Cllr John Haywood

I can’t shake the mental image of an HMRC officer stood with a card reader at the foot of the RAF C17’s cargo ramp in Abu Dhabi.

Can the RAF have a card reader to hand when it lands the transport aircraft in the Gulf States?

Here visiting or on holiday? Of course you can be airlifted home.

Resident here to dodge UK tax? Ah, that comes at a cost... please enter your PIN.

I see some of the right wing that shout at @alastaircampbell2.bsky.social that he’s a “war criminal” are now screaming at Starmer that he should be a war criminal.

They can. Any Commonwealth (of Nations) citizen or Irish citizen can vote as long as they are resident in UK. “Resident” here means their only or primary residence is in the UK.

I’m prepared to wager that the Chuckle Brothers ( 1/2 RIP ) would be better leaders though.

Just saying to my OH that it changes nothing. If the apparatus remains and enough popular support remains it’s useless (popular support can be low but significant)

Everyone on here condemning Starmer and the UK for putting our defences on alert for retaliatory attacks from Iran, their proxies etc, to try and intercept attacksI have a simple question:

Would you rather UK service personel were killed without any attempt to save their lives?

Why did the Greens select a plumber in Gorton and Denton?

Because after Matt Goodwin stood for Reform, people needed a stopcock.

(I'll get me coat)

It is not vague anecdote.

I give up. I don’t think it’s possible to have a rational discussion with you on this subject.

Your politics appear to be swamping rationality.

Democracy Volunteers Domestic Observations Posts about Domestic Observations written by Reuben Hellier and John Ault

They are not anonymous, nor is their claim vague. democracyvolunteers.org/category/dom...

Trained accredited observers working for a neutral organisation to a protocol that follows international standards in election observing.

A protocol that allows statistical comparisons between various elections to be safely made.

I really think that downplaying this is a bad idea.

Consistent protocols. We’re not special!

…I think criticising Democracy Observers on this point is getting into seriously choppy waters.

Just had a look at the manual on election observing.

Observers *may* report observations of irregularities to local officials for the purposes of observing officials’ follow-up actions. There’s no compulsion.

So these actions do not appear to fall outside the international standards…

I would be interested to know what Democracy Observers’ protocols say on this because their website suggests that they follow a protocol that works across jurisdictions.

In many countries there will be good reasons why you don’t report to local staff!

I can see reasons why in a high profile parliamentary by-election, officers would be at every polling place.

Agreed this is far from the case at other elections.

Would they really be looking for electoral offences though? It’s a very specialist area. I suspect they’re there for public order.

How do you know what they are “supposed to do?”

“Concerningly high” are the words usednby Democracy Volunteers. I think it’s wrong in principle to downplay such concerns from such an organisation, whoever wins or loses.

Agreed.

That’s a part of the role of Democracy Volunteers, no? Highlight where election staff resourcing and training might be better in future?

I’m quite surprised how many people on here have jumped to “nothing to see here” straight away.

Further investigation needed.

Apples and Oranges. There are no reports that any of those allegations were made by an accredited election observer organisation.

To just dismiss Democracy Volunteers out of hand is wrong.

Thanks.

Haven't seen any reports of police in polling stations?

It's awful. I think I'm on the far side now... but then it does get better in the afternoons for a bit...

Democracy Volunteers are an independent outfit that observe on elections in many jurisdictions including ours. They have no axe to grind other than seeing that democracy happens.

When they say there's a problem, it's safe to say there's a problem, in my opinion.

And it's still going. Have now seen GP. Current thinking is either fever-less influenza or parainfluenza (new one for me, that).

Either way I still feel like I've been hit by a bus and I've lost over 2 weeks now.

Independent observers reported relatively high levels of irregular voting at polling stations in Gorton and Denton. That's a concern and needs to be looked into.

There's absolutely no way that this had any significant impact on Reform's vote. That's Trumpist cobblers from sore losers.

Sultana joins Greens when?

The tanks have well and truly rolled into Your Party central square, so it's only a matter of time.