Chris Whiteside's Blog

 Aggregate Result of the 87 Council By-Elections Since the 2026 Local Elections from Election Maps: Party name, seats won (net change in brackets), vote share (change in brackets) Reform: 17 (+6) | 23% (+12) Conservative: 17 (+1) | 19% (-1) Liberal Democrats: 15 (-) | 15% (-) Labour: 11 (-4) | 16% (-6) Green: 10 (+1) | 15% (-1) Welsh Nationalists (PLC): 9 (-1) | 4% (+1) Independent: 5 (-3) | 5% (-3) Scottish Nationalist (SNP: 2 (+2) | 2% (-1) Local: 1 (-2) | 1% (-2) Looks to me like anyone who tells you that a party they don't like is "dead" or "doomed" is indulging in wishful thinking. There is everything to play for.

Steeleye Span's tribute to the late great Terry Pratchett

"Net zero scepticism is not climate-change denial Net-zero scepticism is too often confused with climate change scepticism. But they are not the same thing. It is an elementary distinction, but an important one. Climate change is a scientific phenomenon. Net zero by 2050 is a political programme. One can accept the science while questioning whether a particular collection of laws, subsidies, targets and prohibitions will actually solve the problem. The current net zero 2050 plans do not. That is my position and has been my position for years. Yet writing in The Telegraph on Wednesday Ambrose Evans Pritchard accused me of flirting with “climate nihilism”. He warns that the Conservatives are becoming Trumpian and trying to stop the clock on technological progress. Unfortunately, he has either not listened to what I have said, or has decided that my argument would be easier to attack if he replaced it with a different one. Climate change is real. We can see its effects all over the w...

The previous secretary of state for education, Bridget Phillipson, was not exactly popular with Conservatives from Kemi Badenoch down.  We argued at the last election that the policy of taxing independent schools would not stop the very rich from sending their children to the likes of Eton and Harrow but would stop some of the less-well-off who would otherwise have scrimped and saved to send their children to schools which they thought would give them a better life, thereby paying twice and saving the state the cost of educating those children. Sure enough, 2026 data suggests that Labour's taxes on private education have resulted in a 30,000 drop in the number of children attending them, a 3.5% fall in enrolment. This is a larger fall and a faster one than ministers had planned for. Exactly as Conservatives and others predicted, far from helping the great majority of children who attend state schools, that means 30,000 more children having to fit into the same, now more overcrowded...

This performance of "Sogno di Volare" (The dream of flight) was conducted by the composer, Christopher Tin, and performed by Bel Canto Choir Vilnius, the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra and the Swedish choir A Scalpella. It is the theme music to Sid Meier's Civilisation VI.

  Kemi has it sussed out.  While the other leaders are still fighting internal battles, external investigations or are simply moribund, the Conservatives have a new party. - A new inclusive culture of like minded Conservatives - New candidate selection rules and training - New policies enriched by members' contributions - Legally sound exit from the ECHR - A UK 'Bill of Rights' (and responsibilities!) - A suite of economic policies to revive the UK, reduce taxes, and grow the economy. A recipe for Common Sense Government 

"We always work with the grain of human nature. The grain of human nature is this: if people are given an incentive they will work harder, they will want more income to give their families a better standard of living to buy their own houses, or to buy extra pensions for themselves, so we gave incentives. And we knew if we got taxation down, ironically, we would get more income in." Margaret Thatcher.

"Baba Yetu" by Christopher Tin was the award-winning theme music for Sid Meier's Civilisation IV. The lyrics are the Lord's Prayer in Swahili

Extract from a Michael Gove piece on the new Education secretary's policies

“The grand fallacy of the political left is that evil is localized in some set of ' oppressors ' from whom we can be ' liberated. ' That is also its great attraction, for it allows people to attribute their dissatisfaction to other people.” (Thomas Sowell)

Bill Oddie, one of the funniest comedians I ever saw, has died at the age of 85. To those of us of a certain generation, he will always be remembered as one of the madcap comedy trio "The Goodies" along with Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden. He was also a keen naturalist and wildlife supporter and a campaigner for birds in particular. Rest in Peace.

The above is a modern performance, and a very good one. This is how the theme was used in the title sequence in the original film, sixty-three years ago.

 "If things are going to plan, then it's a very bad plan" Professor Gerdes, from his YouTube channel " Professor Gerdes explains " responds to he Russian claim that their special military operation in Ukraine is going to plan

  Taxes were already far too high as a result of the pandemic even before Labour came to power. Rachel Reeves raised them even higher, to record levels for peacetime. That's why Andy Burnham should rule out tax rises to pay for his spending spree. When Rachel Reeves raised taxes we all saw the consequences which came after that. Labour never understands: money needs to be made before it can be spent. Businesses are not cash machines for politicians.

