All this Count Binface talk got me looking into who this guy really is. Jonathan David Harvey — who earns his living making comedy shows for the BBC — is an Oxbridge liberal elitist who has screeds of anti-Brexit, anti-Trump, and anti-British rants on his Twitter going back over a decade. Oh, and so does his “Talent Manager” Hollie Ebdon, who once wrote of Farage, “Oh f*ck off you horrible c*nt.” Don’t get me wrong, I think Binface is a hilarious character, and Harvey is clearly a talented satirist. But pretending he’s just some random bloke in a suit having a laugh is nonsense. He’s an establishment luvvie sent to try to undermine the aspirations of people who vote for right wing candidates or parties. Reminds me of when Al Murray ran against Farage in 2015 and got 300-odd votes. Mocking people to their faces is only funny for so long.
The smear campaign against Binface has begun in earnest on social media.
Why bother? He has no chance of winning. Waste of time...unless...
The message might have been more effective without Coutinho's spin but...
Coutinho is dog whistling on this, that the answer is to burn more fossil fuels. Which is absolutely not what Octopus are arguing. We need much more rapid grid upgrading. Then we get tonnes of essentially free energy.
The question is what we do while the grid upgrading is in progress.
The suggested options seem to be "burn fossil fuels" and "pay absurdly high energy bills to private companies".
The message might have been more effective without Coutinho's spin but...
Coutinho is dog whistling on this, that the answer is to burn more fossil fuels. Which is absolutely not what Octopus are arguing. We need much more rapid grid upgrading. Then we get tonnes of essentially free energy.
That’s half the solution. Another is to stop building wind farms in the far north of Scotland in the vague hope that one day there might be enough transmission to get the energy down to London.
It’s why Octopus push so hard for nodal pricing. Let the market decide the efficient allocation - either by building turbines close to industry, or industry close to turbines.
(It’s also worth noting that in effect we pay CCGT to turn off during windy period too - the difference is that their fixed costs are absorbed as an overhead).
All this Count Binface talk got me looking into who this guy really is. Jonathan David Harvey — who earns his living making comedy shows for the BBC — is an Oxbridge liberal elitist who has screeds of anti-Brexit, anti-Trump, and anti-British rants on his Twitter going back over a decade. Oh, and so does his “Talent Manager” Hollie Ebdon, who once wrote of Farage, “Oh f*ck off you horrible c*nt.” Don’t get me wrong, I think Binface is a hilarious character, and Harvey is clearly a talented satirist. But pretending he’s just some random bloke in a suit having a laugh is nonsense. He’s an establishment luvvie sent to try to undermine the aspirations of people who vote for right wing candidates or parties. Reminds me of when Al Murray ran against Farage in 2015 and got 300-odd votes. Mocking people to their faces is only funny for so long.
The smear campaign against Binface has begun in earnest on social media.
There’s nothing inherently untrue in any of that aside the penultimate sentence which is open to conjecture.
The message might have been more effective without Coutinho's spin but...
Coutinho is dog whistling on this, that the answer is to burn more fossil fuels. Which is absolutely not what Octopus are arguing. We need much more rapid grid upgrading. Then we get tonnes of essentially free energy.
Grid upgrades and storage so excess energy is kept for later use.
And given some of the plans I've seen the issue is going to be just putting the storage in the appropriate places, financing it doesn't seem to be the problem.
I wouldn’t want a BESS near me.
Neither do the good people of Hetton. Good for them.
Storage is fine but lots of pushback from people if the appropriate place is in their back yard
The message might have been more effective without Coutinho's spin but...
Coutinho is dog whistling on this, that the answer is to burn more fossil fuels. Which is absolutely not what Octopus are arguing. We need much more rapid grid upgrading. Then we get tonnes of essentially free energy.
Grid upgrades and storage so excess energy is kept for later use.
And given some of the plans I've seen the issue is going to be just putting the storage in the appropriate places, financing it doesn't seem to be the problem.
I wouldn’t want a BESS near me.
Neither do the good people of Hetton. Good for them.
Storage is fine but lots of pushback from people if the appropriate place is in their back yard
The message might have been more effective without Coutinho's spin but...
Coutinho is dog whistling on this, that the answer is to burn more fossil fuels. Which is absolutely not what Octopus are arguing. We need much more rapid grid upgrading. Then we get tonnes of essentially free energy.
Grid upgrades and storage so excess energy is kept for later use.
And given some of the plans I've seen the issue is going to be just putting the storage in the appropriate places, financing it doesn't seem to be the problem.
I wouldn’t want a BESS near me.
Neither do the good people of Hetton. Good for them.
Storage is fine but lots of pushback from people if the appropriate place is in their back yard
The message might have been more effective without Coutinho's spin but...
Coutinho is dog whistling on this, that the answer is to burn more fossil fuels. Which is absolutely not what Octopus are arguing. We need much more rapid grid upgrading. Then we get tonnes of essentially free energy.
Grid upgrades and storage so excess energy is kept for later use.
And given some of the plans I've seen the issue is going to be just putting the storage in the appropriate places, financing it doesn't seem to be the problem.
I wouldn’t want a BESS near me.
Neither do the good people of Hetton. Good for them.
Storage is fine but lots of pushback from people if the appropriate place is in their back yard
All this Count Binface talk got me looking into who this guy really is. Jonathan David Harvey — who earns his living making comedy shows for the BBC — is an Oxbridge liberal elitist who has screeds of anti-Brexit, anti-Trump, and anti-British rants on his Twitter going back over a decade. Oh, and so does his “Talent Manager” Hollie Ebdon, who once wrote of Farage, “Oh f*ck off you horrible c*nt.” Don’t get me wrong, I think Binface is a hilarious character, and Harvey is clearly a talented satirist. But pretending he’s just some random bloke in a suit having a laugh is nonsense. He’s an establishment luvvie sent to try to undermine the aspirations of people who vote for right wing candidates or parties. Reminds me of when Al Murray ran against Farage in 2015 and got 300-odd votes. Mocking people to their faces is only funny for so long.
The smear campaign against Binface has begun in earnest on social media.
Why bother? He has no chance of winning. Waste of time...unless...
The fact they are spending time on this is weird, it gives the Count validation.. Who was it who asked if Farage is the joke candidate - given his multiple houses he's definitely the most establishment candidate..
The message might have been more effective without Coutinho's spin but...
Coutinho is dog whistling on this, that the answer is to burn more fossil fuels. Which is absolutely not what Octopus are arguing. We need much more rapid grid upgrading. Then we get tonnes of essentially free energy.
Grid upgrades and storage so excess energy is kept for later use.
And given some of the plans I've seen the issue is going to be just putting the storage in the appropriate places, financing it doesn't seem to be the problem.
I wouldn’t want a BESS near me.
Neither do the good people of Hetton. Good for them.
Storage is fine but lots of pushback from people if the appropriate place is in their back yard
It is more likely for Count Binface to win the Clacton By-election (7/2) than it is for England to win the World Cup (9/2) 🤯
Bin for the Win! 🗑️
Can’t help thinking 7/2 is a little short though, obviously weight of money in the last 24 hours.
It's massively, absurdly short.
I would want at least 10-1, and probably more like 15-1 to play.
Now, if Lowe's lot had stood, it might have been possible: I could see him skewering Farage and peeling off 15% of the Reform vote.
But without him, there are a bunch of no hopers (including Binface), and it would require something truly extraordinary for him to come through the middle. Not impossible (hence 15-1), but something pretty uncommon.
When the public get behind a movement, you get Boaty McBoatface. It can be done.
The other side to that is that the Clacton demos is not a very meme-social-media demographic.
Precisely. The people that voted for Boaty McBoatface were self-selecting.
On the other hand, the majority of people in Clacton actually either didn't vote at al, or vote for Farage, last time.
That's quite a large potentially new self-selecting audience.
12,820 Tory voters. What do they do? Vote for Bin Face to get rid of Farage or vote for Farage and then vote Tory at the next by election (should it happen)?
I think I'd be inclined to vote for Farage as it is possibly the worst outcome for Reform.
Is that the 4d chess argument that Matt Goodwin came up with.
Keep things simple, if you vote Binface you have an independent MP for 3 years who may well actually try and do some good for the town rather than using it as a pedestal to earn money for himself.
Except - and I'm sorry to say this - on closer examination he is going to come across as a smarmy metropolitan git to many people.
I think a different Count Binface could win and tbh I don't really see why one couldn't be found. No one's voting for Jon Harvey so there's time for a different more down to earth comedian to take his place.
Binface - in the highly unlikely event you're reading this, do the right thing. Bring in a local comedian who knows where the problematic hand dryers in that constituency are and he'll walk it.
The message might have been more effective without Coutinho's spin but...
Coutinho is dog whistling on this, that the answer is to burn more fossil fuels. Which is absolutely not what Octopus are arguing. We need much more rapid grid upgrading. Then we get tonnes of essentially free energy.
Grid upgrades and storage so excess energy is kept for later use.
And given some of the plans I've seen the issue is going to be just putting the storage in the appropriate places, financing it doesn't seem to be the problem.
I wouldn’t want a BESS near me.
Neither do the good people of Hetton. Good for them.
Storage is fine but lots of pushback from people if the appropriate place is in their back yard
It is more likely for Count Binface to win the Clacton By-election (7/2) than it is for England to win the World Cup (9/2) 🤯
Bin for the Win! 🗑️
Can’t help thinking 7/2 is a little short though, obviously weight of money in the last 24 hours.
It's massively, absurdly short.
I would want at least 10-1, and probably more like 15-1 to play.
Now, if Lowe's lot had stood, it might have been possible: I could see him skewering Farage and peeling off 15% of the Reform vote.
But without him, there are a bunch of no hopers (including Binface), and it would require something truly extraordinary for him to come through the middle. Not impossible (hence 15-1), but something pretty uncommon.
When the public get behind a movement, you get Boaty McBoatface. It can be done.
The other side to that is that the Clacton demos is not a very meme-social-media demographic.
Precisely. The people that voted for Boaty McBoatface were self-selecting.
On the other hand, the majority of people in Clacton actually either didn't vote at al, or vote for Farage, last time.
That's quite a large potentially new self-selecting audience.
12,820 Tory voters. What do they do? Vote for Bin Face to get rid of Farage or vote for Farage and then vote Tory at the next by election (should it happen)?
I think I'd be inclined to vote for Farage as it is possibly the worst outcome for Reform.
Is that the 4d chess argument that Matt Goodwin came up with.
Keep things simple, if you vote Binface you have an independent MP for 3 years who may well actually try and do some good for the town rather than using it as a pedestal to earn money for himself.
Except - and I'm sorry to say this - on closer examination he is going to come across as a smarmy metropolitan git to many people.
I think a different Count Binface could win and tbh I don't really see why one couldn't be found. No one's voting for Jon Harvey so there's time for a different more down to earth comedian to take his place.
Binface - in the highly unlikely event you're reading this, do the right thing. Bring in a local comedian who knows where the problematic hand dryers in that constituency are and he'll walk it.
As opposed to...?
The real issue is the one identified earlier in dixiedean's post. Binface won't win in Clacton but Reform may have gifted the Manchester mayoralty – which would have been a real coup – back to Labour by diverting its activists and resources to prop up the winning margin in Farage's vanity project. And for what? So we can re-run the Clacton by-election in the autumn – when, by the way, the main parties will forget or remember their principles and will stand. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/09/reform-activists-manchester-farage-clacton-byelection-contest
It is an absolute clown show because Farage and those around him have lost all political judgement.
The message might have been more effective without Coutinho's spin but...
Coutinho is dog whistling on this, that the answer is to burn more fossil fuels. Which is absolutely not what Octopus are arguing. We need much more rapid grid upgrading. Then we get tonnes of essentially free energy.
Grid upgrades and storage so excess energy is kept for later use.
And given some of the plans I've seen the issue is going to be just putting the storage in the appropriate places, financing it doesn't seem to be the problem.
I wouldn’t want a BESS near me.
Neither do the good people of Hetton. Good for them.
