General UK politics - Page 55

Carrot Flower King · 27th October 2021, 10:09 AM

Looks like Sunak is trying to do a whole lot of buying of paddles there, mebbe a bit of patching of the canoe, but the canoe remains exactly in the same creek it was before.

sphenisc · 27th October 2021, 12:05 PM

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has announced a new Beatles museum for Liverpool in his Budget.

I thought they already had one?

It's like the nurses. Retaining the current one counts as a new one.

Captain_Swoop · 27th October 2021, 12:26 PM

I bet all the struggling families using food banks can’t ******* wait for it.

Captain_Swoop · 28th October 2021, 12:41 AM

Scottish Water which is publicly owned, has invested nearly 35% more per household in infrastructure since 2002 than the privatised English water companies. It charges users 14% less and does not pay dividends and has only a fraction of untreated waste discharges

The Don · 28th October 2021, 12:50 AM

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

Scottish Water which is publicly owned, has invested nearly 35% more per household in infrastructure since 2002 than the privatised English water companies. It charges users 14% less and does not pay dividends and has only a fraction of untreated waste discharges

Which goes to demonstrate how badly Scottish Water has failed, the venture capitalists, fund managers, millionaires and hedge fund managers haven't made a single penny.

I bet that Scottish Water's board are criminally underpaid as well.....

....checks.....

Chief Exec is paid about a third of what the CEO of Thames Water is paid.

Shareholders aren't making any money, directors aren't making as much money, clearly the business is failing the most important stakeholders.

Darat · 28th October 2021, 05:18 AM

Highest taxes in decades - just as the Tories promised!

Vixen · 28th October 2021, 05:53 AM

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

Facebook

The Lefties are getting there nickers in a twist about human faeces in the rivers. It’s always been done!!!

We bathed in raw diarrhoea when we were kids and did us no harm etc.

Heh, reminds me when I holidayed in St Mary's Bay/Dymchurch as a young kid - rows and rows of old army barracks were used as accommodation for parties of school children - we'd be stopped from swimming because of 'effluence', which I understood to be something horrible.

Brexit is certainly a return to rosy(?) nostalgia. Things ~~ain't~~ are what they used to be.

Filippo Lippi · 28th October 2021, 06:57 AM

I have come to realise that shareholder return is only a "nice to have" in big business, the prime driver is maximising executive income

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

Carrot Flower King · 28th October 2021, 10:11 AM

Originally Posted by Darat

Highest taxes in decades - just as the Tories promised!

Yeahbut these are Tory taxes and so automatically better than and different from Labour taxes, which are A Bad Thing.

Hlafordlaes · 28th October 2021, 10:18 AM

Originally Posted by Filippo Lippi

I have come to realise that shareholder return is only a "nice to have" in big business, the prime driver is maximising executive income

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

Can't remember all the names of the CEO merry-go-round at HP some years ago, but the packages some of the losers got, along with next assignments, made it clear that the number one priority in some quarters is taking care of 1% club members.

Captain_Swoop · 28th October 2021, 11:18 AM

Changing the reduction in Universal Credit payment for part time workers is being called a tax cut for those on the lowest wages.

LondonJohn · 28th October 2021, 02:59 PM

Originally Posted by Darat

Highest taxes in decades - just as the Tories promised!

Perhaps a salient factor here might be the (extraordinarily expensive) pandemic and lockdown measured that the country's been through over the past 20-odd months.

I just have a gut feeling that this might be relevant to the rationale underpinning tax increases.......

Captain_Swoop · 28th October 2021, 03:41 PM

3p off the price of a pint when a pint was £1 would be significant. 3p off the price of a pint that is already £4-£8 is a fart in the wind compared to just how much poorer the Tories have deliberately made us.

Captain_Swoop · 29th October 2021, 03:28 AM

To be fair, most people don't go to the beach to actually swim, they just go through the motions.

Hlafordlaes · 29th October 2021, 03:55 AM

Brexit is like watching someone bleed out. Highly discomfitting! I wish someone would wave a magic wand and reverse what appears to be the effects of an undetected, highly destructive Zika-like pandemic prior to the 2016 Brexit vote and Trump election.

Darat · 29th October 2021, 04:57 AM

Originally Posted by LondonJohn

Perhaps a salient factor here might be the (extraordinarily expensive) pandemic and lockdown measured that the country's been through over the past 20-odd months.

I just have a gut feeling that this might be relevant to the rationale underpinning tax increases.......

