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On the YouGov/Survation split the latter has a record of picking up moves to LAB better – politicalb

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  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,023
    LoD spoiler ahead of tomorrow’s series finale.
    https://twitter.com/Prof_GD_Foster/status/1388075787149090822
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 17,207
    Jonathan said:

    Leon said:

    Jonathan said:

    Leon said:

    The Conservative lead over Labour has narrowed sharply with five days to go until the local elections on Thursday, as the furore over Boris Johnson’s flat refurbishment starts to cut through.

    An exclusive poll for The Sunday Times shows a slump in support for the Tories after a turbulent week for the prime minister, who is facing a string of sleaze allegations. Labour is now on 39 per cent, one point behind the Tories on 40 per cent.

    More worrying for the Conservative Party is that Johnson is losing his grip on the “red wall” seats that propelled him to power. According to the poll, Labour has pushed ahead of the Tories and now leads in the party’s former heartlands in the Midlands and the north of England. In the 43 “red wall” seats that the Conservatives won at the last election, Sir Keir Starmer’s party is on 45 per cent, with the Tories on 44 per cent.


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tory-lead-slumps-and-pm-loses-red-wall-support-five-days-before-local-elections-m7fpzdd7r

    Interesting.

    I love the John Lewis question.
    Carrie Antoinette really has damaged Boris Johnson.
    I'm not sure it's Carrie. Who givea a fuck about wallpaper paid for by Boris OR Tories OR anonymous donors

    If he's been damaged it is surely "pile the bodies high"
    It’s both. Getting a favour for a gazillionaire chum, shitting on one of the UKs aspirational brands as not good enough for him. Clearly not caring about ordinary folk.

    It’s one of the worse thing you can be today, he’s out of touch elite
    Yes, probably. I'm not in the demographic that will be offended by the wallpaper, he's a rich London elitist, this is what they do, I know them, I have quite a few friends like this, meh

    But maybe I underestimated the impact on hoi polloi

    I do think the dead bodies thing has hurt him. Yes Lockdown-skeptics will love it, but a lot of ordinary *folk* will see a callous remark from an uncaring man. It really wasn't good. Hence his avowed denial
    That was callous. No too ways about it. The problem is that it resonates with the other story.

    My read is politically you can get away with being rich or posh, but if you start looking down on people you’re toast. He crossed that line.
    That's what's totally calamitous about the stories hitting in the same week. There's always been the suspicion that, in BoJo's mind, other people are just stage scenery in The Heroic Adventures of Boris the Great. The flat redecoration and referring to dead people as "bodies" both play into that.

    Unfair? Perhaps- but it couldn't happen to a nicer chap.
  • JonathanJonathan Posts: 21,633
    Boris’s memoirs will make him a very rich man. Any talk of him being hard up is ridiculous.
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,559
    nico679 said:

    I think what would really hurt Johnson is him moaning about not having enough money. This really will go down like a bucket of sick with most of the public .

    Winston Churchill used to do that. But to his entourage NOT the general public.

    Boris Johnson needs to work on his imitation. Perhaps Carrie can install more mirrors?
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,368
    ping said:

    PoliticsForAlI
    🚨 | BREAKING: The UK government is building a new £200 million ship and naming it after Prince Phillip

    Via @Telegraph

    £200m ???!!!

    I’m not stumping up for the tele’s paywall. Is this taxpayers cash, presumably?

    Is this a naval military vessel or the Royal Yacht Boris?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,228
    Jonathan said:

    Leon said:

    Jonathan said:

    Leon said:

    The Conservative lead over Labour has narrowed sharply with five days to go until the local elections on Thursday, as the furore over Boris Johnson’s flat refurbishment starts to cut through.

    An exclusive poll for The Sunday Times shows a slump in support for the Tories after a turbulent week for the prime minister, who is facing a string of sleaze allegations. Labour is now on 39 per cent, one point behind the Tories on 40 per cent.

    More worrying for the Conservative Party is that Johnson is losing his grip on the “red wall” seats that propelled him to power. According to the poll, Labour has pushed ahead of the Tories and now leads in the party’s former heartlands in the Midlands and the north of England. In the 43 “red wall” seats that the Conservatives won at the last election, Sir Keir Starmer’s party is on 45 per cent, with the Tories on 44 per cent.


    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tory-lead-slumps-and-pm-loses-red-wall-support-five-days-before-local-elections-m7fpzdd7r

    Interesting.

    I love the John Lewis question.
    Carrie Antoinette really has damaged Boris Johnson.
    I'm not sure it's Carrie. Who givea a fuck about wallpaper paid for by Boris OR Tories OR anonymous donors

    If he's been damaged it is surely "pile the bodies high"
    It’s both. Getting a favour for a gazillionaire chum, shitting on one of the UKs aspirational brands as not good enough for him. Clearly not caring about ordinary folk.

    It’s one of the worse thing you can be today, he’s out of touch elite
    Yes, probably. I'm not in the demographic that will be offended by the wallpaper, he's a rich London elitist, this is what they do, I know them, I have quite a few friends like this, meh

    But maybe I underestimated the impact on hoi polloi

    I do think the dead bodies thing has hurt him. Yes Lockdown-skeptics will love it, but a lot of ordinary *folk* will see a callous remark from an uncaring man. It really wasn't good. Hence his avowed denial
    That was callous. No too ways about it. The problem is that it resonates with the other story.

    My read is politically you can get away with being rich or posh, but if you start looking down on people you’re toast. He crossed that line.
    Yes, I agree. He knew it would hurt hence his urgent denial. Of course I can see the context - who hasn't said something mad and apparently brutal when hard-pressed? - but in cold print it looked bad. And it was bad

    He also, clearly, fears Big Dom Cummings. Who knows where all the bodies are buried, indeed he generally bought the shovels

  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,977
    Conservative officials have been given until Friday to hand over all the information they have about Boris Johnson’s refurbishment of his Downing Street flat.

    They have been warned that they face severe criminal consequences if they refuse.

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hiding-flat-revamp-emails-is-a-crime-tory-staff-told-g2tlbpb5d
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,297

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Johnson is toast. The wallpaper ‘scandal’ will finish him off.

    Hmm.
    Had you down as a fanboi.

    I think he’ll ride this out, but be severely dented.
    That term fanboi !!

    I’ve never voted Tory in my life. Voted labour in 2019 and every general election back to 1983.

    I just don’t believe in judging him guilty without proof. I also don’t really like labour at the moment,mit is devoid of any ideas and any talent. The top team is a waste of space. They can only win on the weakness of their opponents. New labour had a vision.

    If he’s dented he’ll limp on until he is put out of his misery.
    I agree, but it really pisses me off that people on here hold Keir to a much higher standard than someone who is basically a crooked clown.
    Just imagine how Joe Biden feels.
    Joe Biden was also routinely disparaged on here.

    But he is - whisper it - basically setting the agenda for centre left politics for the foreseeable future.

    A Green win in Germany and this country is going to look like a backward outlier - a bit like we in turn view the DUP.
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,559

    Saw my first goslings of the year today.

    What a day for walking in the English countryside.

    Calves and lambs, rabbits and pheasants, deer and alpacas, grebes and ducklings, streams and lakes, ancient hilltop villages and medieval churches, Georgian halls and old stone farmhouses.

    If it was in Tuscany or Provence eloi travel writers would be declaring it an earthly paradise.

    But it wasn't, it was just off the M18.

    Barnsley was once described (by a regeneration company PR, I think) as “like a Tuscan hill town”.
    It produced a certain level of ridicule in the rest of Yorkshire.
    Because Barnsley is really much more like an Umbrian hill town?
  • SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 22,009
    Hey, Carrie Anne(toinette), what's your game now?
    Can anybody play?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,228
    alex_ said:

    Leon said:

    Floater said:

    Lights blue touch paper and stands waaaay back

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1388543057965064198


    Boris Johnson has told friends he needs £300,000 a year to stay afloat

    Sounds like he is getting ready to go. Covid: DONE, Brexit: DONE, become Prime Minister? - TICK


    He nailed the top job, won a big majority, destroyed Corbyn, so: leave now for amazing money in a private life? Must be very very tempting

    He has a new little boy to look after, as well
    Will Carrie stick with him? The refurbs would suggest she was hoping to stick around a bit longer in Downing Street...
    Will he stick with Carrie?! History suggests otherwise
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,577

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Johnson is toast. The wallpaper ‘scandal’ will finish him off.

    Hmm.
    Had you down as a fanboi.

    I think he’ll ride this out, but be severely dented.
    That term fanboi !!

    I’ve never voted Tory in my life. Voted labour in 2019 and every general election back to 1983.

    I just don’t believe in judging him guilty without proof. I also don’t really like labour at the moment,mit is devoid of any ideas and any talent. The top team is a waste of space. They can only win on the weakness of their opponents. New labour had a vision.

    If he’s dented he’ll limp on until he is put out of his misery.
    I agree, but it really pisses me off that people on here hold Keir to a much higher standard than someone who is basically a crooked clown.
    Just imagine how Joe Biden feels.
    Joe Biden was also routinely disparaged on here.

    But he is - whisper it - basically setting the agenda for centre left politics for the foreseeable future.

    A Green win in Germany and this country is going to look like a backward outlier - a bit like we in turn view the DUP.
    Backward outlier, or business-friendly safe haven?
  • another_richardanother_richard Posts: 26,585
    ydoethur said:

    Saw my first goslings of the year today.

    What a day for walking in the English countryside.

    Calves and lambs, rabbits and pheasants, deer and alpacas, grebes and ducklings, streams and lakes, ancient hilltop villages and medieval churches, Georgian halls and old stone farmhouses.

    If it was in Tuscany or Provence eloi travel writers would be declaring it an earthly paradise.

    But it wasn't, it was just off the M18.

    There were goslings on the Staffs and Worcs Canal when I cycled along it earlier.

    Never seen so many pheasants and deer about. Or ravens and songbirds, for the matter of that. I’m wondering if with traffic reduced in recent months fewer have been killed on the roads, or whether it’s just that a mild, moist summer and early autumn has been good for numbers.
    The birdsong has indeed been good this year.
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,297
    edited May 2021

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Johnson is toast. The wallpaper ‘scandal’ will finish him off.

    Hmm.
    Had you down as a fanboi.

    I think he’ll ride this out, but be severely dented.
    That term fanboi !!

    I’ve never voted Tory in my life. Voted labour in 2019 and every general election back to 1983.

    I just don’t believe in judging him guilty without proof. I also don’t really like labour at the moment,mit is devoid of any ideas and any talent. The top team is a waste of space. They can only win on the weakness of their opponents. New labour had a vision.

    If he’s dented he’ll limp on until he is put out of his misery.
    I agree, but it really pisses me off that people on here hold Keir to a much higher standard than someone who is basically a crooked clown.
    Just imagine how Joe Biden feels.
    Joe Biden was also routinely disparaged on here.

    But he is - whisper it - basically setting the agenda for centre left politics for the foreseeable future.

    A Green win in Germany and this country is going to look like a backward outlier - a bit like we in turn view the DUP.
    Backward outlier, or business-friendly safe haven?
    We will be austeritising while the others will be stimulating.
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    edited May 2021

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Johnson is toast. The wallpaper ‘scandal’ will finish him off.

    Hmm.
    Had you down as a fanboi.

    I think he’ll ride this out, but be severely dented.
    That term fanboi !!

    I’ve never voted Tory in my life. Voted labour in 2019 and every general election back to 1983.

    I just don’t believe in judging him guilty without proof. I also don’t really like labour at the moment,mit is devoid of any ideas and any talent. The top team is a waste of space. They can only win on the weakness of their opponents. New labour had a vision.

    If he’s dented he’ll limp on until he is put out of his misery.
    I agree, but it really pisses me off that people on here hold Keir to a much higher standard than someone who is basically a crooked clown.
    Just imagine how Joe Biden feels.
    Joe Biden was also routinely disparaged on here.

    But he is - whisper it - basically setting the agenda for centre left politics for the foreseeable future.

    A Green win in Germany and this country is going to look like a backward outlier - a bit like we in turn view the DUP.
    I absolutely savaged him during the primaries and was proven comprehensively wrong.

    However, showing the cool calm headed ability to separate personal views from betting value I did back him @ 17 after Nevada when it was clear he was the last not-Sanders candidate left standing.

    Dug me right out of the hole I was in.

    That was ridiculous by the market. @17! and that wasn't even the top. I think he roped put at @24.
  • NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,522
    edited May 2021

    alex_ said:

    The thing I find somewhat uncommented on about the refurbishment story, is questioning quite why the (temporary) occupants can implement a total overhaul, just because they don’t like its current decor. Most temporary occupants of flats don’t have the right to do this, so why should the PM? Why be allowed to implement refurbishments designed to last 10-15 years when PMs on average last a lot shorter? Given anyway the generousity of the 30k budget, I don’t see why they should be allowed to spend any more, even if paid for themselves.

    Because quite frankly Downing Street is a dump, especially when compared to other houses of world leaders.

    It needs constant improvements.

    There's a reason PMs regularly decamp to Chequers.

