Of course Streeting had the nominations. At least, he had them once. The question is whether he still had enough nominations once Burnham's coronation started to look like a fait accompli.
The more I think about it, Sir Keir Starmer is a bit like Sir Winston Churchill.
Churchill was a brilliant wartime PM but a terrible peacetime PM.
Starmer decent LOTO but woeful PM.
Did the main job he was appointed to do- clean up the mess left by Corbyn, for which we should all be grateful.
Doubt he expected to be PM, and he was never better than the least bad available option. That Labour have had to go for someone who wasn't an MP last week as his replacement shows were not out of the woods yet.
FPT: I don’t like Andy Burnham. I’ve said so on these pages several times and don’t intend to revisit the argument.
However.
If he is to be the next PM, and if he is to effect meaningful change, then I wish him well. I want the government to succeed. Only a churl would actively wish it to fail.
The country can seem ungovernable at times, but that is a symptom rather than a cause of our malaise. When people feel poorer, when standards appear to be slipping, and when government seems cloth-eared to the national mood on issue after issue, no leader or party is given anything resembling a fair hearing.
Labour’s shallow landslide was evidence of this: more a reaction to the Tory omni-shambles than a wholehearted endorsement of Labour’s programme.
Labour can turn this around, but not by persisting with Starmer-style managerialism. Can Burnham bring some of Manchester with him? Can he offer a clearer sense of direction and purpose? Can he make any real difference?
I remain sceptical, but I wish him well.
--- As for honeymoon, that rather depends on how well England do at the WC...
I think too many have failed to critically analyse what Starmer's 'landslide' actually was. How we used to complain about Tory government majorities lacking a mandate because less that 40% of the vote got them their. Its hard to make the case that Starmer and Labour won the argument in 2024. Firstly because they didn't make any points in the discussion (Ming Vase) and because in reality they left because the Tories mum called them home for tea. Starmer may believe he had a mandate but what did he do with it?
If we want to go down the mandate argument, then it is worth noting that the last PM to go a whole term was in a coalition.
There's something to be said for the stability of a PR system over FPTP.
Areas where Burnham might find it hard to decide and communicate.
Firstly where, for reasons of incentive you have to decide to not give extra money to the poorest because you have to keep it for the rich. (Eg not aligning capital gains and IT/NI rates), and where you have to directly tax people because employment costs are crashing the entry level/low pay jobs market.
Secondly where you can't give extra money to the poorest because the government has cash of minus £3trillion and also needs to spend a trillion more on wars that haven't started and may never.
I think his history and language suggests to socialists that at heart he has a socialist mindset. He is either going to disappoint them, or he is going to disappoint those who live in reality.
It won't be long before the thought sets in that on this very day the public and political class have made an irrevocable decision based on almost zero evidence but an extraordinary surge of zeitgeist about someone the public know almost nothing about.
By repute in Manchester he has been good at getting on with and doing things with opposition parties. I would love to see that continue. I have never thought that to be in opposition should mean opposing everything the government does, yet too often that is what seems to happen.
This country needs to look properly at social care and how we fund health. We need to be serious about trying to balance the books. If you want Scandinavian style social democracy and all the sweeties that leads too, we need to pay the taxes to afford it.
I'd love to get back into the European fold. That doesn't have to be rejoin, but its nuts to have self imposed friction in trading for little seeming benefit (I'd argue for either side).
I want to seem extreme politics defeated (both the Reform/Restore racists and the Gays for Gaza communists). As a country we are neither of those things.
The more I think about it, Sir Keir Starmer is a bit like Sir Winston Churchill.
Churchill was a brilliant wartime PM but a terrible peacetime PM.
Starmer decent LOTO but woeful PM.
He did well against Rishi Sunak but struggled against Kemi.
Starmer played a large role in ousting Boris by slowly piling up the charge sheet, week after week at PMQs. Against Kemi recently he has largely given up and does not even pretend to answer questions.
About that missile strike on the factory in Voronezh that makes microelectronics for Russian missiles...
Ukraine’s General Staff confirms Air Force strikes on a Voronezh plant producing electronics for Russian Iskander and Kh-101 missiles. High-precision air-launched cruise missiles hit the facility, which manufactures transistor assemblies, semiconductor arrays for Iskander-K 9M727 missiles and components for Pantsir-S1 systems.
Voronezh is ~300km from Kharkiv. Range of Storm Shadow is 550km.
I don't know of Ukraine having any other, "High-precision air-launched cruise missiles.." available to it.
Back in the 30's under the thinking of people like Douhet there was a feeling that "The bomber will always get through". Harris and Spaatz tested that to the limit, and in the end they needed fighter support and air supremacy for it to be truly effective and even then it was hard to be really precise (pathfinders, 617 squadron not withstanding).
Now we are in the era of the 'Drone will always get through' How long will it last? I applaud Ukraine for their fight in this war and truly hope to see Putin gone from the world.
It's not a drone that did that - that's a long range missile.
the difference is that the with modern satellite navigation, once you have the control loop dialed* in, everything is precision weapon.
Interestingly, Starlink almost accidentally provides a rather un-jammable location information. Starlink/SpaceX, just recently turned this off, for civilian users. Because of the issue about it not complying with US rules about sat nav systems that work at high speed being considered munitions.
*Some sat photos of early Flamingo attacks suggested that the Ukrainians were having issues with the final approach to the target.
FPT: I don’t like Andy Burnham. I’ve said so on these pages several times and don’t intend to revisit the argument.
However.
If he is to be the next PM, and if he is to effect meaningful change, then I wish him well. I want the government to succeed. Only a churl would actively wish it to fail.
The country can seem ungovernable at times, but that is a symptom rather than a cause of our malaise. When people feel poorer, when standards appear to be slipping, and when government seems cloth-eared to the national mood on issue after issue, no leader or party is given anything resembling a fair hearing.
