Sonia Sodha @soniasodha · 24m This is what I made the case for in my column earlier for the Times. If Burnham wins against Farage in Makerfield that gives him more claim to be able to lead Labour than topping any ballot of members could, and running a full leadership contest would look self-indulgent.
The Labour Party seem to rather like leadership coronations so I suspect that will happen (if Burnham wins the by election). This could backfire if he proves to be a disappointment (see Gordon Brown).
Streeting and Rayner have both, I think, already calculated they’ll get plum jobs out of Burnham in return for their support and it’s easier to play for that then it is to launch leadership campaigns of their own. Streeting would be a relatively uncontroversial choice for FS, for instance. I think Rayner would be happy with her old jobs back with perhaps a higher profile emphasis on housing/devolution which appear to be big Burnham priorities.
Can I please remind everyone that unless Starmer actually resigns there is no coronation.
I think this is all being orchestrated. The moves are too smooth, and Starmer is part of the plan.
The voters in Makerfield have a chance to piss on Burnham's parade.
And there will be plenty of disgruntled party members if it becomes a Westminster stitch-up.
His success will lie in how much he seems to be running against the PM's record and therefore be a way of getting rid of him. People will need to feel they are biffing the PM by voting for Burnham. That's a delicate and tricky balancing act.
A Labour win in Makerfield would be a poke-in-the-eye for Starmer but a Reform win would be a poke-in-the-eye for both Starmer and Burnham, and an opportunity for Streeting
An opportunity for Rayner too.
What she's saying in public and thinking in private may not be fully aligned.
That is the other lesson of the last week.
What people say on the record, let alone off the record, isn't necessarily true.
One of the problems of our polity is that we have journalists telling the public the patter, rather than checking what the hands are doing.
If Burnham wins in Makerfield then Starmer should be allowed to set his timetable to hand over and not be pushed out within weeks.
Whatever people think of Starmer he at least deserves that . And let’s not forget that Starmer winning the 2020 leadership contest is what allowed the party to be in a position to get back into power.
Glad to see Lord of the Flies doesn’t get a mention.
LOL. Beloved at 2. Only in the Guardian!
And predictably, the list misses Richardson's Clarissa. Despite being c. 1,700 pages long and an espistolary novel (both explain why people haven't read it), it is imo the greatest novel in the English language.
Moby bloody Dick though. The biggest so what book ever.
And I know it's a syllabus book. But the absence of To Kill A Mocking Bird. Seriously!
Wait for the Guardian's list of books overshadowed by their films.
Glad to see Lord of the Flies doesn’t get a mention.
Interesting choice of Austen - I would rate Emma higher than the ones they picked.
I'm surprised nothing by Gaskell makes the cut - North and South is possibly the defining work looking at the poor in Victorian society, although I think I actually prefer Mary Barton.
Personally, I would given a spot somewhere on the list to Erskine Childers "The Riddle of the Sands" - a very significant novel for its foreshadowing of WW1, back in 1903.
They picked Emma (no 13).
Coincidentally, I read the first 2 chapters yesterday.
I've therefore read four and a little bit of the Top 20.
If Burnham wins in Makerfield then Starmer should be allowed to set his timetable to hand over and not be pushed out within weeks.
Whatever people think of Starmer he at least deserves that . And let’s not forget that Starmer winning the 2020 leadership contest is what allowed the party to be in a position to get back into power.
Labour votes in 2024: 9,708,716 Labour votes in 2019: 10,269,051 Labour votes in 2017: 12,877,918 Labour votes in 2015: 9,347,324
Well it sounds like the consensus is I should give catch 22 a go!
I think it is a young man's book. It was my favourite book when I was 16. I tried reading it again decades later and couldn't get into it at all. A bit like how I loved the Lord of the Rings when I was 10, but couldn't even stay awake during the first film as an adult.
If Burnham wins in Makerfield then Starmer should be allowed to set his timetable to hand over and not be pushed out within weeks.
Whatever people think of Starmer he at least deserves that . And let’s not forget that Starmer winning the 2020 leadership contest is what allowed the party to be in a position to get back into power.
And Burnham quitting Westminster to become GM mayor prevented him from standing in that leadership election.
Now, after others did the hard work of making Labour electable and getting in to power, he wants to just stroll back in and be handed the top job.
If Burnham wins in Makerfield then Starmer should be allowed to set his timetable to hand over and not be pushed out within weeks.
Whatever people think of Starmer he at least deserves that . And let’s not forget that Starmer winning the 2020 leadership contest is what allowed the party to be in a position to get back into power.
Labour votes in 2024: 9,708,716 Labour votes in 2019: 10,269,051 Labour votes in 2017: 12,877,918 Labour votes in 2015: 9,347,324
How many would they have got with Rebecca Long Bailey ?
Well it sounds like the consensus is I should give catch 22 a go!
I think it is a young man's book. It was my favourite book when I was 16. I tried reading it again decades later and couldn't get into it at all. A bit like how I loved the Lord of the Rings when I was 10, but couldn't even stay awake during the first film as an adult.
That may be because the films are quite naff.
Although the first is much, much better than the second.
If Burnham wins in Makerfield then Starmer should be allowed to set his timetable to hand over and not be pushed out within weeks.
Whatever people think of Starmer he at least deserves that . And let’s not forget that Starmer winning the 2020 leadership contest is what allowed the party to be in a position to get back into power.
Labour votes in 2024: 9,708,716 Labour votes in 2019: 10,269,051 Labour votes in 2017: 12,877,918 Labour votes in 2015: 9,347,324
How many would they have got with Rebecca Long Bailey ?
Number of votes is vanity, number of seats is sanity.
Corbyn enthused lots of people to vote for him, but even more to vote against him. And whilst it would be lovely for a party to gave a candidate who your side loves and the other side tolerates, that's only possible if times are easy.
Well it sounds like the consensus is I should give catch 22 a go!
Catch 22 is quite dull if you don't ‘get it’ – and I didn't. But I've not heard it recommended for some years now and think perhaps Hitchhiker's Guide series captured that market for subsequent generations.
No way. Catch-22: brilliant novel; Hitchhikers Guide: great fun.
But Catch-22 is on a completely different level.
I thought that some of it was just stupid and over the top.
A good idea that could have been better executed.
The relentless absurdity gets a bit wearing, but I suppose that's part of the point, which is powerfully made. It's pretty well written.
I prefer the war novels of Derek Robinson, equally mordant, but realistic rather than absurd, and which give at least recognition to the counter argument.
You'd think from Heller that there was no point at all in US WWII bomber missions, whereas the bombing campaign, and its demands on German resources, contributed significantly to the defeat of Germany.
Surprised this morning to turn on R4 to hear an interview with Red Cross on the reality in Gaza and then Jeremy Bowen. Well worth listening to and I'm astonished this has slipped through.
If Burnham wins in Makerfield then Starmer should be allowed to set his timetable to hand over and not be pushed out within weeks.
Whatever people think of Starmer he at least deserves that . And let’s not forget that Starmer winning the 2020 leadership contest is what allowed the party to be in a position to get back into power.
You call this "power"? In office maybe with 2 wasted years.
As the Trump administration sought to reassure Americans this week that a hantavirus outbreak posed little risk to the public, Dr. Brian Christine, one of the top public health officials in charge of infectious disease policy, stood before reporters in Nebraska promising a response “grounded in science” and “grounded in transparency.”
Before he joined the Trump administration last year, Christine was an Alabama-based urologist who specialized in penile implants. He has little public health experience and a history of far-right commentary and promoting conspiracy theories. He’s said the Covid pandemic led to a wider government plot to control people, compared the Biden administration to Nazi Germany and suggested the Covid vaccine had little effect in stopping the pandemic.
Well it sounds like the consensus is I should give catch 22 a go!
I think it is a young man's book. It was my favourite book when I was 16. I tried reading it again decades later and couldn't get into it at all. A bit like how I loved the Lord of the Rings when I was 10, but couldn't even stay awake during the first film as an adult.
Nothing compared to grinding one’s way to the 474th minute of The Hobbit trilogy.
Sonia Sodha @soniasodha · 24m This is what I made the case for in my column earlier for the Times. If Burnham wins against Farage in Makerfield that gives him more claim to be able to lead Labour than topping any ballot of members could, and running a full leadership contest would look self-indulgent.
The Labour Party seem to rather like leadership coronations so I suspect that will happen (if Burnham wins the by election). This could backfire if he proves to be a disappointment (see Gordon Brown).
Streeting and Rayner have both, I think, already calculated they’ll get plum jobs out of Burnham in return for their support and it’s easier to play for that then it is to launch leadership campaigns of their own. Streeting would be a relatively uncontroversial choice for FS, for instance. I think Rayner would be happy with her old jobs back with perhaps a higher profile emphasis on housing/devolution which appear to be big Burnham priorities.
Can I please remind everyone that unless Starmer actually resigns there is no coronation.
I think this is all being orchestrated. The moves are too smooth, and Starmer is part of the plan.
With apologies to the Belgian philosopher…
“I’ve seen the future… process. And you’re not in it”
Glad to see Lord of the Flies doesn’t get a mention.
Interesting choice of Austen - I would rate Emma higher than the ones they picked.
I'm surprised nothing by Gaskell makes the cut - North and South is possibly the defining work looking at the poor in Victorian society, although I think I actually prefer Mary Barton.
Personally, I would given a spot somewhere on the list to Erskine Childers "The Riddle of the Sands" - a very significant novel for its foreshadowing of WW1, back in 1903.
They picked Emma (no 13).
I would put a couple of detective stories in there myself - Name of the Rose and Hound of the Baskervilles. I certainly got more out of reading them than I did the rambling, monotonous Crime and Punishment or any of Jane Austen's bloated chicklit.
Well it sounds like the consensus is I should give catch 22 a go!
I think it is a young man's book. It was my favourite book when I was 16. I tried reading it again decades later and couldn't get into it at all. A bit like how I loved the Lord of the Rings when I was 10, but couldn't even stay awake during the first film as an adult.
I wonder if it's not just that its satire has dated a bit. Remarkable when first written , and for a couple if decades, but hasn't stood the test of time ?
The new series adaption on Amazon seems more than a bit pointless, for instance.
If Burnham wins in Makerfield then Starmer should be allowed to set his timetable to hand over and not be pushed out within weeks.
Whatever people think of Starmer he at least deserves that . And let’s not forget that Starmer winning the 2020 leadership contest is what allowed the party to be in a position to get back into power.
You call this "power"? In office maybe with 2 wasted years.
My narrative stopped at the point of winning the election.
