Remember this the next time you are being told that Scottish Nationalists are just the same as Farage's mob and the other Britnats in Westminster and remember that it's all the Rangers shirt wearing Union Jack waving 'loyalist' Yoons who are on twitter complaining about 'Rule of Law' and how they will get them next time. Its only the SNP who made any sort of fuss about this yesterday

A Guardian Long Read article
https://www.theguardian.com/politics...he-home-office

From what I can gather, they had overstayed on a visa. Whether they were being deported, as in next stop the airport, or it was just an initial detention is not clear.

The police assist the Home Office, like they assist the fire brigade, paramedics, social work at any call they have where a crowd gathers and there is a fear of trouble. Sometimes the police will also assist by allowing the Home Office to use police cells to accommodate detainees for short periods of time.

It was not much of a mob and much more a spontaneous protest. Police Scotland have at least been consistent when faced with large crowds, such as after the Rangers title victory and not waded in and made a bad situation worse.

The police did protect the Home Office officials by surrounding the van. AFAIK, the only trouble was when the police wanted to move a parked car that was blocking the road.

It's entirely possible they didn't know the details of the HO action.

And the Democratic Unionist Party have elected evolution denying, Young earth Creationist, misogynist, homophobic bigot Edwin Poots their leader.
:rolleyes:

I don't actually know if that is true or not. I would have thought the HO would advise the police of any actions being taken in their area but maybe not.

In either case I assumed that the fact they specified deporting asylum seekers in their response was a reference to what the action was but it is possible, i admit, that they may have been responding in general.

In any case, it's good to see that the Police appear to have acted appropriately on this occasion and things appear to have passed without much in the way of incident.

You could have shortened that down to DUP member Edwin Poots.

It it too much to hope that this could decrease the popularity of the DUP, and encourage a moderate Unionist party (if that's not an oxymoron) ?

The UUP and some of the minuscule parties are actually seeing some increases in support.

They don't, with the exception of the police based at Glasgow and Edinburgh airports and the HO who work there.

Cold War Steve right on the mark today

https://twitter.com/Coldwar_Steve/st...175041/photo/1

Has anybody mentioned that, in his defence about a damning message, David Cameron reckoned that a spellchecker changed his intended 'VAT' into 'rate' ?

What a wazzock.

^ I mentioned his car crash performance, but didn't go into specifics - that bit was a part of why he's an utterly contemptible twat. That and everything esle he says and everything he does. I see little evidence that he thinks in any meaningful way, so I've excluded thought...

I have to admit, I facepalmed at his excuse about signing off all of his texts with "love DC" - especially when it was then pointed out, that the published texts to a number of cabinet ministers didn't end with a "love DC".

Edit: As an addition, I always found it amusing that David Cameron must be one of the few PM's, at least in recent history, to have resigned with both sides of the political spectrum hating his guts.

Matt Hancock tweeted
@MattHancock
Today I was at West Suffolk Hospital, one of the 40 new hospitals we’re going to build.

Matt-nice-but-dim-Hancock telling us he's going to build the hospital that we can all see is already built because he's literally standing in front of the ****** and pointing at it.

I can't wait for him to become transport secretary so he can claim to have built a brand new motorway after getting a few potholes on the M1 fixed!

Presumably he meant predictive text not a spellchecker as they don’t work that way on mobile devices.

Trying “vat” on Gboard and on iPadOS keyboard and none of the predictions are for rate. (Using the default word list, if he has a custom correction list it can alter the predictive text presented.)

Even trying other combinations of letters such as ate, vte and so on never come up with rate instead of VAT. Trying combinations such as vta actually come up with vat as a suggestion.

In other words it is more than likely he was telling a lie - I know you are as shocked as I am!

Conservative MPs, ministers & Lords have received financial contibutions from a US organisation that drew up the voting suppression laws expressly aimed at reducing ethnic minority votes in southern US states.

The "Heritage Action" group has been involved in drawing up voting suppression laws expressly aimed at reducing certain demographic group votes.
HA is a part of the Koch funded Heritage group which finances Conservative MPs, Ministers & Lords.

One of the biggest beneficiaries is Liam Fox who twice stood for leadership of the Tory party & was Johnson's candidate for the WTO.

Other high profile tories are Owen Paterson and Liz Truss, now trade minister.

I don't know which is worse, the utter perfidity, or the utter studidity.

I wonder if Matt can explain when the inquiry into the management of West Suffolk's handling of the whistleblower affair will be published. I mean the non-publication can't have anything to do with the chief exec, who must have been behind the illegal threats to staff, being a mate of Matt's, can it?

Aside from I directly know that NHS management can, will and do sit on "independent" inquiry reports which say things they don't want other folk to know about. However, if reports don't ever get published it is very hard to tell anyone else about it, as your evidence is hidden. Why, yes, I have lived through a couple of instances of this, but I can't offer documentary evidence...I just imagined the day I spent giving evidence to one of them and the half day to another, obviously...

I'm reminded of Cable Street.

It is Cable Street with added Home Secretary.

That is awesome.

Cold War Steve is always on the mark
Steve McFadden is in there too. He usually just looks on in contemp. He is us, the 'everyman' observing. Lately he is depicted taking more of an active role
I often wonder what the real Steve McFadden thinks of it.

