Patrick Robey

Rachel Reeves says those with broadest shoulders should pay fair share of tax Chancellor adds she wants to ‘get the balance right’ and not deter wealthy people from making the UK their home

"Rachel Reeves says those with broadest shoulders should pay fair share of tax" A refreshing change from targeting the old, the disadvantaged, the infirm ? We'll see

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Thanks, that is a thought provoking comment

Rachel Reeves should consider welfare cuts in budget, IFS says Thinktank urges chancellor to take ‘bold’ action on benefits and pensions to placate jittery financial markets

If Reeves follows the advice to make welfare cuts she will not only be committing political suicide, but will consign Starmer's gov't to the dustbin of history

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Please do not make offensive personal comments

Rachel Reeves to pitch UK as ‘beacon of stability and growth’ at IMF, amid budget pressure – business live Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

Reeves might do better to think before she speaks. It is the precisely the lack of growth that has made the UK a "beacon of stability," or more accurately, a morass of stagnation.
www.theguardian.com/business/liv...

Run Britain ? Personally I wouldn't trust him to run a whelk stall

UK to host international summit on Gaza recovery plan Representatives from Palestinian Authority, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Germany and Italy among those to attend conference

I have no time for Priti Patel, but she is right. Starmer should be focused on pressing issues at home. Eg:

moving the UK back into the EU SM and CU
changing the voting system to PR
preventing o/seas political interference
ensuring fair truthful news reporting...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Growing questions over collapsed China spy trial as ex-MI6 chief ‘confused’ over case The failure of the case has raised questions about Britain’s willingness to confront China as the government looks to build closer ties with the country

Is this another example of Starmer's determination to stand up to... nobody ?
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

Thank you for your comment. You are right, re-building trust will be a long process, but a UK return to the EU SM and CU is in their interest as well as ours

Starmer ‘planning to blame Farage and Brexit’ for budget tax hikes Sir Keir Starmer has been ramping up his attacks on Nigel Farage in recent weeks as Labour falls behind in the polls

It's taken more than a year for Starmer to state the obvious, that Brexit has wounded our economy. It has also damaged our int' influence, and taken opportunities from our young. Now he needs to get on with the long process of leading us back to Europe
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

I hoped I'd never see or hear of Johnson again. He brought shame to the office of PM, & it seems he continues to defile it. We've had enough of his lies, his disregard for others, & his slovenly gluttony. It is high time he was held to account - no more public subsidy and no more public appearances

Thanks for your comment, but I am not so sure that you are right. Brexit has caused trouble on both sides of the Channel

Thanks for your comment. You may be right, but recent polls suggest quite strongly that a majority of voters realise the damage Brexit has done & is doing.

Why should you be Labour’s next deputy leader? Guardian readers quiz the candidates As party members prepare to choose between Bridget Phillipson and Lucy Powell, the pair give their views on wealth taxes, Brexit, the climate crisis and the far right

I am genuinely intrigued. Bridget Phillipson says her "family came to Britain as immigrants. Where from and when ?

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Why should you be Labour’s next deputy leader? Guardian readers quiz the candidates As party members prepare to choose between Bridget Phillipson and Lucy Powell, the pair give their views on wealth taxes, Brexit, the climate crisis and the far right

LP was winning by short head until it came to the question about Brexit. Now, I don't think either of them are up to the job of speaking truth to power. I wonder if there is any chance of Toby Hannam getting the role ?
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I think we will have to agree to differ. Thanks for your comments

It would be a refreshing change if he played the leadership game instead of dancing along in the "I'm following Nigel" conga

That's true, but he could stop saying the UK will not rejoin in his lifetime, and start explaining the damage Brexit has done on both sides of the Channel.

We all know Brexit’s to blame for the crisis facing UK steel – it’s time for politicians to be honest and reverse it | Simon Jenkins With British industry faltering, the excuse that the public wants this is risible. Parliament must force Starmer to act, says Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins

Whenever I meet politicians who championed Brexit nowadays, I ask them a simple question: do you still think you were right? A few fools mutter, “Yes, on balance” & “In the long term, perhaps.” Fools ? Or charlatans ? Either way, Starmer's inaction is a disgrace
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

We all know Brexit’s to blame for the crisis facing UK steel – it’s time for politicians to be honest and reverse it | Simon Jenkins With British industry faltering, the excuse that the public wants this is risible. Parliament must force Starmer to act, says Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Millions of households face jump in water bills after watchdog’s ruling Five companies have been granted permission to increase their charges

CMA - watchdog or lapdog ?

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

Thatcher was born 100 years ago and her reign feels a lifetime away. Why is her effect on the country still so huge? | Martin Kettle Today’s politicians need to learn that she is not the answer to contemporary problems, says Guardian columnist Martin Kettle

Thatcher left a society with communities smashed, manufacturing industry wrecked, utilities flogged off and turned into profit centres for their (often o/seas) new owners. Worst of all was the mantra that greed is good, & that concern for others is weakness www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The Tories gave Auntie a distinct blue rinse. Why the H*** does Starmer not do something about it ? The BBC is still widely listened to, still widely trusted, and highly influential - impartial reporting and news analysis matters.

Putting on one side the fact that Sussex is already a sea of concrete from Rye to Chichester, Reeves clear contempt for wildlife and countryside is a disgrace

50% of Tory members think Badenoch should not lead them into the next election. That's right, 50%, both of them.

It's not so much that Starmer's gov't is doing nothing to help UK citizens captured in int'l waters, it's that Starmer's gov't is doing nothing but limp along after Farage, the Pied Piper of British politics

The Conservatives must never have any part in Farage’s po... To describe asylum seekers as thieves or rapists encourages the worst sort of prejudice. We don’t need Trump’s mouthpiece anywhere near No 10

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Heseltine is right: "The overwhelming majority of asylum seekers want to share in our standards and escape from persecution or civil war. " That is precisely why the decision to cut int'l aid was such a mistake - it increased the pull factor

observer.co.uk/news/nationa...

The route out of the gov't problems is staring them in the face: rejoin the EU CU and SM
The economic benefit would be direct and immediate, both for the UK and other EU countries, which would then be more inclined to offer support on other matters.

Just attended a talk by Prof Vernon Bogdanor. One of the questions was along the lines "can you name 6 post war politicians will leave no lasting change ? The answer was: any member of the current gov't you care to name. And he's right, they are pathetic

YouTube video by Liz Webster #SaveBritishFarming I don’t believe for instant we should accept the verdict of a pack of lies!

I'm not - emphatically not - a Tory, but we need more people like Heseltine in politics today. He, together with John Major have shown more courage & integrity in standing up for UK's interests than the apparatchiks of the last gov't & the current one put together www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4ON...