There are a lot of local by-elections this week - and many of them are complicated. Firstly we have countermanded election in St. Helens(2Lab) and Tamworth ( Ind elected as Con). Secondly there are normal by-elections - 21 of them! They are Aberdeen (LD but SNP topped the poll), Brighton and Hove ( Ind elected as Lab), Cambridgeshire (Ref disqualified), Carmarthenshire ( Ref), Denbighshire (Ind elected as Lab), Denbighshire ( PC), Ealing (Green), Hackney (Green), Hackney (Green disqualified), Halton (Lab), Haringey (Green ineligible), Haringey (Lab), Hertsmere (LD), Highland (Ind but LD topped the poll), Merthyr Tydfil (Ref elected as Ind), Nuneaton and Bedworth (Lab), Rhondda Cynon Taff (PC), St. Helens (Ref), Staffordshire (Ref), Teignbridge (LD), Uttlesford (LD).
Farage is going to lose the "normal guy" and charisma/charm battle with Andy Burnham. Not sure what he can do about it. Serious situation for Reform imo.
Agree. for practical purposes write off any chance of a Reform government in 2028/9. The balloon has burst, scattering five million used pound notes and great thoughts about celebrity bottoms into the air.
I hope the Tories will have Danny Kruger back in due course. But not the others.
It's noticeable that someone like Kruger has made no impact in Reform such is the control of Farage. A waste to both Reform and to himself. However if he stays any longer, then questions will be asked about his judgment.
I can conceive of only 2 reasons why a Tory politician would switch to Reform and neither are savoury.
1. Pure careerism. They've looked at the polls and calculate better personal prospects.
2. Nativist ideology. They believe in closed borders and mass deportations of 'not proper' Brits.
There are a lot of local by-elections this week - and many of them are complicated. Firstly we have countermanded election in St. Helens(2Lab) and Tamworth ( Ind elected as Con). Secondly there are normal by-elections - 21 of them! They are Aberdeen (LD but SNP topped the poll), Brighton and Hove ( Ind elected as Lab), Cambridgeshire (Ref disqualified), Carmarthenshire ( Ref), Denbighshire (Ind elected as Lab), Denbighshire ( PC), Ealing (Green), Hackney (Green), Hackney (Green disqualified), Halton (Lab), Haringey (Green ineligible), Haringey (Lab), Hertsmere (LD), Highland (Ind but LD topped the poll), Merthyr Tydfil (Ref elected as Ind), Nuneaton and Bedworth (Lab), Rhondda Cynon Taff (PC), St. Helens (Ref), Staffordshire (Ref), Teignbridge (LD), Uttlesford (LD).
Meanwhile, buried under the national political tittle-tattle, I see that today the LibDems have taken majority control of Oxon county council. As you will doubtless be reading on tomorrows national front pages.
Farage is going to lose the "normal guy" and charisma/charm battle with Andy Burnham. Not sure what he can do about it. Serious situation for Reform imo.
Agree. for practical purposes write off any chance of a Reform government in 2028/9. The balloon has burst, scattering five million used pound notes and great thoughts about celebrity bottoms into the air.
I hope the Tories will have Danny Kruger back in due course. But not the others.
It's noticeable that someone like Kruger has made no impact in Reform such is the control of Farage. A waste to both Reform and to himself. However if he stays any longer, then questions will be asked about his judgment.
I can conceive of only 2 reasons why a Tory politician would switch to Reform and neither are savoury.
1. Pure careerism. They've looked at the polls and calculate better personal prospects.
2. Nativist ideology. They believe in closed borders and mass deportations of 'not proper' Brits.
3. They believe they can change Reform from the inside?
British people need to stop being such miserable c**ts.
It does feel like we've become a nation of moaners. Collectively, we seem to know what we don't like but where's the positive enthusiasm for anything?
Doubtless why England matches kick off from the centre circle and within a few kicks the ball is back with our goalie, and is then punted about between the defenders until, currently during the first hydration break, our manager intervenes to remind the players that their chances are better with the ball up the other end of the pitch. Thank god this worked, the last time.
Farage is going to lose the "normal guy" and charisma/charm battle with Andy Burnham. Not sure what he can do about it. Serious situation for Reform imo.
