I know you do not like Ashcroft polls but it is quoted along with all the other polls on wiki as follows
21-26 May - Lord Ashcroft polls - Mail on Sunday - GB 5,263 sample size
Is it recognised by BPC ?
I just see it as one poll and to be fair apart from Reform not far off trend
You've been told this before.
It is not recognised by the BPC.
Lord Ashcroft refuses to tell us which pollsters he uses, he uses different pollsters for his polls, each pollster has a house effect which impacts the fieldwork.
This could be a FindOutNow poll, his last poll he could have used Survation, we simply do not know.
Comparing changes with different pollsters is a huge mistake to make.
To be fair to Wikipedia, who do list Ashcroft polls, they do also provide a referenced footnote to say they are not members of the BPC.
And while I don't suppose this poll means a thing, Reforms current lead is no indication of the state of play in three years time. nor is the trend their friend at the moment.
I suspect a few weeks after the Makerfield by election will be the next time to make an appraisal.
Before the 24 election Chef Tom Kerridge signed an open letter endorsing a prospective Labour govt.
Fast forward nearly two years and it’s worlds smallest violin time. He got what he wanted. Surely he can live with it.
‘ Kerridge, whose site, The Hand & Flowers, was the first gastropub in the UK to be awarded two Michelin stars, said most of his businesses were ‘sat still or losing money’ as his margins have been ‘completely eroded’ by Government hikes.’
Not sure any of us - even those who didn't vote for Starmer - were aware of just how disastrous his Government was going to be for small and medium businesses. If the Tories had had a crystal ball and had predicted this level of vindictive incompetence we would all have accused them of jumping the shark.
It's not vindictiveness. It's the attitude of mind that business should support increased costs and taxes, because that is what the Government wants. As expressed by the supporters of the government - "if they can't survive the costs and taxes, then they are zombie business and not worth saving anyway".
To my mind that is in every way vindictive. We don't understand what you do, nor do we like you. Your only purpose is to provide us with taxation and therefore, if you can't provide the tax revenue we demand, we will drive you out of business.
Before the 24 election Chef Tom Kerridge signed an open letter endorsing a prospective Labour govt.
Fast forward nearly two years and it’s worlds smallest violin time. He got what he wanted. Surely he can live with it.
‘ Kerridge, whose site, The Hand & Flowers, was the first gastropub in the UK to be awarded two Michelin stars, said most of his businesses were ‘sat still or losing money’ as his margins have been ‘completely eroded’ by Government hikes.’
Not sure any of us - even those who didn't vote for Starmer - were aware of just how disastrous his Government was going to be for small and medium businesses. If the Tories had had a crystal ball and had predicted this level of vindictive incompetence we would all have accused them of jumping the shark.
It's not vindictiveness. It's the attitude of mind that business should support increased costs and taxes, because that is what the Government wants. As expressed by the supporters of the government - "if they can't survive the costs and taxes, then they are zombie business and not worth saving anyway".
To my mind that is in every way vindictive. We don't understand what you do, nor do we like you. Your only purpose is to provide us with taxation and therefore, if you can't provide the tax revenue we demand, we will drive you out of business.
It lacks the malice.
You talk to people who believe this - that "Big Business" has infinite funds that should be used for "Schools n' Hospitals"
The general issue is that they have no idea of cost structure, margins or any of the basics of running a business.
I suggested, a while back that a map of the country, giving the basic cost of a shop just existing (just providing a table, chair, Wifi and a glass of water) might be instructive. When you present this to believers in the Business Magic Money Tree, they are generally startled.
I know you do not like Ashcroft polls but it is quoted along with all the other polls on wiki as follows
21-26 May - Lord Ashcroft polls - Mail on Sunday - GB 5,263 sample size
Is it recognised by BPC ?
I just see it as one poll and to be fair apart from Reform not far off trend
You've been told this before.
It is not recognised by the BPC.
Lord Ashcroft refuses to tell us which pollsters he uses, he uses different pollsters for his polls, each pollster has a house effect which impacts the fieldwork.
This could be a FindOutNow poll, his last poll he could have used Survation, we simply do not know.
Comparing changes with different pollsters is a huge mistake to make.
To be fair to Wikipedia, who do list Ashcroft polls, they do also provide a referenced footnote to say they are not members of the BPC.
And while I don't suppose this poll means a thing, Reforms current lead is no indication of the state of play in three years time. nor is the trend their friend at the moment.
I suspect a few weeks after the Makerfield by election will be the next time to make an appraisal.
There's a huge story brewing about the fairness of this by-election.
In short if you live in Makerfield and use Twitter you're getting a lot of promoted stuff about Restore and this by-election.
Now this could be Elon Musk doing this on his own but this costs a lot of money and there's strict limits on by-election spending and things could get complicated.
My wife is a woman of many and extraordinary talents.
However, reeling in a 45m extension cable is so not one of them....
"I can help!"
"NO! Go at least 60m away and let me swear - a lot - as I try to work out what the hell you have done..."
You don't have household staff for this?
Pro tip, be crap at manual labour and none of your family or friends will ask you to do anything like this.
My attempts at DIY are legendary throughout the family so I am never asked to do anything more complicated than get a stiff lid off a jar (which has been known to cause spectacular spillage).
Before the 24 election Chef Tom Kerridge signed an open letter endorsing a prospective Labour govt.
Fast forward nearly two years and it’s worlds smallest violin time. He got what he wanted. Surely he can live with it.
‘ Kerridge, whose site, The Hand & Flowers, was the first gastropub in the UK to be awarded two Michelin stars, said most of his businesses were ‘sat still or losing money’ as his margins have been ‘completely eroded’ by Government hikes.’
Not sure any of us - even those who didn't vote for Starmer - were aware of just how disastrous his Government was going to be for small and medium businesses. If the Tories had had a crystal ball and had predicted this level of vindictive incompetence we would all have accused them of jumping the shark.
It's not vindictiveness. It's the attitude of mind that business should support increased costs and taxes, because that is what the Government wants. As expressed by the supporters of the government - "if they can't survive the costs and taxes, then they are zombie business and not worth saving anyway".
To my mind that is in every way vindictive. We don't understand what you do, nor do we like you. Your only purpose is to provide us with taxation and therefore, if you can't provide the tax revenue we demand, we will drive you out of business.
I suspect I indulge in a little of this with some particularly odious and crappy businesses - like water and electric companies - but I've become increasingly more pro business the more I hear about how hard it is for small ones, sure, but also that even some really big ones are not the massively profitable entities you might think.
Not to get totally on the NIMBY horse again, because I don't like skeevy developers either, but you sometimes see objections to schemes with comments such as that they are doing it to make profit, not provide affordable housing, as if making any profit (not just too much) is itself a bad thing.
Before the 24 election Chef Tom Kerridge signed an open letter endorsing a prospective Labour govt.
Fast forward nearly two years and it’s worlds smallest violin time. He got what he wanted. Surely he can live with it.
‘ Kerridge, whose site, The Hand & Flowers, was the first gastropub in the UK to be awarded two Michelin stars, said most of his businesses were ‘sat still or losing money’ as his margins have been ‘completely eroded’ by Government hikes.’
Not sure any of us - even those who didn't vote for Starmer - were aware of just how disastrous his Government was going to be for small and medium businesses. If the Tories had had a crystal ball and had predicted this level of vindictive incompetence we would all have accused them of jumping the shark.
It's not vindictiveness. It's the attitude of mind that business should support increased costs and taxes, because that is what the Government wants. As expressed by the supporters of the government - "if they can't survive the costs and taxes, then they are zombie business and not worth saving anyway".
To my mind that is in every way vindictive. We don't understand what you do, nor do we like you. Your only purpose is to provide us with taxation and therefore, if you can't provide the tax revenue we demand, we will drive you out of business.
Compared to the SNP they are very pro business, believe me. 10 days in England has once again been eye opening with High Streets full of shops instead of sitting empty killed by rates, successful gastropubs with lots of British employees of a very high standard and a level of prosperity that you don't even see in Edinburgh, let alone the rest of Scotland. The country roads are terrible though. I am honestly worried as to whether or not my axles are going to get back to Scotland in 1 piece. Massive holes everywhere.
My wife is a woman of many and extraordinary talents.
However, reeling in a 45m extension cable is so not one of them....
"I can help!"
"NO! Go at least 60m away and let me swear - a lot - as I try to work out what the hell you have done..."