Labour’s shallow landslide was evidence of this: more a reaction to the Tory omni-shambles than a wholehearted endorsement of Labour’s programme.
Labour can turn this around, but not by persisting with Starmer-style managerialism. Can Burnham bring some of Manchester with him? Can he offer a clearer sense of direction and purpose? Can he make any real difference?
I remain sceptical, but I wish him well.
--- As for honeymoon, that rather depends on how well England do at the WC...
I think too many have failed to critically analyse what Starmer's 'landslide' actually was. How we used to complain about Tory government majorities lacking a mandate because less that 40% of the vote got them their. Its hard to make the case that Starmer and Labour won the argument in 2024. Firstly because they didn't make any points in the discussion (Ming Vase) and because in reality they left because the Tories mum called them home for tea. Starmer may believe he had a mandate but what did he do with it?
If we want to go down the mandate argument, then it is worth noting that the last PM to go a whole term was in a coalition.
There's something to be said for the stability of a PR system over FPTP.
I'm not sure that thats a direct read though. That co-alition arose from FPTP elections. In PR it would be different parties and who knows what contortions would be needed to get a stable government?
I do think that the strengths of FPTP are losing credibility in the era of multi (i.e. more than two) party politics.
Remember: whoever replaces Starmer (eg Burnham) will very probably be even worse. We're going to be looking back upon 2024/25 fondly soon, perhaps as "the last time things seemed like they might eventually become OK".
Areas where Burnham might find it hard to decide and communicate.
Firstly where, for reasons of incentive you have to decide to not give extra money to the poorest because you have to keep it for the rich. (Eg not aligning capital gains and IT/NI rates), and where you have to directly tax people because employment costs are crashing the entry level/low pay jobs market.
Secondly where you can't give extra money to the poorest because the government has cash of minus £3trillion and also needs to spend a trillion more on wars that haven't started and may never.
I think his history and language suggests to socialists that at heart he has a socialist mindset. He is either going to disappoint them, or he is going to disappoint those who live in reality.
It won't be long before the thought sets in that on this very day the public and political class have made an irrevocable decision based on almost zero evidence but an extraordinary surge of zeitgeist about someone the public know almost nothing about.
By repute in Manchester he has been good at getting on with and doing things with opposition parties. I would love to see that continue. I have never thought that to be in opposition should mean opposing everything the government does, yet too often that is what seems to happen.
This country needs to look properly at social care and how we fund health. We need to be serious about trying to balance the books. If you want Scandinavian style social democracy and all the sweeties that leads too, we need to pay the taxes to afford it.
I'd love to get back into the European fold. That doesn't have to be rejoin, but its nuts to have self imposed friction in trading for little seeming benefit (I'd argue for either side).
I want to seem extreme politics defeated (both the Reform/Restore racists and the Gays for Gaza communists). As a country we are neither of those things.
Rarely have I had to unpack so much from 3 sentences.
I recently caught an STD from a Catholic priest after a Grindr hookup. During treatment it was discovered I had early stage prostate cancer, treated successfully with radiation. Mysterious ways indeed.
The more I think about it, Sir Keir Starmer is a bit like Sir Winston Churchill.
Churchill was a brilliant wartime PM but a terrible peacetime PM.
Starmer decent LOTO but woeful PM.
Harsh on WSC. His Indian summer premiership was scarcely "terrible" and Eden won a majority on the back of it. Indeed, Churchill compares favourably with his immediate successor.
Of course Streeting had the nominations. At least, he had them once. The question is whether he still had enough nominations once Burnham's coronation started to look like a fait accompli.
If he'd ever had them he'd have challenged Starmer beofre Burnham got back.
I am feeling optimistic about the UK and the future.
Cambridge men as PM and Chancellor.
Trying to find a market on Burnham to win more seats than Starmer in 2024.
The first Cambridge PM since Stanley Baldwin. The first Cambridge CoE since Kwasi Kwarteng.
I went to university in Cambridge. I didn't go to Cambridge University, though.
Anglia Ruskin; Almost (a) Real University!
It won't have been called Anglia Ruskin in your day though!
I went as an 'elderly' post-grad in the 90's.
The best sort of postgrad! I say that as someone who teaches lots of postgrads.
A driving instructor told me the best pupils were women and teenage boys, and the worst were middle-aged men because they knew it all and wouldn't learn, whereas women were more amenable to instruction and teenagers were so desperate to pass that they'd put their egos aside for one hour a week.
Rarely have I had to unpack so much from 3 sentences.
I recently caught an STD from a Catholic priest after a Grindr hookup. During treatment it was discovered I had early stage prostate cancer, treated successfully with radiation. Mysterious ways indeed.
Areas where Burnham might find it hard to decide and communicate.
Firstly where, for reasons of incentive you have to decide to not give extra money to the poorest because you have to keep it for the rich. (Eg not aligning capital gains and IT/NI rates), and where you have to directly tax people because employment costs are crashing the entry level/low pay jobs market.
Secondly where you can't give extra money to the poorest because the government has cash of minus £3trillion and also needs to spend a trillion more on wars that haven't started and may never.
I think his history and language suggests to socialists that at heart he has a socialist mindset. He is either going to disappoint them, or he is going to disappoint those who live in reality.
It won't be long before the thought sets in that on this very day the public and political class have made an irrevocable decision based on almost zero evidence but an extraordinary surge of zeitgeist about someone the public know almost nothing about.
By repute in Manchester he has been good at getting on with and doing things with opposition parties. I would love to see that continue. I have never thought that to be in opposition should mean opposing everything the government does, yet too often that is what seems to happen.