    Chevening is the best government residence. It is why I would accept being Foreign Secretary.
    Yes. the parts I've seen are nothing special. But they won't become special by changing the wallpaper and the cushions. I agree with Alex - the PM should be able to live comfortably without having to worry about whether there's enough loo paper and whether it's time he did some hoovering, because we want him to concentrate on the job. But that's different from redecoration, which should be a matter for him to fund if he really wants to bother. And if he can't afford it, don't do it.
  • AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    And to think, we don't even have the effect of Starmer looking at wall paper in John Lewis reflected in the polls yet.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,228
    Reminder: Michelle and Barack Obama got SIXTY FIVE MILLION for their combined memoirs

    https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/3/2/14779892/barack-michelle-obama-65-million-book-deal-penguin-random-house


    Can Boris get a fifth of that? Easily - especially if you add up the overseas, foreign language rights. He is the most high profile UK PM since Thatcher, and the most interesting (historically, because context) since Churchill

    He should call it just "Boris"

    £10m. Nailed on
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 41,950
    Taz said:

    Oh dear, oh dear.

    Senior Tory sources say that Johnson has taken out a commercial loan to repay the money he owes to the party. No 10 refuses to confirm or deny this claim. The ministerial code of conduct stipulates that even bank loans should be registered, to avoid conflicts of interest. The register of ministerial interests has not been updated since July last year.

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/can-boris-johnson-afford-to-be-prime-minister-m2brczgq9?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1619889309

    How stupid can this man be?
    He had masses of public goodwill at the start of Covid, which he and Dom blew.

    He got masses of public credit for the vaccine rollout, which he and Carrie are blowing.

    That's how stupid this man is.
    But every time he blows it the suckers forgive him.
    Same with The SNP regime and their many failings.
    Lucky old you, the SNP don't govern you regardless of how many 'suckers' vote for them. Otoh as long as English suckers vote for the prick in no 10, I get governed by him.
  • stodgestodge Posts: 13,866



    Joe Biden was also routinely disparaged on here.

    But he is - whisper it - basically setting the agenda for centre left politics for the foreseeable future.

    A Green win in Germany and this country is going to look like a backward outlier - a bit like we in turn view the DUP.

    Backward outlier, or business-friendly safe haven?
    I think we've long established German business has no issue with the Greens and will be quite relaxed if they lead the next government.
  • another_richardanother_richard Posts: 26,585
    nico679 said:

    I think what would really hurt Johnson is him moaning about not having enough money. This really will go down like a bucket of sick with most of the public .

    A rich man with no money looks contemptible.

    Boris needs to stop spending and stop whining.
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,297

    ping said:

    PoliticsForAlI
    🚨 | BREAKING: The UK government is building a new £200 million ship and naming it after Prince Phillip

    Via @Telegraph

    £200m ???!!!

    I’m not stumping up for the tele’s paywall. Is this taxpayers cash, presumably?

    Is this a naval military vessel or the Royal Yacht Boris?
    New Royal Yacht apparently.
    One of those weird things that work Tories up into a lather.

    A skilful Opposition would be making mincemeat of this.
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 17,207
    alex_ said:

    Leon said:

    Floater said:

    Lights blue touch paper and stands waaaay back

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1388543057965064198


    Boris Johnson has told friends he needs £300,000 a year to stay afloat

    Sounds like he is getting ready to go. Covid: DONE, Brexit: DONE, become Prime Minister? - TICK


    He nailed the top job, won a big majority, destroyed Corbyn, so: leave now for amazing money in a private life? Must be very very tempting

    He has a new little boy to look after, as well
    Will Carrie stick with him? The refurbs would suggest she was hoping to stick around a bit longer in Downing Street...
    If the plan was to leave in a year or two, they might as well have just hung some posters up.

    You can get that one of the lady tennis player for under a tenner.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 41,950

    kle4 said:

    Fucking hell.

    Senior Conservatives say donors have been approached about funding other aspects of the couple’s lifestyle. A prominent MP received a complaint from a Tory donor that they were asked to foot the bill for a nanny for Wilfred, Johnson’s son with Symonds, who turned one last week. The donor is alleged to have said: “I don’t mind paying for leaflets but I resent being asked to pay to literally wipe the prime minister’s baby’s bottom.”

    He cannot possibly have been so stupid, can he? I get all the stuff about who you hang out with, and he will judge against the super rich, and his divorces etc, but his past earnings and salary are enough to live on very comfortably, why is he so bloody skint?.
    He's not very good with money plus his divorces and child support costs him, and his ex wife took him to the cleaners.

    Friends say Johnson rarely spends money on himself and is often careless with his financial affairs. “He was often the sort of person who would forget to pay at the end of a meal or would leave lots of money on the table and then forget to pick up the change,” said one former aide. He once left a tip for a hairdresser in euros not pounds, to her dismay. Johnson’s one indulgence is a pair of Church’s shoes, which can cost £750. However, they were often full of holes, according to friends, because he used them to brake as he rode around London on his bike.

    “He gives a lot of control over his affairs to staff in his office, including his tax return, which is why it sometimes blows up in his face,” the former aide said.

    Johnson has been reprimanded in the past for failing to register financial interests in parliament as required. The concern in No 10 is that the commissioner for standards, who is considering whether to investigate the redecoration of the flat, in addition to the inquiry into the Mustique holiday, could recommend that he is suspended from the Commons.
    Church’s have only been priced “up to £750” very recently as part of a brand positioning exercise by the owners, Prada.
    I'm more of a Louis Vuitton and Gucci shoes kinda guy.
    Crockett and Jones brogues are well designed, very comfortable, British made, and won’t break the bank.
    C&J are edging up to £500-700 for brogues, so not impulse buys by any means.
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,559
    YET ANOTHER SONG OF THE SPECIAL ELECTION STATES - TEXAS CD06

    AMARILLO BY MORNING
    by P Fraser & T Stafford (performed & made a hit by George Strait)

    Amarillo by mornin'
    Up from San Antone
    Everything that I got
    Is just what I've got on
    When that Sun is high
    In that Texas sky
    I'll be buckin' at the county fair
    Amarillo by mornin'
    Amarillo I'll be there

    They took my saddle in Houston
    Broke my leg in Santa Fe
    Lost my wife and a girlfriend
    Somewhere along the way
    But I'll be lookin' for eight
    When they pull that gate
    And I hope that
    Judge ain't blind
    Amarillo by mornin'
    Amarillo's on my mind

    Amarillo by mornin'
    Up from San Antone
    Everything that I got
    Is just what I've got on
    I ain't got a dime
    But what I've got is mine
    I ain't rich
    But Lord, I'm free
    Amarillo by mornin'
    Amarillo's where I'll be
    Amarillo by mornin'
    Amarillo's where I'll be

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX_9Go0Z8e4
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,297

    alex_ said:

    Leon said:

    Floater said:

    Lights blue touch paper and stands waaaay back

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1388543057965064198


    Boris Johnson has told friends he needs £300,000 a year to stay afloat

    Sounds like he is getting ready to go. Covid: DONE, Brexit: DONE, become Prime Minister? - TICK


    He nailed the top job, won a big majority, destroyed Corbyn, so: leave now for amazing money in a private life? Must be very very tempting

    He has a new little boy to look after, as well
    Will Carrie stick with him? The refurbs would suggest she was hoping to stick around a bit longer in Downing Street...
    If the plan was to leave in a year or two, they might as well have just hung some posters up.

    You can get that one of the lady tennis player for under a tenner.
    I imagine that was already on Boris’s Pinterest “inspiration” board, but Carrie had other ideas.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,228

    kle4 said:

    Fucking hell.

    Senior Conservatives say donors have been approached about funding other aspects of the couple’s lifestyle. A prominent MP received a complaint from a Tory donor that they were asked to foot the bill for a nanny for Wilfred, Johnson’s son with Symonds, who turned one last week. The donor is alleged to have said: “I don’t mind paying for leaflets but I resent being asked to pay to literally wipe the prime minister’s baby’s bottom.”

    He cannot possibly have been so stupid, can he? I get all the stuff about who you hang out with, and he will judge against the super rich, and his divorces etc, but his past earnings and salary are enough to live on very comfortably, why is he so bloody skint?.
    He's not very good with money plus his divorces and child support costs him, and his ex wife took him to the cleaners.

    Friends say Johnson rarely spends money on himself and is often careless with his financial affairs. “He was often the sort of person who would forget to pay at the end of a meal or would leave lots of money on the table and then forget to pick up the change,” said one former aide. He once left a tip for a hairdresser in euros not pounds, to her dismay. Johnson’s one indulgence is a pair of Church’s shoes, which can cost £750. However, they were often full of holes, according to friends, because he used them to brake as he rode around London on his bike.

    “He gives a lot of control over his affairs to staff in his office, including his tax return, which is why it sometimes blows up in his face,” the former aide said.

    Johnson has been reprimanded in the past for failing to register financial interests in parliament as required. The concern in No 10 is that the commissioner for standards, who is considering whether to investigate the redecoration of the flat, in addition to the inquiry into the Mustique holiday, could recommend that he is suspended from the Commons.
    Church’s have only been priced “up to £750” very recently as part of a brand positioning exercise by the owners, Prada.
    I'm more of a Louis Vuitton and Gucci shoes kinda guy.
    Crockett and Jones brogues are well designed, very comfortable, British made, and won’t break the bank.
    C&J are edging up to £500-700 for brogues, so not impulse buys by any means.
    Never scrimp on shoes

    It is what women look at, when judging a man. Spend as much as you can, then add 10%. Jermyn & Northants is best.

    Also, they last forever if you look after them
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,368
    edited May 2021

    nico679 said:

    I think what would really hurt Johnson is him moaning about not having enough money. This really will go down like a bucket of sick with most of the public .

    A rich man with no money looks contemptible.

    Boris needs to stop spending and stop whining.
    Your oxymoron confuses me, surely as Johnson has no money he can't be considered a "rich" man.

    Boris is as poor as a church mouse, which is why all the rest of us church mice feel his financial pain.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,023

    Taz said:

    Taz said:

    Johnson is toast. The wallpaper ‘scandal’ will finish him off.

    Hmm.
    Had you down as a fanboi.

    I think he’ll ride this out, but be severely dented.
    That term fanboi !!

    I’ve never voted Tory in my life. Voted labour in 2019 and every general election back to 1983.

    I just don’t believe in judging him guilty without proof. I also don’t really like labour at the moment,mit is devoid of any ideas and any talent. The top team is a waste of space. They can only win on the weakness of their opponents. New labour had a vision.

    If he’s dented he’ll limp on until he is put out of his misery.
    I agree, but it really pisses me off that people on here hold Keir to a much higher standard than someone who is basically a crooked clown.
    Just imagine how Joe Biden feels.
    Joe Biden was also routinely disparaged on here.

    But he is - whisper it - basically setting the agenda for centre left politics for the foreseeable future.

    A Green win in Germany and this country is going to look like a backward outlier - a bit like we in turn view the DUP.
    Not by me.
    The key test for him now is whether he can get the infrastructure bill through the Senate without its being gutted.
    That would cement his legacy (and likely hand the Democrats a midterm victory, too). And for that, he’s dependent on another Joe.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 41,950
    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    Fucking hell.

    Senior Conservatives say donors have been approached about funding other aspects of the couple’s lifestyle. A prominent MP received a complaint from a Tory donor that they were asked to foot the bill for a nanny for Wilfred, Johnson’s son with Symonds, who turned one last week. The donor is alleged to have said: “I don’t mind paying for leaflets but I resent being asked to pay to literally wipe the prime minister’s baby’s bottom.”

    He cannot possibly have been so stupid, can he? I get all the stuff about who you hang out with, and he will judge against the super rich, and his divorces etc, but his past earnings and salary are enough to live on very comfortably, why is he so bloody skint?.
    He's not very good with money plus his divorces and child support costs him, and his ex wife took him to the cleaners.

    Friends say Johnson rarely spends money on himself and is often careless with his financial affairs. “He was often the sort of person who would forget to pay at the end of a meal or would leave lots of money on the table and then forget to pick up the change,” said one former aide. He once left a tip for a hairdresser in euros not pounds, to her dismay. Johnson’s one indulgence is a pair of Church’s shoes, which can cost £750. However, they were often full of holes, according to friends, because he used them to brake as he rode around London on his bike.

    “He gives a lot of control over his affairs to staff in his office, including his tax return, which is why it sometimes blows up in his face,” the former aide said.

    Johnson has been reprimanded in the past for failing to register financial interests in parliament as required. The concern in No 10 is that the commissioner for standards, who is considering whether to investigate the redecoration of the flat, in addition to the inquiry into the Mustique holiday, could recommend that he is suspended from the Commons.
    Church’s have only been priced “up to £750” very recently as part of a brand positioning exercise by the owners, Prada.
    I'm more of a Louis Vuitton and Gucci shoes kinda guy.
    Crockett and Jones brogues are well designed, very comfortable, British made, and won’t break the bank.
    C&J are edging up to £500-700 for brogues, so not impulse buys by any means.
    Never scrimp on shoes

    It is what women look at, when judging a man. Spend as much as you can, then add 10%. Jermyn & Northants is best.

    Also, they last forever if you look after them
    Oh, I agree, it was one of the few areas of concord I had with that SeanT chap.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,228

    alex_ said:

    Leon said:

    Floater said:

    Lights blue touch paper and stands waaaay back

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1388543057965064198


    Boris Johnson has told friends he needs £300,000 a year to stay afloat

    Sounds like he is getting ready to go. Covid: DONE, Brexit: DONE, become Prime Minister? - TICK


    He nailed the top job, won a big majority, destroyed Corbyn, so: leave now for amazing money in a private life? Must be very very tempting

    He has a new little boy to look after, as well
    Will Carrie stick with him? The refurbs would suggest she was hoping to stick around a bit longer in Downing Street...
    If the plan was to leave in a year or two, they might as well have just hung some posters up.

