Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for him for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
One of those rare points of agreement between of us, HYUFD. The punitive approach to welfare is played out - discredited academically, and, much more importantly for the government, deeply unpopular in the Red Wall seats at a time of massive strain. Sunak the posh Southerner puts the boot in.
You mean Rishi Sunak, mp for Richmond, Yorkshire
Yes, but come on, BigG, he seems so Southern in style. The voice of Tony Blair and the dress sense of Jamie Oliver.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
It seems Sunak as PM would be George Osborne plus Brexit.
The way to hold the redwall that voted for Brown, Ed Miliband and Corbyn in 2017 and regain the Remain seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD? I have my doubts
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
Good morning one and all, from an OKC logging in somewhat later than usual. Quite a good OAP social gathering last night, at which, on the rare occasions politics was raised, no-one had a good word to say for the PM. This being in Witham, some of them must have voted Tory!
Indeed.
My take at the moment is on balance, like Mike, that the tory MPs will not have the bottle and gumption to remove him.
It's a case for Labour of losing the battle to win the war. Starmer set up Johnson very well yesterday.
What's really noticeable to me, and I have to say it's surfacing in a small minority of posters on here, is just how much the nasty party has returned.
Keep Johnson in place and the Conservatives are heading for a crushing defeat in 2024.
Government are going to spend 3-5 days trying to remove anything and everything from it while not understanding that anything removed will be leaked 30 seconds later.
According to Nick Watts on Newsnight it is the civil service union who are trying to keep the names of junior civil servants out of the report and to protect future employment prospects of those who are to be named
It is a theme that HMG is trying to redact the report when it is unions who apparently are very worried at how bad the civil service is painted in the report
I've some sympathy with a junior civil servant encouraged by bosses to join in a party, and we don't really need to know right now that deputy under-secretary Fred Bloggs, who we've never heard of, unwisely joined a gathering. Generic observations about mistakes in judgment would be OK for that sort of thing. But it's urgent that the report comes out quickly now as otherwise everyone will suspect manipulation and that's bad for confidence in government generally, not just this government. Also, normal business needs to proceed whatever is happening at the top, cf. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jan/26/uk-government-being-immobilised-by-boris-johnson-crisis-say-insiders
Just redact all civil service names for now and then put it out without further editing. Disciplinary action against minor players can be considered down the line.
Sensible as ever Nick, but it is the unions and their lawyers who are holding this up and of course anything redacted in this way has to be explained by Sue Gray otherwise all hell will break lose
Looking back at the thread, one has to agree with Mr P. Although I've always suspected that one or middle ranking staffers were going to find themselves under the proverbial bus!
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
It seems Sunak as PM would be George Osborne plus Brexit.
The way to hold the redwall that voted for Brown, Ed Miliband and Corbyn in 2017 and regain the Remain seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD? I have my doubts
Good morning one and all, from an OKC logging in somewhat later than usual. Quite a good OAP social gathering last night, at which, on the rare occasions politics was raised, no-one had a good word to say for the PM. This being in Witham, some of them must have voted Tory!
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for him for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
One of those rare points of agreement between of us, HYUFD. The punitive approach to welfare is played out - discredited academically, and, much more importantly for the government, deeply unpopular in the Red Wall seats at a time of massive strain. Sunak the posh Southerner puts the boot in.
I suspect dragging WH Smith's CEO up north has improved things for a couple of months and then the normality of WH Smiths reducing staff hours will return
Partygate has now run from November and will run well into next month and probably longer. Are there other countries where a argument, at the highest level of politics, power and law enforcement, about cakes and balloons can last so long or are we uniquely nuts?
You're right - we have unusually high standards for integrity in this country.
Much higher in Germany and Scandinavia. Historically reasonably good, but definitely not the very best ; and they're definitely dropping substantially under Johnson.
My experience FWIW is also that standards are higher in Scandinavia (and Switzerland). The British attitude is often more easy-going in individual cases - you can get a minor breach of regulations shrugged off if you're lucky - but the downside of that is that many people think that they can get away with initially small lapses in integrity (not declaring incidental earnings for tax, that sort of thing), and the appetite grows with practice.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for him for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
One of those rare points of agreement between of us, HYUFD. The punitive approach to welfare is played out - discredited academically, and, much more importantly for the government, deeply unpopular in the Red Wall seats at a time of massive strain. Sunak the posh Southerner puts the boot in.
You mean Rishi Sunak, mp for Richmond, Yorkshire
My brother has lived up north for 20 years working in pubs, care homes and McDonalds, and has no educational qualifications whatsoever, and hes still called the posh southerner by colleagues.
Government are going to spend 3-5 days trying to remove anything and everything from it while not understanding that anything removed will be leaked 30 seconds later.
Johnson has passed the moment of maximum peril by drawing this out and complicating it with the Met investigation. He'll be alright no matter what the report says. Last week wasn't tory Kronstadt.
At least we can retire the always fanciful notion that he was going to retire before the next GE to earn money and spend less time with his families.
Oh I've suspect that all along - I think it was 2 weeks ago that I said the best bet was SKS for next PM because the Tory party are a bunch of idiots and won't do anything until its too late.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
Government are going to spend 3-5 days trying to remove anything and everything from it while not understanding that anything removed will be leaked 30 seconds later.
Johnson has passed the moment of maximum peril by drawing this out and complicating it with the Met investigation. He'll be alright no matter what the report says. Last week wasn't tory Kronstadt.
At least we can retire the always fanciful notion that he was going to retire before the next GE to earn money and spend less time with his families.
Oh I've suspect that all along - I think it was 2 weeks ago that I said the best bet was SKS for next PM because the Tory party are a bunch of idiots and won't do anything until its too late.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for him for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
One of those rare points of agreement between of us, HYUFD. The punitive approach to welfare is played out - discredited academically, and, much more importantly for the government, deeply unpopular in the Red Wall seats at a time of massive strain. Sunak the posh Southerner puts the boot in.
You mean Rishi Sunak, mp for Richmond, Yorkshire
Rishi the owner of a £2 million Yorkshire mansion he occasionally visits at weekends when not at his £7 million Kensington townhouse, No 11 or his California apartment. Yes that Rishi.
Johnsons problem is that he doesn't give a damn about lying. It is part of his political style. The conservatives knew this when they appointed him as leader. The people elected him. It was a rupture with the idea that the truth is and should be the guiding principle in public life. It isn't clear how we get this back. It is a very similar problem to that faced by the US, post Trump.
We lost that long ago with Blair/Campbell. Johnson learned from them.
No. Blair and Campbell lied, but didn't make a public virtue of lying and provoking. The model for that is Trump.
You can't get a little bit pregnant - the sin is lying, not how or why you do it.
It has very big implications how you do it, though. If you're lying very publicly and provocatively, what you're partly appealing to is public cynicism. This is what makes Trump and Johnson different.
Blair and Campbell did lie publicly and provocatively - in particular the 24 hous to save the NHS that they put out before the 1997 election, and the "no plans" to introduce tuition fees (they were introduced exactly a year later). I would say that that is up there with almost anything that Trump produced.
"24 hours to save" is standard election stuff (like the Mail claim in 2005 that this might be the last free election unless we voted Tory) but I agree that everyone has blotted their copybooks on tuition fees. I don't think any of that (including anything in the parties affair) compares with Trump openly saying he can get away with anything including murder.
Except my daughter's school are still requiring them, outdoors, when collecting them and dropping them off. How ridiculous.
Spoke to the Head Mistress to ask why and she said that cases amongst the students are still at the highest level ever and since kids who test positive have to miss school for a week they don't want to drop any precautions yet.
I respect her intentions, even if I doubt that masks outdoors will prevent any cases but this is the same garbage we saw last month. People making silly decisions not because they fear people getting sick, but because they fear the consequences of isolation.
We need to urgently ASAP drop the ridiculous forced isolation of people who are perfectly healthy who happen to be testing positive for the virus. Let people who are actually sick recuperate at home, as they require, but anyone healthy but positive shouldn't be compelled to isolate anymore for a virus everyone vulnerable has had three vaccine doses for (and if they've not, it's their choice).
Especially children. Disrupting healthy children's education due to a line on a test is absurd.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
The thing I'm unclear on, is how much this is a Sunak and how much a Johnson intiative. Coming right now, it looks very much like both an extension of Operation Big Dog, and Rishi flexing his Osbornite muscles. If that's true, it doesn't say much for either Sunak *or* Johnson's political antennae, I think.
Government are going to spend 3-5 days trying to remove anything and everything from it while not understanding that anything removed will be leaked 30 seconds later.
Johnson has passed the moment of maximum peril by drawing this out and complicating it with the Met investigation. He'll be alright no matter what the report says. Last week wasn't tory Kronstadt.
At least we can retire the always fanciful notion that he was going to retire before the next GE to earn money and spend less time with his families.
Oh I've suspect that all along - I think it was 2 weeks ago that I said the best bet was SKS for next PM because the Tory party are a bunch of idiots and won't do anything until its too late.
Idiots and cowards it would appear.
You had doubts?
I must admit that I thought self serving ambition might trump the pusillanimity.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for him for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
One of those rare points of agreement between of us, HYUFD. The punitive approach to welfare is played out - discredited academically, and, much more importantly for the government, deeply unpopular in the Red Wall seats at a time of massive strain. Sunak the posh Southerner puts the boot in.
You mean Rishi Sunak, mp for Richmond, Yorkshire
Rishi the owner of a £2 million Yorkshire mansion he occasionally visits at weekends when not at his Kensington flat, No 11 or his California beach house. Yes that Rishi.
From April I think the plan is that he will be there longer - as he will be doing 2 days at Treasury North once it opens (in April).
