Slept really well last night, but when I woke this morning I couldn’t move without something hurting. I thought I might have to spend the whole day in bed. I really wanted some coffee though, so I dragged myself out of bed, checked my sore feet (I was too scared to inspect them properly last night) and was rather surprised to find only one blister on each foot, one big toe and one little toe; I thought there’d be at least five on each foot. I went out for a little stroll to get the caffeine I craved, and I’m not actually hurting too badly..
I had a couple of terrifying / rather entertaining encounters with farm dogs on my walk. First I passed a goat farmer feeding his goats in the corner of his yard. I gave him a “Hola!”, which he returned at the same time as his three dogs realised I was there and all started barking at me. Two of them ran out to me; one just ran round and round me barking, the other stood in front of me growling fiercely. I tried to be friendly and said “hello boy”; this seemed to make him angrier so I confidently strode forwards and he ran off, I thought back to the yard. In fact he’d run behind me and proceeded to jump up and bite me in the ass. I think it was just a warning bite as I only felt a little squeeze on my bum, but he does seem to have torn a little hole in the back pocket of my jeans. I turned around and growled at him and stamped my foot, then he did run back to his master (who didn’t seem to have noticed or cared what his dog was up to) and I pressed on a little shaken.
About a mile and a half further on I passed another farm and saw the head of an Alsatian pop up from the long grass about a hundred yards away. He then started creeping towards me, then walking, then bounding at me. His owner started shouting at him “LEO! LEO!”, which was totally ignored. I kept walking, stepping up my pace. Then I thought he started barking at me (but it was actually his brother who was hiding in the grass a bit behind him) as he leapt onto the path behind me. I thought I was done for. Then Leo caught me up and started nuzzling his nose between my hand and hip. Confident I wasn’t being attacked, I stroked him behind his ear and he went all soppy, nuzzled me some more and then rolled on his back for a tummy tickle. Having established that we were definitely friends, Leo then wanted to play and jumped up at me, damn near knocking me over! His owner by then had dashed down his driveway to tell Leo off and apologise to me - I laughed and told him about my earlier encounter; he apologised for that dog too but couldn’t suppress a chuckle.
One thing I kept noticing on the walk, each time I came over the brow of another hill, was how much closer the Pyrenees were getting. Every time I saw them I said to myself, in my best Dougal voice, “Dose mountains are definitely getting bigger Ted”
The stupidity is most Americans are opposed to abortion bans. It's a populist measure that isn't actually popular.
cf and more ridiculously, onshore wind generation in England
In both cases, popular with the unrepresentative minority who run the parties.
I've got no plans to rejoin the Conservatives any time soon- I just can't being myself to give them money or time or anything... But when too many people (reasonably) do that, it leaves parties in the hands of people we don't really want to have that power.
You were in the Tories? I wouldn't have guessed (genuinely).
Yes, but in a John Major / Ken Clarke sort of way. And that strand has gone from being in charge, to being an acceptable strand, to now...
Basically, if the Conservatives want to align themselves on a social values axis, and on the conservative-authoritarian side of that, then we're done. I'm sure they're not that bothered and will be very happy with their new friends.
I am also shocked. I think @hyufd may have a point re the views of the current Tory party. There are so many sensible ex Tory's here. Are you all homeless? My views don't seem very different to you all and I have always been happy as a LD, but I know from conversations that is not the case for many of you and the low LD poll ratings seem to support that.
I was a Tory activist with similar political views (I guess) to @Stuartinromford . Until the lying piece of incompetent crap that is currently Tory leader and PM is removed I will be lending my vote to the LDs
That's the funny thing.
Demographically, in terms of the sort of society I want, I really ought to do the same... But I can't being myself to do so.
And some of it is deeply personal- it would make some of my ancestors turn in their grave, and some of my activism was against the worst sort of Liberal Streetfighter. And in Romford, there's not much point.
But even without those factors, somehow lending votes to Labour feels more comfortable than to Liberal.
Odd.
Ah, that is where we are different then. I still feel very reluctant to vote Labour. As a teenager I knew a number of Labour supporters that one would now think of as Corbynites. They hated their own country and virtually everything I believe in. That said, I did vote Labour as one of the preferences in the Police Commissioner poll (I think); it seemed pretty strange. I couldn't do it at a GE.
Perhaps most people vote this way, from these long-standing feelings, identity and simply habit. Actual variations in policy or candidates from election to election matter less than we sometimes think.
So, what can parties do? I guess you try to find the angle to get someone to vote for you in one election, and then hope that changes feelings of comfort when it comes to the next election. Do things like Partygate, or abortion in the US, break through to be that thing that shifts someone's vote in one election?
Or, more accurately, they vote to ban legal abortion. Illegal and unsafe abortions will continue.
Good point; while abortions will not be 'allowed' will the practice itself be illegal? In other words will a woman be prosecuted for seeking or actually having one?
Apparently it will be a felony with the punishment being up to 10 years imprisonment.
That's not what the BBC article says:
The bill would criminalise performing an abortion in almost all cases, except where it could "save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency".
Medical professionals convicted under the laws face fines of up to $100,000 (£76,505) and 10 years in prison.
Nothing about criminalising having an abortion.
Doctors are likely to now be under pressure to wait longer before doing an abortion if it’s to save the mother so that there can’t be any questions as to their diagnosis and so women are likely to die because of the latest attempts by the US version of the Taliban to attack women’s reproductive rights .
Slept really well last night, but when I woke this morning I couldn’t move without something hurting. I thought I might have to spend the whole day in bed. I really wanted some coffee though, so I dragged myself out of bed, checked my sore feet (I was too scared to inspect them properly last night) and was rather surprised to find only one blister on each foot, one big toe and one little toe; I thought there’d be at least five on each foot. I went out for a little stroll to get the caffeine I craved, and I’m not actually hurting too badly..
I had a couple of terrifying / rather entertaining encounters with farm dogs on my walk. First I passed a goat farmer feeding his goats in the corner of his yard. I gave him a “Hola!”, which he returned at the same time as his three dogs realised I was there and all started barking at me. Two of them ran out to me; one just ran round and round me barking, the other stood in front of me growling fiercely. I tried to be friendly and said “hello boy”; this seemed to make him angrier so I confidently strode forwards and he ran off, I thought back to the yard. In fact he’d run behind me and proceeded to jump up and bite me in the ass. I think it was just a warning bite as I only felt a little squeeze on my bum, but he does seem to have torn a little hole in the back pocket of my jeans. I turned around and growled at him and stamped my foot, then he did run back to his master (who didn’t seem to have noticed or cared what his dog was up to) and I pressed on a little shaken.
About a mile and a half further on I passed another farm and saw the head of an Alsatian pop up from the long grass about a hundred yards away. He then started creeping towards me, then walking, then bounding at me. His owner started shouting at him “LEO! LEO!”, which was totally ignored. I kept walking, stepping up my pace. Then I thought he started barking at me (but it was actually his brother who was hiding in the grass a bit behind him) as he leapt onto the path behind me. I thought I was done for. Then Leo caught me up and started nuzzling his nose between my hand and hip. Confident I wasn’t being attacked, I stroked him behind his ear and he went all soppy, nuzzled me some more and then rolled on his back for a tummy tickle. Having established that we were definitely friends, Leo then wanted to play and jumped up at me, damn near knocking me over! His owner by then had dashed down his driveway to tell Leo off and apologise to me - I laughed and told him about my earlier encounter; he apologised for that dog too but couldn’t suppress a chuckle.
One thing I kept noticing on the walk, each time I came over the brow of another hill, was how much closer the Pyrenees were getting. Every time I saw them I said to myself, in my best Dougal voice, “Dose mountains are definitely getting bigger Ted”
"That molehill is close; but those Pyrenees are far away...."
"Nope..."
Sounds like you are having quite the adventure. We are all enjoying it vicariously, without the blisters.
"Britain deserves better than this Conservative cost of living crisis."
Does suggest "Britain deserves a Labour cost of living crisis."
Utter lack of alternative ways to deal with it.
You've not watched the video, then? It is a clunky slogan though.
Morning, everybody. By no means as cold today.
The slogan strips down to 'Britain deserves better', though, and that could be quite potent.
Because one can't say, surely, and certainly from this side of the fence, that Bad Dog's government shows us in a good light.
Did Blair's government show us in a good light? So much ephemeral image fluff to strains of 'things can only get better', followed by a disastrous war and an economic crisis within ten years. Such a wasted opportunity.
The only major crisis Blair had to deal with was 9/11. Johnson, in just a handful of years, has had Covid and Ukraine to deal with. IMV (and I know you'll disagree): he hasn't done too badly on either, and very well in some respects.
Blair did not really have to deal with 9/11, and his response was probably counter-productive. Similarly, Boris has not really had to deal with the Ukrainian invasion in any real sense. We've followed the American lead on sanctions, and continued military cooperation that began under his predecessors. Afghanistan, well, least said, soonest mended. Covid and Brexit were the main crises Boris faced and is facing.
"Similarly, Boris has not really had to deal with the Ukrainian invasion in any real sense."
Wow. That seems rather disconnected with reality. Boris has been one of the strongest allies with Ukraine so far (as, to be fair, have the government since 2014/5).
Note how Russia seems keen to put the UK first amongst their enemies? That's why.
Russia thought Boris was their friend, that’s why.
Otherwise it’s mostly been posturing. Which, along with clinging to his job, is the only thing the clown is good at.
Yes, he thought the PM of the country that was actively training the military of the country he had attacked - and wanted to attack again - was a friend.
FFS. I know some people hate Boris, but sometimes hatred can lead to a certain amount of irrationality...
"Otherwise it’s mostly been posturing."
Again, this seems rather an odd comment. It's been far from posturing, given the limits of what we can actually do. Compare, say, to Germany or France...
The extent of Johnson's (and his party's) entanglement with Russian wealth is a slow burn story that will likely be running when the immediate military crisis is over. The Russians will have thought all that time grooming him might have been worth something; another misjudgement since the only reaction that would save his skin, at least in the short term, was to go over the top in the other direction.
Training the Ukranians was a decision taken by the Coalition, which I doubt the clown was even aware of until it came to matter.
Oh, come on. You are being ridiculous. Operation Orbital was extended in 2019 and expanded in 2020, well before this war. The idea Johnson knew nothing of it is a little ridiculous.
No it isn't. You forget, I've spent time with him both in public and private. His lack of awareness as to where he is, what he's supposed to be doing and the history and background to anything is closer to zero than in anyone I've ever met.
And you seem a rather impartial observer. Compare, say, with Nick's interactions with him, which seemed a lot fairer and nearer to the real Johnson (fnarr, fnarr).
(Jesus. People's irrational hatred of Johnson is turning me, someone who was criticising him before most on here, and who has never voted for him, into a defended of him!)
If it were just me, you might have a point.
But I invite you to review what a whole stack of people who've interacted with Johnson - professionally and personally - have said, from his schooldays onwards, and to notice his lack of friends and allies.
The only people who rate him are those who don't know him.
Yes, someone who lacks friends and allies managed to get himself elected to a number of positions, and became PM. He did that through lacking friends and allies, obviously ...
The unique set of circumstances surrounding intense dislike of Theresa May's Brexit deal is what got him elected.