Since then things have been somewhat less than optimum.
If Burnham wins in Makerfield then Starmer should be allowed to set his timetable to hand over and not be pushed out within weeks.
Whatever people think of Starmer he at least deserves that . And let’s not forget that Starmer winning the 2020 leadership contest is what allowed the party to be in a position to get back into power.
2027 ? 2028... ?
Among the prime complaints about Starmer, across the political spectrum, is the failure to get good policy ideas implemented with any speed.
If he's to go, then it should be done quickly, I think..
If Burnham wins in Makerfield then Starmer should be allowed to set his timetable to hand over and not be pushed out within weeks.
Whatever people think of Starmer he at least deserves that . And let’s not forget that Starmer winning the 2020 leadership contest is what allowed the party to be in a position to get back into power.
You call this "power"? In office maybe with 2 wasted years.
Labour of course could have been less timid especially as they had that large majority but they are delivering their manifesto even if people don’t like what’s in it .
So finally the day has come, the culmination of a politicised competition involving death threats, accusations of corruption and dark forces trying to influence the result.
Coincidentally Eurovision is also on.
There's me thinking you were talking of Celtic vs Hearts.
Finland seems to be the overwhelming favourite so the "Bad each way" strategy looks the way to go, and I think there are some options in both the top 5 and top 10 markets. There are always some surprises in these, and from the betting perspectivr would include Serbia, Norway, Poland and UK. Norway in particular had a good song, and the Serbian Death Metal will be popular.
Eurovision isn’t really my thing, does the Israeli entry have any objective merit or is that a silly question? The UK entrant highlighted on BBC news seemed a bit of a knob. I see Simon Schama is doing maudlin rts about the Israeli entrant; a sad decline in a once serious person.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
I don't think the feeling is that they've done nothing in two years, it's that they've done nothing GOOD in two years. Very different.
Actually Labour got a remarkably easy ride in opposition, with everybody focusing on the Conservatives and few pointing out that Labour would either do the same or worse in most policy areas. And for the first few weeks in government many outlets were prepared to believe that the grownups were back in the room or whatever drivel Labour spun.
It's Labour's own lack of vision, incompetence and mistakes that have got them to their current disastrous ratings. And even No 10 communications can only polish a turd so far.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
It isn't the task of the media to be a PR company for any government. This government has been terrible at communications, and especially the art of communicating convincingly by answering questions and not being evasive.
also terrible decision making. Sacking Robbins and then clinging on....
Well it sounds like the consensus is I should give catch 22 a go!
I think it is a young man's book. It was my favourite book when I was 16. I tried reading it again decades later and couldn't get into it at all. A bit like how I loved the Lord of the Rings when I was 10, but couldn't even stay awake during the first film as an adult.
I wonder if it's not just that its satire has dated a bit. Remarkable when first written , and for a couple if decades, but hasn't stood the test of time ?
The new series adaption on Amazon seems more than a bit pointless, for instance.
Reality has outrun satire's best efforts (Heller, Anthony Powell etc) on rules, process and bureaucracy.
Hardworking salt of the earth patriots you'd love to have as neighbours, they do all this in their spare time after a hard day clearing gutters for old ladies and discovering they need their roof replaced.
Trying to remember how it used to be, when I was a lad. I'm thinking Essex, England, Union, EU for the four flags, but maybe I'm wrong. That would really have exploded Reform heads.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Good morning
They certainly haven't done nothing
As I said yesterday an old friend popped in to invite us to his 80th
He is a successful North Wales businessman who said Reeves NI and minimum wage increases has added £100,000 pa to his restaurant costs so much so he is cutting hours, staff who in hospitality are generally young, reviewing his menus, and increasing prices, but he is uncertain just how sustainable his restaurant is
Labour haven't a clue about businees and just destroy jobs and opportunities especially for the young
And on Burnham I am not at all sure he will win and if he doesn't goodness knows what happens to labour, indeed even if he does looking at the bond markets he may have a very short honeymoon
Well it sounds like the consensus is I should give catch 22 a go!
I think it is a young man's book. It was my favourite book when I was 16. I tried reading it again decades later and couldn't get into it at all. A bit like how I loved the Lord of the Rings when I was 10, but couldn't even stay awake during the first film as an adult.
I wonder if it's not just that its satire has dated a bit. Remarkable when first written , and for a couple if decades, but hasn't stood the test of time ?
The new series adaption on Amazon seems more than a bit pointless, for instance.
Catch 22 is set in WW2 but really about 1950's America with it's military industrial complex. Heller stated as much in interviews.
So bombing their own airbase is prescient rather than absurd. Just look at America in Vietnam and later selling arms to Iran in the 1980's or arming and training the Taliban.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
If you'd reversed the order of those two things I might have agreed with you. Good comms from No 10 would have avoided much of the anti Labour press. They wanted a fresh start after the Conservatives, I reckon.
Sonia Sodha @soniasodha · 24m This is what I made the case for in my column earlier for the Times. If Burnham wins against Farage in Makerfield that gives him more claim to be able to lead Labour than topping any ballot of members could, and running a full leadership contest would look self-indulgent.
The Labour Party seem to rather like leadership coronations so I suspect that will happen (if Burnham wins the by election). This could backfire if he proves to be a disappointment (see Gordon Brown).
Streeting and Rayner have both, I think, already calculated they’ll get plum jobs out of Burnham in return for their support and it’s easier to play for that then it is to launch leadership campaigns of their own. Streeting would be a relatively uncontroversial choice for FS, for instance. I think Rayner would be happy with her old jobs back with perhaps a higher profile emphasis on housing/devolution which appear to be big Burnham priorities.
Not if Burnham actually wants progress on housing. Rayner was pretty lamentable getting anything done on that when in office.
Rayner and Streeting will pick up two of CoE, FS and HS imo. Got to be part of the deal shirley?
If Burnham wins in Makerfield then Starmer should be allowed to set his timetable to hand over and not be pushed out within weeks.
Whatever people think of Starmer he at least deserves that . And let’s not forget that Starmer winning the 2020 leadership contest is what allowed the party to be in a position to get back into power.
You call this "power"? In office maybe with 2 wasted years.
Labour of course could have been less timid especially as they had that large majority but they are delivering their manifesto even if people don’t like what’s in it .
A manifesto is in general about the particular things you want to alter. Nearly all the real task of government, unmentioned in any manifesto, is to run really competently and well all the stuff government has taken responsibility and accoutability for. Any government that did this would be immensely popular.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Good morning
They certainly haven't done nothing
As I said yesterday an old friend popped in to invite us to his 80th
He is a successful North Wales businessman who said Reeves NI and minimum wage increaseshas added £100,000 pa to his restaurant costs so much so he is cutting hours, staff who in hospitality are generally young, reviewing his menus, and increasing prices, but he is uncertain just how sustainable his restaurant is
Labour haven't a clue about businees and just destroy jobs and opportunities especially for the young
And on Burnham I am not at all sure he will win and if he doesn't goodness knows what happens to labour, indeed even if he does looking at the bond markets he may have a very short honeymoon
So his complaint is that he has to pay his workers more - that’s not a great look really
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Something close to current government policy, presented with a bit of oomph, confidence and chutzpah has at least a bit of a chance of working.
Why hello, Mr Burnham...
(I'm not sure I approve, but I can see the logic.)
If the media aren’t going to give you a fair hearing then you need to force your message out there .
The bizarre situation where the public still think net migration is rising when it’s falling rapidly highlights this.
No, the media have been challenging and scrutinising the performance of this government in office, and they have rightly pointed out the lack of ambition, drift, poor communications and avoidance of taking any bold action. The media can certainly amplify, sometimes excessively, concerns and negative issues but no government is entitled to a free ride. The Tories had much the same issues in their last few years in office.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
It isn't the task of the media to be a PR company for any government. This government has been terrible at communications, and especially the art of communicating convincingly by answering questions and not being evasive.
also terrible decision making. Sacking Robbins and then clinging on....
I think that is largely correct.
But neither is it the job of Allister Heath and Allison Pearson to represent fiction as fact. The job of the Telegraph ( and GB News and Talk TV) is to report the news objectively not to use smoke and mirrors to roll the pitch for the next Government in 3,4,5 years time. One could argue a competent Government should have the wherewithal to call out and correct inaccuracies, but it seems this one didn't.
Glad to see Lord of the Flies doesn’t get a mention.
Fecking Middlemarch at #1.
I don't know what the literature professors and critics see in it. Such a dull book. Madame Bovary is wank too.
I get the feeling that a lot of this list is of books that were historically important in the development of the novel, but aren't that good as books to read now, because culture has moved on and left them behind.
Also, three Jane Austen books in the top twenty? I mean, I did enjoy all three, and I'd definitely choose one to be on the list, but the list would be a lot more interesting if you only had one book per author.
Sonia Sodha @soniasodha · 24m This is what I made the case for in my column earlier for the Times. If Burnham wins against Farage in Makerfield that gives him more claim to be able to lead Labour than topping any ballot of members could, and running a full leadership contest would look self-indulgent.
The Labour Party seem to rather like leadership coronations so I suspect that will happen (if Burnham wins the by election). This could backfire if he proves to be a disappointment (see Gordon Brown).
Streeting and Rayner have both, I think, already calculated they’ll get plum jobs out of Burnham in return for their support and it’s easier to play for that then it is to launch leadership campaigns of their own. Streeting would be a relatively uncontroversial choice for FS, for instance. I think Rayner would be happy with her old jobs back with perhaps a higher profile emphasis on housing/devolution which appear to be big Burnham priorities.
Not if Burnham actually wants progress on housing. Rayner was pretty lamentable getting anything done on that when in office.
Rayner and Streeting will pick up two of CoE, FS and HS imo. Got to be part of the deal shirley?
Starmer will be FS
That would be the icing on the cake, and there is precedent of former PMs becoming FS, albeit not quite so quickly.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Good morning
They certainly haven't done nothing
As I said yesterday an old friend popped in to invite us to his 80th
He is a successful North Wales businessman who said Reeves NI and minimum wage increases has added £100,000 pa to his restaurant costs so much so he is cutting hours, staff who in hospitality are generally young, reviewing his menus, and increasing prices, but he is uncertain just how sustainable his restaurant is
Labour haven't a clue about businees and just destroy jobs and opportunities especially for the young
And on Burnham I am not at all sure he will win and if he doesn't goodness knows what happens to labour, indeed even if he does looking at the bond markets he may have a very short honeymoon
You mentioned this before, but it's kind of meaningless without turnover info. If turnover is £1m then that's a lot. If he runs a big chain and it's £10m then it's rather less.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Good morning
They certainly haven't done nothing
As I said yesterday an old friend popped in to invite us to his 80th
He is a successful North Wales businessman who said Reeves NI and minimum wage increaseshas added £100,000 pa to his restaurant costs so much so he is cutting hours, staff who in hospitality are generally young, reviewing his menus, and increasing prices, but he is uncertain just how sustainable his restaurant is
Labour haven't a clue about businees and just destroy jobs and opportunities especially for the young
And on Burnham I am not at all sure he will win and if he doesn't goodness knows what happens to labour, indeed even if he does looking at the bond markets he may have a very short honeymoon
So his complaint is that he has to pay his workers more - that’s not a great look really
It’s not about look.
