saint1977

This Trump rally at the weekend with many senior Republican figures present sums up the obsession with guns, violence and totalitarian rule https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65078418 Not surprising America has problems, when 74m people voted for this from a different recent Trump rally https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/donald-trump-right-hand-salute_n_56db50d8e4b03a405678e27a I mean, I can vaguely understand why people wanted to try something different, although the comments on Mexico amongst other was a huge red flag. But to vote for it after 4 years of chaos and craziness is nothing a decent human being would ever do.

Correct about Thatcher - she raised VAT and other indirect taxes when needed - not so sure on Ronnie in later years. SDI cost a fortune and made a Mount McKinlay of debt. Truss’s plan was bananas and plenty said at the time me included that it would require sweeping cuts to public spending after a couple of years if the economy didn’t totally tank and markets spook as they did. Simon Clarke pretty much said as much, one of her closest allies. She didn’t have a mandate for it either and the Tory has a massive issue with 50 and under voting for them. Millennials just wouldn’t tolerate austerity Mk2. And Austerity Mk1 helped push Red Wall towards Brexit in the first allied to social differences with New Labour. You got your big majority in 2019 through Boris’s pledges on levelling up for the Red Wall. Very costly to implement and to replicate schemes like Interreg with the Shared Prosperity Fund. Boris’s compromise was centrist economics with social conservatism and Brexit to appeal to English nationalism. I could see the appeal but outside of the single market sustainability was an issue hence what Sunak has done in changing the NI deal. However, that means not having the full cake in terms of a IEA deregulated vision of Singapore on Thames which would suit London and the SE. Brexit was an attempt IMO by certain elements eg tabloid owners and segments of the ERG to pass that through without a GE but it doesn’t have the level of electoral support without being tucked within a referendum. Corbyn and Labour hard left are nowhere too and thrashing around after 2019 was 1983 re-made. Truss and co simply have more outlets to express their own discontent with centrist economic policies. The one area I did agree with Liz on was on economic immigration and the need for it to grow the economy and mitigate an ageing population. Hence she got rid of Leaky Sue. Asylum is a different matter and keen to avoid re-opening that can of worms…

Kraken just nailed it - she’s rarely right on anything. For most normal people, the IEA and Tufton St are economically hard right. PS - ready to elaborate on those Brexit benefits yet Ducky? Looking forward to those.

Truss’s four names for honours come from the same cesspit as her. Jon Moynihan has been wrong on every prediction he’s made, not least on Brexit, and still blames the mini budget crisis on the Bank of England. No, seriously, he does. Mr Bean lookalike Matthew Sinclair from the Tory party’s very own Taxpayers Alliance is a preaching hypocrite and brow-nosed his way into a job paid by funnily enough us the taxpayer, the moment Truss handed it to him, and Littlewood is a fossil from another economic policy era, the inverse Derek Robinson. Ruth Porter was her campaign manager so the most understandable but still ex-IEA. Four names too many and sums up the chronic failings of the Tory hard right. The Daily Mail - ‘ At last, a proper Tory budget’. That should rammed down their columnists throats as a gobstopper for the next 30 years at least as a millstone around their necks. For balance, Andy Burnham just fined £2k for speeding. Shouldn’t have lost concentration like that but unlike Truss and her IEA/Tufton cronies, at least he can admit his mistakes. Truss still never believes she made any mistakes. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65075328

There’s no competition in the modern era. Boris was always going to be an un-focused, dishonest lazy disaster and May was only ever an interim - and blew the Brexit negotiation straight away - but from any party Truss is in a different league of Frank Spencer ineptitude, unworkable ideas and sheer chaos. I know people through work who were involved in the party conference in Birmingham and I laughed when they predicted Truss and Kwarteng wouldn’t see the end of October in post as it was that chaotic and badly run. Turns out the laugh was on all of us and those renewing mortgages especially, thanks to the IEA, Daily Telegraph, Mail, Patrick Fucking Minford and John Twat Redwood. Oh, and all of the useless ‘think tanks’ in Tufton St with a combined IQ of 1. Yes, it still makes my blood boil. Corbyn would have been equally disastrous but impossible to be worse than Truss. Yet she and the likes of Simon Clarke, the male equivalent of Dorries and Boris, still spout off about growth in the idiot newspapers above. They couldn’t grow cress on a windowsill. They are the equivalent of the bloke selling Socialist Worker on Southampton High St in the 1990s - a relic out of their era - except their voices get amplified by the various non-dom and dubious owners of their party’s newspapers.

