Continuation General UK Politics III - Dumb and Dumber

[Vixen]

While the eyes of the world are elsewhere:

Quote:

Liz Truss’s most senior adviser has been interviewed by FBI agents about an alleged criminal plot to bribe an American politician and influence a US election. Mark Fullbrook is the Downing Street chief of staff — the prime minister’s main aide with a leading role in shaping government strategy. He ran Truss’s leadership campaign and has advised foreign governments and prime ministers including Boris Johnson, Margaret Thatcher and Sir John Major.

Today it can be revealed that he was involved in an alleged conspiracy to subvert the democracy of Puerto Rico, the US-administered Caribbean island. Prosecutors have said those responsible “struck a blow to the heart of our democracy” and “eroded the confidence of our citizens in their institutions of governance”.

TIMES

Liz Truss is heavily backed by the ERG bankrolled by the Mercer family. The billionaire extreme right from the US who bankrolls Trump, Johnson and Brexit.

Joe Biden has cancelled the first major meeting Truss was going to have in her premiership. Some say Biden is 'too tired' after his long journey to London for the state funeral of the Queen. PR says the meeting has been rearranged for Wednesday at the UN AG in the US. Some say snub because of Northern Ireland. It does seem rude to disinvite oneself, given the arrangements that will have gone into it at Downing Street, security and vetting and what have you.

In other news - Nadine Dorries had deleted her 161K followers Twitter account. Possibly because she doesn't want to ruin her chances of getting the peerage via Boris, which has to be approved by the selection committee.

She'll probably be back as @baronessdorries.

[jeremyp]

Originally Posted by The Don

Sadly, the falling pound will create its own inflationary pressures.

But might offset a little the Brexit imposed hobbling of our export business.

[The Don]

Yes, it looks like unfettered bonuses (and the irresponsible risk taking that goes with them) will once again be a feature of the City of London:

Quote:

Prime Minister Liz Truss has said she was prepared to take "difficult decisions" such as removing a cap on bankers' bonuses to boost the economy.

In an interview with the BBC, Ms Truss admitted that spurring economic growth may mean doing unpopular things.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-62968072

The presumed intent is to attract business to London from other financial centres - or maybe simply to check the flow of jobs out of London. If London gains even more of a reputation for lax regulation then this could actually chase business away rather than to attract it.

[Garrison]

Aparently Truss said she is 'prepared to be unpopular', which is going to come a bit of a blow to the Conservative Party who were hoping she might improve their poll ratings, not tank them. These aren't difficult decisions, they are simply bad ones.

[Wudang]

Originally Posted by The Don

The presumed intent is to attract business to London from other financial centres

Which rather begs the question of what sort of business is attracted by lax financial controls, uncapped bonuses, and other such short term profits? Time to queue The Big Short on Netflix again.

[The Don]

Originally Posted by Wudang

Which rather begs the question of what sort of business is attracted by lax financial controls, uncapped bonuses, and other such short term profits? Time to queue The Big Short on Netflix again.

The kind that makes generous political donations and provides generous non-exec directorships.

[GlennB]

"Nearly 11 million people are now behind on their bills while more than 5 million have gone without food, according to new research that reveals Britons are skipping meals “just to keep the lights on”.

The figures, based on an Opinium survey of 2,000 UK adults in August, found 5.6 million have gone without food in the past three months as a result of the cost of living crisis.

This included skipping meals, eating once a day or not eating at all on some days.

Nearly 8 million people had sold a personal or household item to help cover bills, according to the poll." Link

I'm a regular on a few S Wales Facebook groups, and I'm seeing crazily cheap - and often weird - small items being offered for sale every day, and many of them. I strongly suspect it's people desparate for just a few ££. One guy had rounded up small hardware items from his junk (nuts+bolts, angle brackets, drill bits etc) and was selling them in lots at £1 each.

Hard to believe that things are this bad in a G7 country, but it seems to be true.

[The Don]

The UK's debt repayments are hitting record levels

Quote:

Soaring inflation led interest costs on UK government debt to hit a new record for August.

Interest due reached £8.2bn during the month, £1.5bn more than last year and the highest August figure since records began in 1997, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62977832

Our "fiscally responsible" UK Tory Government's response is to commit to £157bn in extra defence spending, an unknown amount of money to underwrite energy companies' profits (but at least £100bn) and to reduce taxes.

