1960s UK Holiday Traffic

Rabble Babble

Angela Rayner fund used by councils for 'anti-right propaganda' to stop Nigel Farage becoming PM

Angela Rayner’s £15million community recovery fund financed "anti-Right-wing propaganda" via training materials designed to counter support for Reform UK and the Conservatives, according to fresh documents...

According to the documents, the programme included guidance on countering anti-immigration arguments, opposing protests and preventing working-class communities from moving towards right-wing politics.

An online booking form for a training session warned of an “impending disaster of a Reform UK government”.

Other materials described Nigel Farage as an “authoritarian populist" and encouraged activists to challenge narratives linking migration to pressure on public services and housing.

It's a tad trivial this, and all very crude, playing transparent language games such as “impending disaster of a Reform UK government” and  “authoritarian populist". 

Oh well, the chance of worthwhile political reform seems vanishingly slender anyway. If Reform UK is seen as a genuine threat to the Establishment, which it probably isn't, then there would be no limits to the measures taken to forestall that.

Meanwhile, if we are playing language games, then Andrew Burnham does come across as comfortable with becoming an authoritarian populist himself, although given his limitations and the rabble behind him, he may find the populist aspect more troublesome than expected. 

Maybe Burnhams impending disaster beckons already -  


Ex-Burnham adviser says PM is already on the 'downslope' and brands social care plan 'unfundable'

A former adviser to Andy Burnham has warned that the Prime Minister is already on the ‘downslope’ less than three months after taking office.

In a brutal intervention, Andy Haldane said his one-time ally’s ‘high-water mark’ has passed and predicted economic and political trouble as families face a ‘cost-of-living squeeze’ this winter.

And he described Mr Burnham’s plans for a new national care service for people in later life as well-intentioned ‘but probably unfundable’ given the country’s ‘precarious’ fiscal position.

Burnham and his TikTok gravitas

Burnham speaks with all the confidence of a mayor but without the gravitas of a prime minister

• Communication Style: Known for a “tell it like it is” approach and viral TikToks, but his off-the-cuff remarks are increasingly causing controversy.
• Controversial Comments: Remarks on Heathrow expansion and Manchester City ownership sparked confusion and required clarifications from aides and government officials.
• Brexit Intelligence Slip: Shared details of a high-level briefing on Russian interference, forcing ministers to publicly row back and clarify there was no evidence affecting the vote.

Andy Burnham earned his spurs as a great communicator on the back of a few summer TikToks, but is the shine coming off just a couple of months into the new job? While some people still appreciate the supposedly down to earth ‘tell it like it is’ approach, there can be no denying that the PM’s loose lips have got him into hot water in recent weeks. Labour sources concede that Burnham’s tendency to “shoot from the hip” is becoming a problem.

Interesting observation about gravitas within the journalistic tosh. An almost universal characteristic of modern politicians is that they are unable to project gravitas and don't appear to know what it is. 

The closest they generally manage is a kind of solemn demeanour when some tragedy demands it for as long as the cameras are running. They barely manage dignity, many don't know what that is either.

Gravitas doesn't seem suited to our feckless times and the lack of it suggests how frivolous and trivial the public arena has become, even at what is supposedly the highest level of public debate. 

Known for a “tell it like it is” approach
viral TikToks

earned his spurs as a great communicator

the supposedly down to earth ‘tell it like it is’ approach
tendency to “shoot from the hip”

Bah! it is better to keep your mind to yourself until you have quite made it up — you understand? — and even then till the time for action has come, and not even then, unless you want help. Who will sum up the mischief one of those prating fellows does in a lifetime?

Sheridan Le Fanu – Guy Deverell (1865)

Burnham tests the yield point of his audience’s credulity

Andy Burnham says he holds Nigel Farage significantly responsible for UK's miserable decade

Andy Burnham has said he holds Nigel Farage "very significantly responsible" for Britain's failure to move forward in the last decade.

In a rare personal attack on the Reform UK chief, he tore into Brexit "lies" and questioned whether Mr Farage still has the appetite to lead. The Prime Minister accused him of giving Britain "a decade of division and drift" - and accused Russia of interfering with the 2016 referendum.


Already we see Burnham testing what Arthur C. Clarke once described as the yield point of his audience’s credulity. 

It's a useful expression because it seems to lie behind Team Burnham's decision to use Brexit as a major hedge against their man having to shoulder direct responsibility. An understandable strategy now it has become less easy to push responsibility in the direction of the EU itself.

We may also conclude that Team Burnham has assessed the yield point of their audience’s credulity as robust enough for the strategy to work.

He had been listening with a professional pride to tales which even he would never have dared to spin, for he was an expert at detecting the yield point of his audience’s credulity.

Arthur C. Clarke - Tales from the White Hart (1957)

It's legal plunder time again

John Healey faces £35billion budget black hole, IFS warns

Chancellor John Healey faces a £35billion shortfall in the public finances ahead of his first Budget, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

The economic think tank warned that the Government may have to raise taxes, cut welfare spending or scale back some of its promises to balance the books.

Rising inflation has increased the cost of running public services, while the Government also wants to spend more on defence, council housing and a new national care service.

Helen Miller, director of the IFS, said the Chancellor could not deliver a quiet Budget without making difficult decisions.

She said: "A 'steady-as-she-goes' Budget is not an option available to the Chancellor."


Here we are yet again with UK Chancellors plus the media busy redefining Frédéric Bastiat's 'legal plunder' as 'the public finances'. 

But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime.

Frédéric Bastiat - The Law (1850)

Taking Bastiat's more accurate terminology a little further, we could usefully refer to a 'steady-as-she-goes' Budget as a 'plunder-as-she-goes' Budget.

By gum, here's a depressing start to Monday morning

Poet Anne Carson recently won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature. A poet of our times from what little I've managed to read of her output, but Gad Saad has read a little more so we don't have to.

The news cycle returns to familiar ground

Is UK's two-horse race back? Burnham and Badenoch climb up in polls

• Polling Boosts: Labour under Andy Burnham leads at 29%, Conservatives under Kemi Badenoch rise to 20%, while Reform UK and Greens show slowing momentum.
• Conference Impact: Both leaders received positive reactions for their speeches; Badenoch highlighted inheritance tax cuts, Burnham pledged to break from the past 40 years of policy.
• Green Party Challenges: Internal tensions and recent by-election losses under Zack Polanski have weakened Green support, benefiting Labour’s recovery among younger voters.

Andy Burnham and Kemi Badenoch are enjoying polling boosts as political commentators question whether British politics is slowly edging back towards a contest dominated by Labour and the Conservatives.

Amid mounting Westminster speculation about a snap general election, well-received party conference speeches by the Prime Minister Burnham and Conservative leader Badenoch appear to have helped both leaders consolidate support, while momentum for Reform UK and the Green Party shows signs of slowing.