Chris Whiteside's Blog

We will all miss the brilliant actor who played captain, later Admiral, Jean-Luc Picard, the most British Frenchman ever to appear "onscreen." And Professor Xavier. And Sejanus. And King Richard the Lion-Heart. And so many others. Iconic actor Sir Patrick Stewart, of Star Trek, X-Men, I Claudius, and so many roles from Shakespeare to the stars has died aged 86. Sir Patrick died at his home in Los Angeles on 28 October after "a brief and poignant journey" with Alzheimer's disease and Lewy Body Dementia, according to a statement shared on his social media. “ His sonorous voice and singular talent will forever be synonymous with indelible performances in every genre, ” the statement reads. In a career that spanned seven decades, Sir Patrick won multiple Emmys and Golden Globes, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II. He was not only a great actor, he was also a great man. Rest in Peace

 A UK bank chief executive has said of Healey's budget: "Taxing the engines of growth to reduce VAT on gherkins is end-of-Rome level of stupidity" Source:  Anthony Boutall on X: "🚨 BREAKING: A UK bank chief executive has said of Healey's budget: "Taxing the engines of growth to reduce VAT on gherkins is end-of-Rome level of stupidity" https://t.co/QiFmZnYHGj" / X

 

 

"The Prime Minister came in promising to reverse 40 years of neoliberalism. Instead, we got 4p off gherkins." Rt Hon Kemi Badenoch , Conservative leader

A point to remember on UK budget day. Milton Friedman was talking about the US Federal budget, but what he said was relevant to the budget of every government of every country, including Britain.

To call Trump's actions on Ukraine "betrayal" is strong language but I think it is justified. Not because he is trying to seek a diplomatic solution to a terrible war but because he is putting maximum diplomatic pressure on Ukraine and little on Russia when the leader of every state which is a permanent member of he UN Security council has a moral obligation to put maximum pressure on Russia and help Ukraine get peace with security. When the Soviet empire broke up, the world's third largest nuclear arsenal was on Ukrainian territory. All the members of the UN Security council were deeply concerned about this. All put pressure on the four successor states which inherited Soviet nuclear weapons to ensure they were destroyed or handed to Russia in exchange for security guarantees. The security assurances given by China and France were not as strong as those signed by Russia, the USA and Britain in the "Budapest Memorandum" but all gave them. Bill Browder is one...

"Some people say that taxes are the price we pay for civilization. But the runaway taxes of our time are the price we pay for being gullible." Thomas Sowell

Gordon Holmes passed away over the weekend, aged 92. Gordon was involved with Selby Conservative Association and the Conservative Party for many years. During this time he served as Association President, and held various Officer roles within the Association, and was a fantastic fundraiser and campaigner along with his wife Sheila. Gordon gave a lifetime of service to his local community. He was a member of Burn Parish Council from its formation in 1967 to 2011, serving as its Chairman for the last 15 years. He was also elected to Selby District Council for 22 years until 1995, and was later made an Honorary Alderman in recognition of that service. Our thoughts and condolences go to Gordon’s family and friends at this sad time. Rest in Peace.

The problem with Liz Truss wasn't her analysis of Britain's problems at the time she became PM. It was her " Damn the torpedoes, full ahead ," strategy, or in her own words, a " move fast and break things " approach to solving them. In one sense it was to her credit that as PM she did exactly what she promised she would do when standing for the position: however, Rishi Sunak predicted exactly how this would go horribly wrong. I voted for Rishi because I thought he was right. And the 41 days of the Truss premiership proved that he was. Liz has now brought out a book called "Bank Job." Simon Heffer has read it so you don't have to. Bank Job by Liz Truss: zero-star review I don't always agree with Simon Heffer, and his skill at making a page drip with the venom of biting scorn sometimes makes me feel sympathy for his victims. There is an element of that this time, but sadly I cannot find a single sentence in his zero-stars review in The Telegr...

A new Ipsos poll is out. Very good news for Labour supporters, mixed news for the Conservatives, very bad news for Reform and the Greens:  Headline voting intention from Ipsos   📊Labour on 32% with a lead of 8 percentage points – the largest Labour lead Ipsos have recorded this parliament  📊Conservatives take second place for the first time with Ipsos since June 2025 (although the clear majority of polls since this years' party conference season have, like this one, shown Labour first, Kemi Badenoch's Conservatives second, and Reform UK third)  📊Reform UK down 3 points and Greens down 5  What is really good about the way the graphic below presents this - and I think it would be very helpful for those interested in presenting the polls honestly if all polling companies did this - is that they have included a bracket showing the MoE (Margin of Error) range. It is becoming increasingly clear that the most effective way to stop Labour winning again is to bac...