You don't have household staff for this?
Pro tip, be crap at manual labour and none of your family or friends will ask you to do anything like this.
I think everyone should be able to put up a shelf or patch a whole in a garment, that kind of household task. I'm better at the former than the latter. School taught us to use sewing machines, but not so much needle and thread.
Before the 24 election Chef Tom Kerridge signed an open letter endorsing a prospective Labour govt.
Fast forward nearly two years and it’s worlds smallest violin time. He got what he wanted. Surely he can live with it.
‘ Kerridge, whose site, The Hand & Flowers, was the first gastropub in the UK to be awarded two Michelin stars, said most of his businesses were ‘sat still or losing money’ as his margins have been ‘completely eroded’ by Government hikes.’
Not sure any of us - even those who didn't vote for Starmer - were aware of just how disastrous his Government was going to be for small and medium businesses. If the Tories had had a crystal ball and had predicted this level of vindictive incompetence we would all have accused them of jumping the shark.
It's not vindictiveness. It's the attitude of mind that business should support increased costs and taxes, because that is what the Government wants. As expressed by the supporters of the government - "if they can't survive the costs and taxes, then they are zombie business and not worth saving anyway".
To my mind that is in every way vindictive. We don't understand what you do, nor do we like you. Your only purpose is to provide us with taxation and therefore, if you can't provide the tax revenue we demand, we will drive you out of business.
I think it simpler than that. Not extending covid reliefs for business was in existing budgets, and there were manifesto pledges against raising VAT, Income tax, employees NI etc, and for the minimim wage and Triple Lock. Pretty stupid commitments as I have said many times, but there they were. So that limits what taxes could go up.
So not vindictive or anti-business but just painting themselves into a corner with the Ming Vase Strategy.
My wife is a woman of many and extraordinary talents.
However, reeling in a 45m extension cable is so not one of them....
"I can help!"
"NO! Go at least 60m away and let me swear - a lot - as I try to work out what the hell you have done..."
You don't have household staff for this?
Pro tip, be crap at manual labour and none of your family or friends will ask you to do anything like this.
My attempts at DIY are legendary throughout the family so I am never asked to do anything more complicated than get a stiff lid off a jar (which has been known to cause spectacular spillage).
I think the only thing I can do is put a switch back in the right place on the fuse board (oh and call Homeserve).
It's weird, my father is good at the DIY/fixing things, so are my kids.
My wife is a woman of many and extraordinary talents.
However, reeling in a 45m extension cable is so not one of them....
"I can help!"
"NO! Go at least 60m away and let me swear - a lot - as I try to work out what the hell you have done..."
You don't have household staff for this?
Pro tip, be crap at manual labour and none of your family or friends will ask you to do anything like this.
I think everyone should be able to put up a shelf or patch a whole in a garment, that kind of household task. I'm better at the former than the latter. School taught us to use sewing machines, but not so much needle and thread.
If I were tell you my ability to put up a shelf is only matched by my ability to be modest or subtle that tells how crap I am at this kind of work.
My wife is a woman of many and extraordinary talents.
However, reeling in a 45m extension cable is so not one of them....
"I can help!"
"NO! Go at least 60m away and let me swear - a lot - as I try to work out what the hell you have done..."
You don't have household staff for this?
Pro tip, be crap at manual labour and none of your family or friends will ask you to do anything like this.
My wife, declared with a friend that they would build the a dolls house for one of my daughter (big wooden kit thing).
I returned a little later to see them using a wood chisel as a screwdriver. A very high quality wood chisel. I said nothing.
I have always been very practical on DIY and repairs to our home, but sadly I cannot go up ladders anymore, lift anything, bend or even walk much and the frustration is huge as I see all these jobs I know how to do but cannot do physically
By the time I was 14 I had built 11canoes and 2 sailing dinghies, all of which under the wonderful guidance of my late father
The frustration is magnified by the reluctance of tradespeople to take on board small jobs as they simply do not want them
Before the 24 election Chef Tom Kerridge signed an open letter endorsing a prospective Labour govt.
Fast forward nearly two years and it’s worlds smallest violin time. He got what he wanted. Surely he can live with it.
