Sunak went for a run with the Africa-conquering ‘Hardest Geezer’ (A.K.A. Russ Cook) today. Guido has helpfully plotted out the route they took from the video. They started out of the back of Downing Street (running from office) and got all the way to Apsley Gate before heading past Buckingham Palace and then back home. Rishi must have run out of time…
That’s a whopping 2.2 miles – on average a 24-minute run. The Hardest Geezer’s African journey was over 9,940 miles, which means Sunak managed to cover 0.022% of the Hardest Geezer’s total mileage. To be fair to the PM he is busy…
The government has now published the members the Tobacco and Vapes Bill Committee – they’ll be considering amendments to the bill in May. Guido is surprised to see that, despite 165 Tory MPs either abstaining or voting against the smoking ban, the 16-member Committee contains exactly zero MPs who who voted against it. The whips don’t want any more trouble from pesky fans of free choice…
16 of the 17 committee members voted for the bill and the one who didn’t, Labour MP Mary Kelly Foy, is vice-chairman of the APPG on Smoking and Health which has been pushing the ban constantly. Almost a quarter of the committee members are from the APPG, which is run by the anti-smoking lobby group ASH. Sorry news for MPs who hoped amendments might be considered fairly…
Simon Clark, director of smokers’ rights group Forest tells Guido: “Committees don’t need to be balanced but this is such an obvious stitch-up it’s embarrassing. The make-up of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill Committee is effectively a f*ck you to every MP who voted against the Bill, and every member of the public who opposes the generational smoking ban.” It wouldn’t be the first time the government has deployed smoke and mirrors for this bill…
Another day, another BBC failure to declare their commentators’ activism. Politics Live today brought on a headmaster to chat about 12 hour school days. Surprise surprise, he was full of criticism for the government and robust words for Tory MP Kieran Mullan…
Andrew O’Neil spends his time attending Labour events and praising “fantastic” Starmer for finally having “some policy and fresh ideas”. Naturally he thinks Sunak is a “disgrace” and covers his Twitter with support for campaigning Labour candidates, along with calls for an election to boot the Tories out. When he gets out he follows Labour Shadow Cabinet members around for selfies. As always, O’Neil is entitled to his views and the BBC is equally entitled to air them, though viewers have a right to know his partisan credentials…
As Labour announce its plans to nationalise railways, the free-market think tanks have already got the wheels rolling to warn against the socialist idea. Nationalisation stifles competition and innovation – a repeat of the 70s isn’t something anyone wants…
The Institute of Economic Affairs blasted the”lacking in detail” proposal, writing “the ritual denunciation of profits and the belief that ‘communities’ (or rather political bosses) have a role to play; but their role always seems to be to demand more money, resist closures, and open more lines, irrespective of any commercial discipline.”
The Adam Smith Institute‘s Director of Research Max Marlow pointed out how nationalisation hasn’t worked in past: “Nationalisation would be completely counter productive. During the 47 years of nationalised railways in the UK, passenger numbers collapsed and service was abysmal, even shocking by modern standards”. Guido’s sure Labour would respond with something along the lines of “it’ll work this time”…
Leaders in the rail industry have also hopped aboard to attack the plans. Andy Bagnall, chief executive of Rail Partners, said that “nationalisation is a political rather than a practical solution which will increase costs over time”. Just this morning the Shadow Transport Secretary admitted it wouldn’t lower fare costs…
Meanwhile, details on just how much this would cost are scant. The House of Commons Library’s Economic Policy and Statistics clerk says: “The government would be taking on all the costs involved with running the services, which are significant, and would be responsible for generating revenues from the services… I am afraid I am not able to produce an estimate myself and have not found a reliable estimate made by another organisation.” Off the rails…
Daily Sceptic editor Toby Young has just submitted a complaint to the BBC for failing to challenge or provide any correction for eco-activist and bird-sniffing presenter Chris Packham’s claim that the website is “put together by a bunch of professionals with close associations to the fossil fuel industry.” The ‘climate resistance’ are fans of wild funding allegations with no basis in fact…
Young points out, as he did after the Kuenssberg show was broadcast on Sunday, that neither he nor any of the people who put together the website have any affiliations of funding from the fossil fuel industry. He wasn’t challenged on the show and the clip was tweeted out subsequently with no clarification. One for Marianna Spring and the BBC Verify sleuths to look into no doubt…
Co-conspirators can lodge their own complaints here…
Read Toby Young’s full complaint below:
