Color Scheme
Alex Wickham
16, May #StarmerCrisis

Alex Wickham: NEW: Bloomberg Saturday read…

*NEW: Bloomberg Saturday read* 💥 MPs loyal to Keir Starmer say Ed Miliband and Wes Streeting both plotted against him throughout the last year, destabilising then destroying the government and plunging Britain into chaos. 💥 Miliband orchestrated Andy Burnham’s plot to become PM from within cabinet. MPs loyal to Starmer accuse Miliband of betrayal. It is being compared to when he stood against his brother for the leadership in 2010. 💥 They say it is immensely frustrating that, rather than focus on their very important jobs and rally together behind the PM at a time of global crisis, Miliband, Burnham and Streeting instead acted for personal gain to advance their own careers. 💥 Allies of Miliband, Burnham and Streeting each argue they were motivated by saving Labour from Starmer’s disastrous leadership and stopping Britain falling to Farage. They say he had become the most unpopular PM in history and there is no way he could have led Labour into the next election. 💥 But some people loyal to Starmer wish he had sacked Streeting and Miliband for their disloyalty when he learned of it last year. Some wanted him to do so at the time. Starmer didn’t, fearing instability. 💥 One senior figure expresses their complete disbelief that Labour is behaving as badly as the Tories after only a fraction of the time, descending into factionalism, regicide and collapse. They say they never thought it was possible. 💥 The left of the party is scathing about Starmer’s legacy. A senior person on the left says that from day one Rachel Reeves was out of her depth as chancellor. They say when the history books are written about the Starmer government it is Reeves who will come off worst. 💥 A source close to Starmer blames Trump as the person singularly responsible for the failure of his premiership. They say from the moment Trump was elected the global crises that followed meant Starmer was never able to focus enough on the domestic priorities of voters. They argue no PM in decades has had to deal with a threat to Britain’s interests like that posed by Trump. They wish Labour had pulled together. 💥 They say if the Democrats had won the election things would have been completely different. Starmer wouldn’t have made what he considers to be his worst ever mistake, appointing Mandelson. It was a Bloomberg News investigation that brought down Mandelson, precipitating a period of crisis for Starmer from which he never recovered. 💥 Some on the Labour right consider Starmer’s capitulation on the welfare vote to be the beginning of the end because it emboldened the soft-left to expand their plots against him and ultimately try to take him out. One says Labour has “100 Liz Trusses” on its backbenches. Investors warn a more left-wing PM will be at the mercy of bond vigilantes. Gilts and the pound slumped on Friday as Burnham’s route to power became clear. 💥 Burnham’s supporters say he will be PM by Labour conference in September. A source of widespread amusement across Labour is that Streeting didn’t have the numbers and blew it, handing the leadership to Burnham and Miliband. Those two want what they call an “orderly transition.” Recent experience of British politics suggests the chances of that are slim. How Keir Starmer Imploded and Plunged Britain Into More Chaos >>>
#StarmerCrisis
Lee Hurst
16, May #BrokenSystem

Lee Hurst: It does no cause any good whatsoever…

It does no cause any good whatsoever to make a claim like this ‘millions’. Plural. That means Tommy Robinson believes at least 2 million attended the march. The police reckon 50,000. I invite anyone to use AI to calculate how many people could fit in the full route of any protest. All protest organisers overestimate their numbers. Tommy has and the Lefturds today have. It’s childish of both of them.
#BrokenSystem
Patrick Henningsen
16, May #SpeechClampdown

Patrick Henningsen: WHY ARE SO MANY PEOPLE BEING BANNED…

🟠 WHY ARE SO MANY PEOPLE BEING BANNED FROM THE UK? FREE SPEECH VS HATE SPEECH (PART2) This video reveals the issue of media censorship tied to political influences and the ongoing battle for free speech. We delve into the issues of banned entries, visa refusals, and the UK's influence in Palestinian history, while also examining the challenging balance between upholding free speech and preventing hate speech. 🔔 FYI - WE ARE HEAVILY SHADOWBANNED ON YOUTUBE - HELP US BEAT THEIR ALGORITHM - PLEASE LIKE & SUB. LINK IN THE COMMENTS Segment aired on May 15, 2026 @ukcolumn
#SpeechClampdown
Daniel Lacalle
16, May #CostOfLiving

Daniel Lacalle: Oil spikes and wars grab headlines…

Oil spikes and wars grab headlines, but they do NOT create persistent inflation. ❌ Blaming “oil” or “wars” for persistent inflation is comforting—and wrong. They move relative prices for a while, but they do not make the aggregate price level rise year after year. ❌ Oil shocks reshuffle prices: energy up, something else down. Unless central banks and governments validate the shock with massive spending and easy money, the overall inflation rate falls back. A one‑off oil spike cannot explain years of rising aggregate prices. If oil prices or “supply chains” caused inflation, we would have had deflation between 2022 and 2025. Instead, aggregate prices kept rising as governments spent and printed at record levels. ❌ Wars are usually disinflationary. They freeze or destroy investment plans, delay big consumption decisions, and raise uncertainty. Households and companies cancel or postpone spending—they don’t go on a buying spree. ✅ What turns temporary shocks into persistent inflation is policy. Massive fiscal deficits, monetized by central banks, keep demand above supply and embed higher prices into the system: more units of currency chasing the same goods and services. ✅ The pattern is clear: every time central banks and governments flood the system with liquidity and deficit spending, core inflation moves up and stays up. When they finally cut spending and tighten policy, inflation rolls over—regardless of oil or war headlines. ✅ Inflation is not a mysterious external monster. It is a political choice: spend, borrow, and print beyond the real capacity of the economy, and the unit of account gets diluted. Stop doing that, and “persistent” inflation disappears. ✅ Wars and oil shocks matter for volatility and individual prices, but the only reason aggregate prices keep marching higher year after year is simple: governments that refuse to adjust spending, and central banks that refuse to say no. Stop asking the government for “free” things. You will pay for them many times over. Graph via FRED
#CostOfLiving
Carl Benjamin
16, May #BrokenSystem

Carl Benjamin: Read what he's saying here…

Read what he's saying here and take it seriously. To him, you are not British if you don't worship the NHS and BBC: it's purely the institutions of society that matter, which is why the people are fungible and can be replaced as long as the institutions survive. This is a kind of wet fascism, where the state is the god that exists eternally and crafts the people in its image. The irony is, of course, that legacy 20th Century institutions are not eternal, they are temporal, fallible, and unfit for purpose now. It also ludicrously implies that Nelson and Wellington were not British as they didn't sacrifice their firstborn to the holy NHS or BBC. Torsten won't engage with these critiques because he can't, indeed, he will likely block me because he's Swedish.
#BrokenSystem
Lee Hurst
16, May #BrokenSystem

Lee Hurst: Police estimates of today’s UTK march…

Police estimates of today’s UTK march are about half the previous one last year. Anyone following me will note that I consider protests to be a day out, nothing more. Protests achieve nothing therefore it’s hardly unsurprising that the numbers are down as the last one achieved nothing. The Lefturds achieved nothing with their Nakba Jew hate fest either. The ballot box is where the power is, nowhere else, but walking around on your own putting leaflets through doors is boring compared to a get together in London. However it has far more effect. The amount of money spent today by the people involved, maybe £25 per head x 50,000 would amount to circa £1.5 million. This could pay Royal Mail to distribute a political leaflet for an election, door to door, to over 20 million homes.
#BrokenSystem
Dale Vince
15, May #StarmerCrisis

Dale Vince: I think it’s the worst thing Labour…

I think it’s the worst thing Labour could do right now, there’s no reason to panic over some adverse polling less than two years into a ten year project - and some of what we’re seeing is more opportunism than panic - but if there is to be a leadership contest my first choice for the job would be Keir, that’s who I’ll back. The NHS has been battered for 14 years by Tory neglect and underfunding. Just as things are starting to turn a corner, Wes decides to walk away from a job he’s actually good at. Because he’s lost confidence apparently. Hard to square that with his talk of being proud to fight in the trenches with Keir at the general election. When the going gets tough and all that…... People around Ed Miliband have been briefing that he’s urged Keir to set a timetable to walk away - unhelpful enough to say it - worse to leak it to the press. Ed is seen as a potential contender, I’m not convinced. A few weeks ago, he told the country he would finally break the link, the market mechanism that drives our energy bills sky-high in a crisis - the following week he announced the details and he did not break the link or even weaken it. Ed misled the country in my view and the Prime minister. Keir's top team should be standing behind him right now - and not with knives in their hands. How about some policy ideas? This whole leadership circus is a massive distraction from the job, not just at a time of global crisis but at a time when the people of Britain are making clear they want more change, they want to feel the change in their lives. The answer to that, some seem to think - is to have a new leader. That’s a delusion and often enough a conceit, sold to us on the premise it’s in the national interest or the party’s interest - when the truth is much closer to home. Labour has a job to do and a mandate to do it. Let’s get on with it.
#StarmerCrisis
Liz Webster
15, May #StarmerCrisis

Liz Webster: Keir Starmer is the architect of his own political crisis…

🔴 Keir Starmer is the architect of his own political crisis. He entered Downing Street declaring he would do unpopular things. That was the fatal mistake. A huge 2024 majority built largely on anti-Tory tactical voting was treated like a personal mandate for pain instead of a warning to rebuild trust. Winter Fuel cuts. Farm tax on family holdings. Welfare tightening. Brexit trade politics stitched together through executive power while Parliament was sidelined. All delivered by a leader the country never truly knew or emotionally connected with. Starmer governed as if voters owed Labour loyalty simply for not being the Conservatives. 🔥 Now the consequences have arrived with @AndyBurnhamGM as a unifying alternative. Britain wants a different political direction: • end austerity • less Westminster managerialism • end Brexit denial • and less attachment to the post-2010 economic model Starmer hasn’t lost public trust, he never won it in the first place! He mistook relief for enthusiasm and that is why the civil war has begun. #Burnham4PM
#StarmerCrisis
Ben Judah
15, May #WarSpillover

Ben Judah: There is a lack of seriousness in the Franco-British plan…

There is a lack of seriousness in the Franco-British plan for a Maritime Coalition to “unblock the Straits of Hormuz.” It will only operate —“with Iranian permission.” Our Gulf partners don’t need us to do deals with Iran to reopen the Straits. They can do that on their own. Presenting what are essentially media and Trump management plans like this as a serious endeavour in the Gulf to allies who can see through them undermines our credibility. Better modesty and honesty: we can offer some maritime support once others make a deal to help drive down maritime insurance. https://gov.uk/government/news/uk-and-france-to-lead-multinational-strait-of-hormuz-military-planning-conference#:~:text=At%20the%20Summit%2C%20they%20called,and%20conduct%20mine%20clearance%20operations.
#WarSpillover
Edwin Hayward
15, May #StarmerCrisis

Edwin Hayward: Labour's dire situation is easy to understand…

Labour's dire situation is easy to understand if you look at it with eyes wide open. Starmer won a huge majority of MPs but Labour's vote share in doing so was very low at just 33.7%. Compare that to Johnson in 2019 who won 43.6% of all votes. It's only FPTP that delivered the parliamentary majority Labour now enjoy. So any "Labour landslide" narrative strictly applies only to the number of Labour MPs in power, but crucially not to Labour's appeal with voters in general. A lot of the 33.7% were people who just wanted to see the back of the Tories. They weren't Starmer Labour voters. They would have voted for a balloon on a stick. Now add in rising interest in Reform and in the Green Party since 2024, and you'll see that Starmer's wafer thin actual electoral advantage has been obliterated. Put plainly: Labour WILL lose in 2029 unless something DRASTIC changes. (And even then they may well yet lose.) Starmer cannot make drastic changes. His hands are tied by his role in drafting the manifesto, by his various red lines, by his actions in the first two years as PM, and by the slate of upcoming initiatives he just unveiled in the King's Speech. But a new leader (especially someone not closely connected with Starmer's administration and therefore untainted by it) could tear everything up and start fresh in a completely different direction. Would that be enough? Who knows. It would take some skilled manoeuvring, that's for sure. Will Labour lose if they continue under Starmer? 100%. Roll the dice: have a chance. Stay the course: failure guaranteed.
#StarmerCrisis
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