OPINION
August 16th 2023
In a photo op today, Rishi Sunak was filmed assuring a crowd of people that everything was going according to plan (what plan? his famous 5 points are a wish list, not a plan). He uttered the following phrase which usually loses all credibility with the electorate – “everything is going well, TRUST ME”. That just demonstrates his political naivety and a lack of an ability to engage with the public.
This is after the Bank of England raised the base rate to 5.25% with a forecast of a further increase of .5% points next month. Inflation has slowed to 6.8% but wage increases are now ahead of inflation. Okay, this may be because of catch up but it will still be a component of inflation. In the meantime, the cost of an average shopping basket of food and domestic essentials rose by 33% over the past 12 months.
The public regard for Sunak was shown in the latest poll results.
The overall polling averages extrapolated in the 3 weeks to August 3rd place Labour on 44.8%, the Conservatives on 26.4%, and the Liberal Democrats on 11.4%. Should a general election be held today, this would likely lead to the following composition of the House of Commons:
The result of a general election is projected as a Labour victory with the party securing a working majority of 96 seats.
With Labour improving its polling position in Scotland, notably after the departure of Nicola Sturgeon, and the controversies surrounding the SNP’s finances, Labour are set to gain 25 seats off the SNP in Scotland. This marks a significant change in the party’s fortunes in Scotland, even from two months ago. The SNP would also lose 1 seat to the Liberal Democrats, and 2 to the Conservatives. Source Politics.co.uk 3rd August 2023.
Rishi Sunak reminds me of the old Hollies song “King Midas in Reverse”. Everything that Sunak touches turns into dross.
Talking of things turning to dross just reminded me of Chris Hipkins. He seems to be stumbling his way to an electoral defeat, rather than Chris Luxon and the National Party winning it. Of course, I have to limit my comments on the NZ election as I am overseas, but I find it hard to believe that the National Party isn’t hard-nosed enough to take advantage of all the Labour Party’s obvious deficiencies and performance issues.
I saw the Labour party’s slogan was New Zealand “in it for you” and it would better reflect things if it was “Labour, we dropped you in it”.
Talking of being dropped in it, the famous barge accommodation for immigrants (illegal? Asylum seekers? Refugees, undocumented, select as suitable) began to be used. Almost immediately the first few occupants were removed from the barge and relocated as the health test results came back showing the presence of Legionnaires’ disease on the barge. Simple question – why didn’t the government wait a few days before the results were available before indulging in a huge PR exercise showing the new residents taking up their places on the barge?
Further distractions came with a crime wave as young people were steaming through Oxford Street in London raiding the stores.
Throughout the country (depending on the area) supermarkets are now putting security devices on packs of meat and steak with them being removed at checkout. It used to be high-end spirits that were protected in this way but now a £6 pack of meat has security tags on it.
And Rishi Sunak still says that he is on target to meet his 5 points. He is delusional, but I can’t decide if he is incompetent or arrogant. He is sleepwalking towards an absolute hammering in the election next year.
He is now struggling, but Keir Starmer is having even more problems with his own membership. Sadiq Khan the Labour mayor of London released a press brief containing the following picture.
This has caused a huge storm and resulted in Khan having to deny that he is an anti-white racist. So, if you are a white family, you can’t be real Londoners!!
I am just glad that I live in a part of the country that still has carnivals, gin festivals, beer festivals and songs by the river where the town has a local festival of songs, food and drink. The town has a population of 2,700 and regularly draws crowds of 2,000 to the festivals. Tourists love it – number of arrests so far this year, none. The police pop in, say hello and have a coffee. There was a recent issue with some anti-social behaviour, some lout was scribbling on a wall, so in a prime example of community policing, the local plod bought our local busker a coffee and had a chat. Result, instant intelligence on people movements and any strangers seen in the town. Result, within a couple of days, graffiti and scribbling ceased.
Now back to reality – I have my overseas vote to cast in the NZ elections. I have decisions to make – I am in Epsom electorate so I will have to think deeply about what to do with my votes.