Afternoon music
On this day a year ago
Saturday quiz
Well, this week brings yet another victory over Blairite political journalist John Rentoul: I trumped his 6/10 with my 8/10. I did not know the answers to questions 1 and 9.
Incidentally, question 7 is (arguably) wrongly put: Ryanair was actually founded in 1984, but I presume that its active operations began in 1985.
Tweets seen
Well, all right, but which of the present bunch of Conservative Party leadership contenders has been “good at the job” given to them? Indian “clever boy” Sunak, whose spraying of public money at “furloughed” employees, and at often fraudulent and inactive small businesses, as well as other absurd “Covid”-related nonsense (eg “Test and Trace”) etc, has fuelled the present gathering inflation?
What about Liz Truss, who seems to want war with Russia, and who not long ago embarrassed this country by telling Sergei Lavrov that several indisputably-Russian cities such as Novgorod (between Moscow and Petersburg) were Ukrainian? She only became an MP in the first place on her back.
Kemi Badenoch? Not much can be found that is much against her, and she seems quite intelligent, but of course I could never countenance an African (in her case, Nigerian) as Prime Minister of this country.
Tom Tugendhat? Well, part-Jew, so I would not want him on that basis alone, as well as which he is a “very strong supporter of Israel” [Wikipedia], so that’s a second black mark. Seems to want war, or at least conflict, with Russia, so there’s a third black mark (anyone who seems to actually want war with Russia must be totally idiotic, looking at our inability to protect our population in such a contingency; it would mean the end of this country).
Fourthly, Tugendhat makes much, really too much, of his military experience (at first in whatever the Educational Corps is now called, followed by a TA commission in the Intelligence Corps). Seems that he was mainly a desk soldier, though exact details of his career are lacking, perhaps because politically or operationally sensitive.
Fifthly, as if the above were not enough, Tugendhat has attended at least one Bilderberg conference [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_meeting].
Also, Tugendhat actually holds French citizenship (as well as UK), and his wife is a judge in France, where she is said to be tied-up with the Macron cabal (see also https://ianrobertmillard.org/2019/01/09/on-recent-events-in-france/).
Readers will not be surprised to be informed that, for me, Tugendhat comes right at the bottom of the list.
A poor bunch, surely, by any standards, and only two of the five contenders are English, or really/fully British— Penny Mordaunt and Liz Truss.
Penny Mordaunt seems to connect with “ordinary people”, for what that is worth. She is probably not much good, but no worse than the others.
More music
More tweets seen
I cannot pretend that I am particularly sorry either for buyers or sellers in Britain’s superheated property market.
Incidentally, looking at Rightmove entries for my own present part of the world (central southern, and coastal, England), I see now that at least half of at least the more expensive properties are now marked as having been “reduced” from their original list prices.
Interesting Saudi Arabian rewilding project
“By 2035, the Royal Commission for AlUla will have:
• Replanted hundreds of native plant species from 56 species of indigenous plants
• Produced 31 million seedlings in its plant nursery
• Planted 10 million trees in nature reserves across AlUla County
• Rehabilitating some 65,000 hectares of degraded land
• Adopted county-wide sustainable land management methods.
Already, more species are returning home to AlUla. Earlier this year 162 animals, including Arabian oryx, sand gazelles, idmi gazelles and Nubian ibex, were reintroduced. And more species are returning on their own.
Emma Gallacher, the project’s Conservation Initiatives Lead, says “Our camera trapping has revealed many species, including Arabian wolf, red fox, Blanford’s fox, Rock hyrax, Cape hare, North African wildcat, Arabian partridge, sand partridge and many more”.”
[Evening Standard]
“Lockdown”-nonsense news
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/covid-lockdown-fines-dropped-metropolitan-police-b1012348.html
Late tweets
A mathematician, not a medical specialist of any kind: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Fry.
There must be some way to remove Trudeau and others…
The 2020-2022 period in the UK also showed how many minor functionaries here, in the police and NHS, even supermarket staff, loved having their moment of petty power to order people to adjust their facemask muzzles or move 6ft away from the next slave-citizen.
Time to establish an NHS unit to combat…hypochondria.
Late thought
I see that quite a few ads on TV are now colouring some element of the film or animation with the Ukrainian blue-and-yellow. One example, a blue/yellow cartoon bird on the side in some ad for (I think it was) insurance or something like that.
In the past day I have seen two or three ads with obvious “pro-Ukraine” (meaning, in effect, pro the Zionist cabal in Kiev) colours.
