Continuation General UK politics [2]

[Captain_Swoop]

Originally Posted by Lothian

It is hard to know how to help with the current situation. I am however boycotting Russian owned corporations
Gazprom, Lukoil, Rosneft, Sberbank, British Conservative Party, Russian Railways, Rostec.

Chelsea Football Club.

[Aber]

Originally Posted by Vixen

The UK, having been lumbered with one of the weakest Prime Ministers in history during a catastrophic and chaotic pandemic is now the UK figurehead against the Russia-Ukraine attack. With Boris Johnson's long history of enabling Russian oligarchs - one is in the House of Lords, thanks to his close friendship with Johnson (Johnson even travelled to Italy to visit him, shaking off his Personal Protection security) - his claims to be taking a really tough stance against Russia sounds hollow and insincere.

Did you miss the shipments of anti-tank weapons and trainers to Ukraine, when other major European powers were talking down the risk of invasion?

[P.J. Denyer]

Originally Posted by Mojo

Russian TV broadcasts in UK a ‘disinformation campaign’, says Dorries

These would be the same Russian TV broadcasts that the LotO shouldn't ask for a license review because "Freedom of Speech" & asking for a review is 'banning' but that they were simultaneously already reviewing*, right?

*Last weeks PMQs

[Captain_Swoop]

Originally Posted by Aber

Did you miss the shipments of anti-tank weapons and trainers to Ukraine, when other major European powers were talking down the risk of invasion?

The spate of ministers saying and tweeting literal, provable and obvious lies about government refugee policies suggests they do know they’re on the wrong side of public opinion on this.


Boris is doing the minimum he can get away with.

he doesn't want to upset his owners and have them turn off the money.

[Aber]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

Boris is doing the minimum he can get away with.

he doesn't want to upset his owners and have them turn off the money.

Given reports that he was one of the leading advocates for turning off SWIFT, that doesn't look true.

The UK Government has taken a harder line on Russia than most others in Europe (excluding Poland and the Baltics), and backed it up with actions including troop deployments and weapons supply.

[Vixen]

Originally Posted by Aber

Did you miss the shipments of anti-tank weapons and trainers to Ukraine, when other major European powers were talking down the risk of invasion?

By accepting donations from a hostile foreign power and enabling them to infiltrate the British establishment, the British government has emboldened Putin, likewise, the Trump regime.


You recall Profumo having to resign because his mistress, Christine Keeler, was sleeping with KGB agents?


How come it is suddenly acceptable to be seen openly fraternising with a known corrupt regime?


I would not be surprised if one or more of the incumbents was committing treason. Yes, a traitor. Knowingly. Something to hide.

[Vixen]

Originally Posted by Aber

Given reports that he was one of the leading advocates for turning off SWIFT, that doesn't look true.

The UK Government has taken a harder line on Russia than most others in Europe (excluding Poland and the Baltics), and backed it up with actions including troop deployments and weapons supply.

Largely empty rhetoric. SWIFT is just a messaging service between banks. It doesn't freeze their accounts. They are numerous ways of transferring funds without a SWIFT code. (Cheques, Bills of Exchange, Promissory Notes, Letters of Credit, Forward Contracts, etc.) Russia can still pay its bills and receive funds.

Action speaks louder than words. Where are the means for refugees to seek asylum in the UK, as in other countries?


Yes, troops have been sent to Estonia and naval ships to the Black Sea (?) but that is not the same as going in fighting, more to protect the interest of the peripheral states.

[Captain_Swoop]

Originally Posted by Aber

Given reports that he was one of the leading advocates for turning off SWIFT, that doesn't look true.

The UK Government has taken a harder line on Russia than most others in Europe (excluding Poland and the Baltics), and backed it up with actions including troop deployments and weapons supply.

And yet he still hasn't turned off the Russian money tap.

[Ivor the Engineer]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

And yet he still hasn't turned off the Russian money tap.

A quick browse through any edition of Private Eye will demonstrate how relaxed Boris & Co. are about laundering Russian money in the UK.