The current lot made it quite clear that you can't hide behind external factors, remember these are the shower that pinned the financial meltdown on Labour.

Darat · 29th October 2021, 04:58 AM

Originally Posted by Hlafordlaes

Brexit is like watching someone bleed out. Highly discomfitting! I wish someone would wave a magic wand and reverse what appears to be the effects of an undetected, highly destructive Zika-like pandemic prior to the 2016 Brexit vote and Trump election.

I've described it as a death by a thousand cuts, I was being optimistic, it's a death by 10,000 cuts.

Mr Fied · 29th October 2021, 05:27 AM

Originally Posted by LondonJohn

Perhaps a salient factor here might be the (extraordinarily expensive) pandemic and lockdown measured that the country's been through over the past 20-odd months.

I just have a gut feeling that this might be relevant to the rationale underpinning tax increases.......

Perhaps other factors are involved.

https://www.independent.co.uk/busine...-b1946730.html

Jack by the hedge · 29th October 2021, 05:49 AM

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

3p off the price of a pint when a pint was £1 would be significant. 3p off the price of a pint that is already £4-£8 is a fart in the wind compared to just how much poorer the Tories have deliberately made us.

It's a tiny shift in favour of pubs rather than home drinking as the duty cut applies to beer sold in 40+ litre containers. It helps a £4 pub pint inch a few pence closer to supermarket bottles and cans at less than half the price.

OTOH, it's free money for the big brewers who shift lots of their mass produced beer in 9 gallon kegs or larger but a competitive setback for small craft brewers who sell very little in large kegs.

The Don · 29th October 2021, 06:15 AM

I'm pretty sure that Betteridge's Law applies here:

Quote:

COP26: Has Boris Johnson got what it takes to get a deal?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59084086

Remember Boris Johnson can't even seem to get a deal (or at least stick to one) when one exists already.

Captain_Swoop · 29th October 2021, 07:48 AM

I distinctly remember Boris standing on the steps of Downing Street and promising that we would soon have the highest taxes since the War and be swimming in our own ****.

Carrot Flower King · 29th October 2021, 08:03 AM

Well, what surprise! No one looked at Lex Greensill getting guubmint work, just after he stopped (officially at least) being Call Me's advisor, to see if there might be even a hint of a smigeon of a tad of a conflict of interest - https://www.theguardian.com/business...-contracts-nao - Spoiler Alert: Of course there were sodding COIs, why else was no one looking?

Carrot Flower King · 29th October 2021, 08:06 AM

Meanwhile, in other news, the DHSC is not complying with FOI requests about Owen Paterson and his non-lobbying for the company that just happened to have bunged him loads of cash for not doing anything - https://www.theguardian.com/politics...terson-meeting.

Spoiler Alert: If they aren't releasing things after all this time there is something they don't want out there, 'cos if they have information showing Paterson did no wrong The Guardian would have had it by return of post.

Captain_Swoop · 30th October 2021, 07:43 AM

Who knew it? Turns out filling our rivers and beaches with gallons and gallons of human **** is actually really popular.

Westminster voting intention:

CON: 39% (+2)
LAB: 33% (-)
GRN: 10% (-)
LDEM: 8% (-1)
REFUK: 3% (-1)

via @YouGov, 27 - 28 Oct
Chgs. w/ 21 Oct

Carrot Flower King · 30th October 2021, 11:31 AM

Sigh...Nice to see the The Great British Public are really bothered about The Important Issues of the Day - https://www.theguardian.com/media/20...code-tim-davie - because What Really Matters is Wearing Ties and Not Wearing Jeans...FFS!

These are the sort of wankers that insisted that I had to wear ties at work years ago, including the one some ****** tried to strangle me with (and don't even bother with mentioning clip-ons) and that if you wear a suit you are Automatically Better At Everything And Obviously Superior. Wankers all.

Carrot Flower King · 30th October 2021, 11:39 AM

On a related note: Carrot Flower Queen just reminded me of a complaint made about an on-call consultant in Newcastle, who was called in, dashed in, still wearing shorts and a T-shirt, saved yer man's life in double quick time...Relatives complained that he wasn't wearing a collar and tie...

Really some folk need to have a long, hard look at themselves and then give themselves a good talking to and then shut the **** up.

Worm · 30th October 2021, 12:44 PM

The last person who tried to make we wear a tie to work ended up moving to a remote Scottish island. Coincidence?

