I have been a huge critic of Erik Ten Hag, but it would be wrong to sack him after that. Two trophies in two years is a decent record even thougb the football has been poor and very boring, and some results very embarrassing. Yet we've had some great moments this season.

Nice piece on When Putin came to Manchester for Lunch - in 1991.

manchestermill.co.uk/p/when-putin-c…

🔴 ROCHDALE: and the Labour nomination here, I'm told, will almost certainly go to political journalist Paul Waugh, who lost out to the subsequently sacked Azhar Ali in the selection for the by-election.

🔴 HYNDBURN: being lined up for this seat, I hear, is Sarah Smith (not the BBC reporter), who lost to Chris Webb in the selection for Blackpool South.

🔴 TIPTON & WEDNESBURY: I'm told this seat is 'nailed on' for the Gerard Coyne, for former regional secretary for Unite in the West Midlands who twice opposed Len McCluskey for the general secretaryship of the union & was subsequently sacked by the union. John Speller brokered

Amazing that Newsnight ended tonight with no acknowledgment that, after 44 years, tonight's edition was the last in its traditional format of studio discussions and interviews, and lots of reporter films. From Tuesday onwards it will simply be a studio-based programme with

🔵 Conservative HQ have sent budding candidates a list of 93 seats - current Cons seats and winnables - for which they can apply by 1pm on Saturday.

🔵 LEIGH: report that Conservative James Grundy, only elected in 2019, is standing down.

Guido Fawkes on spads and Cons HQ favourites still hoping to get seats: order-order.com/2024/05/23/tor…

Yeah BBC Bosses axed BBC Newsnight's ability to do any journalism 6 weeks before a UK General Election. In the 2005 GE Newsnight even hired a helicopter to make sure politicians couldn't run away from Michael Crick's questions

So the whole dynamics of election campaigns is changed these days. The parties know that, but it's very rarely acknowledged by journalists who still merrily talk as if all of us still traipse down to the polling station on 'polling day'. Indeed, it's probably true to say many

This means parties really have to make an impact by mid-June, as around 25% of votes are cast by post nowadays. From mid-June, the effect of what the parties do diminishes as more and more voters cast their ballots, though many undecideds will hold off voting til later.

Some local councils are very quick to print ballot papers and get them out to postal voters. So we may see the first postal votes cast in the 2024 election from around Weds 12 June, three whole weeks before the official 'polling day' of 4 July, with large numbers arriving in the

Close of nominations in the 2024 general election is 4pm on Friday 7 June, 19 full working days before official polling day. So the political parties now have a full fortnight to pick and nominate their candidates, then get the signatures and submit the forms.

For a start party activists and voters need to rethink the modern requirement that MPs live in or around their seats as well as in London.

This is CLASS! Manchester City #115Charges

She has certainly tried incredibly hard in her political career and had a fair bit of bad luck.

An extremely generous statement from Craig Mackinlay's Labour opponent Polly Billington. It must be extremely difficult for Polly to lead her campaign in such extraordinary circumstances.

Only a few weeks later I left C4 News after a horrible dispute completely unrelated to the expenses trial. Not long after, I got a call. 'How are you, Michael? Are you OK?' I was astonished, and it rejuvenated my spirits in a way I will never forget. It was Craig Mackinlay.