    You can get that one of the lady tennis player for under a tenner.
    I imagine that was already on Boris’s Pinterest “inspiration” board, but Carrie had other ideas.
    I imagine Carrie REALLY enjoys being the wife of the PM. She gets all of the reflected glory - and tangential power, influence, status, interesting life - with none of the hassle of actually being PM. She's got a small boy and a lovely new flat with gold wallpaper. It looks like she really loves her husband.

    However, for him it must be waaaaaay less appealing, He has been a politician for decades. The top job comes with a downgraded salary and a punishing schedule. He's knackered (and he looks it)

    He won Brexit, saw it to the end, and now he has guided us through Covid - more than most PMs ever do

    Hang up the box and retire to the pavilion for champagne and smoked salmon? Enticing
  • another_richardanother_richard Posts: 26,585



    nico679 said:

    I think what would really hurt Johnson is him moaning about not having enough money. This really will go down like a bucket of sick with most of the public .

    A rich man with no money looks contemptible.

    Boris needs to stop spending and stop whining.
    Your oxymoron confuses me, surely as Johnson has no money he can't be considered a "rich" man.

    Boris is as poor as a church mouse, which is why all the rest of us church mice feel his financial pain.
    Boris is rich.

    He's earned millions, gets paid far more than the average person, will earn tens of millions when he leaves politics.

    But he has money problems because of his chaotic lifestyle so he doesn't have the financial security he should have.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,397
    It's at moments like these one regrets not posting the tip that the value in the snooker was the 2 outsiders. 23/5 Murphy and 9/1 Bingham to win the tournament before the semi.
    Too late now I guess.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,399
    Scott_xP said:

    You refuse to be persuaded to lay down your arms unless you hear it direct from The Emperor.

    I am one of those who can see the Emperor has no clothes.

    One day you will see it too.
    All I can see (outside Covid) is that everyday life is much the same as it was in 2015.

    Sometimes you just have to accept the political battle has gone against you, and move on.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,977
    Leon said:

    He won Brexit, saw it to the end, and now he has guided us through Covid - more than most PMs ever do

    Almost every word of that is wrong
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,297
    edited May 2021
    Boris needs £300k so he doesn’t fall into poverty, like other large families have since the Tories cut the allowance.


  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,977
    Current CON lead by pollster:

    Survation: +1 (29 Apr)
    Focaldata: +1 (30 Apr)
    Ipsos: +3 (22 Apr)
    BMG: +4 (26 Apr)
    Opinium: +5 (30 Apr)
    ComRes: +7 (25 Apr)
    Kantar: +8 (26 Apr)
    NC Politics: +9 (29 Apr)
    R&W: +10 (26 Apr)
    YouGov: +11 (28 Apr)

    Average: +5.9%

    https://twitter.com/ElectionMapsUK/status/1388579927302234113
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,399
    ping said:

    PoliticsForAlI
    🚨 | BREAKING: The UK government is building a new £200 million ship and naming it after Prince Phillip

    Via @Telegraph

    £200m ???!!!

    I’m not stumping up for the tele’s paywall. Is this taxpayers cash, presumably?

    I won't post much of the article due to the issues @TSE has previously cited with that, but:

    "Boris Johnson will announce within weeks a new national flagship named after the Duke of Edinburgh that will be seen as a successor to the Royal Yacht Britannia.

    The new ship is expected to be named HMS Prince Philip and will boost British trade and drive investment into the UK economy.

    The new ship would be crewed by the Royal Navy, senior sources said. It will be the first official government commemoration to Prince Philip. "


    I literally said the Government would look to announce something to knock flatgate out the headlines, like, an hour ago.
  • pingping Posts: 3,805
    I don’t think Carrie wants to be the wife of an ex-Prime Minister.

    That’s a problem for Boris.
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,297

    Scott_xP said:

    You refuse to be persuaded to lay down your arms unless you hear it direct from The Emperor.

    I am one of those who can see the Emperor has no clothes.

    One day you will see it too.
    All I can see (outside Covid) is that everyday life is much the same as it was in 2015.

    Sometimes you just have to accept the political battle has gone against you, and move on.
    Brexit is like rust.
    One day you wake up and you realise you’re no longer roadworthy.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,228
    Scott_xP said:

    Leon said:

    He won Brexit, saw it to the end, and now he has guided us through Covid - more than most PMs ever do

    Almost every word of that is wrong
    He won the Brexit referendum? Yep. Tick

    He saw Brexit to the end so we actually Brexited? Yep. Tick

    He has guided us through Covid? Yep. Tick - he has been our leader throughout - whether you despise him or not, or whether you think his guidance was shite, or not, I am not claiming he was a GOOD guide

    Is this more than most PMs ever do? - well yes, of course it is, Brexit is our biggest constitutional change since we entered the EEC in the 70s, and Covid has caused the greatest peacetime crisis in hundreds of years, so Yes, Tick

    Every single thing I say is true. Soz
  • justin124justin124 Posts: 11,527
    Leon said:

    alex_ said:

    Leon said:

    Floater said:

    Lights blue touch paper and stands waaaay back

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1388543057965064198


    Boris Johnson has told friends he needs £300,000 a year to stay afloat

    Sounds like he is getting ready to go. Covid: DONE, Brexit: DONE, become Prime Minister? - TICK


    He nailed the top job, won a big majority, destroyed Corbyn, so: leave now for amazing money in a private life? Must be very very tempting

    He has a new little boy to look after, as well
    Will Carrie stick with him? The refurbs would suggest she was hoping to stick around a bit longer in Downing Street...
    If the plan was to leave in a year or two, they might as well have just hung some posters up.

    You can get that one of the lady tennis player for under a tenner.
    I imagine that was already on Boris’s Pinterest “inspiration” board, but Carrie had other ideas.
    I imagine Carrie REALLY enjoys being the wife of the PM. She gets all of the reflected glory - and tangential power, influence, status, interesting life - with none of the hassle of actually being PM. She's got a small boy and a lovely new flat with gold wallpaper. It looks like she really loves her husband.

    However, for him it must be waaaaaay less appealing, He has been a politician for decades. The top job comes with a downgraded salary and a punishing schedule. He's knackered (and he looks it)

    He won Brexit, saw it to the end, and now he has guided us through Covid - more than most PMs ever do

    Hang up the box and retire to the pavilion for champagne and smoked salmon? Enticing
    Carries is not his wife - despite having had a little bastard with him.
  • pingping Posts: 3,805
    edited May 2021
    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    alex_ said:

    Leon said:

    Floater said:

    Lights blue touch paper and stands waaaay back

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1388543057965064198


    Boris Johnson has told friends he needs £300,000 a year to stay afloat

    Sounds like he is getting ready to go. Covid: DONE, Brexit: DONE, become Prime Minister? - TICK


    He nailed the top job, won a big majority, destroyed Corbyn, so: leave now for amazing money in a private life? Must be very very tempting

    He has a new little boy to look after, as well
    Will Carrie stick with him? The refurbs would suggest she was hoping to stick around a bit longer in Downing Street...
    If the plan was to leave in a year or two, they might as well have just hung some posters up.

    You can get that one of the lady tennis player for under a tenner.
    I imagine that was already on Boris’s Pinterest “inspiration” board, but Carrie had other ideas.
    I imagine Carrie REALLY enjoys being the wife of the PM. She gets all of the reflected glory - and tangential power, influence, status, interesting life - with none of the hassle of actually being PM. She's got a small boy and a lovely new flat with gold wallpaper. It looks like she really loves her husband.

    However, for him it must be waaaaaay less appealing, He has been a politician for decades. The top job comes with a downgraded salary and a punishing schedule. He's knackered (and he looks it)

    He won Brexit, saw it to the end, and now he has guided us through Covid - more than most PMs ever do

    Hang up the box and retire to the pavilion for champagne and smoked salmon? Enticing
    Carries is not his wife - despite having had a little bastard with him.
    That’s not cricket.

    Be decent and delete that last bit.
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,366

    I wonder if Carrie will find her influence somewhat diminished.

    No bad thing in my view.

    The Boris government seems a bit more like a court than governments tend to or should.

    So if Carrie is on the out who will get more opportunity to be the 'evil advisor'.

    Jennifer Arcuri?
  • justin124justin124 Posts: 11,527
    ping said:

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    alex_ said:

    Leon said:

    Floater said:

    Lights blue touch paper and stands waaaay back

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1388543057965064198


    Boris Johnson has told friends he needs £300,000 a year to stay afloat

    Sounds like he is getting ready to go. Covid: DONE, Brexit: DONE, become Prime Minister? - TICK


    He nailed the top job, won a big majority, destroyed Corbyn, so: leave now for amazing money in a private life? Must be very very tempting

    He has a new little boy to look after, as well
    Will Carrie stick with him? The refurbs would suggest she was hoping to stick around a bit longer in Downing Street...
    If the plan was to leave in a year or two, they might as well have just hung some posters up.

    You can get that one of the lady tennis player for under a tenner.
    I imagine that was already on Boris’s Pinterest “inspiration” board, but Carrie had other ideas.
    I imagine Carrie REALLY enjoys being the wife of the PM. She gets all of the reflected glory - and tangential power, influence, status, interesting life - with none of the hassle of actually being PM. She's got a small boy and a lovely new flat with gold wallpaper. It looks like she really loves her husband.

    However, for him it must be waaaaaay less appealing, He has been a politician for decades. The top job comes with a downgraded salary and a punishing schedule. He's knackered (and he looks it)

    He won Brexit, saw it to the end, and now he has guided us through Covid - more than most PMs ever do

    Hang up the box and retire to the pavilion for champagne and smoked salmon? Enticing
    Carries is not his wife - despite having had a little bastard with him.
    That’s not cricket.
    It is ,however, a statement of fact.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 41,950
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,096

    Leon said:

    dixiedean said:

    I still don't see what there is to motivate Labour voters to get off their arse and vote on Thursday.

    Tories: gratitude at being jabbed and set free

    Labour: ???

    Have to say that, from my canvassing, there's not much movement between parties but neither is there a sense of Conservatives feeling highly motivated to turn out.

    I have a sense of the past 18 months having been intensely political in one sense, but not intensely PARTY political. As partisans on this site, I think we've missed that a bit. Party politics just hasn't been on many minds.
    I'm a core Conservative, and I don't think I've been this apathetic in years.
    I have to agree. Minus the first bit.
    Folk are emotionally drained.
    I'd like a really looooooong period of Zero Politics, voter apathy, boring elections, NO REFERENDUMS

    Just the usual stale rubbish. Like it used to be, like 2000-2008, or 1985-1990. Or the 9th century, when all you had to worry about was a potential monster in the mere, and the Anglo Saxon kings ruled serenely, justly and apparently forever

    If you want that* then the key place to watch for on Thursday is Scotland.

    (*we won't get it anyway because both those periods you cite were predicated on a confident West that defined the international order and delivered decent economic growth, with debate on how to best to deploy it/ allocate it rather than existential self-doubt and identity politics)
    Yes, astute. The reckoning with the legacy of colonialism won't be going away.
  • dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 29,397

    Boris needs £300k so he doesn’t fall into poverty, like other large families have since the Tories cut the allowance.


    Turn2us Grant search feature offers a range of charitable funds who can help with, amongst other things, decorating, for hard up families.
    That's government advice anyways.
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,366
    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    Fucking hell.

    Senior Conservatives say donors have been approached about funding other aspects of the couple’s lifestyle. A prominent MP received a complaint from a Tory donor that they were asked to foot the bill for a nanny for Wilfred, Johnson’s son with Symonds, who turned one last week. The donor is alleged to have said: “I don’t mind paying for leaflets but I resent being asked to pay to literally wipe the prime minister’s baby’s bottom.”

    He cannot possibly have been so stupid, can he? I get all the stuff about who you hang out with, and he will judge against the super rich, and his divorces etc, but his past earnings and salary are enough to live on very comfortably, why is he so bloody skint?.
    He's not very good with money plus his divorces and child support costs him, and his ex wife took him to the cleaners.

    Friends say Johnson rarely spends money on himself and is often careless with his financial affairs. “He was often the sort of person who would forget to pay at the end of a meal or would leave lots of money on the table and then forget to pick up the change,” said one former aide. He once left a tip for a hairdresser in euros not pounds, to her dismay. Johnson’s one indulgence is a pair of Church’s shoes, which can cost £750. However, they were often full of holes, according to friends, because he used them to brake as he rode around London on his bike.

    “He gives a lot of control over his affairs to staff in his office, including his tax return, which is why it sometimes blows up in his face,” the former aide said.

    Johnson has been reprimanded in the past for failing to register financial interests in parliament as required. The concern in No 10 is that the commissioner for standards, who is considering whether to investigate the redecoration of the flat, in addition to the inquiry into the Mustique holiday, could recommend that he is suspended from the Commons.
    Church’s have only been priced “up to £750” very recently as part of a brand positioning exercise by the owners, Prada.
    I'm more of a Louis Vuitton and Gucci shoes kinda guy.
    Crockett and Jones brogues are well designed, very comfortable, British made, and won’t break the bank.
    C&J are edging up to £500-700 for brogues, so not impulse buys by any means.
    Never scrimp on shoes

    It is what women look at, when judging a man. Spend as much as you can, then add 10%. Jermyn & Northants is best.

