Daily review 19/05/2026

6 comments on “Daily review 19/05/2026”

Comment numbers have changed to permanent references. Older quoted numbers may no longer identify the same comment.

  1. 1

    In 2023 there were RB forecasts of the period ahead as per inflation. Largely they have been accurate. The change of government had no discernable effect.

    The 2023 budget deficit and debt forecasts were optimistic. Or the change of government had an adverse effect.

    So was the growth forecast. Or the change of government had an adverse effect.

    The 2026 budget is to both modernise government and reduce the size of its workforce. These both sound re-assuring, but it may be we are moving to a second tier nation status in both regulatory standards and public service capability, because the well-to-do or privileged class do not want to provide the tax base for a first world nation – given so many residents are now migrants, no more important to them than the indigenous people.

    1. 1.1

      Agreed SPC. Somebody needs to do a line by line, like to like, comparison between the PS numbers when Jacinda came to power in 2017 and the PS numbers now.

      I don't trust the COC figures.

  2. 2

    Aha! Reform is Keir's secret weapon exposed: https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2026/05/18/starmer-reform-b/

    Reform is now doing everything it can to stop Burnham from winning – hence the party’s new campaign… There are good reasons to criticise Burnham that Reform is ignoring. He’s already said Labour shouldn’t pursue proportional representation in this parliament, and there’s reason to suspect he wouldn’t pursue full re-nationalisation. Reform won’t pull him up here, however, because Farage & co. are all Thatcherite privatisation fetishists who want the scam to continue.

    The canary call has Reform running scared, but with a twist riff that Burnham is not the saviour. Both good for Keir. smiley

Comments are closed.