P.J. Denyer · 31st October 2021, 05:56 PM

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

Langstone Harbour is an SSSI & nature reserve. It's also almost entirely enclosed by Portsea Island and Hayling Island, as the map attached shows you. This sewage, therefore, is not going to disperse easily.

I grew up (for a certain value of grew up of course) in Emsworth & spent a lot of my childhood swimming in those waters. We scattered my Mother's ashes on the foreshore along there. Not a pleasant thought.

gypsyjackson · 31st October 2021, 08:47 PM

Originally Posted by P.J. Denyer

I grew up (for a certain value of grew up of course) in Emsworth & spent a lot of my childhood swimming in those waters. We scattered my Mother's ashes on the foreshore along there. Not a pleasant thought.

Yeah, that’s an interesting one. We also scattered our mother’s ashes at her favourite beauty spot, thus just slightly de-beautifying it. Hopefully less so than raw sewage, though. Also in Wales, so hopefully the Welsh Government won’t bring in same rules.

Captain_Swoop · 1st November 2021, 09:48 AM

MP who sexually harassed member of his staff reinstated to Conservative Party

An MP who sexually harassed a member of his staff will have his Conservative Party membership reinstated on Monday.
Rob Roberts, the MP for Delyn, began a 12-week suspension from the party on 9 August, and was also suspended from Parliament for six weeks in May.
But come Monday, he will become a member of the party again.

However, the Tory whip - which would make him a Conservative MP in the Commons - will remained suspended, so he will continue as an independent MP.
When his 12-weeks party suspension was announced, his former employee told the BBC it was "disconcerting" that someone who caused "so much concern amongst younger members of the party should be allowed to continue their membership".

MP Rob Roberts told staffer to be 'less alluring'
Earlier this year, an independent panel found Mr Roberts sexually harassed a member of his staff.
The former employee told the BBC the MP had repeatedly propositioned him and asked him to be "less alluring".

Mr Roberts said he apologised for a "completely improper" breach of trust "in the MP-staff relationship".
But because of a legal loophole, he did not face a recall petition - which can lead to a by-election - as he was suspended by an independent panel rather than a parliamentary committee.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59088563

Darat · 1st November 2021, 10:36 AM

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

...snip...

Mr Roberts said he apologised for a "completely improper" breach of trust "in the MP-staff relationship".
But because of a legal loophole, he did not face a recall petition - which can lead to a by-election - as he was suspended by an independent panel rather than a parliamentary committee.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59088563

Translation - "how dare they make an accusation and not allow it to be swept under the carpet"

gypsyjackson · 1st November 2021, 06:57 PM

It looks like the Tories didn’t suspend him for harassing a female member of staff, but did for his harassing a male member of staff. Hopefully the difference is due to it by then being a repeated offence.

Captain_Swoop · 2nd November 2021, 03:13 AM

Rishi Sunak sent a message to Rachel Reeves on Twitter asking why she hadn’t welcomed his £20million investment in her constituency!
Only thing is as the local paper points out - it’s not in her constituency but in the Tory one next door!

The Don · 2nd November 2021, 03:31 AM

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

Rishi Sunak sent a message to Rachel Reeves on Twitter asking why she hadn’t welcomed his £20million investment in her constituency!
Only thing is as the local paper points out - it’s not in her constituency but in the Tory one next door!

...and even then:

Quote:

But as Reeves pointed out, the money was actually for next-door Pudsey, a Tory seat.

Yet even in Pudsey last week, where the money will be spent on upgrading a main road, there was little support for Sunak’s supposed largesse, given that it comes after a decade of underinvestment.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...s-20m-largesse

I suppose from a Westminster perspective, it's all Up North so it's all the same and it's all grim.

Carrot Flower King · 2nd November 2021, 04:36 AM

Does Sunak actually think he's MP for Richmond near That There London rather than the market town in Swaledale?

But then, isn't he one of the ones who think Scotland starts at Hadrian's Wall (y'know around 30 miles south of where I live)?

Darat · 2nd November 2021, 04:56 AM

Originally Posted by Carrot Flower King

Does Sunak actually think he's MP for Richmond near That There London rather than the market town in Swaledale?

But then, isn't he one of the ones who think Scotland starts at Hadrian's Wall (y'know around 30 miles south of where I live)?

When you have many homes it's rather difficult to remember where you are day to day!