Delightful to watch the ERG and the husk they ransacked, UKIP, destroying each other as the NI vote passes without incident. Only 22 voting against is pathetic and just has beens such as Truss, Rees-Mogg, Francois, Patel and other irrelevant fringe people. My favourite moment is Steve Baker denouncing Boris as a ‘Pound Shop Farage’ which also drew an angry response from Farage himself. Boris getting destroyed by Bernard Jenkin was hilarious. Anyone who thinks he is coming back as PM on here must also believe Lawrie is coming back for a third spell as manager in the summer. The adults are slowly gaining control again. There’s still a lot of children in the cabinet - Coffey, Braverman, Raab, Donelan - but today was a good day in restoring some order and common sense albeit a long way to go. Starmer now needs to finish off the hard left as well who are on the ropes with Corbyn isolated.

When I’ve seen England fans doing it overseas, I’ve always thought it was knob ends throwing a few chairs ‘for the camera’. The Sun called it a ‘brutal street battle’. The kids they use as hacks these days should have been around in the 1980s and early 1990s. Not glorifying it though as it was a bit hairy as a kid when it kicked off but this is a footnote by comparison to that era. That’s probably Itchen Block 2 closed now. https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/23396776.ten-arrested-saints-spurs-fans-clash-southampton-street/

In other news: - Braverman stands in Rwanda grinning like an idiot. £100m and not a single plane. Her newspapers trying to say the courts coming round but no evidence as yet. Germany and other nations exploring options too but no-one else grinning like a buffoon. Whatever people’s different views on the policy, there is something very distasteful and repugnant about standing there laughing at the construction site. I notice the invitation list was basically the Mail, Sun, Telegraph and Express with all other outlets and any of the serious outlets barred and not just the obvious Mirror or Guardian. Rwanda is apparently rapidly heading for a huge war with DR Congo. Progressive and growing - yeah right Leaky Sue. Not surprisingly the Telegraph and Mail have led the gushing tributes to the accommodation and site. Those journalists may be unemployable in the industry when more comes out about the whole sordid affair and huge waste of taxpayers money. - Conor Burns alleging homophobia in the highest echelons in the Tory Party. A story to watch. - The most serious - Boris putting his response and him and his lawyers attacking the integrity of the cross-party Privileges Committee in the HoC in the Telegraph (where else?) before he’s actually given evidence to it. Contempt of the House potentially and looking like something to hide. As Peston says, ‘shades of the Trump play book’. - SNP also worth a mention for their implosion, growing pains? Whatever you say Nicola.

Good fight back today. Needing snookers to stay up but unlike midweek they had a go. Walcott giving his body one last push and showing leadership that’s been missing. Adams a better finisher when no time to over-think. Nice cameo by Mara that offers some hope. Not having DCC on the bench self-defeating by the club and I’m not buying the bad luck bit. ABK has been a bit Darren Powell-like in terms of fitness (much better player mind you) all season and his shoulder has been waiting to go. Bednarek wasn’t even here for half the season. Cost us two points.

I’d say based on takers JWP, KWP, Lavia and because of that and contract Salisu for £15-20m and Moi on a free. ABK has had the odd decent game but made of glass and young for a CB. Season in the Champ would add to his strength and stamina. Alacaraz might join the wanted list if he carries on his recent progress. Outside of that, they are pretty much unproven and the Champ would be around their level. Adams might get a gig as a back up at another PL club fighting the drop but he’s been poor this season. And still the club’s best forward. It’s all academic though unless the club get either a name manager who can use the loan market and brings the squad together as a cohesive unit al a Hoddle or Ronald, or an experienced figure at that level who can identify rapidly what’s need for a top 2 campaign to hit the ground running in August. No more funky, hipster or left field appointments (although Jones is as unhipster as it gets).

Kinnock got the same as Starmer is from the Corbynites post-Foot, watch the Conference footage if available from the mid-80s and the bile from the old left when introducing reforms, although the nuclear disarmament policy continued hurt them. Was it 1985 when Derek Hatton stormed out? Ditto what Sunak is getting from both Boris loyalists because his half-baked NI deal has been finished off some more and Truss’s crazy little group of IEA fanatics notably from Simon Clarke and John Redwood. Always happens when mainstream politicians have to clear up the vomit from when the crazies get control of the steering wheel.

