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Politics

I think I’ve got this right

After two days of ill-tempered debate in Spain’s lower-house congress, 179 MPs approved Mr Sánchez’s ascension while 171 opposed it.

Mr Sánchez’s Left-wing coalition is being propped up by Basque and Catalan independence parties in a move that has divided Spain and led to angry riots.

The Catalan party leveraged its support by negotiating a controversial amnesty that will lead to hundreds of politicians and activists involved in the 2017 illegal Catalan secession attempt being freed of criminal responsibility.

Mr Sánchez admitted that the result of July’s general election, in which his party came second, meant it was time to “make a virtue out of necessity”, but said the amnesty would bring “concord between Spaniards”.

Lefty loses power but, as outgoing govt, gets first try at forming coalition, manages to and stays. This is good by certain standards.

In Poland, righties lost power yet might still manage to cobble together coalition to stay – also gain first attempt to do so because outgoing govt. This is an outrage to the same sorts of lefties who praise Spain.

Double standards much?

Gosh, this is fascinating

Art, law, history and TV: Tusk’s plan to remake Polish life after rightwing rule
Nationalist PiS party is soon likely to be out of office but freeing country’s institutions from its cultural grip will take time

So when a new government takes office all the junior roles should also chage? Like the EHRC, chair of the BBC, Arts Council, National England? All that sort of level need to be fired and hired to accord with hte new govt’s priorities?

Hmm, so why was everyone screaming blue murder when they tried appointing Tories to those jobs?

So, it was an excuse then

The job offer that stunned Westminster was made face-to-face last Tuesday evening in the flat at Number 11 Downing Street.

Rishi Sunak and David Cameron were alone. The location had been picked for its privacy, given that a gathering in his office on the ground floor of Downing Street would have set tongues wagging.

Mr Sunak had a proposal for his predecessor: a return to the Cabinet as foreign secretary, plus an elevation to the Upper House as a peer of the realm.

That the news did not leak is testament to the Prime Minister’s small, close-knit inner circle of trusted advisers and the seriousness with which the now Lord Cameron took the offer.

The timing is also telling for another reason. Suella Braverman’s provocative article in The Times accusing the police of bias was not published online until Wednesday evening.

Once Nigel’s won the jungle there’s a job for him to do then.

The future of actual conservatism however

She’s got to go, Rishi, or the party’s over
There’s no time to dither, the future of the Conservatives depends on sacking Braverman and seeing off the hard right

Depends upon you doing exactly that. It’s only be there being a fracture – chasm perhaps – between the wet careerists and the actual conservatives that Conservatism has any future at all. That gap beween the “far right” (which is, essentially, what everyone thought two decades back) and the current Tory Party can either come out within the Conservative Party or without it but it is going to happen.

New direction for conservatism

while Mr Gove, known as one of the most original political thinkers in the party,
….
Mr Gove, who has led radical reforms in his departments, including within education, has pushed for legislation appealing to the centre ground, including a ban on no-fault evictions through the Renters’ Reform Bill.

How conservative is it to banish property ownership? Radical, sure, but conservative?

Well, maybe

The rise of electric cars will cause an increase in traffic jams across the country, new analysis conducted by the Government shows.

The revelation has emerged as part of research into the benefits of EVs, which are set to account for four in every five vehicles sold in the UK by the end of the decade.

A surge in congestion across Britain’s roads will be fuelled by the reduced running cost of EVs, the Department for Transport found, which will lead to drivers covering more miles.

Given higher purchase costs and lower running costs then yes, we would expect each car to do more miles. But that’s not the only issue here – the higher entry costs to having a car at all might mean fewer on the road. So, the overall effect is unknown.

Of course, once we start taxing EVs properly then even that per mile cost advantage will go away.

Ah, so that’s what the toddler story is about

Toddler loses finger after getting it caught in chain of rental bike

Nasty, shouldn’t be allowed to happen, oughta be a law etc.

Sadiq Khan lacks power to regulate dockless bicycles that often clog London pavements

And that’s why we’re being told the story. So that the Khan Empire can expand its power. Not to actually do anything, you understand, just to have more power over more things.

The Mayor’s office has said it currently lacks the power to regulate dockless rental bikes, and is pushing the Government to give more controls so it can improve safety and manage parking better.

Can we guess who sent the press release out?

Oh, right

There are 225 neighbourhoods in England identified as “left behind”. They are inhabited by about 4% of the population and are places which experience high levels of deprivation and community need and low levels of investment and resources. Often, they are housing estates on the edge of post-industrial towns.

So the slum clearances didn’t work then. Well done to the planners. Clearly this is also an argument for more planning.

Well, yes

Here’s the key question about Britain in 2023: why do we put up with this rubbish?
Gavin Esler

We tolerate a sclerotic system that allows the rise of people you wouldn’t trust with your wallet – or to babysit your children

Richard Murphy is – sometimes – taken seriously and Richard Burgon is – or has been at least – in the Shadow Cabinet. Why do we put up with such nonsense?

An interesting comment about this election

Argentina’s leftist economy minister Sergio Massa defied polls and placed first in the country’s historic election on Sunday evening, meaning he will now face far-right Javier Milei in November’s run-offs.

Mr Massa earned 36 per cent compared to Mr Milei’s 30 per cent with most votes counted, though he did not reach the 45 per cent threshold needed to win outright.

The third frontrunner and former security minister, Patricia Bullrich, has been knocked out of the race, and trailing behind all three candidates were politicians Juan Schiaretti and Myriam Bregman.

