Best Of

Whatever you think about Mandelson and his sometimes poor judgement overall he is competent at the jobs he does, whether as Business or NI Secretary or in his most recent post as DC Ambassador. He is also ruthlessly effective as a campaigner, it was Mandelson who helped Kinnock bring back Labour from the abyss after their 1983 Foot led rout, it was Mandelson who played a key part in New Labour's landslide of 1997 and it was Mandelson who helped Brown narrow the gap in 2010 enough for a hung parliament, hence he never sacked him. Mandelson also worked behind the scenes on Starmer's 2024 win after the defeats of the Corbyn and Ed Miliband years.

He is gone for now but he may be back, as he has been before. Not as an elected politician or grand Ambassador, but as an effective behind the scenes man

I have found that employing lying scumbags because they are "good at their jobs" is not a recipe for long term success.

Not -for the record- that I am alleging that anyone in particular is a lying scumbag.

Depends what job, plenty of lawyers and journalists and politicians have been very successful at their jobs despite being lying scumbags

Do you put Bozo on that list?

‪@headfallsoff.com‬

every time there's political violence discourse i think about how jo cox was assassinated in broad daylight by a fascist who shouted "britain first" as he shot her, and now nine years later her party is dedicating every moment in power to placating the ideology of her murderer

https://bsky.app/profile/headfallsoff.com/post/3lyjfuonko223

One of the saddest things in modern UK politics is the way Jo Cox has been elevated, whilst David Amess has been relatively forgotten. Both murdered by political/religious extremists.

People pick whichever one matches their prejudices, and elevate that while minimizing the other.

I try to remember both, and also Gow. I could go back further, but they're really beyond my political time.

You’re of a similar age to me and in our lifetimes six MPs have been murdered, one by a far right extremist, one by a Muslim terrorist, and four by Christian terrorists.

I’d add Cllr Andrew Pennington who was murdered trying to stop a mentally ill murdering an MP.

Since when were the IRA Christian terrorists?

They said their objectives was to free Catholics who were being persecuted.

Their main objective was to 'free' Northern Ireland and Ulster from British rule and create a United Ireland ie nationalism not religion, they also targeted Northern Irish and British Protestants who are and were as Christian as Catholics

"Protestants who are and were as Christian as Catholics"

That would be an ecumenical matter.

What I don't get is why Mandelson was so keen to curry favour with Epstein? What was in it for him?

It's curious the hold Epstein was able to have over some people - Mandelson seemed absolutely besotted. Yet others felt seriously uneasy the moment they clapped eyes on him and ran a mile.

Mandelson's drug of choice is power, and Epstein had lots

The other mysterious thing is quite how Epstein got so rich, while being so generous to everyone that he met.

Someone was paying for all this.

I work in an industry where Epstein helped bring down a big name or two.

The talk (and there’s plenty of evidence) that his fortune came from Israeli intelligence in exchange for well intelligence and kompromat.

Fun fact, Ghislaine Maxwell’s father was a longstanding agent of Mossad.

Whatever you think about Mandelson and his sometimes poor judgement overall he is competent at the jobs he does, whether as Business or NI Secretary or in his most recent post as DC Ambassador. He is also ruthlessly effective as a campaigner, it was Mandelson who helped Kinnock bring back Labour from the abyss after their 1983 Foot led rout, it was Mandelson who played a key part in New Labour's landslide of 1997 and it was Mandelson who helped Brown narrow the gap in 2010 enough for a hung parliament, hence he never sacked him. Mandelson also worked behind the scenes on Starmer's 2024 win after the defeats of the Corbyn and Ed Miliband years.

He is gone for now but he may be back, as he has been before. Not as an elected politician or grand Ambassador, but as an effective behind the scenes man

Have you never had to sack someone who was supremely good at their job but cut corners and took risks which jeopardised everyone elses future employment?

At that very moment one asks them for their company car keys one's heart sinks because you know they would be the one that one could count on to hit their targets and yours.

I once went to the county court in Swansea to recover money owed from a guy called Jones. I had put my case before the Judge? and Jones put up little defence. The Judge awarded my company everything that I had requested. As I gathered my papers I noticed that my salesman had himself signed the sales documents on behalf of Jones but with the name Davies. I said nothing, but when I got back I sacked the lying f*****.

As it’s a bit crappy in the world I thought I would post a fun story about Richard Harris I just read in an interview with Jared Harris.

“ I used to go and have a drink with my dad at the the Coach and Horses at the back of Covent Garden. They have really good Guinness. It’s also the place where my father had his last fight. It was summer. He was sitting outside having a pint. My father would have two sorts of interactions with Irish people. One would be very positive. The other, they’d say: “What the fuck have you ever done for Ireland?” He was having the second interaction with this Irish woman and lost his patience.

He said: “I can forgive many things. I can forgive ignorance, because that’s not your fault. That’s the fault of your education. I can forgive bad manners. Again, not your fault if your parents just didn’t bring you up properly. But the one thing I cannot forgive is ugliness, and you’re the ugliest woman I’ve ever seen in my life. Now fuck off.”

So she goes inside, gets her boyfriend, who comes out and says [does Irish accent]: “You called my girlfriend ugly. Stand up if you’re a man.” So dad sucker-punched him and knocked him out. He was on the floor, cracked his head, and the girl started jumping up and down, going [does Irish accent]: “Dickie Harris has killed me boyfriend! Dickie Harris has killed me boyfriend!” Dad wasn’t sure what had happened, so he grabbed his Guinness and chucked it in the guy’s face, which brought him round immediately. But he was a big boy and Dad knew that he wasn’t going to win round two, so he leapt into a taxi and took off.”

‪@headfallsoff.com‬

every time there's political violence discourse i think about how jo cox was assassinated in broad daylight by a fascist who shouted "britain first" as he shot her, and now nine years later her party is dedicating every moment in power to placating the ideology of her murderer

https://bsky.app/profile/headfallsoff.com/post/3lyjfuonko223

One of the saddest things in modern UK politics is the way Jo Cox has been elevated, whilst David Amess has been relatively forgotten. Both murdered by political/religious extremists.

People pick whichever one matches their prejudices, and elevate that while minimizing the other.

I try to remember both, and also Gow. I could go back further, but they're really beyond my political time.

You’re of a similar age to me and in our lifetimes six MPs have been murdered, one by a far right extremist, one by a Muslim terrorist, and four by Christian terrorists.

I’d add Cllr Andrew Pennington who was murdered trying to stop a mentally ill murdering an MP.

That's why I said "political time" : i.e. when I've had a serious political interest.

Though there's a plaque to the murderer of Spencer Perceval in my local town...