Captain_Swoop · 3rd November 2021, 03:21 AM

don’t like your mates being punished for breaking lobbying rules? propose a ridiculous replacement system on the same day a Tory MP is due to be suspended

Captain_Swoop · 3rd November 2021, 03:35 AM

Don't like the treaty you just signed?
Break it.

Don't like the a corrupt MP has been found by independent committee to be corrupt?
Break the independent committee".

Don't like parliament?
Break Parliament by unlawfully proroguing it.

Am I starting to see a pattern here?

The Don · 3rd November 2021, 03:39 AM

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

Don't like the treaty you just signed?

"Break it".

Dont like the a corrupt MP has been found by independent committee to be corrupt?

"Break the independent committee".

Dont like parliament?

"Break Parliament by unlawfully proroguing it".

Am I starting to see a pattern here?

When there are no personal consequences for breaking the rules, why would any respectable right-winger ever bother to adhere to them ?

Even if there are consequences for their actions - like if the EU act against the UK - those consequences fall on other people rather than the Prime Minister.

KDLarsen · 3rd November 2021, 06:37 AM

As with so much else, the whole Paterson saga is gaslighting in extremis. As I'm typing, Johnson is at PMQ's, making a number of false claims (there's a certain level of irony in the fact that Johnson is permitted to openly lie to the House, but any attempt to call him out on this by a member of the opposition will be rebuked as a breach of rules...), such as claiming that Paterson was denied 'natural justice' and a right of appeal, which has been strongly denied by the chair of the standards committee.

Then again, as noted by commentators on social media, it speaks volumes that of the 59 signatories to the amendment to get Paterson off the hook, 6 have had allegations upheld against them by the standards commissioner in the past year. And they're also holding second jobs worth more than a million £...

And as the FT's political columnist Robert Shrimsley noted:

Quote:

Tories could have opted to cut Paterson's penalty, which would have been bad enough. Instead they have concluded that an independent system which finds against their chum is too independent

27th October 2021, 12:05 PM	#2162
sphenisc Philosopher Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 5,717	Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has announced a new Beatles museum for Liverpool in his Budget. I thought they already had one? It's like the nurses. Retaining the current one counts as a new one.
sphenisc Philosopher Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 5,717	__________________ "The cure for everything is salt water - tears, sweat or the sea." Isak Dinesen

28th October 2021, 05:18 AM	#2166
Darat Lackey Administrator Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: South East, UK Posts: 101,818	Highest taxes in decades - just as the Tories promised!
	__________________ I wish I knew how to quit you

28th October 2021, 05:53 AM	#2167
Vixen Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Apr 2015 Posts: 28,937	Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop Facebook The Lefties are getting there nickers in a twist about human faeces in the rivers. It’s always been done!!! We bathed in raw diarrhoea when we were kids and did us no harm etc. Heh, reminds me when I holidayed in St Mary's Bay/Dymchurch as a young kid - rows and rows of old army barracks were used as accommodation for parties of school children - we'd be stopped from swimming because of 'effluence', which I understood to be something horrible. Brexit is certainly a return to rosy(?) nostalgia. Things ~~ain't~~ are what they used to be.
	__________________ The parting on the Left Is now parting on the Right ~ Pete Townshend

28th October 2021, 06:57 AM	#2168
Filippo Lippi Illuminator Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 3,840	I have come to realise that shareholder return is only a "nice to have" in big business, the prime driver is maximising executive income Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk
	__________________ You can't defeat fascism through debate because it's not simply an idea, proposal or theory. It's a fundamentally flawed way of looking at the world. It's a distorting prism, emotionally charged and completely logic-proof. You may as well challenge rabies to a game of Boggle. @ViolettaCrisis

28th October 2021, 10:18 AM	#2170
Hlafordlaes Disorder of Kilopi Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: State of Flux Posts: 16,692	Originally Posted by Filippo Lippi I have come to realise that shareholder return is only a "nice to have" in big business, the prime driver is maximising executive income Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk Can't remember all the names of the CEO merry-go-round at HP some years ago, but the packages some of the losers got, along with next assignments, made it clear that the number one priority in some quarters is taking care of 1% club members.
	__________________ His real name is Count Douchenozzle von Stenchfahrter und Lichtendicks. - shemp

27th October 2021, 10:09 AM	#2161
Carrot Flower King Master Poster Join Date: Mar 2020 Location: Northumberland, UK Posts: 2,385	Looks like Sunak is trying to do a whole lot of buying of paddles there, mebbe a bit of patching of the canoe, but the canoe remains exactly in the same creek it was before.