It’s about reality. If he puts prices up to cover increasing wage costs, then less and less people will eat in his resteraunt.
Very easy to get into the downslope - less people at a higher price is less profitable, so prices have to go up And up. Or go out of business.
Bet you’ll be upset when a meal out costs £100 a head, before alcohol. But that is where we are heading. You can draw the lines on a graph.
Sonia Sodha @soniasodha · 24m This is what I made the case for in my column earlier for the Times. If Burnham wins against Farage in Makerfield that gives him more claim to be able to lead Labour than topping any ballot of members could, and running a full leadership contest would look self-indulgent.
The Labour Party seem to rather like leadership coronations so I suspect that will happen (if Burnham wins the by election). This could backfire if he proves to be a disappointment (see Gordon Brown).
Streeting and Rayner have both, I think, already calculated they’ll get plum jobs out of Burnham in return for their support and it’s easier to play for that then it is to launch leadership campaigns of their own. Streeting would be a relatively uncontroversial choice for FS, for instance. I think Rayner would be happy with her old jobs back with perhaps a higher profile emphasis on housing/devolution which appear to be big Burnham priorities.
Not if Burnham actually wants progress on housing. Rayner was pretty lamentable getting anything done on that when in office.
Rayner and Streeting will pick up two of CoE, FS and HS imo. Got to be part of the deal shirley?
Just passing the time on my way to Troyes. Being away from the media and news except for PB, I have to declare the whole Burnham thing to be delusional. Starmer clearly sees something here and I doubt it’s his exit.
The odds also don’t yet match the situation so sitting this one out for now.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Good morning
They certainly haven't done nothing
As I said yesterday an old friend popped in to invite us to his 80th
He is a successful North Wales businessman who said Reeves NI and minimum wage increaseshas added £100,000 pa to his restaurant costs so much so he is cutting hours, staff who in hospitality are generally young, reviewing his menus, and increasing prices, but he is uncertain just how sustainable his restaurant is
Labour haven't a clue about businees and just destroy jobs and opportunities especially for the young
And on Burnham I am not at all sure he will win and if he doesn't goodness knows what happens to labour, indeed even if he does looking at the bond markets he may have a very short honeymoon
So his complaint is that he has to pay his workers more - that’s not a great look really
It is the reality of business today and why so many in the hospitality industry are facing closure and job loses
He can only pay his staff more if his customers can afford to pay for higher prices to eat and drink
I noticed some on here were complaining of the £10 pint but that is the result of these increased costs
Sonia Sodha @soniasodha · 24m This is what I made the case for in my column earlier for the Times. If Burnham wins against Farage in Makerfield that gives him more claim to be able to lead Labour than topping any ballot of members could, and running a full leadership contest would look self-indulgent.
The Labour Party seem to rather like leadership coronations so I suspect that will happen (if Burnham wins the by election). This could backfire if he proves to be a disappointment (see Gordon Brown).
Streeting and Rayner have both, I think, already calculated they’ll get plum jobs out of Burnham in return for their support and it’s easier to play for that then it is to launch leadership campaigns of their own. Streeting would be a relatively uncontroversial choice for FS, for instance. I think Rayner would be happy with her old jobs back with perhaps a higher profile emphasis on housing/devolution which appear to be big Burnham priorities.
Not if Burnham actually wants progress on housing. Rayner was pretty lamentable getting anything done on that when in office.
Rayner and Streeting will pick up two of CoE, FS and HS imo. Got to be part of the deal shirley?
Starmer will be FS
That would be the icing on the cake, and there is precedent of former PMs becoming FS, albeit not quite so quickly.
I'd think Miliband is well positioned for CofE under Burnham. Starmer as FS might be part of the deal that gets the coronation done quickly in the summer. He might want Ange as deputy and HS, but actually leaving Mahmood there might be the smart move. Streeting will be lucky if he's allowed to slink back to Health.
An MP has failed in his attempt to halt a parliamentary watchdog investigation into a complaint made against him.
Rupert Lowe, who represents Restore Britain for Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, took his case against the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) to the High Court.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Good morning
They certainly haven't done nothing
As I said yesterday an old friend popped in to invite us to his 80th
He is a successful North Wales businessman who said Reeves NI and minimum wage increases has added £100,000 pa to his restaurant costs so much so he is cutting hours, staff who in hospitality are generally young, reviewing his menus, and increasing prices, but he is uncertain just how sustainable his restaurant is
Labour haven't a clue about businees and just destroy jobs and opportunities especially for the young
And on Burnham I am not at all sure he will win and if he doesn't goodness knows what happens to labour, indeed even if he does looking at the bond markets he may have a very short honeymoon
You mentioned this before, but it's kind of meaningless without turnover info. If turnover is £1m then that's a lot. If he runs a big chain and it's £10m then it's rather less.
Actually, turnover info would be meaningless - the important thing to compare it with is absolute margin. If the business in question has profits of £100 million, it can probably absorb a cost increase of £100k. If profits are £50k, somewhat less so.
Sonia Sodha @soniasodha · 24m This is what I made the case for in my column earlier for the Times. If Burnham wins against Farage in Makerfield that gives him more claim to be able to lead Labour than topping any ballot of members could, and running a full leadership contest would look self-indulgent.
The Labour Party seem to rather like leadership coronations so I suspect that will happen (if Burnham wins the by election). This could backfire if he proves to be a disappointment (see Gordon Brown).
Streeting and Rayner have both, I think, already calculated they’ll get plum jobs out of Burnham in return for their support and it’s easier to play for that then it is to launch leadership campaigns of their own. Streeting would be a relatively uncontroversial choice for FS, for instance. I think Rayner would be happy with her old jobs back with perhaps a higher profile emphasis on housing/devolution which appear to be big Burnham priorities.
Not if Burnham actually wants progress on housing. Rayner was pretty lamentable getting anything done on that when in office.
Rayner and Streeting will pick up two of CoE, FS and HS imo. Got to be part of the deal shirley?
Starmer will be FS
I suspect Starmer is thinking FFS
I just cannot see Starmer accepting any role post his defenestration
Trying to remember how it used to be, when I was a lad. I'm thinking Essex, England, Union, EU for the four flags, but maybe I'm wrong. That would really have exploded Reform heads.
But at least that made sense. Piccadilly Station flies the red British Rail flag (signifying that this is a station), the Union Flag (signifying that this is a station in the UK), and the rainbiw flag (signifying that this is a station in the UK where we don't hate gay people). It always strikes me as wildly incongruous that this is deemed the third most important thing that is shown by flag. In fact, it is even more wildly specific that that, ut is tge rainbow flag with the extra stripes and the triangles and the circle, signifying, AIUI, that we don't hate gay people, not even black or brown ones, and we are on-board with gender being sonething you can choose rather than something you are, and we are fine about people who don't fancy anyone in a sexual way. Which strikes me as sneaking one wildly controversial view into three wildly uncontroversial ones. In any case, a strange set of things for a station to be declaring by flag alongside the two less surprising ones of it being a station in the UK.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Good morning
They certainly haven't done nothing
As I said yesterday an old friend popped in to invite us to his 80th
He is a successful North Wales businessman who said Reeves NI and minimum wage increases has added £100,000 pa to his restaurant costs so much so he is cutting hours, staff who in hospitality are generally young, reviewing his menus, and increasing prices, but he is uncertain just how sustainable his restaurant is
Labour haven't a clue about businees and just destroy jobs and opportunities especially for the young
And on Burnham I am not at all sure he will win and if he doesn't goodness knows what happens to labour, indeed even if he does looking at the bond markets he may have a very short honeymoon
You mentioned this before, but it's kind of meaningless without turnover info. If turnover is £1m then that's a lot. If he runs a big chain and it's £10m then it's rather less.
Sonia Sodha @soniasodha · 24m This is what I made the case for in my column earlier for the Times. If Burnham wins against Farage in Makerfield that gives him more claim to be able to lead Labour than topping any ballot of members could, and running a full leadership contest would look self-indulgent.
The Labour Party seem to rather like leadership coronations so I suspect that will happen (if Burnham wins the by election). This could backfire if he proves to be a disappointment (see Gordon Brown).
Streeting and Rayner have both, I think, already calculated they’ll get plum jobs out of Burnham in return for their support and it’s easier to play for that then it is to launch leadership campaigns of their own. Streeting would be a relatively uncontroversial choice for FS, for instance. I think Rayner would be happy with her old jobs back with perhaps a higher profile emphasis on housing/devolution which appear to be big Burnham priorities.
Not if Burnham actually wants progress on housing. Rayner was pretty lamentable getting anything done on that when in office.
Rayner and Streeting will pick up two of CoE, FS and HS imo. Got to be part of the deal shirley?
Starmer will be FS
That would be the icing on the cake, and there is precedent of former PMs becoming FS, albeit not quite so quickly.
For all his faults Starmer hasn't yet, as Prime Minister, made such an egregious foreign policy error as to set the nation back decades. If that is the qualification for Prime Ministers becoming Foreign Secretaries, Starmer is wholly unqualified.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Good morning
They certainly haven't done nothing
As I said yesterday an old friend popped in to invite us to his 80th
He is a successful North Wales businessman who said Reeves NI and minimum wage increaseshas added £100,000 pa to his restaurant costs so much so he is cutting hours, staff who in hospitality are generally young, reviewing his menus, and increasing prices, but he is uncertain just how sustainable his restaurant is
Labour haven't a clue about businees and just destroy jobs and opportunities especially for the young
And on Burnham I am not at all sure he will win and if he doesn't goodness knows what happens to labour, indeed even if he does looking at the bond markets he may have a very short honeymoon
So his complaint is that he has to pay his workers more - that’s not a great look really
It’s not about look.
It’s about reality. If he puts prices up to cover increasing wage costs, then less and less people will eat in his resteraunt.
Very easy to get into the downslope - less people at a higher price is less profitable, so prices have to go up And up. Or go out of business.