After the £2m EU grant is repaid to reflect the temporary change of use of the (empty) office block they are moving into while the campus is built.
I joked when the building was built that it would become the council's new offices and I'm not 100% wrong (it probably will be used for that once the Treasury move out).
Except my daughter's school are still requiring them, outdoors, when collecting them and dropping them off. How ridiculous.
Spoke to the Head Mistress to ask why and she said that cases amongst the students are still at the highest level ever and since kids who test positive have to miss school for a week they don't want to drop any precautions yet.
I respect her intentions, even if I doubt that masks outdoors will prevent any cases but this is the same garbage we saw last month. People making silly decisions not because they fear people getting sick, but because they fear the consequences of isolation.
We need to urgently ASAP drop the ridiculous forced isolation of people who are perfectly healthy who happen to be testing positive for the virus. Let people who are actually sick recuperate at home, as they require, but anyone healthy but positive shouldn't be compelled to isolate anymore for a virus everyone vulnerable has had three vaccine doses for (and if they've not, it's their choice).
Especially children. Disrupting healthy children's education due to a line on a test is absurd.
BiB - the obvious thing to say is "don't you think that, maybe, masks make sod all difference?"
Mind you, a good friend of mine still believes in Brand Boris. She has swallowed all the guff, some of which is manifest lying, and still thinks he walks on water. She regularly refers back to the 2012 Olympics as an example of how wonderful Boris is, despite the fact that he had virtually nothing to do with it.
I despair at her and at the present there's nothing I can do to persuade her otherwise.
On the other hand, my brother who has voted Conservative many times is now viciously anti Boris. By contrast with my good friend, my brother who is a Londoner born and bred refers back to what he sees as Johnson's dreadful record as London mayor. He thinks the nasty party is back, which is why I've mentioned that here too.
Another friend of mine, a tory who votes for his local Labour MP "because he's bloody good" thinks the party stuff is all blown up by the media. I suggested to him that for many people who lost loved ones or who obeyed the law it does really matter.
Someone else I know, young, female, has also viciously turned against Boris. Thinks he's a lying toerag and she is trying to persuade her mum (another former Boris luvvie) that Johnson is a turd.
Another couple that I know, both of whom loved Boris, are now spitting with fury at him.
It's just interesting for me to observe and I pass these anecdotes on in a spirit of honesty.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for him for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
One of those rare points of agreement between of us, HYUFD. The punitive approach to welfare is played out - discredited academically, and, much more importantly for the government, deeply unpopular in the Red Wall seats at a time of massive strain. Sunak the posh Southerner puts the boot in.
You mean Rishi Sunak, mp for Richmond, Yorkshire
Rishi the owner of a £2 million Yorkshire mansion he occasionally visits at weekends when not at his £7 million Kensington townhouse, No 11 or his California apartment. Yes that Rishi.
Mind you, a good friend of mine still believes in Brand Boris. She has swallowed all the guff, some of which is manifest lying, and still thinks he walks on water. She regularly refers back to the 2012 Olympics as an example of how wonderful Boris is, despite the fact that he had virtually nothing to do with it.
I despair at her and at the present there's nothing I can do to persuade her otherwise.
On the other hand, my brother who has voted Conservative many times is now viciously anti Boris. By contrast with my good friend, my brother who is a Londoner born and bred refers back to what he sees as Johnson's dreadful record as London mayor. He thinks the nasty party is back, which is why I've mentioned that here too.
Another friend of mine, a tory who votes for his local Labour MP "because he's bloody good" thinks the party stuff is all blown up by the media. I suggested to him that for many people who lost loved ones or who obeyed the law it does really matter.
Someone else I know, young, female, has also viciously turned against Boris. Thinks he's a lying toerag and she is trying to persuade her mum (another former Boris luvvie) that Johnson is a turd.
It's just interesting for me to observe and I pass these anecdotes on in a spirit of honesty.
Yup, I think there's deep movement away from Boris in certain groups. The Tories can't get past that.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
It's not just harsh, it's almost certainly counterproductive as it will push people into accepting lower skilled jobs at worse pay, and so it could well end up costing the Treasury more than it saves.
Good morning one and all, from an OKC logging in somewhat later than usual. Quite a good OAP social gathering last night, at which, on the rare occasions politics was raised, no-one had a good word to say for the PM. This being in Witham, some of them must have voted Tory!
I am sure they still love Priti though
The last meeting I went to at which she was mentioned, it was to the effect that she hasn't been seen around for some months, and that her constituency home seemed empty.
Understandable, of course, given her HO responsibilities, but unusual.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
It seems Sunak as PM would be George Osborne plus Brexit.
The way to hold the redwall that voted for Brown, Ed Miliband and Corbyn in 2017 and regain the Remain seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD? I have my doubts
Is this Sunak?
He's not DWP minister.
Sunak is quoted as saying the move will help jobs recovery. He is clearly leading it though Therese Coffey has been tasked with implementing it
Except my daughter's school are still requiring them, outdoors, when collecting them and dropping them off. How ridiculous.
Spoke to the Head Mistress to ask why and she said that cases amongst the students are still at the highest level ever and since kids who test positive have to miss school for a week they don't want to drop any precautions yet.
I respect her intentions, even if I doubt that masks outdoors will prevent any cases but this is the same garbage we saw last month. People making silly decisions not because they fear people getting sick, but because they fear the consequences of isolation.
We need to urgently ASAP drop the ridiculous forced isolation of people who are perfectly healthy who happen to be testing positive for the virus. Let people who are actually sick recuperate at home, as they require, but anyone healthy but positive shouldn't be compelled to isolate anymore for a virus everyone vulnerable has had three vaccine doses for (and if they've not, it's their choice).
Especially children. Disrupting healthy children's education due to a line on a test is absurd.
BiB - the obvious thing to say is "don't you think that, maybe, masks make sod all difference?"
My daughters' primary schools are still doing the same. It's not really them: it's that they don't have the confidence to contradict Trafford Public Health - who clearly aren't going to get to a position ever where they'll recommend any rolling back of restrictions, because then what's the point of Trafford Public Health? In practice all I can hope is that these requirements are increasingly ignored (I'd say about 25% of parents just ignore them).
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
It's not just harsh, it's almost certainly counterproductive as it will push people into accepting lower skilled jobs at worse pay, and so it could well end up costing the Treasury more than it saves.
Added to which each previous imposition of sanctions has been documented as piling up substantial social costs in areas like homelessness and mental healthcare. Just stupid.
Mind you, a good friend of mine still believes in Brand Boris. She has swallowed all the guff, some of which is manifest lying, and still thinks he walks on water. She regularly refers back to the 2012 Olympics as an example of how wonderful Boris is, despite the fact that he had virtually nothing to do with it.
I despair at her and at the present there's nothing I can do to persuade her otherwise.
On the other hand, my brother who has voted Conservative many times is now viciously anti Boris. By contrast with my good friend, my brother who is a Londoner born and bred refers back to what he sees as Johnson's dreadful record as London mayor. He thinks the nasty party is back, which is why I've mentioned that here too.
Another friend of mine, a tory who votes for his local Labour MP "because he's bloody good" thinks the party stuff is all blown up by the media. I suggested to him that for many people who lost loved ones or who obeyed the law it does really matter.
Someone else I know, young, female, has also viciously turned against Boris. Thinks he's a lying toerag and she is trying to persuade her mum (another former Boris luvvie) that Johnson is a turd.
Another couple that I know, both of whom loved Boris, are now spitting with fury at him.
It's just interesting for me to observe and I pass these anecdotes on in a spirit of honesty.
I find this kind of colour useful as everyone I know hates Boris Johnson and most of them always have.
Except my daughter's school are still requiring them, outdoors, when collecting them and dropping them off. How ridiculous.
Spoke to the Head Mistress to ask why and she said that cases amongst the students are still at the highest level ever and since kids who test positive have to miss school for a week they don't want to drop any precautions yet.
I respect her intentions, even if I doubt that masks outdoors will prevent any cases but this is the same garbage we saw last month. People making silly decisions not because they fear people getting sick, but because they fear the consequences of isolation.
We need to urgently ASAP drop the ridiculous forced isolation of people who are perfectly healthy who happen to be testing positive for the virus. Let people who are actually sick recuperate at home, as they require, but anyone healthy but positive shouldn't be compelled to isolate anymore for a virus everyone vulnerable has had three vaccine doses for (and if they've not, it's their choice).
Especially children. Disrupting healthy children's education due to a line on a test is absurd.
BiB - the obvious thing to say is "don't you think that, maybe, masks make sod all difference?"
I considered it, but potentially pissing off my daughter's head mistress over this is something that seems utterly futile. Plus I don't know if she's even the one making the decision.
The more serious element though is why the hell healthy children are losing a weeks education at this stage. That's more ridiculous than us having to wear a mask in the school grounds when I drop them off or pick them up.
Though interestingly today the mask usage seemed to have dropped from 95% to 50%. I wonder if that's because half the parents hadn't read the email requesting we continue to wear the masks and have just gone with the news, or because they've disregarded it.
For now I'll keep the mask, even though I disagree with it, out of respect for the teachers polite request. For now.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
Incredibly, I find myself for once in agreement with you.
I suspect your real fear is Rishi takes over and the whole narrative changes with the conservatives having a real chance in 24
I don't know. If that 'is' my real fear then it lies somewhere deep in my subconscious.
You may be right but I'm really, really, not sure about Rishi Sunak. I don't think a multimillionaire former hedge fund manager (banker) is going to play out well especially given the fiscal troubles we're sailing into.
Boris remains my biggest fear electorally. I think he's a liability for the tories but he is, regrettably, the only tory with the X factor and that's dangerous for Labour.