27th October 2021, 12:26 PM	#2163
Captain_Swoop Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 42,166	I bet all the struggling families using food banks can’t ******* wait for it.

28th October 2021, 12:41 AM	#2164
Captain_Swoop Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 42,166	Scottish Water which is publicly owned, has invested nearly 35% more per household in infrastructure since 2002 than the privatised English water companies. It charges users 14% less and does not pay dividends and has only a fraction of untreated waste discharges

28th October 2021, 12:50 AM	#2165
The Don Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Sir Fynwy Posts: 34,177	Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop Scottish Water which is publicly owned, has invested nearly 35% more per household in infrastructure since 2002 than the privatised English water companies. It charges users 14% less and does not pay dividends and has only a fraction of untreated waste discharges Which goes to demonstrate how badly Scottish Water has failed, the venture capitalists, fund managers, millionaires and hedge fund managers haven't made a single penny. I bet that Scottish Water's board are criminally underpaid as well..... ....checks..... Chief Exec is paid about a third of what the CEO of Thames Water is paid. Shareholders aren't making any money, directors aren't making as much money, clearly the business is failing the most important stakeholders.

28th October 2021, 10:11 AM	#2169
Carrot Flower King Master Poster Join Date: Mar 2020 Location: Northumberland, UK Posts: 2,385	Originally Posted by Darat Highest taxes in decades - just as the Tories promised! Yeahbut these are *Tory taxes* and so automatically better than and different from Labour taxes, which are A Bad Thing.

28th October 2021, 11:18 AM	#2171
Captain_Swoop Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 42,166	Changing the reduction in Universal Credit payment for part time workers is being called a tax cut for those on the lowest wages.

28th October 2021, 02:59 PM	#2172
LondonJohn Penultimate Amazing Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 19,234	Originally Posted by Darat Highest taxes in decades - just as the Tories promised! Perhaps a salient factor here might be the (extraordinarily expensive) pandemic and lockdown measured that the country's been through over the past 20-odd months. I just have a gut feeling that this might be relevant to the rationale underpinning tax increases.......

28th October 2021, 03:41 PM	#2173
Captain_Swoop Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 42,166	3p off the price of a pint when a pint was £1 would be significant. 3p off the price of a pint that is already £4-£8 is a fart in the wind compared to just how much poorer the Tories have deliberately made us.

29th October 2021, 03:28 AM	#2174
Captain_Swoop Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 42,166	To be fair, most people don't go to the beach to actually swim, they just go through the motions.

29th October 2021, 03:55 AM	#2175
Hlafordlaes Disorder of Kilopi Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: State of Flux Posts: 16,692	Brexit is like watching someone bleed out. Highly discomfitting! I wish someone would wave a magic wand and reverse what appears to be the effects of an undetected, highly destructive Zika-like pandemic prior to the 2016 Brexit vote and Trump election.
	__________________ His real name is Count Douchenozzle von Stenchfahrter und Lichtendicks. - shemp

29th October 2021, 04:57 AM	#2176
Darat Lackey Administrator Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: South East, UK Posts: 101,818	Originally Posted by LondonJohn Perhaps a salient factor here might be the (extraordinarily expensive) pandemic and lockdown measured that the country's been through over the past 20-odd months. I just have a gut feeling that this might be relevant to the rationale underpinning tax increases....... The current lot made it quite clear that you can't hide behind external factors, remember these are the shower that pinned the financial meltdown on Labour.
	__________________ I wish I knew how to quit you

29th October 2021, 04:58 AM	#2177
Darat Lackey Administrator Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: South East, UK Posts: 101,818	Originally Posted by Hlafordlaes Brexit is like watching someone bleed out. Highly discomfitting! I wish someone would wave a magic wand and reverse what appears to be the effects of an undetected, highly destructive Zika-like pandemic prior to the 2016 Brexit vote and Trump election. I've described it as a death by a thousand cuts, I was being optimistic, it's a death by 10,000 cuts.
	__________________ I wish I knew how to quit you

29th October 2021, 05:27 AM	#2178
Mr Fied Muse Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 630	Originally Posted by LondonJohn Perhaps a salient factor here might be the (extraordinarily expensive) pandemic and lockdown measured that the country's been through over the past 20-odd months. I just have a gut feeling that this might be relevant to the rationale underpinning tax increases....... Perhaps other factors are involved. https://www.independent.co.uk/busine...-b1946730.html
Mr Fied Muse Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 630