Quote:

It will also reportedly unveil £30bn of tax cuts in a mini-Budget on Friday.

Increasing debts will reduce confidence in the UK economy, force interest rates up and dig that hole deeper and deeper.

[Darat]

Originally Posted by GlennB

"Nearly 11 million people are now behind on their bills while more than 5 million have gone without food, according to new research that reveals Britons are skipping meals “just to keep the lights on”.

The figures, based on an Opinium survey of 2,000 UK adults in August, found 5.6 million have gone without food in the past three months as a result of the cost of living crisis.

This included skipping meals, eating once a day or not eating at all on some days.

Nearly 8 million people had sold a personal or household item to help cover bills, according to the poll." Link

I'm a regular on a few S Wales Facebook groups, and I'm seeing crazily cheap - and often weird - small items being offered for sale every day, and many of them. I strongly suspect it's people desparate for just a few ££. One guy had rounded up small hardware items from his junk (nuts+bolts, angle brackets, drill bits etc) and was selling them in lots at £1 each.

Hard to believe that things are this bad in a G7 country, but it seems to be true.

Which is why under the Tories we have seen such a push to increase the number of food banks, under Labour there were only a handful throughout the country, meaning hardly anyone could access one. Another Tory success.

[Carrot Flower King]

Truss has taken the lyrics of Radiohead's Electioneering (originally released in 1997) as an instruction manual, hasn't she?

[Darat]

Originally Posted by The Don

The UK's debt repayments are hitting record levels



https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62977832

Our "fiscally responsible" UK Tory Government's response is to commit to £157bn in extra defence spending, an unknown amount of money to underwrite energy companies' profits (but at least £100bn) and to reduce taxes.



Increasing debts will reduce confidence in the UK economy, force interest rates up and dig that hole deeper and deeper.

But Truss has said she will help those who are struggling, which is why bankers' bonuses will be uncapped and she is scrapping the NI increase. Which will mean the poorest earners will see a full 63p a MONTH more in their wage packet, yep you read that right 63p a month to help them cope with soaring bills, 3 million households throughout the country are sighing with relief knowing they are going to get that 63p a month. All thanks to the pledges she made to help the her struggling taxpayers, all 180,000 of them.

[Darat]

Originally Posted by Wudang

Which rather begs the question of what sort of business is attracted by lax financial controls, uncapped bonuses, and other such short term profits? Time to queue The Big Short on Netflix again.

None that are headquartered in the EU - apparently uncapped bonuses for EU based financial institutes are capped no matter what country they are earned in. (I'm not 100% certain of this - it was from a snatch of interview with a financial bod on the radio and I haven't been able to collaborate it.)

[Lothian]

Originally Posted by The Don

The UK's debt repayments are hitting record levels



https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62977832

Our "fiscally responsible" UK Tory Government's response is to commit to £157bn in extra defence spending, an unknown amount of money to underwrite energy companies' profits (but at least £100bn) and to reduce taxes.



Increasing debts will reduce confidence in the UK economy, force interest rates up and dig that hole deeper and deeper.

When the UK debt soared to 60% of GDP under Labour ('there's no money left' note) Tories labelled them irresponsible and unfit to manage the economy. It has under the Tories now increased to over 100% of GDP. That is before the huge UK Treasury handouts to Energy companies to allow them to pay the EU windfall taxes thus saving massive director and shareholder bonuses

[Vixen]

It is no surprise that the ERG wing of the Conservative Party are more gung-ho than ever in making sure their donors and City friends achieve maximum proceeds. However, where is the opposition? It is understandable perhaps that Keir Starmer wants to sack any Labour MP giving support to a picket line, given that he will be crucified Corbyn-style by the Murdoch/Barclay press and painted as an extreme revolutionary. Starmer now also wants to open future Labour Party conferences with a rousing rendition of 'God Save Our Gracious King!'; presumably in place of the traditional 'Red Flag'.

Yes, that might be Labour's best chance of getting into power by imitating the Tories, as Tony Bliar discovered. My question is, why would a typical working class householder in the UK, perhaps as a nurse or rail worker voting to go on strike, and with the average £8,000 in unsecured debt (credit cards, bank loans, hire purchase, car financing) as per figures from a few years ago (probably higher now), facing enormous energy bills, want to vote for the 'poor man's Conservative' in Keir Starmer, when they can vote for full-throated walking talking Thatcherite thing in Liz Truss?

