[Tubby Isaacs]

This is interesting. The metromayors in Manchester and the West Midlands are anomalous.

[Tubby Isaacs]

[Boiler]

Yeah I remember Andy Burnham’s anger and I expect he will smash it when the results come out, I think Starmer need that otherwise he needs to stand aside.

Yet this is what the Tories will say:

Screenshot_2021-05-08 Labour Its ups and downs.png (3.45 KiB) Viewed 4228 times

The Tories and their lackeys will never, EVER let Burnham forget mid-Staffs - they will brush aside the 127,603* dead under Johnson's watch as "that was a pandemic, it's different - and what about the NHS in Wales, eh? EH?"

*Figure from Worldometers as of 8/5/21.

Maybe Labour needs to descend to the level of the Tories and not try to be "the better person", because "the better person" always ends up in hospital with his bollocks kicked up to his shoulderblades.

[The Weeping Angel]

This is interesting. The metromayors in Manchester and the West Midlands are anomalous.

A 5% swing to Labour in the Midlands has he seen the council results.

[Tubby Isaacs]

He'd be talking about them there.

[The Weeping Angel]

Ah I've looked at it more closely now. Dan Norris's victory in the West of England has cheered me up. I did some phonebanking for him when I was doing a Zoom session with Labour to Win.

[Youngian]

Considering that the area represented by Fenland council is more than a bit, shall we say, "yokel"...

Where’s it all going to end with these too clever by half types moving in and voting Liberal and Labour?
The Tory clown circus on Wisbech town council is still safe though.

But what about Whittlesey?! Only a few minutes by pushbike from my childhood home and it was like they spoke another language....

Lithuanian? Or as I heard Vinny Jones ask in a Brit gangster film; “Lift you fucking where?”

[Youngian]

A 5% swing to Labour in the Midlands has he seen the council results.

That’s excellent news. We shouldn’t get too hung up about losing in a depopulating seaside towns but we should if it was the Midlands.

[Boiler]

Where’s it all going to end with these too clever by half types moving in and voting Liberal and Labour?
The Tory clown circus on Wisbech town council is still safe though.

But what about Whittlesey?! Only a few minutes by pushbike from my childhood home and it was like they spoke another language....

Lithuanian? Or as I heard Vinny Jones ask in a Brit gangster film; “Lift you fucking where?”

No, not back then... an incredibly thick Fenland dialect. Where I came from was closer to Peterborough (it did have an accent, now lost) in its sound, but still very different. Once upon a time I could tell Ely from the rest: Cambridge still has an accent.

[Youngian]

No, not back then... an incredibly thick Fenland dialect. Where I came from was closer to Peterborough (it did have an accent, now lost) in its sound, but still very different. Once upon a time I could tell Ely from the rest: Cambridge still has an accent.

The Peterborough accent used to be very consistent with its geography; Fenland with a bit of East Midlands. Can’t say the decline of regional accents has dominated my list of wrongs to be righted.

[Boiler]

No, not back then... an incredibly thick Fenland dialect. Where I came from was closer to Peterborough (it did have an accent, now lost) in its sound, but still very different. Once upon a time I could tell Ely from the rest: Cambridge still has an accent.

The Peterborough accent used to be very consistent with its geography; Fenland with a bit of East Midlands. Can’t say the decline of regional accents has dominated my list of wrongs to be righted.

I lament the loss of regional dialects to the ugly and glottal "Estuary English". Peterborough's "New Town" status hastened its accent's demise with the influx of Londoners.

It is however, perhaps better suited to a thread of its own.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Peterborough has people in it who no longer use the traditional accent of the area?

I thought this only happened in London, and with black people.

[Boiler]

Speaking of London accents, there was a fascinating programme on Radio 4 a few years ago where Kenneth Cranham (I think) charted the decline of traditional North and South London accents. I knew someone who was born somewhere near Beckenham and had the best example of a traditional South London accent imaginable.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Handy win for Tracy Brabin. Some good mayoralties generally.

Well done Starmer for losing your shit over the most anomalous region. (Even the West Midlands is better than 2019).

[Boiler]

Oh, hello?

Jonathon Seed: Conservative PCC candidate barred after offence emerges

A candidate running to be Wiltshire's next Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) has been disbarred after a historical driving offence emerged.

Jonathon Seed was the Conservative Party's candidate to replace fellow Tory Angus Macpherson. A party spokesperson confirmed Mr Seed had been disbarred, while Mr Seed told the BBC he had withdrawn himself.

Vote counting for the PCC post is due to start in Salisbury at 10:00 GMT on Monday and is set to go ahead. If Mr Seed wins the vote, another election will need to be held.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I can't tell if the Tories get to put another candidate up or not.

Not sure who thought this rule up. Hard enough to get people to turnout once for a PCC election.

[Arrowhead]

Handy win for Tracy Brabin. Some good mayoralties generally.

Well done Starmer for losing your shit over the most anomalous region. (Even the West Midlands is better than 2019).

Good news, but doesn't that mean another problematical Red Wall by-election, this time in Batley & Spen?

[Tubby Isaacs]

The Con plus sundry Kippers tally is 51.4% v Brabin's Labour 42.7%

That's less bad than Hartlepool 53.4 v Mike Hill's Labour 37.4%

Intriguingly, the main Kipper wasn't running for the Brexit Party, but Heavy Woollen District Independents. I don't know if he's running again or whether his votes are easily transferable to the Tories. They run a few candidates in some local councils, so perhaps he's already licking his lips at the chance to build his group's profile in a by election. He's presumably not shy if he ran in the seat in 2019.

(I'd never heard of them till just now either).

[Tubby Isaacs]

Witney and Wantage constituencies both have relatively competitive Lib Dems clearly in second place. Probably out of range next time. Though who knows, maybe with a fair wind (and some what's politely called localism? ("We all want new housing, but not there").

[Tubby Isaacs]

Tories win my PCC on the first round (West Mercia).

Their candidate is apparently taking this as a signal to take over responsibility for the fire service too. That sounds pretty important. How many voters even knew he could do that? I didn't.