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Truss continues to be a 65% chance in the next PM betting – politicalbetting.com

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  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,785
    DougSeal said:

    “dead-named”?!?!!! In this context? We all owe Leon a massive apology if that’s now a thing on a…erm…blog message board.
    I'm not sure "Philip" is sufficient to ID anybody IRL!

    But anyway ...
  • Harsh but fair.


    TSE, what do you think the outcome of the next election will be with Liz as PM?
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,614
    edited July 2022

    One of Maggie Thatcher’s Destructions Of The NHS (I think it was the 18th or 19th complete destruction), was that, where possible, generics should be used instead of the more expensive branded drugs.
    AFAIK there are no generic insulins.

    These, if i read the paper right, are an average of Humalog, Humulin, Apidra, Novorapid, Novolin, Lantus, Levemir.

    Having said that, if generics help get more from the budget, then I have no problem at all with that as long as there are no catastrophic downsides.

    During Covid we have seen some real benefits from having a far more unified system. Remember what a difficult time Germany had with the fragmented ownership of patients' medical data and the extra stages that introduced into the process of getting an injection?

  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 12,746

    We disagree, but never mind. Turning to the "hate-filled" nature of the curry, do you want to explain what you meant?
    Maybe the mango chutney was secretly a member of the KKK? Or perhaps it was just that the masala had anger management issues?
  • eekeek Posts: 29,731
    Pagan2 said:

    It seems simple to me

    Having 10 people gathered for a curry is either dangerous for covid spread or its not.

    If its dangerous and needs to be discouraged it doesn't matter why they are gathered. Surprisingly covid doesnt say "oh they are on a political campaign so will leave them alone".

    This I think is the point bart is making. At the same time politicians of all stripes and colours were telling families they couldnt get together because its too dangerous for covid spread they were exempting themselves for reasons
    Equally - restaurants were open and 10 people needed to be fed after working all day.

    Bart really is clutching at straws
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 62,476
    Mr. Eagles, if Truss wins, will you be retaining your membership?
  • eek said:

    Equally - restaurants were open and 10 people needed to be fed after working all day.

    Bart really is clutching at straws
    Sir Keir artfully informed us that all of the restaurants were closed
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,781
    edited July 2022
    Meanwhile, I don't know about anybody else but I find the race to the bottom on migration policy from Truss and Sunak pretty unedifying. Tickling the metaphorical clitoris of Tory members by dog-whistling over who can be toughest on migrants/asylum seekers (in the context of a complete failure of policy in recent years) tells me all I need to know about both the candidates and what they think will seduce Tory members to vote for them. What a shower.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,614
    FF43 said:

    Labour's Brexit policy is sensible: marginal but likely important mitigation of some of the worst damage. My issue is with Starmer's rhetoric. That's not "success" and it insults people's intelligence to pretend it is.

    I would prefer him to say, "Yes we are out of the EU, but we can do things differently. My government will always aim for good relations with the EU and our neighbours where we can"

    He won't win over the most committed Brexiteers but they aren't going to vote for him anyway. You don't want to triangulate everything.
    Policy and implementation will be different things.

    If he does a Blair and gives concessions to be 'nice' for no real benefit in return, then he will correctly get his nuts roasted.

    The EuCo puts the value of 'nice' at zero.
  • Sir Keir artfully informed us that all of the restaurants were closed
    Are you calling him a liar?
  • StereodogStereodog Posts: 845
    eek said:

    Equally - restaurants were open and 10 people needed to be fed after working all day.

    Bart really is clutching at straws
    It’s arrant nonsense. Many laws and regulations allow some people to do things and not others. If I have a blue badge I can park on double yellow lines and if I don’t I can’t.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830

    I flagged posts that dead-named me in a way that's uncivil and against the rules.