[Vixen]

Originally Posted by GlennB

"Nearly 11 million people are now behind on their bills while more than 5 million have gone without food, according to new research that reveals Britons are skipping meals “just to keep the lights on”.

The figures, based on an Opinium survey of 2,000 UK adults in August, found 5.6 million have gone without food in the past three months as a result of the cost of living crisis.

This included skipping meals, eating once a day or not eating at all on some days.

Nearly 8 million people had sold a personal or household item to help cover bills, according to the poll." Link

I'm a regular on a few S Wales Facebook groups, and I'm seeing crazily cheap - and often weird - small items being offered for sale every day, and many of them. I strongly suspect it's people desparate for just a few ££. One guy had rounded up small hardware items from his junk (nuts+bolts, angle brackets, drill bits etc) and was selling them in lots at £1 each.

Hard to believe that things are this bad in a G7 country, but it seems to be true.

There has always been a desperately poor underclass in the UK. What is interesting is that far from getting better, things are getting worse and concealed firstly under the guise of 'covid' and now Ukraine. However, the UK only gets 4% of its energy from Russia - a much smaller portion than most of Europe - yet the increase in energy bills is set to be at least 215%. Compare and contrast to the much much smaller percentage increase in European countries that have relied on Russia more.

The figures do not add up. The government didn't care about large numbers of the population dying (less state pension to pay out for the elderly) so it certainly won't care about the large numbers who will die directly or indirectly should there be an exceptionally cold winter this year.

[Vixen]

Originally Posted by Darat

But Truss has said she will help those who are struggling, which is why bankers' bonuses will be uncapped and she is scrapping the NI increase. Which will mean the poorest earners will see a full 63p a MONTH more in their wage packet, yep you read that right 63p a month to help them cope with soaring bills, 3 million households throughout the country are sighing with relief knowing they are going to get that 63p a month. All thanks to the pledges she made to help the her struggling taxpayers, all 180,000 of them.

It means they will go out and spend it to support the local high streets. All that extra disposable income in people's pockets means inflation will be beaten resoundingly!

[The Don]

Originally Posted by Vixen

There has always been a desperately poor underclass in the UK. What is interesting is that far from getting better, things are getting worse and concealed firstly under the guise of 'covid' and now Ukraine. However, the UK only gets 4% of its energy from Russia - a much smaller portion than most of Europe - yet the increase in energy bills is set to be at least 215%. Compare and contrast to the much much smaller percentage increase in European countries that have relied on Russia more.

The figures do not add up. The government didn't care about large numbers of the population dying (less state pension to pay out for the elderly) so it certainly won't care about the large numbers who will die directly or indirectly should there be an exceptionally cold winter this year.

It goes a lot further back than that. Wealth and income inequality started to grow again as soon as the coalition government started their Austerity Programme back in 2010/11.

A large underclass in the UK is also a feature, not a bug. An underclass is tolerant of poverty wages and dangerous working conditions whilst at the same time being easy to disengage politically. The two enemies of this approach are education and organised labour and the government continues to strive to hollow out both of these.

The ridiculous prices for energy in the UK are down to our "unique" (IMO broken) energy market in which everyone has to pay the highest marginal price for both raw fuel and electricity making sure that profits are maximised. The UK Government doesn't really care if poor people can afford to heat their homes, but they are concerned that elderly middle class people who form the core of Conservative support might find their finances squeezed.

[3point14]

Isn't the goal to transfer as much public money to their mates while similtaneously ******* up the UK economy so bad that the worst of it happens during a brief four year labour (or, under starmer, tory lite) govenment and then we get Tory rule for another glorious 20 years?

[Vixen]

Cost of Living Crisis Continued

I am laughing at this announcement today, to be officially revealed tomorrow by the Chancellor in his 'mini-budget':

"Announcing today's three new measures, Rees-Mogg said the new £100 payment would help households into the winter." [for oil heating users]

LOL these 'toffs' really believe the peasants think a hundred pounds is a huge sum of money. Don't spend it all at once, dear.

[GlennB]

More Truss bollocks shown to be bollocks already ...

"Fracking in the UK will be impossible at any meaningful scale and will not help with the energy price crisis, the founder of the UK’s first fracking company has warned."

"Liz Truss, the prime minister, has made clear she supports fracking and will lift the moratorium that has been in place since 2019, though it remains to be seen where and how sites will be licensed. She has said she hopes to see gas from fracked sites as soon as six months from now."