This country needs to look properly at social care and how we fund health. We need to be serious about trying to balance the books. If you want Scandinavian style social democracy and all the sweeties that leads too, we need to pay the taxes to afford it.
I'd love to get back into the European fold. That doesn't have to be rejoin, but its nuts to have self imposed friction in trading for little seeming benefit (I'd argue for either side).
I want to seem extreme politics defeated (both the Reform/Restore racists and the Gays for Gaza communists). As a country we are neither of those things.
And I'd love a bit of peace and quiet.
May you live in uninteresting times.
I'd love a bit of uninteresting.
Personal life since Jan 2023: birth of first (and so far only) child, loss of mother in law, loss of mother, huge house extension with lots of decorating and decluttering still to do, mother in laws house still to sell...
I am feeling optimistic about the UK and the future.
Cambridge men as PM and Chancellor.
Trying to find a market on Burnham to win more seats than Starmer in 2024.
The first Cambridge PM since Stanley Baldwin. The first Cambridge CoE since Kwasi Kwarteng.
I went to university in Cambridge. I didn't go to Cambridge University, though.
Anglia Ruskin; Almost (a) Real University!
It won't have been called Anglia Ruskin in your day though!
I went as an 'elderly' post-grad in the 90's.
The best sort of postgrad! I say that as someone who teaches lots of postgrads.
A driving instructor told me the best pupils were women and teenage boys, and the worst were middle-aged men because they knew it all and wouldn't learn, whereas women were more amenable to instruction and teenagers were so desperate to pass that they'd put their egos aside for one hour a week.
I've been on some research projects looking at doctors struck off for incompetence. They're nearly all men. One of our best theories for why this is is that the women caught being incompetent apologise and accept re-training; it's only the men who fight the system and end up being struck off.
About that missile strike on the factory in Voronezh that makes microelectronics for Russian missiles...
Ukraine’s General Staff confirms Air Force strikes on a Voronezh plant producing electronics for Russian Iskander and Kh-101 missiles. High-precision air-launched cruise missiles hit the facility, which manufactures transistor assemblies, semiconductor arrays for Iskander-K 9M727 missiles and components for Pantsir-S1 systems.
Voronezh is ~300km from Kharkiv. Range of Storm Shadow is 550km.
I don't know of Ukraine having any other, "High-precision air-launched cruise missiles.." available to it.
Storm Shadow isn’t supposed to be in ‘proper’ Russia. I wonder what they used.
The more I think about it, Sir Keir Starmer is a bit like Sir Winston Churchill.
Churchill was a brilliant wartime PM but a terrible peacetime PM.
Starmer decent LOTO but woeful PM.
Harsh on WSC. His Indian summer premiership was scarcely "terrible" and Eden won a majority on the back of it. Indeed, Churchill compares favourably with his immediate successor.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe WSC had his doubts about Eden's suitability for the top job. In the event, he was proved right.
About that missile strike on the factory in Voronezh that makes microelectronics for Russian missiles...
Ukraine’s General Staff confirms Air Force strikes on a Voronezh plant producing electronics for Russian Iskander and Kh-101 missiles. High-precision air-launched cruise missiles hit the facility, which manufactures transistor assemblies, semiconductor arrays for Iskander-K 9M727 missiles and components for Pantsir-S1 systems.
Voronezh is ~300km from Kharkiv. Range of Storm Shadow is 550km.
I don't know of Ukraine having any other, "High-precision air-launched cruise missiles.." available to it.
Storm Shadow isn’t supposed to be in ‘proper’ Russia. I wonder what they used.
There's a new version in development which is free of US entanglement, so perhaps they're trialling that ?
Imagine predicting today's events in July 2024. Now that would have been a take.
I don't really agree with that. For all the talk about having a stonking majority the Labour government had a poor vote share, and that means that there are a hell of a lot of backbenchers with vulnerable seats. Note that I am not claiming I expected trouble to arise so soon. What we are seeing is a party putting it's own future ahead of the country, and a bit like the way the Tories did they have decided that a big personality is what is needed. I'll be surprised if it's that easy. So far it's looking worryingly familiar to me.
Of course Streeting had the nominations. At least, he had them once. The question is whether he still had enough nominations once Burnham's coronation started to look like a fait accompli.
If he'd ever had them he'd have challenged Starmer beofre Burnham got back.
What do you think prompted Streeting's resignation from Cabinet? The trouble is that as soon as it became clear the NEC would no longer block Burnham's return to parliament, Streeting's backers ducked back below the parapet because they knew opposing the likely victor was career suicide.
The more I think about it, Sir Keir Starmer is a bit like Sir Winston Churchill.
Churchill was a brilliant wartime PM but a terrible peacetime PM.
Starmer decent LOTO but woeful PM.
Harsh on WSC. His Indian summer premiership was scarcely "terrible" and Eden won a majority on the back of it. Indeed, Churchill compares favourably with his immediate successor.
Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe WSC had his doubts about Eden's suitability for the top job. In the event, he was proved right.
Somewhere in the deep dark recesses of my mind I remember something about that. Trouble was, by the time Churchill came to retire he was effectively gaga and unable to get the 'men in suits' to do anything about it. Butler was ready to take over IIRC, but .....
What if there's no huge honeymoon, but also no subsequent slump. A moderate rise in Labour support to levels that will seem decent now but would have been abject in the past, and public opinion on Burnham remaining something like "he's OK, don't hate him but don't really love him either". Better ratings than Kemi or Nige, but still net negative.
It's a long time since we had a PM with that sort of reception. Cameron? Brown?
What if there's no huge honeymoon, but also no subsequent slump. A moderate rise in Labour support to levels that will seem decent now but would have been abject in the past, and public opinion on Burnham remaining something like "he's OK, don't hate him but don't really love him either". Better ratings than Kemi or Nige, but still net negative.
