Well done to Boris for pulling the plug on the "special relationship" - Maybe he'll be the first PM to defy the US since Thatcher... or possibly Wilson!
It's been a long time coming... Tell the US to **** off!!!
And if they don't like it we're out of NATO and they can get on with it with the French and Germans...
We quit nato?
If it has to come to it then yes!
Why should we put up with the US pushing us around and treating us like we're a piece if shit?
It's time to tell the US to treat us with respect or we're out of NATO and they can get on with it with the French!!!! See how far they get lol!
Well done to Boris for pulling the plug on the "special relationship" - Maybe he'll be the first PM to defy the US since Thatcher... or possibly Wilson!
It's been a long time coming... Tell the US to **** off!!!
And if they don't like it we're out of NATO and they can get on with it with the French and Germans...
We quit nato?
Would sort of help if you linked the story you are talking about
I googled uk nato special relationship and couldnt find relevant story #
The US think they can push us around and treat us like shit and we'll always be there to support them in their endless, stupid and pointless wars... well it's time to say no!
Boris has made a good but it's time to go further... They treat us with the respect we deserve as the only NATO member that always supports them in whatever stupid policy they have... Or we're done!
I googled uk nato special relationship and couldnt find relevant story #
The US think they can push us around and treat us like shit and we'll always be there to support them in their endless, stupid and pointless wars... well it's time to say no!
Boris has made a good but it's time to go further... They treat us with the respect we deserve as the only NATO member that always supports them in whatever stupid policy they have... Or we're done!
Could you please tell us, precisely what you are talking about?
Poll of major EU countries about whether the UK is 'an ally that shares our interests and values', 'a necessary partner who we must strategically cooperate with', 'DK', 'a rival' and 'an adversary'.
Denmark scores with 71% saying that we are an ally or necessary partner. Sweden (76%), Netherlands (68%), Poland (72%), and Portugal (73%) (the UK's oldest ally) also score very highly.
Just because we've left the EU doesn't mean that we need to turn our back on Europe.
French - 18% Germany 14%
😂
Lets put it this way, almost four times as many French people approve of Johnson than consider us an enemy
The last poll showed that he received 30%+ among all aspects of the Fr political spectrum (3rd highest among all politicians surveyed, wit neither of the two above being Macron & Le Pen).
A victory for all involved should be making him run, and win the French presidency, while stepping down in the UK.
Re Margaret Thatcher, Harold Wilson & the "Special Relationship" am not aware of any situation where either HW or MT "defied" a POTUS.
Wilson did NOT go along with LBJ's urging him to send British troops to Vietnam or otherwise join in hostilities. And Thatcher did NOT go along with Reagan's (half-hearted) desire to soft-peddle the Falkland Island crisis.
But "defy" hardly does either situation justice. Certainly neither caused serious rupture in UK-US relations.
I googled uk nato special relationship and couldnt find relevant story #
The US think they can push us around and treat us like shit and we'll always be there to support them in their endless, stupid and pointless wars... well it's time to say no!
Boris has made a good but it's time to go further... They treat us with the respect we deserve as the only NATO member that always supports them in whatever stupid policy they have... Or we're done!
Could you please tell us, precisely what you are talking about?
US: We're going to go to war with Afghanistan (for no reason other than we want to bomb the crap out of someone)
France: Hmmmmmmmm....
Germany: Hmmmmmmmm....
UK: Lets Gooooooooooooo....!!!!!!!
US: We're going to go with Iraq (for no reason whatever other than we want to bomb the crap out of someone)
France: Hmmmmmmmm....
Germany: Hmmmmmmmm.....
UK: Lets Gooooooooooo....
We are always there when the US wants to do something stupid.. It's time we said no more (unless they give us the respect we deserve)
I googled uk nato special relationship and couldnt find relevant story #
The US think they can push us around and treat us like shit and we'll always be there to support them in their endless, stupid and pointless wars... well it's time to say no!
Boris has made a good but it's time to go further... They treat us with the respect we deserve as the only NATO member that always supports them in whatever stupid policy they have... Or we're done!
Could you please tell us, precisely what you are talking about?
US: We're going to go to war with Afghanistan (for no reason other than we want to bomb the crap out of someone)
France: Hmmmmmmmm....
Germany: Hmmmmmmmm....
UK: Lets Gooooooooooooo....!!!!!!!
US: We're going to go with Iraq (for no reason whatever other than we want to bomb the crap out of someone)
France: Hmmmmmmmm....
Germany: Hmmmmmmmm.....
UK: Lets Gooooooooooo....
We are always there when the US wants to do something stupid.. It's time we said no more (unless they give us the respect we deserve)
You said - 'Well done to Boris for pulling the plug on the "special relationship"'
I googled uk nato special relationship and couldnt find relevant story #
The US think they can push us around and treat us like shit and we'll always be there to support them in their endless, stupid and pointless wars... well it's time to say no!
Boris has made a good but it's time to go further... They treat us with the respect we deserve as the only NATO member that always supports them in whatever stupid policy they have... Or we're done!
Could you please tell us, precisely what you are talking about?
US: We're going to go to war with Afghanistan (for no reason other than we want to bomb the crap out of someone)
France: Hmmmmmmmm....
Germany: Hmmmmmmmm....
UK: Lets Gooooooooooooo....!!!!!!!
US: We're going to go with Iraq (for no reason whatever other than we want to bomb the crap out of someone)
France: Hmmmmmmmm....
Germany: Hmmmmmmmm.....
UK: Lets Gooooooooooo....
We are always there when the US wants to do something stupid.. It's time we said no more (unless they give us the respect we deserve)
You said - 'Well done to Boris for pulling the plug on the "special relationship"'
So when did the Prime Minister do THAT?
Well... he's said he doesn't like the term... so he's giving them a warning shot across the bows...
I googled uk nato special relationship and couldnt find relevant story #
The US think they can push us around and treat us like shit and we'll always be there to support them in their endless, stupid and pointless wars... well it's time to say no!
Boris has made a good but it's time to go further... They treat us with the respect we deserve as the only NATO member that always supports them in whatever stupid policy they have... Or we're done!
Could you please tell us, precisely what you are talking about?
US: We're going to go to war with Afghanistan (for no reason other than we want to bomb the crap out of someone)
France: Hmmmmmmmm....
Germany: Hmmmmmmmm....
UK: Lets Gooooooooooooo....!!!!!!!
US: We're going to go with Iraq (for no reason whatever other than we want to bomb the crap out of someone)
France: Hmmmmmmmm....
Germany: Hmmmmmmmm.....
UK: Lets Gooooooooooo....
We are always there when the US wants to do something stupid.. It's time we said no more (unless they give us the respect we deserve)
You said - 'Well done to Boris for pulling the plug on the "special relationship"'
So when did the Prime Minister do THAT?
Well... he's said he doesn't like the term... so he's giving them a warning shot across the bows...
That's it? Suspect you are gonna be disappointed when Boris does NOT "pull the plug".
theatlantic.com - THE MINISTER OF CHAOS - Boris Johnson knows exactly what he’s doing. By Tom McTague
". . . . Johnson believes there remains a “world-weariness” in the government that has to be “squeezed out,” one of his ministers told me. Johnsonism, an aide said, was partly about “puffing our chest out and saying, ‘We’re Britain.’ ” (Several of Johnson’s advisers agreed to be candid in exchange for anonymity.) In an early phone call with Joe Biden, an aide told me, Johnson said he disliked the phrase special relationship after the president used it. To Johnson it seemed needy and weak."
So Boris Johnson is "puffing" - semantics NOT substance.
I googled uk nato special relationship and couldnt find relevant story #
The US think they can push us around and treat us like shit and we'll always be there to support them in their endless, stupid and pointless wars... well it's time to say no!
Boris has made a good but it's time to go further... They treat us with the respect we deserve as the only NATO member that always supports them in whatever stupid policy they have... Or we're done!
Could you please tell us, precisely what you are talking about?
US: We're going to go to war with Afghanistan (for no reason other than we want to bomb the crap out of someone)
France: Hmmmmmmmm....
Germany: Hmmmmmmmm....
UK: Lets Gooooooooooooo....!!!!!!!
US: We're going to go with Iraq (for no reason whatever other than we want to bomb the crap out of someone)
France: Hmmmmmmmm....
Germany: Hmmmmmmmm.....
UK: Lets Gooooooooooo....
We are always there when the US wants to do something stupid.. It's time we said no more (unless they give us the respect we deserve)
You said - 'Well done to Boris for pulling the plug on the "special relationship"'
So when did the Prime Minister do THAT?
Well... he's said he doesn't like the term... so he's giving them a warning shot across the bows...
That's it? Suspect you are gonna be disappointed when Boris does NOT "pull the plug".
theatlantic.com - THE MINISTER OF CHAOS - Boris Johnson knows exactly what he’s doing. By Tom McTague
". . . . Johnson believes there remains a “world-weariness” in the government that has to be “squeezed out,” one of his ministers told me. Johnsonism, an aide said, was partly about “puffing our chest out and saying, ‘We’re Britain.’ ” (Several of Johnson’s advisers agreed to be candid in exchange for anonymity.) In an early phone call with Joe Biden, an aide told me, Johnson said he disliked the phrase special relationship after the president used it. To Johnson it seemed needy and weak."
So Boris Johnson is "puffing" - semantics NOT substance.
LOL!! We'll see. Boris may yet prove to be a let down. But who knows... maybe Biden will push Boris too far...
I'm convinced there needs to be a "settling up" between the US and UK before we can truly move on from Blair and Iraq... Eventually a UK PM will have to defy the US if only to be able to move the country on from the Blair/Bush era....
I googled uk nato special relationship and couldnt find relevant story #
The US think they can push us around and treat us like shit and we'll always be there to support them in their endless, stupid and pointless wars... well it's time to say no!
Boris has made a good but it's time to go further... They treat us with the respect we deserve as the only NATO member that always supports them in whatever stupid policy they have... Or we're done!
Could you please tell us, precisely what you are talking about?
US: We're going to go to war with Afghanistan (for no reason other than we want to bomb the crap out of someone)
France: Hmmmmmmmm....
Germany: Hmmmmmmmm....
UK: Lets Gooooooooooooo....!!!!!!!
US: We're going to go with Iraq (for no reason whatever other than we want to bomb the crap out of someone)
France: Hmmmmmmmm....
Germany: Hmmmmmmmm.....
UK: Lets Gooooooooooo....
We are always there when the US wants to do something stupid.. It's time we said no more (unless they give us the respect we deserve)
You said - 'Well done to Boris for pulling the plug on the "special relationship"'
So when did the Prime Minister do THAT?
Well... he's said he doesn't like the term... so he's giving them a warning shot across the bows...
That's it? Suspect you are gonna be disappointed when Boris does NOT "pull the plug".
He doesn't need to "pull the plug" but simply kick the can.
I googled uk nato special relationship and couldnt find relevant story #
The US think they can push us around and treat us like shit and we'll always be there to support them in their endless, stupid and pointless wars... well it's time to say no!
Boris has made a good but it's time to go further... They treat us with the respect we deserve as the only NATO member that always supports them in whatever stupid policy they have... Or we're done!
Could you please tell us, precisely what you are talking about?
US: We're going to go to war with Afghanistan (for no reason other than we want to bomb the crap out of someone)
France: Hmmmmmmmm....
Germany: Hmmmmmmmm....
UK: Lets Gooooooooooooo....!!!!!!!
US: We're going to go with Iraq (for no reason whatever other than we want to bomb the crap out of someone)
France: Hmmmmmmmm....
Germany: Hmmmmmmmm.....
UK: Lets Gooooooooooo....
We are always there when the US wants to do something stupid.. It's time we said no more (unless they give us the respect we deserve)
You said - 'Well done to Boris for pulling the plug on the "special relationship"'
So when did the Prime Minister do THAT?
Well... he's said he doesn't like the term... so he's giving them a warning shot across the bows...
That's it? Suspect you are gonna be disappointed when Boris does NOT "pull the plug".
