Continuation General UK politics [2]

[Captain_Swoop]

Raab on LBC suggests Johnson went to Lebedev's party in Italy in order to 'rally the world' over the Salisbury poisonings.

[Mojo]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

Raab on LBC suggests Johnson went to Lebedev's party in Italy in order to 'rally the world' over the Salisbury poisonings.

http://www.internationalskeptics.com...2#post13750212

[jimbob]

Originally Posted by Mojo

http://www.internationalskeptics.com...2#post13750212

Good point,

That is an evergreen post.

I suppose there is the hypothetical possibility that something good is happening and Raab doesn't know what he's talking about too.

[jimbob]

Originally Posted by Mojo

http://www.internationalskeptics.com...2#post13750212

Good point,

That is an evergreen post.

[Vixen]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

Raab on LBC suggests Johnson went to Lebedev's party in Italy in order to 'rally the world' over the Salisbury poisonings.

Sure. Even Lebedev's dad flew in from Moscow for the shindig. Once a KGB man always a KGB/GRU - you can tell as Big Daddy Lebedev is still walking and talking.


Putin certainly knows how to talent scout a comedy government: Boris, Liz, Dom, Matt, Therese, Nadine, Grant/Michael/Sebastian, Gavin and Priti: oh how we laughed!






_NOT!

[Captain_Swoop]

There is a loophole in the Economic Crime Bill, which could allow oligarchs to be excluded from the new register of assets if keeping them anonymous is "in the interests of the economic wellbeing of the United Kingdom."
It also gives individuals a six month grace period before they will have to be included on the register. It was going to be 18 months.

Oligarchs can be exempted from controls on keeping their money in the UK as long as this benefits the UK economically? That's one hell of a loophole!

Labour say this amounts to a “get out of London free card” for Russian oligarchs.

[Captain_Swoop]

Boris on Sky News

Question, the UK has issued just 50 visas to Ukrainian so far when more than a million people have fled the country, are you happy with that?

Boris, I'm not sure those numbers are right, no country in Europe has done more to resettle vulnerable people, since 2015, than the UK

[jimbob]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

Boris on Sky News

Question, the UK has issued just 50 visas to Ukrainian so far when more than a million people have fled the country, are you happy with that?

Boris, I'm not sure those numbers are right, no country in Europe has done more to resettle vulnerable people, since 2015, than the UK

I'm reminded of the pTerry quote about Ridcully doing a lot for endangered species - for one thing he kept them endangered

[Captain_Swoop]

Just saw a BBC report on Ukrainian refugees in Moldova.

A single gym hall in a small Moldovan town is now housing more Ukrainian refugees than the UK govt has allowed to enter the whole of Britain since the invasion started.

[Pixel42]

An Estonian poster on another forum I belong to just posted this:

Quote:

This is a drop in the ocean compared to what Ukraine's neighbouring countries are currently having to find ways to cope with, but as of yesterday, we've already received well over 5000 Ukrainian refugees here, a few hundred of whom want to continue through Estonia to e.g. Finland and Sweden where they have family but most of whom will stay here for now.

Over 1000 of those are children. At least in Tallinn, I gather the current plan is to not distribute the children to regular school classes for now but to open special classes next week where the children will get to keep up with basic subjects, get to learn some Estonian and get some psychological counselling, for the rest of this school year, and then, if/when it turns out they can't return home for some time yet, get assigned places in regular school classes when the next academic year starts, when they already have enough Estonian knowledge.

In other/smaller towns/counties, I think the idea is to offer the children places in Estonian schools (with some individual help) but if the families specifically want to send the kids to Russian-language schools, they'll be allowed to do so. (I guess in particular this might be a popular option among those who have come to join existing family here who have kids attending Russian schools.)

I know that for most Western countries, this all will look like very small numbers, but for us, this is unprecedented - we've usually been getting a couple of hundred asylum seekers a year, many of whom aren't actually interested in staying here but just want to get to the EU and then move on. Even with the Syrian refugee crisis in ~2015, we agreed to the EU quota assigned to us, which was 500-ish people, but ended up getting way fewer than that and 3/4 of them left within a week or two, heading for Germany or Sweden instead.

We've had a lot of Ukrainian temporary/seasonal workers over the years as well as a large local Ukrainian community so that helps a lot (having a lot of the refugees already have some familiarity with Estonia, our systems etc, or joining families/friends here who have that familiarity) but it's still the first time we've really had to deal with a crisis on this scale - accommodation needs to be found, jobs for the adults, school and kindergarten places for children, healthcare (Covid isn't over, our hospitals and GPs are struggling) - and obviously this is really just the first week. So far the public response at least has been overwhelmingly supportive; I hope this continues as the weeks go on and the number of people who've had to flee their homes and arrive here grows.

Puts the UK to shame.

[ohms]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

Boris on Sky News

Question, the UK has issued just 50 visas to Ukrainian so far when more than a million people have fled the country, are you happy with that?

Boris, I'm not sure those numbers are right, no country in Europe has done more to resettle vulnerable people, since 2015, than the UK

He has chosen his words carefully as he is specifically talking about resettlement schemes and ignores all other forms of immigration, so he isn't actually lying but it is a misleading statistic.

It's a recurring topic on Fact Check:

https://fullfact.org/immigration/saj...lement-scheme/

[Mojo]

Originally Posted by Pixel42

An Estonian poster on another forum I belong to just posted this:



Puts the UK to shame.

Our government is now dominated by isolationists who are perpetually astounded that the rest of the world isn’t falling over itself to do deals with them.

[Captain_Swoop]

Liz Truss says the EU legislation that enables sanctions against Russia is "less onerous than our legislation"
So much for Brexit enabling UK efficiency from EU red tape

She blamed Labour MP Chris Bryant for supporting amendments to legislation that make sanctioning individuals more difficult, despite the fact that he didn't speak during the bill's third reading.

He told her "What you just read out is not in Hansard, so I hope you'll correct the record."
She has now apologised saying it was "written wrong in her notes".

[dudalb]

Originally Posted by Mojo

Our government is now dominated by isolationists who are perpetually astounded that the rest of the world isn’t falling over itself to do deals with them.

I keep on saying, the Britxers are under the delusion that Queen Victoria is still on the throne and Britian has a vast overseas empire.

[Captain_Swoop]

Liz Truss refused three times to say that she believes Russia's invasion of Ukraine is a "war of aggression".

She said the ICC should handle it. Tugendhat, the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee had to tell her that the ICC does not have that jurisdiction.


SHe's hopeless. her entire performance today in front of the committee was a disaster.
God help us when it comes to representing us in any international negotiations over this, she is clearly beyond her level of competence.

She was up against some angry and very knowledgeable politicians here, all of whom would do a better job as Foreign Secretary than she has.

[jimbob]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

Liz Truss refused three times to say that she believes Russia's invasion of Ukraine is a "war of aggression".

She said the ICC should handle it. Tugendhat, the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee had to tell her that the ICC does not have that jurisdiction.


SHe's hopeless. her entire performance today in front of the committee was a disaster.
God help us when it comes to representing us in any international negotiations over this, she is clearly beyond her level of competence.

She was up against some angry and very knowledgeable politicians here, all of whom would do a better job as Foreign Secretary than she has.

Your hat would be a better foreign secretary

[Captain_Swoop]

The Government says it's new 'Ukraine Family Scheme' is the first visa scheme in the world to launch since President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

That is because everyone else has waived visas.

[Captain_Swoop]

Liz Truss says the UK is crippling Putin's war machine and rallying the international community.

[Wudang]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

Liz Truss says the UK is crippling Putin's war machine

by diverting funds from their army to Tory coffers?

Quote:

and rallying the international community.

In laughter or bafflement or both?

[GlennB]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

Liz Truss says the UK is crippling Putin's war machine and rallying the international community.

Breaking news - Liz Truss sectioned and last seen in a straight-jacket.

[dudalb]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

Liz Truss says the UK is crippling Putin's war machine and rallying the international community.

God, she is trying to take credit for what Joe Biden is doing.

[dudalb]

From what I am reading, Truss is more then even some Tories can swallow.

[jimbob]

Originally Posted by dudalb

From what I am reading, Truss is more then even some Tories can swallow.