Absolutely bugger all to do with his friends in Parliament of which he has precious few. I promise you that's the case. He is not well liked and he is widely mistrusted.
You 'promise me' ?
LOL. I have zero idea who you are, or what insider knowledge you have to support such a promise.
So put it in the bucket of PB claims. Some of which are true, some not. But it is weird for a poster to make such claims out of thin air. And perhaps @Heathener wants you to not have a clue who they are.
Surely that's been made into a film. What a story!
I wonder what became of the crew and officers on the first lifeboat? They must wake up every day with a feeling of guilt. Hard to know how one would behave in such circumstances. Would I do the right thing, and get everybody off even though it wasn't my job? Or the wrong thing and get out myself even though getting everybody else off wasn't my job? Or the other wrong thing and just panic and pretend it wasn't happening? I hope the former. But I hope I never have to find out.
Or, more accurately, they vote to ban legal abortion. Illegal and unsafe abortions will continue.
Good point; while abortions will not be 'allowed' will the practice itself be illegal? In other words will a woman be prosecuted for seeking or actually having one?
Apparently it will be a felony with the punishment being up to 10 years imprisonment.
That's not what the BBC article says:
The bill would criminalise performing an abortion in almost all cases, except where it could "save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency".
Medical professionals convicted under the laws face fines of up to $100,000 (£76,505) and 10 years in prison.
"Like Texas Senate Bill 8, the Oklahoma legislation would allow virtually any private individual to sue a person believed to have violated the law and be awarded at least $10,000 in damages.
"It would affect not only abortion providers but also anyone who "aids or abets the performance or inducement of an abortion" or even simply "intends to engage in the conduct described by this act." The legislation would not, however, allow civil action against the person who was pregnant, or who was seeking abortion services."
"Britain deserves better than this Conservative cost of living crisis."
Does suggest "Britain deserves a Labour cost of living crisis."
Utter lack of alternative ways to deal with it.
You've not watched the video, then? It is a clunky slogan though.
Morning, everybody. By no means as cold today.
The slogan strips down to 'Britain deserves better', though, and that could be quite potent.
Because one can't say, surely, and certainly from this side of the fence, that Bad Dog's government shows us in a good light.
Did Blair's government show us in a good light? So much ephemeral image fluff to strains of 'things can only get better', followed by a disastrous war and an economic crisis within ten years. Such a wasted opportunity.
The only major crisis Blair had to deal with was 9/11. Johnson, in just a handful of years, has had Covid and Ukraine to deal with. IMV (and I know you'll disagree): he hasn't done too badly on either, and very well in some respects.
Blair did not really have to deal with 9/11, and his response was probably counter-productive. Similarly, Boris has not really had to deal with the Ukrainian invasion in any real sense. We've followed the American lead on sanctions, and continued military cooperation that began under his predecessors. Afghanistan, well, least said, soonest mended. Covid and Brexit were the main crises Boris faced and is facing.
"Similarly, Boris has not really had to deal with the Ukrainian invasion in any real sense."
Wow. That seems rather disconnected with reality. Boris has been one of the strongest allies with Ukraine so far (as, to be fair, have the government since 2014/5).
Note how Russia seems keen to put the UK first amongst their enemies? That's why.
Russia thought Boris was their friend, that’s why.
Otherwise it’s mostly been posturing. Which, along with clinging to his job, is the only thing the clown is good at.
Exactly.
'One of their strongest allies.' But what has he actually done? Nothing but posturing. As usual.
The one thing Johnson excels at is photo ops, which enables him to give the impression of doing lots about everything. beneath the charade there is nothing.
We know that Johnson and Zelenskyy are in contact with each other several times a day. Hard to know what is the substance of this contact, but they're unlikely to be discussing the merits of Eastern European violinists. Clearly Zelenskyy derives some value from this contact. We've also provided a lot of military kit.
Now, much like with the vaccines, undoubtedly a lot is being handled by competent subordinates (e.g. Ben Wallace, civil service, military), but Johnson would deserve the blame if his subordinates were incompetent, so he deserves praise now.
No wonder if both countries are in such a mess. If Zelenskky has time to waste on our charlatan of a Prime Minister the his judgement is being seriously overrated
"Britain deserves better than this Conservative cost of living crisis."
Does suggest "Britain deserves a Labour cost of living crisis."
Utter lack of alternative ways to deal with it.
You've not watched the video, then? It is a clunky slogan though.
Morning, everybody. By no means as cold today.
The slogan strips down to 'Britain deserves better', though, and that could be quite potent.
Because one can't say, surely, and certainly from this side of the fence, that Bad Dog's government shows us in a good light.
Did Blair's government show us in a good light? So much ephemeral image fluff to strains of 'things can only get better', followed by a disastrous war and an economic crisis within ten years. Such a wasted opportunity.
The only major crisis Blair had to deal with was 9/11. Johnson, in just a handful of years, has had Covid and Ukraine to deal with. IMV (and I know you'll disagree): he hasn't done too badly on either, and very well in some respects.
Blair did not really have to deal with 9/11, and his response was probably counter-productive. Similarly, Boris has not really had to deal with the Ukrainian invasion in any real sense. We've followed the American lead on sanctions, and continued military cooperation that began under his predecessors. Afghanistan, well, least said, soonest mended. Covid and Brexit were the main crises Boris faced and is facing.
"Similarly, Boris has not really had to deal with the Ukrainian invasion in any real sense."
Wow. That seems rather disconnected with reality. Boris has been one of the strongest allies with Ukraine so far (as, to be fair, have the government since 2014/5).
Note how Russia seems keen to put the UK first amongst their enemies? That's why.
Russia thought Boris was their friend, that’s why.
Otherwise it’s mostly been posturing. Which, along with clinging to his job, is the only thing the clown is good at.
Yes, he thought the PM of the country that was actively training the military of the country he had attacked - and wanted to attack again - was a friend.
FFS. I know some people hate Boris, but sometimes hatred can lead to a certain amount of irrationality...
"Otherwise it’s mostly been posturing."
Again, this seems rather an odd comment. It's been far from posturing, given the limits of what we can actually do. Compare, say, to Germany or France...
The extent of Johnson's (and his party's) entanglement with Russian wealth is a slow burn story that will likely be running when the immediate military crisis is over. The Russians will have thought all that time grooming him might have been worth something; another misjudgement since the only reaction that would save his skin, at least in the short term, was to go over the top in the other direction.
Training the Ukranians was a decision taken by the Coalition, which I doubt the clown was even aware of until it came to matter.
Oh, come on. You are being ridiculous. Operation Orbital was extended in 2019 and expanded in 2020, well before this war. The idea Johnson knew nothing of it is a little ridiculous.
No it isn't. You forget, I've spent time with him both in public and private. His lack of awareness as to where he is, what he's supposed to be doing and the history and background to anything is closer to zero than in anyone I've ever met.
And you seem a rather impartial observer. Compare, say, with Nick's interactions with him, which seemed a lot fairer and nearer to the real Johnson (fnarr, fnarr).
(Jesus. People's irrational hatred of Johnson is turning me, someone who was criticising him before most on here, and who has never voted for him, into a defended of him!)
If it were just me, you might have a point.
But I invite you to review what a whole stack of people who've interacted with Johnson - professionally and personally - have said, from his schooldays onwards, and to notice his lack of friends and allies.
The only people who rate him are those who don't know him.
Yes, someone who lacks friends and allies managed to get himself elected to a number of positions, and became PM. He did that through lacking friends and allies, obviously ...
Many people in the 2000s were saying how friendly Blair and Brown were, yet we saw that was a lie even before Brown got power.
Again, I stress I don't think Johnson is a good PM. But neither do I think he's the venal, nasty and lazy one his haters on here make him out to be. He's a flawed individual, but then so was Thatcher, Major, Blair, Brown, Cameron, and May.
Boris is singularly unsuited to this moment. We need someone able to deal with reality rather than spin lies.
Well, it's a real shame that Labour gave us the option of voting for an anti-Semite who called this war wrong.
If having Boris as PM is bad, then Labour need to accept some blame for putting up a far worse candidate at GE 2019.
Do you honestly think Corbyn, someone too spineless to say whether he's had the Covid vaccine, and who is utterly wrong on the Ukrainian war - would have handled the two crises better?
Gold plated whataboutery. If you voted for Boris you take the lions share for this nonsense. It was perfectly possible not to vote for either. My late father in law, a lifelong Tory, cast his last vote for the Lib Dems because he didn’t trust Boris.
Voting for neither was just washing your hands of the unpalatable decision between two inadequate candidates and leaving it to others.
Absolute horseshit. You don't get to push the blame onto those of us who actively opposed both.
I'm sorry if you don't like the reality that there was a choice at the last general election of exactly two possible Prime Ministers.
That's odd, I seem to remember more parties standing nationally than just those two. Perhaps you mean just those with a realistic chance of winning? In which case you're still wrong, the Conservatives were very obviously going to win it.
So there was a choice of ONE, and I said no. And I was right.
No, I meant those with a possible chance of winning, which is why I used the word possible...
As for where I put the blame? Primarily on to the Labour MPs who didn't understand their leadership election format and gave Corbyn the nominations in the first place.
I don't blame anyone for washing their hands of the choice, but to pretend you "opposed both" is risible.
If everyone had done what I'd done, we'd not have either Boris or Corbyn as PM. It's actually that simple.
You're starting to resemble that Northern Irish joke, when new kid moves into the street and the other kids ask is he's a Protestant or a Catholic. "Neither, I'm a Muslim," he replies. And after a long pause, the other kids ask "yeah, but are you a Protestant Muslim or a Catholic Muslim?"
Ask yourself this, if someone didn't want either Boris or Corbyn as PM, what the hell else COULD they do other than vote for a third party?
Surely that's been made into a film. What a story!
I wonder what became of the crew and officers on the first lifeboat? They must wake up every day with a feeling of guilt. Hard to know how one would behave in such circumstances. Would I do the right thing, and get everybody off even though it wasn't my job? Or the wrong thing and get out myself even though getting everybody else off wasn't my job? Or the other wrong thing and just panic and pretend it wasn't happening? I hope the former. But I hope I never have to find out.
Have you read Lord Jim by Conrad? The plot is he is an officer who does this to a ship full of Indian pilgrims,which unexpectedly then fails to sink.
Or, more accurately, they vote to ban legal abortion. Illegal and unsafe abortions will continue.
Good point; while abortions will not be 'allowed' will the practice itself be illegal? In other words will a woman be prosecuted for seeking or actually having one?
Apparently it will be a felony with the punishment being up to 10 years imprisonment.
That's not what the BBC article says:
The bill would criminalise performing an abortion in almost all cases, except where it could "save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency".
Medical professionals convicted under the laws face fines of up to $100,000 (£76,505) and 10 years in prison.
Nothing about criminalising having an abortion.
Doctors are likely to now be under pressure to wait longer before doing an abortion if it’s to save the mother so that there can’t be any questions as to their diagnosis and so women are likely to die because of the latest attempts by the US version of the Taliban to attack women’s reproductive rights .
Making abortions illegal always leads to women dying.
Might I recommend the short documentary film "Kind to Women" about the 1967 legalisation here? https://www.kindtowomen.com/
The Supreme Court could help the Democrats if they overturn Roe v Wade . The mid terms include many state legislature elections . So the message will be vote Democrat to save your abortion rights . This sort of wedge issue will be needed for the Dems to help their turnout .