[Mojo]

Originally Posted by Vixen

By accepting donations from a hostile foreign power and enabling them to infiltrate the British establishment, the British government has emboldened Putin, likewise, the Trump regime.


You recall Profumo having to resign because his mistress, Christine Keeler, was sleeping with KGB agents?


How come it is suddenly acceptable to be seen openly fraternising with a known corrupt regime?

I don’t think the Russians have ever been particularly concerned about fraternising with corrupt regimes.

[dudalb]

Apparently Boris's welcoming attitude toward Russian Oligarchs has become a hot button issue, with even some COnservatives blasting him for it.

[Vixen]

According to Twitter, some 25% of Tory MP's have been the recipient of Russian 'donations'. Jacob Rees-Mogg apparently got rid of some assets he had in a Russian bank recently. If he had a hint this was coming (intelligence reports of troops building up) and he shorted on the currency f/x rate, then that would count as insider trading, which is illegal.

[Captain_Swoop]

Originally Posted by Vixen

According to Twitter, some 25% of Tory MP's have been the recipient of Russian 'donations'. Jacob Rees-Mogg apparently got rid of some assets he had in a Russian bank recently. If he had a hint this was coming (intelligence reports of troops building up) and he shorted on the currency f/x rate, then that would count as insider trading, which is illegal.

He's a crook, they all are.

[Vixen]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

He's a crook, they all are.

According to this tweet:

Quote:

Putin ally Gennady Timchenko, boss of Volga group, was one of the oligarchs sanctioned by UK last week. He is also a director of gas firm Novatek which Rees Mogg's investment fund has a stake in and from which Rees Mogg received £600k worth of dividends last year

https://twitter.com/withorpe/status/...kfyAeqht8JwPhQ

Well, there is nothing illegal in getting a dividend from an investment but it seems to clarify why Boris Johnson and co only wanted to 'sanction' two or three oligarchs at a time, even though a list of 35 of them were read out under the privilege of the House of Commons.

It is also sickening that whilst the EU following the lead of several countries have banned all Russian aircraft from its airspace for three months, the UK are still flying planes to and from Russia (although I think it is planned) and haven't banned private planes, although the EU has.

As for helping the refugees, all Liz Truss can come out with is a pathetic line that they are trying to think of ways to help them, when it seems obvious they have already made a decision not to invite them as asylum seekers. The EU has offered asylum for up to three years, which seems the compassionate thing to do. I guess the Conservative government doesn't want to upset its ERG core.

[dudalb]

Originally Posted by Vixen

According to Twitter, some 25% of Tory MP's have been the recipient of Russian 'donations'. Jacob Rees-Mogg apparently got rid of some assets he had in a Russian bank recently. If he had a hint this was coming (intelligence reports of troops building up) and he shorted on the currency f/x rate, then that would count as insider trading, which is illegal.

GOd, Rees Mogg is like the Hollywood stereotype of the Snobbish, Arrogant British Aristocray.

[dudalb]

I see that Oligarch owned Soccer team Chelsea lost to Liverpool on penalties,l which means they lost because of breaking the rules and trying to cheat. How appropriate.

[Captain_Swoop]

Originally Posted by dudalb

I see that Oligarch owned Soccer team Chelsea lost to Liverpool on penalties,l which means they lost because of breaking the rules and trying to cheat. How appropriate.

No, it was a 0 - 0 draw after full time and extra time so there was a penalty 'shoot out'

Final result was 11 to 10 to Liverpool.

[Mojo]

Originally Posted by Vixen

According to Twitter, some 25% of Tory MP's have been the recipient of Russian 'donations'. Jacob Rees-Mogg apparently got rid of some assets he had in a Russian bank recently. If he had a hint this was coming (intelligence reports of troops building up) and he shorted on the currency f/x rate, then that would count as insider trading, which is illegal.

I thought ministers were supposed to put their investments in blind trusts to prevent conflicts of interest.

[jimbob]

Originally Posted by dudalb

GOd, Rees Mogg is like the Hollywood stereotype of the Snobbish, Arrogant British Aristocray.

