POLITICS CORNER

[Stanley]

We seem to be in full electioneering mode. See THIS for a view of the piste....
Labour has promised to hand more powers to Britain's economic watchdog if it wins the next election. Under the plans, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) would be free to publish forecasts and analysis alongside any tax and spending changes. The policy is a response to Liz Truss's mini-budget, delivered without OBR analysis, which led to market chaos and a fall in the value of the pound. Labour said the package would "bring stability back to our economy" Speaking to the BBC, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves also said that, under Labour, all major tax and spending decisions would by law be announced in November, to reduce uncertainty for businesses and families. Currently the government typically set outs budgets in the spring, followed by an autumn statement which can also contain significant measures. Under Labour's plans, only very minor policy changes would be permitted in a spring update to Parliament. The OBR usually produces forecasts only twice a year, to accompany the spring budget and autumn statement - but does provide monthly commentary on the economy..
In another part of the forest Ed Davey says that voters aren't talking about Brexit on the doorstep as the LibDem conference starts in Bournemouth. Sunak says that he has the net zero strategy right and excited Tory backbenchers chatter as to whether this is the key to their salvation in the next election.
I'd suggest that there is plenty of time yet for 'events dear boy' to have an influence..... It's early days.

[plaques]

The chatter is whether to hold a snap autumn election before things get worse. Promises of the rate of inflation falling like a stone is on the cards after the surprise massive drop of 0.1% . Waiting lists on the NHS are up but that's because of all those nasty doctors wanting more money. GDP is down a shade because of the strikes and the bad weather. Illegal boat crossings are down but that's nothing to do with the bad weather its down to the action we haven't taken yet. Net Zero has been pushed back to help industry make one final killing by doing nothing about carbon emissions. The bad weather will soon be hiding the excess sewage discharges so everything will come up roses.

Of course if they wait until next year there could be miraculous events but the runes points to things getting worse.

[Stanley]

Brilliant Ken, you hit all the buttons I think. It struck me yesterday after seeing another Truss bid for leadership that Johnson at least has the sense to keep his mouth shut. You'd never know there was a Covid enquiry.
I think that THIS bleeding obvious report from J Hunt best illustrates the state of our politics.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said it will be "virtually impossible" to deliver tax cuts until the UK economy improves. A less gloomy economic outlook and the high cost of living had led to calls for measures to reduce taxes in the Autumn Statement in November. Speaking on LBC, Mr Hunt said the country's high levels of debt left him with some "very difficult decisions". The UK's national debt - the amount borrowed to fund spending - is at levels not seen since the early 1960s. The larger the national debt gets, the more interest the government has to pay and rising interest rates have made this cost higher.
My question is why the qualifier 'virtually'? Surely it's impossible full stop!
Meanwhile in the background the swirl of rumour around the fate of HS2 ebbs and flows. There are those of us who can't believe the amounts of money that have been pledged to this and other vanity projects while we can't afford to pay doctors and nurses a fair wage.
Meanwhile, if you go digging you'll find THIS hidden away in the back pages of the news....
The Home Office has been ordered to stop work to convert a former RAF base into an asylum centre over concerns planning conditions have been breached. The government plans to house up to 2,000 people at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire, with the first 50 due to arrive at the site within weeks. After a site visit, West Lindsey District Council has now served an enforcement notice and a stop notice. The Home Office said it was confident its project met planning requirements. However the council said it was "clear" that there had been "a breach of planning control". It said the breach related to its listed buildings and archaeology at the site, which was once the home of 617 Squadron responsible for the Dambusters raids in 1943. The council, which is the local planning authority, had raised concerns about the work taking place and first issued a temporary stop notice on 8 September. Under the terms of the notice, the Home Office must stop using the site as accommodation for asylum seekers, cease works related to portable buildings, stop all intrusive groundworks and restore the site to its original condition. West Lindsey Council leader Trevor Young said: "It is incredibly disappointing that despite repeated assurances that the site would be safe, legal and compliant, the Home Office has failed to secure appropriate planning permission or to adequately assess the impact of their proposals. "It is an offence to contravene the Stop Notice and I urge the Home Office to cease all works in line with this legal action."
Does the Home Secretary think the Home Office is above the law?
Taking an overall view I have to say that the picture is one of a country in chaos under an administration which has lost all control.

