Gloucester Saint

It’s very similar to the Welsh Tories though https://ifs.org.uk/articles/initial-response-reform-uks-welsh-manifesto The sentence which stands out (familiar for Reform) is ‘It has not fully faced up to the fiscal realities facing the next Welsh Government’. Labour hasn’t helped itself there with the daft 20mph zones and sleaze. That’s hurt them far more than immigration in Wales.

It wouldn’t take much if you’ve been to Middlesbrough. Newcastle and Sunderland it is not. Good luck to any CAMRA members trying to get real ale there. Stockton on Tees is where you’ll find that.

You don’t know that yet, certainly if Farage and his own leader in Wales don’t know https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-nigel-farage-breaks-with-his-welsh-leader-over-insurance-system-nhs/ Or just lying to get Welsh votes?

Sums up the stupidity. Bloke allegedly stood on a hillock overlooking their training pitch in a space open to the public which a local could be doing taking his dog for a shit up there. Leeds were actually going into training grounds weren’t they? Load of bollocks.

You’d wear smart glasses 🤓

If you bat well at 3 at international level, generally you’ll have the game to open in the domestic game. Agree with you on Gubbins at 3 domestically, Mayes at 5 and Prest they’ve got to persevere with at 6 because there is talent there, but he hasn’t the brains or focus of a Bethell. But against the older ball his development might unlock again. Yusuf wicketless again, not making any runs in the tail and waste of a shirt.

Pity about the collapse, great stand between first Lehmann and Mayes, then Lehmann-Brown, and then thrown away by late middle order and tail. Dawson got an unplayable delivery. Reasonable start with the ball, glad to see Fuller back. Yusuf too short again for the surface, fuller length and he might get driven but he is just as likely to get a wicket early season. Why aren’t the coaches making this point? Are they bothered or is he not listening? Tomorrow am crucial, need at least 3 wickets before lunch when the ball goes soft and we saw batting getting easier.

I don’t think they’ll get 326 seats in FPTP but could be largest party if they continue this trend. They’d need the Tories though and given they’re trying to make them extinct that could be an issue, lots of bad blood especially between them, Badenoch, Braverman etc. Kemi is as at-risk as Starmer is if the Tory members wake up and fancy getting into power again anytime in the next 10-15 years under a new leader. John Curtiss is right as usual, the votes are moving within Brexit and Remain blocs but less so between. There are hotspots such as Tameside but that’s more the Labour vote collapsing and anger at Rayner. No guarantee that follows in a GE. Starmer is toast, just a matter of when.

Real incomes haven’t risen since 2008, that’s the crux of it. There’s a lot of resentment about the people who have done well since (even though as a household of two higher rate taxpayers we fund the lifestyles of ‘left behind’ areas) but pulling us all down the plug hole in 2016 and possibly again in 2029 isn’t going to help fund their services. If we downsize and clear our mortgage, funding our own healthcare than that’s less money to help them. Besides, as I posted earlier, if immigration is their #1 target, they had better be prepared to pay a lot more tax/see their benefits disappear for the border force expansion, detention centres, ICE and HMRC to reduce the shadow economy. Neighbouring Worcestershire just had a 9% increase in council tax with more to come. The country owes a shit load of debt nationally and personally, and Reform ripping more trade deals just decreases income, plus ruins collaboration around deterring the boats. @whelk is right though, the Reform and Green surge looks impressive but they’ve both had these sorts of results in local elections before and European elections when we had those. The spread of votes piles up in certain areas but less than 10% are voting Reform in Remain areas and gets them nowhere near a majority in a GE.

Reminds me of the mind games Swansea tried with the hotel booking in 2018. It was actually the only time our players really got motivated for a game that season and backfire on the home team.

The vote is very fragmented. Reform are cleaning up in strong Brexit areas but struggling to get 1 in 10 votes outside of Brexit strongholds, similar to UKIP days. Would be a very mixed seat conversion at a General Election and nowhere a majority, largest party at very best. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce8p4yn448vo Labour and Conservatives done very badly, Starmer under pressure and Badenoch could be gone by the autumn. Questions for Ed Davey - should be doing better in SE, SW. Holding comfortably what they had but new councils and seat gains are fairly modest.