29th October 2021, 05:49 AM	#2179
Jack by the hedge Safely Ignored Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 13,330	Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop 3p off the price of a pint when a pint was £1 would be significant. 3p off the price of a pint that is already £4-£8 is a fart in the wind compared to just how much poorer the Tories have deliberately made us. It's a tiny shift in favour of pubs rather than home drinking as the duty cut applies to beer sold in 40+ litre containers. It helps a £4 pub pint inch a few pence closer to supermarket bottles and cans at less than half the price. OTOH, it's free money for the big brewers who shift lots of their mass produced beer in 9 gallon kegs or larger but a competitive setback for small craft brewers who sell very little in large kegs.

29th October 2021, 06:15 AM	#2180
The Don Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Sir Fynwy Posts: 34,177	I'm pretty sure that Betteridge's Law applies here: Quote: COP26: Has Boris Johnson got what it takes to get a deal? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59084086 Remember Boris Johnson can't even seem to get a deal (or at least stick to one) when one exists already.

29th October 2021, 07:48 AM	#2181
Captain_Swoop Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 42,166	I distinctly remember Boris standing on the steps of Downing Street and promising that we would soon have the highest taxes since the War and be swimming in our own ****.

29th October 2021, 08:03 AM	#2182
Carrot Flower King Master Poster Join Date: Mar 2020 Location: Northumberland, UK Posts: 2,385	Well, what surprise! No one looked at Lex Greensill getting guubmint work, just after he stopped (officially at least) being Call Me's advisor, to see if there might be even a hint of a smigeon of a tad of a conflict of interest - https://www.theguardian.com/business...-contracts-nao - Spoiler Alert: Of course there were sodding COIs, why else was no one looking?

29th October 2021, 08:06 AM	#2183
Carrot Flower King Master Poster Join Date: Mar 2020 Location: Northumberland, UK Posts: 2,385	Meanwhile, in other news, the DHSC is not complying with FOI requests about Owen Paterson and his non-lobbying for the company that just happened to have bunged him loads of cash for not doing anything - https://www.theguardian.com/politics...terson-meeting. Spoiler Alert: If they aren't releasing things after all this time there is something they don't want out there, 'cos if they have information showing Paterson did no wrong The Guardian would have had it by return of post.

30th October 2021, 07:43 AM	#2184
Captain_Swoop Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 42,166	Who knew it? Turns out filling our rivers and beaches with gallons and gallons of human **** is actually really popular. Westminster voting intention: CON: 39% (+2) LAB: 33% (-) GRN: 10% (-) LDEM: 8% (-1) REFUK: 3% (-1) via @YouGov, 27 - 28 Oct Chgs. w/ 21 Oct

30th October 2021, 11:31 AM	#2185
Carrot Flower King Master Poster Join Date: Mar 2020 Location: Northumberland, UK Posts: 2,385	Sigh...Nice to see the The Great British Public are really bothered about The Important Issues of the Day - https://www.theguardian.com/media/20...code-tim-davie - because What Really Matters is Wearing Ties and Not Wearing Jeans...FFS! These are the sort of wankers that insisted that I had to wear ties at work years ago, including the one some ****** tried to strangle me with (and don't even bother with mentioning clip-ons) and that if you wear a suit you are Automatically Better At Everything And Obviously Superior. Wankers all.

30th October 2021, 11:39 AM	#2186
Carrot Flower King Master Poster Join Date: Mar 2020 Location: Northumberland, UK Posts: 2,385	On a related note: Carrot Flower Queen just reminded me of a complaint made about an on-call consultant in Newcastle, who was called in, dashed in, still wearing shorts and a T-shirt, saved yer man's life in double quick time...Relatives complained that he wasn't wearing a collar and tie... Really some folk need to have a long, hard look at themselves and then give themselves a good talking to and then shut the **** up.