Storage is fine but lots of pushback from people if the appropriate place is in their back yard
I suspect I will be paying £2300 for 10kwh but I could be guessing wrong - that's based on a sale price of £1599 which is hidden away in the T&Cs (in Germany it's €1599 at the moment but that's with 0% VAT).
the main bit for me is I trust the brand and it's MQTT so were Anker to disappear (unlikely) I could keep things going..
All this Count Binface talk got me looking into who this guy really is. Jonathan David Harvey — who earns his living making comedy shows for the BBC — is an Oxbridge liberal elitist who has screeds of anti-Brexit, anti-Trump, and anti-British rants on his Twitter going back over a decade. Oh, and so does his “Talent Manager” Hollie Ebdon, who once wrote of Farage, “Oh f*ck off you horrible c*nt.” Don’t get me wrong, I think Binface is a hilarious character, and Harvey is clearly a talented satirist. But pretending he’s just some random bloke in a suit having a laugh is nonsense. He’s an establishment luvvie sent to try to undermine the aspirations of people who vote for right wing candidates or parties. Reminds me of when Al Murray ran against Farage in 2015 and got 300-odd votes. Mocking people to their faces is only funny for so long.
The smear campaign against Binface has begun in earnest on social media.
There’s nothing inherently untrue in any of that aside the penultimate sentence which is open to conjecture.
You don't have to like Binface. You simply need to dislike him less than you dislike Farage. It's not hard.
It is more likely for Count Binface to win the Clacton By-election (7/2) than it is for England to win the World Cup (9/2) 🤯
Bin for the Win! 🗑️
Can’t help thinking 7/2 is a little short though, obviously weight of money in the last 24 hours.
It's massively, absurdly short.
I would want at least 10-1, and probably more like 15-1 to play.
Now, if Lowe's lot had stood, it might have been possible: I could see him skewering Farage and peeling off 15% of the Reform vote.
But without him, there are a bunch of no hopers (including Binface), and it would require something truly extraordinary for him to come through the middle. Not impossible (hence 15-1), but something pretty uncommon.
When the public get behind a movement, you get Boaty McBoatface. It can be done.
The other side to that is that the Clacton demos is not a very meme-social-media demographic.
Precisely. The people that voted for Boaty McBoatface were self-selecting.
On the other hand, the majority of people in Clacton actually either didn't vote at al, or vote for Farage, last time.
That's quite a large potentially new self-selecting audience.
12,820 Tory voters. What do they do? Vote for Bin Face to get rid of Farage or vote for Farage and then vote Tory at the next by election (should it happen)?
I think I'd be inclined to vote for Farage as it is possibly the worst outcome for Reform.
Is that the 4d chess argument that Matt Goodwin came up with.
Keep things simple, if you vote Binface you have an independent MP for 3 years who may well actually try and do some good for the town rather than using it as a pedestal to earn money for himself.
Except - and I'm sorry to say this - on closer examination he is going to come across as a smarmy metropolitan git to many people.
I think a different Count Binface could win and tbh I don't really see why one couldn't be found. No one's voting for Jon Harvey so there's time for a different more down to earth comedian to take his place.
Binface - in the highly unlikely event you're reading this, do the right thing. Bring in a local comedian who knows where the problematic hand dryers in that constituency are and he'll walk it.
As opposed to...?
The real issue is the one identified earlier in dixiedean's post. Binface won't win in Clacton but Reform may have gifted the Manchester mayoralty – which would have been a real coup – back to Labour by diverting its activists and resources to prop up the winning margin in Farage's vanity project. And for what? So we can re-run the Clacton by-election in the autumn – when, by the way, the main parties will forget or remember their principles and will stand. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/09/reform-activists-manchester-farage-clacton-byelection-contest
It is an absolute clown show because Farage and those around him have lost all political judgement.
The main parties are only forgetting their principles because they know an autumn by-election will occur and at that point Farage's crimes will be in print for people to see and read.
All this Count Binface talk got me looking into who this guy really is. Jonathan David Harvey — who earns his living making comedy shows for the BBC — is an Oxbridge liberal elitist who has screeds of anti-Brexit, anti-Trump, and anti-British rants on his Twitter going back over a decade. Oh, and so does his “Talent Manager” Hollie Ebdon, who once wrote of Farage, “Oh f*ck off you horrible c*nt.” Don’t get me wrong, I think Binface is a hilarious character, and Harvey is clearly a talented satirist. But pretending he’s just some random bloke in a suit having a laugh is nonsense. He’s an establishment luvvie sent to try to undermine the aspirations of people who vote for right wing candidates or parties. Reminds me of when Al Murray ran against Farage in 2015 and got 300-odd votes. Mocking people to their faces is only funny for so long.
The smear campaign against Binface has begun in earnest on social media.
There’s nothing inherently untrue in any of that aside the penultimate sentence which is open to conjecture.
You don't have to like Binface. You simply need to dislike him less than you dislike Farage. It's not hard.
Quite.
But that doesn’t make the comments about him a smear if they’re inherently truthful.
Another major fire in old grand building here in Scotland. Princes Street again, I think in what used to be the Debenhams.
Political angle, the building was originally the Liberal Club. Debenhams put the wedding dress department in what was the library mixed up with shelves of books about Gladstone.
Latterly a Harry Potter store of the type that tends to be casual about paying any taxes.
The message might have been more effective without Coutinho's spin but...
Coutinho is dog whistling on this, that the answer is to burn more fossil fuels. Which is absolutely not what Octopus are arguing. We need much more rapid grid upgrading. Then we get tonnes of essentially free energy.
That’s half the solution. Another is to stop building wind farms in the far north of Scotland in the vague hope that one day there might be enough transmission to get the energy down to London.
It’s why Octopus push so hard for nodal pricing. Let the market decide the efficient allocation - either by building turbines close to industry, or industry close to turbines.
(It’s also worth noting that in effect we pay CCGT to turn off during windy period too - the difference is that their fixed costs are absorbed as an overhead).
1. It is not 'grid upgrading' it is grid alteration to cater for poorly located and poorly performing sources of energy. Nor is it a 'we just need to' - it costs a vast amount, which billpayers fund, with no guarantee of success.
2. Of course the answer is to use more reliable and better located sources of energy, especially if they are UK-produced and owned. This isn't a 'dog whistle' - stop trying to stigmatise common sense.
3. We would never get free or even 'essentially free' energy. Renewable energy comes with manufacturing, installation, connection, maintenance, management and decommissioning costs, the latter of which are said to be far higher than previously envisaged. And even if in practical terms renewables were 'essentially free', contractually the grid is obliged to pay a miminum price along with a raft of subsidies and constraint payments. It may be 'essentially free' to them, but not to us.
3. I agree about the North of Scotland, but these facilities were built to harvest constraint payments, and as we know some wind farms have made more money from being off than being on.
4. We pay gas power stations to switch off (and on again at speed) because of the intermittency of wind. That isn't gas's fault.
All this Count Binface talk got me looking into who this guy really is. Jonathan David Harvey — who earns his living making comedy shows for the BBC — is an Oxbridge liberal elitist who has screeds of anti-Brexit, anti-Trump, and anti-British rants on his Twitter going back over a decade. Oh, and so does his “Talent Manager” Hollie Ebdon, who once wrote of Farage, “Oh f*ck off you horrible c*nt.” Don’t get me wrong, I think Binface is a hilarious character, and Harvey is clearly a talented satirist. But pretending he’s just some random bloke in a suit having a laugh is nonsense. He’s an establishment luvvie sent to try to undermine the aspirations of people who vote for right wing candidates or parties. Reminds me of when Al Murray ran against Farage in 2015 and got 300-odd votes. Mocking people to their faces is only funny for so long.
The smear campaign against Binface has begun in earnest on social media.
There’s nothing inherently untrue in any of that aside the penultimate sentence which is open to conjecture.
You don't have to like Binface. You simply need to dislike him less than you dislike Farage. It's not hard.
Quite.
But that doesn’t make the comments about him a smear if they’re inherently truthful.
If I lived in Clacton I’d not bother voting.
Yep - but as I said there are a lot of people who will always vote (mainly women I've found). Unless Farage can convince people to actually get out and vote it's going to be won on very small numbers.
So even if Farage does win that small vote is going to do him no favours in the second by-election. The Tories got 12,000 votes in 2024, if Farage gets less than that the Tory poster writes itself.
When British right-wing populist leader Nigel Farage announced he was resigning as a lawmaker and triggering a special election in the face of a swirl of allegations over personal financing, he sought the high ground, saying his constituents “should be the judges of my actions.”
Instead, rival parties united in dismissing his actions as a stunt, leaving his only opponent to be a garbage-can wearing comedian whose policies include forcing rule-breaking cyclists to ride unicycles.
The message might have been more effective without Coutinho's spin but...
Coutinho is dog whistling on this, that the answer is to burn more fossil fuels. Which is absolutely not what Octopus are arguing. We need much more rapid grid upgrading. Then we get tonnes of essentially free energy.
Saying its a dog whistle is very much playing the man rather than the ball.
She is right - the electric grid is a complete mess, and the ballooning amount of cash disappearing into constraint payments should be a national scandal.
There are a lot moving parts in this, and a lot of poor historic decisions, the tricky problem is what to do about it. The sad reality is that the roots of our expensive electricity go all the way back to Thatcher's dash for gas, when we decided that gas was cheaper than coal, and went all in on it.
Wind is unaffordable - the constant insane strike prices demonstrate that. Solar is viable, but only works for 8 months of the year.
We only have two real options from here - keep going towards wind and solar, and accept that electricity is going drive all our industry to the parts of the world that burn coal, or go back to coal ourselves, which remains the cheapest fuel source known to man. Closing all our coal baseload plants is the single stupidest political decision on the last 30 years - huge amounts of cheap electricity gone, never to return.
That said, we are where we are, we need to fix the current mess ASAP. That should mean:
Abolish ROCs on gas plants - because gas sets the system price, ROC costs inflate the electricity price most of the time, regardless of generation type.
Remove all consumer charges and levies on electricity, including VAT.
Build grid capacity like mad to shift power from existing wind farms to where it's needed.
Regional electric pricing - electric in London should cost twice what it does in Newcastle (as that's the reality).
Prioritise installing storage systems over more wind (far great ROI).
Ban solar installs on farmland - utterly stupid subsidy farming, it makes both the daily and annual peak to trough problems worse.
Go cap in hand to S Korea to build half an dozen standard nukes. All UK laws, including stuff like HSE suspended on their building sites, which are to be handled via S Korean law until completion.
There's probably more, but that would be a good start.
When British right-wing populist leader Nigel Farage announced he was resigning as a lawmaker and triggering a special election in the face of a swirl of allegations over personal financing, he sought the high ground, saying his constituents “should be the judges of my actions.”
Instead, rival parties united in dismissing his actions as a stunt, leaving his only opponent to be a garbage-can wearing comedian whose policies include forcing rule-breaking cyclists to ride unicycles.
The comments below that tweet are interesting in what they reveal about people that use X..
All this Count Binface talk got me looking into who this guy really is. Jonathan David Harvey — who earns his living making comedy shows for the BBC — is an Oxbridge liberal elitist who has screeds of anti-Brexit, anti-Trump, and anti-British rants on his Twitter going back over a decade. Oh, and so does his “Talent Manager” Hollie Ebdon, who once wrote of Farage, “Oh f*ck off you horrible c*nt.” Don’t get me wrong, I think Binface is a hilarious character, and Harvey is clearly a talented satirist. But pretending he’s just some random bloke in a suit having a laugh is nonsense. He’s an establishment luvvie sent to try to undermine the aspirations of people who vote for right wing candidates or parties. Reminds me of when Al Murray ran against Farage in 2015 and got 300-odd votes. Mocking people to their faces is only funny for so long.
The smear campaign against Binface has begun in earnest on social media.
There’s nothing inherently untrue in any of that aside the penultimate sentence which is open to conjecture.
You don't have to like Binface. You simply need to dislike him less than you dislike Farage. It's not hard.
Quite.
But that doesn’t make the comments about him a smear if they’re inherently truthful.
If I lived in Clacton I’d not bother voting.
Yep - but as I said there are a lot of people who will always vote (mainly women I've found). Unless Farage can convince people to actually get out and vote it's going to be won on very small numbers.
