God I am so bored of this. Is there anyone left who really cares? I mean, I get the use of this tedium to undermine any Johnson come back but that looks increasingly unlikely in any event. And the agony of going through this again.
Boris lied. We all know he did. There is nothing left to prove. He was driven out of office by his lies. Enough.
While some of the others are still there, still drawing their money and cocking everything up through a mixture of the same arrogance, ignorance and stupidity they demonstrated so clearly over this, we should still care.
I suppose that could apply to Sunak but I’m thinking particularly of Case and Acland-Hood.
Simon Case is a disgrace and should have been sacked for his role in trying to cover this up rather than promoted. But promotion for incompetence is in the finest traditions of public service. Acland-Hood rather escaped my attention I'm afraid but as someone who had a leading role in the Education department I can see how she might be in your sights.
You'd know about her if you were an English lawyer. She's the idiot who crashed the courts and probation service.
There is no justification for consultants demanding 3 times their basic pay during the junior doctors' strike or for junior doctors demanding a 26% rise paid for by taxpayers well in excess of the 6% average national payrise either. Both are rightly being refused
The justification is that the consultants have rightly observed that there is no one else to cover junior doctors.
Demand is high, supply is low, so the price…why do I have to explain this? I thought you Conservatives were the economically literate party?
So they demand 3 times their basic pay? Well I suppose consultants detached houses in Surrey, Michelin starred meals, sports cars, boarding school fees and holidays in Tuscany and the Caribbean and Maldives don't pay for themselves, even if it is taxpayers struggling with cost of living who have to pay for them!
Like every other highly-paid employee. Shoppers at Tesco contribute to the high pay of their Chief Exec. Anyone with savings gets higher fees and lower returns because of all the middlemen scalping half a percent here and half a percent there, often to no particular benefit. The list goes on.
There is no justification for consultants demanding 3 times their basic pay during the junior doctors' strike or for junior doctors demanding a 26% rise paid for by taxpayers well in excess of the 6% average national payrise either. Both are rightly being refused
The justification is that the consultants have rightly observed that there is no one else to cover junior doctors.
Demand is high, supply is low, so the price…why do I have to explain this? I thought you Conservatives were the economically literate party?
These are the standard BMA rates card for extra work above contract, and apply at all times, so are not specific to this or any other strike.
Of course staff might be more amenable to work if the basic salary wasn't a real terms pay cut of 8%, but that is where the whole thing started.
Junior doctors also want a 26% payrise, ie over 4 times the average national payrise and 16% more than inflation
They have had a real terms pay cut of that over the last decade, and what they are wanting is pay restoration to that level over a few years.
I thought Tories were in favour of a high skill, high wage economy, with domestic workers protected.
Trainee doctors earn about £37,000 on average which is at the upper stake of what graduates who have recently left university would earn elsewhere
Have to say Rishi seems to be coming out well from all of the WhatsApp leaks. Vindicated by his early anti lockdown stance and opposing the clearly power crazed Hancock and other DoH wankers who ruined everyone's lives.
Posted yesterday:
1.14 Texts damaging to Rishi being held back for maximum impact 6 No damaging texts for Rishi
Have to say Rishi seems to be coming out well from all of the WhatsApp leaks. Vindicated by his early anti lockdown stance and opposing the clearly power crazed Hancock and other DoH wankers who ruined everyone's lives.
I think attention might turn to Eat Out to Help Out (an unfortunate slogan at the best of times) quite soon…
It was generally supported by the public so attention to that will help him. If it does it I don't think it will hurt him at all. Only the most pro-lockdown, anti-fun weirdos were against it and fewer and fewer people remember being in that group, they've all magically become lockdown sceptics.
God I am so bored of this. Is there anyone left who really cares? I mean, I get the use of this tedium to undermine any Johnson come back but that looks increasingly unlikely in any event. And the agony of going through this again.
Boris lied. We all know he did. There is nothing left to prove. He was driven out of office by his lies. Enough.
It shines a light on the government's true attitude to covid. Fauci said recently that natural immunity provides better protection than the vaccinations. Most people were not at risk and so infection in the community provides a barrier to halt the spread. There never was any justification for the lockdowns or the vaccine passports. Most PCR test positives were false positives, and deliberately so.
So you are anti vaccinations then
This particular Moscow dynamo came in anti vax studs up from post one. Some manage forty to fifty posts before the hammer falls.
Capitals, punctuation and no ellipses though. So well done there.
There is no justification for consultants demanding 3 times their basic pay during the junior doctors' strike or for junior doctors demanding a 26% rise paid for by taxpayers well in excess of the 6% average national payrise either. Both are rightly being refused
The justification is that the consultants have rightly observed that there is no one else to cover junior doctors.
Demand is high, supply is low, so the price…why do I have to explain this? I thought you Conservatives were the economically literate party?
So they demand 3 times their basic pay? Well I suppose consultants detached houses in Surrey, Michelin starred meals, sports cars, boarding school fees and holidays in Tuscany and the Caribbean and Maldives don't pay for themselves, even if it is taxpayers struggling with cost of living who have to pay for then!
No, they are merely asking for the rate they usually charge for work outside contract, which this is. If you treated junior doctors properly then this wouldn’t happen. Why should consultants charge less than they would normally for off contract work just bail the Tory Party out of the hole it has created for the country?
The Conservatives should look for ways of fixing the problem instead of searching for scapegoats like doctors, nurses, civil servants, remainers, lawyers, the EU, immigrants, the last Labour Govt etc etc
The primary cause of high inflation is of course the Ukraine war and giving pay rises well above inflation to doctors will not get it under control
God I am so bored of this. Is there anyone left who really cares? I mean, I get the use of this tedium to undermine any Johnson come back but that looks increasingly unlikely in any event. And the agony of going through this again.
Boris lied. We all know he did. There is nothing left to prove. He was driven out of office by his lies. Enough.
It shines a light on the government's true attitude to covid. Fauci said recently that natural immunity provides better protection than the vaccinations. Most people were not at risk and so infection in the community provides a barrier to halt the spread. There never was any justification for the lockdowns or the vaccine passports. Most PCR test positives were false positives, and deliberately so.
Fauci is an American and has gone mad on this. Vaccination saved us from a much higher death toll. There were arguments for lock downs etc whilst we got vaccinated. When we were there was no justification. Boris and Sunak have been fully vindicated by that judgment call.
Did they lock us down too long? Probably but the pressure was all the other way at the time. And a government has the right to be cautious about something like this.
There is no justification for consultants demanding 3 times their basic pay during the junior doctors' strike or for junior doctors demanding a 26% rise paid for by taxpayers well in excess of the 6% average national payrise either. Both are rightly being refused
The justification is that the consultants have rightly observed that there is no one else to cover junior doctors.
Demand is high, supply is low, so the price…why do I have to explain this? I thought you Conservatives were the economically literate party?
So they demand 3 times their basic pay? Well I suppose consultants detached houses in Surrey, Michelin starred meals, sports cars, boarding school fees and holidays in Tuscany and the Caribbean and Maldives don't pay for themselves, even if it is taxpayers struggling with cost of living who have to pay for them!
Like every other highly-paid employee. Shoppers at Tesco contribute to the high pay of their Chief Exec. Anyone with savings gets higher fees and lower returns because of all the middlemen scalping half a percent here and half a percent there, often to no particular benefit. The list goes on.
Shoppers at Tesco can also go to Aldi or Lidl or Asda or Sainsburys. The average patient can only use the NHS unless they can afford private health insurance
There is no justification for consultants demanding 3 times their basic pay during the junior doctors' strike or for junior doctors demanding a 26% rise paid for by taxpayers well in excess of the 6% average national payrise either. Both are rightly being refused
The justification is that the consultants have rightly observed that there is no one else to cover junior doctors.
Demand is high, supply is low, so the price…why do I have to explain this? I thought you Conservatives were the economically literate party?
So they demand 3 times their basic pay? Well I suppose consultants detached houses in Surrey, Michelin starred meals, sports cars, boarding school fees and holidays in Tuscany and the Caribbean and Maldives don't pay for themselves, even if it is taxpayers struggling with cost of living who have to pay for them!
Oh the irony. When 'lefties' make such comments you refer to it as the envy of the left. You are promoting Communism not free market Conservatism. Does this not confuse you?