Bet you’ll be upset when a meal out costs £100 a head, before alcohol. But that is where we are heading. You can draw the lines on a graph.
I’ll be upset at gross exaggeration first. I had a fantastic Japanese meal last night, in London, including one of the most expensive things in the menu, and it came to about £85 for two. We are not heading to £100 a head.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Good morning
They certainly haven't done nothing
As I said yesterday an old friend popped in to invite us to his 80th
He is a successful North Wales businessman who said Reeves NI and minimum wage increases has added £100,000 pa to his restaurant costs so much so he is cutting hours, staff who in hospitality are generally young, reviewing his menus, and increasing prices, but he is uncertain just how sustainable his restaurant is
Labour haven't a clue about businees and just destroy jobs and opportunities especially for the young
And on Burnham I am not at all sure he will win and if he doesn't goodness knows what happens to labour, indeed even if he does looking at the bond markets he may have a very short honeymoon
You mentioned this before, but it's kind of meaningless without turnover info. If turnover is £1m then that's a lot. If he runs a big chain and it's £10m then it's rather less.
Actually, turnover info would be meaningless - the important thing to compare it with is absolute margin. If the business in question has profits of £100 million, it can probably absorb a cost increase of £100k. If profits are £50k, somewhat less so.
100k increase would suggest ~40 staff. Giant profits are unlikely in hospitality, at that scale.
Well it sounds like the consensus is I should give catch 22 a go!
I think it is a young man's book. It was my favourite book when I was 16. I tried reading it again decades later and couldn't get into it at all. A bit like how I loved the Lord of the Rings when I was 10, but couldn't even stay awake during the first film as an adult.
I wonder if it's not just that its satire has dated a bit. Remarkable when first written , and for a couple if decades, but hasn't stood the test of time ?
The new series adaption on Amazon seems more than a bit pointless, for instance.
I couldnt get past how every character looked like a male model
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
It isn't the task of the media to be a PR company for any government. This government has been terrible at communications, and especially the art of communicating convincingly by answering questions and not being evasive.
also terrible decision making. Sacking Robbins and then clinging on....
I think that is largely correct.
But neither is it the job of Allister Heath and Allison Pearson to represent fiction as fact. The job of the Telegraph ( and GB News and Talk TV) is to report the news objectively not to use smoke and mirrors to roll the pitch for the next Government in 3,4,5 years time. One could argue a competent Government should have the wherewithal to call out and correct inaccuracies, but it seems this one didn't.
Starmer is wholly to blame for this.
Ah, if only. The job of the Telegraph is to make money. Either directly by selling copies/subscriptions, or indirectly by advocating for its owners’ interests.
Same for pretty much all the national and local press. You could maybe make a case that the BBC and Guardian have different imperatives thanks to their ownership structures, but BBC News’s guiding principle for some years has been “stay vaguely competitive by parroting the same shit as everyone else, but for free”.
There are still a few outposts of the independent local press doing “report the news objectively” on a very small scale, but at a national level it’s pretty much lost.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Good morning
They certainly haven't done nothing
As I said yesterday an old friend popped in to invite us to his 80th
He is a successful North Wales businessman who said Reeves NI and minimum wage increaseshas added £100,000 pa to his restaurant costs so much so he is cutting hours, staff who in hospitality are generally young, reviewing his menus, and increasing prices, but he is uncertain just how sustainable his restaurant is
Labour haven't a clue about businees and just destroy jobs and opportunities especially for the young
And on Burnham I am not at all sure he will win and if he doesn't goodness knows what happens to labour, indeed even if he does looking at the bond markets he may have a very short honeymoon
So his complaint is that he has to pay his workers more - that’s not a great look really
It’s not about look.
It’s about reality. If he puts prices up to cover increasing wage costs, then less and less people will eat in his resteraunt.
Very easy to get into the downslope - less people at a higher price is less profitable, so prices have to go up And up. Or go out of business.
Bet you’ll be upset when a meal out costs £100 a head, before alcohol. But that is where we are heading. You can draw the lines on a graph.
Oh I know - so far everyones forgot to look at business rates and that's another killer. An office I was looking at back in March (as it's vacant) was going from £12,000 rent and no business rates to £12,000 rent + £12,000 business rates. No one is going to take it so it's now going to be empty for the next 3 years
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Good morning
They certainly haven't done nothing
As I said yesterday an old friend popped in to invite us to his 80th
He is a successful North Wales businessman who said Reeves NI and minimum wage increases has added £100,000 pa to his restaurant costs so much so he is cutting hours, staff who in hospitality are generally young, reviewing his menus, and increasing prices, but he is uncertain just how sustainable his restaurant is
Labour haven't a clue about businees and just destroy jobs and opportunities especially for the young
And on Burnham I am not at all sure he will win and if he doesn't goodness knows what happens to labour, indeed even if he does looking at the bond markets he may have a very short honeymoon
You mentioned this before, but it's kind of meaningless without turnover info. If turnover is £1m then that's a lot. If he runs a big chain and it's £10m then it's rather less.
Actually, turnover info would be meaningless - the important thing to compare it with is absolute margin. If the business in question has profits of £100 million, it can probably absorb a cost increase of £100k. If profits are £50k, somewhat less so.
100k increase would suggest ~40 staff. Giant profits are unlikely in hospitality, at that scale.
He has other business interest in addition to his restaurant which is hugely popular
It is his restaurant business that he is fighting to save and the jobs
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Good morning
They certainly haven't done nothing
As I said yesterday an old friend popped in to invite us to his 80th
He is a successful North Wales businessman who said Reeves NI and minimum wage increaseshas added £100,000 pa to his restaurant costs so much so he is cutting hours, staff who in hospitality are generally young, reviewing his menus, and increasing prices, but he is uncertain just how sustainable his restaurant is
Labour haven't a clue about businees and just destroy jobs and opportunities especially for the young
And on Burnham I am not at all sure he will win and if he doesn't goodness knows what happens to labour, indeed even if he does looking at the bond markets he may have a very short honeymoon
So his complaint is that he has to pay his workers more - that’s not a great look really
Maybe businesses that employ the low-paid should be paying them more, or acknowledging that they don't really have a viable business.
Maybe we have too many hospitality businesses for our own good.
Maybe restaurant customers should accept that we've had it too cheap for too long.
I don't know, and I don't think anyone without access to the accounts can either. But the questions need to be asked, don't they?
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Good morning
They certainly haven't done nothing
As I said yesterday an old friend popped in to invite us to his 80th
He is a successful North Wales businessman who said Reeves NI and minimum wage increaseshas added £100,000 pa to his restaurant costs so much so he is cutting hours, staff who in hospitality are generally young, reviewing his menus, and increasing prices, but he is uncertain just how sustainable his restaurant is
Labour haven't a clue about businees and just destroy jobs and opportunities especially for the young
And on Burnham I am not at all sure he will win and if he doesn't goodness knows what happens to labour, indeed even if he does looking at the bond markets he may have a very short honeymoon
So his complaint is that he has to pay his workers more - that’s not a great look really
It’s not about look.
It’s about reality. If he puts prices up to cover increasing wage costs, then less and less people will eat in his resteraunt.
Very easy to get into the downslope - less people at a higher price is less profitable, so prices have to go up And up. Or go out of business.
Bet you’ll be upset when a meal out costs £100 a head, before alcohol. But that is where we are heading. You can draw the lines on a graph.
I’ll be upset at gross exaggeration first. I had a fantastic Japanese meal last night, in London, including one of the most expensive things in the menu, and it came to about £85 for two. We are not heading to £100 a head.
Look up some reviews of hospitality industry which include price inflation. It is a long way ahead of RPI, CPI or any other measure you want to use.
It has been for a while - especially since COVID.
And there is no sign of it slowing down.
It will take some time, but the end result is inevitable.
Trying to remember how it used to be, when I was a lad. I'm thinking Essex, England, Union, EU for the four flags, but maybe I'm wrong. That would really have exploded Reform heads.
But at least that made sense. Piccadilly Station flies the red British Rail flag (signifying that this is a station), the Union Flag (signifying that this is a station in the UK), and the rainbiw flag (signifying that this is a station in the UK where we don't hate gay people). It always strikes me as wildly incongruous that this is deemed the third most important thing that is shown by flag. In fact, it is even more wildly specific that that, ut is tge rainbow flag with the extra stripes and the triangles and the circle, signifying, AIUI, that we don't hate gay people, not even black or brown ones, and we are on-board with gender being sonething you can choose rather than something you are, and we are fine about people who don't fancy anyone in a sexual way. Which strikes me as sneaking one wildly controversial view into three wildly uncontroversial ones. In any case, a strange set of things for a station to be declaring by flag alongside the two less surprising ones of it being a station in the UK.
And yet no space for the rail replacement bus flag.
Trying to remember how it used to be, when I was a lad. I'm thinking Essex, England, Union, EU for the four flags, but maybe I'm wrong. That would really have exploded Reform heads.
But at least that made sense. Piccadilly Station flies the red British Rail flag (signifying that this is a station), the Union Flag (signifying that this is a station in the UK), and the rainbiw flag (signifying that this is a station in the UK where we don't hate gay people). It always strikes me as wildly incongruous that this is deemed the third most important thing that is shown by flag. In fact, it is even more wildly specific that that, ut is tge rainbow flag with the extra stripes and the triangles and the circle, signifying, AIUI, that we don't hate gay people, not even black or brown ones, and we are on-board with gender being sonething you can choose rather than something you are, and we are fine about people who don't fancy anyone in a sexual way. Which strikes me as sneaking one wildly controversial view into three wildly uncontroversial ones. In any case, a strange set of things for a station to be declaring by flag alongside the two less surprising ones of it being a station in the UK.
The peepul aren't quite so keen on not hating gay people as they used to be. Probably too many rainbow flags.
Interesting news this morning. People who have spent their lives fighting racism are being arrested on the say so of policemaen from a force who are known to be institutionally racist. The buzzwords are 'internationalise the Intifada'.The sooner Starmer is replaced the sooner we can become a grown up country again
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
It isn't the task of the media to be a PR company for any government. This government has been terrible at communications, and especially the art of communicating convincingly by answering questions and not being evasive.
also terrible decision making. Sacking Robbins and then clinging on....
I think that is largely correct.
But neither is it the job of Allister Heath and Allison Pearson to represent fiction as fact. The job of the Telegraph ( and GB News and Talk TV) is to report the news objectively not to use smoke and mirrors to roll the pitch for the next Government in 3,4,5 years time. One could argue a competent Government should have the wherewithal to call out and correct inaccuracies, but it seems this one didn't.
