I know there are some extenuating circumstances but after almost a year in charge, Starmer is a whole 1% above Corbyn. Does this mean he is under threat? I would say not at the moment but he needs to be ruthless after the May elections and kick most of the shadow cabinet to the curb.
Corbyn wasn’t under threat when five sixths of his party voted against him in a confidence motion and he was exposed for having repeatedly spun his story on train travel and lied about his support for Islamic terrorism.
The last Labour leader to have been toppled by main force was George Lansbury in 1935. And some failed or superannuated leaders in the meanwhile clung on when most wanted them out - Attlee, Wilson, Callaghan, Brown...
I don’t think the one wing which might be a threat have the votes to force a challenge - certainly they have no candidate.
For good or ill Labour are stuck with Starmer unless he quits. And I don’t think he will.
The question is, whether and how he can improve his personal ratings.
We should all be making suggestion to help dull old SKS out.
We need another round of flag-shagging from Keir.
Plus the whole Shadow Cabinet dressing up in Union Jack lingerie. Challenge the Tories to match that.
We'll soon see which party is more patriotic.
This whole ‘flag shagging’ thing really is ridiculous. It’s seems to be a fixation of parts of the online left as occupied by Owen Jones and Novara Media. There is absolutely nothing wrong with any politician sitting by our national flag.
I saw a bit of a zoom call with all european leaders and each and every one of them, left right and centre, sat by their national flag.
During international soccer tournaments the English flag is proudly displayed by people of all creeds and colours. Rightly so.
Still, posting crap for likes and retweets is nothing new.
But your post betrays the confusion at the heart of all this. You first talk of "our national flag" and then you say "the English flag".
They are of course not the same thing. That is the whole point.
SKS absolutely needs to make some progress in Scotland to win an election.
If he (or you) really believe the way to make progress in Wales or Scotland is by bathing in a sea of Union Jacks, then he (or you) are in for a very disagreeable surprise.
Looking at this from the point of view of Kier Starmer, who is meant to lead a Unionist political party, not only should he use the Union flag in publicity material in Scotland and Wales, he surely MUST do so?
The notion that you are a colonialist or an imperialist or a foreign invader if you do anything other than stand in front of a huge dragon/saltire (delete where applicable) is a Celtic nationalist affectation. If the leadership - especially the UK national leadership - of either Labour or the Tories throw their hands up in the air and discard the entire notion of there being a British state (and all of its national symbols along with it,) then they might as well decide to become exclusively English parties and start campaigning for the dissolution of the Union. It would be easy enough to do. It might even make them more popular.
Alternatively, if they actually believe that the British state should exist then they shouldn't be afraid to sell the concept. If they're not successful and the UK implodes anyway then at least they can't be accused of not trying.
I know we had the most non-white MEPs, but this seems a remarkable stat if even close to true - though even given how few 'high ministerial' posts exist total it seems surprising if it is. https://twitter.com/holland_tom/status/1370802345081249792
I won't believe it until Scott'n'Paste posts it!
I guess the Cabinet. So Patel, Sunak, Kwateng and Sharma are full members out of 21 (I think). Any more?
Johnson and Raab both qualify as BAME, but I would hardly call them non-white.
Edit - if ‘ministers’ rather than cabinet ministers are implied I think the numbers rise by seven or eight.
The only one issue I’d take with the OP is the comment on Cressida Dick. She has also had good fortune and fallen upwards. The death of Jean-Charles De Menezes on her watch did nothing to harm her career trajectory either.
The only one issue I’d take with the OP is the comment on Cressida Dick. She has also had good fortune and fallen upwards. The death of Jean-Charles De Menezes on her watch did nothing to harm her career trajectory either.
Perhaps it's time for Dick to be removed.
Put like that, it sounds like a severe case of coitus interruptus.
Dick has had many ups and downs, but it does seem like we might be seeing the end.
I think Dick risks climaxing too soon.
But there's little doubt that many people in high places seem to be huge fans of Dick.
True, this is completely unacceptable but no,different to how they treated anti lockdown marchers and other protesters too.
We should have a right to peaceful protest. These women are peaceful protesting against violence against women. What do,they get from the police. Exactly that.
You reap what you sow. Perhaps if they hadn't been so keen to arrest the likes of Piers Corbyn, they wouldn't feel the need to apply the law in difficult situations like this.
Political sensibility tells you, you only have WPCs policing that event.
I know there are some extenuating circumstances but after almost a year in charge, Starmer is a whole 1% above Corbyn. Does this mean he is under threat? I would say not at the moment but he needs to be ruthless after the May elections and kick most of the shadow cabinet to the curb.
Corbyn wasn’t under threat when five sixths of his party voted against him in a confidence motion and he was exposed for having repeatedly spun his story on train travel and lied about his support for Islamic terrorism.
The last Labour leader to have been toppled by main force was George Lansbury in 1935. And some failed or superannuated leaders in the meanwhile clung on when most wanted them out - Attlee, Wilson, Callaghan, Brown...
I don’t think the one wing which might be a threat have the votes to force a challenge - certainly they have no candidate.
For good or ill Labour are stuck with Starmer unless he quits. And I don’t think he will.
The question is, whether and how he can improve his personal ratings.
We should all be making suggestion to help dull old SKS out.
We need another round of flag-shagging from Keir.
Plus the whole Shadow Cabinet dressing up in Union Jack lingerie. Challenge the Tories to match that.
We'll soon see which party is more patriotic.
This whole ‘flag shagging’ thing really is ridiculous. It’s seems to be a fixation of parts of the online left as occupied by Owen Jones and Novara Media. There is absolutely nothing wrong with any politician sitting by our national flag.
I saw a bit of a zoom call with all european leaders and each and every one of them, left right and centre, sat by their national flag.
During international soccer tournaments the English flag is proudly displayed by people of all creeds and colours. Rightly so.
Still, posting crap for likes and retweets is nothing new.
