Gloucester Saint

Chairman Jon Filby ‘Sussex Cricket has never been a healthier place than it is now’. Ouch, and we thought Semmens and Ankerson came out with some total crap at times. Rob Andrew a great rugby player but controversial figure at Sussex, although difficult with their small ground at Hove to generate the income to compete with Hants, Lancs, Surrey, Warwickshire, Notts et al. Competing with Somerset, Durham if they get back up probably their best bet but those clubs get ODIs and T20s every year. Good signing on paper on Hampshire in an area needing strengthening. Will be a big jump in the quality of bowling faces in D1 but looking forward to seeing him in action. Middleton, Orr, Weatherley, Vince, Prest, Dawson, Brown, Albert and Currie if they kick on. Not bad. Organ needs to find some consistency against the moving ball to keep the pressure on. Essex probably the model for Sussex but different catchment for players and bigger name. On compensation, that’s been going on for a while when contracts run down. Worcs lost Josh Tongue to Notts before the end of his contract.

A toy octopus on an episode of University Challenge apparently https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12774645/bbc-university-challenge-antisemitism-row-oxford-octopus-mascot-conspiracy.html Pathetic. Quelle surprise budding politicians leading the stirring https://www.benobese-jecty.org.uk/little-about-ben Well done on your military service Ben but the reason they didn’t spot it is that the episode was filmed in March. To think that used to be John Major’s seat….

Looks a good signing. Has certainly caused some political stench behind the scenes at an already unhappy Sussex https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/67484747

You’re a bit early for the cricket T20 World Cup 😉 Fantastic place, there for 2004 Test match and holidays after that

McVey is GB News cannon fodder, thin gruel to the party Brexit right about the return of Mr Remain. Her remit will be confirmed in a few days apparently, but one area will be free speech on university campuses. Whoopie-do! Suella’s resignation letter is even more bitter than a pint of Holt’s bitter (for those of you who haven’t had the pleasure at City/Utd away games, it’s lovely - unlike Suella - but very bitter). No sign of a rebellion yet from the ERG other than total loons like Jenkyns and a tweet from Simon Clarke about controversial decisions by the ‘manager’ and a lack of squad depth on the right wing. Be interesting to see what she brings out in the coming days and weeks - the same drip drip effect Cummings used on Boris - and what’s in these ‘agreements’. Her camp hinting to BBC’s Chris Mason that more treats to come in a few days. Cameron’s return turned the volume down on her yesterday but Rishi doesn’t have any more cards in the pack and the Red Wall/New Conservatives group not much to lose having been cut loose leading up to the GE. Don’t think they’ll get the 54 and the country wouldn’t allow them to hold another contest, but the bitterness could be lingering.

There is precedent for someone in the Lords being a cabinet minister - Mandelson, Morgan and most famously Lord Carrington - have all done it that I can think of. Ex-PMs are far more unusual. Alec Douglas-Home served in the Heath cabinet early 1970s after being PM for 12 months in the early 60s when MacMillan was taken seriously ill but he hadn’t been PM for 6 years, leader of the opposition before that and in fact had had to stand for election in the HoC coming from the Lords. Hence the public surprise. Will it work? Tactically I get it, Sunak wants to have a good run at limiting the damage in the GE (hence Braverman had to go) and there’s some very nasty and complex issues on the FCDO agenda. Cameron might help a bit with the SE/SW seats but the Red Wall group of Tory MPs eg Simon Clarke, Miriam Cates, Pru Leith’s lad, are predictably kicking off. I assume Rishi is trying to shore up their core vote as a southern/and/or rural party and perhaps write off some of the territory gained in 2019 and built on sporadically with the levelling up agenda. Other risks are that Truss and co jump on him around China with the hard right new Research Group, and I can’t imagine the ERG are thrilled to see him. Neither will Brussels, although at least they know him well and Rishi has already started taking the hardest edges off Brexit. Braverman is already threatening to add a further statement, could be interesting although not sure she’s got the 50odd MPs she thinks. We were thinking about painting a Greensill at home doing our renovations to an older property, but we will go for another option instead..

There’s some very partisan posting over the last 24 hours. Let’s be clear: - A minority of people (say 150 out of the Met’s estimate of 300k) holding placards and wearing clothing which was anti-Semitic, racist and inflammatory, allied to intent to be, and being violent, including fireworks at police, are scumbags - A minority of people on the nationalist spectrum (again, out of 300k), many with football banning orders, attacking police, others, and chanting ‘you’re not English anymore’ are scumbags too - The Home Secretary’s role should be to minimise tensions with sensible, objective, adult language in the public realm, such as not referring to hate marches or shit thick reference to Ulster, and share any concerns they have about unequal treatment behind the scenes as they should be. Anything else renders them unfit for office and the majority of the public agrees. Good, glad we got that sorted.

