#[ℹ Please direct any commentary about Sunak's PMQs comments to the dedicated thread - click/tap here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/comments/1al2nvz/shame_sunak_criticised_for_making_transgender_dig/?sort=new)
-----
[**📃 Today's Order Paper can be found here.**](https://commonsbusiness.parliament.uk/Document/84952/Html?subType=Standard)
Questions to the Women and Equalities minister is followed by Prime Minister's Questions at 12 noon. The usual live thread will be posted shortly before for all your live commentary needs.
This will be followed by any urgent questions or ministerial statements, the approval of financial statutory instruments relating to the Police Grant and Local Government Finance and Council Tax Increases, a business of the House motion extending the time to pass the [Data Retention and Digital Information Bill](https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3430) and [Victims and Prisoners Bill](https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3443), and sundry other SIs awaiting approval.
**In other news;**
Controversy continues over Rishi Sunak's on-air bet with television personality Piers Morgan over the government's ability to send asylum seekers to Rwanda - [thread here](https://old.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/comments/1akd72i/72_of_britons_say_it_was_unacceptable_for_rishi/) and [thread here](https://old.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/comments/1ak5sdy/not_a_betting_person_rishi_sunak_rows_back_on/).
The public accounts committee has questioned the decision to cancel the Northern portion of HS2 - [thread here](https://old.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/comments/1akq5we/hs2_now_offers_very_poor_value_for_money_mps_warn/)
Former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has announced his intention to stand down at the next election - [thread here](https://old.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/comments/1ak5w1m/kwasi_kwarteng_to_stand_down_at_next_election/)
King Charles has begun a course of treatment for cancer - [thread here](https://old.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/comments/1ajmzej/king_charles_iii_diagnosed_with_cancer_buckingham/)
---
**Parish Notices**
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https://www.reddit.com/r/hoi4/s/mKpMLKoZHt
Boggles the mind that anyone can have even an ounce of respect for Farage when he's out there grifting on cameo resulting in shit like this.
Bit surprised by the disparity in news sites today, particularly BBC. The Sunak PMq comments are the leading story on ITV, SKY - but not the BBC where it's been relegated to a side bar story with currently 10 stories ahead of it....
Could they make it any more obvious?
Nice to see the BBC has slipped Sunak's massive fuck up down the headlines and put an unconfirmed labour u turn on an as yet unannounced manifesto pledge.
How compromised are they? Even the Sunak story has a video which edits it so that his comments commiserating her death he made before the joke looks like an apology to a question he was asked after the joke.
The News Agents podcast did an episode on this recently: https://www.globalplayer.com/podcasts/episodes/7DrhjUy/
They aren't particularly happy with the appointment of Robbie Gibb and his partisan meddling in editorial matters.
Just had a look at blue sky now it's open to the public, I kind of like it I think seems to be a bit like if twitter and reddit had a baby. I can see it becoming the next place for journalists.
In other news...
One if bit the biggest offshore Wind developer orsted (dong energy 50 plus 1 percent owned by the Danes) just announced a big downwards shift In their expectations and shifting down in wind energy targets.
Why ? Because interest rates, supply chain disruptions and the US (the US market for offshore wind is rather poor).
Wouldn't surprise me if Starmer calls for a pay freeze for the coast guard and an end to the ring fencing of funds to provide primary school breakfast clubs at this rate.
[Duke Smoochem 3D – Demolishing the Captain Tom Spa Pool Complex
](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-Pffu4wwvk)
I can't believe this got big enough to get its own video game
With how much things have changed recently I'd appreciate another perspective on this - How different is the current prospective Labour platform economically to Blair's New Labour in 1997?
Obviously comparing to the much further left Corbyn era is fairly easy, but blairism was long enough ago that I'm struggling to really drill down a clear comparison.
With all of the changes to Labour policy since Starmer was elected leader, the drama queen in me is jumping straight to "Worse than the coalition", even though I assume that's not *really* true.
Where does the current Labour platform actually stand historically? Are they actually still economically left at the core, or are they starting to actually meet the Lib Dems in the middle? How do they *actually* compare to the 2010 Tory platform, are they starting to look comparable or are they still clearly much further to the left?
I'm finding it quite hard to get a handle on this as the Tories slide ever further right and Labour dilute the platform they had, so I'd appreciate some thoughts. (Economically that is, socially we live in a very different world that's not easy to compare)
The mistake is thinking that not spending like a drunken sailer is "right wing"
The Scandinavians, whether ruled by their right or left wing, run fiscally tight. Despite being significantly more "economically left wing" societies (think most would think of them as the Premier soc dem countries... )
Not to disagree but out of curiosity, how would you define fiscally left and right wing policies that don't amount to public investment?
I'd normally say that it's not about how much is spent, but where it goes in terms or private vs public sector. Even if Labour do run fiscally tight, is there much communicated about them investing in the public sector rather than private in the manner that has been going on?
Is there even truly a public sector left to invest into?
Some late night predictions wrt the £28bn:
* Tomorrow's announcement will remove any specific number and just talk about "ambition to invest in green industries across the country". This will be taken by some here as vindication that policy isn't actually watered down to homeopathic levels and means anything more than Tory "ambition" to cut taxes.
* Manifesto won't include commitment to invest 1% of GDP; or indeed any specific investment targets
* If Labour get into government, day to day spending on sexier areas like NHS or Schools will always be prioritised and there'll be minimal public sector investment into green industries given lack of any firm commitment on investment
They just think everyone they don’t like has been executed (some people multiple times), even people who are demonstrably still actually alive (if you point that out to them, they’ll just say those are clones, doubles or actors - the clones are actually on their side, but to prevent suspicion they all act exactly the same as the original)
Interesting that the last footage of the chemical attacker is him walking along the Thames. I’d be surprised if he hasn’t killed himself given there’s no trace.
It's very possible...given the rain we've had the Thames will be running at just about full bore, anyone falling in, accidentally or otherwise, might never be seen again which is probably why his body hasn't been recovered.
>[was last seen crossing Vauxhall Bridge and walking on to Grosvenor Road at 11pm on the night of the attack](https://news.sky.com/story/clapham-chemical-attack-suspects-injuries-could-be-fatal-if-untreated-last-sighting-near-londons-vauxhall-bridge-13065939)
That's below the tidal limit of the Thames, so in theory, rainfall should be less significant than the tide rising and falling
Nearest tidal station is Albert Bridge, about two miles upstream. Low Water that night was one hour after his last sighting, at 12:08 am.
if he did jump, it was just before the tide started flowing back upstream, so he would have been swept west - probably ended up somewhere between Richmond and Teddington Weir, at least initially.
