Posts

Conservative leadership latest: Cleverly takes the lead as Tugendhat leaves the race.

James Cleverly topped the poll in the latest vote of MPs for the Conservative leadership election. Votes were cast as follows: James Cleverly:           39 Robert Jenrick             31 Kemi Badenoch           30 Tom Tugendhat            20 This means that Tom Tugendhat leaves the race and the other three candidates go forward to the final ballot of MPs later this week. The top two candidates in that vote will go forward to a ballot of Conservative party members. The winner will be announced on 2nd November. All the candidates displayed different strengths and different visions last week but I thought that James Cleverly gave far and away the strongest performance at party conference. He was the only one with the courage to apologise for the things we as a party got wrong, to talk seriously about how to address them and learn from our mistakes, and he put forward the most positive vision for our country and our party. For that reason I decided on Friday to back James Cleverly and I am
Post a Comment
Read more

A Tuesday music spot dedicated to Sir Keir Starmer: The Rolling Stones "19th Nervous Breakdown"

Image
Post a Comment
Read more

Starmer's approval rating plummets as Labour lead falls to 1%

Image
Less than a hundred days after his enormous election victory, Sir Kier Starmer's approval ratings have fallen to some of the lowest ever experienced by a British Prime Minister, while Labour's poll lead over the Conservatives has been cut to 1%. An opinion poll published yesterday by More in Common found that his net approval ratings have fallen by 44 percentage points since taking office, from +11% in July to -33% in the last few days. A voting intention poll from the same company found that Labour's lead over the Conservatives has dropped to 1% with Labour on 29% and the Conservatives on 28% - a lead well within the margin of error on a poll of 2,023 voters carried out by More in Common between 5th and 7th October.   Apparently the drop in Labour support was largest among voters aged over 65 - now I wonder what might have caused that group of voters to feel betrayed by Labour?
Post a Comment
Read more

Quote of the day 8th October 2024

Image
"Zionism advocates self-determination for Jews. It does not agitate against the welfare and well-being of Palestinians.  Consequently, I can, at one and the same time hold Zionism at the core of my Jewish identity whilst simultaneously feeling deep pain in seeing the suffering of numerous innocent Palestinians." (Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis , article in the New Statesman and on X, formerly Twitter) You can read the New Statesman article at:  What is Zionism? - New Statesman
Post a Comment
Read more

Journey from respected arbiter to scapegoat

Sue Gray, who had been Sir Keir Starmer's chief of staff both as Leader of the Opposition and for his first 93 days as Prime Minister, has resigned from that role and will become the PM's "Envoy for the nations and regions." It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that she has been forced out as a scapegoat for the fact that after promising and end to "Tory psychodrama" it has been replaced with Labour psychodrama and some vicious infighting within the new government. Sue Gray made her name as one of the key arbiters of government ethics in the civil service, and she continued to enjoy a great deal of respect throughout the political spectrum, even after her damning report on the former Prime Minister (except among his most partisan supporters, anyway) until the second it was announced that she was moving from a post requiring the strictest of impartiality to become chief of staff of a political party.  At the point when it was announced that Sue Gray had ac
Post a Comment
Read more

In memory of the victims of 7th October: Purcell's Funeral March

Image
Post a Comment
Read more

James Cleverly on the 7th October massacre

 "One year on, October 7th will remain etched in my memory forever.  That clear Saturday morning in Southern Israel, Hamas unleashed a brutal terrorist attack, raping, mutilating and kidnapping innocent Israeli civilians. Armed gunmen rampaging through a music festival. Families torn apart. Defenceless babies killed in cold blood just for being Jewish. Just days later, on the invitation of the ambassador, I was in Southern Israel against official advice, as the first Foreign Minister to visit after the attacks. With Eli Cohen, Israel’s Foreign Minister, I travelled to the southern Israeli village of Ofakim, where we were forced to shelter underground following a barrage of Hamas rockets. And later, with my own eyes, I saw the bullet holes and the blood, when I visited the site of the attacks, met survivors, and witnessed the destruction caused by Hamas. It was barbarism beyond belief. When I met with President Herzog, he said “James, everyone stands with us today. But soon, we wil
Post a Comment
Read more

Remembering the 7th October massacre one year on

Image
A year ago today one of the worst atrocities of modern times was perpetrated by Hamas terrorists. They murdered over a thousand innocent people and took hundreds more as hostages. They also started a round of conflict in which tens of thousands more people have died, most of then from the very community on behalf of whom the Hamas terrorists claimed to be acting. Some things are bigger than party politics. Here is the statement issued today by the UK Prime Minister. I disagree with him and his government on very many things but in this statement he speaks for me and for Britain.
Post a Comment
Read more

Quote of the day 2nd October 2024

  "I'm the child of migrant families, on both sides of my family ..." "My mum came here from Sierra Leone in west Africa in 1966 and my dad's family came here from northern France in 1066." James Cleverly  during the leadership hustings at Conservative Party Conference.
Post a Comment
Read more

Sunday music spot: "Worthy is the Lamb" and "Amen" from 'The Messiah' by G.F. Handel

Image
Post a Comment
Read more

Quote of the day 28th September 2024

  Extracts from the letter from Rosie Duffield MP to the PM resigning the Labour whip over what she described as "sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice." “Dear Sir Keir, I can no longer stay a Labour MP under your management of the party, and this letter is my notice that I wish to resign the Labour Party whip with immediate effect." "You repeat often that you will make the “tough decisions” and that the country is “all in this together”. But those decisions do not directly affect any one of us in Parliament. They are cruel and unnecessary, and affect hundreds of thousands of our poorest, most vulnerable constituents. This is not what I was elected to do. It is not even wise politics, and it certainly is not “the politics of service”." "You also made the choice not to speak up once about the Labour Party’s problems with antisemitism during your time in the shadow cabinet, leaving that to backbenchers, including new MPs such as me." ... "You have
Post a Comment
Read more

Remember who said means-testing Winter Fuel Payments would be "biggest attack on pensioners"?

