Austerity, Brexit, Covid Lockdown Parties, PPE Scandal, Raw Sewage in UK Waterways & Coastal Areas, Economic Crash, Record Inflation, Record Interest Rates, Cost of Living Crisis, Pensions Decimated, Mortgage Rises, NHS in Crisis, Schools Crumbling, Housing Crisis...
It would appear that “former Tory MP Antoinette Sandbach has threatened the University of Cambridge with legal action after a historian named her as a descendant of merchants who enslaved his ancestors.”
On a low turnout (37.2%), Labour secured a 20% swing in tis favour to win the #Rutherglen#byelection beating the SNP by 58% to 27% of the vote... while the #Tories crashed to 3.9%.
And, now the reading of the runes can get under way....
Two charts that suggest even #Tory voters have had enough of this government - with the two issues the #Tories are seen by most as failing on, being the very issues that #voters now regard as key.
However, while that may be good news on the #NHScrisis - people may appreciate its an Govt, engineered crisis... the issue of 'handling' #immigration may be less positive result if that means a tougher stance is preferred (by these voters)
(the poll is of people who voted Tory in the last election)
Austerity, Brexit, Covid Lockdown Parties, PPE Scandal, Raw Sewage in UK Waterways & Coastal Areas, Economic Crash, Record Inflation, Record Interest Rates, Cost of Living Crisis, Pensions Decimated, Mortgage Rises, NHS in Crisis, Schools Crumbling, Housing Crisis, Scandals, Cover ups.
Shettleston councillor Thomas Kerr steps into the ring, fresh from all the crying about his constituents being anti-English (which went down just as well as you'd imagine). Seems certain at this point Labour will take the seat but the pre-emptive crowing about the rest seems misguided. Justified resentment of one SNP MP is not likely to carry Labour through in other places. And if they don't get the seat it would be genuinely funny, at least.
So that was some tea-leaf 🌿 reading as today: we see Miriam Cates MP all over the press with the "New Conservatives" (a statement by her was played on LBC radio when I was driving).
Comment: She and co-lead Danny Kruger MP are both evangelical christians, as is Steve Baker MP
> "New Conservatives such as Miriam Cates also say large number of (immigration) arrivals risks damaging UK’s cultural security"
Comment: From this splintering and "noise", we can see jostling for the post General Election Tory party leadership / influence and power grabs already being made (they know they are out of power ofc)
And what could "cultural security" be other than racism dressed-up?
Can it be any surprise that after a decade of stagnant real #wages, the dire state of UK #management practice, the continued media focus on celebrity culture (where the talentless but 'entertaining' are rewarded) & a #Tory government that has made it its #business to shove money to its mates, that a significant minority of young people increasingly do not see a clear link between hard work and a 'better life'.
The only Q. is how fast is this feeling spreading?
I missed that the HoC Privileges is now going to produce a further report on the attacks & intimidation it was subject to while preparing the #BorisJohnson report;
this is starting to have the feel of a proper spring clean around the political practices of the Johnson era.
is this the beginning of the end for the most caustic elements of the #Tory party?
As the 'junior' #Doctors prepare for another five day walk-out... I'm just going to say this again:
The Doctors have been forced into this position by a succession of #health secretaries who either on their own or being instructed by No.10 are playing hard-ball.
We've seen how #RishiSunak negotiates on the #EU#Horizon research programme... he's prepared to wreck the institution around which negotiations are taking place.
So more #Tory wrecking of the #NHS, not, NOT, 'militant doctors'!
'As things stand that lurch to the right is unlikely to significantly alter the outcome of the next election. but it does set us up for a far uglier & more dangerous form of politics than the UK has ever been used to before'!
Yup, that's what is starting to look like - we are heading into dark(er) times...
I've been listening to the second half of The Rest Is Politics interview with #Kwarteng, and my take away is what TRIVIAL people everyone involved is. Kwarteng is supposed to be one of the intellects of the #Tory party, but they can none of them – not Kwarteng, not Campbell, not even Stewart – string two concepts together.
Leading: 74. Kwasi Kwarteng: Liz Truss, becoming Chancellor, and Britain on the brink (Part 2)
Almost no-one in #UK MSM seems to put certain things in context together.
Public spending is planned to be cut by 16.7% over 5yrs by Hunt the C-word, & I don't mean Chancellor.
+
Sunak as a previous C-word, (this time I also mean Chancellor), almost uniquely amongst countries allowed tax dodger companies based in tax havens to claim Covid loans, £253 BILLION worth that public accounts said we will never likely see again. #Tory#UKPol#UKpolitics#Conservative#GTTO
It’s another blow to the #Met police and #Tory party that their attempts to criminalise Greta #Thunberg and other climate protestors has failed because of the sloppiness of police communications.
But what’s also striking is the judge drew attention to the fact this was peaceful, non-violent protest that impeded no one…so why the rush to prosecute?
As the electorate across Britain abandons the #Tory party, it seems a strange -- even perverse -- time for the #SNP to rebrand itself as the Scottish Conservative party.