He doesn't need to "pull the plug" but simply kick the can.
Eric Adams holds a 6-point lead in the Democratic primary for mayor, but a surging Maya Wiley has emerged as his chief rival after landing the endorsement of lefty firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, according to a new poll released Wednesday.
Adams, the Brooklyn Borough President, got support from 23 percent of the 725 likely Democratic voters in the survey conducted by PIX 11/Emerson College on Monday and Tuesday.
The support for Adams — who has made public safety a cornerstone of his campaign — increased 3 percentage points from 20 percent in the prior Pix 11/Emerson College poll, released on May 25.
But Wiley, the former chief counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio, leapfrogged into second place with 17 percent of the vote, nearly doubling the nine percent since she registered in the prior PIX 11/Emerson College poll released on May 25.
Her jump comes just days after she was endorsed on Saturday June 5 by Ocasio-Cortez. . . .
Entrepreneur Andrew Yang garnered the backing of 15 percent of Democrats — maintaining his third place position from the last poll.
The other big development was the drop in support for former city Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia. She sank nine points, going from the top of the heap, with 21 percent support, to just 12 percent in this latest poll.
City Comptroller Scott Stringer — whose campaign has been rocked by sexual harassment claims — rounded out the top five with the backing of 9 percent of Democratic voters.
Nonprofit executive Dianne Morales, whose campaign imploded amid staff upheaval, saw her support crater from 7 percent of respondents to 2 percent.
Meanwhile the big spending campaigns of Shaun Dovan and Ray McGuire are also at the back of the pack. Donovan, the former director of city and federal housing agencies, received 4 percent support and retired Citigroup executive McGuire 3 percent.
Another 12 percent of Democrats said they were undecided. Primary day is June 22 and 10 days of early voting begins on Saturday.
Pix 11/Emerson College also conducted a rare survey on the Republican primary for mayor. The results: 33 percent of Republicans favored Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa versus 27 percent for taxi-bodega advocate Fernando Mateo — with a large 40 percent saying they were still undecided. The poll queried 250 Republicans and has a 6.2 percentage point margin of error.
Crime was cited as the top issue by about one-third of all of the 1,162 voters surveyed. Another 12 percent cited police reform as a pressing issue.
Emerson College polling director Spencer Kimball said the explosive crime issue in the city is likely aiding the campaign of Adams, a retired police officer, since he has made it his signature issue. . . .
I googled uk nato special relationship and couldnt find relevant story #
The US think they can push us around and treat us like shit and we'll always be there to support them in their endless, stupid and pointless wars... well it's time to say no!
Boris has made a good but it's time to go further... They treat us with the respect we deserve as the only NATO member that always supports them in whatever stupid policy they have... Or we're done!
Could you please tell us, precisely what you are talking about?
US: We're going to go to war with Afghanistan (for no reason other than we want to bomb the crap out of someone)
France: Hmmmmmmmm....
Germany: Hmmmmmmmm....
UK: Lets Gooooooooooooo....!!!!!!!
US: We're going to go with Iraq (for no reason whatever other than we want to bomb the crap out of someone)
France: Hmmmmmmmm....
Germany: Hmmmmmmmm.....
UK: Lets Gooooooooooo....
We are always there when the US wants to do something stupid.. It's time we said no more (unless they give us the respect we deserve)
You said - 'Well done to Boris for pulling the plug on the "special relationship"'
So when did the Prime Minister do THAT?
Well... he's said he doesn't like the term... so he's giving them a warning shot across the bows...
That's it? Suspect you are gonna be disappointed when Boris does NOT "pull the plug".
He doesn't need to "pull the plug" but simply kick the can.
Won't even do that.
So what’s your prediction? That he’ll agree to follow EU SPS rules?
I googled uk nato special relationship and couldnt find relevant story #
The US think they can push us around and treat us like shit and we'll always be there to support them in their endless, stupid and pointless wars... well it's time to say no!
Boris has made a good but it's time to go further... They treat us with the respect we deserve as the only NATO member that always supports them in whatever stupid policy they have... Or we're done!
Could you please tell us, precisely what you are talking about?
US: We're going to go to war with Afghanistan (for no reason other than we want to bomb the crap out of someone)
France: Hmmmmmmmm....
Germany: Hmmmmmmmm....
UK: Lets Gooooooooooooo....!!!!!!!
US: We're going to go with Iraq (for no reason whatever other than we want to bomb the crap out of someone)
France: Hmmmmmmmm....
Germany: Hmmmmmmmm.....
UK: Lets Gooooooooooo....
We are always there when the US wants to do something stupid.. It's time we said no more (unless they give us the respect we deserve)
You said - 'Well done to Boris for pulling the plug on the "special relationship"'
So when did the Prime Minister do THAT?
Well... he's said he doesn't like the term... so he's giving them a warning shot across the bows...
That's it? Suspect you are gonna be disappointed when Boris does NOT "pull the plug".
He doesn't need to "pull the plug" but simply kick the can.
Won't even do that.
So what’s your prediction? That he’ll agree to follow EU SPS rules?
Don't have a clue, way beyond my limited expertise. My thought is, there will be negotiation on variety of points, which Biden & his entourage will be well-prepared to discuss and help negotiate. Which is something that Uncle Joe has PLENTY of experience with, and is better than your average bear.
Methinks this is a win-win for US and UK, especially Boris has a serious negotiating partner who actual does take the "special relationship" seriously, and NOT as a one-way street.
NOR is the Good Friday Agreement his sole priority, though it IS a biggie, and NOT just because of the Irish that's in 'em.
Some thoughts on the Sidewalks of New York circa 2021
> based on latest polling, race for mayor is still fluid (a Gotham tradition) but is starting to gel
> winner of the June Democratic primary will end up winning the general election to become next Mayor of NYC, given the weakness of the 2-candidate Republican field, highlighted by 40% of likely GOP voters still undecided (only 12% of Democrats are still undecided).
> At of the Dem field, neither Sean Donovan nor Raymond McGuire has gained the slightest bit of traction since the race began.
> Speaking of dust, two progressive hopefuls are biting it hard: Scott Springer, who looked like a potential winner early in the race, wounded by one sexual harassment allegation, and brought down by another; and Dianne Morales the most "woke" of all the candidates who was hoist on her own protest banner when her campaign staff formed a union and went out on strike against her.
> Kathryn Garcia is in her own category; endorsed by New York Times AND the Daily News as the most qualified, experienced and competent big city manager in the race; but except for short-lived poll lead, she's NOT been able to obtain any momentum, in large part because she is a pretty low-key kind of politico, certainly by Big Apple standards.
> Andrew Yang, early front runner, has faded significantly in the past two months, until he's in 3rd place in the latest Emerson College poll; he still has a fair amount of 2nd-choice strength, but he needs a game-changer, and soon.
> By contrast, Maya Wiley got her game-changer this week with AOC's endorsement; really Ocasio's support is ratification of fact that Wiley is effectively last-woman standing on the progressive side, with Springer & Morales dead in the water, and Garcia insufficiently progressive / too establishment.
> Eric Adams is the last but certainly not last on the list, indeed he's #1 in the Emerson poll and also in other recent polling. Despite some questions & fuzziness in his official record (such as where he actually lives) as Black former NYPD officer and current Brooklyn Borough President Adams has both a sizable personal political base AND a compelling argument in age of BLM and at time when crime is top concern of NYC voters.
Right now, this looks like Eric Adam's to lose. He appears to be a good bet to make it to the final round of the RCV process, when it's just two candidates left and it call comes down to who has the most votes, first preferences + transfers from other hopefuls.
IF the final is Adams v Wiley, then my guess is that he beats her because he'll be the choice of most Blacks AND most White voters. On the other hand, if the choice in the end is Adams v Yang, then Black will go overwhelming for Adams, while many progressives AND moderates will also go his route.
Caveat - still enough time for a bombshell of some sort to have an impact, or even a severe stumble by one or more of the top candidates.
Seattle has become the first major American city to reach its goal of fully vaccinating 70% of residents 12 and older, helping push Washington toward its overall vaccination and reopening targets.
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan touted the milestone in a news release Wednesday, saying the city has surpassed San Francisco to take the lead in COVID-19 vaccine jabs.
“Seattle is America’s most vaccinated major city, and it would not have been possible without our residents’ commitment to protecting themselves, their loved ones and our entire community,” Durkan said in the statement.
Durkan said 78% of Seattleites 12 and up have started the vaccination process. The city itself has administered nearly 250,000 vaccinations for about 131,000 individuals, the mayor’s office said.
The vaccinations have taken place at adult family homes, affordable housing buildings, community pop-up clinics, sporting events and other locations. The city plans to shut down its mass-vaccination center at Lumen Field at the end of the day on Saturday.
At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Jay Inslee praised Seattle’s efforts and said the state is nearing its own goal of getting at least 70% of people 16 and older to receive at least one vaccine dose.
“This is an amazing moment in our state,” Inslee said. “We are now close to being able to essentially fully reopen.”
Inslee said 66.4% of state residents have received at least an initial vaccine dose. That total was boosted in part by the state adding in 152,000 residents who received vaccines through the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs, the governor said.
Inslee reiterated the state will allow reopening from COVID-19 restrictions on June 30, even if the vaccination target is not met, but sooner if it is reached.
Statewide, more than 7.3 million vaccine doses have been given, according to the state Department of Health. . . .
Inslee said there are “some early signs” that the state’s recently launched lottery prizes — including a $1 million jackpot— for Washington residents who have been vaccinated has resulted in an uptick in vaccine appointments. But, he added, “we can’t say anything definitive yet about the impact.”
The first lottery drawings were held Tuesday, Inslee said.
Inslee also announced that after June 30, some restrictions will remain in place for large indoor facilities.
He said such venues that can hold crowds of 10,000 or more people will remain limited to 75% capacity. There will be no physical-distancing requirements, but attendees will have to abide by masking guidelines
Eric Adams holds a 6-point lead in the Democratic primary for mayor, but a surging Maya Wiley has emerged as his chief rival after landing the endorsement of lefty firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, according to a new poll released Wednesday.
Adams, the Brooklyn Borough President, got support from 23 percent of the 725 likely Democratic voters in the survey conducted by PIX 11/Emerson College on Monday and Tuesday.
The support for Adams — who has made public safety a cornerstone of his campaign — increased 3 percentage points from 20 percent in the prior Pix 11/Emerson College poll, released on May 25.
But Wiley, the former chief counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio, leapfrogged into second place with 17 percent of the vote, nearly doubling the nine percent since she registered in the prior PIX 11/Emerson College poll released on May 25.
Her jump comes just days after she was endorsed on Saturday June 5 by Ocasio-Cortez. . . .
Entrepreneur Andrew Yang garnered the backing of 15 percent of Democrats — maintaining his third place position from the last poll.
The other big development was the drop in support for former city Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia. She sank nine points, going from the top of the heap, with 21 percent support, to just 12 percent in this latest poll.
City Comptroller Scott Stringer — whose campaign has been rocked by sexual harassment claims — rounded out the top five with the backing of 9 percent of Democratic voters.
Nonprofit executive Dianne Morales, whose campaign imploded amid staff upheaval, saw her support crater from 7 percent of respondents to 2 percent.
Meanwhile the big spending campaigns of Shaun Dovan and Ray McGuire are also at the back of the pack. Donovan, the former director of city and federal housing agencies, received 4 percent support and retired Citigroup executive McGuire 3 percent.
Another 12 percent of Democrats said they were undecided. Primary day is June 22 and 10 days of early voting begins on Saturday.
Pix 11/Emerson College also conducted a rare survey on the Republican primary for mayor. The results: 33 percent of Republicans favored Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa versus 27 percent for taxi-bodega advocate Fernando Mateo — with a large 40 percent saying they were still undecided. The poll queried 250 Republicans and has a 6.2 percentage point margin of error.
Crime was cited as the top issue by about one-third of all of the 1,162 voters surveyed. Another 12 percent cited police reform as a pressing issue.