Are we still pretending that the “Stand with Ukraine” thing is not basically a conspiracy, retailing propaganda which has been swallowed whole by millions of deluded people? Like the “trans” nonsense, “Black Lives Matter” nonsense, it is but one part of a sinister jigsaw.
Late music
Ian Robert Millard 
Yes, Metropolitan Police, why bother enforcing the law? After all, it is so damm tedious especially in this hot weather!
I bet you would though if someone openly said they didn’t want an Indian or African for PM but woe betide doing so to enforce heath regulations during a worldwide viral pandemic.
No wonder so many people needlessly died in this country compared to a well governed country that takes law and order seriously like Singapore where they had very few deaths.
Frankly, why is the Met in existence? Why pay salaries to officers who are so very selective in which laws they enforce and not others?
Those people who deliberately flouted heath regulations should be followed-up and punished. They intentionally broke the law through their ignorance and selfishness so they should pay the price.
Only choosing to uphold some laws and not others brings ALL laws into disrepute.
No wonder we have a confirmed criminal like Rishi running for leader of the self-proclaimed ‘party of law and order’, crime is out of control in London and the once respected Met is a TOTAL FARCE that earns the contempt of the law abiding and the criminal fraternity.
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One of the very biggest ‘black marks’ against Sunak is that he is a confirmed CRIMINAL and yet he is running for the leadership of the self- proclaimed ‘party of law and order’ and will be PM if he is selected.
Boris also became a criminal but that was when he was ALREADY IN office! Sunak should be ruled out on that basis alone.
Whatever little credibility the Tories do still retain with the British electorate should, in theory, be smashed to tiny pieces should he become their leader and PM. Any halfway normal country can’t have a PM who willingly breaks the laws he expects ordinary people to abide by. It is that brutally simple. If he does become leader and PM I want to hear no more nonsense about being the ‘party of law and order’ being spouted and ‘softness on law and order’ accusations labeled at Labour and Lib Dems!
Yes, they are a mediocre bunch but for all their manifest faults the others are not criminals.
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So, we should be reduced to Badenoch, Truss, Tugendhat and Mordaunt. The best ethnic candidate was Suella Braverman as at least she wanted to get rid of the European Convention on Human Rights.
I think the Tory Party’s best overall bet is with Penny Mordaunt. She isn’t likely to be loved (what Tory leader ever is with the broad mass of the people?) but I doubt whether she will be actively loathed either. Also, she isn’t particularly associated with the omnishambles of Boris Johnson’s administration and the ‘Benny Hill Tribute Act Years’ like Sunak undoubtedly is.
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For me, Sunak, is at the bottom of the list not Tugendhat. Call me old-fashioned if you will but I can’t possibly look-up to and respect ANY PM from a party, least of all one from the self-proclaimed ‘party of law and order’, who condones law breaking and has committed a criminal act himself.
We have sadly broken our previously ultra-clean record in this regard with Boris but he wasn’t a criminal CANDIDATE for high office!
That is a firm NO to the criminal Sunak!
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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11005899/After-discovering-family-Belarus-refugees-Natasha-Kaplinsky-launched-rescue.html. Pity her “fellow” tribesmen and women are not so generous in Israel! 🤔
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nativewarrior14:
I have no great objection to well-meaning people putting up Ukrainian families in the UK until they can return home. After all, they are Europeans, and at least some of them (those from parts of Eastern Ukraine) are genuine refugees. However, this is being co-ordinated (propagandistically) on some level.
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Even with my hardline ‘Right-wing’ natavist views on immigration and asylum seekers I have no problem with Ukrainian refugees especially those from the Eastern part of that country but we do have to remember that asylum in a country is MEANT to be TEMPORARY refuge from GENUINE danger NOT a means to evade normal immigration rules.
For far too long, British governments have not treated it in this way ie why do we still have Jews in this country from Austria and Germany? The war and the Nazi regime ended in 1945. Jews should have been required to return to those countries as soon as the Nazi regime fell.
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John:
I agree, overall.
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Hello Ian: Can you explain to me why conveyancing takes so bloody long in your country? I don’t get it. Also, I gather prices of properties are dropping, is it so?
Sorry, another question. How is possible that “there is a shortage of conveyancers”? After all, correct me if I am wrong, I read that any solicitor can act as a conveyancer. I know a person who, many years ago sold his house in the UK without employing the services of a conveyancer/solicitor. perhaps, that is no longer possible?