Except my daughter's school are still requiring them, outdoors, when collecting them and dropping them off. How ridiculous.
Spoke to the Head Mistress to ask why and she said that cases amongst the students are still at the highest level ever and since kids who test positive have to miss school for a week they don't want to drop any precautions yet.
I respect her intentions, even if I doubt that masks outdoors will prevent any cases but this is the same garbage we saw last month. People making silly decisions not because they fear people getting sick, but because they fear the consequences of isolation.
We need to urgently ASAP drop the ridiculous forced isolation of people who are perfectly healthy who happen to be testing positive for the virus. Let people who are actually sick recuperate at home, as they require, but anyone healthy but positive shouldn't be compelled to isolate anymore for a virus everyone vulnerable has had three vaccine doses for (and if they've not, it's their choice).
Especially children. Disrupting healthy children's education due to a line on a test is absurd.
BiB - the obvious thing to say is "don't you think that, maybe, masks make sod all difference?"
Sure, if you want to get branded an anti-masker (and, by extension, an anti-vaxxer).
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for him for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
One of those rare points of agreement between of us, HYUFD. The punitive approach to welfare is played out - discredited academically, and, much more importantly for the government, deeply unpopular in the Red Wall seats at a time of massive strain. Sunak the posh Southerner puts the boot in.
You mean Rishi Sunak, mp for Richmond, Yorkshire
Rishi the owner of a £2 million Yorkshire mansion he occasionally visits at weekends when not at his £7 million Kensington townhouse, No 11 or his California apartment. Yes that Rishi.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for him for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
One of those rare points of agreement between of us, HYUFD. The punitive approach to welfare is played out - discredited academically, and, much more importantly for the government, deeply unpopular in the Red Wall seats at a time of massive strain. Sunak the posh Southerner puts the boot in.
You mean Rishi Sunak, mp for Richmond, Yorkshire
Rishi the owner of a £2 million Yorkshire mansion he occasionally visits at weekends when not at his £7 million Kensington townhouse, No 11 or his California apartment. Yes that Rishi.
Imagine how 155,000 bereaved families feel looking at this.
...
Does anyone know who the braying bearded tory in this clip is? He has pretty much handed my vote to the LDs
J. Gullis, MP for Stoke-on-Trent. I linked to his diatribe against lefty snitches yesterday, and as i said then it's astounding to me what an inexhaustible supply the PCP has of these cnuts.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for him for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
One of those rare points of agreement between of us, HYUFD. The punitive approach to welfare is played out - discredited academically, and, much more importantly for the government, deeply unpopular in the Red Wall seats at a time of massive strain. Sunak the posh Southerner puts the boot in.
You mean Rishi Sunak, mp for Richmond, Yorkshire
Rishi the owner of a £2 million Yorkshire mansion he occasionally visits at weekends when not at his £7 million Kensington townhouse, No 11 or his California apartment. Yes that Rishi.
You really do not like him do you as he is a real threat to your adoration of Boris
Mind you Rishi PM in the next few weeks and you will be singng his praises, having binned Boris
I would support him as I would support any Tory leader.
However as stated I have severe reservations about replacing the leader who won us our biggest majority since Thatcher with a leader who is basically Osborne plus Brexit. All other alternative leaders do worse than Boris and Sunak in the polls and Boris is still less than 10% behind Starmer Labour even now.
To win another majority the Tories either need to hold most of the redwall Boris won or win back Remainers who voted for Cameron but have voted Labour or LD since. Not sure Sunak does either.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
It's not just harsh, it's almost certainly counterproductive as it will push people into accepting lower skilled jobs at worse pay, and so it could well end up costing the Treasury more than it saves.
Added to which each previous imposition of sanctions has been documented as piling up substantial social costs in areas like homelessness and mental healthcare. Just stupid.
It's all about punishing the poor and unlucky which as HYUFD has noted probably doesn't even play that well with their core voters anymore since Brexit (which was marketed as a revenge opportunity for the poor and unlucky) has put a lot more of this group in the Tory camp. Bad policy, bad economics, bad politics. Stupid Sunak.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
Incredibly, I find myself for once in agreement with you.
I suspect your real fear is Rishi takes over and the whole narrative changes with the conservatives having a real chance in 24
I don't know. If that 'is' my real fear then it lies somewhere deep in my subconscious.
You may be right but I'm really, really, not sure about Rishi Sunak. I don't think a multimillionaire former hedge fund manager (banker) is going to play out well especially given the fiscal troubles we're sailing into.
Boris remains my biggest fear electorally. I think he's a liability for the tories but he is, regrettably, the only tory with the X factor and that's dangerous for Labour.
Boris isn't a fear any longer. Even if Partygate died down there are a lot of reasons why the Tories will do badly with him in charge next time round.
Remember what Boris promised you in 2019 - where is it? Will do wonders for Labour in 2023/4.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for him for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
One of those rare points of agreement between of us, HYUFD. The punitive approach to welfare is played out - discredited academically, and, much more importantly for the government, deeply unpopular in the Red Wall seats at a time of massive strain. Sunak the posh Southerner puts the boot in.
You mean Rishi Sunak, mp for Richmond, Yorkshire
Rishi the owner of a £2 million Yorkshire mansion he occasionally visits at weekends when not at his £7 million Kensington townhouse, No 11 or his California apartment. Yes that Rishi.
You really do not like him do you as he is a real threat to your adoration of Boris
Mind you Rishi PM in the next few weeks and you will be singng his praises, having binned Boris
I would support him as I would support any Tory leader.
However as stated I have severe reservations about replacing the leader who won us our biggest majority since Thatcher with a leader who is basically Osborne plus Brexit. All other alternative leaders do worse than Boris and Sunak in the polls and Boris is still less than 10% behind Starmer Labour even now.
To win another majority the Tories either need to hold the redwall Boris won or win back Remainers who voted for Cameron but have voted Labour or LD since. Not sure Sunak does either
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
Incredibly, I find myself for once in agreement with you.
I suspect your real fear is Rishi takes over and the whole narrative changes with the conservatives having a real chance in 24
I don't know. If that 'is' my real fear then it lies somewhere deep in my subconscious.
You may be right but I'm really, really, not sure about Rishi Sunak. I don't think a multimillionaire former hedge fund manager (banker) is going to play out well especially given the fiscal troubles we're sailing into.
Boris remains my biggest fear electorally. I think he's a liability for the tories but he is, regrettably, the only tory with the X factor and that's dangerous for Labour.
Boris isn't a fear any longer. Even if Partygate died down there are a lot of reasons why the Tories will do badly with him in charge next time round.
Remember what Boris promised you in 2019 - where is it? Will do wonders for Labour in 2023/4.
I agree but I'm unnerved by the fact that someone like my good friend 'still' believes in him.
It's performances like yesterday at PMQ's which scare me as a leftie. I know it's all flannel but if he's like that in an election campaign I can see the tabloids getting roused right behind him again ...
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for him for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
One of those rare points of agreement between of us, HYUFD. The punitive approach to welfare is played out - discredited academically, and, much more importantly for the government, deeply unpopular in the Red Wall seats at a time of massive strain. Sunak the posh Southerner puts the boot in.
You mean Rishi Sunak, mp for Richmond, Yorkshire
Rishi the owner of a £2 million Yorkshire mansion he occasionally visits at weekends when not at his £7 million Kensington townhouse, No 11 or his California apartment. Yes that Rishi.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
It's not just harsh, it's almost certainly counterproductive as it will push people into accepting lower skilled jobs at worse pay, and so it could well end up costing the Treasury more than it saves.
Added to which each previous imposition of sanctions has been documented as piling up substantial social costs in areas like homelessness and mental healthcare. Just stupid.
It's all about punishing the poor and unlucky which as HYUFD has noted probably doesn't even play that well with their core voters anymore since Brexit (which was marketed as a revenge opportunity for the poor and unlucky) has put a lot more of this group in the Tory camp. Bad policy, bad economics, bad politics. Stupid Sunak.
It's important that Starmer seems to be opposing. Not the sort of thing figures like Mandelson would recommend at all, and it may be another crucial sign that he's also beginning to understand how to manage the party better. He needs to keep an important chunk of the left on board at the moment.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
Incredibly, I find myself for once in agreement with you.
I suspect your real fear is Rishi takes over and the whole narrative changes with the conservatives having a real chance in 24
I don't know. If that 'is' my real fear then it lies somewhere deep in my subconscious.
You may be right but I'm really, really, not sure about Rishi Sunak. I don't think a multimillionaire former hedge fund manager (banker) is going to play out well especially given the fiscal troubles we're sailing into.
Boris remains my biggest fear electorally. I think he's a liability for the tories but he is, regrettably, the only tory with the X factor and that's dangerous for Labour.
Both Rishi and Liz (for it would be one of them) would be a roll of the dice, for sure. They’ve got one chance to do the leadership switcheroo and after that they will struggle before 2024 (unless we go full on Australia).
If you took Truss’ background and combined it with Sunak’s charisma you’d have a perfect candidate. As it is they are both lacking in one of the areas.
That said they only need to be seen to be a better option than the alternative. I still think a leadership change is the right thing to do if they want to give themselves the chance of putting in a decent performance in 2024 (for what it’s worth I think we’re looking at Major 1992 style performance being the best the Tories can hope for in this cycle). But I remain of the view that they are utterly broken with Boris at the helm so it is worth the gamble.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for him for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
One of those rare points of agreement between of us, HYUFD. The punitive approach to welfare is played out - discredited academically, and, much more importantly for the government, deeply unpopular in the Red Wall seats at a time of massive strain. Sunak the posh Southerner puts the boot in.