But your post betrays the confusion at the heart of all this. You first talk of "our national flag" and then you say "the English flag".
They are of course not the same thing. That is the whole point.
SKS absolutely needs to make some progress in Scotland to win an election.
If he (or you) really believe the way to make progress in Wales or Scotland is by bathing in a sea of Union Jacks, then he (or you) are in for a very disagreeable surprise.
Looking at this from the point of view of Kier Starmer, who is meant to lead a Unionist political party, not only should he use the Union flag in publicity material in Scotland and Wales, he surely MUST do so?
The notion that you are a colonialist or an imperialist or a foreign invader if you do anything other than stand in front of a huge dragon/saltire (delete where applicable) is a Celtic nationalist affectation. If the leadership - especially the UK national leadership - of either Labour or the Tories throw their hands up in the air and discard the entire notion of there being a British state (and all of its national symbols along with it,) then they might as well decide to become exclusively English parties and start campaigning for the dissolution of the Union. It would be easy enough to do. It might even make them more popular.
Alternatively, if they actually believe that the British state should exist then they shouldn't be afraid to sell the concept. If they're not successful and the UK implodes anyway then at least they can't be accused of not trying.
They want to replace British identity with their new preferred ones but know that it won't win if they're overt about it, so do it by subterfuge - attacking its symbols and traditions, and so forth.
The only one issue I’d take with the OP is the comment on Cressida Dick. She has also had good fortune and fallen upwards. The death of Jean-Charles De Menezes on her watch did nothing to harm her career trajectory either.
The big problem is the government and the police have been rather selective on what protests have been allowed over the past 12 months. BLM fine, Piers Corbyn nutters not ok. Eco nutters fine, women wanting to remember a murder victim, not ok.
The only one issue I’d take with the OP is the comment on Cressida Dick. She has also had good fortune and fallen upwards. The death of Jean-Charles De Menezes on her watch did nothing to harm her career trajectory either.
Perhaps it's time for Dick to be removed.
Put like that, it sounds like a severe case of coitus interruptus.
Dick has had many ups and downs, but it does seem like we might be seeing the end.
I think Dick risks climaxing too soon.
But there's little doubt that many people in high places seem to be huge fans of Dick.
Changing the subject slightly, I am reminded of that 1990s bit of Man City team selection news: Ball chops Dickov.
Tomorrow is definitely MOTHERS DAY. Never ever heard of "Mothering Sunday" before.
FYI, Mothers Day (by that name) was founded in 1908 by a woman from West Virginia, Anna Maria Jarvis, in honor of the memory of her own mother, who was also named Anna Maria.
BTW, the holiday soon became very popular in the US, and was quickly commericalized and monetized, for example by the emerging greeting card industry. So much so that Mrs Reeves went so far as to call for its abolition! However, she soon ended up in a sanatorium, with bills paid for by . . . . wait for it . . . greeting card companies!
Is "Mothering Sunday" a reaction against this now rampant commericalization?
Whatever the answer, Happy Mothers Day 2021 to all you mothers!
AND here is a musical tribute, by the late, great Jerry Jeff Walker: "Up Against the Wall Redneck Mothers"
The Mothers Day you mention is on the second Sunday in May for our friends in the USA.
Mothering Sunday is an extension of Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday in Lent (which can fall on 35 different dates) in which commemorating our mother church embraces thankfulness for mothers as well. Works OK, and some people call it mothers day.
OPPS - do I have egg on MY face! Can't even get the right date for Mothers Day!
Perhaps the COVID has been rotting my brain? Wonder IF there are other symptoms!
I know we had the most non-white MEPs, but this seems a remarkable stat if even close to true - though even given how few 'high ministerial' posts exist total it seems surprising if it is. https://twitter.com/holland_tom/status/1370802345081249792
I won't believe it until Scott'n'Paste posts it!
I guess the Cabinet. So Patel, Sunak, Kwateng and Sharma are full members out of 21 (I think). Any more?
True, this is completely unacceptable but no,different to how they treated anti lockdown marchers and other protesters too.
We should have a right to peaceful protest. These women are peaceful protesting against violence against women. What do,they get from the police. Exactly that.
To be fair to the Met, they have been busy telling women not to go out in the dark if they don't want to be attacked.
I know we had the most non-white MEPs, but this seems a remarkable stat if even close to true - though even given how few 'high ministerial' posts exist total it seems surprising if it is. https://twitter.com/holland_tom/status/1370802345081249792
I won't believe it until Scott'n'Paste posts it!
I guess the Cabinet. So Patel, Sunak, Kwateng and Sharma are full members out of 21 (I think). Any more?
You reap what you sow. Perhaps if they hadn't been so keen to arrest the likes of Piers Corbyn, they wouldn't feel the need to apply the law in difficult situations like this.
It'll be fascinating to see how Priti Patel (or, for that matter, Sadiq Khan, who is the de facto PCC for the Met) defends that behaviour. Especially given that they didn't treat the BLM marchers likewise.
Of course, we all know why that was. The police have obviously decided that roughing up those women won't result in them being subjected to a massive riot and pelted with heavy missiles.
The only one issue I’d take with the OP is the comment on Cressida Dick. She has also had good fortune and fallen upwards. The death of Jean-Charles De Menezes on her watch did nothing to harm her career trajectory either.
Perhaps it's time for Dick to be removed.
Put like that, it sounds like a severe case of coitus interruptus.
Dick has had many ups and downs, but it does seem like we might be seeing the end.
I think Dick risks climaxing too soon.
But there's little doubt that many people in high places seem to be huge fans of Dick.
Will Dick come out swinging?
Possibly, but I think there's little doubt that the inexorable rise of Dick has been halted.
The only one issue I’d take with the OP is the comment on Cressida Dick. She has also had good fortune and fallen upwards. The death of Jean-Charles De Menezes on her watch did nothing to harm her career trajectory either.
