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Weak? Or dishonourable? – politicalbetting.com
Weak? Or dishonourable? – politicalbetting.com
I have finally found a Brexit benefit. No, really. But first, the journey.
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It’s a kind of Catch-22: being appointed in such a way makes you inherently unfit for the job.
A very good piece by @Cyclefree
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/25/australian-startup-recharge-bids-for-britishvolt-with-a-view-to-reviving-uk-battery-plant
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64405220
Stay safe, everyone, and remember our readers in Moscow and Tehran.
Must be a “y” in the name of the day.
Excellent header by @Cyclefree - the question is how to re-impose standards.
And we are back on topic
1) Make clear what the standards are, and make them widely known.
2) When people are accused of breaking the standards, have a fair investigation and a clear punishment if they are found to have been broken.
3) Stop criticising behaviour that are not in the standards.
4) Regularly review and update the standards.
3) is IMO an important one: politicians get criticised for everything nowadays, and I'm unsure that help. If we get headlines over the price of a flight the PM or LOTO takes, then the important stuff - the real rulebreakers - get hidden.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/01/25/dog-shoots-owner-dead/
Man was going hunting, and left a loaded rifle in the back of his car. Dog stepped on trigger and the man was hit by the bullet. Don’t leave guns loaded, people!
“The result is the Home Office losing migrant children, children, in its care who we must suppose have been trafficked for purposes that don’t bear thinking about.”
I have a strong suspicion most (all?) of these “children” are Albanian lads who came here with the express intention of working in cannabis farms, or dealing drugs on county lines, and have absconded to do exactly that
If we had a more effective government they wouldn’t be here in the first place. That’s what we should be complaining about
He also thinks competent and measured administration is enough and doesn't give enough weight to the politics - lacking sharp political instincts and PR judgement - and is very risk averse, and his penchant for playing it safe means he could be overtaken by events.
He's miles better than Truss or Johnson, and is learning on the job, but the risk is he doesn't get credit for what he does get right and events will rapidly overtake him.
I'd still stick with him though. I've got no doubt he's working hard to fix things but it won't save the Tories.
£800 000 is a lot of money, even to a spendthrift like Johnson. What was the money for?
There are so.many times in his political career where Sunak could have walked away, should have walked away, saying "this isn't right". In general, he didn't.
Weak.or dishonourable? Why not both?
(Which is one reason why replacing him is unlikely to be worth the hassle. There isn't an obvious substantial Conservative MP, let alone a Cabinet full, who doesn't suffer from Johnson taint to some degree.)
"Dad's Army": What Was The Military Career of Lance Corporal Jones?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL_F3E973bU
Interesting details from @Gerjon_ and @olga_pp98 possibly indicating a quick turn around between Shahed/ Geran-2 UAVs arriving in Russia from Iran and being used against Ukraine. (h/t @ELINTNews)
https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1618488225840140288
Then launched lots of them only for them to all be shot down:
The Ukrainian Air Force says that it shot down 24 Shahed/ Geran-2 UAVs over night that were launched from eastern coast of the Sea of Azov.
https://twitter.com/RALee85/status/1618478782733758464
Good reason why there haven't been so many attacks lately. Russia are just using things as soon as they get them.
Part of the reason for the low number (50) will be getting hold of enough tanks in export configuration. My guess would be that is what they can put together from already manufactured components for foreign users.
It was only last week, that the PM travelling by government plane and government car - described respectively by commentators as “private jet” and “chauffeur-driven limousine” - was news.
It was the same with the trade delegation that went to Australia in the middle of the pandemic restrictions, taking a govt plane rather than a commercial flight - at a time when commercial long-haul flights were all over the place.
Cabinet ministers’ official movements are co-ordinated primarily by the police, for security reasons.
Trying to get the media and Opposition to concentrate on what’s actually important, rather than using hyperbolic language to describe trivialities, or trying to keep a story in the news while the investigation process is underway, is sadly going to be an uphill task.
He’s always been rubbish with money, but was lucky that his wife earned a fortune and he made good money for little work with his Telegraph column.
Then he got divorced, and had to live with his new family on a government salary - the new wife having a part time charity job, and high expectations of lifestyle.
Hard not to agree with every word.
It is less than 7 years ago since we had a Prime Minister leading a functioning government that wasn't adrift, bent, or corrupt. And since then we've had 4 more Prime Ministers. We're at risk of getting a 5th. And despite that the Corruption Party still insists that we vote them back into office so that they can pocket more of our money for themselves.
To quote someone else, No. No. No.
https://twitter.com/nadhimzahawi/status/1618307909208928256?t=xh_Un9sgJC1Tr3acc-9ufQ&s=19
In other words, when you're young and not earning much, you go out and have a good time. When you start earning more, you spend more. You buy slightly better things; you buy more of them. Instead of that cheap bottle of £7 plonk, you get a £15 one. Instead of a cheap smartphone, you get the latest Apple whatever.
