steve
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Post by steve on Mar 26, 2023 9:52:12 GMT
Faith and I just had our selection interviews as candidates in the May elections for the liberal democrats, we were selected, we're both standing in a pretty much unwinnable ward, but our son does get to vote for usor not which will be fun!
As fairly recent arrivals from the Labour party ( 2017) it was interesting to see the deep antipathy of long standing liberal democrats in respect of the Tories, a almost universal agreement that the coalition was a massive mistake and a degree of sympathy with the Labour party , who can't win a ward anywhere in the area, but are still favoured to win the parliamentary seat from the incumbent Tory gammon on a stick.
It at least gives me some confidence that the party is heading in the right direction.
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Post by johntel on Mar 26, 2023 10:05:22 GMT
Trevor "I'm not that sure why they say 'down' from London in East Anglia as well though? Makes sense in SE and SW coastal areas". I always understood this terminology comes from the railways, i.e. the 'up' line runs towards London and 'down' away from London. No doubt someone will correct me though  . |
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Post by steamdrivenandy on Mar 26, 2023 10:34:29 GMT
Trevor "I'm not that sure why they say 'down' from London in East Anglia as well though? Makes sense in SE and SW coastal areas". I always understood this terminology comes from the railways, i.e. the 'up' line runs towards London and 'down' away from London. No doubt someone will correct me though . You don't need correcting. You're absolutely correct, it is standard railway terminology. Stations with two platforms will have an up (towards London) and a down (away from London). More complex stations generally don't refer to up or down platforms but use the platform numbers instead. Generally such stations have complex 'throats' where trains can be swapped over to any one of the total number of platforms via point systems. Fred Drift Yesterday Crewe station had a period of pandemonium when signalling and overhead line problems meant half the 12 platforms couldn't be used. A steam locomotive waiting to go on the front of a charter excursion from London to take it forward to Carlisle, had to travel engine and support coach to Warrington, where the swap from electric loco to steam took place. A similar swap from on another excursion had to be moved from Crewe to Chester. www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0JDgyTpJ7M |
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Danny
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Post by Danny on Mar 26, 2023 10:36:43 GMT
"Children as young as eight are being stopped and strip-searched by police according to a report which warns that officers are abusing their powers." well duh, tell police to catch criminals and they will go after the easy targets! Who wouldn't? They'll be using the new anti protest laws to arrest pensioners demanding Brexit next. Do people remember the laws about live export of animals, when thatcher and co finally threw in the towel when they found police were arresting grannies protesting against the trade? |
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Mr Poppy
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Post by Mr Poppy on Mar 26, 2023 10:42:25 GMT
Extracts from a Mathew Goodwin article about his new book :-Values, Voice and Virtue: The New British Politics. "Britain is on the cusp of a “progressive” revolution that will transform politics and society." " This progressive tide, steadily building for a decade, is poised to usher in a different political and cultural zeitgeist." "It is being propelled by three specific groups." .... If i understood him he means the "opposition" to his liberal tide is more, not less Trumpism. So where does that leave Sunak's brand of Conservatism ? Those three groups represent a very broad 'coalition' of voters that might be hard to keep together past an initial 'ABCON' win in GE'24. Goodwin does cover the issue of 'vote stacking' in safe seats that has been covered before and is why (IMO) Starmer is smart enough to realise he has to take some liberties with the 'Arch-Woke' ('Hipster Marxist') group and be more of a 'Centrist' (status quo) on the woke stuff. Greens* might eventually become a threat to LAB from the 'Far-Liberal' side but that is an issue for the future - provided LAB aren't daft enough to change the FPTP structure that can secure them majorities. Within LAB factions then winning a GE will keep them happy for a while and Starmer is trying to get rid of the nuttiest LAB faction. For Rishi then his "brand" of Conservatism is also Centrist (Status Quo) and the recent visible display of the death of the ERG hopefully bodes well for less suicidal factional infighting within CON. However, RUK might well try and succeed in splitting the RoC vote if Rishi+Braverman fail to deliver on Reducing ' Stop the Boats'. So (IMO) Starmer-LAB will want to win+keep 50%+ of seats by being Centrist but not upsetting the woke types enough to allow Greens to start splitting the 'Far-Liberal' vote and Rishi-CON will want to ensure he is Centrist doesn't lose much CON VI to RUK. 