Emerson College polling director Spencer Kimball said the explosive crime issue in the city is likely aiding the campaign of Adams, a retired police officer, since he has made it his signature issue. . . .
A very thin nominee market on Betfair has:- Adams 1.72 Yang 3.15 Wiley 7 Garcia 9.6
All are marginally bigger in the equally thin Mayor market except for Maya Wiley who is a point shorter at 6. Perhaps someone saw the poll but not the other market.
Of the many qualms I have about this tory administration, bribing voters is low down. Why so? Because it has gone on since the dawn of political democracy, in every country including ours.
I guess additionally that if I ranked the honesty and morality of professions, at the bottom would be bankers and estate agents. And then in a separate table all to themselves, far far beneath, in some infernal dungeon, there would be MPs and politicians.
In some ways the blatancy of this is to be welcomed. I'd rather see the cash above the table than underneath it.
I googled uk nato special relationship and couldnt find relevant story #
The US think they can push us around and treat us like shit and we'll always be there to support them in their endless, stupid and pointless wars... well it's time to say no!
Boris has made a good but it's time to go further... They treat us with the respect we deserve as the only NATO member that always supports them in whatever stupid policy they have... Or we're done!
Could you please tell us, precisely what you are talking about?
Have a guess.
It is the same constituency every POTUS kisses the arse of and this buffoon is now using it to stick his fucking oar in about the EU while a guest in our country. Frankly it’s about time a British PM told a POTUS to do one. I am not a fan of Mr. Johnson but on this he is nailed on. How dare a President of any nation come to our country and do this?
Of the many qualms I have about this tory administration, bribing voters is low down. Why so? Because it has gone on since the dawn of political democracy, in every country including ours.
I guess additionally that if I ranked the honesty and morality of professions, at the bottom would be bankers and estate agents. And then in a separate table all to themselves, far far beneath, in some infernal dungeon, there would be MPs and politicians.
In some ways the blatancy of this is to be welcomed. I'd rather see the cash above the table than underneath it.
Not recently; not here. This shows the weakness of our democratic conventions. If Honourable Members do not behave honourably, there is not much that can be done about it, at least while they or their protectors ride high in the polls.
I googled uk nato special relationship and couldnt find relevant story #
The US think they can push us around and treat us like shit and we'll always be there to support them in their endless, stupid and pointless wars... well it's time to say no!
Boris has made a good but it's time to go further... They treat us with the respect we deserve as the only NATO member that always supports them in whatever stupid policy they have... Or we're done!
Could you please tell us, precisely what you are talking about?
US: We're going to go to war with Afghanistan (for no reason other than we want to bomb the crap out of someone)
France: Hmmmmmmmm....
Germany: Hmmmmmmmm....
UK: Lets Gooooooooooooo....!!!!!!!
The Germans (through the NATO ISAF) and French (through Ops Pamir and Herakles) were heavily involved in Afghanistan. The CdG battle group was also in the Indian Ocean contributing tacair for most of the 2001/2 winter.
The French stepped in the shit in the Uzbin Valley but, in stark contrast to certain other allied forces, did demonstrate a capacity to learn and change. They very sensibly stopped having anything to do with the ANA or any other Afghan forces which stopped intel leaks and Green-on-Blue incidents.
Of the many qualms I have about this tory administration, bribing voters is low down. Why so? Because it has gone on since the dawn of political democracy, in every country including ours.
I guess additionally that if I ranked the honesty and morality of professions, at the bottom would be bankers and estate agents. And then in a separate table all to themselves, far far beneath, in some infernal dungeon, there would be MPs and politicians.
In some ways the blatancy of this is to be welcomed. I'd rather see the cash above the table than underneath it.
Not recently; not here. .
I'm sorry but that's staggeringly naive.
I studied politics 40 years ago and corruption was systemic then, as now. Dear old Wilson had his beer and sandwich sessions with the unions (and the unions are some of the most corrupt organisations in the country), Thatcher had the newspaper magnates, which Tony Blair then aped with Murdoch, who gave him free holidays until he started shagging his wife. There have been motorways built and car factories (deLorean who was an utter crook for example), constituencies favoured, duck houses and cash for questions, and honour bribes, and blind eyes turned (Maxwell). I could go on and on and on and on and on.
Corruption in British politics has been utterly systemic for donkey's years. It's just that when the cash is flaunted above the table rather than underneath it you notice and seem shocked.
Of the many qualms I have about this tory administration, bribing voters is low down. Why so? Because it has gone on since the dawn of political democracy, in every country including ours.
I guess additionally that if I ranked the honesty and morality of professions, at the bottom would be bankers and estate agents. And then in a separate table all to themselves, far far beneath, in some infernal dungeon, there would be MPs and politicians.
In some ways the blatancy of this is to be welcomed. I'd rather see the cash above the table than underneath it.
Not recently; not here. .
I'm sorry but that's staggeringly naive.
I studied politics 40 years ago and corruption was systemic then, as now. Dear old Wilson had his beer and sandwich sessions with the unions (and the unions are some of the most corrupt organisations in the country), Thatcher had the newspaper magnates, which Tony Blair then aped with Murdoch, who gave him free holidays until he started shagging his wife. There have been motorways built and car factories (deLorean who was an utter crook for example), constituencies favoured, duck houses and cash for questions, and honour bribes, and blind eyes turned (Maxwell). I could go on and on and on and on and on.
Corruption in British politics has been utterly systemic for donkey's years. It's just that when the cash is flaunted above the table rather than underneath it you notice and seem shocked.
It has been ever thus.
Nah , Boris is taking it to the next level. This is something new.
Of the many qualms I have about this tory administration, bribing voters is low down. Why so? Because it has gone on since the dawn of political democracy, in every country including ours.
I guess additionally that if I ranked the honesty and morality of professions, at the bottom would be bankers and estate agents. And then in a separate table all to themselves, far far beneath, in some infernal dungeon, there would be MPs and politicians.
In some ways the blatancy of this is to be welcomed. I'd rather see the cash above the table than underneath it.
Not recently; not here. .
I'm sorry but that's staggeringly naive.
I studied politics 40 years ago and corruption was systemic then, as now. Dear old Wilson had his beer and sandwich sessions with the unions (and the unions are some of the most corrupt organisations in the country), Thatcher had the newspaper magnates, which Tony Blair then aped with Murdoch, who gave him free holidays until he started shagging his wife. There have been motorways built and car factories (deLorean who was an utter crook for example), constituencies favoured, duck houses and cash for questions, and honour bribes, and blind eyes turned (Maxwell). I could go on and on and on and on and on.
Corruption in British politics has been utterly systemic for donkey's years. It's just that when the cash is flaunted above the table rather than underneath it you notice and seem shocked.
It has been ever thus.
The change is the blatancy and shamelessness with which it is done nowadays under Johnson, and the lack of sanction (either from within the political system or from public opinion) when transgressions are made clear - for example Patel's breach of the ministerial code, or indeed the Government's willingness to breach international agreements and law, not to mention Johnson's own blatant dishonesty including to parliament (something that back in the eras you describe, was always when uncovered a resignation offence).
Of the many qualms I have about this tory administration, bribing voters is low down. Why so? Because it has gone on since the dawn of political democracy, in every country including ours.
I guess additionally that if I ranked the honesty and morality of professions, at the bottom would be bankers and estate agents. And then in a separate table all to themselves, far far beneath, in some infernal dungeon, there would be MPs and politicians.
In some ways the blatancy of this is to be welcomed. I'd rather see the cash above the table than underneath it.
Not recently; not here. .
I'm sorry but that's staggeringly naive.
I studied politics 40 years ago and corruption was systemic then, as now. Dear old Wilson had his beer and sandwich sessions with the unions (and the unions are some of the most corrupt organisations in the country), Thatcher had the newspaper magnates, which Tony Blair then aped with Murdoch, who gave him free holidays until he started shagging his wife. There have been motorways built and car factories (deLorean who was an utter crook for example), constituencies favoured, duck houses and cash for questions, and honour bribes, and blind eyes turned (Maxwell). I could go on and on and on and on and on.
Corruption in British politics has been utterly systemic for donkey's years. It's just that when the cash is flaunted above the table rather than underneath it you notice and seem shocked.
It has been ever thus.
Well, yes, if all those things are corrupt then corruption is endemic but it seems to me you are comparing apples to oranges. Beer and sandwiches dates from when governments would seek to end strikes, which ended under Mrs Thatcher, and which also involved negotiation with management. Partisan newspapers may be deplorable (or a fine illustration of the power of a free press) but again this is not the same thing. Government investment in marginal constituencies was a running gag in Yes, Minister but what we now see is systematic abuse.
Nearly 14C in the fog this morning; I've not seen that before - foggy mornings by the sea are normally cold
Nearly 16 here, sun breaking through some high cloud. Bodes well for the u3a discussion group I'm headed for later. In the Group Leader's garden, I hasten to add.
Must say I'm inclined to agree with Mr Cockney that Ms Cyclefree is somewhat over-egging the pudding this time, although Mr C is rather over-stating his case as well.
My point is that it's always been going on. It's just now more open and obvious.
Arguably that's a good thing.
I mentioned DeLorean as one tiny example (he wouldn't have liked the word 'tiny' being applied to his tool making). Do you really think that when Jim Callaghan handed over millions of taxpayers' money to a West Belfast suburb that had never made cars that it was done just to help poor people out of a hole? Of course not! It was bribery. They hoped to lift the area out of the hands of the IRA and win nationalist support. £84 million was pumped into it by the UK Gov't, the value of which today would be hundreds of millions of quid.
What we are seeing here is JDS. Just as everything the bad orange man did was worse than anyone else had done ever, so anything The present PM does is a huge leap worse than anyone else has ever done. It is, I suspect, a sign of the times and the way those invested in politics including and, probably especially, the media are becoming more and more hostile to their opponents.
The furore over the knee bending seems part of it. The antifa movement in both the USA and UK is another symptom.
Poll of major EU countries about whether the UK is 'an ally that shares our interests and values', 'a necessary partner who we must strategically cooperate with', 'DK', 'a rival' and 'an adversary'.
Denmark scores with 71% saying that we are an ally or necessary partner. Sweden (76%), Netherlands (68%), Poland (72%), and Portugal (73%) (the UK's oldest ally) also score very highly.
Just because we've left the EU doesn't mean that we need to turn our back on Europe.
French - 18% Germany 14%
😂
Lets put it this way, almost four times as many French people approve of Johnson than consider us an enemy
The last poll showed that he received 30%+ among all aspects of the Fr political spectrum (3rd highest among all politicians surveyed, wit neither of the two above being Macron & Le Pen).
A victory for all involved should be making him run, and win the French presidency, while stepping down in the UK.
I liked this post, but on thinking it over I’m a bit worried at the highly xenophobic implications. I mean, how could anyone hate even the French so much as to wish Johnson on them?
My point is that it's always been going on. It's just now more open and obvious.
Arguably that's a good thing.
I mentioned DeLorean as one tiny example (he wouldn't have liked the word 'tiny' being applied to his tool making). Do you really think that when Jim Callaghan handed over millions of taxpayers' money to a West Belfast suburb that had never made cars that it was done just to help poor people out of a hole? Of course not! It was bribery. They hoped to lift the area out of the hands of the IRA and win nationalist support. £84 million was pumped into it by the UK Gov't, the value of which today would be hundreds of millions of quid.
For goodness sake you must have lived under a stone if you think British politics has been clean.
It has been filthy dirty for donkeys years. Just that Boris is brazen enough to plonk his todger on the table and do it 'en plein air.'
Welcome to the real world.
I really do not see how De Lorean can be called a bribe. A failed investment, perhaps even a foolish one, but not a bribe, and surely its intentions were noble.
Of the many qualms I have about this tory administration, bribing voters is low down. Why so? Because it has gone on since the dawn of political democracy, in every country including ours.
I guess additionally that if I ranked the honesty and morality of professions, at the bottom would be bankers and estate agents. And then in a separate table all to themselves, far far beneath, in some infernal dungeon, there would be MPs and politicians.
