Robert Gibson

Web designer with business/financial background; sports fan, gardener, volunteer inc @CSBForum facilitating residents/@tvp_southbucks engagement. Views my own.

[Robert Gibson @dovedaledesign]

@TimesRadio will Adam manage to get through your discussion on Trump's motivation without mentioning the S word - sociopath?

[Robert Gibson @dovedaledesign]

@vintagemary1 @PowellJfpracing Fascinating to run the eye down the names of the other jockeys in the race

[Robert Gibson @dovedaledesign]

And this morning we hear that Liz Truss has served a 'cease and desist' letter on Keir Starmer, telling him to stop saying she 'crashed the economy'.
No guilt on gilts, it seems.

[Robert Gibson @dovedaledesign]

Interesting blooper on @itvnews last night. Discussing implications of rising gilt yields on the Government's finances and strategy.
They showed this graphic, with banner title: "UK Guilt Yeilds". Misspelling both 'Gilt' and 'Yield'.
Screenshot from @ITVX

[Robert Gibson @dovedaledesign]

@BritishGasHelp Have wasted quite a bit of time trying to notify you of a change of home and therefore final meter reading etc. HOW DO I DO IT????

[Robert Gibson @dovedaledesign]

@horsevault Number 44 on his number cloth!

[Robert Gibson @dovedaledesign]

If they reverse the removal of Winter Fuel Payments, they have a ready scapegoat... Sue Gray.

[Robert Peston @Peston]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Keir Starmer’s ruthlessness and unsentimentality is like nothing I’ve encountered in decades of reporting on the brutal world of British politics.

It was transparently obvious that the centre of his government had been dysfunctional since the general election on 4 July.

But to replace a chief of staff, Sue Gray, who endured considerable opprobrium from former colleagues and the media for choosing to work for him in the first place, and so soon after the election, is quite something.

There are a few reasons why Keir Starmer has replaced her with his campaigning guru Morgan McSweeney.

None of them is a secret.

Here they are in no particular order, though the first is incomparably the most important: the government lacks strategic direction.

Answering the question “what is the point of Starmer’s government?” should be fairly easy three months after Labour won its huge Commons majority. But unless you think it’s Starmer’s lifelong ambition to be remembered for taking £300 from elderly pensioners or receiving £1000 Sandro suits as presents, it isn’t.

In other words, there is an overwhelming case that the chief of staff role should be filled by someone whose expertise is politics and policy - which are McSweeney’s strengths rather than Gray’s.

Second, the negative publicity around freebies is the fault of Starmer and ministers who took them, not Gray’s. The drip-drip of information is redolent however of a governing machine that hasn’t got a grip.

Ditto, the row over pay cuts for special advisers.

Finally there has been endless briefings to the media about the unhappiness with Gray among her colleagues, though most of these have been in the great British tradition of political assassinations, namely vague and anonymous.

So Starmer has again manifested what I have frequently told you is his most important trait, namely his obsession with winning.

And he has rewarded the individual, McSweeney, who devised one of the most effective election campaigns in history.

I understand the McSweeney ascendancy has been coming since the end of Labour conference and was all but set in stone a week ago.

Actually I should more properly call it the McSweeney/McFadden ascendancy since the Number 10 reshuffle announced today also manifests the influence of Pat McFadden, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster - notably in the appointment of his ally James Lyons as director of strategic communications.

All the appointments - there are three others - show McSweeney and McFadden have won a power struggle with Gray, whose reality they all denied.

But in their victory there is a warning for them: if they don’t deliver for their boss, they’ll be out faster than Starmer can say the phrase he oft repeated about Gray, namely that he didn’t recognise the press reports that said she wasn’t working out in that job. Ha!

[Robert Gibson @dovedaledesign]

Err... don't Specsavers advertise that they can come to us?

[Harrison Chase @HarrisonChase6]

@TimesRadio @angelaeagle I dare say there is a valid security reason he can't just pop down to Specsavers - "M" would have a fit - so he just HAS TO accept favours from vested interests.

🙂

Many opticians have contracts with the NHS. Going forward we don't know if the awarding of such is above board.

[Shrodingers Borderline Normal @JeremyCordite]

🚨 BREAKING
Lord Alli would like it to be known he does NOT - repeat NOT - buy clothes for Angela Rayner.

[Robert Gibson @dovedaledesign]

@BetfairCS What's happening? All markets suspended??!

[Robert Gibson @dovedaledesign]

@BetfairCS Recently I discovered the My Profit and Loss page on the App and immediately fell in love with the graphical representation. Sadly it is now giving me a 'TOO_MANY_REDIRECTS' error code. Is this a general problem and/or is there something I can do?

[Robert Gibson @dovedaledesign]

@bbctms Bernard Lovell is probably the man Aggers was looking for

[Robert Gibson @dovedaledesign]

Very grateful that @gregsmith_uk managed to fit me in at the end of surgery. Had useful discussion on new Prestwood Community Association and @CSBForum

[Greg Smith MP @gregsmith_uk]

Busy first surgery of the new Parliament completed in Prestwood this morning. Good to meet with Robert Gibson and Karen Pither to hear about their exciting plans for the Prestwood Community Association - due to launch later this year.

[Robert Gibson @dovedaledesign]

@BBCRadioSolent why is no sound coming out of your online cricket commentary?

[Robert Gibson @dovedaledesign]

@BetfairCS Thank you

[Robert Gibson @dovedaledesign]

@BetfairCS please settle Haydock 4.45 place markets

[Robert Gibson @dovedaledesign]

@benonwine Ben on drugs more like

[Robert Gibson @dovedaledesign]

@TVP_Bucks Rolling survey or a cut-off date?
What will you do with the data?
Will you have a public meeting(s)?
How will the data impact daily policing?
Do you have a web page or similar where this is explained?
What resource is being put into this initiative?

[Robert Gibson @dovedaledesign]

Not making a political point, but this made me smile!

[Robert Gibson @dovedaledesign]

@BetfairCS Settled now, but it waas slow

[Robert Gibson @dovedaledesign]

@BetfairCS will you settle 3 places Leicester 3.25? 3.55 has been run!