[Malcolm Armsteen]

@Abernathy

Spot on.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Which side are people who think Farage talks shite about almost everything but I'm with him on the boats, on?
I'll keep digging to find the survey I read that over 80% gave that as the reason for voting Reform but his anti net zero and pro Trump bollocks barely registers.

On the question on rounding up illegal immigrants en masse, Farage has enraged the likes of Rupert Lowe by saying this is impractical and won't happen. Farage isn't interested in policy detail so why is he taking this line?

It suits him to have a line he can point to, just like direct dealing with Yaxley-Lennon has been a line. Rupert Lowe's not going to displace him.

Interesting that green energy isn't particularly resonating with Reform voters. They're going for that hugely in Lincolnshire, with the mayoralty, the county council and Tice as a local MP. I wonder if that might need to be dialed down.

[Bones McCoy]

I've spent the last day wondering what Reform is actually going to do in the councils they control. Obviously the diversity officer will get the chop straight away and as will sustainability policies that aren't a lefal requirement. Does it mean no more bus lanes, cycle lanes, speed bumps, 20mph speed limits, parking spaces for people with disabilities? Reform despise pretty much everyone so they could do a lot of damage.

It's all a fug-hing laugh until party of schoolkids are mown down by an old bloke with string-backed glives driving a jag convertible.

[Abernathy]

Well the thing is, virtually every local authority in the country has been chronically underfunded by Tory central government for about the last 15 years, and has already been obliged to make whatever, often massive, savings that they could. There is virtually no area left where savings might conceivably be made. A Tory council leader on C4 news just now was saying that local government auditors these days are apparently as rare as hens’ teeth, and that the Reform wankers will struggle even to find an auditor, let alone “call them in” to cut “woke”expenditure.

So Farage and his tribe of cunts are already coming out with utter bullshit and barefaced lies. Watch this space to see Reform-controlled councils going tits up within a matter of months.

[Youngian]

This was Johnson's shtick when he stood for the London mayoralty. He would have a full audit of Red Ken's horrendous waste but he found nothing. Apart from closing a PR puff piece newspaper trumpeting the mayoralty's achievements. Bozo didn't need that because the media was an open forum for him to bullshit with impunity.

[RedSparrows]

The boats are the issue now, but the machine whirs: it'll make another thing the issue soon enough.

Brexit is a case in point. Nobody gave a shit until it was decided that they must give a shit, and lo, shits were given

[Killer Whale]

[Tubby Isaacs]

They'll just do publicity stunts on Dover Beach.

I'm not confident that they'll fuck up the politics of local government. Can't remember who it was, maybe Sam Freedman, but the big issue with local government isn't "something for nothing", it's "nothing for something". Local government is so reduced to a small number of statutory obligations, that to most people it really does look like they're getting their bins collected and nothing else, for a couple of grand a year or whatever they're paying. Given that a big chunk of the budget is special education for (other people's) children, that's fertile ground for Reform, who'll say there's nothing wrong with loads of these kids anyway,.

The Government are working on SEND, and have allocated some capital to allow more children to be accommodated in mainstream schools, but you'd think that would take a while to make a difference. I foresee a lot of easy Reform grandstanding (and I'm sure they'll have a point about the costs charged by some providers).

[Killer Whale]

There was a time not so long ago when middle class kids with relatively mild special needs got help and working class kids with exactly the same needs got sent to the remedial class. This is the world that Reform want to return to. I do hope their voters in post-industrial England and Wales come to be aware of this.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

There was a time not so long ago when middle class kids with relatively mild special needs got help and working class kids with exactly the same needs got sent to the remedial class. This is the world that Reform want to return to. I do hope their voters in post-industrial England and Wales come to be aware of this.

Given their general lack of intelligence it may affect their families disproportionally.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Farage has gone full in on "schools teaching kids to hate their country". This may be an argument that works better on the Telegraph opinion page than with actual parents, who generally like their kids' teachers. I'm almost glad that so many schools are academies as it'll spare them from embryonic Farage councillors turning up and wasting their time. I wonder if some schools who've stuck happily with the LA might be thinking "Hmm, Labour Government or local Kippers? Let's have another look at converting"

[Youngian]

You might have recently seen Farage post selfies with some teenagers at some youth event. When you saw the bigger picture his speech was being jeered to taunts of 'fascist.' Brainwashing by lefty teachers can be the only explanation as to why these yooths don't think Nigel's marvellous. Something must be done!

[Tubby Isaacs]

I remember when Gove was pushing the "councils running schools" lark. I expect the Gove-type media will now pivot to "Actually, Reform councillors should be able to run the schools".

