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It appears the inevitable clash of personalities between Elon Musk and Nigel Farage has happened, with Musk declaring Farage ‘doesn’t have what it takes’ to lead Reform (Metro, Mon).
The question is, who will Donald Trump side with after this? The answer is neither, because he has already used both of them to get re-elected and he will dump both of them in the same way he dumped other prominent supporters after his first election win. Carlos, Lancashire
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‘The British public will never accept someone like Tommy’
Only Odious Elon could unite most Britons in the political brouhaha about who should lead the Reform Party.
It was a foregone conclusion before the weekend that it would be Teflon Nigel, now things are not so sure.
Odious Elon clearly prefers Tommy Robinson, AKA Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, as the gob for the top job.
The British public will never accept someone like Tommy because his racist demonstrations against so-called Asian child grooming gangs are not matched by similar protests where white people have offended – Downside and Ampleforth schools and the Church of England’s soft touch with child abusers.
If you really are a genius, Elon, it’s certainly not evidenced by your political opinions. Henry Page, Greenwich
‘Farage and Musk’s version of free speech is not good for the UK’
On Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, Nigel Farage claimed that ‘free speech’ is back ‘and that’s good’.
I would suggest that the version of free speech proclaimed by him and his short-lived new bestie Elon Musk is not good for the UK, especially when it means Musk can openly promote the far-right poison of racists and thereby whip up hatred without suffering any of the usual consequences. Andy Jinman, Worthing
‘Have the SNP lost their minds?’
Scottish culture minister Angus Robertson of the SNP defended the decision to cancel Edinburgh’s Hogmanay due to extreme weather.
On average, 74 per cent of extreme weather is caused or exacerbated by the human-caused climate crisis, according to 600 scientific studies.
Industry leaders in Aberdeen and other oil-based local economies want a faster transition away from fossil fuels so they can steal a march on renewable energy production.
And yet the SNP still advocates for continuing extraction of North Sea oil and gas, which will worsen the climate crisis and is an economic dead-end. Have they lost their minds? Ryan Cooper, London
‘What goes around comes around’
Severe weather is cancelling the flights that cause the carbon dioxide emissions that cause the severe weather. What goes around comes around.
Some of the poorest countries are suffering more deadly natural disasters as a direct result of climate meltdown, despite having only emitted a tiny fraction of the carbon dioxide. Really, we’re the lucky ones. Rob Slater, Norfolk
‘Productivity suffers’
If, in bad weather, schools close, parents stay home and manufacturing suffers because only middle-class, white-collar workers can work online, productivity is affected. Fix infrastructure; fix productivity. Michael, Tyne & Wear
‘Starmer may soldier on but Rachel Reeves won’t last the year’
Labour are likely to haemorrhage seats at the May local elections.
They have disillusioned pensioners by withdrawing heating allowances and seen businesses cut staff by increasing employer national insurance contributions.
The cost of state-educating pupils whose parents cannot afford to pay the VAT on private schooling will dent, if not cancel out, revenue raised by introducing the tax, while inheritance tax on agricultural holdings exceeding £1million will raise more hackles than revenue as farmers press for the grab to be reversed.
Having awarded sizeable pay increases to many in the public sector, others will call for similar, thus feeding inflation and lessening scope for the Bank of England to reduce interest rates as the UK veers closer to recession, if not stagflation.
Donald Trump’s views jar with Sir Keir Starmer, yet the UK is on tenterhooks for a good trade deal with the US and if housing minister Matthew Pennycook overtightens the thumbscrews on landlords via the Renters’ Rights Bill, higher costs will also miscarry to tenants, as history proves.
Starmer may soldier on but Rachel Reeves won’t last the year as chancellor and there will be less and less appetite for deputy PM Angela Rayner’s socialistic ambitions. Robert Hughes, London
