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Showing posts with the label No 10

Prepare for fireworks as the Corbyn project crashes and burns

There really was no need for the government to reduce the threshold at which high blood pressure gets treated . Corbyn’s supporters are registering 160/100 right now, as their project starts its inexorable – and inevitable – downward spiral. Long gone are the days when the hard left used to dine out on Jez’s improbable 40% showing in the 2017 general election. The latest YouGov poll has the Tories on 40, while the remodelled Momentum-run Labour Party languishes on 31. Even the faithful are beginning to realise the game is up. If there ever were an opportunity for the veteran socialist to slip into Downing Street, the window has now closed. And as the decline continues, you can expect recrimination, denunciation and howling exasperation. How did the Corbynites find themselves in this position? Of course, there’s no one answer. Like many movements, they are divided between purists and pragmatists. Although Corbyn and McDonnell share much the same ideology, the former...

The semantics of electioneering

Living in what the Tories consider to be a marginal constituency is a bit of a nightmare. I am bombarded with propaganda from their candidate Tania Mathias, who insists on using her title 'Dr' in all communications - probably because her rival, Vince Cable, has a PhD in economics. (I'll hang on to the leaflet, just in case I'm ever forced to change my family GP and need to draw up a list of local practices to avoid.) The rhetoric is now becoming more and more strident. Let's just dissect this wonderful paragraph which sits under a picture of the Lib Dem leader, Nick Clegg. "This year's General Election is not like last time - polls are showing the Lib Dems are set to lose many of their seats, which means this time you can't vote Lib Dem in Twickenham and expect to get David Cameron as Prime Minister. You'll risk getting the chaos of Ed Miliband propped up by the SNP - with Alex Salmond calling the shots." Forget for a moment that Miliband...