Yo, I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want (December)

I am after high CP Pokémon.

And just to make it clear, just these ones in any lucky trades.  I am aware that I may not be able to get some of them, such as the Alola forms of the Meowth or Vulpix, or Klink, but I guess my view is if you do not ask, you do not get.  I do have some high CP forms of some of the Pokémon that are on the list but the actual statistics that they have are wanting. 

Sadly, I do not have as many shiny Pokémon as I would like, and those that I have tend to be those that others have anyway.  Which means in general that I am after like for like trades.

Abra
Absol
Aipom
Burmy
Clefable
Drilbur
Duskull
Electabuzz
Foongus
Geodude (normal form)
Goldeen
Growlithe
Heracross
Horsea
Klink
Magmar
Mankey
Meowth Alola form
Murkrow
Nidoran♀
Nidoran♂
Oddish
Onix
Pidove
Ponyta
Porygon
Scyther
Shieldon
Squirtle 
Tanglea
Tentacool
Vulpix Alola form
Yamask
Yanma 

However, after the December Community Weekend, while I do not have many, I have a few evolved Pokémon with community day moves available to trade, some of them being shiny ones!

Arsenal need Chris Wilder

A quick post about Arsenal. We were terrible.  While Manchester City played well, their manager felt they could and should have played better.  Our defence was terrible with all three goals being scored by players who should have been under more pressure, one essentially being tapped into an open goal!

We need a manager who can organise the Arsenal defence.  And one manager who can do that is managing Sheffield United.  Though like many other managers, he may decide to stay away.

Was Brexit to blame for the worst defeat of Labour, or was it the Blairites?

It has been devastating to see the destruction of Labour at the ballot box.  Many though feel that this is not the fault of Jeremy Corbyn, and instead there are other reasons.  And this, despite direct evidence that more voters who switched from Labour citing Corbyn as the reason for the change rather than Brexit. 

One big reason stated my many on the left is that this is the fault of Blairites who caused a change in the position of Labour to back a second referendum.  This claim ignores the influence of unions in the change of this position.

While there is no doubt that the support for a second referendum, and therefore more delay contributed to the defeat of Labour in the North, there was an increase in votes for Labour which many will argue is due to this change.  The change in stance of Labour to back a second referendum occurred after Labour was beaten into third place behind the Liberal Democrats in the European Elections.  Both the Green Party and the Liberal Democrats were felt to be remain parties and both lost a share of the vote in the General Election.  Yes, part of this may be due to the system of voting where proportional representation was used, as opposed to the first past the post system, but after the change in stance, Labour gained from its 14.1% vote share in the EU elections to 32.1% in the general election.    

There is the failure of Labour to tackle antisemitism within its ranks promptly and also the failure of Corbyn to apologise quicker when challenged on this.  The worst thing about this, was that Corbyn has always been against anti-semitism, has always been in favour of fighting against discrimination and has advocated kinder gentler politics.  But too many of those who support him have engaged in abuse, this not just being on-line, but also driving MP's away from the party.   

To make things worse for Labour, this has happened while poverty for those in work has increased, while the Conservatives have pledged to increase police numbers but not to the levels they cut them to, while schools are facing huge funding shortfalls and of course NHS performance failing to meet targets, including ones that the government have changed.  As noted on a previous post, Labour came closer to re-election under Gordon Brown in 2010 despite the global credit crunch than it has under Corbyn with the Conservatives handing him an open goal with the mismanagement of the public services of the nation.

The Corbyn effect drove too many voters away.   Despite the Tories giving Labour so many open goals.

In summary, before the change in policy, Labour lost votes in Leave areas and the Brexit Party gained them.  After the change in the policy regarding Brexit while Labour gained a share in the vote from Remain parties, what happened was that the Conservatives made electoral gains in the leave areas instead.

Silver linings

Well, I knew things were going to be bad for Labour, but I did not expect things to be as bad.

First of all, due to the margin of the victory of Will Quince, tactical voting would have made no difference, so Labour and Lib Dem supporters can and should not blame the other, and instead work to getting him out, when it comes to the next election in five years time.  I had hoped that he would be voted out of office, this despite the way he had answered the letters that I have sent him.  But now, with over 50% of the electorate of Colchester voting for him, he can truly claim to represent the town.  Let me again emphasise, the silver lining here is that those who voted Green, Lib Dem, or Labour need not regret what would have happened if they had voted another way and some of the rancour that was present before the election should be forgiven and forgotten.

Second, Arsenal did not lose.  I had expected that to happen, and while going two goals down is never good, the team showed resilience to come back from that to earn a draw.  Hopefully, this will be reflected in league performances and the team will be able to pull together and produce the results that the ability that is in the squad deserves.

Labour will look at the reasons why this loss occurred, the question is if the right reasons for this loss will be identified and acted on.  Many are going to blame Brexit, and many are going to blame the leader of the party.  It was felt that Labour were going to be destroyed in the polls in 2017 but Jeremy Corbyn proved that there was an appetite for a fair Britain for all.  But, ultimately, he still lost and austerity continued (other than in Northern Ireland due to the deal with the DUP).  And to put things in perspective, despite Swine Flu and the global credit crunch, Gordon Brown came closer to being PM in 2010 that Corbyn did in 2017 or 2019, and that is when Corbyn had a failing NHS, police and education cuts giving people a reason not to vote for the Tories!