And the thing is, that's his CULTIVATED image.

Just as Johnson cultivated "amiable bumbling Boris who'd be a good laugh at a party" and Trump cultivated "successful hardnosed ruthless businessman"

And his constituents fall for it.

[Darat]

Originally Posted by Vixen

According to Twitter, some 25% of Tory MP's have been the recipient of Russian 'donations'. Jacob Rees-Mogg apparently got rid of some assets he had in a Russian bank recently. If he had a hint this was coming (intelligence reports of troops building up) and he shorted on the currency f/x rate, then that would count as insider trading, which is illegal.

For other people.

[Vixen]

Originally Posted by dudalb

GOd, Rees Mogg is like the Hollywood stereotype of the Snobbish, Arrogant British Aristocray.

AIUI his dad was actually a lorry driver... or something.

[jimbob]

Originally Posted by Vixen

AIUI his dad was actually a lorry driver... or something.

Editor of the Times. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Rees-Mogg

[The Don]

Originally Posted by Vixen

AIUI his dad was actually a lorry driver... or something.

Absolutely, his father was a member of the lower orders.....

Quote:

William Rees-Mogg was born in 1928 in Bristol, England, into a middle-class family, the son of Edmund Fletcher Rees-Mogg (1889–1962) of Cholwell House[1] in the parish of Cameley in Somerset, an Anglican by Christian denomination, and his Irish American Catholic wife, Beatrice Warren, a daughter of Daniel Warren of New York. William Rees-Mogg was raised in the Roman Catholic faith.

He was educated at Clifton College Preparatory School in Bristol and Charterhouse in Godalming, where he was Head of School.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Rees-Mogg

Truly a horny-handed son of the soil

[Vixen]

Originally Posted by The Don

Absolutely, his father was a member of the lower orders.....



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Rees-Mogg

Truly a horny-handed son of the soil

From the GRUANIAD:

Quote:

The MP’s grandfather worked as a dairyman and lorry driver, but this does not fit his carefully cultivated public image

<snip>

Quote:

So far as I can tell, the leader of the House of Commons and lord president of the council rarely mentions this side of his ancestry. Not, I suspect, because he’s ashamed of it – a lorry driver’s rise to town mayor perfectly illustrates the Tory faith in individual enterprise – but because it doesn’t fit the caricature he has made of himself. The top hat, the tailcoat, the waistcoat, the striped trousers, the white tie, the six elaborately named children (one of them Alfred Wulfric Leyson Pius), the drawl, the languor: matched with a grandad who drove a lorry, such a creation becomes a pitiable mountebank, Alfred Doolittle dressed for a wedding, rather than the courtly eccentric, the “honourable member for the 18th century”, which is how Rees-Mogg likes to present himself.

Maternal side:

Quote:

Gillian was born here in 1939, with her father’s occupation described as “motor lorry driver” in the register. But he got on. He became a car salesman for an Austin dealership, joined the Conservative party, won a seat on St Pancras council and eventually served a year as its mayor, by which time the family had moved a few hundred yards from Birkenhead Street to a flat in Queen Alexandra Mansions, a giant slab of Edwardian red brick behind St Pancras town hall.

Paternal side:

Quote:

His paternal forebears are a greater support, having lived in large stone houses that, though no longer in Rees-Mogg ownership, still stand and bear names. The manor at Farrington Gurney, Cholwell House at Temple Cloud, Ston Easton Park (“exceptionally sumptuous” – Nikolaus Pevsner) near Bath – a train of Somerset dwellings that began in the 17th century

Rees-Mogg's wife is a lot posher.

[Darat]

Originally Posted by Vixen

From the GRUANIAD:




<snip>




Maternal side:




Paternal side:



Rees-Mogg's wife is a lot posher.

Just a FYI - time travel has not yet been invented: Grandfather does not equal Father

[Captain_Swoop]

wrong thread

[Vixen]

Originally Posted by Darat

Just a FYI - time travel has not yet been invented: Grandfather does not equal Father

Maybe, but grandparents are still close family. Next time Rees-Mogg does his la-di-da act picture him as a drayman in fancy dress costume.