  Fiyaz Mughal, the founder of Faith Matters and Tell MAMA and Muslims Against Antisemitism says of the proposals by the Greens on Hackney council to scrap the twinning arrangement with Haifa,: "Shunning even a model of Jewish-Arab cooperation as morally tainted raises an uncomfortable question: has political activism crossed into antisemitic exclusion?"  From a Jewish Chronical article which you can read at: If Hackney’s Greens cared about peace, they wouldn’t cut ties with Haifa – Israel’s city of coexistence - The Jewish Chronicle

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A major (K.622)

  "Let me tell you about the law of holes: If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging." Bill Brock, 1983. (Similar sayings attributed to many people including Denis Healey, Will Rogers, and Warren Buffet.)

 

I don't aften quote Labour MPs sympathetically, but no party has a monopoly of wisdom or virtue, and Labour MP Luke Akehurst made a good point today in response to the plans by Green councillors on Hackney council to scrap that council's twinning arrangement with Haifa. This is what he posted today: " As a former Hackney Councillor for 12 years I'm disgusted by the performative and spiteful gesture politics of the Greens proposing that Hackney ends its twinning arrangement with Haifa in Israel, which has existed since 1968.  The twinning happened because Hackney's large Jewish community had family and personal links there.  Haifa is a famously left-wing city (ironically the Israeli Greens are quite strong there) that is a model for coexistence between Jews and Arabs. The twinning arrangement includes medical exchanges between the Homerton and Rambam hospitals. If you want peace between Israel and the Palestinians you should support initiatives that bring people tog...

Thanks to Election Maps for publishing a summary of Andy Burnham's cabinet changes in an easy-to-understand table. There were one or two good appointments. The replacement of Rachel Reeves by John Healy might just mean that the new PM is serious about funding defence properly and the appointment of Wes Streeting as defence secretary may confirm that. Streeting is the Labour party's equivalent of Michael Gove - a politician who is hated by most of those on his own side and loathed by almost everyone else but is nevertheless one of the most competent people the party concerned has. (If it is true, as has been rumoured, that Rachel Reeves was offered the post of defence secretary I can only assume this was a way of inducing her to walk. The thought of Reeves having to make the case to John Healy for defence spending is almost as funny as Nigel Farage having to fight for his political life against a comedian with a bin on his head, but for that very reason I can't see that she ...

 

 Kemi Badenoch on Britain's new PM: "Today, Britain has a new Prime Minister. I wish Andy Burnham well, because Britain needs a government that fixes the country’s problems. But I am concerned because: He has got the keys to Number 10 without first setting out a clear plan for government. Keir Starmer leaves behind higher welfare spending, rising unemployment, soaring energy costs, record debt interest and taxes that are holding back growth. Britain cannot afford more of the same. We know Labour MPs only care about increasing benefits. As the Welfare Secretary himself admitted, every meeting with a Labour MP is about who they can tax to raise benefits. That's why I say that changing Prime Minister isn't a silver bullet. The problem wasn't just Keir Starmer, it was the whole Labour Party. The Conservative Party understands that we must reflect on where we went wrong in our time in office. Governments should seek a mandate for their plans before taking office, not de...

“The longer you can look back, the farther you can look forward”. ( Winston Churchill ) The above gives the words that Churchill actually used and recorded as a maxim. An alternative version, often wrongly attributed to Churchill as it corresponds closely to the idea he was putting forward but not strictly an accurate quote, is given here as well because I like this form of words.

Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) is an important part of how the UK's executive is held to account. It is naive in the extreme to expect that the exchanges at PMQs will not sometimes be extremely robust, and I have no time whatsoever for the hypocrisy of those Labour members and supporters who clutch their pearly and complain how nasty Kemi Badenoch is to Labour MPs and ministers yet supported Sir Keir Starmer when he made very robust comments about her. Especially given that few of them made any protest when Angela Rayner called Conservatives "scum" or David Lammy suggested that Brexiteers were worse than Nazis. However, there are times when a less hostile tone is called for, and I thought the exchanges on Wednesday this week were a good example of tis being done extremely well. Kemi Badenoch praised Sir Keir Starmer's support for Ukraine - which I think was the right thing to do, I don't agree with very much that he has done, but support for Ukraine is one ...

“Economics is a study of cause-and-effect relationships in an economy. Its purpose is to discern the consequences of various ways of allocating resources which have alternative uses. It has nothing to say about philosophy or values, anymore than it has to say about music or literature.” — Thomas Sowell