    Also, they last forever if you look after them
    Women or shoes?
  • SeaShantyIrish2SeaShantyIrish2 Posts: 17,559
    justin124 said:

    ping said:

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    alex_ said:

    Leon said:

    Floater said:

    Lights blue touch paper and stands waaaay back

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1388543057965064198


    Boris Johnson has told friends he needs £300,000 a year to stay afloat

    Sounds like he is getting ready to go. Covid: DONE, Brexit: DONE, become Prime Minister? - TICK


    He nailed the top job, won a big majority, destroyed Corbyn, so: leave now for amazing money in a private life? Must be very very tempting

    He has a new little boy to look after, as well
    Will Carrie stick with him? The refurbs would suggest she was hoping to stick around a bit longer in Downing Street...
    If the plan was to leave in a year or two, they might as well have just hung some posters up.

    You can get that one of the lady tennis player for under a tenner.
    I imagine that was already on Boris’s Pinterest “inspiration” board, but Carrie had other ideas.
    I imagine Carrie REALLY enjoys being the wife of the PM. She gets all of the reflected glory - and tangential power, influence, status, interesting life - with none of the hassle of actually being PM. She's got a small boy and a lovely new flat with gold wallpaper. It looks like she really loves her husband.

    However, for him it must be waaaaaay less appealing, He has been a politician for decades. The top job comes with a downgraded salary and a punishing schedule. He's knackered (and he looks it)

    He won Brexit, saw it to the end, and now he has guided us through Covid - more than most PMs ever do

    Hang up the box and retire to the pavilion for champagne and smoked salmon? Enticing
    Carries is not his wife - despite having had a little bastard with him.
    That’s not cricket.
    It is ,however, a statement of fact.
    Go stick you fat head back up your fat ass.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,096
    Taz said:

    Johnson is toast. The wallpaper ‘scandal’ will finish him off.

    I don't think so. Filing that in the 'too good to be true' folder. Right next to jail time for Donald Trump.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,540
    Taz said:

    Johnson is toast. The wallpaper ‘scandal’ will finish him off.

    Don't agree about the reason. Voters don't care about the wallpaper issue, they care about things like not closing the borders last year.
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 63,009
    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    alex_ said:

    Leon said:

    Floater said:

    Lights blue touch paper and stands waaaay back

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1388543057965064198


    Boris Johnson has told friends he needs £300,000 a year to stay afloat

    Sounds like he is getting ready to go. Covid: DONE, Brexit: DONE, become Prime Minister? - TICK


    He nailed the top job, won a big majority, destroyed Corbyn, so: leave now for amazing money in a private life? Must be very very tempting

    He has a new little boy to look after, as well
    Will Carrie stick with him? The refurbs would suggest she was hoping to stick around a bit longer in Downing Street...
    If the plan was to leave in a year or two, they might as well have just hung some posters up.

    You can get that one of the lady tennis player for under a tenner.
    I imagine that was already on Boris’s Pinterest “inspiration” board, but Carrie had other ideas.
    I imagine Carrie REALLY enjoys being the wife of the PM. She gets all of the reflected glory - and tangential power, influence, status, interesting life - with none of the hassle of actually being PM. She's got a small boy and a lovely new flat with gold wallpaper. It looks like she really loves her husband.

    However, for him it must be waaaaaay less appealing, He has been a politician for decades. The top job comes with a downgraded salary and a punishing schedule. He's knackered (and he looks it)

    He won Brexit, saw it to the end, and now he has guided us through Covid - more than most PMs ever do

    Hang up the box and retire to the pavilion for champagne and smoked salmon? Enticing
    Carries is not his wife - despite having had a little bastard with him.
    You are a nasty piece of work

    My son and his partner of 10 years have two of our grandchildren and they are a wonderful family

    You belong to the age of the dinosaur
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 119,601
    Boris Johnson is planning to spend billions of pounds on new road and rail links and treating Scottish patients on English NHS beds in a desperate counter-offensive against Nicola Sturgeon.

    The strategy to save the Union, to be unveiled days after a feared SNP landslide this week, will also offer student exchanges between UK nations and will see diplomats ordered to make the case against Scottish independence in foreign capitals.

    Whitehall lawyers have also been ordered to sharpen their pens to fight in court any attempt by the SNP to call a referendum without the consent of the UK Government amid fears nationalists could win a Scottish Parliament majority this week.

    Mr Johnson will chair a Downing Street meeting of senior Cabinet ministers including Michael Gove and Rishi Sunak this week, along with the secretaries of state for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, to finalise their cross-government response plan to Thursday's vote.

    While the Tories are expected to do well in the English local elections, and even clinch an historic victory over Labour in the Hartlepool by-election, there are real fears of big gains for the SNP in Scotland and Plaid Cymru in Wales.

    Fears SNP could launch independence bid immediately
    Several Cabinet ministers and senior figures close to Mr Johnson this weekend privately expressed their grave fears at the prospect of a big win for Ms Sturgeon who – Downing Street sources fear – could try to order a new independence referendum as soon as the result is announced.

    A senior source said that the result was likely to be "bloody awful" in Scotland.

    One minister said that the SNP were viewing Thursday’s vote as “a referendum on a referendum. There is no room for complacency. We are in a bare knuckle fight.”

    Another Cabinet minister privately advocated voting for other unionist parties than the Conservatives to see off the SNP threat. They said people should "vote for parties that will save the Union and avoid Scotland going into the chaos of economic uncertainty at a time when we have to build back better under Covid".

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/05/01/billions-scots-boris-johnson-plans-spending-spree-save-union/?utm_content=telegraph&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1619899315
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,096
    Leon said:

    dr_spyn said:

    Boris Johnson is emulating Churchill's inability to live within his means.

    And that to my mind is why I expect he will leave Office sooner rather than later

    He can make millions outside the HOC
    His memoir will earn him sensational money. A colourful life, a flamboyant career, then PM of the UK for Brexit and Covid, the most interesting period in British history since 1945. AND he writes well, so he doesn't need a ghost

    He will make £10m. The US publishers will want it. The French and Germans. Everyone will want it. Might easily be serialised by TV, movies. The Crown Mark 2

    Squillions beckon. He could leave in 2022 having guided us thru Brexit and seen off Covid. Job done
    Or he might choke on a fish bone.
  • justin124justin124 Posts: 11,527
    Leon said:

    justin124 said:

    ping said:

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    alex_ said:

    Leon said:

    Floater said:

    Lights blue touch paper and stands waaaay back

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1388543057965064198


    Boris Johnson has told friends he needs £300,000 a year to stay afloat

    Sounds like he is getting ready to go. Covid: DONE, Brexit: DONE, become Prime Minister? - TICK


    He nailed the top job, won a big majority, destroyed Corbyn, so: leave now for amazing money in a private life? Must be very very tempting

    He has a new little boy to look after, as well
    Will Carrie stick with him? The refurbs would suggest she was hoping to stick around a bit longer in Downing Street...
    If the plan was to leave in a year or two, they might as well have just hung some posters up.

    You can get that one of the lady tennis player for under a tenner.
    I imagine that was already on Boris’s Pinterest “inspiration” board, but Carrie had other ideas.
    I imagine Carrie REALLY enjoys being the wife of the PM. She gets all of the reflected glory - and tangential power, influence, status, interesting life - with none of the hassle of actually being PM. She's got a small boy and a lovely new flat with gold wallpaper. It looks like she really loves her husband.

    However, for him it must be waaaaaay less appealing, He has been a politician for decades. The top job comes with a downgraded salary and a punishing schedule. He's knackered (and he looks it)

    He won Brexit, saw it to the end, and now he has guided us through Covid - more than most PMs ever do

    Hang up the box and retire to the pavilion for champagne and smoked salmon? Enticing
    Carries is not his wife - despite having had a little bastard with him.
    That’s not cricket.
    It is ,however, a statement of fact.
    But it's just nasty and makes you look ugly and mad. This is their kid, who is, what, 10 months old?

    It's like the attacks on Trump's kids - certainly the ones under 18

    I rivalled the best in my dislike of Trump - a "dismal madman". But children don't choose their parents. Enough
    I have nothing at all against the child who is 100% innocent - but cannot say the same for his parents. A few years ago I had a niece who disgraced the family in this way - and as I type I have a 31 year old nephew about to have his first bastard. I have never held back from making it clear to them what I think.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,399
    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    dixiedean said:

    I still don't see what there is to motivate Labour voters to get off their arse and vote on Thursday.

    Tories: gratitude at being jabbed and set free

    Labour: ???

    Have to say that, from my canvassing, there's not much movement between parties but neither is there a sense of Conservatives feeling highly motivated to turn out.

    I have a sense of the past 18 months having been intensely political in one sense, but not intensely PARTY political. As partisans on this site, I think we've missed that a bit. Party politics just hasn't been on many minds.
    I'm a core Conservative, and I don't think I've been this apathetic in years.
    I have to agree. Minus the first bit.
    Folk are emotionally drained.
    I'd like a really looooooong period of Zero Politics, voter apathy, boring elections, NO REFERENDUMS

    Just the usual stale rubbish. Like it used to be, like 2000-2008, or 1985-1990. Or the 9th century, when all you had to worry about was a potential monster in the mere, and the Anglo Saxon kings ruled serenely, justly and apparently forever

    If you want that* then the key place to watch for on Thursday is Scotland.

    (*we won't get it anyway because both those periods you cite were predicated on a confident West that defined the international order and delivered decent economic growth, with debate on how to best to deploy it/ allocate it rather than existential self-doubt and identity politics)
    Yes, astute. The reckoning with the legacy of colonialism won't be going away.
    If you want the West to survive it needs to go away.

    There is no need for a "reckoning". We're hand-wringing about stuff that happened hundreds of years ago for which no-one today was responsible, and even more crazily trying to drive real policy off the back of it, whilst apologising for China undertaking actual colonialism today towards Xinjiang, Tibet and Taiwan that makes us look like a teddy's bear picnic.

    The self-indulgence is pathetic. It's born of a crisis of confidence in ourselves (this is all about us) and will be our downfall unless we can get over it - fast.
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 63,009
    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    justin124 said:

    ping said:

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    alex_ said:

    Leon said:

    Floater said:

    Lights blue touch paper and stands waaaay back

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1388543057965064198


    Boris Johnson has told friends he needs £300,000 a year to stay afloat

    Sounds like he is getting ready to go. Covid: DONE, Brexit: DONE, become Prime Minister? - TICK


    He nailed the top job, won a big majority, destroyed Corbyn, so: leave now for amazing money in a private life? Must be very very tempting

    He has a new little boy to look after, as well
    Will Carrie stick with him? The refurbs would suggest she was hoping to stick around a bit longer in Downing Street...
    If the plan was to leave in a year or two, they might as well have just hung some posters up.

    You can get that one of the lady tennis player for under a tenner.
    I imagine that was already on Boris’s Pinterest “inspiration” board, but Carrie had other ideas.
    I imagine Carrie REALLY enjoys being the wife of the PM. She gets all of the reflected glory - and tangential power, influence, status, interesting life - with none of the hassle of actually being PM. She's got a small boy and a lovely new flat with gold wallpaper. It looks like she really loves her husband.

    However, for him it must be waaaaaay less appealing, He has been a politician for decades. The top job comes with a downgraded salary and a punishing schedule. He's knackered (and he looks it)

    He won Brexit, saw it to the end, and now he has guided us through Covid - more than most PMs ever do

    Hang up the box and retire to the pavilion for champagne and smoked salmon? Enticing
    Carries is not his wife - despite having had a little bastard with him.
    That’s not cricket.
    It is ,however, a statement of fact.
    But it's just nasty and makes you look ugly and mad. This is their kid, who is, what, 10 months old?

    It's like the attacks on Trump's kids - certainly the ones under 18

    I rivalled the best in my dislike of Trump - a "dismal madman". But children don't choose their parents. Enough
    I have nothing at all against the child who is 100% innocent - but cannot say the same for his parents. A few years ago I had a niece who disgraced the family in this way - and as I type I have a 31 year old nephew about to have his first bastard. I have never held back from making it clear to them what I think.
    You are a nasty bigot that shames this forum
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 41,950

    Boris Johnson is planning to spend billions of pounds on new road and rail links and treating Scottish patients on English NHS beds in a desperate counter-offensive against Nicola Sturgeon.

    The strategy to save the Union, to be unveiled days after a feared SNP landslide this week, will also offer student exchanges between UK nations and will see diplomats ordered to make the case against Scottish independence in foreign capitals.

    Whitehall lawyers have also been ordered to sharpen their pens to fight in court any attempt by the SNP to call a referendum without the consent of the UK Government amid fears nationalists could win a Scottish Parliament majority this week.

    Mr Johnson will chair a Downing Street meeting of senior Cabinet ministers including Michael Gove and Rishi Sunak this week, along with the secretaries of state for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, to finalise their cross-government response plan to Thursday's vote.

    While the Tories are expected to do well in the English local elections, and even clinch an historic victory over Labour in the Hartlepool by-election, there are real fears of big gains for the SNP in Scotland and Plaid Cymru in Wales.

    Fears SNP could launch independence bid immediately
    Several Cabinet ministers and senior figures close to Mr Johnson this weekend privately expressed their grave fears at the prospect of a big win for Ms Sturgeon who – Downing Street sources ails fear – could try to order a new independence referendum as soon as the result is announced.

    A senior source said that the result was likely to be "bloody awful" in Scotland.

    One minister said that the SNP were viewing Thursday’s vote as “a referendum on a referendum. There is no room for complacency. We are in a bare knuckle fight.”

    Another Cabinet minister privately advocated voting for other unionist parties than the Conservatives to see off the SNP threat. They said people should "vote for parties that will save the Union and avoid Scotland going into the chaos of economic uncertainty at a time when we have to build back better under Covid".