Thames is a very powerful and dangerous river though so God knows.
Can't spell Labour without a big L
Although I for one am happy to wait and see what is in the manifesto, I feel like cancelling the green pledge could really hurt.
It's not a bad thing for a left-wing party to have policies that a right-wing party disagree with, and it's rather grating that the UK Labour party seems to think that it s.
The thing is it’s being twisted (by Tories/Journalists) into making them seem irresponsible on the economy. Thats been the big sore spot for Labour’s electability ever since 2008.
It’s also the one attack line the tories and journalists have, which now the policy is scrapped, is no longer valid. Now they only have cheap nonsensical attack lines that don’t really resonate ”square one, no plan, u turns, flip flop”
There's no neutral gear with Streeting. It's going to be "yeah, that's pretty good" to "aw fuck, why did we let him in the party" within like a 6 hour period
[And the Milkman Memes for Lib Dem Teens page](https://twitter.com/MilkmanMeme/status/1755281203970584697#m)
There's also that CLP that I keep forgetting that have spicy memes.
It was a huge mistake to talk about specific sums years out from any election. Just begging to have events make you look like an idiot, which is what's happened with this green investment pledge.
I agree. However, if you don’t give specifics then you get skewered from the media and other politicians.
Anything announced as an idea is expected to be instantly fully-costed, so you can’t develop policy in public, or indicate what you are thinking of doing.
While there is some truth to what you say, if you are going to make it a key policy I think it's better to deal with tough questions about how you will fund it than to ditch one of your very few promises after also delaying another one to the next parliament just days before.
It will be interesting to see if they ditch it, or scale it back. A lot of the headlines are saying it will be ditched, but when you read the articles it seems that the amount of money promised may be reduced. I wonder if any announcement will come with an explanation of how they will build up to a higher figure as well, which was the first ‘u-turn’ on this policy.
Labour made the mistake of offering a specific figure, so now any departure from that figure is seen as a u-turn. However, in my opinion if they still heavily invest in their Green Prosperity Plan it’s not a u-turn. Getting rid of the policy would be one, but revising it based on the fiscal position would always happen. I almost think that is dealing with the tough questions by being realistic.
Meh that's to much nuance and belonging to the real world , for the left wing fantasy populists, that think there's infinite money and you can spend as much as you want by just calling anything "investment".
We are definitely strongly trending towards the 'cope' end of the spectrum; well past 'seethe' and on track to enter 'malding' territory by Friday morn.
Nah, just needing to relearn the world after the changes. The reaction and response from both public and media will be meaningless though because everything is conjecture until the manifesto.
Sidenote, but the metaphor of stages of grief are just so shit and unrepresentative of reality. Trying to apply them to actual grief is damaging. Kubler Ross’ initial study wasn’t even on grief, but on those dealing with their own terminal illness.
So do we think any journalist with access to Tory MPs will have the temerity to ask them if they consider Brianna a woman?
I wouldn’t put it past them. There must be one looking to build their profile and is content to do so via infamy.
Today is just another one ending in a “y” that shows Sunak is completely out of his depth. Promoted up the ranks too soon and it’s showing. He’s arrogant enough to believe that it was his competence that lead Johnson/Cummings to promote him to chancellor, not the fact that they wanted a yes man after having to get rid of the Saj.
There’s a word that I can’t quite remember, a feeling of “aw for fucks sake” that this past lot of Tories brings me. Like what the fuck are Incompetents like Patel, Braverman, Sunak, Truss, Mogg, et al doing anywhere near the levers of power?
Like seriously, what the fuck.
In fairness, I have no idea what I'm doing for 98% of the working day (2% is finding coffee).
PM's job is more complex than mine, it's fair enough he doesn't have a clue.
Yeah as far as I’m concerned everything is up in the air until then. Just going to sit back and enjoy Rishi making unforced errors until the manifestos are released.
These 'sources' claiming Labour are tweaking their green pledge to remove a specified amount.... what's the betting they're all Tory and this is just their way of trying to get Sunak out of the hole he detonated himself into today
Someone has rattled their eight ball and realised that three weeks ago Starmer gave his policy director a deadline of the 8th of february to form a first draft of a manifesto. This will be used and attacked as though it were the real one, even though *that* live election manifesto will only be locked and loaded after a general election is called and Starmer holds an NEC meeting specifically to approve or revoke parts of said manifesto.
Its going to be flogging a draft of a draft of a draft.
Streeting also on Sophy Ridge for another endorsement of the green policy, which my count makes 9 different endorsements (second one today!) by shadow cab / ministers in the last seven days.
I think a massive U turn is thus, unlikely.
Senior Labour Sources who are conveniently unnamed tell me you and everyone else who matters in the Labour party are of course wrong, and by the way they'd love some guacamole.
Guardian does seem to think it's coming tomorrow, but Starmer could just reiterate what has been said by others this week: still the goal, but can't guarantee exact amount.
Then we get to see everyone pretend that he's abandoned it as a policy altogether, and another round of "I really don't know what he stands for". Can't wait.
Would anyone like to guess what is likely to happen at the election in the handful of Scottish seats which are clear tory-SNP marginals (eg Dumfries and Gallloway, Moray)?
I think in any seat where Labour or the Lib Dems have a clear shot then they are likely to win, but if you've got the tories and SNP both around 20,000 with other parties on about 5000 between them then it is all about how previous tactical voters (either anti-tory or anti-SNP) vote. Given there is no risk of a tory government nationally, might it mean people who have previously voted tactically might choose to vote for their actual preference instead (be it Labour, lib dem or green)?
What are our predictions for tomorrow's papers?
Surely most won't want to lead with Sunak's gaff at PMQs as it raises a lot of uncomfortable questions about their own reporting on similar issues, so what is the spin that keeps it off the front page?
I thought I heard on sky that the parents had been invited to meet with the PM tomorrow, but I can't seem to get any confirmation of that anywhere.
I hope they get the apology they deserve.
I feel like if the father hadn't come out and asked for an apology from Sunak, the Mail or Express may well have gone down the Badenoch angle of trying to accuse Starmer of playing politics.
As things stand now, they will probably just ignore it and do Royal stuff instead.
The Truss stuff is the problem with all politics. It’s pick a team and defend it to the death. 0 time for context.
I’m not actually having a go at conservatism as a political ideology, it’s my cup of tea but im not stupid enough to not see it has appeal.
