Of course here in Scotland John Swinney and the SNP, as well as Plaid in Wales, have also dared to mention Brexit. I am not convinced that Labour are going to do quite as well here as folk seem to assume - the anger has not gone away over the way Scotland was manoeuvred into voting No to Indy in 2014 because of fears about losing its place in the EU, only to be dragged out, as part of the UK rather than as an independent state which could have decided about leaving for itself, against its will in 2016 . I don't think that commentators in England quite get this.
In 2014 at the Scottish Separatist Referendum, nobody could have known that the UK was going to vote to leave in 2016, still less for Bunter to rush through a botched hard brexit by 1/1/ 2020, in order that the EU Savings and Transparency Directives did not apply for a single day. To the financial benefit of the likes of Mogg and Redwood's less than patriotic exports of the capital of the UK's wealthy and upper middle classes to ex colonial tax avoidance territories.
I have read that UKIP was widely regarded in Scotland as an English nationalist party. If that is true then the indy referendum could easily have been influenced.
This is the most interesting election probably in 200 years, but the campaign is mainly excruciating.
The LibDems have a really mainstream, voter focussed manifesto, probably the best I have ever seen, all costed, as far as they can be from outside the Treasury. The LibDems are no longer looking like a a left field liberal party that believes in odd stuff , although doesn't scare off most ex Tory and other voters.
A big injection of cash into the NHS, funding of social care and the focus on recruiting 8000 GPs is a great start. Allowing Asylum seekers to work and pay their way after 3 months is a great policy. An active Industrial strategy with a Green transition is desperately needed and completely compatible with Labour.
The taking of Water Companies into a non profit model, a beefier regulator and bans on bonuses until pollution and other problems are sorted out is what the public are screaming for, unless taken into the public sector, but that would occupy all available public revenues and borrowing for too many years.
For the first time, Electoral Reform, Constitutional Reform ( Lords) and legalisation of Marijuana, are now mainstream stuff and catching up the rest of the democratic world.
The LibDems now have the kind of programme that most British people want and could be the basis of them becoming one of the main two parties in Parliament. It's bolder and more radical than Labour's offer. They will never hoover up the little Ingerluners, the minority of people with spite in their hearts for other types and outsiders, but they can be left at the fringes. Farage and crewe could be the stuck in a 20% Nasty Nationalist corner.
Interesting in the same way that various populations of Europe found their last train journey in the cattle cars "interesting".
Labour is going to form the next govt. and what a govt. it will be. Starmer, the man who Peter Oborne described as the MI-5 candidate, will do whatever the string pullers tell him.
David Lammy is likely to be the next Foreign Secretary, somehow trying to negotiate Britain's interests with peers who will be at least 3, or probably 4, and in the case of Sergei Lavrov, 6, standard IQ deviations more intelligent than he is. Good luck with that.
Theodore Dalrymple has an essay in City Journal describing the century of the Labour Party. He nails what the Party has become now perfectly.
At least someone is mentioning it. But we need to rejoin the Customs Union too otherwise it won't help much. The manifesto isn't clear about either, it just mentions a new comprehensive agreement which removes as many barriers to trade as possible. That could have been written by Starmer.
Bravo for the LibDems! Today, Starmer was soporific. But perhaps he was right: would you want the bizarre give-aways of Sunak or the blatant idiocy of Farage? I can only hope that LD is the "official opposition."
I don’t think it is ballsy to mention the one factor that has made the greatest difference to the Uk economy since 2016, do you, really?
Of course here in Scotland John Swinney and the SNP, as well as Plaid in Wales, have also dared to mention Brexit. I am not convinced that Labour are going to do quite as well here as folk seem to assume - the anger has not gone away over the way Scotland was manoeuvred into voting No to Indy in 2014 because of fears about losing its place in the EU, only to be dragged out, as part of the UK rather than as an independent state which could have decided about leaving for itself, against its will in 2016 . I don't think that commentators in England quite get this.
In 2014 at the Scottish Separatist Referendum, nobody could have known that the UK was going to vote to leave in 2016, still less for Bunter to rush through a botched hard brexit by 1/1/ 2020, in order that the EU Savings and Transparency Directives did not apply for a single day. To the financial benefit of the likes of Mogg and Redwood's less than patriotic exports of the capital of the UK's wealthy and upper middle classes to ex colonial tax avoidance territories.
I have read that UKIP was widely regarded in Scotland as an English nationalist party. If that is true then the indy referendum could easily have been influenced.
This is the most interesting election probably in 200 years, but the campaign is mainly excruciating.
The LibDems have a really mainstream, voter focussed manifesto, probably the best I have ever seen, all costed, as far as they can be from outside the Treasury. The LibDems are no longer looking like a a left field liberal party that believes in odd stuff , although doesn't scare off most ex Tory and other voters.
A big injection of cash into the NHS, funding of social care and the focus on recruiting 8000 GPs is a great start. Allowing Asylum seekers to work and pay their way after 3 months is a great policy. An active Industrial strategy with a Green transition is desperately needed and completely compatible with Labour.
The taking of Water Companies into a non profit model, a beefier regulator and bans on bonuses until pollution and other problems are sorted out is what the public are screaming for, unless taken into the public sector, but that would occupy all available public revenues and borrowing for too many years.
For the first time, Electoral Reform, Constitutional Reform ( Lords) and legalisation of Marijuana, are now mainstream stuff and catching up the rest of the democratic world.
The LibDems now have the kind of programme that most British people want and could be the basis of them becoming one of the main two parties in Parliament. It's bolder and more radical than Labour's offer. They will never hoover up the little Ingerluners, the minority of people with spite in their hearts for other types and outsiders, but they can be left at the fringes. Farage and crewe could be the stuck in a 20% Nasty Nationalist corner.
Interesting in the same way that various populations of Europe found their last train journey in the cattle cars "interesting".
Labour is going to form the next govt. and what a govt. it will be. Starmer, the man who Peter Oborne described as the MI-5 candidate, will do whatever the string pullers tell him.
David Lammy is likely to be the next Foreign Secretary, somehow trying to negotiate Britain's interests with peers who will be at least 3, or probably 4, and in the case of Sergei Lavrov, 6, standard IQ deviations more intelligent than he is. Good luck with that.
Theodore Dalrymple has an essay in City Journal describing the century of the Labour Party. He nails what the Party has become now perfectly.
At least someone is mentioning it. But we need to rejoin the Customs Union too otherwise it won't help much. The manifesto isn't clear about either, it just mentions a new comprehensive agreement which removes as many barriers to trade as possible. That could have been written by Starmer.
Bravo for the LibDems! Today, Starmer was soporific. But perhaps he was right: would you want the bizarre give-aways of Sunak or the blatant idiocy of Farage? I can only hope that LD is the "official opposition."
Nick, I hadn't realised until a recent video blog, that you were married to Polly, ex adviser to Nick Clegg.