The Conservative party deserves to be buried in manure for the shit it has inflicted on us. I doubt it will happen, but it deserves a crushing defeat.
They couldn't have done it by themselves, though. They needed all the help Labour gave them.
There is some truth to that, we were bloody fools. Thankfully we’re on the right path.
But as the nation stares into the abyss yet again, the buck stops with the government. The Conservative party needs to get a grip of itself and ditch this populist, nationalist, ideological crap and remember how to govern.
Except Boris only won a majority and breached the Red Wall on a populist, nationalist ticket, that is the new Tory coalition for the foreseeable future, ditch that and they face a Major 1997 style result squeezed by Starmer and Davey on one side and Farage on the other
History is littered with politicians that made promises, won elections and turned out to be utterly useless. This government is the textbook example.
Take no pride in your electoral achievements. You won power, but exercise it with all the competence of a chuckle brother. You got the keys to a Porsche, but never learned to drive so steered it into a ditch.
Well done.
We won, we beat Corbyn and delivered Brexit, that was the main thing.
If you don't win elections you don't get to deliver anything, if you are a Tory even the worst Tory government is still better than the best Labour government and if you are Labour similarly even the worst Labour government is better than the best possible Tory government.
Hunt is the Tory Mitt Romney, good on paper but uncharismatic and unable to win the key swing states and seats filled with white working class voters Boris and Trump did
I fear for you it’s just a game. The election bit is all you care about. The government part is a mere inconvenience. It doesn’t matter what fills the five years. I think that in part explains why this government is so weak.
A few weeks ago we had supper with some friends. The husband is very successful small businessman.
A mutual friend is an estate agent, and I know several conveyancing solicitors. They're off the scake busy. We just couldn't see why anyone was buying a house at the moment. News on here tonight (albeit in no way tallying with the realities down here in Dorset, as far as I can see) would suggest that we're in for a horrid autumn and winter.
So the question that I can't get away from, is:
Why the hell is the housing market booming like it is?
A strange one. If I were a buyer I would hold off until next year and bag a reposession bargain. The choice of homes, I have no doubt, will be extensive.
This is my thinking too.
Interestingly, we both also deal in intrinsically luxury goods. Albeit him for pleasure, me to resell. He was telling of some very interesting firesale purchases. I hadn't seen the same. I have this week. I think in my trade the BBLs have been spent....
A few weeks ago we had supper with some friends. The husband is very successful small businessman.
A mutual friend is an estate agent, and I know several conveyancing solicitors. They're off the scale busy. We just couldn't see why anyone was buying a house at the moment. News on here tonight (albeit in no way tallying with the realities down here in Dorset, as far as I can see) would suggest that we're in for a horrid autumn and winter.
So the question that I can't get away from, is:
Why the hell is the housing market booming like it is?
The stamp duty holiday is only until March 31 2021; people I know are acting now to make sure they beat this deadline. So prices are holding or even going up in some places. No surprise that London is not part of this trend, however, given prices there and WFH trends etc.
The Conservative party deserves to be buried in manure for the shit it has inflicted on us. I doubt it will happen, but it deserves a crushing defeat.
They couldn't have done it by themselves, though. They needed all the help Labour gave them.
There is some truth to that, we were bloody fools. Thankfully we’re on the right path.
But as the nation stares into the abyss yet again, the buck stops with the government. The Conservative party needs to get a grip of itself and ditch this populist, nationalist, ideological crap and remember how to govern.
Except Boris only won a majority and breached the Red Wall on a populist, nationalist ticket, that is the new Tory coalition for the foreseeable future, ditch that and they face a Major 1997 style result squeezed by Starmer and Davey on one side and Farage on the other
History is littered with politicians that made promises, won elections and turned out to be utterly useless. This government is the textbook example.
Take no pride in your electoral achievements. You won power, but exercise it with all the competence of a chuckle brother. You got the keys to a Porsche, but never learned to drive so steered it into a ditch.
Well done.
We won, we beat Corbyn and delivered Brexit, that was the main thing.
If you don't win elections you don't get to deliver anything, if you are a Tory even the worst Tory government is still better than the best Labour government and if you are Labour similarly even the worst Labour government is better than the best possible Tory government.
Hunt is the Tory Mitt Romney, good on paper but uncharismatic and unable to win the key swing states and seats filled with white working class voters Boris and Trump did
I fear for you it’s just a game. The election bit is all you care about. The government part is a mere inconvenience. It doesn’t matter what fills the five years. I think that in part explains why this government is so weak.
Whereas your lack of concern about the opinion of the electorate might explain why at the next election there will be teenagers studying for GCSEs who haven't seen a Labour government in their lifetime ... and may well not see one until they're at university.
A few weeks ago we had supper with some friends. The husband is very successful small businessman.
A mutual friend is an estate agent, and I know several conveyancing solicitors. They're off the scale busy. We just couldn't see why anyone was buying a house at the moment. News on here tonight (albeit in no way tallying with the realities down here in Dorset, as far as I can see) would suggest that we're in for a horrid autumn and winter.
So the question that I can't get away from, is:
Why the hell is the housing market booming like it is?
The stamp duty holiday is only until March 31 2021; people I know are acting now to make sure they beat this deadline. So prices are holding or even going up in some places. No surprise that London is not part of this trend, however, given prices there and WFH trends etc.
I am baffled that people are willing to risk 100s of thousands to save a few grand. But then house buying always seems to be somewhat divorced from realities...
Gosh. What a revealing set of replies to @Mortimer's question. Each approaching the problem from a different, specialist angle. Think we are all partially correct. Added up, it's not a bloody surprise.
The Conservative party deserves to be buried in manure for the shit it has inflicted on us. I doubt it will happen, but it deserves a crushing defeat.
They couldn't have done it by themselves, though. They needed all the help Labour gave them.
There is some truth to that, we were bloody fools. Thankfully we’re on the right path.
But as the nation stares into the abyss yet again, the buck stops with the government. The Conservative party needs to get a grip of itself and ditch this populist, nationalist, ideological crap and remember how to govern.
