More than 100 guards at the British embassy in Kabul have been told they are not eligible for UK government protection because they were hired through an outsourced contractor, the Guardian has learned.
Most of the 125-strong team of security personnel, employed by the global security firm GardaWorld, have been given informal notice that they no longer have jobs guarding the embassy, several said.
The guards, some of whom had been working for the UK embassy for over a decade, described feeling abandoned by British officials and their employer. Many have been forced into hiding, fearing for their lives.
Meanwhile, more than 100 guards doing the same work for the US embassy, under a separate GardaWorld contract, have been evacuated and others were receiving support from the US embassy, according to a senior Afghan national GardaWorld employee in charge of human resources.
"Nor is it any longer possible for you to give up this empire … Your empire is now like a tyranny: it may have been wrong to take it; it is certainly dangerous to let it go."
My favourite Pericles quote is the one where he basically says if he cocked up it was the peoples' fault for being persuaded by him in the first place*.
"If you were persuaded by me to go to war because you thought I had the qualities necessary for leadership at least moderately more than other men, it is not right that I should now be blamed for doing wrong".
*The book I read this in, by an actual expert, is in fairness more forgiving, probably correctly - 'He was that rare political leader in a democratic state who had told the people the truth, while pursuing disputed and even unpopular polices. [His] constant forthrightness left his angry listeners with no rejoinder, for they could not claim they had been uninformed or deceived'. (Kagan, The Peloponnesian War)
He was a complete shit. Stole from the League to build the Parthenon, utterly abused democracy with his nasty little decree of 431 with the rider that "anyone proposing an amendment of this decree is to be put to death," destroyed Athens by starting and posthumously losing the war with Sparta. And that bellyachingly pompous funeral oration has to be read in light of the fact that "the many, not the few" judicially murdered his eldest son after Arginusae on a "The Sun says: string 'em up" sort of basis. The man was a c--t.
The Pnyx is impressive, tho. Especially the view of the Acropolis. Where Pericles did his thang
The original topography of Athens might just be the most impressive urban topography in the world. Genius. The temples soar above the parliament and both look down at the Agora, where the philosophers speak of ideas which rise above it all
I finally made it to the actual Stoa Poikile yesterday, the painted Stoa, where Zeno spoke and the Stoics got their name. It’s now an Irish pub and a crappy clothes shop looming over some desultory rubble
Yet, still, rather moving
It's all bloody lovely, but that doesn't make it right. That Keats shtick about "Beauty is truth, truth beauty" is just as wrong as it is possible to be. To me the most beautiful thing in the world, by a country mile, is St Peter's Rome, but everything it says and stands for just ain't so.
40 years ago now I went on a study tour to Rome with the University. It was probably the best holiday I ever had. We were staying near the Vatican and every morning I went up to St Peter’s about 7.00 am to look around. It is the most magical building in the world. Every day I used to end up looking at the Pieta. I was convinced that if I looked long enough i would catch the moment marble actually moved.
And I am not even vaguely religious.
Rome is the most beautiful city I have visited I think, the Vatican and the Forum, home of the Catholic church and the Roman Empire and much of what made western civilization
More than 100 guards at the British embassy in Kabul have been told they are not eligible for UK government protection because they were hired through an outsourced contractor, the Guardian has learned.
Most of the 125-strong team of security personnel, employed by the global security firm GardaWorld, have been given informal notice that they no longer have jobs guarding the embassy, several said.
The guards, some of whom had been working for the UK embassy for over a decade, described feeling abandoned by British officials and their employer. Many have been forced into hiding, fearing for their lives.
Meanwhile, more than 100 guards doing the same work for the US embassy, under a separate GardaWorld contract, have been evacuated and others were receiving support from the US embassy, according to a senior Afghan national GardaWorld employee in charge of human resources.
FFS. There is no way we are going to get them all out but we need to do what we can. This is just outrageous.
Priti Patel hasn't stopped cackling since the decision was made, Boris Johnson is probably tupping the secretary, whilst Raab is still on holiday mode to notice.
I am generally a Tory but Christ , their choice of Home Secretaries really tests me. It is the indulgence of that evil, slithering, foul, crap that is found at the bottom of the party. Narrow minded, bigoted, sanctimonious, hypocritical, and those are the redeeming features.
It honestly turns my stomach and I feel guilty that I turn a blind eye to it for the bigger picture.
I knew this was coming, it was the reason people like David Herdson, Richard Nabavi, and myself quit the party in 2019.
More than 100 guards at the British embassy in Kabul have been told they are not eligible for UK government protection because they were hired through an outsourced contractor, the Guardian has learned.
Most of the 125-strong team of security personnel, employed by the global security firm GardaWorld, have been given informal notice that they no longer have jobs guarding the embassy, several said.
The guards, some of whom had been working for the UK embassy for over a decade, described feeling abandoned by British officials and their employer. Many have been forced into hiding, fearing for their lives.
Meanwhile, more than 100 guards doing the same work for the US embassy, under a separate GardaWorld contract, have been evacuated and others were receiving support from the US embassy, according to a senior Afghan national GardaWorld employee in charge of human resources.
FFS. There is no way we are going to get them all out but we need to do what we can. This is just outrageous.
Priti Patel hasn't stopped cackling since the decision was made, Boris Johnson is probably tupping the secretary, whilst Raab is still on holiday mode to notice.
But remember, people who voted for this **** bear absolutely no responsibility whatsoever.
Most sensible people know us being in Afghanistan was an impossible situation, and it seems even less possible to definitively apportion the blame for what has gone on.
I suppose Labour have to act outraged about everything, scoring political points is what they need to do to win power.
Trump’s take on events seems crazy given he wanted troops out earlier. Biden could have scrapped Trump’s plans of he’d wanted to. Blair could have not gone in. Brown, Cameron & May could have taken us out. Hard to see what Boris could have done differently, given we are pegged to the decisions of the US.
My own view is we shouldn’t meddle in these matters anyway. Not Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, anywhere, unless they’re bombing us. Be pacifists. But I suppose it’s not as easy as that either
The world is a battle of ideas. China's way. The West's way. The Theocrats' way. The Globalists' way. The authoritarians' way.
If you believe in something you will argue for it, live by its tenets and back that up with force if necessary.
We may argue for our Western way, but we have not lived by it in recent times , don't intend to in the future and have no stomach for a fight.
Having listened to the Parliametary debate, I heard very
Sigh. Rory is certainly eccentric but is an intellectual giant compared to most else on offer in Parliament. A shame he chose to blow up his career over Brexit, when there was such little point in doing so.
Especially when he recognised the need to deliver so much more than his then boss. If she had listened to him she may well have delivered a softer Brexit and held on to power.
So he’s not an unmixed blessing.
It was always very curious to me that Cameron pissed him away on the back benches and then only belatedly gave him a junior role at Defra.
Then Theresa May comes in, here’s a guy who’s walked the length of Afghanistan, speaks Pashtun and done over 100 trips there. I know! Let’s make him Minister for Africa! Hmm actually no prisons he can do that instead.
I do wonder what turn his career takes now. A shame he didn’t stand for the Lib Dems in 2019 and take over the leadership after the election.
Given all he did to try to sell her deal for her when most colleagues did not, it was the least May could do to make him Secretary of State for ID - was only 2 months, but means he can add Cabinet Minister to his bio.
The Liberals have a 10 point lead in Ontario and a 16 point lead in Quebec which seems a little out of kilter with other polls but on those terms Trudeau would remain Prime Minister.
The latest polling average gives the Liberals a lead of about 4%, compared to 8% before the election was called. It looks like Canadians aren't that pleased about having an election at the moment, just 2 years after the previous one.
The polling hasn't really settled yet - Forum Research had the Conservatives ahead by three points (31-28) while Innovative Research had a 12-point Liberal lead (38-26).
Most sensible people know us being in Afghanistan was an impossible situation, and it seems even less possible to definitively apportion the blame for what has gone on.
I suppose Labour have to act outraged about everything, scoring political points is what they need to do to win power.
Trump’s take on events seems crazy given he wanted troops out earlier. Biden could have scrapped Trump’s plans of he’d wanted to. Blair could have not gone in. Brown, Cameron & May could have taken us out. Hard to see what Boris could have done differently, given we are pegged to the decisions of the US.
My own view is we shouldn’t meddle in these matters anyway. Not Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, anywhere, unless they’re bombing us. Be pacifists. But I suppose it’s not as easy as that either
The world is a battle of ideas. China's way. The West's way. The Theocrats' way. The Globalists' way. The authoritarians' way.
If you believe in something you will argue for it, live by its tenets and back that up with force if necessary.
We may argue for our Western way, but we have not lived by it in recent times , don't intend to in the future and have no stomach for a fight.
Having listened to the Parliametary debate, I heard very
Sigh. Rory is certainly eccentric but is an intellectual giant compared to most else on offer in Parliament. A shame he chose to blow up his career over Brexit, when there was such little point in doing so.
Especially when he recognised the need to deliver so much more than his then boss. If she had listened to him she may well have delivered a softer Brexit and held on to power.
So he’s not an unmixed blessing.
It was always very curious to me that Cameron pissed him away on the back benches and then only belatedly gave him a junior role at Defra.
(Snip)
My guess would be because Stewart only entered parliament in 2010. The Conservatives had been out of power for thirteen years, and there were plenty of MPs who were ahead in the queue for governmental roles - and some even had governmental experience (e.g. Hague, Clarke). To make matters more complex, it was a coalition, and Lib Dem MPs took a number of roles.
I'd also be slightly uneasy if any MP got a governmental role within a year or two of entering parliament for the first time. There's enough to learn about being an MP first.
So the question is: when did other 2010-intake Conservatives get off the backbenches?
More than 100 guards at the British embassy in Kabul have been told they are not eligible for UK government protection because they were hired through an outsourced contractor, the Guardian has learned.
Most of the 125-strong team of security personnel, employed by the global security firm GardaWorld, have been given informal notice that they no longer have jobs guarding the embassy, several said.
The guards, some of whom had been working for the UK embassy for over a decade, described feeling abandoned by British officials and their employer. Many have been forced into hiding, fearing for their lives.
Meanwhile, more than 100 guards doing the same work for the US embassy, under a separate GardaWorld contract, have been evacuated and others were receiving support from the US embassy, according to a senior Afghan national GardaWorld employee in charge of human resources.
FFS. There is no way we are going to get them all out but we need to do what we can. This is just outrageous.
Priti Patel hasn't stopped cackling since the decision was made, Boris Johnson is probably tupping the secretary, whilst Raab is still on holiday mode to notice.
But remember, people who voted for this **** bear absolutely no responsibility whatsoever.
Of course people have some responsibility for the actions of those they voted to place in power, but how far can that principle reasonably be taken, what's the line by which it is not ok to on balance maintain support (treating those guards like shit may be a good place to start considering it though, if not already)? No one supports everything done by a goverment, not even the people within that government.
The Liberals have a 10 point lead in Ontario and a 16 point lead in Quebec which seems a little out of kilter with other polls but on those terms Trudeau would remain Prime Minister.
Even that poll makes it touch and go whether Trudeau can get a majority, though he should easily win most seats unless there is a significant swing back in Ontario
"They are country boys. The fact is they live by a code of honour and a standard. It's called Pashtunwali. It has honour at the heart of what they do.
They don't like corrupt government or governance that is self-serving and want an Afghanistan that is inclusive for all.
I think they have changed and they recognise Afghanistan has evolved and the fundamental role women have played in that evolution. They say they want to respect women's rights under Islamic law, and that will be Sharia law, but that doesn't necessarily mean they won't allow them to be involved in government, education and medicine."
He's an utter moron. The only honour these people care about is male honour and women bear the brunt of guarding it. They do not care about honouring her or her honour. So they can rape a woman and because this dishonours a man she gets stoned. Or they can order a woman to be raped to pay for the dishonour caused to a man.
This is not honour. It is barbarism. And if the Head of the Army does not understand this he is too deficient in sense to be put in charge of a Swiss army penknife let alone an army.
Graham Rix, the man who got done for under aged sex. Blow me down with a feather.
I just can’t get my head round how uncouth and nasty they were. What the coaches are accused of saying is what I am guessing people anonymously post on social media nowadays when black players miss penalties or make mistakes etc - amazing to think they thought they could get away with it, if true of course.
It might be amazing nowadays but in the 80s or early 90s (and probably before but I wouldnt know) a lot of the areas dominated by young men were like that. Bullying, violence or racism wouldnt have been at all unusual in the army, police, football or rugby. Not necessarily expected, but not surprising at the time either.
My first job was as a runner at the LIFFE floor in the mid 90s. 3000 people there and probably 2975 were white. But almost all the cleaners were black and I was never comfortable with it. I remember seeing one bloke throw some food in the floor in the canteen just so the cleaner would pick it up. Coming from Essex and working there/Romford market, playing Sunday football, I heard millions of racist comments and jokes, but never really brutal, face to face, what I’d call Deep South style hatred, like that.
The City was bad in my day too. The sexism was what I noticed most. I would hope that the sort of stuff that was routine then wouldn't be tolerated now.
"Oh fuck, that's wrong, gonna call Seddlements."
Fiona picks up. "Yep."
"Hey juicytits, can you be an angel and cancel a trade for me."
"I can cancel something, Darren, yes. Be delighted to."
She hangs up and calls HR.
I had a job in the City in the mid-90s. There were 6 men and two women on a trading/analysis desk at a large investment bank. I don't remember a single sexist comment all the time I was there, either by the standards of the time or by today's incredibly sensitive standards. But maybe I was just using the bathroom or doing the photocopying every time they were made.
Yep, about that period. So either you dropped into a bubble of woke - ahead of its time - or something about your presence deterred any nonsense. Either way being terrific news.
A lot of things have been the equivalent of Woke for a very long time. For example, BBC TV and radio presentation/continuity have been at present day levels of Wokeness since about 1990. (Not making a partisan point, just an observation).
What about Dave Lee Travis, aka the Hairy Cornflake? He wasn't very woke.
The Hairy Cornflake last presented Top of the Pops in 1984.
Can you imagine Rory as HS ? Now there would be a government worth voting for.
All the best and ablest Conservatives left the party or were kicked out in 2019.
But now we get Patel, Raab, and Williamson as the cabinet.
Why does Dowden never make the triumvirate of shame?
He's a Cambridge educated solicitor, that means he is the best of the very best.
One must be endowed with super visionary and mystical powers when one takes that first punt along the Cam in one's straw boater. Having never experienced that I don't see Dowden's magic myself. Although I have on several occasions filled my face with Chelsea buns from Fitzbillies, if that helps.
What I'm still not clear on about the supposed (and real) lack of UK government strategy on Afghanistan - what exactly were the critics such as Theresa May expecting? That Dominic Raab and Boris would snap their fingers and miraculously transport 50k troops to Kabul to keep hold of the country while we resettled millions of people to other parts of the world? These MPs have been overseeing a huge drop in military spending so we can spunk the cash on buying votes from old people and now they're bitching about it.
I have to say for all the wailing and gnashing of teeth and totally understandable sympathy for the plight of the Afghan people I simply don't see it as the geopolitical catastrophe some on here claim.
Comparable to the fall of Saigon in 1975? Well perhaps but will it compare to the day we stand by and let the Russians march into Kiev - perhaps not. Is it as big a disaster as the loss of Iran in 1979? Hardly.
The ultimate disaster will be the day NATO fails to live up to the doctrine of collective security - fortunately we've not seen that tested to date.
I come back to the point I made it seems an eternity ago - in the end there was no one willing to fight for Afghanistan. A seemingly well-equipped army and administration disintegrated in days. Perhaps the problem was we believed our shiny things and our money could buy us security by proxy. The lesson may be that we either do our own dirty work or we don't do it.
Yet we aren't the Roman Empire - we might have hoped momentarily in the aftermath of the fall of Communism and the liberation of Kuwait a Pax Americana could drive "the bad guys" from the face of the Earth and the goodness of liberal democracy would triumph for all time. Perhaps we believed the intervention of force of arms could prevail in the war against evil and we could topple evil here there and everywhere.
There is a theory that the Vietnam War was justified by the decade it bought.
Between 1965 and 1975 the likes of Thailand and Malaysia became much stronger countries while China and Indonesia switched from being anti-western to being anti-Soviet.
Can you imagine Rory as HS ? Now there would be a government worth voting for.
All the best and ablest Conservatives left the party or were kicked out in 2019.
But now we get Patel, Raab, and Williamson as the cabinet.