Yep, delighted with the last 8 games but we need to carry it on to Christmas to put pressure on Leicester and Ipswich, entirely possible as well. Biggest change is the increased solidity, whether that’s new players settling in, Calderwood arriving or a bit of both. Means Gavin looking more comfortable and getting more of the protection that he should be. Now we need to boost the GD by taking more of our chances when we hit the front. It’s a lot to ask Stewart to be our Lambert of 11/12 to lead the line but it’s the difference between top 2 and play-offs. AA is having a good season but we need that focal point to hold it up when teams have a go from being behind in second halves and then get those late winners as it’s a bit reliant on Fraser at the moment. The club probably thought Che would carry on with that after a move didn’t materialise but he really has lost his mojo and needs a fresh start elsewhere. Mara has had the odd cameo but hasn’t looked any more capable at this level which is very disappointing with what he cost. I’d imagine he’ll go out on loan in January, Che out for a modest fee and another forward to compete off the bench.

As David Lidlington said ‘Colleagues who want to dictate who can and cannot protest might want to reflect on how they’d feel about a left wing government taking such actions’. Dictating to the police about who to arrest and when - that’s pretty much Argentina junta stuff and Rishi needs to kick circa 54 MPs out. Still enough of a working majority to get his programme through. That’s without the incredibly reckless and inflammatory language she uses when there’s already high tensions. Not fit for any kind of office.

Bree has added balance, and lets KWP be more on attacking thread on the other side. Bar PNE, Jan has played well so that’s a blow but interesting to see if Martin uses Holgate or puts Charles back there. I’d prefer Charles in CM for this game, perhaps give Smallbone a break today.

Starmer has issues too for balance with his front bench over Gaza but what a disgrace the Tory right wing is these days. As bad, even worse actually, than Momentum under Corbyn. If Sunak doesn’t start some mass expulsions, I don’t think they will be anywhere near power for generations. A lot of these ‘five families’ are punch drunk on Brexit and following the Bannon playbook, if the British One Nation wing doesn’t take control straight away, this country is heading to hell in a handcart and even in 12 months before they get evicted in the GE, they can do some serious damage. A majority of 10-15 MPs is enough for Sunak to operate with https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/nov/10/rishi-sunak-faces-tory-civil-war-holds-off-sacking-suella-braverman

Sheaf Saint has done a brilliant job in posting exactly what I was going to post and which the OBR report backed up. GM is something else thinking forecasts are an exact science although given that he seemed to think the Kings Speech was actually endorsing the thinnest legislative programme for 30 years we shouldn’t be surprised. GM - if I’m thick graduating with degrees and higher degrees from world top 100 and 200 universities, what does that make you pal? It’s a very decent local university these days in that part of the world but it wasn’t a university back in the mid-70s. University of Portsmouth gained degree awarding powers after 1992, becoming a university through act of Parliament under the Major government https://policies.docstore.port.ac.uk/policy-110.pdf So anyone graduating from 1992 onwards could call themselves a University graduate if they attended a polytechnic. Nothing wrong with Polys but not something to shout from the rooftops either. PS Enjoy the next 12 months because the way the Tories are going and if Braverman gets control in opposition, you won’t see another Tory majority government, or possibly any Tory government in the rest of your lifetime. As a Lib Dem and Remainer, seeing Brexit gradually unravelled and your hysterics are going to be entertaining.

From the OBR - who Truss ran away from because that clusterfuck of a not-so-mini-budget couldn’t stand any form of scrutiny beyond Tufton St, Mark Littlewood and other lunatics - under chart H ‘the UK appears to have become a less trade intensive economy, with trade as a share of GDP falling since 2019, 2.5 times more than any other G7 country. (Chart I, just to help you navigate the document). Further up under Goods, ‘there is little sign to date of UK Goods exports to non-EU making up for lower exports to the EU, with the former down 18% on pre-2019 levels’. https://obr.uk/box/the-latest-evidence-on-the-impact-of-brexit-on-uk-trade/ As for the other shit you’ve posted on climate change today I see, that’s MLT/Rickie Lambert social media conspiracy territory. That well-known cultural Marxist, Margaret Thatcher, was the first major Western leader to warn of the dangers of climate change and the need to take swift action globally.

