Kmflett's Blog

Matt’s cartoons appear in the Telegraph. A reminder that despite the ever rightward lurch of the paper there are some bits that are still so far aimed at sane readers

Psephology, Ephology & London Council Elections on 7^th May

All seats on all 32 London Councils are up for election on 7^th May.

The results are likely to be momentous (more so than the turn out I suspect) because aside from Labour, the Tories and LibDems, the Greens, Reform and community/socialist independents also have support.

They won’t be as momentous (or anywhere near) as the London Elections held in May 1968 but that is well beyond the ken of the current 24 hour news cycle media.

As the 7^th May nears predictions on results in the London Boroughs are appearing. I wouldn’t say they are exactly made up to get clicks but in most cases they are not based on detailed local polling. Rather they take general polling results and apply them to local contests.

So to take an area I’m familiar with one poll has the Greens taking Haringey and Labour holding Hackney and another shows exactly the reverse. The outcome in both Boroughs might be close and is unpredictable. It depends who is motivated to go out and vote, who has volunteers to knock up the vote and in particular where the Labour and Green vote is landing in diverse communities. We’ll know on May 8^th and not before notwithstanding a barrage of social media posts (not least by myself obviously…)

What many polls are doing is not to report opinion but to try and shape it. Currently that often means promoting Farage because that gets them publicity. Obviously that doesn’t work for London so the alternative (and much preferable- to an extent) narrative is the Greens.

As E P Thompson noted as far back as 1959

A psephologist is a man employed by the mass media to research into what people think the mass media has told them to think. An ephologist is a man employed by the ‘Observer’ or BBC to interpret the results of psephology and who makes an ephing good thing out of it

New Reasoner, Autumn 1959

John McDonnell raised the Point of Order below in the House of Commons on 27th April 2026.

Given Morgan McSweeney’s testimony to a Commons Committee n 28th April 2026 McDonnell deserves support for his persistence in pursuing the issue. Perhaps needless to say, mainstream media coverage is scant

However the Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle has now backed McDonnell’s call

Commons Speaker backs call for Labour Together probe | Morning Star

John McDonnell 

(Hayes and Harlington) (Lab)

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. Over a number of weeks, I have been raising the issue of Labour Together and its link with the agency APCO Worldwide. APCO prepared a report for Labour Together that smeared journalists. I called for an inquiry into Labour Together. A number of hon. Members then submitted subject access requests to both Labour Together and APCO. Labour Together has gone for an extension, and the three-month period should be up shortly, but a number of us received responses from APCO. I raised this in the House; the responses were heavily redacted, but they demonstrated that APCO was collecting information on hon. Members of Parliament. Last week, a whistleblower—this is before the London Court of International Arbitration at the moment—confirmed that APCO had instructed one of the freelance employees involved in the investigations to destroy materials related to the investigation, and evidence. May I request again that Members on the Treasury Bench take back to the Prime Minister that we need a full, independent inquiry on the role that Labour Together, and APCO in particular, has played?

Mandelson was first person to suggest himself for US ambassador’s job, McSweeney claims

John Whittingdale (Con) is asking the questions now.

Q: Who first suggested Mandelson should be ambassador?

McSweeney replies:

I think the first person who put Mandelson’s name forward was Mandelson.

House of Commons Committee hearing 28th April 2026

This picture was taken by Dutertre in Algiers on 28th April 1882 just before Marx had his beard shaved. He complained of hot weather.

Marx wrote to Engels on 28th April 1882:

Apropos; because of the sun, I have done away with my prophet’s
beard and my crowning glory but (in deference to my daughters) had
myself photographed before offering up my hair on the altar of an Al-
gerian barber. I shall receive the photographs next Sunday (30 Ap-
ril). Specimina will be sent to you from Marseille.

On 6th May 1882 he wrote to Laura Lafargue from Monte Carlo:

I enclose one photo for you, another for Fred”; no art can make the
man look worse.
Old Nick

These photographs were clearly, given the comment, of him post shave. Unfortunately they are not extant

The main conclusion that can be drawn from the YouGov poll on the House of Commons drinking culture, criticised by Green Party MP Hannah Spencer, is that there is a clear majority across the political spectrum that its a bad idea. No doubt many giving their opinion will reflect that if they were found drinking at work there would be a problem.

