Good morning from a sunny, warm Britain. It’s expected to reach 75° F today and 80° tomorrow – temperatures at which, in my experience, your typical born-and-bred Brit starts to melt.
Bet Keir Starmer wishes he could melt. It’s going to be yet another shitball of a week for him. Today’s Guardian has an exclusive story about how the US has busted the UK down to its second-tier priority list on trade negotiations:
This news means that a US deal will now come no sooner than July, after this month’s clutch UK negotiation with the EU. Not having a deal in place with the US before going to the EU makes it vastly more likely that the UK will piss off Trump’s people by doing any kind of closer realignment with the EU. A majority of Brits now say they would prefer such a realignment, but what would the cost in UK-US relations be?
Also, Tony Blair has been running his mouth again, saying that fossil fuel limits, such as those ostensibly proposed by the current Labour government, are “doomed to fail,” which is just what Reform UK and Conservatives (and the various oil-exporting countries that have paid Tony for his expertise over the years) want to hear.
Finally, tomorrow is local election day here in the UK, when a few people may be bothered to vote for city or county council members and mayors. Polling indicates that Reform UK could win hundreds of these smaller seats, two mayoral contests, and a parliamentary by-election in the northwest England constituency of Runcorn and Helsby. The BBC’s Chris Mason notes, “[Reform UK]’s talk is big – they say they can win the next general election. The next few days will give us a sense of how or whether, albeit up to four years out from choosing the next government, that is a plausible claim.”
Ugh. Not looking forward to a weekend awash in front-page photos of Farage’s awful mug. Maybe I’ll just lie on the ground and look at the wisteria in the garden instead.
Welcome to Wednesday! Open thread.
Wednesday Morning Open Thread: At Least the Weather’s NicePost + Comments (165)