'The best and ablest' Conservatives I suppose now LDs like you then TSE?
For the last time, I'm not a Lib Dem, I'm not voting for them in the future.
Why not? I often find I have a lot in common with people like you, Richard N, David H and David L and even when I disagree I find the arguments put forward by you all very sound. Of course I could be wrong and I don't agree with all LD stuff, but I am much closer to them than anyone else and you lot clearly aren't keen on the current Tories. I also have a lot in common with the Tories that got thrown out or left in 2019.
Can you imagine Rory as HS ? Now there would be a government worth voting for.
All the best and ablest Conservatives left the party or were kicked out in 2019.
But now we get Patel, Raab, and Williamson as the cabinet.
Why does Dowden never make the triumvirate of shame?
He's a Cambridge educated solicitor, that means he is the best of the very best.
Nobody solicits if they're the best!
The brightest lawyers tend to be at the commercial Bar but then they tend not be in court as much as their criminal Bar counterparts so the difference between them and the solicitor branch is not as big, much of it meetings and paperwork
Anyway, I suggest we take the time to draw up a list of all the people in the West who are properly active in the cause of female emancipation in the less developed world...
While we're on definitions, does being "properly active" in spreading Western values to the less developed world make you an imperialist or a missionary?
As I was saying earlier today. The politicians will overrule the JCVI. There's no way they risk another cancellation of Christmas like last year. We have the vaccines, what's the point in not using them.
You’re good at this stuff Max. Why is the JCVI coming out with this weird bollocks?
It seems obviously nonsense to me. We have the jabs, there’s no evidence 3rd jabs will do any harm, and mounting evidence they might be not just beneficial but crucial
Are they on drugs or what?
I do think that there is a moral question here. Should we really be trying to top already high immunity when so much of the world is unvaccinated? Is it even utilitarian, given that these unvaccinated countries will produce dangerous variants? How selfish do we want to be?
One must be endowed with super visionary and mystical powers when one takes that first punt along the Cam in one's straw boater. Having never experienced that I don't see Dowden's magic myself. Although I have on several occasions filled my face with Chelsea buns from Fitzbillies, if that helps.
"They are country boys. The fact is they live by a code of honour and a standard. It's called Pashtunwali. It has honour at the heart of what they do.
They don't like corrupt government or governance that is self-serving and want an Afghanistan that is inclusive for all.
I think they have changed and they recognise Afghanistan has evolved and the fundamental role women have played in that evolution. They say they want to respect women's rights under Islamic law, and that will be Sharia law, but that doesn't necessarily mean they won't allow them to be involved in government, education and medicine."
He's an utter moron. The only honour these people care about is male honour and women bear the brunt of guarding it. They do not care about honouring her or her honour. So they can rape a woman and because this dishonours a man she gets stoned. Or they can order a woman to be raped to pay for the dishonour caused to a man.
This is not honour. It is barbarism. And if the Head of the Army does not understand this he is too deficient in sense to be put in charge of a Swiss army penknife let alone an army.
It’s despicably dumb. Does he not understand their “honour” leads directly to “honour killings”?
I am embarrassed as a Brit that he is head of the British army. Sack him
"Nor is it any longer possible for you to give up this empire … Your empire is now like a tyranny: it may have been wrong to take it; it is certainly dangerous to let it go."
My favourite Pericles quote is the one where he basically says if he cocked up it was the peoples' fault for being persuaded by him in the first place*.
"If you were persuaded by me to go to war because you thought I had the qualities necessary for leadership at least moderately more than other men, it is not right that I should now be blamed for doing wrong".
*The book I read this in, by an actual expert, is in fairness more forgiving, probably correctly - 'He was that rare political leader in a democratic state who had told the people the truth, while pursuing disputed and even unpopular polices. [His] constant forthrightness left his angry listeners with no rejoinder, for they could not claim they had been uninformed or deceived'. (Kagan, The Peloponnesian War)
He was a complete shit. Stole from the League to build the Parthenon, utterly abused democracy with his nasty little decree of 431 with the rider that "anyone proposing an amendment of this decree is to be put to death," destroyed Athens by starting and posthumously losing the war with Sparta. And that bellyachingly pompous funeral oration has to be read in light of the fact that "the many, not the few" judicially murdered his eldest son after Arginusae on a "The Sun says: string 'em up" sort of basis. The man was a c--t.
The Pnyx is impressive, tho. Especially the view of the Acropolis. Where Pericles did his thang
The original topography of Athens might just be the most impressive urban topography in the world. Genius. The temples soar above the parliament and both look down at the Agora, where the philosophers speak of ideas which rise above it all
I finally made it to the actual Stoa Poikile yesterday, the painted Stoa, where Zeno spoke and the Stoics got their name. It’s now an Irish pub and a crappy clothes shop looming over some desultory rubble
Yet, still, rather moving
It's all bloody lovely, but that doesn't make it right. That Keats shtick about "Beauty is truth, truth beauty" is just as wrong as it is possible to be. To me the most beautiful thing in the world, by a country mile, is St Peter's Rome, but everything it says and stands for just ain't so.
40 years ago now I went on a study tour to Rome with the University. It was probably the best holiday I ever had. We were staying near the Vatican and every morning I went up to St Peter’s about 7.00 am to look around. It is the most magical building in the world. Every day I used to end up looking at the Pieta. I was convinced that if I looked long enough i would catch the moment marble actually moved.
And I am not even vaguely religious.
Fantastic, isn't it?
I love the paradox about sculpture that it is purely subtractive. To make the Pieta, all you have to do is take a block of marble, and remove from it all the bits which are not the Pieta.
Wasn't that a Henry Moore line later used by Matt Busby when asked how you make a successful football team?
Can you imagine Rory as HS ? Now there would be a government worth voting for.
All the best and ablest Conservatives left the party or were kicked out in 2019.
But now we get Patel, Raab, and Williamson as the cabinet.
'The best and ablest' Conservatives I suppose now LDs like you then TSE?
For the last time, I'm not a Lib Dem, I'm not voting for them in the future.
Why not? I often find I have a lot in common with people like you, Richard N, David H and David L and even when I disagree I find the arguments put forward by you all very sound. Of course I could be wrong and I don't agree with all LD stuff, but I am much closer to them than anyone else and you lot clearly aren't keen on the current Tories. I also have a lot in common with the Tories that got thrown out or left in 2019.
Wera Hobhouse is the reason.
As mobile operators step up efforts to roll out 5G networks, they face resistance from local groups convinced that the new technology poses a threat to health. In the city of Bath, in Somerset, one such group is celebrating a victory after the local council refused permission for a 5G mast - with the backing of the local MP.
It's a decision which has sparked dismay not just from the mobile industry but from the minister who has been urging councils to smooth the way for the rollout. Digital Minister Matt Warman said that while he could not comment on a particular planning case, "there is no credible scientific basis that 5G has an adverse impact on people's health".
The minister said the government wanted people across the country to get fast and reliable connectivity as soon as possible, and said it would do "all we can to avoid delays to that programme".
But Bath's Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse was among those calling on the council to listen to concerns about health.
Enabling 5G conspiracy theorists is just like enabling antivaxxers, that Hobhouse is the Lib Dem Justice Spokesman is the reason I cannot vote Lib Dem.
"They are country boys. The fact is they live by a code of honour and a standard. It's called Pashtunwali. It has honour at the heart of what they do.
They don't like corrupt government or governance that is self-serving and want an Afghanistan that is inclusive for all.
I think they have changed and they recognise Afghanistan has evolved and the fundamental role women have played in that evolution. They say they want to respect women's rights under Islamic law, and that will be Sharia law, but that doesn't necessarily mean they won't allow them to be involved in government, education and medicine."
He's an utter moron. The only honour these people care about is male honour and women bear the brunt of guarding it. They do not care about honouring her or her honour. So they can rape a woman and because this dishonours a man she gets stoned. Or they can order a woman to be raped to pay for the dishonour caused to a man.
This is not honour. It is barbarism. And if the Head of the Army does not understand this he is too deficient in sense to be put in charge of a Swiss army penknife let alone an army.
I thought that was more or less a requirement for being a staff officer in the British Army?
Anyway, I suggest we take the time to draw up a list of all the people in the West who are properly active in the cause of female emancipation in the less developed world...
While we're on definitions, does being "properly active" in spreading Western values to the less developed world make you an imperialist or a missionary?
"Nor is it any longer possible for you to give up this empire … Your empire is now like a tyranny: it may have been wrong to take it; it is certainly dangerous to let it go."
My favourite Pericles quote is the one where he basically says if he cocked up it was the peoples' fault for being persuaded by him in the first place*.
"If you were persuaded by me to go to war because you thought I had the qualities necessary for leadership at least moderately more than other men, it is not right that I should now be blamed for doing wrong".
*The book I read this in, by an actual expert, is in fairness more forgiving, probably correctly - 'He was that rare political leader in a democratic state who had told the people the truth, while pursuing disputed and even unpopular polices. [His] constant forthrightness left his angry listeners with no rejoinder, for they could not claim they had been uninformed or deceived'. (Kagan, The Peloponnesian War)
He was a complete shit. Stole from the League to build the Parthenon, utterly abused democracy with his nasty little decree of 431 with the rider that "anyone proposing an amendment of this decree is to be put to death," destroyed Athens by starting and posthumously losing the war with Sparta. And that bellyachingly pompous funeral oration has to be read in light of the fact that "the many, not the few" judicially murdered his eldest son after Arginusae on a "The Sun says: string 'em up" sort of basis. The man was a c--t.
The Pnyx is impressive, tho. Especially the view of the Acropolis. Where Pericles did his thang
The original topography of Athens might just be the most impressive urban topography in the world. Genius. The temples soar above the parliament and both look down at the Agora, where the philosophers speak of ideas which rise above it all
I finally made it to the actual Stoa Poikile yesterday, the painted Stoa, where Zeno spoke and the Stoics got their name. It’s now an Irish pub and a crappy clothes shop looming over some desultory rubble
Yet, still, rather moving
It's all bloody lovely, but that doesn't make it right. That Keats shtick about "Beauty is truth, truth beauty" is just as wrong as it is possible to be. To me the most beautiful thing in the world, by a country mile, is St Peter's Rome, but everything it says and stands for just ain't so.
40 years ago now I went on a study tour to Rome with the University. It was probably the best holiday I ever had. We were staying near the Vatican and every morning I went up to St Peter’s about 7.00 am to look around. It is the most magical building in the world. Every day I used to end up looking at the Pieta. I was convinced that if I looked long enough i would catch the moment marble actually moved.
And I am not even vaguely religious.
Fantastic, isn't it?
I love the paradox about sculpture that it is purely subtractive. To make the Pieta, all you have to do is take a block of marble, and remove from it all the bits which are not the Pieta.
Wasn't that a Henry Moore line later used by Matt Busby when asked how you make a successful football team?
More than 100 guards at the British embassy in Kabul have been told they are not eligible for UK government protection because they were hired through an outsourced contractor, the Guardian has learned.
Most of the 125-strong team of security personnel, employed by the global security firm GardaWorld, have been given informal notice that they no longer have jobs guarding the embassy, several said.
The guards, some of whom had been working for the UK embassy for over a decade, described feeling abandoned by British officials and their employer. Many have been forced into hiding, fearing for their lives.
Meanwhile, more than 100 guards doing the same work for the US embassy, under a separate GardaWorld contract, have been evacuated and others were receiving support from the US embassy, according to a senior Afghan national GardaWorld employee in charge of human resources.
FFS. There is no way we are going to get them all out but we need to do what we can. This is just outrageous.
Priti Patel hasn't stopped cackling since the decision was made, Boris Johnson is probably tupping the secretary, whilst Raab is still on holiday mode to notice.
I am generally a Tory but Christ , their choice of Home Secretaries really tests me. It is the indulgence of that evil, slithering, foul, crap that is found at the bottom of the party. Narrow minded, bigoted, sanctimonious, hypocritical, and those are the redeeming features.
It honestly turns my stomach and I feel guilty that I turn a blind eye to it for the bigger picture.
I knew this was coming, it was the reason people like David Herdson, Richard Nabavi, and myself quit the party in 2019.
Genuine question. What has Priti Patel actually done that make people like you and DavidL loathe her so much? Apart from have a smirking smile?
I get a sense of misogyny, even, dare I say it, racism, but that seems highly unlikely given your origin so what is it?
She’s a moderately robust Home Secretary with an admirable backstory, female Ugandan Asian immigrant family who made it to the Cabinet. Good for her.
However, to me the one notable feature of her tenure is her FAILURE to get a grip on Cross Channel migrants. Hardly the mark of a hideous Nazi, just a mortal politician struggling with a very tricky problem
What has she done that so offends?
I found Theresa May much more offensive, both as HS and PM. “Citizens of Nowhere” was actually fucking hard right shite AND it boxed us into a needlessly hard Brexit
Anyway, I suggest we take the time to draw up a list of all the people in the West who are properly active in the cause of female emancipation in the less developed world, and then we'll see whether there are more "AOC" left liberal woke types on there, or more Conservatives (of either the Brooks Brothers or Red Neck MAGA variety). I wonder what we'll find?
Yes. All good. Neither of whom, I'd wager, spend much time wanking on about the "hypocrisy" of the woke Left. Right wingers who talk endlessly about the Left having the wrong priorities have the wrong priorities.
"They are country boys. The fact is they live by a code of honour and a standard. It's called Pashtunwali. It has honour at the heart of what they do.
They don't like corrupt government or governance that is self-serving and want an Afghanistan that is inclusive for all.
I think they have changed and they recognise Afghanistan has evolved and the fundamental role women have played in that evolution. They say they want to respect women's rights under Islamic law, and that will be Sharia law, but that doesn't necessarily mean they won't allow them to be involved in government, education and medicine."
He's an utter moron. The only honour these people care about is male honour and women bear the brunt of guarding it. They do not care about honouring her or her honour. So they can rape a woman and because this dishonours a man she gets stoned. Or they can order a woman to be raped to pay for the dishonour caused to a man.
This is not honour. It is barbarism. And if the Head of the Army does not understand this he is too deficient in sense to be put in charge of a Swiss army penknife let alone an army.
I thought that was more or less a requirement for being a staff officer in the British Army?
And yet you expect Scots to blindly honour British institutions.
More than 100 guards at the British embassy in Kabul have been told they are not eligible for UK government protection because they were hired through an outsourced contractor, the Guardian has learned.
Most of the 125-strong team of security personnel, employed by the global security firm GardaWorld, have been given informal notice that they no longer have jobs guarding the embassy, several said.
The guards, some of whom had been working for the UK embassy for over a decade, described feeling abandoned by British officials and their employer. Many have been forced into hiding, fearing for their lives.
Meanwhile, more than 100 guards doing the same work for the US embassy, under a separate GardaWorld contract, have been evacuated and others were receiving support from the US embassy, according to a senior Afghan national GardaWorld employee in charge of human resources.
FFS. There is no way we are going to get them all out but we need to do what we can. This is just outrageous.
Priti Patel hasn't stopped cackling since the decision was made, Boris Johnson is probably tupping the secretary, whilst Raab is still on holiday mode to notice.
I am generally a Tory but Christ , their choice of Home Secretaries really tests me. It is the indulgence of that evil, slithering, foul, crap that is found at the bottom of the party. Narrow minded, bigoted, sanctimonious, hypocritical, and those are the redeeming features.
It honestly turns my stomach and I feel guilty that I turn a blind eye to it for the bigger picture.
Careful. If you criticise the current Home Secretary for being useless, bigoted, incompetent etc., you run the risk of being labelled a misogynistic racist. Or is that reserved for her critics from the left?
More than 100 guards at the British embassy in Kabul have been told they are not eligible for UK government protection because they were hired through an outsourced contractor, the Guardian has learned.
Most of the 125-strong team of security personnel, employed by the global security firm GardaWorld, have been given informal notice that they no longer have jobs guarding the embassy, several said.
The guards, some of whom had been working for the UK embassy for over a decade, described feeling abandoned by British officials and their employer. Many have been forced into hiding, fearing for their lives.
Meanwhile, more than 100 guards doing the same work for the US embassy, under a separate GardaWorld contract, have been evacuated and others were receiving support from the US embassy, according to a senior Afghan national GardaWorld employee in charge of human resources.
FFS. There is no way we are going to get them all out but we need to do what we can. This is just outrageous.
Priti Patel hasn't stopped cackling since the decision was made, Boris Johnson is probably tupping the secretary, whilst Raab is still on holiday mode to notice.