Have to say Rishi seems to be coming out well from all of the WhatsApp leaks. Vindicated by his early anti lockdown stance and opposing the clearly power crazed Hancock and other DoH wankers who ruined everyone's lives.
It is difficult to see a Treasury minister arguing for anything else. Had Rishi been at Health, I imagine he'd have argued for most if not all of the rubbish that Hancock was proposing. He has never had the experience or confidence to go against the views of his officials, symptomatic of someone who has been promoted long before his time.
That's fine when his officials are right, but when they're wrong, as the DoH ones were, it's a disaster.
Have to say Rishi seems to be coming out well from all of the WhatsApp leaks. Vindicated by his early anti lockdown stance and opposing the clearly power crazed Hancock and other DoH wankers who ruined everyone's lives.
There is a particular delusion about that without lockdown everything would have carried on normally as if there wasn't a massive fatal or debilitating viral pandemic. It was the bloody virus that was the problem, not the attempt at controlling it. Just look at Brazil to see what happens when government just decides to ignore a pandemic.
Certainly as part of the Covid enquiry we should have a look at what worked and what didn't in terms of measures, but in August 2020 measures were minimal across the country* even before EOTHO. Worth noting too that this was 4 months before vaccination started and only 10% of the population or so had been infected, so the only control measures possible were non medical interventions to prevent spread.
*Leicester was the only area in the country still with restrictions on socialising that August, because of high covid rates, yet we still had EOTHO here!
There is no justification for consultants demanding 3 times their basic pay during the junior doctors' strike or for junior doctors demanding a 26% rise paid for by taxpayers well in excess of the 6% average national payrise either. Both are rightly being refused
The justification is that the consultants have rightly observed that there is no one else to cover junior doctors.
Demand is high, supply is low, so the price…why do I have to explain this? I thought you Conservatives were the economically literate party?
These are the standard BMA rates card for extra work above contract, and apply at all times, so are not specific to this or any other strike.
Of course staff might be more amenable to work if the basic salary wasn't a real terms pay cut of 8%, but that is where the whole thing started.
Junior doctors also want a 26% payrise, ie over 4 times the average national payrise and 16% more than inflation
They have had a real terms pay cut of that over the last decade, and what they are wanting is pay restoration to that level over a few years.
I thought Tories were in favour of a high skill, high wage economy, with domestic workers protected.
Trainee doctors earn about £37,000 on average which is at the upper stake of what graduates who have recently left university would earn elsewhere
If they go on to be consultants or partners in GP practices they would be comfortably in the top 10% of earners, some even in the top 1%
Given that senior doctors are in the top 10% or so by general attainment and merit (don't have the exact figures, but thinking how many sixth formers go on to study medicine, and it isn't even 5%), I should jolly well hope so.
God I am so bored of this. Is there anyone left who really cares? I mean, I get the use of this tedium to undermine any Johnson come back but that looks increasingly unlikely in any event. And the agony of going through this again.
Boris lied. We all know he did. There is nothing left to prove. He was driven out of office by his lies. Enough.
It shines a light on the government's true attitude to covid. Fauci said recently that natural immunity provides better protection than the vaccinations. Most people were not at risk and so infection in the community provides a barrier to halt the spread. There never was any justification for the lockdowns or the vaccine passports. Most PCR test positives were false positives, and deliberately so.
So you are anti vaccinations then
This particular Moscow dynamo came in anti vax studs up from post one. Some manage forty to fifty posts before the hammer falls.
Capitals, punctuation and no ellipses though. So well done there.
Make sure we don’t tell him about the war plan. The one against Canada and New Zealand, using submarine aircraft carriers armed with resurrected Violet Club nuclear warheads.
God I am so bored of this. Is there anyone left who really cares? I mean, I get the use of this tedium to undermine any Johnson come back but that looks increasingly unlikely in any event. And the agony of going through this again.
Boris lied. We all know he did. There is nothing left to prove. He was driven out of office by his lies. Enough.
It shines a light on the government's true attitude to covid. Fauci said recently that natural immunity provides better protection than the vaccinations. Most people were not at risk and so infection in the community provides a barrier to halt the spread. There never was any justification for the lockdowns or the vaccine passports. Most PCR test positives were false positives, and deliberately so.
So you are anti vaccinations then
This particular Moscow dynamo came in anti vax studs up from post one. Some manage forty to fifty posts before the hammer falls.
Capitals, punctuation and no ellipses though. So well done there.
Make sure we don’t tell him about the war plan. The one against Canada and New Zealand, using submarine aircraft carriers armed with resurrected Violet Club nuclear warheads.
There is no justification for consultants demanding 3 times their basic pay during the junior doctors' strike or for junior doctors demanding a 26% rise paid for by taxpayers well in excess of the 6% average national payrise either. Both are rightly being refused
The justification is that the consultants have rightly observed that there is no one else to cover junior doctors.
Demand is high, supply is low, so the price…why do I have to explain this? I thought you Conservatives were the economically literate party?
So they demand 3 times their basic pay? Well I suppose consultants detached houses in Surrey, Michelin starred meals, sports cars, boarding school fees and holidays in Tuscany and the Caribbean and Maldives don't pay for themselves, even if it is taxpayers struggling with cost of living who have to pay for them!
Oh the irony. When 'lefties' make such comments you refer to it as the envy of the left. You are promoting Communism not free market Conservatism. Does this not confuse you?
Free market conservatism is not about paying consultants in the NHS taxpayer funded monopoly 3 times their salary in a cost of living crisis
I suspect, as @Foxy has hinted in his previous post is that the senior doctors don't actually want to do the work, but also don't want to refuse it outright and get a load of grief.
So they're setting a higher price they hope won't be accepted.
A friend of mine had a similar issue. He was asked to go on supply to a prestigious private school who desperately needed a temporary teacher. He was rather enjoying himself being able to set his own hours and work at his own desk running a property company, so he quoted them a thousand a day (which is four times what you would pay for normal supply) to ensure they would turn him down without him having to refuse.
The ruse was entirely successful until they accepted his terms.
God I am so bored of this. Is there anyone left who really cares? I mean, I get the use of this tedium to undermine any Johnson come back but that looks increasingly unlikely in any event. And the agony of going through this again.
Boris lied. We all know he did. There is nothing left to prove. He was driven out of office by his lies. Enough.
It shines a light on the government's true attitude to covid. Fauci said recently that natural immunity provides better protection than the vaccinations. Most people were not at risk and so infection in the community provides a barrier to halt the spread. There never was any justification for the lockdowns or the vaccine passports. Most PCR test positives were false positives, and deliberately so.
So you are anti vaccinations then
This particular Moscow dynamo came in anti vax studs up from post one. Some manage forty to fifty posts before the hammer falls.
Capitals, punctuation and no ellipses though. So well done there.
Make sure we don’t tell him about the war plan. The one against Canada and New Zealand, using submarine aircraft carriers armed with resurrected Violet Club nuclear warheads.
There is no justification for consultants demanding 3 times their basic pay during the junior doctors' strike or for junior doctors demanding a 26% rise paid for by taxpayers well in excess of the 6% average national payrise either. Both are rightly being refused
The justification is that the consultants have rightly observed that there is no one else to cover junior doctors.
Demand is high, supply is low, so the price…why do I have to explain this? I thought you Conservatives were the economically literate party?
So they demand 3 times their basic pay? Well I suppose consultants detached houses in Surrey, Michelin starred meals, sports cars, boarding school fees and holidays in Tuscany and the Caribbean and Maldives don't pay for themselves, even if it is taxpayers struggling with cost of living who have to pay for them!
Oh the irony. When 'lefties' make such comments you refer to it as the envy of the left. You are promoting Communism not free market Conservatism. Does this not confuse you?
Free market conservatism is not about paying consultants in the NHS taxpayer funded monopoly 3 times their salary in a cost of living crisis
I was referring to your comments that dripped with envy.
God I am so bored of this. Is there anyone left who really cares? I mean, I get the use of this tedium to undermine any Johnson come back but that looks increasingly unlikely in any event. And the agony of going through this again.
Boris lied. We all know he did. There is nothing left to prove. He was driven out of office by his lies. Enough.
It shines a light on the government's true attitude to covid. Fauci said recently that natural immunity provides better protection than the vaccinations. Most people were not at risk and so infection in the community provides a barrier to halt the spread. There never was any justification for the lockdowns or the vaccine passports. Most PCR test positives were false positives, and deliberately so.