Starmer is wholly to blame for this.
Ah, if only. The job of the Telegraph is to make money. Either directly by selling copies/subscriptions, or indirectly by advocating for its owners’ interests.
Same for pretty much all the national and local press. You could maybe make a case that the BBC and Guardian have different imperatives thanks to their ownership structures, but BBC News’s guiding principle for some years has been “stay vaguely competitive by parroting the same shit as everyone else, but for free”.
There are still a few outposts of the independent local press doing “report the news objectively” on a very small scale, but at a national level it’s pretty much lost.
What is the point of a self regulating free fourth estate if unregulated lies can be sold as news? Even when they are caught out the apology for the front page splash is to be found in small print at the bottom corner of page 14..
Imagine someone who hasn't read a novel for a few years and they head down to the library to borrow Middlemarch - supposedly the best book written in English of all time - and the crushing sense of disappointment they will feel by about page twelve that there's no chance of them reading all 904 dull pages, and it was no wonder they stopped reading if Middlemarch is the best that the medium has to offer.
These lists are so damaging to reading when they're filled with academic reading lists.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Good morning
They certainly haven't done nothing
As I said yesterday an old friend popped in to invite us to his 80th
He is a successful North Wales businessman who said Reeves NI and minimum wage increaseshas added £100,000 pa to his restaurant costs so much so he is cutting hours, staff who in hospitality are generally young, reviewing his menus, and increasing prices, but he is uncertain just how sustainable his restaurant is
Labour haven't a clue about businees and just destroy jobs and opportunities especially for the young
And on Burnham I am not at all sure he will win and if he doesn't goodness knows what happens to labour, indeed even if he does looking at the bond markets he may have a very short honeymoon
So his complaint is that he has to pay his workers more - that’s not a great look really
It’s not about look.
It’s about reality. If he puts prices up to cover increasing wage costs, then less and less people will eat in his resteraunt.
Very easy to get into the downslope - less people at a higher price is less profitable, so prices have to go up And up. Or go out of business.
Bet you’ll be upset when a meal out costs £100 a head, before alcohol. But that is where we are heading. You can draw the lines on a graph.
I’ll be upset at gross exaggeration first. I had a fantastic Japanese meal last night, in London, including one of the most expensive things in the menu, and it came to about £85 for two. We are not heading to £100 a head.
Look up some reviews of hospitality industry which include price inflation. It is a long way ahead of RPI, CPI or any other measure you want to use.
It has been for a while - especially since COVID.
And there is no sign of it slowing down.
It will take some time, but the end result is inevitable.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Good morning
They certainly haven't done nothing
As I said yesterday an old friend popped in to invite us to his 80th
He is a successful North Wales businessman who said Reeves NI and minimum wage increaseshas added £100,000 pa to his restaurant costs so much so he is cutting hours, staff who in hospitality are generally young, reviewing his menus, and increasing prices, but he is uncertain just how sustainable his restaurant is
Labour haven't a clue about businees and just destroy jobs and opportunities especially for the young
And on Burnham I am not at all sure he will win and if he doesn't goodness knows what happens to labour, indeed even if he does looking at the bond markets he may have a very short honeymoon
So his complaint is that he has to pay his workers more - that’s not a great look really
It’s not about look.
It’s about reality. If he puts prices up to cover increasing wage costs, then less and less people will eat in his resteraunt.
Very easy to get into the downslope - less people at a higher price is less profitable, so prices have to go up And up. Or go out of business.
Bet you’ll be upset when a meal out costs £100 a head, before alcohol. But that is where we are heading. You can draw the lines on a graph.
I’ll be upset at gross exaggeration first. I had a fantastic Japanese meal last night, in London, including one of the most expensive things in the menu, and it came to about £85 for two. We are not heading to £100 a head.
Look up some reviews of hospitality industry which include price inflation. It is a long way ahead of RPI, CPI or any other measure you want to use.
It has been for a while - especially since COVID.
And there is no sign of it slowing down.
It will take some time, but the end result is inevitable.
Decades in the future when inflation means £100 then doesn’t mean what £100 now means. This is just silly scaremongering. You can make your point without such pecuniary hyperbole.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Something close to current government policy, presented with a bit of oomph, confidence and chutzpah has at least a bit of a chance of working.
Why hello, Mr Burnham...
(I'm not sure I approve, but I can see the logic.)
If the media aren’t going to give you a fair hearing then you need to force your message out there .
The bizarre situation where the public still think net migration is rising when it’s falling rapidly highlights this.
No, the public think there are more immigrants.
And they are correct.
The immigrants of previous years do not stop being immigrants in a new time period.
Even if net migration turned negative there might still be more immigrants as long as they were matched by an increased number of Britons emigrating.
Repeated surveys show that the public massively overestimate the number of immigrants.
A lot of the public think that plenty of people born in the UK are "immigrants". It's this little thing called racism that seems to be quite in vogue at the moment.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
It isn't the task of the media to be a PR company for any government. This government has been terrible at communications, and especially the art of communicating convincingly by answering questions and not being evasive.
also terrible decision making. Sacking Robbins and then clinging on....
I think that is largely correct.
But neither is it the job of Allister Heath and Allison Pearson to represent fiction as fact. The job of the Telegraph ( and GB News and Talk TV) is to report the news objectively not to use smoke and mirrors to roll the pitch for the next Government in 3,4,5 years time. One could argue a competent Government should have the wherewithal to call out and correct inaccuracies, but it seems this one didn't.
Starmer is wholly to blame for this.
Largely agree, but there is no such thing as objective news coverage. They could all try harder to separate fact and opinion. So we have to rely on an open free media.
There are loads of outlets who would reasonably fairly but critically report on Labour doing well. Mirror, Guardian, FT, New Statesman, Economist, Ch4, ITV, BBC, Times to some extent, vast numbers on X and other social media. An infinity of podcasts.
As to the Right Wing media, in general they gave the Tories a hard time in government IIRC. I find it hard to follow because it's unreadable.
So finally the day has come, the culmination of a politicised competition involving death threats, accusations of corruption and dark forces trying to influence the result.
Coincidentally Eurovision is also on.
There's me thinking you were talking of Celtic vs Hearts.
Finland seems to be the overwhelming favourite so the "Bad each way" strategy looks the way to go, and I think there are some options in both the top 5 and top 10 markets. There are always some surprises in these, and from the betting perspectivr would include Serbia, Norway, Poland and UK. Norway in particular had a good song, and the Serbian Death Metal will be popular.
Eurovision isn’t really my thing, does the Israeli entry have any objective merit or is that a silly question? The UK entrant highlighted on BBC news seemed a bit of a knob. I see Simon Schama is doing maudlin rts about the Israeli entrant; a sad decline in a once serious person.
LOL
On Eurovision I read only one article, and was planning to listen to the UK song, but I only got as far as the picture which if I have it right makes the backing group a cross between Spongebob Squarepants and a furry dice.
Imagine someone who hasn't read a novel for a few years and they head down to the library to borrow Middlemarch - supposedly the best book written in English of all time - and the crushing sense of disappointment they will feel by about page twelve that there's no chance of them reading all 904 dull pages, and it was no wonder they stopped reading if Middlemarch is the best that the medium has to offer.
These lists are so damaging to reading when they're filled with academic reading lists.
The top ten is dominated by prestige novels put in to demonstrate the erudition of those compiling the list, and P&P is the only one I have read. I think the second ten has more good books in it. Certainly more that I have actually read. I've only managed 19/100 in total.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Good morning
They certainly haven't done nothing
As I said yesterday an old friend popped in to invite us to his 80th
He is a successful North Wales businessman who said Reeves NI and minimum wage increaseshas added £100,000 pa to his restaurant costs so much so he is cutting hours, staff who in hospitality are generally young, reviewing his menus, and increasing prices, but he is uncertain just how sustainable his restaurant is
Labour haven't a clue about businees and just destroy jobs and opportunities especially for the young
And on Burnham I am not at all sure he will win and if he doesn't goodness knows what happens to labour, indeed even if he does looking at the bond markets he may have a very short honeymoon
So his complaint is that he has to pay his workers more - that’s not a great look really
It’s not about look.
It’s about reality. If he puts prices up to cover increasing wage costs, then less and less people will eat in his resteraunt.
Very easy to get into the downslope - less people at a higher price is less profitable, so prices have to go up And up. Or go out of business.
Bet you’ll be upset when a meal out costs £100 a head, before alcohol. But that is where we are heading. You can draw the lines on a graph.
I’ll be upset at gross exaggeration first. I had a fantastic Japanese meal last night, in London, including one of the most expensive things in the menu, and it came to about £85 for two. We are not heading to £100 a head.
Look up some reviews of hospitality industry which include price inflation. It is a long way ahead of RPI, CPI or any other measure you want to use.
It has been for a while - especially since COVID.
And there is no sign of it slowing down.
It will take some time, but the end result is inevitable.
Decades in the future when inflation means £100 then doesn’t mean what £100 now means. This is just silly scaremongering. You can make your point without such pecuniary hyperbole.
If prices are increasing above inflation and wages, then affordability goes down.
This is mathematics at work.
One of the reasons that chunks of the population are really upset is that they see themselves, increasingly, priced out of things that they used to do.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Something close to current government policy, presented with a bit of oomph, confidence and chutzpah has at least a bit of a chance of working.
Why hello, Mr Burnham...
(I'm not sure I approve, but I can see the logic.)
If the media aren’t going to give you a fair hearing then you need to force your message out there .
The bizarre situation where the public still think net migration is rising when it’s falling rapidly highlights this.
No, the public think there are more immigrants.
And they are correct.
The immigrants of previous years do not stop being immigrants in a new time period.
Even if net migration turned negative there might still be more immigrants as long as they were matched by an increased number of Britons emigrating.
Repeated surveys show that the public massively overestimate the number of immigrants.
A lot of the public think that plenty of people born in the UK are "immigrants". It's this little thing called racism that seems to be quite in vogue at the moment.
The misunderstanding is propagated by falsehoods and spin by both the media and people like Farage (directly quoting Andrew Tate X posts) and Tiny Tom, who I noted was being justified by callers to LBC yesterday without recourse from the useless Shelagh Fogarty.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Something close to current government policy, presented with a bit of oomph, confidence and chutzpah has at least a bit of a chance of working.
Why hello, Mr Burnham...
(I'm not sure I approve, but I can see the logic.)
If the media aren’t going to give you a fair hearing then you need to force your message out there .
The bizarre situation where the public still think net migration is rising when it’s falling rapidly highlights this.
No, the public think there are more immigrants.