30th October 2021, 12:44 PM	#2187
Worm Illuminator Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Dundee Posts: 3,427	The last person who tried to make we wear a tie to work ended up moving to a remote Scottish island. Coincidence?
	__________________ "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent" Isaac Asimov Not all cults are bad - I've joined a cult of niceness

31st October 2021, 05:56 PM	#2188
P.J. Denyer Philosopher Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 8,704	Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop Langstone Harbour is an SSSI & nature reserve. It's also almost entirely enclosed by Portsea Island and Hayling Island, as the map attached shows you. This sewage, therefore, is not going to disperse easily. I grew up (for a certain value of grew up of course) in Emsworth & spent a lot of my childhood swimming in those waters. We scattered my Mother's ashes on the foreshore along there. Not a pleasant thought.
P.J. Denyer Philosopher Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 8,704	__________________ "I know my brain cannot tell me what to think." - Scorpion "Nebulous means Nebulous" - Adam Hills

31st October 2021, 08:47 PM	#2189
gypsyjackson Graduate Poster Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Posts: 1,483	Originally Posted by P.J. Denyer I grew up (for a certain value of grew up of course) in Emsworth & spent a lot of my childhood swimming in those waters. We scattered my Mother's ashes on the foreshore along there. Not a pleasant thought. Yeah, that’s an interesting one. We also scattered our mother’s ashes at her favourite beauty spot, thus just slightly de-beautifying it. Hopefully less so than raw sewage, though. Also in Wales, so hopefully the Welsh Government won’t bring in same rules.

1st November 2021, 09:48 AM	#2190
Captain_Swoop Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 42,166	MP who sexually harassed member of his staff reinstated to Conservative Party An MP who sexually harassed a member of his staff will have his Conservative Party membership reinstated on Monday. Rob Roberts, the MP for Delyn, began a 12-week suspension from the party on 9 August, and was also suspended from Parliament for six weeks in May. But come Monday, he will become a member of the party again. However, the Tory whip - which would make him a Conservative MP in the Commons - will remained suspended, so he will continue as an independent MP. When his 12-weeks party suspension was announced, his former employee told the BBC it was "disconcerting" that someone who caused "so much concern amongst younger members of the party should be allowed to continue their membership". MP Rob Roberts told staffer to be 'less alluring' Earlier this year, an independent panel found Mr Roberts sexually harassed a member of his staff. The former employee told the BBC the MP had repeatedly propositioned him and asked him to be "less alluring". Mr Roberts said he apologised for a "completely improper" breach of trust "in the MP-staff relationship". But because of a legal loophole, he did not face a recall petition - which can lead to a by-election - as he was suspended by an independent panel rather than a parliamentary committee. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59088563

1st November 2021, 10:36 AM	#2191
Darat Lackey Administrator Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: South East, UK Posts: 101,818	Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop ...snip... Mr Roberts said he apologised for a "completely improper" breach of trust "in the MP-staff relationship". But because of a legal loophole, he did not face a recall petition - which can lead to a by-election - as he was suspended by an independent panel rather than a parliamentary committee. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59088563 Translation - "how dare they make an accusation and not allow it to be swept under the carpet"
	__________________ I wish I knew how to quit you

1st November 2021, 06:57 PM	#2192
gypsyjackson Graduate Poster Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Posts: 1,483	It looks like the Tories didn’t suspend him for harassing a female member of staff, but did for his harassing a male member of staff. Hopefully the difference is due to it by then being a repeated offence.

2nd November 2021, 03:13 AM	#2193
Captain_Swoop Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 42,166	Rishi Sunak sent a message to Rachel Reeves on Twitter asking why she hadn’t welcomed his £20million investment in her constituency! Only thing is as the local paper points out - it’s not in her constituency but in the Tory one next door!

2nd November 2021, 03:31 AM	#2194
The Don Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Sir Fynwy Posts: 34,177	Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop Rishi Sunak sent a message to Rachel Reeves on Twitter asking why she hadn’t welcomed his £20million investment in her constituency! Only thing is as the local paper points out - it’s not in her constituency but in the Tory one next door! ...and even then: Quote: But as Reeves pointed out, the money was actually for next-door Pudsey, a Tory seat. Yet even in Pudsey last week, where the money will be spent on upgrading a main road, there was little support for Sunak’s supposed largesse, given that it comes after a decade of underinvestment. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...s-20m-largesse I suppose from a Westminster perspective, it's all Up North so it's all the same and it's all grim.

2nd November 2021, 04:36 AM	#2195
Carrot Flower King Master Poster Join Date: Mar 2020 Location: Northumberland, UK Posts: 2,385	Does Sunak actually think he's MP for Richmond near That There London rather than the market town in Swaledale? But then, isn't he one of the ones who think Scotland starts at Hadrian's Wall (y'know around 30 miles south of where I live)?
	Last edited by Carrot Flower King; 2nd November 2021 at 04:37 AM. Reason: - l