Reform are panicking about people pointing out that they want to replace the NHS. So please don't share this clip of Nigel Farage saying he'd rather healthcare was done through insurance companies.

Farage's analogy between antisemitic and racist comments attributed to him during his schooldays and the BBC's Black and White Minstrel Show must be one of the most absurd comments ever made by a British politician. Does anyone seriously believe this man is fit for high office!

Farage and The Russians .....nothing to see here

So anticipated this test series has probably already lost its allure. There will be a blaming phase around preparation and attitude but in essence they cannot sustain test cricket by sidelining first class cricket and playing rubbish like the Hundred.

You can prepare for test cricket by batting all day and scoring a hundred. You don't do it by smashing 25 off 10 balls in the Hundred. Or you bowl all day and take 5 wickets , not get three catches on the boundary from 3 long hops in 20 balls.

My impression is that Chris Mason opines much more than he informs and that it is legitimate for people to ask about the objectivity and provenance of those opinions.

This clip from 2019 of Matt Frei asking Farage about Arron Banks funding his lifestyle is wild considering recent events. He’s not only walking with convicted Russian asset, Nathan Gill, but at the end when again asked who’s paying for it all, what’s his answer? “Russians!”

Properly speaking rejoining the customs union would not be reversing Brexit. The leave vote ended our membership of the council of ministers, the commission and the parliament. Leaving the customs union and the single market was a subsequent partisan political decision.

Everyone associated with English cricket sets out to hype the Ashes series and raise expectations. We know there are commercial reasons and it sucks people into spending a lot of money. And then in no time it's a flop. You won't keep getting away with this.

Ignominious defeat to weakened Australian side

So England Cricket had too much practice? What have they been practising? Chasing wide balls outside the off stump? Bowling long hops and dropping catches?

It's easy to suggest underlying issues when the simple fact is that England have played badly. But there is a malaise in English cricket. A premium on money making, of commercial interests and a lack of preparation to play cricket at test level.

So Stokes drags out all that " pressure" stuff. It isn't that. It's cricket skills appropriate to test cricket and England don't have them because they spend too much time playing junk cricket.

Steve Loftus Employment is up 329k this year

Are the election expenses in Clacton a more serious area for scrutiny than the racist past, the sale of the Clacton house, the mess in local government, the donations, the Russian connections, the contacts with the European far right and with the Trump Hump in the USA?