** Starting now **
The European Reasearch Group of Tory MPs is meeting each Conservative candidate individually one-on-one to work out who to support.
Each will be grilled by Mark Francois, Sir Bill Cash and Sir Iain Duncan Smith on getting the most out of Brexit.
The average median household income in the UK is £35k. The average private school fee per year is £15.2k
Can someone please explain to me how families "scrimp and save" to the tune of ~5 grand per school term because fuck me I'll start doing it and I'll stick it in an ISA.
"What about the parents who scrimp and save to send their kids to private school?"
@KayBurley
asks Labour Chair
@AnnelieseDodds
about the party's plans to raise the fees of private schools by charging them 20% VAT.
👉
📺 Sky 501 and YouTube
Mike Skinner, right, went mad. In the 2020s, Mike Skinner, lost it, big time. Nah, nah, he started, like, hearing voices in his head and shit, telling him to, like, go on BBC Breakfast half cut, and shit. But he came back from it.
"Tonight is not a night for soundbites - and fortunately the hand of history is firmly on someone else's shoulder."
Former PM Tony Blair marks the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, referencing a speech he gave when it was agreed in 1998.
Live:
.
@JamesDalyMP
any word on this latest or have you been promised parliamentary under sec for teapots and saucepans in return for your craven loyalty? Best, E
@trevgoes4th
@mindofprospect
You're saying that 99% of people who received support to study or upskill or accessed better opportunities have not improved their own lives, become higher rate tax payers, or experienced social mobility?
15 grand and a few existential crises later have finished up at
@Kingspol_econ
and am now looking for further opportunities to grift in and around SW1. Skills include shite patter and a half decent press release
I just don't understand how Spain, with an economy half the size of Britain, can have the largest high speed rail network in Europe yet we apparently "can't afford it"
There's a chronic lack of ambition in this country and it feels like terminal decline
I refuse to believe that anyone thinks George Alagiah merits £340k a year, or that Sophie Raworth deserves £360k.
Just utterly crazy. So much top broadcasting talent out there - completely unnecessary!
Failed upwards her entire career. Utterly baffling she is in the position she is.
To add insult to injury she’s probably got the safest seat in the country.
'There just, frankly, is no money left'
Shadow culture secretary Lucy Powell says the Labour Party can't make promises it 'can't afford to keep' as she defends Keir Starmer's plan to keep the two-child benefit cap in place
Ramadan is a time when we can break down barriers and raise awareness about the true values of the Islamic faith: love, kindness, peace and compassion.
An inspiring evening at Lord's with
@ECB_Cricket
for
#iftar
with Londoners from all faiths & backgrounds.
#Ramadan
#LoveLondon
@SimonClarkeMP
It would’ve been good if you were, I don’t know, senior in government, maybe with say the remit of public spending or levelling up and housing, then you could have taken steps to alleviate these issues?
I’m not entirely sure laughing in the face of a voter in a marginal seat you have to win and then walking off when she holds you to account is the best way to deal with that situation. Maybe they really will lose
Exclusive footage of Rishi Sunak challenged this morning by a former health worker on the state of the NHS, - captured by an off duty
@skynews
camera operator
Kwasi Kwarteng on this bbclaurak doc suggesting we should give him sympathy because he had to remortgage his gaff after his economic policy sent interest rates spiralling. Can’t write this stuff can you
Matt Hancock on Andrew Neil’s show as well now. Baffled that he’s still knocking around. I’d have resigned my seat and never showed my face anywhere ever again
@moving_charlie
Is there a chance that we end up in a situation where people have issues with both negative equity and are unable to meet their mortgage repayments, leading to mass repos?
Remarkable that the i/
@Victoria_Spratt
are the only ppl consistently banging on about housing
You'd think for such a politicising issue (across all of the housing sectors) more journalists would pay attention other than when a PR lands on their desk or interest rates rise
Analysis from me
@theipaper
- stop counting chickens. Inflation might have fallen slightly, prices have not. Mortgages & rents remain significantly more expensive than this time last year.
Imagine Labour had overseen a budget in which the pound crashed to record lows, they refused to put out a distributive analysis, and made unfunded spending commitments.
Freaks like Iain Martin and Montie would be lining up to denounce a run on the pound and communism™
@SimonClarkeMP
@PaulGoodmanCH
You were levelling up secretary and no2 in HMT, and made no meaningful reforms to address the housing crisis. You also did nothing to address social housing/private rented regulation. So you’ve got some front with this latest
"I'm having a rather more relaxing September than I did last year"
Former PM Liz Truss gives speech on UK economy, saying she's "certainly not" keen on a return to Downing Street
Britain is falling to pieces in pretty much every aspect. It feels like we are a country in terminal decline and everyone is skint
Despite all of this the most animated lobby journalists have been is reporting on whether the Speaker has followed Parliamentary Procedure. Pathetic
I’m torn on this.
On the one hand, this discourse is hilarious. On the other, I am that terminally online that I unfortunately know these two people exist (to the detriment of my sanity), let alone the wider context of this meme.
May well be time to log off.
How about a period of silence from her and anyone else involved in that calamitous regime which sent interest rates soaring and exacerbated the cost of living crisis from so many?
Emily Carver on
#politicslive
. The Politics Live editorial team need to take a look at themselves
A tinpot faux academic body are not suitable for national broadcast on a prime time show. If you need actual academics there are about 5 top unis within an hour of the studio alone
A blatant plant on
#bbcqt
thanking Alastair Campbell for "sending him to Iraq" (? Tories voted for it lad?) and then answering a different question to the one asked. Incredible
3/3 This gov will remain relentlessly focused and continue to deliver for people during a post pandemic, mid-war, global cost of living challenge which no Prime Minister or gov has faced the likes of since WW11.