Another question, my wife told me that barristers are on strike in the UK. I was shocked, they are the last people I imagine would be on strike. Aren’t they making enough money? (LOL)
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Claudius:
Re. conveyancing, I do know a bit about it, because I once took it as an option for the Bar Finals (well over 30 years ago). Don’t ask me why. My other option was Private International Law.
The present exam system for the Bar is quite different, incidentally.
Yes, any solicitor can convey property. There are also “licensed conveyancers” who have their own professional body.
Few if any barristers do such work, though if a dispute or legal question arises, some advise on it, or appear in court if any dispute gets that far.
I think that the slow speed of many property transactions in England and Wales (Scotland has a different system) is because the “enquiries” and “searches” that are made (as to rights that “flow with the land”, any “cautions”, “restrictions” or “prohibitions” on the land in question etc) involve contact with several parties. It is also a question of an arguably too-leisurely legal culture.
Yes, you can do without a conveyancer and/or solicitor in England and Wales. Usually not a very good idea: see
https://hmlandregistry.blog.gov.uk/2014/02/24/conveyancing-solicitor-or-diy/
As to barristers on strike, yes— *some* barristers are “withholding their labour” on specified days now. They are criminal (and maybe some family) practitioners. They want an increase in the quantum paid re. legal aid fees (out of public money). It is true that *some* barristers, esp. those doing criminal and family legally-aided work, esp. the ones who have been at the Bar less than 5 years, do make very modest livings.
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Thank you very much for the explanations. Last year my wife read of an extremely rare case in the UK. A man went on holiday and when he returned found another person living in his house. I know that sounds very bizarre, but a man broke into his house and stole his birth certificate and other important documents including his house’s deed and proceed to sell the house.
As he presented all the documents they believed he was the rightful owner and bingo!. As far as I know, the real owner could not do much about it. I cannot believe it. What do you think?
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Claudius:
“Deeds” to a property are now only of *secondary* evidential value (and historical value—they are no longer updated) in England (and Wales). The primary evidence is the entry on the Land Register (usually put in the singular for lay purposes, though in fact there are *three* registers within the one, rather like the Trinity)— the property register, the proprietorship (or ownership) register, and the charges register: see the blog below.
https://hmlandregistry.blog.gov.uk/2018/05/10/the-abc-of-title-registers/
Of course, this means that if a fraudster can trick the Land Registry into changing the ownership (title), then the fraudster might be able either to pretend to have a right to live in the property, or even to sell it.
There have been some cases similar to the one you mention.
The police will only get involved if it is clear that the fraudster *is* a fraudster and has no true legal right; this will often be difficult to prove, initially, because the register will show that, prima facie, he has title.
There is a procedure for rectification. It may require a court action, and is unlikely to be speedy.
ps: my remarks, above, about deeds as title documents, are correct as to “registered” conveyancing (which is about 98%, perhaps now 99%, of all conveyancing in England) but I should have added that there still exists “unregistered” conveyancing, involving land (and buildings thereon) which has never been transferred (bought/sold/devolved by will) since the passing of the various sale of property laws of 1925, or is exempt. Such land is usually that comprising entailed country estates and the like. “Deeds” or other paper documents of title can still be determinative in those cases.
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Another treacherous tart! She obviously likes dark chocolate!
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What a lovely picture! An English sports team entirely comprised of people who are actually ethnically English! If only the men’s team was similar. Does anyone else think the FA has had a sort of unwritten rule since the early 1980’s that the English mens’ teams and, in particular, the most famous senior one, is required to have at least one black or half-caste team member on the pitch at all times?
The England football team has certainly been used to promote diversity and the alleged wonders of multi-culturalism by the PC, anti-nationalist brigade. One would wonder if there has been a planned campaign all along to do this with FA involvement behind the scenes.🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
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Good point John. I am quite sure that in the English FA must exist a law/article that says that a certain percentage of players must be non-white.
BTW, how gorgeous are the girls from the English team!
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So does this work the other way around when I and others say the English men’s senior team has too many black/half-caste players within it?
No, I didn’t think it would!🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
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Bob Moran, all you have to do is drop the ‘A’ from your surname and replace it with ‘O’ and it will be an accurate self-descrption.
Justin Trudeau is no ‘fascist’ quite the opposite actually. He is just a PM who has done a fairly good job regarding COVID in his country of Canada and saved lives not that you give a damm about the sanctity of human life like all
libertarian extremists don’t .