‘ Kerridge, whose site, The Hand & Flowers, was the first gastropub in the UK to be awarded two Michelin stars, said most of his businesses were ‘sat still or losing money’ as his margins have been ‘completely eroded’ by Government hikes.’
Not sure any of us - even those who didn't vote for Starmer - were aware of just how disastrous his Government was going to be for small and medium businesses. If the Tories had had a crystal ball and had predicted this level of vindictive incompetence we would all have accused them of jumping the shark.
The Blair-Brown government was pretty disastrous for large parts of small business, manufacturing and private sector pensions.
And it was no shock that the new Labour MPs would have limited empathy for anyone beyond the public sector and welfare claimants.
Which is why I don't share the anger many have toward Starmer and his government.
They have lived down to my expectations, the only surprise being how sleazy they have become and how quickly.
My wife is a woman of many and extraordinary talents.
However, reeling in a 45m extension cable is so not one of them....
"I can help!"
"NO! Go at least 60m away and let me swear - a lot - as I try to work out what the hell you have done..."
You don't have household staff for this?
Pro tip, be crap at manual labour and none of your family or friends will ask you to do anything like this.
My wife, declared with a friend that they would build the a dolls house for one of my daughter (big wooden kit thing).
I returned a little later to see them using a wood chisel as a screwdriver. A very high quality wood chisel. I said nothing.
By the time I was 14 I had built 11canoes and 2 sailing dinghies, all of which under the wonderful guidance of my late father
Blimey, people really were a lot more productive in the 50s!
Plus lack of video games I suppose.
My father and his friends together with their children set up a canoe and sailing club so we made the canoes and dinghies in the winter and spent time on the River Tweed and at sea during the spring and summer
Wonderful lazy days in the 1950's and not a phone or screen anywhere in sight
My wife is a woman of many and extraordinary talents.
However, reeling in a 45m extension cable is so not one of them....
"I can help!"
"NO! Go at least 60m away and let me swear - a lot - as I try to work out what the hell you have done..."
You don't have household staff for this?
Pro tip, be crap at manual labour and none of your family or friends will ask you to do anything like this.
My wife, declared with a friend that they would build the a dolls house for one of my daughter (big wooden kit thing).
I returned a little later to see them using a wood chisel as a screwdriver. A very high quality wood chisel. I said nothing.
I have always been very practical on DIY and repairs to our home, but sadly I cannot go up ladders anymore, lift anything, bend or even walk much and the frustration is huge as I see all these jobs I know how to do but cannot do physically
By the time I was 14 I had built 11canoes and 2 sailing dinghies, all of which under the wonderful guidance of my late father
The frustration is magnified by the reluctance of tradespeople to take on board small jobs as they simply do not want them
That's a veritable flotilla!
Are you available to the Royal Navy? They have a serious need...
Before the 24 election Chef Tom Kerridge signed an open letter endorsing a prospective Labour govt.
Fast forward nearly two years and it’s worlds smallest violin time. He got what he wanted. Surely he can live with it.
‘ Kerridge, whose site, The Hand & Flowers, was the first gastropub in the UK to be awarded two Michelin stars, said most of his businesses were ‘sat still or losing money’ as his margins have been ‘completely eroded’ by Government hikes.’
Not sure any of us - even those who didn't vote for Starmer - were aware of just how disastrous his Government was going to be for small and medium businesses. If the Tories had had a crystal ball and had predicted this level of vindictive incompetence we would all have accused them of jumping the shark.
It's not vindictiveness. It's the attitude of mind that business should support increased costs and taxes, because that is what the Government wants. As expressed by the supporters of the government - "if they can't survive the costs and taxes, then they are zombie business and not worth saving anyway".
To my mind that is in every way vindictive. We don't understand what you do, nor do we like you. Your only purpose is to provide us with taxation and therefore, if you can't provide the tax revenue we demand, we will drive you out of business.
I suspect I indulge in a little of this with some particularly odious and crappy businesses - like water and electric companies - but I've become increasingly more pro business the more I hear about how hard it is for small ones, sure, but also that even some really big ones are not the massively profitable entities you might think.
Not to get totally on the NIMBY horse again, because I don't like skeevy developers either, but you sometimes see objections to schemes with comments such as that they are doing it to make profit, not provide affordable housing, as if making any profit (not just too much) is itself a bad thing.