[plaques]

West Lindsey Council leader Trevor Young said: "It is incredibly disappointing that despite repeated assurances that the site would be safe, legal and compliant, the Home Office has failed to secure appropriate planning permission or to adequately assess the impact of their proposals. "It is an offence to contravene the Stop Notice and I urge the Home Office to cease all works in line with this legal action."

I get the feeling that Suella Braverman knows she is breaking the rules but as with other questionable actions, Rwanda, Illegal boat entry, its another attempt to push at the boundaries of international and domestic law and see what happens. After all she has a ready made excuse of 'Lefty lawyers'.

[Stanley]

It gives us a whole new meaning for the definition of 'chancer' Ken! I don't understand how the Westminster Bubble works. Braverman is no friend of Sunak, she's campaigning already to take the leadership off him and yet he seems to have no choice but support her in post as Home Secretary. Could this be because nobody in their right mind would take the job on?
See THIS for the top item in political news this morning. Yet more electioneering....
A taskforce to speed up home insulation and boiler upgrades has been disbanded, the BBC can reveal. The group - which included the chair of the National Infrastructure Commission Sir John Armitt and other leading experts - was only launched in March. But it appears to be a casualty of Rishi Sunak's decision to scrap energy efficiency regulations for landlords in an overhaul of green policies. Members were informed in a letter, seen by the BBC, that it was being wound up. Energy efficiency minister Lord Callanan told the group its work would be "streamlined" into ongoing government activity A spokesperson for the Energy Security and Net Zero department said: "We would like to thank the Energy Efficiency Taskforce for its work in supporting our ambition to reduce total UK energy demand by 15% from 2021 levels by 2030. "We have invested £6.6bn in energy efficiency upgrades this Parliament and will continue to support families in making their homes more efficient, helping them to cut bills while also achieving net zero in a pragmatic, proportionate and realistic way." But former Conservative MP Laura Sandys, who sat on the taskforce, said she was "disappointed" by the decision to disband it and "confused" about the government's intentions on the cost of living.
The cheapest energy saving there is is insulation and it has been entirely abandoned by the government. I am a simple minded old bugger and can't help thinking along the lines of if the money sunk in HS2 already had been applied to home insulation we would already be seeing a return for the investment, not some pie in the sky estimates for the distant future.
One further thought about HS2.... Ever since the project of a new fast rail connection to the North was mooted there has been scepticism about the economic case for building. Of late, with the changes brought about by the pandemic and travelling costs it has become fairly obvious that the economic advantage of the build is actually very hard to define. Was the whole case for HS2 based on dishonest accounting?

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report for the latest we have on HS2. I think we can all agree that it looks as though we are being softened up for an announcement that HS2 North of Birmingham is going to be abandoned, the simple reason being that the economy is in too bad a state to pay for it.
It won't be couched in those terms of course because that raises the question of how we got into this position under those masters of financial management, the Conservative and Unionist Party! (There is also the small matter of the Tory Conference being in Manchester and an announcement that the city has been downgraded by the Tories wouldn't play well while they were there....)
I still think that in the inquest on how we got to this point someone is going to raise the matter of unrealistic economic forecasts under the Johnson government. Doubt was registered at the time by critics but they were all overruled in the haste to get a high visibility project underway to boost the Tory vote in what became 'The Red Wall' constituencies.