Quote:

This week, walking around the streets of King’s Cross to see where his grandparents had lived, I began to hum the old music hall song: “I’m Burlington Bertie, I rise at ten thirty / And saunter along like a toff / I walk down the Strand with my gloves on my hand / Then I walk down again with them off …”

ibid

[jimbob]

Originally Posted by Darat

Just a FYI - time travel has not yet been invented: Grandfather does not equal Father

Usually.

Or in this case.

[Captain_Swoop]

I didn’t break Covid rules when kissing aide, says Matt Hancock
Ex-minister explains why he resigned last year after CCTV showed him embracing adviser Gina Coladangelo

Matt Hancock has insisted that he broke only Covid guidelines rather than rules in kissing his aide and friend in his ministerial office, events that forced his resignation as UK health secretary after CCTV images of the clinch emerged.
Hancock also said his decision to step down more than 24 hours after the pictures were published was made after people he knew and respected got in touch to remind him they had been unable to see dying relatives because of Covid regulations.

“I resigned because I broke the social distance in guidelines then,” he said. “They weren’t actually rules. They weren’t the law. But that’s not the point. The point is they were the guidelines that I’d been proposing.”
He added: “It actually happened after the rules were lifted, but the guidance was still in place. So I’m not trying to claim that I hold no bitterness about this because I broke the rules, I fess up, I broke the guidance, and there were only two people responsible for this.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...na-coladangelo

[Captain_Swoop]

It's a fair bet that Boris Johnson will be looking at polling over the next day or so. It is a fair bet too that anything he does will be poll-driven.

[Darat]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

It's a fair bet that Boris Johnson will be looking at polling over the next day or so. It is a fair bet too that anything he does will be poll-driven.

I don't think he is driven by the polls, he's not a Blair. For him it is what his mates say and the subsequent headlines. That's why you keep seeing him doing U-turns, him and his mates are completely selfish jerks so their first reaction is never to do something that will help anyone but them. But sometimes the likes of the Daily Mail don't like his "decision" and give him a bad headline, then he will turn around and correct that bad headline. And I do mean correct the bad headline, not actually deal with the issue; as long as it gets a good headline he will say anything, he just won't actually do any of the work required to address the issue.

[Mojo]

Originally Posted by Darat

I don't think he is driven by the polls, he's not a Blair. For him it is what his mates say and the subsequent headlines. That's why you keep seeing him doing U-turns, him and his mates are completely selfish jerks so their first reaction is never to do something that will help anyone but them. But sometimes the likes of the Daily Mail don't like his "decision" and give him a bad headline, then he will turn around and correct that bad headline. And I do mean correct the bad headline, not actually deal with the issue; as long as it gets a good headline he will say anything, he just won't actually do any of the work required to address the issue.

It’s just whatever he thinks will get him out of whatever hole he’s fallen into today.

[Captain_Swoop]

The first thought of Jacob Rees Mogg to any serious political situation is how can I make money from this and best disguise it?

[Captain_Swoop]

Priti Patel told Yvette Cooper in the Commons today that the parents of Ukrainian adults living in the UK would now be able to come to the UK.

The Home Office now says this wasn’t true. Nothing has changed today from the criteria they announced yesterday.

Under the Home Office definition "family members" excluded from the visa scheme include:

- Adult children
- Parents of adults
- Brothers and sisters,
- Grandparents
- Aunts and uncles
- Nieces and nephews

[jimbob]

Quote:

“It is easier for a Russian Oligarch to enter The House of Lords, than for a Ukrainian refugee to enter into the Kingdom of England.” (Johnson. 20:22)

https://twitter.com/Foggii/status/14...m8YFjtGag3dkPA

[Captain_Swoop]

Priti Patel insists on still calling Ukraine 'The Ukraine' in the Commons and is the only minister still using the Russian 'Kiev' spelling rather than the Ukrainian' Kyiv' in documents.

[Vixen]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

Priti Patel told Yvette Cooper in the Commons today that the parents of Ukrainian adults living in the UK would now be able to come to the UK.

The Home Office now says this wasn’t true. Nothing has changed today from the criteria they announced yesterday.

Under the Home Office definition "family members" excluded from the visa scheme include:

- Adult children
- Parents of adults
- Brothers and sisters,
- Grandparents
- Aunts and uncles
- Nieces and nephews

I saw that exchange in the HoC. It seems a standard response by the UK government these days to completely evade the question being asked. Patel actually ticked Cooper off and accused her of spreading disinformation, as she did Lammy on Twitter, when they were being absolutely factual based on her own policy and as readable by all on UK.gov.

And as for Liz Truss, her rehearsed riposte, 'oh you mustn't confuse a Russian oligarch with someone who is ethnically Russian', as if suddenly she has become 'woke' and it is now racist to call one of her chums a Russian.

It might be hilarious that Putin has blamed Truss for his bringing in the nukes. However, she did actually make things worse by going there to 'negotiate' yet all she did was repeat a tin-ear sound bite of how there would follow 'severe consequences' if Russia proceeded to occupy Ukraine. She infuriated the Russian guy by saying she would never recognise a couple of regions as being Russian, when they already were Russian. Truss is way out of her depth. (Frost, Davis and Johnson are also lousy negotiators.) Even if Putin had planned this months ago regardless of whatever, a sovereign state still needs to send someone with negotiating skills, and this has to be highly trained. A good diplomat has finely honed listening skills. The Russian guy complained Truss didn't listen. And he was right. She just went along to show off a huge black Russian fur hat and pose for yet another fashion shot, which seems to be her main forte. An impersonation of Thatcher, 'This lady is not for turning' was not appropriate in this scenario. The UK should have sent a trained diplomat with negotiating skills. OK, so it may not have changed Putin's mind, but at least could have got the ball rolling towards peace by keeping avenues open. Possibly Johnson would have had better listening skills than Truss, being more amenable. Jeremy Hunt would have been much better; he is far brighter and on the ball than either Truss or Raab. Oh well, the UK gets the government it asked for, I guess. Truss was only lumbered with the job of Foreign Secretary as Raab preferred to holiday in times of global crisis.

[Vixen]

Just when you thought the gaslighting couldn't get any worse, along comes Super Brain (_NOT!) Dominic Raaaaaab asking us to swallow his line that Ukrainian refugees prefer to be in a country 'near Ukraine', in response to a broadcaster saying a 75-year-old woman wants to be with her son in London. And we thought Patel and Truss were totally vacuous.

[Captain_Swoop]

Boris has announced “We will make it easier for Ukrainians already living in the UK to bring their relatives to our country. And though the numbers are hard to calculate, they could be more than 200,000”.

“We’re extending the family scheme so that actually very considerable numbers would be eligible you could be talking about a couple of hundred thousand, maybe more.
Additionally we’re going to have a humanitarian scheme, and then a scheme by which UK companies and citizens can sponsor individual Ukrainians to come to the UK.”

Home office says 100,000 is thought to be the entire total of potentially eligible close family members in Ukraine, not an estimate of how many will actually come.

Someone is telling porkies somewhere. Patel still says it only applies to a spouse or child under 18.

[Carrot Flower King]

Originally Posted by Vixen

And as for Liz Truss, her rehearsed riposte, 'oh you mustn't confuse a Russian oligarch with someone who is ethnically Russian', as if suddenly she has become 'woke' and it is now racist to call one of her chums a Russian.

It might be hilarious that Putin has blamed Truss for his bringing in the nukes. However, she did actually make things worse by going there to 'negotiate' yet all she did was repeat a tin-ear sound bite of how there would follow 'severe consequences' if Russia proceeded to occupy Ukraine. She infuriated the Russian guy by saying she would never recognise a couple of regions as being Russian, when they already were Russian. Truss is way out of her depth.

I reckon the Russians had seen one of Truss' infamous speeches (like the cheese one) and thought it was from a satirical show. And now they've met her...