They won't overturn it. They'll just eat away at the edges unti lnothing is left.
It's exactly what they did to the VRA. Shelby County invalidated section 5 with the bullshit justification that if there were any actual issues then a section 2 complaint could be brought. The court has recently invalidated section 2 in all but name. The VRA is all but completely struck from the law books but there is no big rallying "Corrupt Supreme Court overrules law" moment.
Republican justices definitely know what the term gaslighting means.
'Republican justices'? Surely a contradiction there somewhere.
The stupidity is most Americans are opposed to abortion bans. It's a populist measure that isn't actually popular.
cf and more ridiculously, onshore wind generation in England
In both cases, popular with the unrepresentative minority who run the parties.
I've got no plans to rejoin the Conservatives any time soon- I just can't being myself to give them money or time or anything... But when too many people (reasonably) do that, it leaves parties in the hands of people we don't really want to have that power.
You were in the Tories? I wouldn't have guessed (genuinely).
Yes, but in a John Major / Ken Clarke sort of way. And that strand has gone from being in charge, to being an acceptable strand, to now...
Basically, if the Conservatives want to align themselves on a social values axis, and on the conservative-authoritarian side of that, then we're done. I'm sure they're not that bothered and will be very happy with their new friends.
I am also shocked. I think @hyufd may have a point re the views of the current Tory party. There are so many sensible ex Tory's here. Are you all homeless? My views don't seem very different to you all and I have always been happy as a LD, but I know from conversations that is not the case for many of you and the low LD poll ratings seem to support that.
I was a Thatcherite. Assuming that war was won I have moderated my position (or maybe just moved to the centre as I get older). I was quite happy with the coalition. At one time I would have called myself a Yellow Book LibDem but the social democrats seem to be in the ascendancy now. Will probably vote LibDem or Labour next time round as this government is pretty dysfunctional. I often vote LibDem in local elections as I try to vote on local issues.
Actually the Orange Bookers are now back in the ascendancy in the LDs.
Ed Davey was an Orange Booker after all and in Cameron's coalition government, unlike Boris.
Davey is also the most fiscally conservative LD leader since Clegg
Well I'll see what they come up with in their manifesto. I'm in the safest Tory seat in the country so it doesn't matter which opposition party I vote for. Indeed, if Alan stands again I might vote OMRLP as I did last time.
As it happens, I voted for Ed Davey back in 1997 when Blair got in, as I had decided the Tories were tired and borderline corrupt and it was time for a change.
"Britain deserves better than this Conservative cost of living crisis."
Does suggest "Britain deserves a Labour cost of living crisis."
Utter lack of alternative ways to deal with it.
You've not watched the video, then? It is a clunky slogan though.
Morning, everybody. By no means as cold today.
The slogan strips down to 'Britain deserves better', though, and that could be quite potent.
Because one can't say, surely, and certainly from this side of the fence, that Bad Dog's government shows us in a good light.
Did Blair's government show us in a good light? So much ephemeral image fluff to strains of 'things can only get better', followed by a disastrous war and an economic crisis within ten years. Such a wasted opportunity.
The only major crisis Blair had to deal with was 9/11. Johnson, in just a handful of years, has had Covid and Ukraine to deal with. IMV (and I know you'll disagree): he hasn't done too badly on either, and very well in some respects.
Blair did not really have to deal with 9/11, and his response was probably counter-productive. Similarly, Boris has not really had to deal with the Ukrainian invasion in any real sense. We've followed the American lead on sanctions, and continued military cooperation that began under his predecessors. Afghanistan, well, least said, soonest mended. Covid and Brexit were the main crises Boris faced and is facing.
"Similarly, Boris has not really had to deal with the Ukrainian invasion in any real sense."
Wow. That seems rather disconnected with reality. Boris has been one of the strongest allies with Ukraine so far (as, to be fair, have the government since 2014/5).
Note how Russia seems keen to put the UK first amongst their enemies? That's why.
Russia thought Boris was their friend, that’s why.
Otherwise it’s mostly been posturing. Which, along with clinging to his job, is the only thing the clown is good at.
Yes, he thought the PM of the country that was actively training the military of the country he had attacked - and wanted to attack again - was a friend.
FFS. I know some people hate Boris, but sometimes hatred can lead to a certain amount of irrationality...
"Otherwise it’s mostly been posturing."
Again, this seems rather an odd comment. It's been far from posturing, given the limits of what we can actually do. Compare, say, to Germany or France...
The extent of Johnson's (and his party's) entanglement with Russian wealth is a slow burn story that will likely be running when the immediate military crisis is over. The Russians will have thought all that time grooming him might have been worth something; another misjudgement since the only reaction that would save his skin, at least in the short term, was to go over the top in the other direction.
Training the Ukranians was a decision taken by the Coalition, which I doubt the clown was even aware of until it came to matter.
Oh, come on. You are being ridiculous. Operation Orbital was extended in 2019 and expanded in 2020, well before this war. The idea Johnson knew nothing of it is a little ridiculous.
No it isn't. You forget, I've spent time with him both in public and private. His lack of awareness as to where he is, what he's supposed to be doing and the history and background to anything is closer to zero than in anyone I've ever met.
And you seem a rather impartial observer. Compare, say, with Nick's interactions with him, which seemed a lot fairer and nearer to the real Johnson (fnarr, fnarr).
(Jesus. People's irrational hatred of Johnson is turning me, someone who was criticising him before most on here, and who has never voted for him, into a defended of him!)
If it were just me, you might have a point.
But I invite you to review what a whole stack of people who've interacted with Johnson - professionally and personally - have said, from his schooldays onwards, and to notice his lack of friends and allies.
The only people who rate him are those who don't know him.
Yes, someone who lacks friends and allies managed to get himself elected to a number of positions, and became PM. He did that through lacking friends and allies, obviously ...
Many people in the 2000s were saying how friendly Blair and Brown were, yet we saw that was a lie even before Brown got power.
Again, I stress I don't think Johnson is a good PM. But neither do I think he's the venal, nasty and lazy one his haters on here make him out to be. He's a flawed individual, but then so was Thatcher, Major, Blair, Brown, Cameron, and May.
Boris is singularly unsuited to this moment. We need someone able to deal with reality rather than spin lies.
Well, it's a real shame that Labour gave us the option of voting for an anti-Semite who called this war wrong.
If having Boris as PM is bad, then Labour need to accept some blame for putting up a far worse candidate at GE 2019.
Do you honestly think Corbyn, someone too spineless to say whether he's had the Covid vaccine, and who is utterly wrong on the Ukrainian war - would have handled the two crises better?
Gold plated whataboutery. If you voted for Boris you take the lions share for this nonsense. It was perfectly possible not to vote for either. My late father in law, a lifelong Tory, cast his last vote for the Lib Dems because he didn’t trust Boris.
Voting for neither was just washing your hands of the unpalatable decision between two inadequate candidates and leaving it to others.
Absolute horseshit. You don't get to push the blame onto those of us who actively opposed both.
I'm sorry if you don't like the reality that there was a choice at the last general election of exactly two possible Prime Ministers.
That's odd, I seem to remember more parties standing nationally than just those two. Perhaps you mean just those with a realistic chance of winning? In which case you're still wrong, the Conservatives were very obviously going to win it.
So there was a choice of ONE, and I said no. And I was right.
No, I meant those with a possible chance of winning, which is why I used the word possible...
As for where I put the blame? Primarily on to the Labour MPs who didn't understand their leadership election format and gave Corbyn the nominations in the first place.
I don't blame anyone for washing their hands of the choice, but to pretend you "opposed both" is risible.
If everyone had done what I'd done, we'd not have either Boris or Corbyn as PM. It's actually that simple.
You're starting to resemble that Northern Irish joke, when new kid moves into the street and the other kids ask is he's a Protestant or a Catholic. "Neither, I'm a Muslim," he replies. And after a long pause, the other kids ask "yeah, but are you a Protestant Muslim or a Catholic Muslim?"
Ask yourself this, if someone didn't want either Boris or Corbyn as PM, what the hell else COULD they do other than vote for a third party?
Not vote. Or indeed, vote for Boris or vote for Corbyn. None of these would have made any difference. Indeed, assassinate both Boris and Corbyn is the only answer which works but is probably off the cards, so indignation about who voted for whom is misplaced.
Or, more accurately, they vote to ban legal abortion. Illegal and unsafe abortions will continue.
Good point; while abortions will not be 'allowed' will the practice itself be illegal? In other words will a woman be prosecuted for seeking or actually having one?
Apparently it will be a felony with the punishment being up to 10 years imprisonment.
That's not what the BBC article says:
The bill would criminalise performing an abortion in almost all cases, except where it could "save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency".
Medical professionals convicted under the laws face fines of up to $100,000 (£76,505) and 10 years in prison.
Nothing about criminalising having an abortion.
Doctors are likely to now be under pressure to wait longer before doing an abortion if it’s to save the mother so that there can’t be any questions as to their diagnosis and so women are likely to die because of the latest attempts by the US version of the Taliban to attack women’s reproductive rights .
Making abortions illegal always leads to women dying.
Might I recommend the short documentary film "Kind to Women" about the 1967 legalisation here? https://www.kindtowomen.com/
I hope it isn't true but I have read that it differentially leads to black women dying so that's OK with many Americans
I feel that my paucity of sleep may contribute to an excess of grumpiness by me on here so I shall exit stage left, hopefully not pursued by a bear.
After the chaos in A&E last night I'm not in a good mood with Boris Johnson and co. though to be fair I wasn't exactly their biggest fan beforehand. The NHS is in such a terrible state. Because people can't get GP appointments they attend A&E for things like basic wound dressings. Was I one of those? Apparently not according to the emergency doctor who spoke to me. But the situation is just complete chaos.
I think back 30 years, 20 years, 10 years ... how was Britain then compared to now?
Scores out of 100 on all things of well-being:
1992 70 (pre Black Wednesday)
2002 75 (post 9/11 otherwise higher)
2012 75 (The coalition. Bliss.)
2022 2 (and I think that's being generous)
The country is shit
Right I'm dragging my tired wounded body back to bed. Apologies for incoherence. Some will doubtless say that it's no different from normal
The country is not, as you put it, 'shit'. There is a great deal to take pride of in this country, our people, and its place in the world. That does not mean we are immune to criticism, or that we are perfect. Just that we are facing severe problems in Covid, Brexit and the effects of the Ukraine war. Of these, Brexit is the most minor.
But Covid and the effects of the Ukraine war are common to a large number of countries in Europe and the world.
And hope you feel better soon.
Ironic that your 'likes' are from people who choose to live elsewhere.... I'm pretty sure if your they chose to return they'd be in for a rude awakening
The stupidity is most Americans are opposed to abortion bans. It's a populist measure that isn't actually popular.
cf and more ridiculously, onshore wind generation in England
In both cases, popular with the unrepresentative minority who run the parties.
I've got no plans to rejoin the Conservatives any time soon- I just can't being myself to give them money or time or anything... But when too many people (reasonably) do that, it leaves parties in the hands of people we don't really want to have that power.
You were in the Tories? I wouldn't have guessed (genuinely).
Yes, but in a John Major / Ken Clarke sort of way. And that strand has gone from being in charge, to being an acceptable strand, to now...
