Cummings, Johnson and this whole shit show

[James Wood]

Well you have/had Corbyn for starters

Remind me. What is Chris Failing in charge of at present? Ah yes. Hedgehogs . Then there is Liz Truss and her fixation. Boris and the kipper scandal. Deadwood equally besotted about . Rees-Smug and just about anything. The idiot who represents Shrewsbury. Gove (no need to add anything else here). I’m just scratching the surface here. And then there are the cohorts of people who support much of what the ERG and other Uber right wing zealots desire - Hamilton, Farage, Tice, Oakshott, Young, Widdicombe, Batten et al.

 

[Knutsfordian]

Remind me. What is Chris Failing in charge of at present? Ah yes. Hedgehogs . Then there is Liz Truss and her fixation. Boris and the kipper scandal. Deadwood equally besotted about . Rees-Smug and just about anything. The idiot who represents Shrewsbury. Gove (no need to add anything else here). I’m just scratching the surface here. And then there are the cohorts of people who support much of what the ERG and other Uber right wing zealots desire - Hamilton, Farage, Tice, Oakshott, Young, Widdicombe, Batten et al.

Calm down James ! you will give yourself a heart attack . Despite the fact that there are few if any non Labour MPs, activists or commentators that hold any sway with you, unfortunately at the last election a large number of people didn't agree and elected a Conservative government with a thumping majority.

I don't think there is anything to be gained by trashing every MP, whatever side of the house they are on. Ultimately if you want to see a socialist government in this country, Labour will have to come up with policies and people who can command the centre ground and also win back Scotland If they don't, then a lifetime in opposition beckons just complaining about those who are in power. I also believe that this anti-tory anger and bile goes to the root of the SNP. It's not based upon a true argument for a better Scotland, but ant-Tory rhetoric. Labour needs to win back those hearts and minds to provide a platform in Westminster

 

[Edge]

Bloody hell James has learned to use emojis in lockdown.

 

[James Wood]

Remind me. What is Chris Failing in charge of at present? Ah yes. Hedgehogs . Then there is Liz Truss and her fixation. Boris and the kipper scandal. Deadwood equally besotted about . Rees-Smug and just about anything. The idiot who represents Shrewsbury. Gove (no need to add anything else here). I’m just scratching the surface here. And then there are the cohorts of people who support much of what the ERG and other Uber right wing zealots desire - Hamilton, Farage, Tice, Oakshott, Young, Widdicombe, Batten et al.

And now we’ve got Shapps (if that is his name this week) demonstrating his utter stupidity by saying that the U.K. can’t introduce border restrictions like Australia because “we are an island and they are a continent”.
That is up there with Raab’s observation that he didn’t realise how much U.K. / EU trade depended on the port of Dover!
It really does make me wonder what level of rigour the Tory party places on selecting its candidates when we end up with a shower such as Truss, Zahawi, Patel, Gove, Johnson, Jenrick et-al.

 

[Knutsfordian]

And now we’ve got Shapps (if that is his name this week) demonstrating his utter stupidity by saying that the U.K. can’t introduce border restrictions like Australia because “we are an island and they are a continent”.
That is up there with Raab’s observation that he didn’t realise how much U.K. / EU trade depended on the port of Dover!
It really does make me wonder what level of rigour the Tory party places on selecting its candidates when we end up with a shower such as Truss, Zahawi, Patel, Gove, Johnson, Jenrick et-al.

I think you need to have a look closer to home on this one James, the calibre of Labour candidates and leadership team is way down on the calibre within the government. Might not be what you want to hear and believe, but in the last election the populace as a whole weren't convinced by the Labour team.

With regard to introducing strict border controls, I am not sure that locking down a whole country is as straightforward as some would have us believe. And despite the lockdowns in Australia, the virus has not been eliminated.

The bigger question is whether we should have repatriated all those who were abroad when the pandemic broke and would we do that again in the event of another pandemic?

Perhaps one of the lessons learned is we need to find better ways of living with these viruses?

 

[James Wood]

I think you need to have a look closer to home on this one James, the calibre of Labour candidates and leadership team is way down on the calibre within the government. Might not be what you want to hear and believe, but in the last election the populace as a whole weren't convinced by the Labour team.

With regard to introducing strict border controls, I am not sure that locking down a whole country is as straightforward as some would have us believe. And despite the lockdowns in Australia, the virus has not been eliminated.

The bigger question is whether we should have repatriated all those who were abroad when the pandemic broke and would we do that again in the event of another pandemic?

Perhaps one of the lessons learned is we need to find better ways of living with these viruses?

It would have been pretty easy to prevent 3000 Spaniards visiting Liverpool last March.....

 

[Knutsfordian]

It would have been pretty easy to prevent 3000 Spaniards visiting Liverpool last March.....

yes agreed and stopping the Cheltenham festival, decisions that with hindsight look pretty stupid

 

[richard webb]

yes agreed and stopping the Cheltenham festival, decisions that with hindsight look pretty stupid

You didn't need hindsight for either of them. It was pretty bloody obvious even then.