Agree. for practical purposes write off any chance of a Reform government in 2028/9. The balloon has burst, scattering five million used pound notes and great thoughts about celebrity bottoms into the air.
I hope the Tories will have Danny Kruger back in due course. But not the others.
It's noticeable that someone like Kruger has made no impact in Reform such is the control of Farage. A waste to both Reform and to himself. However if he stays any longer, then questions will be asked about his judgment.
I can conceive of only 2 reasons why a Tory politician would switch to Reform and neither are savoury.
1. Pure careerism. They've looked at the polls and calculate better personal prospects.
2. Nativist ideology. They believe in closed borders and mass deportations of 'not proper' Brits.
I understood he was going to advise Farage on how Benefits work in the UK and what might be done about it (Paging Malc and Taz). However Burnham has his own heavyweight for that area in the shape of Kate Green.
TLDR: Her background with CPAG strongly suggests there won't be much of a cutback in that area. CPAG are *the* leading experts in this area and their published handbooks are the go to source for benefits and other related advice,
For those that want to fact check the Daily Mail, Telegraph and Express you can purchase an online version of Benefits for Migrants Handbook here. It's now in its 15th edition.
Farage is going to lose the "normal guy" and charisma/charm battle with Andy Burnham. Not sure what he can do about it. Serious situation for Reform imo.
Agree. for practical purposes write off any chance of a Reform government in 2028/9. The balloon has burst, scattering five million used pound notes and great thoughts about celebrity bottoms into the air.
I hope the Tories will have Danny Kruger back in due course. But not the others.
It's noticeable that someone like Kruger has made no impact in Reform such is the control of Farage. A waste to both Reform and to himself. However if he stays any longer, then questions will be asked about his judgment.
I can conceive of only 2 reasons why a Tory politician would switch to Reform and neither are savoury.
1. Pure careerism. They've looked at the polls and calculate better personal prospects.
2. Nativist ideology. They believe in closed borders and mass deportations of 'not proper' Brits.
3. They believe they can change Reform from the inside?
To what though. If they manage to professionalise Reform and marginalise the racism, whilst keeping it firmly right wing on economics, you get something quite close to where they've fled from - a Kemi Badenoch led Tory Party.
Are you just going to left with soggy underwear and a sense of shame?
He appears to perceive, unlike so many prior senior politicians, the critical way in which the structure and nature of our politics feeds through into the nature of our society and economy. If he can hold to his views on political and electoral reform and begin to unwind the huge centralisation of our governance that was imposed upon us by Thatcher and Blair, he will deserve to be buried as a hero. There was a time in which enlightened Brits could be proud of our long tradition of strong, independent local governance; that we’ve become a country where thousands of elected local politicians have no freedom other than to follow the line from Whitehall, and that British voters have no real say in the way their community is run once their every-four-years election vote has been, more often than not, simply cast into the bin, is a stain upon our long history as the mother of democracy and accountability.
I start as a non-Labour voting strong Burnham supporter, and you can check back with me as a weathervane as to the extent to which he maintains his cross-party appeal when faced with the realities of governing from number ten.
Yes. Spot on.
There is just a chance we could look back and see Starmer as the person who provided a government of sorts, having rescued Labour from Corbynism, which didn't actually trash the country, when the Tories had given up and the far right was on the rise so all the alternatives were worse
To be followed by a leadership which was activist, competent, hopeful, with a collegiate leadership and a story a plan and a narrative. We shall find out fairly soon.
Lord Glasman, the Labour peer and founder of the influential Blue Labour group, said he is supporting Al Carns to be the next PM.
"He's a soldier, he understands defence and he understands the next war," Lord Glasman told the Telegraph.
Al_Carns has about as much chance of getting the MP nominations and defeating Burnham with the members as his near namesake, Northern_Al.
I dunno. I'd vote for you as Prime Minister even though I'd have some reservations about your line on the DfE.
Cheers mate. I hereby offer to recuse myself from any DfE or associated education decisions. In fact, I may even abolish the DfE, just for you.
How do you feel about abolishing VAT on cat food?
Absolutely not. But dog food, yes, as there are two in my household, both belonging to my better half.
