bluetornados
Predictions League
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Post by bluetornados on Jun 20, 2024 9:26:56 GMT
Lib Dems pledge to patch-up potholes..ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/vivo/live/images/2024/6/20/547e6efc-9b9f-435f-afdf-997ef6f7b03a.jpgWhile the Tories and Labour will be focusing their attention today on the property ladder, the Liberal Democrats have unveiled a £300m pledge to carry out up to 1.2 million pothole repairs a year. The party has said it would make more of the existing road budget available to local authorities so it could be spent on fixing potholes. Overnight, the party's leader Sir Ed Davey said the Conservatives "have driven us down a motorway of decay".
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Post by Nobbygas on Jun 20, 2024 9:33:15 GMT
Is this bloke still dodging questions about the Horizon Post Office scandal? For his role in that he should be barred from ever holding public office again.
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ltdgas
Joined: June 2014
Posts: 730
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Post by ltdgas on Jun 20, 2024 10:25:35 GMT
Lib Dems pledge to patch-up potholes..ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/vivo/live/images/2024/6/20/547e6efc-9b9f-435f-afdf-997ef6f7b03a.jpgWhile the Tories and Labour will be focusing their attention today on the property ladder, the Liberal Democrats have unveiled a £300m pledge to carry out up to 1.2 million pothole repairs a year. The party has said it would make more of the existing road budget available to local authorities so it could be spent on fixing potholes. Overnight, the party's leader Sir Ed Davey said the Conservatives "have driven us down a motorway of decay". So that’s the Lib Dem’s promising to fill 1.2 million pot holes , labour 1 million , tories did 1.4 million last year , 1.7 million the year before !!! And apparently things can only get better with the commies in charge of the country 🙄🙄
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ltdgas
Joined: June 2014
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Post by ltdgas on Jun 20, 2024 10:32:38 GMT
Labour tried to gag Black lawyer who wrote party’s own racism report
Exclusive: Martin Forde KC says people will see letter from party responding to his criticisms as a ‘collateral attack on a Black professional’
Nadine White Race Correspondent 19 hours ago 268 Comments
Close Key takeaways from Labour's general election manifesto Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter The Race Report
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I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Labour attempted to gag a prominent Black barrister who authored a report that exposed a “hierarchy of racism” within the party, The Independent can reveal.
In a letter sent by lawyers representing Labour, Martin Forde KC was warned that he was “acting against the party’s interest” after he gave an interview highlighting Labour’s failures in relation to the report.
Mr Forde said the exchange had left him “irritated”, telling The Independent that the party “can’t silence me”.
Speaking exclusively to The Independent, Mr Forde said he was ‘irritated’ by Labour’s suggestion that he lacks professionalism Speaking exclusively to The Independent, Mr Forde said he was ‘irritated’ by Labour’s suggestion that he lacks professionalism (Getty/Al Jazeera) The Forde report, an independent inquiry into Labour’s culture that was published in July 2022, found that the party was an “unwelcoming place for people of colour” and had a “toxic” culture of factional disputes between the party’s right and left.
In March 2023, Mr Forde gave an interview to Al Jazeera in which he said that no one from Labour had been willing to discuss the recommendations further and highlighted concerns raised by ethnic minority politicians within Labour about racism in the party.
In response, it has now emerged that the Labour Party sent Mr Forde a robust legal letter, seen by The Independent, accusing him of acting against the party’s interests and advising him that it was “considering all of its options”.
Lawyers accused Mr Forde of having made “extensive negative and highly prejudicial comments” and questioned his professional conduct.
The Forde report, released in 2022, made 165 recommendations for change within the Labour Party The Forde report, released in 2022, made 165 recommendations for change within the Labour Party (Reuters) Speaking to The Independent this week, the respected barrister said: “I don’t know if it was an attempt to silence me. I mean, they’ve couched it carefully along the lines of ‘We’re reminding you of your professional duties,’ which I found mildly irritating because I am a regulatory lawyer, and I don’t like my professionalism or ethics being questioned ... but I felt it was more.