A universal basic income scheme is to be trialled in Wales, meaning adults, regardless of their means, will receive a regular sum of money.

The idea is that this would cover the basic cost of living.

First Minister Mark Drakeford said the pilot would "see whether the promises that basic income holds out are genuinely delivered" in people's lives.

But the Conservatives said Wales should not become "a petri dish for failed left-wing policies".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-57120354

More Grenfell related bollocks - https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...eaper-cladding

Tl;dr - lying twat of a Tory councillor can't be bothered to do his job properly, then lies about it. Meanwhile 72 people die and countless others have their lives screwed over. Good work there!

And I'm putting this one here, rather than in a Covid thread, as it's another example of Tory twatishness - https://www.theguardian.com/society/...or-nhs-workers - and of Johnson's absolute unfitness to hold high office.

No good deed goes unpunished….. or used for a good headline…

https://www.theguardian.com/society/...or-nhs-workers

… nurse who cared for Boris Johnson when he was gravely ill with Covid-19 says she has handed in her resignation, such is her disillusionment with the “lack of respect” shown by the government for the NHS and healthcare workers.

Jenny McGee, who kept vigil by the prime minister’s bedside for two days when he was in intensive care, also revealed that his staff had later attempted to co-opt her into a “clap for the NHS” photo opportunity with him during what she thought would be a discreet thank you visit to Downing Street.….

^Beat you to it! ;)

Oh, look, just to support what I said about senior NHS management "disappearing" reports they don't like - https://www.theguardian.com/society/...safety-reports

Looks like the rotten culture of NHS management I knew and loved has not improved since I jacked it in.

This government is proving to be probably the worse in my lifetime for manipulation and non-transparency.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...te-detectives?

Starting to be reported that Boris Johnson is now having to have his flat at Downing Street 'redone' after problems with the renovations over the last few months. Apparently the £840 per roll 'hand-crafted' wallpaper is having to be rehung and other work redone because of problems with materials and workmanship.


https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politi...s-840-24138399

Boris attacking Labour for "wibble-wobbling" on social care two years after he stood outside No 10 and promised he had a "prepared plan" which doesn't appear to exist isn't a good look.

Boris know that he can say anything and there'll be no consequences, no comebacks, no accountability.

He can do that because the hoi polloi love a toff and he's got the backing of most of the press.

Anyone who can be bothered to do their own research already has a very negative opinion and the man in the street loves him because he likes the cut of his jib. :mad:

Rail passengers should see more punctual services and cheaper tickets as part of a huge shake up of UK's railways, the government says.

It says a new state-owned body, Great British Railways (GBR), will set timetables and prices, sell tickets in England and manage rail infrastructure.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps admitted the current system was "too complicated" and "fragmented".

He also promised GBR would be more accountable for delays and disruption.

But private operators will still be contracted to run most trains and the most of the planned reforms will not start coming in until 2023.

Under the reforms:

All tickets will be sold by GBR in the future, ending the system where passengers must buy them from multiple companies online and in stations
There will be a "significant rollout" of more pay as you go, contactless and digital ticketing on smartphones
And from next month flexible season tickets will be available for some people who commute two or three times a week.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57176858

'Great'

Why is everyting 'great'?

Apparently a prominent Conservative MP is under investigation on multiple counts of sexual assault.

It is understood that some of the allegations that have already been officially discussed with the MP relate to incidents occurring before he became an MP.

Expect stories to appear in the press over the next few days.

It beats double plus good

Because if it was simply "British Railways" it would hark back to the "dark" days of the 1940's-1960's when the UK had a comprehensive rail network which serviced most of the country, in BREL had an engineering capacity which was the envy of the world and where fares were within the grasp of the working person. :rolleyes:

It's almost as if rail privatisation, especially in the way it was carried out, was a complete omnishambles. I note that rail companies are using the Covid pay-outs to enhance dividends rather than investing in their services or rewarding their employees.

If British Railways had received the levels of subsidy given to the privatised rail industry instead of being starved of investment for decades (especially just after WWII where the railways had been worked very hard for the national good) then IMO the UK's railways wouldn't be the ramshackle affair it is today.

Not quite renationalisation, but a step in the right direction.

Govt spokesperson says Great British Railways will only operate in England.

Personally, I would welcome Blair back.
I know, I know, Iraq, WMD etc.
But look at where we are.

You really couldn't make it up could you ?

....and the expansion of PFI

There are many reasons to dislike Tony Blair but he also oversaw a big increase in funding for the NHS, a significant reduction in the number of children in poverty, a check to the seemingly inexorable reduction in social and income mobility and as far as I know he didn't simply grant billions of pounds of contracts to mates.

Then again I would say that because I was an enthusiastic supporter of New Labour when I was a member of the party.

Out of the PMs I can recall in my lifetime the ones that I would have preferred as PM for the pandemic were surprisingly Brown and May, two people who should never have been PMs in ordinary times.

It's not Francois again is it?

Boris Johnson sends most of the Royal Navy around in a pointless willy-waving exercise.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57195317

Pathetic right wing populist propaganda.

Surely not. I always hoped his resemblence to an Action Man went as far as being smooth round the bend underneath his scale replica uniforms.