I think it says everything that you are so extreme ranting about COVID and the measures various governments including our own took regarding the most serious worldwide viral pandemic and public health crisis since 1918 that even the Daily Telegraph sacked you!
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“Italy’s fascist party leader could be first female prime minister after current PM resigned” https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11019815/amp/Italys-fascist-party-leader-female-prime-minister-current-PM-resigned.html Sounds promising!
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Yes, that could be a good scenario for Italy. However, The Daily Mail, is, yet again, showing it is a globalist rag nowdays unlike in the 1930’s. The Brothers of Italy party is NOT ‘fascist’! It is a nationalist/national-conservative, pro- Italian, Eurosceptic, strong on law and order party.
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Although I was not born in Italy I am ethnically 100% Italian and I get emotional when I watch this. What a pity Mussolini was such a fool! There was no need for Italy to enter the war! Anyway, the fact is that between 1922 and 1940 Italy was a happy and prosperous country.
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Yes, Mussolini was very foolish to engage Italy in that conflict and even more stupid to make the United Kingdom an official enemy by declaring war on us! (We were allies in WW1). Italy should have remained neutral as Spain was under Francisco Franco and Portugal under Salazar. Hitler was clearly contemptuous of Italy and didn’t really respect them so what possible benefit was there in Italy taking part?
If Mussolini had done the more sensible course of action he may have lasted in power as long as those other dictators did.
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Very good observation John: In the past, I spoke to many Italians who lived under Mussolini, some of them were not Fascists, and ALL of them told me they were very happy with the Fascist regime but cursed Mussolini (quite rightly so) the day he declared war on Britain and France. Had he not been so stupid he would have died peacefully in power in the 1960s!
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John: with respect I think you are wrong about Hitler and Mussolini. In particular you seem to forget that Hitler ordered the rescue of Mussolini, while he was imprisoned and the mission was successfully conducted by Otto Skorzeny, if memory serves me correct!
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Yes, there was that but Hitler was pretty contemptuous of Italy as a country and he undeniably thought the Italian armed forces were useless and not worthy of being officially allied with the Third Reich. Der Fuhrer didn’t think much of Italians as a people ie not as highly thought of as Northern Europeans but still better than Slavs like Poles.
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Off topic: sick of hearing about this Coloniser MP’s so-called intellect and courage by her Muppet supporters – sorry I just don’t see it! 🤔 https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/19227873/leo-docherty-friend-kemi-badenoch-for-pm/
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The only ethnic candidate who was any good at all was Suella Braverman. She doesn’t come across too badly ie quite ‘normal’ but she is a bit of a cow.
Tory MPs are desperate as is the party! You, as well as the country, may have noticed!😃😃😃😀😀☹️☹️☹️😥😥😥
Apart from the possible exception of Jeremy Hunt, ALL the candidates both ethnic and non ethnic alike are a mediocre bunch and a poor and dismal display for a supposedly major party.
In the absence of Marine Le Pen, Alice Weidel of Germany’s Afd party or Lady Diana Mosley, it will have to be Lady Penelope Mary Mordaunt of the Portsmouth North constituency.
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Lady Penelope of Thunderbird’s fame is the only candidate who might be able to stem the flow of votes away from the Tories. I suspect the others, especially Sunak the snake, will just piss people off and make them either actively vote Labour, Lib Dem or just abstain in utter despair. Voting Labour or abstaining applies particularly in those crucial Tory held ‘Red Wall’ seats up North in Yorkshire etc and in Wales. Those seats will determine if the Tories retain office or not.
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Some of these seats are very marginal indeed with a full fourteen of them being able to be lost on a swing of UNDER 1% to the Opposition parties:
http://www.electionpolling.co.uk/battleground/defence/conservative
http://www.electionpolling.co.uk
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John:
Can fake Labour really win 40 Con seats?
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John:
Yes. My own view, blogged about fairly often, is that both main System parties have been steadily losing their armies of always-loyal voters, but that is more true at this point of Labour.
I see the major problem that both main System parties have as being one of apathy, or apathy plus “damn both of them or all of them!”.
I think that Labour is pretty broken really. It ceased to be a socialist or even semi-socialist party about 30 years ago, early 1990s. The wrapping of rhetoric gave it victory in 1997, and that (plus some actual activity/policy) carried it through until 2010, but I have been looking at the by-elections over the years since Corbyn was dumped and see Labour going nowhere but down, even in the few seats they have won.