The difference is playing for a name manager at that level who knows what they are doing, and who knows the market for good loans (the full back from Chelsea) and deals. We need to find our equivalent of Kompany plus their own coaching team, set the budget, and let them get on with it. Name manager and contacts could give us the season Burnley are having with the fear taken away, another ‘clever/weird’ hire could be a return to League One. Get it right Dragan and Rasmus - go for a big name with contacts, Saints always do better.

In the summer probably. JWP, KWP etc will leave but basically there is a core of players who are easily moulded into a top 2 side with a manager and coaching staff who know vaguely what they are doing, and clear out the jokers from this season. Aribo gets stick on here but decent when he first started and could be a standout player in the Champ. And Suleiman and Edozie definitely could, express pace destroys teams at that level. We are always better with a name manager - Lawrie became one, Hoddle, WGS, Poch, Koeman and RH’s early on. So Vieira, Gerrard (some will roll their eyes but has the loan contacts you need), Rooney, Rafa - any of those get you back up.

There’s another https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/former-tory-immigration-minister-says-she-cant-support-sunaks-asylum-crackdown_uk_640e1dcce4b0d15457b67f43 I agree with parties and politicians issue by issue. As a Liberal Democrat voter I didn’t agree with Swinson’s position in the 2019 election either. I’ll never agree with Braverman because she can’t behave like an adult. Labour got it politically wrong with the A8 countries accession bill - France and Germany didn’t allow people to work there until 2011 - which helped Griffin and Farage build platforms in the first place. Economically very good for the country but misjudged politically.

Preferred him to Cameron and May, think austerity would have been worse without him and Cable around. Remainer as well. Not sure I’d put him in Clarke or Heseltine’s league of Tories I’d have voted for but would happily swap him for the absolute shower we’ve had since 2019.

George Osborne doesn’t agree by the looks. Did hear that he got fed up with May obsessing about it https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/george-osborne-says-some-language-used-by-tories-on-immigration-unacceptable_uk_640defcfe4b068bd7754573e

Stamp is a leading figure of the FDP just fact checking what you are posting. He’s special commissioner for Germany on migration but does have an ideological stance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Democratic_Party_(Germany) Doesn't make it racist to have the discussion and at least he isn’t moronically spouting about how he dreams of planes and ferries carrying asylum seekers to Africa (Braverman). That’s why a debate can be had in Germany.

The point is that discussing migration - as long as economic migration and asylum are not conflated - is not in itself racist or bigoted. Suella Braverman is not talking about it sensibly whatsoever, and the language used by her has already been rebuked by Holocaust survivors and their families. Terms such as ‘invasion’ have no rational place in public discourse and certainly not in senior ministerial roles as such as Home Secretary. Change the Home Secretary and Sunak will find this settles down a bit. She’s also been sacked once for leaking dangerous material risking state security so she’s as big a risk to this country and all of us as anyone on the actual boats.

Don’t disagree with much of this. If Braverman STFU about net migration limits - we need migration with an ageing population - I’d have more sympathy with the Conservatives position. But limits and very strict ones will be in the Migration Bill, that’s the problem I’m afraid Nick. It screws the economy and health services/social care and all because Braverman is trying to be Enoch Powell and Nigel Farage.

Here’s the hypocrisy from the government and BBC director general around impartiality. Not hard to hard to understand really is it? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64634914 and https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/mar/10/bbc-apologises-failure-scrutinise-nadine-dorries-claims-sue-gray and https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/mar/10/david-attenborough-bbc-wild-isles-episode-rightwing-backlash-fears Dyke calling it well, Richard Sharp has re-ignited a storm in a teacup. Another culture war attempt by Sunak and Braverman which has backfired although it will be lapped up by their core vote https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/entertainment-arts-64895316 The rest of us are just sick of record high bills, energy market failure, IT infrastructure collapses, NHS collapsing, empty shelves, very expensive dentists, mortgage costs soaring after the Truss/Kwarteng disaster, transport woes and millions of businesses lacking skilled staff. The focus on MOTD and boats carrying less than 5% of asylum seekers to the UK is nuts. But then the likes of Lee Anderson would rather express their support for the BNP protesting outside hotels than tackle any of the above issues making life a misery for his constituents. Stupid fuckers will probably still re-elect and as for the stupid skates electing Braverman in Fareham. If Sunak is so proud of his £500m deal with Macron to help stop the boats, why fan the flames on this? Although I see the increasingly sour DT putting the boot into Sunak on the deal. They are still sulking after Truss, Kwarteng and the IEA failed disasterously.