In some ways the blatancy of this is to be welcomed. I'd rather see the cash above the table than underneath it.
Not recently; not here. .
I'm sorry but that's staggeringly naive.
I studied politics 40 years ago and corruption was systemic then, as now. Dear old Wilson had his beer and sandwich sessions with the unions (and the unions are some of the most corrupt organisations in the country), Thatcher had the newspaper magnates, which Tony Blair then aped with Murdoch, who gave him free holidays until he started shagging his wife. There have been motorways built and car factories (deLorean who was an utter crook for example), constituencies favoured, duck houses and cash for questions, and honour bribes, and blind eyes turned (Maxwell). I could go on and on and on and on and on.
Corruption in British politics has been utterly systemic for donkey's years. It's just that when the cash is flaunted above the table rather than underneath it you notice and seem shocked.
It has been ever thus.
Nah , Boris is taking it to the next level. This is something new.
He does seem to be pushing the envelope, though David Cameron has managed to trash his reputation some 4.5 years after leaving office... I do wonder if/when there will be a reckoning and whether it will be on BJ's watch,
My point is that it's always been going on. It's just now more open and obvious.
Arguably that's a good thing.
I mentioned DeLorean as one tiny example (he wouldn't have liked the word 'tiny' being applied to his tool making). Do you really think that when Jim Callaghan handed over millions of taxpayers' money to a West Belfast suburb that had never made cars that it was done just to help poor people out of a hole? Of course not! It was bribery. They hoped to lift the area out of the hands of the IRA and win nationalist support. £84 million was pumped into it by the UK Gov't, the value of which today would be hundreds of millions of quid.
For goodness sake you must have lived under a stone if you think British politics has been clean.
It has been filthy dirty for donkeys years. Just that Boris is brazen enough to plonk his todger on the table and do it 'en plein air.'
Welcome to the real world.
Surely it's arguable whether 'that sort of thing' can be described as 'bribery'. If an area is poor, economically, surely it makes sense to site a new factory there, and provide useful employment rather than leaving the brighter locals to find more questionable ways of making money.
Whether, in that particular case, it was a wise, or even informed, decision is a different matter.
My point is that it's always been going on. It's just now more open and obvious.
Arguably that's a good thing.
I mentioned DeLorean as one tiny example (he wouldn't have liked the word 'tiny' being applied to his tool making). Do you really think that when Jim Callaghan handed over millions of taxpayers' money to a West Belfast suburb that had never made cars that it was done just to help poor people out of a hole? Of course not! It was bribery. They hoped to lift the area out of the hands of the IRA and win nationalist support. £84 million was pumped into it by the UK Gov't, the value of which today would be hundreds of millions of quid.
For goodness sake you must have lived under a stone if you think British politics has been clean.
It has been filthy dirty for donkeys years. Just that Boris is brazen enough to plonk his todger on the table and do it 'en plein air.'
Welcome to the real world.
surely its intentions were noble.
That's one of the funniest posts in a long time.
It was an out-and-out bribe to the voters of West Belfast. Nothing noble about it.
This has been going on for donkeys years. The difference now is that there's far greater scrutiny. Whereas before you could often get away with bungs and backhanders, brown envelopes (Archer anyone?!) and channel money into constituency improvements now things like that tend to get exposed by pesky journalists and annoying internet memes.
So Boris, following Cummings, is being more blatant about it. He gets away with it because accountability was lost yonks back. The days when serious misdemeanours brought censure and resignation dissipated long before Boris Johnson's premiership.
I just don't know why anyone is remotely surprised. They can't have studied politics.
My point is that it's always been going on. It's just now more open and obvious.
Arguably that's a good thing.
I mentioned DeLorean as one tiny example (he wouldn't have liked the word 'tiny' being applied to his tool making). Do you really think that when Jim Callaghan handed over millions of taxpayers' money to a West Belfast suburb that had never made cars that it was done just to help poor people out of a hole? Of course not! It was bribery. They hoped to lift the area out of the hands of the IRA and win nationalist support. £84 million was pumped into it by the UK Gov't, the value of which today would be hundreds of millions of quid.
For goodness sake you must have lived under a stone if you think British politics has been clean.
It has been filthy dirty for donkeys years. Just that Boris is brazen enough to plonk his todger on the table and do it 'en plein air.'
Welcome to the real world.
Where does the saying, "a change in quantity produces a change in quality,"* come from?
I think it applies here. Yes, of course, there was corruption in the past, but a change in scale is still significant in itself, and the warping effect on our politics is not a good thing.
The qualitative change, of a lack of shame about it, is also a bad thing. Where that exists it helps to keep the problem under some degree of control. Now that is gone, then there will be no end to it.
And this will then have other negative knock-on effects. When people see that only certain favoured groups are being rewarded, it weakens any sense that we are all in this together and so then you will generally see a decline in voluntary compliance with the law generally, with paying tax, with just behaving reasonably so that we can all rub along together without unnecessary aggro.
With regards to the ongoing discussion on CRT. Apparently a US battalion commander is under investigation for comments including “If you are white, you are part of the problem”. It is, for those who know about these things, the 1-8 “fighting eagles infantry. His comments do not seem to be being met with unalloyed enthusiasm by this serving under him.
My point is that it's always been going on. It's just now more open and obvious.
Arguably that's a good thing.
I mentioned DeLorean as one tiny example (he wouldn't have liked the word 'tiny' being applied to his tool making). Do you really think that when Jim Callaghan handed over millions of taxpayers' money to a West Belfast suburb that had never made cars that it was done just to help poor people out of a hole? Of course not! It was bribery. They hoped to lift the area out of the hands of the IRA and win nationalist support. £84 million was pumped into it by the UK Gov't, the value of which today would be hundreds of millions of quid.
For goodness sake you must have lived under a stone if you think British politics has been clean.
It has been filthy dirty for donkeys years. Just that Boris is brazen enough to plonk his todger on the table and do it 'en plein air.'
Welcome to the real world.
Where does the saying, "a change in quantity produces a change in quality,"* come from?
I think it applies here. Yes, of course, there was corruption in the past, but a change in scale is still significant in itself, and the warping effect on our politics is not a good thing.
The qualitative change, of a lack of shame about it, is also a bad thing. Where that exists it helps to keep the problem under some degree of control. Now that is gone, then there will be no end to it.
And this will then have other negative knock-on effects. When people see that only certain favoured groups are being rewarded, it weakens any sense that we are all in this together and so then you will generally see a decline in voluntary compliance with the law generally, with paying tax, with just behaving reasonably so that we can all rub along together without unnecessary aggro.
Standards matter.
* Ah, seems to be Hegel.
If you want to talk about corruption in politics, look to local government. Much worse proportionately.
On the subject of reopening, what on earth would be the point of reopening schools, allowing full attendance at weddings (and presumably also funerals) and having massive indoor dining, and keeping restrictions like the rule of no more than six in a choir and mask wearing everywhere?
If that story is correct, it shows no one at all is paying attention to the science. Because there is no way on Earth you can twist data to justify that.
My point is that it's always been going on. It's just now more open and obvious.
Arguably that's a good thing.
I mentioned DeLorean as one tiny example (he wouldn't have liked the word 'tiny' being applied to his tool making). Do you really think that when Jim Callaghan handed over millions of taxpayers' money to a West Belfast suburb that had never made cars that it was done just to help poor people out of a hole? Of course not! It was bribery. They hoped to lift the area out of the hands of the IRA and win nationalist support. £84 million was pumped into it by the UK Gov't, the value of which today would be hundreds of millions of quid.
For goodness sake you must have lived under a stone if you think British politics has been clean.
It has been filthy dirty for donkeys years. Just that Boris is brazen enough to plonk his todger on the table and do it 'en plein air.'
Welcome to the real world.
I really do not see how De Lorean can be called a bribe. A failed investment, perhaps even a foolish one, but not a bribe, and surely its intentions were noble.
Indeed, given there was not a chance of that part of Belfast returning an no who supported the government, it was the very opposite of a bribe.
My point is that it's always been going on. It's just now more open and obvious.
Arguably that's a good thing.
I mentioned DeLorean as one tiny example (he wouldn't have liked the word 'tiny' being applied to his tool making). Do you really think that when Jim Callaghan handed over millions of taxpayers' money to a West Belfast suburb that had never made cars that it was done just to help poor people out of a hole? Of course not! It was bribery. They hoped to lift the area out of the hands of the IRA and win nationalist support. £84 million was pumped into it by the UK Gov't, the value of which today would be hundreds of millions of quid.
For goodness sake you must have lived under a stone if you think British politics has been clean.
It has been filthy dirty for donkeys years. Just that Boris is brazen enough to plonk his todger on the table and do it 'en plein air.'
Welcome to the real world.
I really do not see how De Lorean can be called a bribe. A failed investment, perhaps even a foolish one, but not a bribe, and surely its intentions were noble.
Indeed, given there was not a chance of that part of Belfast returning an no who supported the government, it was the very opposite of a bribe.
It was an attempt to move Belfast back to the future...
My point is that it's always been going on. It's just now more open and obvious.
Arguably that's a good thing.
I mentioned DeLorean as one tiny example (he wouldn't have liked the word 'tiny' being applied to his tool making). Do you really think that when Jim Callaghan handed over millions of taxpayers' money to a West Belfast suburb that had never made cars that it was done just to help poor people out of a hole? Of course not! It was bribery. They hoped to lift the area out of the hands of the IRA and win nationalist support. £84 million was pumped into it by the UK Gov't, the value of which today would be hundreds of millions of quid.
For goodness sake you must have lived under a stone if you think British politics has been clean.
It has been filthy dirty for donkeys years. Just that Boris is brazen enough to plonk his todger on the table and do it 'en plein air.'
Welcome to the real world.
Where does the saying, "a change in quantity produces a change in quality,"* come from?
I think it applies here. Yes, of course, there was corruption in the past, but a change in scale is still significant in itself, and the warping effect on our politics is not a good thing.
The qualitative change, of a lack of shame about it, is also a bad thing. Where that exists it helps to keep the problem under some degree of control. Now that is gone, then there will be no end to it.
And this will then have other negative knock-on effects. When people see that only certain favoured groups are being rewarded, it weakens any sense that we are all in this together and so then you will generally see a decline in voluntary compliance with the law generally, with paying tax, with just behaving reasonably so that we can all rub along together without unnecessary aggro.
Standards matter.
* Ah, seems to be Hegel.
If you want to talk about corruption in politics, look to local government. Much worse proportionately.
And often the result of one party being in control for a long period.
@Keir_Starmer has chosen this moment to pledge that a Labour government will introduce gender / sex self-ID. I think he's completely misread the mood of the nation & ignored the legitimate concerns of many women & LGB people. It's unforgivable.
My point is that it's always been going on. It's just now more open and obvious.
Arguably that's a good thing.
I mentioned DeLorean as one tiny example (he wouldn't have liked the word 'tiny' being applied to his tool making). Do you really think that when Jim Callaghan handed over millions of taxpayers' money to a West Belfast suburb that had never made cars that it was done just to help poor people out of a hole? Of course not! It was bribery. They hoped to lift the area out of the hands of the IRA and win nationalist support. £84 million was pumped into it by the UK Gov't, the value of which today would be hundreds of millions of quid.
For goodness sake you must have lived under a stone if you think British politics has been clean.
It has been filthy dirty for donkeys years. Just that Boris is brazen enough to plonk his todger on the table and do it 'en plein air.'
Welcome to the real world.
Where does the saying, "a change in quantity produces a change in quality,"* come from?
I think it applies here. Yes, of course, there was corruption in the past, but a change in scale is still significant in itself, and the warping effect on our politics is not a good thing.
The qualitative change, of a lack of shame about it, is also a bad thing. Where that exists it helps to keep the problem under some degree of control. Now that is gone, then there will be no end to it.
And this will then have other negative knock-on effects. When people see that only certain favoured groups are being rewarded, it weakens any sense that we are all in this together and so then you will generally see a decline in voluntary compliance with the law generally, with paying tax, with just behaving reasonably so that we can all rub along together without unnecessary aggro.