"You keep dog food in your fridge???"
Mr Dog’s food is mostly in the freezer. He has so much in there that sometimes I struggle to fit in my own Waitrose frozen herbs and the odd pizza or two. If I want to splash out on something like handmade frozen Bradford curries (a shout out to Chef Akila) I have to very carefully choreograph the delivery date in relation to his food delivery dates and then live on curries for the fortnight thereafter, with complete disregard to the gastrointestinal consequences.
They do sell chilled dog food now. I don't know any brand names (not having a dog) but it's there (at least in Sainsbury's).
"Stop training so many medical students, demand doctors BMA members vote to cut intake as competition for specialist posts is ‘at an all-time high’" (£)
There's no competition from them for salaries if the government doesn't create enough postgraduate training places.
Might as well give them a ticket for Quantas with their degree without enough postgraduate posts, and the number of those is not something the BMA controls.
Anyone who thinks Ukraine doesn't have the best and leading ground forces in Europe is completely deluding themselves.
I'm sure that's right.
And when have British armed forces ever been well prepared? (I think the Seven years war is roughly the last time.)
The professional British soldiery tends to have to learn very harsh lessons quicky when war arrives. We are quite good at learning the lessons, but our preparedness is not a strength. (Not just us of course - the French are far worse)
It’s weird because outside of the two world wars we’ve never aimed to be or planned to be a European Land War giant.
We probably still have the best expeditionary forces in Europe but not for big land wars - and that’s fine if the navy is working and the airforce is strong but at the moment we seem to be lacking there too.
Honestly I don’t think being a huge land army should be our remit - leave that to Germany and the Poles who would be at the forefront of any war v Russia. We should be focussed on other areas, especially naval protection for the North Atlantic, North Sea and Baltic. Lots of submarine drones would be a start. If the army is small but very highly trained for specific tasks I’m ok with that.
This is good news for Burnham. One of Starmer's misfortunes (apart from the miafortune of being a terrible politician) waa the unrealistically high expectations centrists had of him.
Lord Glasman, the Labour peer and founder of the influential Blue Labour group, said he is supporting Al Carns to be the next PM.
"He's a soldier, he understands defence and he understands the next war," Lord Glasman told the Telegraph.
Is that the dude people kept ramping as the next PM basically because he has a good jawline?
I’ve warmed to him. A few months ago he was giving it large on social media doing ice climbing with the marines and joining parts of Arctic exercises which I thought was a bit egotistical however I have since seen him doing talks on social media and he seems to have his heart in the right place, no mad policies and it would be nice to have someone who cuts through the bullshit and straight talks which is what he has been doing online. Fair enough I’m a Tory so clearly he has no hope with the Labour left but I don’t think he would be a bad choice.
Would also be fucking funny him meeting Hegseth, Vance and Trump and see them try and accuse the UK of not being there when he could just flash his military cross and ask them how their service in the special forces in Iraq and Afghanistan went.
He has no hope with the Labour left, this is true. And not a great deal more with the Labour centre or right. A rather 'up himself' unit imo. It wouldn't surprise me if he actually said with a grave portentous face, "I understand the next war".
Reform need to stop doing politics by X. A couple of people have mentioned outside canvassers bringing up the scandal of Burnham's "million pound house". To folk who've actually been to Golborne.
A lie is half way around the World before the truth has got its trousers on is the USP of X.
The truth no longer matters, e.g. Farage quoting Andrew Tate's X account dogshite.
Lord Glasman, the Labour peer and founder of the influential Blue Labour group, said he is supporting Al Carns to be the next PM.
"He's a soldier, he understands defence and he understands the next war," Lord Glasman told the Telegraph.
Is that the dude people kept ramping as the next PM basically because he has a good jawline?
I’ve warmed to him. A few months ago he was giving it large on social media doing ice climbing with the marines and joining parts of Arctic exercises which I thought was a bit egotistical however I have since seen him doing talks on social media and he seems to have his heart in the right place, no mad policies and it would be nice to have someone who cuts through the bullshit and straight talks which is what he has been doing online. Fair enough I’m a Tory so clearly he has no hope with the Labour left but I don’t think he would be a bad choice.
