UK Politics & Brexit Discussion

[Bluewolf]

He adds that he does understand people's feelings and why there is "such indignation about the pain of the whole business of lockdown".

But Johnson says the public wants politicians to "focus on them and their needs rather than a political ding dong".

One of them public needs was asking for Cummings to step down but I don't see Johnson giving that much focus.... 

[Stan]

It got tiresome listening to him repeat the same old crap. 

[RandoEFC+]

I'm a bit bored now of the Cummings thing. I'd be fucking angry if I'd been affected like many have not being able to get childcare or see dying relatives or attend funerals, I've moved into a state of being more concerned about the dodgy shit, the right wing trolls on Twitter, at least some of whom are clearly coordinated, and Cummings highlighting his addiction to deceiving people into thinking he's the mastermind by editing his blog and being more clearly than ever in total control of the PM. 

With or without Cummings, this government will devour itself long before the five years are up. I just hope what comes next is the restoration of some common sense and professionalism. I dont know what's left of the Tory party apart from the ERG and this cult of morons and liars who have pinned their careers to SS Brexit.

[Stan]

I did hear him say he 'is forbidden from giving out any more deadlines or targets'. 

I mean, what the hell? He's meant to be leading this country and he's being silenced by who?! Cummings? Surely not?! 

[LFCMike]

I fucking despise this cunt.

[RandoEFC+]

Remember when they called themselves the People's Government back in December? Lasted long that .

[Bluewolf]

15 minutes ago, Stan said:

It got tiresome listening to him repeat the same old crap.

 

13 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

I'm a bit bored now of the Cummings thing.

Sadly this is one of the worst things of all and was always going to be part of the plan... Stick to his guns no matter what, don't give anything away, keep saying let's move on, not budging on his position or anything, basically wearing us down and because he is not being held truly accountable all he has to do is ride that wave of discontent until he hits the beach again.. 

That's how they hold on to what they have and why things will never change and also why I despise Politics and Politicians... 

 

[RandoEFC+]

3 minutes ago, Bluewolf said:

 

Sadly this is one of the worst things of all and was always going to be part of the plan... Stick to his guns no matter what, don't give anything away, keep saying let's move on, not budging on his position or anything, basically wearing us down and because he is not being held truly accountable all he has to do is ride that wave of discontent until he hits the beach again.. 

That's how they hold on to what they have and why things will never change and also why I despise Politics and Politicians... 

 

I'm not sure, when I say bored I'm only bored of talking about it because theres only so many times you can repeat the same facts to people who choose not to see them.

It won't be forgotten though. Their lead in the polls has been cut from 15 points to 6 points according to YouGov. It'll be interesting to see whether it remains on the front pages tomorrow, I don't think it will be aside from possibly the Mirror and the Guardian but the damage has still been done over it, and Tory MPs are still coming out to condemn him today and call for him to resign. Bits and pieces will continue to cut through and damage them. A brighter light will be shone on Cummings in the long term and any further controversy surrounding him you'll see this episode erupt back to the fore again.

[Dr. Gonzo]

Non-COVID related news, but I think important news for British infrastructure in a post-Brexit world. And to an extent, it's semi-COVID related because... well it's China and COVID's sort of massively impacted how we view their government.

So first, our spy agencies have warned against using Huawei for our 5G towers. This has led China to do what China does best, issue threats to save face. And threats from China regarding trade could be pretty significant to us in the UK in a post-Brexit world considering that China are the largest producer of... everything...

Meanwhile at the same time, China's also got a state-owned company (that's blacklisted from doing business in the US) bidding to build a 2nd nuclear power plant for the UK. First off, who's bright idea was the first one.... oh, surprise, it was that colossal fucking moron David Cameron (who I am sure will go down as one of the worst prime ministers in the history of the UK). Second, it strikes me as a bit weird to go with the lowest bidder for a piece of critical infrastructure like a nuclear facility. Third, strikes me as weird that a company directly controlled by China would be in charge of such a critical piece of infrastructure.