Standards matter.
* Ah, seems to be Hegel.
If you want to talk about corruption in politics, look to local government. Much worse proportionately.
And that's one reason why we should worry about the decline in local journalism. How do we expose local corruption in the absence of nosy local journalists?
@Keir_Starmer has chosen this moment to pledge that a Labour government will introduce gender / sex self-ID. I think he's completely misread the mood of the nation & ignored the legitimate concerns of many women & LGB people. It's unforgivable.
With regards to the ongoing discussion on CRT. Apparently a US battalion commander is under investigation for comments including “If you are white, you are part of the problem”. It is, for those who know about these things, the 1-8 “fighting eagles infantry. His comments do not seem to be being met with unalloyed enthusiasm by this serving under him.
That quoted comment from the commander is, for want of a better word, racist.
My point is that it's always been going on. It's just now more open and obvious.
Arguably that's a good thing.
I mentioned DeLorean as one tiny example (he wouldn't have liked the word 'tiny' being applied to his tool making). Do you really think that when Jim Callaghan handed over millions of taxpayers' money to a West Belfast suburb that had never made cars that it was done just to help poor people out of a hole? Of course not! It was bribery. They hoped to lift the area out of the hands of the IRA and win nationalist support. £84 million was pumped into it by the UK Gov't, the value of which today would be hundreds of millions of quid.
For goodness sake you must have lived under a stone if you think British politics has been clean.
It has been filthy dirty for donkeys years. Just that Boris is brazen enough to plonk his todger on the table and do it 'en plein air.'
Welcome to the real world.
surely its intentions were noble.
That's one of the funniest posts in a long time.
It was an out-and-out bribe to the voters of West Belfast. Nothing noble about it.
This has been going on for donkeys years. The difference now is that there's far greater scrutiny. Whereas before you could often get away with bungs and backhanders, brown envelopes (Archer anyone?!) and channel money into constituency improvements now things like that tend to get exposed by pesky journalists and annoying internet memes.
So Boris, following Cummings, is being more blatant about it. He gets away with it because accountability was lost yonks back. The days when serious misdemeanours brought censure and resignation dissipated long before Boris Johnson's premiership.
I just don't know why anyone is remotely surprised. They can't have studied politics.
An out-and-out bribe to vote for a party which did not stand candidates?
My point is that it's always been going on. It's just now more open and obvious.
Arguably that's a good thing.
I mentioned DeLorean as one tiny example (he wouldn't have liked the word 'tiny' being applied to his tool making). Do you really think that when Jim Callaghan handed over millions of taxpayers' money to a West Belfast suburb that had never made cars that it was done just to help poor people out of a hole? Of course not! It was bribery. They hoped to lift the area out of the hands of the IRA and win nationalist support. £84 million was pumped into it by the UK Gov't, the value of which today would be hundreds of millions of quid.
For goodness sake you must have lived under a stone if you think British politics has been clean.
It has been filthy dirty for donkeys years. Just that Boris is brazen enough to plonk his todger on the table and do it 'en plein air.'
Welcome to the real world.
Where does the saying, "a change in quantity produces a change in quality,"* come from?
I think it applies here. Yes, of course, there was corruption in the past, but a change in scale is still significant in itself, and the warping effect on our politics is not a good thing.
The qualitative change, of a lack of shame about it, is also a bad thing. Where that exists it helps to keep the problem under some degree of control. Now that is gone, then there will be no end to it.
And this will then have other negative knock-on effects. When people see that only certain favoured groups are being rewarded, it weakens any sense that we are all in this together and so then you will generally see a decline in voluntary compliance with the law generally, with paying tax, with just behaving reasonably so that we can all rub along together without unnecessary aggro.
Standards matter.
* Ah, seems to be Hegel.
If you want to talk about corruption in politics, look to local government. Much worse proportionately.
And often the result of one party being in control for a long period.
Yes. Definitely. Quite frighteningly blatant in many cases I have seen.
My point is that it's always been going on. It's just now more open and obvious.
Arguably that's a good thing.
I mentioned DeLorean as one tiny example (he wouldn't have liked the word 'tiny' being applied to his tool making). Do you really think that when Jim Callaghan handed over millions of taxpayers' money to a West Belfast suburb that had never made cars that it was done just to help poor people out of a hole? Of course not! It was bribery. They hoped to lift the area out of the hands of the IRA and win nationalist support. £84 million was pumped into it by the UK Gov't, the value of which today would be hundreds of millions of quid.
For goodness sake you must have lived under a stone if you think British politics has been clean.
It has been filthy dirty for donkeys years. Just that Boris is brazen enough to plonk his todger on the table and do it 'en plein air.'
Welcome to the real world.
Where does the saying, "a change in quantity produces a change in quality,"* come from?
I think it applies here. Yes, of course, there was corruption in the past, but a change in scale is still significant in itself, and the warping effect on our politics is not a good thing.
The qualitative change, of a lack of shame about it, is also a bad thing. Where that exists it helps to keep the problem under some degree of control. Now that is gone, then there will be no end to it.
And this will then have other negative knock-on effects. When people see that only certain favoured groups are being rewarded, it weakens any sense that we are all in this together and so then you will generally see a decline in voluntary compliance with the law generally, with paying tax, with just behaving reasonably so that we can all rub along together without unnecessary aggro.
Standards matter.
* Ah, seems to be Hegel.
If you want to talk about corruption in politics, look to local government. Much worse proportionately.
And that's one reason why we should worry about the decline in local journalism. How do we expose local corruption in the absence of nosy local journalists?
Yes. Local journalism has been hollowed out, by their advertising revenue now going to EBay, Rightmove and Facebook. Even large towns now often have only a handful of paid journalists. There’s also an increasing amount of activism masquerading as journalism, in the space that’s opened up.
@Keir_Starmer has chosen this moment to pledge that a Labour government will introduce gender / sex self-ID. I think he's completely misread the mood of the nation & ignored the legitimate concerns of many women & LGB people. It's unforgivable.
With regards to the ongoing discussion on CRT. Apparently a US battalion commander is under investigation for comments including “If you are white, you are part of the problem”. It is, for those who know about these things, the 1-8 “fighting eagles infantry. His comments do not seem to be being met with unalloyed enthusiasm by this serving under him.
That quoted comment from the commander is, for want of a better word, racist.
The same statement made frequently on the internal social media for the soldiers concerned.
@Keir_Starmer has chosen this moment to pledge that a Labour government will introduce gender / sex self-ID. I think he's completely misread the mood of the nation & ignored the legitimate concerns of many women & LGB people. It's unforgivable.
@Keir_Starmer has chosen this moment to pledge that a Labour government will introduce gender / sex self-ID. I think he's completely misread the mood of the nation & ignored the legitimate concerns of many women & LGB people. It's unforgivable.
Anyone else having weird problems with the site not quoting and randomly signing them out?
Seems OK here. I'm no expert but it sounds like the sort of problem you'd get from stale cached data. Try clearing your browser cache, and perhaps the vanillaforums and politicalbetting cookies as well if you know how to do that.
@Keir_Starmer has chosen this moment to pledge that a Labour government will introduce gender / sex self-ID. I think he's completely misread the mood of the nation & ignored the legitimate concerns of many women & LGB people. It's unforgivable.
Maybe he's retreating into core vote territory, like Hague did, to shore up his tenuous leadership position.
If you were to draw up a list of the top ten things the Labour leader should be thinking about it wouldn't even cross your mind to put it on there.
There are therefore two possible conclusions.
(1) Starmer has built such a capable team to support him that they are able to cover lots of ground, and make decisions beyond their core priorities.
(2) Starmer is stuck in the mire of internal Labour party politics, and so his priorities are those of internal Labour party politics, and so it is imperative that he has a position on an issue like self-ID.
Poll of major EU countries about whether the UK is 'an ally that shares our interests and values', 'a necessary partner who we must strategically cooperate with', 'DK', 'a rival' and 'an adversary'.
Denmark scores with 71% saying that we are an ally or necessary partner. Sweden (76%), Netherlands (68%), Poland (72%), and Portugal (73%) (the UK's oldest ally) also score very highly.
Just because we've left the EU doesn't mean that we need to turn our back on Europe.
French - 18% Germany 14%
😂
Lets put it this way, almost four times as many French people approve of Johnson than consider us an enemy
The last poll showed that he received 30%+ among all aspects of the Fr political spectrum (3rd highest among all politicians surveyed, wit neither of the two above being Macron & Le Pen).
A victory for all involved should be making him run, and win the French presidency, while stepping down in the UK.
May be that’s why they approve of him… because they are our enemies?
"When the first list of towns[1] was announced, 39 out of the 45 were in constituencies with a Tory MP. "
Does this sound unreasonable? There are 166 more Tory MPs than Labour ones. The main Labour strongholds are inner cities & leafy University towns & London & the South Wales Valleys.
I'd expect a list of crap English towns to be overwhelmingly represented by Tory MPs.
-------
Also, it seems to me vastly more healthy that voters should expect something from the MPs, even if it is derided as 'pork barrel politics'.
This is far better than the situation that pertains in South Wales, where the voters of Ebbw Vale or Merthyr Tydfil loyally return Labour MP by stonking majority, election after election. The voters are still as poor as they have ever been.
Nothing good ever happens if you live in a safe seat. That is the rules of the game.
In short an example of an apartment building under 18m. Government insists the building owner must pay the £1m to make safe, owner says £100k each please leaseholders. Three times the government have whipped its MPs to vote down amendments which would make law what it says should happen - that owners pay.
Why is this? The donations from property developers of course have nothing to do with it... As "leftie propogandists" like Sir Peter Bottomley point out "...these people cannot pay...so the government needs to face up to their responsibilities, bail out these people and then government can make arrangements to chase those responsible."
Openly corrupt. Morally questionable. Politically inept. Its no wonder the Blue Labour Cult is so popular - people like clowns
@Keir_Starmer has chosen this moment to pledge that a Labour government will introduce gender / sex self-ID. I think he's completely misread the mood of the nation & ignored the legitimate concerns of many women & LGB people. It's unforgivable.
Maybe he's retreating into core vote territory, like Hague did, to shore up his tenuous leadership position.
If you were to draw up a list of the top ten things the Labour leader should be thinking about it wouldn't even cross your mind to put it on there.
There are therefore two possible conclusions.
(1) Starmer has built such a capable team to support him that they are able to cover lots of ground, and make decisions beyond their core priorities.
(2) Starmer is stuck in the mire of internal Labour party politics, and so his priorities are those of internal Labour party politics, and so it is imperative that he has a position on an issue like self-ID.
Yup! He’s seemingly more concerned with a few thousand Corbynites threatening to vote Green, than the few million Conservative voters he need to win back if he wants to be PM.
@Keir_Starmer has chosen this moment to pledge that a Labour government will introduce gender / sex self-ID. I think he's completely misread the mood of the nation & ignored the legitimate concerns of many women & LGB people. It's unforgivable.
Maybe he's retreating into core vote territory, like Hague did, to shore up his tenuous leadership position.
If you were to draw up a list of the top ten things the Labour leader should be thinking about it wouldn't even cross your mind to put it on there.
There are therefore two possible conclusions.
(1) Starmer has built such a capable team to support him that they are able to cover lots of ground, and make decisions beyond their core priorities.
(2) Starmer is stuck in the mire of internal Labour party politics, and so his priorities are those of internal Labour party politics, and so it is imperative that he has a position on an issue like self-ID.
Or
(3) Starmer, though a capable barrister, is not actually very good at politics.
I googled uk nato special relationship and couldnt find relevant story #
The US think they can push us around and treat us like shit and we'll always be there to support them in their endless, stupid and pointless wars... well it's time to say no!
Boris has made a good but it's time to go further... They treat us with the respect we deserve as the only NATO member that always supports them in whatever stupid policy they have... Or we're done!
Could you please tell us, precisely what you are talking about?
US: We're going to go to war with Afghanistan (for no reason other than we want to bomb the crap out of someone)
France: Hmmmmmmmm....