And they are correct.
The immigrants of previous years do not stop being immigrants in a new time period.
Even if net migration turned negative there might still be more immigrants as long as they were matched by an increased number of Britons emigrating.
Repeated surveys show that the public massively overestimate the number of immigrants.
So what ?
The number of immigrants has continued to increase and many people have experienced negative effects from this.
Telling the public that immigration issues have been solved because the number of new immigrants is a bit less this year than last year is not going to satisfy them.
The public also overestimate price rises, crime levels etc and that's something governments have always had to deal with.
Imagine someone who hasn't read a novel for a few years and they head down to the library to borrow Middlemarch - supposedly the best book written in English of all time - and the crushing sense of disappointment they will feel by about page twelve that there's no chance of them reading all 904 dull pages, and it was no wonder they stopped reading if Middlemarch is the best that the medium has to offer.
These lists are so damaging to reading when they're filled with academic reading lists.
It's wonderful to read Middlemarch when young, and think about when old. I have reached the age when I think the only sensible person in the whole thing is Dorothea's sister Celia.
Living 35 years in small town and rural Cumberland, but not Lake District, I have met all the characters inn real life.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Good morning
They certainly haven't done nothing
As I said yesterday an old friend popped in to invite us to his 80th
He is a successful North Wales businessman who said Reeves NI and minimum wage increaseshas added £100,000 pa to his restaurant costs so much so he is cutting hours, staff who in hospitality are generally young, reviewing his menus, and increasing prices, but he is uncertain just how sustainable his restaurant is
Labour haven't a clue about businees and just destroy jobs and opportunities especially for the young
And on Burnham I am not at all sure he will win and if he doesn't goodness knows what happens to labour, indeed even if he does looking at the bond markets he may have a very short honeymoon
So his complaint is that he has to pay his workers more - that’s not a great look really
No, his complaint is it costs more to employ peeople, the wage is a part of it.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Good morning
They certainly haven't done nothing
As I said yesterday an old friend popped in to invite us to his 80th
He is a successful North Wales businessman who said Reeves NI and minimum wage increaseshas added £100,000 pa to his restaurant costs so much so he is cutting hours, staff who in hospitality are generally young, reviewing his menus, and increasing prices, but he is uncertain just how sustainable his restaurant is
Labour haven't a clue about businees and just destroy jobs and opportunities especially for the young
And on Burnham I am not at all sure he will win and if he doesn't goodness knows what happens to labour, indeed even if he does looking at the bond markets he may have a very short honeymoon
So his complaint is that he has to pay his workers more - that’s not a great look really
Maybe businesses that employ the low-paid should be paying them more, or acknowledging that they don't really have a viable business.
Maybe we have too many hospitality businesses for our own good.
Maybe restaurant customers should accept that we've had it too cheap for too long.
I don't know, and I don't think anyone without access to the accounts can either. But the questions need to be asked, don't they?
If people weren't paying so much for their electricity, or being ripped off by broadband companies, etc, they would have more spare money to pay higher prices at restaurants so that Britain could have better paid restaurant staff.
Rentier capitalism is squeezing money out of the economy so that it's not there to pay for other stuff. Similarly, if British workers are better educated, and there is other investment to make them more productive, them the country earns more and can pay its hospitality staff higher wages.
The country needs to strip unnecessary costs out of the economy, and compete better internationally to be able to pay its way, and then it will be able to afford to do nice things like have hospitality staff with better wages.
You can't simply will yourself to being rich enough to afford nice things. (Like having the time to waste to read Middlemarch.)
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Good morning
They certainly haven't done nothing
As I said yesterday an old friend popped in to invite us to his 80th
He is a successful North Wales businessman who said Reeves NI and minimum wage increaseshas added £100,000 pa to his restaurant costs so much so he is cutting hours, staff who in hospitality are generally young, reviewing his menus, and increasing prices, but he is uncertain just how sustainable his restaurant is
Labour haven't a clue about businees and just destroy jobs and opportunities especially for the young
And on Burnham I am not at all sure he will win and if he doesn't goodness knows what happens to labour, indeed even if he does looking at the bond markets he may have a very short honeymoon
So his complaint is that he has to pay his workers more - that’s not a great look really
Maybe businesses that employ the low-paid should be paying them more, or acknowledging that they don't really have a viable business.
Maybe we have too many hospitality businesses for our own good.
Maybe restaurant customers should accept that we've had it too cheap for too long.
I don't know, and I don't think anyone without access to the accounts can either. But the questions need to be asked, don't they?
You must be delighted at the rate of closures in the hospitality industry then.
Less delighted will be people, especially young ones, who start their working lives in the industry. A minimum wage prior to the absurd hikes is better than getting no money at all. However to her credit Rachel Reeves recognised it.
Not a problem for people here. Obvs.
Oh, and good luck telling customers expecting to fork out (no pun…) more and more for a meal out to suck it up as they’ve never had it so good.
Well it sounds like the consensus is I should give catch 22 a go!
I think it is a young man's book. It was my favourite book when I was 16. I tried reading it again decades later and couldn't get into it at all. A bit like how I loved the Lord of the Rings when I was 10, but couldn't even stay awake during the first film as an adult.
I wonder if it's not just that its satire has dated a bit. Remarkable when first written , and for a couple if decades, but hasn't stood the test of time ?
The new series adaption on Amazon seems more than a bit pointless, for instance.
Catch 22 is set in WW2 but really about 1950's America with it's military industrial complex. Heller stated as much in interviews.
So bombing their own airbase is prescient rather than absurd. Just look at America in Vietnam and later selling arms to Iran in the 1980's or arming and training the Taliban.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Good morning
They certainly haven't done nothing
As I said yesterday an old friend popped in to invite us to his 80th
He is a successful North Wales businessman who said Reeves NI and minimum wage increaseshas added £100,000 pa to his restaurant costs so much so he is cutting hours, staff who in hospitality are generally young, reviewing his menus, and increasing prices, but he is uncertain just how sustainable his restaurant is
Labour haven't a clue about businees and just destroy jobs and opportunities especially for the young
And on Burnham I am not at all sure he will win and if he doesn't goodness knows what happens to labour, indeed even if he does looking at the bond markets he may have a very short honeymoon
So his complaint is that he has to pay his workers more - that’s not a great look really
It’s not about look.
It’s about reality. If he puts prices up to cover increasing wage costs, then less and less people will eat in his resteraunt.
Very easy to get into the downslope - less people at a higher price is less profitable, so prices have to go up And up. Or go out of business.
Bet you’ll be upset when a meal out costs £100 a head, before alcohol. But that is where we are heading. You can draw the lines on a graph.
I’ll be upset at gross exaggeration first. I had a fantastic Japanese meal last night, in London, including one of the most expensive things in the menu, and it came to about £85 for two. We are not heading to £100 a head.
Look up some reviews of hospitality industry which include price inflation. It is a long way ahead of RPI, CPI or any other measure you want to use.
It has been for a while - especially since COVID.
And there is no sign of it slowing down.
It will take some time, but the end result is inevitable.
Decades in the future when inflation means £100 then doesn’t mean what £100 now means. This is just silly scaremongering. You can make your point without such pecuniary hyperbole.
If prices are increasing above inflation and wages, then affordability goes down.
This is mathematics at work.
One of the reasons that chunks of the population are really upset is that they see themselves, increasingly, priced out of things that they used to do.
That's not entirely true. As productivity in things like manufacturing has much more scope to increase more quickly than in service industries you would expect that services such as hospitality would become relatively more expensive over time, but people shouldn't be priced out because the manufactured goods they buy should become cheaper. So they simply end up spending more on services and less on goods.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Good morning
They certainly haven't done nothing
As I said yesterday an old friend popped in to invite us to his 80th
He is a successful North Wales businessman who said Reeves NI and minimum wage increaseshas added £100,000 pa to his restaurant costs so much so he is cutting hours, staff who in hospitality are generally young, reviewing his menus, and increasing prices, but he is uncertain just how sustainable his restaurant is
Labour haven't a clue about businees and just destroy jobs and opportunities especially for the young
And on Burnham I am not at all sure he will win and if he doesn't goodness knows what happens to labour, indeed even if he does looking at the bond markets he may have a very short honeymoon
So his complaint is that he has to pay his workers more - that’s not a great look really
Maybe businesses that employ the low-paid should be paying them more, or acknowledging that they don't really have a viable business.
Maybe we have too many hospitality businesses for our own good.
Maybe restaurant customers should accept that we've had it too cheap for too long.
I don't know, and I don't think anyone without access to the accounts can either. But the questions need to be asked, don't they?
You must be delighted at the rate of closures in the hospitality industry then.
Less delighted will be people, especially young ones, who start their working lives in the industry. A minimum wage prior to the absurd hikes is better than getting no money at all. However to her credit Rachel Reeves recognised it.
Not a problem for people here. Obvs.
Which bit of "maybe" are you not understanding?
Besides, having a load of restauants and pubs that the comfortable can afford to patronise, because of the low pay (probably topped up by benefits funded by the taxpayer), maybe isn't as virtuous as the patrons of those restaurants and pubs might want to belive.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Good morning
They certainly haven't done nothing
As I said yesterday an old friend popped in to invite us to his 80th
He is a successful North Wales businessman who said Reeves NI and minimum wage increaseshas added £100,000 pa to his restaurant costs so much so he is cutting hours, staff who in hospitality are generally young, reviewing his menus, and increasing prices, but he is uncertain just how sustainable his restaurant is
Labour haven't a clue about businees and just destroy jobs and opportunities especially for the young
And on Burnham I am not at all sure he will win and if he doesn't goodness knows what happens to labour, indeed even if he does looking at the bond markets he may have a very short honeymoon
So his complaint is that he has to pay his workers more - that’s not a great look really
Maybe businesses that employ the low-paid should be paying them more, or acknowledging that they don't really have a viable business.
Maybe we have too many hospitality businesses for our own good.
Maybe restaurant customers should accept that we've had it too cheap for too long.
I don't know, and I don't think anyone without access to the accounts can either. But the questions need to be asked, don't they?
You must be delighted at the rate of closures in the hospitality industry then.
Less delighted will be people, especially young ones, who start their working lives in the industry. A minimum wage prior to the absurd hikes is better than getting no money at all. However to her credit Rachel Reeves recognised it.
Not a problem for people here. Obvs.
Which bit of "maybe" are you not understanding?
Besides, having a load of restauants and pubs that the comfortable can afford to patronise, because of the low pay (probably topped up by benefits funded by the taxpayer), maybe isn't as virtuous as the patrons of those restaurants and pubs might want to belive.
