Continuation General UK Politics III - Dumb and Dumber

[The Don]

Originally Posted by Lothian

Indeed, seeing energy companies go out of business is not what the share buying Tory voters want. I am sure she will bring in measures to ensure they manage to maintain their profits and give bumper dividend payouts to the deserving of this country.

I'm guessing she'll use government money to support energy company profits and the public will end up with higher bills for decades.

[The Don]

Liz Truss is promising £100bn to support energy company profits upper middle class Tory voters the Great British public during the Energy Crisis.

She is promising £157bn extra defence spending.

She is promising to solve the NHS crisis (though that may be through privatisation).

At the same time she is promising massive cuts to taxes.

I thought that Labour was the the borrow-and-spend party of fiscal incompetence.

[Mojo]

Saw this front page in a supermarket last night: https://edition.theneweuropean.co.uk/

Link will only go to right issue while this one is still current.

[Darat]

Originally Posted by Mojo

Saw this front page in a supermarket last night: https://edition.theneweuropean.co.uk/

Link will only go to right issue while this one is still current.

Forum friendly version - I'm sure folk will be able to work out the blacked out word!

[jeremyp]

Originally Posted by Mojo

Saw this front page in a supermarket last night: https://edition.theneweuropean.co.uk/

Link will only go to right issue while this one is still current.

Preserved for posterity

[catsmate]

Originally Posted by Lukraak_Sisser

Hey, at least your new leader is going to take quick action to deal with the energy crisis caused by the last government.

Yes, apparently by freezing payment of bills until after she loses the 2024 election.

[The Don]

Originally Posted by catsmate

Yes, apparently by freezing payment of bills until after she loses the 2024 election.

Except that the British English electorate are so under-informed and easily distracted that this might very well be enough to buy her the 2024 election.

The right wing media are cheering her on enthusiastically and as long as she intends to deliver tax cuts then she will retain their support.

[jeremyp]

Originally Posted by The Don

Except that the British English electorate are so under-informed and easily distracted that this might very well be enough to buy her the 2024 election.

The right wing media are cheering her on enthusiastically and as long as she intends to deliver tax cuts then she will retain their support.

None of that will save her. The economy is in the toilet. Inflation is in double digits. Cutting taxes means cuts to the NHS which is already on its knees. The Tories have been in power for more than ten years. Historically, very few governments survive much longer than that in the UK.

I think the only question is whether Labour will need a coalition with the SNP at the next election.

[Ian Osborne]

Originally Posted by Mojo

Saw this front page in a supermarket last night: https://edition.theneweuropean.co.uk/

Link will only go to right issue while this one is still current.

I'm not familiar with that magazine, but next time I'm in WH Smiths, I'm going to look for it.

[Vixen]

Originally Posted by Ian Osborne

I'm not familiar with that magazine, but next time I'm in WH Smiths, I'm going to look for it.

I took out a subscription a few years back just to get a 'Bollocks to Brexit' free mug. Haven't renewed as it is too expensive to receive in the EU. Just Private Eye left and that is always late, but worth it if just for the cartoons.

[Wudang]

Originally Posted by Vixen

I took out a subscription a few years back just to get a 'Bollocks to Brexit' free mug. Haven't renewed as it is too expensive to receive in the EU. Just Private Eye left and that is always late, but worth it if just for the cartoons.

Have you tried Byline Times? I get that as a monthly pdf.

[Vixen]

Originally Posted by Wudang

Have you tried Byline Times? I get that as a monthly pdf.

I have seen it advertised and on twitter, also Adam Bienkov's Folded. I haven't subscribed because I know I'll rarely have time to read them and I distrust how paypal or visa keeps autorenewing subs. (This also includes the Telegraph and the Times; you really have to keep a beady eye on when £1 a month changes to £12 and to cancel it in time).

[Carrot Flower King]

Well, at least BlowJob remained absolutely true to type right to the very end, with a speech full of lies, exaggerations, blame of others for his own short-comings, half-arsed classical references, and totally lacking in any hint of self-awareness, contrition, reason or sense.

And, pacé Marina Hyde's column, some bookies have him as favourite to be next PM...WTAF is wrong with folk in this country?

[GlennB]

Originally Posted by Carrot Flower King

Well, at least BlowJob remained absolutely true to type right to the very end, with a speech full of lies, exaggerations, blame of others for his own short-comings, half-arsed classical references, and totally lacking in any hint of self-awareness, contrition, reason or sense.

And, pacé Marina Hyde's column, some bookies have him as favourite to be next PM...WTAF is wrong with folk in this country?

I think Marina Hyde might have misread the odds. Johnson is joint 2nd favourite to be next Tory leader, not next PM after Truss. Labour win the next election ... Truss out / Johnson (maybe) in.

