Sorted

+Today is allegedly ‘super’ Thursday, a day when a wide variety of elections take place in the UK. Over 40 million people will, if they can be bothered, be voting for devolved parliaments, police and crime commissioners, local councillors, executive mayoralities and of course for a new MP in Hartlepool. The last of these will be the first to declare and so will probably set the tone for all the mainstream media reportage thereafter, with the narrative being how Labour has lost the plot. Starmer has said he will take full responsibility for the results, which translated means he will declare that he needs to do more ‘to climb the mountain’ - rather than resign. In other words, bad results will demonstrate that his project needs more time—and distance from the party’s recent past. He will not be compelled to change his course, i.e. to produce a vision people can actually latch on to, or stop repudiating the party’s late leadership. Perversely, If we face losses, Starmer will be vindicated, and will search for even more disinfectant to pour over the memory of Corbyn.
 
+My regular bête noir, the BBC’s PM Programme excelled itself this evening. Presenter Evan Davies told listeners that because of the elections, there would be no coverage of that subject today and instead asked listeners to send in questions about climate change. These questions were delivered in such rapid fire fashion there was no chance for the two invited experts to answer any of them properly (still less chance with Davies’ interruptions). At the end of the segment, Davies said “I’m sure we’ll return to this the next time we can’t do politics.” Nuff said. (emphasis added)