The one issue I’d really have with that is rescinding existing awards.
That is pretty much the dividing line between the establishment parties and Reform/Restore.
The establishment parties will/are reducing further immigration and tightening future restrictions. Reform and Restore are reneging on current status and deporting
No-one (maybe Greens?) is arguing for a continuation of the Boris wave.
It’s stupid stuff like this that puts me off Reform. I could conceivably vote for them but won’t.
I just don’t like the idea of making the change retrospective. Extending ILR going forward is fine.
If they didn't do "stupid" stuff they would be advocating the same changes as Labour and the Tories. Labour just get no credit for doing any of the hard work on this, their supporters either hate it or more typically mistrust it and would rather talk about something else, whilst their detractors don't seem to notice the major changes that are and will be made.
Might that not be required for catheterisation through the femoral artery in the groin ?
I had something similar, many years ago, for a pyelogram. In that case they handed me a Bic razor and told me to get on with it myself (the shave, rather than the catheterisation).
Might that not be required for catheterisation through the femoral artery in the groin ?
I had something similar, many years ago, for a pyelogram. In that case they handed me a Bic razor and told me to get on with it myself (the shave, rather than the catheterisation).
"The details of my life are quite inconsequential... Very well. Where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low-grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen-year-old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims, like he "invented" the question mark. Sometimes, he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy... the sort of general malaise that only the genius possess, and the insane lament. My childhood was typical: summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring, we'd make meat helmets. When I was insolent, I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds; pretty standard, really. At the age of twelve, I received my first scribe. At the age of fourteen, a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles... there really is nothing like a shorn scrotum. It's breathtaking; I suggest you try it."
The NYT ran a story over the weekend analysing the sycophancy levels of Trump's administration in their public statements.
Rubio came out top, by some distance. Vance was rock bottom - though topped the ratings for attacks on political opponents. He is a singularly unappealing character even to his own side.
Unless Trump karks it, or is 25th-ed aside, Vance will never be nominee or president.
That is the interesting bit. Vance now has little to lose from a 25th amendment attempt. Not likely to get the rest of the Cabinet to agree, but could save his reputation in the longer term.
It will never happen, we should stop pretending it is a viable prediction.
See also "if Sinn Fein take their seats"
SF didn't take their seats in the Dail until they did.
The NYT ran a story over the weekend analysing the sycophancy levels of Trump's administration in their public statements.
Rubio came out top, by some distance. Vance was rock bottom - though topped the ratings for attacks on political opponents. He is a singularly unappealing character even to his own side.
Unless Trump karks it, or is 25th-ed aside, Vance will never be nominee or president.
That is the interesting bit. Vance now has little to lose from a 25th amendment attempt. Not likely to get the rest of the Cabinet to agree, but could save his reputation in the longer term.
It will never happen, we should stop pretending it is a viable prediction.
See also "if Sinn Fein take their seats"
SF didn't take their seats in the Dail until they did.
Unlikely they will in a "foreign" body like Westminster.
The NYT ran a story over the weekend analysing the sycophancy levels of Trump's administration in their public statements.
Rubio came out top, by some distance. Vance was rock bottom - though topped the ratings for attacks on political opponents. He is a singularly unappealing character even to his own side.
Unless Trump karks it, or is 25th-ed aside, Vance will never be nominee or president.
That is the interesting bit. Vance now has little to lose from a 25th amendment attempt. Not likely to get the rest of the Cabinet to agree, but could save his reputation in the longer term.
It will never happen, we should stop pretending it is a viable prediction.
See also "if Sinn Fein take their seats"
SF didn't take their seats in the Dail until they did.
Unlikely they will in a "foreign" body like Westminster.
It would result in serious threats against their lives.
It would be symbolically becoming a Nationalist party rather than a Republican one.
Might that not be required for catheterisation through the femoral artery in the groin ?
I had something similar, many years ago, for a pyelogram. In that case they handed me a Bic razor and told me to get on with it myself (the shave, rather than the catheterisation).
"The details of my life are quite inconsequential... Very well. Where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low-grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen-year-old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims, like he "invented" the question mark. Sometimes, he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy... the sort of general malaise that only the genius possess, and the insane lament. My childhood was typical: summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring, we'd make meat helmets. When I was insolent, I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds; pretty standard, really. At the age of twelve, I received my first scribe. At the age of fourteen, a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles... there really is nothing like a shorn scrotum. It's breathtaking; I suggest you try it."
Restore have never wanted anything to do with this area. But now someone born with a silver spoon in their mouth is trying to lie about the only working class local man in the race.
Monday: Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell jailed after stealing indyref2 donations.
Tuesday: SNP Government launches fresh push for indyref2.
I meant to ask last night what had happened to the other Independence party, Alba, but I see they died a death when Alex Salmond passed. Got dissolved in March this year after declaring they wouldn't be standing candidates at elections......(!)
Alba might have been able to make hay with this, but they're now long gone.
Alba never really started, even I was mildly surprised at their total ineffectuality. Not even a councillor elected during their lifetime.
Well, when Alex Salmond, leader of the party was forced to vote for the SNP because his own party wasn't standing a candidate in the seat, it's not a good look!
Genuine question - I know you can be expelled for admitting you voted for another party in Labour (Alaister Campbell) - is the same true of other parties? Is an exception allowed if you can't vote for your party because of no candidate?
In the LibDems, you can be expelled for voting against the party's candidate. If the party isn't standing, there's no problem
On paper? Perhaps. In practice? No.
Indeed. It's a secret ballot: no-one knows how you vote! Nothing is going to happen unless you make a big deal about it, e.g. going on national television and talking about it.
Restore have never wanted anything to do with this area. But now someone born with a silver spoon in their mouth is trying to lie about the only working class local man in the race.
I want net negative immigration.
Nothing like a bit of red on red in the morning.
This is like the good old days when Russia's useful idiots used to get invaded by the Bear.
The one issue I’d really have with that is rescinding existing awards.
That is pretty much the dividing line between the establishment parties and Reform/Restore.
The establishment parties will/are reducing further immigration and tightening future restrictions. Reform and Restore are reneging on current status and deporting
No-one (maybe Greens?) is arguing for a continuation of the Boris wave.
It’s stupid stuff like this that puts me off Reform. I could conceivably vote for them but won’t.
I just don’t like the idea of making the change retrospective. Extending ILR going forward is fine.
If they didn't do "stupid" stuff they would be advocating the same changes as Labour and the Tories. Labour just get no credit for doing any of the hard work on this, their supporters either hate it or more typically mistrust it and would rather talk about something else, whilst their detractors don't seem to notice the major changes that are and will be made.
Reform have driven the debate, Labour are reacting. It is also not settled in Labour. Many of their MPs oppose the ILR changes as they’re ‘un British’ and they haven’t happened yet.