 

Remember that British Summer Time in the UK comes to an end tonight and the country goes back to Greenwich Mean Time. Tonight in the UK and indeed in most of Europe, the clocks go back an hour. So in the UK at 3am, it jumps back to a second 2am. By popular demand I am republishing this a handy guide to putting your clocks back tonight:

A whole crop of recent polls has Labour ahead, with Kemi Badenoch's Conservatives not far behind and ahead of Reform UK. Polls are not elections, and they are only a guide to how people are thinking. But when a whole group of polls show the same thing it's probably not too far from the truth. Here are the latest YouGov and Findoutnow polls: In forced head-to-head choices between the rival party leaders, Kemi Badenoch beats every rival except Burnham. Farage loses to every rival except Polanski. The public is also becoming less inclined to see Reform UK and the Greens as "Main parties" Put all this together and it is becoming much easier for Conservatives to make the case that, if you want to stop Labour the most effective way to do so is to vote for Kemi Badenoch's Conservatives.

 

Very good set of council by-election results for Kemi Badenoch's Conservatives in yesterday's five local contests at District/Borough level or above. Conservative councillor were elected in all four of the by-elections in England, gaining one seat each from Labour, the Greens and Independent, and holding the seat we were defending. (The one seat we didn't win was a Plaid gain from Labour.) Congratulations to all our new councillors.   Reform UK also threw the kitchen sink at a Town Council by-election in Billericay, Essex, a straight fight with the Conservatives,  which they said was close. It wasn't.

Both Conservative and Labour governments have struggled with finding an effective way forward to reform the Leasehold system. The Conservatives did eventually manage to pass the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, which in England and Wales changed residential property rules to make extending leases, buying freeholds, and managing buildings cheaper and fairer for homeowners. Labour in opposition voted for the bill, said it did not go far enough, and promised that they would scrap Leasehold entirely. Two years later, what have they achieved: according to Guido Fawkes, they not only have failed to do this while continuing to promise it: a government consultation which closed on Wednesday suggested they might actually row back from the Conservatives 2024 act, the same one they said at the time did not go far enough. Labour appears to be breaking a promise to cut costs for leaseholders. Here is a link to the Guido Fawkes article: Labour Quietly Ditches Pledge to Cut Leasehold Costs – G...

 

 

 

  BREAKING NEWS: Months of campaigning and pressure from @KemiBadenoch and the @Conservatives - has seen the North Sea FINALLY re-opened for drilling! The Jackdaw field has finally been approved. This should be the start, not the end. Labour must approve Rosebank, end the ban on new drilling licences, and scrap the Energy Profits Levy.

I keep an eye on the viewing stats for this blog and what people are reading. In the past week 200 people have looked at the obit I put up for Kenji Goto after he was murdered eleven year ago. And what I wrote at the time - and stand by - is that he was a man who deserved to be remembered. This is what I wrote about him in 2015. Kenji Goto RIP It's difficult to find more things to say in response to the abominable murder of Kenji Goto which have not already been said in response to the equally abominable murders of David Haines and Alan Henning Shoichi Yukawa, the father of another Japanese hostage who was executed last week, praised Goto for trying to rescue his son: " I just have no words. It's utterly heartbreaking, " he said. " People killing other people - it's so deplorable. How can this be happening? " I am completely convinced of what the Prophet Mohammed would have said about these murders, and which verse of the Qu'ran applies to them. The ...

Many of the leads concerned are in margin of er4ror territory, but both the majority of opinion polls and the average of opinion polls since Conservative conference have shown the Conservatives ahead of Reform UK and at most 5% (and usually less) behind Labour. Latest More in Common poll:

  To the immortal memory of Vice Admiral Lord Nelson and all who fell with him at Trafalgar on 21st October 1805.

"No captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy." Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, Viscount Nelson

  "If one is remembered by a Friend, one is never truly gone." (Grand Admiral Thrawn, from Timothy Zahn's novel "Thrawn" - the passage below from which this quote is taken forms the first words of the epilogue of that book.) In context these words are clearly about exile, not death. Thrawn himself had been exiled from the Chiss Ascendancy to the Empire: he had written these words in a journal he gave to his friend Eli Vanto who was going into exile in the opposite direction, from the Empire to the Chiss Ascendancy.