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report that the row over the plans to cut HS2 North of Birmingham is not going away.
Scrapping the HS2 link from Birmingham and Manchester risks "ripping the heart" out of plans to improve rail services across northern England, the mayor of Greater Manchester has said. In a growing backlash, Andy Burnham said axing the extension risked creating a "north-south chasm". Speculation has grown as the government has not guaranteed the line will run from the Midlands to the North West. Rishi Sunak refused to comment but said the UK was "committed to levelling up". "Transport infrastructure is a key part of that, but not just big rail projects, but also local projects, improving local bus services, fixing pot holes, all of these things make a difference in people's day-to-day lives," the prime minister said. The BBC understands a decision on HS2 could be made as soon as this week.
Any hopes that this could be done and dusted before the start of the Tory conference in Manchester on October 1 can be forgotten. They could have a bumpy ride!
THIS BBC rport on Suella Braverman in Washington is hidden away in the home pages and not under political news.... Why?
Politicians need to question if the UN's 1951 Refugee Convention is "fit for our modern age", Suella Braverman is expected to say in a speech. Addressing a think tank in Washington DC, the home secretary will describe the convention as an "incredible achievement of its age". But she will also argue that shifts in interpretation has led to increased numbers being defined as refugees. Labour accused her of having "given up on fixing" the asylum system. "Now she's resorting to grandstanding abroad and looking for anyone else to blame," said shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper.
Is Yvette Cooper right? Has the Home Office 'given up' on stopping the boats? This is one of Sunak's five key pledges. Has he been consulted or is Braverman acting independently now, quite obviously massaging her claims to the Leadership?
Over to you Ken!

[plaques]

The HS2 has all the hallmarks of one of Boris Johnson's fantasy projects. Sold on debatable logic that by knocking a hour or so off a Manchester / London journey would somehow regenerate the whole UK economy and with one mighty leap bring us level with the rest of the advanced countries in having a high speed train. Not forgetting this plan was conceived and justified solely within the Conservative parliament they are now looking at ways of watering down the eyewatering cost of what has become an expensive white elephant. To remind people £1B = £1,000,000,000 which gets lost in the glib talk of £B's. If Sunak was a Prime Minister of any standing he would have declared his views to the Cabinet and then made a statement of fact to the public. Instead we get 'will he, won't he' on open debate with nobody knowing where they stand. Fudging such a major projects makes it look like it will be deferred to a manifesto promise to be quietly forgotten about should they ever get back in power again.

Over to you Ken My views on Braverman would be censored out of existence. In this case she seems to be pandering to Trumps right-wing fascists and then using it as a benchmark for what the UK needs. This woman has an evil streak.

[PanBiker]

We dumped our best chance of a revolutionary rail system in the 50's and early 60's. Successive Tory governments refused to fund MagLev technology developed by Professor Eric Laithwaite at UMIST dismissing it as a technical "party trick" with no practical use in the real world. The claimed gains of the HS2 project which still essentially relies on the Victorian infrastructure are insignificant compared to the benefits of a properly funded MagLev system. Manchester to London in 45 mins. It has been costed as cheaper to build per mile than what was spent on the Channel Tunnel. Oh well......

[Stanley]

You make a very important point Ken about Sunak's preferred management style. He works on the principle that if you avoid clear cut decisions it is harder for the opposition to focus and aim their retaliation. He is doing exactly the same thing with his retreat from green principles and this is leaving industry and those responsible for the investment of billions in infrastructure swinging in the wind and therefore not creating new jobs.
That was a very timely intervention reminding us what a billion is. You are right, it's too easy to talk in terms of billions.... A single billion doesn't sound anywhere near as bad as one thousand million!
As for Braverman, I agree with you.... not only is she pandering to the likes of Trump and the hard right wing of both the Tory and Republican parties but there is a streak of pure evil in her. Look at her latest contention, that persecution for being gay is not a reason for being declared a refugee. She discounts completely persecution as a reason for flight no matter what the root cause is. Under that logic the victims of the Holocaust deserve no sympathy. Her idea of a good asylum policy is to abolish the status completely, put up the shutters and reject all supplicants from abroad. Where would that have left her Mother and Father?
See THIS for the BBC report of her speech and the reaction that has ensued.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman is facing criticism after she said the international asylum system was no longer fit for purpose. In a speech earlier, Mrs Braverman said fearing discrimination for being gay or a woman should not be enough to qualify for refugee protection. But the United Nations' refugee agency (UNHCR) rejected her calls for the rules to be "tightened". It said the 1951 Refugee Convention "remains a life-saving instrument". The convention forms the basis of the UNHCR's work and provides an agreed definition of a refugee and minimum standards for their treatment. In a statement following Mrs Braverman's speech, the UNHCR said: "The need is not for reform, or more restrictive interpretation, but for stronger and more consistent application of the convention and its underlying principle of responsibility-sharing." The agency added: "Where individuals are at risk of persecution on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity, it is crucial that they are able to seek safety and protection." It argued an "appropriate response" to the growing numbers seeking asylum in the UK and the backlog of claims would be speeding up decision-making processes. Charities also criticised the home secretary's comments, with ActionAid UK describing them as "a direct affront to gender equality and human rights".
Do other nations see her deluded outburst as official UK policy? If so, what damage has she done to our standing abroad? Combine this with the recent focus on our cutting overseas aid and we are not presenting a pretty picture to the world outside.
I don't think I am alone in seeing this as just more evidence of the way we are sliding back into being a reactionary regime that functions with no regard for others, simply our own venal interests. Makes you proud to be British doesn't it! (Particularly when we see Brian welcoming the man who ordered the journalist to be killed and dismembered on his visit to the UK.)