Basically, if the Conservatives want to align themselves on a social values axis, and on the conservative-authoritarian side of that, then we're done. I'm sure they're not that bothered and will be very happy with their new friends.
I am also shocked. I think @hyufd may have a point re the views of the current Tory party. There are so many sensible ex Tory's here. Are you all homeless? My views don't seem very different to you all and I have always been happy as a LD, but I know from conversations that is not the case for many of you and the low LD poll ratings seem to support that.
I was a Thatcherite. Assuming that war was won I have moderated my position (or maybe just moved to the centre as I get older). I was quite happy with the coalition. At one time I would have called myself a Yellow Book LibDem but the social democrats seem to be in the ascendancy now. Will probably vote LibDem or Labour next time round as this government is pretty dysfunctional. I often vote LibDem in local elections as I try to vote on local issues.
Actually the Orange Bookers are now back in the ascendancy in the LDs.
Ed Davey was an Orange Booker after all and in Cameron's coalition government, unlike Boris.
Davey is also the most fiscally conservative LD leader since Clegg
Well I'll see what they come up with in their manifesto. I'm in the safest Tory seat in the country so it doesn't matter which opposition party I vote for. Indeed, if Alan stands again I might vote OMRLP as I did last time.
As it happens, I voted for Ed Davey back in 1997 when Blair got in, as I had decided the Tories were tired and borderline corrupt and it was time for a change.
...plus ca change....
To be honest, that probably applies to all political parties in office. Conservatives aren't unique in venality, or in having clients to reward.
"Britain deserves better than this Conservative cost of living crisis."
Does suggest "Britain deserves a Labour cost of living crisis."
Utter lack of alternative ways to deal with it.
You've not watched the video, then? It is a clunky slogan though.
Morning, everybody. By no means as cold today.
The slogan strips down to 'Britain deserves better', though, and that could be quite potent.
Because one can't say, surely, and certainly from this side of the fence, that Bad Dog's government shows us in a good light.
Did Blair's government show us in a good light? So much ephemeral image fluff to strains of 'things can only get better', followed by a disastrous war and an economic crisis within ten years. Such a wasted opportunity.
The only major crisis Blair had to deal with was 9/11. Johnson, in just a handful of years, has had Covid and Ukraine to deal with. IMV (and I know you'll disagree): he hasn't done too badly on either, and very well in some respects.
Blair did not really have to deal with 9/11, and his response was probably counter-productive. Similarly, Boris has not really had to deal with the Ukrainian invasion in any real sense. We've followed the American lead on sanctions, and continued military cooperation that began under his predecessors. Afghanistan, well, least said, soonest mended. Covid and Brexit were the main crises Boris faced and is facing.
"Similarly, Boris has not really had to deal with the Ukrainian invasion in any real sense."
Wow. That seems rather disconnected with reality. Boris has been one of the strongest allies with Ukraine so far (as, to be fair, have the government since 2014/5).
Note how Russia seems keen to put the UK first amongst their enemies? That's why.
Russia thought Boris was their friend, that’s why.
Otherwise it’s mostly been posturing. Which, along with clinging to his job, is the only thing the clown is good at.
Yes, he thought the PM of the country that was actively training the military of the country he had attacked - and wanted to attack again - was a friend.
FFS. I know some people hate Boris, but sometimes hatred can lead to a certain amount of irrationality...
"Otherwise it’s mostly been posturing."
Again, this seems rather an odd comment. It's been far from posturing, given the limits of what we can actually do. Compare, say, to Germany or France...
The extent of Johnson's (and his party's) entanglement with Russian wealth is a slow burn story that will likely be running when the immediate military crisis is over. The Russians will have thought all that time grooming him might have been worth something; another misjudgement since the only reaction that would save his skin, at least in the short term, was to go over the top in the other direction.
Training the Ukranians was a decision taken by the Coalition, which I doubt the clown was even aware of until it came to matter.
Oh, come on. You are being ridiculous. Operation Orbital was extended in 2019 and expanded in 2020, well before this war. The idea Johnson knew nothing of it is a little ridiculous.
No it isn't. You forget, I've spent time with him both in public and private. His lack of awareness as to where he is, what he's supposed to be doing and the history and background to anything is closer to zero than in anyone I've ever met.
And you seem a rather impartial observer. Compare, say, with Nick's interactions with him, which seemed a lot fairer and nearer to the real Johnson (fnarr, fnarr).
(Jesus. People's irrational hatred of Johnson is turning me, someone who was criticising him before most on here, and who has never voted for him, into a defended of him!)
If it were just me, you might have a point.
But I invite you to review what a whole stack of people who've interacted with Johnson - professionally and personally - have said, from his schooldays onwards, and to notice his lack of friends and allies.
The only people who rate him are those who don't know him.
Yes, someone who lacks friends and allies managed to get himself elected to a number of positions, and became PM. He did that through lacking friends and allies, obviously ...
Many people in the 2000s were saying how friendly Blair and Brown were, yet we saw that was a lie even before Brown got power.
Again, I stress I don't think Johnson is a good PM. But neither do I think he's the venal, nasty and lazy one his haters on here make him out to be. He's a flawed individual, but then so was Thatcher, Major, Blair, Brown, Cameron, and May.
Boris is singularly unsuited to this moment. We need someone able to deal with reality rather than spin lies.
Well, it's a real shame that Labour gave us the option of voting for an anti-Semite who called this war wrong.
If having Boris as PM is bad, then Labour need to accept some blame for putting up a far worse candidate at GE 2019.
Do you honestly think Corbyn, someone too spineless to say whether he's had the Covid vaccine, and who is utterly wrong on the Ukrainian war - would have handled the two crises better?
Gold plated whataboutery. If you voted for Boris you take the lions share for this nonsense. It was perfectly possible not to vote for either. My late father in law, a lifelong Tory, cast his last vote for the Lib Dems because he didn’t trust Boris.
Voting for neither was just washing your hands of the unpalatable decision between two inadequate candidates and leaving it to others.
Absolute horseshit. You don't get to push the blame onto those of us who actively opposed both.
I'm sorry if you don't like the reality that there was a choice at the last general election of exactly two possible Prime Ministers.
That's odd, I seem to remember more parties standing nationally than just those two. Perhaps you mean just those with a realistic chance of winning? In which case you're still wrong, the Conservatives were very obviously going to win it.
So there was a choice of ONE, and I said no. And I was right.
Weren't you in Scotland at the time? Where a third option existed, to have a referendum for independence from Mr Johnson/Mr Corbyn and their successors? And it won there.
Next time, probably.
My constituency is Conservative-SNP with the Lib Dems absolutely nowhere. As it stands right now I'm likely to put Lib Dem as my #1 in the council election* and vote SNP to get the useless sack of shit out at Westminster whenever the next election is.
I'm not decided on independence so I try to balance my Holyrood votes, last time out Lib Dem+Green. I wouldn't touch Alba even with gloves on.
*Though currently thinking about rewarding the SNP for the elimination of tax breaks on private schools which I didn't know about til yesterday. It's not a council issue but I feel strongly about it and I'm really happy it's happened. Yes, I'll vote in the council election on national issues. Sue me!
Ah, that last bit was my fault probably for lowsing that pussy from the poke. Might I also point out that rates are very much a council matter? Although business rates are nationally set, of course. Mind, I don't see the Scons loudly approving of such things as "50% relief for the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors for 3 months, capped at £27,500 per ratepayer" and "the most generous small business relief in the UK through a continuation of the Small Business Bonus Scheme". They've been too busy, until very recently, going on at local gmt level and on and on and on about indyrefs and Ruth Davidson saying No, so they sure can/t complain about whatever you do.
"Britain deserves better than this Conservative cost of living crisis."
Does suggest "Britain deserves a Labour cost of living crisis."
Utter lack of alternative ways to deal with it.
You've not watched the video, then? It is a clunky slogan though.
Morning, everybody. By no means as cold today.
The slogan strips down to 'Britain deserves better', though, and that could be quite potent.
Because one can't say, surely, and certainly from this side of the fence, that Bad Dog's government shows us in a good light.
Did Blair's government show us in a good light? So much ephemeral image fluff to strains of 'things can only get better', followed by a disastrous war and an economic crisis within ten years. Such a wasted opportunity.
The only major crisis Blair had to deal with was 9/11. Johnson, in just a handful of years, has had Covid and Ukraine to deal with. IMV (and I know you'll disagree): he hasn't done too badly on either, and very well in some respects.
Blair did not really have to deal with 9/11, and his response was probably counter-productive. Similarly, Boris has not really had to deal with the Ukrainian invasion in any real sense. We've followed the American lead on sanctions, and continued military cooperation that began under his predecessors. Afghanistan, well, least said, soonest mended. Covid and Brexit were the main crises Boris faced and is facing.
"Similarly, Boris has not really had to deal with the Ukrainian invasion in any real sense."
Wow. That seems rather disconnected with reality. Boris has been one of the strongest allies with Ukraine so far (as, to be fair, have the government since 2014/5).
Note how Russia seems keen to put the UK first amongst their enemies? That's why.
Russia thought Boris was their friend, that’s why.
Otherwise it’s mostly been posturing. Which, along with clinging to his job, is the only thing the clown is good at.
Yes, he thought the PM of the country that was actively training the military of the country he had attacked - and wanted to attack again - was a friend.
FFS. I know some people hate Boris, but sometimes hatred can lead to a certain amount of irrationality...
"Otherwise it’s mostly been posturing."
Again, this seems rather an odd comment. It's been far from posturing, given the limits of what we can actually do. Compare, say, to Germany or France...
The extent of Johnson's (and his party's) entanglement with Russian wealth is a slow burn story that will likely be running when the immediate military crisis is over. The Russians will have thought all that time grooming him might have been worth something; another misjudgement since the only reaction that would save his skin, at least in the short term, was to go over the top in the other direction.
Training the Ukranians was a decision taken by the Coalition, which I doubt the clown was even aware of until it came to matter.
Oh, come on. You are being ridiculous. Operation Orbital was extended in 2019 and expanded in 2020, well before this war. The idea Johnson knew nothing of it is a little ridiculous.
No it isn't. You forget, I've spent time with him both in public and private. His lack of awareness as to where he is, what he's supposed to be doing and the history and background to anything is closer to zero than in anyone I've ever met.
And you seem a rather impartial observer. Compare, say, with Nick's interactions with him, which seemed a lot fairer and nearer to the real Johnson (fnarr, fnarr).
(Jesus. People's irrational hatred of Johnson is turning me, someone who was criticising him before most on here, and who has never voted for him, into a defended of him!)
If it were just me, you might have a point.
But I invite you to review what a whole stack of people who've interacted with Johnson - professionally and personally - have said, from his schooldays onwards, and to notice his lack of friends and allies.
The only people who rate him are those who don't know him.
Yes, someone who lacks friends and allies managed to get himself elected to a number of positions, and became PM. He did that through lacking friends and allies, obviously ...
Many people in the 2000s were saying how friendly Blair and Brown were, yet we saw that was a lie even before Brown got power.
Again, I stress I don't think Johnson is a good PM. But neither do I think he's the venal, nasty and lazy one his haters on here make him out to be. He's a flawed individual, but then so was Thatcher, Major, Blair, Brown, Cameron, and May.
