Chris Whiteside's Blog

 

Congratulations to Councillor Alex Richard Dale who was elected to Dudley council yesterday, gaining the Brockmoor & Pensnett ward from Labour on a huge swing. In the fist six months of this year it was the Conservatives who were doing badly in by-elections and mostly Labour who were triumphant.  But since July as people were found out or have been forcibly reminded what a Labour government is actually like, it has been Labour who have been taking a punishment beating at the hands of voters almost every Thursday, losing dozens of council seats, the majority of them to the Conservatives who have notched up more than twenty gains.. The Conservative gain in the Brockmoor & Pensnett (Dudley) council by-election yesterday was typical of the new mould: CON:  571, 35.4% (+7.0) REF:   485, 30.1% (+30.1) LAB:   466, 28.9% (-34.7) GRN:    49,   3.0% (+3.0) LDM:    24,   1.5% (-6.5) IND:      16,...

‘How can the Chancellor say this with a straight face? It is an outright falsehood. ‘Businesses and economic forecasters have made clear that higher employer NI means higher inflation and a bigger wage squeeze for working people.’ Former Bank of England official Andrew Sentance responds to a claim by the Chancellor that she had protected working people by not hiking their national insurance - even though the £40 billion of tax increases in her budget included a £25bn hike in national insurance contributions by employers. Rachel Reeves' accused of 'outright falsehood' over budget boast

QUESTION: What's the difference between a farmer in a tractor which has sunk to its' axles in mud, and the latest Ipsos political satisfaction survey? ANSWER: One's a stuck farmer: And the other showed  61% of voters who took part were dissatisfied with the Prime Minister (Ipsos) .

 

 

Atrocious polling numbers for Sir Keir Starmer have led to a slew of media articles with headlines describing him in terms like, quote,  " Keir Starmer is 'the worst Prime Minister in modern history,' according to Brits. " Starmer has overtaken Gordon Brown as having the worst net satisfaction figure ratio five months into his  premiership of any PM since IPSOS began tracking it more than forty years ago. The latest Ipsos Political Monitor, taken between 27th November and 4th December 2024 asks the public their views on the government and Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Only 27% of Britons are satisfied with Starmer's performance, while 61% express dissatisfaction, resulting in a net satisfaction score of -34. Public dissatisfaction extends to the government as a whole, with a net satisfaction rating of -49.% IPSOS say that, quote, "Starmer's ratings compare unfavourably to previous Prime Ministers at similar points in their first terms." His rating of ...

 

"I see no good reason, unless we do something really stupid, why we shouldn't be the largest party in Wales." (Quote given to GB News by "a Reform party insider" ) It really is tempting fate when a politician of any party makes a comment like that ...

From an opinion piece by Harvey Thomas The article begins with a reference to the film "Life of Brian" ... "When Brian sweating on the cross at the end of the film, he's given a glimmer of hope as a "thoroughly trained suicide squad" marches up and apparently offers to save him. Their leader proudly boasts "we can commit suicide within 20 seconds", and that's exactly what they do, leaving Brian despairing and doomed. I'm reminded of that scene when I see the Labour front bench. Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Ed Miliband offered hope to a desperate nation during the general election, only to commit instant economic suicide. Now the whole country is sweating on the cross. Labour had 14 long years in opposition to train up. Now it's committing economic suicide at speed. PM Keir Starmer drew his sword first, killing all hope by warning of the tough decisions Labour would make to fill that £22billion black hole. It was a mas...

"Labour’s decision to remove the winter fuel allowance from 80 per cent of Britain’s pensioners will only save the exchequer around £1.3billion - £1.5billion. For a Government to take such a risk with millions of people's lives after they have worked hard and paid into the system is shameful, negligent and something that could cause Labour damage for decades to come. Whoever made this dreadful calculation and advised Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves that this is a good idea? This will do three things, it will cost votes, seats and most importantly people’s lives. This Labour Government, who are meant to be there for the working class and vulnerable people, abandons them at the first opportunity it gets. The party is choosing to abandon the people who need them the most by knowingly taking a vital payment away from people who cause some of their deaths." Keith Bays, from an opinion piece which you can read in full at Pensioners best not have a BAD winter or Labour's ...

“Removing the Winter Fuel Payment for millions of Pensioners could leave thousands of the most vulnerable at risk.” John McDonnell, who was then Labour shadow chancellor, publishing research on behalf of the Labour party in 2017 suggesting that means testing Winter Fuel Payments could cause an extra 3,800 pensioner deaths a year compared to what otherwise would have happened. Unluckily for ten million pensioners, now Labour have been elected they have taken a different view and adopted in government the very policy they condemned while in opposition.. 