He continued: “I’m a private individual; they can’t silence me. I fundamentally object to people saying to me, ‘You don’t know how to behave as a professional.’ I’m afraid that Black professionals get it all the time.”
The Forde report made 165 recommendations, including the use of blind CVs in recruitment and changes to the complaints procedure, the majority of which the party says it has now implemented.
However, during his interview with Al Jazeera, the barrister claimed that Labour’s lack of debate and engagement over his findings at the time raised wider concerns. He described Labour’s antisemitism training as “largely didactic, top-down and one-dimensional”.
Martin Forde KC Martin Forde KC (Al Jazeera) The barrister also told the news outlet that “quite a high proportion of Black and Asian councillors or prospective MPs felt they’d been subjected to disciplinary action which had been deliberately timed to exclude them from qualifying processes or selection”.
On receipt of the legal complaint, Mr Forde responded via his own lawyers, in a letter, seen by The Independent, that dismissed the accusations as “baseless”. He said he did not hear from Labour on the matter again.
Mr Forde said he read the correspondence from Labour’s legal representatives as an indication that they might report him to his regulatory body.
He said: “I was surprised to receive those letters, and was also surprised by the tone and content, because I thought I had a sufficiently good working relationship with the general secretary for him simply to ask me what I’d said,” adding: “All he had to do was pick up the phone.”
Labour has seen rows over the candidacies of Faiza Shaheen (left) and Diane Abbott during the election campaign Labour has seen rows over the candidacies of Faiza Shaheen (left) and Diane Abbott during the election campaign (PA/Getty) The Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, has been accused in recent weeks of enacting a purge on the Labour left, following selection rows over veteran MP Diane Abbott and Chingford and Woodford Green candidate Faiza Shaheen.
Ms Shaheen was dropped as a candidate over a series of likes on social media posts, while it was briefed that Ms Abbott, who had recently had the Labour whip restored after she suggested that people from the Jewish, Irish and Traveller communities experience prejudice but not racism, would be barred from standing for the party. It has now been confirmed that she is allowed to stand as a Labour candidate.
When asked what people might make of the correspondence from Labour in the context of the arguments over Ms Abbott and Ms Shaheen, Mr Forde added: “I am sure that people will definitely see it as a collateral attack on a Black professional.”
Mish Rahman, a member of Labour’s national executive committee (NEC), told The Independent he was disappointed by the letter to Mr Forde.
“This legal threat from the Labour Party to Mr Forde is consistent with the behaviour of Starmer’s Labour Party, which is intent on cracking down on any dissent or criticism rather than the actual perpetrators of racism,” said Mr Rahman.
“We also saw this in the party’s pursuit of those it believed had leaked evidence of racism, and its defence of those who had made racist and bigoted comments.”
‘The irony and double standards are astoundingly laid bare,’ said Labour NEC member Mish Rahman ‘The irony and double standards are astoundingly laid bare,’ said Labour NEC member Mish Rahman (Getty) Mr Rahman claimed that Mr Forde had been invited to attend NEC meetings on several occasions, but that Sir Keir and his general secretary had refused to allow it.
He said: “As a member, I received countless correspondence from members about the delayed Forde report into racism in the party. It is now clear as day that Forde was suppressed by Labour’s leadership, and that they have attempted to cover up the report’s disgraceful findings by stopping Forde from meeting the NEC.
“Under Keir’s leadership, the party operates a hierarchy of racism, where it doesn't take anti-Black racism and Islamophobia seriously, and instead punishes those like Martin Forde KC and Faiza Shaheen, who bring evidence of racism to light.
“The irony and double standards are astoundingly laid bare.”
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “The Labour Party is fully committed to tackling racist and discriminatory attitudes wherever they arise, within and outside the party. Labour has apologised for the culture and attitudes expressed by senior staff that were examined by the Forde report.
