Chris Whiteside's Blog

The first piece sung entirely in Latin to reach the UK charts. I dare say that a lot people probably don't even realise that this is a song celebrating Christmas, but it is. The words of the chorus can be translated into English as  "Rejoice, rejoice, Christ is born of Mary the virgin! Rejoice!

Eaglescliffe West, Elton, Long Newton and Aislaby ward (Stockton on Tees council) - congratulations to Councillor Steve Dodds who held the ward for the Conservatives yesterday with an increased vote share of over 60%. Armitage with Handsacre, (Lichfield District Council), congratulations to Councillor Martyn Punyer who held the seat for the Conservatives: 

"It takes a lot to change my mind, but enough is enough. "I'm ending a lifetime of support for my beloved Labour party." "This nightmarish totalitarian rabble has done more damage to our country than Margaret Thatcher and the Luftwaffe put together." "My wife is completely apolitical and this is the first government she has ever truly loathed. Was it compulsory digital ID that sent her over the edge? The end of trial by jury? The destruction of the High Street with national insurance hikes for employers? The fact that you have more chance of seeing Santa Claus than your local GP this Christmas? No, it was it's carefully planned destruction of the countryside." "Her parents were farmers as is her brother and she comes from a long line of people whose only real crime is minding their own business and supplying the country with food every night." Extracts from a "Writers Notebook" piece by Mark Millar in the Christmas 2025 is...

“Kemi Commands Commons: Starmer Clings To Tired Tactics” “ It doesn’t matter much whom you marry as it always turns out to be someone else, ” as Aristotle, I think, said. So it is with political leaders.  “Keir Starmer’s vows (country before party, end of chaos, adults in the room) turned out to be quite the opposite of his promise. And so it is with Kemi – she’s now a dazzling Commons performer. It’s taken a year but been worth the wait. She holds the floor. She says things Conservatives want to hear. She has claimed an anti-benefit position no one else has dared to and public opinion around that is coming very nicely to the boil.” That was the Guido Fawkes ' website take on yesterday's Prime Minister's questions. Kemi Commands Commons: Starmer Clings To Tired Tactics – Guido Fawkes

The amount of ad hominem abuse in British politics has increased, is increasing and ought to be diminished. For the avoidance of doubt, there are too many personal attacks coming from every part of British politics and too many aimed at every part of British politics. As Kemi Badenoch and her team have raised their game in the last few months and both Labour and Reform have started to get rattled about it, we have seen a substantial increase in the number of speeches and posts criticising her from both Labour supporters and the leadership (less so the supporters) of Reform UK. This comes with the territory: Kemi shows no signs of being bothered by it, even when the attacks get personal, and nor should she be. A great Conservative leader had this to say on the subject:    It does however amuse me the number of people on the left who manage to combine in the same speech or post and often in consecutive sentences, both complaining bitterly about how in their opinion the Leader of...

The Prime Minister claimed today in the House of Commons that there are more teachers in post now that when Labour was elected and accused the opposition of using "dodgy data" to claim the figures are down -  Until it was pointed out that those figures came from the Department for Education's own website. If they are dodgy, who's to blame for that?

"Last month, Labour hiked taxes on working people to increase benefits for those who do not work.  It's no surprise that a MILLION more people are on benefits since the election.  Only Conservatives will cut welfare by £23bn and build a Britain where those who can work, do work." Kemi Badenoch

"A 78 per cent tax rate on UK oil and gas is not a strategy. It is economic vandalism. Mark my words, when investment leaves, jobs go with it. And when production falls, we end up at the mercy of foreign suppliers who do not share our values, our standards or our interests. Labour simply do not get it. Their choices weaken Britain and the consequences are unforgivable. Conservatives will scrap this levy, back British workers and protect our energy security with competence and common sense." Rt Hon Kemi Badenoch , Leader of the Conservative party and the opposition. 

For the first sixty plus years of my life the cornerstone of the defence strategy of Britain and all other NATO members was the alliance with the United States of America, based on the belief, perfectly reasonable until this year, that the United States is a reliable ally. I didn't doubt this during the first Trump administration. Despite his sometimes scary rhetoric and often chaotic way of running things, in his first term President Trump appointed some very smart and knowledgeable people and often listened to them. Talk of "America First" it not necessarily in itself a problem. Any government of every nation has to put the safety and wellbeing of the people for whom it is responsible first, and most governments do. This is not incompatible with a policy that maintaining a strong network of alliances and treaties is immensely helpful to your national security and a conviction that this means treating your allies in particular and other countries with which you deal in g...

 

"The political stupidity of Lammy and Starmer’s attack on trial by jury is astonishing. They have handed their enemies a gift. The radical right can say – entirely truthfully – that Labour wants to take power from ordinary people and give it to its mates in the judiciary." Nick Cohen on X, formerly Twitter, today.

Today is #SmallBusinessSaturday where we celebrate and support Britain’s small businesses. The Conservative Party will always stand with small businesses We’re the only Party committed to abolishing business rates for thousands of small and high street businesses.

 

The MP for Whitehaven and Workington, Labour's Josh MacAlister, was sent out today to justify Labour's decision to delay four Mayoral elections for two years. As the Guido Fawkes website put it, at  Labour Minister: We are Cancelling Mayoral Elections as 'We've Only Recently Become the Government' – Guido Fawkes he came out with this "distinctly flimsy" line of defence to Sky News: “To be fair, we have only recently become the government, this is a new set of devolution that we are bringing forward. We are speeding this up in a major way. The people who are saying this are the same people who not that many years ago were proroguing parliament. We will take no lectures from them.” Every part of this statement is wrong. Let's fisk it, shall we? “To be fair, we have only recently become the government" * They've been in power for 17 months.  " this is a new set of devolution that we are bringing forward." * this set of devolution e...

Dan Hodges has a very powerful piece in the mail about the shambles of a budget last week Here is an extract. "Finally. After the days of obfuscation, deflection and flat-out lying surrounding Rachel Reeves's Budget deceit, Kemi Badenoch has cut through to the heart of the issue.  Tuesday saw the scandal's first resignation, with Office for Budget Responsibility head Richard Hughes falling on his calculator after the leak of his organisation's Budget report 45 minutes before the Chancellor addressed the Commons. It had been, he said, 'a technical but serious error'. Though rumour holds he was pushed by the Prime Minister and Chancellor, who were desperate to find a scapegoat for the most shambolic fiscal event in modern parliamentary history. Yet in their willingness to sacrifice Hughes, they made a fatal blunder. One that the Leader of the Opposition exploited to ruthless effect at Prime Minister's Questions today. Given Sir Keir Starmer had accepted Hughe...

 

This was posted by Michael Crick in June 2024, a month before the Starmer government was elected. Spot on - indeed it came true a lot faster than in two or three years. :

Q: "Did you lie?" A: " Look, I'm a Labour Chancellor " I didn't expect her to confess so quickly. Neil O'Brien on X formerly twitter, referring to an interview with Rachel Reeves. Neil O'Brien on X: "Q: "Did you lie?" A: "Look, I'm a Labour Chancellor" I didn't expect her to confess so quickly" / X

"Tony Blair attempted to impose 90 days detention without charge, and, thankfully, we defeated him.   Today, Starmer wants to impose digital ID and effectively abolish jury trials for all offenders, and I appeal to all those who believe in the rule of law to help us stop it." David Davis MP.

Nick Cohen has an excellent piece on Substack on the need to defend trial by Jury. It includes the quote " Trial by jury in England goes back to the reign of Henry II in the 12th century. It has survived not only the Stuarts, but also the Wars of the Roses, the Reformation, the Industrial Revolution, the Napoleonic wars, two world wars and the Cold War. But it can’t survive Keir Starmer and David Lammy. " The article is illustrated with a picture of a plaque which stands at the Old Bailey, in honour of Jury foreman Edward Bushel and his fellow jurors who refused to convict the future founder of Pennsylvania when the judge wanted them to, even when locked up for two nights to ty to make them convict.  Nick concludes his article,  " Soon they may have to take it down ." You can read the article at “Progressives” extinguish the lamp of freedom

Yes, the Chancellor has finally given a straight answer in plain English -  "I am asking people to pay more tax". At the election she said she would not be raising taxes on "working people." After putting up National Insurance, a tax on jobs, by £40 billion at the 2024 budget she said it was a one-off and she would not need to raise taxes again. This week she admitted that she is putting your taxes up. 