Perhaps it's time for Dick to be removed.
Put like that, it sounds like a severe case of coitus interruptus.
Dick has had many ups and downs, but it does seem like we might be seeing the end.
I think Dick risks climaxing too soon.
But there's little doubt that many people in high places seem to be huge fans of Dick.
Will Dick come out swinging?
Possibly, but I think there's little doubt that the inexorable rise of Dick has been halted.
If I was Gordon Starmer, I wouldn't be worrying too much as of yet, in fact it might not be a bad thing. If Boris had carried on the way he was going, he would have been out on his ear sometime this year. Now he isn't going anywhere soon...but it is only a matter of time before Boris balls up again.
It is hard to see how the Met could have screwed this up more. Every middle aged middle class woman I know is furious right now. This isn't a load of professional activists, its normal women.
I imagine Cressida Dick will get binned, but the problems run much deeper than that.
Looking at this from the point of view of Kier Starmer, who is meant to lead a Unionist political party, not only should he use the Union flag in publicity material in Scotland and Wales, he surely MUST do so?
The notion that you are a colonialist or an imperialist or a foreign invader if you do anything other than stand in front of a huge dragon/saltire (delete where applicable) is a Celtic nationalist affectation. If the leadership - especially the UK national leadership - of either Labour or the Tories throw their hands up in the air and discard the entire notion of there being a British state (and all of its national symbols along with it,) then they might as well decide to become exclusively English parties and start campaigning for the dissolution of the Union. It would be easy enough to do. It might even make them more popular.
Alternatively, if they actually believe that the British state should exist then they shouldn't be afraid to sell the concept. If they're not successful and the UK implodes anyway then at least they can't be accused of not trying.
The only way out of this for Labour or the Tories is to have independent Labour or Tory parties for Wales & Scotland.
This is of course what used to be the case in Scotland between 1912 and 1965-- when the Unionist party actually won 50 per cent of the seats. Edward Heath then forcibly merged them with the Conservative party -- a terrible mistake and the Tories have gone backwards in Scotland ever since.
The leaders of the Scottish or Welsh Labour parties can then -- if they wish to flag shag -- have their saltires and Y Ddraig Gochs.
I am not that interested in SKS or flag shaggery, though SKS seems dull & insipid to me and Labour had much better, livelier & interesting options.
But, the fact that SKS believes the solution to Labour's problems in Scotland is to surround himself with Union Jacks strongly suggests he is not nimble enough, or smart enough, for the forthcoming tests and that he will lose the 2024 General Election.
It is hard to see how the Met could have screwed this up more. Every middle aged middle class woman I know is furious right now. This isn't a load of professional activists, its normal women.
I imagine Cressida Dick will get binned, but the problems run much deeper than that.
I bet the government get some of the fall out blame as well.
The big problem is the government and the police have been rather selective on what protests have been allowed over the past 12 months. BLM fine, Piers Corbyn nutters not ok. Eco nutters fine, women wanting to remember a murder victim, not ok.
Yes, it is odd. Removes all credibility really. BLM they appeared to be taking beatings on the chin, much less shutting down the protest on public health grounds. I suspect in that instance they were told not to intervene, though I don't think that order came via the Home Secretary, as she was furious.
If I was Gordon Starmer, I wouldn't be worrying too much as of yet, in fact it might not be a bad thing. If Boris had carried on the way he was going, he would have been out on his ear sometime this year. Now he isn't going anywhere soon...but it is only a matter of time before Boris balls up again.
It is hard to see how the Met could have screwed this up more. Every middle aged middle class woman I know is furious right now. This isn't a load of professional activists, its normal women.
I imagine Cressida Dick will get binned, but the problems run much deeper than that.
Dick hands job over to new Big Nob who makes a splash as she suffers a mortal blow.
I was texting every Tory MP I knew then telling them to get rid of him.
I had a bit more faith that he could turn things around, and so far the picture is much improved.
That chart is particularly troubling for SKS though, if the only way he can overtake Boris as best PM - and very briefly at that - is when everything is going wrong for the government all at once. He didn't even manage it after the Christmas chaos!
I know we had the most non-white MEPs, but this seems a remarkable stat if even close to true - though even given how few 'high ministerial' posts exist total it seems surprising if it is. https://twitter.com/holland_tom/status/1370802345081249792
I won't believe it until Scott'n'Paste posts it!
I guess the Cabinet. So Patel, Sunak, Kwateng and Sharma are full members out of 21 (I think). Any more?
Johnson and Raab both qualify as BAME, but I would hardly call them non-white.
Edit - if ‘ministers’ rather than cabinet ministers are implied I think the numbers rise by seven or eight.
Agree - there’s Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverley, the vaccines bloke - and doubtless others but can’t be bothered to go through the full list!
I know we had the most non-white MEPs, but this seems a remarkable stat if even close to true - though even given how few 'high ministerial' posts exist total it seems surprising if it is. https://twitter.com/holland_tom/status/1370802345081249792
I won't believe it until Scott'n'Paste posts it!
I guess the Cabinet. So Patel, Sunak, Kwateng and Sharma are full members out of 21 (I think). Any more?
Is Braverman? Or is AG "independent?" of government. (A likely story).
Edit. See we've done that. It's a senior position for sure.
I have to say, I think I'm with @contrarian this evening. Whilst I agree with the measures taken - and, indeed, I wish we'd been locked down since October - the reality is that this is pretty much over. Sure, the government isn't allowing commercial activities to return for another month, but you can ask only so much of people.
We're going to my sister's for Sunday lunch tomorrow. Whereas I was really worried about Christmas, and I was angry at the government for not cancelling it sooner, we're now in a completely different world. My parents had their first doses six weeks ago. They want to see the grandchildren.
Yet a dear family friend (who has had her jab) when visiting my mum (who has also had a jab) in her nursing home (where all the carers have had jabs) has to put up with a fixed floor-to-ceiling perspex screen AND they both have to wear masks.