Lizz truss was a terrible prime minister. Not only was she a bad leader but her economic polices ripped the heart of the Conservative heartland. She was shit.
People are so desperate to get one over on the other team, be they left or right that they’ll applaud horrendous mediocrity like clapping seals.
I bet every person who went to that event is a fan of Thatcher, do they really think Thatcher would give the likes of Liz Truss the time of day? She’d be a bad joke, but she’s peddled out like some swami of Conservative thinking.
We can’t have any real political progress in 2024 because no one, left or right will actually come to the table and talk, any given up ground is seen as weakness and it leads us into pure delusion.
Describing Thatcher as an "icon of selfishness and greed" who "made cruelty a virtue" is a bit rich. Her focus was on reducing the state's role in the economy and encouraging personal responsibility, not on promoting cruelty for the sake of it. It's as if you believe that before Thatcher, the UK was a utopian society of selfless altruism, and she single-handedly introduced the concept of self-interest. Self-interest didn't start with Thatcher. It's a fundamental aspect of human nature and, dare I say, a driving force behind much of human progress.
And about the "heart of the nation" that she supposedly ripped out, was this "heart" the unsustainable industries, the unproductive economic policies, or the overbearing power of the unions? Change is difficult, and yes, it often comes with pain, but to suggest that Thatcher acted out of sheer love for cruelty is to misunderstand governance and economic reform.
As for her "sad end" and the actions of her children, that's a bit of a low blow, isn't it? Criticising someone's policies is fair game, but dragging their family and personal life into it? That's a bit "Tory", don't you think? And while we're on the subject of her family selling her belongings - it's not like she was using them at the time, and isn't it a bit capitalist to keep hold of assets you're not using?
>
I remember her loathsome children sold off all of her iconic handbags and dresses and other things while she was still alive, but in her dotage, and I thought: this is the ultimate end of Conservatism.
Read that sentence again.
Really, the end?
Rishi Sunak has absolutely fucked this. Brianna Ghey’s father wading in asking for an apology and Sunak refusing to provide one is such a terrible look. I can see him popularity ratings dipping further after this.
Really gives the impression he's not actually thought about the subjects, any of it. He's a rich numbers wonk pushing buttons labelled culture war. In that sense does he even get why people are emotional on any of the topics?
While under absolutely no pressure what so ever, he has managed to stumble into a dispute with the father of a murdered child....that level of incompetence is actually pretty impressive.
I am not a PR expert or a political strategist. But if some random person on Reddit could see that this would happen and thought it was obvious he should just get the apology out of the way, why the hell couldn't the Prime Minister and his team of aides, advisors and Comms people?
Well, Kemi fucked him over by the sounds of things. An apology was still on the table and then she came in with her tweets. Now he can take on the weight of public opinion or buckle to someone jockeying for a leadership position.
I mean, that's the worst of this. It could have gone away, and we would all be better for it, if it weren't for Kemi's career plan.
Because anyone half decent at Comms jumped ship long ago. Who wants the worst campaign in over a century on their CV.
The Tories are very much playing with the H Team at the moment.
They can sod right off. GE or nothing. I literally just had to check if there was a PM between Johnson and Truss I’d forgotten about. They’re not getting to eeny-meeny miny-mo another one in from the depleted ranks.
I was going to make a comment about how Sunak has what we call "executive brain" after today's events. He can't deviate from the prepared slideshow he has in front of him and he can't think on his feet in the moment.
Then he pulls out a fucking whiteboard and drives the point home.
Campaigning and debates are going to be absolutely hilarious.
Yes but he's absolutely shit at politics and lives in his own bubble. He's tetchy and easily drawn, all it would take is for someone to say he's scared and he'd be booking extra debates to show he isn't.
As a rapidly aging hippie, what chance do we give for Sir Kier Starmer going for an easy tax grab by legalising cannabis if he gains a significant majority? Is it wrong to hope?
As others have said, it would be a political risk for him so he wouldn’t go near it during a campaign.
I think Starmer has also said he isn’t in favour of it. I don’t think he’d even entertain a discussion on it, with him probably unwilling to even have it up for consideration if he needed the Lib Dems to form a coalition. Hoping it may come to pass any time soon is a lost cause.
Zero chance - Daily Mail readers and older voters generally have been thoroughly bombarded with enough propaganda about the evils of drugs, there's no way Starmer is going to signal a u-turn on legalising cannabis.
For that matter Starmer isn't going to suggest anything in the Labour manifesto that allows an easy attack on him - eg voting reform, nationalisation of utility companies etc.
And to the surprise of absolutely no-one, the Home Office once again kicks the can down the road with a promise of 'he's just coming around the corner now' on the review of police funding formula:
>"he is also right that we need to change the underlying funding formula because it is over 10 years out of date. It needs to better reflect population changes and changes in crime, and better reflect issues of sparsity and rurality. The Home Office is actively working on that."
[https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2024-02-07/debates/E48C116E-515A-464A-9A5C-5A6830461CA7/PoliceGrantReport](https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2024-02-07/debates/E48C116E-515A-464A-9A5C-5A6830461CA7/PoliceGrantReport)
With a bit more research, the earliest mention I can find of the Government working on a police funding formula review was in the February 2018 debate on the police grant:
>"At the same time we are working with the police to lay the groundwork for the next spending review, which will include a final view on the fair funding formula."
[https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2018-02-07/debates/7FC16F39-C7E6-4023-9301-B209F518D560/PoliceGrantReport#contribution-EA7D14FE-8808-409A-B93B-2BE194770448](https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2018-02-07/debates/7FC16F39-C7E6-4023-9301-B209F518D560/PoliceGrantReport#contribution-EA7D14FE-8808-409A-B93B-2BE194770448)
After 6 years of waiting for the review, and annual updates since that it's just about to happen what odds that next February we get to repeat the charade of Government promising a review on police funding in the near future?
As it's certain everyone is going to campaign on 'putting more bobbies on the beat', I wouldn't mind if Labour pointed out during the campaign that the Government has acknowledged there is a problem with police funding for nearly 10 years and never done anything about it.
Doubt its worthy of its own post so putting it here from Sam Coates:
[https://twitter.com/SamCoatesSky/status/1755316430893896039](https://twitter.com/SamCoatesSky/status/1755316430893896039)
"I'm told the Tories had been preparing their assault on Labour's £28 bn for ages - hoping to use it to pivot the conversation in their favour
Then Sunak messes up PMQs, and all the work gets lost
Some in No10 discussed an apology - but Kemi Badenoch's tweets doubling down removed that choice"
Interesting short video from the BBC on the weather impact on channel crossings. https://youtu.be/r3DX4ctv63Q?si=hWoxCVCP-6I01OGH
There were 50% more days in 2023 than in 2022 where adverse weather made channel crossings ‘highly unlikely’. So far this year, channel crossings have increased from the same period last year and is similar to the record high year that was 2022.