Except Boris only won a majority and breached the Red Wall on a populist, nationalist ticket, that is the new Tory coalition for the foreseeable future, ditch that and they face a Major 1997 style result squeezed by Starmer and Davey on one side and Farage on the other
History is littered with politicians that made promises, won elections and turned out to be utterly useless. This government is the textbook example.
Take no pride in your electoral achievements. You won power, but exercise it with all the competence of a chuckle brother. You got the keys to a Porsche, but never learned to drive so steered it into a ditch.
Well done.
We won, we beat Corbyn and delivered Brexit, that was the main thing.
If you don't win elections you don't get to deliver anything, if you are a Tory even the worst Tory government is still better than the best Labour government and if you are Labour similarly even the worst Labour government is better than the best possible Tory government.
Hunt is the Tory Mitt Romney, good on paper but uncharismatic and unable to win the key swing states and seats filled with white working class voters Boris and Trump did
Up to a point.
The trouble is that, if your conscience is small enough, it's pretty easy to win a single election. Just promise everyone what they want. Not rocket science.
It falls down if you win power and intend to keep power beyond a second election, your promises have to be keepable. There's a delicate equilibrium there, which means that most politicians make promises which are expansive, but not absurd.
Except Dom. Except Boris. They've promised stuff that's not theirs to deliver, and that by itself will eventually destroy them.
And even the argument that these shenanigans won five years to do Conservative stuff falls down. The mess that's coming (if you have eyes to see) could be an albatross round the party's neck for years. Boris gets to be PM, but at the cost of harming his sucessors' chances.
A few weeks ago we had supper with some friends. The husband is very successful small businessman.
A mutual friend is an estate agent, and I know several conveyancing solicitors. They're off the scale busy. We just couldn't see why anyone was buying a house at the moment. News on here tonight (albeit in no way tallying with the realities down here in Dorset, as far as I can see) would suggest that we're in for a horrid autumn and winter.
So the question that I can't get away from, is:
Why the hell is the housing market booming like it is?
The stamp duty holiday is only until March 31 2021; people I know are acting now to make sure they beat this deadline. So prices are holding or even going up in some places. No surprise that London is not part of this trend, however, given prices there and WFH trends etc.
I am baffled that people are willing to risk 100s of thousands to save a few grand. But then house buying always seems to be somewhat divorced from realities...
I agree; but for younger people/first-time buyers, saving around £10K feels like an awful lot of money in the here and now, so it's very tempting. And I guess that was the aim of the cut in the first place.
A few weeks ago we had supper with some friends. The husband is very successful small businessman.
A mutual friend is an estate agent, and I know several conveyancing solicitors. They're off the scale busy. We just couldn't see why anyone was buying a house at the moment. News on here tonight (albeit in no way tallying with the realities down here in Dorset, as far as I can see) would suggest that we're in for a horrid autumn and winter.
So the question that I can't get away from, is:
Why the hell is the housing market booming like it is?
The stamp duty holiday is only until March 31 2021; people I know are acting now to make sure they beat this deadline. So prices are holding or even going up in some places. No surprise that London is not part of this trend, however, given prices there and WFH trends etc.
I am baffled that people are willing to risk 100s of thousands to save a few grand. But then house buying always seems to be somewhat divorced from realities...
I agree; but for younger people/first-time buyers, saving around £10K feels like an awful lot of money in the here and now, so it's very tempting. And I guess that was the aim of the cut in the first place.
That is a good point. I hear anecdotally that a lot of the purchases are FTBs.
The Conservative party deserves to be buried in manure for the shit it has inflicted on us. I doubt it will happen, but it deserves a crushing defeat.
They couldn't have done it by themselves, though. They needed all the help Labour gave them.
There is some truth to that, we were bloody fools. Thankfully we’re on the right path.
But as the nation stares into the abyss yet again, the buck stops with the government. The Conservative party needs to get a grip of itself and ditch this populist, nationalist, ideological crap and remember how to govern.
Except Boris only won a majority and breached the Red Wall on a populist, nationalist ticket, that is the new Tory coalition for the foreseeable future, ditch that and they face a Major 1997 style result squeezed by Starmer and Davey on one side and Farage on the other
History is littered with politicians that made promises, won elections and turned out to be utterly useless. This government is the textbook example.
Take no pride in your electoral achievements. You won power, but exercise it with all the competence of a chuckle brother. You got the keys to a Porsche, but never learned to drive so steered it into a ditch.
Well done.
We won, we beat Corbyn and delivered Brexit, that was the main thing.
If you don't win elections you don't get to deliver anything, if you are a Tory even the worst Tory government is still better than the best Labour government and if you are Labour similarly even the worst Labour government is better than the best possible Tory government.
Hunt is the Tory Mitt Romney, good on paper but uncharismatic and unable to win the key swing states and seats filled with white working class voters Boris and Trump did
But Johnson is a ******* disaster who likely as not will take your party to the brink of extinction. Why do you not see that?
The only way he will do that is by doing a deal with the EU enabling free movement and no control of our fishing waters and continued EU laws over the UK in which case the base will go to Farage.
Boris knows how to win elections for the Tories as he proved last year, you clearly do not
That isn't what will devastate the Conservative Party. What will do for Johnson and his incompetence, always assuming Covid phase 2 is as similarly damaging as phase 1 is this. You go to work or the pub, you catch Covid, you don't know you have it. You attend Aunty Doris' birthday party, she, Uncle Tom , Uncle Dick and Uncle Harry all catch Covid and as they are old, they expire. Now on hearing this news you might be pretty pissed off, not because you went to work, or the pub and inadvertently killed all your relatives, but Boris told you it was safe to do so.
So it was not your fault it was his. You will not vote for him or his party ever again, infact you wish you had voted for Corbyn last time!
N.B. 'You' in this instance is not HYUFD, it is some random Red Wall voter.
The Conservative party deserves to be buried in manure for the shit it has inflicted on us. I doubt it will happen, but it deserves a crushing defeat.
They couldn't have done it by themselves, though. They needed all the help Labour gave them.
