UK XI: Please Sir... May I Have Some More?

[Neon Ignition]

Thousands of ‘legacy’ asylum cases awaiting decisions despite Sunak’s pledge | Immigration and asylum | The Guardian​
A result fit for a Prime Minister obsessed with mathematics - The Home Office claims to have cleared its claims backlog, yet they haven't

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2024/jan/04/keir-starmer-speech-rishi-sunak-labour-conservatives-uk-politics?page=with:block-659687848f08310f25e7d8cc#block-659687848f08310f25e7d8cc

With the arrival of 2024 all the parties have immediately jumped into campaigning mode even though it could be up to a year till the General Election occurs. Starmer is currently making a speech about Labours stance and it once again contains a lot of vague waffle. Nestled in there though is:

-Reforming the Planning System
-Lowering Energy Bills
-More Opportunities for Children
-More Mental Health Support in Schools
-Cutting NHS Waiting Lists
-Removal of Non-Dom Status
-Clean Up Politics
-Halving Violence Against Women and Girls


Man arrested in Liverpool after shots fired at three locations | UK news | The Guardian​
Saw this last night, that cinema is one that is often borderline deserted and manned by 2-3 teenagers who look bored out of their wits. I imagine they would have bricked it when this kicked off as the cinema is also fairly isolated so they would have been very much on their own till the sea of police turned up.

[Lebowski]

Michelle Mone having a bad time of it over the last month, her and her husband have had their HSBC accounts frozen pending a criminal investigation under the proceeds of crime act.

https://www.ft.com/content/147d662b-d492-400d-a07c-c5b336bad6af

They're also currently having a fire sale of their assets as reported by a lot of the red tabs today

https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotland/comments/18xsym9/michelle_mone_and_billionaire_husband_launch_80m/

This is more than likely so they don't get these assets seized, so they can squirrel the money away outside the UK

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2024/jan/04/keir-starmer-speech-rishi-sunak-labour-conservatives-uk-politics?page=with:block-65968ce98f082ac94d423f21#block-65968ce98f082ac94d423f21

Starmer says that the £28bn Green Jobs push for 2030 will continue however it will only be delivered if the economics permit, borrowing won't be used to plug the gap to meet a deadline

He re-iterated his support for 16 year olds being allowed to vote

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/sunak-indicates-he-wants-uk-election-in-second-half-of-year/ar-AA1msGZI

October/November General Election (shocker)

[Lebowski]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...ar/ar-AA1msGZI
October/November General Election (shocker)

Dragging it out as much as he can, not sure that I'm a fan of Stammer playing the Tory game by getting "Squatter Sunak" out in the wild as a soundbyte, but he's playing the game for better or for worse at least.

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2024/jan/05/latest-uk-politics-news-general-election-keir-starmer-rishi-sunak-labour-tories-live?page=with:block-6597ca028f08310f25e7e54d#block-6597ca028f08310f25e7e54d

Labour will make Government time for a debate on assisted dying

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2024/jan/05/latest-uk-politics-news-general-election-keir-starmer-rishi-sunak-labour-tories-live?page=with:block-6597bcf58f0825b4df60e713#block-6597bcf58f0825b4df60e713

14 November General Election?

Royal Mail’s Spice Girls stamp collection marks band’s 30th anniversary | Spice Girls | The Guardian​
Another honour for one of the most undeserved legacies

Electric car sales in UK flatline, prompting calls for VAT cut | Electric, hybrid and low-emission cars | The Guardian​
EV's sales running out of power

Government to fund school ‘attendance mentors’ in worst-hit areas of England | School attendance and absence | The Guardian​
Another day, another Wrong Solution to the Problem Tory answer

[Nu-Eclipse]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...ar/ar-AA1msGZI
October/November General Election (shocker)

Take that as read that it'll be late January 2025 - pretty much the latest date by current law - before we get a GE.

Only way we get one this year is if the current opinion polls swing miraculously towards the Tories.

[Lebowski]

Take that as read that it'll be late January 2025 - pretty much the latest date by current law - before we get a GE.

Only way we get one this year is if the current opinion polls swing miraculously towards the Tories.

It won't be Jan 2025 they don't do elections at the same time as the US it will be Winter 2024, Squatter Sunak will be hoping for something miraculous to happen this year like Stammer appearing on flight logs to Epstein Island where he went Scuba Diving.

[Nu-Eclipse]

It won't be Jan 2025 they don't do elections at the same time as the US it will be Winter 2024, Squatter Sunak will be hoping for something miraculous to happen this year like Stammer appearing on flight logs to Epstein Island where he went Scuba Diving.

They may not intend to do elections at the same time as the US but it has historically happened before. It's not a hard/fast rule by any stretch.

If the polling stays the same it definitely won't be Winter 2024. An Xmas GE will just piss voters off.

Sunak clearly playing for time. His vagueness on it speaks volumes. That means a 2025 GE in my opinion. But we'll see.

[Neon Ignition]

It honestly begs belief that any party even gets to decide when the GE takes place. Barring the calling of one in an earlier pre-election year the date should be locked in automatically when a new 5 year term commences.

[Nu-Eclipse]

It honestly begs belief that any party even gets to decide when the GE takes place. Barring the calling of one in an earlier pre-election year the date should be locked in automatically when a new 5 year term commences.

It shouldn't even be 5-year terms for an incumbent Government.

It used to be 4-year terms until the Tories changed it under David Cameron in 2011.

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2024/jan/05/latest-uk-politics-news-general-election-keir-starmer-rishi-sunak-labour-tories-live?page=with:block-6597f7648f08818472f6037f#block-6597f7648f08818472f6037f

There's a lot of in-and-out on various areas but I don't find it that controversial. There remains an incredibly problematic resistance in the media and society to hold parents to any real standard, always looking for external causes of issues when there are many - many who just are actually **** at it

[Protocol Penguin]

It shouldn't even be 5-year terms for an incumbent Government.

It used to be 4-year terms until the Tories changed it under David Cameron in 2011.

It was always 5 year terms, but with the option of governments calling early snap elections. Cameron enacted the Fixed Terms Parliament Act as a PM as part of his coalition deal with Clegg, but that legislation was abandoned as soon as the Tories were able to govern alone.

Terms should ideally be fixed at four years with no leeway for governments to move the goalposts except in exceptional or emergency circumstances, but unfortunately that won’t happen. (See also: electoral reform.)

[Protocol Penguin]

Anyway, I think the next general election will be either October this year or January 2025, with my money going on the latter if I was a betting penguin.