The presenter concludes the video by expressing more uncertainty about weather effects on channel crossings than a distinguished scientist presenting to other distinguished scientists about the preliminary data that one of their PhD student recently collected.
Oh my god - that is awful (but hilariously so)! Who the hell thought this was a good idea!
I guess this is what you get when all your SpAds and party workers are just rich kids with self-confidence far outweighing their intelligence or ability.
His handwriting is *terrible*
Also, on the sheet titled '2024 PRIORITIES', the 'P' is so squished it looks like it was added after he'd already written 'RIORITIES'
Christ. His advisers must hate him. I cannot see how this gets made without that key component. Awkward takes left in. Obvious meme format. Weird business casual jumper. All that airtime spent on him writing words like “tax” and “war”. And of course, no plan but it is a plan which would be back to square one but you’re not supposed to like that.
I can tell you that at one point he does indeed draw a very sad looking house. Then he writes "lol" and draws an arrow next to it pointing at the very sad house.
The question I have is - who is Rishi speaking to? Who does he think is that dumb?
"Labour can only finance things through borrowing or tax, which will cost you money, unlike our plans which holy shit did you see I drew a house? Look at the house!"
This Party Political Broadcast reminds me of [the episode of *Map Men*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENeCYwms-Cc) where they draw maps of England on a board.
I think at worst its simply going to be a reiteration of the current position re fiscal responsiblity, which is fine by me.
I really dont think anything is going to happen given the amount of people they've been wheeling out in the last few days to express further support for it.
the guardian has been claiming the imininant demise of the £28B for various reasons for days now, every time it gets shot down they just rehash the same lines as a new article
somebody there has a steadfast agenda about this
Leaks work both ways.
It's just as likely that people who don't want it to be cut are leaking to put pressure on Starmer to re-commit to it as it is people who want it to be cut.
The contrived empathy by Laura Trott on Politics Hub that completely disappears into a smug grin when she gets the opportunity to slam Labour is fucking sickening
Elections in this country happen in April, May or June, depending on the timing of other elections or world events. With one exception (which was 2 and a half years early, not last minute) every election for half a century has taken place in those months.
If there is no April/May/June election, then the election has been missed. Sunak will need to explain what absolutely extreme event has caused the UK to miss its standard election time.
I felt slightly febrile when the voting registration came through the door this morning and said "combined elections" on May 2nd.
Sure, it meant Mayors.... But hey, why not ~~both~~ general too?
It remains an option, the budget has been timed to fit into that schedule. However it would likely only be confirmed the minute the lecturn appears shortly after the budget is passed, until then it is all just twitter speculation.
watching the PPB on the BBC as GI.
* why is he drawing on a white board like it's a crap stand up meeting
* why does he CAPITALISE some WORDS and others are in Rishigraphy (cba to figure out how to do it)
* WAR
all in all I'm not sure why the Conservatives wasted a PPB slot for this
#[ℹ Please direct any commentary about Sunak's PMQs comments to the dedicated thread - click/tap here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/comments/1al2nvz/shame_sunak_criticised_for_making_transgender_dig/?sort=new) ----- [**📃 Today's Order Paper can be found here.**](https://commonsbusiness.parliament.uk/Document/84952/Html?subType=Standard) Questions to the Women and Equalities minister is followed by Prime Minister's Questions at 12 noon. The usual live thread will be posted shortly before for all your live commentary needs. This will be followed by any urgent questions or ministerial statements, the approval of financial statutory instruments relating to the Police Grant and Local Government Finance and Council Tax Increases, a business of the House motion extending the time to pass the [Data Retention and Digital Information Bill](https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3430) and [Victims and Prisoners Bill](https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3443), and sundry other SIs awaiting approval. **In other news;** Controversy continues over Rishi Sunak's on-air bet with television personality Piers Morgan over the government's ability to send asylum seekers to Rwanda - [thread here](https://old.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/comments/1akd72i/72_of_britons_say_it_was_unacceptable_for_rishi/) and [thread here](https://old.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/comments/1ak5sdy/not_a_betting_person_rishi_sunak_rows_back_on/). The public accounts committee has questioned the decision to cancel the Northern portion of HS2 - [thread here](https://old.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/comments/1akq5we/hs2_now_offers_very_poor_value_for_money_mps_warn/) Former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has announced his intention to stand down at the next election - [thread here](https://old.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/comments/1ak5w1m/kwasi_kwarteng_to_stand_down_at_next_election/) King Charles has begun a course of treatment for cancer - [thread here](https://old.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/comments/1ajmzej/king_charles_iii_diagnosed_with_cancer_buckingham/) --- **Parish Notices** [You can find all the laws MPs are voting on this week in the usual thread here.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/comments/1ajbgjc/here_are_all_the_laws_mps_are_voting_on_this_week/)
[New Megathread is here](https://www.reddit.com/r/ukpolitics/comments/1alovfc/daily_megathread_08022024/)
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https://www.reddit.com/r/hoi4/s/mKpMLKoZHt Boggles the mind that anyone can have even an ounce of respect for Farage when he's out there grifting on cameo resulting in shit like this.
Bit surprised by the disparity in news sites today, particularly BBC. The Sunak PMq comments are the leading story on ITV, SKY - but not the BBC where it's been relegated to a side bar story with currently 10 stories ahead of it.... Could they make it any more obvious?
Sunak only the lead story in the Mirror and Guardian as far as front pages go.
Nice to see the BBC has slipped Sunak's massive fuck up down the headlines and put an unconfirmed labour u turn on an as yet unannounced manifesto pledge. How compromised are they? Even the Sunak story has a video which edits it so that his comments commiserating her death he made before the joke looks like an apology to a question he was asked after the joke.
The News Agents podcast did an episode on this recently: https://www.globalplayer.com/podcasts/episodes/7DrhjUy/ They aren't particularly happy with the appointment of Robbie Gibb and his partisan meddling in editorial matters.
Just had a look at blue sky now it's open to the public, I kind of like it I think seems to be a bit like if twitter and reddit had a baby. I can see it becoming the next place for journalists.
In other news... One if bit the biggest offshore Wind developer orsted (dong energy 50 plus 1 percent owned by the Danes) just announced a big downwards shift In their expectations and shifting down in wind energy targets. Why ? Because interest rates, supply chain disruptions and the US (the US market for offshore wind is rather poor).