'Trumpism' (Culture Wars taken to extreme) cost GOP seats in the mid-terms** and IMO instead of 'Antifa' fueling an 'anti-Antifa' then Rishi (and Starmer) will want to 'douse the flames' of the culture wars and only get involved when they can appear to be sensible centrists who are 'Anti' Culture Wars. That, IMO, might well play better for Rishi than for flip-floppy Starmer. Social conservatism (small c) is about "preservation of traditional values and beliefs" (ie status quo). Rishi would be foolish to "Roe" back on any of the progress that has been made but can simply avoid the TERF war by blocking Scotland*** and saying there are much more important issues that UK (and it's four nations) need to be fixing - which puts Starmer on the spot to copy Rishi or want to be a crusader in Culture Warfare. * Unlikely LDEM IMO as they elected a homophobe as their leader a while back and Farron hasn't been kicked out. Note in x-breaks they get very few youth votes and due to the coalition probably aren't ever going to get many votes from the highly indebted graduates (and the graduates without debt will more likely vote CON as the party that will hopefully return to lower taxes - although they might be 'shy' about stating their personal voting choice) ** www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/nov/11/abortion-midterm-elections-republicans-women-voters*** Which should appease 'Anti-Woke' types who are worried about whatever they worry about. |
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Post by lululemonmustdobetter on Mar 26, 2023 10:49:54 GMT
Ah! You are a flat-earther! That explains a lot. lol yes I hadn't thought that one through. But I guess his 5,977 nuclear warheads are spread all round the globe anyway so no potential target will be far away from one. |
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Post by graham on Mar 26, 2023 10:51:37 GMT
It was a Labour-held seat until 1964! Labour's relative strength in rural Norfolk in the first half of the 20th century was based on agricultural trade unionism among farm workers. When they were replaced by mechanisation it was game over and they became 'normal' Tory voting rural areas - albeit in Norfolk North the Lib Dems were able to capture some of the old anti-Tory feeling for a while. Indeed so - though Labour remained competitive in rural Norfolk seats until 1970. Today only Norfolk North West - which includes Kings Lynn - remains a possibility for the party. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2023 10:53:39 GMT
For Rishi then his "brand" of Conservatism is also Centrist (Status Quo) and the recent visible display of the death of the ERG hopefully bodes well for less suicidal factional infighting within CON. Not if you read Harry Yorke's ST piece on the CDO !! |
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Mr Poppy
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Post by Mr Poppy on Mar 26, 2023 10:54:54 GMT
Trevor "I'm not that sure why they say 'down' from London in East Anglia as well though? Makes sense in SE and SW coastal areas". I always understood this terminology comes from the railways, i.e. the 'up' line runs towards London and 'down' away from London. No doubt someone will correct me though . The car (often a 'Chelsea Tractor') can also be a 'D' as it is 'Driven From London'. So DLF can cover the Victorian and modern-era  As long as you don't mention Scotland you'll probably avoid being 'corrected'  |
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Post by leftieliberal on Mar 26, 2023 10:57:02 GMT
There is a campaign underway to save the BBC Singers, with an article from Julian Lloyd Webber in this week`s Radio Times pushing it along. I have undecided views, since to me this is a London choir masquerading as for the whole UK, with some touring in its yearly programming. Would its cost not be better spent on say the Scottish Chamber Choir, performing as I write in Old St Paul`s, Edinburgh, with the excellent John Kitchen on organ. Or on the Halifax Choral Society or its Huddersfield rival. Other UK chamber choirs, but not full-time, such as the Sixteen, could also benefit from a slice of the money saved by shutting down the Maida Vale outfit. What I don`t like is JLW`s wording - he complains that the Scotland and Wales BBC Orchestras "remain unaffected by these cuts although nobody bothered to ask why". Which may or may not be true, but why should a UK magazine carry such anti-Scotland/wales sentiments. JLM also has strange words on what has happened to "our nation`s beloved BBC" - he must believe that the BBC belongs to England. They are based in London simply because when the BBC (and shortly afterwards the BBC Singers) was founded there wasn't the emphasis on spreading BBC production facilities across the whole UK that there is now. Unlike manufacturing where it is relatively easy to move a factory from one place to another, you cannot move the arts easily because they depend almost entirely on people not physical objects. The Arts Council for England have already learned this lesson the hard way when they tried to kick the ENO out of London and force them to go to Manchester, without even any consultation with the mayor of Greater Manchester. The Scottish and Welsh BBC orchestras also get funding from their respective devolved governments, which is why this particular cut does not affect them. Cutting off the best is not levelling up; it is levelling down. |
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Mr Poppy
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Post by Mr Poppy on Mar 26, 2023 11:00:41 GMT
For Rishi then his "brand" of Conservatism is also Centrist (Status Quo) and the recent visible display of the death of the ERG hopefully bodes well for less suicidal factional infighting within CON. Not if you read Harry Yorke's ST piece on the CDO !!