 

 

"The person who agrees with you 80% of the time is a friend and an ally - not a 20% traitor." Ronald Reagan

"Putin says he wants the Donbas, but why, at the start of the full-scale invasion, was he trying to occupy Kyiv? Is that the east of our country? Is that the Donbas? No, that’s the capital. Without a capital, there is no state. Putin wants to destroy Ukraine. For us, the question is not about withdrawing from the Donbas. The real question is the survival of our state. We stand and fight, because what is the alternative? To be destroyed. Simply put, not everyone feels this because Ukraine is still standing. We have stabilized the battlefield. We are grateful to our partners in Europe, America, and other countries, Japan is helping, Canada is helping, Australia, New Zealand, whoever can. Ukraine stands against such a powerful enemy as Russia. We stand, otherwise we will be destroyed. It’s always difficult, you know, in communications with partners, to find the right words, the warnings that they will truly understand. Putin wants to destroy us. He doesn't respect us, our soverei...

I had the privilege to know David Amess. He was a lovely man and a dedicated public servant, murdered five years ago today while doing his and making himself accessible to his constituents. Today we remember him.

 

Today Kemi Badenoch's Conservatives voted to scrap inheritance taxon the family home. The other parties did not.

No more delays. It’s time to give Jackdaw and Rosebank the green light and get Britain drilling.

The YouGov poll finding the Conservatives ahead of Reform is now matched by a More in Common poll.  More in Common say: "The Conservatives seem to be enjoying a conference bounce as they jump to second in our voting intention, while Labour lead by 4. 🌹 LAB 28% (-1) 🌳 CON 24% (+3) ⏩ REF 21% (-3) 🔶 LIB DEM 11% (+1) 🟢 GREEN 7% (-) ⚫ RES: 5% (+1) N = 2,101 | Fieldwork 9-12/10 | Changes w 5/10

The PM has appeared the float the idea that a commitment in the next Labour manifest to re-join the EU might provide sufficient mandate to do so, despite the referendum to leave being the largest vote in British history. The public do not seem to agree.

"Putin doesn’t want peace. Putin wants Ukraine. Enough is enough.  President Trump should rescind the diesel deal with Russia and return to the strong policies of our four years in the White House; use the Lindsey Graham Sanctioning Russia Act to impose harsh sanctions on any nation purchasing Russian energy and work with our allies to ensure Ukraine has the military support it needs to repel and defeat this Russian invasion once and for all. Slava Ukraini" Mike Pence (who was Vice President of the USA during President Trump's first term) Mike Pence on X: "Putin doesn’t want peace. Putin wants Ukraine. Enough is enough. President Trump should rescind the diesel deal with Russia and return to the strong policies of our four years in the White House; use the Lindsey Graham Sanctioning Russia Act to impose harsh sanctions on any https://t.co/uw11mEkh0x" / X

Pollster YouGov say: "Our latest Westminster voting intention poll (11-12 October 2026) shows a close race between the largest parties: Labour: 24% (-3 from 4-5 Oct) Conservatives: 23% (+3) Reform UK: 21% (-1) Lib Dems: 12% (+1) Greens: 11% (=) SNP: 3% (=) Restore Britain: 2% (-1) Plaid Cymru: 1% (=) Obviously the difference between the three main parties is margin-of-error. Nevertheless it is significant that this is the best result for the Conservatives since the YouGov tracker re-started in January 2025 and joint worst for Reform UK. 

"We never communicate what we will do next in our operations. Last night, we did not attack any energy facilities on the territory of Russia because President Trump said that there would be an energy ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia. We did not attack, while Russia attacked our gas stations, energy infrastructure, and other facilities.  I think it was Putin’s answer to President Trump. And the message from Russia was very clear – they don't know anything about the energy ceasefire. It's a pity, because they always find reasons not to stop this war. Which is why I think we need more pressure on Russia."  Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky   From an interview with Fox News. 

"Ukraine’s freedom is not President Trump’s to bargain away. He is wrong to ease sanctions on Russian diesel, wrong to blame President Zelensky for prolonging Putin’s war, and wrong to undermine a nation fighting for its right to exist. Russia is the aggressor. Always has been. Reward Russia, and we should expect to see more aggression, including from other countries. We can also kiss goodbye to any just and lasting peace. This is why Conservatives have stood with Ukraine against Putin. Ukraine’s future belongs to Ukrainians. They alone have the right to choose their president, and we stand with President Zelensky because he fights not for himself, but for the survival of his country and his people." Rt Hon Kemi Badenoch , Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch on X: "Ukraine’s freedom is not President Trump’s to bargain away. He is wrong to ease sanctions on Russian diesel, wrong to blame President Zelensky for prolonging Putin’s war, and wrong to undermine a nation fighting...