There is some truth to that, we were bloody fools. Thankfully we’re on the right path.
But as the nation stares into the abyss yet again, the buck stops with the government. The Conservative party needs to get a grip of itself and ditch this populist, nationalist, ideological crap and remember how to govern.
Except Boris only won a majority and breached the Red Wall on a populist, nationalist ticket, that is the new Tory coalition for the foreseeable future, ditch that and they face a Major 1997 style result squeezed by Starmer and Davey on one side and Farage on the other
History is littered with politicians that made promises, won elections and turned out to be utterly useless. This government is the textbook example.
Take no pride in your electoral achievements. You won power, but exercise it with all the competence of a chuckle brother. You got the keys to a Porsche, but never learned to drive so steered it into a ditch.
Well done.
We won, we beat Corbyn and delivered Brexit, that was the main thing.
If you don't win elections you don't get to deliver anything, if you are a Tory even the worst Tory government is still better than the best Labour government and if you are Labour similarly even the worst Labour government is better than the best possible Tory government.
Hunt is the Tory Mitt Romney, good on paper but uncharismatic and unable to win the key swing states and seats filled with white working class voters Boris and Trump did
You are not a Tory, you are a right wing populist. Any true Tory would accept that a government's first duty is to ensure the safety of the people and that a Tory-in-name government unable to do that is inferior to a Labour government which can.
A few weeks ago we had supper with some friends. The husband is very successful small businessman.
A mutual friend is an estate agent, and I know several conveyancing solicitors. They're off the scake busy. We just couldn't see why anyone was buying a house at the moment. News on here tonight (albeit in no way tallying with the realities down here in Dorset, as far as I can see) would suggest that we're in for a horrid autumn and winter.
So the question that I can't get away from, is:
Why the hell is the housing market booming like it is?
A strange one. If I were a buyer I would hold off until next year and bag a reposession bargain. The choice of homes, I have no doubt, will be extensive.
This is my thinking too.
Interestingly, we both also deal in intrinsically luxury goods. Albeit him for pleasure, me to resell. He was telling of some very interesting firesale purchases. I hadn't seen the same. I have this week. I think in my trade the BBLs have been spent....
I am currently property rich and cash average. If it were the other way around, next year...
The normally ebullient Mr Johnson, for whom joking, cajoling and backslapping (if it were allowed) is the default form of political operation, seemed unusually serious — even sombre. “He just seemed subdued. He was engaged but he certainly wasn’t as lively as you’d expect,” said one of those there. “You can speculate — does that go back to the illness? Is it the weight of responsibility or is it maybe just a recognition that he’s not always very well briefed on things? Most likely it’s some combination of all those.”
He just can't hack it, that's the truth. So many of us said this.
On the personal front, they say, Mr Johnson, 56, is worried and complaining about money. He is still supporting, to different degrees, four out of his six children, has been through an expensive divorce and had his income drop by more than half as a result of fulfilling his lifetime ambition.
Anecdote Yesterday I had lunch with a friend who is a member of the Tory party as is his wife. He is a staunch Tory, fairly weathly, retired, sharp. He told me he voted for Johnson solely because he was a vote winner but he acknowledges he is a very poor PM. He favours Jeremy Hunt. Just saying.
The problem is if Hunt had been leader we would probably still have a hung parliament, the Red Wall would still be Red, Corbyn would still be Labour leader and Brexit would still not have been delivered.
Even if he did do Covid a bit better
Maybe. But my Tory member friend is now looking for a change of PM. And Hunt is his man.
He maybe but Hunt is yesterday's man, if Boris is replaced by anyone in power it will be Sunak
Maybe but he and his wife are members with a vote.
Sunak is obviously the favourite at the moment. Articulate and telegenic. But he is going to hit rough waters in the next six months on the economy. And concerns about health may be more important which is Hunt's strong suit. I also have no idea whether there is a racist tinge in the elderly white Tory membership?
Any way it is just an anecdote that I thought I'd pass on for bettors on next Tory leader.
Hunt got only a third of Tory members in 2019, he is not going to win and he was a Remainer, Sunak was a Leaver and that will remain a litmus test for the foreseeable future for the membership
The Conservative party deserves to be buried in manure for the shit it has inflicted on us. I doubt it will happen, but it deserves a crushing defeat.
They couldn't have done it by themselves, though. They needed all the help Labour gave them.
There is some truth to that, we were bloody fools. Thankfully we’re on the right path.
But as the nation stares into the abyss yet again, the buck stops with the government. The Conservative party needs to get a grip of itself and ditch this populist, nationalist, ideological crap and remember how to govern.
Except Boris only won a majority and breached the Red Wall on a populist, nationalist ticket, that is the new Tory coalition for the foreseeable future, ditch that and they face a Major 1997 style result squeezed by Starmer and Davey on one side and Farage on the other
History is littered with politicians that made promises, won elections and turned out to be utterly useless. This government is the textbook example.
Take no pride in your electoral achievements. You won power, but exercise it with all the competence of a chuckle brother. You got the keys to a Porsche, but never learned to drive so steered it into a ditch.
Well done.
We won, we beat Corbyn and delivered Brexit, that was the main thing.
If you don't win elections you don't get to deliver anything, if you are a Tory even the worst Tory government is still better than the best Labour government and if you are Labour similarly even the worst Labour government is better than the best possible Tory government.
Hunt is the Tory Mitt Romney, good on paper but uncharismatic and unable to win the key swing states and seats filled with white working class voters Boris and Trump did
I fear for you it’s just a game. The election bit is all you care about. The government part is a mere inconvenience. It doesn’t matter what fills the five years. I think that in part explains why this government is so weak.
Whereas your lack of concern about the opinion of the electorate might explain why at the next election there will be teenagers studying for GCSEs who haven't seen a Labour government in their lifetime ... and may well not see one until they're at university.
You may be right, but I would be surprised if you are.
Governments are blamed for catastrophes and pay an electoral price even if the catastrophe is not of their own making. By the next election the Conservatives will have (probably) overseen two catastrophes. No deal Brexit and a post Covid financial armageddon. If either or both of those come to pass the Government will be scrutinised for their role in each. The evaluation will not be good.
