Stop voting for fucking Tories

[Paddington Bear]

Monty Panesar standing for George Galloway’s party in Ealing

he doesn't come across as very knowledgeable, wants to withdraw from NATO to stop illegal immigration

Monty Panesar’s strength has always been limited to left arm spin, with his weaknesses encompassing everything else. Bloody good bowler mind

[Paddington Bear]

It's truly amazing that she's the best they could offer

As SaintK said, they have Paul Scully who is a decent man, a good candidate and would have stood a chance. Instead they’ve gone full loon.

The tories have memed themselves out of London. Shaun Bailey actually wasn’t a million miles away, he actually looks good in comparison to Hall as well. With a decent candidate they’d kick Khan out because he’s useless and everyone knows it. Wouldn’t that be interesting in an election year

[tabascoboy]

Rwanda: Civil servants mount court challenge over new law

The union for senior civil servants is launching an unprecedented legal challenge to ministers' Rwanda plan. The FDA said it was intervening because it feared the scheme to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda could force officials to break the law.

Under a new law, ministers can ignore the European Court of Human Rights and direct officials to organise flights. The union wants the High Court to rule on whether that element would put civil servants in a difficult legal position. The FDA fears civil servants could be stuck between judges and ministers and that a direction to breach international law, would put them in conflict with the Civil Service Code.

The government said advice from Darren Tierney, its head of propriety and ethics, says the code would not be breached.

In a letter published on the government's website, Mr Tierney wrote: "In implementing the decision, civil servants would be operating in accordance with the Civil Service Code, including the obligation not to frustrate the implementation of policies once decisions are taken.

"They would be operating in compliance with the law, which is the law enacted by Parliament under which the minister's specifically recognised and confirmed discretion would be exercised."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68934480

[I like neeps]

It's truly amazing that she's the best they could offer

As SaintK said, they have Paul Scully who is a decent man, a good candidate and would have stood a chance. Instead they’ve gone full loon.

The tories have memed themselves out of London. Shaun Bailey actually wasn’t a million miles away, he actually looks good in comparison to Hall as well. With a decent candidate they’d kick Khan out because he’s useless and everyone knows it. Wouldn’t that be interesting in an election year

A lot of the labour front bench are tweeting to vote Sadiq, the polls are narrowing... I reckon it'll be quite close even with Hall.

I think Khan will, but this is a warning. Moderates who don't actually achieve anything but talk a lot, they lose their support to absolute mentalists.

[epwc]

BTW I don’t agree that Khan has been useless, compared to what? Boris? Don’t make me laugh, useless cunt of a man who spaffed away millions on pet schemes ( new routemaster , garden bridge….)

I’ve spoken to Khan and I’ve heard him speak, he’s a decent man, crap speaker, genuinely humble. These attributes do not make a popular politician, nowadays unless you have “personality” then everything else is pointless.

And it’s genuinely disgraceful that Susan Hall is standing for a normal mainstream party.

That the Tories have any chance at all is down to their successful fud against their own policy namely ULEZ.

Shows how shallow minded the electorate are.

[epwc]

In fact Boris post mayor of London has been toxic for UK politics

[Paddington Bear]

The new iPad based tech for polling stations has, it is fair to say, caused a few issues for the demographics than tend to man polling stations…

[_Os_]

An approach which will get them to the state the GOP are now in.

Yougov now has Tories on 18% and Reform on 15%. For some in the Tory leadership (Cameron) the referendum and Brexit were about defeating UKIP, they find themselves back at square one opposed by UKIP 2.0 but in a worse position themselves. They'll take any support from anywhere. I would say they're desperate and fighting for their survival, but they're oddly complacent about it all, some of their MPs even voice support for Reform or Farage, others plot to replace their Sunak. They seem to believe they automatically get 200+ seats because they're the Tories.

Those running their campaign will be happy winning a "basket of deplorables" if it keeps them alive. Any party can only target the people willing to vote for them. Reform has made this harder, Farage the king of the swivel eyed loons will be leading Reform soon.