Another Guardian op-ed. Another woeful line. "Starmer is relatively new to politics: his understanding of his own side’s history and essential political theologies often seems flimsy and cliched"
I am one of 150k ex-Labour members that Rachel Reeves thinks don't "share the values" of her party
I'm from the North East, educated at a comprehensive school, my mum's a nurse and grandparents miners. Labour was in my blood.
How dare an ex-banker insult me like that?
Dave on
#BBCQT
asking “who will pay” for Labour’s (already fully costed) policies.
Meanwhile the Govt just spent £400bn throughout covid and *literally on Friday* had £38bn in uncosted tax cuts paid for by borrowing.
Honestly, who at the BBC okayed that question?
HL is example
#17274728
of the British media being populated by privileged morons who got their break via family connections. Completely and utterly out of touch with the issues of everyday people
Easy life for him now though
“…Appeal to racists in the red wall…Among them are many who are repelled by the PM’s ethnicity.”
Must be racist if you’re from north of Watford Gap. Couldn’t be further from the truth.
Labour attack ad. Is it to appeal to racists in the red wall? These voters drive all Labour policies. Among them are many who are repelled by the PM's ethnicity.
@RishiSunak
is a fanatic Tory. But this attack stinks of racism and opportunism.
Lisa Nandy has some actual ideas and a critique of Britain and therefore this is an absolute red line and I’m glad to see she has been replaced (sacked?)
Yet another example of a landlord thinking they’re entitled to an investment which should have zero risk, and any issues they do encounter should be swallowed by the tenant
Should’ve factored in the potential for interest rate increases into your investment decision. Parasite
Right well
#newscast
has lost all credibility leading on a story where MPs get pissed on a foreign trip. Oh no. Shock. Adults unwind and drink booze. It's not even a story, it happens everywhere in all trades. Terrible journalism but we've come to expect it now
EXC: In an interview with the Record, the First Minister signals a u-turn on rolling out universal free school meals:
“I’ve got a 14 year old now. Should people be paying for her free school meals when I earn a First Minster’s salary?”
Median childcare cost per month = half of the median salary. Tweaking won’t cut it when you factor housing, energy, COL
Labour should be radical on certain issues (radical centre lol) rather than just “we are the adults in the room oh and something fiscal rules.”
Private school (Ampleforth) followed by a Russell Group uni (Birmingham). Joined Labour but quit after a "right wing" turn. First job in the city rising to be MD. By 35 joins the Tories due to hatred of the "anti-aspiration" Inheritance Tax and the talk of a Mansion Tax
Easily the worst title for anyone working in and around British politics. It’s not the West Wing. It’s not House of Cards.
You work for a backbench Tory MP and you make sure they get to tombolas and raffles on time and do some emails. And that’s perfectly fine.
It’s quite funny (in a sort of masochistic way) watching the crisis of economic thought on the right
For years we were told the market knew best, and now there’s one of the most clear market failures ever, factor in a COL crisis, and you get takes like this from “Thatcherites”
It's actually vile that I feel *lucky* to be able to save less money every month in order to cope with another exorbitant rent rise. Lucky to be further from buying a house.
Why lucky? So many of my friends are having to move further out and downsize too. It's soul destroying.
"We cannot continue to have the current level of wage increase"
Bank of England Governor, Andrew Bailey, says the current levels of price setting and wage setting are "unsustainable", after the BoE raises interest rates to 5%.
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602
Today's Twitter Polls: Should a mortgage protection fund be set up to help people cope with high interest rates as Lib Dems are calling for (a £3bn one)?
Or are you a no, perhaps as the state should not get involved in helping fund mortgage payments.
We have no mandate from the people to do this.
Conservative Gov elected on basis of a manifesto, it’s how democracy works.
People voted in ‘19 on the policy promises we made (and for Boris).
If we don’t want to deliver on the deal, the promises, we need a fresh mandate.
Private school thing is rumbling on and on. This in the I Paper today is beyond classic tbh.
Case study of a family with a household income higher than 98% of other Brits.
I am sorry but if this is where the media think "middle Britain" is then we have some serious issues.
Honest to god. "Eye-catching" in that he's worried about the impact of demographic changes on his once safe Wycombe seat, which Labour have been going at for a while and is practically number 1 on the target list. Embarrassing level of analysis
It’s taken me two hours to go 5 miles between Bolton and Ramsbottom
Meanwhile my colleague managed to pick his kids up from his parents’ house and head home to Bradford (40 or so miles) and beat me
Are we ever going to fix public transport or just accept this state of affairs
And to make matters worse the ONS released (unsurprising) stats today showing that rents rose 5.7% in the last year, with the highest increase in London since records began, so that's good
Inflation remains at 6.7 percent - remember this doesn't mean the cost of living has gone down, it's just not going up as quickly. Everything is still more expensive than it was and benefits for low-income households - including those which help to pay rent - are not keeping up.
If Labour win at the next general election private school fees could rocket by up to 20%
One mother says she is "sick and nervous" about what could happen to her children's school fees, which are £5,155 per term
Germany went through one of the deepest and most sustained periods of austerity in the early 2000s and still managed to upgrade its infrastructure to the point it is world leading
In Britain we're happy with sub standard rail and exorbitant fares because of clowns like Greg.
HS2 was always going to end in tears. Let’s just put it out of its misery and scrap it altogether (ps, we save a ton of taxpayers’ cash if we do - and just think how much existing railways could be improved with that money).
Mark you cheeky bastard - you backed him all the way, fully on the payroll, backed him 2 weeks ago, made jokes about it in the press, went radio silent all day yesterday until the final moment. Don't make jokes now for easy clout