Image
Do remember who said that means testing Winter Fuel payments would be the “single biggest attack on pensioners in a generation in our country”. I can't blame you if you've forgotten, since Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves apparently have too. Well, it wasn't the Conservatives, or the "right-wing press" or any of the other people the Labour party like to blame for everything. It was the Labour party themselves in a report published in 2017 when they were in opposition. The same report also suggested that means-testing this benefit could cause an extra 3,850 deaths among pensioners in that year alone as you can read for yourself by clicking on the link below Winter fuel payment cut could kill 4,000 people, Labour research suggests | The Independent If you want to sign a petition calling on the government to reverse this cruel adn damaging decision, you can do so at: http:// keepwinterfuel.com
Post a Comment
Read more

Music to start the weekend: Holst, "Turn back, O Man"

Image
Post a Comment
Read more

Quote of the day 27th September 2024

"Unpopular opinion.  The Prime Minister of the UK should have a salary and expense allowance to enable him and his family to present themselves to the world without having to accept freebies." Douglas Carswell I think Douglas has a point. But to be honest, what really irritates me about out new government is not the freebies but the double standards.. As I don't want to look like a world-class hypocrite, I'm not going to slag off members of the Labour government for doing things which I would have defended Conservatives for doing. But I do think it's legitimate to point out that a surprising number of the most senior ministers of the new government seem to be behaving in ways that they spent the last fourteen years vehemently denouncing members of the previous government for doing.
Post a Comment
Read more

Labour's "Zombie Apolcalpyse:" John Crace's report in the Guardian on Labour conference

When Guardian columnists are describing a Labour conference as a "Zombie Apocalypse" it's a pretty good indication that a government recently elected with a huge majority is nevertheless managing to get itself into such difficulties that even it's own activists are not all happy with it ... "Ever get the feeling you’ve woken up to the zombie apocalypse?   When you left the conference on Tuesday afternoon, the place was buzzing. Delegates talking about Keir Starmer’s speech. Trying to get on the guest list to the hottest parties. Then on Wednesday morning, you find that half the conference has disappeared. Just vanished. And those that remain appear to be wandering round in circles. Hungover, trying to work out what’s going on. In search of some existential meaning. Most striking is the lack of queues for food. Though that could be down to the fact there is no food in the food concessions. Even the conference staff have given up. It’s every man and woman for thems
Post a Comment
Read more

Quote of the day 26th September 2024

  "Those expensive glasses that Lord Alli brought him clearly aren't very good, are they? On the autocue, clearly hostages and sausages perhaps look a bit similar." Cristo Foufas , after the prime minister accidentally called for the "return of the sausages" instead of hostages.
Post a Comment
Read more

Midweek music spot: Hornpipe from Handel's Water Music

Image
Post a Comment
Read more

Quote of the day 25th September 2024

Image
 
Post a Comment
Read more

Quote of the day 24th September 2024

Image
 
Post a Comment
Read more

Tuesday music spot: the Seekers - Georgy Girl (1967 - Stereo)

Image
Post a Comment
Read more

Caption competition: what did His Majesty say to Angela Rayner?

Image
This photograph of  the King and the Deputy Prime Minister has appeared in a number of newspapers, and I think it is worth a caption competition: Entries are suggested in the comments below for a caption for what King Charles might be sating to Angela Rayner. If the entries are good enough to merit it I will have to think of a suitable prize for the best one - though sadly I'm afraid we can't run to thousands pounds worth of free clothes!
Post a Comment
Read more

Saturday music spot continued: "Down Periscope" version of the same song

Image
And this version of "In the Navy" in which the Village People helped Kelsey Grammer spoof  both the film and their original music video, was the end credits scene for the nautical comedy "Down Periscope." 
Post a Comment
Read more

Saturday music spot: Village people "In the Navy"

Image
Post a Comment
Read more

Quote of the day 21st September 2024

  'Don't compare Keir to Boris' pleads minister. Headline in the Independent, summarising comments by Labour party chair Ellie Reeves. Indeed not - it would be most unfair to Boris Johnson to suggest that he is remotely as big a hypocrite as Sir Keir Starmer.  
Post a Comment
Read more

Music to start the weekend: A walk in the Black Forest

Image
Post a Comment
Read more

Quote of the day 20th September 2024

Image
 
Post a Comment
Read more

Quote of the day 19th September 2024

Image
 
Post a Comment
Read more

Midweek music spot: "Hark, all ye lovely saints above" by Thomas Weelkes

Image
Post a Comment
Read more

Quote of the day 18th September 2024

"Sir Keir Starmer doesn't like free speech, he just likes free clothes." Caller quoted on the Jacob Rees Mogg show on GB News this evening.
Post a Comment
Read more

Quote of the day 16th September 2024

Image
"The high court ruling which quashes permission to open Britain's first dep coal mine for  30 years is both damaging and deeply illogical." Daily Mail article on Saturday. I disagree only on one point - this decision WAS taken be elected politicians, in the Labour government but they used the court to do their dirty work for them by not defending the previous government's decisions against a judicial challenge. Had their been the political will to take the right decision, not the politically expedient one, the mine could and should have gone ahead and would have done less damage to the environment than the extraction of the coal it would have replaced, from places like Poland, Russia and the Appalachians with much lower environmental standards.  
Post a Comment
Read more