[dpedin]

An approach which will get them to the state the GOP are now in.

Yougov now has Tories on 18% and Reform on 15%. For some in the Tory leadership (Cameron) the referendum and Brexit were about defeating UKIP, they find themselves back at square one opposed by UKIP 2.0 but in a worse position themselves. They'll take any support from anywhere. I would say they're desperate and fighting for their survival, but they're oddly complacent about it all, some of their MPs even voice support for Reform or Farage, others plot to replace their Sunak. They seem to believe they automatically get 200+ seats because they're the Tories.

Those running their campaign will be happy winning a "basket of deplorables" if it keeps them alive. Any party can only target the people willing to vote for them. Reform has made this harder, Farage the king of the swivel eyed loons will be leading Reform soon.

There will be some form of alliance between the Tories and Reform before the next election - the Tories know they are toast and Reform know they cant win seats so some form of merger will in their eyes represent the best chance of survival and winning seats. Sunak is toast and may even be out on his Gucci loafers by end of this month if the local elections are worse than expected. There will be a big internal Tory battle, the rabid right wing racists/facists like Braverman, Patel, Kruger, et al will take complete control of Tory Party and they will invite Farage and Tice to join them in the 'battle' to defeat the woke, commie, avocado eating, latte supping left wing north London Labour in a General election. They think going full NatC Party will win them enough votes combined to win an election and it will be a shitty and possible violent campaign. However they will lose as many votes as they gain with the more sensible Tory voters thinking enough is enough and can't stomach the full blown Trump like nationalist populism that emerges. I suspect a bit of a watershed moment for UK politics, or more realistically English politics? If the NatC Party, or whatever they call themselves win a majority based on an English based vote then expect Scotland, Wales and NI to revolt. Last time Farage came to Scotland he had to barricade himself in a pub in Edinburgh and was run out of town.

[sturginho]

Monty Panesar standing for George Galloway’s party in Ealing

he doesn't come across as very knowledgeable, wants to withdraw from NATO to stop illegal immigration

Monty Panesar’s strength has always been limited to left arm spin, with his weaknesses encompassing everything else. Bloody good bowler mind

still a better batsman than politician

[dpedin]

he doesn't come across as very knowledgeable, wants to withdraw from NATO to stop illegal immigration

Monty Panesar’s strength has always been limited to left arm spin, with his weaknesses encompassing everything else. Bloody good bowler mind

still a better batsman than politician

A perfect 'damned by faint praise'!

[sturginho]

Monty Panesar’s strength has always been limited to left arm spin, with his weaknesses encompassing everything else. Bloody good bowler mind

still a better batsman than politician

A perfect 'damned by faint praise'!

In fairness he did single handedly win the Ashes with the bat...

[Slick]

BTW I don’t agree that Khan has been useless, compared to what? Boris? Don’t make me laugh, useless cunt of a man who spaffed away millions on pet schemes ( new routemaster , garden bridge….)

I’ve spoken to Khan and I’ve heard him speak, he’s a decent man, crap speaker, genuinely humble. These attributes do not make a popular politician, nowadays unless you have “personality” then everything else is pointless.

And it’s genuinely disgraceful that Susan Hall is standing for a normal mainstream party.

That the Tories have any chance at all is down to their successful fud against their own policy namely ULEZ.

Shows how shallow minded the electorate are.

I thought Boris was a good Mayor to be honest, or at least London felt a great place to be when he was in charge.

[epwc]

I thought Boris was a good Mayor to be honest, or at least London felt a great place to be when he was in charge.

Pre Brexit, Pre Covid, Pre Culture Wars London you mean?

[Slick]

I thought Boris was a good Mayor to be honest, or at least London felt a great place to be when he was in charge.

Pre Brexit, Pre Covid, Pre Culture Wars London you mean?

Well, yes. Olympics helped as well.