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/05/01/billions-scots-boris-johnson-plans-spending-spree-save-union/?utm_content=telegraph&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1619899315

    Such hysteria doesn’t really fit with the available polling.
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,297
    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    justin124 said:

    ping said:

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    alex_ said:

    Leon said:

    Floater said:

    Lights blue touch paper and stands waaaay back

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1388543057965064198


    Boris Johnson has told friends he needs £300,000 a year to stay afloat

    Sounds like he is getting ready to go. Covid: DONE, Brexit: DONE, become Prime Minister? - TICK


    He nailed the top job, won a big majority, destroyed Corbyn, so: leave now for amazing money in a private life? Must be very very tempting

    He has a new little boy to look after, as well
    Will Carrie stick with him? The refurbs would suggest she was hoping to stick around a bit longer in Downing Street...
    If the plan was to leave in a year or two, they might as well have just hung some posters up.

    You can get that one of the lady tennis player for under a tenner.
    I imagine that was already on Boris’s Pinterest “inspiration” board, but Carrie had other ideas.
    I imagine Carrie REALLY enjoys being the wife of the PM. She gets all of the reflected glory - and tangential power, influence, status, interesting life - with none of the hassle of actually being PM. She's got a small boy and a lovely new flat with gold wallpaper. It looks like she really loves her husband.

    However, for him it must be waaaaaay less appealing, He has been a politician for decades. The top job comes with a downgraded salary and a punishing schedule. He's knackered (and he looks it)

    He won Brexit, saw it to the end, and now he has guided us through Covid - more than most PMs ever do

    Hang up the box and retire to the pavilion for champagne and smoked salmon? Enticing
    Carries is not his wife - despite having had a little bastard with him.
    That’s not cricket.
    It is ,however, a statement of fact.
    But it's just nasty and makes you look ugly and mad. This is their kid, who is, what, 10 months old?

    It's like the attacks on Trump's kids - certainly the ones under 18

    I rivalled the best in my dislike of Trump - a "dismal madman". But children don't choose their parents. Enough
    I have nothing at all against the child who is 100% innocent - but cannot say the same for his parents. A few years ago I had a niece who disgraced the family in this way - and as I type I have a 31 year old nephew about to have his first bastard. I have never held back from making it clear to them what I think.
    Bloody hell.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,096

    The reason the wallpaper cuts through is the “one rule for them” feeling.

    “Bodies piling high” may shock some, but most would construe it as extreme exasperation; allowable in the circs.

    For me, wallpaper trumps bodies, but I could see the opposite being the case for the man on the Clapham Omnibus.
  • NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,522



    Boris is rich.

    He's earned millions, gets paid far more than the average person, will earn tens of millions when he leaves politics.

    But he has money problems because of his chaotic lifestyle so he doesn't have the financial security he should have.

    This is all a bit uncannily like the stuff that the right - including working-class people who've struggled to pay their way - like to throw at benefit-seekers. Chaotic lifestyles. Too many children, often by different partners. Spending on luxuries they can't afford. Claiming every benefit they can get their hands on, and then trying for more. Complaining they can't afford to get by.

    It's usually a caricature, and I expect it's exaggerated in Johnson's case too. But I doubt if Red Wall voters see it as a role model.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,228
    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    justin124 said:

    ping said:

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    alex_ said:

    Leon said:

    Floater said:

    Lights blue touch paper and stands waaaay back

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1388543057965064198


    Boris Johnson has told friends he needs £300,000 a year to stay afloat

    Sounds like he is getting ready to go. Covid: DONE, Brexit: DONE, become Prime Minister? - TICK


    He nailed the top job, won a big majority, destroyed Corbyn, so: leave now for amazing money in a private life? Must be very very tempting

    He has a new little boy to look after, as well
    Will Carrie stick with him? The refurbs would suggest she was hoping to stick around a bit longer in Downing Street...
    If the plan was to leave in a year or two, they might as well have just hung some posters up.

    You can get that one of the lady tennis player for under a tenner.
    I imagine that was already on Boris’s Pinterest “inspiration” board, but Carrie had other ideas.
    I imagine Carrie REALLY enjoys being the wife of the PM. She gets all of the reflected glory - and tangential power, influence, status, interesting life - with none of the hassle of actually being PM. She's got a small boy and a lovely new flat with gold wallpaper. It looks like she really loves her husband.

    However, for him it must be waaaaaay less appealing, He has been a politician for decades. The top job comes with a downgraded salary and a punishing schedule. He's knackered (and he looks it)

    He won Brexit, saw it to the end, and now he has guided us through Covid - more than most PMs ever do

    Hang up the box and retire to the pavilion for champagne and smoked salmon? Enticing
    Carries is not his wife - despite having had a little bastard with him.
    That’s not cricket.
    It is ,however, a statement of fact.
    But it's just nasty and makes you look ugly and mad. This is their kid, who is, what, 10 months old?

    It's like the attacks on Trump's kids - certainly the ones under 18

    I rivalled the best in my dislike of Trump - a "dismal madman". But children don't choose their parents. Enough
    I have nothing at all against the child who is 100% innocent - but cannot say the same for his parents. A few years ago I had a niece who disgraced the family in this way - and as I type I have a 31 year old nephew about to have his first bastard. I have never held back from making it clear to them what I think.
    F off.

    "Little bastard" is deeply offensive. You know it. Would you say that to the faces of the parents? You deserve to get punched if you do. I would personally punch you if you referred to either of my daughters that way, in my presence, because they were born with partners not wives?

    If is also self-defeating. Makes you sound insane. Desist, for your own sake
  • justin124justin124 Posts: 11,527

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    alex_ said:

    Leon said:

    Floater said:

    Lights blue touch paper and stands waaaay back

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1388543057965064198


    Boris Johnson has told friends he needs £300,000 a year to stay afloat

    Sounds like he is getting ready to go. Covid: DONE, Brexit: DONE, become Prime Minister? - TICK


    He nailed the top job, won a big majority, destroyed Corbyn, so: leave now for amazing money in a private life? Must be very very tempting

    He has a new little boy to look after, as well
    Will Carrie stick with him? The refurbs would suggest she was hoping to stick around a bit longer in Downing Street...
    If the plan was to leave in a year or two, they might as well have just hung some posters up.

    You can get that one of the lady tennis player for under a tenner.
    I imagine that was already on Boris’s Pinterest “inspiration” board, but Carrie had other ideas.
    I imagine Carrie REALLY enjoys being the wife of the PM. She gets all of the reflected glory - and tangential power, influence, status, interesting life - with none of the hassle of actually being PM. She's got a small boy and a lovely new flat with gold wallpaper. It looks like she really loves her husband.

    However, for him it must be waaaaaay less appealing, He has been a politician for decades. The top job comes with a downgraded salary and a punishing schedule. He's knackered (and he looks it)

    He won Brexit, saw it to the end, and now he has guided us through Covid - more than most PMs ever do

    Hang up the box and retire to the pavilion for champagne and smoked salmon? Enticing
    Carries is not his wife - despite having had a little bastard with him.
    You are a nasty piece of work

    My son and his partner of 10 years have two of our grandchildren and they are a wonderful family

    You belong to the age of the dinosaur
    You are supposed to be the proud Conservative - but on these matters I appear to hold more traditional views re-family values' than you do! This is not at all a party political point - there are many on the Labour side who can be similarly criticised.
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,366
    edited May 2021
    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    justin124 said:

    ping said:

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    alex_ said:

    Leon said:

    Floater said:

    Lights blue touch paper and stands waaaay back

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1388543057965064198


    Boris Johnson has told friends he needs £300,000 a year to stay afloat

    Sounds like he is getting ready to go. Covid: DONE, Brexit: DONE, become Prime Minister? - TICK


    He nailed the top job, won a big majority, destroyed Corbyn, so: leave now for amazing money in a private life? Must be very very tempting

    He has a new little boy to look after, as well
    Will Carrie stick with him? The refurbs would suggest she was hoping to stick around a bit longer in Downing Street...
    If the plan was to leave in a year or two, they might as well have just hung some posters up.

    You can get that one of the lady tennis player for under a tenner.
    I imagine that was already on Boris’s Pinterest “inspiration” board, but Carrie had other ideas.
    I imagine Carrie REALLY enjoys being the wife of the PM. She gets all of the reflected glory - and tangential power, influence, status, interesting life - with none of the hassle of actually being PM. She's got a small boy and a lovely new flat with gold wallpaper. It looks like she really loves her husband.

    However, for him it must be waaaaaay less appealing, He has been a politician for decades. The top job comes with a downgraded salary and a punishing schedule. He's knackered (and he looks it)

    He won Brexit, saw it to the end, and now he has guided us through Covid - more than most PMs ever do

    Hang up the box and retire to the pavilion for champagne and smoked salmon? Enticing
    Carries is not his wife - despite having had a little bastard with him.
    That’s not cricket.
    It is ,however, a statement of fact.
    But it's just nasty and makes you look ugly and mad. This is their kid, who is, what, 10 months old?

    It's like the attacks on Trump's kids - certainly the ones under 18

    I rivalled the best in my dislike of Trump - a "dismal madman". But children don't choose their parents. Enough
    I have nothing at all against the child who is 100% innocent - but cannot say the same for his parents. A few years ago I had a niece who disgraced the family in this way - and as I type I have a 31 year old nephew about to have his first bastard. I have never held back from making it clear to them what I think.
    You really are quite an unpleasant neanderthal, aren't you?
    Still, good to hear that in your view my 4 children (2 of whom are stepchildren) are 'innocent' bastards, and I'm a disgrace.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,399

    Boris Johnson is planning to spend billions of pounds on new road and rail links and treating Scottish patients on English NHS beds in a desperate counter-offensive against Nicola Sturgeon.

    The strategy to save the Union, to be unveiled days after a feared SNP landslide this week, will also offer student exchanges between UK nations and will see diplomats ordered to make the case against Scottish independence in foreign capitals.

    Whitehall lawyers have also been ordered to sharpen their pens to fight in court any attempt by the SNP to call a referendum without the consent of the UK Government amid fears nationalists could win a Scottish Parliament majority this week.

    Mr Johnson will chair a Downing Street meeting of senior Cabinet ministers including Michael Gove and Rishi Sunak this week, along with the secretaries of state for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, to finalise their cross-government response plan to Thursday's vote.

    While the Tories are expected to do well in the English local elections, and even clinch an historic victory over Labour in the Hartlepool by-election, there are real fears of big gains for the SNP in Scotland and Plaid Cymru in Wales.

    Fears SNP could launch independence bid immediately
    Several Cabinet ministers and senior figures close to Mr Johnson this weekend privately expressed their grave fears at the prospect of a big win for Ms Sturgeon who – Downing Street sources fear – could try to order a new independence referendum as soon as the result is announced.

    A senior source said that the result was likely to be "bloody awful" in Scotland.

    One minister said that the SNP were viewing Thursday’s vote as “a referendum on a referendum. There is no room for complacency. We are in a bare knuckle fight.”

    Another Cabinet minister privately advocated voting for other unionist parties than the Conservatives to see off the SNP threat. They said people should "vote for parties that will save the Union and avoid Scotland going into the chaos of economic uncertainty at a time when we have to build back better under Covid".

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/05/01/billions-scots-boris-johnson-plans-spending-spree-save-union/?utm_content=telegraph&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1619899315

    This is shit. Why are they only doing this now?

    I read similar things months ago. They've done bugger all.

    Grrr.
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 63,009
    justin124 said:

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    alex_ said:

    Leon said:

    Floater said:

    Lights blue touch paper and stands waaaay back

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1388543057965064198


    Boris Johnson has told friends he needs £300,000 a year to stay afloat

    Sounds like he is getting ready to go. Covid: DONE, Brexit: DONE, become Prime Minister? - TICK


    He nailed the top job, won a big majority, destroyed Corbyn, so: leave now for amazing money in a private life? Must be very very tempting

    He has a new little boy to look after, as well
    Will Carrie stick with him? The refurbs would suggest she was hoping to stick around a bit longer in Downing Street...
    If the plan was to leave in a year or two, they might as well have just hung some posters up.

    You can get that one of the lady tennis player for under a tenner.
    I imagine that was already on Boris’s Pinterest “inspiration” board, but Carrie had other ideas.
    I imagine Carrie REALLY enjoys being the wife of the PM. She gets all of the reflected glory - and tangential power, influence, status, interesting life - with none of the hassle of actually being PM. She's got a small boy and a lovely new flat with gold wallpaper. It looks like she really loves her husband.

    However, for him it must be waaaaaay less appealing, He has been a politician for decades. The top job comes with a downgraded salary and a punishing schedule. He's knackered (and he looks it)

    He won Brexit, saw it to the end, and now he has guided us through Covid - more than most PMs ever do

    Hang up the box and retire to the pavilion for champagne and smoked salmon? Enticing
    Carries is not his wife - despite having had a little bastard with him.
    You are a nasty piece of work

    My son and his partner of 10 years have two of our grandchildren and they are a wonderful family

    You belong to the age of the dinosaur
    You are supposed to be the proud Conservative - but on these matters I appear to hold more traditional views re-family values' than you do! This is not at all a party political point - there are many on the Labour side who can be similarly criticised.
    Bigoted views, yes
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,368
    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    alex_ said:

    Leon said:

    Floater said:

    Lights blue touch paper and stands waaaay back

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1388543057965064198


    Boris Johnson has told friends he needs £300,000 a year to stay afloat

    Sounds like he is getting ready to go. Covid: DONE, Brexit: DONE, become Prime Minister? - TICK


    He nailed the top job, won a big majority, destroyed Corbyn, so: leave now for amazing money in a private life? Must be very very tempting

    He has a new little boy to look after, as well
    Will Carrie stick with him? The refurbs would suggest she was hoping to stick around a bit longer in Downing Street...
    If the plan was to leave in a year or two, they might as well have just hung some posters up.