Would also be fucking funny him meeting Hegseth, Vance and Trump and see them try and accuse the UK of not being there when he could just flash his military cross and ask them how their service in the special forces in Iraq and Afghanistan went.
He has no hope with the Labour left, this is true. And not a great deal more with the Labour centre or right. A rather 'up himself' unit imo. It wouldn't surprise me if he actually said with a grave portentous face, "I understand the next war".
I don’t mind him being slightly “up himself”, he’s sort of earned it from his start in life and his career. Starmer was up himself too with his grave and portentous face, “the grown ups are in the room”.
Reform need to stop doing politics by X. A couple of people have mentioned outside canvassers bringing up the scandal of Burnham's "million pound house". To folk who've actually been to Golborne.
A lie is half way around the World before the truth has got its trousers on is the USP of X.
The truth no longer matters, e.g. Farage quoting Andrew Tate's X account dogshite.
Or maybe it still matters to most, which may be part explanation of the Makerfield result?
It’s weird because outside of the two world wars we’ve never aimed to be or planned to be a European Land War giant.
We probably still have the best expeditionary forces in Europe but not for big land wars - and that’s fine if the navy is working and the airforce is strong but at the moment we seem to be lacking there too.
Honestly I don’t think being a huge land army should be our remit - leave that to Germany and the Poles who would be at the forefront of any war v Russia. We should be focussed on other areas, especially naval protection for the North Atlantic, North Sea and Baltic. Lots of submarine drones would be a start. If the army is small but very highly trained for specific tasks I’m ok with that.
I think (FWIW) gathered are a load of army bods in denial about their relevance, or lack of it.
Thee are some must haves (air defence, for example); our being able to field armour in Europe is long since not among those things.
And unless we can actually spend 5%+ on our military, must haves is what we have to prioritise.
Making those choices will piss off a lot of people.
This is good news for Burnham. One of Starmer's misfortunes (apart from the miafortune of being a terrible politician) waa the unrealistically high expectations centrists had of him.
Agreed. The lower the expectations the better for Burnham. But a quibble. 'Centrists' don't by and large hate Starmer. That comes from the right, the left, and (the killer) a lot of what I'm going to call 'ordinary people'. Often very ordinary, if you ask me, but let's not be like that. Gets you nowhere.
Lord Glasman, the Labour peer and founder of the influential Blue Labour group, said he is supporting Al Carns to be the next PM.
"He's a soldier, he understands defence and he understands the next war," Lord Glasman told the Telegraph.
Is that the dude people kept ramping as the next PM basically because he has a good jawline?
I’ve warmed to him. A few months ago he was giving it large on social media doing ice climbing with the marines and joining parts of Arctic exercises which I thought was a bit egotistical however I have since seen him doing talks on social media and he seems to have his heart in the right place, no mad policies and it would be nice to have someone who cuts through the bullshit and straight talks which is what he has been doing online. Fair enough I’m a Tory so clearly he has no hope with the Labour left but I don’t think he would be a bad choice.
Would also be fucking funny him meeting Hegseth, Vance and Trump and see them try and accuse the UK of not being there when he could just flash his military cross and ask them how their service in the special forces in Iraq and Afghanistan went.
He has no hope with the Labour left, this is true. And not a great deal more with the Labour centre or right. A rather 'up himself' unit imo. It wouldn't surprise me if he actually said with a grave portentous face, "I understand the next war".
I don’t mind him being slightly “up himself”, he’s sort of earned it from his start in life and his career. Starmer was up himself too with his grave and portentous face, “the grown ups are in the room”.
Let's just agree, you and I, that we don't want grave portentous faces saying things like "the adults are in the room" or "I understand the next war".
I think we're safe from this sort of thing with Andy Burnham. Really hope so anyway.
Reform need to stop doing politics by X. A couple of people have mentioned outside canvassers bringing up the scandal of Burnham's "million pound house". To folk who've actually been to Golborne.
A lie is half way around the World before the truth has got its trousers on is the USP of X.
The truth no longer matters, e.g. Farage quoting Andrew Tate's X account dogshite.