Boris is singularly unsuited to this moment. We need someone able to deal with reality rather than spin lies.
Well, it's a real shame that Labour gave us the option of voting for an anti-Semite who called this war wrong.
If having Boris as PM is bad, then Labour need to accept some blame for putting up a far worse candidate at GE 2019.
Do you honestly think Corbyn, someone too spineless to say whether he's had the Covid vaccine, and who is utterly wrong on the Ukrainian war - would have handled the two crises better?
Gold plated whataboutery. If you voted for Boris you take the lions share for this nonsense. It was perfectly possible not to vote for either. My late father in law, a lifelong Tory, cast his last vote for the Lib Dems because he didn’t trust Boris.
Voting for neither was just washing your hands of the unpalatable decision between two inadequate candidates and leaving it to others.
Absolute horseshit. You don't get to push the blame onto those of us who actively opposed both.
I'm sorry if you don't like the reality that there was a choice at the last general election of exactly two possible Prime Ministers.
That's odd, I seem to remember more parties standing nationally than just those two. Perhaps you mean just those with a realistic chance of winning? In which case you're still wrong, the Conservatives were very obviously going to win it.
So there was a choice of ONE, and I said no. And I was right.
No, I meant those with a possible chance of winning, which is why I used the word possible...
As for where I put the blame? Primarily on to the Labour MPs who didn't understand their leadership election format and gave Corbyn the nominations in the first place.
I don't blame anyone for washing their hands of the choice, but to pretend you "opposed both" is risible.
If everyone had done what I'd done, we'd not have either Boris or Corbyn as PM. It's actually that simple.
You're starting to resemble that Northern Irish joke, when new kid moves into the street and the other kids ask is he's a Protestant or a Catholic. "Neither, I'm a Muslim," he replies. And after a long pause, the other kids ask "yeah, but are you a Protestant Muslim or a Catholic Muslim?"
Ask yourself this, if someone didn't want either Boris or Corbyn as PM, what the hell else COULD they do other than vote for a third party?
They could wash their hands of the choice and vote for a third party, but that would be delegating the choice to other voters.
Since (like everyone else who posts here) you are more informed than the average voter and (like the vast majority of people who post here) you are more intelligent than the average voter, delegating the choice to the average voter seems to me to be a strange thing for you to have done.
"Britain deserves better than this Conservative cost of living crisis."
Does suggest "Britain deserves a Labour cost of living crisis."
Utter lack of alternative ways to deal with it.
You've not watched the video, then? It is a clunky slogan though.
Morning, everybody. By no means as cold today.
The slogan strips down to 'Britain deserves better', though, and that could be quite potent.
Because one can't say, surely, and certainly from this side of the fence, that Bad Dog's government shows us in a good light.
Did Blair's government show us in a good light? So much ephemeral image fluff to strains of 'things can only get better', followed by a disastrous war and an economic crisis within ten years. Such a wasted opportunity.
The only major crisis Blair had to deal with was 9/11. Johnson, in just a handful of years, has had Covid and Ukraine to deal with. IMV (and I know you'll disagree): he hasn't done too badly on either, and very well in some respects.
Blair did not really have to deal with 9/11, and his response was probably counter-productive. Similarly, Boris has not really had to deal with the Ukrainian invasion in any real sense. We've followed the American lead on sanctions, and continued military cooperation that began under his predecessors. Afghanistan, well, least said, soonest mended. Covid and Brexit were the main crises Boris faced and is facing.
"Similarly, Boris has not really had to deal with the Ukrainian invasion in any real sense."
Wow. That seems rather disconnected with reality. Boris has been one of the strongest allies with Ukraine so far (as, to be fair, have the government since 2014/5).
Note how Russia seems keen to put the UK first amongst their enemies? That's why.
Russia thought Boris was their friend, that’s why.
Otherwise it’s mostly been posturing. Which, along with clinging to his job, is the only thing the clown is good at.
Yes, he thought the PM of the country that was actively training the military of the country he had attacked - and wanted to attack again - was a friend.
FFS. I know some people hate Boris, but sometimes hatred can lead to a certain amount of irrationality...
"Otherwise it’s mostly been posturing."
Again, this seems rather an odd comment. It's been far from posturing, given the limits of what we can actually do. Compare, say, to Germany or France...
The extent of Johnson's (and his party's) entanglement with Russian wealth is a slow burn story that will likely be running when the immediate military crisis is over. The Russians will have thought all that time grooming him might have been worth something; another misjudgement since the only reaction that would save his skin, at least in the short term, was to go over the top in the other direction.
Training the Ukranians was a decision taken by the Coalition, which I doubt the clown was even aware of until it came to matter.
Oh, come on. You are being ridiculous. Operation Orbital was extended in 2019 and expanded in 2020, well before this war. The idea Johnson knew nothing of it is a little ridiculous.
No it isn't. You forget, I've spent time with him both in public and private. His lack of awareness as to where he is, what he's supposed to be doing and the history and background to anything is closer to zero than in anyone I've ever met.
And you seem a rather impartial observer. Compare, say, with Nick's interactions with him, which seemed a lot fairer and nearer to the real Johnson (fnarr, fnarr).
(Jesus. People's irrational hatred of Johnson is turning me, someone who was criticising him before most on here, and who has never voted for him, into a defended of him!)
If it were just me, you might have a point.
But I invite you to review what a whole stack of people who've interacted with Johnson - professionally and personally - have said, from his schooldays onwards, and to notice his lack of friends and allies.
The only people who rate him are those who don't know him.
Yes, someone who lacks friends and allies managed to get himself elected to a number of positions, and became PM. He did that through lacking friends and allies, obviously ...
Many people in the 2000s were saying how friendly Blair and Brown were, yet we saw that was a lie even before Brown got power.
Again, I stress I don't think Johnson is a good PM. But neither do I think he's the venal, nasty and lazy one his haters on here make him out to be. He's a flawed individual, but then so was Thatcher, Major, Blair, Brown, Cameron, and May.
Boris is singularly unsuited to this moment. We need someone able to deal with reality rather than spin lies.
Well, it's a real shame that Labour gave us the option of voting for an anti-Semite who called this war wrong.
If having Boris as PM is bad, then Labour need to accept some blame for putting up a far worse candidate at GE 2019.
Do you honestly think Corbyn, someone too spineless to say whether he's had the Covid vaccine, and who is utterly wrong on the Ukrainian war - would have handled the two crises better?
Gold plated whataboutery. If you voted for Boris you take the lions share for this nonsense. It was perfectly possible not to vote for either. My late father in law, a lifelong Tory, cast his last vote for the Lib Dems because he didn’t trust Boris.
Voting for neither was just washing your hands of the unpalatable decision between two inadequate candidates and leaving it to others.
Absolute horseshit. You don't get to push the blame onto those of us who actively opposed both.
I'm sorry if you don't like the reality that there was a choice at the last general election of exactly two possible Prime Ministers.
That's odd, I seem to remember more parties standing nationally than just those two. Perhaps you mean just those with a realistic chance of winning? In which case you're still wrong, the Conservatives were very obviously going to win it.
So there was a choice of ONE, and I said no. And I was right.
No, I meant those with a possible chance of winning, which is why I used the word possible...
As for where I put the blame? Primarily on to the Labour MPs who didn't understand their leadership election format and gave Corbyn the nominations in the first place.
I don't blame anyone for washing their hands of the choice, but to pretend you "opposed both" is risible.
If everyone had done what I'd done, we'd not have either Boris or Corbyn as PM. It's actually that simple.
You're starting to resemble that Northern Irish joke, when new kid moves into the street and the other kids ask is he's a Protestant or a Catholic. "Neither, I'm a Muslim," he replies. And after a long pause, the other kids ask "yeah, but are you a Protestant Muslim or a Catholic Muslim?"
Ask yourself this, if someone didn't want either Boris or Corbyn as PM, what the hell else COULD they do other than vote for a third party?
They could wash their hands of the choice and vote for a third party, but that would be delegating the choice to other voters.
Since (like everyone else who posts here) you are more informed than the average voter and (like the vast majority of people who post here) you are more intelligent than the average voter, delegating the choice to the average voter seems to me to be a strange thing for you to have done.
But none of us get a direct vote on who is going to be Prime Minister. To say it was a choice between Boris or Corbyn rather misses the point that in my constituency it was a choice between Starmer or... well, only Starmer was ever going to win, while in another constituency, the choice was between Sinn Féin and the SDLP, or between the LibDems and the SNP.
Or, more accurately, they vote to ban legal abortion. Illegal and unsafe abortions will continue.
Good point; while abortions will not be 'allowed' will the practice itself be illegal? In other words will a woman be prosecuted for seeking or actually having one?
Apparently it will be a felony with the punishment being up to 10 years imprisonment.
That's not what the BBC article says:
The bill would criminalise performing an abortion in almost all cases, except where it could "save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency".
Medical professionals convicted under the laws face fines of up to $100,000 (£76,505) and 10 years in prison.
Nothing about criminalising having an abortion.
Doctors are likely to now be under pressure to wait longer before doing an abortion if it’s to save the mother so that there can’t be any questions as to their diagnosis and so women are likely to die because of the latest attempts by the US version of the Taliban to attack women’s reproductive rights .
Increased costs, too, the longer one waits. Which has a particularly oppressive effect on the poor in the US.
I feel that my paucity of sleep may contribute to an excess of grumpiness by me on here so I shall exit stage left, hopefully not pursued by a bear.
After the chaos in A&E last night I'm not in a good mood with Boris Johnson and co. though to be fair I wasn't exactly their biggest fan beforehand. The NHS is in such a terrible state. Because people can't get GP appointments they attend A&E for things like basic wound dressings. Was I one of those? Apparently not according to the emergency doctor who spoke to me. But the situation is just complete chaos.
I think back 30 years, 20 years, 10 years ... how was Britain then compared to now?
Scores out of 100 on all things of well-being:
1992 70 (pre Black Wednesday)
2002 75 (post 9/11 otherwise higher)
2012 75 (The coalition. Bliss.)
2022 2 (and I think that's being generous)
The country is shit
Right I'm dragging my tired wounded body back to bed. Apologies for incoherence. Some will doubtless say that it's no different from normal
The country is not, as you put it, 'shit'. There is a great deal to take pride of in this country, our people, and its place in the world. That does not mean we are immune to criticism, or that we are perfect. Just that we are facing severe problems in Covid, Brexit and the effects of the Ukraine war. Of these, Brexit is the most minor.
But Covid and the effects of the Ukraine war are common to a large number of countries in Europe and the world.
And hope you feel better soon.
Ironic that your 'likes' are from people who choose to live elsewhere.... I'm pretty sure if your they chose to return they'd be in for a rude awakening
I must live in another world, how is this Country so bad compared to others that if people returned here they would be saying my god whats happened to the UK?
The absolute nonsense people are peddling about the UK is laughable.
"Britain deserves better than this Conservative cost of living crisis."
Does suggest "Britain deserves a Labour cost of living crisis."
Utter lack of alternative ways to deal with it.
You've not watched the video, then? It is a clunky slogan though.
Morning, everybody. By no means as cold today.
The slogan strips down to 'Britain deserves better', though, and that could be quite potent.
Because one can't say, surely, and certainly from this side of the fence, that Bad Dog's government shows us in a good light.
