Harold Wilson was awful and brilliant
When he stood in the general election of 1964, he was widely billed as a moderniser. Up against Tory Alec Douglas-Holme – the grouse-shooting Old Etonian Earl, who described the old age pension as 'donations' to the elderly and had, as chancellor, used matchsticks to understand economics – Wilson seemed like the dawning of a new age. Words like 'thrusting,' 'dynamic,' 'purposeful' and 'scientific' were thrown about him, and he promised a 'New Britain' 'forged in the white heat' of a technological revolution.
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Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Fish and chip shops 'could vanish' due to Nigel Farage's net zero opposition
Labour MP Bill Esterson, chair of the Energy Security and Net Zero Select Committee, accused Reform UK of ignoring the dangers of climate change and its impact on prices Fish and chips are at risk of vanishing from the high street if Nigel Farage has his way, a senior Labour figure has warned. British waters have seen record average temperatures over the first seven months of the year, leading to shifts in the species living in our waters, and creating challenges for fishing. Statistics also show the average price of fish and chips jumped from £6.64 in January 2020 to £10.09 in January 2025, despite industry attempts to ' cushion the blow ' for consumers. Labour MP Bill Esterson, chair of the Energy Security and Net Zero Select Committee, has now accused Reform of ignoring the dangers of climate change, and argued it was seeing prices soar in a blow to business. He told The Mirror: "While Nigel Farage wants us to ignore climate change, part of the British way of life is under threat. The seas around the UK are warming up. Cod and haddock are moving to colder waters." It comes after a Reform UK police chief's 'dark heart of wokeness' claim comes under fire. He continued: "The Labour government is taking climate action at home and abroad which will help limit the rise in sea temperatures. Reform needs to explain why they are happy for the British public to pay through the nose for our fish and chips, or possibly even lose our nation's favourite dish once and for all.' Mr Farage has previously described the UK's net zero target as 'complete and utter madness', while his fellow Reform MP Richard Tice recently 'declared war' on green energy projects. National Federation of Fish Friers President Andrew Crook told The Mirror climate change could be a factor in the price increases, and that the UK's chippies were doing their best to keep prices down for customers. He said: 'Most of the fish used in the nation's fish and chip shops comes from the Barents Sea and the waters around Iceland as the fish prefers deeper colder water than around the UK. We are currently feeling the effects of the quota for cod being reduced from 1m tonnes five years ago to 340,000 tonnes this year as scientists are trying to address a couple of poor year classes of fish. 'These could be caused by climate change, predation or another natural occurrence. In isolation we could handle it but we are seeing increases across the board and high tax burden which unfortunately has led to some increases but we are trying to cushion consumers as much as we can so they can continue to enjoy the nation's favourite dish.'
Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
KEVIN MAGUIRE: 'Brextremists and Trumpists have proved their unfitness to govern Britain'
The Mirror's Kevin Maguire argues that Brextremists and Trumpists have proved they are unfit to ever govern Britain again, saying "they must never be trusted" They must never be trusted again, inviting infamy as the British fools who sold out heroic Volodymyr Zelensky and assaulted Ukraine by supporting Putin's puppet Donald Trump 's bid for the US Presidency. Lickspittle Nigel Farage campaigned for his 'good friend' Trump at rallies and fawned over America's tinpot tyrant. Chancer Boris Johnson undid the signature achievement that was backing Ukraine in an otherwise sleazy, incompetent and corrupt Premiership by ignoring alarm bells to endorse his fellow great deceiver. Deranged Liz Truss cemented her descent into idiocy after that short-lived disastrous No 10 spell in falsely asserting the world would be safer with Trump in the Oval Office. Naive Kemi Badenoch bought a Trump stunt in McDonald's as proof he understood ordinary Americans' lives because she once temporarily worked in one of the corporation's burger bars. Shape-shifting Farage tribute act Robert Jenrick, currently plotting to seize Badenoch's Tory tarnished crown, actually boasted in August last year, he would vote for Trump if he could. Foot-in-mouther Suella Braverman was similarly gushing, the twice sacked Conservative former Home Secretary and onetime Reform potential recruit publicly declaring too she wanted Trump to be President. Tory posh disciple Jacob Rees-Mogg was so besotted he gushed he'd love to emulate Trump and - seriously! - 'build a wall in the middle of the English Channel' before Somerset gave the prat the boot. And then there is 30p Lee Anderson, another Reform pickup from the Tories, who strutted as the England's shouty Midlands version of the US Fat Cat tycoon. As we shudder at a Trump putty in Putin's hands, let us remember Desperate Donald's British acolytes also missold the expensive tragedy that is Brexit with special mention for generic Jenryk, an opportunist vocal convert since the 2016 referendum. Yanking Britain out of the European Union, the economy diving and migration jumping alongside longer passport queues, should be enough on its own for the above to never be gifted power in future. The fate of Ukraine, US President demanding Kyiv surrender when America would rightly never, for example, sign away Alaska or California if Putin occupied its territory, seals the ill-judgement of Britain's Trumpists. Labour PM Keir Starmer playing a difficult diplomatic hand is stomach-churning whenever he lauds Trump to sustain a bromance in the hope the UK can be a minor restraint. But send any of the true believers into Downing Street and regrets we'd quickly have a plenty, reduced to a 51st state. The Brextremists and Trumpists have proved their unfitness to govern Britain. Don't get me started on feather-bedded £3m landowners Wealthfare beneficiaries are loudly bemoaning again they may no longer be able to pocket nice fortunes without paying their fair dues to our country, a rich something-for-nothing brigade upset this time over speculation Rachel Reeves might shut a £2.1billion inheritance tax loophole. The cash slipped to dodge the duty by giving it away at least seven years before the owner shuffles off this mortal coil has soared 40% over five years. That's lost tax that could improve health and education, enforce law and order or fill potholes instead of cascading inequality and privilege through generations. Life's lottery winners who pay inheritance tax are fortunate when a couple can leave a fat million before it starts applying and don't get me started on feather-bedded £3m landowners and farmers. The Chancellor of the Exchequer may do nothing, intimidated by a self-serving backlash. That would be a pity. Jaundiced Jenkyns all over the place There's nothing like a dame when it's clueless Reform reactionary Dame Andrea Jenkyns, the former Boris Johnson Tory fan woman now the ultra-Conservative party's Greater Lincolnshire Mayor. Surely playing herself in an adults-only pantomime in the Grimsby Auditorium is next after frightening shallowness was exposed in a horror performance on Channel 4 News with Krishnan Guru Murthy. Jaundiced Jenkyns was all over the place when challenged how she'd deal practically with asylum seekers then collapsed completely when her interlocutor factually pointed out the vast majority of sexual crimes are committed by British-born people. Right-whingers like Jenkyns want to single out the ethnicity of suspects to fuel fires, not douse flames. As a grandfather of Southport victim Bebe King observed, mental health issues and poor educational attainment correlate with criminal convictions. Releasing school records might be more relevant. You got to be squidding us They say that if you lie down with dogs you catch fleas but holy carp when poor David Lammy's on the hook after fishing with bottom feeding American extremist JD Vance before buying a legally required rod licence. I bet he's let off with a slap on the wrist with a shop-bought dead old carp rather than netting the max £2,500 fine yet for heaven's hake the hapless Foreign Secretary's organisational skills are plankton level. Next time he needs to mussel up and tell a US Vice President who ain't no fintastic catch you got to be squidding us. Going up Now Labour's conscience, former leader Neil Kinnock reminding voters what the UK Government should do by proposing the end of a poverty-creating vile Tory two-child benefit cap after earlier championing a wealth tax is top trolling. Starmer must hate him. Going down UK trade envoys are political Mickey Mouse jobs but Manchester Rusholme MP Afzal Khan is more Goofy, forced to quit his Turkey sinecure after visiting the Turkish occupied northern Cyprus pariah state. Talk about failing to use his noggin. Speaker's corner 'I was never really one for posters because why would you ruin the wallpaper?' And I'm never really one to knock the young yet £400million Warwickshire council's 19-year-old student Reform leader George Finch - still living with his mam - never putting up a footballer, pop star or even a map in his bedroom is a taste of Hard Right weirdos who'd fill Parliament should Farage win an election.
Daily Mirror
5 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Neil Kinnock brands Nigel Farage's Reform UK 'poisonous' - 'more organised attack needed'
Former Labour leader Neil Kinnock's comments come amid the Reform UK leader Nigel Farage's summer tour of the country - promoting a 'Britain is lawless' slogan during press conferences Neil Kinnock has called for a more focused and organised attack on Nigel Farage's"poisonous" Reform UK. The former Labour leader hit out at the right-wing party for seeking to "encourage grievance, alienation, division" in the country. His comments come amid the former Ukip leader's summer tour of the country - promoting Reform's "Britain is lawless" slogan. In an interview with The Mirror, Lord Kinnock rejected claims the Labour Party under Keir Starmer is leaning towards Reform. But he said: "What I would say is there needs to be a more focused and organised attack on Reform, who are poisonous. I've said it elsewhere that their real name should be Deform because you look at all their policy proposals they would reduce and ruin a lot of absolutely vital areas of community life." It comes after Mr Farage's appearances on Sky News sparked thousands of complaints. READ MORE: Inside Jeremy Corbyn's new party as Keir Starmer issued warning by top pollster He went on: "They are entirely negative. Their whole proposition is based on falsehoods. This is not a lawless country. And it isn't just that the figures show that, the reality of living in the United Kingdom shows that. But they delight in claiming that it is. "Everything that Reform is about seeks to discover and encourage grievance, alienation, division, all the negatives. They represent that of being the voice of the people. "People have got much, much broader lives and concerns and hopes than any of that. But that's what we represent." Lord Kinnock also told The Mirror the government should be concerned about a new political party being set up by ex-leader Jeremy Corbyn and former Labour MP Zarah Sultana. Over 650,000 have signed up on the new party's website since it was launched under the holding name 'Your Party' last month. A Labour source dismissed the launch at the time, saying: "The electorate has twice given its verdict on a Jeremy Corbyn led party." But askedwhether Labour should be worried, Lord Kinnock said: "Yes, of course. I've called them this before - they are the Farage Assistance Faction. They know damn well in the First Past the Post system any grouping that could distract votes from the Labour Party is doing the job of Nigel Farage." He added: "It's acknowledged a Corbyn party would be a serious threat. Not because it would make great electoral gains, but because of the seepage from the Labour vote." Jeremy Corbyn responded: 'The Labour government is here to appease Reform. We are here to defeat Reform. That means standing up to racism, taking on the rich and powerful, and offering a hopeful vision of a society that works for us all.'
