[Boiler]

Oh god we're screwed.

Just remember - as if you needed to - that a very large economy on the other side of the Atlantic voted for a 'reality' TV host to become its President.

As we drown ever more in 'influencers' and sleb worship, it'll come here...

I'm just waiting for the US to make Mr. Beast their president. Or a Kardashian.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Neil Kinnock's stuck it to Farage about reopening coal mines in South Wales.

Hopefully this absolute rubbish will hurt Reform. Welsh people, they need to work in coal mines. Did Farage tell his neighbors in Kent they should be working in hop fields? I hope he never shows up in Herefordshire. We're quite an affliuent county now, but he'll tell us to stop getting above ourselves and go to work in the derelict orchards.

[Oboogie]

I really don't understand where this Farage-man-of-the-people thing has come from, as far as I'm concerned he dresses like a toff and talks like a toff. What are people seeing that I'm not?

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I really don't understand where this Farage-man-of-the-people thing has come from, as far as I'm concerned he dresses like a toff and talks like a toff. What are people seeing that I'm not?

The emperor's new clothes?

[satnav]

Farage is still trying to spin the line that he isn't really a politicians. Allowing to appear on I'm celebrity and presenting shows on GB News help him to create the pretence that he's not part of the establishment.

When I saw the Kinnock interview earlier it did get me thinking that Labour really needs a new Dennis Skinner in the Commons. I can remember when David Owen was leader of the SDP, every time he stood up in the Commons, Skinner would shout something like 'Here comes doctor Death' in reference to the fact that the SDP did very well in by-elections after an MP died. Skinner really got under Owen's skin and undermined whatever Owen said. Somebody like John McDonald could probably pull it off.

[Tubby Isaacs]

James McMurdock could be in a lot more trouble than I thought. The Sunday Times alleges he wrongly claimed tens of thousands in bounce back loans.

Where’s the by-election?

[Oboogie]

I really don't understand where this Farage-man-of-the-people thing has come from, as far as I'm concerned he dresses like a toff and talks like a toff. What are people seeing that I'm not?

The emperor's new clothes?

Funny you should say that but, when I see him in his tweed cap, Barbour and brogues, what he most reminds me of is the Royal family at Balmoral off to waste some wildlife. The Royal Family - literally top of the posh!

*Ok the King is no longer an emperor, but his Great Grandaddy was so that's close.

[Boiler]

I really don't understand where this Farage-man-of-the-people thing has come from, as far as I'm concerned he dresses like a toff and talks like a toff. What are people seeing that I'm not?

Because he gives the impression of talking to people, rather than at them? Otherwise, I dunno.

[Yug]

Did Farage tell his neighbors in Kent they should be working in hop fields?

And the coal mines. The Kent and East Sussex Light Railway was built to tap into the coal traffic from the Kent coalfield. The last Kentish pit closed in the 1980's. I'm sure Pop Larkin would love a job down the mine.

[Boiler]

Also, ISTR that hop pickers were drawn from East London as well as the travelling communities.

[Watchman]

I really don't understand where this Farage-man-of-the-people thing has come from, as far as I'm concerned he dresses like a toff and talks like a toff. What are people seeing that I'm not?

He somehow legitimises all their prejudices

[Watchman]

Did Farage tell his neighbors in Kent they should be working in hop fields?

And the coal mines. The Kent and East Sussex Light Railway was built to tap into the coal traffic from the Kent coalfield. The last Kentish pit closed in the 1980's. I'm sure Pop Larkin would love a job down the mine.

And there wasn’t so many locals working in the Kent coalfield, there was a large influx from Scotland. It did have a reputation as being on the militant side

[Samanfur]

I really don't understand where this Farage-man-of-the-people thing has come from, as far as I'm concerned he dresses like a toff and talks like a toff. What are people seeing that I'm not?

Like Trump, he gets away with what his fanbase would dearly love to.

What he is wasn't a secret even years ago, but the demographic he tends to pitch to doesn't tend to listen to the mainstream because they don't understand it, don't trust it or both.

[Andy McDandy]

There's a certain type of toff - that couple off Gogglebox, Clarkson, Johnson, Harry Enfield's Tim Nice-but-Dim - who (in the words of the latter) tend to be classed as "bloody good blokes". They may live in mansions, but they talk straight, love a pint, and end of the day, whatever our differences, we're all bloody good blokes, aren't we?

Part of it's illusion, or presenting what we expect to see. Johnson a straight talker? Take one of his speeches, rip out all the cod Latin, and even then you're left with bilge. But what he can do is project a message - you may not follow the thread, but you get the gist of what he's saying.

As with Fargle - his latest brainfart on the NHS could be translated as "How many grand for an op? I know a bloke down the canalside, fifty quid and half an hour, bish bash bosh, job done. And it'll look as good as anything you get on the NHS". Likewise his comments on local government - "What's that? You're having a laugh! What's one of those when it's at home? And we're paying for that? Do me a favour!".

I hate to say it, but the tactic works. Whether it's Johnson's "This is all daft, you and I both know it, but I'll let you in on the joke that none of these people get it either", Clarkson's "This ought to be simple, but it's actually complicated - by people who want to spoil your fun", or Fargle's "This ought to be easy, but it's being made complicated by clever buggers", it cuts through. Clever fuckers are getting under your feet. Wouldn't it be great to get rid of them?

[Boiler]

Clever fuckers are getting under your feet. Wouldn't it be great to get rid of them?

Didn't someone try that in Cambodia/Kampuchea?

My usual response to that is "Okay, try fixing your car with a hammer and see how far you get."

I used to get fucking sick of that from that unfathomably-feted ape Clarkson and his tagnut Hammond on Top Gear.

[Boiler]

I’m amazed that none of them seem to have zeroed in on special needs education yet. It’s a very big part of the budget. The message that “lots of these kids are just badly behaved” is grimly sellable to Reform’s voters, I’d have thought. Say what you like about Elon’s Doge, they’d have spotted the big sums. Reform have been distracted by flags and DEI.

Errrr... from today's Guardian:

After disability benefits, is Labour really about to target the educational rights of special needs children?