RoverAndOut

23/4/24 84 Jeff Buckley — Hallelujah 34 Adele — Chasing Pavements 27 Rihanna — Russian Roulette  27 Taylor Swift — Love Story 23 James Morrison ft. Nelly Furtado — Broken Strings 21 Kings Of Leon — Use Somebody -6 10 Jay-Z ft. Alicia Keys — Empire State Of Mind +4 04 La Roux — In For The Kill Sigh...you're making such a mess of this...

True but...it did provide big majorities at other times. Thatcher and Blair could only make the revolutionary changes they did because they had huge majorities in Parliament. Likewise Boris and his bullshit Brexit deal. It's fallen apart, as we've said, because of the multi-party system we've now got, sometimes seeing voters committed enough to a third party to elect them in spite of FPTP, or else encouraging radicals to join the main parties and making them too broad a tent to form a cohesive government. Either way, it's started producing chaotic governments with alarming regularity.

Yeah, I know what you mean, it could have had a happier, healing ending. Interesting film though. Oppenheimer's good, but quite weighty. Probably not a just before bed film.

Although it is also the case that we are starting to see mainstream parties doing deals with the devil to get into power, from the Netherlands to Italy to Israel. Making it worthwhile voting for a fringe party (because they get representation) can end up amplifying those views and making them more mainstream, with unpredictable results. But, on paper, the dream scenario is that Labour, Lib Dems and Greens could almost always form a majority with more than 50% of the vote, and even if not, the worst we'd end up with is a Tory-led coalition propped up by more Liberal parties. I can't see a situation where we end up with 2 parties on the right large enough to go into coalition alone, but if it meant getting into power, maybe a One Nation Tory party could do a deal with Reform.

Another excellent discussion. Article in today's 'i' by Vernon Bogdanor on this very issue, about how Labour are on course for a 270-seat majority on the latest Ipsos poll (imagine!) but are unlikely to get more than 50% of the vote and how FPTP worked when Labour and the Tories got 85% of the vote but isn't fit for purpose in a multi-party system. He notes that the Thatcher landslides of 1983 and 1987 and the Labour landslides of 1997 and 2001 were all gained with around 41-43% of the vote and that Reform will likely outpoll the Lib Dems but broad support will see them net no seats while the Lib Dems could end up with 30+ due to focused support. He argues electoral reform is necessary. I've copied it below as I was going to post the link, but it's behind a sign-up wall. For my two-penneth, I am a convert to PR. While seeing its obvious representational benefits, I was always opposed due to the endless probability for weak coalitions it produced and the likelihood of gridlock. As it is, we've had that anyway in recent years with Brexit and such like, so if that's the case, we may as well have a broad range of voices fighting for different ideas and learn how to compromise. Single Transferable Vote seems fairest, and Additional Member System could work too, like in Scotland and Wales. I think it's important that whichever system is used, we still have individual representatives in each constituency, not just Labour got 45% of the vote so get 45% of the Parliament representing nobody. As for when this happens, who knows. It feels like it will become inevitable, and Vernon Bogdanor seems to suggest 2024 may be the catalyst. Unless one of the main two parties commits to it and follows through when in power (unlikely) then it will be a condition of a coalition arrangement, and then we have the issue of agreeing to a new form. Grown-ups could reach a decision like in years gone by, but the question is whether we have any grown-ups left, particularly on the blue side of the chamber after the election. It's clear to me that the Tories aren't credible - in the same 'i' this morning, there's an article with Truss saying there's a Blairite establishment thwarting her plans and this was agreed with by Richard Tice, who called the Tories 'socialist' and that Sunak isn't a conservative. Truss is very clearly in the wrong party now, or else Reform will cease and be merged into a new Tory Party. She's already said she wants Farage as an MP. Could Truss and Braverman and co. jump ship and join Reform and allow the One Nationers to reform the Conservative Party, or will the loonies take over the asylum and force the One Nationers out once and for all to form their own political movement? Like the one Anna Soubry and Chukka Umuna and co. tried to form a few years back, so successful I can't actually remember its name...