    If you want to disagree with what I say, then disagree with it. Don't use my real life name to troll me.
    Given that the link is there to be made unless the entire site is deleted, including from Web archives and way back machines, it would be prudent surely to work on being about 10% less psychotic in your current postings? Hate filled korma is a bridge too far, before elevenses on a Monday.
  • eekeek Posts: 29,731

    Sir Keir artfully informed us that all of the restaurants were closed
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10771551/Keir-faces-fresh-Beergate-scrutiny-claims-hotel-did-not-serve-food-9pm.html

    I suspect it very much depends on the time they were eating - which could easily have been after last food orders
  • eek said:

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10771551/Keir-faces-fresh-Beergate-scrutiny-claims-hotel-did-not-serve-food-9pm.html

    I suspect it very much depends on the time they were eating - which could easily have been after last food orders
    The Mail was really desperate for this to work out for them
  • eekeek Posts: 29,731

    Meanwhile, I don't know about anybody else but I find the race to the bottom on migration policy from Truss and Sunak pretty unedifying. Tickling the metaphorical clitoris of Tory members by dog-whistling over who can be toughest on migrants/asylum seekers (in the context of a complete failure of policy in recent years) tells me all I need to know about both the candidates and what they think will seduce Tory members to vote for them. What a shower.

    Given that any plan to handle migrants is doomed to complete failure it's easy to see why both people are going hard on the impossible dreams.
  • Are you calling him a liar?
    Artist is the mot du jour
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,781
    It's obvious to me that although Durham police found that Starmer had not broken the law and had no case to answer, he should nevertheless be locked up in Durham Prison and the key thrown away.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 44,617
    edited July 2022
    kinabalu said:

    It's barely 10 am and you are already - like yesterday - overheating and losing your grip on language. I do hope we don't see "frogs" or "krauts" before lunchtime.
    He might be on holiday in Oz and past the lagershed?

    And as for frogs we saw lots of baby ones locally a few days ago. Adorable.

    PS The GRaun has a very nice looking recipe for a Maltese tomato and tuna sandwich to be served with kraut or other pickle. Yum. Is it lunchtime yet?
  • DriverDriver Posts: 5,560
    Stereodog said:

    It’s arrant nonsense. Many laws and regulations allow some people to do things and not others. If I have a blue badge I can park on double yellow lines and if I don’t I can’t.
    Rules written by politicians specifically to allow politicians to do things that everyone else can't deserve the greatest scrutiny.
  • eekeek Posts: 29,731

    It's obvious to me that although Durham police found that Starmer had not broken the law and had no case to answer, he should nevertheless be locked up in Durham Prison and the key thrown away.

    It's a Category A Women's prison.

    Has a very good Coffee Shop though...
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 12,746
    eek said:

    It's a Category A Women's prison.

    Has a very good Coffee Shop though...
    That could be a great segue into an argument on SKS’s views on the treatment of Trans prisoners. Fill your boots!
  • Northern_AlNorthern_Al Posts: 8,781
    eek said:

    It's a Category A Women's prison.

    Has a very good Coffee Shop though...
    Didn't know that. Starmer would have to transition first, then.
  • Alphabet_SoupAlphabet_Soup Posts: 3,587

    Harsh but fair.


    How about "If she plays her cards right she can have me"?
  • Driver said:

    Rules written by politicians specifically to allow politicians to do things that everyone else can't deserve the greatest scrutiny.
    So are you saying we should have suspended the by-election?
  • DougSealDougSeal Posts: 12,746

    Didn't know that. Starmer would have to transition first, then.
    And as if by magic 😉
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 29,844

    Well I wasn't campaigning for a political campaign so I was banned from having socially distanced meals. Keir was so he could. One law for him, one law for us - and he wanted to keep it that was as it would be "reckless" for you or I to have meals like that.
    What is truly baffling is that you are suggesting by means of obsession that this was something made available only to Starmer. Johnson was at it too - campaign photos of him in the pub on the campaign trail as one example.

    Dislike the law? Fine. But you're foaming on only about Starmer and that makes it an excuse for a vendetta.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 79,216
    Interesting line from Truss

    Whitehall will not be picking winners and losers under my watch.

    Presume that means there'll be no onshore wind ban unlike Sunak.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830

    Harsh but fair.


    Have to cover all the options

    I think that is your fourth disclosed Balshore Investments poll in 2 weeks? Random sample indeed.
  • eekeek Posts: 29,731
    Pulpstar said:

    Interesting line from Truss

    Whitehall will not be picking winners and losers under my watch.

    Presume that means there'll be no onshore wind ban unlike Sunak.