Fears of a Tory party within a party after Lord Cruddas breaks bread with Arron Banks"
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/bad-boy-of-brexit-in-talks-with-boris-johnson-ally-7k6dpr92wYeah, well. I did say hopefully and along with the death of the ERG we saw the death of "pound shop Farage" (Boris). RUK have been trying to get CON MPs to defect and if they take Francois then great but I doubt any CON MPs will defect to RUK. The 'rats in the sack' will get restless from time to time but as a GE gets nearer then I hope 'self-survival' becomes a higher priority (IIRC there was a Times piece covering something about the significance of Rishi closing the gap with LAB to ensure his leadership can become more 'assertive' internally. |
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Post by leftieliberal on Mar 26, 2023 11:04:42 GMT
Have you ever been to Norfolk (city of Norwich itself excepted)? Stopped in a rural pub there enroute for a needed coffee once. The general air of menace. The appearance that the Express is the only newspaper in existence.. Doctors there used commonly to write on their notes, the initials NFN (Normal For Norfolk). |
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steve
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Post by steve on Mar 26, 2023 11:15:06 GMT
Just as a matter of fact there are around 20 million people living in London and the South East of you include the commuter areas to North and West this rises approaching 30 million getting on for half the population of the UK more than half of England, sometimes you get the impression from some of our northern contributors that the population of the South consists of the palace of Westminster and a few thousand hoorays with holiday homes elsewhere.
The primary reason why London and the South East has much of the infrastructure and cultural facilities in the UK is because it's where the greatest concentration of people live.
My own area Dacorum Borough has a population approaching 175,000 nearly that of Aberdeen it doesn't have remotely as good facilities and cultural resources as Aberdeen but I've yet to see anyone demand that resources be moved from the granite city to Hemel Hempstead!
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Post by steamdrivenandy on Mar 26, 2023 11:59:43 GMT
Just as a matter of fact there are around 20 million people living in London and the South East of you include the commuter areas to North and West this rises approaching 30 million getting on for half the population of the UK more than half of England, sometimes you get the impression from some of our northern contributors that the population of the South consists of the palace of Westminster and a few thousand hoorays with holiday homes elsewhere. The primary reason why London and the South East has much of the infrastructure and cultural facilities in the UK is because it's where the greatest concentration of people live. My own area Dacorum Borough has a population approaching 175,000 nearly that of Aberdeen it doesn't have remotely as good facilities and cultural resources as Aberdeen but I've yet to see anyone demand that resources be moved from the granite city to Hemel Hempstead! Back around 1988ish I was working for 'Your Flexible Friend' which was a primary sponsor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The Orchestra had a concert at The Pavilion, Hemel Hempstead and as the local Area Manager I invited the owners of a number of local businesses to attend and to join the conductor and orchestra leader along with the big wigs of Access at a supper afterwards. I recall Roger Aylett of Aylett's Nurseries, a world renowned dahlia expert being on our table. His book '50 Golden Gardening Years', written after he retired is wonderfully evocative. Sadly neither Roger, or The Pavilion are with us now. |
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pjw1961
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Post by pjw1961 on Mar 26, 2023 12:22:18 GMT
He concludes with a rather unsatisfactory :"So while the looming progressive tide may be celebrated by the left, in reality it will be more complex than many think, possibly pushing politics into an even more turbulent future." If i understood him he means the "opposition" to his liberal tide is more, not less Trumpism. So where does that leave Sunak's brand of Conservatism ? The correct approach would be for conventional conservatives to kick the racists, xenophobes and transphobes out of their parties and put a ban on embracing far right culture war crap. Instead they should take on the progressive social agenda as essentially being about freedom and respect - after all only five years ago Theresa May planned to introduce reforms to gender recognition rules very similar to those of the Scottish Government and Cameron said equal marriage rights was his greatest achievement. Sadly, I see no sign of this happening. Instead I see mainstream conservatives happy to embrace the far right and moving away from democratic norms, while driveling nonsense about good treatment of our fellow citizens being (imaginary) "cultural Marxism". Deeply depressing. |
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pjw1961
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Post by pjw1961 on Mar 26, 2023 12:39:08 GMT
