Gloucester Saint

Oh gawd, we’re probably going to end up with a ‘the Burnham years’ thread aren’t we?

Three batting points when every other side is in double figures is pathetic. They’re so reliant on Lehmann that when he fails, it all fails. Gubbins at least seems to be on an uptick of form and Prest did better yesterday. And Sussex were missing their two frontline bowlers Robinson and Crocombe! So they got skittled by a fringe attack on a not-too bad deck. Great effort lads! But although the overseas isn’t as useless as Yusuf or Hampton, it’s astonishing that so-called cricket professionals couldn’t spot yet again that we needed a top quality overseas batsman to give our bowlers something to work with. Needs to be a total rebuild next year. Rasmus Ankerson syndrome, massive squad but very few FC calibre players within it. If we don’t, D2 basement looms for many years.

Mind you, the actual supposed party for re-joining the EU - if Davey had the cojones - only got 128 more tbf. Lib Dem’s are about as visible as Ross Stewart 2023-25. I vote for them but Ed’s about as effective as Starmer is. The table shows the extent of tactical voting for both Labour and Reform. Rupert kept his deposit and it’s a start, but Lib Dem, Green and Tory really made up space on the ballot. They didn’t make up the numbers in who voted.

Very much agree with this. A well-hung Parliament.

For around here, on paper the ideal candidate. Family man, long-serving RAF officer (RAF policeman IIRC) and very well-regarded. Beyond the easier due diligence on who has been posing Hitler memes or calling for all disabled people to be euthanised on X, it’s actually arguable that these people find the parties as much as the parties finding them.

Unusual to not have some context for arrest initially but they’ve now said coercive behaviour and assault. Ex-RAF and seemingly popular and decent bloke https://news.sky.com/story/lib-dem-mp-arrested-and-suspended-from-party-13555467

84/3. Albert 20, Orr only 3 and Lehmann a rare early perish for 10. Gubbins 48 no, Prest 0 no. One of those wickets where you need to see both side bat on it.

@AlexLaw76 point around Net Zero is interesting when you consider the Aberdeen by-election result. SNP getting punished for corruption but not a coincidence that’s happened in the hub of North Sea oil and gas. The Scottish Tories have a much better brand than the English version (I’d probably vote for them up there out of the options) but food for thought from Burnham’s perspective on energy policy.

Agree with much of that, although Reform have been declining from their peak ratings for quite a few months despite the May local election results which are of course impressive from such a low base. NHS will be very important as well, make progress on the waiting lists which they seem to be and Farage has struggled to get any consistent position on that. They’ll get hammered on TV debates if they don’t. Musk’s willingness to carry on throwing ££££ at Lowe is reckoned to potentially cost Reform 70-100 seats at least too. He has no shortage of it, Rupert’s an interesting side hustle for him, Tommy’s in that picture (Kleenex delivery for Romney Marsh) and Rupert hates Farage. There’s a contest on now. Starmer is toast, can’t believe he wants to fight on. What’s the point?

October’s election in Israel could be interesting, Trump will not be helping the two Ben’s a month of ahead of his own mid-terms and I’d imagine Kushner’s got less influence in the administration now.

One of our local MPs has been suspended after an arrest, for what it isn’t clear. FFS.

Like there wasn’t in Gorton and Denton not far away? They’ll win seats but they’ll face huge tactical voting and ‘anyone but Farage’ in so many others. His negative ratings are enormous despite a 20% or so core which is Trump-like in its dedication from ardent Brexiteers. And Musk will carry on funding Lowe who hates Farage and Tice with a passion to scale up nationally. Labour has a mountain to climb to say the least but if the war has properly ended, and Netanyahu is toast now even more so than Starmer, then the rest of the economic vital signs should more visibly pick up. Remember the expansion of the franchise by 2029, 16 and 17 year olds will on the whole won’t embrace racism and plenty of Reform supporters will have had their funerals. Very challenging times but a flicker of hope. Davey needs to go now as well if the Libs are going to kick on.

They drove the car faster towards Beachy Head but it was already well on the way there. Lowe wasted the first season down and parachutes with the SCW and Clifford experiments, we took a Hail Mary in 2006/7 and it nearly worked. Some of the spending was wild (no pun intended) and the lack of a decent centre back cost us, but that side should have been much higher than scraping into 6th.

We normally agree but I can’t on that. Reform’s % has been dipping for a while now, 32% into the low 20s. No-one in this fragmented new landscape is going to walk anything and 326 seats is a theoretical figure. Burnham’s job, assuming it’s him and not Streeting (their members I suspect will prefer Burnham) is to make Labour the largest party and that’s the battle with Reform. The Tory members are in love with Badenoch in the same way Labour left members were with Corbyn but at some point the penny has to drop that they’re performing miles below where he was, even taking into account the Truss and Boris baggage. They need to get Street and Davidson into Parliament asap and persuade a couple of their old fogeys in their few safe seats left to stand back and try life support as a centre right party again. Loads of councillors defecting back to them from Reform after seeing the sheer chaos and vileness inside Reform, but they need to oust Badenoch and the ERG in the next 3-6 months if they’re going to avoid 4th or 5th place https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/reform-councillor-robbie-lammas-quits-conservatives-defection-b2996387.html https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpwpwj2l0zvo

Oh I dunno, Duck got so excited he posted a double pony. They’re a collectors item you know. A bit like Paul Dacre’s infamous ‘double cuntings’ during editorial meetings at the Daily Mail.