I voted Labour, I cannot see anything that has improved my life from the govt since 2024. I also expect many of their flagship bills, like renters reform and workers rights, to be counter productive.
Ironically Reform Durham have sorted out some of the potholes by me and on some of the roads I use as well as getting some hedgerows trimmed back and some other small improvements.
The main thing I want to see is someone get hold of the nations finances. I did expect Reeves and Starmer to perform in that area.
I’m not sure what the Lib Dem’s policy on migration is. Previously it was open door. But I think it’s changed.
Restore have never wanted anything to do with this area. But now someone born with a silver spoon in their mouth is trying to lie about the only working class local man in the race.
I want net negative immigration.
He’s a moron . With an ageing population and low birth rate whose going to pay for the increase in pensioners.
Five things really jumped out from our Makerfield focus group for this piece
1) Burnham's biggest challenge is showing how his win, and any future plans will benefit Makerfield directly that: this is about them not him. 2) Lots of the group really disliked Starmer but: vote Labour to get rid of Starmer really goes against voter psychology 3) Reform's biggest challenge is to derisk. The "risk" of Reform is still enough to stop some wavering voters rolling the dice on them. 4) Restore cut through driven by social media was a real thing and just as in Gorton we heard people worried about splits in left vote here a couple worried about right split.
Oh and in a reminder all politics is local and people care how their area shows up, many in the group were cross this by-election had been called while Ashton-in-Makerfield was getting regeneration work done and the town centre looked a mess during it's time under the spotlight
What is there to stop people working 42 hours on a normal full time contract changing to working 42 hours based on a 32 hour week and 10 hours overtime? I don't really understand how it even can work.
Indeed.
To be fair, how many times have we seen policies, from all parties, where the obvious reaction is “won’t people just… “
A symptom of announcement politics?
Maybe that's why they do it - crowd-source the impact analysis.
More that the announcement is the important bit. The implementation can be purely theoretical.
The rationale is simple. Some of our voters work overtime. Here's a simple policy which sounds great, especially as they don't understand that we're actually grifting taxpayer cash for us not for them.
Kirklees is the warning. £462m budget, a majority Reform group elected off the street literally too thick to understand the basics of what the council is and how it works, but still demanding the keys to the services and the budgets.
Voters want things to change for the better. Grifters, chancers and idiots do not help the cause. Nor does I'm a gas fitter look at my brand new van and never used tools and half an hour old company and women are slags who shouldn't be allowed to drive but must vote for me unless they love muslims.
Its all falling apart for Farage and his £5m.
Some work overtime, more remember when they worked overtime.
As for Farage, he's £5 million up and less likely to have the ballsache of being Prime Minister. The important bit of any grift is the exit strategy.
Many staff in the private sector work overtime and expectation is it is unpaid just to get the job done.
This wheeze of Reforms reminds me of Blair’s ‘Fallacy of Popular Policies’. It would be a perfect fit for it.
Monday: Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell jailed after stealing indyref2 donations.
Tuesday: SNP Government launches fresh push for indyref2.
I meant to ask last night what had happened to the other Independence party, Alba, but I see they died a death when Alex Salmond passed. Got dissolved in March this year after declaring they wouldn't be standing candidates at elections......(!)
Alba might have been able to make hay with this, but they're now long gone.
Alba never really started, even I was mildly surprised at their total ineffectuality. Not even a councillor elected during their lifetime.
Well, when Alex Salmond, leader of the party was forced to vote for the SNP because his own party wasn't standing a candidate in the seat, it's not a good look!
Genuine question - I know you can be expelled for admitting you voted for another party in Labour (Alaister Campbell) - is the same true of other parties? Is an exception allowed if you can't vote for your party because of no candidate?
In the LibDems, you can be expelled for voting against the party's candidate. If the party isn't standing, there's no problem
On paper? Perhaps. In practice? No.
Indeed. It's a secret ballot: no-one knows how you vote! Nothing is going to happen unless you make a big deal about it, e.g. going on national television and talking about it.
I don’t think you can be expelled for how you voted, even if you confess it. You can be expelled for campaigning for someone standing against a party candidate - and I guess if you went round telling everyone that you intended to do so, that would comprise ‘campaigning’. But once the election is done you can tell the world and aren’t going to be thrown out for it, provided you don’t stray into advising people how to vote in future elections.
Though most of the arab countries currently involved in wars of Trump's making cannot be described as democracies the one thing their rulers take notice of is what they call 'The Arab Street'.
Trump decided as part of his latest peace plan to try to get Israrel's neighbours to sign a friendship accord with them! None of the commentators in the US nor the UK seem very attuned to what's going on. They see it a bit like our ex-pat in Dubai. That is to say blindfolded.
Anyway amidst the fog this guy is about as accurate as it gets and he reckons the Trump plan is going nowhere.
what ugly people in every sense of the word. No wonder they found so many kindred spirits in Makerfield. If Burnam's got any sense he'll keep up his search.*
*Unless it's the MEN doing their vox pop outside some deliberately chosen asylum.
Might that not be required for catheterisation through the femoral artery in the groin ?
I had something similar, many years ago, for a pyelogram. In that case they handed me a Bic razor and told me to get on with it myself (the shave, rather than the catheterisation).
I had catheter ablation a few years ago. They certainly didn’t need to shave your balls unless somehow they are at the very top of your thigh where it joins the torso which would also be an interesting story.
As the person responsible for our deportation plan I want ensure people know where we stand:
If a foreign national lives in social housing at taxpayer expense, they automatically fail our economic test and will be deported.
A pitched and bloody battle over who will deport the most people. Call me a reactionary but I think I prefer the old days when it would be about tax cuts.
Yusuf is the most dangerous of the lot
Never elected to anything in his life, he's got a massive hold on Farage, in many ways Farage is his puppet
As the person responsible for our deportation plan I want ensure people know where we stand:
If a foreign national lives in social housing at taxpayer expense, they automatically fail our economic test and will be deported.
That's a few thousand Ukrainian refugees getting kicked out then.
There's no path to ILR from the standard 'Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme', they are all due to expire in September this year although the government will probably extend again. Hence, it's quite common for them to move to student visas and any other contrivance.
We got ours Austrian citizenship through ancestry using newly and surprisingly discovered but entirely legitimate documents. All those years of experience in getting dodgy MoTs and floating V5s finally came in useful.
Restore have never wanted anything to do with this area. But now someone born with a silver spoon in their mouth is trying to lie about the only working class local man in the race.
I want net negative immigration.
He’s a moron . With an ageing population and low birth rate whose going to pay for the increase in pensioners.
As the person responsible for our deportation plan I want ensure people know where we stand:
If a foreign national lives in social housing at taxpayer expense, they automatically fail our economic test and will be deported.
A pitched and bloody battle over who will deport the most people. Call me a reactionary but I think I prefer the old days when it would be about tax cuts.