It's a long time since we had a PM with that sort of reception. Cameron? Brown?
I am feeling optimistic about the UK and the future.
Cambridge men as PM and Chancellor.
Trying to find a market on Burnham to win more seats than Starmer in 2024.
The first Cambridge PM since Stanley Baldwin. The first Cambridge CoE since Kwasi Kwarteng.
I went to university in Cambridge. I didn't go to Cambridge University, though.
Anglia Ruskin; Almost (a) Real University!
It won't have been called Anglia Ruskin in your day though!
I went as an 'elderly' post-grad in the 90's.
The best sort of postgrad! I say that as someone who teaches lots of postgrads.
A driving instructor told me the best pupils were women and teenage boys, and the worst were middle-aged men because they knew it all and wouldn't learn, whereas women were more amenable to instruction and teenagers were so desperate to pass that they'd put their egos aside for one hour a week.
My best advice for passing your driving test? Do a minor feck up and believe you've failed so you relax...
Worked for me - I stalled on leaving the test centre and assume that was a fail - it wasn't! I even argued with the examiner about a lady who was approaching but not at a zebra crossing.
What if there's no huge honeymoon, but also no subsequent slump. A moderate rise in Labour support to levels that will seem decent now but would have been abject in the past, and public opinion on Burnham remaining something like "he's OK, don't hate him but don't really love him either". Better ratings than Kemi or Nige, but still net negative.
It's a long time since we had a PM with that sort of reception. Cameron? Brown?
So Boris Johnson had fantastic person ratings, particularly during COVID, especially in contrast to the hapless Starmer. It was only after he was ambushed by a cake that it all went South.
About that missile strike on the factory in Voronezh that makes microelectronics for Russian missiles...
Ukraine’s General Staff confirms Air Force strikes on a Voronezh plant producing electronics for Russian Iskander and Kh-101 missiles. High-precision air-launched cruise missiles hit the facility, which manufactures transistor assemblies, semiconductor arrays for Iskander-K 9M727 missiles and components for Pantsir-S1 systems.
Voronezh is ~300km from Kharkiv. Range of Storm Shadow is 550km.
I don't know of Ukraine having any other, "High-precision air-launched cruise missiles.." available to it.
If its air launched, doesn't that depend enormously on what and where it's launched from (and possibly at what altitude).
Given Russian air defences appear to only be deployed to save key military/oil infrastructure and Moscow itself, and RU doesn't appear to have much air superiority even over RU territory, it's probably not unimaginable that the UKR airforce flew their missiles quite a long way into RU before launching?
I am feeling optimistic about the UK and the future.
Cambridge men as PM and Chancellor.
Trying to find a market on Burnham to win more seats than Starmer in 2024.
The first Cambridge PM since Stanley Baldwin. The first Cambridge CoE since Kwasi Kwarteng.
I went to university in Cambridge. I didn't go to Cambridge University, though.
Anglia Ruskin; Almost (a) Real University!
It won't have been called Anglia Ruskin in your day though!
I went as an 'elderly' post-grad in the 90's.
The best sort of postgrad! I say that as someone who teaches lots of postgrads.
A driving instructor told me the best pupils were women and teenage boys, and the worst were middle-aged men because they knew it all and wouldn't learn, whereas women were more amenable to instruction and teenagers were so desperate to pass that they'd put their egos aside for one hour a week.
I've been on some research projects looking at doctors struck off for incompetence. They're nearly all men. One of our best theories for why this is is that the women caught being incompetent apologise and accept re-training; it's only the men who fight the system and end up being struck off.
Did a charity event at a Country estate and came across a shooting party of Vets, thought it was clays not birds they were shooting!
It was a mixed group of Men and Woman and the Instructor told us the woman won and usually do unmixed groups. He was adamant that it was because they listened to instructions and followed them while the men thought they knew what to do from watching action movies!
I am feeling optimistic about the UK and the future.
Cambridge men as PM and Chancellor.
Trying to find a market on Burnham to win more seats than Starmer in 2024.
The first Cambridge PM since Stanley Baldwin. The first Cambridge CoE since Kwasi Kwarteng.
I went to university in Cambridge. I didn't go to Cambridge University, though.
Anglia Ruskin; Almost (a) Real University!
It won't have been called Anglia Ruskin in your day though!
I went as an 'elderly' post-grad in the 90's.
The best sort of postgrad! I say that as someone who teaches lots of postgrads.
A driving instructor told me the best pupils were women and teenage boys, and the worst were middle-aged men because they knew it all and wouldn't learn, whereas women were more amenable to instruction and teenagers were so desperate to pass that they'd put their egos aside for one hour a week.
My best advice for passing your driving test? Do a minor feck up and believe you've failed so you relax...
Worked for me - I stalled on leaving the test centre and assume that was a fail - it wasn't! I even argued with the examiner about a lady who was approaching but not at a zebra crossing.
I hadn't done so well, really, but as I reached a zebra crossing a woman pushed a pram out onto he crossing ahead of me. I slammed on the brakes, stalled the car and the examiner hit his head on the windscreen (this was long before seat-belts). I started the car again, found a safe place to park and checked the examiner was OK. He just said 'Take me back to the test centre' and I thought, oh well try again, but when we got there he just said "You've passed", did the paperwork without another word and left.
What if there's no huge honeymoon, but also no subsequent slump. A moderate rise in Labour support to levels that will seem decent now but would have been abject in the past, and public opinion on Burnham remaining something like "he's OK, don't hate him but don't really love him either". Better ratings than Kemi or Nige, but still net negative.
It's a long time since we had a PM with that sort of reception. Cameron? Brown?
IIRC Brown had his enemies.
Internally yes, but I'm talking public opinion. He was grudgingly respected but never loved.