I am generally a Tory but Christ , their choice of Home Secretaries really tests me. It is the indulgence of that evil, slithering, foul, crap that is found at the bottom of the party. Narrow minded, bigoted, sanctimonious, hypocritical, and those are the redeeming features.
It honestly turns my stomach and I feel guilty that I turn a blind eye to it for the bigger picture.
I knew this was coming, it was the reason people like David Herdson, Richard Nabavi, and myself quit the party in 2019.
Genuine question. What has Priti Patel actually done that make people like you and DavidL loathe her so much? Apart from have a smirking smile?
I get a sense of misogyny, even, dare I say it, racism, but that seems highly unlikely given your origin so what is it?
She’s a moderately robust Home Secretary with an admirable backstory, female Ugandan Asian immigrant family who made it to the Cabinet. Good for her.
However, to me the one notable feature of her tenure is her FAILURE to get a grip on Cross Channel migrants. Hardly the mark of a hideous Nazi, just a mortal politician struggling with a very tricky problem
What has she done that so offends?
I found Theresa May much more offensive, both as HS and PM. “Citizens of Nowhere” was actually fucking hard right shite AND it boxed us into a needlessly hard Brexit
She is a populist conservative, pro Brexit and non public school and non Oxbridge.
So 3 reasons for liberal, establishment Tories not to be keen
Can you imagine Rory as HS ? Now there would be a government worth voting for.
All the best and ablest Conservatives left the party or were kicked out in 2019.
But now we get Patel, Raab, and Williamson as the cabinet.
Why does Dowden never make the triumvirate of shame?
He's a Cambridge educated solicitor, that means he is the best of the very best.
Nobody solicits if they're the best!
The brightest lawyers tend to be at the commercial Bar but then they tend not be in court as much as their criminal Bar counterparts so the difference between them and the solicitor branch is not as big, much of it meetings and paperwork
Indeed. And TSE's route is very likely to bring great success as he suggests. Not quite so flare of magnesium though.
More than 100 guards at the British embassy in Kabul have been told they are not eligible for UK government protection because they were hired through an outsourced contractor, the Guardian has learned.
Most of the 125-strong team of security personnel, employed by the global security firm GardaWorld, have been given informal notice that they no longer have jobs guarding the embassy, several said.
The guards, some of whom had been working for the UK embassy for over a decade, described feeling abandoned by British officials and their employer. Many have been forced into hiding, fearing for their lives.
Meanwhile, more than 100 guards doing the same work for the US embassy, under a separate GardaWorld contract, have been evacuated and others were receiving support from the US embassy, according to a senior Afghan national GardaWorld employee in charge of human resources.
FFS. There is no way we are going to get them all out but we need to do what we can. This is just outrageous.
Priti Patel hasn't stopped cackling since the decision was made, Boris Johnson is probably tupping the secretary, whilst Raab is still on holiday mode to notice.
I am generally a Tory but Christ , their choice of Home Secretaries really tests me. It is the indulgence of that evil, slithering, foul, crap that is found at the bottom of the party. Narrow minded, bigoted, sanctimonious, hypocritical, and those are the redeeming features.
It honestly turns my stomach and I feel guilty that I turn a blind eye to it for the bigger picture.
I knew this was coming, it was the reason people like David Herdson, Richard Nabavi, and myself quit the party in 2019.
Genuine question. What has Priti Patel actually done that make people like you and DavidL loathe her so much? Apart from have a smirking smile?
I get a sense of misogyny, even, dare I say it, racism, but that seems highly unlikely given your origin so what is it?
She’s a moderately robust Home Secretary with an admirable backstory, female Ugandan Asian immigrant family who made it to the Cabinet. Good for her.
However, to me the one notable feature of her tenure is her FAILURE to get a grip on Cross Channel migrants. Hardly the mark of a hideous Nazi, just a mortal politician struggling with a very tricky problem
What has she done that so offends?
I found Theresa May much more offensive, both as HS and PM. “Citizens of Nowhere” was actually fucking hard right shite AND it boxed us into a needlessly hard Brexit
If the policies Priti Patel has enacted been in place in the time of her parents then her parents wouldn't have been allowed in the UK, it is the hypocrisy.
As for Theresa May, the hard Brexit was what Vote Leave campaigned for, no membership of the single market/customs union, no supremacy of EU law, a mass reduction of EU migration etc.
As I was saying earlier today. The politicians will overrule the JCVI. There's no way they risk another cancellation of Christmas like last year. We have the vaccines, what's the point in not using them.
You’re good at this stuff Max. Why is the JCVI coming out with this weird bollocks?
It seems obviously nonsense to me. We have the jabs, there’s no evidence 3rd jabs will do any harm, and mounting evidence they might be not just beneficial but crucial
Are they on drugs or what?
I do think that there is a moral question here. Should we really be trying to top already high immunity when so much of the world is unvaccinated? Is it even utilitarian, given that these unvaccinated countries will produce dangerous variants? How selfish do we want to be?
We need to avoid a repeat of last year at any cost. We've bought the vaccines, we have ca. 150m due in the next few months. We can do 45m booster jabs and give plenty of vaccines away to the rest of the world.
What's more important than us giving away 100m or 150m doses is investing in building an additional 2-3bn in capacity for 2022. That's what we have been doing over the last year and we need to continue doing that.
More than 100 guards at the British embassy in Kabul have been told they are not eligible for UK government protection because they were hired through an outsourced contractor, the Guardian has learned.
Most of the 125-strong team of security personnel, employed by the global security firm GardaWorld, have been given informal notice that they no longer have jobs guarding the embassy, several said.
The guards, some of whom had been working for the UK embassy for over a decade, described feeling abandoned by British officials and their employer. Many have been forced into hiding, fearing for their lives.
Meanwhile, more than 100 guards doing the same work for the US embassy, under a separate GardaWorld contract, have been evacuated and others were receiving support from the US embassy, according to a senior Afghan national GardaWorld employee in charge of human resources.
FFS. There is no way we are going to get them all out but we need to do what we can. This is just outrageous.
Priti Patel hasn't stopped cackling since the decision was made, Boris Johnson is probably tupping the secretary, whilst Raab is still on holiday mode to notice.
I am generally a Tory but Christ , their choice of Home Secretaries really tests me. It is the indulgence of that evil, slithering, foul, crap that is found at the bottom of the party. Narrow minded, bigoted, sanctimonious, hypocritical, and those are the redeeming features.
It honestly turns my stomach and I feel guilty that I turn a blind eye to it for the bigger picture.
I knew this was coming, it was the reason people like David Herdson, Richard Nabavi, and myself quit the party in 2019.
Genuine question. What has Priti Patel actually done that make people like you and DavidL loathe her so much? Apart from have a smirking smile?
I get a sense of misogyny, even, dare I say it, racism, but that seems highly unlikely given your origin so what is it?
She’s a moderately robust Home Secretary with an admirable backstory, female Ugandan Asian immigrant family who made it to the Cabinet. Good for her.
However, to me the one notable feature of her tenure is her FAILURE to get a grip on Cross Channel migrants. Hardly the mark of a hideous Nazi, just a mortal politician struggling with a very tricky problem
What has she done that so offends?
I found Theresa May much more offensive, both as HS and PM. “Citizens of Nowhere” was actually fucking hard right shite AND it boxed us into a needlessly hard Brexit
She is a populist conservative, pro Brexit and non public school and non Oxbridge.
So 3 reasons for liberal, establishment Tories not to be keen
I suspect you’re right
Snobbery, racism, misogyny and Remoanerism. That’s it
"Nor is it any longer possible for you to give up this empire … Your empire is now like a tyranny: it may have been wrong to take it; it is certainly dangerous to let it go."
My favourite Pericles quote is the one where he basically says if he cocked up it was the peoples' fault for being persuaded by him in the first place*.
"If you were persuaded by me to go to war because you thought I had the qualities necessary for leadership at least moderately more than other men, it is not right that I should now be blamed for doing wrong".
*The book I read this in, by an actual expert, is in fairness more forgiving, probably correctly - 'He was that rare political leader in a democratic state who had told the people the truth, while pursuing disputed and even unpopular polices. [His] constant forthrightness left his angry listeners with no rejoinder, for they could not claim they had been uninformed or deceived'. (Kagan, The Peloponnesian War)
He was a complete shit. Stole from the League to build the Parthenon, utterly abused democracy with his nasty little decree of 431 with the rider that "anyone proposing an amendment of this decree is to be put to death," destroyed Athens by starting and posthumously losing the war with Sparta. And that bellyachingly pompous funeral oration has to be read in light of the fact that "the many, not the few" judicially murdered his eldest son after Arginusae on a "The Sun says: string 'em up" sort of basis. The man was a c--t.
The Pnyx is impressive, tho. Especially the view of the Acropolis. Where Pericles did his thang
The original topography of Athens might just be the most impressive urban topography in the world. Genius. The temples soar above the parliament and both look down at the Agora, where the philosophers speak of ideas which rise above it all
I finally made it to the actual Stoa Poikile yesterday, the painted Stoa, where Zeno spoke and the Stoics got their name. It’s now an Irish pub and a crappy clothes shop looming over some desultory rubble
Yet, still, rather moving
Well that's a couple of things to look out next time I'm in Athens. I made it up the Areopagus but not to the Pnyx, and the Stoa Poikile seemed to be in a fenced-off area of the Ágora over the railway line you couldn't visit. And I didn't have time to visit Eleusis which I believe is a bus ride out of town.
You should, of course, train up and run the Athens marathon - the original route, from Marathon to Athens, ending in the 1896 Olympic Stadium.
Sadly when we visited Athens we didn't have time to make the trip out to Marathon, which I'd loved to have done. To see and pay homage at the soros burial mound, which contains the ashes of the 192 Athenian hoplites who fell at the battle, and to be at the place where the course of human history hung in the balance.
The marathon course goes past the soros so you can pay your respects as you run. Of course, to the ancient Greeks an athletic event was a religious observance. Probably my best marathon run, although not my fastest as it was hot (not too hot, 20 degrees or so) and the middle 20km is uphill.
Anyway, I suggest we take the time to draw up a list of all the people in the West who are properly active in the cause of female emancipation in the less developed world, and then we'll see whether there are more "AOC" left liberal woke types on there, or more Conservatives (of either the Brooks Brothers or Red Neck MAGA variety). I wonder what we'll find?
Yes. All good. Neither of whom, I'd wager, spend much time wanking on about the "hypocrisy" of the woke Left. Right wingers who talk endlessly about the Left having the wrong priorities have the wrong priorities.
Perhaps if the woke left like yourself weren't constant hypocrites then people wouldn't bang on about you being so....leftie politicians still attending meetings where gender segregation is enforced are they. Oh and stop implying that you are a liberal because you aren't you are an authoritarian which is the antithesis
Most sensible people know us being in Afghanistan was an impossible situation, and it seems even less possible to definitively apportion the blame for what has gone on.
I suppose Labour have to act outraged about everything, scoring political points is what they need to do to win power.
Trump’s take on events seems crazy given he wanted troops out earlier. Biden could have scrapped Trump’s plans of he’d wanted to. Blair could have not gone in. Brown, Cameron & May could have taken us out. Hard to see what Boris could have done differently, given we are pegged to the decisions of the US.
My own view is we shouldn’t meddle in these matters anyway. Not Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, anywhere, unless they’re bombing us. Be pacifists. But I suppose it’s not as easy as that either
The world is a battle of ideas. China's way. The West's way. The Theocrats' way. The Globalists' way. The authoritarians' way.
If you believe in something you will argue for it, live by its tenets and back that up with force if necessary.
We may argue for our Western way, but we have not lived by it in recent times , don't intend to in the future and have no stomach for a fight.
Having listened to the Parliametary debate, I heard very
Sigh. Rory is certainly eccentric but is an intellectual giant compared to most else on offer in Parliament. A shame he chose to blow up his career over Brexit, when there was such little point in doing so.
Especially when he recognised the need to deliver so much more than his then boss. If she had listened to him she may well have delivered a softer Brexit and held on to power.
So he’s not an unmixed blessing.
It was always very curious to me that Cameron pissed him away on the back benches and then only belatedly gave him a junior role at Defra.
(Snip)
So the question is: when did other 2010-intake Conservatives get off the backbenches?
Good question.
Looking just at current Cabinet Members (and a few others as I was first looking at the wrong list) of that era (and not including when they became ministers of state, which in fairness is not backbench):
Javid - 2014
Raab - 2018
Patel - 2016
Buckland - 2019 (2014 if you include Solicitor-General)
Barclay - 2018 (and that's two of the 2010 intake so far who first got into Cabinet under May as Brexit secretary, clearly a sign the position was favoured)
Hancock, as was - 2018
Leadsom - 2016
Truss - 2014
Coffey (probably a good sign I'd not remembered her, given she is in Work and Pensions) - 2019
Williamson - 2017
Hart (Wales) - 2019
Sharma, as was - 2019
Eustice - 2020
Lewis (NI)- 2020
Kwarteng -2021
Rees-Mogg not technically Cabinet but attends - 2019
It's quite a young Cabinet, and quite a lot of 2010 intake. And shows even if you get an early junior ministerial post you are looking at 4-5 years before you get into Cabinet at least, and more like 9-10.
Sunak was jumped up to Cabinet in 5 years, first of the 2015 intake I think along with Dowden. Alister Jack got into Cabinet within 2 years, being first of the 2017 intake, but there aren't many SCON MPs to pick from (though it was a decent number for them in 2017)
Reminds also the (brief) talk of Keir becoming Leader of Labour right after he was first election to parliament, which would have been amusing for such a newbie.
More than 100 guards at the British embassy in Kabul have been told they are not eligible for UK government protection because they were hired through an outsourced contractor, the Guardian has learned.
Most of the 125-strong team of security personnel, employed by the global security firm GardaWorld, have been given informal notice that they no longer have jobs guarding the embassy, several said.
The guards, some of whom had been working for the UK embassy for over a decade, described feeling abandoned by British officials and their employer. Many have been forced into hiding, fearing for their lives.
Meanwhile, more than 100 guards doing the same work for the US embassy, under a separate GardaWorld contract, have been evacuated and others were receiving support from the US embassy, according to a senior Afghan national GardaWorld employee in charge of human resources.
FFS. There is no way we are going to get them all out but we need to do what we can. This is just outrageous.
Priti Patel hasn't stopped cackling since the decision was made, Boris Johnson is probably tupping the secretary, whilst Raab is still on holiday mode to notice.
I am generally a Tory but Christ , their choice of Home Secretaries really tests me. It is the indulgence of that evil, slithering, foul, crap that is found at the bottom of the party. Narrow minded, bigoted, sanctimonious, hypocritical, and those are the redeeming features.
It honestly turns my stomach and I feel guilty that I turn a blind eye to it for the bigger picture.
I knew this was coming, it was the reason people like David Herdson, Richard Nabavi, and myself quit the party in 2019.
Genuine question. What has Priti Patel actually done that make people like you and DavidL loathe her so much? Apart from have a smirking smile?
I get a sense of misogyny, even, dare I say it, racism, but that seems highly unlikely given your origin so what is it?
She’s a moderately robust Home Secretary with an admirable backstory, female Ugandan Asian immigrant family who made it to the Cabinet. Good for her.
However, to me the one notable feature of her tenure is her FAILURE to get a grip on Cross Channel migrants. Hardly the mark of a hideous Nazi, just a mortal politician struggling with a very tricky problem
What has she done that so offends?
I found Theresa May much more offensive, both as HS and PM. “Citizens of Nowhere” was actually fucking hard right shite AND it boxed us into a needlessly hard Brexit
She is a populist conservative, pro Brexit and non public school and non Oxbridge.
So 3 reasons for liberal, establishment Tories not to be keen
I suspect you’re right
Snobbery, racism, misogyny and Remoanerism. That’s it
Fuck them. Go Priti
If and when the Tories lose a general election Patel would be a strong contender for Leader of the Opposition. The membership quite like her even if many of her colleagues on the green benches and the establishment don't.
Not sure she would actually be able to win a general election though
"They are country boys. The fact is they live by a code of honour and a standard. It's called Pashtunwali. It has honour at the heart of what they do.
They don't like corrupt government or governance that is self-serving and want an Afghanistan that is inclusive for all.
I think they have changed and they recognise Afghanistan has evolved and the fundamental role women have played in that evolution. They say they want to respect women's rights under Islamic law, and that will be Sharia law, but that doesn't necessarily mean they won't allow them to be involved in government, education and medicine."