So even if Farage does win that small vote is going to do him no favours in the second by-election. The Tories got 12,000 votes in 2024, if Farage gets less than that the Tory poster writes itself.
Women are less likely to vote for Starmer. They are mostly nicer people than men.
The Labour Party stupid mistake here with this Coronation is same huge mistake the Democrats made in USA - installing someone without any contest. Having run-aground rudderless in the Bay of No Idea’s, their Big Idea is have no debate for policy or fresh idea’s - and if necessary skip a generation to find new leaders, liked by the electorate, with idea’s and a clear sense where they want to take it.
That’s reason why this Labour Governments latest reset is doomed, those factional splits based on ambitious personalities having little mafia of friends and supporters around them - Burnham, Starmer, Streeting, Rayner - the ambitious personalities in the middle are actually unlikeable, the public won’t embrace or trust any of them, they lack competence, they patently lack any clear idea what direction they want to take it.
Every big decision Starmer’s Government has made in 2026, every sacking, all the insipid, reactionary policy announcements one after the other - none of them announced in Parliament first - have all been for that faction to cling to the party leadership. The factional, divided nature of Labour right now, prevents them doing the right thing for the country. They have become just personality based infighting, little fairy prince and fairy princesses only interested in fighting each other for the crown, but each court is around uninspiring personalities devoid of good idea’s.
It’s all there in the poll TSE built the header around - Don’t Know / Haven’t a clue the clear winner on 30%. That’s your Labour Government 24-29 in a nutshell.
The message might have been more effective without Coutinho's spin but...
Coutinho is dog whistling on this, that the answer is to burn more fossil fuels. Which is absolutely not what Octopus are arguing. We need much more rapid grid upgrading. Then we get tonnes of essentially free energy.
That’s half the solution. Another is to stop building wind farms in the far north of Scotland in the vague hope that one day there might be enough transmission to get the energy down to London.
It’s why Octopus push so hard for nodal pricing. Let the market decide the efficient allocation - either by building turbines close to industry, or industry close to turbines.
(It’s also worth noting that in effect we pay CCGT to turn off during windy period too - the difference is that their fixed costs are absorbed as an overhead).
It really isn't (a solution). The UK grid is one of the most dilapidated in Europe, barely can cope wth current usage, let alone fit for purpose for a fully electrified future. It requires billions spent on it in any scenario, and you will build it for whatever sources you have and will likely have, including normal redundancy for security of supply. You're not going to refuse to strengthen the grid to the north of Scotland on some notion it seems too far away.
Increase the per head payment from the government to schools for pupils. As the roles drops, as a result of the demographic crisis, balance this by increasing the payment. So the schools do not see a drop in funding.
This would mean that the schools could reduce class sizes, rather than closing classes or even whole schools (when amalgamating)
It is a basic principle of Operational Research that organisation run at 99% of their capability become fragile, the workforce becomes exhausted and leaves (or starts "soldiering" - doing just enough to keep going) and the breakdowns become common. reverse this
Burnham could even size the increase to still reduce the budget for schools, while increasing the per head amount. This would satisfy the fiscal hawk types.
This would be a policy that the Labour MPs would love to vote for, The activists would love and would go down well with Labour voters. The Teaching Unions would also be happy.
It might even have an effect on the quality of schooling
All this Count Binface talk got me looking into who this guy really is. Jonathan David Harvey — who earns his living making comedy shows for the BBC — is an Oxbridge liberal elitist who has screeds of anti-Brexit, anti-Trump, and anti-British rants on his Twitter going back over a decade. Oh, and so does his “Talent Manager” Hollie Ebdon, who once wrote of Farage, “Oh f*ck off you horrible c*nt.” Don’t get me wrong, I think Binface is a hilarious character, and Harvey is clearly a talented satirist. But pretending he’s just some random bloke in a suit having a laugh is nonsense. He’s an establishment luvvie sent to try to undermine the aspirations of people who vote for right wing candidates or parties. Reminds me of when Al Murray ran against Farage in 2015 and got 300-odd votes. Mocking people to their faces is only funny for so long.
The smear campaign against Binface has begun in earnest on social media.
Why bother? He has no chance of winning. Waste of time...unless...
Wikipedia says that there are nine declared candidates for Clacton - if I understand this Commons briefing note we'd expect to have a statement of persons nominated before Burnham becomes PM.
Ah, that's who Luke Worley is. One of the people who've said they'll stand against Farage is Luke Worley, a local who was on Married at First Sight. Oh yes, he was a bit fighty and had to be taken off. I think he might have a chance of finishing ahead of Count Binface.
Can't see there being any as yet unpublicized issues with a male contestant from Married at First Sight...
I watched all the UK series, except the 2025 one, and I wouldn't have had this guy in my top quartile of problematic male contestants, despite the issue with the fightiness and being asked to leave the show. But I guess it is hard to know. Bearing in mind that there is a candidate declared from the fascist British Democrats, and the track record of the far-right in terms of domestic violence, I'd say that he's not the most likely declared candidate to have that sort of issue.
As an aside, at the moment there are no female candidates declared, though Rejoin EU and the Monster Raving Loonies have both said they intend to stand a candidate, but haven't given a name yet. So the by-election could end up being Farage's Vanity Sausage Fest.
Are there any female Monster Raving Loonies? I'd always imaged that to be a male preserve.
They've had a Dame, a Lady and a Minx stand as candidates for them before, so a female-coded candidate is possible.
Wikipedia says that there are nine declared candidates for Clacton - if I understand this Commons briefing note we'd expect to have a statement of persons nominated before Burnham becomes PM.
Ah, that's who Luke Worley is. One of the people who've said they'll stand against Farage is Luke Worley, a local who was on Married at First Sight. Oh yes, he was a bit fighty and had to be taken off. I think he might have a chance of finishing ahead of Count Binface.
Can't see there being any as yet unpublicized issues with a male contestant from Married at First Sight...
I watched all the UK series, except the 2025 one, and I wouldn't have had this guy in my top quartile of problematic male contestants, despite the issue with the fightiness and being asked to leave the show. But I guess it is hard to know. Bearing in mind that there is a candidate declared from the fascist British Democrats, and the track record of the far-right in terms of domestic violence, I'd say that he's not the most likely declared candidate to have that sort of issue.
As an aside, at the moment there are no female candidates declared, though Rejoin EU and the Monster Raving Loonies have both said they intend to stand a candidate, but haven't given a name yet. So the by-election could end up being Farage's Vanity Sausage Fest.
Are there any female Monster Raving Loonies? I'd always imaged that to be a male preserve.
They've had a Dame, a Lady and a Minx stand as candidates for them before, so a female-coded candidate is possible.
There was a ‘Mad Cow-Girl’ the Davis by-election but she appears to have died.
Wikipedia says that there are nine declared candidates for Clacton - if I understand this Commons briefing note we'd expect to have a statement of persons nominated before Burnham becomes PM.
Ah, that's who Luke Worley is. One of the people who've said they'll stand against Farage is Luke Worley, a local who was on Married at First Sight. Oh yes, he was a bit fighty and had to be taken off. I think he might have a chance of finishing ahead of Count Binface.
Can't see there being any as yet unpublicized issues with a male contestant from Married at First Sight...
I watched all the UK series, except the 2025 one, and I wouldn't have had this guy in my top quartile of problematic male contestants, despite the issue with the fightiness and being asked to leave the show. But I guess it is hard to know. Bearing in mind that there is a candidate declared from the fascist British Democrats, and the track record of the far-right in terms of domestic violence, I'd say that he's not the most likely declared candidate to have that sort of issue.
As an aside, at the moment there are no female candidates declared, though Rejoin EU and the Monster Raving Loonies have both said they intend to stand a candidate, but haven't given a name yet. So the by-election could end up being Farage's Vanity Sausage Fest.
Only violence the British Democrat candidate looks like he might be involved with is bullying in the playground.
The Labour Party stupid mistake here with this Coronation is same huge mistake the Democrats made in USA - installing someone without any contest. Having run-aground rudderless in the Bay of No Idea’s, their Big Idea is have no debate for policy or fresh idea’s - and if necessary skip a generation to find new leaders, liked by the electorate, with idea’s and a clear sense where they want to take it.
That’s reason why this Labour Governments latest reset is doomed, those factional splits based on ambitious personalities having little mafia of friends and supporters around them - Burnham, Starmer, Streeting, Rayner - the ambitious personalities in the middle are actually unlikeable, the public won’t embrace or trust any of them, they lack competence, they patently lack any clear idea what direction they want to take it.
Every big decision Starmer’s Government has made in 2026, every sacking, all the insipid, reactionary policy announcements one after the other - none of them announced in Parliament first - have all been for that faction to cling to the party leadership. The factional, divided nature of Labour right now, prevents them doing the right thing for the country. They have become just personality based infighting, little fairy prince and fairy princesses only interested in fighting each other for the crown, but each court is around uninspiring personalities devoid of good idea’s.
It’s all there in the poll TSE built the header around - Don’t Know / Haven’t a clue the clear winner on 30%. That’s your Labour Government 24-29 in a nutshell.
Increase the per head payment from the government to schools for pupils. As the roles drops, as a result of the demographic crisis, balance this by increasing the payment. So the schools do not see a drop in funding.
This would mean that the schools could reduce class sizes, rather than closing classes or even whole schools (when amalgamating)
It is a basic principle of Operational Research that organisation run at 99% of their capability become fragile, the workforce becomes exhausted and leaves (or starts "soldiering" - doing just enough to keep going) and the breakdowns become common. reverse this
Burnham could even size the increase to still reduce the budget for schools, while increasing the per head amount. This would satisfy the fiscal hawk types.
This would be a policy that the Labour MPs would love to vote for, The activists would love and would go down well with Labour voters. The Teaching Unions would also be happy.
It might even have an effect on the quality of schooling
#LabourPolicesFromRighties
That would have been a great idea, but instead they decided to tax private schooling and have generated a lot more ‘customers’ for state schools in the process.
It is more likely for Count Binface to win the Clacton By-election (7/2) than it is for England to win the World Cup (9/2) 🤯
Bin for the Win! 🗑️
Can’t help thinking 7/2 is a little short though, obviously weight of money in the last 24 hours.
It's massively, absurdly short.
I would want at least 10-1, and probably more like 15-1 to play.
Now, if Lowe's lot had stood, it might have been possible: I could see him skewering Farage and peeling off 15% of the Reform vote.
But without him, there are a bunch of no hopers (including Binface), and it would require something truly extraordinary for him to come through the middle. Not impossible (hence 15-1), but something pretty uncommon.
When the public get behind a movement, you get Boaty McBoatface. It can be done.
Yes. And with H'Angus the Monkey in Hartlepool. But in that case he was a local soccer mascot. Count Binface is an outsider, which I think will make a difference. He might save his deposit though.
It is more likely for Count Binface to win the Clacton By-election (7/2) than it is for England to win the World Cup (9/2) 🤯
Bin for the Win! 🗑️
Can’t help thinking 7/2 is a little short though, obviously weight of money in the last 24 hours.
It's massively, absurdly short.
I would want at least 10-1, and probably more like 15-1 to play.
Now, if Lowe's lot had stood, it might have been possible: I could see him skewering Farage and peeling off 15% of the Reform vote.
But without him, there are a bunch of no hopers (including Binface), and it would require something truly extraordinary for him to come through the middle. Not impossible (hence 15-1), but something pretty uncommon.
When the public get behind a movement, you get Boaty McBoatface. It can be done.
The other side to that is that the Clacton demos is not a very meme-social-media demographic.
Precisely. The people that voted for Boaty McBoatface were self-selecting.
On the other hand, the majority of people in Clacton actually either didn't vote at al, or vote for Farage, last time.
That's quite a large potentially new self-selecting audience.
12,820 Tory voters. What do they do? Vote for Bin Face to get rid of Farage or vote for Farage and then vote Tory at the next by election (should it happen)?
I think I'd be inclined to vote for Farage as it is possibly the worst outcome for Reform.
Is that the 4d chess argument that Matt Goodwin came up with.
