Chelsea quartet named in Conference League team of the tournament
Four Chelsea players have been named in the UEFA Conference League Team of the Tournament, chosen by the UEFA Technical Observer Group.The Blues won the trophy after defeating Real Betis 4-1 in the final on Wednesday evening.Filip Jorgensen, Tosin Adarabioyo, Enzo Fernandez and Cole Palmer all made the team, despite Palmer not being named in the Blues squad for the league phase.Real Betis midfielder Isco was named Player of the Tournament.The full team is as follows:Goalkeeper: Filip Jorgensen (Chelsea)Defenders: Youssouf Sabaly (Real Betis), Tosin Adarabioyo (Chelsea), Natan (Real Betis), Robin Gosens (Fiorentina)Midfielders: Svit Seslar (Celje), Isco (Real Betis), Enzo Fernandez (Chelsea)Forwards: Cole Palmer (Chelsea), Afimico Pululu (Jagiellonia), Tokmac Nguen (Djurgarden)
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Starmer's continued failure on immigration explains why Reform tops all the polling charts. Recent polling by Ipsos showed Reform is more trusted than either the Conservatives or Labour on immigration policy. All this takes us back to Farage's speech this week and his position as a prime minister in waiting. How likely is it that Reform will form a government? Thatcherite history To answer this, we should first consider how 'sticky' their voters are likely to be. It is one thing to tell a pollster you will vote Reform – or vote for Reform in the local elections – but another thing to put a cross next to a Reform candidate in a general election. But Reform's provincial electoral base has lost all trust in the main parties. While Starmer might be able to bring immigration down significantly, and reduce the flow of small boats, it is unlikely that he will manage to do so on the scale required to soothe Reform voters. 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For example, Reform could pledge to make driving 'like it used to be'. Filling in potholes is already a Reform priority. They could also scrap most 20mph zones and reduce the number of cycle lanes and low-traffic neighbourhoods. Elsewhere, they could scrap demands for people to have multiple bins. They could force public-facing public bodies like HMRC or the DVLA to start taking phone calls again properly. They could elaborate on their pledges to cut government waste – which appear to be a crucial element of their financial plans – and force all public sector bodies to conduct and publish reviews into the management of their services. These sorts of small-time policies attract derision from commentators but they are exactly the sorts of things that voters bring up unprompted in focus groups. Critically, they would carry no ideological baggage and irritate neither Left- nor Right-leaning voters. They would also provide simple talking points for Reform candidates on the door step. Secondly, and the mess of their policy package this week confirms a need for this, Reform should study the Conservative Party manifesto of 2019 and unashamedly rip off a series of policies from this document – particularly on those areas where a huge amount of technical knowledge is required, which Reform cannot easily access having never been in Government. On education, the Tories said they would back Ofsted inspections, expand the free schools and academy programme and increase the number of 'alternative provision' institutions for those excluded from schools. On transport, the Tories said they would invest in railways in the Midlands and North of England, re-open lines that had been closed in the past, and expand contactless payments across the transport network. On the workforce, the Tories committed to training up hundreds of thousands more apprentices and creating a National Skills Fund to enable individuals and small businesses to undertake skills training. 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Whether Reform can form a government or not, nobody should be under any doubt that voters are in the mood to tear things up. Those people that suggest the British electorate somehow turned in a different direction to Right-moving voters in the US and Europe are not listening. The public did not vote for technocratic competence under Starmer; they voted to guarantee idiotic Tories got the boot. For the foreseeable future, rage will determine British politics.