On the personal front, they say, Mr Johnson, 56, is worried and complaining about money. He is still supporting, to different degrees, four out of his six children, has been through an expensive divorce and had his income drop by more than half as a result of fulfilling his lifetime ambition.
His arrogance is astounding
That doesn't really ring true. Remember when Red Ken tried to trap Boris over tax dodging, and we found that while Red Ken was as tax efficient as possible, Boris didn't take even the most basic steps. He just didn't seem to care about the money nor how to ensure as much remained in his pocket.
On the personal front, they say, Mr Johnson, 56, is worried and complaining about money. He is still supporting, to different degrees, four out of his six children, has been through an expensive divorce and had his income drop by more than half as a result of fulfilling his lifetime ambition.
His arrogance is astounding
That doesn't really ring true. Remember when Red Ken tried to trap Boris over tax dodging, and we found that while Red Ken was as tax efficient as possible, Boris didn't take even the most basic steps. He just didn't seem to care about the money nor how to ensure as much remained in his pocket.
Not much use in your pocket if your trousers are never on. Easy come easy go for the uber Cavalier.
On the personal front, they say, Mr Johnson, 56, is worried and complaining about money. He is still supporting, to different degrees, four out of his six children, has been through an expensive divorce and had his income drop by more than half as a result of fulfilling his lifetime ambition.
His arrogance is astounding
Don't fret too much. When he joins the after dinner circuit again he will be minted.
Johnson has had a history of struggling to balance his bon viveur lifestyle with his income. Fortunately he has had friends who can bail him out with well paid columnist jobs for £250,000 a year for 5 minutes a week of work. Although would it take as long as five minutes to write one of Johnson's dreary columns?
On the personal front, they say, Mr Johnson, 56, is worried and complaining about money. He is still supporting, to different degrees, four out of his six children, has been through an expensive divorce and had his income drop by more than half as a result of fulfilling his lifetime ambition.
His arrogance is astounding
Don't fret too much. When he joins the after dinner circuit again he will be minted.
Johnson has had a history of struggling to balance his bon viveur lifestyle with his income. Fortunately he has had friends who can bail him out with well paid columnist jobs for £250,000 a year for 5 minutes a week of work. Although would it take as long as five minutes to write one of Johnson's dreary columns?
Bojo and Trumpsky will launch a trans-Atlantic reality show called "You Bet Your Country" much like "The Apprentice" only zanier.
The normally ebullient Mr Johnson, for whom joking, cajoling and backslapping (if it were allowed) is the default form of political operation, seemed unusually serious — even sombre. “He just seemed subdued. He was engaged but he certainly wasn’t as lively as you’d expect,” said one of those there. “You can speculate — does that go back to the illness? Is it the weight of responsibility or is it maybe just a recognition that he’s not always very well briefed on things? Most likely it’s some combination of all those.”
He just can't hack it, that's the truth. So many of us said this.
From that passage then the truth is that be can't hack it if during the gravest pandemic in a century being "unusually serious — even sombre" is a bad thing; if you think that being 'lively, joking, cajoling and backslapping' is more appropriate.
The Toadmeister is against people being serious or sombre because he's been founding front man of the lockdown skeptics movement. Do you agree with him?
Personally I suspect if Boris wasn't being "unusually serious — even sombre" then you'd be quoting an article saying that he was unable to hack it because he can't be serious.
Assuming Biden wins in November, will Trump have time to replace her with a nutjob?
I’m sure Trump will try to ram a nomination through as fast as he can and before the election. The new Senate convenes on Jan 3rd. If it’s 50/50 Pence would still have the casting vote until the next VP takes office, whenever that may be.
Back in March, one week before our first so called lockdown, I flew back to this country from Malaysia. I was greeted by signs at Birmingham Airport telling me to self isolate if I became unwell having arrived from what our Government considered was a virus hot spot. I thought that odd because I was coming from a country that has had less than 130 corvid related deaths since the pandemic started (albeit with half the population of the UK) and yet now I was in a country losing that many people from the virus every day. Now I am stuck here because no one from the UK is allowed back into Malaysia, even though I am married to a Malaysian and have a visa that allows me to stay in that country long term. I may not even get to see my wife/family for more than a year at this rate and most assuredly that is not even remotely funny. This morning YouGov asked me what I thought of this Government’s handling of the virus crisis and I awarded them nil points in every meaningful category because they deserve no more than that.
In Malaysia ‘lockdown’ meant not being able to travel outside you State (or in UK terms the West Midlands or Greater London) without written permission (even for work!) and roadblocks/fines were in place to enforce this. Only one person per household was allowed out to shop for food and there were no permitted “exercise” exemptions. You had on the spot fines for breaking the rules (people like Dominic Cummings included). To be allowed into the country you had to provide evidence of a clear corvid test and then you would be escourted to a hotel where you would stay at your own expense to spend the next two weeks in isolation. (Even now you are not allowed to leave the country without permission).
Sounds horrible doesn’t it? Yes but 31M people put up with that and they have no sign of a ‘second wave’. Only after corvid cases reached zero were any of their internal restrictions relaxed but here in the UK we started to let go our ‘lockdown’ whilst the virus was still present. Everything we see happening here follows from both that and our abject failure to close our borders and restrict entry/exit even to our own citizens/foreigners (me included) six months ago.
The normally ebullient Mr Johnson, for whom joking, cajoling and backslapping (if it were allowed) is the default form of political operation, seemed unusually serious — even sombre. “He just seemed subdued. He was engaged but he certainly wasn’t as lively as you’d expect,” said one of those there. “You can speculate — does that go back to the illness? Is it the weight of responsibility or is it maybe just a recognition that he’s not always very well briefed on things? Most likely it’s some combination of all those.”
He just can't hack it, that's the truth. So many of us said this.
From that passage then the truth is that be can't hack it if during the gravest pandemic in a century being "unusually serious — even sombre" is a bad thing; if you think that being 'lively, joking, cajoling and backslapping' is more appropriate.