Yusuf is the most dangerous of the lot
Never elected to anything in his life, he's got a massive hold on Farage, in many ways Farage is his puppet
He is certainly the most unpleasant of Reform (which when you consider the competition is going some). I saw him on the Local Election coverage and was repelled: he has adopted the American approach of moaning about past slights (real or imagined) and hurling abuse at others, whilst explaining nothing about his party's stance. I have a lot of time for people who are willing to explain to me calmly or dispassionately what their stance is or their party's stance is, but I have no time for his kind of approach and I hope he never wields power in the UK.
Restore have never wanted anything to do with this area. But now someone born with a silver spoon in their mouth is trying to lie about the only working class local man in the race.
I want net negative immigration.
And there it is. A race for voters on a manifesto of 'get rid of the darkies. Foreign ones, so-called "British" ones, the whole lot are terrorist rapists anyway'
Not that we should be surprised this is what Rob really thinks. He may as well reinstate his removed social profiles so he can proudly show off that he's a literal fascist.
Might that not be required for catheterisation through the femoral artery in the groin ?
I had something similar, many years ago, for a pyelogram. In that case they handed me a Bic razor and told me to get on with it myself (the shave, rather than the catheterisation).
"The details of my life are quite inconsequential... Very well. Where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low-grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen-year-old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims, like he "invented" the question mark. Sometimes, he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy... the sort of general malaise that only the genius possess, and the insane lament. My childhood was typical: summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring, we'd make meat helmets. When I was insolent, I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds; pretty standard, really. At the age of twelve, I received my first scribe. At the age of fourteen, a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles... there really is nothing like a shorn scrotum. It's breathtaking; I suggest you try it."
Sounds like something Will Self would write, but apparently its Dr Evil from Austen Powers...
Part of me is glad that we're moving past the polite charade of Reform and getting properly into the movement. The two things jumping out are the endless attacks on Zia Yusuf from Restore supporters, and now the same people decrying Lowe attending his son's wedding which supposedly had Halal on the reception menu as his new daughter-in-law is allegedly Libyan in origin.
Here's the thing. Decent people can be moulded slightly and have their petty parochial bigotries amplified, but I think that only gets you so far. Demanding the mass deportation of your neighbours is surely too far, and yet that is now where Kenyon is. Zusuf has also proposed mass deportation, and surely he must know that he would eventually be on their list.
I have faith in the British people not to vote fascist. As they will demonstrate in Makerfield in a few weeks time.
I was in Makerfield yesterday @AaronBastani. My biggest take away from it, was the amount of Restore posters placed in people’s windows around the town centre.
I was in Makerfield yesterday @AaronBastani. My biggest take away from it, was the amount of Restore posters placed in people’s windows around the town centre.
As the person responsible for our deportation plan I want ensure people know where we stand:
If a foreign national lives in social housing at taxpayer expense, they automatically fail our economic test and will be deported.
A pitched and bloody battle over who will deport the most people. Call me a reactionary but I think I prefer the old days when it would be about tax cuts.
Yusuf is the most dangerous of the lot
Never elected to anything in his life, he's got a massive hold on Farage, in many ways Farage is his puppet
He is certainly the most unpleasant of Reform (which when you consider the competition is going some). I saw him on the Local Election coverage and was repelled: he has adopted the American approach of moaning about past slights (real or imagined) and hurling abuse at others, whilst explaining nothing about his party's stance. I have a lot of time for people who are willing to explain to me calmly or dispassionately what their stance is or their party's stance is, but I have no time for his kind of approach and I hope he never wields power in the UK.
Part of me is glad that we're moving past the polite charade of Reform and getting properly into the movement. The two things jumping out are the endless attacks on Zia Yusuf from Restore supporters, and now the same people decrying Lowe attending his son's wedding which supposedly had Halal on the reception menu as his new daughter-in-law is allegedly Libyan in origin.
Here's the thing. Decent people can be moulded slightly and have their petty parochial bigotries amplified, but I think that only gets you so far. Demanding the mass deportation of your neighbours is surely too far, and yet that is now where Kenyon is. Zusuf has also proposed mass deportation, and surely he must know that he would eventually be on their list.
I have faith in the British people not to vote fascist. As they will demonstrate in Makerfield in a few weeks time.
Zia would be writing the list. Farage always opposed mass deportations, then Zia pops up on Triggernometry and says let's deport 1.2 million people. He has consistently dragged Farage rightwards.
Might that not be required for catheterisation through the femoral artery in the groin ?
I had something similar, many years ago, for a pyelogram. In that case they handed me a Bic razor and told me to get on with it myself (the shave, rather than the catheterisation).
"The details of my life are quite inconsequential... Very well. Where do I begin? My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low-grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen-year-old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims, like he "invented" the question mark. Sometimes, he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy... the sort of general malaise that only the genius possess, and the insane lament. My childhood was typical: summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring, we'd make meat helmets. When I was insolent, I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds; pretty standard, really. At the age of twelve, I received my first scribe. At the age of fourteen, a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles... there really is nothing like a shorn scrotum. It's breathtaking; I suggest you try it."
Sounds like something Will Self would write, but apparently its Dr Evil from Austen Powers...
Part of me is glad that we're moving past the polite charade of Reform and getting properly into the movement. The two things jumping out are the endless attacks on Zia Yusuf from Restore supporters, and now the same people decrying Lowe attending his son's wedding which supposedly had Halal on the reception menu as his new daughter-in-law is allegedly Libyan in origin.
Here's the thing. Decent people can be moulded slightly and have their petty parochial bigotries amplified, but I think that only gets you so far. Demanding the mass deportation of your neighbours is surely too far, and yet that is now where Kenyon is. Zusuf has also proposed mass deportation, and surely he must know that he would eventually be on their list.
I have faith in the British people not to vote fascist. As they will demonstrate in Makerfield in a few weeks time.
I want to share your faith Rochdale but I keep coming back to the thought that 'demanding the mass deportation of your neighbours' turned out to be not a step too far in Germany in the 1930s.
Are British people intrinsically more decent than German people? I don't think so.
Restore have never wanted anything to do with this area. But now someone born with a silver spoon in their mouth is trying to lie about the only working class local man in the race.
I want net negative immigration.
He’s a moron . With an ageing population and low birth rate whose going to pay for the increase in pensioners.
Ah, yes. The immigration ponzi scheme. "Keep importing more people, because without population growth, we can't afford to look after the old people already here."
It's a complete falacy, because it doesn't account for the infrastructure costs of increasing the population. Every extra person has a one off infrastructure cost when they arrive, needing extra infrastructure putting in place for their housing, transport, hospitals, schools, water, electricity etc, etc.
Currently, we've got a country with the infrastructure fit for ~55 milion people, and a reality of ~70 million people. It will be much cheaper to prevent immigration almost entirely and let the population drift back down to ~55 million over the next 20-30 years, than build all the missing infrastructure.