Alan Shearer just has. So many problems that the ENP (English Nationalist Party) has inflicted on this country and we’re having this waste of a debate about boats which represent less than 5% of the immigration figures. With associated stupidity and vile language from Leaky Sue the hypocrite. Sunak is fucking stupid for getting behind this and the legislation will crumble at the first challenge. Yet again economic migration and asylum are getting conflated when they are totally separate. That’s Braverman’s influence, trying to be Nigel Farage, Enoch Powell or Nick Griffin. Look at the ITV News article on the Ambulance service pressures - this is what’s important. It’s not wrong to discuss immigration sensibly but the Conservatives and particularly Braverman aren’t capable - it’s all arbitrary targets irrespective of the economy/NHS. Le Tissier will end up presenting it tomorrow night - his far right, vile conspiracy theory views will fit right in with the current BBC CEO and Sunak/Braverman.

Spot on for me, had respect for the 1980s, 90s and some of the 2000s generation (Hague as he’s got older rather than Dracula or IDS) but there’s little talent there now, most of it was culled 2016-19. Trousers - I won’t shed any tears for the Tories destroying themselves but this latest fiasco on top of the Truss/IEA disaster in the summer we are still paying for fucks with the country’s reputation as the Iraq War did under Blair.

Another important sign of the country’s infrastructure and economic prospects in sharp decline - in 2005 the UK was in the top 3 globally for computing after the US and Japan. Today, we are struggling to stay in the top 10 with the likes of Finland and Russia having shot past us. Yet Sunak and Donelan are still not committing to the EU’s Horizon Europe R&D programme where collaboration would help close some of the gap built up over 13 years and instead of also outlining plans to work more closely through other mechanisms with non-EU partners such as Japan, we have this stupid focus on stopping boats which will achieve nothing of the sort and has actually been worsened by cross-channel cooperation breaking down post-Brexit. Meanwhile, we have an NHS short of 1.3m clinical and allied vacancies whilst the obsession with meaningless net migration targets goes on, copying Griffin, Tyndall and Farage’s agenda. Pubs and restaurants get can’t enough skilled staff and crops go unpicked. The computing is not just an economic performance issue, our borders are virtual as much as the 1945 view of them physically depicted by Braverman and the tabloids, or as the ERG see NI. I’m a pragmatist and if the evidence pointed to the Tories providing a more effective and efficient country, I’d vote for them. There’s no evidence of that at all, but plenty of soaring costs of living, hospitality and service sector stagnant, financial services hobbled, housing crisis worsened by the Truss/IEA horror experiment, NHS in a far worse state than 2010, public services in ruins, the union in a total mess, and international leverage and soft power cut with slashed budgets for British Council and BBC. Brexiteers love British exceptionalism - well, there ain’t much exceptional any longer after 13 years of dog whistle shit.

Tick tock - do what you promised Suella. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-64736839

I agree that it was a tad patronising to Hampshire and ignores the 1980s sides which won the Sunday League and runners up in 4 day with stars like Marshall, Gower, Greenidge, Smith bros, Terry combined with some local talent. Plus the 1973 title winning side - I don’t think Barry Richards, Peter Sainsbury and co would like being called amateur. The journalists’ perspective may come from the alleged heavy drinking culture in the late 1990s. Warne was rumoured to be part of that too but he instilled a professionalism and toughness with it plus investment from Rod and the new ground which made Hampshire one of the top established sides eventually and accustomed to winning trophies. The derbies with Sussex in the Adams/Mushtaq era were something to behold! In one of Peter Wiley’s match reports he cited a ‘Test Match’ intensity and atmosphere. He was no shrinking violet as a player so I bet he was enjoying it. On a more practical level, Vince hasn’t really fired in the Bangladesh ODI series, only 38 in a dead rubber really.