I think it makes sense not to let companies that have close and questionable ties with an authoritarian surveillance state, that threatens harm to anyone that doesn't do whatever it wants - rather than engage in civilized negotiation, build critical infrastructure in the UK. It's a matter of national security, quite frankly. But we are in a bit of a bind in terms of the economic consequences of what it might mean to piss off China, considering: 1.) we won't have the weight of the EU behind us, 2.) regardless of which administration we ultimately negotiate a trade deal with the US in, the deal will be heavily in the US's favour. 

China's a superpower and that's not something we've been for over half a fucking century, but really we should be telling them to absolutely fuck off from gaining more access to building British infrastructure.

[Stan]

13 minutes ago, Bluewolf said:

 

Sadly this is one of the worst things of all and was always going to be part of the plan... Stick to his guns no matter what, don't give anything away, keep saying let's move on, not budging on his position or anything, basically wearing us down and because he is not being held truly accountable all he has to do is ride that wave of discontent until he hits the beach again.. 

That's how they hold on to what they have and why things will never change and also why I despise Politics and Politicians... 

 

 

6 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

I'm not sure, when I say bored I'm only bored of talking about it because theres only so many times you can repeat the same facts to people who choose not to see them.

It won't be forgotten though. Their lead in the polls has been cut from 15 points to 6 points according to YouGov. It'll be interesting to see whether it remains on the front pages tomorrow, I don't think it will be aside from possibly the Mirror and the Guardian but the damage has still been done over it, and Tory MPs are still coming out to condemn him today and call for him to resign. Bits and pieces will continue to cut through and damage them. A brighter light will be shone on Cummings in the long term and any further controversy surrounding him you'll see this episode erupt back to the fore again.

Yeah I think I'm bored of having the same argument with people.

Bored of questions, simply put, not being answered with any clarity or cohesion. This has been going on for years with politicians but with Johnson it's on another level. It's so much waffle I feel like I'm in Belgium. 

 

[Bluewolf]

6 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

I'm not sure, when I say bored I'm only bored of talking about it because theres only so many times you can repeat the same facts to people who choose not to see them.

It won't be forgotten though. Their lead in the polls has been cut from 15 points to 6 points according to YouGov. It'll be interesting to see whether it remains on the front pages tomorrow, I don't think it will be aside from possibly the Mirror and the Guardian but the damage has still been done over it, and Tory MPs are still coming out to condemn him today and call for him to resign. Bits and pieces will continue to cut through and damage them. A brighter light will be shone on Cummings in the long term and any further controversy surrounding him you'll see this episode erupt back to the fore again.

I am the same mate, not happy with the situation and just as bored, Or a better word would be 'frustrated' with the total lack of accountability on this matter... I don't know how on one hand you can hope to sweep away what's happened by saying that he feels the vast majority of the public would want us to focus on other things when he is completely ignoring the fact that a large proportion of that very same public are clearly not happy with what's happened and are in fact focused on the Cummings debacle... He is just picking and choosing any part of it he wants to suit himself.. It's as see through as a pint glass and people like Gove having a chuckle about what his driving skills are like is just a fucking insult to anyone with even a modicum of brains... 

I feel for all those people that couldn't be with loved ones when they died or were ill or even go to their funerals, or were stuck in the same house as the rest of the family with or without symptoms not being able to visit anyone even though some considered and thought out travel might have given them more options.... The rules were clear, STAY HOME

Unlike you mate I do think it will be forgotten eventually and that's how they survive, It will get pushed further and further back until it just becomes a regrettable moment of embarrassment with no consequences... What's worse is the more defiant they are and all the while not being held accountable for their actions the more they feel like they are untouchable no matter how they behave.

I really do hope people don't forget but sadly think that there will be plenty of other distractions going on in the future on to help put it firmly in the past.. 

[Stan]

I don't want to alarm anyone but the person leading this track-and-trace app is a lady called Dido Harding.

Name unfamiliar? No worries, I thought so too.