Funnily enough not many cared about media fibs while they were largely the preserve of Tory newspapers attacking Labour or more recently Brexiteers and CCHQ using social media adverts. X has just democratised who can make stuff up.
Boris was thrown out because of cumulative scandal
Truss was ejected because of the markets, however that happened
Sunil was defenestrated by a comprehensive general election defeat
Sir Keirdaver is being thrown out because only about four people like him
And he won the biggest majority
Politics can be fucking weird..
All those ejections really are for the same reason really - the fear of unelectability. That is what motivated Tory MPs to remove Boris and Truss, and if you believe the rumours (and I do) they were about to move against Sunil, that's why he called a GE.
Boris was thrown out because of cumulative scandal
Truss was ejected because of the markets, however that happened
Sunil was defenestrated by a comprehensive general election defeat
Sir Keirdaver is being thrown out because only about four people like him
And he won the biggest majority
Politics can be fucking weird..
All those ejections really are for the same reason really - the fear of unelectability. That is what motivated Tory MPs to remove Boris and Truss, and if you believe the rumours (and I do) they were about to move against Sunil, that's why he called a GE.
Truss was different - she was removed rapidly because Tory MPs rightly or wrongly* thought she was about to crater the economy.
Boris was thrown out because of cumulative scandal
Truss was ejected because of the markets, however that happened
Sunil was defenestrated by a comprehensive general election defeat
Sir Keirdaver is being thrown out because only about four people like him
And he won the biggest majority
Politics can be fucking weird..
All those ejections really are for the same reason really - the fear of unelectability. That is what motivated Tory MPs to remove Boris and Truss, and if you believe the rumours (and I do) they were about to move against Sunil, that's why he called a GE.
This is good news for Burnham. One of Starmer's misfortunes (apart from the miafortune of being a terrible politician) waa the unrealistically high expectations centrists had of him.
Indeed. Knowing right from wrong. Having a plan. Not recruiting friends over actual talent. Not accepting expensive gifts. Not throwing colleagues under the bus. Not lying on an industrial scale. How dare we expect such things. How dare we.
Julia Hartley-Brewer: "He's not your dad. He's a billionaire who lives on the other side of the planet"
Brilliant.
Perhaps Farage has clocked the staggering amount of grift that his hero across the pond is managing to get away with and assumed he could take a leaf. It's a flashing alarm on what would likely happen if he does get to number ten.
Boris was thrown out because of cumulative scandal
Truss was ejected because of the markets, however that happened
Sunil was defenestrated by a comprehensive general election defeat
Sir Keirdaver is being thrown out because only about four people like him
And he won the biggest majority
Politics can be fucking weird..
All those ejections really are for the same reason really - the fear of unelectability. That is what motivated Tory MPs to remove Boris and Truss, and if you believe the rumours (and I do) they were about to move against Sunil, that's why he called a GE.
Truss was different - she was removed rapidly because Tory MPs rightly or wrongly* thought she was about to crater the economy.
(*Obviously rightly, imo.)
No she wasn't. Tory MPs would have been quite happy for Truss to have cratered the economy if she'd done so whilst polling higher than Labour. It was cratering in the polls they were concerned about.
Boris was thrown out because of cumulative scandal
Truss was ejected because of the markets, however that happened
Sunil was defenestrated by a comprehensive general election defeat
Sir Keirdaver is being thrown out because only about four people like him
And he won the biggest majority
Politics can be fucking weird..
All those ejections really are for the same reason really - the fear of unelectability. That is what motivated Tory MPs to remove Boris and Truss, and if you believe the rumours (and I do) they were about to move against Sunil, that's why he called a GE.
Boris was thrown out because of cumulative scandal
Truss was ejected because of the markets, however that happened
Sunil was defenestrated by a comprehensive general election defeat
Sir Keirdaver is being thrown out because only about four people like him
And he won the biggest majority
Politics can be fucking weird..
All those ejections really are for the same reason really - the fear of unelectability. That is what motivated Tory MPs to remove Boris and Truss, and if you believe the rumours (and I do) they were about to move against Sunil, that's why he called a GE.
