Well there are only 24 hours in a day and a good minister always knows what the priorities are.

Weren't Gove and Cummings allies before Cummings went to No 10?

There might* be other Cabinet ministers who are less stupid than Gove and I am willing to consider** that there might be other Cabinet ministers who are less evil than Gove.

Gove probably would actually want to make a success of being PM.

*Rees-Mogg is probably not an idiot.

**It's hard to tell with some of the more stupid ones where the stupidity ends and the evil begins.

Looks like the government is going to be losing one of its biggest BBC cheerleaders.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-58996925

Dare we hope for a more robust approach to be taken when it comes to actually asking Conservatives questions and challenging their lies ?

Once Cummings left, she was left out in the cold with no sources to work.

Seems remarkably low given such a long period of time.

Busy day tomorrow, with meetings at wine o'clock and half past Brie.

On the bright side she can now devote herself full time to becoming wife number five.

Natalie Elphicke Conservative Member of Parliament for Dover & Deal tweeted
@NatalieElphicke
Dec 23
Today I visited the Dover Food Bank with Scarlett Smith, where we put together parcels for people this Christmas time. Scarlett also handed in donations of food and toys for Christmas that she has been collecting.
I was so impressed with the vital work of the Dover Food Bank

Congratulations to Scarlett on her fundraising for Dover Food Bank. My thanks to Laura and the team for all they do. Please do support the Dover Food Bank if you can, and if you are able to volunteer, find out more at:
https://dover.foodbank.org.uk

Only People @NatalieElphicke mentioned can reply to tweets.

It's a testament to the Tories, look how food banks have increased year on year under the Tories, Labour never did that!

The bizarre world of Conservatism, where they love food banks and hate benefits or a decent living wage.

Food banks are charity for the Deserving Poor who get given fresh veg and tins of soup. Benefits go to the Undeserving Poor who fritter it away on cigarettes and colour televisions. Tories don't trust the needy to buy only what they need and dislike the idea they might be allowed some small pleasure.

The irony being many Conservatives ignore the crap many better off people buy, from smoking, to TVs, jewellery, fashion to accessories that just cause pollution and waste.

We know our places, don't we?

Killing and injuring folk somewhere like Driffield doesn't lead to gubbmint action, but vaguely wandering around near Windsor when Brenda is there makes the Home Secretary spring into action...

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...astle-incident

Shall we all tug our forelocks now?

Britain's "world leading" plans for EV charging points have been dropped under commercial pressure.
https://www.theguardian.com/environm...ly-rolled-back

It's only ever about the headlines, never the follow through

Except for sewage in rivers...

:D :D

More good news for 2022, rampant inflation combined with the increase in National Insurance payments will mean that the person in the street won't have to worry about what to do with any disposable income. :mad:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59814598

Yay for '70s style "stagflation" :rolleyes:

I know: you set 'em up, I'll knock 'em in.

He just plays one on TV?

No, he plays one IRL: if he didn't have his famous, wealthy and very well-connected father and been put through the Eton connections and leg up factory he would be nothing. Can you imagine him having to grow up on a council estate on Teesside? Having to survive around South Bank or Grangetown?

He's just another product of privilege without any discernible talent.

Eton educated Lord Gage worth £15m used £330,000 from the Levelling Up Fund to fill in half a mile of potholes on the driveway to his Tudor mansion in South East England.
The track leads to Charleston Farmhouse, a museum and art gallery within the grounds of his Firle Estate.
His Estate Management team secured the cash from the 'Getting Building Fund' one of the Levelling Up Department’s grants specifically aimed at helping Covid-hit infrastructure.


So you're worth gazillions. How do you look at a pot of money notionally for communities that have none and think to yourself, "I know what! A third of a million of that can be used to fix my driveway!"

Eat dirt, red wall voters.

He levelled his driveway!

Honestly, I bet he sees nothing wrong with it. When he claimed the money he probably thought "It's about time I got something"

Chuckle. These Tories are so endearing. Don't we just love their naughty but cute little antics. Bless their chubby little cheeks.