    Does that mean we will have 2 years of zero decisions being made - because if Whitehall can't pick winners and losers it won't be able to make any decisions at all
  • DriverDriver Posts: 5,560

    So are you saying we should have suspended the by-election?
    No, I'm saying those who argued for restrictions shouldn't have written exemptions for themselves into them.
  • DriverDriver Posts: 5,560

    What is truly baffling is that you are suggesting by means of obsession that this was something made available only to Starmer. Johnson was at it too - campaign photos of him in the pub on the campaign trail as one example.

    Dislike the law? Fine. But you're foaming on only about Starmer and that makes it an excuse for a vendetta.
    Boris removed the restrictions (albeit far too late) and Sir Keir objected to that.
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 29,844
    Driver said:

    No, I'm saying those who argued for restrictions shouldn't have written exemptions for themselves into them.
    This was an exemption specifically for Starmer? And now written by Starmer!

    Blimey.
  • Driver said:

    No, I'm saying those who argued for restrictions shouldn't have written exemptions for themselves into them.
    But it was the Tories that introduced it
  • I hope everyone is stocked up to enjoy National Wine and Cheese Day today

    https://nationaltoday.com/national-wine-and-cheese-day/
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 30,138
    Pulpstar said:

    Interesting line from Truss

    Whitehall will not be picking winners and losers under my watch.

    Presume that means there'll be no onshore wind ban unlike Sunak.

    Truss might also be binning the Boris-Cummings DARPA-lite (did it ever get off the ground?). It is hard to be sure from that tweet. It sounds like the sort of thing Mrs Thatcher would have said and perhaps that is really the point.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,785
    Carnyx said:

    He might be on holiday in Oz and past the lagershed?

    And as for frogs we saw lots of baby ones locally a few days ago. Adorable.

    PS The GRaun has a very nice looking recipe for a Maltese tomato and tuna sandwich to be served with kraut or other pickle. Yum. Is it lunchtime yet?
    I like frogs on every level - in a pond or on a plate.
  • DriverDriver Posts: 5,560
    edited July 2022

    But it was the Tories that introduced it
    With the full support of Labour and Sir Keir who demanded stricter restrictions for longer and complained when the restrictions were lifted (even though that was months too late).

    If Sir Keir had done his job and opposed the government, we wouldn't have had so many disastrous lockdowns for so long.

    Alternatively, he could have said "going for a curry is technically legal, but we won't do it because it would make me a raging hypocrite".
  • Driver said:

    With the full support of Labour and Sir Keir who demanded stricter restrictions for longer and complained when the restrictions were lifter (even though that was months too late).

    If Sir Keir had done his job and opposed the government, we wouldn't have had so many disastrous lockdowns for so long.
    But why are you having a go at Keir and not the Tories then, it seems weird. Boris Johnson put this policy into position voted for it and campaigned. Why is Keir the issue?
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 24,254

    It's obvious to me that although Durham police found that Starmer had not broken the law and had no case to answer, he should nevertheless be locked up in Durham Prison and the key thrown away.

    I would have thought him being put in stocks with BigG and Nadine Dorries invited to throw rotten fruit and veg at him sufficient punishment.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    Driver said:

    With the full support of Labour and Sir Keir who demanded stricter restrictions for longer and complained when the restrictions were lifted (even though that was months too late).

    If Sir Keir had done his job and opposed the government, we wouldn't have had so many disastrous lockdowns for so long.

    Alternatively, he could have said "going for a curry is technically legal, but we won't do it because it would make me a raging hypocrite".
    He didn't go for a curry.
  • DriverDriver Posts: 5,560

    But why are you having a go at Keir and not the Tories then, it seems weird. Boris Johnson put this policy into position voted for it and campaigned. Why is Keir the issue?
    Because even though it was many months too late, Boris and the Tories did eventually remove the restrictions when Sir Keir was demanding they be kept in place.

    I also haven't seen any evidence of Boris going for a meal with a group of more than six people he didn't live with after a day of campaigning.
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 34,560
    MattW said:

    AFAIK there are no generic insulins.

    These, if i read the paper right, are an average of Humalog, Humulin, Apidra, Novorapid, Novolin, Lantus, Levemir.

    Having said that, if generics help get more from the budget, then I have no problem at all with that as long as there are no catastrophic downsides.

    During Covid we have seen some real benefits from having a far more unified system. Remember what a difficult time Germany had with the fragmented ownership of patients' medical data and the extra stages that introduced into the process of getting an injection?