It will be much easier to solve the house price crisis by reducing demand (it will take time, but it will happen) than by allowing Barretts to concrete over every square inch of the countryside. It would be cheaper not to have to build HS2, because rail demand stopped increasing. It would be cheaper not to have to build loads of new reservoirs, because water demand (broadly static per person) stops increasing. Etc etc.
This is of course not racism. It's economics. But the cheap nanny's and Deliveroo every night crowd like shouting racism rather than engage with the argument, because their case is very weak.
Part of me is glad that we're moving past the polite charade of Reform and getting properly into the movement. The two things jumping out are the endless attacks on Zia Yusuf from Restore supporters, and now the same people decrying Lowe attending his son's wedding which supposedly had Halal on the reception menu as his new daughter-in-law is allegedly Libyan in origin.
Here's the thing. Decent people can be moulded slightly and have their petty parochial bigotries amplified, but I think that only gets you so far. Demanding the mass deportation of your neighbours is surely too far, and yet that is now where Kenyon is. Zusuf has also proposed mass deportation, and surely he must know that he would eventually be on their list.
I have faith in the British people not to vote fascist. As they will demonstrate in Makerfield in a few weeks time.
Zia would be writing the list. Farage always opposed mass deportations, then Zia pops up on Triggernometry and says let's deport 1.2 million people. He has consistently dragged Farage rightwards.
How does he make sure he doesn't accidentally put his own name on the list?
An afternoon quiz question for military history experts - I am now staying near the battlefield of, I’d wager, one of the largest battles that few people outside of Italy will have heard of, despite its brutality and carnage having led directly to both the Geneva Conventions and the foundation of the International Red Cross…..?
Part of me is glad that we're moving past the polite charade of Reform and getting properly into the movement. The two things jumping out are the endless attacks on Zia Yusuf from Restore supporters, and now the same people decrying Lowe attending his son's wedding which supposedly had Halal on the reception menu as his new daughter-in-law is allegedly Libyan in origin.
Here's the thing. Decent people can be moulded slightly and have their petty parochial bigotries amplified, but I think that only gets you so far. Demanding the mass deportation of your neighbours is surely too far, and yet that is now where Kenyon is. Zusuf has also proposed mass deportation, and surely he must know that he would eventually be on their list.
I have faith in the British people not to vote fascist. As they will demonstrate in Makerfield in a few weeks time.
I want to share your faith Rochdale but I keep coming back to the thought that 'demanding the mass deportation of your neighbours' turned out to be not a step too far in Germany in the 1930s.
Are British people intrinsically more decent than German people? I don't think so.
I hear you. But there's three big differences:
1) An economic slump as opposed to an economic crisis. No wheelbarrows of cash needed to buy bread here 2) No Hitler to lead the movement. Pint-sized Tommeh would love the job, but he's a cockwomble rather than a fuhrer 3) A big chunk of the patriotism this lot lionise is fighting nazis. Harder to demand people join the blackshirts to defend British Values like fighting blackshirts
Speaking of bears, seen in a Tesco aisle this morning.
'Due to the extreme heat, the refrigeration in some aisles have failed. Please bare with us as we try to deal with it.'
I must admit, I didn't think it was so hot as to justify that...
Surely runs counter to the store policies of insisting gentlemen wear something to cover their top halves?
Not sure why anyone shops in Tesco -They spend a fortune advertising Aldi on the telly -telling everyone that Aldi has low prices!
When Tesco price-matches an item it's often of higher quality. Recently basic Serrano ham was price matched at £1.50 a packet, which is a bargain for the Tesco stuff. The Aldi equivalent is tasteless.
Part of me is glad that we're moving past the polite charade of Reform and getting properly into the movement. The two things jumping out are the endless attacks on Zia Yusuf from Restore supporters, and now the same people decrying Lowe attending his son's wedding which supposedly had Halal on the reception menu as his new daughter-in-law is allegedly Libyan in origin.
Here's the thing. Decent people can be moulded slightly and have their petty parochial bigotries amplified, but I think that only gets you so far. Demanding the mass deportation of your neighbours is surely too far, and yet that is now where Kenyon is. Zusuf has also proposed mass deportation, and surely he must know that he would eventually be on their list.
I have faith in the British people not to vote fascist. As they will demonstrate in Makerfield in a few weeks time.
Zia would be writing the list. Farage always opposed mass deportations, then Zia pops up on Triggernometry and says let's deport 1.2 million people. He has consistently dragged Farage rightwards.
How does he make sure he doesn't accidentally put his own name on the list?
Part of me is glad that we're moving past the polite charade of Reform and getting properly into the movement. The two things jumping out are the endless attacks on Zia Yusuf from Restore supporters, and now the same people decrying Lowe attending his son's wedding which supposedly had Halal on the reception menu as his new daughter-in-law is allegedly Libyan in origin.
Here's the thing. Decent people can be moulded slightly and have their petty parochial bigotries amplified, but I think that only gets you so far. Demanding the mass deportation of your neighbours is surely too far, and yet that is now where Kenyon is. Zusuf has also proposed mass deportation, and surely he must know that he would eventually be on their list.
I have faith in the British people not to vote fascist. As they will demonstrate in Makerfield in a few weeks time.
I want to share your faith Rochdale but I keep coming back to the thought that 'demanding the mass deportation of your neighbours' turned out to be not a step too far in Germany in the 1930s.
Are British people intrinsically more decent than German people? I don't think so.
I hear you. But there's three big differences:
1) An economic slump as opposed to an economic crisis. No wheelbarrows of cash needed to buy bread here 2) No Hitler to lead the movement. Pint-sized Tommeh would love the job, but he's a cockwomble rather than a fuhrer 3) A big chunk of the patriotism this lot lionise is fighting nazis. Harder to demand people join the blackshirts to defend British Values like fighting blackshirts
I don't disagree but constant vigilance against would-be führers is vital imo.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjrppppwvwlo Oil giant BP has removed its chairman Albert Manifold over "serious concerns" related to "important governance standards, oversight, and conduct". Senior independent director Amanda Blanc said the board had been "surprised and disappointed to learn of governance oversight and conduct issues it deems unacceptable and has taken decisive action". Manifold had been in the position less than a year. Shares tumbled by 6% following the news of his removal. Ian Tyler has been appointed interim chair with immediate effect. Manifold joined BP in September 2025 as a non-executive director and was appointed chair the following month. At the time of his appointment, BP said Manifold had "a strong track record of strategic leadership and operational delivery"...,/I>
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjrppppwvwlo Oil giant BP has removed its chairman Albert Manifold over "serious concerns" related to "important governance standards, oversight, and conduct". Senior independent director Amanda Blanc said the board had been "surprised and disappointed to learn of governance oversight and conduct issues it deems unacceptable and has taken decisive action". Manifold had been in the position less than a year. Shares tumbled by 6% following the news of his removal. Ian Tyler has been appointed interim chair with immediate effect. Manifold joined BP in September 2025 as a non-executive director and was appointed chair the following month. At the time of his appointment, BP said Manifold had "a strong track record of strategic leadership and operational delivery"...,/I>
How on earth can you be such a crook that even BP sack you?