Did Blair's government show us in a good light? So much ephemeral image fluff to strains of 'things can only get better', followed by a disastrous war and an economic crisis within ten years. Such a wasted opportunity.
The only major crisis Blair had to deal with was 9/11. Johnson, in just a handful of years, has had Covid and Ukraine to deal with. IMV (and I know you'll disagree): he hasn't done too badly on either, and very well in some respects.
Blair did not really have to deal with 9/11, and his response was probably counter-productive. Similarly, Boris has not really had to deal with the Ukrainian invasion in any real sense. We've followed the American lead on sanctions, and continued military cooperation that began under his predecessors. Afghanistan, well, least said, soonest mended. Covid and Brexit were the main crises Boris faced and is facing.
"Similarly, Boris has not really had to deal with the Ukrainian invasion in any real sense."
Wow. That seems rather disconnected with reality. Boris has been one of the strongest allies with Ukraine so far (as, to be fair, have the government since 2014/5).
Note how Russia seems keen to put the UK first amongst their enemies? That's why.
Russia thought Boris was their friend, that’s why.
Otherwise it’s mostly been posturing. Which, along with clinging to his job, is the only thing the clown is good at.
Yes, he thought the PM of the country that was actively training the military of the country he had attacked - and wanted to attack again - was a friend.
FFS. I know some people hate Boris, but sometimes hatred can lead to a certain amount of irrationality...
"Otherwise it’s mostly been posturing."
Again, this seems rather an odd comment. It's been far from posturing, given the limits of what we can actually do. Compare, say, to Germany or France...
The extent of Johnson's (and his party's) entanglement with Russian wealth is a slow burn story that will likely be running when the immediate military crisis is over. The Russians will have thought all that time grooming him might have been worth something; another misjudgement since the only reaction that would save his skin, at least in the short term, was to go over the top in the other direction.
Training the Ukranians was a decision taken by the Coalition, which I doubt the clown was even aware of until it came to matter.
Oh, come on. You are being ridiculous. Operation Orbital was extended in 2019 and expanded in 2020, well before this war. The idea Johnson knew nothing of it is a little ridiculous.
No it isn't. You forget, I've spent time with him both in public and private. His lack of awareness as to where he is, what he's supposed to be doing and the history and background to anything is closer to zero than in anyone I've ever met.
And you seem a rather impartial observer. Compare, say, with Nick's interactions with him, which seemed a lot fairer and nearer to the real Johnson (fnarr, fnarr).
(Jesus. People's irrational hatred of Johnson is turning me, someone who was criticising him before most on here, and who has never voted for him, into a defended of him!)
If it were just me, you might have a point.
But I invite you to review what a whole stack of people who've interacted with Johnson - professionally and personally - have said, from his schooldays onwards, and to notice his lack of friends and allies.
The only people who rate him are those who don't know him.
Yes, someone who lacks friends and allies managed to get himself elected to a number of positions, and became PM. He did that through lacking friends and allies, obviously ...
Many people in the 2000s were saying how friendly Blair and Brown were, yet we saw that was a lie even before Brown got power.
Again, I stress I don't think Johnson is a good PM. But neither do I think he's the venal, nasty and lazy one his haters on here make him out to be. He's a flawed individual, but then so was Thatcher, Major, Blair, Brown, Cameron, and May.
Boris is singularly unsuited to this moment. We need someone able to deal with reality rather than spin lies.
Well, it's a real shame that Labour gave us the option of voting for an anti-Semite who called this war wrong.
If having Boris as PM is bad, then Labour need to accept some blame for putting up a far worse candidate at GE 2019.
Do you honestly think Corbyn, someone too spineless to say whether he's had the Covid vaccine, and who is utterly wrong on the Ukrainian war - would have handled the two crises better?
Gold plated whataboutery. If you voted for Boris you take the lions share for this nonsense. It was perfectly possible not to vote for either. My late father in law, a lifelong Tory, cast his last vote for the Lib Dems because he didn’t trust Boris.
Voting for neither was just washing your hands of the unpalatable decision between two inadequate candidates and leaving it to others.
Absolute horseshit. You don't get to push the blame onto those of us who actively opposed both.
I'm sorry if you don't like the reality that there was a choice at the last general election of exactly two possible Prime Ministers.
That's odd, I seem to remember more parties standing nationally than just those two. Perhaps you mean just those with a realistic chance of winning? In which case you're still wrong, the Conservatives were very obviously going to win it.
So there was a choice of ONE, and I said no. And I was right.
No, I meant those with a possible chance of winning, which is why I used the word possible...
As for where I put the blame? Primarily on to the Labour MPs who didn't understand their leadership election format and gave Corbyn the nominations in the first place.
I don't blame anyone for washing their hands of the choice, but to pretend you "opposed both" is risible.
If everyone had done what I'd done, we'd not have either Boris or Corbyn as PM. It's actually that simple.
You're starting to resemble that Northern Irish joke, when new kid moves into the street and the other kids ask is he's a Protestant or a Catholic. "Neither, I'm a Muslim," he replies. And after a long pause, the other kids ask "yeah, but are you a Protestant Muslim or a Catholic Muslim?"
Ask yourself this, if someone didn't want either Boris or Corbyn as PM, what the hell else COULD they do other than vote for a third party?
They could wash their hands of the choice and vote for a third party, but that would be delegating the choice to other voters.
Since (like everyone else who posts here) you are more informed than the average voter and (like the vast majority of people who post here) you are more intelligent than the average voter, delegating the choice to the average voter seems to me to be a strange thing for you to have done.
But none of us get a direct vote on who is going to be Prime Minister. To say it was a choice between Boris or Corbyn rather misses the point that in my constituency it was a choice between Starmer or... well, only Starmer was ever going to win, while in another constituency, the choice was between Sinn Féin and the SDLP, or between the LibDems and the SNP.
And why should we allow a corrupt voting system to vote for someone we don't support and who we know is unsuitable for the job? That would be wrong.
"Britain deserves better than this Conservative cost of living crisis."
Does suggest "Britain deserves a Labour cost of living crisis."
Utter lack of alternative ways to deal with it.
You've not watched the video, then? It is a clunky slogan though.
Morning, everybody. By no means as cold today.
The slogan strips down to 'Britain deserves better', though, and that could be quite potent.
Because one can't say, surely, and certainly from this side of the fence, that Bad Dog's government shows us in a good light.
Did Blair's government show us in a good light? So much ephemeral image fluff to strains of 'things can only get better', followed by a disastrous war and an economic crisis within ten years. Such a wasted opportunity.
The only major crisis Blair had to deal with was 9/11. Johnson, in just a handful of years, has had Covid and Ukraine to deal with. IMV (and I know you'll disagree): he hasn't done too badly on either, and very well in some respects.
Blair did not really have to deal with 9/11, and his response was probably counter-productive. Similarly, Boris has not really had to deal with the Ukrainian invasion in any real sense. We've followed the American lead on sanctions, and continued military cooperation that began under his predecessors. Afghanistan, well, least said, soonest mended. Covid and Brexit were the main crises Boris faced and is facing.
"Similarly, Boris has not really had to deal with the Ukrainian invasion in any real sense."
Wow. That seems rather disconnected with reality. Boris has been one of the strongest allies with Ukraine so far (as, to be fair, have the government since 2014/5).
Note how Russia seems keen to put the UK first amongst their enemies? That's why.
Russia thought Boris was their friend, that’s why.
Otherwise it’s mostly been posturing. Which, along with clinging to his job, is the only thing the clown is good at.
Yes, he thought the PM of the country that was actively training the military of the country he had attacked - and wanted to attack again - was a friend.
FFS. I know some people hate Boris, but sometimes hatred can lead to a certain amount of irrationality...
"Otherwise it’s mostly been posturing."
Again, this seems rather an odd comment. It's been far from posturing, given the limits of what we can actually do. Compare, say, to Germany or France...
The extent of Johnson's (and his party's) entanglement with Russian wealth is a slow burn story that will likely be running when the immediate military crisis is over. The Russians will have thought all that time grooming him might have been worth something; another misjudgement since the only reaction that would save his skin, at least in the short term, was to go over the top in the other direction.
Training the Ukranians was a decision taken by the Coalition, which I doubt the clown was even aware of until it came to matter.
Oh, come on. You are being ridiculous. Operation Orbital was extended in 2019 and expanded in 2020, well before this war. The idea Johnson knew nothing of it is a little ridiculous.
No it isn't. You forget, I've spent time with him both in public and private. His lack of awareness as to where he is, what he's supposed to be doing and the history and background to anything is closer to zero than in anyone I've ever met.
And you seem a rather impartial observer. Compare, say, with Nick's interactions with him, which seemed a lot fairer and nearer to the real Johnson (fnarr, fnarr).
(Jesus. People's irrational hatred of Johnson is turning me, someone who was criticising him before most on here, and who has never voted for him, into a defended of him!)
If it were just me, you might have a point.
But I invite you to review what a whole stack of people who've interacted with Johnson - professionally and personally - have said, from his schooldays onwards, and to notice his lack of friends and allies.
The only people who rate him are those who don't know him.
Yes, someone who lacks friends and allies managed to get himself elected to a number of positions, and became PM. He did that through lacking friends and allies, obviously ...
Many people in the 2000s were saying how friendly Blair and Brown were, yet we saw that was a lie even before Brown got power.
Again, I stress I don't think Johnson is a good PM. But neither do I think he's the venal, nasty and lazy one his haters on here make him out to be. He's a flawed individual, but then so was Thatcher, Major, Blair, Brown, Cameron, and May.
Boris is singularly unsuited to this moment. We need someone able to deal with reality rather than spin lies.
Well, it's a real shame that Labour gave us the option of voting for an anti-Semite who called this war wrong.
If having Boris as PM is bad, then Labour need to accept some blame for putting up a far worse candidate at GE 2019.
Do you honestly think Corbyn, someone too spineless to say whether he's had the Covid vaccine, and who is utterly wrong on the Ukrainian war - would have handled the two crises better?
Gold plated whataboutery. If you voted for Boris you take the lions share for this nonsense. It was perfectly possible not to vote for either. My late father in law, a lifelong Tory, cast his last vote for the Lib Dems because he didn’t trust Boris.
Voting for neither was just washing your hands of the unpalatable decision between two inadequate candidates and leaving it to others.
Absolute horseshit. You don't get to push the blame onto those of us who actively opposed both.
I'm sorry if you don't like the reality that there was a choice at the last general election of exactly two possible Prime Ministers.
That's odd, I seem to remember more parties standing nationally than just those two. Perhaps you mean just those with a realistic chance of winning? In which case you're still wrong, the Conservatives were very obviously going to win it.
So there was a choice of ONE, and I said no. And I was right.
No, I meant those with a possible chance of winning, which is why I used the word possible...
As for where I put the blame? Primarily on to the Labour MPs who didn't understand their leadership election format and gave Corbyn the nominations in the first place.
I don't blame anyone for washing their hands of the choice, but to pretend you "opposed both" is risible.
If everyone had done what I'd done, we'd not have either Boris or Corbyn as PM. It's actually that simple.
You're starting to resemble that Northern Irish joke, when new kid moves into the street and the other kids ask is he's a Protestant or a Catholic. "Neither, I'm a Muslim," he replies. And after a long pause, the other kids ask "yeah, but are you a Protestant Muslim or a Catholic Muslim?"