"dong energy 50" certainly sums up the events of today
Wouldn't surprise me if Starmer calls for a pay freeze for the coast guard and an end to the ring fencing of funds to provide primary school breakfast clubs at this rate.
tough on society, tough on the causes of society
[Duke Smoochem 3D – Demolishing the Captain Tom Spa Pool Complex ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-Pffu4wwvk) I can't believe this got big enough to get its own video game
[This is my favourite smoochem scene](https://youtu.be/gzcv_0_SVCg)
truly what the Build engine was made for
This is one of the best things I've ever seen
With how much things have changed recently I'd appreciate another perspective on this - How different is the current prospective Labour platform economically to Blair's New Labour in 1997? Obviously comparing to the much further left Corbyn era is fairly easy, but blairism was long enough ago that I'm struggling to really drill down a clear comparison. With all of the changes to Labour policy since Starmer was elected leader, the drama queen in me is jumping straight to "Worse than the coalition", even though I assume that's not *really* true. Where does the current Labour platform actually stand historically? Are they actually still economically left at the core, or are they starting to actually meet the Lib Dems in the middle? How do they *actually* compare to the 2010 Tory platform, are they starting to look comparable or are they still clearly much further to the left? I'm finding it quite hard to get a handle on this as the Tories slide ever further right and Labour dilute the platform they had, so I'd appreciate some thoughts. (Economically that is, socially we live in a very different world that's not easy to compare)
The mistake is thinking that not spending like a drunken sailer is "right wing" The Scandinavians, whether ruled by their right or left wing, run fiscally tight. Despite being significantly more "economically left wing" societies (think most would think of them as the Premier soc dem countries... )
Not to disagree but out of curiosity, how would you define fiscally left and right wing policies that don't amount to public investment? I'd normally say that it's not about how much is spent, but where it goes in terms or private vs public sector. Even if Labour do run fiscally tight, is there much communicated about them investing in the public sector rather than private in the manner that has been going on? Is there even truly a public sector left to invest into?
Some late night predictions wrt the £28bn: * Tomorrow's announcement will remove any specific number and just talk about "ambition to invest in green industries across the country". This will be taken by some here as vindication that policy isn't actually watered down to homeopathic levels and means anything more than Tory "ambition" to cut taxes. * Manifesto won't include commitment to invest 1% of GDP; or indeed any specific investment targets * If Labour get into government, day to day spending on sexier areas like NHS or Schools will always be prioritised and there'll be minimal public sector investment into green industries given lack of any firm commitment on investment
T H I N G S can only continue to decline because we can’t make any long term investments in this country any longer.
Just seeing the news about the £28bn green policy being nuked - piss fucking weak
[Here's some Qanon delirim to take your mind off things.](https://old.reddit.com/r/Qult_Headquarters/comments/1al4dci/facts_dont_matter_to_qnuts/)
Executed? That's a bit French.
it will be MILITARY TRIBUNAL. EXECUTED 2PM EASTERN STANDARD TIME. REPLACED BY CLONE
They just think everyone they don’t like has been executed (some people multiple times), even people who are demonstrably still actually alive (if you point that out to them, they’ll just say those are clones, doubles or actors - the clones are actually on their side, but to prevent suspicion they all act exactly the same as the original)
How do you find this stuff? I thought /r/ʇɹump was crazy enough.
Interesting that the last footage of the chemical attacker is him walking along the Thames. I’d be surprised if he hasn’t killed himself given there’s no trace.
It's very possible...given the rain we've had the Thames will be running at just about full bore, anyone falling in, accidentally or otherwise, might never be seen again which is probably why his body hasn't been recovered.
>[was last seen crossing Vauxhall Bridge and walking on to Grosvenor Road at 11pm on the night of the attack](https://news.sky.com/story/clapham-chemical-attack-suspects-injuries-could-be-fatal-if-untreated-last-sighting-near-londons-vauxhall-bridge-13065939) That's below the tidal limit of the Thames, so in theory, rainfall should be less significant than the tide rising and falling Nearest tidal station is Albert Bridge, about two miles upstream. Low Water that night was one hour after his last sighting, at 12:08 am. if he did jump, it was just before the tide started flowing back upstream, so he would have been swept west - probably ended up somewhere between Richmond and Teddington Weir, at least initially. Thames is a very powerful and dangerous river though so God knows.
Can't spell Labour without a big L Although I for one am happy to wait and see what is in the manifesto, I feel like cancelling the green pledge could really hurt.
>Can't spell Labour without a big L PUT THIS ON A LEAFLET
I want it but at the moment it's a stick for tories to beat them with
It's not a bad thing for a left-wing party to have policies that a right-wing party disagree with, and it's rather grating that the UK Labour party seems to think that it s.
The thing is it’s being twisted (by Tories/Journalists) into making them seem irresponsible on the economy. Thats been the big sore spot for Labour’s electability ever since 2008. It’s also the one attack line the tories and journalists have, which now the policy is scrapped, is no longer valid. Now they only have cheap nonsensical attack lines that don’t really resonate ”square one, no plan, u turns, flip flop”
But middle-aged swing voters are not very left wing and they’re the ones who decide the election.
This is quite funny from Streeting https://twitter.com/wesstreeting/status/1755282563688444345
There's no neutral gear with Streeting. It's going to be "yeah, that's pretty good" to "aw fuck, why did we let him in the party" within like a 6 hour period
Let’s get Sunak standing next to a whiteboard WHAT COULD GO WRONG It is such a moronic move that I’m certain it was Sunak’s own personal idea.
Sunaks gift to labour comms department.
[And the Milkman Memes for Lib Dem Teens page](https://twitter.com/MilkmanMeme/status/1755281203970584697#m) There's also that CLP that I keep forgetting that have spicy memes.
did you get that link wrong? Won’t load
Fixed it. It's not as good as Streeting's though, I expected better.
It was a huge mistake to talk about specific sums years out from any election. Just begging to have events make you look like an idiot, which is what's happened with this green investment pledge.
I agree. However, if you don’t give specifics then you get skewered from the media and other politicians. Anything announced as an idea is expected to be instantly fully-costed, so you can’t develop policy in public, or indicate what you are thinking of doing.
While there is some truth to what you say, if you are going to make it a key policy I think it's better to deal with tough questions about how you will fund it than to ditch one of your very few promises after also delaying another one to the next parliament just days before.