[Carrot Flower King]

Truss' speech...Still sounds like either a bad artificial speech generator or a broken speak yer weight machine, full of denial of anything she's been involved with for a decade or so (given how long she's been in Cabinet, WTAF is she "reforming" or rebuilding" aside from the bollocks she voted for and helped enact?), drivel about delivery (well, go and work for ******* DPD then!)...

And somehow one of the talking head eejits on PM, who worked for Cameron or somesuch, managed to describe her as "sounding magisterial" and wasn't pulled up for it. Actually, that isn't a surprise as the Beeb highups have decided that apologising for Maitlis calling out Cummings' trip to Barnard Castle for the obvious bollocks it obviously was was an absolutely brilliant idea and not at all an indication of them being bullied by the Tories and kowtowing at the first hint of a whisper of a scintilla of Darling BlowJob being miffed...FFS

[Mojo]

Originally Posted by Carrot Flower King

Well, at least BlowJob remained absolutely true to type right to the very end, with a speech full of lies, exaggerations, blame of others for his own short-comings, half-arsed classical references, and totally lacking in any hint of self-awareness, contrition, reason or sense.

Boris Johnson likens himself to Roman who returned as dictator

Quote:

In his departure speech, Boris Johnson likened himself to Cincinnatus, a figure who “returned to his plough”, apparently suggesting he would return quietly to the backbenches.
However, what Johnson, who studied classics at the University of Oxford, did not include in his speech was that while the Roman statesman Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus is said to have left Rome for a bucolic existence on his farm, he was later called upon to return to Rome and lead as a dictator.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius...us_Cincinnatus

Quote:

His success and immediate resignation of his near-absolute authority with the end of this crisis (traditionally dated to 458 BC) has often been cited as an example of outstanding leadership, service to the greater good, civic virtue, humility, and modesty.

[Mojo]

Originally Posted by Carrot Flower King

Truss' speech...Still sounds like either a bad artificial speech generator or a broken speak yer weight machine, full of denial of anything she's been involved with for a decade or so (given how long she's been in Cabinet, WTAF is she "reforming" or rebuilding" aside from the bollocks she voted for and helped enact?), drivel about delivery (well, go and work for ******* DPD then!)...

Back to Marina Hyde:

Quote:

Does any of the candidates want to talk about that material reality for much of the population? No. Instead we are subjected to endless speeches about how this or that person’s record of “delivery” speaks for itself. Oh right: delivery. I mean, look around you. They have delivered THIS. All they do is break eggs, but you never get an omelette. As we settle into the third Conservative leadership contest in just over six years, which will guarantee our fourth prime minister in the same time period, it increasingly feels as though the key question for the millions not focused on reality-avoidance is: “Where is our omelette? WHERE IS OUR FRICKING OMELETTE?”

https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...ership-contest

I think I want a t-shirt with “WHERE IS OUR FRICKING OMELETTE” on the front.

[Mojo]

Let’s face it, we’re in a situation where we need Attlee, or Churchill, or Lloyd George, or even Thatcher, and we’ve got Frank Spencer.

[Gulliver Foyle]

Originally Posted by Jack by the hedge

I blame Corbyn for two things: For Brexit*, through the part he didn't play in campaigning for a Remain vote, and for making absolutely certain that the Tories got reelected.

*No of course I don't blame him solely. It took a whole cavalcade of rogues and fools to make it happen, but with the result as close as it was, his contribution alone could have tipped the balance.

Which is kind of amazing, because he was the only party leader at the time who actively campaigned for remain. He stumped all across the country giving speeches about the need to vote to stay in the EU and would have spoken to the media about it too, except none of the media wanted to give him the time of day (due to the hard right leanings of the English media).

In contrast Call me Dave Cameron gave a few desultory and half hearted interviews, Gideon* Osborne scaremongered so badly and so ineptly that he almost sounded like a brexiteer infiltrator and Theresa May had to be silenced by the whip given the strong indications she was a hardline brexiteer.

But hey, follow the media line that everything bad that Cameron, May, and BoJo the Clown did was all the fault of Jeremy Corbyn.

*He went by his middle name George because, by his own admission, he thought Gideon was too Jewish a name for a prime minister.

[commandlinegamer]

Originally Posted by Mojo

Let’s face it, we’re in a situation where we need Attlee, or Churchill, or Lloyd George, or even Thatcher, and we’ve got Frank Spencer.

Frank at least meant well.

[Pixel42]

Originally Posted by Mojo

Let’s face it, we’re in a situation where we need Attlee, or Churchill, or Lloyd George, or even Thatcher, and we’ve got Frank Spencer.

I've recently been re-reading a couple of my favourite Discworld novels, and have decided the leader we currently need is Havelock Vetinari.

[dudalb]

The sad thing I don't see any great leaders on the Labor side, either.

[dudalb]

Originally Posted by Ian Osborne

This, exactly this. If he'd have thrown his weight behind the Remain campaign instead of sitting on the fence, the referendum might well have gone the other way.

My point was that COrbyn was weak leader of Labor at time when Labor needed a good leader.
He was unable to provide a acceptable alternative to the Tories to UK voters,
Of course Corbyn has his fans here because they agree with his Hard Left policies.
I just have to laugh at the attempts to rehabulitate Corbyn as some kind of brlliant leader we see going on here.

[dudalb]

Originally Posted by 3point14

So?

How many parliments has he presided over? How many of his policies have been implimented? how many bills has he pushed through parliment?


If the answer is >0 then perhaps you have a point. But it isn't, so you don't.

The point is led Labor to a series of defeats in situations where they could have won.
He failed i nthe first job of a party leader: Get his party elected.
IMHO he was too far to the left to be an acceptable alternative, but since you share his left wing views I know you will never accept that.

[dudalb]

Originally Posted by 3point14

Can you really not see that the above doesn't matter at all? Again, this is the language of the abuser: "You didn't stop me, therefore it's your fault."

Blame the people that did the thing for the thing.

Yes, but also blame the opponents for being inept.

[Craig4]

Originally Posted by Mojo

Back to Marina Hyde:

https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...ership-contest

I think I want a t-shirt with “WHERE IS OUR FRICKING OMELETTE” on the front.

So, do Labor politicians show up for work with the children they molest hanging off their wedding tackle and the blood of the babies they eat dripping off their chins? How is it that you get this constant parade of cluster *****? Does Labor **** the neighbor's dog so much that this is preferable?

[dudalb]

Ress Mogg , Climate deneir, now has position in Truss's energy program
GOd Rees Mogg is going to be bad news. he comes off alike the classic Brit Aristocrat who thinks the lower classed should knew their place and take off their hats when the local squire walks by.

[The Don]

I've just looked at Truss' cabinet and oh dear, what a collections of second (or third or fourth) rate talents there are there.

Boris Johnson's cabinet was one of the weakest I can remember and Truss' is an even weaker version - sorta like a Milli Vanilli tribute act.

Priti Patel was bad - Braverman will be worse
Sunak was barely competent - Kwarteng likely will not be even that
Cleverly is the Foreign Secretary - this is just embarrassing

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-62796077

[Ethan Thane Athen]

Originally Posted by catsmate

Yes, apparently by freezing payment of bills until after she loses the 2024 election.

Indeed, she has guaranteed the energy companies against loss of income. Basically, any money they lose out on by the freezing of the bills will be paid back to them at a future date, presumably with interest. Essentially she is forcing households to take out a loan to stop bills rising further and then repay that loan later.

Personally if that was going to be the case, I'd rather pay them or take out my own loan as I can probably get a better deal...

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices...-b2160895.html

[The Don]

Originally Posted by Ethan Thane Athen

Indeed, she has guaranteed the energy companies against loss of income. Basically, any money they lose out on by the freezing of the bills will be paid back to them at a future date, presumably with interest. Essentially she is forcing households to take out a loan to stop bills rising further and then repay that loan later.

Personally if that was going to be the case, I'd rather pay them or take out my own loan as I can probably get a better deal...

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices...-b2160895.html

Exactly

We'll be borrowing money at an unknown rate of interest for an indeterminate period of time so we'll have no idea about exactly how bad a deal it will be for us.

It will almost certainly be both expensive and under-effective and will ensure that the maximum amount of money is transferred from the British public into the bank accounts of Tory cronies and donors.

[Vixen]

My reflections on the new government. I wanted to give new PM Liz Truss a chance to get settled. However, looking at recent events it is already coming clear to me that this is a train crash waiting to happen.

Whilst it is a massive relief to get rid of Billy Bunter with his 'charisma' and bon mots - could there have been anyone more psychopathic, narcissistic, lazy, unprincipled and roguish - unfortunately he has left behind a poisoned chalice.

Just as the great British public rebelled against Cameron ordering them to vote Remain and then voting for Truss instead of the MP's choice, Sunak - albeit by only a small portion of the population - conflict is already inherent in the great halls of power, with Truss ruthlessly throwing out almost all of Rishi Sunak's backers (he thought he had it in the bag, didn't he?) - and what are we left with but the Friends of Liz Truss.

It was nice to see Nadine Dorries, Dominic Raab, Grant Shapps and Priti Patel make their exit and good riddance but look what we have in their place. Therese Coffey: Ann Widdecombe resurrected. She has a PhD in Chemistry but given her performance or non-performance in the unpopular post of Dept of Works and Pensions, it is not easy to see how someone totally devoid of any charm or humour is any better than Steve Barclay, Sajid Javid or even Matt Hancock.

Suellen Braverman is already a complete nightmare. As thick as two broad planks and even nastier than Patel. ("Hold my beer!"). She has no experience of running a government department (she previously ran the AG office). The Home Office is largely Civil Service run but she is going to struggle with only two and half years experience in government. This will be a total disaster.

The new Postmaster General Michael Ellis is now the Attorney General. Remember how sycophantly he stood up for every one of Johnson's lawbreaking activities with his weaselly cajolling voice. My goodness, he is even more crooked than Braverman in this respect.

Ben Wallace and Heappey continuing in Defence and Armed Forces, reasonably decent, made a good show with Sweden and Finland's application to NATO plus support for Ukraine.

However, think about it, the majority of Tory MP's are now lumbered with a cabinet they they didn't vote for (they wanted Sunak), so all of the MP's who resigned over BoJo must now be horrified that Bojo Lives! in the shape of Liz Truss and the prime resigners are out of a job.

Kwasi Kwarteng is an unknown factor. However, like BoJo he did classics and history, but at Cambridge so it is hard to see what he will bring to the table as Chancellor of the Exchequer without a background in hard sciences, economics or maths. At least Sunak had an MBA from Stanford.

With strikes up and down the country and the economic crisis, with Truss looking to borrow her way out, I hope I am wrong but I predict we will be looking at a General Election as early as next autumn or even by next spring as it all falls apart.

[Vixen]

Originally Posted by dudalb

My point was that COrbyn was weak leader of Labor at time when Labor needed a good leader.
He was unable to provide a acceptable alternative to the Tories to UK voters,
Of course Corbyn has his fans here because they agree with his Hard Left policies.
I just have to laugh at the attempts to rehabulitate Corbyn as some kind of brlliant leader we see going on here.

You have obviously been looking at Fox News and the Murdoch press because actually Corbyn was very popular. He had more votes than Starmer.

[The Don]

Originally Posted by dudalb

The sad thing I don't see any great leaders on the Labor side, either.

Great ?

Great people wouldn't be attracted to politics these days. Why would they when they could simply focus on the issues closest to their hearts ?

The current Labour Party leader isn't great but he is competent and seems to have a modicum of honour and decency. IOW, he's completely unsuited to modern UK English politics.

[The Don]

Originally Posted by Vixen

You have obviously been looking at Fox News and the Murdoch press because actually Corbyn was very popular. He had more votes than Starmer.

Corbyn wasn't nationally popular, he was only ever popular within the Labour Party among old Trots who resented New Labour (and hated all those years in power) and students who joined for a bit of a laugh.

He was successful in driving the likes of me (and many people like me) out of the Party after more than 25 years of membership thus cementing his popularity within a party renowned for self-destruction and where the membership would far rather bicker over outdated political dogma than actually get elected and try to do something practical to improve people's lives.

[Vixen]

Just like yesterday
I'll get on my knees and pray


We don't get fooled again!


But we will.

[Vixen]

Originally Posted by The Don

Corbyn wasn't nationally popular, he was only ever popular within the Labour Party among old Trots who resented New Labour (and hated all those years in power) and students who joined for a bit of a laugh.

He was successful in driving the likes of me (and many people like me) out of the Party after more than 25 years of membership thus cementing his popularity within a party renowned for self-destruction and where the membership would far rather bicker over outdated political dogma than actually get elected and try to do something practical to improve people's lives.

I am not saying Corbyn was good or bad. I just know for a fact he was extremely popular, not just among the Trots.

Personally, I think he lacks any charm.

[The Don]

We appear to have an anti-abortionist as Health Secretary

Quote:

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service has called the new health secretary's record on abortion rights "deeply concerning".

Therese Coffey has been appointed as health secretary by new Prime Minister Liz Truss.

Ms Coffey previously voted to revoke access to at-home abortion care, and against extending abortion rights to women in Northern Ireland.

The BBC has asked Ms Coffey for comment.

Leading pregnancy support and abortion charities have accused Ms Coffey of voting against the advice of leading medical bodies and putting her personal beliefs "above expert clinical guidance".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-62805268

[The Don]

Originally Posted by Vixen

I am not saying Corbyn was good or bad. I just know for a fact he was extremely popular, not just among the Trots.

Personally, I think he lacks any charm.

How do you know this ?

[Vixen]

Originally Posted by The Don

How do you know this ?

Quote:

YouGov
@YouGov
Jeremy Corbyn is the most popular leader of the past century among Labour members (partly because a quarter don’t seem to know who Clement Attlee is)

Corbyn 71% favourable view
Miliband 70%
Smith 67%
Attlee 66%
Brown 65%
Wilson 62%
Blair 37%

https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/12...FsZTNJ3bPCWsAg

[Vixen]

Originally Posted by The Don

We appear to have an anti-abortionist as Health Secretary



https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-62805268

I don't think she'll actually change the current laws on that.