The Toadmeister is against people being serious or sombre because he's been founding front man of the lockdown skeptics movement. Do you agree with him?
Personally I suspect if Boris wasn't being "unusually serious — even sombre" then you'd be quoting an article saying that he was unable to hack it because he can't be serious.
Yeah, is the criticism here that he's taking something seriously? Oh no!
The normally ebullient Mr Johnson, for whom joking, cajoling and backslapping (if it were allowed) is the default form of political operation, seemed unusually serious — even sombre. “He just seemed subdued. He was engaged but he certainly wasn’t as lively as you’d expect,” said one of those there. “You can speculate — does that go back to the illness? Is it the weight of responsibility or is it maybe just a recognition that he’s not always very well briefed on things? Most likely it’s some combination of all those.”
He just can't hack it, that's the truth. So many of us said this.
From that passage then the truth is that be can't hack it if during the gravest pandemic in a century being "unusually serious — even sombre" is a bad thing; if you think that being 'lively, joking, cajoling and backslapping' is more appropriate.
The Toadmeister is against people being serious or sombre because he's been founding front man of the lockdown skeptics movement. Do you agree with him?
Personally I suspect if Boris wasn't being "unusually serious — even sombre" then you'd be quoting an article saying that he was unable to hack it because he can't be serious.
Yeah, is the criticism here that he's taking something seriously? Oh no!
This is the worrying bit
“Ministers and other people say to me that he feels and looks unwell. He’s pin sharp one day and then he will say to somebody in his own inimitable way ‘Why have you not briefed me on that?’ and he’ll be told ‘You were told that yesterday.’ Whereas on other days he will cut straight to the quick and he knows the answer straight away. Physically I think Covid has had a huge impact, definitely.”
The normally ebullient Mr Johnson, for whom joking, cajoling and backslapping (if it were allowed) is the default form of political operation, seemed unusually serious — even sombre. “He just seemed subdued. He was engaged but he certainly wasn’t as lively as you’d expect,” said one of those there. “You can speculate — does that go back to the illness? Is it the weight of responsibility or is it maybe just a recognition that he’s not always very well briefed on things? Most likely it’s some combination of all those.”
He just can't hack it, that's the truth. So many of us said this.
From that passage then the truth is that be can't hack it if during the gravest pandemic in a century being "unusually serious — even sombre" is a bad thing; if you think that being 'lively, joking, cajoling and backslapping' is more appropriate.
The Toadmeister is against people being serious or sombre because he's been founding front man of the lockdown skeptics movement. Do you agree with him?
Personally I suspect if Boris wasn't being "unusually serious — even sombre" then you'd be quoting an article saying that he was unable to hack it because he can't be serious.
Yeah, is the criticism here that he's taking something seriously? Oh no!
This is the worrying bit
“Ministers and other people say to me that he feels and looks unwell. He’s pin sharp one day and then he will say to somebody in his own inimitable way ‘Why have you not briefed me on that?’ and he’ll be told ‘You were told that yesterday.’ Whereas on other days he will cut straight to the quick and he knows the answer straight away. Physically I think Covid has had a huge impact, definitely.”
It would explain a lot, but it also might be someone trying to find an excuse for him.
The normally ebullient Mr Johnson, for whom joking, cajoling and backslapping (if it were allowed) is the default form of political operation, seemed unusually serious — even sombre. “He just seemed subdued. He was engaged but he certainly wasn’t as lively as you’d expect,” said one of those there. “You can speculate — does that go back to the illness? Is it the weight of responsibility or is it maybe just a recognition that he’s not always very well briefed on things? Most likely it’s some combination of all those.”
He just can't hack it, that's the truth. So many of us said this.
From that passage then the truth is that be can't hack it if during the gravest pandemic in a century being "unusually serious — even sombre" is a bad thing; if you think that being 'lively, joking, cajoling and backslapping' is more appropriate.
The Toadmeister is against people being serious or sombre because he's been founding front man of the lockdown skeptics movement. Do you agree with him?
Personally I suspect if Boris wasn't being "unusually serious — even sombre" then you'd be quoting an article saying that he was unable to hack it because he can't be serious.
Yeah, is the criticism here that he's taking something seriously? Oh no!
This is the worrying bit
“Ministers and other people say to me that he feels and looks unwell. He’s pin sharp one day and then he will say to somebody in his own inimitable way ‘Why have you not briefed me on that?’ and he’ll be told ‘You were told that yesterday.’ Whereas on other days he will cut straight to the quick and he knows the answer straight away. Physically I think Covid has had a huge impact, definitely.”
You see this when he takes questions at the daily presser etc. He has had days were he totally fluffed so many, getting the wrong end of the stick, forgetting what the question etc. It is like they are speaking his second language and he doesn't get all the context.
The Conservative party deserves to be buried in manure for the shit it has inflicted on us. I doubt it will happen, but it deserves a crushing defeat.
They couldn't have done it by themselves, though. They needed all the help Labour gave them.
There is some truth to that, we were bloody fools. Thankfully we’re on the right path.
But as the nation stares into the abyss yet again, the buck stops with the government. The Conservative party needs to get a grip of itself and ditch this populist, nationalist, ideological crap and remember how to govern.
Except Boris only won a majority and breached the Red Wall on a populist, nationalist ticket, that is the new Tory coalition for the foreseeable future, ditch that and they face a Major 1997 style result squeezed by Starmer and Davey on one side and Farage on the other
History is littered with politicians that made promises, won elections and turned out to be utterly useless. This government is the textbook example.
Take no pride in your electoral achievements. You won power, but exercise it with all the competence of a chuckle brother. You got the keys to a Porsche, but never learned to drive so steered it into a ditch.
Well done.
We won, we beat Corbyn and delivered Brexit, that was the main thing.
If you don't win elections you don't get to deliver anything, if you are a Tory even the worst Tory government is still better than the best Labour government and if you are Labour similarly even the worst Labour government is better than the best possible Tory government.
Hunt is the Tory Mitt Romney, good on paper but uncharismatic and unable to win the key swing states and seats filled with white working class voters Boris and Trump did
Up to a point.