Boris was thrown out because of cumulative scandal
Truss was ejected because of the markets, however that happened
Sunil was defenestrated by a comprehensive general election defeat
Sir Keirdaver is being thrown out because only about four people like him
And he won the biggest majority
Politics can be fucking weird..
All those ejections really are for the same reason really - the fear of unelectability. That is what motivated Tory MPs to remove Boris and Truss, and if you believe the rumours (and I do) they were about to move against Sunil, that's why he called a GE.
It'll be the tedious repetitive jokes.
Repetitive jokes like Keirdaver?
Which has been used precisely twice before this post?
And Keirdaver is so good that everyone should be using it
Your occasional reminder that most voters hardly hear any politics or follow any news:
David Yelland @davidyelland · 1h Andy Burnham may be a lucky general, Nigel Farage has lost the country in 24 hours, although that has been coming for weeks. Seismic stuff.
Anyone who thinks Ukraine doesn't have the best and leading ground forces in Europe is completely deluding themselves.
As I understand it, we are no longer training Ukrainian troops. We have nothing to teach them.
A casualty of Reeves's DIPshit?
No, we genuinely weren't teaching them anything useful. That's on the army, not Reeves.
The rest of Europe was no different, tbf.
I don’t think that’s any fault of the army. They taught them and then as the war went on and developed they had to learn new tactics on the hoof, and very well by the look of things, but as it changed into a new type of war standard infantry tactics had limited benefit and they can use the basic infantry tactics their guys learnt and teach the bits that apply to recruits themselves now.
Your occasional reminder that most voters hardly hear any politics or follow any news:
David Yelland @davidyelland · 1h Andy Burnham may be a lucky general, Nigel Farage has lost the country in 24 hours, although that has been coming for weeks. Seismic stuff.
Burnham won't have Starmer's utter tin-ear for politics, so an improvement on that front, but that will only carry him for so long.
Ultimately, as @Cyclefree said, the problem is Labour's policies.
He must clean out the stables, get shot of most of the mediocre cabinet who are less than useless. Get some new blood in with ideas and start massive changes to the whole crap structure. Until benefits are cut , triple lock changed , do something to sort out the shambles of a tax system and immigration sorted ( ie the illegal parts and the laissez faire policy of letting any old distant family member follow ) they will continue to slide to oblivion.
Anyone who thinks Ukraine doesn't have the best and leading ground forces in Europe is completely deluding themselves.
As I understand it, we are no longer training Ukrainian troops. We have nothing to teach them.
A casualty of Reeves's DIPshit?
No, we genuinely weren't teaching them anything useful. That's on the army, not Reeves.
The rest of Europe was no different, tbf.
I don’t think that’s any fault of the army. They taught them and then as the war went on and developed they had to learn new tactics on the hoof, and very well by the look of things, but as it changed into a new type of war standard infantry tactics had limited benefit and they can use the basic infantry tactics their guys learnt and teach the bits that apply to recruits themselves now.
Not, it's not. But it does show very clearly that our current forces and training are obsolete.
It's not about blame. The question is how defence policy deals with that going forward.
Whenever we have weather like this, I see far more elderly couples walking around outside than usual. Reality versus what's supposed to happen according to the media, etc.
Did I fall asleep for a few weeks and miss Burnham becoming PM? How can he sack her if he isn’t PM yet?
I think that's in the future. English is a Germanic language, it has two tenses, past and non-past.
I have re-read and yes I can see how it was meant to read but probably “when” would have made more sense than “after”.
"is set to" clearly marks it as future time. You can 100% use the "present" tense in English to refer to the future. After is either, depending on the tense it is linked with, just like when
Re Australia, it's interesting how little publicity there's been of the fact that multiple opinion polls over there are showing that Pauline Hanson's One Nation party could go from zero seats in the House of Representatives to almost winning an overall majority.
I've been in and out 3 times since the start. It's working fine. If they miss you on the way in or if you mess up on the way in, you'll be scanned on the way out.
It's something to do with controlling borders .....a fashionable approach these days that we could learn about.
I've been in and out 3 times since the start. It's working fine. If they miss you on the way in or if you mess up on the way in, you'll be scanned on the way out.
It's something to do with controlling borders .....a fashionable approach these days that we could learn about.
