Current Affairs

[Stephen]

The Queen apparently has confined the balcony to working Royals and their children which excludes Harry, Megan and Andrew.

Carole

That’s going to be a lonely place for ma’am

[Kendhni]

Indeed a jolly to the Caribbean does not count as "work"

[Stephen]

Newspaper headlines: Tory election 'woes' and police probe 'Beergate' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-61359258

[Bensham33]

Agree the Tories were well beaten but I don't read to much into that. As for beergate we should let the police complete their enquiries before making any judgement.

[barney]

Agree mate.
Mid term council elections mean little on a national GE scale.
Ref Starmer
At the time, my missus asked what was the difference between what Sir K did and Johnson did?
I defended Starmer, saying that it was totally different, but now, as more has come out, I’m not so sure.

[david63]

The Tories were always going to loose a lot of seats due to national issues, so there is no surprise there. What this election has shown though is that the electorate are not happy with either of the main parties as the swing has been to the LibDems and Green parties - basically a protest vote.

I do despair with a lot of the electorate who cannot distinguish between local issues and national issues. These elections were local elections so why bring national issues into it? There is virtually nothing that a local council can do about rising energy prices any more than the national government can do about potholes in every side street.

[Ray B]

You have that correct David, why waste a vote on on the UK government protest, when the going ons at the local council should be more important.

[Kendhni]

Agree the Tories were well beaten but I don't read to much into that.

Several factors here
1. mid term elections ... so nothing new for incumbent party to lose seats
2. a fickle public preferring to give the government a 2 finger gesture rather than vote for local issues of importance (many blame local representatives for the crimes of their national representatives)
3. a return of borrowed votes back to traditional voting (curiously not as much as I would have expected)
4. a belief that the government is totally out of touch with the realities of the average voter (Johnsons GMB interview did little to dissuade otherwise)
5. (some ask what Labour stands for, but equally) many have no idea what Toryism stands for. Policy definition is poor/weak with a perception that they have run out of ideas at the very start of a financial crisis

[barney]

Hopefully the beginning of the United Ireland.

[towny44]

Hopefully the beginning of the United Ireland.

Now that could sicken NS if Ireland get to leave the UK before Scotland.

[barney]

Personally, I think that the government should allow a one off referendum within two years to determine the outcome.
Whatever the result, approve it and put it to bed for at least a generation.
We cannot allow another Scottish situation where they just bang on and on and on.

[Kendhni]

I was just reading he latest thoughts of what happened Maddie McCann. Poor kid!

[Onelife]

I was just reading he latest thoughts of what happened Maddie McCann. Poor kid!

A lifetime of “if Only’s” … tragic whichever way you look at it.

[Kendhni]

I was just reading he latest thoughts of what happened Maddie McCann. Poor kid!

A lifetime of “if Only’s” … tragic whichever way you look at it.

For some reason, I always hoped that Maddie would have found her way home at some point. I an guessing that is getting less and less likely.

When you think that in 2019, in the UK, several hundred children went long term missing bringing the total to over 1500. You wonder how many have been taken by other family members versus those being taken by traffickers.

[Kendhni]

A huge day for Putin, I wonder how he is going to play it.

[Gill W]

I defended Starmer, saying that it was totally different, but now, as more has come out, I’m not so sure.

I think there are differences.

So called Beergate happened on 30th April 2021 when the country wasn't in full lockdown.

As I understand it, people were able to meet for reasonable work and election campaign purposes at that time.

After a long day on the campaign trail people had to eat. Hospitality wasn't fully open at the time - only outside service was allowed. So at 10 o'clock at night, probably the only reasonable option was to have a food delivery.

I don't think it's the same as institutional partying throughout the main lockdowns.

It's quite funny, as Richard Holden, the Tory MP for Durham who has pushed for the police to get involved again, posted on Facebook a couple of days later, at the start of May 2021, that he enjoyed meeting some Ghurkas for lunch, so Holden needs to be investigated as well!

If by any weird chance Starmer resigns over eating a curry in reasonable circumstances, then surely Johnson would have to resign after all those Downing Street parties in actual lockdown. So it's not all bad news !

[Ray B]

Ken, the answer is, A watered down parade by the reports. Tanks that are apparently not battle ready yet and no fly past, weather being reportedas cause.

[Ray B]

Gill, it's not all bad new, just the rocketing cost of the Met to bring all these villains to Justice. Money that could have been better spent for what the return will be.

[Kendhni]

Ken, the answer is, A watered down parade by the reports. Tanks that are apparently not battle ready yet and no fly past, weather being reported as cause.

Indeed, I was hoping for some glimmer of hope in returning to common sense.
At the minute I am wondering what doers the west have to do to convince decades of brainwashed Russians that we never had any desire to invade, and do not want to invade. The lack of direct intervention must surely point to that. The great Russian army has now been exposed as 'fake' with reports that they have now used up nearly all their modern weaponry and are starting to rely on older technology.

[Manoverboard]

The ' watered down ' Parade could also indicate perhaps that the Russian is sending a message to the West that sabre rattling is not for their consumption nor should they be concerned about any possible expansionism.

[barney]

I defended Starmer, saying that it was totally different, but now, as more has come out, I’m not so sure.

I think there are differences.

So called Beergate happened on 30th April 2021 when the country wasn't in full lockdown.

As I understand it, people were able to meet for reasonable work and election campaign purposes at that time.

After a long day on the campaign trail people had to eat. Hospitality wasn't fully open at the time - only outside service was allowed. So at 10 o'clock at night, probably the only reasonable option was to have a food delivery.

I don't think it's the same as institutional partying throughout the main lockdowns.

It's quite funny, as Richard Holden, the Tory MP for Durham who has pushed for the police to get involved again, posted on Facebook a couple of days later, at the start of May 2021, that he enjoyed meeting some Ghurkas for lunch, so Holden needs to be investigated as well!

If by any weird chance Starmer resigns over eating a curry in reasonable circumstances, then surely Johnson would have to resign after all those Downing Street parties in actual lockdown. So it's not all bad news !

We’ll agree to disagree on this one Gill.
It’s not the suspected offence but the lies.

[Manoverboard]

We’ll agree to disagree on this one Gill.
It’s not the suspected offence but the lies.

Spot on ... I agree with Jane Barney

[Gill W]

It’s not the suspected offence but the lies.

What are the lies?

The story has been fairly consistent since the beginning. Working a long day away from home, and then having food at the end of the day. Or is that the lie?

Or perhaps you mean the Angela Rayner thing? I still haven't found anything in previous reporting to indicate that Rayner's presence was reported, nor any questions about it, or any Labour denials.

Anyway, Starmer has said that, if he gets a fine, he'll resign.

[barney]

It’s been a succession of lies Gill, unfortunately.
No better than the Tories

[Mervyn and Trish]

One lie is that the hotel he was staying at didn't serve food. Apparently it did offer room service. Surely at the end of the day, and this was all after 10pm, it would have been more appropriate for Starmer, Rayner and others to return to their hotel and order room service and locals to go to eat at their own homes.