 

 

“Starmer’s betrayal isn’t just a slap in the face to farmers—it’s a direct assault on the future of British agriculture. “These are families who’ve slogged their guts out for generations to preserve their land. Farms bombed in WWII. Lives lost in Flanders. “Farmers scraping by in the 1970s just to hold onto their farms. And Starmer thinks he can waltz in, sell them out, and we’ll all roll over? Think again. “The reality is stark: even if he sold every farm in Britain, it wouldn’t be enough to paper over the NHS’s waste and mismanagement. “This isn’t about funding healthcare; it’s about stripping rural Britain of its lifeblood. “The British public needs to hear this loud and clear—without farmers, there’s no food, no future, no country worth fighting for. “Starmer’s hour of lies will come back to haunt him. It’s time to wake up and fight for the farmers who’ve fed this nation for centuries.” Colin Rayner , a farmer from Berkshire, speaking ahead of the second Farmers' rally against ...

The opportunity to learn more about new plans for Egremont will be available at a public engagement event on today (Tuesday 10 December,) between 2pm and 7pm, at Egremont Market Hall. Three Egremont projects are being developed to support a £3 million bid for Borderlands Inclusive Growth Funding. They will support the town’s health, economy and reputation as a destination town. The event is a chance for local residents and businesses to take a closer look at the schemes and provide feedback on the projects. The projects have been developed by a Town Team made up of representatives from the community. The three schemes currently proposed are: Redevelopment of the former Red Lion site This project will see the redevelopment of this vacant town centre site to provide a new public space. The proposal could create new ‘buildings’ on-site, offering pop-up vendor locations, play/gym equipment, maker spaces and landscaping. Development of Florence Arts Centre This project will develop the cult...

From Timothy Zahn's novel "Heir to the Empire" which introduced the character of Grand Admiral Thrawn:

If you can, find a moment to support one or more of your local small businesses today (7th December 2024) .

“This is not an entirely surprising result." Stephen Conway , the Lib Dem leader of Wokingham council, speaking to Wokingham Today about a by-election this week in the Shinfield ward of that council in which Conservative candidate Jackie Rance gained the seat from Labour with 49% of the vote and a massive Labour to Conservative swing sine May this year. Congratulations to Councillor Jackie Rance on her election. Labour loses Wokingham council Shinfield by-election in disaster for Keir Starmer | Politics | News | Express.co.uk The Conservative vote was up by ten percentage points since May while Labour who had won two of the three seats available in the ward earlier this year with an average of 43% of the vote slumped to less than 25%. It is tempting to speculate on what the Labour government might have done to lose 18 percentage poitns of vote share in a few months. Taking Winter Fuel Payments away from ten million pensioners, breaking a promise to farmers not to change the inheri...

I think we have all learned the hard way not to jump to quick assumptions in either direction about any media stories about Donald Trump or his ally Elon Musk, or take for granted that we know what they are going to do. I certainly would not rule out the possibility that Musk might have more to say about UK politics or that he might support those he agrees with in some way. However, before we get too excited about suggestions that the boss of Tesla, SpaceX and "X" (formerly Twitter) might give £100 million to Reform UK, it is worth noting that ITV just asked him the specific question of whether he planned to make such a donation, and got the one-word answer "no". Elon Musk responds to claims of $100m donation to Nigel Farage’s Reform party

"Most people on the right have no problem understanding people on the left because many, if not most, were on the left themselves when they were younger.  But many, if not most, people on the left find it inexplicable how any decent and intelligent person could be on the right." Thomas Sowell , American economist.

For the avoidance of doubt, "The Shepherd's farewell" is a Christmas carol representing the farewell by the shepherds to the infant Jesus after their visit during the nativity story.  Not a modern reference to the shepherds and other small farmers leaving the industry because they have had to sell off their farms to pay death duties thanks to the latest broken promises from Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves.

"I'm no rebel, I'm a moderate. But during the election I read what I thought were assurances from my party that we had no plans to introduce changes to APR." Labour MP for Penrith & Solway, Markus Campbell-Savours , during this week's debate on the family farm tax. His WORDS were against the family farm tax, saying he wanted to see amendments But his next ACTION was to vote with the government - in other words, to break the assurances he had just said he thought had been given during the election campaign.

 

For the avoidance of doubt - I don't believe Thomas Sowell was expressing, and I am certainly not condoning by quoting him, the idea that it is OK for politicians to lie. However, he is right that some people refuse to accept unwelcome truths and often accuse anyone who tells them something they do not want to hear of  being a liar - ironically often throwing this allegation at those politicians who are not lying to them. And he is right that people who operate like that need to learn that their own behaviour is part of the problem when, inevitably, they elect people who lie to them.

"How do you know whether a politician is actually going to do what it is they say they'll do?    You can only look back on their track record.    Making promises is easy but if you really want to know what someone is going to be like, look at what they did when they had the chance.  I'm speaking to all of you today not just as leader of the Conservative Party, but as a former business secretary.   Many of you would heard me talk about how we needed to deregulate and you would have seen examples of how I tried to lift the burden off businesses often arguing with other parts of Government or trying to stop them bringing in yet more well-meaning but burdensome regulation.   I saw myself in that role as your champion around the Cabinet table.  It is because I know that it is not government that creates growth. It is business.   Government often needs to get out of the way.     But this is a very difficult a...