Less than a minute in and out of Nice airport last week.
Takes longer to get through the gates at Paddington.
The CAZ was set up (in 2022) in response to a legal mandate from the then Tory government; reportedly, Burnham recused himself from involvement in the details because his wife had done marketing work for one of the companies involved.
Two years later she became a marketing director of said company.
It was publicly aired both in 2022 and 2024.
Unless there's something new, this is warming over pretty thin, old gruel, but good luck to the UK press in explaining exactly why this is a scandal.
Melania Trump got $28 million for the documentary about her, a film whose total box office take to date is less than $17 million.
The Pentagon has lent $620 million to a start-up partly owned by Donald Trump Jnr.
President Trump lowered tariffs on Vietnam after negotiations that included Vietnam fast-tracking a Trump Organization golf resort.
The US Air Force is spending an undisclosed amount of money in drones from Powerus, a company with links to Eric and Donald Jnr.
Eric and Don Jnr partly own a Kazakhstan mine that received $1.6 billion from the US government.
Jared Kushner has received over $110 million from the Saudi government, while also leading US diplomatic negotiations with Iran.
Another defense company backed by Eric Trump received $24 million from the Pentagon.
I’m just trying to remind @Sandpit what real corruption looks like.
That’s off the charts corruption. The benchmark for acceptable behaviour is far lower
Farage is going to lose the "normal guy" and charisma/charm battle with Andy Burnham. Not sure what he can do about it. Serious situation for Reform imo.
Agree. for practical purposes write off any chance of a Reform government in 2028/9. The balloon has burst, scattering five million used pound notes and great thoughts about celebrity bottoms into the air.
I hope the Tories will have Danny Kruger back in due course. But not the others.
It's noticeable that someone like Kruger has made no impact in Reform such is the control of Farage. A waste to both Reform and to himself. However if he stays any longer, then questions will be asked about his judgment.
I can conceive of only 2 reasons why a Tory politician would switch to Reform and neither are savoury.
1. Pure careerism. They've looked at the polls and calculate better personal prospects.
2. Nativist ideology. They believe in closed borders and mass deportations of 'not proper' Brits.
I understood he was going to advise Farage on how Benefits work in the UK and what might be done about it (Paging Malc and Taz). However Burnham has his own heavyweight for that area in the shape of Kate Green.
TLDR: Her background with CPAG strongly suggests there won't be much of a cutback in that area. CPAG are *the* leading experts in this area and their published handbooks are the go to source for benefits and other related advice,
For those that want to fact check the Daily Mail, Telegraph and Express you can purchase an online version of Benefits for Migrants Handbook here. It's now in its 15th edition.
Andy should give me a call, need to be more than an MP's wage mind you, and I would sort out benefits, In about those weaselly civil servants with a big stick and a scythe. All spongers out picking litter and beautifying the streets and countryside. Maximum benefits at minimum wage and if you can walk you work.
Boris was thrown out because of cumulative scandal
Truss was ejected because of the markets, however that happened
Sunil was defenestrated by a comprehensive general election defeat
Sir Keirdaver is being thrown out because only about four people like him
And he won the biggest majority
Politics can be fucking weird..
All those ejections really are for the same reason really - the fear of unelectability. That is what motivated Tory MPs to remove Boris and Truss, and if you believe the rumours (and I do) they were about to move against Sunil, that's why he called a GE.
It'll be the tedious repetitive jokes.
Repetitive jokes like Keirdaver?
Which has been used precisely twice before this post?
And Keirdaver is so good that everyone should be using it
Comments
1. Pure careerism. They've looked at the polls and calculate better personal prospects.
2. Nativist ideology. They believe in closed borders and mass deportations of 'not proper' Brits.
(Plus, most time England try to see out a 1-0 win they end up losing 1-2.)
TLDR: Her background with CPAG strongly suggests there won't be much of a cutback in that area. CPAG are *the* leading experts in this area and their published handbooks are the go to source for benefits and other related advice,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Green
For those that want to fact check the Daily Mail, Telegraph and Express you can purchase an online version of Benefits for Migrants Handbook here. It's now in its 15th edition.
https://askcpag.org.uk/?id=-258291
ones.