You mean Rishi Sunak, mp for Richmond, Yorkshire
Rishi the owner of a £2 million Yorkshire mansion he occasionally visits at weekends when not at his £7 million Kensington townhouse, No 11 or his California apartment. Yes that Rishi.
A rather spartist point from you, I thought we liked inherited wealth, and public schools?
I think on this point most people are aware that the huge divide is between basic immunity to money worries, and 24/7 exposure to them, and that virtually everyone who has ever sat in parliament is on the North side of that divide. A backbencher running an average level of expenses fraud, even these days, is effectively on £100k plus. Above that it's irrelevant. Lots of very rich people are very popular, Simon Cowell and Marcus Rashford and so on.
Government are going to spend 3-5 days trying to remove anything and everything from it while not understanding that anything removed will be leaked 30 seconds later.
Johnson has passed the moment of maximum peril by drawing this out and complicating it with the Met investigation. He'll be alright no matter what the report says. Last week wasn't tory Kronstadt.
At least we can retire the always fanciful notion that he was going to retire before the next GE to earn money and spend less time with his families.
Oh I've suspect that all along - I think it was 2 weeks ago that I said the best bet was SKS for next PM because the Tory party are a bunch of idiots and won't do anything until its too late.
We are in a phoney war, and there is no way of knowing what happens when the shooting starts again. Still not writing off gone by end Q1 bets because I think the most likely outcome is he gets properly nailed for having misled the house.
Disgust with Johnson rapidly spreading to include every single member of his party.
No. I think there are large numbers of the "Conservatives" who are prepared to pucker-up and kiss a*s. Remember that a lot of untalented non-entities owe their position to Boris's patronage.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
Incredibly, I find myself for once in agreement with you.
I suspect your real fear is Rishi takes over and the whole narrative changes with the conservatives having a real chance in 24
I don't know. If that 'is' my real fear then it lies somewhere deep in my subconscious.
You may be right but I'm really, really, not sure about Rishi Sunak. I don't think a multimillionaire former hedge fund manager (banker) is going to play out well especially given the fiscal troubles we're sailing into.
Boris remains my biggest fear electorally. I think he's a liability for the tories but he is, regrettably, the only tory with the X factor and that's dangerous for Labour.
Both Rishi and Liz (for it would be one of them) would be a roll of the dice, for sure. They’ve got one chance to do the leadership switcheroo and after that they will struggle before 2024 (unless we go full on Australia).
If you took Truss’ background and combined it with Sunak’s charisma you’d have a perfect candidate. As it is they are both lacking in one of the areas.
That said they only need to be seen to be a better option than the alternative. I still think a leadership change is the right thing to do if they want to give themselves the chance of putting in a decent performance in 2024 (for what it’s worth I think we’re looking at Major 1992 style performance being the best the Tories can hope for in this cycle). But I remain of the view that they are utterly broken with Boris at the helm so it is worth the gamble.
Great post.
I'm just having a wobble over Boris because he was pretty 'good' yesterday, in the sense of bombastic. That still seems to convince some people, which scares me.
Government are going to spend 3-5 days trying to remove anything and everything from it while not understanding that anything removed will be leaked 30 seconds later.
According to Nick Watts on Newsnight it is the civil service union who are trying to keep the names of junior civil servants out of the report and to protect future employment prospects of those who are to be named
It is a theme that HMG is trying to redact the report when it is unions who apparently are very worried at how bad the civil service is painted in the report and not just at No 10 but across Whitehall
At the one event that might fairly described as a party, there were no reports of any politicians being there at all, only the advisors and civil servants.
The ‘party’ with the birthday cake, was clearly not done with the involvement of Mr Johnson either.
Many people naively assumed, that the only people that might be mentioned in Ms Gray’s report would be politicians.
In reality dozens of Civil Servants could lose their jobs if they have willingly broken Covid regulaltions in the way described.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
Incredibly, I find myself for once in agreement with you.
I suspect your real fear is Rishi takes over and the whole narrative changes with the conservatives having a real chance in 24
I don't know. If that 'is' my real fear then it lies somewhere deep in my subconscious.
You may be right but I'm really, really, not sure about Rishi Sunak. I don't think a multimillionaire former hedge fund manager (banker) is going to play out well especially given the fiscal troubles we're sailing into.
Boris remains my biggest fear electorally. I think he's a liability for the tories but he is, regrettably, the only tory with the X factor and that's dangerous for Labour.
Boris isn't a fear any longer. Even if Partygate died down there are a lot of reasons why the Tories will do badly with him in charge next time round.
Remember what Boris promised you in 2019 - where is it? Will do wonders for Labour in 2023/4.
I agree but I'm unnerved by the fact that someone like my good friend 'still' believes in him.
It's performances like yesterday at PMQ's which scare me as a leftie. I know it's all flannel but if he's like that in an election campaign I can see the tabloids getting roused right behind him again ...
The Tories have twigged, much like the Republicans in the States, that they can build a coalition between clever, selfish people who only care about lower taxes and sod everyone else and the state of their country's infrastructure, services, etc, etc, etc and stupid selfish people who believe the hogwash the first group pumps out and can be cajoled into voting against the best interests of themselves and their families.
This coalition is just, just enough, a lot of the time, to scrape into power. Or get Brexit.
Government are going to spend 3-5 days trying to remove anything and everything from it while not understanding that anything removed will be leaked 30 seconds later.
According to Nick Watts on Newsnight it is the civil service union who are trying to keep the names of junior civil servants out of the report and to protect future employment prospects of those who are to be named
It is a theme that HMG is trying to redact the report when it is unions who apparently are very worried at how bad the civil service is painted in the report and not just at No 10 but across Whitehall
I think they are linked, actually.
If junior staff names are redacted, it focuses the report on senior civil servants/politicians and feeds the "rot from the head" narrative.
They'll want to avoid that at all costs. We have an embedded culture where the more senior you are, the better paid, the less responsibility you take.
@WhisperingOracle to clarify, I think the public have a keen sense of fairness and honesty. Not Johnson.
Yes, I expect mass sacking of the peons and Boris promising to remain in place as a reformed new broom, with all the credibility he can muster...
Government are going to spend 3-5 days trying to remove anything and everything from it while not understanding that anything removed will be leaked 30 seconds later.
According to Nick Watts on Newsnight it is the civil service union who are trying to keep the names of junior civil servants out of the report and to protect future employment prospects of those who are to be named
It is a theme that HMG is trying to redact the report when it is unions who apparently are very worried at how bad the civil service is painted in the report
I've some sympathy with a junior civil servant encouraged by bosses to join in a party, and we don't really need to know right now that deputy under-secretary Fred Bloggs, who we've never heard of, unwisely joined a gathering. Generic observations about mistakes in judgment would be OK for that sort of thing. But it's urgent that the report comes out quickly now as otherwise everyone will suspect manipulation and that's bad for confidence in government generally, not just this government. Also, normal business needs to proceed whatever is happening at the top, cf. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jan/26/uk-government-being-immobilised-by-boris-johnson-crisis-say-insiders
Just redact all civil service names for now and then put it out without further editing. Disciplinary action against minor players can be considered down the line.
Disciplinary action against minor players can be considered down the line.
At the appropriate juncture, in the fullness of time.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
Incredibly, I find myself for once in agreement with you.
I suspect your real fear is Rishi takes over and the whole narrative changes with the conservatives having a real chance in 24
I don't know. If that 'is' my real fear then it lies somewhere deep in my subconscious.
You may be right but I'm really, really, not sure about Rishi Sunak. I don't think a multimillionaire former hedge fund manager (banker) is going to play out well especially given the fiscal troubles we're sailing into.
Boris remains my biggest fear electorally. I think he's a liability for the tories but he is, regrettably, the only tory with the X factor and that's dangerous for Labour.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
It's not just harsh, it's almost certainly counterproductive as it will push people into accepting lower skilled jobs at worse pay, and so it could well end up costing the Treasury more than it saves.
Bound to be counterproductive seeing as it's the DWP.
Government are going to spend 3-5 days trying to remove anything and everything from it while not understanding that anything removed will be leaked 30 seconds later.
According to Nick Watts on Newsnight it is the civil service union who are trying to keep the names of junior civil servants out of the report and to protect future employment prospects of those who are to be named
It is a theme that HMG is trying to redact the report when it is unions who apparently are very worried at how bad the civil service is painted in the report and not just at No 10 but across Whitehall
At the one event that might fairly described as a party, there were no reports of any politicians being there at all, only the advisors and civil servants.
The ‘party’ with the birthday cake, was clearly not done with the involvement of Mr Johnson either.
Many people naively assumed, that the only people that might be mentioned in Ms Gray’s report would be politicians.
In reality dozens of Civil Servants could lose their jobs if they have willingly broken Covid regulaltions in the way described.
Breaching H&S is often a gross misconduct charge. Heck you can be fired at some firms if you walk up or down stairs without holding the bannister 3 times...
On topic - Johnson is shameless and ruthlessly self-interested. He'll leave only if there's a VONC *and* he loses it. For this to be a likely outcome the Gray Report needs to be unequivocal that he lied to Parliament when claiming he had no prior knowledge of rule breaking events. I'd be surprised if it is. So it's odds against IMO that he'll be going anytime soon. Bets I recommend are (i) Him still to be PM on 1st July at 2.1 and (ii) Starmer Next PM at 11.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
Incredibly, I find myself for once in agreement with you.
I suspect your real fear is Rishi takes over and the whole narrative changes with the conservatives having a real chance in 24
I don't know. If that 'is' my real fear then it lies somewhere deep in my subconscious.
You may be right but I'm really, really, not sure about Rishi Sunak. I don't think a multimillionaire former hedge fund manager (banker) is going to play out well especially given the fiscal troubles we're sailing into.