[Paddington Bear]

Before the cost of living got totally out of hand as well. London has lost some of what made it fun because so few of us can afford to live anywhere near the centre. This wasn’t so true a decade ago

[Hal Jordan]

I've voted. Quimby and Kodos for local councillors and Gordon for Police Commissioner.

[SaintK]

BTW I don’t agree that Khan has been useless, compared to what? Boris? Don’t make me laugh, useless cunt of a man who spaffed away millions on pet schemes ( new routemaster , garden bridge….)

I’ve spoken to Khan and I’ve heard him speak, he’s a decent man, crap speaker, genuinely humble. These attributes do not make a popular politician, nowadays unless you have “personality” then everything else is pointless.

And it’s genuinely disgraceful that Susan Hall is standing for a normal mainstream party.

That the Tories have any chance at all is down to their successful fud against their own policy namely ULEZ.

Shows how shallow minded the electorate are.

I thought Boris was a good Mayor to be honest, or at least London felt a great place to be when he was in charge.

What! With all the cronyism, cash spaffed vanity projects and lack of attention to detail for 8 years?
It may well have felt good (for a while) but he certainly sowed the seeds where we are now which has been maginfied by Brexit, Covid and austerity.

[Tichtheid]

London is a great city and like any city it is a great place to be as long as you can afford what you want to do, that has very little to do with who is mayor. I've visited during the terms of Livingston, Johnson and Kahn and it feels no different to me as a day tripper. I used to go and stay with friends near Portobello Road and also with family in Kilburn, Kilburn was a hoot btw. I've been around the South Bank several times in the last few months and it's a a great place to visit.

My daughter lives in the East End, previously nearish Brick Lane, now further east and she loves it.

[Lobby]

It's much easier to be a Tory Mayor when a Tory Government is in power in Westminster that wants to back everything you do. A Labour Mayor will find it much more difficult to work with a Tory Government determined to make things as difficult as they can for him.

[Tichtheid]

It's much easier to be a Tory Mayor when a Tory Government is in power in Westminster that wants to back everything you do. A Labour Mayor will find it much more difficult to work with a Tory Government determined to make things as difficult as they can for him.

The Tory gov found a way to deal with the GLC when they were ideologically opposed, just abolish it

[David in Gwent]

Khan will retain his duties, demographs are demographs.

Quite why he needs a bullet proof £300,000 chauffer driven car, I don't know.

[Slick]

BTW I don’t agree that Khan has been useless, compared to what? Boris? Don’t make me laugh, useless cunt of a man who spaffed away millions on pet schemes ( new routemaster , garden bridge….)

I’ve spoken to Khan and I’ve heard him speak, he’s a decent man, crap speaker, genuinely humble. These attributes do not make a popular politician, nowadays unless you have “personality” then everything else is pointless.

And it’s genuinely disgraceful that Susan Hall is standing for a normal mainstream party.

That the Tories have any chance at all is down to their successful fud against their own policy namely ULEZ.

Shows how shallow minded the electorate are.

I thought Boris was a good Mayor to be honest, or at least London felt a great place to be when he was in charge.

What! With all the cronyism, cash spaffed vanity projects and lack of attention to detail for 8 years?
It may well have felt good (for a while) but he certainly sowed the seeds where we are now which has been maginfied by Brexit, Covid and austerity.

Did you live there?

[sockwithaticket]

[SaintK]

I thought Boris was a good Mayor to be honest, or at least London felt a great place to be when he was in charge.

What! With all the cronyism, cash spaffed vanity projects and lack of attention to detail for 8 years?
It may well have felt good (for a while) but he certainly sowed the seeds where we are now which has been maginfied by Brexit, Covid and austerity.

Did you live there?

No 25 minutes out
Worked and socialised there though

[Brazil]

I thought Boris was a good Mayor to be honest, or at least London felt a great place to be when he was in charge.

What! With all the cronyism, cash spaffed vanity projects and lack of attention to detail for 8 years?
It may well have felt good (for a while) but he certainly sowed the seeds where we are now which has been maginfied by Brexit, Covid and austerity.

