Chris Whiteside's Blog

The above video shows the keynote speech given today by Kemi Badenoch, Leader of the Conservative Party. (She was introduced by Simon Clarke, Director of the "Onward" group. Here is the text of the speech. "We are all getting poorer. Politicians across all parties have not told the truth about this and instead keep prescribing quick fixes that are actually making things worse. This problem is broader than one party, one leader, or one period of government. Generations of leaders and entire ranks of senior managers have been trying and failing for a long time. Many have not been honest with the public about the challenges we face. And others have not even been honest with themselves. We are a great country, but we’ve lost our way. The truth is that Britain is failing to compete in a world that is changing. And it is not working for its citizens, certainly not the way it used to. Back in the 1980s it took just months to save up for a house deposit. Now it is over a decade,...

 

As I have previously written   here , having supported elected Strategic Mayors with powers devolved from Central government (NOT taken from local councils) and unitary authorities when the Conservatives were putting them forward, I'm not going to do a U-turn and change that position just because Labour has come round to it. I argued at the time that a directly elected Strategic Mayor for Cumbria would have been a good thing, and provided that a decent devolution settlement comes with the creation of a strategic mayoral authority and they don't do anything daft like trying to cover too big an area it still would be. I would strongly support a Major for Cumbria and also a Mayor for Lancashire, but trying to have one mayor for both counties would in my opinion not work as well because the area concerned is so huge and so diverse. Mayors are supposed to be local. We shall see what they come up with - the numbers quoted for the minimum size of a Mayoral authority in the Labour pro...

I have been reading sone of the satirical columns extracting the Michael from the various power that be in Cumbria and Westminster published by "Cumbria Chronic." No doubt I will not agree with all their opinions, as they seem to have taken pot-shots at politicians of every political party except Reform UK, (that's probably coming) not to mention various of their fellow journalists or "Churnalists." Indeed, "Cumbria Chronic" seem to reserve the worst venom for their fellow "churnalists." Reading these articles did rather remind me of the cushion owned by US President Teddy Roosevelt's daughter, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, on which was embroidered the slogan    (This quote is also often attributed to Dorothy Parker, but the  Quote Investigator® website confirms it's provenance as having been on Alice Roosevelt Longworth's cushion .) The latest bucket of cold water dumped today over the ego of a Cumbrian politician by Cumbria Chronic...

 

 

 

 

 

 

One should not put too much faith in Voodoo polls on the internet like this one, however much amusement a poll may cause to politicians from the other party or who come off better. The reason for posting this is the astute comment underneath from Pete Forrest. Yes, he's right. The current PM and government always gets the most flak. Nevertheless, for a Prime Minister's support to drop so catastrophically six months after winning the largest parliamentary majority in UK political history does represent quite an enormous achievement in hacking people off. Much more robust and properly conducted polling also finds an extreme drop in Labour's popularity, such as the YouGov poll which found that " Labour crashes to embarrassing -45% approval rating ." "Even Labour voters are now divided on the government they elected, with 38% having a negative view and 34% a positive one," said YouGov. Sir Keir's approval rating has also fallen to a record low of -41%, ...

"Saying “ not a good look ” is not a good look" This week's Bagehot column in The Economist, which describes the saying as,  The four worst words in British politics 

There has been a further Yellow warning of Snow and Ice from the Met office for many parts of the country including much of North West England. They predict icy stretches and sleet/snow showers developing overnight, bringing some disruption, especially to travel. What to expect • Some roads and railways likely to be affected with longer journey times by road, bus and trains • Probably some icy patches on some untreated roads, pavements and cycle paths • Some injuries from slips and falls on icy surfaces Further Details Icy stretches are expected to develop this evening, due to ongoing wet surfaces following earlier rain and, in places, snowmelt. Frequent sleet or snow showers are also expected to affect Wales and parts of northwest England this evening, moving into southwest England, the Midlands and parts of southern England in the early hours of Tuesday. In addition to the ice, these are likely to produce snow accumulations of a few cm above 200 metres, with a small chance of g...

To mark Epiphany, the day when we commemorate the arrival at the stable of the wise men from the East, and to finish the sequence of Christmas music I have been posting over the Christmas season which concluded yesterday, here is "Three Kings from Persian Lands afar" by Peter Cornelius

If Labour cabinet minister Wes Streeting things voters will thank Labour for taking the Winter Fuel Allowance away from ten million pensioners, I believe he has another think coming.

The Met Office has issued a number of weather warnings this weekend. Met Office Chief Forecaster Jason Kelly, said: “This weekend will bring a range of weather hazards to the UK, notable snow accumulations, freezing rain, ice and heavy rain as well as some gusty conditions. “We have issued a number of   severe weather warnings , including Amber warnings for snow and ice in parts of England and Wales. Some significant accumulations of snow are possible across parts of Wales, the Midlands and northern England in particular, where 5 cm or more could accumulate fairly widely, with as much as 20-30 cm over high ground of mid and north Wales and potentially 30-40 cm over parts of the Pennines. This, accompanied by strengthening winds, may lead to drifting of lying snow.”

 

 

I welcome the belated conversion of Cumbria's leading Labour figures to calling for exactly the sort of devolution agenda that I and other Conservatives have been calling for for a decade, and which the county could have had years ago, had not local Labour politicians repeatedly opposed it. We now read in the Whitehaven News and other local papers that " Labour leaders call for Cumbria to embrace the 'devolution revolution' ." What a shame they were so vehemently opposed to it in 2017 and 2022 when a very generous scheme of devolution was on offer, but the Labour led Cumbria County Council and other Labour local authorities opposed it. Other areas like North Yorkshire which were made similar offers at the same time jumped at it, and North Yorkshire got £700 million pounds and a Mayoral strategic authority which is now up and running with significant powers. Cumbria could have had this too. A few years ago I was a guest on the weekly local political panel programme...

No apologies for repeating this important piece of classic wisdom

The Times newspaper was once nicknamed "The Thunderer" for its' willingness to publish hard-hitting leader articles which put the boot into anyone who deserved it, from the government down. The paper's first leader of 2025 is in that mould. It addresses Elon Musk's criticism of the anti-business policies of the Starmer adminisration and concludes, rightly in my humble opinion, that although not everything Musk says about Britain is accurate, the fundamentals of his critique of Starmer's anti-business approach are spot on. The paper says that "His numerous detractors will be pained to admit it but Mr Musk is, on this, right. Sir Keir's government has claimed to be unashamedly pro-growth and pro-business. The reality could not be starker. During it's first six months in office, ministers have seemingly gone out of their way to discourage investment." "Mr Musk's attack grasps all that wrong with the Starmer government. instead of embrac...