Right. If the government is going to subsidise an industry is hospitality the right choice for the future wealth and success of the country?
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Good morning
They certainly haven't done nothing
As I said yesterday an old friend popped in to invite us to his 80th
He is a successful North Wales businessman who said Reeves NI and minimum wage increaseshas added £100,000 pa to his restaurant costs so much so he is cutting hours, staff who in hospitality are generally young, reviewing his menus, and increasing prices, but he is uncertain just how sustainable his restaurant is
Labour haven't a clue about businees and just destroy jobs and opportunities especially for the young
And on Burnham I am not at all sure he will win and if he doesn't goodness knows what happens to labour, indeed even if he does looking at the bond markets he may have a very short honeymoon
So his complaint is that he has to pay his workers more - that’s not a great look really
Maybe businesses that employ the low-paid should be paying them more, or acknowledging that they don't really have a viable business.
Maybe we have too many hospitality businesses for our own good.
Maybe restaurant customers should accept that we've had it too cheap for too long.
I don't know, and I don't think anyone without access to the accounts can either. But the questions need to be asked, don't they?
You must be delighted at the rate of closures in the hospitality industry then.
Less delighted will be people, especially young ones, who start their working lives in the industry. A minimum wage prior to the absurd hikes is better than getting no money at all. However to her credit Rachel Reeves recognised it.
Not a problem for people here. Obvs.
Which bit of "maybe" are you not understanding?
Besides, having a load of restauants and pubs that the comfortable can afford to patronise, because of the low pay (probably topped up by benefits funded by the taxpayer), maybe isn't as virtuous as the patrons of those restaurants and pubs might want to belive.
IMHO a lot of the grumbling among the public comes from the compression of living standards between the bottom 20% and the middle 20%. Policies like the minimum wage have raised incomes for the lowest paid but that has made people in the middle feel worse off. To give a concrete example, when I was a teenager I worked in hospitality and the restaurant was an affordable luxury for people on middle incomes, but only because people like me were earning £1.50 an hour.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Good morning
They certainly haven't done nothing
As I said yesterday an old friend popped in to invite us to his 80th
He is a successful North Wales businessman who said Reeves NI and minimum wage increaseshas added £100,000 pa to his restaurant costs so much so he is cutting hours, staff who in hospitality are generally young, reviewing his menus, and increasing prices, but he is uncertain just how sustainable his restaurant is
Labour haven't a clue about businees and just destroy jobs and opportunities especially for the young
And on Burnham I am not at all sure he will win and if he doesn't goodness knows what happens to labour, indeed even if he does looking at the bond markets he may have a very short honeymoon
So his complaint is that he has to pay his workers more - that’s not a great look really
Maybe businesses that employ the low-paid should be paying them more, or acknowledging that they don't really have a viable business.
Maybe we have too many hospitality businesses for our own good.
Maybe restaurant customers should accept that we've had it too cheap for too long.
I don't know, and I don't think anyone without access to the accounts can either. But the questions need to be asked, don't they?
You must be delighted at the rate of closures in the hospitality industry then.
Less delighted will be people, especially young ones, who start their working lives in the industry. A minimum wage prior to the absurd hikes is better than getting no money at all. However to her credit Rachel Reeves recognised it.
Not a problem for people here. Obvs.
Which bit of "maybe" are you not understanding?
Besides, having a load of restauants and pubs that the comfortable can afford to patronise, because of the low pay (probably topped up by benefits funded by the taxpayer), maybe isn't as virtuous as the patrons of those restaurants and pubs might want to belive.
‘Probably’ doing a lot of heavy lifting there.
many jobs are part time and certainly seasonal in the industry. In big cities lots of students work in the industry.
Paying the min wage or living wage is not low pay either.
We have not had it cheap for so long and your desire to see fewer businesses, couched by weasel words, is coming true. Trebles all round.
The external factor in this relationship is what the housing costs are in the area.
Its certainly possible that minimum wages are higher than they need to be in Durham and lower than they could be in London.
Varying it across the country would be economically, politically and administratively difficult so we're left with a 'one size fits all' number which will often not be appropriate.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Good morning
They certainly haven't done nothing
As I said yesterday an old friend popped in to invite us to his 80th
He is a successful North Wales businessman who said Reeves NI and minimum wage increaseshas added £100,000 pa to his restaurant costs so much so he is cutting hours, staff who in hospitality are generally young, reviewing his menus, and increasing prices, but he is uncertain just how sustainable his restaurant is
Labour haven't a clue about businees and just destroy jobs and opportunities especially for the young
And on Burnham I am not at all sure he will win and if he doesn't goodness knows what happens to labour, indeed even if he does looking at the bond markets he may have a very short honeymoon
So his complaint is that he has to pay his workers more - that’s not a great look really
Maybe businesses that employ the low-paid should be paying them more, or acknowledging that they don't really have a viable business.
Maybe we have too many hospitality businesses for our own good.
Maybe restaurant customers should accept that we've had it too cheap for too long.
I don't know, and I don't think anyone without access to the accounts can either. But the questions need to be asked, don't they?
You must be delighted at the rate of closures in the hospitality industry then.
Less delighted will be people, especially young ones, who start their working lives in the industry. A minimum wage prior to the absurd hikes is better than getting no money at all. However to her credit Rachel Reeves recognised it.
Not a problem for people here. Obvs.
Which bit of "maybe" are you not understanding?
Besides, having a load of restauants and pubs that the comfortable can afford to patronise, because of the low pay (probably topped up by benefits funded by the taxpayer), maybe isn't as virtuous as the patrons of those restaurants and pubs might want to belive.
IMHO a lot of the grumbling among the public comes from the compression of living standards between the bottom 20% and the middle 20%. Policies like the minimum wage have raised incomes for the lowest paid but that has made people in the middle feel worse off. To give a concrete example, when I was a teenager I worked in hospitality and the restaurant was an affordable luxury for people on middle incomes, but only because people like me were earning £1.50 an hour.
Compression of the gap between the middle and the bottom alongside lengthening of the gap between the middle and the top.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Good morning
They certainly haven't done nothing
As I said yesterday an old friend popped in to invite us to his 80th
He is a successful North Wales businessman who said Reeves NI and minimum wage increaseshas added £100,000 pa to his restaurant costs so much so he is cutting hours, staff who in hospitality are generally young, reviewing his menus, and increasing prices, but he is uncertain just how sustainable his restaurant is
Labour haven't a clue about businees and just destroy jobs and opportunities especially for the young
And on Burnham I am not at all sure he will win and if he doesn't goodness knows what happens to labour, indeed even if he does looking at the bond markets he may have a very short honeymoon
So his complaint is that he has to pay his workers more - that’s not a great look really
Maybe businesses that employ the low-paid should be paying them more, or acknowledging that they don't really have a viable business.
Maybe we have too many hospitality businesses for our own good.
Maybe restaurant customers should accept that we've had it too cheap for too long.
I don't know, and I don't think anyone without access to the accounts can either. But the questions need to be asked, don't they?
You must be delighted at the rate of closures in the hospitality industry then.
Less delighted will be people, especially young ones, who start their working lives in the industry. A minimum wage prior to the absurd hikes is better than getting no money at all. However to her credit Rachel Reeves recognised it.
Not a problem for people here. Obvs.
Which bit of "maybe" are you not understanding?
Besides, having a load of restauants and pubs that the comfortable can afford to patronise, because of the low pay (probably topped up by benefits funded by the taxpayer), maybe isn't as virtuous as the patrons of those restaurants and pubs might want to belive.
IMHO a lot of the grumbling among the public comes from the compression of living standards between the bottom 20% and the middle 20%. Policies like the minimum wage have raised incomes for the lowest paid but that has made people in the middle feel worse off. To give a concrete example, when I was a teenager I worked in hospitality and the restaurant was an affordable luxury for people on middle incomes, but only because people like me were earning £1.50 an hour.
Compression of the gap between the middle and the bottom alongside lengthening of the gap between the middle and the top.
I am not sure the gap between the middle and top has widened much in the last 10-20 years. For one thing, taxation of those at the top has risen significantly.
How the myth that Labour have done nothing in 2 years became fixed in the minds of voters .
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Good morning
They certainly haven't done nothing
As I said yesterday an old friend popped in to invite us to his 80th
He is a successful North Wales businessman who said Reeves NI and minimum wage increaseshas added £100,000 pa to his restaurant costs so much so he is cutting hours, staff who in hospitality are generally young, reviewing his menus, and increasing prices, but he is uncertain just how sustainable his restaurant is
Labour haven't a clue about businees and just destroy jobs and opportunities especially for the young
And on Burnham I am not at all sure he will win and if he doesn't goodness knows what happens to labour, indeed even if he does looking at the bond markets he may have a very short honeymoon
So his complaint is that he has to pay his workers more - that’s not a great look really
Maybe businesses that employ the low-paid should be paying them more, or acknowledging that they don't really have a viable business.
Maybe we have too many hospitality businesses for our own good.
Maybe restaurant customers should accept that we've had it too cheap for too long.
I don't know, and I don't think anyone without access to the accounts can either. But the questions need to be asked, don't they?
You must be delighted at the rate of closures in the hospitality industry then.
Less delighted will be people, especially young ones, who start their working lives in the industry. A minimum wage prior to the absurd hikes is better than getting no money at all. However to her credit Rachel Reeves recognised it.
Not a problem for people here. Obvs.
Which bit of "maybe" are you not understanding?
Besides, having a load of restauants and pubs that the comfortable can afford to patronise, because of the low pay (probably topped up by benefits funded by the taxpayer), maybe isn't as virtuous as the patrons of those restaurants and pubs might want to belive.
IMHO a lot of the grumbling among the public comes from the compression of living standards between the bottom 20% and the middle 20%. Policies like the minimum wage have raised incomes for the lowest paid but that has made people in the middle feel worse off. To give a concrete example, when I was a teenager I worked in hospitality and the restaurant was an affordable luxury for people on middle incomes, but only because people like me were earning £1.50 an hour.
Compression of the gap between the middle and the bottom alongside lengthening of the gap between the middle and the top.
I am not sure the gap between the middle and top has widened much in the last 10-20 years. For one thing, taxation of those at the top has risen significantly.
I don't know. If you look at the economy it generally seems as though the middle has fallen out of a lot of markets. So you have thriving businesses serving the cheapest end of the market (Lidl, Primark, etc) and you have growing businesses serving the luxury end of the market (feck knows, I can't afford expensive clothes) but the middle of the market has collapsed (M&S, say)
This suggests that the top are a growing market opportunity, so I think they're probably doing well even with higher taxes.