Different personality from Burnham of course. And different geographical terroir. Andy will be the first "professional Northerner" at no 10 since Wilson.
I am feeling optimistic about the UK and the future.
Cambridge men as PM and Chancellor.
Trying to find a market on Burnham to win more seats than Starmer in 2024.
The first Cambridge PM since Stanley Baldwin. The first Cambridge CoE since Kwasi Kwarteng.
I went to university in Cambridge. I didn't go to Cambridge University, though.
Anglia Ruskin; Almost (a) Real University!
It won't have been called Anglia Ruskin in your day though!
I went as an 'elderly' post-grad in the 90's.
The best sort of postgrad! I say that as someone who teaches lots of postgrads.
A driving instructor told me the best pupils were women and teenage boys, and the worst were middle-aged men because they knew it all and wouldn't learn, whereas women were more amenable to instruction and teenagers were so desperate to pass that they'd put their egos aside for one hour a week.
My best advice for passing your driving test? Do a minor feck up and believe you've failed so you relax...
Worked for me - I stalled on leaving the test centre and assume that was a fail - it wasn't! I even argued with the examiner about a lady who was approaching but not at a zebra crossing.
My first driving test, my reversing around a corner was so accomplished that I continued around the corner and started up into someone’s driveway. That didn’t relax me at all.
About that missile strike on the factory in Voronezh that makes microelectronics for Russian missiles...
Ukraine’s General Staff confirms Air Force strikes on a Voronezh plant producing electronics for Russian Iskander and Kh-101 missiles. High-precision air-launched cruise missiles hit the facility, which manufactures transistor assemblies, semiconductor arrays for Iskander-K 9M727 missiles and components for Pantsir-S1 systems.
Voronezh is ~300km from Kharkiv. Range of Storm Shadow is 550km.
I don't know of Ukraine having any other, "High-precision air-launched cruise missiles.." available to it.
If its air launched, doesn't that depend enormously on what and where it's launched from (and possibly at what altitude).
Given Russian air defences appear to only be deployed to save key military/oil infrastructure and Moscow itself, and RU doesn't appear to have much air superiority even over RU territory, it's probably not unimaginable that the UKR airforce flew their missiles quite a long way into RU before launching?
Russia still has a lot of air defences, and they're generally better at shooting down aircraft than missiles.
Ukraine has been developing its own glide bombs so that it can match the Russian use of glide bombs to hit targets while keeping aircraft well behind the front lines, so there isn't much sign of a widespread absence of Russian air defences. I'd be very surprised if the aircraft that launched these missiles were anywhere close to Russian-occupied territory.
Worth noting that Ukraine's recent success in hitting targets in Moscow relies on using large numbers of drones to overload air defence systems. There was a follow-up attack that didn't seem to hit any targets, presumably because it wasn't large enough to do so.
We mostly see the successful hits, and so get a very low opinion of Russian air defences, but we don't see the large number of drones that the Russians do manage to shoot down.
I am feeling optimistic about the UK and the future.
Cambridge men as PM and Chancellor.
Trying to find a market on Burnham to win more seats than Starmer in 2024.
The first Cambridge PM since Stanley Baldwin. The first Cambridge CoE since Kwasi Kwarteng.
I went to university in Cambridge. I didn't go to Cambridge University, though.
Anglia Ruskin; Almost (a) Real University!
It won't have been called Anglia Ruskin in your day though!
I went as an 'elderly' post-grad in the 90's.
The best sort of postgrad! I say that as someone who teaches lots of postgrads.
A driving instructor told me the best pupils were women and teenage boys, and the worst were middle-aged men because they knew it all and wouldn't learn, whereas women were more amenable to instruction and teenagers were so desperate to pass that they'd put their egos aside for one hour a week.
I've been on some research projects looking at doctors struck off for incompetence. They're nearly all men. One of our best theories for why this is is that the women caught being incompetent apologise and accept re-training; it's only the men who fight the system and end up being struck off.
Did a charity event at a Country estate and came across a shooting party of Vets, thought it was clays not birds they were shooting!
It was a mixed group of Men and Woman and the Instructor told us the woman won and usually do unmixed groups. He was adamant that it was because they listened to instructions and followed them while the men thought they knew what to do from watching action movies!
Peter. (Not Sadiq!)
My wife, who is not remotely interested in martial things, is surprisingly good at laser clay shoots. Bit worrying really.
Starmer care about Starmer . He threw colleagues to the wolves and civil servants. He must go down as one of the worst MPs possibly eclipsing the utterly useless Brown as the worst PM since my teens.
Was your favourite Johnson or Truss?
Maggie
I am guessing your were but a wean in 1990. I remember Thatcher and from my side of the fence it was not a happy time in the country, and we are reaping the rewards now. Not least the fallout from the Big Bang, deindustrialisation, denationalisation and the Right to Buy.
About that missile strike on the factory in Voronezh that makes microelectronics for Russian missiles...
Ukraine’s General Staff confirms Air Force strikes on a Voronezh plant producing electronics for Russian Iskander and Kh-101 missiles. High-precision air-launched cruise missiles hit the facility, which manufactures transistor assemblies, semiconductor arrays for Iskander-K 9M727 missiles and components for Pantsir-S1 systems.
Voronezh is ~300km from Kharkiv. Range of Storm Shadow is 550km.
I don't know of Ukraine having any other, "High-precision air-launched cruise missiles.." available to it.
If its air launched, doesn't that depend enormously on what and where it's launched from (and possibly at what altitude).
Given Russian air defences appear to only be deployed to save key military/oil infrastructure and Moscow itself, and RU doesn't appear to have much air superiority even over RU territory, it's probably not unimaginable that the UKR airforce flew their missiles quite a long way into RU before launching?
Russia still has a lot of air defences, and they're generally better at shooting down aircraft than missiles.