Labour no longer represents “the working man —and woman—“, and really has no role at all now *except* its default position as the only serious opposition party, but it has been an Opposition without actual opposition for years and years. Immigration, “Covid”, Ukraine, Jews etc. Pretty similar to Con Party.
I doubt that Labour can recover to the point where it wins an actual majority even though the Con Party is plainly despised (and despite the deadheads presently competing to be leader).
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It will ‘win’ not through persuading large numbers of people to actively vote Labour but through mass Tory abstention. Sunak is not the kind of person that appeals to the Tory ‘base’ especially in lower income ‘Red Wall’ seats.
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The chances of a Labour majority are rated quite highly and a hung parliament with Labour being the biggest party even higher here:
https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/homepage.html
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John:
Electoral Calculus is very entertaining (in the manner of Solitaire) but I have found that it can be misleading.
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Hello John: I remember Lady Penelope from Thunderbirds (I loved that show!) but to which candidate are you referring to? I am at a loss because Lady Penelope was very good looking (LOL) You don’t have an idea how much you made me laugh! (LOL)
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I am referring to Penny Mordaunt. Her real full name is Penelope Mary Maudaunt.
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Penelope Mary Mordaunt rather! My mistake!
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Silly of me!!! Of course!!! Penny is short for Penelope! What a fool I am! (LOL) Well, based on her looks she is the ONLY candidate possible (LOL) She is very pretty.
Seriously, I heard she is quite liberal/woke on certain issues but that is to be expected. If I was a Brit I will vote for her, as Ian said, “she is the best of a poor bunch”
PS: I have two dolls full of pins, one of Rishi Sunak and the other of Liz Truss (LOL)
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Yes, they can if the Tories make the wrong choice with the worst of the remaining candidates being the criminal Sunak. The way he acts is just so off putting. Boasting about one’s wealth is pretty Chavvy behaviour even for a Premiership footballer (even most of them have the good sense and class not to do this) but especially galling when a large slice of the electorate is facing a cost of living crisis which is set to continue for quite a long period into the future. He is too ‘slick’. The very nature of the electorate in some of these seats and, in particular, those most likely to even consider voting Tory means he is a big potential vote loser in those critical marginals.
The Tories have already lost one in that by-election in Wakefield. Yes, it was a by-election but the swing was a lot bigger than what was needed.
At the last election, the Tories won a lot of them not through their own vote share increasing much but rather through Brexit Party intervention and Labour voters abstaining. If they choose Sunak, this abstaining will happen with the Tory voters.
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To have any hope at all of winning the next election which is going to very difficult to put it mildly the Tories will need to positively enthuse that part of the electorate most liable to consider voting Tory and in particular in the kind of seats the ‘Red Wall’ marginals are. Sunak is not that person.
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I suspect the next election will produce a hung parliament with Labour as the largest party but we may well be close to the ‘tipping point’ where a very small Labour majority is inevitable hence the importance of this present leadership contest and the RIGHT choice this time being made.
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John:
Going where the angels fear to tread, I should hazard a very early guess at a hung Parliament, with Conservatives largest party.
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The game in British politics at the moment is not so much who can win over switchers from the other main parties but who can enthuse those voters who are likely to vote Tory or Labour.
Penny Mordaunt is more likely to do that at least in the marginal seats that matter.
Abstention/Don’t know who I will vote for at the next election is the biggest danger for the Tories and it is what is causing the Labour leads.
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John:
I should say that Penny Mordaunt’s strengths are
* She is white/English;
* She has pretty much steered clear of the Boris-idiot disaster of 2019-2022;
* She is not completely alien in manner and mentality.
Her weaknesses are relative lack of experience in government, and *alleged* carelessness and/or inability.
Hitler had no “experience of government” at all until 1932. Look what he achieved even in the first few years.
For me, Mordaunt is maybe the best of a pathetically-poor bunch.
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I agree with your assessment. Also, She has fought and won the previously marginal Labour-held seat of Portsmouth North which is a constituency that is pretty average in its social make-up and a previous ‘bellweather’ seat ie one that normally swings with the national tide of opinion. Therefore, she probably has some kind of inkling into how ordinary people think.
Rishi Sunak, Kemi Badenoch, Tom Tugendhat, Liz Truss all hold exceptionally safe Tory seats that apart from Truss’s seat of Norfolk South West in 1997 and 2001 have never been seriously under threat of being lost. Truss’s constituency is the 11th safest in the country for her party.
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