Chris Whiteside's Blog

"The illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is continuing.   The map below is the latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 31 January 2025."  

 When Downing Street has to put out a message like this it is never a good sign ...

  Mel Stride commented: "£450 million of investment cancelled thanks to Labour.  They’ve run out of money due to their ruinous Budget - now they are penny pinching and destroying our future. AstraZeneca are a vital player in UK science and tech. This, from them, is damning." Jeremy Hunt added: "This is an absolute tragedy. The government have reneged on a deal I negotiated in 2023 and the UK has lost a factory and many jobs in one of our most promising industries.  Rachel Reeves MP should pick up the phone to Sir Pascal Soriot: if she believes in growth short term penny pinching cannot be the answer."

 A quote from the Board of Deputies of British Jews concerning reports that  a Holocaust Memorial exhibition was blocked from exhibiting in Westminster Hall.

ON LBC:  Rachel Reeves "I inherited a £22bn black hole in the public finances." Nick Ferrari "Why did you INCREASE public spending by over £70 BILLION then?"

 

 

"Labour's suicidal Budget crippled the economy. Now, Starmer and Reeves have come up with an even more incoherent plan. The truth is, they don't have a clue." (Former Labour and trade union staffer Dan Hodges , title of newspaper article this week.  You can read it in full by clicking on this link:   DAN HODGES: Labour's suicidal Budget crippled the economy. Now, Starmer and Reeves have come up with an even more incoherent plan. The truth is, they don't have a clue | Daily Mail Online ) He also wrote yesterday on X, formerly twitter: "Genuinely don't understand what the Government thinks it's doing now. If you want to take £40 billion from business to protect public services, that's fine. That's a legitimate and defensible policy. But it's not compatible with a policy of prioritising growth. Self-evidently."

 

 

 

Some interesting polling data released by Persuasion UK and apparently based on data from the latest YouGov voting intention poll, based on a survey of 3,000 UK adults, on the main reasons why those who don't currently plan to vote Labour take that view. The data provides breakdowns of the top three reasons given both by defectors - those who voted Labour in July 2024 but would not do so today - and by all those who currently do not plan to vote Labour. The two sets of results are pretty consistent although not identical. Both defectors from Labour and the group of non-Labour voters as a whole give the same top reason, the removal of the Winter Fuel Payment from most pensioners, Seven reasons for not voting Labour were cited considerably more often than the other options provided by the group of all non-Labour voters, and these seven reasons were seven of the top eight cited by the group of voters switching away from Labour. The cost of living seems to be a very serious concern, be...

 

 

At 8pm today, the 80thh anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, I like many others put a lighted candle in my window to mark Holocaust Memorial day and remember all victims of genocide. Remember the past to build a safer future.

WE REMEMBER. Today is the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. This evening at 8pm I and many others will safely place a lighted candle in the window to remember the victims of the Shoah, six million Jews and millions of other people who for various reasons the Nazis didn't like, and all other victims of genocide.  When the true horror of what the Nazis had done the world said in disbelief "Never again!" Yet, sadly and incredibly, these have been empty words because, if not on quote the same vast scale, similar things have kept happening. It is time for us all to make sure that the words "Never again" are not just empty words. It is time FOR A B£TTER FUTURE.

"The law is not a moral compass. The people who hid Anne Frank were breaking the law. The people who killed her were following it." Alexander Verbeek. As we remember the victims of the Holocaust and all genocides, let us think about what we need to do to make the world better - and a place where "never again" is not a platitude but an actuality.

Tomorrow, 27th January 2025, is the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Berkenau murder camp and will be marked around the world as Holocaust memorial Day. It is a day when we remember the victims of the Nazi holocaust - six million jews and millions of other innocent people who for various reasons the Nazis didn't like. We also remember the victims of all subsequent genocides from Cambodia to Rwanda, from Darfur to Bosnia, from the massacre of Rohinga Muslims in Myanmar to those of Jews by Hamas on 7th October 2023. We remember all victims whether they were murdered for their race, their religion or for some other arbitrary reason, whatever that race, religion or reason might be.  The theme of this year's Holocaust Memorial Day is FOR A BETTER FUTURE. Holocaust Memorial Day Trust | HMD 2025 Theme Each year people from across the UK take part in the Light the Darkness national moment for Holocaust Memorial Day. At 8pm on 27 January people across the nation will...

Question:  What's the difference between a farmer driving a tractor which has sunk to its' axles in mud, and the latest Opinium polling data on the PM's approval ratings? Answer: One's a stuck farmer, and the other shows that PM's approval rating has dropped to a low of minus 35% . 21% of respondents approved of the way the Prime Minister is doing his job and 55% disapprove.  Full results available at  Opinium Voting Intention: 22nd January 2025 - Opinium

Britain's largest charity swim, the Swimathon, returns on 28-30 March this year when thousands of swimmers will head to hundreds of pools around Britain to raise money for three great causes. These causes are Cancer Research UK, Marie Curie Cancer Care, and the Swimathon Foundation. Each of these organizations plays a vital role in improving lives and advancing research. On 29th March 2025 I plan to complete the Swimathon 5000 metres challenge, swimming 200 lengths of Hensingham pool to raise money for these excellent causes. I have been taking part in Swimathon for thirty years. Thank you if you have supported me before. Please join me in backing these excellent causes. Your support makes all the difference! You can sponsor me online on my Givengain page, which you can find by clicking on the following link: Swimathon 2025 - Please support these life-changing causes

The Vice-Chair of Cumberland Council, Linda Bulman, has posted on Facebook that she has resigned from the Labour party. This is the statement that she posted today: "After over a decade as a Labour member and a Labour Councillor, I've taken the very difficult decision to leave the Labour Party because of the national leadership; and their parachuted yes-men here; Josh MacAlister MP and his right hand man, Kevin Peel, who have changed our party beyond recognition, abandoning the socialist democratic and socialist principles that are needed to improve living standards for ordinary people and support our local communities, I fully respect the decision of friends and colleagues who have chosen to remain in the Labour Party to try and change things for the better from within. As an Independent Councillor I will be an independent voice, standing up for real Labour values; supporting working class communities, pensioners, unemployed people, farmers, the disabled and low income famili...

To mark the feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, here is Eccard's haunting anthem written for this festival. POSTSCRIPT: I jumped the gun slightly above, see next Sunday's music spot post!

 

 

 

"You always own the option of having no opinion."  (Marcus Aurelius)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  The above YouTube clip is Village People's original 1978 official music video version of their song "In the Navy."   And below we have the same song as the end credits of the 1996 Kelsey Grammer nautical comedy "Down Periscope" in which Village People joined Kelsey Grammer and the rest of the cast of the film to spoof their own video.

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...