Gloucester Saint

Good article in the DT https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/03/29/tory-advisers-desert-rishi-sunak-for-keir-starmer/ PS - whilst it wouldn’t be quite as big a landmark as 1997, keep an eye on the Sun. Eschewed politics for several weeks, then double page interview with Reeves, front page quotes by Starmer and Trevor Kavanagh’s assessment on the budget not saving Tory hopes.

More chance of seeing Rod Stewart this season in a Saints shirt PS - happy to eat humble pie if he scores the winner at Wembley!

One very immediate problem for a new government stemming from a failed 1980s policy https://www.standard.co.uk/business/thames-water-ofwat-crisis-bills-regulator-utility-debt-nationalisation-bills-kemble-shareholders-b1148304.html All very well Gove being annoyed - and what he says is true, but idiotic to have national utilities having billions taken out in dividends in the first place https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2024/mar/28/thames-water-crisis-sewage-rivers-funding-uk-recession-gdp-economy-sterling-business-live They clearly took a great deal of heed of his speech six years ago https://news.sky.com/story/michael-gove-water-companies-must-clean-up-their-act-or-face-tougher-regulation-11272867 As with the trains, not as if there’s a market for consumers to shop around in to make the imaginary free market fairy an option. Hope none of the rowers fall into the Thames during the race https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-68674088

Some good articles here about why they are continuing to slide and out of touch beyond their very narrow and elderly membership base https://www.ft.com/content/88fbf5c4-828e-4552-948e-951475cf626c https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/frank-luntz-political-strategist-tory-partys-biggest-enemy-themselves-general-election Agree with Luntz, people predicting total wipeout won’t see that. They will still get at least 150 seats, anything better than 1997 is probably success at this stage as it is a far, far worse administration even with hindsight than Major’s.

That picture sums it up perfectly. Even by Red Waller and ERG standards, incredibly basic. Would have been perfect BNP local elections material mid-1990s, so ideal for today’s Reform UK. Sunak has totally lost the plot. Conservatives always talk up the areas they represent, erm not in this case https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/jonathan-gullis-criticises-constituents-conservative_uk_63f3475ee4b0616708dc8626 Good news coming shortly though Kraken https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/fcgi-bin/seatdetails.py?seat=Stoke-on-Trent North Another to toast when he falls in the autumn.

And this bloke https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Ferrari In fact that’s a balance as Johnson is Lib Dem/left wing Tory, Ferrari is right and O’Brien left. It’s not the journalist presenters with a slight angle on GB News, it’s the fact you’ve got current ministers and MPs from a single party presenting news shows. If they cut that out, there’d still only be 100 people watching but they’d be ok with OFCOM because it’s no different to Andrew Pierce and Kevin Maguire debating on GMTV.

Although Paul Marshall’s social media activity indicated some extremist activity, I don’t think GB News is far right per se from what I can gather. There’s some very wealthy people who want to sell certain policies and ideologies to a very, very small band of viewers who require partisan spoon-feeding. 99.9% of UK adults with joined up writing skills are quite happy to take their own views from the five terrestrial high quality TV news services we have. No need for a Fox News or The Momentum new channel - as the thumping losses by GB News and Talk TV show. The response from the next government is straightforward - don’t ban it if non doms are stupid enough to fritter hundreds of millions on 100 viewers, include it in the Tory Party donors envelope, and put the Tory Party tree logo in the top corner when it’s on air. Everybody knows full well what it is, but if they are going to have current politicians (soon to be shadow ministers) talking about the news then the label is fair.

I must admit the only time I’ve ever seen it was watching a play back of the infamous Laurence Fox and Dan Wooton segment. If that’s representative of their usual output then I’d rather ‘watch’ QVC frankly. I wouldn’t want to watch a channel produced by say the trade unions for Labour either. Not that they’d have the funding to do something like that, even Rupert Murdoch has cut his losses on Talk TV. The Private Eye figure of them losing £71m last year did lead me to look into who exactly was throwing bad money after even worse and why https://news.sky.com/story/broadcaster-gb-news-in-talks-to-raise-30m-from-investors-13026128 and https://www.thenational.scot/news/24139814.paul-marshall-gb-news-co-owner-centre-hope-not-hate/ When the DT calls you unfit to own them you’ve got serious problems https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/03/08/andrew-neil-opposed-uae-telegraph-claims-refused-job/ and https://deadline.com/2024/03/jeff-zucker-andrew-neil-gb-news-paul-marshall-the-telegraph-redbird-imi-1235850004/ Was surprised to see he was one of the Lib Dem’s biggest backers before 2015 but radicalised since by Brexit. Paul Marshall might as well have bought SFC if he wanted to throw away £100m. At least Dragan got a training ground, 32000 seat stadium and a brand for it!