Did you live there?

I lived in London throughout the entirety of Johnson's tenure. It was a great time to live in London, but that was pretty much entirely down to the national government for that time (Labour), who's policies improved life generally but particularly for the poorest, of whom London has more than its share. Almost immediately as the Cameron Government took over you noticed increases of homeless people, and then came the deliberate degradation of our infrastructure, particularly the assault on TFL, by the Tories who hate the nation's capital whilst they wrap themselves in the flag.

[Slick]

So what we are saying is that anyone who actually lived in London thought it was a great time to be there during his tenure. That being a Tory Mayor is easy with a Tory government, but he got voted in under a Labour government, then re elected under a Tory government, in a traditionally Labour city, and with a fairly similar margin.

Sounds like he did OK

[Brazil]

So what we are saying is that anyone who actually lived in London thought it was a great time to be there during his tenure. That being a Tory Mayor is easy with a Tory government, but he got voted in under a Labour government, then re elected under a Tory government, in a traditionally Labour city, and with a fairly similar margin.

Sounds like he did OK

No, that's not what we're saying. What we're saying is he had a massively easy ride despite being an indolent lying cunt who squandered millions on vanity projects and mistresses because labour administrations tend not to be total bastards to local government, unlike the Tories who are particularly vindictive to red councils, at least since Thatcher and "managed decline".

He'd also have got nowhere near had red ken not split the vote.

[Slick]

So what we are saying is that anyone who actually lived in London thought it was a great time to be there during his tenure. That being a Tory Mayor is easy with a Tory government, but he got voted in under a Labour government, then re elected under a Tory government, in a traditionally Labour city, and with a fairly similar margin.

Sounds like he did OK

No, that's not what we're saying. What we're saying is he had a massively easy ride despite being an indolent lying cunt who squandered millions on vanity projects and mistresses because labour administrations tend not to be total bastards to local government, unlike the Tories who are particularly vindictive to red councils, at least since Thatcher and "managed decline".

He'd also have got nowhere near had red ken not split the vote.

Close enough

[Tichtheid]

I thought it was common knowledge from anyone who has had the misfortune to "work" with Johnson that he was a lazy, lying shitbag and only interested in what he can get out of it, all ambition and not a jot of ability?

[C T]

I thought it was common knowledge from anyone who has had the misfortune to "work" with Johnson that he was a lazy, lying shitbag and only interested in what he can get out of it, all ambition and not a jot of ability?

He does have something, to be fair to him.

Seems to have this ability to convince people (some people) that's he's charming and charismatic.

I mean he isn't, he's the complete opposite really. But some people really, really think he is.

Got to be some sort of magic amulet or something. Something that's been in his family for generations, dating back to ancient Egypt.

[Tichtheid]

I lived in London throughout the entirety of Johnson's tenure. It was a great time to live in London, but that was pretty much entirely down to the national government for that time (Labour), who's policies improved life generally but particularly for the poorest, of whom London has more than its share. Almost immediately as the Cameron Government took over you noticed increases of homeless people, and then came the deliberate degradation of our infrastructure, particularly the assault on TFL, by the Tories who hate the nation's capital whilst they wrap themselves in the flag.

I'm related to someone who worked in this area and the trend in homelessness and rough sleeping was downwards to 2010 due to the work of the Rough Sleepers Unit headed by Louise Casey, with stubborn pockets in certain areas of the country but they were still lessening. That was reversed almost immediately after the Tories took office and continued to an all-time high around 2018 with year-on year growth

[Tichtheid]

I thought it was common knowledge from anyone who has had the misfortune to "work" with Johnson that he was a lazy, lying shitbag and only interested in what he can get out of it, all ambition and not a jot of ability?

He does have something, to be fair to him.

Seems to have this ability to convince people (some people) that's he's charming and charismatic.

I mean he isn't, he's the complete opposite really. But some people really, really think he is.

