Just saw that Wellingborough is the biggest swing so far in the post 2019 by-elections.
Especially appalling Tory candidate choice will have assisted there.
An even more cynical reading (that I hope is not true) is that they are trying to leave Labour in the worst possible position to be successful in their first term in some misguided hope it gets them back in quicker.
I would normally dismiss even the concept (whether naïve or otherwise, I tend to think politicians are generally trying to do the best for the country), but with this particular shower anything is possible.
They're certainly craven enough to do that, but possibly not intelligent enough.
Any outgoing government at the end of a term could ensure the Tories don't get back in by changing to STV anyway, which unfortunately Labour aren't intelligent enough for either
Saudi Arabia contributed a lot to the horrors in Yemen and they are a supposedly civilised country a very rich well known one at that.
Maybe it is people judging a non muslim country (like Israel) differently but isn't that just incredibly racist towards Muslims that non-Muslims are held to a higher standard of behaviour and that destruction and death is what we expect from Muslim countries and therefore it isn't a big deal.
the swing of 28.5% from the Conservatives to Labour in Wellingborough is the second biggest at a by-election since the Second World War.
FPTP gives exponentially more seats with even small differences in %'s of votes.
In 2019 the Brexit Party didn't stand.
Reform have said they will stand this time
I think in my mind that the likes of Saudi being a kingdom with extremely restrictive personal freedoms many, from their Muslim faith and many more from an extremely repressive ruling family would generally be viewed differently and held to greater account in most Western European minds than an open democracy like Israel.
One of the features of the war in Gaza particularly early on was what looked like attempts to absolutely terrorise the population of Gaza, the daily announcements of what the Israeli military were going to do in the following days.
The other feature of this situation is that it's not a war, Hamas perpetrated a inhumane attack on Israel and this is revenge, in other conflicts there are two sides fighting and committing atrocities against each other, here it is one overwhelming military force committing atrocities against a largely civilian population.
Interesting voxpop from Wellingborough with a side order of what a Northamptonshire accent sounds like m'duck. Most interesting I thought was that even Johnson appears to have lost some of his shine with people who were clearly drawn to his utter shíte.
The Labour vote in Wellingborough only went up by a hundred from 2019 and the Kingswood vote actually went down by almost 5000 so the collapse of Tory vote is pretty amazing and things you love to see.
I mean many complain about US arms sales to Saudi Arabia and business dealings with them as well.
If we don't complain about the treatment of people in North Korea does that mean we are biased against Atheist countries?
Israel is generally linked with the western sphere of politics and therefore are easier to influence by other Western Nations. I don't think Saudi care much for what many in the west say. Israel seem annoyed even by Ireland.
If it makes you feel better then many horrific acts have been committed in the name of Christian countries in Africa and have also been ignored.
Barber: I have always voted Tory; I've never voted anything else but blue
Interviewer: And why is that? What's the main reason?
Barber: Passed down from a family
What the actual? I'm sorry but what kind of 'effin nonsense logic is that for how you vote: whatever about sticking to one's ideological leaning, outcome be damned, to vote 'cos that's how your family voted in the past? Sometimes I can't help but feel a little tetchy that people deserve what they get re. voting.
Yeah, I had exactly the same reaction to that guy when I heard it.
Take some feckin responsibility please.
Scott Benton loses his appeal so it looks like another inevitable by election for Sunak in the very near future.
At this stage it's about seeing can by-elections beat records rather than who will win.
Hoyle may have sped up his demise as speaker after today's shenanigans
He must have done something terrible. Mogg came out in his defence 🤣
I don't understand the controversy. If MPs back the motion then he was clearly right to allow the vote and if it's rejected then it's rejected.
He made the decision to try and save his own skin, Labour don't come out of this smelling particularly sweetly either.
That is also been called pure rubbish by other people with "senior sources"
He's hardly a hostile journalist, having been at The Guardian, The Observer and now editor of the BBC flagship news programme Newsnight but you can choose to believe who you wish.
I kinda believe both to be honest. Some Labour people might have said that to him and others not. Are there enough to force him to do it who knows.
What I don't believe in is "senior sources" being the voice of the party. The Tories have so many factions now that they probably have "senior sources" for every kind of nonsense imaginable.
It does once again bring up the issue of the wisdom of running a national government on "convention" though.
Watching the debate and its an even bigger shìtshow than usual, speaker of the house is missing and deputy has no control, SNP are livid and Stephen Flynn is about to explode :pac:
"The government will play no further part in the decision this House takes on proceedings,"
What a fùcking farce!
Conservatives have taken their ball back and gone home.
This is mental if true!
Has the majority party ever "not taken part" in a major vote before ?
I don't think this version of the Tories care about tradition or convention, Boris Johnson started it and Truss and Sunak have carried it on.
Now voting on a motion to sit in private so public galleries would be emptied and broadcast cameras would be turned off.
They don't like that their behaviour (from both Labour and Tories) is being broadcast for all to see.
This is what happens when you have f...wits in a parliament with no legally enforced procedures. They make it up as they go along to suit whatever advantage they are seeking
They don't but it doesn't mean Labour should be joining in.
Very true, it's grim viewing.
All a bit of a mess, but at least it means the end of all the problems in Gaza.
It's mad isn't it, there's really a superiority Complex with the UK.
Nothing they will do will have any impact in this war