Then you see that she is the same lady who was in charge of TalkTalk when there was a massive data protection breach of 150k+ customers financial information*.

Oh and she was apparently also on the board of the Horse Racing club at Cheltenham, so may have had some say in it going ahead earlier in March this year as COVID19 was just about to fly off the scale in the UK.

So yeah, sounds like we're in good hands...

 

 

*I realise she obviously wasn't personally responsible for that data breach but given she was CEO at the time, she is in the position to be accountable on behalf of the company, so quite a big blot on her records...

[Stan]

 

[Dr. Gonzo]

25 minutes ago, Stan said:

*I realise she obviously wasn't personally responsible for that data breach but given she was CEO at the time, she is in the position to be accountable on behalf of the company, so quite a big blot on her records...

It is 100% a fair and reasonable position to hold a CEO accountable for the actions (or in this case, lack of action to protect against security breaches) of a company. Especially one that's got loads of peoples' personal data.

[LFCMike]

Replaced on Newsnight for this but Kuenssberg will be on the news later repeating whatever shite number 10 tells her

 

[Stan]

Yeah that's pissed me off as well. 

Kuenssberg and Andrew Neil can peddle so much shit and show their impartialities on their shows and interviews and get nothing but when Maitlis says some truths, and not anything remotely cutting or offensive, this happens. 

Something tells me there's more behind the scenes than meets the eye but perhaps that's just me being overtly cynical. 

[Inverted]

The BBC's fundamental uselessness has always been that objective reality isn't always politically neutral.

If it has to dump reality or impartiality, it will be reality that's shunted out the door. 

Edited May 28, 2020 by Inverted

[Stan]

another slip-up by the government?!

 

[Bluewolf]

They simply can't give a straight yes or no to even one simple question can they?? 

Can anybody truly say that this situation under Johnson has been handled well??

I have zero faith in them now... 

[Stan]

Government have delayed releasing data on BAME people being disproportionately affected by COVID for the 2nd time because they're scared of the ramifications it could have given 'current global events'.

Surely it needs to be released to 'alert' people to the dangers, and how they may be able to protect themselves while the virus is still going round?

It's ironic they keep it hidden?

[RandoEFC+]

The day after Rees-Mogg's Alton Towers queue made the UK parliament a laughing stock for the sake of getting a few more cheerleaders back behind Johnson during PMQs and to quash the "I'll send my kids back to school/go back to work when the House of Commons is full again" shouts, Business Secretary Alok Sharma visibly showed symptoms of Covid 19 at the despatch box and is now self isolating after being tested for the virus.

If he tests positive a significant number of MPs will have to self-isolate for a week or a fortnight in line with the new "world-beating" test and trace system which has definitely been up and running since Monday even though the woman running it said it won't be fully operational until the end of the month.

Your daily Tory shambles update was brought to you by OnlyFourAndAHalfMoreYearsOfThisShower productions.

[Stan]

3 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

The day after Rees-Mogg's Alton Towers queue made the UK parliament a laughing stock for the sake of getting a few more cheerleaders back behind Johnson during PMQs and to quash the "I'll send my kids back to school/go back to work when the House of Commons is full again" shouts, Business Secretary Alok Sharma visibly showed symptoms of Covid 19 at the despatch box and is now self isolating after being tested for the virus.

If he tests positive a significant number of MPs will have to self-isolate for a week or a fortnight in line with the new "world-beating" test and trace system which has definitely been up and running since Monday even though the woman running it said it won't be fully operational until the end of the month.

Your daily Tory shambles update was brought to you by OnlyFourAndAHalfMoreYearsOfThisShower productions.

Puts a mockery on Rees-Mogg's selfish thoughts to get everyone back for the fun of it, too.

[RandoEFC+]

Just now, Stan said:

Puts a mockery on Rees-Mogg's selfish thoughts to get everyone back for the fun of it, too.

This is the man who suggested that many victims of the Grenfell fire would have survived if they'd shown some common sense and run out of the building against the advice of present firefighters. He thinks it's common sense to set up a 1km+ queue for MPs to vote when there was already a working online system which didn't exclude over 100 who couldn't attend the House of Commons physically. An absolute moron in every sense of the word.

