MrP

Thanks Buce I appreciate that. 2019 was arguably the lowest point in my life so it's fantastic to feel like this just a couple of years later - although life is such a twist of fate can reverse it even quicker, which means it's so important to enjoy the good times. Thanks for the kind words. I used to get far too wound up on here and since leaving the place I've realised it's far better to stay off, not just this but most Social Media - heavy moderation is necessary and I try to limit myself to 30 minutes a day online, I've felt far better for it. Thanks! Agree with pretty much everything there and we see certainly now in hung parliament territory. Starter has actually positioned Labour quite well and seeing the hard left step up the attacks probably shows he is doing a good job. When it comes to an election having a moderate in charge is also good for calming the Tory vote - the reason turnout was often low under Blair was a lot of Conservative leaning voters didn't bother as they didn't fear a Labour government. If there was a General Election tomorrow this would be the first time I wouldn't vote (unless we had a decent indy) as I'm not desperate to stop Starmer being the PM - but if Labour had a McDonnell or Burgon in charge I'd reluctantly still feel I had to vote for them.

Was just browsing this morning and saw this so I'll reply He just needs to go and go as soon as possible now - the last few months have been so shambolic it's gone long beyond any sort of joke, 2019 was still the easiest vote of my life given Corbyn and Brexit but he has long served his purpose now. There doesn't seem to be a single person now working inside the operation that has any competence at all and the attempted rigging of the Owen Patterson affair really should have been the end - one of the reasons Blair and Thatcher were so successful was that they had dissenting voices in cabinet/no 10 to speak up when they were doing something wrong - that's clearly not the case here. I don't think they'll be far off having the number of letters and if they lose North Shropshire next week that's surely it. Sunak and Truss to fight out the leadership - from the Tory members I know I think Sunak would have a leadership contest wrapped up providing he promised to be more fiscally Conservative on taxation and public spending, which is actually his natural political position despite the bizarre path taken since the pandemic started. All the best and Merry Christmas to all, I'll try and reply if anyone has anything specific to ask but I'm a busy man now, marriage next year, beautiful daughter born five months ago and had a career change so now working in pastoral care (job I absolutely love as well which is something I've never had before) - the biggest piece of advice I'd give anybody now is to try and find work that you enjoy and involves improving the lives of others, even if it means a little less money - the rewards and feel good factor is quite incredible. Good times and it's important to enjoy life while it's like this because it won't always be - although nothing can ever prepare you for the tiredness of having a baby. (Although less said about the football and cricket the better)

Merry Christmas to you all. I might make the odd post here but I can't go back to being on online most of the day, I've actually sorted my life out over the last few months, less drinking, less time online, more work, more reading, settled down, lost about 4st (I hit 17st around May) and now run a about 30k a week so feel fitter than ever. Coming off SM (Facebook aside) has been very good for me and I don't think I should reverse that just quite yet. Moderation in everything is certainly the way to go.

Christmas Morning - even better. Delighted obviously, whatever people think of Boris it's an extraordinary achievement to have all this wrapped up within a year, pretty much all his opponents said he couldn't do it and he did. We'll get the detail soon but tariff free access to the EU whilst coming out of the SM, CU and not being under the jurisdiction of the ECJ is exactly what most Brexit voters wanted. I'll have a bit of a gloat at the Owen Jones/JOB types and chuckle at Starmer going from promising a second referendum to having to vote for a Boris Brexit but it's time now to move on, get this vaccine rolled out and start the levelling up programme across the country the Brexit needs to be the basis of. Not really much to say, the right candidate won and the election went pretty much how I expected, the polls were underestimating Trump but not enough for him to win. Thought Biden ran a perfect campaign making it effectively a referendum on Trump. The behaviour of him and his team since has been dreadful, I did hope he would concede and accept but sadly he's taken this road - though many Democrats shouldn't throw stones on the issue as many of them never really accepted his election. As I've said to you for years, democracy is sacrosanct and we have a really crisis of people not accepting democratic votes across the West now, it has to stop. The Republicans now need to do everything they can stop him winning the 2024 nomination, not only to remove themselves from him but to also ensure the press hold Biden and Harris to the highest scrutiny - something that won't happen if there is a chance he runs again. The US election map is very interesting now, Florida and Ohio appear to be solid Republican now, but Arizona and Georgia are swing states where demographic should take them towards the Democrats, Michigan, Penn and Wisconsin are probably going to decide the Presidency for the next few decades so you need a candidate who is going to win those seats - Biden could, had they gone with Sanders or Harris I think Trump would still have won so you have to give them credit for selecting the right candidate this time around.