So you are anti vaccinations then
This particular Moscow dynamo came in anti vax studs up from post one. Some manage forty to fifty posts before the hammer falls.
Capitals, punctuation and no ellipses though. So well done there.
Make sure we don’t tell him about the war plan. The one against Canada and New Zealand, using submarine aircraft carriers armed with resurrected Violet Club nuclear warheads.
Singin’ the coups: Donald Trump releases single with January 6 prisoners ... The move is the latest in a growing trend by Trump and others on the far right of US politics to embrace the January 6 attack on the Capitol as a political cause and portray many of those who carried it out as protesters being persecuted by the state. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/03/donald-trump-song-charity-single-january-6-prisoners
There is no justification for consultants demanding 3 times their basic pay during the junior doctors' strike or for junior doctors demanding a 26% rise paid for by taxpayers well in excess of the 6% average national payrise either. Both are rightly being refused
The justification is that the consultants have rightly observed that there is no one else to cover junior doctors.
Demand is high, supply is low, so the price…why do I have to explain this? I thought you Conservatives were the economically literate party?
So they demand 3 times their basic pay? Well I suppose consultants detached houses in Surrey, Michelin starred meals, sports cars, boarding school fees and holidays in Tuscany and the Caribbean and Maldives don't pay for themselves, even if it is taxpayers struggling with cost of living who have to pay for them!
Oh the irony. When 'lefties' make such comments you refer to it as the envy of the left. You are promoting Communism not free market Conservatism. Does this not confuse you?
Free market conservatism is not about paying consultants in the NHS taxpayer funded monopoly 3 times their salary in a cost of living crisis
BMA rates are lower than free market agency locum rates, they are doing the government a favour.
Personally, I am asking for TOIL, so I can cancel some other clinical activity instead, as that is better for tax reasons, but also puts more pressure on management in terms of waiting lists.
There is no justification for consultants demanding 3 times their basic pay during the junior doctors' strike or for junior doctors demanding a 26% rise paid for by taxpayers well in excess of the 6% average national payrise either. Both are rightly being refused
The justification is that the consultants have rightly observed that there is no one else to cover junior doctors.
Demand is high, supply is low, so the price…why do I have to explain this? I thought you Conservatives were the economically literate party?
These are the standard BMA rates card for extra work above contract, and apply at all times, so are not specific to this or any other strike.
Of course staff might be more amenable to work if the basic salary wasn't a real terms pay cut of 8%, but that is where the whole thing started.
Junior doctors also want a 26% payrise, ie over 4 times the average national payrise and 16% more than inflation
They have had a real terms pay cut of that over the last decade, and what they are wanting is pay restoration to that level over a few years.
I thought Tories were in favour of a high skill, high wage economy, with domestic workers protected.
Trainee doctors earn about £37,000 on average which is at the upper stake of what graduates who have recently left university would earn elsewhere
If they go on to be consultants or partners in GP practices they would be comfortably in the top 10% of earners, some even in the top 1%
Not enough, given the number of junior hospital doctors seeking alternatives. Partly, of course, it is not about money at all. What other graduate profession demands shift work for 24x7 coverage? Even management consultants get to go home at night.
Have to say Rishi seems to be coming out well from all of the WhatsApp leaks. Vindicated by his early anti lockdown stance and opposing the clearly power crazed Hancock and other DoH wankers who ruined everyone's lives.
I suspect, as @Foxy has hinted in his previous post is that the senior doctors don't actually want to do the work, but also don't want to refuse it outright and get a load of grief.
So they're setting a higher price they hope won't be accepted.
A friend of mine had a similar issue. He was asked to go on supply to a prestigious private school who desperately needed a temporary teacher. He was rather enjoying himself being able to set his own hours and work at his own desk running a property company, so he quoted them a thousand a day (which is four times what you would pay for normal supply) to ensure they would turn him down without him having to refuse.
The ruse was entirely successful until they accepted his terms.
A colleague of mine got rather bored of Private Practice, so doubled his fees in order to wind it down.
Demand for appointments with him went up, apparently because "he must be the best, he charges twice as much as anyone else!".
Have to say Rishi seems to be coming out well from all of the WhatsApp leaks. Vindicated by his early anti lockdown stance and opposing the clearly power crazed Hancock and other DoH wankers who ruined everyone's lives.
It is difficult to see a Treasury minister arguing for anything else. Had Rishi been at Health, I imagine he'd have argued for most if not all of the rubbish that Hancock was proposing. He has never had the experience or confidence to go against the views of his officials, symptomatic of someone who has been promoted long before his time.
That's fine when his officials are right, but when they're wrong, as the DoH ones were, it's a disaster.
Not sure about that. Rishi has been right about quite a few things related to economics. And the Treasury hardly ever is.
It's a very PB thing for problems (of others) to include getting paid five thousand pounds a week, or being unable to quit because your attempts at overcharging lead to more business.
Have to say Rishi seems to be coming out well from all of the WhatsApp leaks. Vindicated by his early anti lockdown stance and opposing the clearly power crazed Hancock and other DoH wankers who ruined everyone's lives.
I suspect, as @Foxy has hinted in his previous post is that the senior doctors don't actually want to do the work, but also don't want to refuse it outright and get a load of grief.
So they're setting a higher price they hope won't be accepted.
A friend of mine had a similar issue. He was asked to go on supply to a prestigious private school who desperately needed a temporary teacher. He was rather enjoying himself being able to set his own hours and work at his own desk running a property company, so he quoted them a thousand a day (which is four times what you would pay for normal supply) to ensure they would turn him down without him having to refuse.
The ruse was entirely successful until they accepted his terms.
I had that once in a job I was doing. They wanted to extend me, I wanted to go travelling, so I jacked up my already high rates by 50%, thinking they couldn't afford it. Needless to say, they accepted.
God I am so bored of this. Is there anyone left who really cares? I mean, I get the use of this tedium to undermine any Johnson come back but that looks increasingly unlikely in any event. And the agony of going through this again.
Boris lied. We all know he did. There is nothing left to prove. He was driven out of office by his lies. Enough.
It is boring - and if only he'd walk away from politics it could stop right now. I keep hearing how he's on for a great life post SW1 earning mega money for old rope and just generally doing lots of fabulous Borisey things. Well get on with it man.
I'm skeptical, I think he's addicted to this, would even come back as LOTO after the GE if he can, but I'd like to be proved wrong. It'd be absolutely terrific to see much less of him, and preferably nothing at all.
I suspect, as @Foxy has hinted in his previous post is that the senior doctors don't actually want to do the work, but also don't want to refuse it outright and get a load of grief.
So they're setting a higher price they hope won't be accepted.
A friend of mine had a similar issue. He was asked to go on supply to a prestigious private school who desperately needed a temporary teacher. He was rather enjoying himself being able to set his own hours and work at his own desk running a property company, so he quoted them a thousand a day (which is four times what you would pay for normal supply) to ensure they would turn him down without him having to refuse.
The ruse was entirely successful until they accepted his terms.
I had that once in a job I was doing. They wanted to extend me, I wanted to go travelling, so I jacked up my already high rates by 50%, thinking they couldn't afford it. Needless to say, they accepted.
It's a tough life sometimes.
I'm thinking of jacking up my tutoring fees in the autumn. Ideal would be to do a bit less work but get more money for it.
Of course, I may get even more work for that reason!
I suspect, as @Foxy has hinted in his previous post is that the senior doctors don't actually want to do the work, but also don't want to refuse it outright and get a load of grief.
So they're setting a higher price they hope won't be accepted.
A friend of mine had a similar issue. He was asked to go on supply to a prestigious private school who desperately needed a temporary teacher. He was rather enjoying himself being able to set his own hours and work at his own desk running a property company, so he quoted them a thousand a day (which is four times what you would pay for normal supply) to ensure they would turn him down without him having to refuse.
The ruse was entirely successful until they accepted his terms.
A colleague of mine got rather bored of Private Practice, so doubled his fees in order to wind it down.
Demand for appointments with him went up, apparently because "he must be the best, he charges twice as much as anyone else!".
If you can crack the secret of Veblen Goods you have it made. One of the most remarkable bits of economics, of which this is a lovely example.
It's a very PB thing for problems (of others) to include getting paid five thousand pounds a week, or being unable to quit because your attempts at overcharging lead to more business.
