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Sorry folks, I’m still having technical issues with my laptop and computer kit, hence the lack of updates since Friday. Hopefully, things will be resolved on Monday – at least so that I can get all my London pictures edited and add a blog or two.
In the meantime, here’s a couple of pictures from Saturday. The weather in London was just as crap as it’s been up North which was a shame as my trip along the Greenford branch aboard GWR’s battery train was a really interesting experience for a whole host of reasons. The area’s changed a bit since I first got to know it in the 1990s – as the modern skyline in this picture shows.
See you soon…
I’ve a small favour to ask…
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Cheers,
Paul
Paul Bigland 
Whilst you were down there, did you ask Keir Starmer to resign? I don’t think he’ll take much shoving & the Labour party descend into absolute chaos whilst they continue to implode! Might as well hand the keys over now it’s going to happen anyway so why waste time 😂
You have no idea what you’re talking about, as events are proving. Labour have a working majority of 180 and (like Starmer) are going nowhere. The only ‘chaos’ is inside the febrile imagination of a few media reporters and Reform apologists. Ironic as the real chaos is in Reform, where the local councils they’re in charge of are descending into bankruptcy or are seeing desertions left right and centre. There’s an old adage that ‘a week is a long time in politics’. Well, the next general election won’t be until 2029, so that’s a positive age away. Plenty of time for Reform to continue to implode…
Let’s just see what happens in May first shall we? As you say 3 years if they cling on is irrelevant at the moment. What is important, is the erosion in mass local elections that might be an entirely different thing. Not long to wait there, you like your polling – why none for so long? Minus what number is Starmer currently?! The north will be VERY interesting this spring that’s all that is important currently.
Only a fool thinks the local elections mirror national elections. In the 2019 local elections the Tories lost a massive 1333 council seats on a 32.5% turnout. It was the worst Tory performance since 1995. And yet – they went on to win that year’s general election, getting 365 MPs and a majority of 80 seats on a 67.5% turnout. It’s painfully obvious Reform benefit from low turnouts. Their awful Runcorn MP (Sarah Pochin) has a wafer-thin majority of just 6. So, no. The local elections this spring won’t be that interesting. What will be interesting is what happens nationally between now and 2029. And there’s no question of Labour just ‘clinging on’ as your daft claim suggests. Labour still have a working (and unassailable) Parliamentary working majority of 168, and nothing is going to alter that in any meaningful way between now and the next general election. The rest is just fantasies and hot air.
I respect your opinion Paul, as you should others. Shall we reconvene after the upcoming elections & see where we are then? You’re sounding confident so shouldn’t be an issue right! I shall follow in your footsteps and add a poll link. Feel free to add your own which disagrees with it (as long as it’s relevant & factual) Good luck finding a more rosey outlook for Starmer & co as the country seems to disagree.
https://www.parli-training.co.uk/will-the-2026-local-election-lead-to-a-great-realignment/
Where we are in May will be no different to now. Labour will still have a massive Parliamentary majority and remain in power until 2029. My point about the different 2019 elections was obviously lost on you. As for the link to yet more speculation – that’s out of date already. Starmer’s personal ratings have seen an upturn in recent days. There’s another elephant in the room that all that ignores. Demographics. Research shows Reform voters are overwhelmingly old and come from the less well-educated backgrounds. Let’s face it, you only have to see pictures they put out of their rallies. Most look like God’s waiting room! Many Reform voters will be pushing up daisies by the time of the 2029 general election. Their places on the electoral register will have been taken by younger, better educated and less bigoted people who’re proven to be more likely to vote for anyone BUT Reform! Reform know this is a timebomb for them, which is why they keep wibbling about a general election now. So, for a whole host of reasons, 2029 will look very different to 2026. There’s another thing too. The ‘Fagash Fuhrer’, Farage is a one-trick pony. He’s nothing without stoking fears over boats and immigration. He has no other policies. Once that rug is pulled from underneath him, and with the local councils Reform run being an utter shambles, Reform won’t have much left. Nor will he have his ‘best buddy’ Trump in the White House and the links between Farage, Trump, the Russians, foreign money – and Epstein will become ever more evident. So far, Farage is mentioned 41 times in the Epstein files (and linked with some very dubious people) Starmer isn’t mentioned once. Starmer has nothing to hide, Farage has everything. Fancy telling us where the £880,000 in cash for ‘his’ (sorry, his girlfriends) house in Clacton came from?
I wouldn’t know as I’ve never voted or him or any of his parties nor am I Au-fait with his finances. What I would say though, is you are falling into the trap of presuming that all their supporters are sat around a table in a Barnsley working men’s club in a circle chanting “We want our country back! Don’t for one minute believe that, as an example my sister is an FCCA accountant ‘fellow of the certified chartered accountants’ on a six figure salary, her husband has his own business. They are late 30s and are in the top 3% of earners for the North, are voting Reform tactically to give BOTH parties a significant bloody nose to do better. Many people have the opinion now that Labour are shot, way too many u-turns, policy failings the list goes on. Forget Mandelson, the man on the street isn’t worked up into a frenzy about that circus.
Do you actually think it’s a great thing to be saying there’s a slight uptick of such a huge minus % just over 18 months into a 4yr plus term? Really? Is that good news! I don’t think Farage would make a great PM anymore than you do, only a lunatic would, but him and his party are a very large round red rosy boxing glove to use to knock Labours nose flat, they know it everyone knows it. The fear is already there for May 7th, even Starmer has said so. They’ve lost Wales without doubt, Scotland isn’t looking any better either. I’d re-adjust your view on the typical ‘Reform Voter’ & their reasoning as I’m afraid it’s skewed somewhat.
Let’s see what happens!
“give BOTH parties a significant bloody nose to do better”? Talk about the politics of idiocy. These people are meant to be educated? Seriously? Ever heard the expression ‘be careful what you wish for’? Some fools voted for Brexit to give the existing parties a ‘bloody nose’. That went well, didn’t it? This political Nihilism won’t make anything better, it’s the equivalent of a teenager wrecking their bedroom, and all for what? Talk about falling for negative politics whilst ignoring the bigger picture.
Yet again, you focus on local election results, ignoring the fact they change nothing in Westminster. You also glibly dismiss all the issues around Farage, his party, its Russian connections and his patriotism as if its of no importance – which doesn’t sound like someone with a genuine interest in the good of the country, more like someone more interested in giving Reform a free ride, dismissing this stuff as a ‘circus’ of no relevance is rather telling.
No wonder this country is in such a mess politically. Vote with ignorance for cynicism and negativity (and damn the consequences) seems to be the order of the day with some…
…. The beauty of free debate. You say there’s no Westminster repercussions, I say & many others that the damage done in the local elections will break starmer & he will be pushed out from within – that is affecting Westminster which is my point. Christ even the TSSA are calling for him to go! Start upsetting your sponsors you’re in the shit! As I say we shall see, I forecast huge council losses which is in no way disaffected from a main party especially in government. We shall see… we shall see!
‘even’ the TSSA you say? Bless! Do you know who ‘runs’ the TSSA right now and which political wing they come from? For Starmer, being opposed by a Corbynista like Maryam Eslamdoust is more a badge of honour than a threat! She’d be happier in that useless ‘your party’ if she thought TSSA members would go along with it*
*spoiler. They wouldn’t.
You obviously know nothing about the TSSA or what’s going on within that union right now if you think this has any influence on a wider political reality.