[plaques]

Some of the codes go back longer than the immigration code. Are we going to get rid of these as well.

The Nuremberg Code (1947)
Permissible Medical Experiments
The great weight of the evidence before us to effect that certain types of medical
experiments on human beings, when kept within reasonably well-defined bounds,
conform to the ethics of the medical profession generally. The protagonists of the
practice of human experimentation justify their views on the basis that such
experiments yield results for the good of society that are unprocurable by other
methods or means of study. All agree, however, that certain basic principles must
be observed in order to satisfy moral, ethical and legal concepts:
1. The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential. This
means that the person involved should have legal capacity to give consent;
should be so situated as to be able to exercise free power of choice, without
the intervention of any element of force, fraud, deceit, duress, overreaching,
or other ulterior form of constraint or coercion; and should have sufficient
knowledge and comprehension of the elements of the subject matter involved
as to enable him to make an understanding and enlightened decision. This
latter element requires that before the acceptance of an affirmative decision
by the experimental subject there should be made known to him the nature,
duration, and purpose of the experiment; the method and means by which it is
to be conducted; all inconveniences and hazards reasonably to be expected;
and the effects upon his health or person which may possibly come from his
participation in the experiment.
The duty and responsibility for ascertaining the quality of the consent rests
upon each individual who initiates, directs, or engages in the experiment. It is
a personal duty and responsibility which may not be delegated to another with
impunity.
2. The experiment should be such as to yield fruitful results for the good of
society, unprocurable by other methods or means of study, and not random
and unnecessary in nature.
3. The experiment should be so designed and based on the results of animal
experimentation and a knowledge of the natural history of the disease or other
problem under study that the anticipated results justify the performance of the
experiment.
4. The experiment should be so conducted as to avoid all unnecessary physical
and mental suffering and injury.
5. No experiment should be conducted where there is an a priori reason to
believe that death or disabling injury will occur; except, perhaps, in those
experiments where the experimental physicians also serve as subjects.
6. The degree of risk to be taken should never exceed that determined by the
humanitarian importance of the problem to be solved by the experiment.
7. Proper preparations should be made and adequate facilities provided to
protect the experimental subject against even remote possibilities of injury,
disability or death.
8. The experiment should be conducted only by scientifically qualified persons.
The highest degree of skill and care should be required through all stages of
the experiment of those who conduct or engage in the experiment.
9. During the course of the experiment the human subject should be at liberty to
bring the experiment to an end if he has reached the physical or mental state
where continuation of the experiment seems to him to be impossible.
10.During the course of the experiment the scientist in charge must be prepared
to terminate the experiment at any stage, if he has probable cause to believe,
in the exercise of the good faith, superior skill and careful judgment required
of him, that a continuation of the experiment is likely to result in injury,
disability, or death to the experimental subject.
For more information see Nuremberg Doctor's Trial, BMJ 1996;313(7070):1445-75.

