that speech was, looked like a bulldog chewing a wasp, behind Charles III.
The others will have it explained to them later. Expect "rage-truth-ing" tonight.
Building on our beautiful green spaces is wrong on every level. 🌳
Useless.
He’ll resign.
Not exactly inspiring stuff, they will probably be disappointed, but change at least gives chance for renewal, and it is a rare place that never switches up its politics but stays well run (I remember being told Manchester was one such place, but I don't know if that is still true, outside whatever Byrnham is doing).
Also noticed on Redbridge Council's website, the three Tories call themselves "Local Conservatives".
Is that true in your area too?
Would be a boring contest given Trump would claim bone spurs.
45 minutes to remind you why you love football so much and now a reminder of what they've done to it.
https://x.com/JackPittBrooke/status/2049214902061916338
Acyn
@Acyn
Standing ovation for this line from King Charles: The U.S. Supreme court historical society has calculated that Magna Carta is cited in at least 160 supreme court cases since 1789, not least as the foundation of the principle that executive power is subject to checks and balances.
https://x.com/Acyn/status/2049208079846355307
Our Declaration of Rights of 1689 was not only the foundation of our constitutional Monarchy, but also provided the source of so many of the principles reiterated – often verbatim – in the American Bill of Rights of 1791. And those roots go even further back in our history: the U.S. Supreme Court Historical Society has calculated that Magna Carta is cited in at least 160 Supreme Court cases since 1789, not least as the foundation of the principle that executive power is subject to checks and balances. This is the reason why there stands a stone, by the River Thames at Runnymede where Magna Carta was signed in the year 1215. This stone records that an acre of that ancient and historic site was given to the U.S.A. by the people of the United Kingdom, to symbolise our shared resolve in support of liberty, and in memory of President John F. Kennedy.
In the meantime, there are the same two paths in front of us. Embrace the Eastern Tiger model... except we don't want the meanness of that sort of lean, mean state. Not if it's mean to us. Or embrace our European psyche and raise broadly-based taxes to pay for the sort of government provision we want. But we don't want those taxes if we have to pay them.
That's it. Charlie Croker is not going to save us from that decision with a great idea.
Thank goodness that there are still some things Britain can do well.
TWO KINGS. 👑
(Hat-tip Tim Vine)
I suspect she’s right and prior to the 2019 election she was one of the few to call the Red Wall.
M
https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/54612-how-do-britons-feel-about-nuclear-energy