Boris remains my biggest fear electorally. I think he's a liability for the tories but he is, regrettably, the only tory with the X factor and that's dangerous for Labour.
Boris isn't a fear any longer. Even if Partygate died down there are a lot of reasons why the Tories will do badly with him in charge next time round.
Remember what Boris promised you in 2019 - where is it? Will do wonders for Labour in 2023/4.
I agree but I'm unnerved by the fact that someone like my good friend 'still' believes in him.
It's performances like yesterday at PMQ's which scare me as a leftie. I know it's all flannel but if he's like that in an election campaign I can see the tabloids getting roused right behind him again ...
The Tories have twigged, much like the Republicans in the States, that they can build a coalition between clever, selfish people who only care about lower taxes and sod everyone else and the state of their country's infrastructure, services, etc, etc, etc and stupid selfish people who believe the hogwash the first group pumps out and can be cajoled into voting against the best interests of themselves and their families.
This coalition is just, just enough, a lot of the time, to scrape into power. Or get Brexit.
Oh give over. "My political opponents are all either evil or stupid". The only people who truly believe that are those living in a bubble.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for him for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
One of those rare points of agreement between of us, HYUFD. The punitive approach to welfare is played out - discredited academically, and, much more importantly for the government, deeply unpopular in the Red Wall seats at a time of massive strain. Sunak the posh Southerner puts the boot in.
You mean Rishi Sunak, mp for Richmond, Yorkshire
Rishi the owner of a £2 million Yorkshire mansion he occasionally visits at weekends when not at his £7 million Kensington townhouse, No 11 or his California apartment. Yes that Rishi.
Somebody posted a "six stages of a project" thing the other day and said we have reached the "Disillusionment" stage.
That seems about right to me. I am looking forward to Stage 3 next - "Panic"
DK Brown's "Stages of a Project"
- Enthusiasm - Disillusionment - Panic - The Search for the Guilty - The punishment of the Innocent - Praise and Honour for the Non-Participants
I suspect we will see 3-5 in a single hour as the Gray report comes out.
Boris's panicking will result in anyone no matter how junior being punished as he tries to protect himself.
It sounds like the watering down of the Gray report is underway. I have little expectation of it having any effect except to identity the sheep to be culled to save the Big Dog.
Paul Waugh @paulwaugh Quite significant that Labour refusing to back new govt welfare crackdown to force ppl on Uni Credit to take any job (as opposed to job they're used to) after a month rather than 3 months. Tactic is to paint Lab as 'soft' on welfare, but they're not buying it.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
Incredibly, I find myself for once in agreement with you.
I suspect your real fear is Rishi takes over and the whole narrative changes with the conservatives having a real chance in 24
I don't know. If that 'is' my real fear then it lies somewhere deep in my subconscious.
You may be right but I'm really, really, not sure about Rishi Sunak. I don't think a multimillionaire former hedge fund manager (banker) is going to play out well especially given the fiscal troubles we're sailing into.
Boris remains my biggest fear electorally. I think he's a liability for the tories but he is, regrettably, the only tory with the X factor and that's dangerous for Labour.
Boris isn't a fear any longer. Even if Partygate died down there are a lot of reasons why the Tories will do badly with him in charge next time round.
Remember what Boris promised you in 2019 - where is it? Will do wonders for Labour in 2023/4.
I agree but I'm unnerved by the fact that someone like my good friend 'still' believes in him.
It's performances like yesterday at PMQ's which scare me as a leftie. I know it's all flannel but if he's like that in an election campaign I can see the tabloids getting roused right behind him again ...
The Tories have twigged, much like the Republicans in the States, that they can build a coalition between clever, selfish people who only care about lower taxes and sod everyone else and the state of their country's infrastructure, services, etc, etc, etc and stupid selfish people who believe the hogwash the first group pumps out and can be cajoled into voting against the best interests of themselves and their families.
This coalition is just, just enough, a lot of the time, to scrape into power. Or get Brexit.
Oh give over. "My political opponents are all either evil or stupid". The only people who truly believe that are those living in a bubble.
It is remarkable how the so-called supporters of the poor and downtrodden resort to personal abuse when describing many of those whom they proclaim to care about. It's almost as though their concern is not for the people involved but for their own vanity.
Somebody posted a "six stages of a project" thing the other day and said we have reached the "Disillusionment" stage.
That seems about right to me. I am looking forward to Stage 3 next - "Panic"
DK Brown's "Stages of a Project"
- Enthusiasm - Disillusionment - Panic - The Search for the Guilty - The punishment of the Innocent - Praise and Honour for the Non-Participants
I suspect we will see 3-5 in a single hour as the Gray report comes out.
Boris's panicking will result in anyone no matter how junior being punished as he tries to protect himself.
It sounds like the watering down of the Gray report is underway. I have little expectation of it having any effect except to identity the sheep to be culled to save the Big Dog.
I am laying off a little on Sunak this morning.
Time and tide and all that. His moment may well be passing.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for him for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
One of those rare points of agreement between of us, HYUFD. The punitive approach to welfare is played out - discredited academically, and, much more importantly for the government, deeply unpopular in the Red Wall seats at a time of massive strain. Sunak the posh Southerner puts the boot in.
You mean Rishi Sunak, mp for Richmond, Yorkshire
Rishi the owner of a £2 million Yorkshire mansion he occasionally visits at weekends when not at his £7 million Kensington townhouse, No 11 or his California apartment. Yes that Rishi.
You really do not like him do you as he is a real threat to your adoration of Boris
Mind you Rishi PM in the next few weeks and you will be singng his praises, having binned Boris
I would support him as I would support any Tory leader.
However as stated I have severe reservations about replacing the leader who won us our biggest majority since Thatcher with a leader who is basically Osborne plus Brexit. All other alternative leaders do worse than Boris and Sunak in the polls and Boris is still less than 10% behind Starmer Labour even now.
To win another majority the Tories either need to hold most of the redwall Boris won or win back Remainers who voted for Cameron but have voted Labour or LD since. Not sure Sunak does either.
I have no problem with your reservation but as a conservative you do the party no service by attacking Rishi who really could be PM in the next few weeks
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
People who have worked for decades while paying plenty in tax and never claiming any benefits have 'earned the right' to more time and less pestering if they do become unemployed than some 'hansom cab lamp fitter' / Giro Jim scrounging layabout.
On topic - Johnson is shameless and ruthlessly self-interested. He'll leave only if there's a VONC *and* he loses it. For this to be a likely outcome the Gray Report needs to be unequivocal that he lied to Parliament when claiming he had no prior knowledge of rule breaking events. I'd be surprised if it is. So it's odds against IMO that he'll be going anytime soon. Bets I recommend are (i) Him still to be PM on 1st July at 2.1 and (ii) Starmer Next PM at 11.
Let's be blunt, if it was Starmer facing exactly the same position, you - and probably around 80%+ of those criticising BJ for what he did - would be coming up with reasons as to why everyone was over-reacting to what Starmer did and it was all a Tory plot. You are not concerned about the actions, your main concern is which political party he represents.
As to the bets, I would take the first one and probably put a small nibble on the second but without much confidence.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
Incredibly, I find myself for once in agreement with you.
I suspect your real fear is Rishi takes over and the whole narrative changes with the conservatives having a real chance in 24
I don't know. If that 'is' my real fear then it lies somewhere deep in my subconscious.
You may be right but I'm really, really, not sure about Rishi Sunak. I don't think a multimillionaire former hedge fund manager (banker) is going to play out well especially given the fiscal troubles we're sailing into.
Boris remains my biggest fear electorally. I think he's a liability for the tories but he is, regrettably, the only tory with the X factor and that's dangerous for Labour.
Boris isn't a fear any longer. Even if Partygate died down there are a lot of reasons why the Tories will do badly with him in charge next time round.
Remember what Boris promised you in 2019 - where is it? Will do wonders for Labour in 2023/4.
I agree but I'm unnerved by the fact that someone like my good friend 'still' believes in him.
It's performances like yesterday at PMQ's which scare me as a leftie. I know it's all flannel but if he's like that in an election campaign I can see the tabloids getting roused right behind him again ...
The Tories have twigged, much like the Republicans in the States, that they can build a coalition between clever, selfish people who only care about lower taxes and sod everyone else and the state of their country's infrastructure, services, etc, etc, etc and stupid selfish people who believe the hogwash the first group pumps out and can be cajoled into voting against the best interests of themselves and their families.
This coalition is just, just enough, a lot of the time, to scrape into power. Or get Brexit.
Oh give over. "My political opponents are all either evil or stupid". The only people who truly believe that are those living in a bubble.
It is remarkable how the so-called supporters of the poor and downtrodden resort to personal abuse when describing many of those whom they proclaim to care about. It's almost as though their concern is not for the people involved but for their own vanity.
I think Trump and Johnson appeal to some people with genuine feelings of marginaliation. But they also do a lot to hasten the marginaliation of those groups at the same time.
Rightwing populism is rotten, but all is certainly not well in with public faith in and benefit from centrism, either. Trumpite and Johnsonite politics are also partly just a manifestation of all this..
Mind you, a good friend of mine still believes in Brand Boris. She has swallowed all the guff, some of which is manifest lying, and still thinks he walks on water. She regularly refers back to the 2012 Olympics as an example of how wonderful Boris is, despite the fact that he had virtually nothing to do with it.
I despair at her and at the present there's nothing I can do to persuade her otherwise.
On the other hand, my brother who has voted Conservative many times is now viciously anti Boris. By contrast with my good friend, my brother who is a Londoner born and bred refers back to what he sees as Johnson's dreadful record as London mayor. He thinks the nasty party is back, which is why I've mentioned that here too.