Ask yourself this, if someone didn't want either Boris or Corbyn as PM, what the hell else COULD they do other than vote for a third party?
They could wash their hands of the choice and vote for a third party, but that would be delegating the choice to other voters.
Since (like everyone else who posts here) you are more informed than the average voter and (like the vast majority of people who post here) you are more intelligent than the average voter, delegating the choice to the average voter seems to me to be a strange thing for you to have done.
Can you actually stop trying to gaslight me, please?
I know what I voted for, which was emphatically "neither of them". That was a considered, deliberate choice and it starts and ends there. My choice wasn't "delegated" to anyone else, I made it myself. What appears on another person's ballot paper is THEIR choice, not mine.
Have just discovered, on filling my tax return, that I am paying 32.5% on part of my dividend income from my own company, in addition to the 19% corporation tax already payed, a total of 51.5%. I suppose this makes up for the employers/employees NI not paid, but it seems a lot. Is it possible that taking dividends is now no better than taking a salary?
I feel that my paucity of sleep may contribute to an excess of grumpiness by me on here so I shall exit stage left, hopefully not pursued by a bear.
After the chaos in A&E last night I'm not in a good mood with Boris Johnson and co. though to be fair I wasn't exactly their biggest fan beforehand. The NHS is in such a terrible state. Because people can't get GP appointments they attend A&E for things like basic wound dressings. Was I one of those? Apparently not according to the emergency doctor who spoke to me. But the situation is just complete chaos.
I think back 30 years, 20 years, 10 years ... how was Britain then compared to now?
Scores out of 100 on all things of well-being:
1992 70 (pre Black Wednesday)
2002 75 (post 9/11 otherwise higher)
2012 75 (The coalition. Bliss.)
2022 2 (and I think that's being generous)
The country is shit
Right I'm dragging my tired wounded body back to bed. Apologies for incoherence. Some will doubtless say that it's no different from normal
The country is not, as you put it, 'shit'. There is a great deal to take pride of in this country, our people, and its place in the world. That does not mean we are immune to criticism, or that we are perfect. Just that we are facing severe problems in Covid, Brexit and the effects of the Ukraine war. Of these, Brexit is the most minor.
But Covid and the effects of the Ukraine war are common to a large number of countries in Europe and the world.
And hope you feel better soon.
Ironic that your 'likes' are from people who choose to live elsewhere.... I'm pretty sure if your they chose to return they'd be in for a rude awakening
What? You live in the South of France don't you Roger? I live in the UK, and my part of it at least is certainly not shit. Better than it's ever been, frankly. Amazingly, it's in better shape than it was immediately pre-covid - I certainly didn't expect that to happen. I expected immediately post covid we would be a see of boarded up shops where businesses had gone bust. There are lots of things about it I would change. But there is also no time in the past that it has been better than it is now. We're in a frightening amount of debt of course. And I did like the brief window when Russia wasn't threatening armageddon. And I liked the period where you could get Wensleydale with mango and ginger at Tesco. Some things have got worse. But most things have got better.
The Supreme Court could help the Democrats if they overturn Roe v Wade . The mid terms include many state legislature elections . So the message will be vote Democrat to save your abortion rights . This sort of wedge issue will be needed for the Dems to help their turnout .
They won't overturn it. They'll just eat away at the edges unti lnothing is left.
It's exactly what they did to the VRA. Shelby County invalidated section 5 with the bullshit justification that if there were any actual issues then a section 2 complaint could be brought. The court has recently invalidated section 2 in all but name. The VRA is all but completely struck from the law books but there is no big rallying "Corrupt Supreme Court overrules law" moment.
Republican justices definitely know what the term gaslighting means.
'Republican justices'? Surely a contradiction there somewhere.
It was a while ago, but the abomination that was Marbury vs Madison pretty was a monstrous power grab by the court. It all goes back to that really, so the law will be whatever the federalist society feels like for the foreseeable future whilst they have a 6-3 majority on the court.
Or, more accurately, they vote to ban legal abortion. Illegal and unsafe abortions will continue.
Good point; while abortions will not be 'allowed' will the practice itself be illegal? In other words will a woman be prosecuted for seeking or actually having one?
Apparently it will be a felony with the punishment being up to 10 years imprisonment.
That's not what the BBC article says:
The bill would criminalise performing an abortion in almost all cases, except where it could "save the life of a pregnant woman in a medical emergency".
Medical professionals convicted under the laws face fines of up to $100,000 (£76,505) and 10 years in prison.
Nothing about criminalising having an abortion.
Doctors are likely to now be under pressure to wait longer before doing an abortion if it’s to save the mother so that there can’t be any questions as to their diagnosis and so women are likely to die because of the latest attempts by the US version of the Taliban to attack women’s reproductive rights .
Making abortions illegal always leads to women dying.
Might I recommend the short documentary film "Kind to Women" about the 1967 legalisation here? https://www.kindtowomen.com/
I hope it isn't true but I have read that it differentially leads to black women dying so that's OK with many Americans
I think women of all skin shades die, but black women, because of their generally lower financial reserves are disproportionately more likely to do so.
2/ This months trends do seem economy related given the sharpness of Sunak's fall compared to Johnson.
Boris Johnson's numbers worsen a little but not to the same extent (changes from March);
Favourable: 25% (-2) Unfavourable: 54% (+2)
Bye Boris!
Boris 25, Rishi 26, SKS 30.
All very much of a muchness, and a fair reflection of the atrocious state of our politics right now.
Fair enough.
How did politics get into an atrocious state?
How does Britain get its politics out of this atrocious state?
Not snark, but a genuine important question, though I'll be a reluctant Turkish conscript if I know the answer.
How? We voted for it. We vote for the people who make us feel good about ourselves and not those who do the right thing for the country.
The easiest way to lose an election is to say "I'll be honest: we have a problem here, it's going to cost everyone money to fix it". For example, May tried that in 2017 and everyone howled her down with "dementia tax!"
Therefore, the logical strategy for SKS is to sail by saying virtually nothing while the government is be forced by circumstances to acknowledge there's a problem, so he can win effectively by default. Having policies means acknowledging that there are problems (perhaps even acknowledging that some of them haven't been created by the current government) and giving the people a choice between bad and worse - and risking that they will judge that he is worse.
Unfortunately they don’t seem to have done the second round match ups and so far are only polling every two weeks so changes need to be viewed with that in mind .That poll seems a bit of an outlier and the latest Opinion Way which is newer has a pretty stable situation with Macron on 27% and Le Pen on 23 %.
"Britain deserves better than this Conservative cost of living crisis."
Does suggest "Britain deserves a Labour cost of living crisis."
Utter lack of alternative ways to deal with it.
You've not watched the video, then? It is a clunky slogan though.
Morning, everybody. By no means as cold today.
The slogan strips down to 'Britain deserves better', though, and that could be quite potent.
Because one can't say, surely, and certainly from this side of the fence, that Bad Dog's government shows us in a good light.
Did Blair's government show us in a good light? So much ephemeral image fluff to strains of 'things can only get better', followed by a disastrous war and an economic crisis within ten years. Such a wasted opportunity.
The only major crisis Blair had to deal with was 9/11. Johnson, in just a handful of years, has had Covid and Ukraine to deal with. IMV (and I know you'll disagree): he hasn't done too badly on either, and very well in some respects.
Blair did not really have to deal with 9/11, and his response was probably counter-productive. Similarly, Boris has not really had to deal with the Ukrainian invasion in any real sense. We've followed the American lead on sanctions, and continued military cooperation that began under his predecessors. Afghanistan, well, least said, soonest mended. Covid and Brexit were the main crises Boris faced and is facing.
"Similarly, Boris has not really had to deal with the Ukrainian invasion in any real sense."
Wow. That seems rather disconnected with reality. Boris has been one of the strongest allies with Ukraine so far (as, to be fair, have the government since 2014/5).
Note how Russia seems keen to put the UK first amongst their enemies? That's why.
Russia thought Boris was their friend, that’s why.
Otherwise it’s mostly been posturing. Which, along with clinging to his job, is the only thing the clown is good at.
Yes, he thought the PM of the country that was actively training the military of the country he had attacked - and wanted to attack again - was a friend.
FFS. I know some people hate Boris, but sometimes hatred can lead to a certain amount of irrationality...
"Otherwise it’s mostly been posturing."
Again, this seems rather an odd comment. It's been far from posturing, given the limits of what we can actually do. Compare, say, to Germany or France...
The extent of Johnson's (and his party's) entanglement with Russian wealth is a slow burn story that will likely be running when the immediate military crisis is over. The Russians will have thought all that time grooming him might have been worth something; another misjudgement since the only reaction that would save his skin, at least in the short term, was to go over the top in the other direction.
Training the Ukranians was a decision taken by the Coalition, which I doubt the clown was even aware of until it came to matter.
Oh, come on. You are being ridiculous. Operation Orbital was extended in 2019 and expanded in 2020, well before this war. The idea Johnson knew nothing of it is a little ridiculous.
No it isn't. You forget, I've spent time with him both in public and private. His lack of awareness as to where he is, what he's supposed to be doing and the history and background to anything is closer to zero than in anyone I've ever met.
And you seem a rather impartial observer. Compare, say, with Nick's interactions with him, which seemed a lot fairer and nearer to the real Johnson (fnarr, fnarr).
(Jesus. People's irrational hatred of Johnson is turning me, someone who was criticising him before most on here, and who has never voted for him, into a defended of him!)
If it were just me, you might have a point.
But I invite you to review what a whole stack of people who've interacted with Johnson - professionally and personally - have said, from his schooldays onwards, and to notice his lack of friends and allies.
The only people who rate him are those who don't know him.
Yes, someone who lacks friends and allies managed to get himself elected to a number of positions, and became PM. He did that through lacking friends and allies, obviously ...
Many people in the 2000s were saying how friendly Blair and Brown were, yet we saw that was a lie even before Brown got power.
Again, I stress I don't think Johnson is a good PM. But neither do I think he's the venal, nasty and lazy one his haters on here make him out to be. He's a flawed individual, but then so was Thatcher, Major, Blair, Brown, Cameron, and May.
Boris is singularly unsuited to this moment. We need someone able to deal with reality rather than spin lies.
Well, it's a real shame that Labour gave us the option of voting for an anti-Semite who called this war wrong.
If having Boris as PM is bad, then Labour need to accept some blame for putting up a far worse candidate at GE 2019.
Do you honestly think Corbyn, someone too spineless to say whether he's had the Covid vaccine, and who is utterly wrong on the Ukrainian war - would have handled the two crises better?
Gold plated whataboutery. If you voted for Boris you take the lions share for this nonsense. It was perfectly possible not to vote for either. My late father in law, a lifelong Tory, cast his last vote for the Lib Dems because he didn’t trust Boris.
Voting for neither was just washing your hands of the unpalatable decision between two inadequate candidates and leaving it to others.
Absolute horseshit. You don't get to push the blame onto those of us who actively opposed both.
I'm sorry if you don't like the reality that there was a choice at the last general election of exactly two possible Prime Ministers.
That's odd, I seem to remember more parties standing nationally than just those two. Perhaps you mean just those with a realistic chance of winning? In which case you're still wrong, the Conservatives were very obviously going to win it.
So there was a choice of ONE, and I said no. And I was right.
