msc

Although to be fair to @Grim Up North Labour did trounce the Tories in the locals in that area this month, but I believe the Tory vote held better in Carlisle and it was in Copeland and Workington that Labour murdered them?

I just want to note that John Stevenson of Carlisle has an 8000 majority and would need nearly a 10% swing to defeat, and he's safer than the Corby seat mentioned above. Exactly how fucked are we assuming this government is?

Northamptonshire - the two Northampton seats and mayyybe Corby (on a bad night for the Tories) could be at risk, but the Leadsom seats are safe as houses. If they were losing Kettering it would be a really fun night for us a terrible night for the Conservatives. Although lots is said about the Red Wall. The "blue wall" seems to be mostly ignored, and there's 66 Tory seats heavily endangered by Lib Dems in the south on the swings the Lib Dems have been getting off the Tories in recent votes in that part of the world.

Which shows you how rubbish IDS was! More stable than year ago, mind you! There is a recurring theme from by-elections and the locals, which is roughly a Tory to Labour swing of about 10 points, and a Tory to Lib Dem swing of over 15 points. If that, and the return of the Lib/Lab voter alliance, holds up at a general election... The YouGov MRP polling model currently has the Tories being wiped out with bigger swings than that, and I note it was quite accurate at the last two elections. With all that said, two years till the next election. A lot of "events" to quote Harold MacMillan, to turn up in the intervening period, no doubt...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the criticism and demands for John Major to resign lumber on and on too, until eventually Major called his own leadership contest. And then, all of the rivals just sort of got routed, and the Tories continued to sleep walk to electoral death? Curious to see if history repeats. This struggle to reach 54 letters doesn't strike you that there's 170 Tory MPs out there who want Boris Johnson gone. It took ages for them to get the numbers against Theresa May, and then she won the Vote of Confidence easily, iirc...

To be fair to someone I'm not keen on, I think its this forum which did the stressing. All Frank Field ever did was make one announcement, through a third party, that he was now terminally ill and "had recently spent some time in a hospice". He's been silent ever since. The silence from a Frank Field points to his days being number, but none of us know even what terminal illness afflicts him, so we're all guessing at the prognosis! And on that note, Bob Barker for me, thanks.

Yes, AFAIK, that and vodka.

My "favourite" FMW story involves Onita going to Puerto Rico to start a feud with Invader I (the man who stabbed Bruiser Brody to death) which culminated in Invader I kayfabe stabbing Onita. So far, so tasteless. However, the match was called off, when Invader twigged that Onita may have been trying to use the blood feud to get the former to step foot on Japanese soil as a ruse, whereupon some nice men from the Yakuza wanted to have a "stern chat" with Invader about killing one of their favourites!

Just noting, the Record's updated to reveal what cancer it is: Stage IV esophageal

The Piers Sellers of 2022?

Terminally ill, six months to live. Daily record. Front page cert but doubt he makes it. https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/rangers-legend-andy-goram-says-27097494

He's on a considerable number of the top teams in the DDP (10) and some of us considered him a 2023 name. So people don't need to go to the PWI website, the update is that his tumour has doubled in size in 6 month so proposed stem cell treatment has been axed and they're looking for alternative treatment. (As in chemo, not as in alt-medicine.)

Played by Danny De Vito in Man on the Moon. Shapiro was consultant on the film.

Patricia Brake dead.

Yeah, just to contextualise this. Yes, a majority of the Vatican had nothing to do with abuse and knew nothing about it, and many of them would have certainly spoken out if they knew or suspected anything. There are others who heard whispers but assumed it had to be akin to those Jimmy Savile rumours. (ie that nearly everyone thought outlandish, until they turned out true.) There are those who were told about stuff but through some personal failing or other didn't report it. None of these apply to Sodano, who not only knew about the stuff going back to the 80s, he actively supressed the information for decades. He even pushed back on Pope Benedict on the matter, and when Benny is more liberal than you on this matter... He shielded known abusers from being revealed, left them to find new victims, and slandered anyone who came forward. He is legit the embodiment of evil in this regard.

Brilliant thread as ever, Ulitzer. Easily one of the best for easily sourcing information in the last few years.

Wrote one of the worst Bond theme songs imo. No, sorry, Kearns, not Keys.

Not seen this doc yet (I just learned about it) but can confirm I saw John Nott being interviewed for another new doc about 6 months or so ago and he could have legit passed for 15 years younger than he was.

Twitter seems to think this is him on the mend, I got the exact opposite feeling from it tbh.

Bloody hell Spade and your voodoo.

Mates of Jon Anderson rule of three?

No that Iain, he was much loved (and badly missed).

Steve Smith, former Huddersfield captain and manager, is on @Octopus of Odstock list on Page 1. His family have mentioned he's now in the late stages of dementia, having originally announced he was ill in 2013. Sounds like his physical health collapsed during lockdown.

Had her prison sentence quashed in favour of community service, and the compensation for her victim all but wiped out. An odd way of losing, imo.

Iain was a deeper thinking and more effective in general than Nadine fucking Dorries!