Friday 10th December 2021

[refitman]

Morning all.

[Willow904]

[frog222]

Morning RFM, Willow -

Take yer pick --
https://www.tomorrowspapers.co.uk/

[gilsey]

Good morning.


Thanks to sky for the QT review.

[frog222]

Good morning.
Thanks to sky for the QT review.

Seconded ! It is very popular with a wider readership .

Where was Simon Case ?

There are suggestions that up to seven lockdown-breaking gatherings took place in November and December last year
HOLLIE ADAMS/GETTY IMAGES
” The No 10 Christmas party was planned for three weeks with invitations sent to officials and advisers on WhatsApp while the UK was in full lockdown, The Times has been told.

Invitations to last year’s event were circulated at the end of November, asking people to attend the press office’s “secret Santa” gathering with an exchange of gifts. The invitation said it would be held on December 18 and that there would be food and wine.

The messages are likely to form part of an inquiry by Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, who is seeking to establish whether the event was a party and therefore represented a breach of lockdown rules. Case has said he is prepared to hand over any evidence to the ”

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/down ... -sqjcxnhwq

[frog222]

[gilsey]

I've always thought that there would be no effective levelling up without restoring local govt funding to somewhere nearer pre-2010 levels.

The Indy has a story that the white paper has rather ambitious plans which - surprise - don't involve extra funding.

The government plans to radically alter local government in England, replacing it with a single-tier mayoral-style system, according to a draft of the government’s levelling up white paper seen by The Independent.

The document – marked “Official Sensitive” – states the government is setting out a “new devolution framework for England” based on a model of a directly elected leader “over a well-defined economic geography”.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/p ... 72948.html

You'd be hard pushed to find anyone who thinks this govt is actually capable of successfully delivering even the most modest reform.

[frog222]

[AnatolyKasparov]

On that topic, any of you who haven't signed the petition yet should do so.

[refitman]

[frog222]

On that topic, any of you who haven't signed the petition yet should do so.

@AK, absolutely ! It's up 30% since this morning ..

[frog222]

131,189 signatures

[AnatolyKasparov]

Tories have started dropping local council seats by the shedload in the past few weeks of byelections.....

[frog222]

[frog222]

140,027 signatures

[frog222]

145,475 signatures

Friday night live-chat

[frog222]

Lengthy discussion between Grieve and Oborne , very good.

Expect it will be reduced to a clip .

[gilsey]

Yes, except Crerar and Brand had been sitting on those stories for months, 'waiting for the right moment'.

I realise that they could have sunk without trace if released at the wrong moment, but still. Does it have to be like this?

[gilsey]

Nowadays children are growing up thinking foodbanks are perfectly normal.

[frog222]

@Gilsey

" I realise that they could have sunk without trace if released at the wrong moment, but still. Does it have to be like this?"

You bet ! Look at the procedure, running it past the lawyers, editors for a start .
Then, "it might be a good day" for stuff like that to be buried by events ... lost without trace.

It's all about timing !