The trouble is that, if your conscience is small enough, it's pretty easy to win a single election. Just promise everyone what they want. Not rocket science.
It falls down if you win power and intend to keep power beyond a second election, your promises have to be keepable. There's a delicate equilibrium there, which means that most politicians make promises which are expansive, but not absurd.
Except Dom. Except Boris. They've promised stuff that's not theirs to deliver, and that by itself will eventually destroy them.
And even the argument that these shenanigans won five years to do Conservative stuff falls down. The mess that's coming (if you have eyes to see) could be an albatross round the party's neck for years. Boris gets to be PM, but at the cost of harming his sucessors' chances.
I think the electoral game has been changed, possibly irreversibly. Identity, perceived values and personality matter more than they have before, and so competence, credibility and ideology matter a lot less.
I think that, in electoral terms, it matters a lot less whether Brexit is a success or not than most people assume. What matters is that it is part of many voters' identity. I think that there are more voters now who will support Johnson at the next election, regardless of how many disasters there are on the way, if he can make them laugh by ridiculing the other bloke - and if he can convince them that the other side threatens some part of their identity.
There is some sign that Starmer understands this, at least in terms of how it relates to Brexit. But the identity issues at play in the next election are unlikely to relate to Brexit alone.
Anecdote Yesterday I had lunch with a friend who is a member of the Tory party as is his wife. He is a staunch Tory, fairly weathly, retired, sharp. He told me he voted for Johnson solely because he was a vote winner but he acknowledges he is a very poor PM. He favours Jeremy Hunt. Just saying.
The problem is if Hunt had been leader we would probably still have a hung parliament, the Red Wall would still be Red, Corbyn would still be Labour leader and Brexit would still not have been delivered.
Even if he did do Covid a bit better
Maybe. But my Tory member friend is now looking for a change of PM. And Hunt is his man.
He maybe but Hunt is yesterday's man, if Boris is replaced by anyone in power it will be Sunak
Maybe but he and his wife are members with a vote.
Sunak is obviously the favourite at the moment. Articulate and telegenic. But he is going to hit rough waters in the next six months on the economy. And concerns about health may be more important which is Hunt's strong suit. I also have no idea whether there is a racist tinge in the elderly white Tory membership?
Any way it is just an anecdote that I thought I'd pass on for bettors on next Tory leader.
Hunt got only a third of Tory members in 2019, he is not going to win and he was a Remainer, Sunak was a Leaver and that will remain a litmus test for the foreseeable future for the membership
Regardless of whether Trump manages to squeeze a Supreme Court nominee through the Senate before election day this will likely now be the number one political issue for a majority of the days leading up to the election.
I would have thought that has to be a lot better for Trump than having attention on Covid, or, well, anything else.
Regardless of whether Trump manages to squeeze a Supreme Court nominee through the Senate before election day this will likely now be the number one political issue for a majority of the days leading up to the election.
I would have thought that has to be a lot better for Trump than having attention on Covid, or, well, anything else.
Sadly I agree. This will fire up his party supporters like nothing else.
Regardless of whether Trump manages to squeeze a Supreme Court nominee through the Senate before election day this will likely now be the number one political issue for a majority of the days leading up to the election.
I would have thought that has to be a lot better for Trump than having attention on Covid, or, well, anything else.
Sadly I agree. This will fire up his party supporters like nothing else.
Yes, evangelical turnout will now be through the roof given they have a chance to replace the most pro abortion Justice with a conservative if Trump is re elected, evangelical turnout was crucial the last time a Republican President was re elected when George W Bush won in 2004
We've just lost a great American, citizen of the world, and soul of the universe - one of nature's noblewomen.
Proved yet again that age-old truth - it ain't the size of the dog in the fight that counts - it's the fight in the dog.
Politically think this sad but hardly shocking news is NOT total disaster for Biden and the Democrats.
Yes, the vacancy will light a fire under conservatives, esp. evangelicals. BUT will also galvanize their opposite numbers, namely progressives PLUS many moderates, esp. pro-choice women, focused in key suburban districts and states already on knife edge for - or against - Trump and the GOP.
Mobilization over SCOTUS is similar to Geting Out the Vote - more than just ONE side gets to play. Back in 2004, Democrats were convinced that their turnout would meet their goals, and it did. BUT turned out that Republicans also had a message for lower-turnout voters, and a program for turning them out.
Personally know a LOT of pointy-headed liberals who are very sad and depressed tonight. By tomorrow, many if not most will be thinking, what would RBG do?
Johnson has 'long Covid' and is clearly exhausted most of the time. He wanted to be a good times PM, building bridges and airports, but instead he has to keep announcing curfews and daily deaths, which he hates. Of course, he's also burdened with a complicated home life - his fiance isn't quite so keen to become his wife any more, there is the alleged connection with a violinist, and he's got a baby which he probably wants to have a better relationship with than the rest of his kids. He is tired and fed up.
Because he's still unwell, he's given over a big chunk of responsibilities to Gove. Cummings now defers to Gove on policy issues. So Gove is basically running the country.
Gove knows he can't wear the crown. His personal polling is dire and MPs will not replace an unpopular leader with an unpopular leader. So he is looking for someone popular he can swing his weight behind, because that is the safest way he can maintain his power, and Gove's weight is hugely important in the modern Conservative Parliamentary Party.
At the moment, the logical choice for Gove is Sunak (as the least unpopular 'big beast'), which Sunak knows, and to make that choice even more logical, Sunak has been aggressively building capital with Tory MPs for months. Sunak has been inviting backbenchers for breakfast with him almost every week day for quite some time; he personally paid for Eat Out to Help Out merchandise to be sent to every Tory MP. Over the last few months Sunak has built a decent Parliamentary contingent ready to back him when Boris goes.
Returning to Johnson, there's a sensible exit strategy for him. He is acutely aware of history. History will judge him on the two great crises of his premiership: Brexit, and Covid-19.