Another friend of mine, a tory who votes for his local Labour MP "because he's bloody good" thinks the party stuff is all blown up by the media. I suggested to him that for many people who lost loved ones or who obeyed the law it does really matter.
Someone else I know, young, female, has also viciously turned against Boris. Thinks he's a lying toerag and she is trying to persuade her mum (another former Boris luvvie) that Johnson is a turd.
Another couple that I know, both of whom loved Boris, are now spitting with fury at him.
It's just interesting for me to observe and I pass these anecdotes on in a spirit of honesty.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
Incredibly, I find myself for once in agreement with you.
I suspect your real fear is Rishi takes over and the whole narrative changes with the conservatives having a real chance in 24
I don't know. If that 'is' my real fear then it lies somewhere deep in my subconscious.
You may be right but I'm really, really, not sure about Rishi Sunak. I don't think a multimillionaire former hedge fund manager (banker) is going to play out well especially given the fiscal troubles we're sailing into.
Boris remains my biggest fear electorally. I think he's a liability for the tories but he is, regrettably, the only tory with the X factor and that's dangerous for Labour.
Boris isn't a fear any longer. Even if Partygate died down there are a lot of reasons why the Tories will do badly with him in charge next time round.
Remember what Boris promised you in 2019 - where is it? Will do wonders for Labour in 2023/4.
I agree but I'm unnerved by the fact that someone like my good friend 'still' believes in him.
It's performances like yesterday at PMQ's which scare me as a leftie. I know it's all flannel but if he's like that in an election campaign I can see the tabloids getting roused right behind him again ...
The Tories have twigged, much like the Republicans in the States, that they can build a coalition between clever, selfish people who only care about lower taxes and sod everyone else and the state of their country's infrastructure, services, etc, etc, etc and stupid selfish people who believe the hogwash the first group pumps out and can be cajoled into voting against the best interests of themselves and their families.
This coalition is just, just enough, a lot of the time, to scrape into power. Or get Brexit.
Oh give over. "My political opponents are all either evil or stupid". The only people who truly believe that are those living in a bubble.
Just my opinion, based on my observations. Obviously built on my prejudices and worldview. I don't expect many on here will agree.
Paul Waugh @paulwaugh Quite significant that Labour refusing to back new govt welfare crackdown to force ppl on Uni Credit to take any job (as opposed to job they're used to) after a month rather than 3 months. Tactic is to paint Lab as 'soft' on welfare, but they're not buying it.
There's an easy story there though. People are looking for a skilled job they can do that pays £20k + rather than the £10k they get for any job.
My concern is that 1 month is just too short (it can take a firm a month to on board someone) but 3 months is too long. It needs to be 6 weeks to 2 months really.
To show how stupid 1 month is it's currently taking 3 weeks for the civil service to return a base line security check and the civil service won't allow you to start until that's in place.
And for a very simple example Eek twin A was offered her VOA apprenticeship on August 10th. See started on October 1st and every part of that delay was the Civil Service. The turn around time for the bits they needed was 45 seconds as I had it all to hand. And it was only on September 25th we got a confirmed start date.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
Incredibly, I find myself for once in agreement with you.
I suspect your real fear is Rishi takes over and the whole narrative changes with the conservatives having a real chance in 24
I don't know. If that 'is' my real fear then it lies somewhere deep in my subconscious.
You may be right but I'm really, really, not sure about Rishi Sunak. I don't think a multimillionaire former hedge fund manager (banker) is going to play out well especially given the fiscal troubles we're sailing into.
Boris remains my biggest fear electorally. I think he's a liability for the tories but he is, regrettably, the only tory with the X factor and that's dangerous for Labour.
Boris isn't a fear any longer. Even if Partygate died down there are a lot of reasons why the Tories will do badly with him in charge next time round.
Remember what Boris promised you in 2019 - where is it? Will do wonders for Labour in 2023/4.
I agree but I'm unnerved by the fact that someone like my good friend 'still' believes in him.
It's performances like yesterday at PMQ's which scare me as a leftie. I know it's all flannel but if he's like that in an election campaign I can see the tabloids getting roused right behind him again ...
The Tories have twigged, much like the Republicans in the States, that they can build a coalition between clever, selfish people who only care about lower taxes and sod everyone else and the state of their country's infrastructure, services, etc, etc, etc and stupid selfish people who believe the hogwash the first group pumps out and can be cajoled into voting against the best interests of themselves and their families.
This coalition is just, just enough, a lot of the time, to scrape into power. Or get Brexit.
Oh give over. "My political opponents are all either evil or stupid". The only people who truly believe that are those living in a bubble.
It is remarkable how the so-called supporters of the poor and downtrodden resort to personal abuse when describing many of those whom they proclaim to care about. It's almost as though their concern is not for the people involved but for their own vanity.
I deliberately left economic status out of my comment. You seem to be implying that I am saying poor people are stupid. Maybe that reveals your prejudices. Rich people can be stupid too.
Imagine how 155,000 bereaved families feel looking at this.
...
Does anyone know who the braying bearded tory in this clip is? He has pretty much handed my vote to the LDs
J. Gullis, MP for Stoke-on-Trent. I linked to his diatribe against lefty snitches yesterday, and as i said then it's astounding to me what an inexhaustible supply the PCP has of these cnuts.
The PCP is not alone, the labour party has its fair share too.
For me, a key moment in the downfall of our civilisation was on election night in 2017, when Nick Clegg was succeeded by Jared O'Mara. Clegg delivered a stateman like resignation speech. O Mara, who runs nightclubs, then came forward and started ranting in to the microphone, cheered on by a rowdy mob of supporters.
Against this Jonathan Gullis is an intellectual giant, having spent 7 years as a teacher rising to head of year in a secondary school.
Ultimately most people in Parliament are either professional politicians, or have come from very average backgrounds and have not had any major levels of success in their careers. I guess that they are like many people posting on here. They are definetely not the brightest and the best. This is another reason why Keir Starmer is so exceptional.
Government are going to spend 3-5 days trying to remove anything and everything from it while not understanding that anything removed will be leaked 30 seconds later.
According to Nick Watts on Newsnight it is the civil service union who are trying to keep the names of junior civil servants out of the report and to protect future employment prospects of those who are to be named
It is a theme that HMG is trying to redact the report when it is unions who apparently are very worried at how bad the civil service is painted in the report and not just at No 10 but across Whitehall
At the one event that might fairly described as a party, there were no reports of any politicians being there at all, only the advisors and civil servants.
The ‘party’ with the birthday cake, was clearly not done with the involvement of Mr Johnson either.
Many people naively assumed, that the only people that might be mentioned in Ms Gray’s report would be politicians.
In reality dozens of Civil Servants could lose their jobs if they have willingly broken Covid regulaltions in the way described.
Breaching H&S is often a gross misconduct charge. Heck you can be fired at some firms if you walk up or down stairs without holding the bannister 3 times...
I would be safe, I cannot go up or down stairs without firmly holding the bannister all the way to the top
On topic - Johnson is shameless and ruthlessly self-interested. He'll leave only if there's a VONC *and* he loses it. For this to be a likely outcome the Gray Report needs to be unequivocal that he lied to Parliament when claiming he had no prior knowledge of rule breaking events. I'd be surprised if it is. So it's odds against IMO that he'll be going anytime soon. Bets I recommend are (i) Him still to be PM on 1st July at 2.1 and (ii) Starmer Next PM at 11.
Let's be blunt, if it was Starmer facing exactly the same position, you - and probably around 80%+ of those criticising BJ for what he did - would be coming up with reasons as to why everyone was over-reacting to what Starmer did and it was all a Tory plot. You are not concerned about the actions, your main concern is which political party he represents.
As to the bets, I would take the first one and probably put a small nibble on the second but without much confidence.
Do you have any real evidence for that opinion ? I'd certainly want him to be booted out in those circumstances.
Somebody posted a "six stages of a project" thing the other day and said we have reached the "Disillusionment" stage.
That seems about right to me. I am looking forward to Stage 3 next - "Panic"
DK Brown's "Stages of a Project"
- Enthusiasm - Disillusionment - Panic - The Search for the Guilty - The punishment of the Innocent - Praise and Honour for the Non-Participants
I suspect we will see 3-5 in a single hour as the Gray report comes out.
Boris's panicking will result in anyone no matter how junior being punished as he tries to protect himself.
It sounds like the watering down of the Gray report is underway. I have little expectation of it having any effect except to identity the sheep to be culled to save the Big Dog.
If it is watered down it is the civil service unions work trying to protect their staff from being named, and not no10
It is suggested that it will be very bad for the civil servants in no 10 and Whitehall
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
It's not just harsh, it's almost certainly counterproductive as it will push people into accepting lower skilled jobs at worse pay, and so it could well end up costing the Treasury more than it saves.
Surely a month is ample for executing a career switch if you have the drive. Look at the Chancellor himself. For many years a Hedge Fund Manager but when that ended did he sit around and vegetate? No he did not. He got on his bike and looked for work and kept looking until he found some as an MP in a safe Tory seat. People should stop whinging and take a leaf.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
Incredibly, I find myself for once in agreement with you.
I suspect your real fear is Rishi takes over and the whole narrative changes with the conservatives having a real chance in 24
I don't know. If that 'is' my real fear then it lies somewhere deep in my subconscious.
You may be right but I'm really, really, not sure about Rishi Sunak. I don't think a multimillionaire former hedge fund manager (banker) is going to play out well especially given the fiscal troubles we're sailing into.
Boris remains my biggest fear electorally. I think he's a liability for the tories but he is, regrettably, the only tory with the X factor and that's dangerous for Labour.