I think it just shows that some of us are so devoted that we are reluctant to pursue the market price for the job. This is a community of saints.
God I am so bored of this. Is there anyone left who really cares? I mean, I get the use of this tedium to undermine any Johnson come back but that looks increasingly unlikely in any event. And the agony of going through this again.
Boris lied. We all know he did. There is nothing left to prove. He was driven out of office by his lies. Enough.
It is boring - and if only he'd walk away from politics it could stop right now. I keep hearing how he's on for a great life post SW1 earning mega money for old rope and just generally doing lots of fabulous Borisey things. Well get on with it man.
I'm skeptical, I think he's addicted to this, would even come back as LOTO after the GE if he can, but I'd like to be proved wrong. It'd be absolutely terrific to see much less of him, and preferably nothing at all.
Totally agree with that. My moaning about the tedium of this has nothing to do with wanting to spare Boris's blushes (if such a thing exists).
It's a very PB thing for problems (of others) to include getting paid five thousand pounds a week, or being unable to quit because your attempts at overcharging lead to more business.
It’s a nightmare.
A few years ago I was working 100 hour weeks and a client asked me to price up some asset disposal work.
The cost would be around £50k, I didn’t have the time, so I quoted £125k plus VAT and disbursements.
He agreed.
The weeks became longer. I ended up sleeping on the sofa in my office.
There is no justification for consultants demanding 3 times their basic pay during the junior doctors' strike or for junior doctors demanding a 26% rise paid for by taxpayers well in excess of the 6% average national payrise either. Both are rightly being refused
The justification is that the consultants have rightly observed that there is no one else to cover junior doctors.
Demand is high, supply is low, so the price…why do I have to explain this? I thought you Conservatives were the economically literate party?
So they demand 3 times their basic pay? Well I suppose consultants detached houses in Surrey, Michelin starred meals, sports cars, boarding school fees and holidays in Tuscany and the Caribbean and Maldives don't pay for themselves, even if it is taxpayers struggling with cost of living who have to pay for them!
Oh the irony. When 'lefties' make such comments you refer to it as the envy of the left. You are promoting Communism not free market Conservatism. Does this not confuse you?
Free market conservatism is not about paying consultants in the NHS taxpayer funded monopoly 3 times their salary in a cost of living crisis
Ah young HY... You are making a distinction between "free market conservatism" and the current leadership of the Conservative Party. Which faction do you belong to?
It's a very PB thing for problems (of others) to include getting paid five thousand pounds a week, or being unable to quit because your attempts at overcharging lead to more business.
I think it just shows that some of us are so devoted that we are reluctant to pursue the market price for the job. This is a community of saints.
No, Saints would do voluntary medical work in sub Saharan Africa or South Asia for barely nothing, not demand pay rises vastly in excess of the average!
It's a very PB thing for problems (of others) to include getting paid five thousand pounds a week, or being unable to quit because your attempts at overcharging lead to more business.
Have to say Rishi seems to be coming out well from all of the WhatsApp leaks. Vindicated by his early anti lockdown stance and opposing the clearly power crazed Hancock and other DoH wankers who ruined everyone's lives.
There is a particular delusion about that without lockdown everything would have carried on normally as if there wasn't a massive fatal or debilitating viral pandemic. It was the bloody virus that was the problem, not the attempt at controlling it. Just look at Brazil to see what happens when government just decides to ignore a pandemic.
Brazil, which implemented fewer lockdown measures, had lower excess deaths than Ecuador, Bolivia or Peru, which were far stricter.
God I am so bored of this. Is there anyone left who really cares? I mean, I get the use of this tedium to undermine any Johnson come back but that looks increasingly unlikely in any event. And the agony of going through this again.
Boris lied. We all know he did. There is nothing left to prove. He was driven out of office by his lies. Enough.
It shines a light on the government's true attitude to covid. Fauci said recently that natural immunity provides better protection than the vaccinations. Most people were not at risk and so infection in the community provides a barrier to halt the spread. There never was any justification for the lockdowns or the vaccine passports. Most PCR test positives were false positives, and deliberately so.
So you are anti vaccinations then
This particular Moscow dynamo came in anti vax studs up from post one. Some manage forty to fifty posts before the hammer falls.
Capitals, punctuation and no ellipses though. So well done there.
Make sure we don’t tell him about the war plan. The one against Canada and New Zealand, using submarine aircraft carriers armed with resurrected Violet Club nuclear warheads.
God I am so bored of this. Is there anyone left who really cares? I mean, I get the use of this tedium to undermine any Johnson come back but that looks increasingly unlikely in any event. And the agony of going through this again.
Boris lied. We all know he did. There is nothing left to prove. He was driven out of office by his lies. Enough.
It shines a light on the government's true attitude to covid. Fauci said recently that natural immunity provides better protection than the vaccinations. Most people were not at risk and so infection in the community provides a barrier to halt the spread. There never was any justification for the lockdowns or the vaccine passports. Most PCR test positives were false positives, and deliberately so.
So you are anti vaccinations then
This particular Moscow dynamo came in anti vax studs up from post one. Some manage forty to fifty posts before the hammer falls.
Capitals, punctuation and no ellipses though. So well done there.
Make sure we don’t tell him about the war plan. The one against Canada and New Zealand, using submarine aircraft carriers armed with resurrected Violet Club nuclear warheads.
It's a very PB thing for problems (of others) to include getting paid five thousand pounds a week, or being unable to quit because your attempts at overcharging lead to more business.
I think it just shows that some of us are so devoted that we are reluctant to pursue the market price for the job. This is a community of saints.
Does it lead to the forgiveness of sins and the resurrection of the body?
The slow process of condemning Boris to the history books is painful, but it does seem that Sunak is winning the war.
I'm not as confident of that as you. He still seems to easily get a chunk of MPs and the media to buy his story. Heck, he's got them saying he did nothing and it was all a Gray stitch up even though he said he was sorry for his actions and welcomed her report.
And no, her being Labour doesn't change the interpretations of that - if he thought her report was good and independent then it must have been, since he'd have complained if it were not.
Best thing is that Boris gets suspended for more than 10 days, there's a recall petition in Uxbridge (which only needs 1 in 10 voters to say "yes" for it to succeed) and then he's removed in a by-election. A good trade for the Tory party, a bit of electoral chemo.
God I am so bored of this. Is there anyone left who really cares? I mean, I get the use of this tedium to undermine any Johnson come back but that looks increasingly unlikely in any event. And the agony of going through this again.
Boris lied. We all know he did. There is nothing left to prove. He was driven out of office by his lies. Enough.
It shines a light on the government's true attitude to covid. Fauci said recently that natural immunity provides better protection than the vaccinations. Most people were not at risk and so infection in the community provides a barrier to halt the spread. There never was any justification for the lockdowns or the vaccine passports. Most PCR test positives were false positives, and deliberately so.
So you are anti vaccinations then
This particular Moscow dynamo came in anti vax studs up from post one. Some manage forty to fifty posts before the hammer falls.
Capitals, punctuation and no ellipses though. So well done there.
Make sure we don’t tell him about the war plan. The one against Canada and New Zealand, using submarine aircraft carriers armed with resurrected Violet Club nuclear warheads.
Best thing is that Boris gets suspended for more than 10 days, there's a recall petition in Uxbridge (which only needs 1 in 10 voters to say "yes" for it to succeed) and then he's removed in a by-election. A good trade for the Tory party, a bit of electoral chemo.
Fuckety-bye.
But that sets up his standing for a safe seat in next year's election and sweeping back in as the Prodigal Son.
I suspect, as @Foxy has hinted in his previous post is that the senior doctors don't actually want to do the work, but also don't want to refuse it outright and get a load of grief.
So they're setting a higher price they hope won't be accepted.
A friend of mine had a similar issue. He was asked to go on supply to a prestigious private school who desperately needed a temporary teacher. He was rather enjoying himself being able to set his own hours and work at his own desk running a property company, so he quoted them a thousand a day (which is four times what you would pay for normal supply) to ensure they would turn him down without him having to refuse.
The ruse was entirely successful until they accepted his terms.
A colleague of mine got rather bored of Private Practice, so doubled his fees in order to wind it down.
Demand for appointments with him went up, apparently because "he must be the best, he charges twice as much as anyone else!".