Keep things simple, if you vote Binface you have an independent MP for 3 years who may well actually try and do some good for the town rather than using it as a pedestal to earn money for himself.
Doubt there’s a bigger density of low information, Farage supporters in the country. Most won't know of his travails and the rest may well overlook it rather than turn out for a novelty candidate with a fruity voice.
He’s not that much of a novelty any more. He’s been an MEP and MP and spends most of his time crawling up Trump’s arse.
I'm afraid my mind is free running whilst I wait for lunch.
Not a very serious question:
Does there exist a classification system for all those styles of ludicrous goatee beards I have sitting at other tables around me?
Have you stumbled across an upcoming Sealed Knot weekend?
It's more esoteric than that.
It started with wondering why most of the Tommy Robinson "chaplains" either have strange beards that make them resemble a more thickset version of the hairy chap in the 1972 edition of the Joy of Sex, or alternatively resemble Mr Condom.
And then it just went sideways ...
The best categorisation system I have for these goatees so far starts with Brazilian, Landing Strip ... and so on.
It is more likely for Count Binface to win the Clacton By-election (7/2) than it is for England to win the World Cup (9/2) 🤯
Bin for the Win! 🗑️
Can’t help thinking 7/2 is a little short though, obviously weight of money in the last 24 hours.
It's massively, absurdly short.
I would want at least 10-1, and probably more like 15-1 to play.
Now, if Lowe's lot had stood, it might have been possible: I could see him skewering Farage and peeling off 15% of the Reform vote.
But without him, there are a bunch of no hopers (including Binface), and it would require something truly extraordinary for him to come through the middle. Not impossible (hence 15-1), but something pretty uncommon.
When the public get behind a movement, you get Boaty McBoatface. It can be done.
The other side to that is that the Clacton demos is not a very meme-social-media demographic.
Precisely. The people that voted for Boaty McBoatface were self-selecting.
On the other hand, the majority of people in Clacton actually either didn't vote at al, or vote for Farage, last time.
That's quite a large potentially new self-selecting audience.
12,820 Tory voters. What do they do? Vote for Bin Face to get rid of Farage or vote for Farage and then vote Tory at the next by election (should it happen)?
I think I'd be inclined to vote for Farage as it is possibly the worst outcome for Reform.
Is that the 4d chess argument that Matt Goodwin came up with.
Keep things simple, if you vote Binface you have an independent MP for 3 years who may well actually try and do some good for the town rather than using it as a pedestal to earn money for himself.
Doubt there’s a bigger density of low information, Farage supporters in the country. Most won't know of his travails and the rest may well overlook it rather than turn out for a novelty candidate with a fruity voice.
He’s not that much of a novelty any more. He’s been an MEP and MP and spends most of his time crawling up Trump’s arse.
Oh, sorry, did you not mean Farage?
Considering the British psyche, who’s going to be motivated to turn out to embarrass a pompous politician, bringing them down a peg or two?
All this Count Binface talk got me looking into who this guy really is. Jonathan David Harvey — who earns his living making comedy shows for the BBC — is an Oxbridge liberal elitist who has screeds of anti-Brexit, anti-Trump, and anti-British rants on his Twitter going back over a decade. Oh, and so does his “Talent Manager” Hollie Ebdon, who once wrote of Farage, “Oh f*ck off you horrible c*nt.” Don’t get me wrong, I think Binface is a hilarious character, and Harvey is clearly a talented satirist. But pretending he’s just some random bloke in a suit having a laugh is nonsense. He’s an establishment luvvie sent to try to undermine the aspirations of people who vote for right wing candidates or parties. Reminds me of when Al Murray ran against Farage in 2015 and got 300-odd votes. Mocking people to their faces is only funny for so long.
The smear campaign against Binface has begun in earnest on social media.
Why bother? He has no chance of winning. Waste of time...unless...
Anti-Faragists are having fun with the idea of Count Binface taking him on in the by-election, and since the principle motivation in politics is having a go at the other side (which is why the Count Binface stuff is fun, after all) then they can't abide that the other side are enjoying themselves.
That's all it is. They want to wipe the grin off your face by tarnishing your hero du jour. It doesn't indicate any fear of Farage losing.
Fury as Restore Britain leader describes Dunblane tragedy as 'one murder'
He said: "As you probably know they banned handguns in the late 90s because there was a murder up in Dunblane."
Rogan interjected, asking "One murder?"
Mr Lowe replied: "One murder.
"So, everybody, my father used to shoot pistols for Oxford University and he had, he's dead now bless him, but he had all his pistols were taken away, the pistols he used to shoot with at Oxford University."
The family of Emma Crozier, who was shot dead in the tragedy, criticised the Restore Britain leader.
Speaking to Sky News, her brother Jack Crozier said: "Rupert Lowe's father had his pistols taken away. My father had his daughter taken away.
"He knew exactly what happened at Dunblane. He made an active choice, on one of the world's biggest podcasts, to describe the massacre of 16 five and six-year-old children and their teacher as 'one murder'.
"The people of Great Yarmouth need to seriously consider if this is who they want representing them."
The Labour Party stupid mistake here with this Coronation is same huge mistake the Democrats made in USA - installing someone without any contest. Having run-aground rudderless in the Bay of No Idea’s, their Big Idea is have no debate for policy or fresh idea’s - and if necessary skip a generation to find new leaders, liked by the electorate, with idea’s and a clear sense where they want to take it.
That’s reason why this Labour Governments latest reset is doomed, those factional splits based on ambitious personalities having little mafia of friends and supporters around them - Burnham, Starmer, Streeting, Rayner - the ambitious personalities in the middle are actually unlikeable, the public won’t embrace or trust any of them, they lack competence, they patently lack any clear idea what direction they want to take it.
Every big decision Starmer’s Government has made in 2026, every sacking, all the insipid, reactionary policy announcements one after the other - none of them announced in Parliament first - have all been for that faction to cling to the party leadership. The factional, divided nature of Labour right now, prevents them doing the right thing for the country. They have become just personality based infighting, little fairy prince and fairy princesses only interested in fighting each other for the crown, but each court is around uninspiring personalities devoid of good idea’s.
It’s all there in the poll TSE built the header around - Don’t Know / Haven’t a clue the clear winner on 30%. That’s your Labour Government 24-29 in a nutshell.
The Rabbit Returns! How was the moon?
I take your point that Labour are not informed by any theory and so have deteriorated into squabbling fiefdoms. But I don't know if Burnham will plaster over the cracks. He might do - devolution and spending money they haven't got may unite the left - but his propensity to change to avoid arguments and urge to be liked (translation: he's a coward who can be bullied) makes me think it may fall apart again. We will see, no doubt.
The country's most famous long-range weather forecaster, Piers Corbyn, brother of Jeremy, is standing in the Clacton by-election.
That makes 10 declared candidates (if you include the two parties who have said they will find one, but haven't named one yet).
In David Davis' by-election in 2008 there were 26 candidates, and the turnout dropped by half. Davis only lost a quarter of his voters. More than 3,000 votes were shared by the candidates 4th and below - which indicates both a stubborn intent to go out to vote, and the failure of any single non-Davis candidate to establish themselves as a clear challenger.
It will be interesting to see how the result in Clacton compares.
It is more likely for Count Binface to win the Clacton By-election (7/2) than it is for England to win the World Cup (9/2) 🤯
Bin for the Win! 🗑️
Can’t help thinking 7/2 is a little short though, obviously weight of money in the last 24 hours.
It's massively, absurdly short.
I would want at least 10-1, and probably more like 15-1 to play.
Now, if Lowe's lot had stood, it might have been possible: I could see him skewering Farage and peeling off 15% of the Reform vote.
But without him, there are a bunch of no hopers (including Binface), and it would require something truly extraordinary for him to come through the middle. Not impossible (hence 15-1), but something pretty uncommon.
A counter argument is that this is going to be a very low turnout election and there are a lot of people who simply don't like Farage but will vote (because they always vote) for the none Farage candidate with a chance of winning.
For (fairly obvious reasons) Count Binface is that candidate. Add on the fact people will happily play along with a joke and it's possible to see the Count winning.
You could also argue that without Lowe standing there is no reason to actually go and vote which is why Farage seems desperately trying to get canvassers so he gets people to actually vote.
Finally I also suspect the Count would do a better job for the people of Clacton than Farage has and he would have a lot of goodwill from the other parties which may allow him to actually achieve something..
Nominations haven't even opened yet. We don't know who the candidates are going to be. There's at least 4 more beyond Farage, Fox and 'face who have talked of standing: Adham Alkhatip (Forward Party), British Democratic Party, Ollie Granger (independent) and Luke Worley (independent). I know the online commentariat is very excited right now about Count Binface, but he won't necessarily be the obvious stop Farage candidate in a week's time.
The country's most famous long-range weather forecaster, Piers Corbyn, brother of Jeremy, is standing in the Clacton by-election.
Piers Corbyn and Count Binface have contested the same election before. In the 2021 election for Mayor of London, Count Binface received 24,775 votes, while Corbyn received 20,604.
The country's most famous long-range weather forecaster, Piers Corbyn, brother of Jeremy, is standing in the Clacton by-election.
That makes 10 declared candidates (if you include the two parties who have said they will find one, but haven't named one yet).
In David Davis' by-election in 2008 there were 26 candidates, and the turnout dropped by half. Davis only lost a quarter of his voters. More than 3,000 votes were shared by the candidates 4th and below - which indicates both a stubborn intent to go out to vote, and the failure of any single non-Davis candidate to establish themselves as a clear challenger.
It will be interesting to see how the result in Clacton compares.
Yes it will be. One thing that might change things is if a well-known independent candidate decides to take on Farage.
It is more likely for Count Binface to win the Clacton By-election (7/2) than it is for England to win the World Cup (9/2) 🤯
Bin for the Win! 🗑️
Can’t help thinking 7/2 is a little short though, obviously weight of money in the last 24 hours.
It's massively, absurdly short.
I would want at least 10-1, and probably more like 15-1 to play.
Now, if Lowe's lot had stood, it might have been possible: I could see him skewering Farage and peeling off 15% of the Reform vote.
But without him, there are a bunch of no hopers (including Binface), and it would require something truly extraordinary for him to come through the middle. Not impossible (hence 15-1), but something pretty uncommon.
A counter argument is that this is going to be a very low turnout election and there are a lot of people who simply don't like Farage but will vote (because they always vote) for the none Farage candidate with a chance of winning.
For (fairly obvious reasons) Count Binface is that candidate. Add on the fact people will happily play along with a joke and it's possible to see the Count winning.
You could also argue that without Lowe standing there is no reason to actually go and vote which is why Farage seems desperately trying to get canvassers so he gets people to actually vote.
Finally I also suspect the Count would do a better job for the people of Clacton than Farage has and he would have a lot of goodwill from the other parties which may allow him to actually achieve something..
Nominations haven't even opened yet. We don't know who the candidates are going to be. There's at least 4 more beyond Farage, Fox and 'face who have talked of standing: Adham Alkhatip (Forward Party), British Democratic Party, Ollie Granger (independent) and Luke Worley (independent). I know the online commentariat is very excited right now about Count Binface, but he won't necessarily be the obvious stop Farage candidate in a week's time.
It is more likely for Count Binface to win the Clacton By-election (7/2) than it is for England to win the World Cup (9/2) 🤯
Bin for the Win! 🗑️
Can’t help thinking 7/2 is a little short though, obviously weight of money in the last 24 hours.
It's massively, absurdly short.
I would want at least 10-1, and probably more like 15-1 to play.
Now, if Lowe's lot had stood, it might have been possible: I could see him skewering Farage and peeling off 15% of the Reform vote.
But without him, there are a bunch of no hopers (including Binface), and it would require something truly extraordinary for him to come through the middle. Not impossible (hence 15-1), but something pretty uncommon.
A counter argument is that this is going to be a very low turnout election and there are a lot of people who simply don't like Farage but will vote (because they always vote) for the none Farage candidate with a chance of winning.
For (fairly obvious reasons) Count Binface is that candidate. Add on the fact people will happily play along with a joke and it's possible to see the Count winning.
You could also argue that without Lowe standing there is no reason to actually go and vote which is why Farage seems desperately trying to get canvassers so he gets people to actually vote.
Finally I also suspect the Count would do a better job for the people of Clacton than Farage has and he would have a lot of goodwill from the other parties which may allow him to actually achieve something..
Nominations haven't even opened yet. We don't know who the candidates are going to be. There's at least 4 more beyond Farage, Fox and 'face who have talked of standing: Adham Alkhatip (Forward Party), British Democratic Party, Ollie Granger (independent) and Luke Worley (independent). I know the online commentariat is very excited right now about Count Binface, but he won't necessarily be the obvious stop Farage candidate in a week's time.
He's got first mover and media advantage (a lot off the back of Makerfield). There will be a consolidated opposition to Farage, just because of how marmite he is and the opportunity this by-election appears to represent, and no other potential candidate yet fits the bill of main opposition in any reasonable way. The by-election squeeze on unfavoured candidates will ensure anti-Farage votes concentrate somewhere.
I think 25-35% of the vote is achievable for Binface (the left vote at GE was 24% and some Tories will also be in the Binface camp, plus turnout boost) and, I think, flawed though they all are even compared to Restore, candidates to the right of Farage probably muster 5-10% between them.
But I think Farage probably does end up a little north of 50% in this circumstance.
According to Wikipedia, Rejoin EU are intending to stand at the Clacton by-election. So that's at least one candidate who I assume could be thought of as being either centrist or left-of-centre to at least some extent.
Wikipedia says that there are nine declared candidates for Clacton - if I understand this Commons briefing note we'd expect to have a statement of persons nominated before Burnham becomes PM.
Ah, that's who Luke Worley is. One of the people who've said they'll stand against Farage is Luke Worley, a local who was on Married at First Sight. Oh yes, he was a bit fighty and had to be taken off. I think he might have a chance of finishing ahead of Count Binface.
The message might have been more effective without Coutinho's spin but...
Coutinho is dog whistling on this, that the answer is to burn more fossil fuels. Which is absolutely not what Octopus are arguing. We need much more rapid grid upgrading. Then we get tonnes of essentially free energy.
That’s half the solution. Another is to stop building wind farms in the far north of Scotland in the vague hope that one day there might be enough transmission to get the energy down to London.
It’s why Octopus push so hard for nodal pricing. Let the market decide the efficient allocation - either by building turbines close to industry, or industry close to turbines.
(It’s also worth noting that in effect we pay CCGT to turn off during windy period too - the difference is that their fixed costs are absorbed as an overhead).
It really isn't (a solution). The UK grid is one of the most dilapidated in Europe, barely can cope wth current usage, let alone fit for purpose for a fully electrified future. It requires billions spent on it in any scenario, and you will build it for whatever sources you have and will likely have, including normal redundancy for security of supply. You're not going to refuse to strengthen the grid to the north of Scotland on some notion it seems too far away.
That supports my point - instead of spending billions to build transmission to the north of Scotland, use that cash to refurbish the grid around the population centres.
There’s a reason the cables from offshore wind come ashore close to existing or former gas/nuclear/coal power stations. It’s because the transmission is already there.
Interesting to note that we're nearly ten years after the 2016 Richmond Park by-election, triggered by Zac Goldsmith resigning to stand on a platform of opposition to the Government's decision to approve a third runway at Heathrow. He lost the by-election, and yet there is no third runway. The current estimated completion date appears to be 2040.
He's got first mover and media advantage (a lot off the back of Makerfield). There will be a consolidated opposition to Farage, just because of how marmite he is and the opportunity this by-election appears to represent, and no other potential candidate yet fits the bill of main opposition in any reasonable way. The by-election squeeze on unfavoured candidates will ensure anti-Farage votes concentrate somewhere.
I think 25-35% of the vote is achievable for Binface (the left vote at GE was 24% and some Tories will also be in the Binface camp, plus turnout boost) and, I think, flawed though they all are even compared to Restore, candidates to the right of Farage probably muster 5-10% between them.
But I think Farage probably does end up a little north of 50% in this circumstance.
Percentages are not really the way to deal with this.
It's a very unusual by-election. Turnout will be critical. So an apparently small number of voters might swing this thing. In any direction. We need the polls that are undoubtedly in preparation.
Wikipedia says that there are nine declared candidates for Clacton - if I understand this Commons briefing note we'd expect to have a statement of persons nominated before Burnham becomes PM.
Ah, that's who Luke Worley is. One of the people who've said they'll stand against Farage is Luke Worley, a local who was on Married at First Sight. Oh yes, he was a bit fighty and had to be taken off. I think he might have a chance of finishing ahead of Count Binface.
Can't see there being any as yet unpublicized issues with a male contestant from Married at First Sight...
I watched all the UK series, except the 2025 one, and I wouldn't have had this guy in my top quartile of problematic male contestants, despite the issue with the fightiness and being asked to leave the show. But I guess it is hard to know. Bearing in mind that there is a candidate declared from the fascist British Democrats, and the track record of the far-right in terms of domestic violence, I'd say that he's not the most likely declared candidate to have that sort of issue.
As an aside, at the moment there are no female candidates declared, though Rejoin EU and the Monster Raving Loonies have both said they intend to stand a candidate, but haven't given a name yet. So the by-election could end up being Farage's Vanity Sausage Fest.
Are there any female Monster Raving Loonies? I'd always imaged that to be a male preserve.
They've had a Dame, a Lady and a Minx stand as candidates for them before, so a female-coded candidate is possible.
There was a ‘Mad Cow-Girl’ the Davis by-election but she appears to have died.
That is the usual prognosis for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, sadly.
Wikipedia says that there are nine declared candidates for Clacton - if I understand this Commons briefing note we'd expect to have a statement of persons nominated before Burnham becomes PM.
Ah, that's who Luke Worley is. One of the people who've said they'll stand against Farage is Luke Worley, a local who was on Married at First Sight. Oh yes, he was a bit fighty and had to be taken off. I think he might have a chance of finishing ahead of Count Binface.
Three of those candidates are from Your Party?
There aren't as many Trotskyist front candidates as there used to be. Touch and go as to whether there's one, let alone multiple.
Fury as Restore Britain leader describes Dunblane tragedy as 'one murder'
He said: "As you probably know they banned handguns in the late 90s because there was a murder up in Dunblane."
Rogan interjected, asking "One murder?"
Mr Lowe replied: "One murder.
"So, everybody, my father used to shoot pistols for Oxford University and he had, he's dead now bless him, but he had all his pistols were taken away, the pistols he used to shoot with at Oxford University."
The family of Emma Crozier, who was shot dead in the tragedy, criticised the Restore Britain leader.
Speaking to Sky News, her brother Jack Crozier said: "Rupert Lowe's father had his pistols taken away. My father had his daughter taken away.
"He knew exactly what happened at Dunblane. He made an active choice, on one of the world's biggest podcasts, to describe the massacre of 16 five and six-year-old children and their teacher as 'one murder'.
"The people of Great Yarmouth need to seriously consider if this is who they want representing them."
I listened to it and assumed that he meant “one massacre” and was just being callous. But maybe I was wrong and he’s just ignorant or worse - deliberately concealing what actually happened from millions of people.
Whole thing is required listening for PBers, I’d suggest.
The Labour Party stupid mistake here with this Coronation is same huge mistake the Democrats made in USA - installing someone without any contest. Having run-aground rudderless in the Bay of No Idea’s, their Big Idea is have no debate for policy or fresh idea’s - and if necessary skip a generation to find new leaders, liked by the electorate, with idea’s and a clear sense where they want to take it.
That’s reason why this Labour Governments latest reset is doomed, those factional splits based on ambitious personalities having little mafia of friends and supporters around them - Burnham, Starmer, Streeting, Rayner - the ambitious personalities in the middle are actually unlikeable, the public won’t embrace or trust any of them, they lack competence, they patently lack any clear idea what direction they want to take it.
Every big decision Starmer’s Government has made in 2026, every sacking, all the insipid, reactionary policy announcements one after the other - none of them announced in Parliament first - have all been for that faction to cling to the party leadership. The factional, divided nature of Labour right now, prevents them doing the right thing for the country. They have become just personality based infighting, little fairy prince and fairy princesses only interested in fighting each other for the crown, but each court is around uninspiring personalities devoid of good idea’s.
It’s all there in the poll TSE built the header around - Don’t Know / Haven’t a clue the clear winner on 30%. That’s your Labour Government 24-29 in a nutshell.
The Rabbit Returns! How was the moon?
I take your point that Labour are not informed by any theory and so have deteriorated into squabbling fiefdoms. But I don't know if Burnham will plaster over the cracks. He might do - devolution and spending money they haven't got may unite the left - but his propensity to change to avoid arguments and urge to be liked (translation: he's a coward who can be bullied) makes me think it may fall apart again. We will see, no doubt.
“The Rabbit Returns! How was the moon?”
It’s as simple as thinking I was banned or exiled to the PB Toilets for something. But when I actually tried the toilet door this week, it was unlocked and opened. Goodness knows how long I was imprisoned in an unlocked toilet - it’s like a comedy skit.
It did give me a chance to watch a lot of television. World War II from the front lines on Netflix was very good. It made me feel contrast with wars today on the news concurrently as being a lot more precision and politically correct today than historic wars, like WWII was just cover to behave as bloodthirsty and inhuman and racist as possible.
It is more likely for Count Binface to win the Clacton By-election (7/2) than it is for England to win the World Cup (9/2) 🤯
Bin for the Win! 🗑️
Can’t help thinking 7/2 is a little short though, obviously weight of money in the last 24 hours.
It's massively, absurdly short.
I would want at least 10-1, and probably more like 15-1 to play.
Now, if Lowe's lot had stood, it might have been possible: I could see him skewering Farage and peeling off 15% of the Reform vote.
But without him, there are a bunch of no hopers (including Binface), and it would require something truly extraordinary for him to come through the middle. Not impossible (hence 15-1), but something pretty uncommon.
A counter argument is that this is going to be a very low turnout election and there are a lot of people who simply don't like Farage but will vote (because they always vote) for the none Farage candidate with a chance of winning.
For (fairly obvious reasons) Count Binface is that candidate. Add on the fact people will happily play along with a joke and it's possible to see the Count winning.
You could also argue that without Lowe standing there is no reason to actually go and vote which is why Farage seems desperately trying to get canvassers so he gets people to actually vote.
Finally I also suspect the Count would do a better job for the people of Clacton than Farage has and he would have a lot of goodwill from the other parties which may allow him to actually achieve something..
Nominations haven't even opened yet. We don't know who the candidates are going to be. There's at least 4 more beyond Farage, Fox and 'face who have talked of standing: Adham Alkhatip (Forward Party), British Democratic Party, Ollie Granger (independent) and Luke Worley (independent). I know the online commentariat is very excited right now about Count Binface, but he won't necessarily be the obvious stop Farage candidate in a week's time.
Have Reform moved the writ today, as they intended?
Note that various eccentric characters will tweet before a high-profile election that they're standing, but then they don't actually get nominated. (Galloway said he'd stand in the Greater Manchester mayoral election and didn't.) Any list now is dubious.
So, I'm both saying there will be lots of candidates, but also there will be an even longer list of people saying they will stand, not all of whom will do so.
He's got first mover and media advantage (a lot off the back of Makerfield). There will be a consolidated opposition to Farage, just because of how marmite he is and the opportunity this by-election appears to represent, and no other potential candidate yet fits the bill of main opposition in any reasonable way. The by-election squeeze on unfavoured candidates will ensure anti-Farage votes concentrate somewhere.
I think 25-35% of the vote is achievable for Binface (the left vote at GE was 24% and some Tories will also be in the Binface camp, plus turnout boost) and, I think, flawed though they all are even compared to Restore, candidates to the right of Farage probably muster 5-10% between them.
But I think Farage probably does end up a little north of 50% in this circumstance.
Percentages are not really the way to deal with this.
It's a very unusual by-election. Turnout will be critical. So an apparently small number of voters might swing this thing. In any direction. We need the polls that are undoubtedly in preparation.
I had a similar thought after posting this impression, so I just scribbled together a Dylan Difford type transfer table that ended up as Reform 43%, Binface 41% with nearly a third of the Binface votes coming from GE24 DNVs.
But I think I'm probably over egging it and my more finger in the air first guess is likely closer to the truth.
It is more likely for Count Binface to win the Clacton By-election (7/2) than it is for England to win the World Cup (9/2) 🤯
Bin for the Win! 🗑️
Can’t help thinking 7/2 is a little short though, obviously weight of money in the last 24 hours.
It's massively, absurdly short.
I would want at least 10-1, and probably more like 15-1 to play.
Now, if Lowe's lot had stood, it might have been possible: I could see him skewering Farage and peeling off 15% of the Reform vote.
But without him, there are a bunch of no hopers (including Binface), and it would require something truly extraordinary for him to come through the middle. Not impossible (hence 15-1), but something pretty uncommon.
A counter argument is that this is going to be a very low turnout election and there are a lot of people who simply don't like Farage but will vote (because they always vote) for the none Farage candidate with a chance of winning.
For (fairly obvious reasons) Count Binface is that candidate. Add on the fact people will happily play along with a joke and it's possible to see the Count winning.
You could also argue that without Lowe standing there is no reason to actually go and vote which is why Farage seems desperately trying to get canvassers so he gets people to actually vote.
Finally I also suspect the Count would do a better job for the people of Clacton than Farage has and he would have a lot of goodwill from the other parties which may allow him to actually achieve something..
Nominations haven't even opened yet. We don't know who the candidates are going to be. There's at least 4 more beyond Farage, Fox and 'face who have talked of standing: Adham Alkhatip (Forward Party), British Democratic Party, Ollie Granger (independent) and Luke Worley (independent). I know the online commentariat is very excited right now about Count Binface, but he won't necessarily be the obvious stop Farage candidate in a week's time.
Have Reform moved the writ today, as they intended?
Note that various eccentric characters will tweet before a high-profile election that they're standing, but then they don't actually get nominated. (Galloway said he'd stand in the Greater Manchester mayoral election and didn't.) Any list now is dubious.
So, I'm both saying there will be lots of candidates, but also there will be an even longer list of people saying they will stand, not all of whom will do so.
You often get candidates who get themselves nominated, but then don't manage to have any sort of online presence at all, not even a twitter or a facebook account. I think the Wikipedia list is fairly comprehensive in terms of the people who have stated an intent to stand, but it will be a week or so until nominations close and we have a definitive list of the actual candidates.
I think it would be a little bit disappointing if there were fewer than half the number of candidates for Farage's Vanity by-election as Davis attracted for his in 2008.
It is more likely for Count Binface to win the Clacton By-election (7/2) than it is for England to win the World Cup (9/2) 🤯
Bin for the Win! 🗑️
Can’t help thinking 7/2 is a little short though, obviously weight of money in the last 24 hours.
It's massively, absurdly short.
I would want at least 10-1, and probably more like 15-1 to play.
Now, if Lowe's lot had stood, it might have been possible: I could see him skewering Farage and peeling off 15% of the Reform vote.
But without him, there are a bunch of no hopers (including Binface), and it would require something truly extraordinary for him to come through the middle. Not impossible (hence 15-1), but something pretty uncommon.
A counter argument is that this is going to be a very low turnout election and there are a lot of people who simply don't like Farage but will vote (because they always vote) for the none Farage candidate with a chance of winning.
For (fairly obvious reasons) Count Binface is that candidate. Add on the fact people will happily play along with a joke and it's possible to see the Count winning.
You could also argue that without Lowe standing there is no reason to actually go and vote which is why Farage seems desperately trying to get canvassers so he gets people to actually vote.
Finally I also suspect the Count would do a better job for the people of Clacton than Farage has and he would have a lot of goodwill from the other parties which may allow him to actually achieve something..
Nominations haven't even opened yet. We don't know who the candidates are going to be. There's at least 4 more beyond Farage, Fox and 'face who have talked of standing: Adham Alkhatip (Forward Party), British Democratic Party, Ollie Granger (independent) and Luke Worley (independent). I know the online commentariat is very excited right now about Count Binface, but he won't necessarily be the obvious stop Farage candidate in a week's time.
Have Reform moved the writ today, as they intended?
Note that various eccentric characters will tweet before a high-profile election that they're standing, but then they don't actually get nominated. (Galloway said he'd stand in the Greater Manchester mayoral election and didn't.) Any list now is dubious.
So, I'm both saying there will be lots of candidates, but also there will be an even longer list of people saying they will stand, not all of whom will do so.
You often get candidates who get themselves nominated, but then don't manage to have any sort of online presence at all, not even a twitter or a facebook account. I think the Wikipedia list is fairly comprehensive in terms of the people who have stated an intent to stand, but it will be a week or so until nominations close and we have a definitive list of the actual candidates.
I think it would be a little bit disappointing if there were fewer than half the number of candidates for Farage's Vanity by-election as Davis attracted for his in 2008.
I think we'll hit at least a dozen.
But, yes, some people don't succeed in getting themselves nominated. Do you think, say, Luke Worley understands the process required, or the £500 deposit?
The message might have been more effective without Coutinho's spin but...
Coutinho is dog whistling on this, that the answer is to burn more fossil fuels. Which is absolutely not what Octopus are arguing. We need much more rapid grid upgrading. Then we get tonnes of essentially free energy.
Grid upgrades and storage so excess energy is kept for later use.
And given some of the plans I've seen the issue is going to be just putting the storage in the appropriate places, financing it doesn't seem to be the problem.
I wouldn’t want a BESS near me.
Neither do the good people of Hetton. Good for them.
Storage is fine but lots of pushback from people if the appropriate place is in their back yard
The country's most famous long-range weather forecaster, Piers Corbyn, brother of Jeremy, is standing in the Clacton by-election.
That makes 10 declared candidates (if you include the two parties who have said they will find one, but haven't named one yet).
In David Davis' by-election in 2008 there were 26 candidates, and the turnout dropped by half. Davis only lost a quarter of his voters. More than 3,000 votes were shared by the candidates 4th and below - which indicates both a stubborn intent to go out to vote, and the failure of any single non-Davis candidate to establish themselves as a clear challenger.
It will be interesting to see how the result in Clacton compares.
It will also be a good comparison because Davis was already by then a well-regarded Constituency MP and even if you don't agree with his views he comes across as respectable personally. He will have had a good personal vote that turned out for him even without any real opposition, and probably not too many who were motivated to vote against him personally. Farage, on the other hand is marmite at best, and I don't think anyone could argue he is a good Constituency MP. So I would expect him to do rather worse.
It is more likely for Count Binface to win the Clacton By-election (7/2) than it is for England to win the World Cup (9/2) 🤯
Bin for the Win! 🗑️
Can’t help thinking 7/2 is a little short though, obviously weight of money in the last 24 hours.
It's massively, absurdly short.
I would want at least 10-1, and probably more like 15-1 to play.
Now, if Lowe's lot had stood, it might have been possible: I could see him skewering Farage and peeling off 15% of the Reform vote.
But without him, there are a bunch of no hopers (including Binface), and it would require something truly extraordinary for him to come through the middle. Not impossible (hence 15-1), but something pretty uncommon.
A counter argument is that this is going to be a very low turnout election and there are a lot of people who simply don't like Farage but will vote (because they always vote) for the none Farage candidate with a chance of winning.
For (fairly obvious reasons) Count Binface is that candidate. Add on the fact people will happily play along with a joke and it's possible to see the Count winning.
You could also argue that without Lowe standing there is no reason to actually go and vote which is why Farage seems desperately trying to get canvassers so he gets people to actually vote.
Finally I also suspect the Count would do a better job for the people of Clacton than Farage has and he would have a lot of goodwill from the other parties which may allow him to actually achieve something..
Nominations haven't even opened yet. We don't know who the candidates are going to be. There's at least 4 more beyond Farage, Fox and 'face who have talked of standing: Adham Alkhatip (Forward Party), British Democratic Party, Ollie Granger (independent) and Luke Worley (independent). I know the online commentariat is very excited right now about Count Binface, but he won't necessarily be the obvious stop Farage candidate in a week's time.
Have Reform moved the writ today, as they intended?
Note that various eccentric characters will tweet before a high-profile election that they're standing, but then they don't actually get nominated. (Galloway said he'd stand in the Greater Manchester mayoral election and didn't.) Any list now is dubious.
So, I'm both saying there will be lots of candidates, but also there will be an even longer list of people saying they will stand, not all of whom will do so.
You often get candidates who get themselves nominated, but then don't manage to have any sort of online presence at all, not even a twitter or a facebook account. I think the Wikipedia list is fairly comprehensive in terms of the people who have stated an intent to stand, but it will be a week or so until nominations close and we have a definitive list of the actual candidates.
I think it would be a little bit disappointing if there were fewer than half the number of candidates for Farage's Vanity by-election as Davis attracted for his in 2008.
I think we'll hit at least a dozen.
But, yes, some people don't succeed in getting themselves nominated. Do you think, say, Luke Worley understands the process required, or the £500 deposit?
I think he might have second thoughts when he is asked for £500, that he only gets back if he receives >5% of the vote, yes.
But, still. The wikipedia list is a lot more useful than, say, Guardian articles that talk about there being only two declared candidates to take on Farage (Binface and Fox). I wouldn't guarantee that Fox will stand, and PBers have floated the possibility of both Binface and Farage not standing for various reasons, even, but the wikipedia list is an accurate description of the state of play.
Fury as Restore Britain leader describes Dunblane tragedy as 'one murder'
He said: "As you probably know they banned handguns in the late 90s because there was a murder up in Dunblane."
Rogan interjected, asking "One murder?"
Mr Lowe replied: "One murder.
"So, everybody, my father used to shoot pistols for Oxford University and he had, he's dead now bless him, but he had all his pistols were taken away, the pistols he used to shoot with at Oxford University."
The family of Emma Crozier, who was shot dead in the tragedy, criticised the Restore Britain leader.
Speaking to Sky News, her brother Jack Crozier said: "Rupert Lowe's father had his pistols taken away. My father had his daughter taken away.
"He knew exactly what happened at Dunblane. He made an active choice, on one of the world's biggest podcasts, to describe the massacre of 16 five and six-year-old children and their teacher as 'one murder'.
"The people of Great Yarmouth need to seriously consider if this is who they want representing them."
It is more likely for Count Binface to win the Clacton By-election (7/2) than it is for England to win the World Cup (9/2) 🤯
Bin for the Win! 🗑️
Can’t help thinking 7/2 is a little short though, obviously weight of money in the last 24 hours.
It's massively, absurdly short.
I would want at least 10-1, and probably more like 15-1 to play.
Now, if Lowe's lot had stood, it might have been possible: I could see him skewering Farage and peeling off 15% of the Reform vote.
But without him, there are a bunch of no hopers (including Binface), and it would require something truly extraordinary for him to come through the middle. Not impossible (hence 15-1), but something pretty uncommon.
A counter argument is that this is going to be a very low turnout election and there are a lot of people who simply don't like Farage but will vote (because they always vote) for the none Farage candidate with a chance of winning.
For (fairly obvious reasons) Count Binface is that candidate. Add on the fact people will happily play along with a joke and it's possible to see the Count winning.
You could also argue that without Lowe standing there is no reason to actually go and vote which is why Farage seems desperately trying to get canvassers so he gets people to actually vote.
Finally I also suspect the Count would do a better job for the people of Clacton than Farage has and he would have a lot of goodwill from the other parties which may allow him to actually achieve something..
Nominations haven't even opened yet. We don't know who the candidates are going to be. There's at least 4 more beyond Farage, Fox and 'face who have talked of standing: Adham Alkhatip (Forward Party), British Democratic Party, Ollie Granger (independent) and Luke Worley (independent). I know the online commentariat is very excited right now about Count Binface, but he won't necessarily be the obvious stop Farage candidate in a week's time.
Have Reform moved the writ today, as they intended?
Note that various eccentric characters will tweet before a high-profile election that they're standing, but then they don't actually get nominated. (Galloway said he'd stand in the Greater Manchester mayoral election and didn't.) Any list now is dubious.
So, I'm both saying there will be lots of candidates, but also there will be an even longer list of people saying they will stand, not all of whom will do so.
You often get candidates who get themselves nominated, but then don't manage to have any sort of online presence at all, not even a twitter or a facebook account. I think the Wikipedia list is fairly comprehensive in terms of the people who have stated an intent to stand, but it will be a week or so until nominations close and we have a definitive list of the actual candidates.
I think it would be a little bit disappointing if there were fewer than half the number of candidates for Farage's Vanity by-election as Davis attracted for his in 2008.
I think we'll hit at least a dozen.
But, yes, some people don't succeed in getting themselves nominated. Do you think, say, Luke Worley understands the process required, or the £500 deposit?
I think he might have second thoughts when he is asked for £500, that he only gets back if he receives >5% of the vote, yes.
But, still. The wikipedia list is a lot more useful than, say, Guardian articles that talk about there being only two declared candidates to take on Farage (Binface and Fox). I wouldn't guarantee that Fox will stand, and PBers have floated the possibility of both Binface and Farage not standing for various reasons, even, but the wikipedia list is an accurate description of the state of play.
The Wikipedia list is meant to only include candidates who have been reported in secondary sources.
Some PBers said Farage will call the by-election off!
The message might have been more effective without Coutinho's spin but...
Coutinho is dog whistling on this, that the answer is to burn more fossil fuels. Which is absolutely not what Octopus are arguing. We need much more rapid grid upgrading. Then we get tonnes of essentially free energy.
Grid upgrades and storage so excess energy is kept for later use.
And given some of the plans I've seen the issue is going to be just putting the storage in the appropriate places, financing it doesn't seem to be the problem.
I wouldn’t want a BESS near me.
Neither do the good people of Hetton. Good for them.
Storage is fine but lots of pushback from people if the appropriate place is in their back yard
There are people scaremongering. From the article:
Retired Oxford University engineering science professor Peter Dobson has warned BESSs pose a major risk to the public and said "the energy stored in one container is the equivalent of three tonnes of TNT".
He said it would be "like putting a chemical refinery right next door to somebody's house".
Battery fires can be nasty, but both of those comparisons are bogus. And fires from recycling centres seem to be worse. I don't know what axe Peter Dobson has to grind on this, but I think he's being deeply irresponsible.
I would think that a BESS is probably one of the less problematic things that might be built near your home. I can think of a lot worse.
Fury as Restore Britain leader describes Dunblane tragedy as 'one murder'
He said: "As you probably know they banned handguns in the late 90s because there was a murder up in Dunblane."
Rogan interjected, asking "One murder?"
Mr Lowe replied: "One murder.
"So, everybody, my father used to shoot pistols for Oxford University and he had, he's dead now bless him, but he had all his pistols were taken away, the pistols he used to shoot with at Oxford University."
The family of Emma Crozier, who was shot dead in the tragedy, criticised the Restore Britain leader.
Speaking to Sky News, her brother Jack Crozier said: "Rupert Lowe's father had his pistols taken away. My father had his daughter taken away.
"He knew exactly what happened at Dunblane. He made an active choice, on one of the world's biggest podcasts, to describe the massacre of 16 five and six-year-old children and their teacher as 'one murder'.
"The people of Great Yarmouth need to seriously consider if this is who they want representing them."
Absolute scum. Just another far right grifter hoping to coin it in from US gun nuts. I'll never forget Dunblane. Extraordinary that Lowe can dismiss it like this. Thank God we live in a country that puts the safety of our children first. Lowe should fuck off to America and his racist pal Musk.
That's four on the trot in July now, Labour third. Are people still desperately clinging to the Ipsos poll from last month to try and discredit this trend?
The message might have been more effective without Coutinho's spin but...
Coutinho is dog whistling on this, that the answer is to burn more fossil fuels. Which is absolutely not what Octopus are arguing. We need much more rapid grid upgrading. Then we get tonnes of essentially free energy.
Grid upgrades and storage so excess energy is kept for later use.
And given some of the plans I've seen the issue is going to be just putting the storage in the appropriate places, financing it doesn't seem to be the problem.
I wouldn’t want a BESS near me.
Neither do the good people of Hetton. Good for them.
Storage is fine but lots of pushback from people if the appropriate place is in their back yard
I can remember something similar when I was on the District Council Planning Committee. Basically the idea was a gas powered fast reaction substation next to an enormous set of electric things already there along with some then new technology batteries. The reaction of a small but vociferous section of the local community was irrational bordering on evil. Well to get there you had to go past a primary school, it might this, it might that, it might be a target in a war with Russia. The idea was to be able to react to quick changes in demand but also to charge up the batteries when demand was low etc. Seemed like a good idea to me but you would have thought we were proposing putting a live feed on the school railings. Needless to say the local MP, very Orange supported the objectors fully.
Fury as Restore Britain leader describes Dunblane tragedy as 'one murder'
He said: "As you probably know they banned handguns in the late 90s because there was a murder up in Dunblane."
Rogan interjected, asking "One murder?"
Mr Lowe replied: "One murder.
"So, everybody, my father used to shoot pistols for Oxford University and he had, he's dead now bless him, but he had all his pistols were taken away, the pistols he used to shoot with at Oxford University."
The family of Emma Crozier, who was shot dead in the tragedy, criticised the Restore Britain leader.
Speaking to Sky News, her brother Jack Crozier said: "Rupert Lowe's father had his pistols taken away. My father had his daughter taken away.
"He knew exactly what happened at Dunblane. He made an active choice, on one of the world's biggest podcasts, to describe the massacre of 16 five and six-year-old children and their teacher as 'one murder'.
"The people of Great Yarmouth need to seriously consider if this is who they want representing them."
Absolute scum. Just another far right grifter hoping to coin it in from US gun nuts. I'll never forget Dunblane. Extraordinary that Lowe can dismiss it like this. Thank God we live in a country that puts the safety of our children first. Lowe should fuck off to America and his racist pal Musk.
Absolutely agree. My mother was a Crozier -no relation of Emma Crozier but I always think of Emma Crozier whenever Dunblane is mentioned.
The message might have been more effective without Coutinho's spin but...
Coutinho is dog whistling on this, that the answer is to burn more fossil fuels. Which is absolutely not what Octopus are arguing. We need much more rapid grid upgrading. Then we get tonnes of essentially free energy.
Grid upgrades and storage so excess energy is kept for later use.
And given some of the plans I've seen the issue is going to be just putting the storage in the appropriate places, financing it doesn't seem to be the problem.
I wouldn’t want a BESS near me.
Neither do the good people of Hetton. Good for them.
Storage is fine but lots of pushback from people if the appropriate place is in their back yard
That's four on the trot in July now, Labour third. Are people still desperately clinging to the Ipsos poll from last month to try and discredit this trend?
Fury as Restore Britain leader describes Dunblane tragedy as 'one murder'
He said: "As you probably know they banned handguns in the late 90s because there was a murder up in Dunblane."
Rogan interjected, asking "One murder?"
Mr Lowe replied: "One murder.
"So, everybody, my father used to shoot pistols for Oxford University and he had, he's dead now bless him, but he had all his pistols were taken away, the pistols he used to shoot with at Oxford University."
The family of Emma Crozier, who was shot dead in the tragedy, criticised the Restore Britain leader.
Speaking to Sky News, her brother Jack Crozier said: "Rupert Lowe's father had his pistols taken away. My father had his daughter taken away.
"He knew exactly what happened at Dunblane. He made an active choice, on one of the world's biggest podcasts, to describe the massacre of 16 five and six-year-old children and their teacher as 'one murder'.
"The people of Great Yarmouth need to seriously consider if this is who they want representing them."
I listened to it and assumed that he meant “one massacre” and was just being callous. But maybe I was wrong and he’s just ignorant or worse - deliberately concealing what actually happened from millions of people.
Whole thing is required listening for PBers, I’d suggest.
It is. But I just cannot do 2 hours of Rogan. A few minutes is my pain threshold on that sort of thing. So I'm reliant on other more robust posters.
The message might have been more effective without Coutinho's spin but...
Coutinho is dog whistling on this, that the answer is to burn more fossil fuels. Which is absolutely not what Octopus are arguing. We need much more rapid grid upgrading. Then we get tonnes of essentially free energy.
Grid upgrades and storage so excess energy is kept for later use.
And given some of the plans I've seen the issue is going to be just putting the storage in the appropriate places, financing it doesn't seem to be the problem.
I wouldn’t want a BESS near me.
Neither do the good people of Hetton. Good for them.
Storage is fine but lots of pushback from people if the appropriate place is in their back yard
There are people scaremongering. From the article:
Retired Oxford University engineering science professor Peter Dobson has warned BESSs pose a major risk to the public and said "the energy stored in one container is the equivalent of three tonnes of TNT".
He said it would be "like putting a chemical refinery right next door to somebody's house".
Battery fires can be nasty, but both of those comparisons are bogus. And fires from recycling centres seem to be worse. I don't know what axe Peter Dobson has to grind on this, but I think he's being deeply irresponsible.
I would think that a BESS is probably one of the less problematic things that might be built near your home. I can think of a lot worse.
The energy stored in a bar of chocolate is around five times greater than the energy stored in an equivalent mass of TNT.
That's four on the trot in July now, Labour third. Are people still desperately clinging to the Ipsos poll from last month to try and discredit this trend?
If you look at the opinion poll graph on wikipedia the Tories and Labour have been pretty close for second and third since November 2025. So it's not really that surprising to have a run of polls with Labour in third. There have been loads of them over the months since. There were seven in a row at the end of December and the start of January, and seven in total in June.
it's not a "trend", it's the status quo.
Why are you ramping them as though they're something new and surprising?
Anyway, big news, I've had a sneak preview of Reform’s policy for the next GE on the criminal justice system. It's going the opposite way to Lammy's nonsense. Rather than restricting the options for the accused it's increasing them. Anybody charged with a crime will be able to choose any one of the following:
Plea bargain Magistrates Full jury trial Referral to the people of Clacton
The message might have been more effective without Coutinho's spin but...
Coutinho is dog whistling on this, that the answer is to burn more fossil fuels. Which is absolutely not what Octopus are arguing. We need much more rapid grid upgrading. Then we get tonnes of essentially free energy.
Grid upgrades and storage so excess energy is kept for later use.
And given some of the plans I've seen the issue is going to be just putting the storage in the appropriate places, financing it doesn't seem to be the problem.
I wouldn’t want a BESS near me.
Neither do the good people of Hetton. Good for them.
Storage is fine but lots of pushback from people if the appropriate place is in their back yard
There are people scaremongering. From the article:
Retired Oxford University engineering science professor Peter Dobson has warned BESSs pose a major risk to the public and said "the energy stored in one container is the equivalent of three tonnes of TNT".
He said it would be "like putting a chemical refinery right next door to somebody's house".
Battery fires can be nasty, but both of those comparisons are bogus. And fires from recycling centres seem to be worse. I don't know what axe Peter Dobson has to grind on this, but I think he's being deeply irresponsible.
I would think that a BESS is probably one of the less problematic things that might be built near your home. I can think of a lot worse.
The energy stored in a bar of chocolate is around five times greater than the energy stored in an equivalent mass of TNT.
A BESS container weighs well over 40 tonnes.
So the energy density of a BESS container is less than a seventieth of an equivalent mass of chocolate. I'm surprised the prof isn't campaigning for an exclusion zone around Cadburys.
Comments
The suggested options seem to be "burn fossil fuels" and "pay absurdly high energy bills to private companies".
It’s why Octopus push so hard for nodal pricing. Let the market decide the efficient allocation - either by building turbines close to industry, or industry close to turbines.
(It’s also worth noting that in effect we pay CCGT to turn off during windy period too - the difference is that their fixed costs are absorbed as an overhead).
Neither do the good people of Hetton. Good for them.
Storage is fine but lots of pushback from people if the appropriate place is in their back yard
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce8m5v5z76zo
Heck if lost profits are allowed (and they can be) it could be way more than that..
I think a different Count Binface could win and tbh I don't really see why one couldn't be found. No one's voting for Jon Harvey so there's time for a different more down to earth comedian to take his place.
Binface - in the highly unlikely event you're reading this, do the right thing. Bring in a local comedian who knows where the problematic hand dryers in that constituency are and he'll walk it.
The real issue is the one identified earlier in dixiedean's post. Binface won't win in Clacton but Reform may have gifted the Manchester mayoralty – which would have been a real coup – back to Labour by diverting its activists and resources to prop up the winning margin in Farage's vanity project. And for what? So we can re-run the Clacton by-election in the autumn – when, by the way, the main parties will forget or remember their principles and will stand.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/09/reform-activists-manchester-farage-clacton-byelection-contest
It is an absolute clown show because Farage and those around him have lost all political judgement.
I suspect I will be paying £2300 for 10kwh but I could be guessing wrong - that's based on a sale price of £1599 which is hidden away in the T&Cs (in Germany it's €1599 at the moment but that's with 0% VAT).
the main bit for me is I trust the brand and it's MQTT so were Anker to disappear (unlikely) I could keep things going..
(Never mind those dodgy skirting boards.)
But that doesn’t make the comments about him a smear if they’re inherently truthful.
If I lived in Clacton I’d not bother voting.
Latterly a Harry Potter store of the type that tends to be casual about paying any taxes.
2. Of course the answer is to use more reliable and better located sources of energy, especially if they are UK-produced and owned. This isn't a 'dog whistle' - stop trying to stigmatise common sense.
3. We would never get free or even 'essentially free' energy. Renewable energy comes with manufacturing, installation, connection, maintenance, management and decommissioning costs, the latter of which are said to be far higher than previously envisaged. And even if in practical terms renewables were 'essentially free', contractually the grid is obliged to pay a miminum price along with a raft of subsidies and constraint payments. It may be 'essentially free' to them, but not to us.
3. I agree about the North of Scotland, but these facilities were built to harvest constraint payments, and as we know some wind farms have made more money from being off than being on.
4. We pay gas power stations to switch off (and on again at speed) because of the intermittency of wind. That isn't gas's fault.
So even if Farage does win that small vote is going to do him no favours in the second by-election. The Tories got 12,000 votes in 2024, if Farage gets less than that the Tory poster writes itself.
https://x.com/cnn/status/2075142988343152714
When British right-wing populist leader Nigel Farage announced he was resigning as a lawmaker and triggering a special election in the face of a swirl of allegations over personal financing, he sought the high ground, saying his constituents “should be the judges of my actions.”
Instead, rival parties united in dismissing his actions as a stunt, leaving his only opponent to be a garbage-can wearing comedian whose policies include forcing rule-breaking cyclists to ride unicycles.
She is right - the electric grid is a complete mess, and the ballooning amount of cash disappearing into constraint payments should be a national scandal.
There are a lot moving parts in this, and a lot of poor historic decisions, the tricky problem is what to do about it.
The sad reality is that the roots of our expensive electricity go all the way back to Thatcher's dash for gas, when we decided that gas was cheaper than coal, and went all in on it.
Wind is unaffordable - the constant insane strike prices demonstrate that. Solar is viable, but only works for 8 months of the year.
We only have two real options from here - keep going towards wind and solar, and accept that electricity is going drive all our industry to the parts of the world that burn coal, or go back to coal ourselves, which remains the cheapest fuel source known to man. Closing all our coal baseload plants is the single stupidest political decision on the last 30 years - huge amounts of cheap electricity gone, never to return.
That said, we are where we are, we need to fix the current mess ASAP. That should mean:
Abolish ROCs on gas plants - because gas sets the system price, ROC costs inflate the electricity price most of the time, regardless of generation type.
Remove all consumer charges and levies on electricity, including VAT.
Build grid capacity like mad to shift power from existing wind farms to where it's needed.
Regional electric pricing - electric in London should cost twice what it does in Newcastle (as that's the reality).
Prioritise installing storage systems over more wind (far great ROI).
Ban solar installs on farmland - utterly stupid subsidy farming, it makes both the daily and annual peak to trough problems worse.
Go cap in hand to S Korea to build half an dozen standard nukes. All UK laws, including stuff like HSE suspended on their building sites, which are to be handled via S Korean law until completion.
There's probably more, but that would be a good start.
Not a very serious question:
Does there exist a classification system for all those styles of ludicrous goatee beards I have sitting at other tables around me?
That’s reason why this Labour Governments latest reset is doomed, those factional splits based on ambitious personalities having little mafia of friends and supporters around them - Burnham, Starmer, Streeting, Rayner - the ambitious personalities in the middle are actually unlikeable, the public won’t embrace or trust any of them, they lack competence, they patently lack any clear idea what direction they want to take it.
Every big decision Starmer’s Government has made in 2026, every sacking, all the insipid, reactionary policy announcements one after the other - none of them announced in Parliament first - have all been for that faction to cling to the party leadership. The factional, divided nature of Labour right now, prevents them doing the right thing for the country. They have become just personality based infighting, little fairy prince and fairy princesses only interested in fighting each other for the crown, but each court is around uninspiring personalities devoid of good idea’s.
It’s all there in the poll TSE built the header around - Don’t Know / Haven’t a clue the clear winner on 30%. That’s your Labour Government 24-29 in a nutshell.
Here's one that Burnham can actually do.
Increase the per head payment from the government to schools for pupils. As the roles drops, as a result of the demographic crisis, balance this by increasing the payment. So the schools do not see a drop in funding.
This would mean that the schools could reduce class sizes, rather than closing classes or even whole schools (when amalgamating)
It is a basic principle of Operational Research that organisation run at 99% of their capability become fragile, the workforce becomes exhausted and leaves (or starts "soldiering" - doing just enough to keep going) and the breakdowns become common. reverse this
Burnham could even size the increase to still reduce the budget for schools, while increasing the per head amount. This would satisfy the fiscal hawk types.
This would be a policy that the Labour MPs would love to vote for, The activists would love and would go down well with Labour voters. The Teaching Unions would also be happy.
It might even have an effect on the quality of schooling
#LabourPolicesFromRighties
Oh hang on!
It’s worrying that he gets to misrepresent the U.K. in the US like that.
Oh, sorry, did you not mean Farage?
It started with wondering why most of the Tommy Robinson "chaplains" either have strange beards that make them resemble a more thickset version of the hairy chap in the 1972 edition of the Joy of Sex, or alternatively resemble Mr Condom.
And then it just went sideways ...
The best categorisation system I have for these goatees so far starts with Brazilian, Landing Strip ... and so on.
That's all it is. They want to wipe the grin off your face by tarnishing your hero du jour. It doesn't indicate any fear of Farage losing.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jul/09/invest-in-britain-force-you-peter-kyle-pension-funds
He said: "As you probably know they banned handguns in the late 90s because there was a murder up in Dunblane."
Rogan interjected, asking "One murder?"
Mr Lowe replied: "One murder.
"So, everybody, my father used to shoot pistols for Oxford University and he had, he's dead now bless him, but he had all his pistols were taken away, the pistols he used to shoot with at Oxford University."
The family of Emma Crozier, who was shot dead in the tragedy, criticised the Restore Britain leader.
Speaking to Sky News, her brother Jack Crozier said: "Rupert Lowe's father had his pistols taken away. My father had his daughter taken away.
"He knew exactly what happened at Dunblane. He made an active choice, on one of the world's biggest podcasts, to describe the massacre of 16 five and six-year-old children and their teacher as 'one murder'.
"The people of Great Yarmouth need to seriously consider if this is who they want representing them."
https://news.sky.com/story/fury-as-restore-britain-leader-rupert-lowe-describes-dunblane-tragedy-as-one-murder-13561888
Ed M was most popular choice for CoE amongst Lab Members by a wide margin over everyone other than Austerity Reeves!
Plus I forgot I had some savers on Andy B as next Labour leader.
I take your point that Labour are not informed by any theory and so have deteriorated into squabbling fiefdoms. But I don't know if Burnham will plaster over the cracks. He might do - devolution and spending money they haven't got may unite the left - but his propensity to change to avoid arguments and urge to be liked (translation: he's a coward who can be bullied) makes me think it may fall apart again. We will see, no doubt.
In David Davis' by-election in 2008 there were 26 candidates, and the turnout dropped by half. Davis only lost a quarter of his voters. More than 3,000 votes were shared by the candidates 4th and below - which indicates both a stubborn intent to go out to vote, and the failure of any single non-Davis candidate to establish themselves as a clear challenger.
It will be interesting to see how the result in Clacton compares.
Labour are defending a majority of 1.3% which they won in 2024.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Norfolk_Police_and_Crime_Commissioner_by-election
Have Reform moved the writ today, as they intended?
He's got first mover and media advantage (a lot off the back of Makerfield).
There will be a consolidated opposition to Farage, just because of how marmite he is and the opportunity this by-election appears to represent, and no other potential candidate yet fits the bill of main opposition in any reasonable way.
The by-election squeeze on unfavoured candidates will ensure anti-Farage votes concentrate somewhere.
I think 25-35% of the vote is achievable for Binface (the left vote at GE was 24% and some Tories will also be in the Binface camp, plus turnout boost) and, I think, flawed though they all are even compared to Restore, candidates to the right of Farage probably muster 5-10% between them.
But I think Farage probably does end up a little north of 50% in this circumstance.
There’s a reason the cables from offshore wind come ashore close to existing or former gas/nuclear/coal power stations. It’s because the transmission is already there.
It's a very unusual by-election. Turnout will be critical. So an apparently small number of voters might swing this thing. In any direction. We need the polls that are undoubtedly in preparation.
Whole thing is required listening for PBers, I’d suggest.
It’s as simple as thinking I was banned or exiled to the PB Toilets for something. But when I actually tried the toilet door this week, it was unlocked and opened. Goodness knows how long I was imprisoned in an unlocked toilet - it’s like a comedy skit.
It did give me a chance to watch a lot of television. World War II from the front lines on Netflix was very good. It made me feel contrast with wars today on the news concurrently as being a lot more precision and politically correct today than historic wars, like WWII was just cover to behave as bloodthirsty and inhuman and racist as possible.
So, I'm both saying there will be lots of candidates, but also there will be an even longer list of people saying they will stand, not all of whom will do so.
But I think I'm probably over egging it and my more finger in the air first guess is likely closer to the truth.
I think it would be a little bit disappointing if there were fewer than half the number of candidates for Farage's Vanity by-election as Davis attracted for his in 2008.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has this day appointed Nigel Paul Farage to be Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/manor-of-northstead--3
Government press release.
But, yes, some people don't succeed in getting themselves nominated. Do you think, say, Luke Worley understands the process required, or the £500 deposit?
And is it your land?
If not, mind your own damned business.
(Family Guy)
But, still. The wikipedia list is a lot more useful than, say, Guardian articles that talk about there being only two declared candidates to take on Farage (Binface and Fox). I wouldn't guarantee that Fox will stand, and PBers have floated the possibility of both Binface and Farage not standing for various reasons, even, but the wikipedia list is an accurate description of the state of play.
Some PBers said Farage will call the by-election off!
Retired Oxford University engineering science professor Peter Dobson has warned BESSs pose a major risk to the public and said "the energy stored in one container is the equivalent of three tonnes of TNT".
He said it would be "like putting a chemical refinery right next door to somebody's house".
Battery fires can be nasty, but both of those comparisons are bogus. And fires from recycling centres seem to be worse. I don't know what axe Peter Dobson has to grind on this, but I think he's being deeply irresponsible.
I would think that a BESS is probably one of the less problematic things that might be built near your home. I can think of a lot worse.
PolliticsUK
@PolliticsUK
·
2h
🚨 Westminster Voting Intention:
➡️ REF: 23% (-2]
🌳 CON: 20% (+1)
🌹 LAB: 18% (-3)
🟢 GRN: 16% (=)
🔶 LDEM: 13% (+3)
From
@FindoutnowUK
From 8th July
Changes with 1st July
NEW THREAD
A BESS container weighs well over 40 tonnes.
it's not a "trend", it's the status quo.
Why are you ramping them as though they're something new and surprising?
Plea bargain
Magistrates
Full jury trial
Referral to the people of Clacton
I'm surprised the prof isn't campaigning for an exclusion zone around Cadburys.