Ukraine has been developing its own glide bombs so that it can match the Russian use of glove bombs to hit targets while keeping aircraft well behind the front lines, so there isn't much sign of a widespread absence of Russian air defences. I'd be very surprised if the aircraft that launched these missiles were anywhere close to Russian-occupied territory.
Worth noting that Ukraine's recent success in hitting targets in Moscow relies on using large numbers of drones to overload air defence systems. There was a follow-up attack that didn't seem to hit any targets, presumably because it wasn't large enough to do so.
We mostly see the successful hits, and so get a very low opinion of Russian air defences, but we don't see the large number of drones that the Russians do manage to shoot down.
I was reading an article yesterday about how the Ukrainians have been attaching missiles to large balloons which go up 40km and then nearer the target the missile is activated and so on. These balloons and missiles cost peanuts relative to the missiles Russia are having to use to hit so high and the Russians have had to spend millions just during this testing phase.
Apparently the next stage is attaching drones to balloons.
If true it’s typically inventive of the Ukrainians - apparently the Russians are trying to copy but because of prevailing winds it’s not gone well.
It really doesn't matter whether Streeting could have got the necessary 81 MP nominations or not. He's not thick, and knows full well that once Burnham was in the race he would have absolutely no chance of winning the members' vote. I suspect Streeting's time will come.
Decent advice for the next defence secretary post reshuffle. And indeed most cabinet ministers, reapplied to their briefs.
There is absolutely zero need for a "Defence Review", especially if it's another performative dance disconnected by the actual intentions of government of spending and delivering.
I used the phrase "Amaze amaze amaze!" which is spoken by one of the characters in the film. Sweeney74 picked up on it and we started talking about the book/film
Starmer care about Starmer . He threw colleagues to the wolves and civil servants. He must go down as one of the worst MPs possibly eclipsing the utterly useless Brown as the worst PM since my teens.
Was your favourite Johnson or Truss?
Maggie
I am guessing your were but a wean in 1990. I remember Thatcher and from my side of the fence it was not a happy time in the country, and we are reaping the rewards now. Not least the fallout from the Big Bang, deindustrialisation, denationalisation and the Right to Buy.
Time to consign her, for better or worse, to history. Thatcherism (whatever it actually was) is irrelevant to addressing our current problems. (Even if it bequeathed us with some of them.)
There are enough MP votes floating around for an alternative candidate, whether it's Streeting, Carns, Healey, or whoever. But all of them know they wouldn't win a members' vote, so they're not going to stand.
Burnham and Streeting in tandem would be formidable
Centre left keep all but the idiots happy, Centre Right soothe the markets and make great appeal to disaffected one nation Tories in seats where it's Labour v Reform
Both excellent communicators.
On a personal level I've no doubt Starmer is the same as May, Cameron, Brown, Blair, Major.,decent people who you could disagree with, question their competency and politics but at heart decent men and women
As for Farage, of course he's desperate for a General Election, he's like an aging right winger whose legs have gone, body has been abused by alcohol and fags and can't offer anything at all
He's desperate too to grab power, overturn democracy and turn the UK in to a totalitarian state. He can die waiting.
We don't want the political equivalent of Wee Willie Johnstone or Ted McMinn
Starmer care about Starmer . He threw colleagues to the wolves and civil servants. He must go down as one of the worst MPs possibly eclipsing the utterly useless Brown as the worst PM since my teens.
Was your favourite Johnson or Truss?
Maggie
I am guessing your were but a wean in 1990. I remember Thatcher and from my side of the fence it was not a happy time in the country, and we are reaping the rewards now. Not least the fallout from the Big Bang, deindustrialisation, denationalisation and the Right to Buy.
Maybe your memory is fading but I dont recall Labour in their 13 years of government either renationalising, reindustrialising or building social housing, They dry humped the City up to 2008.
Starmer care about Starmer . He threw colleagues to the wolves and civil servants. He must go down as one of the worst MPs possibly eclipsing the utterly useless Brown as the worst PM since my teens.
Was your favourite Johnson or Truss?
Maggie
I am guessing your were but a wean in 1990. I remember Thatcher and from my side of the fence it was not a happy time in the country, and we are reaping the rewards now. Not least the fallout from the Big Bang, deindustrialisation, denationalisation and the Right to Buy.
Maybe your memory is fading but I dont recall Labour in their 13 years of government either renationalising, reindustrialising or building social housing, They dry humped the City up to 2008.
The more I think about it, Sir Keir Starmer is a bit like Sir Winston Churchill.
Churchill was a brilliant wartime PM but a terrible peacetime PM.
Starmer decent LOTO but woeful PM.
Nope - anyone could be a "decent LOTO" which characterisation in itself is a low bar. But he wasn't even that. He was a dreadful LOTO and a dreadful PM. As small children in Hartlepool and virtually the entire population of PB could have (and did) tell you.
Burnham we shall see - as with all Lab PMs I know that he doesn't like me but luckily for me and my cohort, the right are split such as to make any meaningful opposition moot.
As I have rejoined the Cons, however, I may turn out to be the spark that lights the fire of the Great Return.
Rarely have I had to unpack so much from 3 sentences.
I recently caught an STD from a Catholic priest after a Grindr hookup. During treatment it was discovered I had early stage prostate cancer, treated successfully with radiation. Mysterious ways indeed.
Burnham and Streeting in tandem would be formidable
Centre left keep all but the idiots happy, Centre Right soothe the markets and make great appeal to disaffected one nation Tories in seats where it's Labour v Reform
Both excellent communicators.