That said the detail of the poll is interesting. Only 20% of Reform supporters think Commons drinking is OK. Unsurprisingly by contrast Nigel Farage criticised Ms Spencer’s remarks. By contrast- and a corrective to media comment that think Reform and Greens are essentially just populists- Green Party supporters are clearly not on board with drinking at all. Whether they back temperance as Farage backs drinking is less clear.

Class & Health: 1840s to 2020s

A new report has charted a significant decline in healthy life expectancy over the last ten years. There has been a drop in healthy life expectancy of two years over the last ten years. In most cases that means people are becoming unwell with some of restrictive illness before they reach State pension age of 66 or 67,

The period covers the austerity years of the Tory/LibDem and then Tory Governments although the reports that the situation has not improved since July 2024. It might be suggested that an improvement might take longer than that even if investment in health care at the scale required was taking place.

As usual in Britain the matter is divided by class. The Guardian reports

The UK has deep and widening inequalities in healthy life expectancy. It is highest in wealthy Richmond upon Thames, London, where the average man enjoys 69.3 years and average woman 70.3 years in good health. However, in contrast, an average man in Blackpool gets just 50.9 years and the average woman in Hartlepool only 51.2 years.

There has been no decrease in overall life expectancy the report suggests that people have more years with less than full health.

Strikingly the picture of class division in health is also covered in E P Thompson’s Making of the English Working Class.

He argued that while in the 1830s and 1840s overall life expectancy was improving this was because a larger middle class were in better health. Many working class areas were not.  

Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Classes 1842

Guardian report 27th April 2026

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/apr/27/people-in-uk-spend-fewer-years-in-good-health-than-a-decade-ago-study-finds?CMP=share_btn_url

What Senior Government figures are eating for lunch (its not a Farage PFL)

Nigel Farage is well known for his Proper Fucking Lunches which invariably include G&Ts several bottles of good red wine and port, and what might be termed gastro meat pies.

We now have some indication of what Senior Government figures eat for lunch. Attorney General Richard Hermer has done ‘Lunch with the FT’ at a Turkish restaurant in inner North London.

Meanwhile Starmer and key figures such as Pat McFadden and Darren Jones met at Chequers on Friday. The media based on its 24 hour news cycle reported this as planning how Starmer might survive the next few days. It probably was but it was also looking at what will be in the King’s Speech in May (if he survives several days with Trump)

The menu for the FT lunch is above. Hermer had the menemen, a Turkish dish of scrambled eggs, tomatoes, onion, peppers-often with crusty bread

At Chequers lunch was egg mayo sandwich, spanakopita ( a Greek dish of spinach & feta in filo pastry) and lemon drizzle cake.

No alcohol was served at either lunch which is just not a Farage PFL. And yes since I’m a North Londoner too I enjoy both menemen and spanakopita. A diversity of cuisine which in these cases does not include meat should be celebrated.

Never a Chelsea fan, but the sacking of Liam Rosenior (Liam Rosenior leaves Chelsea three and a half months into contract until 2032, 22 April) while Keir Starmer remains in post? The times are out of joint.
Keith Flett
Tottenham, London

The above Fletter appeared in the Guardian on 25th April 2026.

As a trade union officer I most frequently find myself trying to help someone avoid being sacked.

There are some occupations where it seems to be an occupational hazard- football managers for example. The departure of politicians for a range of unfortunate reasons used to be relatively common but in recent times rather less so (it seems, I havent checked the stats)

Even so the sacking of Chelsea manager Liam Rosenoir, the fifth manager the current owners have got rid of, does seem exceptional when Keir Starmer remains in place. Some may argue that both should remain in their jobs of course.

The only positive is that the Government’s Employment Relations Act does make unfair dismissals more difficult and more costly. Good news at least for Olly Robbins