“We are proud the party has completed work on the recommendations made by Martin Forde, and want to place on record, once again, our thanks to Martin for his hard work.
“Labour has introduced a new, independent complaints process, a code of conduct on Afrophobia, anti-Black racism and Islamophobia, and mandatory training for staff on Afrophobia and anti-Black racism.
“We are delighted that Labour has more Black candidates, and Black male candidates in particular, than ever before.”
The Independent also contacted Sir Keir’s office for comment.
The leaked documents referred to in this report were made available by Paul Holden, an investigative journalist whose book will be published at the end of the year
More aboutracismLabour PartyAntisemitismRaceJewishdiscrimination Join our commenting forum Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
268 Comments
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oldie
Joined: September 2021
Posts: 5,104
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Post by oldie on Jun 20, 2024 13:36:41 GMT
Oh The Irony
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oldie
Joined: September 2021
Posts: 5,104
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Post by oldie on Jun 20, 2024 13:53:53 GMT
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bluetornados
Predictions League
Joined: June 2014
Posts: 13,361
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Post by bluetornados on Jun 20, 2024 15:17:49 GMT
My postal voting pack arrived today, opened, signed, voted, sealed and posted...
The choices on the ballot form was:
Andrew Banwell - Reform
Luke Hall - Conservative
Alexandra Jenner-Fust - Greens
Rob Logan - Labour
Claire Young - Lib Dems
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oldie
Joined: September 2021
Posts: 5,104
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Post by oldie on Jun 20, 2024 15:39:06 GMT
My postal voting pack arrived today, opened, signed, voted, sealed and posted...
The choices on the ballot form was:Andrew Banwell - Reform Luke Hall - Conservative Alexandra Jenner-Fust - Greens Rob Logan - Labour Claire Young - Lib Dems Go on...tell us....who did you vote for?
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trymer
Joined: November 2018
Posts: 1,687
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Post by trymer on Jun 20, 2024 15:44:45 GMT
Looks like the Tory in Bristol north west is in trouble for gambling on the election date....its too late to change their candidate so thats good news for Reform. Scarlett O'Connor is standing for Reform,apparently she was an international event winning bodybuilder, maybe she should just have an arm wrestle with that pencil necked geek Darrel Jones the Labour MP aka "the quiet one".
The Tories were already in the soft and smelly but these betting allegations will cost them more votes...hurrah for democracy.
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ltdgas
Joined: June 2014
Posts: 730
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Post by ltdgas on Jun 20, 2024 16:59:06 GMT
Looks like the Tory in Bristol north west is in trouble for gambling on the election date....its too late to change their candidate so thats good news for Reform. Scarlett O'Connor is standing for Reform,apparently she was an international event winning bodybuilder, maybe she should just have an arm wrestle with that pencil necked geek Darrel Jones the Labour MP aka "the quiet one". The Tories were already in the soft and smelly but these betting allegations will cost them more votes...hurrah for democracy. She’s suing the leftie bbc for I think violating her privacy , something like that
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bluetornados
Predictions League
Joined: June 2014
Posts: 13,361
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Post by bluetornados on Jun 20, 2024 18:06:59 GMT
My postal voting pack arrived today, opened, signed, voted, sealed and posted...
The choices on the ballot form was:Andrew Banwell - Reform Luke Hall - Conservative Alexandra Jenner-Fust - Greens Rob Logan - Labour Claire Young - Lib Dems Go on...tell us....who did you vote for? Les, You are old enough and ugly enough to know better than that...