Full story

[Mojo]

Originally Posted by 3point14

Isn't the goal to transfer as much public money to their mates…

Dunno about the rest, but that seems to have been the plan for quite some time.

[Carrot Flower King]

Originally Posted by GlennB

More Truss bollocks shown to be bollocks already ...

"Fracking in the UK will be impossible at any meaningful scale and will not help with the energy price crisis, the founder of the UK’s first fracking company has warned."

"Liz Truss, the prime minister, has made clear she supports fracking and will lift the moratorium that has been in place since 2019, though it remains to be seen where and how sites will be licensed. She has said she hopes to see gas from fracked sites as soon as six months from now."

Full story

Well, you can't expect someone who, apparently, studied economics but doesn't understand how it works to get their head round geology, especially UK-ian geology, which is officially sodding complicated.

[The Don]

Fracking ban lifted, the race to the bottom continues.

Quote:

The government has formally announced it is lifting the ban on fracking in a statement by Jacob Rees-Mogg.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-62982332

As pointed out upthread, the justification is to address the energy price crisis - which it won't do.

Usual Tory lies to enable their mates to make money at the expense of the public, the environment and worker safety.

[Darat]

Originally Posted by Carrot Flower King

Well, you can't expect someone who, apparently, studied economics but doesn't understand how it works to get their head round geology, especially UK-ian geology, which is officially sodding complicated.

Originally Posted by The Don

Fracking ban lifted, the race to the bottom continues.



https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-62982332

As pointed out upthread, the justification is to address the energy price crisis - which it won't do.

Usual Tory lies to enable their mates to make money at the expense of the public, the environment and worker safety.

It's as if they don't know what they are doing....

[The Don]

The Conservatives are going to fix the broken GP system in England:

Quote:

The government is promising to improve access to GPs, including same-day appointments for those that need them, as part of a new plan in England.

Health Secretary Thérèse Coffey will make the pledge as she unveils her NHS plan for this winter and next.

GPs will be able to take on extra staff, including senior nurses, while pharmacists will be asked to take on more work to free up appointments.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-62987823

Except it won't

Quote:

But GP leaders said the announcement would have a "minimal impact".

Just the usual headline generation without any underlying policy as can been clearly seen from this:

Quote:

The promises on waiting times are not official targets, but Ms Coffey said they should be seen as clear expectations of what patients should be entitled to.

I suppose the hot air can be used to heat some public spaces.

[Darat]

Of course it won't make a difference - the issue is that we don't have enough GPs. And that is now entirely down to the Tories over the last 12 years not increasing the number of medical training places to keep up with demand. Even Jeremy Hunt has now realised this.....

We already have the con of non-GPs (ETA: physician associates couldn't remember their titles) - on of course much less - taking GP appointments in many practices to try and make it look like we have more GPs, trying to shift more of the burden to pharmacists - and again we have a shortage of those, to 111 and so on.

It is amazing that cutting public services for the last 12 years results in a reduced capacity - who would have thought?

[The Don]

Originally Posted by Darat

Of course it won't make a difference - the issue is that we don't have enough GPs. And that is now entirely down to the Tories over the last 12 years not increasing the number of medical training places to keep up with demand. Even Jeremy Hunt has now realised this.....

We already have the con of non-GPs (ETA: physician associates couldn't remember their titles) - on of course much less - taking GP appointments in many practices to try and make it look like we have more GPs, trying to shift more of the burden to pharmacists - and again we have a shortage of those, to 111 and so on.

It is amazing that cutting public services for the last 12 years results in a reduced capacity - who would have thought?

....and none of this works. 111 never pick up and nurse practitioners simple refer you to the local A&E for a 12+ hour wait.

Same with Pharmacists, they may be able to head off some of the "worried well" but if you're really sick/injured then they'll refer you back to your GP and/or A&E.

As you, and other posters, have pointed out, the purpose is to break the NHS so the profitable bits can be flogged off to mates and donors whilst the taxpayer underwrites the large risks.

[Vixen]

Originally Posted by Carrot Flower King

Well, you can't expect someone who, apparently, studied economics but doesn't understand how it works to get their head round geology, especially UK-ian geology, which is officially sodding complicated.