Got to be some sort of magic amulet or something. Something that's been in his family for generations, dating back to ancient Egypt.

Stop me if you've heard this one before https://reaction.life/jeremy-vine-my-boris-story/

The short version is that "Boris" isn't a real person, he's a carefully constructed persona which has taken an entire lifetime to "perfect", he will do anything to further his own ends, no matter who he hurts or has to stand on on the way up.

[sefton]

Khan will retain his duties, demographs are demographs.

Quite why he needs a bullet proof £300,000 chauffer driven car, I don't know.

Because two politicians have been murdered in the last decade and some right wing loons think he is an Islamist who has handed London over to his fellow Islamists.

[Tichtheid]

Khan will retain his duties, demographs are demographs.

Quite why he needs a bullet proof £300,000 chauffer driven car, I don't know.

Because two politicians have been murdered in the last decade and some right wing loons think he is an Islamist who has handed London over to his fellow Islamists.

The levels of idiocy and ignorance have risen to scary levels, it may suit a Tory MP's narrative to state that there are no-go areas for non-muslims in London (Tower Hamlets), but stoking their culture wars and all-round xenophobia does nothing for people going about their day to day lives, in fact it makes things worse

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/ ... k-politics

[Slick]

I thought it was common knowledge from anyone who has had the misfortune to "work" with Johnson that he was a lazy, lying shitbag and only interested in what he can get out of it, all ambition and not a jot of ability?

He does have something, to be fair to him.

Seems to have this ability to convince people (some people) that's he's charming and charismatic.

I mean he isn't, he's the complete opposite really. But some people really, really think he is.

Got to be some sort of magic amulet or something. Something that's been in his family for generations, dating back to ancient Egypt.

I’m sure I’ve said this on here before, but I used to work opposite City Hall and his favourite restaurant was under our office, so I used to see him a lot. Every time he walked down he would get a small crowd around him and would banter away, be it the dustman or the PWC types, and have everyone laughing and slapping him on the back. He would often be in our crowd of cyclists heading up Tooley Street at the end of the day and would be great value and engage with everyone.

He’s a cunt, bit he definitely does have something about him

[Lobby]

Khan will retain his duties, demographs are demographs.

Quite why he needs a bullet proof £300,000 chauffer driven car, I don't know.

Because two politicians have been murdered in the last decade and some right wing loons think he is an Islamist who has handed London over to his fellow Islamists.

And as was reported over the weekend, his main opponent Susan Hall is an enthusiastic member of Facebook groups run by Conservative party staff and activists which are rife with Islamophobic hate speech and conspiracy theories and which include racist abuse directed towards Sadiq Khan, including a post that read: “Seriously can’t believe Khan hasn’t been taken out yet … if dark forces can take out Princess Diana I’m sure they can take out this money grabbing little parasite”.

Its little wonder he described her the most dangerous and divisive opponent he has faced.

[Slick]

Khan will retain his duties, demographs are demographs.

Quite why he needs a bullet proof £300,000 chauffer driven car, I don't know.

Because two politicians have been murdered in the last decade and some right wing loons think he is an Islamist who has handed London over to his fellow Islamists.

Great post

[epwc]

He’s a cunt, bit he definitely does have something about him

Yep, I think he’d be a laugh in a boozer that Lhan would never be, I’ve got mates that are a proper laugh, have personality by the bucket load but are they reliable, trustworthy, empathetic? Not really, that’s not their purpose in life.

[Hugo]

I’m sure I’ve said this on here before, but I used to work opposite City Hall and his favourite restaurant was under our office, so I used to see him a lot. Every time he walked down he would get a small crowd around him and would banter away, be it the dustman or the PWC types, and have everyone laughing and slapping him on the back. He would often be in our crowd of cyclists heading up Tooley Street at the end of the day and would be great value and engage with everyone.

Yes, he has charisma by the bucket load to be fair. It's hard to pinpoint exactly why but he has a likeable persona regardless of whether he is really a bastard or not. Should be studied.