A new mural has appeared in Ternopil, dedicated to children killed in Russia’s attack. The artwork, showing a child shielding her toys from a Russian missile, was created by artist Andriy Yermolenko. He described it as “a cry for help to the global community.”   “The girl protecting her toys — that’s all she has. This is my cry for help. As an artist, I can speak about it through my work.” On November 19, six children were killed in the Russian strike on Ternopil.

"Labour’s Budget this week was not about fixing Britain. It was about getting Labour MPs to feel good about themselves and keeping Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves in Downing Street. After the debacle over their removal of the winter fuel payment, they wanted something they could parade around as proof of their compassion. A chance to pose as the only decent people in the room. Labour think they are kinder than you, more moral than you, and therefore entitled to spend your money as they please. The problem is they do not understand where that money comes from. The tax system is not a magic cash machine. It’s the hard-earned wages of people who get up early, go to work, and keep this country going. On Wednesday, Starmer and Reeves increased taxes even higher on beleaguered workers to pay for more benefits, then congratulated themselves for being caring. Since the budget, I’ve done dozens of local radio and TV interviews and been asked the same question over and over again: “why are y...

Today is Advent Sunday and the official start of the season leading up to Christmas. In this Christmas season I would like to reflect and speculate on the events which we commemorate - when Jesus Christ was really born, and leading up to his birth, when the Hebrews led by Moses really first arrived in what is now Israel, and when the temple of Solomon was built.  The first thing to be understood before you appreciate the uncertainty around all ancient dates is that there was no common point of reference between dates used by different empires and nations before 525 AD or CE when a monk called Dionysius Exiguus of Scythia Minor introduced the A.D. or Anno Domini system, counting the years since the date when he thought Jesus had been born. As I will be explaining in the lecture, it is very unlikely that Dionysius got it exactly right, though all things considered he was remarkably close. Prior to 525 AD there are no consistent ancient calendars, and almost no dates prior to 525 CE a...

 

This dreadful Labour government put forward two dire things this week. The people didn't vote for either. They're rightly getting flak for breaking the promise not to put up tax on working people. We must also oppose Labour's atrocious plan to scrap jury trials for many offences. There are rumours that the government has realised how much outrage removing the right to trial by jury in most cases would cause and is about to U-turn. I hope this is true. This lot couldn't run a bath.

"For quite a few members of the House of Commons culture media and sports committee, the answer to the claims of left-wing bias against the BBC" is that they  "could be annulled by  firing the only supposedly right-wing person within the corporation, Robbie Gibb." Rod Liddle , former editor of Radio 4's "Today" programme:  This is the first sentence of an article in the Spectator which you can read on the Spectator site if you subscribe here: The obvious truth about BBC bias | The Spectator And which is currently also available on X at   Colin Brazier on X: "Before becoming one of the greatest satirists produced by these islands since Jonathan Swift, Rod Liddle was employed as an editor at the BBC. He knows its biases, inside and out. Well worth a read. https://t.co/Nl96SMsCkC" / X He wasn't just any old editor - Radio 4's flagship morning news programme, the today programme, which he used to edit exemplifies the worldview he writes a...

For the avoidance of doubt, I suspect that Lord Melbourne (William Lamb) intended the quote below to be understood with extreme irony. And on many occasions that irony is appropriate. However there are also other occasions when the literal words of the quote describe exactly what happens. Sometimes the perversity of the universe inflicts on us events which only a madman would have predicted. The brilliance of this quote is that it works well both when interpreted ironically and when taken literally.

During the 2024 general election I had a number of emails from electors in Leeds North East, where I was the Conservative candidate, challenging me on the prediction in my election literature that Labour would raise taxes if they were elected. This prediction was based on the work of analysis at Conservative Campaign HQ who were convinced, as were then Conservative minsters from Rishi Sunak down, that Labour could only deliver the programme in their manifesto if they raised taxes. I can't take credit for actually drafting that section of my election address but it went out in my name because I agreed with it and was prepared to own it. And the prediction was right. Labour raised National Insurance by £40 billion in their first budget. Last year they said they would not need to raise taxes again. But this week they did raise taxes again - another £26 billion on income tax by extending the freeze on tax threshold. Even Rachel Reeves admits this measure will hit working people. They h...