I had a conversation yesterday with a business colleague who asked what precautions he thought we ought to take for an event in September.
There is a degree of Stockholm syndrome setting in; a good % of the population seem to enjoy the restrictions, the rules, and the doomongering. Odd.
You missed this morning’s thread. Which is a mercy to you, I can assure you. I wouldn’t look it up to be honest!
I'm going to guess that a few PBers are going to stay at home for a few years more, just to be on the safe side, and can't fathom why anyone would want to go to a shop/cinema/gig/pub until around 2030?
I have booked 3 staycations for later this year.
My wife and I need it and to be honest so does the economy
Good stuff! I have several dinners in nice restaurants booked in for May, and am starting a lunch club with colleagues because we've missed socialising so much. Fairs are being planned apace. Really looking forward to seeing my Godson in Edinburgh, too.
The best of both worlds. Take your godson to The Kitchin for lunch.
I know we had the most non-white MEPs, but this seems a remarkable stat if even close to true - though even given how few 'high ministerial' posts exist total it seems surprising if it is. https://twitter.com/holland_tom/status/1370802345081249792
I won't believe it until Scott'n'Paste posts it!
I guess the Cabinet. So Patel, Sunak, Kwateng and Sharma are full members out of 21 (I think). Any more?
Is Braverman? Or is AG "independent?" of government. (A likely story).
No, she’s a Minister and attends Cabinet but not a full member of it.
It is hard to see how the Met could have screwed this up more. Every middle aged middle class woman I know is furious right now. This isn't a load of professional activists, its normal women.
I imagine Cressida Dick will get binned, but the problems run much deeper than that.
Dick hands job over to new Big Nob who makes a splash as she suffers a mortal blow.
I'm done.
Let's hope that's not followed by political aspirations - a Dick penetration of Westminster is all we need.
Remember, in the hierarchy of victims, ethnic minorities are more important than women.
That's not the case when it comes to murder. The young black men who have been murdered this year aren't getting the large protests in their name, nor the commentary in the papers, or the social media storm.
Men are 2 to 3 times more likely to be murdered than women, younger men are more likely to be murdered than older men, and ethnic minorities are more likely to be murdered than white people. And on the whole nobody gives a fuck about those murders.
Remember, in the hierarchy of victims, ethnic minorities are more important than women.
That's not the case when it comes to murder. The young black men who have been murdered this year aren't getting the large protests in their name, nor the commentary in the papers, or the social media storm.
Men are 2 to 3 times more likely to be murdered than women, younger men are more likely to be murdered than older men, and ethnic minorities are more likely to be murdered than white people. And on the whole nobody gives a fuck about those murders.
You're looking at it from the wrong perspective (okay, I know I said it was about victims). What matters is the perpetrator. If a black man gets killed by a cop, then it would be big news.
The only one issue I’d take with the OP is the comment on Cressida Dick. She has also had good fortune and fallen upwards. The death of Jean-Charles De Menezes on her watch did nothing to harm her career trajectory either.
That wasn’t on her watch, was it? Wasn’t that Sir Ian Blair?
She was supervising the operation that killed him.
Doubly ironic that as women, attempting to protest Sarah Everard’s murder by a policeman, are wrestled to the ground by...policemen...PB’s finest pass the time with nob jokes.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Priti Patel introduces to Parliament a new policing bill that gives police even more powers to suppress peaceful protest.
If I was Gordon Starmer, I wouldn't be worrying too much as of yet, in fact it might not be a bad thing. If Boris had carried on the way he was going, he would have been out on his ear sometime this year. Now he isn't going anywhere soon...but it is only a matter of time before Boris balls up again.
They should lift lockdown because of this? Ridiculous.
It's jumping on a bandwagon I suspect. I'm sure he is sincere, but he was probably sincere in wanting the powers gone a long time ago, implying these particular scenes are why they should go would therefore be disingenuous (if in fact he was not wishing them gone already, I withdraw that).
And given most of the Coronavirus Act, I believe, had sunset clauses, those who argued from the start or a long time ago that the powers should end would be misleading if they subsequently claim victory as those powers are not renewed.
East Lancashire Railway Diesel Gala is the previous weekend. I had planned a visit last February but had to call it off as I had a *mystery illness*. So this is my target for a return to normality. (Yes, I know that many will think that attending such an event is far from normal.)
My railway Bouquet-List, severely messed up by Covid, includes:
Inverness to Kyle Inverness to Thurso & Wick Dale Rail (Sunday only) Clitheroe to Hellifield. Manchester Metrolink branch to Trafford Centre
Doubly ironic that as women, attempting to protest Sarah Everard’s murder by a policeman, are wrestled to the ground by...policemen...PB’s finest pass the time with nob jokes.
Gods forbid random internet weirdos are able to engage in undirected random chatter concurrently with some news event.
Doubly ironic that as women, attempting to protest Sarah Everard’s murder by a policeman, are wrestled to the ground by...policemen...PB’s finest pass the time with nob jokes.
Gods forbid random internet weirdos are able to engage in undirected random chatter concurrently with some news event.
Doubly ironic that as women, attempting to protest Sarah Everard’s murder by a policeman, are wrestled to the ground by...policemen...PB’s finest pass the time with nob jokes.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Priti Patel introduces to Parliament a new policing bill that gives police even more powers to suppress peaceful protest.
You are totally right about the Met being out of their minds. And the contrast with previous protests is quite striking. They should be ashamed.
Doubly ironic that as women, attempting to protest Sarah Everard’s murder by a policeman, are wrestled to the ground by...policemen...PB’s finest pass the time with nob jokes.
Gods forbid random internet weirdos are able to engage in undirected random chatter concurrently with some news event.
I merely point out the rich ironies.
And I'd point out there's nothing ironic about it.