'Apparently' being the operative word. It is well known that PPE is one of those degrees that only skims the surface of Politics, Philosophy and Economics. (Rather like 'History of Art', popular with the aristocratic types, too dim to read History but not talented enough to do Fine Art.)

ETA One wonders how Truss ever passed her accountancy exams. I am guessing she had in-house markers (at Shell) who gave her lots of 'sympathy' points for her sheer stupidity (and for giving the marker a good laugh).

[Vixen]

Originally Posted by The Don

Fracking ban lifted, the race to the bottom continues.



https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-62982332

As pointed out upthread, the justification is to address the energy price crisis - which it won't do.

Usual Tory lies to enable their mates to make money at the expense of the public, the environment and worker safety.

I read that over a hundred licences have already been issued. It is sheer greed. When I did my accountancy exams there was actually a case study about fracking and it was all about sheer greed. We had to calculate all the maximum and optimal scenarios, how to deal with rivals, how to protect one's own share; as if anyone is going to hit an oil well any time soon! Whoever set that case study was clearly a deluded swivel-eyed lunatic tory.

Far better to drill to the earth's crust for alternative means of geothermal energy.

[Vixen]

Originally Posted by The Don

....and none of this works. 111 never pick up and nurse practitioners simple refer you to the local A&E for a 12+ hour wait.

Same with Pharmacists, they may be able to head off some of the "worried well" but if you're really sick/injured then they'll refer you back to your GP and/or A&E.

As you, and other posters, have pointed out, the purpose is to break the NHS so the profitable bits can be flogged off to mates and donors whilst the taxpayer underwrites the large risks.

I realised how bad the NHS was when I came here. For years I was just picking up repeat prescriptions for the same old inhalers (for asthma). Here, the doctors took a lot of trouble to diagnose my issue properly. I am now on a far superior course of treatment and my symptoms have more or less vanished. In the UK, I just saw an asthma nurse now and then who asked routine questions and perhaps took blood pressure. I have to pay a certain amount for prescriptions but it is worth every penny. I get a kela discount (kela - Finnish version of DHSS).

[The Don]

Originally Posted by Vixen

I realised how bad the NHS was when I came here. For years I was just picking up repeat prescriptions for the same old inhalers (for asthma). Here, the doctors took a lot of trouble to diagnose my issue properly. I am now on a far superior course of treatment and my symptoms have more or less vanished. In the UK, I just saw an asthma nurse now and then who asked routine questions and perhaps took blood pressure. I have to pay a certain amount for prescriptions but it is worth every penny. I get a kela discount (kela - Finnish version of DHSS).

The NHS is incredibly variable, especially because the entry point for most people is their GP which is a standalone business with all that entails in terms of levels of service.

What you describe is the level of service that my late father used to have in a small town where he knew the GPs personally. They took the time to discuss his (numerous) symptoms, not all of which were psychosomatic and prescribe (or otherwise) accordingly. Heck, they still did home visits up until he died in 2019. The surgery in a local village seems to offer a similar level of service - it's rare.

We're signed up to the local town practice and it takes days to get any kind of GP consult and even then it'll likely be with a nurse practitioners. They're frankly overwhelmed by "frequent fliers" like Daddy Don.

The UK has the perfect storm of rapidly ageing GPs attempting to treat a rapidly aging population. Planned consultation times have been shrunk to meet targets but this simply means that GPs fall further and further behind and working more and more unpaid overtime. If I was a newly qualified doctor, there's no way on Earth I'd consider General Practice. Then again working in A&E is hardly attractive either.

[Carrot Flower King]

Originally Posted by Vixen

I realised how bad the NHS was when I came here. For years I was just picking up repeat prescriptions for the same old inhalers (for asthma). Here, the doctors took a lot of trouble to diagnose my issue properly. I am now on a far superior course of treatment and my symptoms have more or less vanished. In the UK, I just saw an asthma nurse now and then who asked routine questions and perhaps took blood pressure. I have to pay a certain amount for prescriptions but it is worth every penny. I get a kela discount (kela - Finnish version of DHSS).

If Finland had had the equivalent of the Thatcher and Major governments and then the shower we've had since 2010 the picture would be very different.

A lot of the current problems of the NHS were designed in during the late '80s with the formation of trusts, the purchaser/provider split, the removal of any strategic planning, the introduction of various things which lead to incredibly short-term thinking, i.e. the length of a manager's 2 year contract if you are lucky. And then funding was reduced at the same time or release of money was tied to conditions so ridiculous that they couldn't be met, not to mention the enforced return on capital to the DoH which came with trust status.