[Stanley]

Well done Ken. That's the sort of focus she doesn't have. It's beneath her to actually study the subject, she prefers broad brush legislation based on 'common sense', in other words her personal perception and prejudices. The acid test is how it plays with the voters.
See THIS for the latest blow to green policies. The 'regulators' (who I am sure would deny being managed by Sunak) have given permission for the development of the Rosebank Field......
The controversial Rosebank offshore development off Shetland has been granted consent by regulators. Located 80 miles west of Shetland, Rosebank is the UK's largest untapped oil field and is estimated to contain up to 300 million barrels of oil. Development and production approval has been given to owners Equinor and Ithaca Energy, following reassurances over environmental concerns. The plan has faced widespread criticism due to its impact on climate change. Supporters of the project say it is vital for the energy security as it will reduce reliance on imports. Its owners say it will create about 1,600 jobs during the height of construction, support 450 UK-based jobs during its lifetime, and provide "a significant amount of tax revenues for the treasury".
It seems to me like business as usual in the off shore industry. I suspect that this is how all these reserves are being managed. Pay lip service to green policies but carry on extracting because it's the only way you can make money. No shortage of material for a conversation when the Saudi Crown Prince visits....

[Stanley]

If you want a master class in political trickery, read THIS BBC account of the latest IFS report.
The government is on course to oversee the biggest tax-raising parliament since records began, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies' analysis. The IFS forecasts taxes will amount to about 37% of national income by the next general election, due in 2024. That would be a level not seen since 1948, just after the Second World War. Responding to the report, a Treasury spokesperson said the "most effective tax cut we can deliver" is to "drive down inflation". "We have taken three million people out of paying tax altogether since 2010 through raising personal thresholds." Next year, the government will collect upwards of £100bn more in tax compared to pre-2019 levels, the IFS says.
The Treasury spokesperson's comment about driving inflation down being a tax cut in itself is disingenuous as there is no evidence that anything the government has done has lowered inflation. What movement we have seen is due to global influences and is the worst performance in the G7 countries. This from the Party who used to assure us constantly that they understand money..... Note also that Sunak was Chancellor when the most damaging adjustments were made to the tax system. No wonder he's always smiling!
See THIS also. Sunak refuses to say whether he backs Braverman's speech in Washington on the death of multiculturalism although other reports have said that she was given permission by 10 Downing Street to make the speech. Once again Sunak is refusing to give clarity about his position. Exactly the same as his stance on HS2. The question arises, why? Is it so that if things go wrong he can deny responsibility? That would be par for the course because that is this governments stance every time it is quesationed about some ill in our society from inadequate buses through shortfalls in social services to uncontrolled inwards migration. Deny responsibility and spout floods of figures for funding.

[plaques]

Sunak appears to be a past master at telepathy. All the recent pronouncements first appear on the BBC, The Telegraph, The Express and a host of unknown mouth pieces. Anyone who contacts No10 about them is met with a blank response or outright denial. Then two days later Sunak mumbles something about it not being policy just one of the many things under consideration. Either these are downright No10 lies or his Cabinet / advisors have more leaks than a cullender. Either way this is not what you would expect from a government that is in control.

[Stanley]

A very timely observation Ken. I can remember the days when, if a minister announced policy in any other way than in the House it was instant resignation time. Now it is standard practice to air policy changes in the media and accept the obligatory slap on the wrist from Mr Speaker. The latest examples have been HS2 and Sunak's resiling from green principles. We now see him doing the same thing with 20mph speed limits. Note that all these are either driven by the parlous state of the economy or the need to find cunning wheezes to manage the Tory's chances in a general election.
I see from THIS that J Hunt is doing the same thing by continuing to flag up warnings to the Party faithful that tax cuts to bribe the voters are out of the question.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said he wants to stop the "vicious circle of ever-rising taxes" by reforming public services and the benefits system. His comments come as some senior Tories are set to call for tax cuts ahead of the party's conference this week. MPs including Liz Truss and Dame Priti Patel have ruled out voting for any further tax burden increase. But Mr Hunt told the Times "we're not in a position to talk about tax cuts" in the short term.
His comment about 'reforming public services and the tax system' look to me like advance warning of more cuts and a further tightening of austerity. What he isn't saying of course is that the economic system is even worse than has been admitted. None of Sunak's five 'pledges' are on track and the global increase in base interest rates means that UK plc is in the same position as a family with a more expensive mortgage in a housing market where property values are falling.
Have a look at THIS BBC report of Sunak's latest outburst of 'pro-motorist' policies. He has made a calculation that there are more votes in pandering to the private motorist than encouraging better public transport.
Rishi Sunak says he wants to stop "hare-brained" road calming and safety schemes, including 20mph zones, to end what he said was a "war on motorists". The prime minister said that he wanted to ensure such measures would no longer be "forced" on drivers. There would also be a review of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, or LTNs, in England to ensure they are not introduced without local support. The Labour Party described the plans as "pure hypocrisy". The government said it was publishing a "new long-term plan" to "put the brakes on anti-car measures".
This pro-car stance is going to become more important in future as the whole concept of cheap motoring for the masses comes under more and more strain from both environmental and economic forces. Historians in the future are nit likely to see motoring as a boon to the masses but the single most damaging development of the 20th Century causing more deaths and expense than the World Wars.....

[Stanley]

Did anyone hear Michael Matheson, Transport Secretary, on Today on R4 dodging every reasonable enquiry about HS2, 20mph Speed Limits and policies towards motorists. A master class in obfuscation and saying bugger all. This is about the limit of this governments political abilities....
Not funny, it was a total disgrace....

[Stanley]

Not surprising, THIS is the main political news today.
Rishi Sunak has arrived in Manchester for what could be his last party conference before the next election. Ahead of the four-day event, he announced £1.1bn of cash for towns the government says have been "overlooked". However, the prime minister faces pressure from across his party over issues including tax cuts and HS2. And on the eve of the conference, a prominent supporter, the boss of Iceland supermarkets, announced he was quitting the party. In a parting shot, Richard Walker accused the party of having "lost its way". Mr Walker had been hoping to become a Conservative MP and was on the party's list of approved parliamentary candidates, but announcing his resignation on Saturday, he labelled the Tories "out of touch".
A fairly standard way to start a rebrand of the Party, offering an inadequate bribe to a sector that has had many more billions cut from their funding in the last 13 years. Is he expecting the voters to forgive and forget all the damage?
I know that THIS is largely self promotion but Laura Kuenssberg asks some of the right questions.
In the next few days we will all see more of the new-look Rishi Sunak. 'Mr Safe Pair of Hands' is gone - it's 'No more Mr Nice Guy' now. Less of the touchy feely "green crap", as his forerunner David Cameron once branded it - more of the red meat for motorists and rhetoric for Tory members. And if that means the home secretary riling up the left about refugees, so be it. Meet Rishi Sunak the "change candidate", to use the political jargon. The man who wants to tell you why the country is going wrong - and how he'll fix it. With the public grumpy, Conservative strategists reckon that voters will want something different at the next election. The idea is simple: pitch Mr Sunak as someone who wants to change the status quo - apart from him being in Number 10, that is. It's a tactic that was clear in his big speech last week when he asked: "Do we want to change our country... or carry on as we are?" A cunning scheme, perhaps, after months and months of dreadful polling. As one cabinet minister puts it, if you have kept trying the same thing and you're still miles behind, it is simple logic to "take a risk". But after 13 years in charge, it might take a political superhero to make the rebrand work.
My problem with all this is that the opposition parties , I'm being polite, what I really mean is Starmer! Don't seem to be doing anything more than resile on more left wing policies and watch from the sidelines in the expectation that the Tories will implode. I predict that this will not be enough to get them a victory with a majority big enough to enable them to ram new policies home. I am not sanguine about the future and the next election. We will end up saying how well the LibDems have done and what a pity that Labour couldn't have won more seats.

