Free as a Dodo: UK Politics Welcomes 2021

Is Cummings now attacking both the government and the Opposition?

Cummings doesn’t give a fuck about anything besides being right. He was right to say that KS was a moron to be guided by the media though.

Have to say it's the first time I've seen Cummings acknowledge Starmer's existence (or even Labour's, he's always struck me as someone more comfortable at war with people closer to home). In an of itself that's pretty damning.

More generally, a Conservative Party that doesn't fear electoral consequences is a terrifying prospect, and we're about to find out what that really looks like. The handbrake will be really off now. The Brexit Party/UKIP no longer being in the race has fundamentally changed the game in a lot of seats.

Pains me to say this but Cummings is right about the centre ground not really existing except as pundit fiction. A lot of people mix up 'policies that attract floating voters' with 'centrism', and Brexit is one of the most successful pieces of divide-and-rule I've ever seen.

Covid restricted Keir Starmer from setting out vision for UK, says Labour

jeez, what next? "The vaccines really hurt us..."

I’ve checked and Starmer has never tweeted about Preston and I can’t find any public comment from him on the council’s success. 2/2 pic.twitter.com/ExquQ5tQY5

— George Eaton (@georgeeaton) May 8, 2021

One of the Graun hacks was saying it might be advisable for him to stay away from Hartlepool because the polling got even worse after he campaigned there!

I hope Rooney has seen the latest score and his arse has dropped out!

oops wrong thread!

Big name, inexperienced manager, brought in to steady the ship after a disappointing season and ends up getting relegated.

#onethread

yep!!!

Derby fans switching to Nottingham Forest in droves.

Lots of fans got over-excited by a few routine early wins, a year later the team is still playing with no clear identity and no one seems to know what their job is. And the fans are tearing up their season tickets.

This week on Fabian Street, everyone finds out that Keith has run his business into the ground. Ange is angry but her uncle Tony says she needs to stay with him. It's the only way she'll get control of the business. Mandy is up to no good, again.
Coming up: Northern Andy's return pic.twitter.com/AU0w6t4oEu

— Devutopia (@D_Raval) May 8, 2021

Tom I’m dying at your dn btw, that fucking story kept popping up on twitter yesterday and I refused to click

Despite whatever else one says about her -- I like Rayner's ensemble in that picture.

Or maybe I just mean -- her coat.

Covid restricted Keir Starmer from setting out vision for UK, says Labour

jeez, what next? "The vaccines really hurt us..."

― nashwan, Saturday, 8 May 2021 bookmarkflaglink

Lol I thought Starmer was waiting for a general election to come along before he unveiled his awesome vision for the country that will make this mess right and the UK from becoming a one-party state.

Tom I’m dying at your dn btw, that fucking story kept popping up on twitter yesterday and I refused to click

LOL I noticed it this morning on one of my occasional trips to Twitterland.

Or maybe I just mean -- her coat.

Another vote for the coat here, it even survives being adjacent to Starmer

That G Eaton tweet contains a picture of a footballer whose politics are to the right of Starmer's. Impressive

isn't that also true about 95% of footballers though?

Lyle has a particular interest in winding up lefties on social media

Oh I think remember him, ex- Charlton and it was no mystery who he was voting for in '19

Yep

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvWwtfKiGUk

no Chris Leslie was the Which mag guy.

― calzino, Saturday, 8 May 2021 09:50 (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol you are right, burnham was "john lewis shoppers" so even more appropriate than i remembered!

lol what a prick, but quite ahead of the melt-time continuum on John Lewis tbf!

Lol @ all the quote tweets to this one.

It’s giving... pic.twitter.com/jpevPdE56y

— Vote for London Independence Party ⬛️🟫 (@misanthropicc92) May 7, 2021

Watching the BBC's election coverage, Kirsty Wark is a terrible interviewer, she should should have stuck to whatever it is she's been doing for the last five years. LOL @ Huw Edwards constantly trying bring the discussion around to Wales despite no-one being interested in talking about Wales.

Helen found someone to report on from the north who isn’t a Tory pizza restaurant owner

Paul Dennett, the newly re-elected Labour mayor of Salford, didn't hold back in his criticism of Keir Starmer and the national party in his victory speech pic.twitter.com/bHIizFv0kx

— Helen Pidd (@helenpidd) May 8, 2021

I notice the only (marginal) successes for Labour have been in places where the left still has some influence. Funny that.

This is one for the ages.

I'm blocked but fucking helllllll this is as embarrassing as anything he's ever said, and it's a very crowded field pic.twitter.com/5IZp34UPMl

— johnyhelzapopin (@JohnyHelzapopin) May 8, 2021

Good to see you pay attention to my retweets!

I'd like to know what aside from benefitting from widespread Khan apathy to absolutely no end, is impressive or praiseworthy about the fucking village idiot driving around London in what looks like an SS gaswagen.

Trying not to pay attention to grifters like JOB but Christ he is the worst

I think the only praise I've seen for Bailey was from Stephen Bush admiring the the youthful condition of his skin. There probably is a racist element in the Tories cutting him loose, but that doesn't subtract anything from what an idiot he is.

So looks like the SNP aren't going to get their majority so expect Boris to go into full on Edward Longshanks mode.

it's essential for O'Brien's worldview that there be Noble Tories, the rest is just him automatic writing with no input from his brain as per

I guess if you’re a lot more right wing than you want to admit to yourself the idea of good Tories is necessary to stop you from asking yourself a few difficult questions.

exackly

itisamystery gif working overtime the last couple of days

How long before he changes his mind back to thinking boris is good again

Burnham has won by a huge margin in Manchester, it was a high turnout and he got something like 3 times the votes of the challenging Conservative candidate.

All Keith needed to do was show up like this chump.

Andy Burnham re-elected mayor of Greater Manchester in the first round, with 473,024 votes - with 69.7% of the vote (that's an increase in vote share from 63.4% in 2017)

— Sophy Ridge (@SophyRidgeSky) May 8, 2021

There is also this, so some enthusiasm for the walking corpse that is Labour.

Compare to Teesside and the West Midlands. The political geography of England is being transformed.

Norris doesn't appear to have a meaningful policy program, and is unclear whether he would bring buses under public control. One to watch whether he shifts on that. https://t.co/xunccXsk7t

— Aaron Bastani (@AaronBastani) May 8, 2021

This video though

As I've said before, Keir Starmer's strategy is designed to appeal to a caricature of the British working class, crafted by overpaid consultants. Truly pathetic and patronising. This person sums it up beautifully.pic.twitter.com/3fCrUMF56t

— Ammar Kazmi 🇵🇸 (@AmmarKazmi_) May 8, 2021

I'm really not sure why they think Northerners, and 'working class' people in general, are more patriotic than anyone else - strike that, I do know, it's because they think they're morons.

Roughly what proportion of the West of England electorate is in Bristol?

It’s Greater Bristol basically - includes Bath but after that it’s towns like Chipping Sodbury and Keynsham (the latter seeming more like a suburb the only time I went there, good pubs though).