We had some improvement during the Blair/Brown years, as money was spent, some of the systems were improved, but that was just making up for the damage done since 1979. Even then, some of that built in future problems: PFI. OK, that was originally a Major idea, but Brown exploited it to the full in order to keep NHS capital expenditure off the public accounts, so he wasn't laid open to criticism of "Labour tax and spend! Labour always borrow too much!" and the like. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Then since 2010 it has been all down hill, with deliberate cuts to funding, deliberate reduction in clinical posts, deliberate reductions in clinical training places, and all'n'all.

All of which the public ignores or forgets when they vote: if you want a functioning NHS do NOT vote Tory. It's quite simple: one party values the NHS, the other doesn't. I'm really not sure about the Lib Dems, as they were gleeful partners in "austerity" and the Orange Book would suggest they weren't too fond of public provision, but other things make me think they like the NHS.

GP appointment systems can be made to work quickly - our GP is pretty good in this regard - with few problems in getting an appointment if you need one. They use a phone triage system, which does have its issues, like being next to useless if you are at work, but is effective for everyone else, so it does "manage" a big chunk of their work.

Oh, I could go on about the very deliberate decisions made, the development of very specific management cultures, condoned by the DoH and their political bosses, designed to stifle any alternative view points and remove dissenters, but...

Essentially we've got what the British public apparently wanted, as they've voted for those governments knowing what they would do.

[Carrot Flower King]

It's no wonder we are up faecal matter beck without a means of propulsion, as this - https://www.independent.co.uk/busine...-b2172480.html - is the level of "thinking" which senior Tories are capable of.

Hi, Simon! Remember what Macmillan said? "Events, dear boy, events..."

[Wudang]

Originally Posted by Carrot Flower King

I'm really not sure about the Lib Dems, as they were gleeful partners in "austerity" and the Orange Book would suggest they weren't too fond of public provision, but other things make me think they like the NHS.

My perception, which may be wrong, is that the Lib Dems are a mix of social and economic liberals and the intersection is small enough they don't seem to like to talk about. They get recruits by being generally pretty good at small town or neighbourhood issues but as you get closer to national level the economically liberal seem to gain sway.

[Nessie]

BJs first speech as a back bench MP.

https://twitter.com/Daily_Record/sta...88549670252544

He praises the “inspirational leadership of Vladimir Putin”.

[Mojo]

Originally Posted by Nessie

BJs first speech as a back bench MP.

https://twitter.com/Daily_Record/sta...88549670252544

He praises the “inspirational leadership of Vladimir Putin”.

Compared with Boris’s, pretty much any leadership looks inspirational.

[Carrot Flower King]

Originally Posted by Wudang

My perception, which may be wrong, is that the Lib Dems are a mix of social and economic liberals and the intersection is small enough they don't seem to like to talk about. They get recruits by being generally pretty good at small town or neighbourhood issues but as you get closer to national level the economically liberal seem to gain sway.

I think you may be correct: the experience of friends in Sheffield (including Hallam) and Norwich (Golden Triangle) is that local Lib Dems would promise the moon on a stick which was often completely at odds with what either the national party or other local parties were saying, as long as it got some votes.

Round here they have kept very quiet since 2010 and we had a Lib Dem MP until 2015...

[Darat]

Originally Posted by Carrot Flower King

I think you may be correct: the experience of friends in Sheffield (including Hallam) and Norwich (Golden Triangle) is that local Lib Dems would promise the moon on a stick which was often completely at odds with what either the national party or other local parties were saying, as long as it got some votes.

Round here they have kept very quiet since 2010 and we had a Lib Dem MP until 2015...

Around here we had another example of the “nothing to do with us gov” cognitive-dissonance field. Amersham was a shock defeat for the Tories by the LibDems in the by-election of June 2021, locally the Lib Dem’s entire campaign was opposition to HS2.

It was the the Tory-Lib Dem coalition government that green lite HS2 in 2012.

[GlennB]

John Crace in The Guardian today, of Rees-Mogg and Coffey in particular: "Truly we are screwed." (Truss gets some honourable mentions)

[3point14]

Starmer continues to disappoint.

It's almost like both parties are offering the same thing...

https://skwawkbox.org/2022/09/22/lab...eat-pr-motion/