Faith and I just had our selection interviews as candidates in the May elections for the liberal democrats, we were selected, we're both standing in a pretty much unwinnable ward, but our son does get to vote for usor not which will be fun! As fairly recent arrivals from the Labour party ( 2017) it was interesting to see the deep antipathy of long standing liberal democrats in respect of the Tories, a almost universal agreement that the coalition was a massive mistake and a degree of sympathy with the Labour party , who can't win a ward anywhere in the area, but are still favoured to win the parliamentary seat from the incumbent Tory gammon on a stick. It at least gives me some confidence that the party is heading in the right direction. I guess this is a reasonable moment to note that I will be standing for Labour in Braintree in May. It is not one of the target wards (which receive most of the support) but is one that could be won in the event of a landslide. Needs a swing of 14.2% compared to the 2019 elections (which were awful for Labour in Braintree). |
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Mr Poppy
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Post by Mr Poppy on Mar 26, 2023 12:40:17 GMT
colin You might well have already read this piece but it covers how the cult of Boris is probably dead, with the caveat that Rishi needs to keep the tide rising for CON VI. 'Boris Johnson is yesterday's man... people have moved on'www.thetimes.co.uk/article/boris-johnson-is-yesterdays-man-people-have-moved-on-dxlbn783sIF (and it is still an IF) Rishi can get CON regularly above 30% in polling and then close the gap on LAB to single digits then it will be interesting to see how Starmer-LAB and LAB factions respond. Rishi is going to run GE'24 as "the first full term of (Brand) Rishi" having sorted out the mess left by Boris and Truss with "continuity" of boring pragmatic delivery of the people's priorities, 'resets' with our neighbours (in EU and devolved nations), etc. So is Starmer... In the 'Battle of the Boring' then do folks want to give Rishi a full term to see what he can do beyond cleaning up the mess he inherited or bring in a new, untested, team that has pretty much the same policies on most issues? I still expect LAB to win a comfortable majority in GE'24 but with the tide turning then Rishi's 'rats in the sack' are (IMO) unlikely to want to risk major internal splits. A few rebels every now and then and obviously some compromises on amendments (eg to the Illegal Immigration Bill) but most CON MPs probably know a rising tide lifts all boats, Boris is sunk and that now that a GE is close enough on the horizon that they'd better all be rowing in the same direction given most of them want to keep their seats (even if they currently think actually winning the GE is extremely unlikely).
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2023 12:58:14 GMT
He concludes with a rather unsatisfactory :"So while the looming progressive tide may be celebrated by the left, in reality it will be more complex than many think, possibly pushing politics into an even more turbulent future." If i understood him he means the "opposition" to his liberal tide is more, not less Trumpism. So where does that leave Sunak's brand of Conservatism ? The correct approach would be for conventional conservatives to kick the racists, xenophobes and transphobes out of their parties and put a ban on embracing far right culture war crap. Instead they should take on the progressive social agenda as essentially being about freedom and respect - after all only five years ago Theresa May planned to introduce reforms to gender recognition rules very similar to those of the Scottish Government and Cameron said equal marriage rights was his greatest achievement. Sadly, I see no sign of this happening. Instead I see mainstream conservatives happy to embrace the far right and moving away from democratic norms, while driveling nonsense about good treatment of our fellow citizens being (imaginary) "cultural Marxism". Deeply depressing. I''m not at all sure that this sort of self-satisfied moralising is very persuasive:- www.politico.eu/article/understanding-europes-shift-to-the-right/And I wonder if "progressive social agendas" are high on the personal agendas of voters crushed daily by their food bills , mortgage & rental repayments, and childcare costs . And as for culture wars, remind me which political party in UK is promoting gender self-recognition ? |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2023 13:02:52 GMT
