Next general election (2024)

It's a nice try, but you'd think the Minister for Children might have said that... if he'd known.

I also don’t know exactly how much child benefit is / was even they hit my bank accounts. 😊

It was so little but every little helps, not enough to cover car fuel.

Mr Johnston doesn’t seem to have fathered any child yet. 🤣🤣🤣

From a parent perspective, just enough to cover school lunch per child. Won’t be enough to cover other meals at home

It's neither an accident nor a conspiracy... It's for simple logistical reasons.

I was involved in stewarding Any Questions from a local festival about 15 years ago - and the questions are submitted by the audience on the way in. The ones to be asked are selected before the start, and the authors moved to the front to ask them. At least one of the questioners chosen was a very well-regarded local stalwart, beyond reproach for any shenanigans...

Having done mic'ing at a much bigger festival, I'm not surprised - you end up sprinting about the place chasing hands-up with mic, dayglo glove, and numbered table-tennis bat.

Ironic isn't it, many on the left in Europe insisted we were the odd man out with a right wing Government, After the EU elections it is obvious that Europe is moving right ( and we may even end up with a far right Government in France ) and we will be moving left,

One would hope that the move right will show the unelected EU commission they are heading in the wrong direction but I doubt it.

I'm not really sure who thought we were the odd man out in that regard. Such a claim would not really have stood up to much scrutiny, given Poland (until very recently) and Hungary had governments that were much further to the right, and France for one had demonstrated increasing levels of support for MLP. 

The fixation that many have or had on the EU Commission always struck me as a bit odd, a bit like it was a convenient totemic anti EU bogeyman. The reality is that all the biggest decisions affecting the EU are taken by the Council, i.e. by the elected heads (or their delegates) of the member states. Yes the Commission has power to initiate, but nothing like the power which it is often made out to have. And of course the Commissioners are themselves appointed by the (then) governments of the member states.

Is there a democratic deficit at the heart of the EU? Yes, but that is partly due to lack of interest from the electorate. Is it anywhere near as big an issue as often made out ? No, IMHO.

I suppose these things are somewhat cyclical. We move left, they move right and in time the reverse will happen.

What I would like to see spelled out by any media outlet when they use the words "extreme right" or "hard right" is what it is that makes them so. If a party in europe somewhere advocates for repatriating all non-whites to somewhere then say so. If it is merely a tightening of immigration policy or even a move away from the institutions of the EU then say so too and perhaps correct the phrase.