It's a shame Reclaim can't play in Makerfield as well, with Laurence Fox performing his stuff.
Then, we'd have the three Rs.
Risible, Ridiculous, and Rank ?
Rectum
Ressurection, Revelation, Remembrance.
...Resolution, Revolution
R Class battleships:
Resolution Ramillies Royal Sovereign Royal Oak Revenge
Renown Class battlecruisers:
Renown Repulse
(Narrator: Sunil missed the fact that Taz and Viewcode were swapping names of Dalek stories. There was a fad in the 1980s for Dalek Stories beginning with "R" and Chibnall resurrected - hah! - it for Jodie's episodes)
Part of me is glad that we're moving past the polite charade of Reform and getting properly into the movement. The two things jumping out are the endless attacks on Zia Yusuf from Restore supporters, and now the same people decrying Lowe attending his son's wedding which supposedly had Halal on the reception menu as his new daughter-in-law is allegedly Libyan in origin.
Here's the thing. Decent people can be moulded slightly and have their petty parochial bigotries amplified, but I think that only gets you so far. Demanding the mass deportation of your neighbours is surely too far, and yet that is now where Kenyon is. Zusuf has also proposed mass deportation, and surely he must know that he would eventually be on their list.
I have faith in the British people not to vote fascist. As they will demonstrate in Makerfield in a few weeks time.
Zia would be writing the list. Farage always opposed mass deportations, then Zia pops up on Triggernometry and says let's deport 1.2 million people. He has consistently dragged Farage rightwards.
How does he make sure he doesn't accidentally put his own name on the list?
Don’t tell him, Yusuf.
Nigel, has only got one ball, the other is in the Albert Hall
Given he leads all Republican primary polls hard not to see him running. As stated in the header not impossible he could have replaced Trump as president by then anyway
Which might suggest a bitter battle between one of Trump's 'children' and Vance and/or Rubio in the spring of 2028. Perhaps even leading to two candidates in October of that year. Plus of course a very satisfied Democrat!
And Good Morning everyone. Still blue skies and a cooling, gentle breeze here, I'm pleased to report.
I wonder if any of the primaried Republican Senators (Cassidy in Louisiana, Cornyn in Texas) will be tempted to run as "Real Republicans" and split the GOP vote?
I was thinking the same thing last night. Cormyn must be sorely tempted if he loses today given Paxton's proven history of corruption and his impeachment.
The thing is, that would more or less guarantee the Democrats would win the seat. Which would make him very unpopular.
Would he care though if he could get revenge on Trump?
It's a shame Reclaim can't play in Makerfield as well, with Laurence Fox performing his stuff.
Then, we'd have the three Rs.
Risible, Ridiculous, and Rank ?
Rectum
Ressurection, Revelation, Remembrance.
...Resolution, Revolution
R Class battleships:
Resolution Ramillies Royal Sovereign Royal Oak Revenge
Renown Class battlecruisers:
Renown Repulse
(Narrator: Sunil missed the fact that Taz and Viewcode were swapping names of Dalek stories. There was a fad in the 1980s for Dalek Stories beginning with "R" and Chibnall resurrected - hah! - it for Jodie's episodes)
Have we discussed Rupert Lowe’s son married a Muslim and Halal food was served at their wedding which Rupe attended?
This has not gone down well with the Restore vote.
Restore's candidate is a complete NIMBY, except where it's seeking planning permission to knock down some stables she bought and whack up houses in their place. OTOH Reform's candidate managed to win Champ Manager with Accrington Stanley.
Part of me is glad that we're moving past the polite charade of Reform and getting properly into the movement. The two things jumping out are the endless attacks on Zia Yusuf from Restore supporters, and now the same people decrying Lowe attending his son's wedding which supposedly had Halal on the reception menu as his new daughter-in-law is allegedly Libyan in origin.
Here's the thing. Decent people can be moulded slightly and have their petty parochial bigotries amplified, but I think that only gets you so far. Demanding the mass deportation of your neighbours is surely too far, and yet that is now where Kenyon is. Zusuf has also proposed mass deportation, and surely he must know that he would eventually be on their list.
I have faith in the British people not to vote fascist. As they will demonstrate in Makerfield in a few weeks time.
I want to share your faith Rochdale but I keep coming back to the thought that 'demanding the mass deportation of your neighbours' turned out to be not a step too far in Germany in the 1930s.
Are British people intrinsically more decent than German people? I don't think so.
I hear you. But there's three big differences:
1) An economic slump as opposed to an economic crisis. No wheelbarrows of cash needed to buy bread here 2) No Hitler to lead the movement. Pint-sized Tommeh would love the job, but he's a cockwomble rather than a fuhrer 3) A big chunk of the patriotism this lot lionise is fighting nazis. Harder to demand people join the blackshirts to defend British Values like fighting blackshirts
I hipe you're right.
The counter to point 1 is that, although our problems are nothing compared to those of the 1930s, so is our tolerance of problems. And the technology of whipping up a national crisis out of not very much is so much more effective these days.
Bottom line is that it all comes down to Who Goes Nazi? by Dorothy Thompson. It's about character. That and the line that Terry Pratchett put in Granny Weatherwax's mouth;
Sin, young man, is when you treat people like things.
That's as much about whipping people up to desire the deportation of inconvenient people as the desire itself.
I was in Makerfield yesterday @AaronBastani. My biggest take away from it, was the amount of Restore posters placed in people’s windows around the town centre.
Have we discussed Rupert Lowe’s son married a Muslim and Halal food was served at their wedding which Rupe attended?
This has not gone down well with the Restore vote.
Restore's candidate is a complete NIMBY, except where it's seeking planning permission to knock down some stables she bought and whack up houses in their place. OTOH Reform's candidate managed to win Champ Manager with Accrington Stanley.
I won the Champions League with Rayo Vallecano in FM26. Means nothing.
((Dan Hodges))) @DPJHodges · 9m Just to add to the chaos I'm now being told by multiple sources from different parties that canvass returns for Makerfield show Restore significantly outperforming the 7% revealed in the Times poll. I suspect that's what's underpinning the current Reform meltdown.
Well, if you want to base a betting strategy based on canvass returns, good luck with that.
Restore have never wanted anything to do with this area. But now someone born with a silver spoon in their mouth is trying to lie about the only working class local man in the race.
I want net negative immigration.
He’s a moron . With an ageing population and low birth rate whose going to pay for the increase in pensioners.