Comments
What people say on the record, let alone off the record, isn't necessarily true.
One of the problems of our polity is that we have journalists telling the public the patter, rather than checking what the hands are doing.
A second Union flag was instead put up in its place outside County Hall in Chelmsford on Friday.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgqp4nev13qo
📊 Constituency Projection:
Arbroath and Broughty Ferry (SNP 2024)
🎗️SNP: 36.4% (+1.4pp)
➡️RFM: 22.8% (+14.2pp)
🌹RFM: 14.9% (-18.2pp)
🌳CON: 11.4% (-4.0pp)
🌍GRN: 5.5% (+5.5pp)
🔶LDM: 5.2% (+0.1pp)
👥OTH: 3.8% (+1.0pp)
Projected using andelections.com/#constituency-… model
https://x.com/andelectionsuk/status/2055413127802470636?s=61&t=LYVEHh2mqFy1oUJAdCfe-Q
Whatever people think of Starmer he at least deserves that . And let’s not forget that Starmer winning the 2020 leadership contest is what allowed the party to be in a position to get back into power.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/may/15/man-hit-by-van-birmingham-residents-take-down-union-flags-put-up-by-anti-migrant-group?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
To Kill a Mockingbird. The Exorcist. Bambi.
I've therefore read four and a little bit of the Top 20.
Labour votes in 2019: 10,269,051
Labour votes in 2017: 12,877,918
Labour votes in 2015: 9,347,324
Now, after others did the hard work of making Labour electable and getting in to power, he wants to just stroll back in and be handed the top job.
Although the first is much, much better than the second.
Corbyn enthused lots of people to vote for him, but even more to vote against him. And whilst it would be lovely for a party to gave a candidate who your side loves and the other side tolerates, that's only possible if times are easy.
I prefer the war novels of Derek Robinson, equally mordant, but realistic rather than absurd, and which give at least recognition to the counter argument.
You'd think from Heller that there was no point at all in US WWII bomber missions, whereas the bombing campaign, and its demands on German resources, contributed significantly to the defeat of Germany.
Well worth listening to and I'm astonished this has slipped through.
Penile implant specialist with history of far-right comments led hantavirus presser
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/05/15/politics/brian-christine-vaccine-skepticism-history
As the Trump administration sought to reassure Americans this week that a hantavirus outbreak posed little risk to the public, Dr. Brian Christine, one of the top public health officials in charge of infectious disease policy, stood before reporters in Nebraska promising a response “grounded in science” and “grounded in transparency.”
Before he joined the Trump administration last year, Christine was an Alabama-based urologist who specialized in penile implants. He has little public health experience and a history of far-right commentary and promoting conspiracy theories. He’s said the Covid pandemic led to a wider government plot to control people, compared the Biden administration to Nazi Germany and suggested the Covid vaccine had little effect in stopping the pandemic.
“I’ve seen the future… process. And you’re not in it”
Remarkable when first written , and for a couple if decades, but hasn't stood the test of time ?
The new series adaption on Amazon seems more than a bit pointless, for instance.
A relentless anti Labour campaign by the media and poor No 10 communications culminated in where we are today.
Since then things have been somewhat less than optimum.
Among the prime complaints about Starmer, across the political spectrum, is the failure to get good policy ideas implemented with any speed.
If he's to go, then it should be done quickly, I think..
Why hello, Mr Burnham...
(I'm not sure I approve, but I can see the logic.)
Actually Labour got a remarkably easy ride in opposition, with everybody focusing on the Conservatives and few pointing out that Labour would either do the same or worse in most policy areas. And for the first few weeks in government many outlets were prepared to believe that the grownups were back in the room or whatever drivel Labour spun.
It's Labour's own lack of vision, incompetence and mistakes that have got them to their current disastrous ratings. And even No 10 communications can only polish a turd so far.
also terrible decision making. Sacking Robbins and then clinging on....
The bizarre situation where the public still think net migration is rising when it’s falling rapidly highlights this.
They certainly haven't done nothing
As I said yesterday an old friend popped in to invite us to his 80th
He is a successful North Wales businessman who said Reeves NI and minimum wage increases has added £100,000 pa to his restaurant costs so much so he is cutting hours, staff who in hospitality are generally young, reviewing his menus, and increasing prices, but he is uncertain just how sustainable his restaurant is
Labour haven't a clue about businees and just destroy jobs and opportunities especially for the young
And on Burnham I am not at all sure he will win and if he doesn't goodness knows what happens to labour, indeed even if he does looking at the bond markets he may have a very short honeymoon
So bombing their own airbase is prescient rather than absurd. Just look at America in Vietnam and later selling arms to Iran in the 1980's or arming and training the Taliban.
But neither is it the job of Allister Heath and Allison Pearson to represent fiction as fact. The job of the Telegraph ( and GB News and Talk TV) is to report the news objectively not to use smoke and mirrors to roll the pitch for the next Government in 3,4,5 years time. One could argue a competent Government should have the wherewithal to call out and correct inaccuracies, but it seems this one didn't.
Starmer is wholly to blame for this.
I don't know what the literature professors and critics see in it. Such a dull book. Madame Bovary is wank too.
I get the feeling that a lot of this list is of books that were historically important in the development of the novel, but aren't that good as books to read now, because culture has moved on and left them behind.
Also, three Jane Austen books in the top twenty? I mean, I did enjoy all three, and I'd definitely choose one to be on the list, but the list would be a lot more interesting if you only had one book per author.
It’s about reality. If he puts prices up to cover increasing wage costs, then less and less people will eat in his resteraunt.
Very easy to get into the downslope - less people at a higher price is less profitable, so prices have to go up
And up. Or go out of business.
Bet you’ll be upset when a meal out costs £100 a head, before alcohol. But that is where we are heading. You can draw the lines on a graph.
The odds also don’t yet match the situation so sitting this one out for now.
He can only pay his staff more if his customers can afford to pay for higher prices to eat and drink
I noticed some on here were complaining of the £10 pint but that is the result of these increased costs
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g0wre4k2zo
An MP has failed in his attempt to halt a parliamentary watchdog investigation into a complaint made against him.
Rupert Lowe, who represents Restore Britain for Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, took his case against the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) to the High Court.
We still don’t know what the complain is about.
Indeed will he remain an mp ?
In fact, it is even more wildly specific that that, ut is tge rainbow flag with the extra stripes and the triangles and the circle, signifying, AIUI, that we don't hate gay people, not even black or brown ones, and we are on-board with gender being sonething you can choose rather than something you are, and we are fine about people who don't fancy anyone in a sexual way. Which strikes me as sneaking one wildly controversial view into three wildly uncontroversial ones. In any case, a strange set of things for a station to be declaring by flag alongside the two less surprising ones of it being a station in the UK.
And they are correct.
The immigrants of previous years do not stop being immigrants in a new time period.
Even if net migration turned negative there might still be more immigrants as long as they were matched by an increased number of Britons emigrating.
Same for pretty much all the national and local press. You could maybe make a case that the BBC and Guardian have different imperatives thanks to their ownership structures, but BBC News’s guiding principle for some years has been “stay vaguely competitive by parroting the same shit as everyone else, but for free”.
There are still a few outposts of the independent local press doing “report the news objectively” on a very small scale, but at a national level it’s pretty much lost.
It is his restaurant business that he is fighting to save and the jobs
Maybe we have too many hospitality businesses for our own good.
Maybe restaurant customers should accept that we've had it too cheap for too long.
I don't know, and I don't think anyone without access to the accounts can either. But the questions need to be asked, don't they?
It has been for a while - especially since COVID.
And there is no sign of it slowing down.
It will take some time, but the end result is inevitable.
PinkNews
@PinkNews
Best and worst countries to be LGBTQ+ in Europe in 2026 revealed https://thepinknews.com/2026/05/12/eur
https://x.com/PinkNews/status/2055136118094320001?s=20
These lists are so damaging to reading when they're filled with academic reading lists.
https://www.itv.com/news/2026-05-15/soaring-cost-of-fish-and-chips-unsustainable
There are loads of outlets who would reasonably fairly but critically report on Labour doing well. Mirror, Guardian, FT, New Statesman, Economist, Ch4, ITV, BBC, Times to some extent, vast numbers on X and other social media. An infinity of podcasts.
As to the Right Wing media, in general they gave the Tories a hard time in government IIRC. I find it hard to follow because it's unreadable.
I might try again.
This is mathematics at work.
One of the reasons that chunks of the population are really upset is that they see themselves, increasingly, priced out of things that they used to do.
NEW THREAD
The number of immigrants has continued to increase and many people have experienced negative effects from this.
Telling the public that immigration issues have been solved because the number of new immigrants is a bit less this year than last year is not going to satisfy them.
The public also overestimate price rises, crime levels etc and that's something governments have always had to deal with.
Living 35 years in small town and rural Cumberland, but not Lake District, I have met all the characters inn real life.
Rentier capitalism is squeezing money out of the economy so that it's not there to pay for other stuff. Similarly, if British workers are better educated, and there is other investment to make them more productive, them the country earns more and can pay its hospitality staff higher wages.
The country needs to strip unnecessary costs out of the economy, and compete better internationally to be able to pay its way, and then it will be able to afford to do nice things like have hospitality staff with better wages.
You can't simply will yourself to being rich enough to afford nice things. (Like having the time to waste to read Middlemarch.)
Less delighted will be people, especially young ones, who start their working lives in the industry. A minimum wage prior to the absurd hikes is better than getting no money at all. However to her credit Rachel Reeves recognised it.
Not a problem for people here. Obvs.
Oh, and good luck telling customers expecting to fork out (no pun…) more and more for a meal out to suck it up as they’ve never had it so good.
They’ll just vote with their feet.
But I suspect that’s what some of you want
Besides, having a load of restauants and pubs that the comfortable can afford to patronise, because of the low pay (probably topped up by benefits funded by the taxpayer), maybe isn't as virtuous as the patrons of those restaurants and pubs might want to belive.
many jobs are part time and certainly seasonal in the industry. In big cities lots of students work in the industry.
Paying the min wage or living wage is not low pay either.
We have not had it cheap for so long and your desire to see fewer businesses, couched by weasel words, is coming true. Trebles all round.
The external factor in this relationship is what the housing costs are in the area.
Its certainly possible that minimum wages are higher than they need to be in Durham and lower than they could be in London.
Varying it across the country would be economically, politically and administratively difficult so we're left with a 'one size fits all' number which will often not be appropriate.
This suggests that the top are a growing market opportunity, so I think they're probably doing well even with higher taxes.