If you can crack the secret of Veblen Goods you have it made. One of the most remarkable bits of economics, of which this is a lovely example.
Private medicine is not a very price sensitive market. Which reminds me, I haven't put my own fees up for 5 years, perhaps it is time I did.
On the subject of medical insurance, Dr Glaukomflecken has had this viral video recently:
Best thing is that Boris gets suspended for more than 10 days, there's a recall petition in Uxbridge (which only needs 1 in 10 voters to say "yes" for it to succeed) and then he's removed in a by-election. A good trade for the Tory party, a bit of electoral chemo.
Fuckety-bye.
And banned by the party from standing again. That's a non-trivial part of the equation or some twats will try to parachute him into a safe seat.
I suspect, as @Foxy has hinted in his previous post is that the senior doctors don't actually want to do the work, but also don't want to refuse it outright and get a load of grief.
So they're setting a higher price they hope won't be accepted.
A friend of mine had a similar issue. He was asked to go on supply to a prestigious private school who desperately needed a temporary teacher. He was rather enjoying himself being able to set his own hours and work at his own desk running a property company, so he quoted them a thousand a day (which is four times what you would pay for normal supply) to ensure they would turn him down without him having to refuse.
The ruse was entirely successful until they accepted his terms.
I had that once in a job I was doing. They wanted to extend me, I wanted to go travelling, so I jacked up my already high rates by 50%, thinking they couldn't afford it. Needless to say, they accepted.
It's a very PB thing for problems (of others) to include getting paid five thousand pounds a week, or being unable to quit because your attempts at overcharging lead to more business.
I think it just shows that some of us are so devoted that we are reluctant to pursue the market price for the job. This is a community of saints.
Does it lead to the forgiveness of sins and the resurrection of the body?
As a devout Yen Buddhist Fundamentalist, I reject this heresy of leaving money on the table.
Best thing is that Boris gets suspended for more than 10 days, there's a recall petition in Uxbridge (which only needs 1 in 10 voters to say "yes" for it to succeed) and then he's removed in a by-election. A good trade for the Tory party, a bit of electoral chemo.
Fuckety-bye.
My big fear is he comes back to a more winnable seat.
You can easily see Mad Nad triggering a by election so Boris can replace her.
Boris reminds me of a character from The Order of The Stick (despite its name and parodic beginnings a story with some of the best and deepest character work I've seen in a work of fiction) who was left whining in impotent frustration that it just wasnt fair when they faced consequences for their choices, to be bluntly told "Yes, it is fair, and that's why you're upset".
Have to say Rishi seems to be coming out well from all of the WhatsApp leaks. Vindicated by his early anti lockdown stance and opposing the clearly power crazed Hancock and other DoH wankers who ruined everyone's lives.
Sounds like the kind of person the Tory right should like. Too bad for him they are in hock to Boris.
Best thing is that Boris gets suspended for more than 10 days, there's a recall petition in Uxbridge (which only needs 1 in 10 voters to say "yes" for it to succeed) and then he's removed in a by-election. A good trade for the Tory party, a bit of electoral chemo.
Fuckety-bye.
But that sets up his standing for a safe seat in next year's election and sweeping back in as the Prodigal Son.
He might do that anyway. And, if he does after this scandal and a big defeat, his chicken run might not end well for him either.
Best thing is the electorate passes its cleansing judgement on him now, and him alone.
Best thing is that Boris gets suspended for more than 10 days, there's a recall petition in Uxbridge (which only needs 1 in 10 voters to say "yes" for it to succeed) and then he's removed in a by-election. A good trade for the Tory party, a bit of electoral chemo.
Fuckety-bye.
What's the exact process here? Committee recommends, Commons votes to suspend?
Best will be for BoJo to gogo, but there will still be legends of the Martyrdom of St Boris. Told by idiots, to be sure, but some of those idiots have prominent platforms in politics and the media.
Chemotherapy is good, but there's no denying the side effects.
Have to say Rishi seems to be coming out well from all of the WhatsApp leaks. Vindicated by his early anti lockdown stance and opposing the clearly power crazed Hancock and other DoH wankers who ruined everyone's lives.
There is a particular delusion about that without lockdown everything would have carried on normally as if there wasn't a massive fatal or debilitating viral pandemic. It was the bloody virus that was the problem, not the attempt at controlling it. Just look at Brazil to see what happens when government just decides to ignore a pandemic.
Brazil, which implemented fewer lockdown measures, had lower excess deaths than Ecuador, Bolivia or Peru, which were far stricter.
Peru was Peru.
As in - the government announced a bunch of mad, unworkable stuff. Which most people ignored.
Until the overflowing hospitals and running out of coffins forced people into a self imposed lockdown.
Which wasn’t much of a lockdown, since there is no infrastructure for pretty much anyone to stay at home continuously.
It's a very PB thing for problems (of others) to include getting paid five thousand pounds a week, or being unable to quit because your attempts at overcharging lead to more business.
I think it just shows that some of us are so devoted that we are reluctant to pursue the market price for the job. This is a community of saints.
I'll go one better. I have taken a job as a public prosecutor that pays me roughly half of what I was earning before. Because I think it is an important and worthwhile thing to do. (I am not going to ask what that makes me, this is a family blog).
Best thing is that Boris gets suspended for more than 10 days, there's a recall petition in Uxbridge (which only needs 1 in 10 voters to say "yes" for it to succeed) and then he's removed in a by-election. A good trade for the Tory party, a bit of electoral chemo.
Fuckety-bye.
My big fear is he comes back to a more winnable seat.
You can easily see Mad Nad triggering a by election so Boris can replace her.
Being suspended and triggered ought to get Boris of the candidates list, but I bet it wouldn't.
It's a very PB thing for problems (of others) to include getting paid five thousand pounds a week, or being unable to quit because your attempts at overcharging lead to more business.
It’s a nightmare.
A few years ago I was working 100 hour weeks and a client asked me to price up some asset disposal work.
The cost would be around £50k, I didn’t have the time, so I quoted £125k plus VAT and disbursements.
He agreed.
The weeks became longer. I ended up sleeping on the sofa in my office.
FPT - @Leon had it right when he said all this stuff about crown jewels, Elgin Marbles, and Diego Garcia, slavery reparations etc is feeding into a wider narrative that Britain has lost confidence in itself, is consumed by guilt, and in irrevocable decline and thus everything is up for discussion for those who shout loudly enough, usually for domestic consumption. So it's no wonder people are queueing up to pick at the carcass to see what they can get. Hence, Argentina and the Falklands.
Government need to grow a pair, up investment in the foreign office and ministry of defence, hold our heads high on the international stage, and, diplomatically, tell everyone who wants a piece of us to fuck off.
God I am so bored of this. Is there anyone left who really cares? I mean, I get the use of this tedium to undermine any Johnson come back but that looks increasingly unlikely in any event. And the agony of going through this again.
Boris lied. We all know he did. There is nothing left to prove. He was driven out of office by his lies. Enough.
It shines a light on the government's true attitude to covid. Fauci said recently that natural immunity provides better protection than the vaccinations. Most people were not at risk and so infection in the community provides a barrier to halt the spread. There never was any justification for the lockdowns or the vaccine passports. Most PCR test positives were false positives, and deliberately so.
Fauci is an American and has gone mad on this. Vaccination saved us from a much higher death toll. There were arguments for lock downs etc whilst we got vaccinated. When we were there was no justification. Boris and Sunak have been fully vindicated by that judgment call.
Did they lock us down too long? Probably but the pressure was all the other way at the time. And a government has the right to be cautious about something like this.
Quite right. And whilst it may be thought we locked down too long it's worth remembering in his favour that Boris ended it earlier than many (including public polling) wanted, but it was in fact fine. Keir made a big thing of it as I recall.
Best thing is that Boris gets suspended for more than 10 days, there's a recall petition in Uxbridge (which only needs 1 in 10 voters to say "yes" for it to succeed) and then he's removed in a by-election. A good trade for the Tory party, a bit of electoral chemo.
Fuckety-bye.
My big fear is he comes back to a more winnable seat.
You can easily see Mad Nad triggering a by election so Boris can replace her.
He'd still have to get the selection committee to approve him. And presumably to be on a central office candidates list.
He should be quielty told that as the House of Commons has chosen the sanction to suspend, he will not be an approved candidate.