On a personal level I've no doubt Starmer is the same as May, Cameron, Brown, Blair, Major.,decent people who you could disagree with, question their competency and politics but at heart decent men and women
As for Farage, of course he's desperate for a General Election, he's like an aging right winger whose legs have gone, body has been abused by alcohol and fags and can't offer anything at all
He's desperate too to grab power, overturn democracy and turn the UK in to a totalitarian state. He can die waiting.
We don't want the political equivalent of Wee Willie Johnstone or Ted McMinn
The woman who was responsible for the Windrush scandal and for telling legally settled immigrants they shouldn't be here was not, in any way, a decent person.
Rarely have I had to unpack so much from 3 sentences.
I recently caught an STD from a Catholic priest after a Grindr hookup. During treatment it was discovered I had early stage prostate cancer, treated successfully with radiation. Mysterious ways indeed.
After losing a £100 treble on KoN/SNP/SNP on Thursday albeit mainly offset by the single on Burnham, I am not counting my chickens on LABurnham till i receive the winnings (should it happen)
Burnham and Streeting in tandem would be formidable
Centre left keep all but the idiots happy, Centre Right soothe the markets and make great appeal to disaffected one nation Tories in seats where it's Labour v Reform
Both excellent communicators.
On a personal level I've no doubt Starmer is the same as May, Cameron, Brown, Blair, Major.,decent people who you could disagree with, question their competency and politics but at heart decent men and women
As for Farage, of course he's desperate for a General Election, he's like an aging right winger whose legs have gone, body has been abused by alcohol and fags and can't offer anything at all
He's desperate too to grab power, overturn democracy and turn the UK in to a totalitarian state. He can die waiting.
We don't want the political equivalent of Wee Willie Johnstone or Ted McMinn
The woman who was responsible for the Windrush scandal and for telling legally settled immigrants they shouldn't be here was not, in any way, a decent person.
Still, May was PM for longer than Starmer, Sunak and Truss were and even Boris only beat her by a few months
After losing a £100 treble on KoN/SNP/SNP on Thursday albeit mainly offset by the single on Burnham, I am not counting my chickens on LABurnham till i receive the winnings (should it happen)
Burnham and Streeting in tandem would be formidable
Centre left keep all but the idiots happy, Centre Right soothe the markets and make great appeal to disaffected one nation Tories in seats where it's Labour v Reform
Both excellent communicators.
On a personal level I've no doubt Starmer is the same as May, Cameron, Brown, Blair, Major.,decent people who you could disagree with, question their competency and politics but at heart decent men and women
As for Farage, of course he's desperate for a General Election, he's like an aging right winger whose legs have gone, body has been abused by alcohol and fags and can't offer anything at all
He's desperate too to grab power, overturn democracy and turn the UK in to a totalitarian state. He can die waiting.
We don't want the political equivalent of Wee Willie Johnstone or Ted McMinn
The woman who was responsible for the Windrush scandal and for telling legally settled immigrants they shouldn't be here was not, in any way, a decent person.
Absolutely 100% agreed.
Anyone who could sign off those "Go Home" vans is not decent.
After losing a £100 treble on KoN/SNP/SNP on Thursday albeit mainly offset by the single on Burnham, I am not counting my chickens on LABurnham till i receive the winnings (should it happen)
After losing a £100 treble on KoN/SNP/SNP on Thursday albeit mainly offset by the single on Burnham, I am not counting my chickens on LABurnham till i receive the winnings (should it happen)
Steve Bray's "Ode to Joy" plays out while Starmer resigns.
A tribute to the film Die Hard, a film that was released in July 1988, which confirms it isn't a Christmas film and the British public agree with me.
In that case you and the British Public are wrong.
Die Hard isn’t merely set at Christmas. Christmas is integral to the plot. The office party is the reason most of the building is empty and why the hostages are all gathered together. McClane is in Los Angeles because it’s Christmas. His entire character arc is about reconciling with his wife and rebuilding his family at Christmas. The soundtrack is full of Christmas music, the imagery is Christmas imagery throughout, and the story ends with redemption, reconciliation and good triumphing over evil.
A July release date proves nothing. Miracle on 34th Street was released in June.
Comments
The Keirlamity is over, before it became a Keirtastrophe
Though I’m not particularly looking forward to feeling the Burnham..
Doubt he expected to be PM, and he was never better than the least bad available option. That Labour have had to go for someone who wasn't an MP last week as his replacement shows were not out of the woods yet.
There's something to be said for the stability of a PR system over FPTP.
Paul Mason
@paulmasonnews
·
1h
Thank you Keir ✊🇬🇧🚩 a dedicated public servant, comrade and lifelong socialist.
This country needs to look properly at social care and how we fund health. We need to be serious about trying to balance the books. If you want Scandinavian style social democracy and all the sweeties that leads too, we need to pay the taxes to afford it.
I'd love to get back into the European fold. That doesn't have to be rejoin, but its nuts to have self imposed friction in trading for little seeming benefit (I'd argue for either side).
I want to seem extreme politics defeated (both the Reform/Restore racists and the Gays for Gaza communists). As a country we are neither of those things.
And I'd love a bit of peace and quiet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FP-5_Flamingo is very much a descendent of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-1_flying_bomb
the difference is that the with modern satellite navigation, once you have the control loop dialed* in, everything is precision weapon.
Interestingly, Starlink almost accidentally provides a rather un-jammable location information. Starlink/SpaceX, just recently turned this off, for civilian users. Because of the issue about it not complying with US rules about sat nav systems that work at high speed being considered munitions.
*Some sat photos of early Flamingo attacks suggested that the Ukrainians were having issues with the final approach to the target.
I do think that the strengths of FPTP are losing credibility in the era of multi (i.e. more than two) party politics.
I recently caught an STD from a Catholic priest after a Grindr hookup. During treatment it was discovered I had early stage prostate cancer, treated successfully with radiation. Mysterious ways indeed.
https://x.com/fesshole/status/2068988623815356784
Personal life since Jan 2023: birth of first (and so far only) child, loss of mother in law, loss of mother, huge house extension with lots of decorating and decluttering still to do, mother in laws house still to sell...