    Over the past few months I have been quite impressed with how easily the various health professionals I have had to deal with have been able to access my health records. Even the ambulance staff who picked me up when I had a fall could access my records on the iPad they carried. And I've had a printout of my health records which I got when I started having lots of appointments with different people and it is very comprehensive indeed. Couldn't find anything missing!
  • DriverDriver Posts: 5,560
    IshmaelZ said:

    He didn't go for a curry.
    Eh?
  • eekeek Posts: 29,731
    Driver said:

    Eh?
    It was a takeaway...
  • Is there a gallery where Keir keeps his old promises and pledges?

    I'm sure @bigjohnowls would love to visit and admire the "art"
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 29,844
    Anyway, tonight's hate fest on BBC1 should be worth a laugh. The riven Tories can't help hurling invective both at each other and their own government's record. Its as if nobody learned the lessons from the Miliband / Corbyn era of Labour.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 79,216
    Bozza might have been the countries' worst ever PM but his Sir Beer Korma line has definitely stuck well.
  • Driver said:

    Because even though it was many months too late, Boris and the Tories did eventually remove the restrictions when Sir Keir was demanding they be kept in place.

    I also haven't seen any evidence of Boris going for a meal with a group of more than six people he didn't live with after a day of campaigning.
    So hold on, even though Boris Johnson on the same day went to a pub and campaigned indoors, introduced the law in the first place, was given a FPN for an illegal gathering...

    ...it is really Keir Starmer to blame because he had a legal campaign event where he had to eat at the end of the day

    Okay then
  • DriverDriver Posts: 5,560

    So hold on, even though Boris Johnson on the same day went to a pub and campaigned indoors, introduced the law in the first place, was given a FPN for an illegal gathering...

    ...it is really Keir Starmer to blame because he had a legal campaign event where he had to eat at the end of the day

    Okay then
    Bringing Boris's risible FPN into it rather distracts from the point, and shows that you just can't cope with your boy Sir Keir Starmer being a raging hypocrite. Whatever anyone else did or didn't do doesn't excuse that hypocrisy.
  • StereodogStereodog Posts: 845
    Driver said:

    Because even though it was many months too late, Boris and the Tories did eventually remove the restrictions when Sir Keir was demanding they be kept in place.

    I also haven't seen any evidence of Boris going for a meal with a group of more than six people he didn't live with after a day of campaigning.
    The law exempted any volunteer out campaigning in that election. It’s not just politicians it’s any activist. Unless you’re suggesting that absolutely no-one should have been able to eat together indoors in those circumstances then I can’t understand what your point is. It seems to me that you’re real point was that you hated the idea of there being any pandemic related restrictions.
  • Driver said:

    Bringing Boris's risible FPN into it rather distracts from the point, and shows that you just can't cope with your boy Sir Keir Starmer being a raging hypocrite. Whatever anyone else did or didn't do doesn't excuse that hypocrisy.
    But how is he a hypocrite, I don't understand.

    There was a by-election that he faced, he faced it and campaigned.

    Are you saying he was wrong to campaign? Was Johnson also therefore wrong to campaign?
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 55,161
    The prospects of a Sunak win are deterioating sharply. I was surprised that there was not more effort at the weekend just past. It may be that the ODI and GP distracted me excessively but there seems to have been very little effort to reach the electorate in this contest. Maybe it was going on online in social media etc.

    Tonight Rishi really has to persuade the electorate that Truss's economic plans are both irresponsible and unlikely to work. The risk is that if he loses he gives Labour its attack lines for the next 2 years. I suspect what he has to say will have far more traction with the electorate as a whole than with Conservative Party Members.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    Driver said:

    Eh?
    HE DID NOT GO FOR A CURRY

    Can't see how to simplify this.
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 29,844

    But how is he a hypocrite, I don't understand.

    There was a by-election that he faced, he faced it and campaigned.

    Are you saying he was wrong to campaign? Was Johnson also therefore wrong to campaign?
    He's saying that he hates Starmer because reasons.
  • DriverDriver Posts: 5,560
    Stereodog said:

    The law exempted any volunteer out campaigning in that election. It’s not just politicians it’s any activist. Unless you’re suggesting that absolutely no-one should have been able to eat together indoors in those circumstances then I can’t understand what your point is. It seems to me that you’re real point was that you hated the idea of there being any pandemic related restrictions.
    (1) Activists are "them" in the "one rule for us, one rule for them"

    (2) My point is that people who wanted restrictions - and who would go on to object to the removal of restrictions months later - shouldn't have been taking advantage of loopholes in the restrictions.
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 29,844
    Don't forget boys and girls that we still have to have the full enquiry (public? statutory? parliamentary? I can't remember what had been agreed) into Covid - and lockdown will be a big chunk of it.