“You have massive problems, it is sheer arrogance to think you can still assert the same claim to leadership in Nato.”
https://x.com/FTusa284/status/2069443578917462356
There is just a chance we could look back and see Starmer as the person who provided a government of sorts, having rescued Labour from Corbynism, which didn't actually trash the country, when the Tories had given up and the far right was on the rise so all the alternatives were worse
To be followed by a leadership which was activist, competent, hopeful, with a collegiate leadership and a story a plan and a narrative. We shall find out fairly soon.
Julia Hartley-Brewer: "He's not your dad. He's a billionaire who lives on the other side of the planet"
Brilliant.
Might as well give them a ticket for Quantas with their degree without enough postgraduate posts, and the number of those is not something the BMA controls.
And when have British armed forces ever been well prepared? (I think the Seven years war is roughly the last time.)
The professional British soldiery tends to have to learn very harsh lessons quicky when war arrives. We are quite good at learning the lessons, but our preparedness is not a strength. (Not just us of course - the French are far worse)
We probably still have the best expeditionary forces in Europe but not for big land wars - and that’s fine if the navy is working and the airforce is strong but at the moment we seem to be lacking there too.
Honestly I don’t think being a huge land army should be our remit - leave that to Germany and the Poles who would be at the forefront of any war v Russia. We should be focussed on other areas, especially naval protection for the North Atlantic, North Sea and Baltic. Lots of submarine drones would be a start. If the army is small but very highly trained for specific tasks I’m ok with that.
Truss was ejected because of the markets, however that happened
Sunil was defenestrated by a comprehensive general election defeat
Sir Keirdaver is being thrown out because only about four people like him
And he won the biggest majority
Politics can be fucking weird..
The truth no longer matters, e.g. Farage quoting Andrew Tate's X account dogshite.
Thee are some must haves (air defence, for example); our being able to field armour in Europe is long since not among those things.
And unless we can actually spend 5%+ on our military, must haves is what we have to prioritise.
Making those choices will piss off a lot of people.
I think we're safe from this sort of thing with Andy Burnham. Really hope so anyway.
https://x.com/vrsoloviev/status/2069480020754477075
How lefty can he afford to be?
(*Obviously rightly, imo.)
NEW: Rachel Reeves is set to accept a junior Cabinet position after Andy Burnham sacks her as Chancellor
[@FT]
He's a very Northern Boy!
The rest of Europe was no different, tbf.
Which has been used precisely twice before this post?
And Keirdaver is so good that everyone should be using it
David Yelland
@davidyelland
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1h
Andy Burnham may be a lucky general, Nigel Farage has lost the country in 24 hours, although that has been coming for weeks. Seismic stuff.
https://x.com/davidyelland/status/2069472028726284746
The Rest is Entertainment evaluates Andy Burnham's album choices.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d57qL-Jyp2w&t=1317s
I’ve addressed you more than Sunak for a while, so I’d like to blame autocorrect. But I still didn’t check it..
It's not about blame. The question is how defence policy deals with that going forward.
https://x.com/EdwardJDavey/status/2069457090310017071
Look for boosts on tonight's game eg Hills go Evens to lead at half-time.
DYOR.
He’s no Jack Duckworth
How many parties like One Nation, AFD and Reform go on to translate opinion poll leads into actually winning general elections though?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn4rlzrdj14o
Apparently, it’s the best thing for a hot dog.
@PolitlcsUK
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47m
🚨 NEW: Rachel Reeves is set to accept a junior Cabinet position after Andy Burnham sacks her as Chancellor
[
@FT
]
If so could we have the exact score for tonights match please?
It's something to do with controlling borders .....a fashionable approach these days that we could learn about.
Takes longer to get through the gates at Paddington.
Leicester City's Abdul Fatawu on the bench, likely to come on as an impact sub. A bit of a show pony but it sometimes works.
I note from C4 news that we have 3 players with some Ghanaian heritage in the England squad.
From a very credible Labour source:
- Wes Streeting promised the Chancellorship for not running.
- Capital gains raised to match income tax. Possible exit tax.
- Economic focus: devolution, plus state ownership of cost-of-living essentials (energy, water, transport).