Boris isn't a fear any longer. Even if Partygate died down there are a lot of reasons why the Tories will do badly with him in charge next time round.
Remember what Boris promised you in 2019 - where is it? Will do wonders for Labour in 2023/4.
I agree but I'm unnerved by the fact that someone like my good friend 'still' believes in him.
It's performances like yesterday at PMQ's which scare me as a leftie. I know it's all flannel but if he's like that in an election campaign I can see the tabloids getting roused right behind him again ...
The Tories have twigged, much like the Republicans in the States, that they can build a coalition between clever, selfish people who only care about lower taxes and sod everyone else and the state of their country's infrastructure, services, etc, etc, etc and stupid selfish people who believe the hogwash the first group pumps out and can be cajoled into voting against the best interests of themselves and their families.
This coalition is just, just enough, a lot of the time, to scrape into power. Or get Brexit.
Oh give over. "My political opponents are all either evil or stupid". The only people who truly believe that are those living in a bubble.
Just my opinion, based on my observations. Obviously built on my prejudices and worldview. I don't expect many on here will agree.
Big difference between evil and selfish.
OK, 'morally sub-optimal'. People vote for a variety of different reasons. People's analyses differ. No side has a monopoly on virtue or vice or brains or stupidity or self-interest or altruism.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
Incredibly, I find myself for once in agreement with you.
I suspect your real fear is Rishi takes over and the whole narrative changes with the conservatives having a real chance in 24
I don't know. If that 'is' my real fear then it lies somewhere deep in my subconscious.
You may be right but I'm really, really, not sure about Rishi Sunak. I don't think a multimillionaire former hedge fund manager (banker) is going to play out well especially given the fiscal troubles we're sailing into.
Boris remains my biggest fear electorally. I think he's a liability for the tories but he is, regrettably, the only tory with the X factor and that's dangerous for Labour.
Boris isn't a fear any longer. Even if Partygate died down there are a lot of reasons why the Tories will do badly with him in charge next time round.
Remember what Boris promised you in 2019 - where is it? Will do wonders for Labour in 2023/4.
I agree but I'm unnerved by the fact that someone like my good friend 'still' believes in him.
It's performances like yesterday at PMQ's which scare me as a leftie. I know it's all flannel but if he's like that in an election campaign I can see the tabloids getting roused right behind him again ...
The Tories have twigged, much like the Republicans in the States, that they can build a coalition between clever, selfish people who only care about lower taxes and sod everyone else and the state of their country's infrastructure, services, etc, etc, etc and stupid selfish people who believe the hogwash the first group pumps out and can be cajoled into voting against the best interests of themselves and their families.
This coalition is just, just enough, a lot of the time, to scrape into power. Or get Brexit.
Oh give over. "My political opponents are all either evil or stupid". The only people who truly believe that are those living in a bubble.
Just my opinion, based on my observations. Obviously built on my prejudices and worldview. I don't expect many on here will agree.
Big difference between evil and selfish.
You're right, entirely built on prejudices.
People have good reasons for voting as they do. You'd do well to remember almost all of your opponents are neither evil nor selfish, they simply have different views to you.
Imagine how 155,000 bereaved families feel looking at this.
...
Does anyone know who the braying bearded tory in this clip is? He has pretty much handed my vote to the LDs
J. Gullis, MP for Stoke-on-Trent. I linked to his diatribe against lefty snitches yesterday, and as i said then it's astounding to me what an inexhaustible supply the PCP has of these cnuts.
The PCP is not alone, the labour party has its fair share too.
For me, a key moment in the downfall of our civilisation was on election night in 2017, when Nick Clegg was succeeded by Jared O'Mara. Clegg delivered a stateman like resignation speech. O Mara, who runs nightclubs, then came forward and started ranting in to the microphone, cheered on by a rowdy mob of supporters.
Against this Jonathan Gullis is an intellectual giant, having spent 7 years as a teacher rising to head of year in a secondary school.
Ultimately most people in Parliament are either professional politicians, or have come from very average backgrounds and have not had any major levels of success in their careers. I guess that they are like many people posting on here. They are definetely not the brightest and the best. This is another reason why Keir Starmer is so exceptional.
I'm more disturbed by the idea of Mr Gullis being a teacher to be honest.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
It's not just harsh, it's almost certainly counterproductive as it will push people into accepting lower skilled jobs at worse pay, and so it could well end up costing the Treasury more than it saves.
Surely a month is ample for executing a career switch if you have the drive. Look at the Chancellor himself. For many years a Hedge Fund Manager but when that ended did he sit around and vegetate? No he did not. He got on his bike and looked for work and kept looking until he found some as an MP in a safe Tory seat. People should stop whinging and take a leaf.
Paul Waugh @paulwaugh Quite significant that Labour refusing to back new govt welfare crackdown to force ppl on Uni Credit to take any job (as opposed to job they're used to) after a month rather than 3 months. Tactic is to paint Lab as 'soft' on welfare, but they're not buying it.
Good for Starmer. Helps to keep a crucial part of the left on board after yesterday, and doesn't really help Sunak in what looks like his probable political error, either.
On topic - Johnson is shameless and ruthlessly self-interested. He'll leave only if there's a VONC *and* he loses it. For this to be a likely outcome the Gray Report needs to be unequivocal that he lied to Parliament when claiming he had no prior knowledge of rule breaking events. I'd be surprised if it is. So it's odds against IMO that he'll be going anytime soon. Bets I recommend are (i) Him still to be PM on 1st July at 2.1 and (ii) Starmer Next PM at 11.
Let's be blunt, if it was Starmer facing exactly the same position, you - and probably around 80%+ of those criticising BJ for what he did - would be coming up with reasons as to why everyone was over-reacting to what Starmer did and it was all a Tory plot. You are not concerned about the actions, your main concern is which political party he represents.
As to the bets, I would take the first one and probably put a small nibble on the second but without much confidence.
Do you have any real evidence for that opinion ? I'd certainly want him to be booted out in those circumstances.
Hard to disprove but I think it's obviously false.
My theory: the left look for higher standards of probity in their leaders and lower standards for winning/performance.
Sunak to require jobseekers to look outside their chosen field after just 1 month rather than the current three. Starmer Labour will oppose.
A clear further sign a Sunak premiership would now be a move more back to austerity and to Boris' economic right. Boris by contrast has described himself as a Brexity Heseltine.
That may not go down well in the redwall seats that voted for Brown and Ed Miliband before voting for Boris in 2019. Sunak would hope it would have more appeal in the seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD. Only problem for Sunak almost all of them voted Remain like Cameron and he voted for Brexit like Boris
It's not just harsh, it's almost certainly counterproductive as it will push people into accepting lower skilled jobs at worse pay, and so it could well end up costing the Treasury more than it saves.
Surely a month is ample for executing a career switch if you have the drive. Look at the Chancellor himself. For many years a Hedge Fund Manager but when that ended did he sit around and vegetate? No he did not. He got on his bike and looked for work and kept looking until he found some as an MP in a safe Tory seat. People should stop whinging and take a leaf.
If these feckless jobless layabouts would just get off their fat arses, turn off Jeremy Kyle and find themselves the daughter of a billionaire to marry this country would be in a much better place.
On topic - Johnson is shameless and ruthlessly self-interested. He'll leave only if there's a VONC *and* he loses it. For this to be a likely outcome the Gray Report needs to be unequivocal that he lied to Parliament when claiming he had no prior knowledge of rule breaking events. I'd be surprised if it is. So it's odds against IMO that he'll be going anytime soon. Bets I recommend are (i) Him still to be PM on 1st July at 2.1 and (ii) Starmer Next PM at 11.
Let's be blunt, if it was Starmer facing exactly the same position, you - and probably around 80%+ of those criticising BJ for what he did - would be coming up with reasons as to why everyone was over-reacting to what Starmer did and it was all a Tory plot. You are not concerned about the actions, your main concern is which political party he represents.
As to the bets, I would take the first one and probably put a small nibble on the second but without much confidence.
On here at least I would guess that around half the criticism of the PM has come from people who would have considered themselves fairly standard Conservative voters back in 2015. The idea that they are criticising him solely out of loyalty to the Labour party and would give Starmer a free ride is frankly absurd.
I think HYFUD is onto something wrt to Rishi vs Boris in terms of their potential winning ability. I think Rishi probably does top out at 330-340 MPs in terms of 2024, yet Boris as we just saw in 2019 got 365 MPs.
What he's missing is that Boris on 2024 isn't going to get 365 MPs again, in fact he's set to hand the Tories their worst defeat since 2001. So maybe Rishi has got lower potential overall winning capability, he still gives the Tories a pretty solid chance at getting a majority in 2024.
On topic - Johnson is shameless and ruthlessly self-interested. He'll leave only if there's a VONC *and* he loses it. For this to be a likely outcome the Gray Report needs to be unequivocal that he lied to Parliament when claiming he had no prior knowledge of rule breaking events. I'd be surprised if it is. So it's odds against IMO that he'll be going anytime soon. Bets I recommend are (i) Him still to be PM on 1st July at 2.1 and (ii) Starmer Next PM at 11.
Let's be blunt, if it was Starmer facing exactly the same position, you - and probably around 80%+ of those criticising BJ for what he did - would be coming up with reasons as to why everyone was over-reacting to what Starmer did and it was all a Tory plot. You are not concerned about the actions, your main concern is which political party he represents.
As to the bets, I would take the first one and probably put a small nibble on the second but without much confidence.
Do you have any real evidence for that opinion ? I'd certainly want him to be booted out in those circumstances.
You only have to look at the reaction to other events to see it's not the action that counts but who is doing it. From a 1-1 level, some of his sharpest critics I know personally I also know happily broke lockdown laws but justified it as being no big deal.