Ah, yes. The immigration ponzi scheme. "Keep importing more people, because without population growth, we can't afford to look after the old people already here."
It's a complete falacy, because it doesn't account for the infrastructure costs of increasing the population. Every extra person has a one off infrastructure cost when they arrive, needing extra infrastructure putting in place for their housing, transport, hospitals, schools, water, electricity etc, etc.
Currently, we've got a country with the infrastructure fit for ~55 milion people, and a reality of ~70 million people. It will be much cheaper to prevent immigration almost entirely and let the population drift back down to ~55 million over the next 20-30 years, than build all the missing infrastructure.
It will be much easier to solve the house price crisis by reducing demand (it will take time, but it will happen) than by allowing Barretts to concrete over every square inch of the countryside. It would be cheaper not to have to build HS2, because rail demand stopped increasing. It would be cheaper not to have to build loads of new reservoirs, because water demand (broadly static per person) stops increasing. Etc etc.
This is of course not racism. It's economics. But the cheap nanny's and Deliveroo every night crowd like shouting racism rather than engage with the argument, because their case is very weak.
The logical conclusion of your line of reasoning is that we should have a population of zero, then there will be no infrastructure costs and everything will be great. This is silly and demonstrates the flaw in your reasoning.
What you've missed is that every extra person generates economic value, which is enough (on average) to pay for their required infrastructure costs. Indeed, with efficiency savings resulting from larger numbers, each new person requires a lower per capita infrastructure cost.
Your analysis also makes no distinction between new people arriving through immigration and new people being born. (Generally, the people arriving through immigration have lower lifetime costs as we don't have to pay for their early years and education.)
Your analysis also misses the importance of the age mix of the population. A population of 55 million but with 25% over 65 (a possible future for the UK) is very different to a population of 55 million but with 15% over 65 (which was the UK's past, 40 years ago, approximately). The latter is much more sustainable.
((Dan Hodges))) @DPJHodges · 9m Just to add to the chaos I'm now being told by multiple sources from different parties that canvass returns for Makerfield show Restore significantly outperforming the 7% revealed in the Times poll. I suspect that's what's underpinning the current Reform meltdown.
Well, if you want to base a betting strategy based on canvass returns, good luck with that.
Depends who is asking the question - but I suspect the idea anyone has a clue what is happening there prior to the result being announced is lying to themselves
Restore have never wanted anything to do with this area. But now someone born with a silver spoon in their mouth is trying to lie about the only working class local man in the race.
I want net negative immigration.
He’s a moron . With an ageing population and low birth rate whose going to pay for the increase in pensioners.
Ah, yes. The immigration ponzi scheme. "Keep importing more people, because without population growth, we can't afford to look after the old people already here."
It's a complete falacy, because it doesn't account for the infrastructure costs of increasing the population. Every extra person has a one off infrastructure cost when they arrive, needing extra infrastructure putting in place for their housing, transport, hospitals, schools, water, electricity etc, etc.
Currently, we've got a country with the infrastructure fit for ~55 milion people, and a reality of ~70 million people. It will be much cheaper to prevent immigration almost entirely and let the population drift back down to ~55 million over the next 20-30 years, than build all the missing infrastructure.
It will be much easier to solve the house price crisis by reducing demand (it will take time, but it will happen) than by allowing Barretts to concrete over every square inch of the countryside. It would be cheaper not to have to build HS2, because rail demand stopped increasing. It would be cheaper not to have to build loads of new reservoirs, because water demand (broadly static per person) stops increasing. Etc etc.
This is of course not racism. It's economics. But the cheap nanny's and Deliveroo every night crowd like shouting racism rather than engage with the argument, because their case is very weak.
The logical conclusion of your line of reasoning is that we should have a population of zero, then there will be no infrastructure costs and everything will be great. This is silly and demonstrates the flaw in your reasoning.
What you've missed is that every extra person generates economic value, which is enough (on average) to pay for their required infrastructure costs. Indeed, with efficiency savings resulting from larger numbers, each new person requires a lower per capita infrastructure cost.
Your analysis also makes no distinction between new people arriving through immigration and new people being born. (Generally, the people arriving through immigration have lower lifetime costs as we don't have to pay for their early years and education.)
Your analysis also misses the importance of the age mix of the population. A population of 55 million but with 25% over 65 (a possible future for the UK) is very different to a population of 55 million but with 15% over 65 (which was the UK's past, 40 years ago, approximately). The latter is much more sustainable.
The logical conclusion of your line of reasoning is that we should discourage procreation as much as possible and encourage immigration of working-age people instead.
An afternoon quiz question for military history experts - I am now staying near the battlefield of, I’d wager, one of the largest battles that few people outside of Italy will have heard of, despite its brutality and carnage having led directly to both the Geneva Conventions and the foundation of the International Red Cross…..?
((Dan Hodges))) @DPJHodges · 9m Just to add to the chaos I'm now being told by multiple sources from different parties that canvass returns for Makerfield show Restore significantly outperforming the 7% revealed in the Times poll. I suspect that's what's underpinning the current Reform meltdown.
Well, if you want to base a betting strategy based on canvass returns, good luck with that.
Depends who is asking the question - but I suspect the idea anyone has a clue what is happening there prior to the result being announced is lying to themselves
Canvassing (done properly) should give you a fair indication of your own support.
It will tell you nothing about opposition support, still less how the vote is breaking down among opposition parties. So believe nothing about twitter reports showing any kind of breakdown between parties - somebody is just lying.
((Dan Hodges))) @DPJHodges · 9m Just to add to the chaos I'm now being told by multiple sources from different parties that canvass returns for Makerfield show Restore significantly outperforming the 7% revealed in the Times poll. I suspect that's what's underpinning the current Reform meltdown.
Well, if you want to base a betting strategy based on canvass returns, good luck with that.
Depends who is asking the question - but I suspect the idea anyone has a clue what is happening there prior to the result being announced is lying to themselves
Isn’t there a history of parties saying - “our canvassing returns are much better than the polling” and falling flat on election day?
Restore have never wanted anything to do with this area. But now someone born with a silver spoon in their mouth is trying to lie about the only working class local man in the race.
I want net negative immigration.
He’s a moron . With an ageing population and low birth rate whose going to pay for the increase in pensioners.
Ah, yes. The immigration ponzi scheme. "Keep importing more people, because without population growth, we can't afford to look after the old people already here."
It's a complete falacy, because it doesn't account for the infrastructure costs of increasing the population. Every extra person has a one off infrastructure cost when they arrive, needing extra infrastructure putting in place for their housing, transport, hospitals, schools, water, electricity etc, etc.
Currently, we've got a country with the infrastructure fit for ~55 milion people, and a reality of ~70 million people. It will be much cheaper to prevent immigration almost entirely and let the population drift back down to ~55 million over the next 20-30 years, than build all the missing infrastructure.