...and yet they still have a comfortable lead in national polls. :confused:

It seems that the British public don't really mind this kind of thing so long as "toffs" do it. OTOH woe betide the immigrant or asylum seeker who manages to secure the benefits to which they are legally entitled. :mad:

So far, so normal.

The twat in Alnwick Castle managed to get Northumberland County Council to cough up, using our council tax, for re-surfacing The Peth, up from Alnwick Bridge to Bailiffgate, just by the entrance to the castle. Said council had ignored complaints from local residents and those who worked on Bailiffgate (yup, that was me, the rest of my team, the Children's Services team who shared our building and all the staff at the high school) for ages and ages. But twat Percy's daughter is getting married, so we can't have a knackered road for the wedding guests, can we? And then he got the road blocked off for days, so folk struggled to get to their homes or to work (it's a long way round).

And this is the twat who is currently holding up a railway line in south easst Northumberland because he wants more money for some old wayleave arrangement...

FFS, some days I expect he'll go full Wars of the Roses and order the local peasantry to take up arms against those dastardly Nevilles!

But Harry Potter!

Harry ******* Potter, my arse!

The problems caused for local residents and those working near Alnwick Castle by Potterists wandering around the middle of the road, blocking footpaths, impeding access to buildings where folk live and work, while all chanting "Harry Potter! Harry Potter! Harry Potter!" like they'd been hypnotised by JK Rowling and twat Percy...

And as for the "tourists = money" non-argument: how much money comes into the non-twat Percy economy when everyone arrives in a coach (causing more problems as the drivers were utter pish on narrow, mediaeval derived streets), is pushed out and into the castle, then shoved back on the coach and driven off to somewhere else (probably Durham Cathedral if they were Potterists)?

ETA And that's before we get to some actual costs, such as members of my team losing 1 or 2 potential appointment slots each every day during holiday season, as all the road journeys take so much longer because of coaches. And folk complain about NHS waiting times...But have to go on coach trips and clog up the A1 and small towns...

But the Tree House!

I used to go up to Alnwick to look after a couple of dentist's practice management and x-ray gear. One on the business park just off the Shilbottle Road by the A1 and the other on Market Street.

Like the whole garden *****, built with money raised from putting up rents on Northumberland Estates. Unless the rent rises around that time were entirely coincidental with the overspend on Mrs Percy's schemes.

Several of my families had to move as they could not afford the rent rises. Marvellous way to look after the local peasantry, eh?

Boris Johnson set to be cleared by Lord Geidt over donation for Downing St flat refurbishment

“Geidt makes clear the situation is a total mess but the fundamental conclusion is that the PM did not deceive and did not break the ministerial code”

https://ft.com/content/d47eaada-ec63...6-d61e0a30a891

There isn't an eye roll big enough that won't pop them out!.

Tide might have turned. People are genuinely shocked and furious about all that partying going on. Remember Dominic Cummings in the Rose Garden? When all the time Downing Street was partying away like no tomorrow whilst presenting a face of deep concern about Barnard Castle.

Boris must have shoved him a fiver.

"Deceive" has become one of those irregular verbs hasn't it? I am economical with the actualité; you lie; he/she/it dissembles; Boris tells it straight.

Or maybe it wasn't deception as Geidt already knew fine well exactly what had gone on and so whatever BS BlowJob told him was irrelevant...

And the "Ministerial Code", as we already know, is worth far less than the Code of the Woosters, which was at least funny.

Since early December the Lab lead over Con has been between 4 and 9%. Let's hope it lasts.

wiki link

The usual suspects in the Conservative Party have proposed a "solution" to the energy price crisis caused by spiralling wholesale gas prices - get rid of the environmental levies. :mad:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59849731

Yeah, let's not try to take action about global warming #dontlookup :rolleyes:

A better way to cut people's energy bills would be to help them use less energy. This would be a double benefit because it would also tend to drive down demand, and hence prices.