    Lockdown was awful but it was needed. I hope that lessons can be learned about the experience from the "oh fuck" moment when the powers that be realised it was needed to the very end when the last mask mandates were lifted. Because we can't repeat the most egregiously stupid bits again next time.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 79,216
    DavidL said:

    The prospects of a Sunak win are deterioating sharply. I was surprised that there was not more effort at the weekend just past. It may be that the ODI and GP distracted me excessively but there seems to have been very little effort to reach the electorate in this contest. Maybe it was going on online in social media etc.

    Tonight Rishi really has to persuade the electorate that Truss's economic plans are both irresponsible and unlikely to work. The risk is that if he loses he gives Labour its attack lines for the next 2 years. I suspect what he has to say will have far more traction with the electorate as a whole than with Conservative Party Members.

    Prison hulks for asylum seekers not going to turn it round ?
  • DriverDriver Posts: 5,560

    But how is he a hypocrite, I don't understand.
    You don't think it's hypocrisy to demand restrictions on ordinary people and then to take advantage of a loophole in those restrictions to do what you want to do?

    Remember, we aren't talking about campaigning. We're talking about going for a meal after campaigning.
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,785
    Driver said:

    With the full support of Labour and Sir Keir who demanded stricter restrictions for longer and complained when the restrictions were lifted (even though that was months too late).

    If Sir Keir had done his job and opposed the government, we wouldn't have had so many disastrous lockdowns for so long.

    Alternatively, he could have said "going for a curry is technically legal, but we won't do it because it would make me a raging hypocrite".
    I am not a Labour supporter but the simple fact is that Starmer didn't break the law, Johnson did. Everyone knew this, but it was an attempt by the Daily Mail et al to try and play to the "they are all the same so Johnson's behaviour is OK" narrative.

    In days past, when PMs had honour, a PM would have resigned for less. Johnson apologists astonish me. When are they going to get it that we have never had a less appropriate person to be PM? He has trashed the Conservative Party's reputation on so many levels in the same way as Trump has done for the Republicans. As a person who is right of centre and one who was a Conservative Party activist for many years I see it as pretty tragic.
  • DriverDriver Posts: 5,560
    IshmaelZ said:

    HE DID NOT GO FOR A CURRY

    Can't see how to simplify this.
    Eh? What did he do then, if not go for a curry?
  • UnpopularUnpopular Posts: 913
    kinabalu said:

    If you want my honest opinion I think the notion of governments "growing the economy" is horseshit. It gets said by competing political parties purely because they know it's win/win motherhood and apple pie that everyone nods along to. The sustainable growth rate of our economy is largely outside their control. What's far more in their control is how the proceeds of growth (income and wealth) is spread across the population.

    Hence Labour saying they're more interested in "size of pie" than how it's distributed is the opposite of what I want to hear. It's electioneering waffle imo. At the same time it's what I DO want to hear - because I really want a Labour government and I'm happy for SKS to pitch the messaging with this and only this in mind. My sense is he's smart on the politics of winning the next GE and is getting it right.
    On your first point, I bow to no one in my ignorance of economics, but I fear you are right that politicians can't do much about the economic headwinds. I guess it comforts me to think that they can and of course there are always better or worse policies in response to the slings and arrows of the economy. If things are going bad, I think politicians can make decisions that will make them better (not that they always do, mind) and if they are going good they can make decisions that will make things worse (austerity is/was imo, an example). I suppose it all depends what SKS means by 'growing the economy' at the end of the day. At this stage it's pretty vague.

    On your second point, I agree entirely. People think he's shit at politics. He's not. Indeed, I think the strategy is as follows. 1. Keep powder dry for the GE. 2. Announce sensible, credible policies (vanilla with a few chocolate chips), essentially asking the electorate to trust Labour with the shop. 3. Govern well enough to be worthy of that trust. 4. A broader reforming package for re-election.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 121,650

    Mr. Eagles, if Truss wins, will you be retaining your membership?