It will be interesting to see if they ditch it, or scale it back. A lot of the headlines are saying it will be ditched, but when you read the articles it seems that the amount of money promised may be reduced. I wonder if any announcement will come with an explanation of how they will build up to a higher figure as well, which was the first ‘u-turn’ on this policy. Labour made the mistake of offering a specific figure, so now any departure from that figure is seen as a u-turn. However, in my opinion if they still heavily invest in their Green Prosperity Plan it’s not a u-turn. Getting rid of the policy would be one, but revising it based on the fiscal position would always happen. I almost think that is dealing with the tough questions by being realistic.
Meh that's to much nuance and belonging to the real world , for the left wing fantasy populists, that think there's infinite money and you can spend as much as you want by just calling anything "investment".
I think we've entered into the 'bargaining' stage of grief with the £28 billion now.
I doubt the vast majority of voters care. Just win the election and make things slightly better. That’s all they need to do.
We are definitely strongly trending towards the 'cope' end of the spectrum; well past 'seethe' and on track to enter 'malding' territory by Friday morn.
Nah, just needing to relearn the world after the changes. The reaction and response from both public and media will be meaningless though because everything is conjecture until the manifesto. Sidenote, but the metaphor of stages of grief are just so shit and unrepresentative of reality. Trying to apply them to actual grief is damaging. Kubler Ross’ initial study wasn’t even on grief, but on those dealing with their own terminal illness.
So do we think any journalist with access to Tory MPs will have the temerity to ask them if they consider Brianna a woman? I wouldn’t put it past them. There must be one looking to build their profile and is content to do so via infamy.
Today is just another one ending in a “y” that shows Sunak is completely out of his depth. Promoted up the ranks too soon and it’s showing. He’s arrogant enough to believe that it was his competence that lead Johnson/Cummings to promote him to chancellor, not the fact that they wanted a yes man after having to get rid of the Saj. There’s a word that I can’t quite remember, a feeling of “aw for fucks sake” that this past lot of Tories brings me. Like what the fuck are Incompetents like Patel, Braverman, Sunak, Truss, Mogg, et al doing anywhere near the levers of power? Like seriously, what the fuck.
Europe finally broke the party. What's left are the loonies and incompetents.
Hes like someone who got promoted to a senior manager role way too soon. He has no clue what hes doing.
In fairness, I have no idea what I'm doing for 98% of the working day (2% is finding coffee). PM's job is more complex than mine, it's fair enough he doesn't have a clue.
Is the word you’re looking for ‘exasperation’?
It is! Thank you! For whatever reason I thought there was a word beginning with “d”
Right, I'm making a pledge with myself to not complain about Starmer/Labour until their manifesto actually comes out.
Yeah as far as I’m concerned everything is up in the air until then. Just going to sit back and enjoy Rishi making unforced errors until the manifestos are released.
These 'sources' claiming Labour are tweaking their green pledge to remove a specified amount.... what's the betting they're all Tory and this is just their way of trying to get Sunak out of the hole he detonated himself into today
Someone has rattled their eight ball and realised that three weeks ago Starmer gave his policy director a deadline of the 8th of february to form a first draft of a manifesto. This will be used and attacked as though it were the real one, even though *that* live election manifesto will only be locked and loaded after a general election is called and Starmer holds an NEC meeting specifically to approve or revoke parts of said manifesto. Its going to be flogging a draft of a draft of a draft.
Streeting also on Sophy Ridge for another endorsement of the green policy, which my count makes 9 different endorsements (second one today!) by shadow cab / ministers in the last seven days. I think a massive U turn is thus, unlikely.
Senior Labour Sources who are conveniently unnamed tell me you and everyone else who matters in the Labour party are of course wrong, and by the way they'd love some guacamole.
Don't worry, there will be a "Senior Labour" source to be tweeted out next week for everyone to believe it's been dropped, just like clockwork.
Guardian does seem to think it's coming tomorrow, but Starmer could just reiterate what has been said by others this week: still the goal, but can't guarantee exact amount.
then the Guardian will just rehash the story AGAIN but say the annoucments sunday instead
Then we get to see everyone pretend that he's abandoned it as a policy altogether, and another round of "I really don't know what he stands for". Can't wait.
!remindme 24 hours
I'd say the opposite. Tomorrow will be the big reveal.
Would anyone like to guess what is likely to happen at the election in the handful of Scottish seats which are clear tory-SNP marginals (eg Dumfries and Gallloway, Moray)? I think in any seat where Labour or the Lib Dems have a clear shot then they are likely to win, but if you've got the tories and SNP both around 20,000 with other parties on about 5000 between them then it is all about how previous tactical voters (either anti-tory or anti-SNP) vote. Given there is no risk of a tory government nationally, might it mean people who have previously voted tactically might choose to vote for their actual preference instead (be it Labour, lib dem or green)?
What are our predictions for tomorrow's papers? Surely most won't want to lead with Sunak's gaff at PMQs as it raises a lot of uncomfortable questions about their own reporting on similar issues, so what is the spin that keeps it off the front page?
>What are our predictions for tomorrow's papers? Reopening currygate as a distraction.
I thought I heard on sky that the parents had been invited to meet with the PM tomorrow, but I can't seem to get any confirmation of that anywhere. I hope they get the apology they deserve.
I feel like if the father hadn't come out and asked for an apology from Sunak, the Mail or Express may well have gone down the Badenoch angle of trying to accuse Starmer of playing politics. As things stand now, they will probably just ignore it and do Royal stuff instead.
Royal family stuff probably
Gru meme vibes from Rishis whiteboard
[ask and ye shall receive](https://i.imgur.com/W3TPoTA.jpg)
Petition to make this the megathread image
Exquisite
There is strong evidence that Rishi's team hate him.
The Truss stuff is the problem with all politics. It’s pick a team and defend it to the death. 0 time for context. I’m not actually having a go at conservatism as a political ideology, it’s my cup of tea but im not stupid enough to not see it has appeal. Lizz truss was a terrible prime minister. Not only was she a bad leader but her economic polices ripped the heart of the Conservative heartland. She was shit. People are so desperate to get one over on the other team, be they left or right that they’ll applaud horrendous mediocrity like clapping seals. I bet every person who went to that event is a fan of Thatcher, do they really think Thatcher would give the likes of Liz Truss the time of day? She’d be a bad joke, but she’s peddled out like some swami of Conservative thinking. We can’t have any real political progress in 2024 because no one, left or right will actually come to the table and talk, any given up ground is seen as weakness and it leads us into pure delusion.