I'm glad you want Starmer out in similar circumstances. Personal view is that BJ obviously didn't follow his own rules, almost certainly lied and took the piss. However, he has not been taking brown envelopes full of cash (as far as we know) I'm much more concerned that whoever is running the country gets the big calls right and I think BJ has done that. I'd have the same view if it was Starmer.
Comments
It seems Sunak as PM would be George Osborne plus Brexit.
The way to hold the redwall that voted for Brown, Ed Miliband and Corbyn in 2017 and regain the Remain seats Cameron won in 2015 that are now Labour or LD? I have my doubts
My take at the moment is on balance, like Mike, that the tory MPs will not have the bottle and gumption to remove him.
It's a case for Labour of losing the battle to win the war. Starmer set up Johnson very well yesterday.
What's really noticeable to me, and I have to say it's surfacing in a small minority of posters on here, is just how much the nasty party has returned.
Keep Johnson in place and the Conservatives are heading for a crushing defeat in 2024.
The nasty party is back.
He's not DWP minister.
I suspect dragging WH Smith's CEO up north has improved things for a couple of months and then the normality
of WH Smiths reducing staff hours will return
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9934307/amp/Rishi-Sunak-build-400k-leisure-complex-Yorkshire-mansion.html#aoh=16432747098569&amp_ct=1643274738486&csi=1&referrer=https://www.google.com&amp_tf=From %1$s
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/spotify-neil-young-joe-rogan-1235081916/
Except my daughter's school are still requiring them, outdoors, when collecting them and dropping them off. How ridiculous.
Spoke to the Head Mistress to ask why and she said that cases amongst the students are still at the highest level ever and since kids who test positive have to miss school for a week they don't want to drop any precautions yet.
I respect her intentions, even if I doubt that masks outdoors will prevent any cases but this is the same garbage we saw last month. People making silly decisions not because they fear people getting sick, but because they fear the consequences of isolation.
We need to urgently ASAP drop the ridiculous forced isolation of people who are perfectly healthy who happen to be testing positive for the virus. Let people who are actually sick recuperate at home, as they require, but anyone healthy but positive shouldn't be compelled to isolate anymore for a virus everyone vulnerable has had three vaccine doses for (and if they've not, it's their choice).
Especially children. Disrupting healthy children's education due to a line on a test is absurd.
After the £2m EU grant is repaid to reflect the temporary change of use of the (empty) office block they are moving into while the campus is built.
I joked when the building was built that it would become the council's new offices and I'm not 100% wrong (it probably will be used for that once the Treasury move out).
I despair at her and at the present there's nothing I can do to persuade her otherwise.
On the other hand, my brother who has voted Conservative many times is now viciously anti Boris. By contrast with my good friend, my brother who is a Londoner born and bred refers back to what he sees as Johnson's dreadful record as London mayor. He thinks the nasty party is back, which is why I've mentioned that here too.
Another friend of mine, a tory who votes for his local Labour MP "because he's bloody good" thinks the party stuff is all blown up by the media. I suggested to him that for many people who lost loved ones or who obeyed the law it does really matter.
Someone else I know, young, female, has also viciously turned against Boris. Thinks he's a lying toerag and she is trying to persuade her mum (another former Boris luvvie) that Johnson is a turd.
Another couple that I know, both of whom loved Boris, are now spitting with fury at him.
It's just interesting for me to observe and I pass these anecdotes on in a spirit of honesty.
Mind you Rishi PM in the next few weeks and you will be singng his praises, having binned Boris
Imagine how 155,000 bereaved families feel looking at this.
...
Does anyone know who the braying bearded tory in this clip is? He has pretty much handed my vote to the LDs
Understandable, of course, given her HO responsibilities, but unusual.
The more serious element though is why the hell healthy children are losing a weeks education at this stage. That's more ridiculous than us having to wear a mask in the school grounds when I drop them off or pick them up.
Though interestingly today the mask usage seemed to have dropped from 95% to 50%. I wonder if that's because half the parents hadn't read the email requesting we continue to wear the masks and have just gone with the news, or because they've disregarded it.
For now I'll keep the mask, even though I disagree with it, out of respect for the teachers polite request. For now.
You may be right but I'm really, really, not sure about Rishi Sunak. I don't think a multimillionaire former hedge fund manager (banker) is going to play out well especially given the fiscal troubles we're sailing into.
Boris remains my biggest fear electorally. I think he's a liability for the tories but he is, regrettably, the only tory with the X factor and that's dangerous for Labour.
However as stated I have severe reservations about replacing the leader who won us our biggest majority since Thatcher with a leader who is basically Osborne plus Brexit. All other alternative leaders do worse than Boris and Sunak in the polls and Boris is still less than 10% behind Starmer Labour even now.
To win another majority the Tories either need to hold most of the redwall Boris won or win back Remainers who voted for Cameron but have voted Labour or LD since. Not sure Sunak does either.
Remember what Boris promised you in 2019 - where is it? Will do wonders for Labour in 2023/4.
Even Truss?
It's performances like yesterday at PMQ's which scare me as a leftie. I know it's all flannel but if he's like that in an election campaign I can see the tabloids getting roused right behind him again ...
If you took Truss’ background and combined it with Sunak’s charisma you’d have a perfect candidate. As it is they are both lacking in one of the areas.
That said they only need to be seen to be a better option than the alternative. I still think a leadership change is the right thing to do if they want to give themselves the chance of putting in a decent performance in 2024 (for what it’s worth I think we’re looking at Major 1992 style performance being the best the Tories can hope for in this cycle). But I remain of the view that they are utterly broken with Boris at the helm so it is worth the gamble.
I think on this point most people are aware that the huge divide is between basic immunity to money worries, and 24/7 exposure to them, and that virtually everyone who has ever sat in parliament is on the North side of that divide. A backbencher running an average level of expenses fraud, even these days, is effectively on £100k plus. Above that it's irrelevant. Lots of very rich people are very popular, Simon Cowell and Marcus Rashford and so on.
I'm just having a wobble over Boris because he was pretty 'good' yesterday, in the sense of bombastic. That still seems to convince some people, which scares me.
Totally agree with your Truss - Sunak comments.
This coalition is just, just enough, a lot of the time, to scrape into power. Or get Brexit.
America is headed somewhere bad.
At the appropriate juncture, in the fullness of time.
As of now it would be Lib Dem or abstain
@paulwaugh
Quite significant that Labour refusing to back new govt welfare crackdown to force ppl on Uni Credit to take any job (as opposed to job they're used to) after a month rather than 3 months.
Tactic is to paint Lab as 'soft' on welfare, but they're not buying it.
https://twitter.com/paulwaugh/status/1486612869357654017
https://twitter.com/PippaCrerar/status/1486629479342653443
Out of the curveballs to the right - Cummings revealing more and more of the Gray report (than published) being leaked are surely definites.
I half suspect the Gray report will miss something that Cummings then reveals...
Time and tide and all that. His moment may well be passing.
People who have worked for decades while paying plenty in tax and never claiming any benefits have 'earned the right' to more time and less pestering if they do become unemployed than some 'hansom cab lamp fitter' / Giro Jim scrounging layabout.
As to the bets, I would take the first one and probably put a small nibble on the second but without much confidence.
Rightwing populism is rotten, but all is certainly not well in with public faith in and benefit from centrism, either. Trumpite and Johnsonite politics are also partly just a manifestation of all this..
Big difference between evil and selfish.
My concern is that 1 month is just too short (it can take a firm a month to on board someone) but 3 months is too long. It needs to be 6 weeks to 2 months really.
To show how stupid 1 month is it's currently taking 3 weeks for the civil service to return a base line security check and the civil service won't allow you to start until that's in place.
And for a very simple example Eek twin A was offered her VOA apprenticeship on August 10th. See started on October 1st and every part of that delay was the Civil Service. The turn around time for the bits they needed was 45 seconds as I had it all to hand. And it was only on September 25th we got a confirmed start date.
Going to create a false ID in his constituency and send him an email or two
For me, a key moment in the downfall of our civilisation was on election night in 2017, when Nick Clegg was succeeded by Jared O'Mara. Clegg delivered a stateman like resignation speech. O Mara, who runs nightclubs, then came forward and started ranting in to the microphone, cheered on by a rowdy mob of supporters.
Against this Jonathan Gullis is an intellectual giant, having spent 7 years as a teacher rising to head of year in a secondary school.
Ultimately most people in Parliament are either professional politicians, or have come from very average backgrounds and have not had any major levels of success in their careers. I guess that they are like many people posting on here. They are definetely not the brightest and the best. This is another reason why Keir Starmer is so exceptional.
I'd certainly want him to be booted out in those circumstances.
It is suggested that it will be very bad for the civil servants in no 10 and Whitehall
People vote for a variety of different reasons. People's analyses differ. No side has a monopoly on virtue or vice or brains or stupidity or self-interest or altruism.
People have good reasons for voting as they do. You'd do well to remember almost all of your opponents are neither evil nor selfish, they simply have different views to you.
My theory: the left look for higher standards of probity in their leaders and lower standards for winning/performance.
What he's missing is that Boris on 2024 isn't going to get 365 MPs again, in fact he's set to hand the Tories their worst defeat since 2001. So maybe Rishi has got lower potential overall winning capability, he still gives the Tories a pretty solid chance at getting a majority in 2024.
I'm glad you want Starmer out in similar circumstances. Personal view is that BJ obviously didn't follow his own rules, almost certainly lied and took the piss. However, he has not been taking brown envelopes full of cash (as far as we know) I'm much more concerned that whoever is running the country gets the big calls right and I think BJ has done that. I'd have the same view if it was Starmer.