If he can stitch up some kind of deal with the EU, and get the Oxford vaccine approved, he goes down in history as the man who led us out of the greatest geopolitical crisis since WW2 and 'saved the world' from the worst public health crisis since the Spanish Flu. If he hangs around afterwards, for the years of economic depression, social upheaval, and general malaise, his legacy is a lot more complicated.
So I think he sees the writing on the wall. He doesn't want to deal with the horrible parts of being PM, he wants a good legacy, and he knows his inner team is conspiring to take over.
So if he can get the Brexit deal and some kind of vaccine, why not go? He can still salvage a decent legacy and doesn't have to bother with all the awful consequences - that can all be palmed off to Sunak - and maybe can focus on rebuilding his personal relationships with his children while there's still time.
So, resignation after Brexit deal and vaccine probably means resignation in early 2021.
Massive incentives for Johnson resignation + backing for Sunak by MPs + Gove giving nod of approval + long term impacts of Treasury not being apparent for some time = Sunak premiership by Spring 2021.
On the personal front, they say, Mr Johnson, 56, is worried and complaining about money. He is still supporting, to different degrees, four out of his six children, has been through an expensive divorce and had his income drop by more than half as a result of fulfilling his lifetime ambition.
His arrogance is astounding
Don't fret too much. When he joins the after dinner circuit again he will be minted.
Johnson has had a history of struggling to balance his bon viveur lifestyle with his income. Fortunately he has had friends who can bail him out with well paid columnist jobs for £250,000 a year for 5 minutes a week of work. Although would it take as long as five minutes to write one of Johnson's dreary columns?
Whether they are willing to stump up for his latest injunction is another matter. You can almost hear the sound of tiny violins.
Any legal experts know on what basis these injunctions are justified, if something can be shown to be true and of public interest?
Hypothetically if a PM and newly engaged father who has just had a baby with his intended were now to be off carrying on with another woman, wouldn’t it reflect on his character and be of relevant interest to us humble voters?
My suspicion is that there isn't some deep conspiracy to make money for person or persons unknown behind this dim-witted behaviour. The most obvious explanation is that Johnson wanted to make himself popular by letting people take themselves and their kids off to Marbella, at the same time as being under pressure from a totally desperate travel industry to do something for them. The ridiculous hokey-cokey performance of constantly taking countries on and off the green list was then invented as a thin justification for why foreign travel was somehow as safe and sensible as simply telling everybody to stay put and spend their money here instead.
In short, ministers weren't being actively malicious. They were just being negligent and thick, that's all.
I agree. Boris Johnson is simply unsuitable for delivering bad news no matter how unavoidable it may be, it goes against his instincts to do something unpopular. Given we are well up the proverbial creek there is no good news, just a range of bad news from awful to catastrophic. We need someone almost the polar opposite of Johnson, who will relish the fight and be prompt and decisive, with little care about how it will reflect upon them.
Didn’t Johnson once write a book about someone like that?
Comments
Interestingly, we both also deal in intrinsically luxury goods. Albeit him for pleasure, me to resell. He was telling of some very interesting firesale purchases. I hadn't seen the same. I have this week. I think in my trade the BBLs have been spent....
The pollsters Nate Silver, Doug Rivers and Robert Cahaly have radically different ideas about the coming election
BY FREDDIE SAYERS"
https://unherd.com/2020/09/is-donald-trump-toast/
Think we are all partially correct. Added up, it's not a bloody surprise.
The trouble is that, if your conscience is small enough, it's pretty easy to win a single election. Just promise everyone what they want. Not rocket science.
It falls down if you win power and intend to keep power beyond a second election, your promises have to be keepable. There's a delicate equilibrium there, which means that most politicians make promises which are expansive, but not absurd.
Except Dom. Except Boris. They've promised stuff that's not theirs to deliver, and that by itself will eventually destroy them.
And even the argument that these shenanigans won five years to do Conservative stuff falls down. The mess that's coming (if you have eyes to see) could be an albatross round the party's neck for years. Boris gets to be PM, but at the cost of harming his sucessors' chances.
God help us all
So it was not your fault it was his. You will not vote for him or his party ever again, infact you wish you had voted for Corbyn last time!
N.B. 'You' in this instance is not HYUFD, it is some random Red Wall voter.
Let's see how he does against Starmer.
Dozens of by-elections = loadsa betting opportunities .
https://twitter.com/tseofpb/status/1307095261622284295?s=21
He just can't hack it, that's the truth. So many of us said this.
His arrogance is astounding
Governments are blamed for catastrophes and pay an electoral price even if the catastrophe is not of their own making. By the next election the Conservatives will have (probably) overseen two catastrophes. No deal Brexit and a post Covid financial armageddon. If either or both of those come to pass the Government will be scrutinised for their role in each. The evaluation will not be good.
Johnson has had a history of struggling to balance his bon viveur lifestyle with his income. Fortunately he has had friends who can bail him out with well paid columnist jobs for £250,000 a year for 5 minutes a week of work. Although would it take as long as five minutes to write one of Johnson's dreary columns?
On the eve of their first "virtual" party conference, Labour have unveiled their new slogan: "A New Leadership".
Come to think of it, they already have!
The Toadmeister is against people being serious or sombre because he's been founding front man of the lockdown skeptics movement. Do you agree with him?
Personally I suspect if Boris wasn't being "unusually serious — even sombre" then you'd be quoting an article saying that he was unable to hack it because he can't be serious.
In Malaysia ‘lockdown’ meant not being able to travel outside you State (or in UK terms the West Midlands or Greater London) without written permission (even for work!) and roadblocks/fines were in place to enforce this. Only one person per household was allowed out to shop for food and there were no permitted “exercise” exemptions. You had on the spot fines for breaking the rules (people like Dominic Cummings included). To be allowed into the country you had to provide evidence of a clear corvid test and then you would be escourted to a hotel where you would stay at your own expense to spend the next two weeks in isolation. (Even now you are not allowed to leave the country without permission).