He then said the key is to break that cycle: don't be miserly, but ensure your expenditure does not fill your income. In the case of a relative, he tries to save/invest 15% of his take home income - even if they was really hard when he was starting out.
I fear Boris is someone who has never learnt that. As soon as he earns something, even if it is a lot, it will disappear.
I'd also like, belatedly, to thank you for engaging on a previous thread on the Scottish gender legislation, which I did write up a response for, but then pitched into the Christmas period and never posted. Rather than head off on that topic again here, I'd prefer now to work those musings as relevant to future discussions.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11658567/Asylum-seeker-21-lied-14-UK-guilty-murdering-aspiring-marine.html
Well, duh.
And if they are hardened criminals, allowing them to escape is negligence and a breach of the duty of care owed to us.
Which is part of the problem.
BBC News - UK car production collapses to lowest for 66 years
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64399748
He is said to have been marginalised in Rishi Sunak's No 1… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1618517881062309889
Of course the Ukranians, with half the world spying for them at the moment, knew exactly what was coming and when, and were prepared for it.
Your assessment of S is similar to mine. He won't win the next GE, but he might prevent a meltdown. I'd buy that if I were a Conservative supporter. (In case you hadn't noticed, I'm not.)
Brexiteers always said that Brexit was a process, not an event. They were right. The risk is that it is a process that is only heading one way.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-real-brexit-challenge-is-to-avoid-the-situation-getting-even-worse-7w2ldvcxh
It was also about item 10 in the running order.
The pro-Con bias is just preposterous.
I don't think we will see UK car manufacturing extinct with the IC engine in 2030, but it is hard to see it thriving.
Nevermind, the workers can all move into financial services I suppose.
But to do so takes vision. Instead of spending tens of billions propping up failed energy companies, offer tax breaks to companies building batteries and solar panels, and incentivise consumers to buy them.
Although I suppose his being a close personal friend of Prince William may be giving Sunak pause.
membership. Raab was a key Sunak supporter in both leadership elections and got his reward.
Italy has a more rightwing government than the UK now, Meloni is much more to GB news' flavour than Sunak
Without a significant nudge from government, it might stay that way.
Without Brexit, it would likely already be built, and selling everything it could make.
Jesus. The Labour herd circle-jerk was so hard I'm surprised they don't have to apply the Elizabeth Ardern cream this morning.
Moderate yourself fellas - there's possibly another two years to go yet and you'll have nothing left of it by the end at this rate.
Now as a backbencher he has lost his country pile (and No 10) and can't do that and is on less money as a backbencher than the 6 figures he earnt as PM and in Cabinet
Direct switching from Tory to Labour is relatively modest and, as @Sean_F says, centre-right voters haven't just disappeared or vanished into thin air.
Some people thought that Brexit might have a negative impact on the UK car industry, but the PB 'experts' assured us that was not the case.
And that on the most favourable of current polls.
On a point of PB pedantry, a postilion is a particular member of a crew for a horsedrawn coach or similar; and one wouldn't use a whole horse team and coach to deliver an envelope (unless, of course, the postilion was otherwise sitting around in the stables doing nothing and available for errands). A licensed porter would be another option in the London of the Zeitgeist in question ...
Wouldn't be a terrible idea for the government to sign up as the purchaser of the first several GWh of production.
It is a chumocracy, and incompetent, features which have developed over a long period and which are best remedied by a comprehensive clear-out.
Sunak is a technocrat who has spent his life focussed on money. There is no depth. Some people go for that, but I don’t. There is no direction or judgement, just management. He’s not hugely good at that it seems.
Despite his belated conversation, he was also perfectly happy to serve Boris.
Sunak's personal ratings are still just about at a level where he could compete rather better in the polls in normal times. In normal times you'd wonder whether the polls were a little wrong. I don't think they are wrong though, the electorate for certain noticed the chaos of the last year, and perhaps sense Sunak is not yet a fixture in the role. And while that remains in doubt, the dire ratings of the Tory party as a whole, and the worry what it might do next, are relevant to the polling. Even if Sunak retains OK ratimgs into 2024, defenestration anxiety could hold back voters from returning to the fold
It is either plain journalistic incompetence or it is corruption. I suspect the latter is the principal factor.
https://twitter.com/POLITlCSUK/status/1618293772181274624?s=20&t=agzo5xJu22lmGxXsBwlq9g
Bet there was something similar on the red side in 2019.
Some way to go before matching the Liberal Democrats in 2015 though...
https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-britishcars/bentley-celebrates-extraordinary-year/46686