It'll be interesting to see how many staff walk out from Reform councils. Kent County Council is based in Maidstone, which is one of the nicer towns in Kent, and within fairly easy commuting distance of London. Wouldn't be surprised to see staff look at other options. Be harder to do that in other places, but even in County Durham, the best staff will have options. If I were North Yorkshire council, I'd put out some feelers. "Don't want to work for those goons? Well, we're in Northallerton, it's closer than you think! Yeah, sure you can work from home 3 days a week!"

[Rosvanian]

If Darren Grimes and his like go marching in to Durham County Hall tomorrow and start telling the Head of Legal Serviceds or the Chief Engineer how to do their jobs (and I can quite imagine them doing so), I think there will be a mass exodus of senior management from Reform councils fairly sharpish. Reform will then try to struggle on without replacing them and claim cutting of overpaid, useless, bone idle managers as a triumph of common sense.

[Killer Whale]

If Darren Grimes and his like go marching in to Durham County Hall tomorrow and start telling the Head of Legal Serviceds or the Chief Engineer how to do their jobs (and I can quite imagine them doing so), I think there will be a mass exodus of senior management from Reform councils fairly sharpish. Reform will then try to struggle on without replacing them and claim cutting of overpaid, useless, bone idle managers as a triumph of common sense.

They may try to replace them (as some councils have tried) with consultants brought in on an as-and-when required basis. It's easy to imagine a lean and hungry private sector outfit coming in and doing what would be a whole years' work for a lazy head of transport in just a couple of months. Turns out to cost more - a lot more - in the long term. Consultants are notorious piss-takers who will bamboozle councillors and any junior management remaining in order to fill their pockets with council taxpayers' cash, and leave little left over to fix the actual roads or empty the actual bins.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

If Darren Grimes and his like go marching in to Durham County Hall tomorrow and start telling the Head of Legal Serviceds or the Chief Engineer how to do their jobs (and I can quite imagine them doing so), I think there will be a mass exodus of senior management from Reform councils fairly sharpish. Reform will then try to struggle on without replacing them and claim cutting of overpaid, useless, bone idle managers as a triumph of common sense.

Pen pushers...

[Malcolm Armsteen]

If Darren Grimes and his like go marching in to Durham County Hall tomorrow and start telling the Head of Legal Serviceds or the Chief Engineer how to do their jobs (and I can quite imagine them doing so), I think there will be a mass exodus of senior management from Reform councils fairly sharpish. Reform will then try to struggle on without replacing them and claim cutting of overpaid, useless, bone idle managers as a triumph of common sense.

They may try to replace them (as some councils have tried) with consultants brought in on an as-and-when required basis. It's easy to imagine a lean and hungry private sector outfit coming in and doing what would be a whole years' work for a lazy head of transport in just a couple of months. Turns out to cost more - a lot more - in the long term. Consultants are notorious piss-takers who will bamboozle councillors and any junior management remaining in order to fill their pockets with council taxpayers' cash, and leave little left over to fix the actual roads or empty the actual bins.

A grand a day. At least. Each. Plus exes.

One I knew called his company Upanalp Consultancy. Because in two years it paid for a ski lodge. Up an Alp.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Reform like to see themselves as sticking it to "neoliberals", and probably will dial talk up now that they're going for Labour votes. These councils might be a quick test of that. Probably a fair bit of outsourcing been done already, but it might not be too long before some bin men are being threatened with it, or being outsourced to another private provider prepared to charge the council less. "Sorry no money, blame the special needs kids and asylum seekers" is probably better as a line in The Spectator than as a strategy of dealing with strikes.

[Youngian]

According to the ipaper, Farage is going to send in a team of experts to show Reform councillors how to run stuff. Who these experts are wasn't explained but I'm sure Farage is concerned at what damage his army of dimwits can do.

[Rosvanian]

Ah yes, the team of experts. A decade ago at the start of my second stint in the NHS, NHS England brought in a team of experts to tell the management how to run their Trust. To this day we laugh about what they achieved which, after endless meetings, presentations, arguments, away days, spreadsheets, pivot tables and Powerpoints, amounted to getting rid of the bottled water coolers in a few clinical areas to claim in-year savings of about £30K. The woman in charge of these experts travelled first class from Surrey each Monday morning, stayed in the Hilton in the Toon for 4 nights and got a taxi out to the stix each morning to lecture us each day on cost saving. On Thursday afternoon, she fecked off back to Surrey. This went on for about 4 months. When this was over, the Trust decided to reintroduce the water chillers (the plumbed in version, costing more up- front capital) because of complaints from patients, particularly in maternity. Looking back, it's a classic example of outsiders not having a fucking clue.