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oldie
Joined: September 2021
Posts: 5,104
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Post by oldie on Jun 20, 2024 20:03:58 GMT
Go on...tell us....who did you vote for? Les, You are old enough and ugly enough to know better than that... Spoil Sport
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bluetornados
Predictions League
Joined: June 2014
Posts: 13,361
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Post by bluetornados on Jun 20, 2024 22:54:05 GMT
Les, You are old enough and ugly enough to know better than that... Spoil Sport
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bluetornados
Predictions League
Joined: June 2014
Posts: 13,361
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Post by bluetornados on Jun 21, 2024 5:57:05 GMT
ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/1024/cpsprodpb/d2b6/live/d6ef5e90-2f52-11ef-90be-b75b34b0bbb2.pngRishi Sunak says he is "incredibly angry" to learn of allegations that Tory insiders had been betting on the election On Thursday night he and three other party leaders faced challenging audience questions in a BBC Question Time Leaders' Special hosted by Fiona Bruce Sir Keir Starmer said his predecessor as Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, would have made a "better prime minister" than Boris Johnson Ed Davey of the Liberal Democrats and the SNP's John Swinney were also grilled on the NHS, trust and past promises The Financial Times reports on what they call a "flurry of bets" as four people linked to the prime minister are being looked into over allegations of bets on the date of the July election. The i says the controversy has derailed the Tory campaign "amid fears that more names will emerge". The Daily Telegraph features a cartoon by Matt showing a door-to-door campaigner above the caption: "I'm your Tory candidate. I bet you a tenner that you're not going to vote for me." The Daily Mail leads with Starmer's "extraordinary" comment on Question Time that Corbyn would have made a better prime minister than Johnson. The Guardian reveals that former Tory minister Chris Skidmore has said he will vote Labour in July, accusing the prime minister of politicising the climate crisis.
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Post by Nobbygas on Jun 21, 2024 6:47:22 GMT
Something strange going on? All the polls indicate a huge Labour win, but I don't think I've actually spoken to anyone who will vote Labour! People have certainly had enough of the Tories, and once again nobody I have spoken with will vote Tory. There does seem to be a huge disconnect between people and our political parties.
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ltdgas
Joined: June 2014
Posts: 730
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Post by ltdgas on Jun 21, 2024 8:21:21 GMT
Something strange going on? All the polls indicate a huge Labour win, but I don't think I've actually spoken to anyone who will vote Labour! People have certainly had enough of the Tories, and once again nobody I have spoken with will vote Tory. There does seem to be a huge disconnect between people and our political parties. Going by reform leaflets in windows my area is 99% reform , no suprise as it’s a working class area with working class people , years ago it would of been labour but they’ve now made it obvious there for the London liberal elite , champagne commies & the fruitcakes . Though our Boris is still held in high regard round here for getting brexit done , only ones I know voting labour don’t like them , but believe there going to get milk & honey . Be interesting to see where we are in a year
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ltdgas
Joined: June 2014
Posts: 730
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Post by ltdgas on Jun 21, 2024 8:35:14 GMT
ichef.bbci.co.uk/ace/standard/1024/cpsprodpb/d2b6/live/d6ef5e90-2f52-11ef-90be-b75b34b0bbb2.pngRishi Sunak says he is "incredibly angry" to learn of allegations that Tory insiders had been betting on the election On Thursday night he and three other party leaders faced challenging audience questions in a BBC Question Time Leaders' Special hosted by Fiona Bruce Sir Keir Starmer said his predecessor as Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, would have made a "better prime minister" than Boris Johnson Ed Davey of the Liberal Democrats and the SNP's John Swinney were also grilled on the NHS, trust and past promises The Financial Times reports on what they call a "flurry of bets" as four people linked to the prime minister are being looked into over allegations of bets on the date of the July election. The i says the controversy has derailed the Tory campaign "amid fears that more names will emerge". The Daily Telegraph features a cartoon by Matt showing a door-to-door campaigner above the caption: "I'm your Tory candidate. I bet you a tenner that you're not going to vote for me." The Daily Mail leads with Starmer's "extraordinary" comment on Question Time that Corbyn would have made a better prime minister than Johnson. The Guardian reveals that former Tory minister Chris Skidmore has said he will vote Labour in July, accusing the prime minister of politicising the climate crisis. Corbyn better than Boris , this is the commie piece of s**t who wanted to invite the ira / hamas into parliament , refused to sing the national anthem . Starmer saying he’d of made a better prime minister than our Boris calls into question , Boris or not , Corbyn was not fit to be a prime minister , the country gave there thought on that one !!