They’re whining about OFCOM investigating Tory ministers and MPs presenting news shows. No-one wants to watch Fox News B String or BNP TV - hence £71m of murky non-dom losses in year one https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-66086560 I don’t want to watch Lib Dem TV or Canary TV either. Sky, C4, BBC and ITV do a more than good enough, and impartial job. The partisan shit can fuck off back over the Atlantic. Murdoch has gotten the message and making Talk TV online only.

Look what happens when the orange Neo Nazi’s teleprompter doesn’t work properly https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/17/trump-verbal-gaffes-ohio-rally-bloodbath

According to the Mail on Sunday, private polling is saying absolute best case scenario for the Tories is a 50 seat Labour majority and worst is 250. Changing leader is cited as making little to no difference in the data. Besides which, Sunak would simply call a GE if challenged anyway. According to the DT, removing Truss was the end for the party - their male editorship really do have a teenage crush for her don’t they?

Another Minister gone https://news.sky.com/story/armed-forces-minister-james-heappey-to-stand-down-at-general-election-13095145 Hilarious article yesterday on the i about how three of the four ex PMs from the last 10 years may be part of the GE campaign (Truss too much of a loose cannon). Can’t imagine Boris doing Rishi any favours on the campaign trail. Shows how deluded and out of touch they are, but when their reading sources are so limited they probably believe that bubble hook line and sinker. Interesting thread between George Eaton of the New Statesman and Tim Montgomerie. Former saying that the polls narrowed a bit just before the 1997 GE and latter saying ‘no, they’ll lose harder than 1997, Major government had brought crime down, restored economic performance, lottery introduction, green policies with cross-party support etc’. There was so much noise around Maastricht and the Eurosceptics, plus the sleaze that it drowned the above progress out. Plus Blair, Brown and Mandelson had a slick operation by then too, more so than Labour now, tidy but limited as they are. Both Major and Blair look amazing compared to the last 14 years of chaos - worst economic performance postwar, highest postwar taxes, a disaster hard Brexit with a deal Sunak has had to top up straight away (Boris and Frost forgot to turn the oven on, let alone an oven ready deal), public debt as % of GDP doubled from 2010 and bearing in mind it was far lower for most of the 2000s, local authorities bankrupt, public services non-existant in places, no NHS dentists, NHS waiting lists huge and over 1m vacancies, schools, colleges and universities in financial trouble, SMEs who export crippled by Brexit red tape. Energy bills out of control and water bills set to double after 2025 (can’t blame Ukraine war for that). Tim has a point! No plastic American culture war crap is going to wipe that horrific legacy out. Winter of Discontent+++ Not even mentioned Truss, proroguing of Parliament, PPE VIP £30bn to their mates etc

Hester’s comments are clearly racist, especially the follow-up ones even taking the Diane Abbot ones out of the equation. Hopefully he’s learned from it and I doubt if the party will getting further donations on that scale. Their communications are shambles on this and it reflects a lack of leadership direction and values https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68552407 Some justice really as they went big on the whole culture war crap copying Bannon and Trump like 14 year old kids peering over another’s shoulder to see their homework answers. The result is a 🪃 effect smacking them in their own mouth, and that’s without Donelan’s stupidity we are paying the tab for. The other parties shouldn’t worry if they have a bad day, the Tories are like Saints last season. They might score one but they ship three, four or even five soft ones in quick succession, some own goals. Rather like the four Spurs goals in 5 minutes at WHL v Saints on Sky under Branfoot.

Christopher Hope of GB News - large pinch of salt naturally - saying this morning that up to nine Tory MPs in advanced talks with Reform. Fair to say that they won’t all be independents first…

Don’t forget who pulls his strings though https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68533351 Vote Trump, support Putin.

Went the way of MLT but without the Premier League football career and earnings behind him. https://www.indy100.com/politics/andrew-bridgen-mp-anti-vax Mind you, saying the Tory Party should do more protect its MPs from extremism and manipulation is ironic when they’ve had the likes of Truss as Prime Minister! I’d say they are a leading cause of extremism since Brexit. 30p Lee joins Reform/BNP/whatever they are now in other news