I had no idea how peaceful things were.
"Ukraine has used longer-range Storm Shadow missiles against targets inside Russia for the first time, the BBC understands."
Guess the date of the article.
https://x.com/sadiqkhan/status/2068981264921592049
Butler was ready to take over IIRC, but .....
It's a long time since we had a PM with that sort of reception. Cameron? Brown?
Worked for me - I stalled on leaving the test centre and assume that was a fail - it wasn't! I even argued with the examiner about a lady who was approaching but not at a zebra crossing.
Given Russian air defences appear to only be deployed to save key military/oil infrastructure and Moscow itself, and RU doesn't appear to have much air superiority even over RU territory, it's probably not unimaginable that the UKR airforce flew their missiles quite a long way into RU before launching?
It was a mixed group of Men and Woman and the Instructor told us the woman won and usually do unmixed groups. He was adamant that it was because they listened to instructions and followed them while the men thought they knew what to do from watching action movies!
Peter. (Not Sadiq!)
I started the car again, found a safe place to park and checked the examiner was OK. He just said 'Take me back to the test centre' and I thought, oh well try again, but when we got there he just said "You've passed", did the paperwork without another word and left.
Different personality from Burnham of course. And different geographical terroir. Andy will be the first "professional Northerner" at no 10 since Wilson.
someone’s driveway. That didn’t relax me at all.
Doinkadect Klomberbatch
@Doinkadect
Is this the first time the UK’s been looking for a new Prime Minister, James Bond and Doctor Who at the same time
Ukraine has been developing its own glide bombs so that it can match the Russian use of glide bombs to hit targets while keeping aircraft well behind the front lines, so there isn't much sign of a widespread absence of Russian air defences. I'd be very surprised if the aircraft that launched these missiles were anywhere close to Russian-occupied territory.
Worth noting that Ukraine's recent success in hitting targets in Moscow relies on using large numbers of drones to overload air defence systems. There was a follow-up attack that didn't seem to hit any targets, presumably because it wasn't large enough to do so.
We mostly see the successful hits, and so get a very low opinion of Russian air defences, but we don't see the large number of drones that the Russians do manage to shoot down.
Apparently the next stage is attaching drones to balloons.
If true it’s typically inventive of the Ukrainians - apparently the Russians are trying to copy but because of prevailing winds it’s not gone well.
And indeed most cabinet ministers, reapplied to their briefs.
There is absolutely zero need for a "Defence Review", especially if it's another performative dance disconnected by the actual intentions of government of spending and delivering.
There's a need to either fork out the money or go to NATO and say what the UK will not be doing.
https://x.com/Gabriel64869839/status/2069002767260074268
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Hail_Mary_(film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Hail_Mary
I used the phrase "Amaze amaze amaze!" which is spoken by one of the characters in the film. Sweeney74 picked up on it and we started talking about the book/film
Thatcherism (whatever it actually was) is irrelevant to addressing our current problems.
(Even if it bequeathed us with some of them.)
Centre left keep all but the idiots happy, Centre Right soothe the markets and make great appeal to disaffected one nation Tories in seats where it's Labour v Reform
Both excellent communicators.
On a personal level I've no doubt Starmer is the same as May, Cameron, Brown, Blair, Major.,decent people who you could disagree with, question their competency and politics but at heart decent men and women
As for Farage, of course he's desperate for a General Election, he's like an aging right winger whose legs have gone, body has been abused by alcohol and fags and can't offer anything at all
He's desperate too to grab power, overturn democracy and turn the UK in to a totalitarian state. He can die waiting.
We don't want the political equivalent of Wee Willie Johnstone or Ted McMinn
To be fair, I did get it wrong: he wasn't even a half-term PM.
(Sorry not sure where that 'here' came from.)
He'd have made a terrible wartime PM and a terrible peacetime PM.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/22/uk-met-office-issues-rare-red-weather-warning-for-wednesday-and-thursday
Make sure you've got some sun cream!
The new leader could be a man to have a cabinet full of women, or he could be another one to appoint mostly men..
Which is Burnham?
Witches? Burn ‘em. I reckon
Burnham we shall see - as with all Lab PMs I know that he doesn't like me but luckily for me and my cohort, the right are split such as to make any meaningful opposition moot.
As I have rejoined the Cons, however, I may turn out to be the spark that lights the fire of the Great Return.
Jeremy Clarkson says he’s in remission from prostate cancer: ‘The doctors caught it early’
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/jun/22/jeremy-clarkson-in-remission-prostate-cancer
https://x.com/brewgaloo_/status/2069017141441974331
Welcome aboard your Avanti West Coast service, calling at Stockport, Stoke on Trent, Stafford and the Finland Station
When the Makerfield byelection was engineered, close to FA Cup final day, I said
I love Coup Finally day
Making redundancies today
Labour values in action
Anyone who could sign off those "Go Home" vans is not decent.
Is Dunkirk not a WW2 movie because it was released in 2017?
Paddy O'Connell is the man on the spot at Platform 13 at Euston for WATO.
In other news WATO indirectly suggesting the need for a GE.
Die Hard isn’t merely set at Christmas. Christmas is integral to the plot. The office party is the reason most of the building is empty and why the hostages are all gathered together. McClane is in Los Angeles because it’s Christmas. His entire character arc is about reconciling with his wife and rebuilding his family at Christmas. The soundtrack is full of Christmas music, the imagery is Christmas imagery throughout, and the story ends with redemption, reconciliation and good triumphing over evil.
A July release date proves nothing. Miracle on 34th Street was released in June.
Hill I will die (hard) on.