It was/is, posted on here fairly recently too.

The same IEA that were instrumental in bringing us the Truss debacle, wrecking the economy, cooking up a coup with Brexit-obsessed party members the worst ever Prime Minister and making the UK a global laughing stock? https://iea.org.uk/films/who-is-liz-truss/ Nah, I think I’ll listen to think tanks who know something about economics and trade because the IEA knows fuck all about the subject, and what it thinks it does know was demonstrated for the whole world to see last autumn. Nathan Jones lasted longer as Saints manager. You just got 9-0ed GM. At least make some effort on the next post or it could be double figures.

Legatum’s fortune from offshore will gone quickly at this rate, as we know Boris won’t get out of bed for less than a King’s Ransom. Their P&L sheets must look horrible unless the advertisers are equally to lose their shirt. A lot of rifts and departures amongst the investors since it started. Their business sense is worse than Sports Republic it seems. https://www.legatum.com/about/people/ They seem to be a shit magnet in terms of the presenters and timing too. George Osborne has been hinting very strongly on his podcast with Ed Balls that there’s some very offensive stuff to emerge next week at the Covid enquiry, most of it from Boris and Cummings. On the other hand, I supposed it could boost the ratings to two JDW pubs’ worth of viewers rather than the current one! https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/george-osborne-says-covid-inquiry-has-disgusting-misogynistic-whatsapps-from-boris-johnsons-no10_uk_653b6c9ce4b05def8bc74351

KWP and Downes the standouts yesterday, CM looked better again when Charles was on but Smallbone has added some goal threat. Manning poor again, all over the show for their goal. Superb volley from Fraser for the winner and delighted for the fans who had a horrendous journey up there in many cases and probably back. Hull is never an easy place to get a win so let’s build on it at a PNE outfit having a slight dip in form, albeit it will still be a hard game midweek.

Here’s a problem Starmer is going to have to address properly to meet his targets on new homes although it’s easier when 10% of your funding doesn’t come from house builder boardrooms and CEOs (yes Conservative Party, I’m looking at you). We bought a new house early 2010s from a regional and it was Ok, but we still had a flooded ceiling which had to be repaired, a boiler fitted inadequate for the property being on three levels (all of the street has since had to replace theirs within 5-8 years), plumbing issues as the sub-contractor was hopeless (and smelt of booze when they turned up to do repairs at our place under warranty), missing joist in our bathroom and although our garden was sound, some neighbours a few doors down had environmental surveys done and their gardens were essentially rubble (see below article). We are well aware we were very much the lucky ones and able to spend the money topping it up with our own builders beyond warranty to the standards they should be in a modern European country. What a mess the Tories and their dodgy donors have made of housing in this country of all types and sectors. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/oct/21/cracked-tiles-wonky-gutters-leaning-walls-why-are-britains-new-houses-so-rubbish#:~:text=From the virtual monopoly of,the rapidly declining skilled workforce%2C We’ve got a small executive housing development going in near us where the cost of each one will be seven figures plus and the standard of construction is like one of those from a 1970s public information film where Jimmy loses his frisbee in the substation. At this price point if it’s this bad, Lord help the mid and lower price points. When it’s being built, you don’t get to hire the trades and assess if they’ve got the right skills and attitude - that ship has sailed. You are reliant on the builder putting it right and the article reflects the experiences of a huge volume of friends who have bought from the worst national firms - the regionals are generally better but you still need to put a minimum of £10-15k aside to sort issues 5-10 years from new arising. Amongst the nationals, I’d only consider Redrow or Bloor, not as good as regionals but OK but with a £20k top up fund. With the other nationals, you better hope the site manager gave a shit. We’ve since bought a 60s/70s doer-upper on a huge plot (60s original and 70s extension) and although dated in places, the core standard of construction is simply light years ahead of today’s nationals in quality and professional pride. Our trades have in the main ranged from excellent to decent without being special to others who have needed constant supervision from us or family. One’s handiwork wasn’t up to it so part-paid and had to bring someone else in to re-do some of it. The decent ones are incredibly busy after Brexit and the ones who voted for it have buyers regret as they can see how it’s left them struggling to meet demand and lowered standards across the trades. How to fix it: - Dedicated visa route for EU national building professionals akin to the Global Talent visas - Proper degree apprenticeships and other level 7 technical qualifications where there is a lot more inspection of building firms to ensure the learners are actually getting the hands-on experience and guidance they need and deserve. The FE colleges need more powers too as an accrediting bodies. Easier to do it with first one enacted as the mentoring will be there. Despite what Suella Farage says, it’s simple to both grow the domestic labour pool and overseas - ample opportunities to develop. The nationals don’t want to do it as too lazy, failed uncompetitive market and don’t see it as a priority if the profits flowing. And the Tories have a conflict of interest. - Re-instatement of proper, industry independent inspections with teeth. Penalties across large-scale failures could include very hefty fines levied on company boards until major faults are fixed for buyers to independent scrutiny standards. That’ll pay for the proper skills development they currently won’t fund. Self-regulation doesn’t work and local authority building control is spread so thin post-austerity. It’s very possible to have a very profitable sector with significantly better buyer experience. Isn’t that what aspiration is about?