Best thing is that Boris gets suspended for more than 10 days, there's a recall petition in Uxbridge (which only needs 1 in 10 voters to say "yes" for it to succeed) and then he's removed in a by-election. A good trade for the Tory party, a bit of electoral chemo.
Fuckety-bye.
What's the exact process here? Committee recommends, Commons votes to suspend?
Best will be for BoJo to gogo, but there will still be legends of the Martyrdom of St Boris. Told by idiots, to be sure, but some of those idiots have prominent platforms in politics and the media.
Chemotherapy is good, but there's no denying the side effects.
You can Google it.
Sunak should take a leaf out of Starmer's book and exorcise the demon, as he did with Corbyn, if a few die-hards go with him it's no skin off my nose.
Best thing is that Boris gets suspended for more than 10 days, there's a recall petition in Uxbridge (which only needs 1 in 10 voters to say "yes" for it to succeed) and then he's removed in a by-election. A good trade for the Tory party, a bit of electoral chemo.
Fuckety-bye.
What's the exact process here? Committee recommends, Commons votes to suspend?
Best will be for BoJo to gogo, but there will still be legends of the Martyrdom of St Boris. Told by idiots, to be sure, but some of those idiots have prominent platforms in politics and the media.
Chemotherapy is good, but there's no denying the side effects.
I don't know how Sunak survives a vote to suspend (I assume despite being a proceeding of parliament Boris will try some legal challenges if he is recommended to be suspended before Commons acts). If he tries to whip it over 100 rebels is not unlikely, since like Boris or not many of them wont want to see a forher Tory PM humiliated.
Best case for Rishi is a recommendation to suspend for less than the trigger threshold. They can then argue internally it's not politically worth rejecting but it's ok as he wont be turfed out.
At the moment the character Boris Johnson most reminds me of is John Bercow.
Seek to obfuscate and obstruct, then lie, then attack the investigation, whilst maintaining the impossible delusion of himself being the innocent party.
Best thing is that Boris gets suspended for more than 10 days, there's a recall petition in Uxbridge (which only needs 1 in 10 voters to say "yes" for it to succeed) and then he's removed in a by-election. A good trade for the Tory party, a bit of electoral chemo.
Fuckety-bye.
What's the exact process here? Committee recommends, Commons votes to suspend?
Best will be for BoJo to gogo, but there will still be legends of the Martyrdom of St Boris. Told by idiots, to be sure, but some of those idiots have prominent platforms in politics and the media.
Chemotherapy is good, but there's no denying the side effects.
You can Google it.
Sunak should take a leaf out of Starmer's book and exorcise the demon, as he did with Corbyn, if a few die-hards go with him it's no skin off my nose.
The lowest risk and the moral thing to do are both the same. Become a One Nation centrist christian democratic party dedicated to competence, having the capacity to produce thought out answers to complex problems and maximally moving towards equality of opportunity but not outcomes.
It used to be called the Conservative party, and people used to vote for it.
Well before the ERG, Boris, Dorries etc the Tories used to win seats in Liverpool and Glasgow.
There is no justification for consultants demanding 3 times their basic pay during the junior doctors' strike or for junior doctors demanding a 26% rise paid for by taxpayers well in excess of the 6% average national payrise either. Both are rightly being refused
The justification is that the consultants have rightly observed that there is no one else to cover junior doctors.
Demand is high, supply is low, so the price…why do I have to explain this? I thought you Conservatives were the economically literate party?
So they demand 3 times their basic pay? Well I suppose consultants detached houses in Surrey, Michelin starred meals, sports cars, boarding school fees and holidays in Tuscany and the Caribbean and Maldives don't pay for themselves, even if it is taxpayers struggling with cost of living who have to pay for then!
No, they are merely asking for the rate they usually charge for work outside contract, which this is. If you treated junior doctors properly then this wouldn’t happen. Why should consultants charge less than they would normally for off contract work just bail the Tory Party out of the hole it has created for the country?
The Conservatives should look for ways of fixing the problem instead of searching for scapegoats like doctors, nurses, civil servants, remainers, lawyers, the EU, immigrants, the last Labour Govt etc etc
The primary cause of high inflation is of course the Ukraine war and giving pay rises well above inflation to doctors will not get it under control
FPT - @Leon had it right when he said all this stuff about crown jewels, Elgin Marbles, and Diego Garcia, slavery reparations etc is feeding into a wider narrative that Britain has lost confidence in itself, is consumed by guilt, and in irrevocable decline and thus everything is up for discussion for those who shout loudly enough, usually for domestic consumption. So it's no wonder people are queueing up to pick at the carcass to see what they can get. Hence, Argentina and the Falklands.
Government need to grow a pair, up investment in the foreign office and ministry of defence, hold our heads high on the international stage, and, diplomatically, tell everyone who wants a piece of us to fuck off.
Sadly, this time there is no Margaret Thatcher to tell them to go jump in a lake
Best thing is that Boris gets suspended for more than 10 days, there's a recall petition in Uxbridge (which only needs 1 in 10 voters to say "yes" for it to succeed) and then he's removed in a by-election. A good trade for the Tory party, a bit of electoral chemo.
Fuckety-bye.
What's the exact process here? Committee recommends, Commons votes to suspend?
Best will be for BoJo to gogo, but there will still be legends of the Martyrdom of St Boris. Told by idiots, to be sure, but some of those idiots have prominent platforms in politics and the media.
Chemotherapy is good, but there's no denying the side effects.
You can Google it.
Sunak should take a leaf out of Starmer's book and exorcise the demon, as he did with Corbyn, if a few die-hards go with him it's no skin off my nose.
The lowest risk and the moral thing to do are both the same. Become a One Nation centrist christian democratic party dedicated to competence, having the capacity to produce thought out answers to complex problems and maximally moving towards equality of opportunity but not outcomes.
It used to be called the Conservative party, and people used to vote for it.
Well before the ERG, Boris, Dorries etc the Tories used to win seats in Liverpool and Glasgow.
The only way the Tories are going to win a seat in Liverpool is if Dominic Grieve is the Tory candidate.
I suspect, as @Foxy has hinted in his previous post is that the senior doctors don't actually want to do the work, but also don't want to refuse it outright and get a load of grief.
So they're setting a higher price they hope won't be accepted.
A friend of mine had a similar issue. He was asked to go on supply to a prestigious private school who desperately needed a temporary teacher. He was rather enjoying himself being able to set his own hours and work at his own desk running a property company, so he quoted them a thousand a day (which is four times what you would pay for normal supply) to ensure they would turn him down without him having to refuse.
The ruse was entirely successful until they accepted his terms.
A colleague of mine got rather bored of Private Practice, so doubled his fees in order to wind it down.
Demand for appointments with him went up, apparently because "he must be the best, he charges twice as much as anyone else!".
Ah, the playbook of the luxury goods market - have a decent product, get slick marketing, charge 10x more than its worth and 5x what an equally good product does, then success.
Singin’ the coups: Donald Trump releases single with January 6 prisoners ... The move is the latest in a growing trend by Trump and others on the far right of US politics to embrace the January 6 attack on the Capitol as a political cause and portray many of those who carried it out as protesters being persecuted by the state. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/03/donald-trump-song-charity-single-january-6-prisoners
Its bloody bizarre. If there was one thing youd think would make people snap awake from partisan hell and remember their shared values itd be having your Congress stormed by a literally crazed mob. But no.
My hope is that conservative mps realise just how toxic Johnson and his allies are, especially at their ludicrous attempts to discredit Sue Gray's report, that they row in behind Sunak as Sreve Baker did yesterday when he told Boris there is no coming back from this
Listening to the analysis of the privileges committee report released yesterday, conservative mps must see the evidence against Johnson is overwhelming and continued association with him is not political savvy
On Sue Gray, her report was fair and showed no political bias but her sudden acceptance of the position in Starmer's office was very badly timed and no doubt the cabinet office will investigate the time line of communications between her and Starmer to establish just when this was first discussed
Best thing is that Boris gets suspended for more than 10 days, there's a recall petition in Uxbridge (which only needs 1 in 10 voters to say "yes" for it to succeed) and then he's removed in a by-election. A good trade for the Tory party, a bit of electoral chemo.
Fuckety-bye.
My big fear is he comes back to a more winnable seat.
You can easily see Mad Nad triggering a by election so Boris can replace her.
He'd still have to get the selection committee to approve him. And presumably to be on a central office candidates list.