Nigel Lawton’s quote in the 1980s about our electorate wanting Western European public services and North American levels of taxation are as pertinent as ever. They’ll always be disillusioned whoever is in power.

People also voted for the austerity which is why the ‘Hostile Environment’ didn’t translate practically. They can vote for who they want but all we’ll get is the ‘politicians are all the same’ when their council tax goes up 9% like it just has in Reform-led Worcs CC. Voters might not like experts like Paul Johnson of the IFS but he’s an expert for a reason - he’s often correct. If immigration’s your top priority, there’s no DOGE or anything left to cut. It needs paying for and that means all of us.

58-3, need to get to lunch losing max only one more wicket. With Essex winning the toss on a green slow seamer with their attack, it was going to be tricky. Agree with @Window Cleaner on Prest at #3, it’s not working and his technique is nowhere near Bethell. Let’s accept defeat on Yusuf and bring in an international batsman there so Tom can bat at #5.

That’s not really accurate though, see my post about the Reddit thread below. Straw and May ran Home Offices very hostile to illegal immigration. Ultimately, because of austerity, Brexit and Covid, the reality on the ground is that the enforcement posts aren’t there in the sane numbers and very thinly spread in a more complex and dangerous world. Illigal immigration as #1 priority means tax hikes and benefits bill reductions = fact. And wards such Millbrook, Coxford etc have some of lowest economic activity and highest welfare bills in Southampton. Clear disconnect to reality.

Quite. Quelle surprise it’s the Brexit voting areas being daft. Still a belief in Unicorns. 🦄

One of the better Reddit threads here on how slogans don’t make any difference in the logistics of stopping the boats (that includes Starmer and Smash the Gangs, Badenoch and leaving ECHR - totally irrelevant - and Reform deploying the Navy (really daft) The boats are only a small % of overall illegal immigration but visually a huge part of it in the areas voting Reform. The only reducing of illegal immigration will happen with long-term judicial reform, policy changes which incorporate international partners and a huge crackdown on the shadow economy which is the main incentive to come here in the first place. All of that costs large additional investment in Border Force, HMRC, Police, judicial system for even faster processing. If people are willing 5-10p extra income tax to fund it, fine.

Hope they’ve been saving up, that St George’s flag will be very costly https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y68r40yzgo

Big time - the Leeds away element still had some of the ‘you’re going to get your fucking heads kicked in’ element from their late 1960s and 1970s heyday. It was a mess. My recollection is that the band were encouraged to finish up. I did go to their Maple Leaf gig which was better but not by a huge amount.

I can’t stand Polanski but where he does have a micro point is that Farage, Tice and now Jenryck are only scrutinised by Private Eye, Times, Mirror, Guardian and occasionally the Mail when Badenoch complains (or so the rumour goes). The level of sycophancy from the DT, Express and BBC leadership is vile when those three have very chequered recent histories.

Baz will be on his way regardless, he’s certainly not ‘fine’ for the Championship as Stoke has underlined in italics. It’ll cost the club to loan him to a level he can perform at but that’s the final price hopefully paid from the horrific summer 2022 transfer window but needs must. I don’t think he will want to be at SFC after three droppings and two loans out either.

Not sure what emoji to put in reaction to that, but clearly the Salmond saga hasn’t led to lessons learned. In other news, Polanski’s nose grows https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq5pgv35y7eo

If Ramsdale was told that Peretz would be first choice, he’d be straight onto his agent. All it takes is a first choice keeper in a major league to do their ACL in the opening game - or in the WC even - and a move possibility opens up.

And a tantrum/hangover from the Tynecastle result. Win the Hearts game and that article doesn’t exist.

And again, the Evertonian variety. Semenyo was abused by the red half in August when still a Bournemouth player https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cedpnxqwg29o