StanSP

I actually agree, you don't have to have struggled to be able to relate. I don't get how it's damaging, though. Surely it's a good thing to be able to relate no matter what background you're from? I think what I'm actually looking for is empathy from politicians. You can be the richest man on earth and brought up in wealthy household, and still have empathy. Sunak clearly lacks it because he is so robotic

Simple as that...

Didn't try to what? Relate to the people they a) want votes from and b) not seem so elitist and totally out of touch?

Today's Ed Davey instalment I guess everyone who didn't like Starmer for showing no personality and Sunak for being robotic will be lending their vote to Lib Dems?

Someone a few pages back asked where the terms left wing and right wing came from. Susie Dent comes up with the goods again...

Okay, and what's your point? Because mine is that most Tories seem to find it difficult to relate to the public, and this latest car crash episode of his doesn't do much to change my mind.

Probably. But is that the demographic he needs voters from? God forbid families sacrifice things like food and heating instead.

Get the violins out...

Heard that 40,000 members had paid £25 towards Reform...

None of it is lies though

I wonder what voter turnout will be like. Last time it reached over 70% was for the Brexit referendum (72.2%). Last time over that amount for a general election was 1997 (71.4%). Then staggeringly dropped to 59.4% in 2001 which was the lowest ever since 1918. I'm wondering if we'll see similar levels to 2001 purely because so much of the population are just disillusioned with politics and politicians in general, let alone the current government. Perhaps it'll be more 60-65% but it wouldn't surprise me if it dropped below the record 57.2% from 1918.

Coconut is a derogatory racist term used to describe someone deemed to be 'brown on the outside, white on the inside'. Someone with darker skin and non-white heritage but acts 'English' or 'western'. Whether it's 'often' a phrase used is irrelevant. Having been on the end of being called it it's most definitely a racist term. Even if it was only once.

That's fair enough and understandable. But no-ones home should be at Reform. Notice how in the debate the other day Farage was all too quick to point the finger (perhaps rightly so) at the two main party reps for their records and 'promises' that he thinks they won't stick to. But did he offer his own policies? Did he offer his own solutions? Any costings or plans to resolve what he and his party believe are such fundamental wrong decisions made so far? Any indications as to how to resolve immigration levels or cuts in resources under Tories? The answer to many of those is probably 'no' and I very much doubt their manifesto will provide a clearer light on them either. Also only have to look at the type of person they're hiring and recruiting and get endorsements from - proper extremist views from the likes of Robinson and Lee Anderson. If anyone thinks Reform is their political home then they deserve everything coming to them. People purely interested in their own careers and not really a true care for their constituents they claim to fight on behalf of. Look how they conned people into voting for sunlit uplands of Brexit and then pretty much disappeared when it went tits up because they had nothing else to offer.

Sad hearing about how Mosley nearly made it to safety, merely metres away from a beach resort bar. And apparently Greek police having the CCTV footage days before he was eventually found?

What's Jude Bellingham doing there ?

So 56 pages later, has anyone's predictions changes since just over a fortnight ago?

Has anyone ever been on a rollercoaster in a suit before

Great catch by Markram under the circumstances.

I don't mind Nasser Hussain as a cricket commentator but he's not the right person for T20 comms.

Bangladesh on fire!

Is the Tory chair okay?

One coconut per year relating to the game No chance.

Tory cuts