It will be much easier to solve the house price crisis by reducing demand (it will take time, but it will happen) than by allowing Barretts to concrete over every square inch of the countryside. It would be cheaper not to have to build HS2, because rail demand stopped increasing. It would be cheaper not to have to build loads of new reservoirs, because water demand (broadly static per person) stops increasing. Etc etc.
This is of course not racism. It's economics. But the cheap nanny's and Deliveroo every night crowd like shouting racism rather than engage with the argument, because their case is very weak.
The logical conclusion of your line of reasoning is that we should have a population of zero, then there will be no infrastructure costs and everything will be great. This is silly and demonstrates the flaw in your reasoning.
What you've missed is that every extra person generates economic value, which is enough (on average) to pay for their required infrastructure costs. Indeed, with efficiency savings resulting from larger numbers, each new person requires a lower per capita infrastructure cost.
Your analysis also makes no distinction between new people arriving through immigration and new people being born. (Generally, the people arriving through immigration have lower lifetime costs as we don't have to pay for their early years and education.)
Your analysis also misses the importance of the age mix of the population. A population of 55 million but with 25% over 65 (a possible future for the UK) is very different to a population of 55 million but with 15% over 65 (which was the UK's past, 40 years ago, approximately). The latter is much more sustainable.
The logical conclusion of your line of reasoning is that we should discourage procreation as much as possible and encourage immigration of working-age people instead.
If the only thing you care about is how much money the country can take in, perhaps. However, I care about people and giving them reproductive choices. People should have as many babies as they want. And politicians should plan for changes in the country's age profile.
The one issue I’d really have with that is rescinding existing awards.
That is pretty much the dividing line between the establishment parties and Reform/Restore.
The establishment parties will/are reducing further immigration and tightening future restrictions. Reform and Restore are reneging on current status and deporting
No-one (maybe Greens?) is arguing for a continuation of the Boris wave.
It’s stupid stuff like this that puts me off Reform. I could conceivably vote for them but won’t.
I just don’t like the idea of making the change retrospective. Extending ILR going forward is fine.
If they didn't do "stupid" stuff they would be advocating the same changes as Labour and the Tories. Labour just get no credit for doing any of the hard work on this, their supporters either hate it or more typically mistrust it and would rather talk about something else, whilst their detractors don't seem to notice the major changes that are and will be made.
Reform have driven the debate, Labour are reacting. It is also not settled in Labour. Many of their MPs oppose the ILR changes as they’re ‘un British’ and they haven’t happened yet.
I voted Labour, I cannot see anything that has improved my life from the govt since 2024. I also expect many of their flagship bills, like renters reform and workers rights, to be counter productive.
Ironically Reform Durham have sorted out some of the potholes by me and on some of the roads I use as well as getting some hedgerows trimmed back and some other small improvements.
The main thing I want to see is someone get hold of the nations finances. I did expect Reeves and Starmer to perform in that area.
I’m not sure what the Lib Dem’s policy on migration is. Previously it was open door. But I think it’s changed.
What does "getting hold of the nation's finances" look like? Presumably, you'd like to see borrowing reduced significantly if not eliminated though presumably borrowing for capital projects is okay?
Fine, we can either raise more money via taxes or cut our spending and in all likelihood both would be needed to see borrowing reduced significantly.
So, which taxes shall we increase? Income Tax, VAT, CGT, Council Tax or shall we go for Land Value Tax instead? Whose benefits will be cut and by how much - Universal Credit, Pensions, Carers Allowance? Or shall we cut defence, education, health?
It may be the Conservatives of all people will be able to square this circle and produce something akin to a balanced budget but that will still require a hard sell as everyone is happy to see someone else pay more and to get less but not themselves.
The ideal would probably be a cross party concensus to chop down the Magic Money Tree and set fire to it but I suspect that won't happen.
Meanwhile I see that Andy Burnham is doing his best to appease the Daily Mail.
I always said he was a mercurial chancer.
No genuine Labour man could appease the Daily Mail.
Oswald Mosley managed it and he was a genuine Labour man after all he was a Labour MP and cabinet minister.
Strictly speaking wasn't he attending cabinet rather than a member of it?
Semantics.
"Now you're talking semantics! What if I told you insane was working a 50-hour week for 50 years, at the end of which they tell you to piss off. Ending up in some retirement village, hoping to die rather than suffering the indignity of trying to make it to the toilet on time. Wouldn't you consider that to be insane?"
Meanwhile I see that Andy Burnham is doing his best to appease the Daily Mail.
I always said he was a mercurial chancer.
No genuine Labour man could appease the Daily Mail.
Oswald Mosley managed it and he was a genuine Labour man after all he was a Labour MP and cabinet minister.
Strictly speaking wasn't he attending cabinet rather than a member of it?
Semantics.
"Now you're talking semantics! What if I told you insane was working a 50-hour week for 50 years, at the end of which they tell you to piss off. Ending up in some retirement village, hoping to die rather than suffering the indignity of trying to make it to the toilet on time. Wouldn't you consider that to be insane?"
“Someday I’ll catch that man without a quotation and he’ll look undressed”
Comments
@Foxy may know the ins and outs, so to speak.
It would be symbolically becoming a Nationalist party rather than a Republican one.
"Wellings peacefully goes around with a camera making minimal noise and he's being asked to leave. IN HIS OWN COUNTRY. Insane."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzVEqAtcvkc
"This story is just a flimsy compilation of completely illegitimate sources who have no idea what they’re talking about."
https://x.com/PollTracker2024/status/2059081666535059827
I think he's saying all of the utter bastards are out to get him ?
I used to respect you Rupert.
Restore have never wanted anything to do with this area. But now someone born with a silver spoon in their mouth is trying to lie about the only working class local man in the race.
I want net negative immigration.
This is like the good old days when Russia's useful idiots used to get invaded by the Bear.
'Due to the extreme heat, the refrigeration in some aisles have failed. Please bare with us as we try to deal with it.'
I must admit, I didn't think it was so hot as to justify that...
I voted Labour, I cannot see anything that has improved my life from the govt since 2024. I also expect many of their flagship bills, like renters reform and workers rights, to be counter productive.
Ironically Reform Durham have sorted out some of the potholes by me and on some of the roads I use as well as getting some hedgerows trimmed back and some other small improvements.
The main thing I want to see is someone get hold of the nations finances. I did expect Reeves and Starmer to perform in that area.
I’m not sure what the Lib Dem’s policy on migration is. Previously it was open door. But I think it’s changed.
Five things really jumped out from our Makerfield focus group for this piece
1) Burnham's biggest challenge is showing how his win, and any future plans will benefit Makerfield directly that: this is about them not him.
2) Lots of the group really disliked Starmer but: vote Labour to get rid of Starmer really goes against voter psychology
3) Reform's biggest challenge is to derisk. The "risk" of Reform is still enough to stop some wavering voters rolling the dice on them.
