UK Politics & Brexit Discussion

[Stan]

 

[RandoEFC+]

 

[MUFC]

So at a time when the rest of us are facing tax hikes alongside facing a cost of living crisis, it turns out that Rishi Sunak's missus is using a loophole to avoid paying tax in the UK: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-61017993

Fuck these absolute cunts and fuck anyone who voted for them.

[Waylander]

This is nothing new re ex-doms they have been able to do this legally for decades.

The point I think is whether the Chancellor's wife should be able to do this.

Although I don't like tax havens on this point my understanding is we are asking for her taxable income in India to be taxed here, not sure we should be doing that as she has Indian nationality.

 

[RandoEFC+]

 

 

[Danny]

On 31/03/2022 at 01:14, Spike said:

NSW and QLD are the same but different and your lucky I don’t jump all over ya head fucking daawg cunt

howys it goooowen

[Waylander]

Talking with my bro earlier re Party Gate and cost of living, he reckons Boris and Rishi are finished.

I disagreed saying the weather improving will probably take the bite off energy costs and when the N.I tier kicks in that will give lower paid employees more cash in their pockets.

Can't see party gate being a sacking issue it is not as if they were jumping up and down to pop music more sitting spaced out at tables.

Sure there will be noise in parliament calling for him to step down, my verdict is it will be a storm in a tea cup.

Next significant political hurdle likely to be local elections in May.

 

[Stan]

4 hours ago, Waylander said:

Talking with my bro earlier re Party Gate and cost of living, he reckons Boris and Rishi are finished.

I disagreed saying the weather improving will probably take the bite off energy costs and when the N.I tier kicks in that will give lower paid employees more cash in their pockets.

Can't see party gate being a sacking issue it is not as if they were jumping up and down to pop music more sitting spaced out at tables.

Sure there will be noise in parliament calling for him to step down, my verdict is it will be a storm in a tea cup.

Next significant political hurdle likely to be local elections in May.

 

Doesn't need to be that.

Johnson made the rules. He set out the rules for the public to be required to follow.

Johnson lied in parliament. Sunak lied in parliament. They said they followed the rules. They did not.

They denied any responsibility a few months ago. Now they say they take full responsibility. Which is it going to be?

They've made a mockery of their 'leadership'. In fact, they've shown little to none of it.

The cowardly minions who absolve them of any wrongdoing or responsibility are just as bad. 'Oh he apologised? That's okay then, move on!' Totally missing the point.

Johnson and his lapdogs are pathetic. They are not fit to lead. Not fit to govern. Not fit to hold any power whatsoever. They have no shame and do not represent me. They are nothing to be proud of and should be held in no esteem at all. They need to do the honourable thing and resign. But honour is a foreign unknown concept to them. They wouldn't know what honour is if it was staring straight at them or slapped them in the face. They are cowards, the lot of them. Shameful,  embarrassing,  contemptible, deceitful, disgraceful. I really could go on.

[RandoEFC+]

I'm very much tired of this, but the facts are that the Prime Minister broke laws he made, lied about it (including to Parliament) and then when he was caught out, claimed that he didn't know he'd broken the laws he'd made and spoken at length about on live television on an almost daily basis. Either he's genuinely an absolute moron and didn't realise that he was breaking those rules or he's just a liar. The current line of defence is "now is not the time because of Ukraine" but either of those two conclusions about a Prime Minister are not desirable during times requiring serious political leadership. With these facts in mind, whether Boris Johnson is allowed to lead the Conservatives into the next election will tell us a lot about where their party stands now, and whether a Prime Minister that has committed the offences I've described, which really are all unprecedented and cardinal sins in the UK's parliamentary democracy, will tell us a lot about the standards of this country.

This term between elections has really shown how much you're playing politics on easy mode if you lead the Tory party, and this phenomenon is on steroids with Johnson. I'm not one of those people who still bums Corbyn and has to go "told you so, should have voted for Corbyn" every time Johnson has one of his calamities, but he's the most recent example of a non-Tory candidate for Prime Minister and he took more criticism for what he *might* do in Number 10 than Boris Johnson has for his dreadful and indecisive premiership.

We're almost numb to it now but that's because the media are so sympathetic to him. The late lockdowns, unclear messaging, PPE mess that his government presided over for a year and a half. All you have to do to get out of a political crisis like this is one thing and in his case it was the vaccine program which should be credited to that woman actually did the procurement (I forget her name) and the NHS but somehow was used to paint Johnson's pandemic management as a success. But, you know... "it was a tough time... he did his best... at least commie Corbyn wasn't the Prime Minister!"

Same with everything that has come to pass since. The cost of living crisis, party gate revelations, the Owen Patterson sleaze scandal. All forgotten because we sent weapons that we can easily spare to Ukraine and "Boris" got over there for a photo opportunity this weekend which apparently is tangible proof that he's a great leader. Like I said, politics on easy mode.

One reason for positivity is that even if he rides out the rest of this scandal, permanent net damage has been done to his approval ratings and his party's in a way that they didn't suffer through the pandemic/vaccine era. A lot can happen in the election campaign but he doesn't start it with a good baseline. Whatever the media and Tory MPs say, the public don't think that Ukraine leadership makes up for PartyGate like the vaccine did for the poor decision making in the pandemic. Also, it's Boris Johnson and he will get himself into another couple of scandals between now and the next election.

As for Sunak, his ambitions for becoming Prime Minister are probably shot now. These tax irregularities and this fine have accelerated his undoing but it started with the cost of living crisis which his conventional austere policies have no answer for. This does two things. 1) he will potentially resign as Chancellor before the next election and not stand for re-election in his constituency and 2) it saves Johnson's backside for the moment because it gets rid of one of the candidates that Tory MPs may back as an alternative in order to remove him from the big seat.

The Tories are kind of fucked in the medium to long run though. Johnson's brand has been permanently damaged and Sunak was probably the only one with the public standing to boost their chances going into the next election. The alternatives now are very much lacking, partially because Johnson purged so much talent from the party before Brexit.

[RandoEFC+]

A bit of education too for those outside the UK who look quite rightly and go what the fuck is wrong with them:

These are the two best-selling newspapers over here. The Daily Mail going with the line "there's a war on, pwease leave Bowis awone" as if the country who changed Prime Minister during the Second World War in which they were actually physically engaged couldn't change Prime Minister now because of a war that we aren't actually fighting in. Nobody tell them what's going on in France this month.

The Sun simply concocts an alternate reality that can be reported as fact to people who haven't been following the story inside out (which is most people at this point because it's rumbled on for many months).

Having a media so heavily biased towards one major party and political ideology really can be just as effective sometimes as the defacto state-sanctioned media they have in countries that are considered not to even have democracies. On the bright side, we have at least SOME balance from the BBC, ITV and Sky News who generally at least report fact-based news despite their imperfections and a couple of non-Tory rags in the Mirror and Guardian but they're fighting a losing battle.

[Dr. Gonzo]

18 hours ago, RandoEFC said:

A bit of education too for those outside the UK who look quite rightly and go what the fuck is wrong with them:

These are the two best-selling newspapers over here. The Daily Mail going with the line "there's a war on, pwease leave Bowis awone" as if the country who changed Prime Minister during the Second World War in which they were actually physically engaged couldn't change Prime Minister now because of a war that we aren't actually fighting in. Nobody tell them what's going on in France this month.

The Sun simply concocts an alternate reality that can be reported as fact to people who haven't been following the story inside out (which is most people at this point because it's rumbled on for many months).

Having a media so heavily biased towards one major party and political ideology really can be just as effective sometimes as the defacto state-sanctioned media they have in countries that are considered not to even have democracies. On the bright side, we have at least SOME balance from the BBC, ITV and Sky News who generally at least report fact-based news despite their imperfections and a couple of non-Tory rags in the Mirror and Guardian but they're fighting a losing battle.

And they want to sell off Channel 4 so it goes the way of the rest of the UK media, into Tory pockets.

[Bluewolf]

30 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

And they want to sell off Channel 4 so it goes the way of the rest of the UK media, into Tory pockets.

This from Nadine Dorries was plain embarrassing... 

 

Edited April 13, 2022 by Bluewolf

[Stan]

This is brilliant

 

[RandoEFC+]

 

What the actual fuck!?

[Danny]

It's genuinely horrifying. I remember a few years ago when I first went to Australia (cough cough @Toinho) and I heard reports there about Manus Island. Was genuinely in shock that a country would take people trying to seek asylum etc and then stick them in a detention centre that caused and contributed to suicide, murder and child abuse.

And the British government have seen that, taken inspiration from it and decided to not only replicate the plan but do it in a country where government opposition are apparently being silenced, killed etc?

It's crazy how conditioned we all are to essentially just let things like this, the Windrush scandal etc happen.

Edited April 14, 2022 by Danny

[Stan]

He has absolutely no shame at all ffs 

 

[Toinho]

2 hours ago, Danny said:

It's genuinely horrifying. I remember a few years ago when I first went to Australia (cough cough @Toinho) and I heard reports there about Manus Island. Was genuinely in shock that a country would take people trying to seek asylum etc and then stick them in a detention centre that caused and contributed to suicide, murder and child abuse.

And the British government have seen that, taken inspiration from it and decided to not only replicate the plan but do it in a country where government opposition are apparently being silenced, killed etc?

It's crazy how conditioned we all are to essentially just let things like this, the Windrush scandal etc happen.

I believe Manus closed in maybe like 2019? However, we've got a lot to work on here, but don't we all. Sigh.

Edited April 14, 2022 by Toinho

[Danny]

13 minutes ago, Toinho said:

I believe Manus closed in maybe like 2019? However, we've got a lot to work on here, but don't we all. Sigh.

Yeah there was a lot of international pressure to close it…which is why it’s baffling our government have looked at it and thought they should replicate it in one way or another 

[Devil-Dick Willie]

Couple of years old, but aged very very well. Enjoy this 10 minutes my British chums!

[Stan]

This guy is quality

 

 

[Azeem]

[RandoEFC+]

Finish him for fuck's sake.

[MUFC]

 

[Stan]

I see the government have been found to have broken the law at start of Covid then. Government claimed there was a protective ring around elderly care homes. 

Court of law has found their actions were unlawful and the policy of discharging hospital patients into care homes. 

[Stan]