So what d you suggest, Polly? This current government has had 16 months to show they can do the politics necessary to make and implement policy. The budget preparation shambles shows they have not been able to learn. We need a government who is not mired in defensive group think

The rationing is inherent. Live performance is limited by the number of shows an artist can do. The size of venue cannot be infinite. And large arenas do not provide the same experience as smaller ones. There is intrinsically a limited supply.

Except artists do not want to charge more because they have want their true fans to be there to create the requisite atmosphere. The corporates who can afford the rip off tour prices reduce the quality of the experience. Baumol theorised this in his cost disease.

Not always. That’s why the concept of market failure exists. In this case it is not possible to increase supply sufficiently to meet demand and touts exploit that situation. So far markets have not dealt with that and both artists and audiences want legislation

Until their taxes go up because we don’t have enough workers to pay everyone’s pensions

Is Reeves applying for the grand old Duke of York vacancy?

From Patrick Maguire's sub stack. Says an awful lot, and none of it good.

What he basing that confidence on?
✅ Won thd GE
✖️Winter fuel
✖️2 Child policy
✖️Winter fuel
✖️Disability cuts
✖️Local
Govt elections delivered 10 county councils to Reform
✖️Lost Caerphilly by-election
✖️Party members have left in droves
✖️Poll nos are through the floor

Talk about the halo effect

I mean are there any centre /centre left members still in Labour?

Yep Ed lost the GE. That doesn’t mean David would have won it or that he would have made a good PM if he had done so.

I’d make David the next US ambassador, sure. A safe pair of hands behind the scenes, yep. Leader? No.

Ed had the nous to appeal to the electorate he needed.

David could have stayed and supported his brother to unite the party. He chose personal ambition instead. That’s not a person who can lead a nation.

How did Ed get union support? Hmm? He needed to be persuasive.

My main point is that David didn’t persuade enough of the people he needed to. He was a poor candidate because he assumed it was his right to lead the party. When he was told otherwise he didn’t try to learn, he ran away.

David Milliband wasn’t good, though. That’s why he lost to his brother. Then - rather than support his brother and the members who voted for Ed - he ran away to America is a sulk. PM? No thanks

He used antisemitism in his witch-hunt against Corbyn. So now he’s trapped. If he accepts that some people may be anti-Israel rather than antisemitic he would have to admit that his anti-left expulsions went too far. Then what does he do?

Newark in Nottinghamshire is Robert Jenrick’s constituency, so…

Thanks😊 Decided to lean in to the nickname quite late in life.