Doubly ironic that as women, attempting to protest Sarah Everard’s murder by a policeman, are wrestled to the ground by...policemen...PB’s finest pass the time with nob jokes.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Priti Patel introduces to Parliament a new policing bill that gives police even more powers to suppress peaceful protest.
Tomorrow is definitely MOTHERS DAY. Never ever heard of "Mothering Sunday" before.
FYI, Mothers Day (by that name) was founded in 1908 by a woman from West Virginia, Anna Maria Jarvis, in honor of the memory of her own mother, who was also named Anna Maria.
BTW, the holiday soon became very popular in the US, and was quickly commericalized and monetized, for example by the emerging greeting card industry. So much so that Mrs Reeves went so far as to call for its abolition! However, she soon ended up in a sanatorium, with bills paid for by . . . . wait for it . . . greeting card companies!
Is "Mothering Sunday" a reaction against this now rampant commericalization?
Whatever the answer, Happy Mothers Day 2021 to all you mothers!
AND here is a musical tribute, by the late, great Jerry Jeff Walker: "Up Against the Wall Redneck Mothers"
My understanding is that Motherinf Sunday is a Church of England thing, a celebration of the mother church - i. e. the church in which you were baptised. I don't know how old it is.
"Mothering Sunday" as an exact phrase is Victorian, or perhaps a little earlier.
Perhaps an accretion on a Medieval Tradition of visiting the "Mother" church, which might be where you were baptised, or the Cathedral of your Diocese.
In recent years it has been grabbed - like many others - by the Greetings Card industry.
I'll be kind, and stay off the theology of God as Mother
I know we had the most non-white MEPs, but this seems a remarkable stat if even close to true - though even given how few 'high ministerial' posts exist total it seems surprising if it is. https://twitter.com/holland_tom/status/1370802345081249792
I won't believe it until Scott'n'Paste posts it!
I guess the Cabinet. So Patel, Sunak, Kwateng and Sharma are full members out of 21 (I think). Any more?
Johnson and Raab both qualify as BAME, but I would hardly call them non-white.
Edit - if ‘ministers’ rather than cabinet ministers are implied I think the numbers rise by seven or eight.
Agree - there’s Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverley, the vaccines bloke - and doubtless others but can’t be bothered to go through the full list!
The Tory Party will have a BAME Prime Minister before the Labour Party do so. Discuss.
Doubly ironic that as women, attempting to protest Sarah Everard’s murder by a policeman, are wrestled to the ground by...policemen...PB’s finest pass the time with nob jokes.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Priti Patel introduces to Parliament a new policing bill that gives police even more powers to suppress peaceful protest.
You are totally right about the Met being out of their minds. And the contrast with previous protests is quite striking. They should be ashamed.
What are the new restrictions being imposed?
They're giving the women the Piers Corbyn treatment. Other causes have been policed much more leniently.
Personally, I would haven't worried about outside protests. They're unlikely to spread the virus. Let the police focus on breaking up indoor parties.
You're looking at it from the wrong perspective (okay, I know I said it was about victims). What matters is the perpetrator. If a black man gets killed by a cop, then it would be big news.
Okay but that is all part of the same problem. For some reason as a society we have this notion that certain types of victims or perpetrators make a crime more or less outrageous, ranging between the extremes of public frenzy to total disinterest. Our repsonse and interest is at odds with reality.
I know we had the most non-white MEPs, but this seems a remarkable stat if even close to true - though even given how few 'high ministerial' posts exist total it seems surprising if it is. https://twitter.com/holland_tom/status/1370802345081249792
I won't believe it until Scott'n'Paste posts it!
I guess the Cabinet. So Patel, Sunak, Kwateng and Sharma are full members out of 21 (I think). Any more?
Johnson and Raab both qualify as BAME, but I would hardly call them non-white.
Edit - if ‘ministers’ rather than cabinet ministers are implied I think the numbers rise by seven or eight.
Agree - there’s Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverley, the vaccines bloke - and doubtless others but can’t be bothered to go through the full list!
The Tory Party will have a BAME Prime Minister before the Labour Party do so. Discuss.
Doubly ironic that as women, attempting to protest Sarah Everard’s murder by a policeman, are wrestled to the ground by...policemen...PB’s finest pass the time with nob jokes.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Priti Patel introduces to Parliament a new policing bill that gives police even more powers to suppress peaceful protest.
That's because it's too fucking depressing.
The Met needs to be burnt to the ground and reconstituted.
I know we had the most non-white MEPs, but this seems a remarkable stat if even close to true - though even given how few 'high ministerial' posts exist total it seems surprising if it is. https://twitter.com/holland_tom/status/1370802345081249792
I won't believe it until Scott'n'Paste posts it!
I guess the Cabinet. So Patel, Sunak, Kwateng and Sharma are full members out of 21 (I think). Any more?
Johnson and Raab both qualify as BAME, but I would hardly call them non-white.
Edit - if ‘ministers’ rather than cabinet ministers are implied I think the numbers rise by seven or eight.
Agree - there’s Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverley, the vaccines bloke - and doubtless others but can’t be bothered to go through the full list!
The Tory Party will have a BAME Prime Minister before the Labour Party do so. Discuss.
They had one as long ago as 1868, before Labour even existed.
Tomorrow is definitely MOTHERS DAY. Never ever heard of "Mothering Sunday" before.
FYI, Mothers Day (by that name) was founded in 1908 by a woman from West Virginia, Anna Maria Jarvis, in honor of the memory of her own mother, who was also named Anna Maria.
BTW, the holiday soon became very popular in the US, and was quickly commericalized and monetized, for example by the emerging greeting card industry. So much so that Mrs Reeves went so far as to call for its abolition! However, she soon ended up in a sanatorium, with bills paid for by . . . . wait for it . . . greeting card companies!
Is "Mothering Sunday" a reaction against this now rampant commericalization?
Whatever the answer, Happy Mothers Day 2021 to all you mothers!