21/4/24 84 Jeff Buckley — Hallelujah 40 Adele — Chasing Pavements 26 James Morrison ft. Nelly Furtado — Broken Strings 25 Taylor Swift — Love Story  24 Jay-Z ft. Alicia Keys — Empire State Of Mind +4 23 Rihanna — Russian Roulette 23 Kings Of Leon — Use Somebody -6 03 La Roux — In For The Kill That La Roux song is great and was definitely one of the sounds of the year. But futile to save it. This list is really all over the place.

This is, of course, a perfectly respectable viewpoint. But may I gently point out that if your refusal to vote Labour means the Tories win your seat, then, essentially, you've helped them win. Is it fair? No. But it's how First Past the Post works. (Of course, if another party is in a stronger position in your seat, then not voting Labour makes perfect sense, and you're probably also safe if your seat is a solid Labour seat already - I could vote for any party and Labour will still win here.) I know Labour aren't everybody's cup of tea at the moment, but not voting for them and allowing the Tories back in would be a monumental cock-up.

Oh, with the greatest of respect, will you please fuck all the way off. The public couldn't give 2 shites if the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party didn't pay a bit of tax compared to those currently in office. But the Mail will probably get her, because she's a danger to them.

From Private Eye.

Well they accepted Lee Anderson, so it's perfectly possible.

I like Adele and Chasing Pavements is fine, but it's not one of her best songs. I'm not putting her through but I've got a feeling I'm on the losing side here. Same goes for Taylor and Love Stoory (not a typo). Brought her to our attention but she's done much better.

PMFSL well played, Matt, well played.

21/4/24 80 Jeff Buckley — Hallelujah 34 Kings Of Leon — Use Somebody  33 Adele — Chasing Pavements 32 Taylor Swift — Love Story  31 La Roux — In For The Kill 30 Rihanna — Russian Roulette 30 Jay-Z ft. Alicia Keys — Empire State Of Mind +4 20 James Morrison ft. Nelly Furtado — Broken Strings -6 04 Sam Sparro — Black & Gold

I didn't get around to posting about Sunak's shitty speech yesterday about sicknote Britain. Isn't it funny how the Tories solution is always to reclassify people as being fit for work under false pretences rather than dealing with the underlying issues. Maybe if we had hospitals fit for purpose, anything resembling a functioning mental healthcare system, a social care system that actually helped people recover and so much more besides (not to mention appropriate pandemic response measures that kept people safe when it was most needed) that we wouldn't have so many people claiming benefits. I do have personal experience. My dad suffered a stroke in 2010 at 59 - left him with no short-term memory and scrambled long-term memory. He has common sense, he can function on a day-to-day level and has a certain amount of independence - can walk to the paper shop and get his paper, but anything more complicated is a minefield (if we sent him to Asda, by the time he's got there, he'd have forgotten what he went for). You can have the same conversation with him umpteen times in a day and the Blackburn in his mind is not the same as the Blackburn of 2024 (from bus routes to shops in town to the price of anything). Anyway, that's just some background to saying that when the DWP did their reviews when they were moving everybody over to PIP, dad was reassessed. We did our own count-up of the points as we saw them and got that he should be on the lower rate for mobility and the higher rate for the living, which would match what he was previously on. When the verdict came back, he got nothing. Not a single point on the whole review. 0/30. Benefits stopped. Took it to review: no change. Appealed it. Months went by. Eventually appeal date came up. Took him to a tribunal in Blackburn with a judge and two medical advisers. They asked him some questions, we helped him to answer where necessary - went out and waited for the verdict. Worn down, we weren't sure we'd get anything at all. We went back in to be told he would get the higher rate for living and the lower rate for mobility. With no prospect of change, they said it would be indefinite, but officially labelled it for 10 years, simply because that way we wouldn't be blindsided by a sudden review at some point. But the hope is since we've already won on appeal once, he should be safe now. But it was a ridiculous and worrying 6-8 months (something like that, I forget how long it was now, I've tried to blank it out). Unsurprising newsflash: the Tories are heartless bastards.

More likely simply it doesn't really feel like the time to make fun of a family while two of its principal members (and key characters in your show) are suffering from cancer. Not much humour to be found there.