I have to admit I am pretty hostile to big businesses. Mostly because I think there should be a level playing field for all businesses when it comes to tax and I strongly object to the idea that when you get big enough the Government will help you avoid paying your share of taxes.
My wife is a woman of many and extraordinary talents.
However, reeling in a 45m extension cable is so not one of them....
"I can help!"
"NO! Go at least 60m away and let me swear - a lot - as I try to work out what the hell you have done..."
You don't have household staff for this?
Pro tip, be crap at manual labour and none of your family or friends will ask you to do anything like this.
My wife, declared with a friend that they would build the a dolls house for one of my daughter (big wooden kit thing).
I returned a little later to see them using a wood chisel as a screwdriver. A very high quality wood chisel. I said nothing.
I have always been very practical on DIY and repairs to our home, but sadly I cannot go up ladders anymore, lift anything, bend or even walk much and the frustration is huge as I see all these jobs I know how to do but cannot do physically
By the time I was 14 I had built 11canoes and 2 sailing dinghies, all of which under the wonderful guidance of my late father
The frustration is magnified by the reluctance of tradespeople to take on board small jobs as they simply do not want them
That's a veritable flotilla!
Are you available to the Royal Navy? They have a serious need...
I wish, but at least our youngest son is following in our sea loving days actively saving lives at sea with the RNLI
Could Rupert Lowe be the next PM? The Maga crowd seem to think so
One thing that is pretty clear to me from watching some American streamers is that their knowledge of UK politics is utterly dire, and they usually believe the most sensational stories they come across and that fringe figures are actually massively popular.
Now, they may say the same is true of us looking in on US politics. That's possible, though I hope not as I think we have a slight advantage of media obsessed with american politics and culture which will even by accident introduce us to some things from both sides of the aisle, whereas they are not inundated with UK info, they just find some rando saying what they like and believe it.
"Re-allocate £1bn currently spent on net zero projects!"
Thanks for that although as stated it still doesn't make the £1bn cut from Qango's feasible.
Looking at net zero within Scottish Government control in terms of actual public money spent the figure I can find is around £400m a year so good luck saving a billion from that!
Peter.
Also, does the economic analysis done by Reform include the impact of abandoning Net Zero on the 105 000 mostly skilled and engineering jobs comprising 4.9% of Scotlands economy?
There was an interesting piece on Fridays C4 News where the Reform Mayor of Hull could not answer straight-forward questions on the impact of abandoning Net Zero on Hull's economy whith its strong renewables sector.
That is a different issue, though I'm sure Reform has very strong views on the relationship on the broader push toward Net Zero and jobs.
This is about the Scottish Government spending an insane amount of money on Net Zero projects (Reform say £1bn, Peter Cairns says £400mn) when Net Zero is not a devolved matter.
It may be a different issue, but it is a very relevant one.
Renewable enegy supports a lot of highly skilled and paid employment, particularly along the East Coast, but also in places like the Isle of Wight, with 300 jobs at Vestas there producing blades for onshore wind.
Reform/Restore voters in these places are turkeys voting for Christmas. Indeed much like all those Brexit voters in our automotive industry supply chains.
The jobs of dead bird picker uppers and other such crumbs given by the renewables industry like local community funding are a drop in the ocean (no pun intended) compared to the closure of other industries and the sums accrued by the mostly foreign investors in British renewable capacity.
What a life. It surprises me with a family history like that that her sons have not had more to say about recent antisemitism in the UK.
Oh dear
That would be Ed who was accused of being anti semitic by extreme Zionists.
Marion Milliband may have annoyed them too, as from the obituary:
"She has long been associated with Jewish groups advocating for peace and Palestinian rights – positions reflecting her deeply held belief that Jewish ethics demand speaking out against injustice wherever it occurs, regardless of who suffers it."
My wife is a woman of many and extraordinary talents.
However, reeling in a 45m extension cable is so not one of them....
"I can help!"
"NO! Go at least 60m away and let me swear - a lot - as I try to work out what the hell you have done..."
You don't have household staff for this?
Pro tip, be crap at manual labour and none of your family or friends will ask you to do anything like this.
My wife, declared with a friend that they would build the a dolls house for one of my daughter (big wooden kit thing).
