Jinx!!!! I was thinking exactly the same.Quote:
Originally Posted by degenerated
Jinx!!!! I was thinking exactly the same.Quote:
Originally Posted by degenerated
Attachment 24286
:hmmm: it's almost like they sing from the same tory hymn sheet
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...f7ccf9c940.jpg
Vaccine bounce.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Johnson putting another vile right-wing Tory **** at the top
Attachment 24290
That's unbelievable well it isn't actuallyQuote:
Originally Posted by cabbageandribs1875
According to Michelle Donelan, quarantining all arrivals into the UK wouldn't be as effective as only quarantining some.
Not sure how she's worked that out.
Just watching Johnson at PMQs just now, barely being able to string a coherent sentence together, and wondering again what's the appeal? Is it just his racism and xenophobia that continues to get him inordinately high approval ratings, or is there something more? :dunno:
Quote:
Originally Posted by lapsedhibee
He wrapped himself in a flag that wasn't the one with gold stars on a blue background and then rode the nativism all the way to the finish line. His internal opponents thought he was too preposterous to win the leadership and his external opponents failed to grasp the seismic shift in politics taking place beneath their feet. Like Trump, an accident of time, chance and circumstance allied to weaponised ambition and ego. The power of 'othering' is phenomenal in this age. Let's hope Macron isn't taken out by it next year.
Hope everyone's got 'Scottish Nationalist Party' in the Boris PMQs bingo. Speaker not giving a toss as usual.
Macron is a destructive Thatcherite who’s ripping up the best things about the French state. It’s a sad state of affairs when I’m desperate for him to improve in the polls because the FN is the likely alternative :rolleyes: But in previous presidential elections its usually been the way that FN take a poll lead, it’s neck and neck at the first round but after the second round the votes that went to the socialists communists greens get transferred to the remaining non FN candidate and they’re quite comfortably defeated. Nothing certain in politics anymore of course.Quote:
Originally Posted by One Day Soon
FertilityQuote:
Originally Posted by lapsedhibee
There's that, but it's not just that. He managed to get himself elected in cosmopolitan London as well before jumping on the nativist bandwagon. The bumbling toff schtick does seem to work for a certain segment of people. I've no idea why. :dunno:Quote:
Originally Posted by One Day Soon
It looks very likely to end up being Macron v Le Pen in the 2nd round. They're both usually around 25% give or take. Nobody else is above 15%. Round 2 polling is currently about 55-45 for Macron (was 66-34 at the last election). Hopefully that gap would widen as les gens look over the abyss!Quote:
Originally Posted by hibsbollah
He gave a tiny bit of a toss when he cut off Johnson's usual prepared waffle after Starmer's last question, but far too little and far too late. Johnson'll do the exact same next week and the week after. PMQs pretty much unwatchable now.Quote:
Originally Posted by MartinfaePorty
Yep, and very worrying. There's some hope that the US has turned a corner with that now, but not much sign of the same here.Quote:
Originally Posted by One Day Soon
In a nutshell. Stopping the dangerous lunatic alternative is where it's at. Not edifying. Those second round electoral certainties are reassuring unless and until they unexpectedly stop working...Quote:
Originally Posted by hibsbollah
Yeah, I don't think Le Pen can win because of the FN/family baggage she carries about with her. But she can sure as hell move the mainstream her way in a Farage to Johnson type way. :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by One Day Soon
Mission accomplished!Quote:
Originally Posted by lapsedhibee
https://scontent.fman1-2.fna.fbcdn.n...51&oe=6042213A
wow, even the Scientists know the vile Tories are Corrupt :agree:
Well, yes, though I don't buy the 'Johnson is a clever guy with clever strategies, pretending to be a bumbling oaf'. Think he really is a bumbling oaf. Would never, ever have got away unchallenged with the drivel he serves up at PMQs if Bercow was still in charge. :violin:Quote:
Originally Posted by Hibrandenburg
Kuennsberg, will she even notice?Quote:
Originally Posted by cabbageandribs1875
It’s interesting how England, while having a violent far right street movement, has never really embraced the far right at the ballot box to any great extent, while France which doesn’t seem to be any more of a visibly intolerant or extreme right wing society, has a well established and consistently popular far right party which has got close to power quite a few times.Quote:
Originally Posted by JeMeSouviens
I hate to say it but I think part of this springs from the history of fairly authoritarian Catholic tradition and its sympathisers in France - together with post-colonial scarring, proximity to continental European states which have previously invaded them (no names, no pack drill) and a fairly centralised political system. I think the French far right benefit from a national inferiority complex among a significant proportion of the population. Partition with Vichy France assuredly didn't help.Quote:
Originally Posted by hibsbollah
British far right nationalism appears to me to be quite seriously organised but with limited appeal as you say to very small numbers. That may of course be because its prospective wealthier supporters are already well served by other political groupings for their personal advantage, why go jackboot when you can go chequebook?
I know what you mean and it’s a fair analysis, but Vichy and WW2 was 80 years ago and beyond most folks memory. I know next to nothing about Algeria and the war in the 50s and 60s but im sure it’s also relevant to the discussion. It could all of course be historical accident and down to Oswald Mosleys descendants being simply unable to arrange a piss up in a brewery. I just have no idea what the cultural difference is with the French (and the Italians and Greeks of course) there’s probably a few undergrad dissertations that would teach me a thing or two.Quote:
Originally Posted by One Day Soon
Roothy caught up in another cronyism deal to get one of her pals on the list.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/19...at/?ref=twtrec
https://bylinetimes.com/2021/02/10/f...-ppe-contract/
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ozyhibby
These people have no shame.
CronyvirusQuote:
Originally Posted by Ozyhibby
PMQs a complete waste of time as usual.
Memorable only for the Speaker being unable to pronounce Lochaber. How long has he been in the job now, introducing Blackford every week?Quote:
Originally Posted by Hibrandenburg
To be fair, he did pull up Boris on the use of Scottish “Nationalist” Party. It took him long enough though.Quote:
Originally Posted by lapsedhibee
Tory Andrew Bowie being ripped to shreds here by George Monbiot. Tory elites and
https://twitter.com/PhantomPower14/s...67075641167880
Quote:
Originally Posted by ronaldo7
To George Monbiot...
:not worth
Quote:
Originally Posted by ronaldo7
"I'm not even going to bother responding to that" = I know I just got ripped up for arse paper.
Im a big fan of his, especially on the environment. If he had his way, lynx wolves and aurochs would be wandering about the Scottish Highlands, all the sheep farms would be turned into rewilding projects. Would be a lot more fun but not a popular view with the farming community (I wonder if the NFU, a lobbying arm for the UKs large landowners, are anything to do with Monbiot not being allowed on BBC question time for 20 years, a longer drought than Nick Griffin, Katie Hopkins, disgraced jailbird Johnathan Aitken and all those rentagob trolls of the extreme right the BBC seem to be happy to give airtime to?Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith_M
Monbiot isn’t even really of ‘the left’ ideologically, he just challenges positions of power.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hibsbollah
He's given much greater profile to rewilding than it would otherwise have had. Politically he's literally been all over the place as you say. Can't forgive him for advocating voting for the Lib-Dems in 2010, one of a number of factors which opened the door to Cameron as PM and subsequently the Brexit referendum.
Quote:
Originally Posted by One Day Soon
Was he behind the Guardian temporarily switching to support the Lib-Dems?
:dunno:
I remember them doing that at the time and found it a bit strange.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith_M
Not sure he was 'behind' that but he certainly publicly supported voting for the Lib-Dems. Reading the piece he put his name to in the guardian along with others is eye-popping when you consider the actual consequences of putting those charlatans into government. Two paras leap out for me:
"The MPs that assemble in Westminster next month could usher in one of the great reforming parliaments in British history, one to rank in the history books alongside 1831-32, 1865-67 or 1911-1914. The next parliament could see cherished progressive liberal aspirations realised: a proportional electoral system; wider and better-defended civil liberties; a new, internationalist approach to foreign affairs and immigration; reform of the tax system to share wealth and curb carbon emissions; and an assault on the vested interests of the financial sector."
and
"The Liberal Democrats are today's change-makers. They have already changed the election; next they could drive fundamental change in our political and economic landscape."
**** me some people shouldn't be allowed anywhere near political judgement.
This is an extraordinary political moment. An election seemingly destined to produce a narrow Conservative victory has been seized by the voters and turned into a democratic contest – a contest not just between parties, but over the shape of our democracy itself.
The MPs that assemble in Westminster next month could usher in one of the great reforming parliaments in British history, one to rank in the history books alongside 1831-32, 1865-67 or 1911-1914. The next parliament could see cherished progressive liberal aspirations realised: a proportional electoral system; wider and better-defended civil liberties; a new, internationalist approach to foreign affairs and immigration; reform of the tax system to share wealth and curb carbon emissions; and an assault on the vested interests of the financial sector.
The question for progressive liberals is what election result now offers the best chance of achieving these goals. Certainly not a Conservative majority. Despite some welcome commitments in areas such as civil liberties and localism, the Tories remain instinctively opposed to the deep democratic reforms the country needs.Advertisement
But a return of a majority Labour government under Gordon Brown would not provide a strong enough guarantee of reform. Labour has a long list of achievements over the last 13 years, of which it can be proud. But Labour has also presided over a ruinous period for civil liberties and has failed to deliver wholesale political reform.
Labour does now promise fixed-term parliaments, an elected House of Lords and a referendum on the alternative vote: too little, too late.
The question is where the energy for the future of progressive politics is to be found. It is a contemporary political fact that the stronger the performance of the Liberal Democrats on 6 May the better the chances of progressive reform.
The Liberal Democrats are today's change-makers. They have already changed the election; next they could drive fundamental change in our political and economic landscape.
Some of us have already pinned our colours to the Liberal Democrat mast. For others, the decision to back the Liberal Democrats in this election is a difficult one. Long-standing party loyalties, even in a less tribal world, are not easily suspended. But May 2010 offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape politics for the better. It must be seized.
Richard Reeves, John Kampfner, Professor Noreena Hertz, Susie Orbach, Shazia Mirza, Camilla Toulmin, Brian Eno, John le Carré, Henry Porter, Alex Layton, Gordon Roddick, Yasmin Alibhai Brown, Philip Pullman, David Aukin, Nick Harkaway, Lisa Appignanesi, Francis Wheen, Alan Ryan, Raymond Tallis, Julian Baggini, Jeanette Winterson, Rodric Braithwaite, Richard Dawkins, George Monbiot, Ken Macdonald, Philippe Sands, Misha Glenny, Anthony Barnett, Richard Sennett, David Marquand
Give them the right subsidies and they'll be rewilding eco-warriors before you can say sustainable tweeds. :wink:Quote:
Originally Posted by hibsbollah
There is every reason to reintroduce lynx as they are the main predator of destructive red deer. Sheep are unlikely to be grazing where red deer will be, and if sheep farmers keep a couple of alpaca or llama as 'guard dogs' predation will be minimal and a compensation scheme would help.Quote:
Originally Posted by hibsbollah
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230836597_Lynx_Depredation_on_Domestic_Sheep_in_No rway
Everytime I read a Martina Hyde piece, I laugh.
We do get the occasional glimpse of the prime minister, who was wheeled out this week for a visit to Derby, where we were given yet another opportunity to see Boris Johnson dressed up in a white coat. I think he’s supposed to appear medical and scientific, but only ever succeeds in looking like he’s got a lovely bit of pork cheek he can do you for £3.50.
A decent insight from a Scottish born Tory on how Scottish Tories see their fellow Scots. It might only be meant as humour but it explains a lot about their self-loathing.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/s...drunk-16214072
No, it really doesn’t. Tory philosophy sees other people through the prism of privilege, class and wealth. You can be any race, creed or colour you like as long as you are for the few and not the many, whether you’re from Cardiff, Crewe or Cockenzie.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hibrandenburg
Michael Gove’s **** ‘comedy’ from the 1990s tells us as much about how Scottish Tories see other Scots as a 90s SNP MP suggesting blowing up water pipelines tells us about the SNPs approach to parliamentary democracy - ie none.
Quote:
Originally Posted by One Day Soon
:tsk tsk:
Yes, I agree. Lots to commend it; the huge potential value of eco tourism compared to the loss making sheep economy propped up by subsidy. The absence of evidence of lynx or wolf attacks on humans, not being able to plant all the trees that are necessary to offset our carbon because deer numbers are at plague level and they munch the saplings before they have a chance to grow. As with all these things, it comes down to land ownership and political will. The biggest landowners in Scotland seem wedded to grouse beating and deer stalking as a rural economic solution. Personally I’d CPO the lot, but that’s just me being a Stalinist.Quote:
Originally Posted by Moulin Yarns
What water pipelines?Quote:
Originally Posted by One Day Soon
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
https://twitter.com/scottories/statu...196366336?s=21
Tories as good as admitting they can’t win in May.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Yes it really does, nothing is more important to the Scottish Tories than their precious Union that enables them to be Northern British before actually doing that what is best for Scotland. The amount of times they've bowed down to party central in Westminster to the detriment of Scotland is nauseating and you know it. They're now even asking voters to vote for parties that oppose everything they stand for if it can stop the electorate in Scotland having a meaningful vote on the constitutional status quo after having major constitutional change since the last referendum.Quote:
Originally Posted by One Day Soon
If Michael Gove is already criticising the state of Brexit, do we take that as a start to his leadership challenge? Blame it on Boris and get in there? "There would have been no downsides to Brexit if I was in charge, vote for me as leader" and we end up back to Brexit being able to be sold as different things to different people?
...:faf::faf::faf::faf:Quote:
Originally Posted by hibsbollah
[emoji23][emoji23]Quote:
Originally Posted by hibsbollah
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...df19def177.jpg
Sent from my SM-A750FN using Tapatalk
Ironic as the **** looks like his coupon has been drawn by my left handQuote:
Originally Posted by Hibrandenburg
Tories with their hands in the till again. When will it stop? They've squandered Billions.
Dominic Cummings was instrumental in the process of awarding a government contract without tender to a company run by his “friends”, according to court documents that raise questions about whether the Cabinet Office may have misled the public.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...run-by-friends
Which SNP MP?Quote:
Originally Posted by One Day Soon
Truss picking and choosing which topics are discussed
https://scontent.fman1-2.fna.fbcdn.n...71&oe=6050B539
She wants to talk about cheese.Quote:
Originally Posted by cabbageandribs1875
They're hiding how ***** their brexit deal is from the publicQuote:
Originally Posted by cabbageandribs1875
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...struck-eu-deal
This documentary from West German regional TV station WDR looks at who is set to profit from Brexit and their role in using an EU sceptical and and EU uneducated British public to make personal profit. There's a few well kennt faces in it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Grieves
up to date contracts for cronies list
Boris Johnson's Crony Contracts Archives – Byline Times
this shower of crooked corrupt tory bar stewards would have been run out of government in a whole lot of countries :agree:
Quote:
Originally Posted by hibsbollah
it all smells a bit whiffy
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Grieves
thank goodness for the media in other countries
And pork markets.Quote:
Originally Posted by hibsbollah
It looks like Johnson and Patel will have their own judicial review to deal with.
A union representing senior civil servants has announced it is launching a judicial review seeking to “overturn” Boris Johnson’s ruling that Priti Patel did not breach the ministerial code.
The intervention comes after the decision by the prime minister last year to disregard the conclusions of an internal investigation into the home secretary’s behaviour written by his independent ethics adviser.
Sir Alex Allan, who produced the report and later quit after his advice was overruled, found evidence of bullying and that Ms Patel had not always treated civil servants with “consideration and respect”.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknew...1dPJs8?ocid=st
Matt Hancock acts UNLAWFULLY over pandemic contracts. Tory cronyism for all to see.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56125462
Twice now they've been found to act unlawfully and still they plod on.Quote:
Originally Posted by ronaldo7
There's zero accountability now.
They're untouchable, and they know it.
10 Years for lying about where you've been.Quote:
Originally Posted by BroxburnHibee
What does Millions of pounds from the public purse for your pals get you.
I think Gove has gone further than his attempted stand up than his thinly veiled banter would have us believe. Amazing what a couple of decades can do.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hibrandenburg
****
Oh my word. The SNP, Scottish Lib Dem, Scottish Labour and the Greens should have this playing on a loop in every party political broadcast until the election.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hibrandenburg
The Lib Dem’s and Labour won’t want to upset their partner for BT2. Good chance Gove will lead it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lendo
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcas...=1000507887457
Interesting listen about the scandal of Tory cronyism.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Shh, there’s a Meghan markle story wants reporting on.Quote:
Originally Posted by BroxburnHibee
Nonsense. Hancock's on TV now shouting at Marr that Hancock's team worked incredibly hard so everything's fine.Quote:
Originally Posted by BroxburnHibee
More evidence that they don't really feel they have to account for their behaviour, chose to polarise on the court case only being about the delay in publishing and Marr seems to have let him away with it.Quote:
Originally Posted by lapsedhibee
The Nasty party spokesmen tend to operate on the basis that if they deflect and digress twice they'll generally get onto whatever the next question is without dealing with the earlier one.
Sent from my SM-A750FN using Tapatalk
A good deal more than twice. They acted unlawfully two or three times in terms of Public Sector Pensions and compensation schemes.Quote:
Originally Posted by BroxburnHibee
Forget all that cronyism and deliberately socially divisive stuff, this is what the public want.Quote:
Originally Posted by wookie70
https://youtu.be/xIfj8dwrXJE
Sent from my SM-A750FN using Tapatalk
:greengrinQuote:
Originally Posted by Bostonhibby
Finally - a job within his skill set.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bostonhibby
There is quite literally no excuse for Hancock not to resign. It's not as if his handling of the pandemic has been such a roaring success that he can use that as mitigation.
I'm not sure if there is just no honour among politicians now or whether public opinion is so polarised that there is no obligation to resign. Your vote is so locked in that you can get away with almost anything.
The problem is that the tories are actually untouchable and their supporters revel in the outrage of the opposition. Democracy has taken a backseat to populism.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pretty Boy
I think that's it. It's scary.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hibrandenburg
Thinking back through the PMs off my lifetime every single one of them, despicable though some of them were, would have told Hancock to resign or sacked him if he refused. No consequences under Johnson. Firstly because the PM is weak and a coward but more importantly because there doesn't have to be consequences.
The pitiful response of Starmer just hammers that security the Tories have home. Love them or loathe them both Blair and Corbyn, poles apart ideologically, would have hammered the Tories over this. Starmer isn't a centrist, he's just a ****ing sap.
Exactly how I see it, they continue to push the boundaries to see exactly how bad a level of conduct they can get away with.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hibrandenburg
They're aiming lower and lower, from Patel's blatant bullying and Bozo's handling of it to the myriad of contracts arbitrarily awarded so long as Lord Deighton likes the cut of ones jib.
There's no real opposition sadly and we still don't know how bad someone has to behave to get sacked or resign. I guess the standards flow from the top.
Sent from my SM-A750FN using Tapatalk
Your point about previous PMs is a valid one. Most of them would have been concerned that a fool like Hancock would reflect badly on their government with the electorate, however Johnson has no such concerns.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pretty Boy
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/feb/21/matt-hancock-ex-neighbour-alex-bourne-under-investigation-uk-medical-regulator
More Hancock revelations from The Guardian today. Remember this guy? Mr Cock Inn? ( almost too good to be true), £30 million contract for doing something he had no experience of being investigated by the medical regulator. Zarah Sultana and Laura Pidcock tweeting well that Hancock should resign. WTF is Starmer doing?
I can't get my head round it at all. Maybe he thinks the polls are going ok for him so he better not say anything controversial. He's becoming a laughing stock now.Quote:
Originally Posted by hibsbollah
I suspect they have their eyes on the post Covid19 hunting season. We're almost in a warlike scenario where opposition to the government might be perceived as treasonous. Better and less likely to alienate the public if they wait until a time where the government can't blame Labour of obstructing the fight against the virus. They'll be keeping their powder dry.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hiber-nation
The saddest thing about this is the ***** are going to come out of this completely unscathed, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they end up with bigger winning margin in the next election despite what is very blatant corruption.
:agree: And I think sometimes we forget how much money £30 million actually is, within the context of youth centres closing, social care being dismantled, funded nursery school places cut. These things affect all of us. £30 million can do a lot of good. In what world does it get given to this ****er in the basis of owning a pub the health secretary drinks in? And no one in any power does anything about it? And of course that’s just the one example.Quote:
Originally Posted by matty_f
https://scontent.fman1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...a5&oe=60583E2C
what a rarity, a tory with at least some morals....Mmmm
That’s 2 ministers in a row refused to apologise for breaking the law.
"Britain has long been a chumocracy"Quote:
Originally Posted by hibsbollah
....then goes on to describe exclusively Conservative Party chums as examples. (The BBC one at the end doesn't even fit.)
The BBC part is referring to how difficult it is for certain organisations to appoint outwith type, even if there is a stated desire to do so.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kato
I know we have a few Marina Hyde fans on here, this week's is a peach: https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...ter-spad-no-10
:greengrin
:agree: Been a few upliftingly savage pieces from her since the New Year.Quote:
Originally Posted by JeMeSouviens
Yes, but the article speaks about "Britain" and the only "chums" mentioned are the Tory Party's pals. I thought she would expand into other areas that showed the UK to be rife with nepotism/cronyism but it failed to do that. The BBC segment seemed like an out of place afterthought.Quote:
Originally Posted by Future17
Sent from my SM-A405FN using Tapatalk
Yes, Toynbee is a loyal cheerleader for the centrist Labour Party (she seemed to hate the Labour Left more than the Tories in recent years), and so it’s a takedown of the Tories exclusively, but quite effective for that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kato
She’s doing some surrealism riffing there, I like the Boris in dog body swap elephant foot humping.Quote:
Originally Posted by JeMeSouviens
Some skillful juxtapositions too.Quote:
Originally Posted by hibsbollah
"trophy pouffe, or Dominic Cummings"
Sent from my SM-A405FN using Tapatalk