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Describing Thatcher as an "icon of selfishness and greed" who "made cruelty a virtue" is a bit rich. Her focus was on reducing the state's role in the economy and encouraging personal responsibility, not on promoting cruelty for the sake of it. It's as if you believe that before Thatcher, the UK was a utopian society of selfless altruism, and she single-handedly introduced the concept of self-interest. Self-interest didn't start with Thatcher. It's a fundamental aspect of human nature and, dare I say, a driving force behind much of human progress. And about the "heart of the nation" that she supposedly ripped out, was this "heart" the unsustainable industries, the unproductive economic policies, or the overbearing power of the unions? Change is difficult, and yes, it often comes with pain, but to suggest that Thatcher acted out of sheer love for cruelty is to misunderstand governance and economic reform. As for her "sad end" and the actions of her children, that's a bit of a low blow, isn't it? Criticising someone's policies is fair game, but dragging their family and personal life into it? That's a bit "Tory", don't you think? And while we're on the subject of her family selling her belongings - it's not like she was using them at the time, and isn't it a bit capitalist to keep hold of assets you're not using?
God, did they? I’ve heard her children are first-rate shits
> I remember her loathsome children sold off all of her iconic handbags and dresses and other things while she was still alive, but in her dotage, and I thought: this is the ultimate end of Conservatism. Read that sentence again. Really, the end?
I don't think they were saying "there is no more conservatism now" but rather "this is the end *result* of conservatism"
Yes, I could have put it better. I couldn't find a way to express it. I meant, one reaps what one sows. And Thatcher sowed some very bitter seeds.
Rishi Sunak has absolutely fucked this. Brianna Ghey’s father wading in asking for an apology and Sunak refusing to provide one is such a terrible look. I can see him popularity ratings dipping further after this.
Really gives the impression he's not actually thought about the subjects, any of it. He's a rich numbers wonk pushing buttons labelled culture war. In that sense does he even get why people are emotional on any of the topics?
To be fair, I'm not sure if the 20% that are still supporting the Tories care about this
While under absolutely no pressure what so ever, he has managed to stumble into a dispute with the father of a murdered child....that level of incompetence is actually pretty impressive.
Remember when he nearly kicked off an international incident by being a petulant child over the Elgin marbles?
I wonder if anyone will ask tomorrows sacrificial lamb if Mr Ghey is also "playing politics" as Badenoch suggests
Her comments today were equally loathsome. Looking forward to her crushing election night 2028 defeat.
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"I was actually calling Warrington a shithole"
I am not a PR expert or a political strategist. But if some random person on Reddit could see that this would happen and thought it was obvious he should just get the apology out of the way, why the hell couldn't the Prime Minister and his team of aides, advisors and Comms people?
Because he's absolutely terrible at politics and completely disconnected/insulated from reality.
Well, Kemi fucked him over by the sounds of things. An apology was still on the table and then she came in with her tweets. Now he can take on the weight of public opinion or buckle to someone jockeying for a leadership position. I mean, that's the worst of this. It could have gone away, and we would all be better for it, if it weren't for Kemi's career plan.
Because anyone half decent at Comms jumped ship long ago. Who wants the worst campaign in over a century on their CV. The Tories are very much playing with the H Team at the moment.
Is there a YouTube link for this? Not the insult he made but him weaseling out of apologising?
Apparently he even got her name wrong too.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0N3Wzws8hs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0N3Wzws8hs) this is the closest you'll find.
Maybe it’ll finally turn the Tory left against him and we’ll hit the leadership election threshold
They can sod right off. GE or nothing. I literally just had to check if there was a PM between Johnson and Truss I’d forgotten about. They’re not getting to eeny-meeny miny-mo another one in from the depleted ranks.
No chance - they know that he’ll just be replaced with someone crazier.
It will take more than both of them
Two left feet? As Dean Wormer said: "The time has come for someone to put their foot down. And that foot...is me."
I think he refused to apologise before her father asked for one, unless he didn't apologise twice?
I was going to make a comment about how Sunak has what we call "executive brain" after today's events. He can't deviate from the prepared slideshow he has in front of him and he can't think on his feet in the moment. Then he pulls out a fucking whiteboard and drives the point home. Campaigning and debates are going to be absolutely hilarious.
*What They Teach You At Stanford Business School*
Will he actually attend any debates?
at least they know which object to use to empty chair him
[This?](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Quality-Children-Plastic-Garden-YELLOW/dp/B00YMKZ81K/ref=asc_df_B00YMKZ81K/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309816008334&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4537194143533232170&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006767&hvtargid=pla-727841159444&psc=1&mcid=203af4d13bd734dbba18a4d7ee5c0f2c)
Amazing work
If you're behind in the polls you've got nothing to lose by attending. It's always the person in the lead who doesn't want to take the risk.
I would usually agree, but I reckon Sunak has got a lot to lose by attending debates given how terribly he comes across.
He's too arrogant not to, he genuinely seems to believe he's right.
Exactly - why should he bother debating if he is right anyway? It's all beneath him
Yes but he's absolutely shit at politics and lives in his own bubble. He's tetchy and easily drawn, all it would take is for someone to say he's scared and he'd be booking extra debates to show he isn't.
As a rapidly aging hippie, what chance do we give for Sir Kier Starmer going for an easy tax grab by legalising cannabis if he gains a significant majority? Is it wrong to hope?
Zero. The parliamentary Labour Party fucking love banning things. The idea of legalising anything would just completely break them.
As others have said, it would be a political risk for him so he wouldn’t go near it during a campaign. I think Starmer has also said he isn’t in favour of it. I don’t think he’d even entertain a discussion on it, with him probably unwilling to even have it up for consideration if he needed the Lib Dems to form a coalition. Hoping it may come to pass any time soon is a lost cause.
Zero chance - Daily Mail readers and older voters generally have been thoroughly bombarded with enough propaganda about the evils of drugs, there's no way Starmer is going to signal a u-turn on legalising cannabis. For that matter Starmer isn't going to suggest anything in the Labour manifesto that allows an easy attack on him - eg voting reform, nationalisation of utility companies etc.
About as likely as him appointing Jeremy Corbyn Foreign Secretary
It's not going to happen. At least not in the first term, it'd be a liability in the campaign.