colin You might well have already read this piece but it covers how the cult of Boris is probably dead, with the caveat that Rishi needs to keep the tide rising for CON VI. 'Boris Johnson is yesterday's man... people have moved on'www.thetimes.co.uk/article/boris-johnson-is-yesterdays-man-people-have-moved-on-dxlbn783sIF (and it is still an IF) Rishi can get CON regularly above 30% in polling and then close the gap on LAB to single digits then it will be interesting to see how Starmer-LAB and LAB factions respond. Rishi is going to run GE'24 as "the first full term of (Brand) Rishi" having sorted out the mess left by Boris and Truss with "continuity" of boring pragmatic delivery of the people's priorities, 'resets' with our neighbours (in EU and devolved nations), etc. So is Starmer... In the 'Battle of the Boring' then do folks want to give Rishi a full term to see what he can do beyond cleaning up the mess he inherited or bring in a new, untested, team that has pretty much the same policies on most issues? I still expect LAB to win a comfortable majority in GE'24 but with the tide turning then Rishi's 'rats in the sack' are (IMO) unlikely to want to risk major internal splits. A few rebels every now and then and obviously some compromises on amendments (eg to the Illegal Immigration Bill) but most CON MPs probably know a rising tide lifts all boats, Boris is sunk and that now that a GE is close enough on the horizon that they'd better all be rowing in the same direction given most of them want to keep their seats (even if they currently think actually winning the GE is extremely unlikely). I have . Whilst the CDO recruits senior figures I am concerned. But I agree that all Sunak can do is keep doing the problem solving stuff and hope that voters notice come the day. Conservative Members are certainly not going to. |
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domjg
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Post by domjg on Mar 26, 2023 13:28:10 GMT
Have you ever been to Norfolk (city of Norwich itself excepted)? Stopped in a rural pub there enroute for a needed coffee once. The general air of menace. The appearance that the Express is the only newspaper in existence.. A classic of the genre. And the type . Happy to have met your expectations 😉 |
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Mr Poppy
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Post by Mr Poppy on Mar 26, 2023 13:28:49 GMT
I have . Whilst the CDO recruits senior figures I am concerned. But I agree that all Sunak can do is keep doing the problem solving stuff and hope that voters notice come the day. Conservative Members are certainly not going to. CDO* fairly new and I'm not sure of their numbers WRT to MPs. They are causing 'Momentum' (LAB) style mischief at constituency level and it's always wise to be concerned. I'm not sure if all of the 22 MPs who rebelled against the WF are signed up 'CDO' MPs - quite a few of that bunch were 'mavericks' who were never really ERG, but did have similar views. I was disappointed to see Patel amongst the CDOs who walked through the same 'door of death' as Boris. She is certainly a card carrying CDO. She was very disappointing as H.Sec and appears to have a 'scorned' personal vendetta against Rishi even though it was her mate Truss who kicked her out. Likes of Patel and Truss have massive majorities in their constituencies and will very unlikely ever get a cabinet role ever again. So they have nothing 'personal' to lose, just switching the back benches of govt to opposition side in HoC. Those 'vendetta' kind of people are a concern for sure and not unique to CON of course! Similar to Starmer approach then Rishi can use rising VI and pick his battles to try to nip CDO in the bud (as per Starmer defanging Momentum and the SCG faction of LAB). CON can't let CDO become the kind of toxic divisive grass roots group that Momentum became for LAB. Killing off Boris** would be a good start as without an obvious 'leader' amongst MPs they will likely wither and die as per various other CON factions in the past. * www.conservativedems.co.uk** He's not totally dead yet. I can't see him making a come back and it will take a while for the 'process' of the Privileges committee to get to a by-election that does kick him out. It's also possible Boris gets off with just a slap on the wrist (apology). If it does get to a by-election then Rishi has to back the CON candidate (Boris) but he can do that as enthusiastically as Corbyn backed Remain |
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Post by johntel on Mar 26, 2023 13:33:51 GMT
Faith and I just had our selection interviews as candidates in the May elections for the liberal democrats, we were selected, we're both standing in a pretty much unwinnable ward, but our son does get to vote for usor not which will be fun! As fairly recent arrivals from the Labour party ( 2017) it was interesting to see the deep antipathy of long standing liberal democrats in respect of the Tories, a almost universal agreement that the coalition was a massive mistake and a degree of sympathy with the Labour party , who can't win a ward anywhere in the area, but are still favoured to win the parliamentary seat from the incumbent Tory gammon on a stick. It at least gives me some confidence that the party is heading in the right direction. I guess this is a reasonable moment to note that I will be standing for Labour in Braintree in May. It is not one of the target wards (which receive most of the support) but is one that could be won in the event of a landslide. Needs a swing of 14.2% compared to the 2019 elections (which were awful for Labour in Braintree). Respect and good luck to both of you, I'm sure you'd make great councillors. |
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Post by jimjam on Mar 26, 2023 13:34:06 GMT
I have a question for our posters living in Scotland mainly but not exclusively which drops out of the GRR debate.