  A stronger economy. Lower taxes. Secure borders. A country that rewards work, backs families and defends itself. That is the Britain that the next Conservative government will build.

 

"It is sickening that the USA is now lifting sanctions on Russian fuel, and transparently ridiculous to blame Ukraine for the spike in prices that obviously began with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Putin is murdering innocent Ukrainian civilians every day. The Ukrainians are fighting for their lives. And yet the White House is apparently determined to force American drivers to bankroll Putin’s slaughter. It won’t work and I doubt it will make much difference to the price of fuel.  If we want Russian oil and gas back on the world market then let’s end this war - with a free, sovereign and independent Ukraine." Boris Johnson on X Boris Johnson on X: "It is sickening that the USA is now lifting sanctions on Russian fuel, and transparently ridiculous to blame Ukraine for the spike in prices that obviously began with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Putin is murdering innocent Ukrainian civilians every day. The Ukrainians" / X

There are not many left-wingers whose views I find interesting enough to quote. Nick Cohen is one of the exceptions. Here is an extract from his take on the comprehensive defeat of the Green party yesterday in Sir Keir Starmer's old seat, which not long ago Zack Polanski could reasonably have been expected to win. "Zack Polanski has destroyed the old Green Party Will the new version be darker? Labour has just comprehensively defeated the Greens in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election. The victory was a tribute to Andy Burnham and to the optimism he’s brought to the Labour Party, and to an excellent local candidate, who came to the UK as a refugee from Somalia, fought off the most disgusting racist abuse during the campaign, and is now a Member of Parliament. However, that’s not the whole story, as you probably already know. The election was also a catastrophic defeat for Zack Polanski, the leader of the Green Party, who you might have expected a few months ago to have taken ...

 YouGov finds strong support for Kemi Badenoch's proposals on Inheritance tax:

 

 

For a good indication of how utterly desperate Richard "Pants on Fire" Tice and the liars of Reform UK are, check out the link in the Community Note note on the post linked to  HERE . He's not only a mendacious rascal, he doesn't even have the originality of mind to make up his own original smears. He's repeating a "Labour Press" smear which had already been debunked. 

 

 "In most wars in history, you can make the case that it may or may not have been necessary. The Second World War is the absolutely classic case of good against evil." "Tucker Carlson, like many people who get on social media, find that to get clicks, they need to become more and more controversial, and they end up saying things that no sensible person could possibly believe." Rt Hon Jacob Rees-Mogg. I will confess to doing a complete fanboy on JRM this evening. Seeing him come up the stairs at the ICC in Birmingham, I went over, offered my hand, and said that I thought his demolition of Tucker Carlson had been brilliant. With his usual exquisite courtesy he shook the proffered hand and told me I was too kind.

"I have children who are half black, half white. They’re mixed race. I don’t want to hear rhetoric that makes them feel that they’re not a part of this country.” (Rt Hon Kemi Badenoch , Conservative leader)

 

 As the Green party of England and Wales adopted today the highly problematic policy that "Zionism is racism" here is a handy reference guide to all the British political parties who have had that policy:

 I think the best way to begin this diary of the 2026 Conservative conference in Birmingham is with this YouTube clip of Kemi's opening speech.

“I mean, you can't hate London and then hope to be the mayor of London.” James Cleverly (referring to the Reform UK candidate for that position, Laila Cunningham

This quote from another great Conservative woman seems particularly appropriate in a week when Reform UK have stepped up their highly personal and at times extremely dishonest attacks on the present Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch. Maggie was right. These guys have no political arguments, and that's why they are making it personal.  

Thomas Cochrane was a British naval officer who had a brilliant career fighting the French during the Napoleonic wars, then became an admiral in the navies of various Latin American independence movements and had an equally successful record fighting for them. His exploits helped to inspire a number of great works of naval fiction, possibly including some of the events of C.S. Forester's "Hornblower" books and certainly some of the events in Patrick O'Brien's "Master and Commander" series.  As I write this post, a reproduction of Montagu Dawson's painting " The smoke of battle - the gallant Speedy " hangs on the wall of the room, depicting the capture in 1801 by HMS Speedy under Cochrane's command of the Spanish frigate El Gamo . The battle shown in the painting was an extraordinary victory by Lord Cochrane. The disparity between the two vessels was staggering: • HMS Speedy : A small 14-gun brig with a severely depleted crew of just 54...

"The last person to trust with power is someone who is dying to have it. The best person to wield power is someone who is reluctant to do so, but who will do it for a while as a civic duty. That is why term limits should make it impossible to have a whole career in politics." — Thomas Sowell