Sounds horrible doesn’t it? Yes but 31M people put up with that and they have no sign of a ‘second wave’. Only after corvid cases reached zero were any of their internal restrictions relaxed but here in the UK we started to let go our ‘lockdown’ whilst the virus was still present. Everything we see happening here follows from both that and our abject failure to close our borders and restrict entry/exit even to our own citizens/foreigners (me included) six months ago.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8749311/Dominic-Raabs-bodyguard-sparks-police-dash-loaded-semi-automatic-pistol-plane.html
“Ministers and other people say to me that he feels and looks unwell. He’s pin sharp one day and then he will say to somebody in his own inimitable way ‘Why have you not briefed me on that?’ and he’ll be told ‘You were told that yesterday.’ Whereas on other days he will cut straight to the quick and he knows the answer straight away. Physically I think Covid has had a huge impact, definitely.”
I think that, in electoral terms, it matters a lot less whether Brexit is a success or not than most people assume. What matters is that it is part of many voters' identity. I think that there are more voters now who will support Johnson at the next election, regardless of how many disasters there are on the way, if he can make them laugh by ridiculing the other bloke - and if he can convince them that the other side threatens some part of their identity.
There is some sign that Starmer understands this, at least in terms of how it relates to Brexit. But the identity issues at play in the next election are unlikely to relate to Brexit alone.
So hung parliament and Tories largest party but Starmer PM with SNP and LD support
https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/fcgi-bin/usercode.py?scotcontrol=Y&CON=40&LAB=40&LIB=6&Brexit=2&Green=2&UKIP=&TVCON=&TVLAB=&TVLIB=&TVBrexit=&TVGreen=&TVUKIP=&SCOTCON=20.5&SCOTLAB=17.4&SCOTLIB=5.5&SCOTBrexit=1.1&SCOTGreen=1.1&SCOTUKIP=&SCOTNAT=53.5&display=AllChanged&regorseat=(none)&boundary=2019
I would have thought that has to be a lot better for Trump than having attention on Covid, or, well, anything else.
If she's died of the Rona then Max has won the dead pool.
https://twitter.com/shaunlintern/status/1307020722250878988?s=21
We have lost a truly
We've just lost a great American, citizen of the world, and soul of the universe - one of nature's noblewomen.
Proved yet again that age-old truth - it ain't the size of the dog in the fight that counts - it's the fight in the dog.
Politically think this sad but hardly shocking news is NOT total disaster for Biden and the Democrats.
Yes, the vacancy will light a fire under conservatives, esp. evangelicals. BUT will also galvanize their opposite numbers, namely progressives PLUS many moderates, esp. pro-choice women, focused in key suburban districts and states already on knife edge for - or against - Trump and the GOP.
Mobilization over SCOTUS is similar to Geting Out the Vote - more than just ONE side gets to play. Back in 2004, Democrats were convinced that their turnout would meet their goals, and it did. BUT turned out that Republicans also had a message for lower-turnout voters, and a program for turning them out.
Personally know a LOT of pointy-headed liberals who are very sad and depressed tonight. By tomorrow, many if not most will be thinking, what would RBG do?
Answer is obvious - stand up and fight!
Republicans control Senate 53-47.
Collins and Murkowski have both said they won't agree a Trump nomination before election.
That will leave it 51-49 in favour.
Someone reported Romney would also not agree but his spokesman has said that is false.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2020/sep/18/donald-trump-joe-biden-minnesota-us-election-coronavirus-covid-live-updates
Johnson has 'long Covid' and is clearly exhausted most of the time. He wanted to be a good times PM, building bridges and airports, but instead he has to keep announcing curfews and daily deaths, which he hates. Of course, he's also burdened with a complicated home life - his fiance isn't quite so keen to become his wife any more, there is the alleged connection with a violinist, and he's got a baby which he probably wants to have a better relationship with than the rest of his kids. He is tired and fed up.
Because he's still unwell, he's given over a big chunk of responsibilities to Gove. Cummings now defers to Gove on policy issues. So Gove is basically running the country.
Gove knows he can't wear the crown. His personal polling is dire and MPs will not replace an unpopular leader with an unpopular leader. So he is looking for someone popular he can swing his weight behind, because that is the safest way he can maintain his power, and Gove's weight is hugely important in the modern Conservative Parliamentary Party.
At the moment, the logical choice for Gove is Sunak (as the least unpopular 'big beast'), which Sunak knows, and to make that choice even more logical, Sunak has been aggressively building capital with Tory MPs for months. Sunak has been inviting backbenchers for breakfast with him almost every week day for quite some time; he personally paid for Eat Out to Help Out merchandise to be sent to every Tory MP. Over the last few months Sunak has built a decent Parliamentary contingent ready to back him when Boris goes.
Returning to Johnson, there's a sensible exit strategy for him. He is acutely aware of history. History will judge him on the two great crises of his premiership: Brexit, and Covid-19.
If he can stitch up some kind of deal with the EU, and get the Oxford vaccine approved, he goes down in history as the man who led us out of the greatest geopolitical crisis since WW2 and 'saved the world' from the worst public health crisis since the Spanish Flu. If he hangs around afterwards, for the years of economic depression, social upheaval, and general malaise, his legacy is a lot more complicated.
So I think he sees the writing on the wall. He doesn't want to deal with the horrible parts of being PM, he wants a good legacy, and he knows his inner team is conspiring to take over.
So if he can get the Brexit deal and some kind of vaccine, why not go? He can still salvage a decent legacy and doesn't have to bother with all the awful consequences - that can all be palmed off to Sunak - and maybe can focus on rebuilding his personal relationships with his children while there's still time.
So, resignation after Brexit deal and vaccine probably means resignation in early 2021.
Massive incentives for Johnson resignation + backing for Sunak by MPs + Gove giving nod of approval + long term impacts of Treasury not being apparent for some time = Sunak premiership by Spring 2021.
She should have resigned when Obama asked her to in 2013. So shortsighted.
Any legal experts know on what basis these injunctions are justified, if something can be shown to be true and of public interest?
Hypothetically if a PM and newly engaged father who has just had a baby with his intended were now to be off carrying on with another woman, wouldn’t it reflect on his character and be of relevant interest to us humble voters?