Germany: Hmmmmmmmm....
UK: Lets Gooooooooooooo....!!!!!!!
The Germans (through the NATO ISAF) and French (through Ops Pamir and Herakles) were heavily involved in Afghanistan. The CdG battle group was also in the Indian Ocean contributing tacair for most of the 2001/2 winter.
The French stepped in the shit in the Uzbin Valley but, in stark contrast to certain other allied forces, did demonstrate a capacity to learn and change. They very sensibly stopped having anything to do with the ANA or any other Afghan forces which stopped intel leaks and Green-on-Blue incidents.
The French and Belgians are also very active against Islamists in the Sahel.
Personally, I think that NATO is a cold war relic, and long overdue for disbanding.
"When the first list of towns[1] was announced, 39 out of the 45 were in constituencies with a Tory MP. "
Does this sound unreasonable? There are 166 more Tory MPs than Labour ones. The main Labour strongholds are inner cities & leafy University towns & London & the South Wales Valleys.
I'd expect a list of crap English towns to be overwhelmingly represented by Tory MPs.
-------
Also, it seems to me vastly more healthy that voters should expect something from the MPs, even if it is derided as 'pork barrel politics'.
This is far better than the situation that pertains in South Wales, where the voters of Ebbw Vale or Merthyr Tydfil loyally return Labour MP by stonking majority, election after election. The voters are still as poor as they have ever been.
Nothing good ever happens if you live in a safe seat. That is the rules of the game.
There should be no safe seats.
My own will be safer still after the boundary review. Real job for life for some parachuted in drone.
With regards to the ongoing discussion on CRT. Apparently a US battalion commander is under investigation for comments including “If you are white, you are part of the problem”. It is, for those who know about these things, the 1-8 “fighting eagles infantry. His comments do not seem to be being met with unalloyed enthusiasm by this serving under him.
That quoted comment from the commander is, for want of a better word, racist.
Another case of 'they are exactly what they accuse you of'.
I've generally switched off from all this (by logging out of twitter) but some things you can't help notice, like the Yale psychiatrist who admitted to fantasies about shooting white people in a public university seminar. Maybe she should get together with the battalion commander cited above.
All normal. Just people getting on with their jobs. Nothing at all to see here. Or - if you are Philip Thompson - it is the rebirth of Western Civilisation!
Of the many qualms I have about this tory administration, bribing voters is low down. Why so? Because it has gone on since the dawn of political democracy, in every country including ours.
I guess additionally that if I ranked the honesty and morality of professions, at the bottom would be bankers and estate agents. And then in a separate table all to themselves, far far beneath, in some infernal dungeon, there would be MPs and politicians.
In some ways the blatancy of this is to be welcomed. I'd rather see the cash above the table than underneath it.
Not recently; not here. .
I'm sorry but that's staggeringly naive.
I studied politics 40 years ago and corruption was systemic then, as now. Dear old Wilson had his beer and sandwich sessions with the unions (and the unions are some of the most corrupt organisations in the country), Thatcher had the newspaper magnates, which Tony Blair then aped with Murdoch, who gave him free holidays until he started shagging his wife. There have been motorways built and car factories (deLorean who was an utter crook for example), constituencies favoured, duck houses and cash for questions, and honour bribes, and blind eyes turned (Maxwell). I could go on and on and on and on and on.
Corruption in British politics has been utterly systemic for donkey's years. It's just that when the cash is flaunted above the table rather than underneath it you notice and seem shocked.
It has been ever thus.
Well, yes, if all those things are corrupt then corruption is endemic but it seems to me you are comparing apples to oranges. Beer and sandwiches dates from when governments would seek to end strikes, which ended under Mrs Thatcher, and which also involved negotiation with management. Partisan newspapers may be deplorable (or a fine illustration of the power of a free press) but again this is not the same thing. Government investment in marginal constituencies was a running gag in Yes, Minister but what we now see is systematic abuse.
If we're quoting Yes, Minister then surely this is an example of an irregular verb?
I am aiming help at towns that need it. You are investing in marginal constituencies. He is corruptly engaged in systematic abuse.
Politics For All @PoliticsForAlI Police cars revolving lightPolice cars revolving light | NEW: Unlimited numbers of people WILL be allowed at weddings from June 21
@Keir_Starmer has chosen this moment to pledge that a Labour government will introduce gender / sex self-ID. I think he's completely misread the mood of the nation & ignored the legitimate concerns of many women & LGB people. It's unforgivable.
Maybe he's retreating into core vote territory, like Hague did, to shore up his tenuous leadership position.
If you were to draw up a list of the top ten things the Labour leader should be thinking about it wouldn't even cross your mind to put it on there.
There are therefore two possible conclusions.
(1) Starmer has built such a capable team to support him that they are able to cover lots of ground, and make decisions beyond their core priorities.
(2) Starmer is stuck in the mire of internal Labour party politics, and so his priorities are those of internal Labour party politics, and so it is imperative that he has a position on an issue like self-ID.
Good morning
The question for Labour is simply do they want to be relevant (which is essential for our democracy) or are they moving to the margins of relevance with all the political ramifications that would involve
I just cannot understand how Starmer cannot see by taking the knee, backing a controversial issue few understand, and even remaining silent over Ollie Robinson, is politically naive
@Keir_Starmer has chosen this moment to pledge that a Labour government will introduce gender / sex self-ID. I think he's completely misread the mood of the nation & ignored the legitimate concerns of many women & LGB people. It's unforgivable.
Maybe he's retreating into core vote territory, like Hague did, to shore up his tenuous leadership position.
If you were to draw up a list of the top ten things the Labour leader should be thinking about it wouldn't even cross your mind to put it on there.
There are therefore two possible conclusions.
(1) Starmer has built such a capable team to support him that they are able to cover lots of ground, and make decisions beyond their core priorities.
(2) Starmer is stuck in the mire of internal Labour party politics, and so his priorities are those of internal Labour party politics, and so it is imperative that he has a position on an issue like self-ID.
Yup! He’s seemingly more concerned with a few thousand Corbynites threatening to vote Green, than the few million Conservative voters he need to win back if he wants to be PM.
I think it's less about voters at elections, then it is about internal Labour party interest groups that might coalesce around a replacement leader.
@Keir_Starmer has chosen this moment to pledge that a Labour government will introduce gender / sex self-ID. I think he's completely misread the mood of the nation & ignored the legitimate concerns of many women & LGB people. It's unforgivable.
@Keir_Starmer has chosen this moment to pledge that a Labour government will introduce gender / sex self-ID. I think he's completely misread the mood of the nation & ignored the legitimate concerns of many women & LGB people. It's unforgivable.
Maybe he's retreating into core vote territory, like Hague did, to shore up his tenuous leadership position.
Is that core vote territory, though?
If he loses most of Mumsnet but keeps most of Stonewall, what is the balance?
I don't think that he is doing it for electoral advantage, more that he sees it as the only viable legal way forward for Trans. Indeed wasn't it government policy until fairly recently, only dropped last year?
Very strong words, in private - what @10DowningStreet wanted. Suspect Biden might be more even-handed in public between U.K. & EU. Biden also being positive on US-U.K. relationship. We’ll see. No joint press conference expected after today’s talks
I googled uk nato special relationship and couldnt find relevant story #
The US think they can push us around and treat us like shit and we'll always be there to support them in their endless, stupid and pointless wars... well it's time to say no!
Boris has made a good but it's time to go further... They treat us with the respect we deserve as the only NATO member that always supports them in whatever stupid policy they have... Or we're done!
Could you please tell us, precisely what you are talking about?
US: We're going to go to war with Afghanistan (for no reason other than we want to bomb the crap out of someone)
France: Hmmmmmmmm....
Germany: Hmmmmmmmm....
UK: Lets Gooooooooooooo....!!!!!!!
The Germans (through the NATO ISAF) and French (through Ops Pamir and Herakles) were heavily involved in Afghanistan. The CdG battle group was also in the Indian Ocean contributing tacair for most of the 2001/2 winter.
The French stepped in the shit in the Uzbin Valley but, in stark contrast to certain other allied forces, did demonstrate a capacity to learn and change. They very sensibly stopped having anything to do with the ANA or any other Afghan forces which stopped intel leaks and Green-on-Blue incidents.
The French and Belgians are also very active against Islamists in the Sahel.
Personally, I think that NATO is a cold war relic, and long overdue for disbanding.
With regards to the ongoing discussion on CRT. Apparently a US battalion commander is under investigation for comments including “If you are white, you are part of the problem”. It is, for those who know about these things, the 1-8 “fighting eagles infantry. His comments do not seem to be being met with unalloyed enthusiasm by this serving under him.
That quoted comment from the commander is, for want of a better word, racist.
Another case of 'they are exactly what they accuse you of'.
I've generally switched off from all this (by logging out of twitter) but some things you can't help notice, like the Yale psychiatrist who admitted to fantasies about shooting white people in a public university seminar. Maybe she should get together with the battalion commander cited above.
All normal. Just people getting on with their jobs. Nothing at all to see here. Or - if you are Philip Thompson - it is the rebirth of Western Civilisation!
There was a good piece in an Australian magazine the other day, which argues well the point that a lot of the problems in Western society are much more about class than race.
@Keir_Starmer has chosen this moment to pledge that a Labour government will introduce gender / sex self-ID. I think he's completely misread the mood of the nation & ignored the legitimate concerns of many women & LGB people. It's unforgivable.
Maybe he's retreating into core vote territory, like Hague did, to shore up his tenuous leadership position.
If you were to draw up a list of the top ten things the Labour leader should be thinking about it wouldn't even cross your mind to put it on there.
There are therefore two possible conclusions.
(1) Starmer has built such a capable team to support him that they are able to cover lots of ground, and make decisions beyond their core priorities.
(2) Starmer is stuck in the mire of internal Labour party politics, and so his priorities are those of internal Labour party politics, and so it is imperative that he has a position on an issue like self-ID.
Or
(3) Starmer, though a capable barrister, is not actually very good at politics.
Its this. No political antennae. No gut feel for what or how people think. Yes he is moral, learned, considered. But crap at politics. The direct opposite of Johnson.
The problem for Labour is that they could put anyone into the job and they would lose 30-40% of their effectiveness having to drag round the dead weight of a hard left still determined to be in self-righteous opposition forever.
@Keir_Starmer has chosen this moment to pledge that a Labour government will introduce gender / sex self-ID. I think he's completely misread the mood of the nation & ignored the legitimate concerns of many women & LGB people. It's unforgivable.
Maybe he's retreating into core vote territory, like Hague did, to shore up his tenuous leadership position.
Is that core vote territory, though?
If he loses most of Mumsnet but keeps most of Stonewall, what is the balance?
I don't think that he is doing it for electoral advantage, more that he sees it as the only viable legal way forward for Trans. Indeed wasn't it government policy until fairly recently, only dropped last year?
Somehow I don't think that Keir Starmer - as leader of the labour party going through troubled times - is in any position to take a completely objective and apolitical view of this issue.
My point is that it's always been going on. It's just now more open and obvious.
Arguably that's a good thing.
I mentioned DeLorean as one tiny example (he wouldn't have liked the word 'tiny' being applied to his tool making). Do you really think that when Jim Callaghan handed over millions of taxpayers' money to a West Belfast suburb that had never made cars that it was done just to help poor people out of a hole? Of course not! It was bribery. They hoped to lift the area out of the hands of the IRA and win nationalist support. £84 million was pumped into it by the UK Gov't, the value of which today would be hundreds of millions of quid.
For goodness sake you must have lived under a stone if you think British politics has been clean.
It has been filthy dirty for donkeys years. Just that Boris is brazen enough to plonk his todger on the table and do it 'en plein air.'
Welcome to the real world.
I really do not see how De Lorean can be called a bribe. A failed investment, perhaps even a foolish one, but not a bribe, and surely its intentions were noble.