I returned a little later to see them using a wood chisel as a screwdriver. A very high quality wood chisel. I said nothing.
By the time I was 14 I had built 11canoes and 2 sailing dinghies, all of which under the wonderful guidance of my late father
Blimey, people really were a lot more productive in the 50s!
Plus lack of video games I suppose.
My father and his friends together with their children set up a canoe and sailing club so we made the canoes and dinghies in the winter and spent time on the River Tweed and at sea during the spring and summer
Wonderful lazy days in the 1950's and not a phone or screen anywhere in sight
My dad turned 87 today. I love his stories of childhood, such as travelling from Trowbridge in Wilts to near Hartland Quay in Devon to camp at a farm near Speke’s Mill. An easy run today on mostly modern roads. Back then a proper outing, 1950’s style, including going to the farmhouse and asking for milk. It all feels so remote now but it’s within living memory.
I know you do not like Ashcroft polls but it is quoted along with all the other polls on wiki as follows
21-26 May - Lord Ashcroft polls - Mail on Sunday - GB 5,263 sample size
Is it recognised by BPC ?
I just see it as one poll and to be fair apart from Reform not far off trend
You've been told this before.
It is not recognised by the BPC.
Lord Ashcroft refuses to tell us which pollsters he uses, he uses different pollsters for his polls, each pollster has a house effect which impacts the fieldwork.
This could be a FindOutNow poll, his last poll he could have used Survation, we simply do not know.
Comparing changes with different pollsters is a huge mistake to make.
To be fair to Wikipedia, who do list Ashcroft polls, they do also provide a referenced footnote to say they are not members of the BPC.
And while I don't suppose this poll means a thing, Reforms current lead is no indication of the state of play in three years time. nor is the trend their friend at the moment.
I suspect a few weeks after the Makerfield by election will be the next time to make an appraisal.
There's a huge story brewing about the fairness of this by-election.
In short if you live in Makerfield and use Twitter you're getting a lot of promoted stuff about Restore and this by-election.
Now this could be Elon Musk doing this on his own but this costs a lot of money and there's strict limits on by-election spending and things could get complicated.
Which is interesting and one to watch. As for now SFAICS it can only help Labour as it's reasonable to assume both that Restore's voters mostly come off possible Reform voters, and that Restore can't possibly win.
If, per impossibile Restore can win, or even come second, an awful lot of bets about the next few years politics look a bit troubled.
A ghastly racist who works for GB News puts a mike in front of a black man and asks why he's likely to be a rapist. I'm surprised he doesn't knock him flat and the idiot William Whatnot with him who encourages this racism by putting it on here.
There's a Restore Britain supporter who 'went viral' on social media recently doing a monologue whilst campaigning in Makerfield. Youtube recommended me a video of him being interviewed by Pete McCormack. My impression is of someone very clever, very well-read, and who absolutely 'has a point' about progressivism, but who I feel, 10 odd minutes in, is likely to be a fascist. I could be wrong, and if you can make your point, all arguments can be aired in the public sphere. But I don't want Britain to go fascist. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. People telling me we have to give up freedom and make unacceptable compromises because there is a 'demographic emergency' can bugger off as much as those trying to do the same thing because there's a 'climate emergency'. They are both manipulative.
We need sensible right wing Government in the interests of the British people. We need fair and just laws. 'Peace, easy taxes, and tolerable administration of justice'. If we get that, the natural tendency of the country will be to grow and thrive.
Before the 24 election Chef Tom Kerridge signed an open letter endorsing a prospective Labour govt.
Fast forward nearly two years and it’s worlds smallest violin time. He got what he wanted. Surely he can live with it.
‘ Kerridge, whose site, The Hand & Flowers, was the first gastropub in the UK to be awarded two Michelin stars, said most of his businesses were ‘sat still or losing money’ as his margins have been ‘completely eroded’ by Government hikes.’
Not sure any of us - even those who didn't vote for Starmer - were aware of just how disastrous his Government was going to be for small and medium businesses. If the Tories had had a crystal ball and had predicted this level of vindictive incompetence we would all have accused them of jumping the shark.
