[Malcolm Armsteen]

“But the plans were on display…”
“On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”
“That’s the display department.”
“With a flashlight.”
“Ah, well, the lights had probably gone.”
“So had the stairs.”
“But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.”

[Tubby Isaacs]

White Paper published in 1993, Act of Parliament in 1995. Extensive media coverage, when newspapers had far more readers today and when the (for most people) TV was 4 channels.

Governments make changes that affect people all the time. The test has never been "I didn't get a letter addressed to me personally about it, where's my compensation?"

[Youngian]

15 years is without reasonable warning, is it? In fairness to Long-Bailey, she was far from the only Labour MP to fall for this stuff. Nandy and Rayner did too, but being in Starmer's shadow cabinet has forced them to learn maths.

The maths of pensions as Gen X retires is that the bill will fall as there’s less of them than baby boomers for self explanatory reasons. Equalising pensions to end sex discrimination can mean a number of things but George Osborne liked to chisel and take from demographics he thought were least likely to fight back.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Osborne brought forward some changes, which is certainly a fair complaint, but I don't see the need for compensation for that any more than compensation being needed for any other change.

Unnusually, this was a demographic group where his party do well.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Stop The War goon who failed to get selected in a redrawn seat, Beth Winter. Doubtless she's somebody who says "solidarity" a lot, so she's pissing all over the new Wales First Minister.

It may or may not have been wise to acccept the doation- it's from somebody twice convicted of dumping shit, the last time in 2017. By all means criticise the FM's judgemet. But what's an investigation going to say? Seems very likely it'll say "within the rules".

[Tubby Isaacs]

Actually, I got this wrong. Seems like the donor's firm got a grant from the Welsh Government.

That donation has to be handed back.

[Tubby Isaacs]

This chap again. Not an MP but this thread will do for Parliamentarians in General, and maybe Mayors too.

What is it with the left and accountants?

The big firms make too many mistakes and some government consultancy seems to be poor value, but they're also well regarded worldwide and earn lots of exports for the UK. Apparently though anybody who's ever worked in one is part of a permanent conspiracy. "We got agent Bill Dodwell in! Those 6 years working undercover on the off chance Labour would win an election, it's all come together!" Hard though it may be to believe that there are lots of people who reach the top in accountancy, just like in anything else, look for new challenges and think they have something to offer in public service.

I expect Jacqui Smith worked for KPMG in some capacity connected with her Home Office brief, which ith I agree is something to keep an eye on. But she's been brought now (after 14 years) to work as an Education Minister, a job she did for Blair. How does that work? "Genius, Agent Smith.."

Private Eye does this stuff too.

[Philip Marlow]

Well, she did say she wasn’t just a single issue MP so it’s nice that she’s found something else to OH WHO THE HELL AM I KIDDING?

[Andy McDandy]

"Well, you know how Jimmy sometimes gets picked up by his daddy, and sometimes by his other daddy? Here's why..."

It's not about ideology; it's about preparing them for the reality they live in.

[Philip Marlow]

In addition to her highly motivated fans on social media, this story has also landed in the Mail. I’m sure the school in question will be just giddy about all the utterly welcome and benign attention they’re in for.

[Tubby Isaacs]

If the school's in luck George Galloway will show up.

As regular readers may have noticed, I have enormous contempt for Mr Galloway. It really says something that Duffield has put herself in that sort of territory.

[Tubby Isaacs]

First sighting of this new MP. I'm not impressed. Lots of EDL adjacent people aren't from "the bottom" at all. And Gaza protests weren't anything like this. I was thinking "Oh shit" when someone sat on a war memorial then came down.

[Philip Marlow]

Boy howdy has this aged well!

[Tubby Isaacs]

Ouch. Not the phrase to use there.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I must have missed the bit where she called for a mob to attack the hotel and attempt to set fire to it.

[Tubby Isaacs]

She didn't, and I don't think she's bad or anything. All she wants is for the governmet to process asylum claims- nobody thinks sticking people in hotels forever, as was the previous government's policy, is OK. She just thought she was being clever by using the other side's phrase against them, She didn't think how that might sound.

[The Weeping Angel]

Oh for fucks sake

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg5lyrg86zo

The Labour MP for Rochester and Strood has apologised after offensive social media posts resurfaced.

In a statement on Thursday, Lauren Edwards said: "I have recently been made aware of a small number of tweets that I posted on twitter from over a decade ago, which I now deeply regret."

One of the since-deleted tweets posted to X, external, formerly Twitter, in July 2009, read: I want these [expletive] Estonian retards out of my flat now!"

The Labour Party declined to comment.

The 2009 post was made while Ms Edwards was working as parliamentary researcher for Barbara Keeley, the then MP for Worsley and Eccles South, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

[Oboogie]

I see that Ricky Jones - the Labour Councillor who was suspended for saying rioters should have their throats cut - has now been arrested for incitement, hard to see how he escapes a custodial sentence for that. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz074vyvjzvo

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Sauce for the goose. No complaints.

[Oboogie]

Sauce for the goose. No complaints.

The Labour Party takes a different view.
So does the law - as the far-right are finding out in droves.