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ltdgas
Joined: June 2014
Posts: 730
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Post by ltdgas on Jun 21, 2024 8:39:31 GMT
Starmer saying immigration need to drop significantly, yet commies like oldie shout more / more / gdp / shortage of nurses etc If oldies right ( he’s talking bollox ) then the next prime minister doesn’t know what he’s on about !!
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bluetornados
Predictions League
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Post by bluetornados on Jun 21, 2024 8:54:13 GMT
'I was travelling back from the pub' - Angela Rayner on missing some of Question Time special..ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/vivo/live/images/2024/6/21/3e8b1efa-8b65-4719-99eb-541523904388.jpgLabour's deputy leader Angela Rayner is now speaking to BBC Breakfast and her first question is if she watched the special election edition of Question Time last night. Rayner says she watched "some of it" - but admits she was also watching the Euros match between England and Denmark. Host Charlie Stayt puts to her that the two events aired at different times (the football started at 17:00 BST, Question Time was at 20:00), Rayner laughs and says she was "travelling from the pub back home", adding that she did watch Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak as they were the last two leaders to appear. "That's an honest answer," she jokes. Rayner questioned on Unite's refusal to back Labour's manifestoRayner is next asked about union donor Unite holding back support for Labour's manifesto. She says the union had two main concerns. Firstly fire and rehire, which she insists the party is going to end. The second, she says, was Labour's proposals for the transition to green energy. Rayner adds that Labour has been very clear that they have committed to oil and gas licences that have already been approved, saying that the two energy sources will be part of the mix for the next three decades. But, she says, the country will have to transition into renewables - citing energy security as a key factor for that, and Great British Energy - a new public company Labour wants to set up - as the way to do so. Rayner is pushed on a recent Supreme Court ruling about Surrey County Council - that it should have considered the full climate impact of burning oil when considering planning for new wells - and what it could mean for upcoming projects like Rosebank (an oil field that's been given the go ahead). Rayner says she wouldn't deal in hypotheticals and that Labour would firstly need to go through any ruling and would take advice if needed. i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/31/01/85534789-13478249-Greater_Manchester_Police_announced_it_had_dropped_an_investigat-m-20_1717114173195.jpgWhat about Starmer's past support for Corbyn?It's put to Rayner that there could be an issue of trust for voters when they look back at how Keir Starmer backed former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn at the last election, despite subsequently saying he could never win. Rayner says both she and Starmer had a "duty" to support Corbyn, as members of his shadow cabinet, but admits Labour were "hammered" in 2019 when the "public felt" the party "didn't put forward a credible case for the country". She says the experience means that Starmer is now more determined to put forward a credible costed plan, which she says can change Britain for the better . Pushed on issues of trust, Rayner criticises the Conservatives over the recent betting allegations and goes on to say Labour is the party that can put forward a plan that people can vote for. Deputy Labour leader grilled on two-child benefit cap and immigrationContinuing to press on the issue of trust, the BBC's Charlie Stayt reads Rayner a social media post she put out four years ago, in which she called the two-child benefit cap "obscene and inhumane". Asked how she now feels, given the policy hasn't been scrapped in Labour's manifesto, she acknowledges that it's a "fair question" - but says "we can't do everything - the Tories have crashed the economy". She adds that Labour has promised to give every primary school child free breakfast and that, if she becomes deputy prime minister, she'll push for a strategy to address child poverty having grown up in poverty herself. Rayner then goes on to defend her party's failure to say by how much it will aim to cut net migration by, saying it's more important to address skills shortages in sectors such as social care.
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Post by lostinspace on Jun 21, 2024 10:27:10 GMT
I have seen better comedy scripts at the local pub than this lot are producing
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