There is a thing now with Public Sector projects that the contractor carrying out the work must make a contribution for "Social Value" and this will make up 10% of the award decision. Now you may think Social Value would be to employ local people, clean up an area, help a local charity etc and if you read the Government guidance on Social Value that is exactly what it says. However if you want to get the full 10% mark then you have to provide something free to the Public Sector body, such as IT equipment or the like. The higher the value of the "Social Value" donation the higher mark you get. If you state that 4 of your guys are going to volunteer for a weekend to help a local charity you get a very low score, if you say that you are going to provide £10,000 of IT equipment you get a high score.
I mentioned DeLorean as one tiny example (he wouldn't have liked the word 'tiny' being applied to his tool making). Do you really think that when Jim Callaghan handed over millions of taxpayers' money to a West Belfast suburb that had never made cars that it was done just to help poor people out of a hole? Of course not! It was bribery. They hoped to lift the area out of the hands of the IRA and win nationalist support. £84 million was pumped into it by the UK Gov't, the value of which today would be hundreds of millions of quid.
They are at it again. The job of designing and building the UK's new uncrewed combat aircraft has been given to Spirit in Belfast on the basis that they used to make bits for Bombardier's business jets.
@Keir_Starmer has chosen this moment to pledge that a Labour government will introduce gender / sex self-ID. I think he's completely misread the mood of the nation & ignored the legitimate concerns of many women & LGB people. It's unforgivable.
Maybe he's retreating into core vote territory, like Hague did, to shore up his tenuous leadership position.
If you were to draw up a list of the top ten things the Labour leader should be thinking about it wouldn't even cross your mind to put it on there.
There are therefore two possible conclusions.
(1) Starmer has built such a capable team to support him that they are able to cover lots of ground, and make decisions beyond their core priorities.
(2) Starmer is stuck in the mire of internal Labour party politics, and so his priorities are those of internal Labour party politics, and so it is imperative that he has a position on an issue like self-ID.
Yup! He’s seemingly more concerned with a few thousand Corbynites threatening to vote Green, than the few million Conservative voters he need to win back if he wants to be PM.
I think it's less about voters at elections, then it is about internal Labour party interest groups that might coalesce around a replacement leader.
Oh quite possibly, but he needs to stay above the fray. The only person who genuinely looks like they could be a leader at the moment is Burnham, and he’s not an MP.
What he needs to be putting all his efforts towards, is identifying the first 60 or 70 seats he needs to win at the next election, and piling resources into them now. Pretty much anything else is a waste of his time. Oh, and start with Batley and Spen. Oh, and no more unnecessary by-elections, okay?
I googled uk nato special relationship and couldnt find relevant story #
The US think they can push us around and treat us like shit and we'll always be there to support them in their endless, stupid and pointless wars... well it's time to say no!
Boris has made a good but it's time to go further... They treat us with the respect we deserve as the only NATO member that always supports them in whatever stupid policy they have... Or we're done!
Could you please tell us, precisely what you are talking about?
US: We're going to go to war with Afghanistan (for no reason other than we want to bomb the crap out of someone)
France: Hmmmmmmmm....
Germany: Hmmmmmmmm....
UK: Lets Gooooooooooooo....!!!!!!!
The Germans (through the NATO ISAF) and French (through Ops Pamir and Herakles) were heavily involved in Afghanistan. The CdG battle group was also in the Indian Ocean contributing tacair for most of the 2001/2 winter.
The French stepped in the shit in the Uzbin Valley but, in stark contrast to certain other allied forces, did demonstrate a capacity to learn and change. They very sensibly stopped having anything to do with the ANA or any other Afghan forces which stopped intel leaks and Green-on-Blue incidents.
The French and Belgians are also very active against Islamists in the Sahel.
Personally, I think that NATO is a cold war relic, and long overdue for disbanding.
You want to help Putin that much?
Ideally it should have been disbanded around 1990.
@Keir_Starmer has chosen this moment to pledge that a Labour government will introduce gender / sex self-ID. I think he's completely misread the mood of the nation & ignored the legitimate concerns of many women & LGB people. It's unforgivable.
Maybe he's retreating into core vote territory, like Hague did, to shore up his tenuous leadership position.
Is that core vote territory, though?
If he loses most of Mumsnet but keeps most of Stonewall, what is the balance?
I don't think that he is doing it for electoral advantage, more that he sees it as the only viable legal way forward for Trans. Indeed wasn't it government policy until fairly recently, only dropped last year?
Has he actually chosen this moment to pledge anything new? Or has some random twitterati just posted he has.......
My 1 min google suggests that is an existing pledge but no new announcements or emphasis made.
With regards to the ongoing discussion on CRT. Apparently a US battalion commander is under investigation for comments including “If you are white, you are part of the problem”. It is, for those who know about these things, the 1-8 “fighting eagles infantry. His comments do not seem to be being met with unalloyed enthusiasm by this serving under him.
That quoted comment from the commander is, for want of a better word, racist.
Another case of 'they are exactly what they accuse you of'.
I've generally switched off from all this (by logging out of twitter) but some things you can't help notice, like the Yale psychiatrist who admitted to fantasies about shooting white people in a public university seminar. Maybe she should get together with the battalion commander cited above.
All normal. Just people getting on with their jobs. Nothing at all to see here. Or - if you are Philip Thompson - it is the rebirth of Western Civilisation!
There was a good piece in an Australian magazine the other day, which argues well the point that a lot of the problems in Western society are much more about class than race.
Comments
Why should we put up with the US pushing us around and treating us like we're a piece if shit?
It's time to tell the US to treat us with respect or we're out of NATO and they can get on with it with the French!!!! See how far they get lol!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb8nHYCdUVc
#
Spen - Why hello there, Spen! Woke problem, you say? Why, yes, I guess awful is the world for it, isn't it?
Batley - You said it, old bean! Just terrible how woke is sapping the very vitals of our civilization and heritage!
Spen - I hear you, loud and clear! Nothing disturbs me more, than endangering our vitals with a lot of woke!
Batley - I say, Spen, do you have a clue what I'm talking about, that is, what's what with woke?
Spen - Of course, old thing. It's what's keeping you woke up with worry and making you so irritable!
Boris has made a good but it's time to go further... They treat us with the respect we deserve as the only NATO member that always supports them in whatever stupid policy they have... Or we're done!
The last poll showed that he received 30%+ among all aspects of the Fr political spectrum (3rd highest among all politicians surveyed, wit neither of the two above being Macron & Le Pen).
A victory for all involved should be making him run, and win the French presidency, while stepping down in the UK.
Wilson did NOT go along with LBJ's urging him to send British troops to Vietnam or otherwise join in hostilities. And Thatcher did NOT go along with Reagan's (half-hearted) desire to soft-peddle the Falkland Island crisis.
But "defy" hardly does either situation justice. Certainly neither caused serious rupture in UK-US relations.
France: Hmmmmmmmm....
Germany: Hmmmmmmmm....
UK: Lets Gooooooooooooo....!!!!!!!
US: We're going to go with Iraq (for no reason whatever other than we want to bomb the crap out of someone)
France: Hmmmmmmmm....
Germany: Hmmmmmmmm.....
UK: Lets Gooooooooooo....
We are always there when the US wants to do something stupid.. It's time we said no more (unless they give us the respect we deserve)
So when did the Prime Minister do THAT?
theatlantic.com - THE MINISTER OF CHAOS - Boris Johnson knows exactly what he’s doing.
By Tom McTague
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/07/boris-johnson-minister-of-chaos/619010/
". . . . Johnson believes there remains a “world-weariness” in the government that has to be “squeezed out,” one of his ministers told me. Johnsonism, an aide said, was partly about “puffing our chest out and saying, ‘We’re Britain.’ ” (Several of Johnson’s advisers agreed to be candid in exchange for anonymity.) In an early phone call with Joe Biden, an aide told me, Johnson said he disliked the phrase special relationship after the president used it. To Johnson it seemed needy and weak."
So Boris Johnson is "puffing" - semantics NOT substance.
I'm convinced there needs to be a "settling up" between the US and UK before we can truly move on from Blair and Iraq... Eventually a UK PM will have to defy the US if only to be able to move the country on from the Blair/Bush era....
https://nypost.com/2021/06/09/adams-in-lead-but-wiley-surges-following-aoc-endorsement-poll/?utm_campaign=iphone_nyp&utm_source=com.microsoft.Office.Outlook.compose-shareextension
Eric Adams holds a 6-point lead in the Democratic primary for mayor, but a surging Maya Wiley has emerged as his chief rival after landing the endorsement of lefty firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, according to a new poll released Wednesday.
Adams, the Brooklyn Borough President, got support from 23 percent of the 725 likely Democratic voters in the survey conducted by PIX 11/Emerson College on Monday and Tuesday.
The support for Adams — who has made public safety a cornerstone of his campaign — increased 3 percentage points from 20 percent in the prior Pix 11/Emerson College poll, released on May 25.
But Wiley, the former chief counsel to Mayor Bill de Blasio, leapfrogged into second place with 17 percent of the vote, nearly doubling the nine percent since she registered in the prior PIX 11/Emerson College poll released on May 25.
Her jump comes just days after she was endorsed on Saturday June 5 by Ocasio-Cortez. . . .
Entrepreneur Andrew Yang garnered the backing of 15 percent of Democrats — maintaining his third place position from the last poll.
The other big development was the drop in support for former city Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia. She sank nine points, going from the top of the heap, with 21 percent support, to just 12 percent in this latest poll.
City Comptroller Scott Stringer — whose campaign has been rocked by sexual harassment claims — rounded out the top five with the backing of 9 percent of Democratic voters.
Nonprofit executive Dianne Morales, whose campaign imploded amid staff upheaval, saw her support crater from 7 percent of respondents to 2 percent.
Meanwhile the big spending campaigns of Shaun Dovan and Ray McGuire are also at the back of the pack. Donovan, the former director of city and federal housing agencies, received 4 percent support and retired Citigroup executive McGuire 3 percent.
Another 12 percent of Democrats said they were undecided. Primary day is June 22 and 10 days of early voting begins on Saturday.
Pix 11/Emerson College also conducted a rare survey on the Republican primary for mayor. The results: 33 percent of Republicans favored Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa versus 27 percent for taxi-bodega advocate Fernando Mateo — with a large 40 percent saying they were still undecided. The poll queried 250 Republicans and has a 6.2 percentage point margin of error.
Crime was cited as the top issue by about one-third of all of the 1,162 voters surveyed. Another 12 percent cited police reform as a pressing issue.
Emerson College polling director Spencer Kimball said the explosive crime issue in the city is likely aiding the campaign of Adams, a retired police officer, since he has made it his signature issue. . . .
Methinks this is a win-win for US and UK, especially Boris has a serious negotiating partner who actual does take the "special relationship" seriously, and NOT as a one-way street.
NOR is the Good Friday Agreement his sole priority, though it IS a biggie, and NOT just because of the Irish that's in 'em.
> based on latest polling, race for mayor is still fluid (a Gotham tradition) but is starting to gel
> winner of the June Democratic primary will end up winning the general election to become next Mayor of NYC, given the weakness of the 2-candidate Republican field, highlighted by 40% of likely GOP voters still undecided (only 12% of Democrats are still undecided).
> At of the Dem field, neither Sean Donovan nor Raymond McGuire has gained the slightest bit of traction since the race began.
> Speaking of dust, two progressive hopefuls are biting it hard: Scott Springer, who looked like a potential winner early in the race, wounded by one sexual harassment allegation, and brought down by another; and Dianne Morales the most "woke" of all the candidates who was hoist on her own protest banner when her campaign staff formed a union and went out on strike against her.
> Kathryn Garcia is in her own category; endorsed by New York Times AND the Daily News as the most qualified, experienced and competent big city manager in the race; but except for short-lived poll lead, she's NOT been able to obtain any momentum, in large part because she is a pretty low-key kind of politico, certainly by Big Apple standards.
> Andrew Yang, early front runner, has faded significantly in the past two months, until he's in 3rd place in the latest Emerson College poll; he still has a fair amount of 2nd-choice strength, but he needs a game-changer, and soon.