    You can get that one of the lady tennis player for under a tenner.
    I imagine that was already on Boris’s Pinterest “inspiration” board, but Carrie had other ideas.
    I imagine Carrie REALLY enjoys being the wife of the PM. She gets all of the reflected glory - and tangential power, influence, status, interesting life - with none of the hassle of actually being PM. She's got a small boy and a lovely new flat with gold wallpaper. It looks like she really loves her husband.

    However, for him it must be waaaaaay less appealing, He has been a politician for decades. The top job comes with a downgraded salary and a punishing schedule. He's knackered (and he looks it)

    He won Brexit, saw it to the end, and now he has guided us through Covid - more than most PMs ever do

    Hang up the box and retire to the pavilion for champagne and smoked salmon? Enticing
    Carries is not his wife - despite having had a little bastard with him.
    Hmm, whatever you may think of the parents, it is never appropriate to disrespect the little fellow. Speaking as an agnostic, in these more enlightened days I would never use that word in the context you have. You statement is not very Christian spirited.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 18,348
    justin124 said:

    ping said:

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    alex_ said:

    Leon said:

    Floater said:

    Lights blue touch paper and stands waaaay back

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1388543057965064198


    Boris Johnson has told friends he needs £300,000 a year to stay afloat

    Sounds like he is getting ready to go. Covid: DONE, Brexit: DONE, become Prime Minister? - TICK


    He nailed the top job, won a big majority, destroyed Corbyn, so: leave now for amazing money in a private life? Must be very very tempting

    He has a new little boy to look after, as well
    Will Carrie stick with him? The refurbs would suggest she was hoping to stick around a bit longer in Downing Street...
    If the plan was to leave in a year or two, they might as well have just hung some posters up.

    You can get that one of the lady tennis player for under a tenner.
    I imagine that was already on Boris’s Pinterest “inspiration” board, but Carrie had other ideas.
    I imagine Carrie REALLY enjoys being the wife of the PM. She gets all of the reflected glory - and tangential power, influence, status, interesting life - with none of the hassle of actually being PM. She's got a small boy and a lovely new flat with gold wallpaper. It looks like she really loves her husband.

    However, for him it must be waaaaaay less appealing, He has been a politician for decades. The top job comes with a downgraded salary and a punishing schedule. He's knackered (and he looks it)

    He won Brexit, saw it to the end, and now he has guided us through Covid - more than most PMs ever do

    Hang up the box and retire to the pavilion for champagne and smoked salmon? Enticing
    Carries is not his wife - despite having had a little bastard with him.
    That’s not cricket.
    It is ,however, a statement of fact.
    Times, thankfully move on, and it is unbearably rude and insulting to many people.

    I was not married to the mother of my daughter when she was born and that does not justify you or anyone else using a term of abuse to refer to her as a result.

    The same goes for my brother and his four children, and for many, many others.

    There's no need to be needlessly insulting.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 119,601

    Boris Johnson is planning to spend billions of pounds on new road and rail links and treating Scottish patients on English NHS beds in a desperate counter-offensive against Nicola Sturgeon.

    The strategy to save the Union, to be unveiled days after a feared SNP landslide this week, will also offer student exchanges between UK nations and will see diplomats ordered to make the case against Scottish independence in foreign capitals.

    Whitehall lawyers have also been ordered to sharpen their pens to fight in court any attempt by the SNP to call a referendum without the consent of the UK Government amid fears nationalists could win a Scottish Parliament majority this week.

    Mr Johnson will chair a Downing Street meeting of senior Cabinet ministers including Michael Gove and Rishi Sunak this week, along with the secretaries of state for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, to finalise their cross-government response plan to Thursday's vote.

    While the Tories are expected to do well in the English local elections, and even clinch an historic victory over Labour in the Hartlepool by-election, there are real fears of big gains for the SNP in Scotland and Plaid Cymru in Wales.

    Fears SNP could launch independence bid immediately
    Several Cabinet ministers and senior figures close to Mr Johnson this weekend privately expressed their grave fears at the prospect of a big win for Ms Sturgeon who – Downing Street sources ails fear – could try to order a new independence referendum as soon as the result is announced.

    A senior source said that the result was likely to be "bloody awful" in Scotland.

    One minister said that the SNP were viewing Thursday’s vote as “a referendum on a referendum. There is no room for complacency. We are in a bare knuckle fight.”

    Another Cabinet minister privately advocated voting for other unionist parties than the Conservatives to see off the SNP threat. They said people should "vote for parties that will save the Union and avoid Scotland going into the chaos of economic uncertainty at a time when we have to build back better under Covid".

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/05/01/billions-scots-boris-johnson-plans-spending-spree-save-union/?utm_content=telegraph&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1619899315

    Such hysteria doesn’t really fit with the available polling.
    I was looking at the Scottish polling and I noticed a few similarities between Douglas Ross and Iain Grey in 2011.

    I'm feeling optimistic on the Tories finishing third in Scotland bets.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 28,409
    edited May 2021
    Taz said:

    Oh dear, oh dear.

    Senior Tory sources say that Johnson has taken out a commercial loan to repay the money he owes to the party. No 10 refuses to confirm or deny this claim. The ministerial code of conduct stipulates that even bank loans should be registered, to avoid conflicts of interest. The register of ministerial interests has not been updated since July last year.

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/can-boris-johnson-afford-to-be-prime-minister-m2brczgq9?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1619889309

    How stupid can this man be?
    He had masses of public goodwill at the start of Covid, which he and Dom blew.

    He got masses of public credit for the vaccine rollout, which he and Carrie are blowing.

    That's how stupid this man is.
    But every time he blows it the suckers forgive him.
    Same with The SNP regime and their many failings.
    That's not a forgiveness process really, it's more determined self-delusion combined with internalised shame. Nats don't forgive Sturgeon for being a corrupt and authoritarian First Minister leading an incompetent mockery of an administration, because to forgive her they would have to first acknowledge it.
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,297

    Boris Johnson is planning to spend billions of pounds on new road and rail links and treating Scottish patients on English NHS beds in a desperate counter-offensive against Nicola Sturgeon.

    The strategy to save the Union, to be unveiled days after a feared SNP landslide this week, will also offer student exchanges between UK nations and will see diplomats ordered to make the case against Scottish independence in foreign capitals.

    Whitehall lawyers have also been ordered to sharpen their pens to fight in court any attempt by the SNP to call a referendum without the consent of the UK Government amid fears nationalists could win a Scottish Parliament majority this week.

    Mr Johnson will chair a Downing Street meeting of senior Cabinet ministers including Michael Gove and Rishi Sunak this week, along with the secretaries of state for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, to finalise their cross-government response plan to Thursday's vote.

    While the Tories are expected to do well in the English local elections, and even clinch an historic victory over Labour in the Hartlepool by-election, there are real fears of big gains for the SNP in Scotland and Plaid Cymru in Wales.

    Fears SNP could launch independence bid immediately
    Several Cabinet ministers and senior figures close to Mr Johnson this weekend privately expressed their grave fears at the prospect of a big win for Ms Sturgeon who – Downing Street sources fear – could try to order a new independence referendum as soon as the result is announced.

    A senior source said that the result was likely to be "bloody awful" in Scotland.

    One minister said that the SNP were viewing Thursday’s vote as “a referendum on a referendum. There is no room for complacency. We are in a bare knuckle fight.”

    Another Cabinet minister privately advocated voting for other unionist parties than the Conservatives to see off the SNP threat. They said people should "vote for parties that will save the Union and avoid Scotland going into the chaos of economic uncertainty at a time when we have to build back better under Covid".

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/05/01/billions-scots-boris-johnson-plans-spending-spree-save-union/?utm_content=telegraph&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1619899315

    This is shit. Why are they only doing this now?

    I read similar things months ago. They've done bugger all.

    Grrr.
    Is it because they are shit?

    I had thought Gove might be focusing on Union matters since he was pushed off Brexit...this just looks like desperate kneejerkery.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,096

    ydoethur said:

    ping said:

    ydoethur said:

    dr_spyn said:

    Boris Johnson is emulating Churchill's inability to live within his means.

    And that to my mind is why I expect he will leave Office sooner rather than later

    He can make millions outside the HOC
    Although Churchill held on for at least two years (arguably six) longer than he should have done. Eden was getting very impatient with his reluctance to retire and Macmillan actually thought there was a chance the government was drifting to collapse because Churchill’s brain damage from his second stroke was so severe.

    Politicians give up power very reluctantly. Am I right in thinking the only Prime Minister in your lifetime who has given it up willingly before it was effectively dragged off him was Wilson in 1976? And arguably, he should have resigned after the debacle of 1970.
    Er, Blair went before he was pushed.
    He really, really didn’t. He had intended to stay until at least 2009.
    By 2006 Labour Party politics were such that he'd have been pushed out in 2007 if he hadn't agreed to quit.
    ...or under a bus by Brown.
    Yes. Gordon was not going to wait a minute longer.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,228
    So today we learned that Justin is bonkers.

    OK
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 18,348
    Let's hope the carrier doesn't get wedged in the Suez Canal.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 119,601
    Leon said:

    So today we learned that Justin is bonkers.

    OK

    We've known that for years.

    He's like Rod Crosby and the Jews when it comes to children born out of wedlock.
  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 63,009
    Leon said:

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    justin124 said:

    ping said:

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    alex_ said:

    Leon said:

    Floater said:

    Lights blue touch paper and stands waaaay back

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1388543057965064198


    Boris Johnson has told friends he needs £300,000 a year to stay afloat

    Sounds like he is getting ready to go. Covid: DONE, Brexit: DONE, become Prime Minister? - TICK


    He nailed the top job, won a big majority, destroyed Corbyn, so: leave now for amazing money in a private life? Must be very very tempting

    He has a new little boy to look after, as well
    Will Carrie stick with him? The refurbs would suggest she was hoping to stick around a bit longer in Downing Street...
    If the plan was to leave in a year or two, they might as well have just hung some posters up.

    You can get that one of the lady tennis player for under a tenner.
    I imagine that was already on Boris’s Pinterest “inspiration” board, but Carrie had other ideas.
    I imagine Carrie REALLY enjoys being the wife of the PM. She gets all of the reflected glory - and tangential power, influence, status, interesting life - with none of the hassle of actually being PM. She's got a small boy and a lovely new flat with gold wallpaper. It looks like she really loves her husband.

    However, for him it must be waaaaaay less appealing, He has been a politician for decades. The top job comes with a downgraded salary and a punishing schedule. He's knackered (and he looks it)

    He won Brexit, saw it to the end, and now he has guided us through Covid - more than most PMs ever do

    Hang up the box and retire to the pavilion for champagne and smoked salmon? Enticing
    Carries is not his wife - despite having had a little bastard with him.
    That’s not cricket.
    It is ,however, a statement of fact.
    But it's just nasty and makes you look ugly and mad. This is their kid, who is, what, 10 months old?

    It's like the attacks on Trump's kids - certainly the ones under 18

    I rivalled the best in my dislike of Trump - a "dismal madman". But children don't choose their parents. Enough
    I have nothing at all against the child who is 100% innocent - but cannot say the same for his parents. A few years ago I had a niece who disgraced the family in this way - and as I type I have a 31 year old nephew about to have his first bastard. I have never held back from making it clear to them what I think.
    F off.

    "Little bastard" is deeply offensive. You know it. Would you say that to the faces of the parents? You deserve to get punched if you do. I would personally punch you if you referred to either of my daughters that way, in my presence, because they were born with partners not wives?

    If is also self-defeating. Makes you sound insane. Desist, for your own sake
    Two of my grandchildren are in a loving 10 year family partnership

    I am trying not to lose it, but his words are that of a nasty bigot from some weird sect and are shameful
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,046
    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    justin124 said:

    ping said:

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    alex_ said:

    Leon said:

    Floater said:

    Lights blue touch paper and stands waaaay back

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1388543057965064198


    Boris Johnson has told friends he needs £300,000 a year to stay afloat

    Sounds like he is getting ready to go. Covid: DONE, Brexit: DONE, become Prime Minister? - TICK


    He nailed the top job, won a big majority, destroyed Corbyn, so: leave now for amazing money in a private life? Must be very very tempting

    He has a new little boy to look after, as well
    Will Carrie stick with him? The refurbs would suggest she was hoping to stick around a bit longer in Downing Street...
    If the plan was to leave in a year or two, they might as well have just hung some posters up.

    You can get that one of the lady tennis player for under a tenner.
    I imagine that was already on Boris’s Pinterest “inspiration” board, but Carrie had other ideas.
    I imagine Carrie REALLY enjoys being the wife of the PM. She gets all of the reflected glory - and tangential power, influence, status, interesting life - with none of the hassle of actually being PM. She's got a small boy and a lovely new flat with gold wallpaper. It looks like she really loves her husband.

    However, for him it must be waaaaaay less appealing, He has been a politician for decades. The top job comes with a downgraded salary and a punishing schedule. He's knackered (and he looks it)

    He won Brexit, saw it to the end, and now he has guided us through Covid - more than most PMs ever do

    Hang up the box and retire to the pavilion for champagne and smoked salmon? Enticing
    Carries is not his wife - despite having had a little bastard with him.
    That’s not cricket.
    It is ,however, a statement of fact.
    But it's just nasty and makes you look ugly and mad. This is their kid, who is, what, 10 months old?