    Yes, because there’ll be another leadership contest before the election.
  • eekeek Posts: 29,731
    DavidL said:

    The prospects of a Sunak win are deterioating sharply. I was surprised that there was not more effort at the weekend just past. It may be that the ODI and GP distracted me excessively but there seems to have been very little effort to reach the electorate in this contest. Maybe it was going on online in social media etc.

    Tonight Rishi really has to persuade the electorate that Truss's economic plans are both irresponsible and unlikely to work. The risk is that if he loses he gives Labour its attack lines for the next 2 years. I suspect what he has to say will have far more traction with the electorate as a whole than with Conservative Party Members.

    It's why having a membership vote for party leader is utterly insane - as you say the arguments used by candidate A against candidate B are sat waiting to be reused 2 years later....
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    So say I want restrictions against drunk driving, it is hypocritical of me to be taking advantage of the loophole in the restrictions which says I can drive when I am sober?
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 121,650
    IshmaelZ said:

    Have to cover all the options

    I think that is your fourth disclosed Balshore Investments poll in 2 weeks? Random sample indeed.
    It is a poll of Tory members. I’m in one of many hard to reach demographics.
  • TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 121,650

    TSE, what do you think the outcome of the next election will be with Liz as PM?
    Lab largest party.
  • IshmaelZ said:

    HE DID NOT GO FOR A CURRY

    Can't see how to simplify this.
    They gathered for beer and curry together. It was greasy. Angela wasn’t was there. The restaurants were closed open. There were 5 15 12 people present
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    Driver said:

    Eh? What did he do then, if not go for a curry?
    Not like the facts are not accessible online
  • DriverDriver Posts: 5,560

    Don't forget boys and girls that we still have to have the full enquiry (public? statutory? parliamentary? I can't remember what had been agreed) into Covid - and lockdown will be a big chunk of it.

    Lockdown was awful but it was needed.

    Nonsense. There was possibly justification for the initial three weeks - certainly under the media onslaught it would have taken a very special politician to stand up for the right thing. But even at the three week renewal, we knew that it hadn't been necessary, that infections had peaked before lockdown, and therefore that voluntary action had been enough.
  • I am not a Labour supporter but the simple fact is that Starmer didn't break the law, Johnson did. Everyone knew this, but it was an attempt by the Daily Mail et al to try and play to the "they are all the same so Johnson's behaviour is OK" narrative.

    In days past, when PMs had honour, a PM would have resigned for less. Johnson apologists astonish me. When are they going to get it that we have never had a less appropriate person to be PM? He has trashed the Conservative Party's reputation on so many levels in the same way as Trump has done for the Republicans. As a person who is right of centre and one who was a Conservative Party activist for many years I see it as pretty tragic.
    It is a testament to how poor the party has fallen that I agree with most of your posts - and I am a Labour member.
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 29,844
    Driver said:

    (1) Activists are "them" in the "one rule for us, one rule for them"

    (2) My point is that people who wanted restrictions - and who would go on to object to the removal of restrictions months later - shouldn't have been taking advantage of loopholes in the restrictions.
    Surely though the Conservative Party wanted restrictions because they brought in restrictions. Which had various exemptions. Which they exploited as much as the Labour team did.

    So I struggle to follow your logic - is there any? You are attacking the people who wanted the restrictions and then exploited "loopholes" as being hypocrites. Yet only mention red rosette hypocrites and not the blue rosette hypocrites who actually introduced both the restrictions and the loopholes.

    I assume you have a logical reason for this rather obvious screaming hypocrisy?
  • DriverDriver Posts: 5,560

    I am not a Labour supporter but the simple fact is that Starmer didn't break the law, Johnson did. .
    What Boris did is entirely irrelevant to Sir Keir's hypocrisy.
  • StereodogStereodog Posts: 845
    Driver said:

    (1) Activists are "them" in the "one rule for us, one rule for them"

    (2) My point is that people who wanted restrictions - and who would go on to object to the removal of restrictions months later - shouldn't have been taking advantage of loopholes in the restrictions.
    I’m sorry but I fundamentally object to your first point. Activists of every party are as vital to democracy as tellers and election officials. Dividing ordinary people who volunteer their time into us and them is really unhealthy.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 65,505

    I am not a Labour supporter but the simple fact is that Starmer didn't break the law, