General Election 2024

Way too many, IMO.

Don't get me wrong, I think a department for flags sounds great

there's a lot of poor / wasteful spending of public funds, as things stand

Since it is Panto Season, Oh No There Isn't.

My experience of public services is they waste very little. No doubt you have loads of examples?

That's not what they said. Funds ≠ services.

The thing is that Reform's pitch to voters is 'immigration is too high'.

But I feel like I know these voters, and I don't think any of them really think legal immigration is too high anymore. They got their Brexit, they've been 'listened' to, and they've moved onto other things. They think that illegal immigrants are going to rape their kids, that vaccines cause autism, that 15 minute cities are a prison, that GB News is a legitimate source of information, and that Tommy Robinson/Nigel Farage are reasonable blokes, but they don't seem to give much of a shit about immigration anymore.

And Blair said it a few years ago - if you're going to enter a culture war, you need to make sure your culture war is a big topic, otherwise you'll lose. I'm not sure any of this remaining grouping of weird shit is likely to attract anyone beyond Reform's core vote. It's likely- imo - to lose them votes.

Just for starters (all capital projects up here in Ecosse)...

The new ferries
The Scottish parliament building
The Edinburgh trams

I reckon that lot is close to a billion over the budget and I'm not even trying.

There are over 500k civil servants in the UK. Then the NHs and the other services.
Then the wholly funded quangos and NGO third sector grifters.

The use of the terms legal and illegal for immigration is really disingenuous. Someone claiming asylum after they cross the channel in a small boat has done nothing illegal at that point. They have just claimed asylum as is their right under international law.

My actual utopia would be government that didn't waste billions with bureaucracy for bureaucracy's sake

there's a lot of poor / wasteful spending of public funds, as things stand.

I'm guessing this will be Farage's big campaigning issue, over immigration. Down with artisanal folders!

I've been delivering public infrastructure for the past 20-odd years. I have lots of examples. Unfortunately.

Down with artisanal folders!

Moulton?

Plenty of examples of inefficiency in the corporate world too.

I completely agree, but we don't ask the public to pay for those.

They don’t fold.

Every bike is a folding bike, if you use it wrong enough

We do through terrible pfi agreements and the forced contracting out of all services from local authorities.

I know it doesn’t directly translate to how votes would be cast in a General Election but since July Reform have won about 5 out of 160+ seats in local elections (and I think at least one was a former UKIP councillor returning to his natural home after a brief stay with the Conservatives), all their bluster about “a political tsunami” is just hot air.

Ah yes, I forget 'cos they have small wheels doesn't mean they fold, although TTT raises a good point.

Vintage Dawes Kingpin maybe fits the bill?

I hope you're right but how many have they actually contested?

Yeah, but we’re an island of selfish demented bigots, so I don’t fancy his chances.

Compass released polling and a report a few days ago on Labour's future in the current electoral climate. Guardian overview here: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/dec/08/labour-big-majority-is-fragile-and-it-has-weak-mandate-for-change-says-report

Tl;dr: if Labour wants to be the centrist party of the UK we're fucked. The appetite for progressive politics means they'll continue to lose votes from the left and fail to secure votes on the right.

Given the volatility of both the electorate and the first past the post electoral system when three or more parties garner twenty plus per cent of the vote, I don’t think anyone can predict how an election that is four years away will play out.

While you're obviously not wrong, I'm not sure what your point is. It certainly couldn't be that we should give up on looking at, studying, thinking about, and discussing these things?

Yes, you do. Subsidies, tax breaks, bailouts, workforce educated and trained in state education, going to work on state infrastructure, on and on. You don’t exist in a vacuum.

Guy Martins looking old