    It's like the attacks on Trump's kids - certainly the ones under 18

    I rivalled the best in my dislike of Trump - a "dismal madman". But children don't choose their parents. Enough
    I have nothing at all against the child who is 100% innocent - but cannot say the same for his parents. A few years ago I had a niece who disgraced the family in this way - and as I type I have a 31 year old nephew about to have his first bastard. I have never held back from making it clear to them what I think.
    You've been clear enough where you stand on these matters so I wouldn't want to bother joining in any chorus of condemnation even though I think your views on this are totally wrong, but I cannot recall why you are so against illegitimate children?

    Is it a religious thing? Do you think it means less chance of a happy, two parent home? (no matter that people divorce all the time)
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,297

    Boris Johnson is planning to spend billions of pounds on new road and rail links and treating Scottish patients on English NHS beds in a desperate counter-offensive against Nicola Sturgeon.

    The strategy to save the Union, to be unveiled days after a feared SNP landslide this week, will also offer student exchanges between UK nations and will see diplomats ordered to make the case against Scottish independence in foreign capitals.

    Whitehall lawyers have also been ordered to sharpen their pens to fight in court any attempt by the SNP to call a referendum without the consent of the UK Government amid fears nationalists could win a Scottish Parliament majority this week.

    Mr Johnson will chair a Downing Street meeting of senior Cabinet ministers including Michael Gove and Rishi Sunak this week, along with the secretaries of state for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, to finalise their cross-government response plan to Thursday's vote.

    While the Tories are expected to do well in the English local elections, and even clinch an historic victory over Labour in the Hartlepool by-election, there are real fears of big gains for the SNP in Scotland and Plaid Cymru in Wales.

    Fears SNP could launch independence bid immediately
    Several Cabinet ministers and senior figures close to Mr Johnson this weekend privately expressed their grave fears at the prospect of a big win for Ms Sturgeon who – Downing Street sources ails fear – could try to order a new independence referendum as soon as the result is announced.

    A senior source said that the result was likely to be "bloody awful" in Scotland.

    One minister said that the SNP were viewing Thursday’s vote as “a referendum on a referendum. There is no room for complacency. We are in a bare knuckle fight.”

    Another Cabinet minister privately advocated voting for other unionist parties than the Conservatives to see off the SNP threat. They said people should "vote for parties that will save the Union and avoid Scotland going into the chaos of economic uncertainty at a time when we have to build back better under Covid".

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/05/01/billions-scots-boris-johnson-plans-spending-spree-save-union/?utm_content=telegraph&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1619899315

    Such hysteria doesn’t really fit with the available polling.
    I was looking at the Scottish polling and I noticed a few similarities between Douglas Ross and Iain Grey in 2011.

    I'm feeling optimistic on the Tories finishing third in Scotland bets.
    Given the electoral system, and the various concentrations of votes, it’s actually quite hard for Labour to come second I think.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,046
    Leon said:

    So today we learned that Justin is bonkers.

    OK

    Justin has never hidden or denied his views on bastards, though they still seem to come out of nowhere when they emerge.
  • justin124justin124 Posts: 11,527

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    justin124 said:

    ping said:

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    alex_ said:

    Leon said:

    Floater said:

    Lights blue touch paper and stands waaaay back

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1388543057965064198


    Boris Johnson has told friends he needs £300,000 a year to stay afloat

    Sounds like he is getting ready to go. Covid: DONE, Brexit: DONE, become Prime Minister? - TICK


    He nailed the top job, won a big majority, destroyed Corbyn, so: leave now for amazing money in a private life? Must be very very tempting

    He has a new little boy to look after, as well
    Will Carrie stick with him? The refurbs would suggest she was hoping to stick around a bit longer in Downing Street...
    If the plan was to leave in a year or two, they might as well have just hung some posters up.

    You can get that one of the lady tennis player for under a tenner.
    I imagine that was already on Boris’s Pinterest “inspiration” board, but Carrie had other ideas.
    I imagine Carrie REALLY enjoys being the wife of the PM. She gets all of the reflected glory - and tangential power, influence, status, interesting life - with none of the hassle of actually being PM. She's got a small boy and a lovely new flat with gold wallpaper. It looks like she really loves her husband.

    However, for him it must be waaaaaay less appealing, He has been a politician for decades. The top job comes with a downgraded salary and a punishing schedule. He's knackered (and he looks it)

    He won Brexit, saw it to the end, and now he has guided us through Covid - more than most PMs ever do

    Hang up the box and retire to the pavilion for champagne and smoked salmon? Enticing
    Carries is not his wife - despite having had a little bastard with him.
    That’s not cricket.
    It is ,however, a statement of fact.
    But it's just nasty and makes you look ugly and mad. This is their kid, who is, what, 10 months old?

    It's like the attacks on Trump's kids - certainly the ones under 18

    I rivalled the best in my dislike of Trump - a "dismal madman". But children don't choose their parents. Enough
    I have nothing at all against the child who is 100% innocent - but cannot say the same for his parents. A few years ago I had a niece who disgraced the family in this way - and as I type I have a 31 year old nephew about to have his first bastard. I have never held back from making it clear to them what I think.
    You are a nasty bigot that shames this forum
    My views on this were mainstream several decades into your lifetime.
  • justin124 said:

    ping said:

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    alex_ said:

    Leon said:

    Floater said:

    Lights blue touch paper and stands waaaay back

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1388543057965064198


    Boris Johnson has told friends he needs £300,000 a year to stay afloat

    Sounds like he is getting ready to go. Covid: DONE, Brexit: DONE, become Prime Minister? - TICK


    He nailed the top job, won a big majority, destroyed Corbyn, so: leave now for amazing money in a private life? Must be very very tempting

    He has a new little boy to look after, as well
    Will Carrie stick with him? The refurbs would suggest she was hoping to stick around a bit longer in Downing Street...
    If the plan was to leave in a year or two, they might as well have just hung some posters up.

    You can get that one of the lady tennis player for under a tenner.
    I imagine that was already on Boris’s Pinterest “inspiration” board, but Carrie had other ideas.
    I imagine Carrie REALLY enjoys being the wife of the PM. She gets all of the reflected glory - and tangential power, influence, status, interesting life - with none of the hassle of actually being PM. She's got a small boy and a lovely new flat with gold wallpaper. It looks like she really loves her husband.

    However, for him it must be waaaaaay less appealing, He has been a politician for decades. The top job comes with a downgraded salary and a punishing schedule. He's knackered (and he looks it)

    He won Brexit, saw it to the end, and now he has guided us through Covid - more than most PMs ever do

    Hang up the box and retire to the pavilion for champagne and smoked salmon? Enticing
    Carries is not his wife - despite having had a little bastard with him.
    That’s not cricket.
    It is ,however, a statement of fact.
    You are a wanker.
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,297
    justin124 said:

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    justin124 said:

    ping said:

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    alex_ said:

    Leon said:

    Floater said:

    Lights blue touch paper and stands waaaay back

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1388543057965064198


    Boris Johnson has told friends he needs £300,000 a year to stay afloat

    Sounds like he is getting ready to go. Covid: DONE, Brexit: DONE, become Prime Minister? - TICK


    He nailed the top job, won a big majority, destroyed Corbyn, so: leave now for amazing money in a private life? Must be very very tempting

    He has a new little boy to look after, as well
    Will Carrie stick with him? The refurbs would suggest she was hoping to stick around a bit longer in Downing Street...
    If the plan was to leave in a year or two, they might as well have just hung some posters up.

    You can get that one of the lady tennis player for under a tenner.
    I imagine that was already on Boris’s Pinterest “inspiration” board, but Carrie had other ideas.
    I imagine Carrie REALLY enjoys being the wife of the PM. She gets all of the reflected glory - and tangential power, influence, status, interesting life - with none of the hassle of actually being PM. She's got a small boy and a lovely new flat with gold wallpaper. It looks like she really loves her husband.

    However, for him it must be waaaaaay less appealing, He has been a politician for decades. The top job comes with a downgraded salary and a punishing schedule. He's knackered (and he looks it)

    He won Brexit, saw it to the end, and now he has guided us through Covid - more than most PMs ever do

    Hang up the box and retire to the pavilion for champagne and smoked salmon? Enticing
    Carries is not his wife - despite having had a little bastard with him.
    That’s not cricket.
    It is ,however, a statement of fact.
    But it's just nasty and makes you look ugly and mad. This is their kid, who is, what, 10 months old?

    It's like the attacks on Trump's kids - certainly the ones under 18

    I rivalled the best in my dislike of Trump - a "dismal madman". But children don't choose their parents. Enough
    I have nothing at all against the child who is 100% innocent - but cannot say the same for his parents. A few years ago I had a niece who disgraced the family in this way - and as I type I have a 31 year old nephew about to have his first bastard. I have never held back from making it clear to them what I think.
    You are a nasty bigot that shames this forum
    My views on this were mainstream several decades into your lifetime.
    Doubt it. Unless you are 110.

    I think, as well, the language chosen is deliberately rude and provocative. I don’t think that’s ever been “mainstream”.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 119,601
    justin124 said:

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    justin124 said:

    ping said:

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    alex_ said:

    Leon said:

    Floater said:

    Lights blue touch paper and stands waaaay back

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1388543057965064198


    Boris Johnson has told friends he needs £300,000 a year to stay afloat

    Sounds like he is getting ready to go. Covid: DONE, Brexit: DONE, become Prime Minister? - TICK


    He nailed the top job, won a big majority, destroyed Corbyn, so: leave now for amazing money in a private life? Must be very very tempting

    He has a new little boy to look after, as well
    Will Carrie stick with him? The refurbs would suggest she was hoping to stick around a bit longer in Downing Street...
    If the plan was to leave in a year or two, they might as well have just hung some posters up.

    You can get that one of the lady tennis player for under a tenner.
    I imagine that was already on Boris’s Pinterest “inspiration” board, but Carrie had other ideas.
    I imagine Carrie REALLY enjoys being the wife of the PM. She gets all of the reflected glory - and tangential power, influence, status, interesting life - with none of the hassle of actually being PM. She's got a small boy and a lovely new flat with gold wallpaper. It looks like she really loves her husband.

    However, for him it must be waaaaaay less appealing, He has been a politician for decades. The top job comes with a downgraded salary and a punishing schedule. He's knackered (and he looks it)

    He won Brexit, saw it to the end, and now he has guided us through Covid - more than most PMs ever do

    Hang up the box and retire to the pavilion for champagne and smoked salmon? Enticing
    Carries is not his wife - despite having had a little bastard with him.
    That’s not cricket.
    It is ,however, a statement of fact.
    But it's just nasty and makes you look ugly and mad. This is their kid, who is, what, 10 months old?

    It's like the attacks on Trump's kids - certainly the ones under 18

    I rivalled the best in my dislike of Trump - a "dismal madman". But children don't choose their parents. Enough
    I have nothing at all against the child who is 100% innocent - but cannot say the same for his parents. A few years ago I had a niece who disgraced the family in this way - and as I type I have a 31 year old nephew about to have his first bastard. I have never held back from making it clear to them what I think.
    You are a nasty bigot that shames this forum
    My views on this were mainstream several decades into your lifetime.
    You know what was also mainstream decades ago?

    Arresting, imprisoning, and chemically castrating homosexuals.

    Society moves on, except you.
  • dr_spyndr_spyn Posts: 11,300
    I see that publish and be damned, is trending on PB tonight.
  • IanB2IanB2 Posts: 49,859
    edited May 2021
    Scott_xP said:

    Current CON lead by pollster:

    Survation: +1 (29 Apr)
    Focaldata: +1 (30 Apr)
    Ipsos: +3 (22 Apr)
    BMG: +4 (26 Apr)
    Opinium: +5 (30 Apr)
    ComRes: +7 (25 Apr)
    Kantar: +8 (26 Apr)
    NC Politics: +9 (29 Apr)
    R&W: +10 (26 Apr)
    YouGov: +11 (28 Apr)

    Average: +5.9%

    https://twitter.com/ElectionMapsUK/status/1388579927302234113

    Did I imagine being here just a few days ago and so many PB super-forecasters insisted this wasn’t going to happen?

    Makes me more wary of their racing tips, TBH
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,228

    Leon said:

    So today we learned that Justin is bonkers.

    OK

    We've known that for years.

    He's like Rod Crosby and the Jews when it comes to children born out of wedlock.
    It's news to me, TBH

    Entertaining yet also a little sad

    I felt the same about Rod Crosby, who was, I think, something of a genius (and excellent value on maths, statistics, data, spreadsheets, and general chit chat) but get him on to the H*locaust and it was "Oh, they had swimming pools at Belsen" - not just eccentric, but 100% toys-in-the-attic craziness. I never worked out why he was like that. I'm not wholly convinced it was the usual anti-Semitism, it felt more like flat-earthery: ie a contrary opinion held for the sake of it, and the excitement of backing it up against universal disapproval

    I wonder if this is an affliction common in political geeks. One small but particular area where a highly sound mind strays into nuttiness and contrariness



  • Big_G_NorthWalesBig_G_NorthWales Posts: 63,009
    justin124 said:

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    justin124 said:

    ping said:

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    alex_ said:

    Leon said:

    Floater said:

    Lights blue touch paper and stands waaaay back

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1388543057965064198


    Boris Johnson has told friends he needs £300,000 a year to stay afloat

    Sounds like he is getting ready to go. Covid: DONE, Brexit: DONE, become Prime Minister? - TICK


    He nailed the top job, won a big majority, destroyed Corbyn, so: leave now for amazing money in a private life? Must be very very tempting

    He has a new little boy to look after, as well
    Will Carrie stick with him? The refurbs would suggest she was hoping to stick around a bit longer in Downing Street...
    If the plan was to leave in a year or two, they might as well have just hung some posters up.