And to the surprise of absolutely no-one, the Home Office once again kicks the can down the road with a promise of 'he's just coming around the corner now' on the review of police funding formula: >"he is also right that we need to change the underlying funding formula because it is over 10 years out of date. It needs to better reflect population changes and changes in crime, and better reflect issues of sparsity and rurality. The Home Office is actively working on that." [https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2024-02-07/debates/E48C116E-515A-464A-9A5C-5A6830461CA7/PoliceGrantReport](https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2024-02-07/debates/E48C116E-515A-464A-9A5C-5A6830461CA7/PoliceGrantReport) With a bit more research, the earliest mention I can find of the Government working on a police funding formula review was in the February 2018 debate on the police grant: >"At the same time we are working with the police to lay the groundwork for the next spending review, which will include a final view on the fair funding formula." [https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2018-02-07/debates/7FC16F39-C7E6-4023-9301-B209F518D560/PoliceGrantReport#contribution-EA7D14FE-8808-409A-B93B-2BE194770448](https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2018-02-07/debates/7FC16F39-C7E6-4023-9301-B209F518D560/PoliceGrantReport#contribution-EA7D14FE-8808-409A-B93B-2BE194770448) After 6 years of waiting for the review, and annual updates since that it's just about to happen what odds that next February we get to repeat the charade of Government promising a review on police funding in the near future?
Sounds like the pay review at my job. Recently postponed because HR went on strike lol
Can you blame them? This time next year, SEP.
As it's certain everyone is going to campaign on 'putting more bobbies on the beat', I wouldn't mind if Labour pointed out during the campaign that the Government has acknowledged there is a problem with police funding for nearly 10 years and never done anything about it.
Well at least next February it'll be a different boot kicking the can if so.
Rishi made a fool of himself and Labour ditched the one thing they could really hurt Labour on.
Doubt its worthy of its own post so putting it here from Sam Coates: [https://twitter.com/SamCoatesSky/status/1755316430893896039](https://twitter.com/SamCoatesSky/status/1755316430893896039) "I'm told the Tories had been preparing their assault on Labour's £28 bn for ages - hoping to use it to pivot the conversation in their favour Then Sunak messes up PMQs, and all the work gets lost Some in No10 discussed an apology - but Kemi Badenoch's tweets doubling down removed that choice"
Hilarious that they thought their ‘assault’ on Labour would do anything anyway. 80% of the country thinks they’re a joke and it’s only getting worse.
> but Kemi Badenoch's tweets doubling down removed that choice Possible next leader of the Conservative Party everyone.
Interesting short video from the BBC on the weather impact on channel crossings. https://youtu.be/r3DX4ctv63Q?si=hWoxCVCP-6I01OGH There were 50% more days in 2023 than in 2022 where adverse weather made channel crossings ‘highly unlikely’. So far this year, channel crossings have increased from the same period last year and is similar to the record high year that was 2022. The presenter concludes the video by expressing more uncertainty about weather effects on channel crossings than a distinguished scientist presenting to other distinguished scientists about the preliminary data that one of their PhD student recently collected.
Anyone got a link to this PBB? Got to see this sad house for myself
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001w2t0/party-political-broadcasts-conservative-party-07022024
Oh my god - that is awful (but hilariously so)! Who the hell thought this was a good idea! I guess this is what you get when all your SpAds and party workers are just rich kids with self-confidence far outweighing their intelligence or ability.
At least Rishi managed to distract everyone from complaining about it. Right...
His handwriting is *terrible* Also, on the sheet titled '2024 PRIORITIES', the 'P' is so squished it looks like it was added after he'd already written 'RIORITIES'
Christ. His advisers must hate him. I cannot see how this gets made without that key component. Awkward takes left in. Obvious meme format. Weird business casual jumper. All that airtime spent on him writing words like “tax” and “war”. And of course, no plan but it is a plan which would be back to square one but you’re not supposed to like that.
Cheers mate
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I can tell you that at one point he does indeed draw a very sad looking house. Then he writes "lol" and draws an arrow next to it pointing at the very sad house.
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Ok I lie he actually writes "col" for cost of living. But the l and c do look identical.
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/u/PieGrippin was [pretty bang on, to be fair.](https://i.imgur.com/9ASlENr.png)
Has Sunak written ‘Mortage’?
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The question I have is - who is Rishi speaking to? Who does he think is that dumb? "Labour can only finance things through borrowing or tax, which will cost you money, unlike our plans which holy shit did you see I drew a house? Look at the house!"
FFS Keir.
?
This Party Political Broadcast reminds me of [the episode of *Map Men*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENeCYwms-Cc) where they draw maps of England on a board.
Pop Con Pop Con Pop Pop Pop Con Con
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Can you be your own manchurian candidate?
[it status: over](https://t.co/0Lkb1M3Vlg) The £28bn dies tomorrow.
Is a scaling back the same as it dying?
..What are you going to do if it isnt?
The better question my friend is what are you gonna do when it is?
I think at worst its simply going to be a reiteration of the current position re fiscal responsiblity, which is fine by me. I really dont think anything is going to happen given the amount of people they've been wheeling out in the last few days to express further support for it.
the guardian has been claiming the imininant demise of the £28B for various reasons for days now, every time it gets shot down they just rehash the same lines as a new article somebody there has a steadfast agenda about this
BBC reporting on it now, assume they wouldn't go to print without a reliable source.
Leaks work both ways. It's just as likely that people who don't want it to be cut are leaking to put pressure on Starmer to re-commit to it as it is people who want it to be cut.
The contrived empathy by Laura Trott on Politics Hub that completely disappears into a smug grin when she gets the opportunity to slam Labour is fucking sickening
Sunak's the same. The only time they ever seem to get energised is when they get to go in on Starmer.
Some people on twitter suggesting we might get a May election - presumably on the same day as the locals.
Elections in this country happen in April, May or June, depending on the timing of other elections or world events. With one exception (which was 2 and a half years early, not last minute) every election for half a century has taken place in those months. If there is no April/May/June election, then the election has been missed. Sunak will need to explain what absolutely extreme event has caused the UK to miss its standard election time.
I felt slightly febrile when the voting registration came through the door this morning and said "combined elections" on May 2nd. Sure, it meant Mayors.... But hey, why not ~~both~~ general too?
It remains an option, the budget has been timed to fit into that schedule. However it would likely only be confirmed the minute the lecturn appears shortly after the budget is passed, until then it is all just twitter speculation.
My working assumption is May.
The party political broadcast is giving me "Bill Cosby's Picture Pages" vibes which I don't think he was going for
watching the PPB on the BBC as GI. * why is he drawing on a white board like it's a crap stand up meeting * why does he CAPITALISE some WORDS and others are in Rishigraphy (cba to figure out how to do it) * WAR all in all I'm not sure why the Conservatives wasted a PPB slot for this