AND here is a musical tribute, by the late, great Jerry Jeff Walker: "Up Against the Wall Redneck Mothers"
The Mothers Day you mention is on the second Sunday in May for our friends in the USA.
Mothering Sunday is an extension of Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday in Lent (which can fall on 35 different dates) in which commemorating our mother church embraces thankfulness for mothers as well. Works OK, and some people call it mothers day.
OPPS - do I have egg on MY face! Can't even get the right date for Mothers Day!
Perhaps the COVID has been rotting my brain? Wonder IF there are other symptoms!
As algarkirk says, Mothering Sunday is the fourth Sunday in Lent, which is the forty days and nights preceding the festival of Easter.
In the early 20th century the concept of Mothers Day had been imported into England from the USA but it had been separated from the church calendar with Mother's Day being celebrated in both America and (at that time) in the UK in May.
Constance Penswick Smith was the daughter of a vicar at Coddington near Newark in the early 20th century. She started a campaign which culminated in the adoption of Mothering Sunday in the English calendar instead of Mothers Day with its date set by the ecclesiastical calendar rather than being a fixed Sunday each year. The first Mothering Sunday was in 1915.
My wife and I were married in the Church at Coddington where Constance Penswick Smith is buried.
Just guessing, but I suspect CPS will be declining to charge anyone detained during these events. Letter of law and equitable treatment of all deliberate breaches is one thing, but that is probably not worth someone's career.
1. The police have been presented with regulations that instruct them that all demonstrations are effectively forbidden 2. However, the regulations contain the fundamental flaw that, depending upon the size of the demo, they may be very hard to enforce: if the demonstration in question is both big enough, and contains a sufficient risk of violence if it is broken up, then the rules are at risk of being rendered meaningless. This is, of course, what happened with BLM 3. Unable to do anything about the large demonstrations, the police then fail to apply a consistency of approach to the smaller ones and instead insist on dispersing them, using force if necessary
Thus, the law and those enforcing it are brought into disrepute, through a combination of regulations that have either not been properly thought through or which the political leadership, which has ultimate power of direction, lacks the backbone to see properly enforced; and an inability to act with sensitivity and discretion.
If BLM was allowed then so should tonight's protest - and was any serious effort made to compromise with those people and ask nicely if they might at least two metre distance, which there was plenty of space to do, or did the police simply insist that they go home?
Forgetting all of the puns for a minute - Cressida Dick is done. This heavy handed approach to women peacefully making a point about violence and harrasment they face is completely unnecessary.
Whatever the "public health" concerns are don't even come close to the issues women face on the streets every single fucking day. I'm not saying that all of them are in danger of being kidnapped, raped and murdered like that poor girl last week. Obviously. What I'm saying is that women's voices and their genuine concerns over the kind of city centre culture we have of them not being able to walk alone after dark needs to be challenged. The Met especially haven't done any kind of job in keeping the streets safe from those who seek to harm women at night, you can quote all of stats about gang members killing each other as much as you want - ultimately, a woman walking alone at night is a taxpayer, a gang member is in the game.
I want London to be a safe city for my wife, my mum, my sister, my niece, my future daughters that might exist one day. Every woman is someone's wife, someone's girlfriend, someone's daughter and so on. The way we listen to their concerns and then action change based on what they have said casts a very poor light on our society.
I'm not a bleeding heart liberal, I'm not some woke wanker trying to point score, I want to make London safe for women. I have no idea how to do that but I think step one is listening and not arresting those who are protesting about it. Fuck lockdown rules and fuck the double standards for allowing the BLM protests to go ahead. The Met are a disgrace and need to a root and branch level of reform, @Cyclefree has a very timely thread today.
I was texting every Tory MP I knew then telling them to get rid of him.
I had a bit more faith that he could turn things around, and so far the picture is much improved.
That chart is particularly troubling for SKS though, if the only way he can overtake Boris as best PM - and very briefly at that - is when everything is going wrong for the government all at once. He didn't even manage it after the Christmas chaos!
Doubly ironic that as women, attempting to protest Sarah Everard’s murder by a policeman, are wrestled to the ground by...policemen...PB’s finest pass the time with nob jokes.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Priti Patel introduces to Parliament a new policing bill that gives police even more powers to suppress peaceful protest.
That's because it's too fucking depressing.
The Met needs to be burnt to the ground and reconstituted.
You're looking at it from the wrong perspective (okay, I know I said it was about victims). What matters is the perpetrator. If a black man gets killed by a cop, then it would be big news.
Okay but that is all part of the same problem. For some reason as a society we have this notion that certain types of victims or perpetrators make a crime more or less outrageous, ranging between the extremes of public frenzy to total disinterest. Our repsonse and interest is at odds with reality.
I said the other day that the news reports the unusual and I don't know how to solve that problem.
My view of the police is sadly - and I have often tried to think wrongly - very low as the result of years of experience and observation. Too many friends picked up and mistreated for being the wrong age or the wrong colour or just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Too much time spent on petty annoyances and not enough on dealing with crime and protecting the public. So I fully admit that every time an article like this from Cyclefree is written I lap it up.
But I also recognise my bias and try to rebalance it by actively trying to look at it from a pro-Police point of view. Usually with at least some modicum of success.
And then something like this on Clapham Common happens and I think fuck it. Charles is right. Burn them down and start again.
Doubly ironic that as women, attempting to protest Sarah Everard’s murder by a policeman, are wrestled to the ground by...policemen...PB’s finest pass the time with nob jokes.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Priti Patel introduces to Parliament a new policing bill that gives police even more powers to suppress peaceful protest.
You are totally right about the Met being out of their minds. And the contrast with previous protests is quite striking. They should be ashamed.
What are the new restrictions being imposed?
The bill will amend the Public Order Act 1986, which gave police power to restrict demonstrations if there is a risk to “serious public disorder, serious damage to property or serious disruption to the life of the community.”