[Stanley]

Good to tell that the Tories expect a General Election before their next annual conference. The main political headlines are Hunt raising the Minimum wage to £11 an hour, the education secretary making a statement about banning phones in schools. (No mention of how that's to be done or the slightly more pressing question of rotten concrete beams.....)
Sunak cruises on refusing to address tax cuts, HS2 North of Birmingham or the state of his 'pledges'. The politician's view seems to be that if uncomfortable subjects are ignored they eventually wither and go away. We shall see over the next few months if this is true.
Meanwhile, in another part of the forest..... THIS strike starting today in the NHS gets no attention from the politicians. The Tories don't want any discussion of NHS funding and shortfalls in Manchester where the plan is to build up a false rosy picture of society under the Tories.
NHS bosses are warning patients to expect extreme disruption in hospitals, as junior doctors and consultants stage a three-day joint walkout in England. The stoppage begins at 07:00, with NHS England saying it will bring non-emergency care to a "near standstill". The British Medical Association is promising "Christmas Day" cover, meaning emergency care will be staffed, with only minimal cover elsewhere. The two groups represent about four-fifths of doctors working in hospital.

[Stanley]

Two things attracted my attention in regard to the Tory conference in Manchester.
The first one is THIS report of the Tory Mayor of Birmingham sticking his oar in on the HS2 controversy which is proving far more disruptive than Sunak and his henchmen expected.
West Midlands Tory mayor Andy Street has said Rishi Sunak would be "cancelling the future" if he "gives up" on the Manchester leg of HS2. It comes amid speculation that the prime minister is about to announce the axing of the high speed rail line. Downing Street has insisted "no final decisions have been taken". But Mr Street made an impassioned plea to the PM to "stay the course" or risk damaging the UK's international reputation "as a place to invest". Reports a decision had been taken have been circulating at the Conservative party conference in Manchester.
The second one is the reports that have emerged that Liz Truss's speech at a fringe meeting was so well attended that over 200 members were turned away. She made a speech urging Hunt to cut Corporation tax.
Have these people learned nothing?

[plaques]

All this huffing and puffing about HS2 makes me think that the decision to delay has already been made but is being used as a smokescreen as to why they can't pay the doctors / nurses etc the wages they deserve. Here we have the Conservative party who for years have been bragging they are 'good with money' demonstrating the biggest financial shambles we have ever seen. Sunak, our third division PM openly saying he will ditch the manifesto the party was elected on and work to a newly invented one that HE feels happier with. This is democracy out of the window looking more like the actions of a dictator. With the Conservative party is in open revolt its time to call it a day and have a general election now and get rid of this bunch of clowns.

[PanBiker]

As you are all aware although a party member, I am no fan of Keir Starmer as I he has abandoned any hope of socialism in the party. Despite all this he cannot be any worse than what we have had for the last 13 years.

[Tripps]

The Tory conference in Manchester has given Priti Patel to strut her stuff in public, and surely invite comparisons with Suella Braverman.

I was immediately reminded of the classical comparison of Scylla and Charybdis

Mercifully we will soon be rid of the pair of them.

********
"Tory Mayor of Birmingham sticking his oar in on the HS2 controversy"



A bit harsh perhaps . I'd say he was well entitled to do so - as is Mr Burnham?

[Stanley]

Still sticking his oar in David.... Not pejorative in my book, how about 'having his say'?
You're back on form Ken. I reckon you're very close to the truth there.....
See THIS for the true face of Tory politics. You get ostracised for telling the truth.

[plaques]

All eyes are on HS2. Will he, won't he. The fall back is 'leveling up' a sound bite that means anything you want it to mean, Alice in Wonderland and Humpty Dumpty stuff. Nobody knows what it means so its a convenient phrase to use when your backs against the wall. Clearly our health minister Steven Barclay thinks Cutting back on NHS services and reducing wages to the doctors and nurses constitutes 'leveling up'. This uses the perverse logic that if you hold back the rest ill catch up.

[PanBiker]

News on my phone says that Sunak will use his winding up speech today to "fix" the broken politics of the country. Begs the question, what have they been doing for the last 13 years? Anything to take the heat off the HS2 debate which will probably be mentioned in passing with a golden ticket for piecemeal minor replacement projects up North.

In the part of the forest that I am involved with, at our meeting last night. We confirmed the selection and interview panel for PPC candidates, fixed a timetable for nominations, interviews, long and short listing, hustings and the voting procedures for members.