 

[James Wood]

You didn't need hindsight for either of them. It was pretty bloody obvious even then.

Boris Johnson's is right. We have one of the "toughest border policies in the world" in the same way our Test & Trace is "world-beating", our Covid response has been a “massive success” and the Brexit deal he wants to re-open was "oven-ready" over a year ago.

 

[James Wood]

Well, we’ll, well.

What a week it has been for this shambolic government.

When what we need at probably the biggest crisis this country has had in 80 years is a strong leadership team with talent, vision, resolve and determination, what have we got?

A lazy, egotistical, arrogant PM who has employed a even more arrogant, egotistical, sociopathic right wing idealogue as his principal advisor along with someone with such gravitas that he dressed up as a chicken during the 2010 election.

Now both of these have f****d off leaving the country in the mire just weeks before the next shit-show that they were architects of will hit us - a no deal Brexit.

Looking forward to how the Tory voting, Brexit supporting, Unicorn believers will try to explain this one away.....

#wetriedtowarnyou
#butyoujustwouldntlisten

Spending public money for political advantage - Good Law Project

Correspondence from Government shows it plans to claim a staggering £500k-600k in costs for a one day hearing of a judicial review challenge to a contract awarded by Dominic Cummings to his friends at Public...

goodlawproject.org

 

[Knutsfordian]

You didn't need hindsight for either of them. It was pretty bloody obvious even then.

Yes it was surprising they were allowed to go ahead, but don't underestimate the huge amount of lobbying that took place to allow the Cheltenham Festival to go ahead, based on the argument of its huge economic value to Cheltenham, pubs, bookmakers, travel companies etc. Once Cheltenham is allowed to stand, then it becomes increasingly difficult to cancel other events

 

[James Wood]

Yes it was surprising they were allowed to go ahead, but don't underestimate the huge amount of lobbying that took place to allow the Cheltenham Festival to go ahead, based on the argument of its huge economic value to Cheltenham, pubs, bookmakers, travel companies etc. Once Cheltenham is allowed to stand, then it becomes increasingly difficult to cancel other events

Lobbying no doubt from the likes of Dido Harding and the other ‘Horsey’ set that have links to the Tory party. Oh, and just as few weeks later she with the inverted Midas touch is appointed to run a major element of the Government’s response to Covid despite having no previous experience in this sphere.
#jobsforthegirls

 

[James Wood]

Remind me. What is Chris Failing in charge of at present? Ah yes. Hedgehogs . Then there is Liz Truss and her fixation. Boris and the kipper scandal. Deadwood equally besotted about . Rees-Smug and just about anything. The idiot who represents Shrewsbury. Gove (no need to add anything else here). I’m just scratching the surface here. And then there are the cohorts of people who support much of what the ERG and other Uber right wing zealots desire - Hamilton, Farage, Tice, Oakshott, Young, Widdicombe, Batten et al.

This Tweet sums up to a ‘T’ why we find ourselves in the position we are today.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1359445197113950208

 

[Knutsfordian]

Lobbying no doubt from the likes of Dido Harding and the other ‘Horsey’ set that have links to the Tory party. Oh, and just as few weeks later she with the inverted Midas touch is appointed to run a major element of the Government’s response to Covid despite having no previous experience in this sphere.
#jobsforthegirls

Bloody hell James, it runs deep with you doesn't it? Did some landed Tory pinch your money box or something?

Not everyone outside of the Labour party is a twisted, corrupt, money grabbing felon. There are some, and about the same number amongst Labour ranks too I suspect - including one time Labour Party darling Chuka Umunna who has just jumped over the fence to work for JP Morgan

 

[James Wood]

Bloody hell James, it runs deep with you doesn't it? Did some landed Tory pinch your money box or something?

Not everyone outside of the Labour party is a twisted, corrupt, money grabbing felon. There are some, and about the same number amongst Labour ranks too I suspect - including one time Labour Party darling Chuka Umunna who has just jumped over the fence to work for JP Morgan

You know Knutsfordian, you may be surprised that I agree with you.
During my career in Local Government I managed the highway network in a Tory dominated part of Cheshire. Almost all the Councillors I came across from the party were decent people who just wanted to do the best for the community they represented.

This ethos was the basis of the ‘One Nation’ Tory party that I grew up with and included the likes of Willie Whitelaw, Ken Clarke, Francis Pym, Jim Prior, William Waldgrave and in later years John Major and William Hague.

Even David Cameron had a positive view towards individual freedom of choice and openness.

But there is a huge difference between the governments and individuals I mention and this one.

In comparison, the current cabal are a bunch of jingoistic, Uber right wing, cronyist, arrogant, elitist and self-serving people who have little or no real interest in making things better for the majority of people.

We are one of the richest countries in the world and if we wanted to we could make things a great deal better for the majority.

But for some unknown reason we choose not to.

Why any capitalist society would choose to suppress the growth of economic prosperity of the majority of its citizens is beyond me.

 

[James Wood]

Bloody hell James, it runs deep with you doesn't it? Did some landed Tory pinch your money box or something?

Not everyone outside of the Labour party is a twisted, corrupt, money grabbing felon. There are some, and about the same number amongst Labour ranks too I suspect - including one time Labour Party darling Chuka Umunna who has just jumped over the fence to work for JP Morgan

No landed gentry pinched my money box. I very much doubt that it would have enriched them had they done so!

This might surprise you but I am simply anti-establishment, anti-monarchy and wholly against the deferential, elitist and privileged basis that our society works within.

The continued pap that the MSM publish about our wholly dysfunctional Royal Family (how many more effin pictures of effin Princess effin Charlotte do we need to see?) is part of the guff that encourages us to continue the age old system of deference.

Meanwhile, the part that Brenda and the Plant Whisperer have played in keeping their private fortunes secret have been exposed by the Guardian.

But what I can’t understand is if HRH is our head of state, how can she also have a private fortune worth £Bss?

 

[Knutsfordian]

No landed gentry pinched my money box. I very much doubt that it would have enriched them had they done so!

This might surprise you but I am simply anti-establishment, anti-monarchy and wholly against the deferential, elitist and privileged basis that our society works within.

The continued pap that the MSM publish about our wholly dysfunctional Royal Family (how many more effin pictures of effin Princess effin Charlotte do we need to see?) is part of the guff that encourages us to continue the age old system of deference.

Meanwhile, the part that Brenda and the Plant Whisperer have played in keeping their private fortunes secret have been exposed by the Guardian.

But what I can’t understand is if HRH is our head of state, how can she also have a private fortune worth £Bss?

Well its easy to understand how Brenda is so loaded when you see the value of things like the Crown estates, palaces, grace and favour apartments, farm properties and royal collections which house vast treasures in precious stones, metals and artifacts. Anything that ever goes into a Royal Collection, never comes out so there's vast amounts of stuff dating back to the year dot. There are also gifts from Co0mmonwealth countries and Arab states (for example) that were presented to the Queen Mother on behalf of the the United Kingdom for sacrifices made by the war that made their way directly into the private royal collections never to be seen again. So whilst the Queen may be well loved, they are an avaricious bunch who make sure they hold on to what they have - and I don't think they pay death duties either in order to safeguard the sovereign's wealth

 

[James Wood]

Well its easy to understand how Brenda is so loaded when you see the value of things like the Crown estates, palaces, grace and favour apartments, farm properties and royal collections which house vast treasures in precious stones, metals and artifacts. Anything that ever goes into a Royal Collection, never comes out so there's vast amounts of stuff dating back to the year dot. There are also gifts from Co0mmonwealth countries and Arab states (for example) that were presented to the Queen Mother on behalf of the the United Kingdom for sacrifices made by the war that made their way directly into the private royal collections never to be seen again. So whilst the Queen may be well loved, they are an avaricious bunch who make sure they hold on to what they have - and I don't think they pay death duties either in order to safeguard the sovereign's wealth

So why not liberate all these £Ms to help improve things for the majority? Surely we can come to some arrangement with HRH to fund the immediate Royal Family but get the others to look after themselves - even if this means paying them some sort of severance.

Even me - who is completely anti-Royalty would be in favour of such an arrangement as it would significantly reduce the burden of funding these spongers (Eugenie, Zara, Edward and Sophie et al) whilst placating those dullards who still believe that the monarchy is relevant in 21st Century Britain

 

[Knutsfordian]

So why not liberate all these £Ms to help improve things for the majority? Surely we can come to some arrangement with HRH to fund the immediate Royal Family but get the others to look after themselves - even if this means paying them some sort of severance.

Even me - who is completely anti-Royalty would be in favour of such an arrangement as it would significantly reduce the burden of funding these spongers (Eugenie, Zara, Edward and Sophie et al) whilst placating those dullards who still believe that the monarchy is relevant in 21st Century Britain

It's not going to happen is it James? There are a whole host of issues associated with stripping away people's assets no matter what walk of life they come from.

If you have ever had a walk round the Vatican you would see that there's enough gold and precious artifacts on display to make a huge hole in world poverty - and that's not going to happen either. Arguably that's a more reasonable and logical place to start redistributing funds garnered from across the world

 

[Knutsfordian]

Think Starmer deserves a bit of credit for wiping out a 20 point Tory lead in the polls. He seems to have got a grip!

Comment from Ben was 20th November and Starmer seemed to be at the top of his game giving Boris a hard time in PM questions. Barely 3 months later and Labour left are now asking whether Starmer is up to the job with some pretty fierce dissent over both Brexit and Covid. Put that alongside some half hitched review about how to win over the "red wall" seats and there's plenty of gaps appearing in both Labour policies and the ranks.

The fight for seats north of the border, which also should be one of Starmer's top priorities, isn't being lead by Starmer but by Andrew Neil, George Galloway and the Tories who are at last taking the fight to the Wee Krankie and the SNP to dismantle the case for independence (and , off topic I know, but when will somebody call out that Scotland should have another referendum before even contemplating going back into the EU rather than let the SNP just assume that Scotland will re-join the EU)

So who else on the Labour front bench has got what it takes to lead the Labour party, because otherwise it looks like the next election might already be lost.