> By contrast, Maya Wiley got her game-changer this week with AOC's endorsement; really Ocasio's support is ratification of fact that Wiley is effectively last-woman standing on the progressive side, with Springer & Morales dead in the water, and Garcia insufficiently progressive / too establishment.
> Eric Adams is the last but certainly not last on the list, indeed he's #1 in the Emerson poll and also in other recent polling. Despite some questions & fuzziness in his official record (such as where he actually lives) as Black former NYPD officer and current Brooklyn Borough President Adams has both a sizable personal political base AND a compelling argument in age of BLM and at time when crime is top concern of NYC voters.
Right now, this looks like Eric Adam's to lose. He appears to be a good bet to make it to the final round of the RCV process, when it's just two candidates left and it call comes down to who has the most votes, first preferences + transfers from other hopefuls.
IF the final is Adams v Wiley, then my guess is that he beats her because he'll be the choice of most Blacks AND most White voters. On the other hand, if the choice in the end is Adams v Yang, then Black will go overwhelming for Adams, while many progressives AND moderates will also go his route.
Caveat - still enough time for a bombshell of some sort to have an impact, or even a severe stumble by one or more of the top candidates.
Seattle has become the first major American city to reach its goal of fully vaccinating 70% of residents 12 and older, helping push Washington toward its overall vaccination and reopening targets.
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan touted the milestone in a news release Wednesday, saying the city has surpassed San Francisco to take the lead in COVID-19 vaccine jabs.
“Seattle is America’s most vaccinated major city, and it would not have been possible without our residents’ commitment to protecting themselves, their loved ones and our entire community,” Durkan said in the statement.
Durkan said 78% of Seattleites 12 and up have started the vaccination process. The city itself has administered nearly 250,000 vaccinations for about 131,000 individuals, the mayor’s office said.
The vaccinations have taken place at adult family homes, affordable housing buildings, community pop-up clinics, sporting events and other locations. The city plans to shut down its mass-vaccination center at Lumen Field at the end of the day on Saturday.
At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Jay Inslee praised Seattle’s efforts and said the state is nearing its own goal of getting at least 70% of people 16 and older to receive at least one vaccine dose.
“This is an amazing moment in our state,” Inslee said. “We are now close to being able to essentially fully reopen.”
Inslee said 66.4% of state residents have received at least an initial vaccine dose. That total was boosted in part by the state adding in 152,000 residents who received vaccines through the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs, the governor said.
Inslee reiterated the state will allow reopening from COVID-19 restrictions on June 30, even if the vaccination target is not met, but sooner if it is reached.
Statewide, more than 7.3 million vaccine doses have been given, according to the state Department of Health. . . .
Inslee said there are “some early signs” that the state’s recently launched lottery prizes — including a $1 million jackpot— for Washington residents who have been vaccinated has resulted in an uptick in vaccine appointments. But, he added, “we can’t say anything definitive yet about the impact.”
The first lottery drawings were held Tuesday, Inslee said.
Inslee also announced that after June 30, some restrictions will remain in place for large indoor facilities.
He said such venues that can hold crowds of 10,000 or more people will remain limited to 75% capacity. There will be no physical-distancing requirements, but attendees will have to abide by masking guidelines
https://boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/2021-06-08-Yorkshire-and-the-Humber-Initial-Proposals-3.-Batley-and-Hipperholme-BC.pdf
Though "the Hipperholme" sounds like the kind of place Batley & Spen would have headlined in their heyday.
EDIT - on the map new constituency looks sorta like that new pasta shape. Or a prehistoric bird.
Adams 1.72
Yang 3.15
Wiley 7
Garcia 9.6
All are marginally bigger in the equally thin Mayor market except for Maya Wiley who is a point shorter at 6. Perhaps someone saw the poll but not the other market.
I guess additionally that if I ranked the honesty and morality of professions, at the bottom would be bankers and estate agents. And then in a separate table all to themselves, far far beneath, in some infernal dungeon, there would be MPs and politicians.
In some ways the blatancy of this is to be welcomed. I'd rather see the cash above the table than underneath it.
It is the same constituency every POTUS kisses the arse of and this buffoon is now using it to stick his fucking oar in about the EU while a guest in our country. Frankly it’s about time a British PM told a POTUS to do one. I am not a fan of Mr. Johnson but on this he is nailed on. How dare a President of any nation come to our country and do this?
The French stepped in the shit in the Uzbin Valley but, in stark contrast to certain other allied forces, did demonstrate a capacity to learn and change. They very sensibly stopped having anything to do with the ANA or any other Afghan forces which stopped intel leaks and Green-on-Blue incidents.
I studied politics 40 years ago and corruption was systemic then, as now. Dear old Wilson had his beer and sandwich sessions with the unions (and the unions are some of the most corrupt organisations in the country), Thatcher had the newspaper magnates, which Tony Blair then aped with Murdoch, who gave him free holidays until he started shagging his wife. There have been motorways built and car factories (deLorean who was an utter crook for example), constituencies favoured, duck houses and cash for questions, and honour bribes, and blind eyes turned (Maxwell). I could go on and on and on and on and on.
Corruption in British politics has been utterly systemic for donkey's years. It's just that when the cash is flaunted above the table rather than underneath it you notice and seem shocked.
It has been ever thus.
Must say I'm inclined to agree with Mr Cockney that Ms Cyclefree is somewhat over-egging the pudding this time, although Mr C is rather over-stating his case as well.
Arguably that's a good thing.
I mentioned DeLorean as one tiny example (he wouldn't have liked the word 'tiny' being applied to his tool making). Do you really think that when Jim Callaghan handed over millions of taxpayers' money to a West Belfast suburb that had never made cars that it was done just to help poor people out of a hole? Of course not! It was bribery. They hoped to lift the area out of the hands of the IRA and win nationalist support. £84 million was pumped into it by the UK Gov't, the value of which today would be hundreds of millions of quid.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7610875/John-DeLorean-drug-smuggler-conned-Government-millions-new-film-reveals.html
For goodness sake you must have lived under a stone if you think British politics has been clean.
It has been filthy dirty for donkeys years. Just that Boris is brazen enough to plonk his todger on the table and do it 'en plein air.'
Welcome to the real world.
It is, I suspect, a sign of the times and the way those invested in politics including and, probably especially, the media are becoming more and more hostile to their opponents.
The furore over the knee bending seems part of it. The antifa movement in both the USA and UK is another symptom.
Whether, in that particular case, it was a wise, or even informed, decision is a different matter.
It was an out-and-out bribe to the voters of West Belfast. Nothing noble about it.
This has been going on for donkeys years. The difference now is that there's far greater scrutiny. Whereas before you could often get away with bungs and backhanders, brown envelopes (Archer anyone?!) and channel money into constituency improvements now things like that tend to get exposed by pesky journalists and annoying internet memes.
So Boris, following Cummings, is being more blatant about it. He gets away with it because accountability was lost yonks back. The days when serious misdemeanours brought censure and resignation dissipated long before Boris Johnson's premiership.
I just don't know why anyone is remotely surprised. They can't have studied politics.
I think it applies here. Yes, of course, there was corruption in the past, but a change in scale is still significant in itself, and the warping effect on our politics is not a good thing.
The qualitative change, of a lack of shame about it, is also a bad thing. Where that exists it helps to keep the problem under some degree of control. Now that is gone, then there will be no end to it.
And this will then have other negative knock-on effects. When people see that only certain favoured groups are being rewarded, it weakens any sense that we are all in this together and so then you will generally see a decline in voluntary compliance with the law generally, with paying tax, with just behaving reasonably so that we can all rub along together without unnecessary aggro.
Standards matter.
* Ah, seems to be Hegel.
If that story is correct, it shows no one at all is paying attention to the science. Because there is no way on Earth you can twist data to justify that.
https://twitter.com/BluskyeAllison/status/1402868379225104384?s=20
Mr. Sandpit, aye. And doubtless he sees himself as an anti-racist.
It's a cult of bullshit, followed by idiots and indulged by some smart people who should know better.
A good comment I read a while ago compared this sort of cultural phenomenon to Tolkien's view of evil: it can only taint and destroy, not create.
There are therefore two possible conclusions.
(1) Starmer has built such a capable team to support him that they are able to cover lots of ground, and make decisions beyond their core priorities.
(2) Starmer is stuck in the mire of internal Labour party politics, and so his priorities are those of internal Labour party politics, and so it is imperative that he has a position on an issue like self-ID.
I only saw one leaked-to-the-press report in a newspaper, that immediately vanished.
Eurogoon twitter was awash with allegations that it was UK Govt dishonestly playing silly buggers as no supply existed anyway ie the usual stuff.
"When the first list of towns[1] was announced, 39 out of the 45 were in constituencies with a Tory MP. "
Does this sound unreasonable? There are 166 more Tory MPs than Labour ones. The main Labour strongholds are inner cities & leafy University towns & London & the South Wales Valleys.
I'd expect a list of crap English towns to be overwhelmingly represented by Tory MPs.
-------
Also, it seems to me vastly more healthy that voters should expect something from the MPs, even if it is derided as 'pork barrel politics'.
This is far better than the situation that pertains in South Wales, where the voters of Ebbw Vale or Merthyr Tydfil loyally return Labour MP by stonking majority, election after election. The voters are still as poor as they have ever been.
Nothing good ever happens if you live in a safe seat. That is the rules of the game.
In short an example of an apartment building under 18m. Government insists the building owner must pay the £1m to make safe, owner says £100k each please leaseholders. Three times the government have whipped its MPs to vote down amendments which would make law what it says should happen - that owners pay.
Why is this? The donations from property developers of course have nothing to do with it... As "leftie propogandists" like Sir Peter Bottomley point out "...these people cannot pay...so the government needs to face up to their responsibilities, bail out these people and then government can make arrangements to chase those responsible."
Openly corrupt. Morally questionable. Politically inept. Its no wonder the Blue Labour Cult is so popular - people like clowns
(3) Starmer, though a capable barrister, is not actually very good at politics.
Personally, I think that NATO is a cold war relic, and long overdue for disbanding.
My own will be safer still after the boundary review. Real job for life for some parachuted in drone.
I've generally switched off from all this (by logging out of twitter) but some things you can't help notice, like the Yale psychiatrist who admitted to fantasies about shooting white people in a public university seminar. Maybe she should get together with the battalion commander cited above.
All normal. Just people getting on with their jobs. Nothing at all to see here. Or - if you are Philip Thompson - it is the rebirth of Western Civilisation!
I am aiming help at towns that need it.
You are investing in marginal constituencies.
He is corruptly engaged in systematic abuse.
Politics For All
@PoliticsForAlI
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The question for Labour is simply do they want to be relevant (which is essential for our democracy) or are they moving to the margins of relevance with all the political ramifications that would involve
I just cannot understand how Starmer cannot see by taking the knee, backing a controversial issue few understand, and even remaining silent over Ollie Robinson, is politically naive
He seems a prisoner in a prison he cannot escape
If he loses most of Mumsnet but keeps most of Stonewall, what is the balance?
Very strong words, in private - what @10DowningStreet wanted. Suspect Biden might be more even-handed in public between U.K. & EU. Biden also being positive on US-U.K. relationship. We’ll see. No joint press conference expected after today’s talks
https://twitter.com/Mij_Europe/status/1402879017364201472?s=20
https://meanjin.com.au/essays/in-defence-of-the-bad-white-working-class/
The problem for Labour is that they could put anyone into the job and they would lose 30-40% of their effectiveness having to drag round the dead weight of a hard left still determined to be in self-righteous opposition forever.
it just legalised bribary to win a contract.
What he needs to be putting all his efforts towards, is identifying the first 60 or 70 seats he needs to win at the next election, and piling resources into them now. Pretty much anything else is a waste of his time. Oh, and start with Batley and Spen. Oh, and no more unnecessary by-elections, okay?
My 1 min google suggests that is an existing pledge but no new announcements or emphasis made.
I would agree that class is a bigger issue than race, but they do heavily interest.