He's an utter moron. The only honour these people care about is male honour and women bear the brunt of guarding it. They do not care about honouring her or her honour. So they can rape a woman and because this dishonours a man she gets stoned. Or they can order a woman to be raped to pay for the dishonour caused to a man.
This is not honour. It is barbarism. And if the Head of the Army does not understand this he is too deficient in sense to be put in charge of a Swiss army penknife let alone an army.
Out of interest how many taliban and Afghans have you had to meet with, fight against, negotiate with? How many people have you had to write to to tell them their son or daughter has been killed by the taliban whilst under your command? As head of the army I don’t think he’s been able to get there by being a moron. Maybe by being an intelligent soldier who doesn’t just say “Taliban bad, kill” but maybe considers the situation from personal contacts, experience and speaking to his commanders and soldiers on the ground. And maybe, just maybe, the head of the British armed forces, whilst they are trying to keep the taliban at bay to get people out of Afghanistan is better to be seen to be offering an olive branch rather than just shouting that all taliban are Rapey bastards?
His view is probably more nuanced in reality that there is a patchwork of afghans who comprise the taliban and so doesn’t lump them all together - I’m assuming you think all Germans are barbaric because some did heinous acts in world war 2 or maybe by being a little even handed at the end of the war we ended up with a better Germany.
But I’m sure you are the fount of all knowledge re Afghanistan on top of naughty city workers and Cumbrian restaurants and should maybe pop over and show him how to use a Swiss Army knife quick......
More than 100 guards at the British embassy in Kabul have been told they are not eligible for UK government protection because they were hired through an outsourced contractor, the Guardian has learned.
Most of the 125-strong team of security personnel, employed by the global security firm GardaWorld, have been given informal notice that they no longer have jobs guarding the embassy, several said.
The guards, some of whom had been working for the UK embassy for over a decade, described feeling abandoned by British officials and their employer. Many have been forced into hiding, fearing for their lives.
Meanwhile, more than 100 guards doing the same work for the US embassy, under a separate GardaWorld contract, have been evacuated and others were receiving support from the US embassy, according to a senior Afghan national GardaWorld employee in charge of human resources.
FFS. There is no way we are going to get them all out but we need to do what we can. This is just outrageous.
Priti Patel hasn't stopped cackling since the decision was made, Boris Johnson is probably tupping the secretary, whilst Raab is still on holiday mode to notice.
I am generally a Tory but Christ , their choice of Home Secretaries really tests me. It is the indulgence of that evil, slithering, foul, crap that is found at the bottom of the party. Narrow minded, bigoted, sanctimonious, hypocritical, and those are the redeeming features.
It honestly turns my stomach and I feel guilty that I turn a blind eye to it for the bigger picture.
I knew this was coming, it was the reason people like David Herdson, Richard Nabavi, and myself quit the party in 2019.
Genuine question. What has Priti Patel actually done that make people like you and DavidL loathe her so much? Apart from have a smirking smile?
I get a sense of misogyny, even, dare I say it, racism, but that seems highly unlikely given your origin so what is it?
She’s a moderately robust Home Secretary with an admirable backstory, female Ugandan Asian immigrant family who made it to the Cabinet. Good for her.
However, to me the one notable feature of her tenure is her FAILURE to get a grip on Cross Channel migrants. Hardly the mark of a hideous Nazi, just a mortal politician struggling with a very tricky problem
What has she done that so offends?
I found Theresa May much more offensive, both as HS and PM. “Citizens of Nowhere” was actually fucking hard right shite AND it boxed us into a needlessly hard Brexit
I would agree that May was worse. But Patel indulges and encourages the tendencies I despise.
British values are truly great. They are built on fairness, kindness, generosity and pragmatism. I see none of that in the current Home Office. I see an organisation that tries to use a bureaucratic, failing system to generate additional unfairness rather than do the right thing because it is politically expedient to do so. Ugh.
Can you imagine Rory as HS ? Now there would be a government worth voting for.
All the best and ablest Conservatives left the party or were kicked out in 2019.
But now we get Patel, Raab, and Williamson as the cabinet.
'The best and ablest' Conservatives I suppose now LDs like you then TSE?
For the last time, I'm not a Lib Dem, I'm not voting for them in the future.
Why not? I often find I have a lot in common with people like you, Richard N, David H and David L and even when I disagree I find the arguments put forward by you all very sound. Of course I could be wrong and I don't agree with all LD stuff, but I am much closer to them than anyone else and you lot clearly aren't keen on the current Tories. I also have a lot in common with the Tories that got thrown out or left in 2019.
Wera Hobhouse is the reason.
As mobile operators step up efforts to roll out 5G networks, they face resistance from local groups convinced that the new technology poses a threat to health. In the city of Bath, in Somerset, one such group is celebrating a victory after the local council refused permission for a 5G mast - with the backing of the local MP.
It's a decision which has sparked dismay not just from the mobile industry but from the minister who has been urging councils to smooth the way for the rollout. Digital Minister Matt Warman said that while he could not comment on a particular planning case, "there is no credible scientific basis that 5G has an adverse impact on people's health".
The minister said the government wanted people across the country to get fast and reliable connectivity as soon as possible, and said it would do "all we can to avoid delays to that programme".
But Bath's Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse was among those calling on the council to listen to concerns about health.
Enabling 5G conspiracy theorists is just like enabling antivaxxers, that Hobhouse is the Lib Dem Justice Spokesman is the reason I cannot vote Lib Dem.
What on earth has happened to the LDs?
I distrusted them for their lack of policy coherence (a side effect of voting for the manifesto), the dodgy bar graphs, and the tendency to have contradictory leaflets in the north and south of my City. But this was largely their campaigning style - their poltiics were rooted in rationality (whatever you thought of the axioms from which they argued).
I now have they impression (fairly or unfairly) that they have veered towards the honey nut loops.
Anyway, I suggest we take the time to draw up a list of all the people in the West who are properly active in the cause of female emancipation in the less developed world...
While we're on definitions, does being "properly active" in spreading Western values to the less developed world make you an imperialist or a missionary?
Can you imagine Rory as HS ? Now there would be a government worth voting for.
All the best and ablest Conservatives left the party or were kicked out in 2019.
But now we get Patel, Raab, and Williamson as the cabinet.
'The best and ablest' Conservatives I suppose now LDs like you then TSE?
For the last time, I'm not a Lib Dem, I'm not voting for them in the future.
Why not? I often find I have a lot in common with people like you, Richard N, David H and David L and even when I disagree I find the arguments put forward by you all very sound. Of course I could be wrong and I don't agree with all LD stuff, but I am much closer to them than anyone else and you lot clearly aren't keen on the current Tories. I also have a lot in common with the Tories that got thrown out or left in 2019.
Wera Hobhouse is the reason.
As mobile operators step up efforts to roll out 5G networks, they face resistance from local groups convinced that the new technology poses a threat to health. In the city of Bath, in Somerset, one such group is celebrating a victory after the local council refused permission for a 5G mast - with the backing of the local MP.
It's a decision which has sparked dismay not just from the mobile industry but from the minister who has been urging councils to smooth the way for the rollout. Digital Minister Matt Warman said that while he could not comment on a particular planning case, "there is no credible scientific basis that 5G has an adverse impact on people's health".
The minister said the government wanted people across the country to get fast and reliable connectivity as soon as possible, and said it would do "all we can to avoid delays to that programme".
But Bath's Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse was among those calling on the council to listen to concerns about health.
Enabling 5G conspiracy theorists is just like enabling antivaxxers, that Hobhouse is the Lib Dem Justice Spokesman is the reason I cannot vote Lib Dem.
Can't argue with that. Excluding that, then what do you think?
Anyone commenting on Scotland's positive case numbers? Do they presage numbers in England doubling in a couple of week's time?
Based on our experience, it's a result of people doing the compulsory testing after coming back from holidays abroad in time for school to start. If so, it would probably happen in England in a couple of weeks, yes.
Can you imagine Rory as HS ? Now there would be a government worth voting for.
All the best and ablest Conservatives left the party or were kicked out in 2019.
But now we get Patel, Raab, and Williamson as the cabinet.
'The best and ablest' Conservatives I suppose now LDs like you then TSE?
For the last time, I'm not a Lib Dem, I'm not voting for them in the future.
Why not? I often find I have a lot in common with people like you, Richard N, David H and David L and even when I disagree I find the arguments put forward by you all very sound. Of course I could be wrong and I don't agree with all LD stuff, but I am much closer to them than anyone else and you lot clearly aren't keen on the current Tories. I also have a lot in common with the Tories that got thrown out or left in 2019.
Wera Hobhouse is the reason.
As mobile operators step up efforts to roll out 5G networks, they face resistance from local groups convinced that the new technology poses a threat to health. In the city of Bath, in Somerset, one such group is celebrating a victory after the local council refused permission for a 5G mast - with the backing of the local MP.
It's a decision which has sparked dismay not just from the mobile industry but from the minister who has been urging councils to smooth the way for the rollout. Digital Minister Matt Warman said that while he could not comment on a particular planning case, "there is no credible scientific basis that 5G has an adverse impact on people's health".
The minister said the government wanted people across the country to get fast and reliable connectivity as soon as possible, and said it would do "all we can to avoid delays to that programme".
But Bath's Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse was among those calling on the council to listen to concerns about health.
Enabling 5G conspiracy theorists is just like enabling antivaxxers, that Hobhouse is the Lib Dem Justice Spokesman is the reason I cannot vote Lib Dem.
The defenders sought to downplay it as the reason sought for refusal was not 5G, as I recall, but that's because it cannot be. Everyone who has been involved in planning knows people and groups will object for one reason and then, naturally, try to find a legitimate reason for refusal, and given the resistance and her comments the real reason for objecting was clear.
Most sensible people know us being in Afghanistan was an impossible situation, and it seems even less possible to definitively apportion the blame for what has gone on.
I suppose Labour have to act outraged about everything, scoring political points is what they need to do to win power.
Trump’s take on events seems crazy given he wanted troops out earlier. Biden could have scrapped Trump’s plans of he’d wanted to. Blair could have not gone in. Brown, Cameron & May could have taken us out. Hard to see what Boris could have done differently, given we are pegged to the decisions of the US.
My own view is we shouldn’t meddle in these matters anyway. Not Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, anywhere, unless they’re bombing us. Be pacifists. But I suppose it’s not as easy as that either
The world is a battle of ideas. China's way. The West's way. The Theocrats' way. The Globalists' way. The authoritarians' way.
If you believe in something you will argue for it, live by its tenets and back that up with force if necessary.
We may argue for our Western way, but we have not lived by it in recent times , don't intend to in the future and have no stomach for a fight.
Having listened to the Parliametary debate, I heard very
Sigh. Rory is certainly eccentric but is an intellectual giant compared to most else on offer in Parliament. A shame he chose to blow up his career over Brexit, when there was such little point in doing so.
Especially when he recognised the need to deliver so much more than his then boss. If she had listened to him she may well have delivered a softer Brexit and held on to power.
So he’s not an unmixed blessing.
It was always very curious to me that Cameron pissed him away on the back benches and then only belatedly gave him a junior role at Defra.
(Snip)
So the question is: when did other 2010-intake Conservatives get off the backbenches?
Good question.
Looking just at current Cabinet Members (and a few others as I was first looking at the wrong list) of that era (and not including when they became ministers of state, which in fairness is not backbench):
Javid - 2014
Raab - 2018
Patel - 2016
Buckland - 2019 (2014 if you include Solicitor-General)
Barclay - 2018 (and that's two of the 2010 intake so far who first got into Cabinet under May as Brexit secretary, clearly a sign the position was favoured)
Hancock, as was - 2018
Leadsom - 2016
Truss - 2014
Coffey (probably a good sign I'd not remembered her, given she is in Work and Pensions) - 2019
Williamson - 2017
Hart (Wales) - 2019
Sharma, as was - 2019
Eustice - 2020
Lewis (NI)- 2020
Kwarteng -2021
Rees-Mogg not technically Cabinet but attends - 2019
It's quite a young Cabinet, and quite a lot of 2010 intake. And shows even if you get an early junior ministerial post you are looking at 4-5 years before you get into Cabinet at least, and more like 9-10.
Sunak was jumped up to Cabinet in 5 years, first of the 2015 intake I think along with Dowden. Alister Jack got into Cabinet within 2 years, being first of the 2017 intake, but there aren't many SCON MPs to pick from (though it was a decent number for them in 2017)
Reminds also the (brief) talk of Keir becoming Leader of Labour right after he was first election to parliament, which would have been amusing for such a newbie.
It always amused me that in the 2010 parliament that the Tories were led by David Cameron who had became leader four and a half years after becoming an MP.
Labour were led by Ed Miliband who had become leader five years after becoming an MP, whilst the Lib Dems were led by Clegg who became leader two and a half years after becoming an MP.
"They are country boys. The fact is they live by a code of honour and a standard. It's called Pashtunwali. It has honour at the heart of what they do.
They don't like corrupt government or governance that is self-serving and want an Afghanistan that is inclusive for all.
I think they have changed and they recognise Afghanistan has evolved and the fundamental role women have played in that evolution. They say they want to respect women's rights under Islamic law, and that will be Sharia law, but that doesn't necessarily mean they won't allow them to be involved in government, education and medicine."
He's an utter moron. The only honour these people care about is male honour and women bear the brunt of guarding it. They do not care about honouring her or her honour. So they can rape a woman and because this dishonours a man she gets stoned. Or they can order a woman to be raped to pay for the dishonour caused to a man.
This is not honour. It is barbarism. And if the Head of the Army does not understand this he is too deficient in sense to be put in charge of a Swiss army penknife let alone an army.
I thought that was more or less a requirement for being a staff officer in the British Army?
And yet you expect Scots to blindly honour British institutions.
If the Indy Scots are able to eliminate idiot duffers rising to senior positions then they should be running the world, never mind their own affairs.
"They are country boys. The fact is they live by a code of honour and a standard. It's called Pashtunwali. It has honour at the heart of what they do.
They don't like corrupt government or governance that is self-serving and want an Afghanistan that is inclusive for all.
I think they have changed and they recognise Afghanistan has evolved and the fundamental role women have played in that evolution. They say they want to respect women's rights under Islamic law, and that will be Sharia law, but that doesn't necessarily mean they won't allow them to be involved in government, education and medicine."
He's an utter moron. The only honour these people care about is male honour and women bear the brunt of guarding it. They do not care about honouring her or her honour. So they can rape a woman and because this dishonours a man she gets stoned. Or they can order a woman to be raped to pay for the dishonour caused to a man.
This is not honour. It is barbarism. And if the Head of the Army does not understand this he is too deficient in sense to be put in charge of a Swiss army penknife let alone an army.
"Women are a part of society and will be granted all their rights within the limits of Islam."
This says a lot, doesn't it, and what it says (to us) is rather the opposite of what they think it's saying.
Anyway, I suggest we take the time to draw up a list of all the people in the West who are properly active in the cause of female emancipation in the less developed world, and then we'll see whether there are more "AOC" left liberal woke types on there, or more Conservatives (of either the Brooks Brothers or Red Neck MAGA variety). I wonder what we'll find?
Yes. All good. Neither of whom, I'd wager, spend much time wanking on about the "hypocrisy" of the woke Left. Right wingers who talk endlessly about the Left having the wrong priorities have the wrong priorities.
Perhaps if the woke left like yourself weren't constant hypocrites then people wouldn't bang on about you being so....leftie politicians still attending meetings where gender segregation is enforced are they. Oh and stop implying that you are a liberal because you aren't you are an authoritarian which is the antithesis
I'm not a hypocrite. Or certainly no more than the human norm.
While we're on the subject of left-wing hypocrisy, have we covered why they're so keen to take away women's and LGBT rights from Palestinian Arabs in East Jerusalem, and force them to live under an Islamic state that will be only somewhat less oppressive than the Taliban?
Can you imagine Rory as HS ? Now there would be a government worth voting for.
All the best and ablest Conservatives left the party or were kicked out in 2019.
But now we get Patel, Raab, and Williamson as the cabinet.
'The best and ablest' Conservatives I suppose now LDs like you then TSE?
For the last time, I'm not a Lib Dem, I'm not voting for them in the future.
Why not? I often find I have a lot in common with people like you, Richard N, David H and David L and even when I disagree I find the arguments put forward by you all very sound. Of course I could be wrong and I don't agree with all LD stuff, but I am much closer to them than anyone else and you lot clearly aren't keen on the current Tories. I also have a lot in common with the Tories that got thrown out or left in 2019.
Wera Hobhouse is the reason.
As mobile operators step up efforts to roll out 5G networks, they face resistance from local groups convinced that the new technology poses a threat to health. In the city of Bath, in Somerset, one such group is celebrating a victory after the local council refused permission for a 5G mast - with the backing of the local MP.
It's a decision which has sparked dismay not just from the mobile industry but from the minister who has been urging councils to smooth the way for the rollout. Digital Minister Matt Warman said that while he could not comment on a particular planning case, "there is no credible scientific basis that 5G has an adverse impact on people's health".
The minister said the government wanted people across the country to get fast and reliable connectivity as soon as possible, and said it would do "all we can to avoid delays to that programme".
But Bath's Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse was among those calling on the council to listen to concerns about health.
Enabling 5G conspiracy theorists is just like enabling antivaxxers, that Hobhouse is the Lib Dem Justice Spokesman is the reason I cannot vote Lib Dem.
Can't argue with that. Excluding that, then what do you think?
I do like what Sir Ed Davey has been saying on a few things like lockdown restrictions and Afghanistan but ultimately I am, always have been and always shall be, a fiscal conservative/Thatcherite free marketeer. I am going to be politically homeless for a while.
"They are country boys. The fact is they live by a code of honour and a standard. It's called Pashtunwali. It has honour at the heart of what they do.
They don't like corrupt government or governance that is self-serving and want an Afghanistan that is inclusive for all.
I think they have changed and they recognise Afghanistan has evolved and the fundamental role women have played in that evolution. They say they want to respect women's rights under Islamic law, and that will be Sharia law, but that doesn't necessarily mean they won't allow them to be involved in government, education and medicine."
He's an utter moron. The only honour these people care about is male honour and women bear the brunt of guarding it. They do not care about honouring her or her honour. So they can rape a woman and because this dishonours a man she gets stoned. Or they can order a woman to be raped to pay for the dishonour caused to a man.
This is not honour. It is barbarism. And if the Head of the Army does not understand this he is too deficient in sense to be put in charge of a Swiss army penknife let alone an army.
Out of interest how many taliban and Afghans have you had to meet with, fight against, negotiate with? How many people have you had to write to to tell them their son or daughter has been killed by the taliban whilst under your command? As head of the army I don’t think he’s been able to get there by being a moron. Maybe by being an intelligent soldier who doesn’t just say “Taliban bad, kill” but maybe considers the situation from personal contacts, experience and speaking to his commanders and soldiers on the ground. And maybe, just maybe, the head of the British armed forces, whilst they are trying to keep the taliban at bay to get people out of Afghanistan is better to be seen to be offering an olive branch rather than just shouting that all taliban are Rapey bastards?
His view is probably more nuanced in reality that there is a patchwork of afghans who comprise the taliban and so doesn’t lump them all together - I’m assuming you think all Germans are barbaric because some did heinous acts in world war 2 or maybe by being a little even handed at the end of the war we ended up with a better Germany.
But I’m sure you are the fount of all knowledge re Afghanistan on top of naughty city workers and Cumbrian restaurants and should maybe pop over and show him how to use a Swiss Army knife quick......
I'm sure there is a complex, multi layered and nuanced situation on the ground in Afghanistan. But in reference to the Taliban as a group, and the policies that group may intend to enact, perhaps the focus should be on their actions, past and present, and not an idealised portrait where he quotes their PR man without apparent caution. Recognising that they are made of human beings and so are not all uncomplicated blobs of evil is not the same as coming across as an apologist, and if that was not his aim this intelligent soldier could have done a better job communicating that.
Can you imagine Rory as HS ? Now there would be a government worth voting for.
All the best and ablest Conservatives left the party or were kicked out in 2019.
But now we get Patel, Raab, and Williamson as the cabinet.
'The best and ablest' Conservatives I suppose now LDs like you then TSE?
For the last time, I'm not a Lib Dem, I'm not voting for them in the future.
Why not? I often find I have a lot in common with people like you, Richard N, David H and David L and even when I disagree I find the arguments put forward by you all very sound. Of course I could be wrong and I don't agree with all LD stuff, but I am much closer to them than anyone else and you lot clearly aren't keen on the current Tories. I also have a lot in common with the Tories that got thrown out or left in 2019.
Wera Hobhouse is the reason.
As mobile operators step up efforts to roll out 5G networks, they face resistance from local groups convinced that the new technology poses a threat to health. In the city of Bath, in Somerset, one such group is celebrating a victory after the local council refused permission for a 5G mast - with the backing of the local MP.
It's a decision which has sparked dismay not just from the mobile industry but from the minister who has been urging councils to smooth the way for the rollout. Digital Minister Matt Warman said that while he could not comment on a particular planning case, "there is no credible scientific basis that 5G has an adverse impact on people's health".
The minister said the government wanted people across the country to get fast and reliable connectivity as soon as possible, and said it would do "all we can to avoid delays to that programme".
But Bath's Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse was among those calling on the council to listen to concerns about health.
Enabling 5G conspiracy theorists is just like enabling antivaxxers, that Hobhouse is the Lib Dem Justice Spokesman is the reason I cannot vote Lib Dem.
Can't argue with that. Excluding that, then what do you think?
For me, whenever I think te Lib Dems are worth a look, it's normally Layla Moran who pops up and says something moronic. But I agree Wera Hobhouse is also a suitable reason to avoid them. That's 2/9ths of the parliamentary party. But I expect there are some stout brains among the other 7.
More than 100 guards at the British embassy in Kabul have been told they are not eligible for UK government protection because they were hired through an outsourced contractor, the Guardian has learned.
Most of the 125-strong team of security personnel, employed by the global security firm GardaWorld, have been given informal notice that they no longer have jobs guarding the embassy, several said.
The guards, some of whom had been working for the UK embassy for over a decade, described feeling abandoned by British officials and their employer. Many have been forced into hiding, fearing for their lives.
Meanwhile, more than 100 guards doing the same work for the US embassy, under a separate GardaWorld contract, have been evacuated and others were receiving support from the US embassy, according to a senior Afghan national GardaWorld employee in charge of human resources.
FFS. There is no way we are going to get them all out but we need to do what we can. This is just outrageous.
Priti Patel hasn't stopped cackling since the decision was made, Boris Johnson is probably tupping the secretary, whilst Raab is still on holiday mode to notice.
I am generally a Tory but Christ , their choice of Home Secretaries really tests me. It is the indulgence of that evil, slithering, foul, crap that is found at the bottom of the party. Narrow minded, bigoted, sanctimonious, hypocritical, and those are the redeeming features.
It honestly turns my stomach and I feel guilty that I turn a blind eye to it for the bigger picture.
I knew this was coming, it was the reason people like David Herdson, Richard Nabavi, and myself quit the party in 2019.
Genuine question. What has Priti Patel actually done that make people like you and DavidL loathe her so much? Apart from have a smirking smile?
I get a sense of misogyny, even, dare I say it, racism, but that seems highly unlikely given your origin so what is it?
She’s a moderately robust Home Secretary with an admirable backstory, female Ugandan Asian immigrant family who made it to the Cabinet. Good for her.
However, to me the one notable feature of her tenure is her FAILURE to get a grip on Cross Channel migrants. Hardly the mark of a hideous Nazi, just a mortal politician struggling with a very tricky problem
What has she done that so offends?
I found Theresa May much more offensive, both as HS and PM. “Citizens of Nowhere” was actually fucking hard right shite AND it boxed us into a needlessly hard Brexit
She is a populist conservative, pro Brexit and non public school and non Oxbridge.
So 3 reasons for liberal, establishment Tories not to be keen
I suspect you’re right
Snobbery, racism, misogyny and Remoanerism. That’s it
Fuck them. Go Priti
If and when the Tories lose a general election Patel would be a strong contender for Leader of the Opposition. The membership quite like her even if many of her colleagues on the green benches and the establishment don't.
Not sure she would actually be able to win a general election though
Remind me of her rating and place on Conhome 's last survey
Looking at the list of the current Cabinet I think there may not be anyone who has carried over from May in the same post, other than the Lords Leader. For some reason that surprises me - obviously it was a big change, and a few I think were there under May and have served since then, but I figured at least one would have remained in the same post.
More than 100 guards at the British embassy in Kabul have been told they are not eligible for UK government protection because they were hired through an outsourced contractor, the Guardian has learned.
Most of the 125-strong team of security personnel, employed by the global security firm GardaWorld, have been given informal notice that they no longer have jobs guarding the embassy, several said.
The guards, some of whom had been working for the UK embassy for over a decade, described feeling abandoned by British officials and their employer. Many have been forced into hiding, fearing for their lives.
Meanwhile, more than 100 guards doing the same work for the US embassy, under a separate GardaWorld contract, have been evacuated and others were receiving support from the US embassy, according to a senior Afghan national GardaWorld employee in charge of human resources.
FFS. There is no way we are going to get them all out but we need to do what we can. This is just outrageous.
Priti Patel hasn't stopped cackling since the decision was made, Boris Johnson is probably tupping the secretary, whilst Raab is still on holiday mode to notice.
I am generally a Tory but Christ , their choice of Home Secretaries really tests me. It is the indulgence of that evil, slithering, foul, crap that is found at the bottom of the party. Narrow minded, bigoted, sanctimonious, hypocritical, and those are the redeeming features.
It honestly turns my stomach and I feel guilty that I turn a blind eye to it for the bigger picture.
I knew this was coming, it was the reason people like David Herdson, Richard Nabavi, and myself quit the party in 2019.
Genuine question. What has Priti Patel actually done that make people like you and DavidL loathe her so much? Apart from have a smirking smile?
I get a sense of misogyny, even, dare I say it, racism, but that seems highly unlikely given your origin so what is it?
She’s a moderately robust Home Secretary with an admirable backstory, female Ugandan Asian immigrant family who made it to the Cabinet. Good for her.
However, to me the one notable feature of her tenure is her FAILURE to get a grip on Cross Channel migrants. Hardly the mark of a hideous Nazi, just a mortal politician struggling with a very tricky problem
What has she done that so offends?
I found Theresa May much more offensive, both as HS and PM. “Citizens of Nowhere” was actually fucking hard right shite AND it boxed us into a needlessly hard Brexit
She is a populist conservative, pro Brexit and non public school and non Oxbridge.
So 3 reasons for liberal, establishment Tories not to be keen
I suspect you’re right
Snobbery, racism, misogyny and Remoanerism. That’s it
Fuck them. Go Priti
If and when the Tories lose a general election Patel would be a strong contender for Leader of the Opposition. The membership quite like her even if many of her colleagues on the green benches and the establishment don't.
Not sure she would actually be able to win a general election though
Remind me of her rating and place on Conhome 's last survey
She had a +26% rating on the last one.
The Tories normally go to the right when they go into Opposition, Thatcher, Hague for example and Labour normally go left, Foot and Ed Miliband for instance.
As a rightwing former Home Secretary she would certainly be a contender, but only as Leader of the Opposition after a general election loss. Sunak would almost certainly be next PM if Boris goes before the next general election or steps down having been re elected
Most sensible people know us being in Afghanistan was an impossible situation, and it seems even less possible to definitively apportion the blame for what has gone on.
I suppose Labour have to act outraged about everything, scoring political points is what they need to do to win power.
Trump’s take on events seems crazy given he wanted troops out earlier. Biden could have scrapped Trump’s plans of he’d wanted to. Blair could have not gone in. Brown, Cameron & May could have taken us out. Hard to see what Boris could have done differently, given we are pegged to the decisions of the US.
My own view is we shouldn’t meddle in these matters anyway. Not Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, anywhere, unless they’re bombing us. Be pacifists. But I suppose it’s not as easy as that either
The world is a battle of ideas. China's way. The West's way. The Theocrats' way. The Globalists' way. The authoritarians' way.
If you believe in something you will argue for it, live by its tenets and back that up with force if necessary.
We may argue for our Western way, but we have not lived by it in recent times , don't intend to in the future and have no stomach for a fight.
Having listened to the Parliametary debate, I heard very
Sigh. Rory is certainly eccentric but is an intellectual giant compared to most else on offer in Parliament. A shame he chose to blow up his career over Brexit, when there was such little point in doing so.
Especially when he recognised the need to deliver so much more than his then boss. If she had listened to him she may well have delivered a softer Brexit and held on to power.
So he’s not an unmixed blessing.
It was always very curious to me that Cameron pissed him away on the back benches and then only belatedly gave him a junior role at Defra.
(Snip)
So the question is: when did other 2010-intake Conservatives get off the backbenches?
Good question.
Looking just at current Cabinet Members (and a few others as I was first looking at the wrong list) of that era (and not including when they became ministers of state, which in fairness is not backbench):
Javid - 2014
Raab - 2018
Patel - 2016
Buckland - 2019 (2014 if you include Solicitor-General)
Barclay - 2018 (and that's two of the 2010 intake so far who first got into Cabinet under May as Brexit secretary, clearly a sign the position was favoured)
Hancock, as was - 2018
Leadsom - 2016
Truss - 2014
Coffey (probably a good sign I'd not remembered her, given she is in Work and Pensions) - 2019
Williamson - 2017
Hart (Wales) - 2019
Sharma, as was - 2019
Eustice - 2020
Lewis (NI)- 2020
Kwarteng -2021
Rees-Mogg not technically Cabinet but attends - 2019
It's quite a young Cabinet, and quite a lot of 2010 intake. And shows even if you get an early junior ministerial post you are looking at 4-5 years before you get into Cabinet at least, and more like 9-10.
Sunak was jumped up to Cabinet in 5 years, first of the 2015 intake I think along with Dowden. Alister Jack got into Cabinet within 2 years, being first of the 2017 intake, but there aren't many SCON MPs to pick from (though it was a decent number for them in 2017)
Reminds also the (brief) talk of Keir becoming Leader of Labour right after he was first election to parliament, which would have been amusing for such a newbie.
While we're on the subject of left-wing hypocrisy, have we covered why they're so keen to take away women's and LGBT rights from Palestinian Arabs in East Jerusalem, and force them to live under an Islamic state that will be only somewhat less oppressive than the Taliban?
How about women's and LGBT rights in Britain's friend and ally, Saudi Arabia?
"They are country boys. The fact is they live by a code of honour and a standard. It's called Pashtunwali. It has honour at the heart of what they do.
They don't like corrupt government or governance that is self-serving and want an Afghanistan that is inclusive for all.
I think they have changed and they recognise Afghanistan has evolved and the fundamental role women have played in that evolution. They say they want to respect women's rights under Islamic law, and that will be Sharia law, but that doesn't necessarily mean they won't allow them to be involved in government, education and medicine."
He's an utter moron. The only honour these people care about is male honour and women bear the brunt of guarding it. They do not care about honouring her or her honour. So they can rape a woman and because this dishonours a man she gets stoned. Or they can order a woman to be raped to pay for the dishonour caused to a man.
This is not honour. It is barbarism. And if the Head of the Army does not understand this he is too deficient in sense to be put in charge of a Swiss army penknife let alone an army.
Out of interest how many taliban and Afghans have you had to meet with, fight against, negotiate with? How many people have you had to write to to tell them their son or daughter has been killed by the taliban whilst under your command? As head of the army I don’t think he’s been able to get there by being a moron. Maybe by being an intelligent soldier who doesn’t just say “Taliban bad, kill” but maybe considers the situation from personal contacts, experience and speaking to his commanders and soldiers on the ground. And maybe, just maybe, the head of the British armed forces, whilst they are trying to keep the taliban at bay to get people out of Afghanistan is better to be seen to be offering an olive branch rather than just shouting that all taliban are Rapey bastards?
His view is probably more nuanced in reality that there is a patchwork of afghans who comprise the taliban and so doesn’t lump them all together - I’m assuming you think all Germans are barbaric because some did heinous acts in world war 2 or maybe by being a little even handed at the end of the war we ended up with a better Germany.
But I’m sure you are the fount of all knowledge re Afghanistan on top of naughty city workers and Cumbrian restaurants and should maybe pop over and show him how to use a Swiss Army knife quick......
They’re fucking fascists. That’s it. The Taliban espouse an evil, murderous ideology, and we know this because WE HAVE SEEN IT IN ACTION
Sometimes there is no room nor need for nuance. This is one such case
And yes, all the Nazis in the Second World War were evil, because they were Nazis. I’m sure some had a conscience, but given the opportunity it was better to kill them - without thinking too hard
Most sensible people know us being in Afghanistan was an impossible situation, and it seems even less possible to definitively apportion the blame for what has gone on.
I suppose Labour have to act outraged about everything, scoring political points is what they need to do to win power.
Trump’s take on events seems crazy given he wanted troops out earlier. Biden could have scrapped Trump’s plans of he’d wanted to. Blair could have not gone in. Brown, Cameron & May could have taken us out. Hard to see what Boris could have done differently, given we are pegged to the decisions of the US.
My own view is we shouldn’t meddle in these matters anyway. Not Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, anywhere, unless they’re bombing us. Be pacifists. But I suppose it’s not as easy as that either
The world is a battle of ideas. China's way. The West's way. The Theocrats' way. The Globalists' way. The authoritarians' way.
If you believe in something you will argue for it, live by its tenets and back that up with force if necessary.
We may argue for our Western way, but we have not lived by it in recent times , don't intend to in the future and have no stomach for a fight.
Having listened to the Parliametary debate, I heard very
Sigh. Rory is certainly eccentric but is an intellectual giant compared to most else on offer in Parliament. A shame he chose to blow up his career over Brexit, when there was such little point in doing so.
Especially when he recognised the need to deliver so much more than his then boss. If she had listened to him she may well have delivered a softer Brexit and held on to power.
So he’s not an unmixed blessing.
It was always very curious to me that Cameron pissed him away on the back benches and then only belatedly gave him a junior role at Defra.
(Snip)
So the question is: when did other 2010-intake Conservatives get off the backbenches?
Good question.
Looking just at current Cabinet Members (and a few others as I was first looking at the wrong list) of that era (and not including when they became ministers of state, which in fairness is not backbench):
Javid - 2014
Raab - 2018
Patel - 2016
Buckland - 2019 (2014 if you include Solicitor-General)
Barclay - 2018 (and that's two of the 2010 intake so far who first got into Cabinet under May as Brexit secretary, clearly a sign the position was favoured)
Hancock, as was - 2018
Leadsom - 2016
Truss - 2014
Coffey (probably a good sign I'd not remembered her, given she is in Work and Pensions) - 2019
Williamson - 2017
Hart (Wales) - 2019
Sharma, as was - 2019
Eustice - 2020
Lewis (NI)- 2020
Kwarteng -2021
Rees-Mogg not technically Cabinet but attends - 2019
It's quite a young Cabinet, and quite a lot of 2010 intake. And shows even if you get an early junior ministerial post you are looking at 4-5 years before you get into Cabinet at least, and more like 9-10.
Sunak was jumped up to Cabinet in 5 years, first of the 2015 intake I think along with Dowden. Alister Jack got into Cabinet within 2 years, being first of the 2017 intake, but there aren't many SCON MPs to pick from (though it was a decent number for them in 2017)
Reminds also the (brief) talk of Keir becoming Leader of Labour right after he was first election to parliament, which would have been amusing for such a newbie.
Can you imagine Rory as HS ? Now there would be a government worth voting for.
All the best and ablest Conservatives left the party or were kicked out in 2019.
But now we get Patel, Raab, and Williamson as the cabinet.
'The best and ablest' Conservatives I suppose now LDs like you then TSE?
For the last time, I'm not a Lib Dem, I'm not voting for them in the future.
Why not? I often find I have a lot in common with people like you, Richard N, David H and David L and even when I disagree I find the arguments put forward by you all very sound. Of course I could be wrong and I don't agree with all LD stuff, but I am much closer to them than anyone else and you lot clearly aren't keen on the current Tories. I also have a lot in common with the Tories that got thrown out or left in 2019.
Wera Hobhouse is the reason.
As mobile operators step up efforts to roll out 5G networks, they face resistance from local groups convinced that the new technology poses a threat to health. In the city of Bath, in Somerset, one such group is celebrating a victory after the local council refused permission for a 5G mast - with the backing of the local MP.
It's a decision which has sparked dismay not just from the mobile industry but from the minister who has been urging councils to smooth the way for the rollout. Digital Minister Matt Warman said that while he could not comment on a particular planning case, "there is no credible scientific basis that 5G has an adverse impact on people's health".
The minister said the government wanted people across the country to get fast and reliable connectivity as soon as possible, and said it would do "all we can to avoid delays to that programme".
But Bath's Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse was among those calling on the council to listen to concerns about health.
Enabling 5G conspiracy theorists is just like enabling antivaxxers, that Hobhouse is the Lib Dem Justice Spokesman is the reason I cannot vote Lib Dem.
Can't argue with that. Excluding that, then what do you think?
I do like what Sir Ed Davey has been saying on a few things like lockdown restrictions and Afghanistan but ultimately I am, always have been and always shall be, a fiscal conservative/Thatcherite free marketeer. I am going to be politically homeless for a while.
Yet you managed to vote LD in 2017 and 2019, you are almost Davey's core vote now
More than 100 guards at the British embassy in Kabul have been told they are not eligible for UK government protection because they were hired through an outsourced contractor, the Guardian has learned.
Most of the 125-strong team of security personnel, employed by the global security firm GardaWorld, have been given informal notice that they no longer have jobs guarding the embassy, several said.
The guards, some of whom had been working for the UK embassy for over a decade, described feeling abandoned by British officials and their employer. Many have been forced into hiding, fearing for their lives.
Meanwhile, more than 100 guards doing the same work for the US embassy, under a separate GardaWorld contract, have been evacuated and others were receiving support from the US embassy, according to a senior Afghan national GardaWorld employee in charge of human resources.
FFS. There is no way we are going to get them all out but we need to do what we can. This is just outrageous.
Priti Patel hasn't stopped cackling since the decision was made, Boris Johnson is probably tupping the secretary, whilst Raab is still on holiday mode to notice.
I am generally a Tory but Christ , their choice of Home Secretaries really tests me. It is the indulgence of that evil, slithering, foul, crap that is found at the bottom of the party. Narrow minded, bigoted, sanctimonious, hypocritical, and those are the redeeming features.
It honestly turns my stomach and I feel guilty that I turn a blind eye to it for the bigger picture.
I knew this was coming, it was the reason people like David Herdson, Richard Nabavi, and myself quit the party in 2019.
Genuine question. What has Priti Patel actually done that make people like you and DavidL loathe her so much? Apart from have a smirking smile?
Can you imagine Rory as HS ? Now there would be a government worth voting for.
All the best and ablest Conservatives left the party or were kicked out in 2019.
But now we get Patel, Raab, and Williamson as the cabinet.
'The best and ablest' Conservatives I suppose now LDs like you then TSE?
For the last time, I'm not a Lib Dem, I'm not voting for them in the future.
Why not? I often find I have a lot in common with people like you, Richard N, David H and David L and even when I disagree I find the arguments put forward by you all very sound. Of course I could be wrong and I don't agree with all LD stuff, but I am much closer to them than anyone else and you lot clearly aren't keen on the current Tories. I also have a lot in common with the Tories that got thrown out or left in 2019.
Wera Hobhouse is the reason.
As mobile operators step up efforts to roll out 5G networks, they face resistance from local groups convinced that the new technology poses a threat to health. In the city of Bath, in Somerset, one such group is celebrating a victory after the local council refused permission for a 5G mast - with the backing of the local MP.
It's a decision which has sparked dismay not just from the mobile industry but from the minister who has been urging councils to smooth the way for the rollout. Digital Minister Matt Warman said that while he could not comment on a particular planning case, "there is no credible scientific basis that 5G has an adverse impact on people's health".
The minister said the government wanted people across the country to get fast and reliable connectivity as soon as possible, and said it would do "all we can to avoid delays to that programme".
But Bath's Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse was among those calling on the council to listen to concerns about health.
Enabling 5G conspiracy theorists is just like enabling antivaxxers, that Hobhouse is the Lib Dem Justice Spokesman is the reason I cannot vote Lib Dem.
Can't argue with that. Excluding that, then what do you think?
I do like what Sir Ed Davey has been saying on a few things like lockdown restrictions and Afghanistan but ultimately I am, always have been and always shall be, a fiscal conservative/Thatcherite free marketeer. I am going to be politically homeless for a while.
Yet you managed to vote LD in 2017 and 2019, you are almost Davey's core vote now
Only because there was a risk of a Corbynite winning the seat.
"Nor is it any longer possible for you to give up this empire … Your empire is now like a tyranny: it may have been wrong to take it; it is certainly dangerous to let it go."
My favourite Pericles quote is the one where he basically says if he cocked up it was the peoples' fault for being persuaded by him in the first place*.
"If you were persuaded by me to go to war because you thought I had the qualities necessary for leadership at least moderately more than other men, it is not right that I should now be blamed for doing wrong".
*The book I read this in, by an actual expert, is in fairness more forgiving, probably correctly - 'He was that rare political leader in a democratic state who had told the people the truth, while pursuing disputed and even unpopular polices. [His] constant forthrightness left his angry listeners with no rejoinder, for they could not claim they had been uninformed or deceived'. (Kagan, The Peloponnesian War)
He was a complete shit. Stole from the League to build the Parthenon, utterly abused democracy with his nasty little decree of 431 with the rider that "anyone proposing an amendment of this decree is to be put to death," destroyed Athens by starting and posthumously losing the war with Sparta. And that bellyachingly pompous funeral oration has to be read in light of the fact that "the many, not the few" judicially murdered his eldest son after Arginusae on a "The Sun says: string 'em up" sort of basis. The man was a c--t.
The Pnyx is impressive, tho. Especially the view of the Acropolis. Where Pericles did his thang
The original topography of Athens might just be the most impressive urban topography in the world. Genius. The temples soar above the parliament and both look down at the Agora, where the philosophers speak of ideas which rise above it all
I finally made it to the actual Stoa Poikile yesterday, the painted Stoa, where Zeno spoke and the Stoics got their name. It’s now an Irish pub and a crappy clothes shop looming over some desultory rubble
Yet, still, rather moving
It's all bloody lovely, but that doesn't make it right. That Keats shtick about "Beauty is truth, truth beauty" is just as wrong as it is possible to be. To me the most beautiful thing in the world, by a country mile, is St Peter's Rome, but everything it says and stands for just ain't so.
40 years ago now I went on a study tour to Rome with the University. It was probably the best holiday I ever had. We were staying near the Vatican and every morning I went up to St Peter’s about 7.00 am to look around. It is the most magical building in the world. Every day I used to end up looking at the Pieta. I was convinced that if I looked long enough i would catch the moment marble actually moved.
And I am not even vaguely religious.
Rome is the most beautiful city I have visited I think, the Vatican and the Forum, home of the Catholic church and the Roman Empire and much of what made western civilization
More than 100 guards at the British embassy in Kabul have been told they are not eligible for UK government protection because they were hired through an outsourced contractor, the Guardian has learned.
Most of the 125-strong team of security personnel, employed by the global security firm GardaWorld, have been given informal notice that they no longer have jobs guarding the embassy, several said.
The guards, some of whom had been working for the UK embassy for over a decade, described feeling abandoned by British officials and their employer. Many have been forced into hiding, fearing for their lives.
Meanwhile, more than 100 guards doing the same work for the US embassy, under a separate GardaWorld contract, have been evacuated and others were receiving support from the US embassy, according to a senior Afghan national GardaWorld employee in charge of human resources.
FFS. There is no way we are going to get them all out but we need to do what we can. This is just outrageous.
Priti Patel hasn't stopped cackling since the decision was made, Boris Johnson is probably tupping the secretary, whilst Raab is still on holiday mode to notice.
I am generally a Tory but Christ , their choice of Home Secretaries really tests me. It is the indulgence of that evil, slithering, foul, crap that is found at the bottom of the party. Narrow minded, bigoted, sanctimonious, hypocritical, and those are the redeeming features.
It honestly turns my stomach and I feel guilty that I turn a blind eye to it for the bigger picture.
I knew this was coming, it was the reason people like David Herdson, Richard Nabavi, and myself quit the party in 2019.
Genuine question. What has Priti Patel actually done that make people like you and DavidL loathe her so much? Apart from have a smirking smile?
I get a sense of misogyny, even, dare I say it, racism, but that seems highly unlikely given your origin so what is it?
She’s a moderately robust Home Secretary with an admirable backstory, female Ugandan Asian immigrant family who made it to the Cabinet. Good for her.
However, to me the one notable feature of her tenure is her FAILURE to get a grip on Cross Channel migrants. Hardly the mark of a hideous Nazi, just a mortal politician struggling with a very tricky problem
What has she done that so offends?
I found Theresa May much more offensive, both as HS and PM. “Citizens of Nowhere” was actually fucking hard right shite AND it boxed us into a needlessly hard Brexit
While we're on the subject of left-wing hypocrisy, have we covered why they're so keen to take away women's and LGBT rights from Palestinian Arabs in East Jerusalem, and force them to live under an Islamic state that will be only somewhat less oppressive than the Taliban?
How about women's and LGBT rights in Britain's friend and ally, Saudi Arabia?
No, they typically oppose Britain being allied with Saudi Arabia (and selling them weapons) for that very reason.
There is a clear pattern of consistency: opposition to establishment. It's fine as a protest movement, but ludicrous as a program for governing the country.
Can you imagine Rory as HS ? Now there would be a government worth voting for.
All the best and ablest Conservatives left the party or were kicked out in 2019.
But now we get Patel, Raab, and Williamson as the cabinet.
'The best and ablest' Conservatives I suppose now LDs like you then TSE?
For the last time, I'm not a Lib Dem, I'm not voting for them in the future.
Why not? I often find I have a lot in common with people like you, Richard N, David H and David L and even when I disagree I find the arguments put forward by you all very sound. Of course I could be wrong and I don't agree with all LD stuff, but I am much closer to them than anyone else and you lot clearly aren't keen on the current Tories. I also have a lot in common with the Tories that got thrown out or left in 2019.
Wera Hobhouse is the reason.
As mobile operators step up efforts to roll out 5G networks, they face resistance from local groups convinced that the new technology poses a threat to health. In the city of Bath, in Somerset, one such group is celebrating a victory after the local council refused permission for a 5G mast - with the backing of the local MP.
It's a decision which has sparked dismay not just from the mobile industry but from the minister who has been urging councils to smooth the way for the rollout. Digital Minister Matt Warman said that while he could not comment on a particular planning case, "there is no credible scientific basis that 5G has an adverse impact on people's health".
The minister said the government wanted people across the country to get fast and reliable connectivity as soon as possible, and said it would do "all we can to avoid delays to that programme".
But Bath's Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse was among those calling on the council to listen to concerns about health.
Enabling 5G conspiracy theorists is just like enabling antivaxxers, that Hobhouse is the Lib Dem Justice Spokesman is the reason I cannot vote Lib Dem.
Can't argue with that. Excluding that, then what do you think?
For me, whenever I think te Lib Dems are worth a look, it's normally Layla Moran who pops up and says something moronic. But I agree Wera Hobhouse is also a suitable reason to avoid them. That's 2/9ths of the parliamentary party. But I expect there are some stout brains among the other 7.
While we're on the subject of left-wing hypocrisy, have we covered why they're so keen to take away women's and LGBT rights from Palestinian Arabs in East Jerusalem, and force them to live under an Islamic state that will be only somewhat less oppressive than the Taliban?
How about women's and LGBT rights in Britain's friend and ally, Saudi Arabia?
No, they typically oppose Britain being allied with Saudi Arabia (and selling them weapons) for that very reason.
Can you imagine Rory as HS ? Now there would be a government worth voting for.
All the best and ablest Conservatives left the party or were kicked out in 2019.
But now we get Patel, Raab, and Williamson as the cabinet.
'The best and ablest' Conservatives I suppose now LDs like you then TSE?
For the last time, I'm not a Lib Dem, I'm not voting for them in the future.
Why not? I often find I have a lot in common with people like you, Richard N, David H and David L and even when I disagree I find the arguments put forward by you all very sound. Of course I could be wrong and I don't agree with all LD stuff, but I am much closer to them than anyone else and you lot clearly aren't keen on the current Tories. I also have a lot in common with the Tories that got thrown out or left in 2019.
Wera Hobhouse is the reason.
As mobile operators step up efforts to roll out 5G networks, they face resistance from local groups convinced that the new technology poses a threat to health. In the city of Bath, in Somerset, one such group is celebrating a victory after the local council refused permission for a 5G mast - with the backing of the local MP.
It's a decision which has sparked dismay not just from the mobile industry but from the minister who has been urging councils to smooth the way for the rollout. Digital Minister Matt Warman said that while he could not comment on a particular planning case, "there is no credible scientific basis that 5G has an adverse impact on people's health".
The minister said the government wanted people across the country to get fast and reliable connectivity as soon as possible, and said it would do "all we can to avoid delays to that programme".
But Bath's Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse was among those calling on the council to listen to concerns about health.
Enabling 5G conspiracy theorists is just like enabling antivaxxers, that Hobhouse is the Lib Dem Justice Spokesman is the reason I cannot vote Lib Dem.
Can't argue with that. Excluding that, then what do you think?
For me, whenever I think te Lib Dems are worth a look, it's normally Layla Moran who pops up and says something moronic. But I agree Wera Hobhouse is also a suitable reason to avoid them. That's 2/9ths of the parliamentary party. But I expect there are some stout brains among the other 7.
There's also that Farron chap, who gets himself into a muddle with gays.
And Alistair Carmichael, who I know nothing about except that @malcolmg utterly despises him, which means I think reasonably highly of him.
Ed Davey himself is boring but not an idiot.
People do seem to speak highly of that Daisy woman in St Albans, but I know nothing of her.
More than 100 guards at the British embassy in Kabul have been told they are not eligible for UK government protection because they were hired through an outsourced contractor, the Guardian has learned.
Most of the 125-strong team of security personnel, employed by the global security firm GardaWorld, have been given informal notice that they no longer have jobs guarding the embassy, several said.
The guards, some of whom had been working for the UK embassy for over a decade, described feeling abandoned by British officials and their employer. Many have been forced into hiding, fearing for their lives.
Meanwhile, more than 100 guards doing the same work for the US embassy, under a separate GardaWorld contract, have been evacuated and others were receiving support from the US embassy, according to a senior Afghan national GardaWorld employee in charge of human resources.
FFS. There is no way we are going to get them all out but we need to do what we can. This is just outrageous.
Priti Patel hasn't stopped cackling since the decision was made, Boris Johnson is probably tupping the secretary, whilst Raab is still on holiday mode to notice.
I am generally a Tory but Christ , their choice of Home Secretaries really tests me. It is the indulgence of that evil, slithering, foul, crap that is found at the bottom of the party. Narrow minded, bigoted, sanctimonious, hypocritical, and those are the redeeming features.
It honestly turns my stomach and I feel guilty that I turn a blind eye to it for the bigger picture.
I knew this was coming, it was the reason people like David Herdson, Richard Nabavi, and myself quit the party in 2019.
Genuine question. What has Priti Patel actually done that make people like you and DavidL loathe her so much? Apart from have a smirking smile?
I get a sense of misogyny, even, dare I say it, racism, but that seems highly unlikely given your origin so what is it?
She’s a moderately robust Home Secretary with an admirable backstory, female Ugandan Asian immigrant family who made it to the Cabinet. Good for her.
However, to me the one notable feature of her tenure is her FAILURE to get a grip on Cross Channel migrants. Hardly the mark of a hideous Nazi, just a mortal politician struggling with a very tricky problem
What has she done that so offends?
I found Theresa May much more offensive, both as HS and PM. “Citizens of Nowhere” was actually fucking hard right shite AND it boxed us into a needlessly hard Brexit
Total liberal cant. How many innocent children have we killed with bombs and drones? Yet we clutch our handbags in horror at “capital punishment”
I am not quite persuaded of its merits, but neither am I so appalled by the idea I wet myself in faux lefty shock. And Patel, there, is merely espousing the beliefs of about half the British people, who support the death penalty. That’s democracy
Can you imagine Rory as HS ? Now there would be a government worth voting for.
All the best and ablest Conservatives left the party or were kicked out in 2019.
But now we get Patel, Raab, and Williamson as the cabinet.
'The best and ablest' Conservatives I suppose now LDs like you then TSE?
For the last time, I'm not a Lib Dem, I'm not voting for them in the future.
Why not? I often find I have a lot in common with people like you, Richard N, David H and David L and even when I disagree I find the arguments put forward by you all very sound. Of course I could be wrong and I don't agree with all LD stuff, but I am much closer to them than anyone else and you lot clearly aren't keen on the current Tories. I also have a lot in common with the Tories that got thrown out or left in 2019.
Wera Hobhouse is the reason.
As mobile operators step up efforts to roll out 5G networks, they face resistance from local groups convinced that the new technology poses a threat to health. In the city of Bath, in Somerset, one such group is celebrating a victory after the local council refused permission for a 5G mast - with the backing of the local MP.
It's a decision which has sparked dismay not just from the mobile industry but from the minister who has been urging councils to smooth the way for the rollout. Digital Minister Matt Warman said that while he could not comment on a particular planning case, "there is no credible scientific basis that 5G has an adverse impact on people's health".
The minister said the government wanted people across the country to get fast and reliable connectivity as soon as possible, and said it would do "all we can to avoid delays to that programme".
But Bath's Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse was among those calling on the council to listen to concerns about health.
Enabling 5G conspiracy theorists is just like enabling antivaxxers, that Hobhouse is the Lib Dem Justice Spokesman is the reason I cannot vote Lib Dem.
Can't argue with that. Excluding that, then what do you think?
For me, whenever I think te Lib Dems are worth a look, it's normally Layla Moran who pops up and says something moronic. But I agree Wera Hobhouse is also a suitable reason to avoid them. That's 2/9ths of the parliamentary party. But I expect there are some stout brains among the other 7.
And Alistair Carmichael, who I know nothing about except that @malcolmg utterly despises him, which means I think reasonably highly of him. .
Well, he is that surprisingly rare bird in politics - someone who got caught out in a blatant lie.
More than 100 guards at the British embassy in Kabul have been told they are not eligible for UK government protection because they were hired through an outsourced contractor, the Guardian has learned.
Most of the 125-strong team of security personnel, employed by the global security firm GardaWorld, have been given informal notice that they no longer have jobs guarding the embassy, several said.
The guards, some of whom had been working for the UK embassy for over a decade, described feeling abandoned by British officials and their employer. Many have been forced into hiding, fearing for their lives.
Meanwhile, more than 100 guards doing the same work for the US embassy, under a separate GardaWorld contract, have been evacuated and others were receiving support from the US embassy, according to a senior Afghan national GardaWorld employee in charge of human resources.
FFS. There is no way we are going to get them all out but we need to do what we can. This is just outrageous.
Priti Patel hasn't stopped cackling since the decision was made, Boris Johnson is probably tupping the secretary, whilst Raab is still on holiday mode to notice.
I am generally a Tory but Christ , their choice of Home Secretaries really tests me. It is the indulgence of that evil, slithering, foul, crap that is found at the bottom of the party. Narrow minded, bigoted, sanctimonious, hypocritical, and those are the redeeming features.
It honestly turns my stomach and I feel guilty that I turn a blind eye to it for the bigger picture.
I knew this was coming, it was the reason people like David Herdson, Richard Nabavi, and myself quit the party in 2019.
Genuine question. What has Priti Patel actually done that make people like you and DavidL loathe her so much? Apart from have a smirking smile?
I get a sense of misogyny, even, dare I say it, racism, but that seems highly unlikely given your origin so what is it?
She’s a moderately robust Home Secretary with an admirable backstory, female Ugandan Asian immigrant family who made it to the Cabinet. Good for her.
However, to me the one notable feature of her tenure is her FAILURE to get a grip on Cross Channel migrants. Hardly the mark of a hideous Nazi, just a mortal politician struggling with a very tricky problem
What has she done that so offends?
I found Theresa May much more offensive, both as HS and PM. “Citizens of Nowhere” was actually fucking hard right shite AND it boxed us into a needlessly hard Brexit
Total liberal cant. How many innocent children have we killed with bombs and drones? Yet we clutch our handbags in horror at “capital punishment”
I am not quite persuaded of its merits, but neither am I so appalled by the idea I wet myself in faux lefty shock. And Patel, there, is merely espousing the beliefs of about half the British people, who support the death penalty. That’s democracy
It's amusing because you portray "high snobbery". You're basically so snobby you think you're above the snobs.
Total liberal cant. How many innocent children have we killed with bombs and drones? Yet we clutch our handbags in horror at “capital punishment”
I am not quite persuaded of its merits, but neither am I so appalled by the idea I wet myself in faux lefty shock. And Patel, there, is merely espousing the beliefs of about half the British people, who support the death penalty. That’s democracy
And yet no party seems remotely interested in bringing it back despite it being definitely popular.
And I cannot see what makes Hislop's position particularly liberal in any case, not that he was wetting himself about it, it was a practical point. We should try our best not to kill innocent people, that seems uncontroversial. Given the death penalty doesn't seem to work as a deterrent and is expensive to boot, not killing anyone to be on the safe side seems reasonable, since the alternative is not being to release people who would otherwise have death. The risks of killing innocents is not worth the cost of not killing the guilty, is that liberal?
Not sure what bombing and droning has to do with it. Many would argue the risk is not worth the cost there either, but one could also decide the risk is worth it given the targets, it's the same calculation but the assessment of risk of taking no action is different.
More than 100 guards at the British embassy in Kabul have been told they are not eligible for UK government protection because they were hired through an outsourced contractor, the Guardian has learned.
Most of the 125-strong team of security personnel, employed by the global security firm GardaWorld, have been given informal notice that they no longer have jobs guarding the embassy, several said.
The guards, some of whom had been working for the UK embassy for over a decade, described feeling abandoned by British officials and their employer. Many have been forced into hiding, fearing for their lives.
Meanwhile, more than 100 guards doing the same work for the US embassy, under a separate GardaWorld contract, have been evacuated and others were receiving support from the US embassy, according to a senior Afghan national GardaWorld employee in charge of human resources.
FFS. There is no way we are going to get them all out but we need to do what we can. This is just outrageous.
Priti Patel hasn't stopped cackling since the decision was made, Boris Johnson is probably tupping the secretary, whilst Raab is still on holiday mode to notice.
I am generally a Tory but Christ , their choice of Home Secretaries really tests me. It is the indulgence of that evil, slithering, foul, crap that is found at the bottom of the party. Narrow minded, bigoted, sanctimonious, hypocritical, and those are the redeeming features.
It honestly turns my stomach and I feel guilty that I turn a blind eye to it for the bigger picture.
I knew this was coming, it was the reason people like David Herdson, Richard Nabavi, and myself quit the party in 2019.
Genuine question. What has Priti Patel actually done that make people like you and DavidL loathe her so much? Apart from have a smirking smile?
I get a sense of misogyny, even, dare I say it, racism, but that seems highly unlikely given your origin so what is it?
She’s a moderately robust Home Secretary with an admirable backstory, female Ugandan Asian immigrant family who made it to the Cabinet. Good for her.
However, to me the one notable feature of her tenure is her FAILURE to get a grip on Cross Channel migrants. Hardly the mark of a hideous Nazi, just a mortal politician struggling with a very tricky problem
What has she done that so offends?
I found Theresa May much more offensive, both as HS and PM. “Citizens of Nowhere” was actually fucking hard right shite AND it boxed us into a needlessly hard Brexit
Total liberal cant. How many innocent children have we killed with bombs and drones? Yet we clutch our handbags in horror at “capital punishment”
I am not quite persuaded of its merits, but neither am I so appalled by the idea I wet myself in faux lefty shock. And Patel, there, is merely espousing the beliefs of about half the British people, who support the death penalty. That’s democracy
If she had said "It is tragic that, in a very small number of cases, the wrong person might be executed. But I support the death penalty, because I think the deterrent effect dramatically exceeds the small number of people wrongly executed. We would save 100 or 200 innocent victims for every wrongly hanged man", that would have been fine.
You can agree, or disagree with it, but it would have been coherent.
But she didn't.
Instead she seemed to argue that there never any miscarriages, and even if there were it was OK to execute the wrong people because they could be posthumously pardoned. And that'd be OK.
Thinking of Afghanistan, today's Telegraph has a headline " Parliament holds the President in contempt". What a nerve!
Anyway, I know this is complicated and tragic in human terms, but I was wondering whether the collapse of the Afghan army in days, after ten or twenty years training doesn't indicate the futility of our being there at all.
And the British in the 19th century. And Russia in the 20th century.
The bottom line, of course, is that the US and Britain should support those Afghans who helped us and are in danger of being Taliban fodder.
"They are country boys. The fact is they live by a code of honour and a standard. It's called Pashtunwali. It has honour at the heart of what they do.
They don't like corrupt government or governance that is self-serving and want an Afghanistan that is inclusive for all.
I think they have changed and they recognise Afghanistan has evolved and the fundamental role women have played in that evolution. They say they want to respect women's rights under Islamic law, and that will be Sharia law, but that doesn't necessarily mean they won't allow them to be involved in government, education and medicine."
He's an utter moron. The only honour these people care about is male honour and women bear the brunt of guarding it. They do not care about honouring her or her honour. So they can rape a woman and because this dishonours a man she gets stoned. Or they can order a woman to be raped to pay for the dishonour caused to a man.
This is not honour. It is barbarism. And if the Head of the Army does not understand this he is too deficient in sense to be put in charge of a Swiss army penknife let alone an army.
Out of interest how many taliban and Afghans have you had to meet with, fight against, negotiate with? How many people have you had to write to to tell them their son or daughter has been killed by the taliban whilst under your command? As head of the army I don’t think he’s been able to get there by being a moron. Maybe by being an intelligent soldier who doesn’t just say “Taliban bad, kill” but maybe considers the situation from personal contacts, experience and speaking to his commanders and soldiers on the ground. And maybe, just maybe, the head of the British armed forces, whilst they are trying to keep the taliban at bay to get people out of Afghanistan is better to be seen to be offering an olive branch rather than just shouting that all taliban are Rapey bastards?
His view is probably more nuanced in reality that there is a patchwork of afghans who comprise the taliban and so doesn’t lump them all together - I’m assuming you think all Germans are barbaric because some did heinous acts in world war 2 or maybe by being a little even handed at the end of the war we ended up with a better Germany.
But I’m sure you are the fount of all knowledge re Afghanistan on top of naughty city workers and Cumbrian restaurants and should maybe pop over and show him how to use a Swiss Army knife quick......
I am allowed to comment on his comment that the Taliban have honour, regardless of whether or not I have fought in the army or not.
Quite why you feel the need to make unpleasant personal comments about me in your disagreement with my views, which of course you are entitled to have, I don't know.
And I repeat there is and has been plenty of evidence of what the Taliban are like in reality for others to say that he is a moron making such a comment about an evil group. "Honour" to the Taliban means something very different to how we - and I would hope him - would understand it. He sounds naive and deluded. And I have seen enough people who have reached the top of their particular organisation to realise that this says very little about whether they have any common or moral sense.
If he wanted to play nice with them in order to facilitate the evacuation of his men and other civilians - a perfectly understandable and possibly even sensible gesture in the circumstances - then there are plenty of ways of being polite and not antagonising them without coming out with this drivel about their honour. People whose first act when in power is to go round rounding up women between the ages of 12 and 40 as bounty for soldiers are not honourable under any meaning of the term and the Head of the British Army should not be going round saying so.
And yeah I feel strongly about this. I've been raped. So I have zero patience with those who think it's something we need to be even-handed about.
As for Germany at the end of WW2, well my mother's family were part-Jewish and in hiding during it so they didn't have an even-handed view of the Germans. Nor did my father who, as a doctor, had to deal with the victims he saw at Belsen.
"Nor is it any longer possible for you to give up this empire … Your empire is now like a tyranny: it may have been wrong to take it; it is certainly dangerous to let it go."
My favourite Pericles quote is the one where he basically says if he cocked up it was the peoples' fault for being persuaded by him in the first place*.
"If you were persuaded by me to go to war because you thought I had the qualities necessary for leadership at least moderately more than other men, it is not right that I should now be blamed for doing wrong".
*The book I read this in, by an actual expert, is in fairness more forgiving, probably correctly - 'He was that rare political leader in a democratic state who had told the people the truth, while pursuing disputed and even unpopular polices. [His] constant forthrightness left his angry listeners with no rejoinder, for they could not claim they had been uninformed or deceived'. (Kagan, The Peloponnesian War)
He was a complete shit. Stole from the League to build the Parthenon, utterly abused democracy with his nasty little decree of 431 with the rider that "anyone proposing an amendment of this decree is to be put to death," destroyed Athens by starting and posthumously losing the war with Sparta. And that bellyachingly pompous funeral oration has to be read in light of the fact that "the many, not the few" judicially murdered his eldest son after Arginusae on a "The Sun says: string 'em up" sort of basis. The man was a c--t.