Dunno, he might still do it.

But elsewhere, someone has pointed out. Massa has actually paused the income tax and is paying for everything by printing even yet more money. Milei is described as the populist.

See?

Far-right populist Javier Milei

Hard right?

Footage of explosions and a soundtrack of rock classics washed over a crowd waving fake chainsaws and dollar bills, as Argentina’s election front-runner Javier Milei took to the stage.

“I am the king, I am the lion,” the hard-Right libertarian candidate shouted as he emerged from the cheering throng of supporters, many of whom were dressed as lions.

“The caste is afraid,” he added, referring to the political elite he has pledged to sweep out of government.

Hard-right? Libertarian right perhaps, classical liberal even. But hard-right?

Look, this is Argentina. They’ve had Peronism – a home grwon equivalent not of Hitler but certainly ofsomething like Franco and ro Salazr. Fascism that is. They’ve had military coups and dictatorships. Those we could happily describe as “hard” right.

But sound money, less bureaucracy and economic growth do not a far right platform make.

So, when do we get this?

New Zealanders have resoundingly elected a new conservative government as Chris Hipkins, the incumbent prime minister, conceded that Labour’s six years in power were over.

The National party’s Christopher Luxon said New Zealanders had “reached for hope and voted for change” after a campaign dominated by an increasingly difficult economic situation and a backlash against Labour’s environmental policies among farmers.

Of course, we’ve had Conservative government for years but when do we get a conservative one?

Twat

Labour will “come down like a ton of bricks” on the vaping industry if Rishi Sunak does not “pull his finger out” and introduce regulations, Wes Streeting has said.

The shadow health secretary attacked the prime minister, saying he had been leading a government that had been “asleep at the wheel” as a generation of children become addicted to nicotine.

Vaping is a substitute for smoking baccy. We want the kiddies to be vaping.

Amazing how it’s always possible to blame the Jews, isn’t it?

Hamas’s murderous attack will be remembered as Israeli intelligence failure for the ages

You see, it’s really Mossad to blame here.

Netanyahu’s far-right government, peopled with individuals in cabinet roles who should not hold public office, such as Itamar Ben Gvir, the minister for national security, have spent their time pouring petrol on what was an already highly combustible situation in the occupied territories.

Well, and Bibi.

The major question is the scope of Israel’s response. Already framed as a war, Hamas’s attack will put pressure on Netanyahu from a far right that has long pushed for a definitive attack on Gaza, perhaps ending in full reoccupation.

D’ye see? It’s they, them, their fault!

Hmm

Susan Hall, the Conservative candidate for mayor of London, faces fresh calls to step down after a new poll found that two-thirds of Londoners believed her social media activity to be racist.

Days after Hall received Rishi Sunak’s backing, most London residents said the apparent views of the 68-year-old failed to “fairly represent” the city’s vast diverse population.

So, let’s have the vote and see. That is what democracy is about, no? The voters get what the voters vote for?

This depends upon the one grand assumption

The huge spike in yields witnessed over the last few weeks means the market is now predicting a recession next year. And no sitting President has been voted back into office while the economy is shrinking since 1900 with one exception.

It may not matter whether he begins delivering great speeches, or faces a weak Republican candidate – the bond markets have already killed Biden’s chances of a second term.

That assumption being that the bond markets are always right. They’re always influential, they movements have effects. But always right in their predictions? That’s a tought sell.

Markets are always right about what prices in markets are today. They’re efficient at processing the information about what prices should be today. They’re probably the bist looking glass we’ve got to peer into the future. But all predictions of all markets all the time are correct? That’s a tough sell there.

#Now, me, I hope Trump wins. On no ground other than that I entirely despise the current D (and soft R) establishment. As with 2016, it was despising Hillary that did it for me, not loving anyone else.

Message for the proportional represenation folks

Why do eight radicals hold power over the entire US House of Representatives?
David Daley

This is what happens.

Yes, yes, I know, the US is a two party – wings of one party if you like – system. But there’s no party discipline at all. Each seat decides, alone, who runs for it. There’s no national imposition of candidates. Thus we end up with woldly different views making int into the House. Just as we would with any system of PR. And that makes the weirdos the kingmakers. PR gives more power to the fringe groups that is.

Think of PR in the Commons. On the current voting intentions we’d have a big Reform group, a big Green one, and some combination of one – or even both – of those plus two of the three LibDem, Labour and Tory would be required for a majority. Well, probably.

And having either Reform or Green in government is going to lead to lower influence of the extremists, is it?

We’re evil, they’re just wrong

Not that we’re El Trumpos, but:

Supporters of Donald Trump may need to be “deprogrammed” as if they were cult members, Hillary Clinton said.

“Sadly, so many of those extremists … take their marching orders from Donald Trump, who has no credibility left by any measure,” the former first lady, senator, secretary of state and Democratic nominee for president told CNN.

“He’s only in it for himself. He’s now defending himself in civil actions and criminal actions. And when do they break with him? Because at some point maybe there needs to be a formal deprogramming of the cult members. But something needs to happen.”

It’s a very specific view of the people and democracy. It’s not exclusive to the progressive left but it is, at this time, most often found there. If the demos disaagrees with our ideas then it’s the demos that is wrong. Therefore the people have to be managed and vonverted into agreeing with us. Rather than us, the would be leaders, doin’ stuff that the people want us to do.

Really rather authoritarian, isn’t it.