Dave Bentley
@davebentley58.bsky.social
Recently retired Brit living in Belgium. Know a bit about automotive and IT, more about Football and Cricket
UK GDP reduced by 6% to 8%, investment reduced by 12% to 18%, employment by 3% to 4% and productivity by 3% to 4%. They are huge numbers in an advanced economy. Brexit is not the UK’s only problem, but bloody hell it’s a big one.
November 18, 2025 at 7:29 AM
UK GDP reduced by 6% to 8%, investment reduced by 12% to 18%, employment by 3% to 4% and productivity by 3% to 4%. They are huge numbers in an advanced economy. Brexit is not the UK’s only problem, but bloody hell it’s a big one.
Cameron is guilty as hell, but he’s from the only one. As I have always seen it Cameron opened the door, Corbyn held it open and the two biggest fraudsters in British political history, Johnson & Farage, walked straight through. We all suffer the consequences.
November 1, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Cameron is guilty as hell, but he’s from the only one. As I have always seen it Cameron opened the door, Corbyn held it open and the two biggest fraudsters in British political history, Johnson & Farage, walked straight through. We all suffer the consequences.
Is it the only issue affecting the UK economy which explains all our woes? Of course not. Is it a stupid self-inflicted wound that continues to do substantial harm? You bloody bet!
October 27, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Is it the only issue affecting the UK economy which explains all our woes? Of course not. Is it a stupid self-inflicted wound that continues to do substantial harm? You bloody bet!
Steve Richard’s is spot on. Hartlepool was unwinnable for Labour because of Johnson / Covid. The election was was because of the vote against the Tories. The lurch to the right was not a tactical master stoke by Starmer. It was a serious tactical mistake that he is now paying for.
September 18, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Steve Richard’s is spot on. Hartlepool was unwinnable for Labour because of Johnson / Covid. The election was was because of the vote against the Tories. The lurch to the right was not a tactical master stoke by Starmer. It was a serious tactical mistake that he is now paying for.
He’s deputy Prime Minister, but he is not deputy leader of the Labour Party. That is an elected position (not in Starmers gift) that will be contested at the party conference.
September 5, 2025 at 5:27 PM
He’s deputy Prime Minister, but he is not deputy leader of the Labour Party. That is an elected position (not in Starmers gift) that will be contested at the party conference.
Interesting.. someone at the BBC has invented their own version of ‘democracy’ based on opinion polls and vote shares. As I (previously) understood it the UK System is based on actual votes and seats won. But of course the answer is phoney .. what they are really after is controversy and clicks.
September 4, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Interesting.. someone at the BBC has invented their own version of ‘democracy’ based on opinion polls and vote shares. As I (previously) understood it the UK System is based on actual votes and seats won. But of course the answer is phoney .. what they are really after is controversy and clicks.
Not just Brexit, Farage is a thin-skinned, xenophobic liar and charlatan. He is out to feather his own nest and couldn’t care less about ‘ordinary’ people in Clacton or anywhere else. That is how he should be challenged.
August 27, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Not just Brexit, Farage is a thin-skinned, xenophobic liar and charlatan. He is out to feather his own nest and couldn’t care less about ‘ordinary’ people in Clacton or anywhere else. That is how he should be challenged.
Only people trying to prove a link between ethnicity and crime want the ethnicity of suspects to be released. The justice system should have nothing to do with it, it is pernicious and deliberately divisive. Releasing ethnicity is no more in the public interest than height, IQ or shoe size.
August 14, 2025 at 8:08 AM
Only people trying to prove a link between ethnicity and crime want the ethnicity of suspects to be released. The justice system should have nothing to do with it, it is pernicious and deliberately divisive. Releasing ethnicity is no more in the public interest than height, IQ or shoe size.
It is a perfect example of the British disease that The Times reports the ‘negative’ .. ‘young Europeans may be allowed to stay in UK for more than a year’, rather than the ‘positive’ .. ’young Britons may be allowed to stay in EU for more than a year’.
July 21, 2025 at 7:47 AM
It is a perfect example of the British disease that The Times reports the ‘negative’ .. ‘young Europeans may be allowed to stay in UK for more than a year’, rather than the ‘positive’ .. ’young Britons may be allowed to stay in EU for more than a year’.
In the end ‘doing something’ about Hungary is a political rather than a judicial decision. The more international courts ‘say things’ with no sanction the more they look irrelevant and slightly ridiculous.
June 5, 2025 at 10:44 AM
In the end ‘doing something’ about Hungary is a political rather than a judicial decision. The more international courts ‘say things’ with no sanction the more they look irrelevant and slightly ridiculous.
This a very clear sighted piece, but it is not new. The key points have been clear to many on the centre left for years. Ceding ground to Farage and treating him as the main opposition does not hurt him, it empowers him. The deep mystery is why those close to Starmer appear not to see it.
May 16, 2025 at 7:53 PM
This a very clear sighted piece, but it is not new. The key points have been clear to many on the centre left for years. Ceding ground to Farage and treating him as the main opposition does not hurt him, it empowers him. The deep mystery is why those close to Starmer appear not to see it.
I accept some of what you say, especially the divisiveness of referendums. BUT .. Starmer is already seen by many as underhand and untrustworthy. Rejoining by stealth will be easy to pin on him. Labour has to be open and positive about why trade and other links to Europe make life better in UK.
May 12, 2025 at 7:42 PM
I accept some of what you say, especially the divisiveness of referendums. BUT .. Starmer is already seen by many as underhand and untrustworthy. Rejoining by stealth will be easy to pin on him. Labour has to be open and positive about why trade and other links to Europe make life better in UK.
Problem is if you treat links to Europe like a dirty secret Farage and his mates will go berserk and claim you are betraying people behind their back. The EU is not just transactional, it has a strategic and even moral purpose that needs to be explained.
May 12, 2025 at 7:56 AM
Problem is if you treat links to Europe like a dirty secret Farage and his mates will go berserk and claim you are betraying people behind their back. The EU is not just transactional, it has a strategic and even moral purpose that needs to be explained.
Someone has to be brave enough to say we welcome all legal immigration and genuine asylum seekers, but we will not hesitate to deport illegal immigrants and bogus asylum seekers. That will not be popular at either extreme but is the only position that actually makes sense.
May 11, 2025 at 10:25 AM
Someone has to be brave enough to say we welcome all legal immigration and genuine asylum seekers, but we will not hesitate to deport illegal immigrants and bogus asylum seekers. That will not be popular at either extreme but is the only position that actually makes sense.
Surely it can’t be just me that thinks this bizarre mixture of sickly nostalgia, celebrity, the Royal Family and the BBC is one day going to end very badly.
May 8, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Surely it can’t be just me that thinks this bizarre mixture of sickly nostalgia, celebrity, the Royal Family and the BBC is one day going to end very badly.
This is so f***ing obvious I don’t see how anyone with a basic grasp of politics or human behaviour doesn’t see it. Presumably McSweeney thinks he has polling evidence that moving right helps Labour, but he will be proved terribly wrong. Moving to the right doesn’t challenge Farage, it helps him!
May 5, 2025 at 9:51 AM
This is so f***ing obvious I don’t see how anyone with a basic grasp of politics or human behaviour doesn’t see it. Presumably McSweeney thinks he has polling evidence that moving right helps Labour, but he will be proved terribly wrong. Moving to the right doesn’t challenge Farage, it helps him!
There won’t we a clear choice. This is Britain and there will never be a choice just more ‘fudge’. It’s our fate to be caught between Europe and America and suffer the consequences.
April 18, 2025 at 12:23 PM
There won’t we a clear choice. This is Britain and there will never be a choice just more ‘fudge’. It’s our fate to be caught between Europe and America and suffer the consequences.
Surely the biggest take out of last night is that it’s all self obsessed gibberish. I’ve had an idea about tax on car loans, I was great looking when I was young, Here’s a hat. Looking for coherent policy that can be analysed amongst all this is absurd.
April 3, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Surely the biggest take out of last night is that it’s all self obsessed gibberish. I’ve had an idea about tax on car loans, I was great looking when I was young, Here’s a hat. Looking for coherent policy that can be analysed amongst all this is absurd.
So it’s alright to nick it is it?
April 1, 2025 at 9:34 AM
So it’s alright to nick it is it?
The problem is that to believe that the Le Pen judgement is ‘good’ but Erdogan imprisoning his rival is ‘bad’ you have to believe French courts are independent of government but Turkish courts are not. That may be largely true .. but to most people it sounds a very technical and boring question.
April 1, 2025 at 9:33 AM
The problem is that to believe that the Le Pen judgement is ‘good’ but Erdogan imprisoning his rival is ‘bad’ you have to believe French courts are independent of government but Turkish courts are not. That may be largely true .. but to most people it sounds a very technical and boring question.
Of all the nonsense to come out of Silicon Valley in the last 25 years, ‘move fast and break things’ is the most pernicious. It dresses up vandalism as progress.
March 15, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Of all the nonsense to come out of Silicon Valley in the last 25 years, ‘move fast and break things’ is the most pernicious. It dresses up vandalism as progress.
As I understand it the ‘plan’ is that Europe / Ukraine will spend a few weeks in deep deliberation deciding what they would like to happen. They will then explain to Trump who will decide it is better than his idea and will then in turn explain it to Putin who will accept. Anyone see any problems?
March 5, 2025 at 9:01 AM
As I understand it the ‘plan’ is that Europe / Ukraine will spend a few weeks in deep deliberation deciding what they would like to happen. They will then explain to Trump who will decide it is better than his idea and will then in turn explain it to Putin who will accept. Anyone see any problems?