Quite. I thought Starmer would be fairly poor, based mainly on his instincts over covid (playing politics by demanding ever more lockdown when it clearly wasn't in the national interest), but even I had a surge of optimism when they promised no increases Income tax or NI, and thought they might not be as disastrous as Labour governments usually are, and I also thought they might be vaguely competent.
Turns out my initial instinct (there is virtually no know form of government worse for the country than a Labour government) was right first time.
I know you do not like Ashcroft polls but it is quoted along with all the other polls on wiki as follows
21-26 May - Lord Ashcroft polls - Mail on Sunday - GB 5,263 sample size
Is it recognised by BPC ?
I just see it as one poll and to be fair apart from Reform not far off trend
You've been told this before.
It is not recognised by the BPC.
Lord Ashcroft refuses to tell us which pollsters he uses, he uses different pollsters for his polls, each pollster has a house effect which impacts the fieldwork.
This could be a FindOutNow poll, his last poll he could have used Survation, we simply do not know.
Comparing changes with different pollsters is a huge mistake to make.
Comments
Pro tip, be crap at manual labour and none of your family or friends will ask you to do anything like this.
And while I don't suppose this poll means a thing, Reforms current lead is no indication of the state of play in three years time. nor is the trend their friend at the moment.
I suspect a few weeks after the Makerfield by election will be the next time to make an appraisal.
You talk to people who believe this - that "Big Business" has infinite funds that should be used for "Schools n' Hospitals"
The general issue is that they have no idea of cost structure, margins or any of the basics of running a business.
I suggested, a while back that a map of the country, giving the basic cost of a shop just existing (just providing a table, chair, Wifi and a glass of water) might be instructive. When you present this to believers in the Business Magic Money Tree, they are generally startled.
In short if you live in Makerfield and use Twitter you're getting a lot of promoted stuff about Restore and this by-election.
Now this could be Elon Musk doing this on his own but this costs a lot of money and there's strict limits on by-election spending and things could get complicated.
I returned a little later to see them using a wood chisel as a screwdriver. A very high quality wood chisel. I said nothing.
https://x.com/benleo/status/2061154752570790360
Not to get totally on the NIMBY horse again, because I don't like skeevy developers either, but you sometimes see objections to schemes with comments such as that they are doing it to make profit, not provide affordable housing, as if making any profit (not just too much) is itself a bad thing.
So not vindictive or anti-business but just painting themselves into a corner with the Ming Vase Strategy.
It's weird, my father is good at the DIY/fixing things, so are my kids.
By the time I was 14 I had built 11canoes and 2 sailing dinghies, all of which under the wonderful guidance of my late father
The frustration is magnified by the reluctance of tradespeople to take on board small jobs as they simply do not want them
And it was no shock that the new Labour MPs would have limited empathy for anyone beyond the public sector and welfare claimants.
Which is why I don't share the anger many have toward Starmer and his government.
They have lived down to my expectations, the only surprise being how sleazy they have become and how quickly.
Plus lack of video games I suppose.
Wonderful lazy days in the 1950's and not a phone or screen anywhere in sight
Are you available to the Royal Navy? They have a serious need...
Could Rupert Lowe be the next PM? The Maga crowd seem to think so
Now, they may say the same is true of us looking in on US politics. That's possible, though I hope not as I think we have a slight advantage of media obsessed with american politics and culture which will even by accident introduce us to some things from both sides of the aisle, whereas they are not inundated with UK info, they just find some rando saying what they like and believe it.
That would be Ed who was accused of being anti semitic by extreme Zionists.
"She has long been associated with Jewish groups advocating for peace and Palestinian rights – positions reflecting her deeply held belief that Jewish ethics demand speaking out against injustice wherever it occurs, regardless of who suffers it."
If, per impossibile Restore can win, or even come second, an awful lot of bets about the next few years politics look a bit troubled.
NEW THREAD
A ghastly racist who works for GB News puts a mike in front of a black man and asks why he's likely to be a rapist. I'm surprised he doesn't knock him flat and the idiot William Whatnot with him who encourages this racism by putting it on here.
We need sensible right wing Government in the interests of the British people. We need fair and just laws. 'Peace, easy taxes, and tolerable administration of justice'. If we get that, the natural tendency of the country will be to grow and thrive.
Turns out my initial instinct (there is virtually no know form of government worse for the country than a Labour government) was right first time.