No, I meant those with a possible chance of winning, which is why I used the word possible...
As for where I put the blame? Primarily on to the Labour MPs who didn't understand their leadership election format and gave Corbyn the nominations in the first place.
I don't blame anyone for washing their hands of the choice, but to pretend you "opposed both" is risible.
If everyone had done what I'd done, we'd not have either Boris or Corbyn as PM. It's actually that simple.
You're starting to resemble that Northern Irish joke, when new kid moves into the street and the other kids ask is he's a Protestant or a Catholic. "Neither, I'm a Muslim," he replies. And after a long pause, the other kids ask "yeah, but are you a Protestant Muslim or a Catholic Muslim?"
Ask yourself this, if someone didn't want either Boris or Corbyn as PM, what the hell else COULD they do other than vote for a third party?
They could wash their hands of the choice and vote for a third party, but that would be delegating the choice to other voters.
Since (like everyone else who posts here) you are more informed than the average voter and (like the vast majority of people who post here) you are more intelligent than the average voter, delegating the choice to the average voter seems to me to be a strange thing for you to have done.
But none of us get a direct vote on who is going to be Prime Minister. To say it was a choice between Boris or Corbyn rather misses the point that in my constituency it was a choice between Starmer or... well, only Starmer was ever going to win, while in another constituency, the choice was between Sinn Féin and the SDLP, or between the LibDems and the SNP.
And why should we allow a corrupt voting system to vote for someone we don't support and who we know is unsuitable for the job? That would be wrong.
Even under PR, UK general elections would have a choice between exactly two potential Prime Ministers. Except depending on the details it might have been decided by politicians behind closed doors.
"Change the voting system to fix X" is almost always a red herring. Unless the X you're trying to fix is "there aren't enough Liberal Democrat MPs".
Have just discovered, on filling my tax return, that I am paying 32.5% on part of my dividend income from my own company, in addition to the 19% corporation tax already payed, a total of 51.5%. I suppose this makes up for the employers/employees NI not paid, but it seems a lot. Is it possible that taking dividends is now no better than taking a salary?
Actually, that total 51.5% is wrong, because you can't add those two numbers. So it's 0.19 + (0.81 × 0.325) = 0.45325, or 45.3%.
2/ This months trends do seem economy related given the sharpness of Sunak's fall compared to Johnson.
Boris Johnson's numbers worsen a little but not to the same extent (changes from March);
Favourable: 25% (-2) Unfavourable: 54% (+2)
Bye Boris!
Boris 25, Rishi 26, SKS 30.
All very much of a muchness, and a fair reflection of the atrocious state of our politics right now.
Fair enough.
How did politics get into an atrocious state?
How does Britain get its politics out of this atrocious state?
Not snark, but a genuine important question, though I'll be a reluctant Turkish conscript if I know the answer.
How? We voted for it. We vote for the people who make us feel good about ourselves and not those who do the right thing for the country.
The easiest way to lose an election is to say "I'll be honest: we have a problem here, it's going to cost everyone money to fix it". For example, May tried that in 2017 and everyone howled her down with "dementia tax!"
Therefore, the logical strategy for SKS is to sail by saying virtually nothing while the government is be forced by circumstances to acknowledge there's a problem, so he can win effectively by default. Having policies means acknowledging that there are problems (perhaps even acknowledging that some of them haven't been created by the current government) and giving the people a choice between bad and worse - and risking that they will judge that he is worse.
How do we get out of it? I wish I knew.
Engagement of less partisan less ideological citizens with the existing political parties? No idea how that can be brought about though.
Ed Dave arguing for tax cuts and increased public spending.
Or, as it might also be described, higher inflation.
Good morning
Listening to him this morning he is suggesting vat is cut to 17.5% and he admitted it would cost a mere 18 billion
It does seem the opposition have completely blanked out the cost of covid and how giving a vat cut to the wealthy is progressive
I am a stern critic of Rishi since his ill fated budget but this vat cut is simply not an answer
Targeted help to those most in need should be the desire of all politicians in this crisis
Pesonally I find it morally disgusting that so many are arguing for tax cuts at a time of huge pressures on the State to the benefit of the better off. Tax cuts can be useful for a stimulus for growth at times but our economy is still growing strongly as it rebounds from Covid restrictions. It really doesn't need a further boost when inflation is already out of control and we have pretty much full employment.
And those with the broadest shoulders, as that well known socialist, George Osborne, used to say, need to step up. How anyone can prioritise tax cuts over, for example, a rerating of UC at the present time is simply beyond me. Ed Davey should be ashamed of himself.
On a technical point: is a VAT cut actually regressive? AIUI the poor pay quite substantially more VAT as a percentage of their income than the wealthy do. So it's not obvious to me that Mr Davey should be criticised on that point, so long as the tax income is regained elsewhere.
Comments
I had a couple of terrifying / rather entertaining encounters with farm dogs on my walk. First I passed a goat farmer feeding his goats in the corner of his yard. I gave him a “Hola!”, which he returned at the same time as his three dogs realised I was there and all started barking at me. Two of them ran out to me; one just ran round and round me barking, the other stood in front of me growling fiercely. I tried to be friendly and said “hello boy”; this seemed to make him angrier so I confidently strode forwards and he ran off, I thought back to the yard. In fact he’d run behind me and proceeded to jump up and bite me in the ass. I think it was just a warning bite as I only felt a little squeeze on my bum, but he does seem to have torn a little hole in the back pocket of my jeans. I turned around and growled at him and stamped my foot, then he did run back to his master (who didn’t seem to have noticed or cared what his dog was up to) and I pressed on a little shaken.
About a mile and a half further on I passed another farm and saw the head of an Alsatian pop up from the long grass about a hundred yards away. He then started creeping towards me, then walking, then bounding at me. His owner started shouting at him “LEO! LEO!”, which was totally ignored. I kept walking, stepping up my pace. Then I thought he started barking at me (but it was actually his brother who was hiding in the grass a bit behind him) as he leapt onto the path behind me. I thought I was done for. Then Leo caught me up and started nuzzling his nose between my hand and hip. Confident I wasn’t being attacked, I stroked him behind his ear and he went all soppy, nuzzled me some more and then rolled on his back for a tummy tickle. Having established that we were definitely friends, Leo then wanted to play and jumped up at me, damn near knocking me over! His owner by then had dashed down his driveway to tell Leo off and apologise to me - I laughed and told him about my earlier encounter; he apologised for that dog too but couldn’t suppress a chuckle.
One thing I kept noticing on the walk, each time I came over the brow of another hill, was how much closer the Pyrenees were getting. Every time I saw them I said to myself, in my best Dougal voice, “Dose mountains are definitely getting bigger Ted”
So, what can parties do? I guess you try to find the angle to get someone to vote for you in one election, and then hope that changes feelings of comfort when it comes to the next election. Do things like Partygate, or abortion in the US, break through to be that thing that shifts someone's vote in one election?
"Nope..."
Sounds like you are having quite the adventure. We are all enjoying it vicariously, without the blisters.
https://www.thebulwark.com/if-putin-were-to-use-nuclear-weapons-what-would-follow/?amp
Can we afford to live in a world where someone uses nuclear weapons without response?
Hard to know how one would behave in such circumstances. Would I do the right thing, and get everybody off even though it wasn't my job? Or the wrong thing and get out myself even though getting everybody else off wasn't my job? Or the other wrong thing and just panic and pretend it wasn't happening? I hope the former. But I hope I never have to find out.
Favourable: 26% (-10 from March)
Unfavourable: 44% (+11)
Net: -18
Sunak has only ever had a negative favourable rating one other time in our series (-6 in Jan 2022)
THREAD
Favourable: 30% (+3)
Unfavourable: 41% (+2)
Bye Rishi!
"Like Texas Senate Bill 8, the Oklahoma legislation would allow virtually any private individual to sue a person believed to have violated the law and be awarded at least $10,000 in damages.
"It would affect not only abortion providers but also anyone who "aids or abets the performance or inducement of an abortion" or even simply "intends to engage in the conduct described by this act." The legislation would not, however, allow civil action against the person who was pregnant, or who was seeking abortion services."
Boris Johnson's numbers worsen a little but not to the same extent (changes from March);
Favourable: 25% (-2)
Unfavourable: 54% (+2)
Bye Boris!
You're starting to resemble that Northern Irish joke, when new kid moves into the street and the other kids ask is he's a Protestant or a Catholic. "Neither, I'm a Muslim," he replies. And after a long pause, the other kids ask "yeah, but are you a Protestant Muslim or a Catholic Muslim?"
Ask yourself this, if someone didn't want either Boris or Corbyn as PM, what the hell else COULD they do other than vote for a third party?
All very much of a muchness, and a fair reflection of the atrocious state of our politics right now.
Might I recommend the short documentary film "Kind to Women" about the 1967 legalisation here? https://www.kindtowomen.com/
and on
and on
and on
about indyrefs and Ruth Davidson saying No, so they sure can/t complain about whatever you do.
https://www.gov.scot/policies/local-government/non-domestic-rates/
Since (like everyone else who posts here) you are more informed than the average voter and (like the vast majority of people who post here) you are more intelligent than the average voter, delegating the choice to the average voter seems to me to be a strange thing for you to have done.
Europe Elects
@EuropeElects
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35m
France, Kantar-Epoka poll:
Macron (EC-RE): 25% (-4)
Le Pen (RN-ID): 23% (+3)
Mélenchon (LFI-LEFT): 16% (+2)
Zemmour (REC-NI): 11%
Pécresse (LR-EPP): 8% (-2)
How did politics get into an atrocious state?
How does Britain get its politics out of this atrocious state?
Not snark, but a genuine important question, though I'll be a reluctant Turkish conscript if I know the answer.
The absolute nonsense people are peddling about the UK is laughable.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=643889539580795
I know what I voted for, which was emphatically "neither of them". That was a considered, deliberate choice and it starts and ends there. My choice wasn't "delegated" to anyone else, I made it myself. What appears on another person's ballot paper is THEIR choice, not mine.
I live in the UK, and my part of it at least is certainly not shit. Better than it's ever been, frankly. Amazingly, it's in better shape than it was immediately pre-covid - I certainly didn't expect that to happen. I expected immediately post covid we would be a see of boarded up shops where businesses had gone bust. There are lots of things about it I would change. But there is also no time in the past that it has been better than it is now.
We're in a frightening amount of debt of course. And I did like the brief window when Russia wasn't threatening armageddon. And I liked the period where you could get Wensleydale with mango and ginger at Tesco. Some things have got worse. But most things have got better.
The easiest way to lose an election is to say "I'll be honest: we have a problem here, it's going to cost everyone money to fix it". For example, May tried that in 2017 and everyone howled her down with "dementia tax!"
Therefore, the logical strategy for SKS is to sail by saying virtually nothing while the government is be forced by circumstances to acknowledge there's a problem, so he can win effectively by default. Having policies means acknowledging that there are problems (perhaps even acknowledging that some of them haven't been created by the current government) and giving the people a choice between bad and worse - and risking that they will judge that he is worse.
How do we get out of it? I wish I knew.
"Change the voting system to fix X" is almost always a red herring. Unless the X you're trying to fix is "there aren't enough Liberal Democrat MPs".
OTOH spending by people with higher incomes has already been subject to higher rates of income tax.