Would a revising chamber of some description have avoided the difficulty?
It seems to me that the 2 issues that caused some unease, the age being set at 16 and concerns about possible inadvertent impact on safe spaces, could have been addressed to enough satisfaction to not give the UK Government the opportunity to enter the fray. (please leave aside whether they should have as that is a separate issue).
Would a revising chamber not be a good thing anyhow?
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Post by jayblanc on Mar 26, 2023 13:39:42 GMT
I'd caution that the 'South West Norfolk' prediction is not generated from any specific polling there, but an estimate from national polling. So it can't possibly be taking into account Truss's personal popularity within the seat, or any other local factors.
That said, it's number 477 on Labour's target list, and it would be amazing result if it fell. Reigate looks more likely to fall.
But what I do find interesting from looking at a list of predicted seat results, is who will constitute the rump of MPs in the Conservative Parliamentary Party. There's not a lot of stellar names on it, and most of the stand out names are ones that are standing out for all the wrong reasons. The hollowing out of the party is going to have a massive acceleration if this is the future of the Conservative Party's leadership pool.
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steve
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Post by steve on Mar 26, 2023 13:42:39 GMT
pjw1961Best of luck hope you win. For us to triumph the geriatric Tory residents locally in their £600,000+ homes*are going to have to have an epiphany or a coronary to leave us in with a chance. * We rent ours before the usual suspects jump in .
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steve
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Post by steve on Mar 26, 2023 13:49:18 GMT
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Post by davwel on Mar 26, 2023 13:58:31 GMT
There is a campaign underway to save the BBC Singers, with an article from Julian Lloyd Webber in this week`s Radio Times pushing it along. I have undecided views, since to me this is a London choir masquerading as for the whole UK, with some touring in its yearly programming. Would its cost not be better spent on say the Scottish Chamber Choir, performing as I write in Old St Paul`s, Edinburgh, with the excellent John Kitchen on organ. Or on the Halifax Choral Society or its Huddersfield rival. Other UK chamber choirs, but not full-time, such as the Sixteen, could also benefit from a slice of the money saved by shutting down the Maida Vale outfit. What I don`t like is JLW`s wording - he complains that the Scotland and Wales BBC Orchestras "remain unaffected by these cuts although nobody bothered to ask why". Which may or may not be true, but why should a UK magazine carry such anti-Scotland/wales sentiments. JLM also has strange words on what has happened to "our nation`s beloved BBC" - he must believe that the BBC belongs to England. They are based in London simply because when the BBC (and shortly afterwards the BBC Singers) was founded there wasn't the emphasis on spreading BBC production facilities across the whole UK that there is now. Unlike manufacturing where it is relatively easy to move a factory from one place to another, you cannot move the arts easily because they depend almost entirely on people not physical objects. The Arts Council for England have already learned this lesson the hard way when they tried to kick the ENO out of London and force them to go to Manchester, without even any consultation with the mayor of Greater Manchester. The Scottish and Welsh BBC orchestras also get funding from their respective devolved governments, which is why this particular cut does not affect them. Cutting off the best is not levelling up; it is levelling down.