The Pnyx is impressive, tho. Especially the view of the Acropolis. Where Pericles did his thang
The original topography of Athens might just be the most impressive urban topography in the world. Genius. The temples soar above the parliament and both look down at the Agora, where the philosophers speak of ideas which rise above it all
I finally made it to the actual Stoa Poikile yesterday, the painted Stoa, where Zeno spoke and the Stoics got their name. It’s now an Irish pub and a crappy clothes shop looming over some desultory rubble
Yet, still, rather moving
It's all bloody lovely, but that doesn't make it right. That Keats shtick about "Beauty is truth, truth beauty" is just as wrong as it is possible to be. To me the most beautiful thing in the world, by a country mile, is St Peter's Rome, but everything it says and stands for just ain't so.
40 years ago now I went on a study tour to Rome with the University. It was probably the best holiday I ever had. We were staying near the Vatican and every morning I went up to St Peter’s about 7.00 am to look around. It is the most magical building in the world. Every day I used to end up looking at the Pieta. I was convinced that if I looked long enough i would catch the moment marble actually moved.
And I am not even vaguely religious.
Fantastic, isn't it?
I love the paradox about sculpture that it is purely subtractive. To make the Pieta, all you have to do is take a block of marble, and remove from it all the bits which are not the Pieta.
The question for me is did he create the Pieta or did he discover it, hidden in the marble, waiting to be released.
Anyone commenting on Scotland's positive case numbers? Do they presage numbers in England doubling in a couple of week's time?
Based on our experience, it's a result of people doing the compulsory testing after coming back from holidays abroad in time for school to start. If so, it would probably happen in England in a couple of weeks, yes.
How many are testing positive *before they leave* their holiday destination? I haven't heard/seen any sob stories but then I'm on holiday myself and not following the news closely. It's the one thing that stops me going abroad. Like Leon I adopt relatively risky behaviors on holiday, like hanging out in bars and restaurants, travelling on public transport etc (OK he probably uses taxis) and even though dpuble-vaxxed must have a reasonable chance of picking it up.
"They are country boys. The fact is they live by a code of honour and a standard. It's called Pashtunwali. It has honour at the heart of what they do.
They don't like corrupt government or governance that is self-serving and want an Afghanistan that is inclusive for all.
I think they have changed and they recognise Afghanistan has evolved and the fundamental role women have played in that evolution. They say they want to respect women's rights under Islamic law, and that will be Sharia law, but that doesn't necessarily mean they won't allow them to be involved in government, education and medicine."
He's an utter moron. The only honour these people care about is male honour and women bear the brunt of guarding it. They do not care about honouring her or her honour. So they can rape a woman and because this dishonours a man she gets stoned. Or they can order a woman to be raped to pay for the dishonour caused to a man.
This is not honour. It is barbarism. And if the Head of the Army does not understand this he is too deficient in sense to be put in charge of a Swiss army penknife let alone an army.
I thought that was more or less a requirement for being a staff officer in the British Army?
And yet you expect Scots to blindly honour British institutions.
If the Indy Scots are able to eliminate idiot duffers rising to senior positions then they should be running the world, never mind their own affairs.
Catching up quickly, I may have become a little confused. According to contrarian, the CCP were inspired by the responses to Spanish Flu?
No, the Governments of the West adopted the CCP's response to Covid. Of course they did.
You think Boris, Macron, Biden and Co could dream up lockdown, movement tracing, and vaccine passports all on their own?
Its the CCP's playbook. Diluted maybe, but it's still the playbook. And the world is taking note.
You understand lockdown had been a popular form of pandemic control for centuries right?
America used to regularly lockdown entire downs due to Polio outbreaks prior to the vaccine.
Maybe he thinks everyone in authority just forgot about previous major pandemics and disease outbreaks, but were rescued by someone finding a copy of Mao’s Little Red Book and going, “Hey, this can be used for outbreak control.”
"Nor is it any longer possible for you to give up this empire … Your empire is now like a tyranny: it may have been wrong to take it; it is certainly dangerous to let it go."
My favourite Pericles quote is the one where he basically says if he cocked up it was the peoples' fault for being persuaded by him in the first place*.
"If you were persuaded by me to go to war because you thought I had the qualities necessary for leadership at least moderately more than other men, it is not right that I should now be blamed for doing wrong".
*The book I read this in, by an actual expert, is in fairness more forgiving, probably correctly - 'He was that rare political leader in a democratic state who had told the people the truth, while pursuing disputed and even unpopular polices. [His] constant forthrightness left his angry listeners with no rejoinder, for they could not claim they had been uninformed or deceived'. (Kagan, The Peloponnesian War)
He was a complete shit. Stole from the League to build the Parthenon, utterly abused democracy with his nasty little decree of 431 with the rider that "anyone proposing an amendment of this decree is to be put to death," destroyed Athens by starting and posthumously losing the war with Sparta. And that bellyachingly pompous funeral oration has to be read in light of the fact that "the many, not the few" judicially murdered his eldest son after Arginusae on a "The Sun says: string 'em up" sort of basis. The man was a c--t.
The Pnyx is impressive, tho. Especially the view of the Acropolis. Where Pericles did his thang
The original topography of Athens might just be the most impressive urban topography in the world. Genius. The temples soar above the parliament and both look down at the Agora, where the philosophers speak of ideas which rise above it all
I finally made it to the actual Stoa Poikile yesterday, the painted Stoa, where Zeno spoke and the Stoics got their name. It’s now an Irish pub and a crappy clothes shop looming over some desultory rubble
Yet, still, rather moving
It's all bloody lovely, but that doesn't make it right. That Keats shtick about "Beauty is truth, truth beauty" is just as wrong as it is possible to be. To me the most beautiful thing in the world, by a country mile, is St Peter's Rome, but everything it says and stands for just ain't so.
St Peter’s is the most “beautiful thing in the world by a country mile”. Really?
An eccentric opinion. It’s far from a masterpiece. Most people accept that Bramante and Michelangelo etc made it too big with the dome set too far back as a result, so it lacks drama and poetry. It’s just BIG and grandiose. Bernini improved it with the embracing colonnades but it still doesn’t work as it should (given the money and talent involved, it’s a bit like Star Wars 7 or whatever)
Of course it contains world class art. Michelangelo’s Pieta is almost beyond comprehension, given the age he was when he did it
For once I agree with you. Gaudy and a bit tasteless.
Comments
Surrender yourself to the Dark Side of the Farce.
I'd also be slightly uneasy if any MP got a governmental role within a year or two of entering parliament for the first time. There's enough to learn about being an MP first.
So the question is: when did other 2010-intake Conservatives get off the backbenches?
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/aug/19/dover-residents-toast-government-u-turn-over-giant-brexit-lorry-park
This is not honour. It is barbarism. And if the Head of the Army does not understand this he is too deficient in sense to be put in charge of a Swiss army penknife let alone an army.
What's less so is GB News. Just did a few minutes of Farage's "Talking Pints". Oh dear oh dear.
Between 1965 and 1975 the likes of Thailand and Malaysia became much stronger countries while China and Indonesia switched from being anti-western to being anti-Soviet.
It is a joy only matched by the amusement I get when I choose pictures for PB threads.
#FeetOffTheFurnitureYouOxbridgeTwatYoureNotOnAPuntNow. https://twitter.com/owenbraben/status/1428418074458398725/photo/1
I am embarrassed as a Brit that he is head of the British army. Sack him
Daley 2/1
J Kenny 4/1
Peaty 10/1
Hamilton 14/1
L Kenny 16/1
Cavendish 22/1
Johnson-Thompson 22/1
Price 25/1
Whitlock 33/1
Brownlee 40/1
50 bar
Also Amanda Spielman, interestingly.
As mobile operators step up efforts to roll out 5G networks, they face resistance from local groups convinced that the new technology poses a threat to health. In the city of Bath, in Somerset, one such group is celebrating a victory after the local council refused permission for a 5G mast - with the backing of the local MP.
It's a decision which has sparked dismay not just from the mobile industry but from the minister who has been urging councils to smooth the way for the rollout. Digital Minister Matt Warman said that while he could not comment on a particular planning case, "there is no credible scientific basis that 5G has an adverse impact on people's health".
The minister said the government wanted people across the country to get fast and reliable connectivity as soon as possible, and said it would do "all we can to avoid delays to that programme".
But Bath's Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse was among those calling on the council to listen to concerns about health.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-55399513
Enabling 5G conspiracy theorists is just like enabling antivaxxers, that Hobhouse is the Lib Dem Justice Spokesman is the reason I cannot vote Lib Dem.
I get a sense of misogyny, even, dare I say it, racism, but that seems highly unlikely given your origin so what is it?
She’s a moderately robust Home Secretary with an admirable backstory, female Ugandan Asian immigrant family who made it to the Cabinet. Good for her.
However, to me the one notable feature of her tenure is her FAILURE to get a grip on Cross Channel migrants. Hardly the mark of a hideous Nazi, just a mortal politician struggling with a very tricky problem
What has she done that so offends?
I found Theresa May much more offensive, both as HS and PM. “Citizens of Nowhere” was actually fucking hard right shite AND it boxed us into a needlessly hard Brexit
Burgon read English, Spielman reads Mathematics and Law, so doesn't count.
I see those and raise you a Kenneth Harry Clarke.
So 3 reasons for liberal, establishment Tories not to be keen
As for Theresa May, the hard Brexit was what Vote Leave campaigned for, no membership of the single market/customs union, no supremacy of EU law, a mass reduction of EU migration etc.
What's more important than us giving away 100m or 150m doses is investing in building an additional 2-3bn in capacity for 2022. That's what we have been doing over the last year and we need to continue doing that.
Snobbery, racism, misogyny and Remoanerism. That’s it
Fuck them. Go Priti
https://twitter.com/RepMoBrooks/status/1428422048368533515?s=19
Looking just at current Cabinet Members (and a few others as I was first looking at the wrong list) of that era (and not including when they became ministers of state, which in fairness is not backbench):
- Javid - 2014
- Raab - 2018
- Patel - 2016
- Buckland - 2019 (2014 if you include Solicitor-General)
- Barclay - 2018 (and that's two of the 2010 intake so far who first got into Cabinet under May as Brexit secretary, clearly a sign the position was favoured)
- Hancock, as was - 2018
- Leadsom - 2016
- Truss - 2014
- Coffey (probably a good sign I'd not remembered her, given she is in Work and Pensions) - 2019
- Williamson - 2017
- Hart (Wales) - 2019
- Sharma, as was - 2019
- Eustice - 2020
- Lewis (NI)- 2020
- Kwarteng -2021
- Rees-Mogg not technically Cabinet but attends - 2019
It's quite a young Cabinet, and quite a lot of 2010 intake. And shows even if you get an early junior ministerial post you are looking at 4-5 years before you get into Cabinet at least, and more like 9-10.Sunak was jumped up to Cabinet in 5 years, first of the 2015 intake I think along with Dowden. Alister Jack got into Cabinet within 2 years, being first of the 2017 intake, but there aren't many SCON MPs to pick from (though it was a decent number for them in 2017)
Reminds also the (brief) talk of Keir becoming Leader of Labour right after he was first election to parliament, which would have been amusing for such a newbie.
Not sure she would actually be able to win a general election though
His view is probably more nuanced in reality that there is a patchwork of afghans who comprise the taliban and so doesn’t lump them all together - I’m assuming you think all Germans are barbaric because some did heinous acts in world war 2 or maybe by being a little even handed at the end of the war we ended up with a better Germany.
But I’m sure you are the fount of all knowledge re Afghanistan on top of naughty city workers and Cumbrian restaurants and should maybe pop over and show him how to use a Swiss Army knife quick......
British values are truly great. They are built on fairness, kindness, generosity and pragmatism. I see none of that in the current Home Office. I see an organisation that tries to use a bureaucratic, failing system to generate additional unfairness rather than do the right thing because it is politically expedient to do so. Ugh.
I distrusted them for their lack of policy coherence (a side effect of voting for the manifesto), the dodgy bar graphs, and the tendency to have contradictory leaflets in the north and south of my City. But this was largely their campaigning style - their poltiics were rooted in rationality (whatever you thought of the axioms from which they argued).
I now have they impression (fairly or unfairly) that they have veered towards the honey nut loops.
She shouldn't be in cabinet.
Labour were led by Ed Miliband who had become leader five years after becoming an MP, whilst the Lib Dems were led by Clegg who became leader two and a half years after becoming an MP.
This says a lot, doesn't it, and what it says (to us) is rather the opposite of what they think it's saying.
You think Boris, Macron, Biden and Co could dream up lockdown, movement tracing, and vaccine passports all on their own?
Its the CCP's playbook. Diluted maybe, but it's still the playbook. And the world is taking note.
But I agree Wera Hobhouse is also a suitable reason to avoid them.
That's 2/9ths of the parliamentary party. But I expect there are some stout brains among the other 7.
Was he a commie as well?
The Tories normally go to the right when they go into Opposition, Thatcher, Hague for example and Labour normally go left, Foot and Ed Miliband for instance.
As a rightwing former Home Secretary she would certainly be a contender, but only as Leader of the Opposition after a general election loss. Sunak would almost certainly be next PM if Boris goes before the next general election or steps down having been re elected
Sometimes there is no room nor need for nuance. This is one such case
And yes, all the Nazis in the Second World War were evil, because they were Nazis. I’m sure some had a conscience, but given the opportunity it was better to kill them - without thinking too hard
I voted tactically to try and stop that.
There is a clear pattern of consistency: opposition to establishment. It's fine as a protest movement, but ludicrous as a program for governing the country.
https://www.radioexe.co.uk/news-and-features/local-news/afghan-refugees-no-thanks-says-torbay/
America used to regularly lockdown entire downs due to Polio outbreaks prior to the vaccine.
And Alistair Carmichael, who I know nothing about except that @malcolmg utterly despises him, which means I think reasonably highly of him.
Ed Davey himself is boring but not an idiot.
People do seem to speak highly of that Daisy woman in St Albans, but I know nothing of her.
I am not quite persuaded of its merits, but neither am I so appalled by the idea I wet myself in faux lefty shock. And Patel, there, is merely espousing the beliefs of about half the British people, who support the death penalty. That’s democracy
And I cannot see what makes Hislop's position particularly liberal in any case, not that he was wetting himself about it, it was a practical point. We should try our best not to kill innocent people, that seems uncontroversial. Given the death penalty doesn't seem to work as a deterrent and is expensive to boot, not killing anyone to be on the safe side seems reasonable, since the alternative is not being to release people who would otherwise have death. The risks of killing innocents is not worth the cost of not killing the guilty, is that liberal?
Not sure what bombing and droning has to do with it. Many would argue the risk is not worth the cost there either, but one could also decide the risk is worth it given the targets, it's the same calculation but the assessment of risk of taking no action is different.
You can agree, or disagree with it, but it would have been coherent.
But she didn't.
Instead she seemed to argue that there never any miscarriages, and even if there were it was OK to execute the wrong people because they could be posthumously pardoned. And that'd be OK.
" Parliament holds the President in contempt". What a nerve!
Anyway, I know this is complicated and tragic in human terms, but I was wondering whether the collapse of the Afghan army in days, after ten or twenty years training doesn't indicate the futility of our being there at all.
And the British in the 19th century. And Russia in the 20th century.
The bottom line, of course, is that the US and Britain should support those Afghans who helped us and are in danger of being Taliban fodder.
Quite why you feel the need to make unpleasant personal comments about me in your disagreement with my views, which of course you are entitled to have, I don't know.
And I repeat there is and has been plenty of evidence of what the Taliban are like in reality for others to say that he is a moron making such a comment about an evil group. "Honour" to the Taliban means something very different to how we - and I would hope him - would understand it. He sounds naive and deluded. And I have seen enough people who have reached the top of their particular organisation to realise that this says very little about whether they have any common or moral sense.
If he wanted to play nice with them in order to facilitate the evacuation of his men and other civilians - a perfectly understandable and possibly even sensible gesture in the circumstances - then there are plenty of ways of being polite and not antagonising them without coming out with this drivel about their honour. People whose first act when in power is to go round rounding up women between the ages of 12 and 40 as bounty for soldiers are not honourable under any meaning of the term and the Head of the British Army should not be going round saying so.
And yeah I feel strongly about this. I've been raped. So I have zero patience with those who think it's something we need to be even-handed about.
As for Germany at the end of WW2, well my mother's family were part-Jewish and in hiding during it so they didn't have an even-handed view of the Germans. Nor did my father who, as a doctor, had to deal with the victims he saw at Belsen.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Scotlands-America-George-Fraser-Black/dp/1378038916/ref=nodl_
Gaudy and a bit tasteless.