It reminds me of a game the Kennedys used to play. Somebody thought up an impossible answer and the others had to come up with a plausible question to require it.
The answer was "9W". The invented question was: "Tell me, Herr Wagner, do you spell your name with a 'V'?"
I have just spent almost half an hour trying to contact Barclays Bank, without any success. 'Contact us by phone!' it bleats, whilst coyly hiding the number just in case anyone may actually want to speak to a real person. Every other means of communication short of carrier pigeon ends in a dead end.
In this week's Pecksniff's political diary:
Britain edges back towards Europe, though no one quite says it aloud * Reform’s candidate controversies keep stacking up * Turnout may decide whether extremes gain ground...
...and more.
@eastangliabylines.co.uk @pecksniffsdiary.bsky.social
Polls suggest Reform could take huge majorities across Essex, Norfolk & Suffolk.
They may only have two years in power.
Can they deliver in local government what voters might expect?
Stephen MacNair reports.
Trump’s repeated threats to leave NATO are worrying, but will he do it? Or has he already undermined NATO so much that it’s beyond repair? | Simon Pease
Sánchez: “The Far Right and the Right are not shouting because they are winning. They shout because they know their time is coming to an end.”
Sánchez: “Shame on those who remain silent in the face of injustice. Shame on those who exploit workers, who criminalise those who are different, who turn rights into commodities, who defend elite privilege, who support war and violence in Gaza, the West Bank, Ukraine, Lebanon, and the Middle East.”
Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez: “Here in Spain, we are approving and advancing a process to regularise half a million immigrants.
“And I want to say to the Right and the Far Right who oppose this: Spain is the daughter of migration and will not become the mother of xenophobia.”
Exterior view of BBC New Broadcasting House
A BBC story appears to exaggerate asylum seeker fraud
Published during an election where Reform UK is campaigning hard on the issue
That overlap is hard to ignore, comments Stephen McNair.
eastangliabylines.co.uk/immigration/...
Nightingale on a branch, which is covered with lichen. It's in a tree, and singing. It has mid-brown wings and back, and a pale smooth chest with a slightly darker and rougher bib. the bright orange beak is wide open.
Essex coast: Ranger-led nightingale walks start April 24th!
These events fill up fast, so book now to experience one of the UK's rarest songbirds up close. Link in article:
eastangliabylines.co.uk/environment/...
“Your Chancellor has been using this figure of 8% of our national income that Brexit cost us. It’s a massive hit to the British economy.. why won’t you be more ambitious?” - Peston
“We do have red lines in our manifesto and we need to keep to those red lines” - Keir Starmer
Latest from Pecksniff's diary:
A by-election win shifts the narrative. Greens up, Reform stalled. A glimmer of a left revival? * Labour’s own polling is “apocalyptic” – London no longer safe * Reform can’t even get the clocks right.
@eastangliabylines.co.uk @pecksniffsdiary.bsky.social
The body language is interesting. He is not at all comfortable.
Nigel Farage refuses to apologise for the appalling Grenfell comments of the Housing Chief who he hired and fired.
Claiming it is the same as apologising for everything that happened in the last couple of hundred years.
He is a scumbag of the lowest calibre.
Latest from Pecksniff’s diary:
* A by-election win – and suddenly the Greens matter
* Labour faces losses everywhere
* Tories and Reform too busy attacking each other.
And more news from this week 👇🏽
eastangliabylines.co.uk/pecksniff/pe...
🇪🇺 It is time to forge deeper relations with our European allies in this turbulent new world order.
www.contexte.com/eu/article/power/a-shift...
Chair of Clacton Reform, Bradley Thompson! #UKPolitics
Cops have twice raided Quaker meeting houses to arrest people- and seize their phones/laptops - without so far charging anyone. Are we seeing pre-emptive policing to make the very idea of protest impossible? www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/identi...
Composite image of Ipswich Town CEO Mark Ashton and Nigel Farage with the Ipswich Town Football Club logo
Farage’s PR gamble turns sour in Suffolk * Lib Dems quietly losing ground to Greens * Tory ranks thinning ahead of elections
Pecksniff's Diary
eastangliabylines.co.uk/pecksniff/pe...
@PecksniffsDiary
I see my reputation is being traduced by a colleague. I can only remind him of his part in what the Framlingham Mercury called 'Another tragedy of Framlingham Gala' and the subsequent court fine of £5, and 5/- costs for cleaning the policeman's uniform.
Composite image of Ipswich Town CEO Mark Ashton and Nigel Farage with the Ipswich Town Football Club logo
Portman Road stunt leaves Ipswich fuming * Tories face exodus as councillors eye the exit * Greens brace for a “race to the bottom” campaign
Pecksniff's Diary
eastangliabylines.co.uk/pecksniff/pe...
He was calling for an end to the Guga hunt, where Gannet seabird chicks are killed for a local delicacy every year in northern Scotland.
Sign the petition to end the Guga hunt > protectthewild.org.uk/gannet-petit...
Nigel Farage has attacked YouGov – but the data suggests Reform’s support is falling across multiple polls | Prof Paul Whiteley
Handcrafted book box on a pole, with a small glass door that says "community library, take a book, leave a book"
This isn’t about Essex – it’s about everywhere.
Volunteer locally or team up with neighbours.
One street working together can become a nature corridor.
eastangliabylines.co.uk/environment/...
One misjudgement.
Huge consequences.
How the Farage visit may have derailed Ipswich Town’s momentum.
@eastangliabylines.co.uk @peterthurlow.bsky.social
So it turns out the real scandal of the Gorton and Denton by-election was the willingness of media organisations to collude in Nigel Farage's attempt to undermine the result of a free and fair election
www.adambienkov.co.uk/p/how-the-bb...
Philly DA Larry Krasner threatens ICE agents working at the airport with arrest.
Photo of the Alf Ramsey statue outside Ipswich Town's arena, with an inset of Nigel Farage
Reform got what they wanted.
Ipswich Town got the backlash.
Fans are asking how this was allowed.
Peter Thurlow reports
eastangliabylines.co.uk/politics/ref...