Slowly losing the 1966 generation. Before my time but apparently one of the cleanest strikers of the ball ever.

The article Alex Law refers to is here https://advanced-television.com/2022/01/24/survey-1-in-20-young-adults-watch-bbc-live/ There is most support for adverts, then staying as is, with a subscription model (the Conservatives preferred option arising from Dorries failed attempts to privatise C4 https://www.thesocialreview.co.uk/2022/04/17/the-conservatives-netflix-problem/). One of the issues is that Netflix over-expanded and hardly has any new programming with the hefty debt accrued, despite yet another price rise coming our way. Amazon Prime has the issue that it isn’t clear whether it’s profitable or merely a loss leader for the rest of the empire. Regarding the BBC, iPlayer use in that article was rising amongst that demographic albeit less than the over-65s. Of course, live TV viewing will be far higher for the over-65s because that demographic is by and large (with exceptions) retired and the UK has an ageing population. There are improvements to be made which would widen the BBC’s reach but that probably involves social inclusion measures the Conservatives probably won’t want from a culture war perspective. Some of the programming, especially children’s, was recognised as still being world class and the rest popular with middle aged onwards. The BBC are far from alone in having issues as a long-standing public institution connecting to millennials and the generation following https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/are-millennials-really-killing-the-tory-party and https://pressgazette.co.uk/news/trust-in-news-uk/ Tastes may still change a bit later in people’s lifecycles. In this household, we have little time to watch any live TV bar the rugby WC matches but do use the catch up channels including iPlayer. A final observation in that article is that ITV/C4/Sky would all be opposed to BBC having adverts because after the initial excitement by advertisers at being on the BBC, they would be fishing from the same market for that income, lowering the tide.

Meanwhile the 1930s tactics spilling over from 6 January 2020 by Trump’s thugs are backfiring in (not) getting Jim Jordan as speaker https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/hardball-tactics-jim-jordan-allies-backfiring-house-speakers-race-rcna121121

Which the hard right still wanted to privatise (and failed) as too liberal and not compliant enough with a Steve Bannon-inspired culture war unlike GBeebies, Mail or Murdoch empire. https://www.channel4.com/news/channel-4-privatisation-plans-scrapped-in-government-u-turn

‘Jimmy Savile, he’s one of your own’. Jimmy was more of a Conservative than anything else at heart. So you may have supported him twice with a Conservative Party membership and the BBC. You mug, if you did. Jimmy got a knighthood out of it too. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/revealed-jimmy-savile-s-close-friendship-with-margaret-thatcher-8432351.html PS - Hamas clearly are a terrorist organisation, and their actions absolutely appalling, but I don’t need the aid of broadcasters to spell it out in primary colours for me. Nor should the situation be used to further an already pathetic culture war imported from Trump and Bannon (yes Daily Mail, I’m looking at you).

Interesting piece in the Telegraph today from the Five Eyes conference about the potential enhanced domestic risk from Iran taking advantage of the Israel-Palestinian situation. Been building for a while before now but mainly focused to date on the Shia hardline cleric regime bumping off dissidents and Farsi-speaking media. The Iranian regime needs to be very careful - there’s a population in the main who have never liked them and the West can see attempts to stop international inspections on their nuclear weapons programme. Contingent on whether the majority of the Iranian public want rid of the Islamic Republic badly enough. There have been a lot of public protests about the detention death of Magda Amini 12 months ago, including big protests last month, but is that enough to back a Western-armed opposition? https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/mi5-chief-warns-of-iran-backed-terror-attacks-in-the-uk/ar-AA1inuWS?ocid=NL_ENGB_A1_00010101_1_1