[Tubby Isaacs]

Sunday Times names Andrew Rosindell.

[Andy McDandy]

Ex-ministers can get well-paid jobs, no problem there. What they're keen to avoid is having to run it past ACOBA.

I fail to see why when Alex and Nadine managed to ignore ACOBA without sanction.

Not giving a flying fuck might have something to do with it.

[Tubby Isaacs]

This stuff has been discussed for years, not least on the free market right. And come to think of it, do the existing ULEZ zones have road pricing in them? Surely they must, if they follow directly on fron ULEZ cameras.

[Boiler]

A young lad of my acquaintance (about 25) is absolutely convinced that the government are determined to price ordinary motorists off the road and restrict 'our' liberties, hence the push for limited-range electric cars which he views as a scam.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The naming of Rosindell has got the usual bunch frothing about Nick Brown.. Like these people.

Because suspending Brown openly is just like not suspending Rosindell and reselecting him as an MP, or something. Sounds like the only answer Starmer could give, but there must be a superinjunction, per the BTL brains trust.

[Youngian]

Scotland Yard confirmed a man in his 50s was arrested on suspicion of indecent assault, sexual assault, rape, abuse of position of trust and misconduct in a public office. https://blackislemedia.com/2022/05/17/t ... -offences/

Rosindell enjoys 65 percent of the vote in Romford but this will hit hard it stands in the next election. He’ll be down to 55%.

[Watchman]

Is that a reflection of what 30p Lee means by man of the people?

[Tubby Isaacs]

I'm not sure mentioning inflation is a winner, Jez.

How "committed" to 2% inflation are you? I reckon you could get there reasonably quickly by massively increasing taxes on everybody. Are you COMMITTED?

[Crabcakes]

My questions based on this poll: who are these absolutely insane people in the party of government, and what exactly do they think is going to lead to such a reversal of fortune?

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/ar ... g-win-next

[Watchman]

Those that haven't got company directorships, or jobs with "think-tanks" lined up?

[Tubby Isaacs]

The reshuffle is going to be interesting. If they think they're going to lose, a load will be heading to the backbenches.

[Boiler]

My questions based on this poll: who are these absolutely insane people in the party of government, and what exactly do they think is going to lead to such a reversal of fortune?

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/ar ... g-win-next

Actually, I think they could well be right. I'm getting 1992 vibes here and remember, the next GE is eighteen months away; plenty of time for Sunak's fortunes to reverse/Starmer to fuck up.

I'm expecting a minority Conservative government.

[davidjay]

My questions based on this poll: who are these absolutely insane people in the party of government, and what exactly do they think is going to lead to such a reversal of fortune?

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/ar ... g-win-next

Actually, I think they could well be right. I'm getting 1992 vibes here and remember, the next GE is eighteen months away; plenty of time for Sunak's fortunes to reverse/Starmer to fuck up.

I'm expecting a minority Conservative government.

They had nowhere near the same level of contempt aimed at them in the run-up to 1992 and have nowhere near the same quality of MPs.

[Andy McDandy]

In 1992 Major was in a pretty good position. The economy hadn't yet crashed (there was a recession but it was a recession everywhere, so not our fault guv), he'd scored well on foreign policy thanks to Nicholas Ridley blowing his own foot off over Europe (and making the Europhobes look daft), the Gulf War, taking a moral lead in the former Yugoslavia, and a genuine rapport with Bush senior. His problems mainly were that he was boring and didn't have many new ideas (as opposed to many bad ideas).

[Tubby Isaacs]

They had a very good leader for the 1992 situation too. John Major did "I know how can tough it can be" extremely well. Sunak telling people to tighten their belts isn't the same.

[Crabcakes]

Actually, I think they could well be right. I'm getting 1992 vibes here and remember, the next GE is eighteen months away; plenty of time for Sunak's fortunes to reverse/Starmer to fuck up.

I'm expecting a minority Conservative government.

I can understand the jitters, but it’s not the same scenario at all. The Tories have a pissed off former leader who will openly sabotage Sunak out of spite, they are 40 sitting MPs down and rising, they have no respected heavy hitters left, they have the covid inquiry and ongoing investigations that will be constant reminding people that they partied while others suffered, and another winter of insane fuel bills and potential strikes to get through. Major had some infighting about Europe and ‘sleaze’ that compared to the current lot wouldn’t even register as a blip. And Labour have the unexpected advantage of an SNP meltdown into the bargain.

[Philip Marlow]

As the saying goes, they are not sending their best.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Halfon really didn't want to talk about social care there, did he? Not surprised, the poor outcome comes from the government (indirectly) underpaying carers.

And all because Cameron wanted someone else to take the blame for cuts.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Halfon is a mixed bag, to say the least, but he used to chair the Education Select Committee. Might be more a Chloe Smith happening here- minister sent out to take shit because nobody knows who they are. And WTF was that "15 months" metric? That's really not all that long, in a working life of something like 45 years. Lots of people take Business Studies, Does that become useless if you work at a lower level in a business for a while?

[Andy McDandy]

He also seemed to be saying that the "usefulness" of a course should be based on outcomes, but failed to say how the link between outcome and employment (forgetting amount earned at the moment) would be established, or indeed measured. Universities already measure graduate employment, but it's not really possible to link course easily with career (except in cases such as medicine and vocational degrees and degree apprenticeships). To take one random example, would a middling degree in classics lead the average student to editing a magazine straight out of uni?

Short version is that this is just more posturing, more "bloody students"/"ivory tower academics", more sneering at Harry bloody Potter studies because it's obviously 3 years of watching kids' films a as opposed to examining trends in current children's literature, while the posh little rich kids doing their bloody Grecian urns get a pass because daddy's got them lined up for something anyway when they decide to make a few bob.