R

I saw your "quibbling" comment only after I pressed send on mine.

Would we have seen a Torsten Bell in Swansea West or Chris McDonald in Stockton North had the result not been nailed on?

It isn't a bad thing as too many cooks can spoil the geopolitical broth.

My comment was more an expansion with consideration as to how a fractured political landscape under FPTP could increasingly lead to a Commons of campaigners due to a lack of safe seats for experts to be dropped into.

Important observation by @stephenkb.bsky.social, and one that makes me worry for the future if something doesn't change.

Not to root it in my "FPTP Theory of Everything" but I can't see it getting better given the increasingly fractious political landscape and the desire for campaigners over wonks.

Like a bad game of Wavelength.

"From Batman to Paddington, which position is Star Wars: Rogue One"

Don't get me started on the "We don't whip" nonsense...

My comment was not, in any way, a dunk.

It may be one of the reasons that I am not a member of the Labour party, but the honest approach to ignoring the membership is weirdly refreshing.

"Blair and Clegg host Tech Boss dinner giving access to health ministers" - 😬

"Blair and Clegg host Tech Boss dinner giving access to investment minister" - 🤷🏽

The age old tactic of reading policy and motions passed at conference in the most vague way possible, then stretching parts and glossing over others to make it fit with the leader's ideas.

At least Labour have zero pretense over this.

Given the explosion of VI polling in the UK and the increasing nature of political coverage being about the politics rather than policy it would be good to Find Out. Now wouldn't it?

It is an important distinction though.

Difficult to win elections when your policy direction is driven by members who exist in echo chambers and really need to go out and touch grass (otherwise known as talking to Joe Public).

I think that the pronounced Reform and Green bias comes either from their panel being particularly apathetic and undecided or weighting more aggressively for enthusiasm.

Green and Reform voters are more enthused right now so are boosted by their methodology.

That's the other distinction, members =/= activists.

It's more likely the case in left-of-centre democratic parties but I theorise that the greater the member:activist ratio the more likely the more likely policy is to be disengaged from the public.

Members =/= Success.

The Lib Dems had their highest membership post the Brexit Referendum in 2016, they had two poor election results.

Labour's membership peaked in 2019, I wonder how that election went for them.

Armchair members don't win elections, and can often bring parties down.

Just the fact the Bishop addresses him as "Robert", avoiding his surname and omitting "MP" shows the strength of this letter.

A unique way of announcing a by-election from Robert Jenrick here...

It’s happened again

The dull grind of institutional failure that creeps on is not "interesting", a quick snap shock story is.

Thank god we have Private Eye.

The fact that I, someone who posts about politics on BlueSky, didn't know she is an MP is probably not a great sign of her prospects.

Do love the fact that Sarah Olney turned out to be the answer to two problems called Zac(k)

Maybe electing a local councillor, elected almost exclusively on a single issue just over a year ago, to be the deputy of a party with 4 MPs wasn't the best idea.

According to Wikipedia he has some Italian in there somewhere, which is good enough for Americans.

Mario and Luigi are Catholic. Wario and Waluigi are quite clearly Lutheran.

Let's hope for a Pope Mario so we can sort liturgical disagreements with a game of Smash Bros.

It was a freak election result that allowed for this sort of planning from Labour HQ. Though it does lay weight to the consideration the FPTP creates bad governance in more than one way.

Would the likes of Yuan Yang stood for Labour if there was a chance she would have lost?

Would Chris McDonald have resigned from MPI and gone without a paycheck for a year to just campaign?

Would the local CLP choose a parachute over a local councillor who has local knowledge and name recognition?

This is a completely hypothetical take, but this quality would likely not been there had there been a snap election, if Labour had come from behind within six months of the election or had polling been closer in the short campaign.

The landscape favoured policy wonks over street fighters.

Helped in no small part by the dynamics of the election.

For a long time there were plenty of firm Labour gains and a relatively easy campaign environment. They could identify the best candidates and not really have to worry about their need to be local or ability to campaign full time for years.

"Lies, damn lies, and statistics"

Smart, the car company defined by small city runarounds.

Their original car compared to their current smallest car on sale. Society has gone in the wrong direction.

I wonder how many Telegraph/Express/Times journalists have campaigned for the Tories in the past.

Would the same apply to them?

He already struggles with giving standard political speeches, probably not a good idea to start throwing in new formats.