 

 John Rentoul, chief political correspondent of the Independent, has written an article with the title "This cowardly budget marks the death of New Labour." This cowardly Budget marks the death of New Labour | The Independent (Paywall, I'm afraid, but you can see the title) He tweeted this extract with the words, "RIP New Labour - the budget marked the death of the dream."  

"Do remember this Labour government that wants us all to have Digital ID, that they promise will be secure, just had its entire budget leaked before they announced it." Lee Hurst on X, formerly twitter.

 

I do not always agree with Sky News' political editor Beth Rigby. But when she's at her best she's very good indeed. Her analysis of the budget is dead on. Here are some extracts from her piece on yesterday's budget. "Over and over again, in the run-up to the election and beyond, the prime minister and the chancellor told voters they would not put up taxes on working people - that their manifesto plans for government were fully costed and, with the tax burden at a 70-year high, they were not in the business of raising more taxes. On Wednesday the chancellor broke those pledges as she lifted taxes by another £26bn, adding to the £40bn rise in her first budget. She told working people a year ago she would not extend freezing tax thresholds - a Conservative policy - because it would 'hurt working people'. On Wednesday she ripped up that pledge, as she extended the threshold freeze for three years, dragging 800,000 workers into tax and another million into the ...

"Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer are using our money to save their jobs." ( Kemi Badenoch ) "A shambolic benefits budget paid for by workers."  ( Michael Simmons in the Spectator) "Rachel Reeves pledged during the election not to raise taxes on working people. She pledged 12 months ago she wouldn’t come back this year and raise taxes on working people. She’s just raised taxes on working people. That’s it. That’s the Budget." ( Dan Hodges ) "This is a watershed moment in our economic history that will consign Britain to a Lost Decade With a smirk that says if you work hard and save prudently I'm coming for you, Reeves launches 43 tax rises in spiteful raids on strivers" ( Andrew Neil in the Daily Mail) "Commentary has concentrated on yet another huge tax hit in Rachel Reeves’ 2nd Budget — as well it might — but not enough attention has been paid to her continued addiction to borrowing — on top of a record tax burden."  (also  Andrew...

"All we've had is whining about misogyny and mansplaining. So let me explain woman to woman - people out there aren't complaining because she's female, they're complaining because she's utterly incompetent" ( Kemi Badenoch responding to Rachel Reeve's budget.)

"Today’s Budget was a total humiliation for Rachel Reeves. She will go down as the worst Chancellor this country has ever had. Her position is now untenable and she knows it." "She has broken every single promise, if she had any decency she would resign. She is the country's worst ever Chancellor." "Rachel Reeves has broken her promises not to put up taxes. And all to fund more welfare. She should resign. But if she doesn't have the decency to do that, Keir Starmer should sack her." Every tax rise hits a family, people who work hard, save & sacrifice. Labour have loaded them with more taxes to fund more benefits, piling pressure on those who keep Britain running. Utterly shameful.   Our alternative: cut spending, cut tax and back business!" Conservative and opposition leader Kemi Badenoch

"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results" ( Winston Churchill )

An Investment Analyst using the twitter handle James (Type for Victory) has a twitter thread up responding to the seductive fantasy economics currently promoted by the Green party leadership. "MMT" refers to the "Magic Money Tree" idea that governments can somehow magically create wealth by telling banks to do so and that increased government spending can fund itself by bringing unused resources into play. Here is James's thread:    "Right, let's crack the MMT free lunch and "well ackchually" stuff. How do gilt markets actually work, why do we need them, and what are the implications of Polanski's policy? Gilts 1. Treasury spending creates new bank reserves at the BoE. Without gilt issuance to drain them, the banking system ends up with a permanent surplus. 2. A structural surplus pushes overnight rates to zero unless the BoE pays interest on reserves. So you either sell gilts or remunerate reserves. There isn’t a third option if you want ...