[Tubby Isaacs]

Ha ha, that was good.

In other news.

Legal challenge over plan to use East Sussex army camp as asylum housing dismissed
Judge rules that Crowborough residents cannot challenge a decision before it has been formally made

Crowdfunding raised £100k for this waste of everyone's time. This is what the group themselves say.

Kim Bailey, director of Crowborough Shield, said the group would continue to fight the case. “What happened in today’s ruling was a technical issue. It’s just another step in the process. We will be submitting our challenge again in the next few days to the decision to accommodate asylum seekers at Crowborough.”

One of the objections is that the site is too near some rare species. What could that £100k have done for rare species?

[mattomac]

They submitted a challenge even before a decision had been made?

Did they consult Lionel Hutz or something as a lawyer?

Do they claim victory if the decision agrees with them? Like all those "U-turns" we keep hearing about.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Sounds like they were saying that the preparation is showing that the decision has been taken. Or something.

This sounds like a publicity stunt on the back of other people's money.

Actually, they probably didn't spend all the crowdfunding on this case. But I'm guessing that a fair bit could have been done for nature on the back of what they did spend.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Quite an interesting article here.

Shabana Mahmood vows to stick with hardline migration policies after byelection defeat

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... ion-defeat

Looks at first like a standard "nasty Labour doubles down" but it contains an interesting point.

Labour sources have pointed to polling from More In Common showing that a majority of Labour and Green voters supported many of Mahmood’s proposals.

And I think the Labour source is probably right that Muslim voters aren't particularly keen on asylum or illegal immigration.

What might be happening here is like what happened with Michael Howard as Home Secretary. Lots of voters wanted much harsher penal policy (and I think they had a point, when you look at the lenient sentences handed out for ultra violence and very persistent burglary, for instance) but they didn't want it from him.

I can't see how the Green position is politically tenable in the longer term. Perhaps they move to emphasize more international students, care workers etc, and reform the care worker visa- Andrea Egan is right about that. I'm not sure they'll be tearing up everything Shabana does in their manifesto. And there would be a lot to be said for that.

[Tubby Isaacs]

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... rdo-yeovil

Rachel Reeves ‘to give go-ahead’ for £1bn military helicopter deal
Reports say chancellor to sign contract with Italy’s Leonardo, saving 3,000 manufacturing jobs at Yeovil factory

Above my pay grade whether this is the right deal. I would guess that most people think that it is. Even our friend is happy.

The Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham, said the contract was “a tremendous victory for Unite members in Yeovil and across the aerospace sector”.

Perhaps there were negotiations about the price? In any other circumstance, she'd be moaning about the people who run Leonardo. being "fat cats". She (on the Unite website) frames Reeves finding this not inconsiderable amount of money thus-

Of course, we are pleased that the Rachel Reeves has now listened to Unite on this issue.

Utterly graceless. Even when they get exactly what they want, what they really care about is that their mates aren't running the show. And anything good only happens because they've made it happen.

And this cracker.

“Hopefully, the Gorton and Denton by-election will be a wake-up call for the government to start being ‘real Labour’ and to deliver for workers and communities. It can start by getting the full Defence Investment Plan published, including Typhoons and military satellites made in Britain.”

Of all the reasons for the Green victory, I've not seen anyone yet say they thought Zack would deliver the goods on Typhoons and military satellites. Could we at least have some acknowledgement that different people, just within the left. disagree fundamentally on what "real Labour" actually is? And if delivering for communities is handing out £1bn defence contracts for every group of 3,000 workers, then that might be an expensive,

[mattomac]

It certainly took just half a day and reaction to Gorton and Denton to do this deal…

And not probably a few weeks.

Anyhow Simons has resigned which is probably a good thing and the timing is good.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Yes, I think we can live without Mr Simons. Shame, he had a background in his ministry brief. But not that much of a shame.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Strange article from Heather Stewart who is usually very fair. She is fair on the substance, but there's a bizarre subtext that Rachel Reeves could be sacked even though she's stabilized the public finances.

As Mujtaba Rahman of the consultancy Eurasia Group put it on Friday: “Like [Keir] Starmer, the chancellor is also fighting for her political life” – whether because the prime minister himself falls, or chooses to move his chancellor in a reset reshuffle.

What is the Eurasia Group? Why do I care what somebody from there says?

Yet each of Reeves’s moments in the spotlight since then has instead sparked drama and controversy. Within weeks of coming to power, she cut the winter fuel allowance for UK pensioners. Then there was the £25bn national insurance rise in her first budget; botched welfare cuts in last year’s spring statement – and a second stonking round of tax rises last November.

Many of these key decisions, made in the Treasury, have subsequently had to be reversed.

Well indeed. I don't want to get all Alan Partridge "what people forget about the Titanic" but this isn't a particularly balanced summary. I agree about political drama, and this does matter, I'm not saying it doesn't. But Heather is the economics editor. Couldn't we reasonably expect more economics here? A modest Keynesian stimulus has been applied and has kept the markets broadly on sign. It's hardly Kwasi Kwarteng or Black Wednesday stuff.

Andrew Wishart is from something called Berenberg. Not sure why we particularly need to hear from him, but he does in fairness make an economic point.

“We’ve all slated the national insurance tax hike but actually it’s doing the business of bringing in more revenue and closing the deficit,” Wishart says. “It was a curse, now it’s a blessing.”

Taxes in Bringing In Revenue Shock. More as we get it. Perhaps that was why hopeless-should-be-sacked-Reeves brought them in.

Anyway, back to typical Guardian territory.

Reeves announced in November that the watchdog would not formally assess her against her fiscal rules, leaving that task to the autumn budget – if she is still in post to announce it.

You just said the public finances are going better.

But as Labour MPs and No 10 strategists digest the results of Thursday’s byelection, it is unclear whether next week’s deliberately dull spring forecast will mark the beginning of the end of Reeves’s time in No 11, even if the nascent economic upturn continues.

Jesus, not again.