Common fucking sense. Johnson used the British common sense line again in one of his "answers" at PMQs today. His idea of common sense is shaking hands with infected Covid 19 patients, almost dying from it and allowing his chief aide to claim on national television that he drove 60 miles to a beauty spot on his wife's birthday with their infant child in the back seat to test his eyesight and repeatedly claimed this was within the rules, also on national television.

I met some friends yesterday who luckily don't pay as much attention to politics as I do and they're still convinced that Johnson's blundering buffoon persona is an act and that he's actually quite clever. I asked them what he's ever done that shows him to be clever, and whether they can name anything he's good at. They could not. He's another moron who because his Daddy's rich got sent to Eton, learned how to speak posh and be able to quote a few Greek philosophers so the little people with their subconscious class-based deference to the ruling class would think he's Churchill come again. There's a reason they only trusted him with a three-word slogan (again) during the election campaign.

The sad thing no matter how ridiculous these clowns get, there are thousands across the country who will continue to vote for them every fucking time because they care more about a posh accent, a strongman image and the dewey-eyed nostalgia for a mythical Britain that, if it ever existed, did so years before their time, than they do about voting to make their own lives a little bit less miserable. These people won't change their minds so I need to stop getting arsed by every new glaring example of this incompetence.

What I wouldn't give to see even Cameron or May back in the saddle to banish the weird Victorian cosplay faction back to the irrelevance of the back benches.

For the sake of balance though, their idea to offer the citizens of Hong Kong refuge in the UK at some point is something I like, even if the logistics look really difficult. Along with the overdue but better late than never policy of implementing controls on people entering the country and Starmer's mediocre performance at PMQs today, I thought the Tories had had a decent day until I saw the Sharma thing which done set me off on one.

[Stan]

2 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

For the sake of balance though, their idea to offer the citizens of Hong Kong refuge in the UK at some point is something I like, even if the logistics look really difficult. Along with the overdue but better late than never policy of implementing controls on people entering the country and Starmer's mediocre performance at PMQs today, I thought the Tories had had a decent day until I saw the Sharma thing which done set me off on one.

Mediocre?

Really? I thought Boris looked flustered as ever. Starmer was hitting him with some points that Boris just had to go back to some bankers to defend, and not actually answer (shock). 

He was asked 3 times to condemn Trump's response to the protests/riots. Failed in any way to do so which no doubt doesn't look great and points to only keeping US on side for economic reasons.

But anyway, I think mediocre is not right. Perhaps not as powerful as recent weeks but Boris always seems to be on the ropes to some extent when Starmer is hammering the questions away, blow-by-blow but still maintaining that calm persona. 

[RandoEFC+]

2 minutes ago, Stan said:

Mediocre?

Really? I thought Boris looked flustered as ever. Starmer was hitting him with some points that Boris just had to go back to some bankers to defend, and not actually answer (shock). 

He was asked 3 times to condemn Trump's response to the protests/riots. Failed in any way to do so which no doubt doesn't look great and points to only keeping US on side for economic reasons.

But anyway, I think mediocre is not right. Perhaps not as powerful as recent weeks but Boris always seems to be on the ropes to some extent when Starmer is hammering the questions away, blow-by-blow but still maintaining that calm persona. 

I thought Starmer didn't do himself any favours over the private letter/phonecall about schools opening stuff. Johnson got properly rattled but just because he's an overgrown schoolboy who doesn't understand that the whole point of PMQs is for the government to be scrutinised doesn't mean that Starmer had to excel himself to make Johnson look like the flustered man-baby that he is.

I also wish people would stop calling him "Boris" as if he's this fun character that's just your mate. He's the prime minister and he's supposed to be leading the country. Calling him Boris perpetuates this weird subconscious fetish people have for thinking that he's relatable because he has a goofy and sort of common name. He has next to nothing in common with either of us and Boris isn't even his real first name.