Major, or just possibly Hague. Howard did all he could to put Cameron in as his successor, and we all know what happened next. IDS was Truss with less hair.

I think they should, and ask them 'So, Mr Polanski, why should anyone believe that a boob hypnotist is a man who will not lie to the public, or tell them things that are mad or fraudulent?'

Someone, some time, is going to tell Will the story of Liz Truss and her 49 days as Prime Minister, and it is going to blow his mind.

There is no way that anyone who knows anything about the UK will say the electorate threw out the Tories in 2024 because there was a global anti-incumbency movement 'in fact caused by the internet'. Will Stancil does however say that.

Ah, I see this post has crossed the Bad Faith Threshold: that indefinable moment on social media when people stop behaving as if you’re a normal human person who, say, loves your child and is making a mildly humorous observation, and start responding with wild criticisms and imagined slights.

A case in point. Look at this guy laughing at Reform councillors a) discovering how many problems local government face and b) thinking about doing something rational, ie raise taxes and preserve services. I hope he laughs equally hard when Reform do really well in the 2029 General Election.

They really should rename this place 'BlueSilo'.

And so far, all the comments to your post are indeed variations on 'Reform is so stupid, how can anyone not see this?' Every time I read Bluesky, I have incredibly strong 'telling people in May 2016 that I thought the Referendum was going to be close' vibes.

Agreed. My timeline is full of left-liberal friends chuckling 'ha ha, look at the stupid Reform gammons'. Whereas they should be worried: Reform have met reality in local government, and are thinking sensibly- raise taxes and support services- which will make them stronger at the General Election.

A lot of left-liberal people are laughing at the Reform councillors who say these things. They shouldn't. It means Reform will be able to say to voters 'we understand how tough things are for you' in the next General Election. That's the language Labour should be speaking, but isn't.

Don't worry, an NHS where Doctors inadvertently starve a man with Downs Syndrome to death will have no problems implementing Assisted Dying. Vulnerable people and their families needn't worry.

This is utterly heartbreaking. Too sad for words. A direct result of underfunding the NHS.

Yes, I think your point- that the new breed of international fan may be a damn sight less patient than the fans from 1969-1992- is quite likely to be right.

'Why on earth are Brits talking about council tax and street crime and NHS waiting times? Haven't you seen what ICE are doing in California? God, you're all just so parochial, unlike me!'

So Britons should stop discussing immigration and asylum because a far Right US president- elected in very large part over voter discontent about, erm, immigration- is abusing his powers? This is not even trying to be a coherent argument.

26 years: 1967 to 1993. (25 years from the 1968 European Cup.)

Oh sweet Jesus, we are now getting to people seriously saying 'If you're sceptical about the Office for Budget Responsibility, you are probably either a tankie or a fascist'.

There are still a lot of working people's cafes in Brussels where they speak Galician, after a lot of coal miners immigrated- postwar, and I think also interwar.

Two tours, in fact.

I suspect you're right, however, for a lot of the armed cops who are not in the highest-tier specialist units.

Hmm, but for decades the police were training to take on PIRA, who had and used automatic rifles on the mainland. And I know they've done serious training on 'mass shooter' scenarios: they got very worried after eg the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Writing things down is the best way to stop endlessly replaying them. I wrote a detailed account of a Herrick tour and I am sure it helped me a lot.

Isn't part of the story that the police take their cues on close quarter marksmanship from the acknowledged experts- special forces- who in turn use 9mm pistols and 5.56mm (or sometimes 6.8mm or 7.62mm) carbines and rifles? But SF have huge training budgets and the police don't, so are weaker shots.

No bad faith involved. I literally couldn't believe- and still find it hard, if I'm honest- that you could look at the OBR's forecasting record and think it anything other than a failure. Possibly you could make an argument about why you think otherwise, though I won't hold my breath waiting.

I admit I initially thought back in April that you couldn't possibly believe that such a consistent record of failure on the OBR's part was actually quite good. But no, it turns out you do. I apologise for crediting you with more common sense than you possess.

I put it to you several times that the OBR's record in forecasting was very poor, that it was 'doing a bad job'. Each time, you insisted otherwise. That's really only explicable if you've never looked at the OBR's record.

A tribute to Peter Hall A legend of English wine died on Wednesday at 82. I didn't know him well but loved the unique wines he made at Breaky Bottom in Sussex and was fortunate to meet him a few times.

I have just heard some really sad news that Peter Hall from Breaky Bottom, one of England's greatest winemakers, has just died. Wrote a little thing on the great man here: henryjeffreys.substack.com/p/a-tribute-...

Genuinely baffled by the spectacle of left or centrist economists defending the Osborne-devised OBR regime. I had @jdportes.bsky.social get very cross with me on here when I suggested that the OBR's forecasting record was bad. I mean- have you bothered looking at it?

Also care homes and cleaners- but the workforce is largely female, so easy to ignore.

Danny Kruger, the Tory-to-Reform switcher, gets on well with a couple of the Gaza Independents and paid them some complements in his 'we need a Christian nation' speech.