Unfortunately, the voters of Fareham will still return Braverman. If she is the lone survivor of an almost Tory wipeout, well she could be their next leader.
As much as I would love the Tories to become party of History, I feel they will get close to 200 seats, as voters decide that perhaps Reform.might not be a better option than the Tories.
It's been a longstanding question as to how The Epoch Times -- the weird, conspiracy-addled media company run by adjuncts of Falun Gong -- was funded, because their revenues and reach had jumped massively without an obvious source (like, subscription base, or advertising, or the things that normally fund media organizations). It was assumed that the money was probably coming via ideological allies, but nope: it was good ol' fashioned fraud. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/03/mon...-charged-with-alleged-67-million-scheme-.html
There's nowt so strange (or is it queer?)as folk. A northern expression the font of all knowledge tells me.
Very measured response, thanks. I think you're right. I've never advocated a Soviet style running of industry. The problem is that often a really good idea that seems obvious gets taken to an extreme by the 'free market' lobby who basically distrust elected representatives. A good example was the introduction of Local Management of Schools. Great idea. No longer did schools have to set up procurement pathways to buy resources at inflated prices but could pop into Poundland and buy cheaper stuff with the knock on that they could then employ more staff. But look now. We have multi-academy trusts that control everything, including the curriculum, without any accountability to the communities they serve. Money is poured into bureaucracy and inefficiency and waste abound. Feels slightly Orwellian.
Anyone who doubts where Academy trusts financial priorities are should request schools yearly statements over the last few years, most should be on the school website though they try to hide them. Apart from a rocket like increase in headmaster etc pay you'll see a multiplication of executive roles on salaries most generous. Worth paying particular notice of pension contributions which are a sneaky way of even more trough filling. My daughter's old school in Wimborne were paying nearly £100,000 alone in various ways as pension payments to the head each year. The 3 (yes 3) deputy heads were getting around 40-50 thou a year. Remember this is on top of salaries which had pretty much doubled over 3-4 years. There was even a performance related payment, despite the fact that the last GCSE results were slightly worse ???
I have seen comments that Reform will not be standing aside at any Tory constituencies, giving the Tories a free hit, as the Brexit Party did in 2019. I hope they stand by that and hit the Tory vote hard enough that it opens the door for one of the other parties to win the seat. How the Tories have managed to stop another right wing party from running against them, for so many years, is just crazy when you consider how many left of centre parties divide the left vote.
Raises the question, Who is funding Reform? Putting up candidates in every Seat requires a significant financial investment
Because the Tories themselves have moved on to the territory formerly occupied by UKIP. And now the Tories are squeezing Reform.into a very right corner and shifting that party further to the right.
Is there any party actually talking about the economy? From.my perspective in Spain, this should be the prime focus of this election. How to re-energise the economy? How to improve the manufacturing output of those industries that remain. A partial.solution would be to rejoin the Single Market, and perhaps Starmer is alluding to this in all but name. However, there remains a whole host of other issues to resolve.
I would hope that Starmer will be more open about rejoining the Single Market, once elected. At the moment everything is a balancing act to win votes, but the general consensus seems to be that the country is more in favour of rejoining the EU than before, which might give him an opportunity to at least introduce it into the open, instead of it still being the white elephant sitting in the corner of the room. It should be an easy thing to talk about, especially as the £40billion a year loss of taxes, could be regained and used to repair so much of the deliberate damage caused by the Tories.
From before the gatemouthed gobshite announced his take over and candidature in Clapton. https://bylinetimes.com/2024/01/18/...ical-business-brought-to-you-by-billionaires/ "Despite its wealthy backers and blanket media coverage, few have peered under the bonnet of Reform UK. It’s time to take a look at its backers. Russell Jackson 18 January 2024