He should be quielty told that as the House of Commons has chosen the sanction to suspend, he will not be an approved candidate.
If they allow someone to stand in a recall petition as their candidate, as they did that chap in Wales I think, then it's harder to claim they cannot be a candidate elsewhere.
I suspect, as @Foxy has hinted in his previous post is that the senior doctors don't actually want to do the work, but also don't want to refuse it outright and get a load of grief.
So they're setting a higher price they hope won't be accepted.
A friend of mine had a similar issue. He was asked to go on supply to a prestigious private school who desperately needed a temporary teacher. He was rather enjoying himself being able to set his own hours and work at his own desk running a property company, so he quoted them a thousand a day (which is four times what you would pay for normal supply) to ensure they would turn him down without him having to refuse.
The ruse was entirely successful until they accepted his terms.
A colleague of mine got rather bored of Private Practice, so doubled his fees in order to wind it down.
Demand for appointments with him went up, apparently because "he must be the best, he charges twice as much as anyone else!".
At the moment the character Boris Johnson most reminds me of is John Bercow.
Seek to obfuscate and obstruct, then lie, then attack the investigation, whilst maintaining the impossible delusion of himself being the innocent party.
Perhaps he will end up similarly?
That's just standard tactics from those subject to investigation. Expect him to complain about delays he's contributed to and that he hasn't had a chance to defend himself. Comparisons to being as persecuted as Jesus are not impossible.
My hope is that conservative mps realise just how toxic Johnson and his allies are, especially at their ludicrous attempts to discredit Sue Gray's report, that they row in behind Sunak as Sreve Baker did yesterday when he told Boris there is no coming back from this
Listening to the analysis of the privileges committee report released yesterday, conservative mps must see the evidence against Johnson is overwhelming and continued association with him is not political savvy
On Sue Gray, her report was fair and showed no political bias but her sudden acceptance of the position in Starmer's office was very badly timed and no doubt the cabinet office will investigate the time line of communications between her and Starmer to establish just when this was first discussed
Maybe obtain their what's app messages !!!!
I've no doubt that they will try, if only because Case is doubtless still smarting after being called out for his totally unacceptable behaviour. Revenge will probably seem like a plan to him.
God I am so bored of this. Is there anyone left who really cares? I mean, I get the use of this tedium to undermine any Johnson come back but that looks increasingly unlikely in any event. And the agony of going through this again.
Boris lied. We all know he did. There is nothing left to prove. He was driven out of office by his lies. Enough.
He is still second favourite for next leader of the establishment party so yes, we care.
Three observations:
Why do we allow senior politicians to use Whatsapp in this way? What is the point of security clearance anymore?
Might Hancock be guilty of breaking Official Secrets Act by giving all his Whatsapp to Oakeshott?
It seems dozens of civil servants and advisers directly knew the PM was lying to parliament, not one spoke publicly. Do they not have a legal/moral duty to whistleblow here?
The only duty they know seems to be loyalty to the boss. That's also true of totalitarian regimes and the mafia, so it's less than sufficient in a democracy.
My hope is that conservative mps realise just how toxic Johnson and his allies are, especially at their ludicrous attempts to discredit Sue Gray's report, that they row in behind Sunak as Sreve Baker did yesterday when he told Boris there is no coming back from this
Listening to the analysis of the privileges committee report released yesterday, conservative mps must see the evidence against Johnson is overwhelming and continued association with him is not political savvy
On Sue Gray, her report was fair and showed no political bias but her sudden acceptance of the position in Starmer's office was very badly timed and no doubt the cabinet office will investigate the time line of communications between her and Starmer to establish just when this was first discussed
Maybe obtain their what's app messages !!!!
If the Express is to be believed, it all happened in the last month and is due to the stupidity of Simon Case;
One source noted: “It in effect put an end to her career chances because it meant she would never be promoted to a permanent secretary job and never have a chance to become Cabinet Secretary. A lot of ministers wanted her to land the top job one day.”
It is understood she was “upset and frustrated” and soon after Starmer approached her.
A source said: “Everybody knew what had happened and Starmer must have got to hear about it too so he swooped. It’s actually a masterstroke by him.”
I would expect that if he tried to stand somewhere else there would be a unified anti-boris candidate agreed between Lab & LD as well as a bunch of independent Conservatives ....it wont end well for the lazy oaf
Even then celebrities were paying a quarter mill as a deposit for going up into space, estimated to begin flights 'by end of 2014'. To some extent, Branson was sold a pup in that the original SpaceShipOne couldn't scale up (ironic given it was built by a company called 'Scaled Composites') but as he tries to stay in the billionaire space club with Elon and Jeff, he has doubled down on the 'flights by end of next year' messaging for ten years and at some point the can can't be kicked down the road any further.
It's comparing apples and oranges I know, and the ambition and risk profiles are totally different, but from Kennedy's speech to footprints on the Moon was 8 years. Next year (2024) it will be 20 years since SpaceShipOne won the Ansari X Prize and we were promised rides to space.
Why is everyone whining about junior Doctors asking for a decent pay rise?
They've had huge real terms pay cuts over the last 10 years. Conditions in the NHS are rubbish. Australia beckons.
The PB cohort should have a keen interest in retaining as many of these staff as possible, especially given the UK's upcoming demographic timebomb.
Giving the junior doctors an above inflation pay rise is inflationary.
This doesn’t mean they don’t need or deserve such a rise.
Both can be true at once.
I’ve noticed a curious modern phenomenon of
1) X is nice/moral/right 2) Therefore X can have no negative side effects. Saying it has negative side effects is evidence the sayer is evil.
Everything has side effects. All decisions are a balance between the positives and the negatives.
I'm not making a fairness argument. I'm just pointing out that the NHS is in ever deeper trouble if it can't retain staff. The same argument allies there as in the private sector.
My gf just got her contract in from the hospital in Melbourne. Very nice.
Why is everyone whining about junior Doctors asking for a decent pay rise?
They've had huge real terms pay cuts over the last 10 years. Conditions in the NHS are rubbish. Australia beckons.
The PB cohort should have a keen interest in retaining as many of these staff as possible, especially given the UK's upcoming demographic timebomb.
Giving the junior doctors an above inflation pay rise is inflationary.
This doesn’t mean they don’t need or deserve such a rise.
Both can be true at once.
I’ve noticed a curious modern phenomenon of
1) X is nice/moral/right 2) Therefore X can have no negative side effects. Saying it has negative side effects is evidence the sayer is evil.
Everything has side effects. All decisions are a balance between the positives and the negatives.
Nuance is for the weak and cowardly!
The long term solution to medical staff issues needs to be something like -
1) Trust level pay deals. Create an actual pay market. 2) Training 100% of the required number of nurses and doctors. 3) Contracts, conditions as best practise in the 21st cent. The existing system seems to be built on abusing junior staff. And not much better for the senior! 4) Pay negotiated by the methods used in a number of industries - see 3)
Indeed. This is an example of the studies of the scheme. I see the particularly imaginative use of the weather to argue that there really is a signal caused by restaurant usage.
Subsidising the spread of COVID-19: Evidence from the UK’S Eat-Out-to-Help-Out Scheme* Thiemo Fetzer The Economic Journal, Volume 132, Issue 643, April 2022, Pages 1200–1217, https://doi.org/10.1093/ej/ueab074
Abstract
This paper documents that a large-scale government subsidy aimed at encouraging people to eat out in restaurants in the wake of the first 2020 COVID-19 wave in the United Kingdom has had a significant causal impact on new cases, accelerating the subsequent second COVID-19 wave. The scheme subsidised 50% off the cost of food and non-alcoholic drinks for an unlimited number of visits in participating restaurants on Mondays–Wednesdays from 3–31 August 2020. Areas with higher take-up saw both a notable increase in new COVID-19 infection clusters within a week of the scheme starting and a deceleration in infections within two weeks of the program ending. Similarly, areas that exhibited notable rainfall during the prime lunch and dinner hours on the days the scheme was active record lower infection incidence—a pattern that is also measurable in mobility data—and non-detectable on days during which the discount was not available or for rainfall outside the core lunch and dinner hours.
I don't think this will/should have any traction. Everyone knew there is a trade off between increased infections vs economic and social gain with Eat Out to Help Out. Many of us needed something like that for our mental health. Of course it lead to increased spread as more people met and that is how covid spreads.....