I am of the view that elections are won by getting voters who do not vote for you normally, to vote for you.  Boris Johnson has done that, getting Labour voters to either vote Conservative, or switch to the Brexit Party.  Labour can continue on a path away from appealing to voters of other parties, one which has resulted in one term stints in government, or Labour can learn from its most successful leader and bring about a government for the many which lasts longer than one parliamentary term.  But considering the calls to have a purge of Blairites (I am a Brownite), I suspect I know what is to happen.  And I fear that means more Conservative rule after the next General Election in 2024.  

Our nation is like a turkey voting for Christmas.

Today is the day that the nation is probably going to vote for another Conservative government that has ruined education for many, has run down the NHS, has cut police numbers and has increased in work poverty.

Needless to say, I am not happy with this.  The sad thing is that people are voting for a government that has done this, and is to vote for a Prime Minister who has been sacked more than once for lying and is not trusted by those who were political allies because he lied to them!  My wife cannot understand why people would vote Conservative considering what they have done to the nation, but many are.  And sadly, many have decided not to vote Labour due to Jeremy Corbyn, my wife being one, even though she ended up more left wing than me when it came to comparing the policies of different parties in this election.  I have friends who voted for him when it came to the Labour leadership election who have been driven out of Labour, being called Blairites (even though I am more of one than they are).  I also have other friends who used to vote Labour, but who feel that cannot due to the direction that the party has now taken. And I have friends who are natural Conservative voters who have voted Labour in the past who would never vote for Corbyn.

I do think that Corbyn has been great at inspiring young people to vote, I do admire his push for kinder gentler politics and at heart, I think that he is an honest man who despises racism and injustice.  But elections are won by getting people who normally vote for other parties to change.  Blair did this in 1997, 2001, and 2005 and while many in Labour despise him, they forget what he did for our nation. Sadly, Corbyn does not appear to have done this in parliament, though his performance was better than Blair in 2005.  And yes, part of this is due to the numerous smears that he has faced, by Labour overcame this in 1997, 2001 and 2005.  It is a shame that the lessons that had been learned then have been forgotten now.

All I can do is hope that Colchester, where I live, gets rid of Will Quince.  As an MP, despite blocking me on Twitter (for asking him if he voted for police cuts), he has been kind enough to respond to the letters that I have sent him.  But ultimately, he is a Tory and it would be great if Colchester could get rid of him.  My fear is that with an increased majority in the last election, this will not be possible, and conflicting messages have been sent about tactical voting.

So in the election today, I am not going to vote tactially, like I have done in the past.  I am not going to vote on personality (I have never done this in the past), but I am going to vote on policies.  And pray that the Conservatives are not returned into office, in Colchester and in Number 10.

Work is meant to pay, but not if you are poor in Conservative Britain

Tomorrow, it is time to vote.  And based on the opinion polls, it is going to be a victory for the Conservatives.

And while the Conservatives claim to make work pay, they do not.  Unemployment has fallen.  But in work poverty has increased under the Conservatives.  As has child poverty.  I am not one of those who faces such issues.  I do understand this as I grew up in a single parent household with a working mother and two younger siblings having had free school meals at times.  My mother worked hard to ensure that we could eat.  And now, other parents, are trying to do the same, but this uncaring Conservative government is making things harder for such parents to feed their children.

How anyone can justify this is beyond me.  I am of the view that a nation should be judged on how it treats those most in need.  But I suspect that those who do vote Conservative tomorrow will find an excuse.  And will ignore the despair of this group of society.

West Ham are so bad that even Arsenal can beat them!

First of all, Arsenal are top of the table.  This being the Women's Super League.  The Arsenal Men's team need to learn more about commitment, passion and how to defend as a team though.

I was sad when Unai Emery started to fail at Arsenal.  He had after all overseen an amazing unbeaten run.  But we lost Aaron Ramsey, a player that any team should be glad to have and a player who is going to be very hard to replace.  And our defence was 'strengthened' by a player who is no longer able to make it into the Chelski first team.  While we had bought Kieran Tierney, by the time he was fit enough to play for the first team, the confidence of our defence was destroyed.  I am in favour of the policy of Unai Emery to play football from the back, but there is a time and a place for this and if opposition teams know that you are always going to do this, they will not try to defend against a long ball from defence and put the Arsenal defence under pressure.

I had high hopes for Freddie Ljungberg, an Arsenal legend, but sadly he has not had that good a start.  I was dreading the game yesterday against West Ham as we started the game closer to being relegated than finishing in the top four.  But we won, West Ham being so bad that they could not even beat us!

If he is not able to make the job, that no other manager seems to want, his, then I think that we should approach Chris Wilder from Sheffield United to be manager.  He has risen through the leagues, and is able to ensure his teams can defend.  And that is something that Arsenal needs to do.