4) Restore cut through driven by social media was a real thing and just as in Gorton we heard people worried about splits in left vote here a couple worried about right split.
Oh and in a reminder all politics is local and people care how their area shows up, many in the group were cross this by-election had been called while Ashton-in-Makerfield was getting regeneration work done and the town centre looked a mess during it's time under the spotlight
*Unless it's the MEN doing their vox pop outside some deliberately chosen asylum.
I don't believe they represent the majority and therefore drive anti semitic views
Never elected to anything in his life, he's got a massive hold on Farage, in many ways Farage is his puppet
Vote Reform. Get Independence.
We got ours Austrian citizenship through ancestry using newly and surprisingly discovered but entirely legitimate documents. All those years of experience in getting dodgy MoTs and floating V5s finally came in useful.
Rwanda is nice and safe I've been told.
Resolution
Ramillies
Royal Sovereign
Royal Oak
Revenge
Renown Class battlecruisers:
Renown
Repulse
Not that we should be surprised this is what Rob really thinks. He may as well reinstate his removed social profiles so he can proudly show off that he's a literal fascist.
Here's the thing. Decent people can be moulded slightly and have their petty parochial bigotries amplified, but I think that only gets you so far. Demanding the mass deportation of your neighbours is surely too far, and yet that is now where Kenyon is. Zusuf has also proposed mass deportation, and surely he must know that he would eventually be on their list.
I have faith in the British people not to vote fascist. As they will demonstrate in Makerfield in a few weeks time.
https://x.com/Sacha_Lord/status/2059212595551162763
I was in Makerfield yesterday @AaronBastani. My biggest take away from it, was the amount of Restore posters placed in people’s windows around the town centre.
https://x.com/LaticsJosie/status/2059253915091132706
I actually live in Makerfield.
The only party with any presence in the town is Reform. I have quite literally not seen a single Restore poster or sign.
I’ve seen two Labour window signs. This covers bother Ashton-in-Makerfield, Stubshaw Cross, Bryn and beyond.
LAB are now the Favs over REF for the next GE.
Making a quarter of the constituency sound like a galaxy.
Just not what you want to see.
It's amazing to think that in 10 years time the world may have no existence for Trump, Putin, or Farage.
Or indeed myself. Somewhat less significant but the point is: tempus fugit.
I always said he was a mercurial chancer.
Are British people intrinsically more decent than German people? I don't think so.
But the ungenuine ones..
It's a complete falacy, because it doesn't account for the infrastructure costs of increasing the population. Every extra person has a one off infrastructure cost when they arrive, needing extra infrastructure putting in place for their housing, transport, hospitals, schools, water, electricity etc, etc.
Currently, we've got a country with the infrastructure fit for ~55 milion people, and a reality of ~70 million people.
It will be much cheaper to prevent immigration almost entirely and let the population drift back down to ~55 million over the next 20-30 years, than build all the missing infrastructure.
It will be much easier to solve the house price crisis by reducing demand (it will take time, but it will happen) than by allowing Barretts to concrete over every square inch of the countryside. It would be cheaper not to have to build HS2, because rail demand stopped increasing. It would be cheaper not to have to build loads of new reservoirs, because water demand (broadly static per person) stops increasing. Etc etc.
This is of course not racism. It's economics. But the cheap nanny's and Deliveroo every night crowd like shouting racism rather than engage with the argument, because their case is very weak.
1) An economic slump as opposed to an economic crisis. No wheelbarrows of cash needed to buy bread here
2) No Hitler to lead the movement. Pint-sized Tommeh would love the job, but he's a cockwomble rather than a fuhrer
3) A big chunk of the patriotism this lot lionise is fighting nazis. Harder to demand people join the blackshirts to defend British Values like fighting blackshirts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Solferino
The British Fascists of that era added to the gaiety of the nation.
They really should a series on Unity Mitford and her sisters.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjrppppwvwlo
Oil giant BP has removed its chairman Albert Manifold over "serious concerns" related to "important governance standards, oversight, and conduct".
Senior independent director Amanda Blanc said the board had been "surprised and disappointed to learn of governance oversight and conduct issues it deems unacceptable and has taken decisive action".
Manifold had been in the position less than a year. Shares tumbled by 6% following the news of his removal.
Ian Tyler has been appointed interim chair with immediate effect.
Manifold joined BP in September 2025 as a non-executive director and was appointed chair the following month.
At the time of his appointment, BP said Manifold had "a strong track record of strategic leadership and operational delivery"...,/I>
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Dalek_stories
https://x.com/crit_gen/status/2059231481742917727?s=20
This has not gone down well with the Restore vote.
Etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mitford_Girls
OTOH Reform's candidate managed to win Champ Manager with Accrington Stanley.
The counter to point 1 is that, although our problems are nothing compared to those of the 1930s, so is our tolerance of problems. And the technology of whipping up a national crisis out of not very much is so much more effective these days.
Bottom line is that it all comes down to Who Goes Nazi? by Dorothy Thompson. It's about character. That and the line that Terry Pratchett put in Granny Weatherwax's mouth;
Sin, young man, is when you treat people like things.
That's as much about whipping people up to desire the deportation of inconvenient people as the desire itself.
What you've missed is that every extra person generates economic value, which is enough (on average) to pay for their required infrastructure costs. Indeed, with efficiency savings resulting from larger numbers, each new person requires a lower per capita infrastructure cost.
Your analysis also makes no distinction between new people arriving through immigration and new people being born. (Generally, the people arriving through immigration have lower lifetime costs as we don't have to pay for their early years and education.)
Your analysis also misses the importance of the age mix of the population. A population of 55 million but with 25% over 65 (a possible future for the UK) is very different to a population of 55 million but with 15% over 65 (which was the UK's past, 40 years ago, approximately). The latter is much more sustainable.
Put my £350 and £600 Prada card holder and wallet into context.
I hope Musk hasn't got Restore Mosley into too good a position, in Makersfield.
It will tell you nothing about opposition support, still less how the vote is breaking down among opposition parties. So believe nothing about twitter reports showing any kind of breakdown between parties - somebody is just lying.
He, however, will only become President if Trump vacates the position ahead of schedule (for whatever reason).
Fine, we can either raise more money via taxes or cut our spending and in all likelihood both would be needed to see borrowing reduced significantly.
So, which taxes shall we increase? Income Tax, VAT, CGT, Council Tax or shall we go for Land Value Tax instead? Whose benefits will be cut and by how much - Universal Credit, Pensions, Carers Allowance? Or shall we cut defence, education, health?
It may be the Conservatives of all people will be able to square this circle and produce something akin to a balanced budget but that will still require a hard sell as everyone is happy to see someone else pay more and to get less but not themselves.
The ideal would probably be a cross party concensus to chop down the Magic Money Tree and set fire to it but I suspect that won't happen.