"Everyone knew": sure, if they had any brains. But that conversation shows it was being deliberately suppressed. Hancock was actually right.
Not focussing on something is not the same as suppressing it. Everyone knew. The balance between the two was widely discussed on here, in the media and socially generally. It was a balance call not a good/bad call.
My memory is that insofar as it was discussed in here, and certainly in the media, the Johnsonites were praising it to the skies and those who pointed out the inconsistencies and illogic (e.g. magic immunity of restaurants to viruses vs home, as others have pointed out today) were told to shut up.
Very much as in this whatsapp.
HMG was still saying that it was all fine even after the first study appeared that very summer pointing to some very worrying stats.
Comments
Firearms is the largest cause of death for children in America. Not cars, not illness, firearms. It is really unbelievable.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-34475955.amp.
If they go on to be consultants or partners in GP practices they would be comfortably in the top 10% of earners, some even in the top 1%
1.14 Texts damaging to Rishi being held back for maximum impact
6 No damaging texts for Rishi
Did they lock us down too long? Probably but the pressure was all the other way at the time. And a government has the right to be cautious about something like this.
average patient can only use the NHS unless they can afford private health insurance
That's fine when his officials are right, but when they're wrong, as the DoH ones were, it's a disaster.
Certainly as part of the Covid enquiry we should have a look at what worked and what didn't in terms of measures, but in August 2020 measures were minimal across the country* even before EOTHO. Worth noting too that this was 4 months before vaccination started and only 10% of the population or so had been infected, so the only control measures possible were non medical interventions to prevent spread.
*Leicester was the only area in the country still with restrictions on socialising that August, because of high covid rates, yet we still had EOTHO here!
So they're setting a higher price they hope won't be accepted.
A friend of mine had a similar issue. He was asked to go on supply to a prestigious private school who desperately needed a temporary teacher. He was rather enjoying himself being able to set his own hours and work at his own desk running a property company, so he quoted them a thousand a day (which is four times what you would pay for normal supply) to ensure they would turn him down without him having to refuse.
The ruse was entirely successful until they accepted his terms.
Personally, I am asking for TOIL, so I can cancel some other clinical activity instead, as that is better for tax reasons, but also puts more pressure on management in terms of waiting lists.
Demand for appointments with him went up, apparently because "he must be the best, he charges twice as much as anyone else!".
It's a tough life sometimes.
Last election was Boris Johnson versus Jeremy Corbyn. At the moment, the situation is vastly improved.
I'm skeptical, I think he's addicted to this, would even come back as LOTO after the GE if he can, but I'd like to be proved wrong. It'd be absolutely terrific to see much less of him, and preferably nothing at all.
Of course, I may get even more work for that reason!
A few years ago I was working 100 hour weeks and a client asked me to price up some asset disposal work.
The cost would be around £50k, I didn’t have the time, so I quoted £125k plus VAT and disbursements.
He agreed.
The weeks became longer. I ended up sleeping on the sofa in my office.
And no, her being Labour doesn't change the interpretations of that - if he thought her report was good and independent then it must have been, since he'd have complained if it were not.
Fuckety-bye.
On the subject of medical insurance, Dr Glaukomflecken has had this viral video recently:
https://twitter.com/DGlaucomflecken/status/1627464645522128896?t=D4m-4MULd9l2vonW-hwsCg&s=19
Needless to say, I had the last laugh.
You can easily see Mad Nad triggering a by election so Boris can replace her.
Best thing is the electorate passes its cleansing judgement on him now, and him alone.
Karma.
Best will be for BoJo to gogo, but there will still be legends of the Martyrdom of St Boris. Told by idiots, to be sure, but some of those idiots have prominent platforms in politics and the media.
Chemotherapy is good, but there's no denying the side effects.
As in - the government announced a bunch of mad, unworkable stuff. Which most people ignored.
Until the overflowing hospitals and running out of coffins forced people into a self imposed lockdown.
Which wasn’t much of a lockdown, since there is no infrastructure for pretty much anyone to stay at home continuously.
Government need to grow a pair, up investment in the foreign office and ministry of defence, hold our heads high on the international stage, and, diplomatically, tell everyone who wants a piece of us to fuck off.
https://twitter.com/sciguyspace/status/1631662320408567808?s=46&t=EcXFDVWMLqwBtGTEM4tngg
He should be quielty told that as the House of Commons has chosen the sanction to suspend, he will not be an approved candidate.
Sunak should take a leaf out of Starmer's book and exorcise the demon, as he did with Corbyn, if a few die-hards go with him it's no skin off my nose.
Best case for Rishi is a recommendation to suspend for less than the trigger threshold. They can then argue internally it's not politically worth rejecting but it's ok as he wont be turfed out.
At the moment the character Boris Johnson most reminds me of is John Bercow.
Seek to obfuscate and obstruct, then lie, then attack the investigation, whilst maintaining the impossible delusion of himself being the innocent party.
Perhaps he will end up similarly?
They've had huge real terms pay cuts over the last 10 years. Conditions in the NHS are rubbish. Australia beckons.
The PB cohort should have a keen interest in retaining as many of these staff as possible, especially given the UK's upcoming demographic timebomb.
It used to be called the Conservative party, and people used to vote for it.
Well before the ERG, Boris, Dorries etc the Tories used to win seats in Liverpool and Glasgow.
My hope is that conservative mps realise just how toxic Johnson and his allies are, especially at their ludicrous attempts to discredit Sue Gray's report, that they row in behind Sunak as Sreve Baker did yesterday when he told Boris there is no coming back from this
Listening to the analysis of the privileges committee report released yesterday, conservative mps must see the evidence against Johnson is overwhelming and continued association with him is not political savvy
On Sue Gray, her report was fair and showed no political bias but her sudden acceptance of the position in Starmer's office was very badly timed and no doubt the cabinet office will investigate the time line of communications between her and Starmer to establish just when this was first discussed
Maybe obtain their what's app messages !!!!
This doesn’t mean they don’t need or deserve such a rise.
Both can be true at once.
I’ve noticed a curious modern phenomenon of
1) X is nice/moral/right
2) Therefore X can have no negative side effects. Saying it has negative side effects is evidence the sayer is evil.
Everything has side effects. All decisions are a balance between the positives and the negatives.
That's also true of totalitarian regimes and the mafia, so it's less than sufficient in a democracy.
Why aren't we passing legislation to put a cap on that?
One source noted: “It in effect put an end to her career chances because it meant she would never be promoted to a permanent secretary job and never have a chance to become Cabinet Secretary. A lot of ministers wanted her to land the top job one day.”
It is understood she was “upset and frustrated” and soon after Starmer approached her.
A source said: “Everybody knew what had happened and Starmer must have got to hear about it too so he swooped. It’s actually a masterstroke by him.”
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1742083/boris-johnson-sue-gray-keir-starmer-chief-of-staff
Take a look at this story from almost ten years ago: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/jun/07/justin-bieber-space-virgin-galactic
Even then celebrities were paying a quarter mill as a deposit for going up into space, estimated to begin flights 'by end of 2014'. To some extent, Branson was sold a pup in that the original SpaceShipOne couldn't scale up (ironic given it was built by a company called 'Scaled Composites') but as he tries to stay in the billionaire space club with Elon and Jeff, he has doubled down on the 'flights by end of next year' messaging for ten years and at some point the can can't be kicked down the road any further.
It's comparing apples and oranges I know, and the ambition and risk profiles are totally different, but from Kennedy's speech to footprints on the Moon was 8 years. Next year (2024) it will be 20 years since SpaceShipOne won the Ansari X Prize and we were promised rides to space.
Parabolic Arc has done a fantastic series on the whole sorry history of the evolutionary dead end that is Virgin Galactic here if anyone is interested: https://parabolicarc.com/2015/11/09/spaceshiptwos-pf04-high-risk-flight/
My gf just got her contract in from the hospital in Melbourne. Very nice.
1) Trust level pay deals. Create an actual pay market.
2) Training 100% of the required number of nurses and doctors.
3) Contracts, conditions as best practise in the 21st cent. The existing system seems to be built on abusing junior staff. And not much better for the senior!
4) Pay negotiated by the methods used in a number of industries - see 3)
Very much as in this whatsapp.
HMG was still saying that it was all fine even after the first study appeared that very summer pointing to some very worrying stats.