We have a lot of really dim Government ministers.

Often not MTG tupe aggressively ignorant but thick and DIM.

The intellectual equivalent of fog

[Captain_Swoop]

Originally Posted by dudalb

From what I am reading, Truss is more then even some Tories can swallow.

The Select committee took her apart today, the Chairman is a Tory MP and he was obviously angry with her.

[Captain_Swoop]

Priti Patel said in the House today "Putin's cronies have hidden dirty money in the UK and we do not want it here"

Yes, they hid it in the Tory Party's bank account Priti! Give it back if you don't want it!

[Captain_Swoop]

Priti Patel says "we are setting up" a visa centre away from the port of Calais to prevent a "surge"

At the moment Ukrainian families arriving in Calais are being turned away and must go back to Paris to apply for a visa.

[zooterkin]

Originally Posted by jimbob

We have a lot of really dim Government ministers.

Often not MTG tupe aggressively ignorant but thick and DIM.

The intellectual equivalent of fog

Can’t risk appointing someone brighter or more capable than the PM.

[Darat]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

Priti Patel says "we are setting up" a visa centre away from the port of Calais to prevent a "surge"

At the moment Ukrainian families arriving in Calais are being turned away and must go back to Paris to apply for a visa.

Which translated from this government's newspeak means "I've made an announcement about setting up a visa centre".

[jimbob]

Originally Posted by zooterkin

Can’t risk appointing someone brighter or more capable than the PM.

Fortunately for Johnson, there is a huge pool of... um... "talent" in the Parliamentary Conservative Party that Johnson can choose from, and which meets that requirement.


And not all the Parliamentary party are in there. Some are knaves instead of fools (there is a Boolean OR)

[Lothian]

Originally Posted by Darat

Which translated from this government's newspeak means "I've made an announcement about setting up a visa centre".

Instructions for applications will be displayed in the cellar in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard'[/HGTTG]

[Captain_Swoop]

So far, there were more people invited to a Downing Street party during lockdown than Ukrainian refugees invited to the UK during a war.

[Captain_Swoop]

James O'brien on LBC said this morning There’s no mystery or surprise behind our refugee policy. This is what the Government intends, it's working perfectly. People fleeing Ukraine can't get into the country.

[Darat]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

James O'brien on LBC said this morning There’s no mystery or surprise behind our refugee policy. This is what the Government intends, it's working perfectly. People fleeing Ukraine can't get into the country.

Whilst that could indeed be the case, you must remember that the current lot are totally incompetent, so even if they intended to allow some refugees into the country they wouldn't be able to organise it. This lot blunts Hanlon's razor!

[Captain_Swoop]

From the committee yesterday

Chris Bryant asked How many additional visas have been given to the Ukrainians since the Invasion began?

Liz Truss, No idea

CB, It's 50

[Captain_Swoop]

Thatcher put together a task force to retake the Falklands over a weekend, Boris can’t even set up a temporary consulate in Calais.

[Darat]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

From the committee yesterday

Chris Bryant asked How many additional visas have been given to the Ukrainians since the Invasion began?

Liz Truss, No idea

CB, It's 50

He should have asked her about Stilton exports to Japan - she's red hot about that.

[Captain_Swoop]

Patel has designed it to be as difficult as possible. Proof of ID and biometrics when these people are fleeing during a war.

[Darat]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

Patel has designed it to be as difficult as possible. Proof of ID and biometrics when these people are fleeing during a war.

Seems she is doing her job well....

[Darat]

Originally Posted by Captain_Swoop

Thatcher put together a task force to retake the Falklands over a weekend, Boris can’t even set up a temporary consulate in Calais.

Have we ever had a more incompetent government than the one we have today? Serious question. Many governments have made huge mistakes, many have implemented policies I think are abhorrent, but I can't recall any government so thoroughly incompetent from top to bottom as these lot.

[erwinl]

And here the government is preparing for the first group of 25.000 fugitives, with a next group of another 25.000 fugitives after that.
And this is just the beginning.

(I've just listened to our prime minister explaining this).

Edit:
Even the possibilities of them finding work here are being made more easy for them.