    You can get that one of the lady tennis player for under a tenner.
    I imagine that was already on Boris’s Pinterest “inspiration” board, but Carrie had other ideas.
    I imagine Carrie REALLY enjoys being the wife of the PM. She gets all of the reflected glory - and tangential power, influence, status, interesting life - with none of the hassle of actually being PM. She's got a small boy and a lovely new flat with gold wallpaper. It looks like she really loves her husband.

    However, for him it must be waaaaaay less appealing, He has been a politician for decades. The top job comes with a downgraded salary and a punishing schedule. He's knackered (and he looks it)

    He won Brexit, saw it to the end, and now he has guided us through Covid - more than most PMs ever do

    Hang up the box and retire to the pavilion for champagne and smoked salmon? Enticing
    Carries is not his wife - despite having had a little bastard with him.
    That’s not cricket.
    It is ,however, a statement of fact.
    But it's just nasty and makes you look ugly and mad. This is their kid, who is, what, 10 months old?

    It's like the attacks on Trump's kids - certainly the ones under 18

    I rivalled the best in my dislike of Trump - a "dismal madman". But children don't choose their parents. Enough
    I have nothing at all against the child who is 100% innocent - but cannot say the same for his parents. A few years ago I had a niece who disgraced the family in this way - and as I type I have a 31 year old nephew about to have his first bastard. I have never held back from making it clear to them what I think.
    You are a nasty bigot that shames this forum
    My views on this were mainstream several decades into your lifetime.
    Irrespective of history your views in today's society are obnoxious and shameful

    And ironically, my son and his partner of 10 years, and mother to two of my grandchildren, are having a full Christian wedding in the local Parish Church on the 31st July, postponed from last August
  • GardenwalkerGardenwalker Posts: 21,297
    Oh dear.


  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 28,368
    justin124 said:

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    justin124 said:

    ping said:

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    alex_ said:

    Leon said:

    Floater said:

    Lights blue touch paper and stands waaaay back

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1388543057965064198


    Boris Johnson has told friends he needs £300,000 a year to stay afloat

    Sounds like he is getting ready to go. Covid: DONE, Brexit: DONE, become Prime Minister? - TICK


    He nailed the top job, won a big majority, destroyed Corbyn, so: leave now for amazing money in a private life? Must be very very tempting

    He has a new little boy to look after, as well
    Will Carrie stick with him? The refurbs would suggest she was hoping to stick around a bit longer in Downing Street...
    If the plan was to leave in a year or two, they might as well have just hung some posters up.

    You can get that one of the lady tennis player for under a tenner.
    I imagine that was already on Boris’s Pinterest “inspiration” board, but Carrie had other ideas.
    I imagine Carrie REALLY enjoys being the wife of the PM. She gets all of the reflected glory - and tangential power, influence, status, interesting life - with none of the hassle of actually being PM. She's got a small boy and a lovely new flat with gold wallpaper. It looks like she really loves her husband.

    However, for him it must be waaaaaay less appealing, He has been a politician for decades. The top job comes with a downgraded salary and a punishing schedule. He's knackered (and he looks it)

    He won Brexit, saw it to the end, and now he has guided us through Covid - more than most PMs ever do

    Hang up the box and retire to the pavilion for champagne and smoked salmon? Enticing
    Carries is not his wife - despite having had a little bastard with him.
    That’s not cricket.
    It is ,however, a statement of fact.
    But it's just nasty and makes you look ugly and mad. This is their kid, who is, what, 10 months old?

    It's like the attacks on Trump's kids - certainly the ones under 18

    I rivalled the best in my dislike of Trump - a "dismal madman". But children don't choose their parents. Enough
    I have nothing at all against the child who is 100% innocent - but cannot say the same for his parents. A few years ago I had a niece who disgraced the family in this way - and as I type I have a 31 year old nephew about to have his first bastard. I have never held back from making it clear to them what I think.
    You are a nasty bigot that shames this forum
    My views on this were mainstream several decades into your lifetime.
    But they are quite rightly not mainstream views now. It is a free country, and you are entitled to your opinions, this is nonetheless an opinion perhaps best kept to yourself.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,046

    justin124 said:

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    justin124 said:

    ping said:

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    alex_ said:

    Leon said:

    Floater said:

    Lights blue touch paper and stands waaaay back

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1388543057965064198


    Boris Johnson has told friends he needs £300,000 a year to stay afloat

    Sounds like he is getting ready to go. Covid: DONE, Brexit: DONE, become Prime Minister? - TICK


    He nailed the top job, won a big majority, destroyed Corbyn, so: leave now for amazing money in a private life? Must be very very tempting

    He has a new little boy to look after, as well
    Will Carrie stick with him? The refurbs would suggest she was hoping to stick around a bit longer in Downing Street...
    If the plan was to leave in a year or two, they might as well have just hung some posters up.

    You can get that one of the lady tennis player for under a tenner.
    I imagine that was already on Boris’s Pinterest “inspiration” board, but Carrie had other ideas.
    I imagine Carrie REALLY enjoys being the wife of the PM. She gets all of the reflected glory - and tangential power, influence, status, interesting life - with none of the hassle of actually being PM. She's got a small boy and a lovely new flat with gold wallpaper. It looks like she really loves her husband.

    However, for him it must be waaaaaay less appealing, He has been a politician for decades. The top job comes with a downgraded salary and a punishing schedule. He's knackered (and he looks it)

    He won Brexit, saw it to the end, and now he has guided us through Covid - more than most PMs ever do

    Hang up the box and retire to the pavilion for champagne and smoked salmon? Enticing
    Carries is not his wife - despite having had a little bastard with him.
    That’s not cricket.
    It is ,however, a statement of fact.
    But it's just nasty and makes you look ugly and mad. This is their kid, who is, what, 10 months old?

    It's like the attacks on Trump's kids - certainly the ones under 18

    I rivalled the best in my dislike of Trump - a "dismal madman". But children don't choose their parents. Enough
    I have nothing at all against the child who is 100% innocent - but cannot say the same for his parents. A few years ago I had a niece who disgraced the family in this way - and as I type I have a 31 year old nephew about to have his first bastard. I have never held back from making it clear to them what I think.
    You are a nasty bigot that shames this forum
    My views on this were mainstream several decades into your lifetime.
    You know what was also mainstream decades ago?

    Arresting, imprisoning, and chemically castrating homosexuals.

    Society moves on, except you.
    Quite. It is technically accurate that not everyone's views move with the times, and technically possible that the way the times move on may not be for the better.

    But this is not one of those times.

    And in any case, whilst bastard is used without insult if we are referring to the children of Henry I, it is clearly perjorative used regarding people here and now, so is just provocative.
  • alex_alex_ Posts: 7,518

    alex_ said:

    The thing I find somewhat uncommented on about the refurbishment story, is questioning quite why the (temporary) occupants can implement a total overhaul, just because they don’t like its current decor. Most temporary occupants of flats don’t have the right to do this, so why should the PM? Why be allowed to implement refurbishments designed to last 10-15 years when PMs on average last a lot shorter? Given anyway the generousity of the 30k budget, I don’t see why they should be allowed to spend any more, even if paid for themselves.

    Because quite frankly Downing Street is a dump, especially when compared to other houses of world leaders.

    It needs constant improvements.

    There's a reason PMs regularly decamp to Chequers.

    Chevening is the best government residence. It is why I would accept being Foreign Secretary.
    My point here though is that the PM does not own the flat. Even if you accept that he has the right to refurbish it, one would think that any works should have to go through the Civil Service first. And the ability of them to be paid for (whether from the allowed budget, or from the PM’s own pocket) should be confirmed in advance. And if the latter arguably the cash should be put down up front. The smoke signals here seem to be that the work was done and then Johnson realised that he couldn’t afford it - and had to go scrabbling around for donations.

    He should never have been in that position in the first place - and wouldn’t have been if the works had been scrutinised independently, along with approval of the source of funding.

  • stodgestodge Posts: 13,866
    Leon said:


    I wonder if this is an affliction common in political geeks. One small but particular area where a highly sound mind strays into nuttiness and contrariness

    So what's yours? Shoes ?
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 96,046

    justin124 said:

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    justin124 said:

    ping said:

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    alex_ said:

    Leon said:

    Floater said:

    Lights blue touch paper and stands waaaay back

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1388543057965064198


    Boris Johnson has told friends he needs £300,000 a year to stay afloat

    Sounds like he is getting ready to go. Covid: DONE, Brexit: DONE, become Prime Minister? - TICK


    He nailed the top job, won a big majority, destroyed Corbyn, so: leave now for amazing money in a private life? Must be very very tempting

    He has a new little boy to look after, as well
    Will Carrie stick with him? The refurbs would suggest she was hoping to stick around a bit longer in Downing Street...
    If the plan was to leave in a year or two, they might as well have just hung some posters up.

    You can get that one of the lady tennis player for under a tenner.
    I imagine that was already on Boris’s Pinterest “inspiration” board, but Carrie had other ideas.
    I imagine Carrie REALLY enjoys being the wife of the PM. She gets all of the reflected glory - and tangential power, influence, status, interesting life - with none of the hassle of actually being PM. She's got a small boy and a lovely new flat with gold wallpaper. It looks like she really loves her husband.

    However, for him it must be waaaaaay less appealing, He has been a politician for decades. The top job comes with a downgraded salary and a punishing schedule. He's knackered (and he looks it)

    He won Brexit, saw it to the end, and now he has guided us through Covid - more than most PMs ever do

    Hang up the box and retire to the pavilion for champagne and smoked salmon? Enticing
    Carries is not his wife - despite having had a little bastard with him.
    That’s not cricket.
    It is ,however, a statement of fact.
    But it's just nasty and makes you look ugly and mad. This is their kid, who is, what, 10 months old?

    It's like the attacks on Trump's kids - certainly the ones under 18

    I rivalled the best in my dislike of Trump - a "dismal madman". But children don't choose their parents. Enough
    I have nothing at all against the child who is 100% innocent - but cannot say the same for his parents. A few years ago I had a niece who disgraced the family in this way - and as I type I have a 31 year old nephew about to have his first bastard. I have never held back from making it clear to them what I think.
    You are a nasty bigot that shames this forum
    My views on this were mainstream several decades into your lifetime.
    But they are quite rightly not mainstream views now. It is a free country, and you are entitled to your opinions, this is nonetheless an opinion perhaps best kept to yourself.
    On the contary - best to know what views people hold, so we know what to think of them.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 60,399
    kle4 said:

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    justin124 said:

    ping said:

    justin124 said:

    Leon said:

    alex_ said:

    Leon said:

    Floater said:

    Lights blue touch paper and stands waaaay back

    https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1388543057965064198


    Boris Johnson has told friends he needs £300,000 a year to stay afloat

    Sounds like he is getting ready to go. Covid: DONE, Brexit: DONE, become Prime Minister? - TICK


    He nailed the top job, won a big majority, destroyed Corbyn, so: leave now for amazing money in a private life? Must be very very tempting

    He has a new little boy to look after, as well
    Will Carrie stick with him? The refurbs would suggest she was hoping to stick around a bit longer in Downing Street...
    If the plan was to leave in a year or two, they might as well have just hung some posters up.

    You can get that one of the lady tennis player for under a tenner.
    I imagine that was already on Boris’s Pinterest “inspiration” board, but Carrie had other ideas.
    I imagine Carrie REALLY enjoys being the wife of the PM. She gets all of the reflected glory - and tangential power, influence, status, interesting life - with none of the hassle of actually being PM. She's got a small boy and a lovely new flat with gold wallpaper. It looks like she really loves her husband.

    However, for him it must be waaaaaay less appealing, He has been a politician for decades. The top job comes with a downgraded salary and a punishing schedule. He's knackered (and he looks it)

    He won Brexit, saw it to the end, and now he has guided us through Covid - more than most PMs ever do

    Hang up the box and retire to the pavilion for champagne and smoked salmon? Enticing
    Carries is not his wife - despite having had a little bastard with him.
    That’s not cricket.
    It is ,however, a statement of fact.
    But it's just nasty and makes you look ugly and mad. This is their kid, who is, what, 10 months old?

    It's like the attacks on Trump's kids - certainly the ones under 18

    I rivalled the best in my dislike of Trump - a "dismal madman". But children don't choose their parents. Enough
    I have nothing at all against the child who is 100% innocent - but cannot say the same for his parents. A few years ago I had a niece who disgraced the family in this way - and as I type I have a 31 year old nephew about to have his first bastard. I have never held back from making it clear to them what I think.
    You've been clear enough where you stand on these matters so I wouldn't want to bother joining in any chorus of condemnation even though I think your views on this are totally wrong, but I cannot recall why you are so against illegitimate children?

    Is it a religious thing? Do you think it means less chance of a happy, two parent home? (no matter that people divorce all the time)
    For what it's worth, I hold fairly traditional views on the family - my wife and I waited until we were married before having ours, and most of my friends are the same - but, I wouldn't judge (still less abuse) those who chose differently.
This discussion has been closed.