I thought at first that this was a joke or spoof post, but then noting the use of bold type, I see it is a straight giving out of a strange view. How do you know that the BBC Singers are the finest chamber choir in the UK - have you really heard some other elite ones to judge? I very much doubt that Harry Christophers (The Sixteen) would agree, or even John Kitchen whom i mentioned last night as playing with the Scottish Chamber Choir. But we don`t have competitions to compare the choirs, instead recordings. I read though, that you explain the Scottish and Welsh BBC orchestras not having cuts since they are helped by their national governments, hence people living there are contributing because those governments have to source cash from inhabitants in some way. Fine, but why cannot the England part of UK Gov fund their elite choir rather than expect taxpayers in Scotland and Wales to pay twice for good music. I am also not sure that a choir being "full-time" is a quality to aim for, or pay for. Many singers will say they cannot use their voices for long periods, certainly not as long as instrumental players (though not brass). The Sixteen manage with ad-hoc practising for future performances, and whilst Oxbridge college choirs reach high standards their members have also lessons and lectures to attend. Son in his Cambridge college choir had two singers join from King`s - their reason being that too much singing was overwhelming them and making their degree course too hard. As for Steve and Dacorum, surely folk there can easily hear good music in St Albans and London, and it would be ridiculous to expect Aberdeen`s fairly small outputs to be provided in Tring or Hemel. |
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pjw1961
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Post by pjw1961 on Mar 26, 2023 14:03:08 GMT
The correct approach would be for conventional conservatives to kick the racists, xenophobes and transphobes out of their parties and put a ban on embracing far right culture war crap. Instead they should take on the progressive social agenda as essentially being about freedom and respect - after all only five years ago Theresa May planned to introduce reforms to gender recognition rules very similar to those of the Scottish Government and Cameron said equal marriage rights was his greatest achievement. Sadly, I see no sign of this happening. Instead I see mainstream conservatives happy to embrace the far right and moving away from democratic norms, while driveling nonsense about good treatment of our fellow citizens being (imaginary) "cultural Marxism". Deeply depressing. I''m not at all sure that this sort of self-satisfied moralising is very persuasive:- www.politico.eu/article/understanding-europes-shift-to-the-right/And I wonder if "progressive social agendas" are high on the personal agendas of voters crushed daily by their food bills , mortgage & rental repayments, and childcare costs . And as for culture wars, remind me which political party in UK is promoting gender self-recognition ? Well, Conservatives have a choice, they can support democracy, as in the past, or they can ally with fascists. By your choices we will know you. As to your latter point, Theresa May, who no one would sensibly describe as anything other than a Conservative (or is she now a 'hipster Marxist' too?), has called out the current culture war obsession of the Tory party and its abuse of a highly vulnerable group, with a high suicide rate, for the gaining of some grubby votes (first link, ref her original proposals). www.politicshome.com/news/article/theresa-may-being-transgender-is-not-an-illnesswww.theguardian.com/society/2022/jul/01/theresa-may-calls-for-ban-on-transgender-conversion-practiceswww.thepinknews.com/2022/12/28/theresa-may-trans-gender-recognition-scotland/ |
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Post by bardin1 on Mar 26, 2023 14:04:18 GMT
Faith and I just had our selection interviews as candidates in the May elections for the liberal democrats, we were selected, we're both standing in a pretty much unwinnable ward, but our son does get to vote for usor not which will be fun! As fairly recent arrivals from the Labour party ( 2017) it was interesting to see the deep antipathy of long standing liberal democrats in respect of the Tories, a almost universal agreement that the coalition was a massive mistake and a degree of sympathy with the Labour party , who can't win a ward anywhere in the area, but are still favoured to win the parliamentary seat from the incumbent Tory gammon on a stick. It at least gives me some confidence that the party is heading in the right direction. I guess this is a reasonable moment to note that I will be standing for Labour in Braintree in May. It is not one of the target wards (which receive most of the support) but is one that could be won in the event of a landslide. Needs a swing of 14.2% compared to the 2019 elections (which were awful for Labour in Braintree). Best of luck pjw - will make election night even more interesting on here! |
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pjw1961
Member
Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
Posts: 8,572
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Post by pjw1961 on Mar 26, 2023 14:07:40 GMT
pjw1961 Best of luck hope you win. For us to triumph the geriatric Tory residents locally in their £600,000+ homes*are going to have to have an epiphany or a coronary to leave us in with a chance. * We rent ours before the usual suspects jump in . And good luck to you also. I am not actually expecting to win, although the Labour Party is hoping for a significant number of gains (from 2 councillors in 2019 hopefully the only way is up) and to become the largest opposition party. |
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