Is Diane Abbott right?

Is Diane Abbott right?

The Telegraph report that [Diane Abbott] told an event at the Edinburgh Book Festival: “There were people around Jeremy encouraging him to set up a new party, and I told him not to. “It’s very difficult under first-past-the-post system for a new party to absolutely win. “If it wasn’t first-past-the-post, then you can see how a new party could come through, but I understand why he did it.” I agree with Diane Abbott but anything possible if we end up…

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In some ways this is a very impressive achievement by Labour

In some ways this is a very impressive achievement by Labour

Whilst other governments have had poor ratings a year after winning an election (for example John Major’s Tories after the 1992 election) but that is usually due to a major event such as Black Wednesday but this feels different for Labour, given they have been in power for just a year. These are not ratings of a party that I expect to be re-elected in 2029 if they don’t improve. TSE

Putin found out the hard way that Trump is odious

Putin found out the hard way that Trump is odious

Back in 2012 when Mike Smithson first asked to be guest editor during his holiday one thing he told was one of the perks of the job was choosing the picture to accompany the articles and he was right. Apologies for the lack of a proper thread, I am exceedingly busy at work today. TSE

Messing with taxes on homes never ends well

Messing with taxes on homes never ends well

One of my criticisms of this government is that there’s no overarching strategy as we can see with the observation made by James Crouch of Opinium. As Mrs Thatcher (the Poll Tax) and Mrs May (the dementia tax) would attest messing with the taxation on the homes of the voters leads to unpopularity, I will not be astonished to see Labour polling in the teens after this announcement, this could be potential kite flying but once the perception is out…

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Squaring the Circle

Squaring the Circle

Britain has a problem. Well, obviously, Britain has loads of problems. But there’s one that really bugs me, and that is the question of how we look after granny when she can no longer look after herself. The facts are stark. In 2021, there were around 11 million people aged 65+ in the UK. By 2040, that’ll hit nearly 15 million. That’s an army of silver-haired citizens, and a growing share will need residential care. The trouble? Care homes are…

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