Saturday 8th & Sunday 9th May 2021

[PaulfromYorkshire]

Confused Edwardian son says Tony Blair is the only person who could win an election for Labour (6,6).

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Keir Starmer’s sacking of Angela Rayner is self-destructive, stupid and wrong.

That's a decent article from Stephen Bush and while I hate to toot my own horn (not really, toot toot) he's saying the same as me last night. From an outsider's perspective, given the circumstances we're in, it looks like Labour performed about as well as could be expected. What they needed to do was calmly take stock, hold their nerve and wait for a return to normality. Instead, as usual, they've lost their shit.

I think PaulfromYorkshire was correct last night as to why Rayner was scapegoated, something Bush missed.

[refitman]

Keir Starmer’s sacking of Angela Rayner is self-destructive, stupid and wrong.

That's a decent article from Stephen Bush and while I hate to toot my own horn (not really, toot toot) he's saying the same as me last night. From an outsider's perspective, given the circumstances we're in, it looks like Labour performed about as well as could be expected. What they needed to do was calmly take stock, hold their nerve and wait for a return to normality. Instead, as usual, they've lost their shit.

I think PaulfromYorkshire was correct last night as to why Rayner was scapegoated, something Bush missed.

Can't be having a personality round Kier now.

[PorFavor]

Tha knows (you missed that).

[gilsey]

This is from the NHS article I linked, it's not the politics* I'm noting but the economics.

a debate is emerging among Tory MPs over whether Johnson should back an early general election, after sweeping gains in the local elections suggested it could make further inroads into traditionally Labour seats. The next election is due in 2024, but some argue that bringing it forward a year could allow the party to make gains before many of the big tax increases and spending cuts kick in to repair the economic damage of the pandemic.

This is Michael Savage, policy editor at the G. I'm not sure what 'policy editor' means but he really should get better informed about economics. Spending cuts didn't repair the economic damage after the financial crisis and they won't after the pandemic. Definition of madness.


* although the politics is rubbish too, 'sweeping gains' are still in Johnson's dreams.

[gilsey]

Can't be having a personality round Kier now.

She was dressed perfectly for Hartlepool, these people are stupid.

[PorFavor]

@PaulfromYorkshire

He would say that, wouldn't he?

[Sky'sGoneOut]

God I'm shit at crosswords. When I visit the folks and get up in the morning my Dad's always in the kitchen hunched over either the Independent or the Mail doing the crossword. He only gets the Mail on Sunday for the crossword because he competes with his mates in the pub over the road and that's the one they use. He hates the Mail as much as I do. After a while he always chucks the paper to me and says 'Here, see if you can get any'. Of course he's already got all the easy ones so I spend the next half an hour desperately trying to remember the names of actors, race horses, plants, obscure ancient Greek goddesses, before handing it back and saying 'I think I've got a couple but I'm not sure'. To be fair I'm usually hungover and it's usually his fault.

Hindle of course was a master of the craft. Whenever I'd visit, in the evenings he'd recline his tatty old chair with the Kermit the frog cushion, kick off his slippers, fart a few times (he was a prodigious farter) and get out his crosswords. He was so stingy he'd worked out a method whereby he could beat various paywalls by opening the crossword page on a range of publications and hit the button on his printer before the paywall activated. This took millisecond precision yet he rarely failed. I hate to think how long it took him to master that particular skill. So I'd be having a beer watching something on TV while he sat doing 4 or 5 crosswords at the same time. He never once asked for my help with a clue. He had me sussed.

He showed me a fountain pen he'd won as a prize for his crosswording skills. It was very posh looking thing in a case. From The Times.

I took the piss of course, and being Hindle he laughed and called me a twat.

[PorFavor]

@gilsey

See? Keir Starmer's Labour does have policies - although I didn't think that their policing stance extended to fashion.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Guess who's drunk again?

[PorFavor]

I used to enjoy the odd crossword crossover with HindleA.

[PorFavor]

"Guess who's drunk again?"

Unfortunately, it's not me. Who does that leave?

[RogerOThornhill]

So Dodds gone as Shadow Chancellor and replaced by Rachel Reeves.

Doods might have known her stuff but she came over as incoherent and evasive at times. Reeves is a better communicator and should do a better job.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Unfortunately, it's not me. Who does that leave?

Well if we ignore the fact it was a rhetorical question I reckon there are about 7.5 billion other suspects who aren't me either.

Has anyone seen CJA of late?

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Reeves is a better communicator and should do a better job.

Sorry Roger but for many of us Reeves is the precise opposite.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... es-welfare

https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/a ... t-for-you/

[PorFavor]

No - I've not seen citizenJA. I was thinking of her only yesterday.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Well, we have it within our means to make enquiries.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

[PorFavor]

Best version of this song. You can keep your Ruby Turner.

[PorFavor]

Night night.

[Sky'sGoneOut]