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We didn’t create a single chance for Kane and that’s a team failure. It’s been the same whenever Watkins or Toney play too. I’d like to see Foden and Saka (in particular) shoot more when they’re in positions at the edge of the box. I’m convinced Saka wouldn’t have made the same shot for his...

I just accept things for what they are at this point. It’s another semi-final which is another record for England. Being outcome focused, all that matters is that we won and have a good chance of getting to the final. England v France final for the Anti-Football Classico.

No, it’s just obviously a pretext to break promises made on the campaign trail. It’s no secret that public finances are a mess and the government needs to raise taxes and cut public spending. The IFS said this continually throughout the campaign.

Oh look, a pretext for raising taxes… They’re elected now, who cares what was said on the campaign trail.

Correct as you say, but was the vote change for Labour? Usually quite marginal but the damage to the tories was gains to Lib Dem and Reform voters (a bit of Greens in more rural areas too). That’s a narrative, but the energy cap was the single most expensive policy in that mini-budget. Let’s...

Love it! That’s the exact team I’d play and only Guehi to come back in for the semis should we get there.

I don’t think Reform have hit their limit at all. As an amateurish party with next to no funding before the election was called, they’ve got 5 MPs, 15% of the popular vote and finished 2nd in nearly 100 constituencies. Europe provides the blueprint as to what happens to mainstream parties if...

Very good points, but I said printing money is inflationary, not deficit spending.

QE has suppressed interest rates and if there was a time to commit to large public spending commitments, it was then. Alas, interest rates are around 5-6% and because asset prices have ballooned (partly because of QE), historically normal interest rates cause people issues. At some point...

The net benefit is about £3.3bn - you’re not getting much with that. Again, that’s without spending the money on the infrastructure to keep up with levels. What does that look like then? There’s a reason GDP per capita is going down steadily since net migration has picked up.

No, but printing money is. The costs of servicing public sector debt is already £40-odd billion so good luck with bold public spending plans.

It’s all well and good saying that… How do you fund the spending required? There’s a housing deficit of 4.3m and then apply that to roads, hospitals, schools and so on. There already exists a significant deficit and finding it by printing money is inflationary and that drives interest rate...

Realignment of the major parties. The best example is UKIP, they promised to leave the EU, the tories respond by offering a referendum. Leave wins and UKIP achieve their political aims without ever winning more than 2 MPs. Besides, the IFS has come out and criticised both Labour and Tories...

Yep, doesn’t matter because they weren’t campaigning to be in government. The Lib Dems, Greens and Reform do not need plans for government…

If the Labour government disappoints people like you, it’s possible that the Greens could start cannibalising Labour’s vote share in a similar way to Reform in future elections. What was impressive about their performance last night was that they won in both Labour and Tory areas.

There you go… I laboured to listen to a few manifesto launches and Reform made an effort to talk more on the economy and tax. On the NHS, they had some creative policies too such as abolishing basic tax for nurses and GPs. Of course immigration was a main topic, as it is for the electorate as a...

If you have that breakdown, please do share. They got 15% of the national vote, that’s not indicative of a single issue party. That’s more than the Lib Dems! Did you vote Greens purely on their environmental/net zero policy alone? I know my friends who voted Greens didn’t. To draw a comparison...

Funnily enough, Farage’s big pitch was to turn the clock back to 1997 (tongue in cheek). Taxation, net migration and public services back to levels seen before Blair became PM. Immigration would be main appeal for ‘red wall’ areas and taxation a focus in attracting ‘blue wall’ support. Calling...

Personally, I have no qualms with that because Labour will be stable in government. Just as the Tories were in the sense that the government wasn’t in danger of being brought down. I’m just not a fan of the volatility and nature of coalition governments characteristic of the many European...

100% agree. However, given our electoral system, modest swings back in favour of other parties and there are some really vulnerable seats. Labour won a majority with the smallest % of vote share ever. Whilst last night was a massive achievement that was truly unthinkable in 2019, it is a...