The amendment will further allow police to restrict demos if the *noise* of a protest “may result in serious disruption to the activities of an organisation” or have “a relevant impact on persons in the vicinity of the procession”.
This is a very low threshold which effectively renders any and all demonstration subject to potential restriction.
Steve Baker's mind works in a very unusual way. I am not sure anyone else has made the same extrapolation.
Steve Baker again adding 2 and 2 and finding the answer is probably 22.
It's actually not such a leap of logic. Baker wants rid of the lockdown regulations. The lockdown regulations effectively outlaw protest. You can argue that the protests are not justified because the lockdown regulations are essential and must not be contravened, but there seems nothing at all odd about his making the contrary case.
Doubly ironic that as women, attempting to protest Sarah Everard’s murder by a policeman, are wrestled to the ground by...policemen...PB’s finest pass the time with nob jokes.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Priti Patel introduces to Parliament a new policing bill that gives police even more powers to suppress peaceful protest.
You are totally right about the Met being out of their minds. And the contrast with previous protests is quite striking. They should be ashamed.
What are the new restrictions being imposed?
The bill will amend the Public Order Act 1986, which gave police power to restrict demonstrations if there is a risk to “serious public disorder, serious damage to property or serious disruption to the life of the community.”
The amendment will further allow police to restrict demos if the *noise* of a protest “may result in serious disruption to the activities of an organisation” or have “a relevant impact on persons in the vicinity of the procession”.
This is a very low threshold which effectively renders any and all demonstration subject to potential restriction.
I assume this is not a time-limited measure related to the current pandemic?
The change you quote doesn't seem that drastic, risk of public disorder or serious damage to property are surely already criteria for stopping a protest? The one about noise does seem silly though.
You're looking at it from the wrong perspective (okay, I know I said it was about victims). What matters is the perpetrator. If a black man gets killed by a cop, then it would be big news.
Okay but that is all part of the same problem. For some reason as a society we have this notion that certain types of victims or perpetrators make a crime more or less outrageous, ranging between the extremes of public frenzy to total disinterest. Our repsonse and interest is at odds with reality.
Jess Phillips read out the names of over a hundred murdered women this week in Parliament. This sort of random off the street murder is news because it is rare.
Women being made to feel unsafe by male harassment in the street is not a rare event though. Every woman has tales of this sort of male aggression and anger. Mrs Foxy was just telling me of such an event earlier.
Doubly ironic that as women, attempting to protest Sarah Everard’s murder by a policeman, are wrestled to the ground by...policemen...PB’s finest pass the time with nob jokes.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Priti Patel introduces to Parliament a new policing bill that gives police even more powers to suppress peaceful protest.
That's because it's too fucking depressing.
The Met needs to be burnt to the ground and reconstituted.
Now even Tories want to defund the police...
The distance from law and order Conservatives to full on Corbynista Anarchist Police haters was an incredibly tiny step.
I was texting every Tory MP I knew then telling them to get rid of him.
I had a bit more faith that he could turn things around, and so far the picture is much improved.
That chart is particularly troubling for SKS though, if the only way he can overtake Boris as best PM - and very briefly at that - is when everything is going wrong for the government all at once. He didn't even manage it after the Christmas chaos!
1. The police have been presented with regulations that instruct them that all demonstrations are effectively forbidden 2. However, the regulations contain the fundamental flaw that, depending upon the size of the demo, they may be very hard to enforce: if the demonstration in question is both big enough, and contains a sufficient risk of violence if it is broken up, then the rules are at risk of being rendered meaningless. This is, of course, what happened with BLM 3. Unable to do anything about the large demonstrations, the police then fail to apply a consistency of approach to the smaller ones and instead insist on dispersing them, using force if necessary
Thus, the law and those enforcing it are brought into disrepute, through a combination of regulations that have either not been properly thought through or which the political leadership, which has ultimate power of direction, lacks the backbone to see properly enforced; and an inability to act with sensitivity and discretion.
If BLM was allowed then so should tonight's protest - and was any serious effort made to compromise with those people and ask nicely if they might at least two metre distance, which there was plenty of space to do, or did the police simply insist that they go home?
What a mess.
I agree totally. However, that situation is not sustainable - the police cannot be intimidated by large mobs whilst cracking down on small protests. It's not good enough.
Patel will want resignations on her desk tomorrow - if she doesn't, it could be her job on the line.
Comments
The notion that you are a colonialist or an imperialist or a foreign invader if you do anything other than stand in front of a huge dragon/saltire (delete where applicable) is a Celtic nationalist affectation. If the leadership - especially the UK national leadership - of either Labour or the Tories throw their hands up in the air and discard the entire notion of there being a British state (and all of its national symbols along with it,) then they might as well decide to become exclusively English parties and start campaigning for the dissolution of the Union. It would be easy enough to do. It might even make them more popular.
Alternatively, if they actually believe that the British state should exist then they shouldn't be afraid to sell the concept. If they're not successful and the UK implodes anyway then at least they can't be accused of not trying.
Edit - if ‘ministers’ rather than cabinet ministers are implied I think the numbers rise by seven or eight.
We should have a right to peaceful protest. These women are peaceful protesting against violence against women. What do,they get from the police. Exactly that.
Perhaps the COVID has been rotting my brain? Wonder IF there are other symptoms!
Of course, we all know why that was. The police have obviously decided that roughing up those women won't result in them being subjected to a massive riot and pelted with heavy missiles.
Might makes right.
I bet they would never have dared tweet this in regards BLM protests....people tightly packed risk regards COVID.
I was texting every Tory MP I knew then telling them to get rid of him.
I imagine Cressida Dick will get binned, but the problems run much deeper than that.
This is of course what used to be the case in Scotland between 1912 and 1965-- when the Unionist party actually won 50 per cent of the seats. Edward Heath then forcibly merged them with the Conservative party -- a terrible mistake and the Tories have gone backwards in Scotland ever since.
