Frances Smith

Resurrecting this thread for purely selfish reasons

So-so UK manufacturing PMI... 😐 After recovering past the recent peaks seen in summer 2024, the headline index fell to a four-month low of 51.9 in July. Some brighter spots in the detail: output and orders both up and price pressures easing, but employment is faltering again.

Andy Burnham and his new Energy Secretary said they would be ‘pragmatic’ when it came to the North Sea. But this morning Miatta Fahnbulleh confirmed they will BAN all new oil and gas licences. How is it pragmatic to favour gas from Norway, the US or Qatar over gas from Britain?

BREAKING: Sunday Times and Sun columnist Rod Liddle has died aged 66 after a short illness, News UK said.

@ramella_jay @King0243_PJC No, not even a distant sail

@francessmith @King0243_PJC There's not a single vessel at sea either - especially not an illegal one!

Reform’s entire attack for two weeks: “Andy hasn’t said a word about the boats.” Then he walks into Dover, stands on the cliffs, looks down the camera and says he’ll be relentless, that he’ll grip it head-on and stop playing politics with it. What’s left for Farage now? Another pint of self-pity and the same old slogans? Farage’s whole act just got wiped. What’s left? 😂

@Rebel_retired @T0mj87 @EssexPR 🤣

@francessmith @T0mj87 @EssexPR Why is it always thick dads from Chelsea who can’t read and understand what people post? 🙄

Why is it always middle class lefty women ?🤦🏻‍♂️😂

@T0mj87 @EssexPR Adam's words were " why is it always middle class leftie women" he didn't mention their appearance. You have though, while pretending to yourself it was him, you're projecting your negative views of them on to him aren't you. 😄

@EssexPR Why is it always thick pub landlords attacking women’s appearances instead of engaging with what they’re actually saying?

Here's the number that terrififies me: the register of Home Office-approved visa sponsors has quadrupled since 2020, from roughly 32,000 to nearly 130,000 organisations. Almost 30,000 of those were added under this Labour government alone. There is no viable operational mechanism for the Home Office to properly vet these sponsors, let alone the individuals they're bringing in. Hundreds of thousands of work and dependant visas have been issued to people who were never even required to produce a criminal record certificate. This is a gaping structural loophole, not an isolated failure — and it's one Labour has actively expanded rather than closed. When ministers claim they're "taking back control," ask them why the sponsor register just grew by 30,000 organisations with zero enhanced screening capacity to match.

So have I got this right - the big problems facing Britain right now, according to the ‘new’ administration, are Mrs Thatcher, Sainsbury’s and the lack of a written constitution? And these are the people who are more in touch with the country, yes?

‘We have established a ‘Small Boats North’ programme and will be inviting the illegal migrants to dock in Grimsby.’

I'm Andy Burnham, and here's how I spent your money in my second week as PM: Monday - TikTok on Ukraine Tuesday - TikTok on education Wednesday - TikTok on social care Thursday - TikTok on defence Friday - TikTok on a new HQ for TikTok, the Chinese data harvesting spyware app

Zia is there, and his hair moves, and looks natural. I know it's trivial, very very trivial, but it matters to me.

@andyburnham You're not in Dover are you Andy, even the massive amounts of congealed hair gel you use wouldn't stop your hair moving in the wind if you were on those cliffs. Still cosy at home in Manchester.

My government will be relentless in tackling small boat crossings. We can choose to play politics on this issue, or we can just get on with it and sort it out. I know which one I’m doing.

The Tory suits out in force for Binface, not sure how he'll live this down.

So the plan is to ‘stop the boats’ and let the men from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Sudan, Iraq and Iran come through safe and legal routes instead. I’m sure that will pass the Makerfield test.

Providing safe routes is a cowardly way of saying Letting in Lots More People no one wants. This is a national emergency

Of course he isn't there is he, even that much hair gel wouldn't withstand the wind. Has he left Manchester at all since becoming PM?

🚨Important Reform policy announcement: In a plan endorsed by senior former members of His Majesty’s Armed Forces, a Reform government will launch Operation Fortress: a military operation to secure Britain’s borders. Britain is being invaded. Tory and Labour governments responded with a free ferry service and free hotels. Reform UK will respond by launching the largest military operation in the English Channel since World War Two. Nigel Farage will order his Majesty’s Royal Navy to ensure that not a single unauthorised vessel crossing the English Channel makes it to the shores of the United Kingdom. Those who attempt it will be intercepted by our Armed Forces and returned to France. To those with no right to enter Britain, our border will be impenetrable. Under a Reform UK Government, nobody coming across the Channel by boat illegally will make it to our shores. That is how we stop the boats. We will stop the invasion. Full details will be published tomorrow morning.

Haha, or maybe Burnham hasn't left Manchester

Labour are currently hanging themselves very publicly. They think Spain has the right to deploy the military to defend its border and has the right, under the ECHR, to deport tens of thousands of illegals immediately. Meanwhile their current policy is the exact opposite.