Kate Bond

It's worked for the Tories. The country seems to have entirely forgotten that every last institution was destroyed by them and will take 10 years to repair.

This is a stunningly good article, as well as being rather witty, in spite of its serious topic. Particularly enjoyed the 'dorsal recumbent pose' 🙂

Unfortunately, all the billionaires have got huge yachts.

Tory Lord Chadlington will quit the Tories and retire from the House of Lords. Why? Investigation by the Lords Standards Commissioner (yes, the role exists) into a PPE scandal (BBC report). I'll never forget what we had to put up with under the last administration.

as in 'fifth columnists' who undermine a nation from within.

Many in our fourth estate seem to have largely embraced the idea of becoming a fifth column.

He came as close as he could, though 🙂

Wrong way round.

Not only that, but long haul flights connecting through Dubai (e.g. from Australia) may have taken off before people even knew what was happening.

Maybe you're right. We'll probably find out in 10 years.

Do you know if anyone has any idea why Iran would have attacked non-military targets in neighbouring countries instead of focusing on their attackers? It would seem to be a very strange military decision.

Yes.

candidates shaking hands

My favourite picture of election night.

My experience too. These days, millions of people take holidays/travel abroad each year from the UK, and about 65% of households own their own home. Quite a lot don't. But there was no golden age when these things were open to all those who worked.

Good, because it is serious. Not only does it allow the far right (if the vote goes against them) to cry foul, but it undermines democratic processes. Elections should be clean and seen to be clean, and any attempt to undermine that should be stamped out immediately.

I take your point, but I don't think I could cope with the media gleefest if Reform won. If they do win, I won't be watching/reading anything political for a couple of days 🙂

Since Labour won the seat last time with a large majority, voting Green is NOT a tactical vote to keep Reform out. It is a vote to get Labour out.

He doesn't need to worry. The media would ignore the Green result (just as they ignored the Tories' worst ever result in the Caerphilly by-election) because they'll be too busy hyperventilating about Starmer's days being numbered.

I for one fully believe that someone with rightful access to a safe broke into it deliberately to retrieve the only file existing (the civil service famously never makes copies), on the off chance that in 4 years time a completely different PM from that of the time could appoint Romeo as Cab Sec.

I haven't heard anything. I've just read 'thought to have destroyed' (who thought? No evidence then) 'ally' (are they at war?), 2022 (and yet it only comes out now?) and it looks pretty odd to me.

I have been on more interview panels in the public sector than I can remember. In each case, when the person appointed initially either turned it down, resigned or had to be fired, the second in line was offered the job, if the initial interview process had established the person was appointable.

Agree totally, and well done for showing such restraint 🙂

Public services never worked by today's standards. In the 70s it took weeks to get a landline connected, hosepipe bans were common and the electricity supply was unreliable. Medical practices were archaic and life expectancy was around 73. I was there, unlike Zack Polanski.

I'm quite surprised Kemi Badenoch has had nothing to say about Reform using the term 'shadow cabinet', a term used for the official opposition's cabinet. It's incredibly insulting to the Conservatives. But then Badenoch is remarkably weak when it comes to criticising Reform.

A betting company had reform at 71% to win in Caerphilly and Plaid Cymru at 33% even on the day of the election. Reform failed. People should never confuse the amount of money anyone puts on a bet with a poll. It's disgraceful for any betting company to imply otherwise.

Or even the actual PM of this country? You'd think the Munich speech never happened.

Non-journalists use journalists' techniques shock.

The big mistake the thinktank made was not calling its staff 'journalists'. Then they could have gone through bins, impersonated people, produced secret photos and videos, searched private legal papers, and attacked others through anonymous 'sources', and nobody would have raised an eyebrow.

RW media people circling the wagons as the public reach breaking point on media bias with the disingenuous 'we're not making it up'. They choose the items to prioritise or report (it took them 1+ years to report Partygate), which parts of speech, tone of voice to use, which 'sources' to quote.

Some in the media are getting very defensive now that the public are becoming vocal about bias. But people don't say Victoria Derbyshire is biased, though she pushes hard. That's because the public know the difference between good journalism and constant attacks on just one side of politics.