The leaders of the Scottish or Welsh Labour parties can then -- if they wish to flag shag -- have their saltires and Y Ddraig Gochs.
I am not that interested in SKS or flag shaggery, though SKS seems dull & insipid to me and Labour had much better, livelier & interesting options.
But, the fact that SKS believes the solution to Labour's problems in Scotland is to surround himself with Union Jacks strongly suggests he is not nimble enough, or smart enough, for the forthcoming tests and that he will lose the 2024 General Election.
I'm done.
That chart is particularly troubling for SKS though, if the only way he can overtake Boris as best PM - and very briefly at that - is when everything is going wrong for the government all at once. He didn't even manage it after the Christmas chaos!
Or is AG "independent?" of government. (A likely story).
Edit. See we've done that.
It's a senior position for sure.
Men are 2 to 3 times more likely to be murdered than women, younger men are more likely to be murdered than older men, and ethnic minorities are more likely to be murdered than white people. And on the whole nobody gives a fuck about those murders.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Priti Patel introduces to Parliament a new policing bill that gives police even more powers to suppress peaceful protest.
And given most of the Coronavirus Act, I believe, had sunset clauses, those who argued from the start or a long time ago that the powers should end would be misleading if they subsequently claim victory as those powers are not renewed.
Inverness to Kyle
Inverness to Thurso & Wick
Dale Rail (Sunday only) Clitheroe to Hellifield.
Manchester Metrolink branch to Trafford Centre
What are the new restrictions being imposed?
Perhaps an accretion on a Medieval Tradition of visiting the "Mother" church, which might be where you were baptised, or the Cathedral of your Diocese.
In recent years it has been grabbed - like many others - by the Greetings Card industry.
I'll be kind, and stay off the theology of God as Mother
Personally, I would haven't worried about outside protests. They're unlikely to spread the virus. Let the police focus on breaking up indoor parties.
https://twitter.com/KateEMcCann/status/1370846119991734272
The Met needs to be burnt to the ground and reconstituted.
In the early 20th century the concept of Mothers Day had been imported into England from the USA but it had been separated from the church calendar with Mother's Day being celebrated in both America and (at that time) in the UK in May.
Constance Penswick Smith was the daughter of a vicar at Coddington near Newark in the early 20th century. She started a campaign which culminated in the adoption of Mothering Sunday in the English calendar instead of Mothers Day with its date set by the ecclesiastical calendar rather than being a fixed Sunday each year. The first Mothering Sunday was in 1915.
My wife and I were married in the Church at Coddington where Constance Penswick Smith is buried.
Steve Baker again adding 2 and 2 and finding the answer is probably 22.
1. The police have been presented with regulations that instruct them that all demonstrations are effectively forbidden
2. However, the regulations contain the fundamental flaw that, depending upon the size of the demo, they may be very hard to enforce: if the demonstration in question is both big enough, and contains a sufficient risk of violence if it is broken up, then the rules are at risk of being rendered meaningless. This is, of course, what happened with BLM
3. Unable to do anything about the large demonstrations, the police then fail to apply a consistency of approach to the smaller ones and instead insist on dispersing them, using force if necessary
Thus, the law and those enforcing it are brought into disrepute, through a combination of regulations that have either not been properly thought through or which the political leadership, which has ultimate power of direction, lacks the backbone to see properly enforced; and an inability to act with sensitivity and discretion.
If BLM was allowed then so should tonight's protest - and was any serious effort made to compromise with those people and ask nicely if they might at least two metre distance, which there was plenty of space to do, or did the police simply insist that they go home?
What a mess.
Dick and others plus where is Khan as London mayor in this
Whatever the "public health" concerns are don't even come close to the issues women face on the streets every single fucking day. I'm not saying that all of them are in danger of being kidnapped, raped and murdered like that poor girl last week. Obviously. What I'm saying is that women's voices and their genuine concerns over the kind of city centre culture we have of them not being able to walk alone after dark needs to be challenged. The Met especially haven't done any kind of job in keeping the streets safe from those who seek to harm women at night, you can quote all of stats about gang members killing each other as much as you want - ultimately, a woman walking alone at night is a taxpayer, a gang member is in the game.
I want London to be a safe city for my wife, my mum, my sister, my niece, my future daughters that might exist one day. Every woman is someone's wife, someone's girlfriend, someone's daughter and so on. The way we listen to their concerns and then action change based on what they have said casts a very poor light on our society.
I'm not a bleeding heart liberal, I'm not some woke wanker trying to point score, I want to make London safe for women. I have no idea how to do that but I think step one is listening and not arresting those who are protesting about it. Fuck lockdown rules and fuck the double standards for allowing the BLM protests to go ahead. The Met are a disgrace and need to a root and branch level of reform, @Cyclefree has a very timely thread today.
Problem is he will never be a current PM though
nigh on 30% positivity rate in Poland ......
But I also recognise my bias and try to rebalance it by actively trying to look at it from a pro-Police point of view. Usually with at least some modicum of success.
And then something like this on Clapham Common happens and I think fuck it. Charles is right. Burn them down and start again.
The amendment will further allow police to restrict demos if the *noise* of a protest “may result in serious disruption to the activities of an organisation” or have “a relevant impact on persons in the vicinity of the procession”.
This is a very low threshold which effectively renders any and all demonstration subject to potential restriction.
https://twitter.com/SkyTNewton/status/1370782765654941700
Toryless Cressida.....
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/feb/17/de-menezes-family-call-cressida-dick-barred-from-leading-met
The change you quote doesn't seem that drastic, risk of public disorder or serious damage to property are surely already criteria for stopping a protest? The one about noise does seem silly though.
Women being made to feel unsafe by male harassment in the street is not a rare event though. Every woman has tales of this sort of male aggression and anger. Mrs Foxy was just telling me of such an event earlier.
Patel will want resignations on her desk tomorrow - if she doesn't, it could be her job on the line.