Another spectacular week in Toryland!

34million? Is the office crumbling and stuffed with asbestos

Yes, astonishing that only 55% believe that this Government is corrupt. On the other hand, only 15% feel that it is not. So, 30% don't have a view. (Byline Times)

Just a fact check...did you mean John Sopel?

Maremia

Just a fact check...did you mean John Sopel?

Probably😄😄

I think in auto correct world John Soper is probably Lisa Nancy’s long lost brother. I was just thinking today that this government reminds me of the circumlocution office in Martin Chuzzlewit.

Oh no! I thought it was Tory Schools Week but according to today's reports about water company outflows it might be Tory Sewage Week.

Sorry, couldn't resist, isn't every week a 'sewage week' in Toryland?

And as far as the Tories are concerned schools (only state ones) and sewage have much in common.

Whitewavemark2

According to John Soper, Keegan has signed off a £34 million to refurbish her offices.

Apparently Gillian Keegan claims she didn't know about this! Nothing to do with her!
news.sky.com/story/education-secretary-gillian-keegan-didnt-know-about-32m-spending-on-departmental-office-refurbishment-12954848

Whitewavemark2

This is going to be an interesting week, as so many outlets are reporting that letters of no confidence are flying into the 1922.

It remains to be seen what happens, but I can’t see how the Tory party can possibly inflict yet another unelected PM on the country!

When did Sunak become PM? They can't bring a no confidence against him until he's been in for a year. Mind you, we can't be far off and they could always send the men and women and in grey suits.

What will happen to the economy if they decide to run away now, as more people realise the threat posed by the austerity lagacy?

Remember Thatcher's claim that "the problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money". Thus video gives us a different view on those words.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2vz9dZEiWI

(Please watch it if you are going to reply to it. And no, that is not telling you what to do, just asking for reasonably good manners)

Please watch it if you are going to reply to it. And no, that is not telling you what to do, just asking for reasonably good manners)

Good Lord. How to tell posters what to do without telling them what to do 😮

MaizieD you are hilarious 😂

So, if what us said in the video is true - and I believe the background of the presenter would make him capable of working out, where has all the money gone each time the Conservatives were in power?

DAR so Phil Moorhouse studied astrophysics at University of Manchester - a seriously difficult subject- so I am surprised to find no mention of the obvious triggers for higher spending. Covid, furlough, transition to net zero, war in Ukraine and the energy crisis are all in the mix and the video doesn’t even mention them. Oh dear …..

working out working it out

I'm not sure those things applied to Thatcher's time ronib.

Even so, it does seem as if the Tory Party have been incredibly lucky, if what you blame has been the complete answer.

Unlucky PMs are not popular, unlucky parties would, I think, be less so. It would probably pay the Conservatives to give some background figures as to what wasn't spent and then where this money, and the higher taxes, went.

DAR I missed out Brexit - so a number of events to think about.
I can’t believe that the Conservative Party has been lucky in fact quite the opposite. And it’s not the politicians who are lucky or unlucky it’s poor Joe Public who sit and suffer.

I said "unlucky" ronib. I think you may have misread.

It probably needs something of the size of BBC Verify to tell us exactly what the money was spent on.

DAR your second paragraph?

Could you say more. You've lost me (easily done )

DAR my thinking is that it’s okay to present columns of information but the last few years in the Uk have been very unusual. To present statistics without any background social analysis is not very useful. I can’t remember what the social conditions were at the time of Thatcher, Blair etc but columns of figures are interesting but need context or so I think.

I'm still not sure what you are asking about my "second paragraph"? Perhaps you haven't come across BBC Verify? It's part of BBC News and provides, in their words:

The User Generated Content (UGC) team
World Service Disinformation Team
Monitoring Disinformation Team
Reality Check
Data and Analysis, including analysis editor Ros Atkins and disinformation correspondent Marianna Spring.

On your problem remembering conditions under Thatcher, etc., I will look at the video again later but I am pretty sure Phil Moorhouse covers all this.

Blimey PMQs! It was brutal. Sunak seemed to shrink as he squeaked over the despatch box.

And Keir picked up on the education offices refurbishment. Sunak is surely going to have to apologise about accusing Labour of not mentioning the schools concrete problem?