More like ‘Tanglefoot, Tanglefoot, Tanglefoot’. That should make Duckie appear

Feasible that a CEO could take over a role on one day and then the company is sold the next with the buyers wanting to install their own leadership team? Re Michelle Donelan, what an idiot jumping onto a completely and intentionally misleading tweet by the Policy Exchange, another Tory quango funded by dark money (yes, I know quangos are supposed to be public). On ‘Who Funds You?’, from A to E on transparency of funding, they get an E. The entire Conservative movement needs training in this area, maybe just basic 11+ level literacy. Another of their Peers has had to apologise and pay damages over an allegation over a toy 🐙 and alleged anti-semitism over an episode of University Challenge I think it was, filmed months before the Gaza conflict even started. More about the Policy Exchange here which started in 2002 with centrist Tories but got taken over by hard right American money and yet another route for importing their toxic culture wars. No wonder the British public is moving at pace back to a Western European style democracy https://bylinetimes.com/2023/02/13/government-by-think-tank-the-return-of-policy-exchange/

This reduction was welcome https://portfolio-adviser.com/spring-budget-2024-chancellor-increases-vat-threshold/#:~:text=Among the measures%2C Hunt announced,“still leaves question marks”. More SMEs afloat is a good thing as they battle with energy costs, materials and Brexit. One area Labour can improve on next budget is the energy windfall tax from 2022. Too many caveats and loopholes. They won’t close them all but it’s a politically popular branch of fruit 🍈 https://neweconomics.org/2023/11/the-windfall-tax-was-supposed-to-rein-in-fossil-fuel-profits-instead-it-has-saved-corporations-billions IFS drawing similar conclusions to me - recycling money but the overall burden rising on middle earners with 40% threshold drag https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68489236 I’d rather that he’d just cut the VAT ceiling and left NI - it’s minimal compared to energy costs on households. But it’s set a political trap (I know Brown did the same in 2010) and never mind core public services. Apparently, they can use just more AI or something.

I stand corrected, he’s opted for this as it’s on paper cheaper than income tax cuts. It benefits higher earners most - but far more of those at the lower end of the higher earner rate are being dragged in by the £50k cap being frozen since 2013 https://ifamagazine.com/what-would-a-rumoured-2-cut-in-nics-in-spring-budget-look-like-analysis-and-reaction-from-experts/#:~:text=The cut will therefore benefit,rates are devolved in Scotland. It’s the best worst cut he had available - and least inflation-stoking. I’ve no doubt the tabloids and hard right wanted 2p off income tax instead, fuelling Truss-gate Mk2. If you’re on £30k a year, it’s still only really helpful if you live with your folks saving it up as outgoings have become so horrific over the last few years. And for social mobility, if the person on £30k now that 2p off NI might help a bit then gets a promotion or two and if the £50k start limit for higher rate doesn’t lift, they hit a different glass ceiling that their parents didn’t.

And the civil service posts he’ll announce they are cutting are partially from Covid but mostly from….Brexit. Their Brexit.

Agree with most of those, migration is less of an issue as they are mostly younger, not staying more than 2-3 years and utilising many services. Asylum different story of course but then as we both knew and probably said on here at the time the promise to take back our borders and antagonise our neighbours was particularly moronic. The lockdowns have caused surges in demand for mental health and diets got worse plus cost of living has made fresh produce more costly. Biggest issue is 13 years of austerity and the largely needless reduction in core LA budgets 2010-16 which means for example that the heavier SUVs are navigating and crushing crumbling roads. Some of the B road potholes in the north of the Cotswolds are huge and capable of dismounting/killing a biker from out of the area. At best, if you hit one full on that’s £300 for a new suspension bush. Hunt’s diversity comments are from the Lynton Crosby dead cat school of tactics eg throwing one on the table to distract very simple people from what you’re really up to/fucked up now. It’s probably 0.1% of budgets in metropolitan areas where community relations are vital and saves other services a ton of money. Unlike most of his shit-thick and totally incapable cabinet colleagues, the sad fact is that Hunt is actually more than bright enough to know this too from a long stint as Health Minister. This 23 year old lad via this article gets it, the NI cut only helps the very rich and over-65s. Easy to see why no-one else under that age votes for them https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68448107

Crazy game, great ending. We were superb going forward, could be more clinical still, but at the back a mess. Manning really does need swapping for Bree asap. Bree is actually better with crosses and passing, let alone defensively. Or put Meghoma at LB and Bree RB until KWP fit again. Disrupting the JB/THB partnership is not smart. Their caretaker manager I remember scoring a worldie at SMS in 2001 - check this out for a 25 yard monster https://www.premierleague.com/video/single/863857

Never understood why local authorities in more built up areas don’t have 20mph limits 8-4.30 for the schools Mon-Fri and 30mph rest of the time with clear and frequent signage.

Did you have a colour TV in 1969 WG? My folks bought one of the early ones to see it but not long after it caught 🔥 as some of the very early UK models were prone to do aka ‘Curtain Burners’. The Phillips ones were safer, just very heavy by all accounts. The instrumental soundtrack behind the BBC coverage was by Pink Floyd. A real landmark moment to be around to see.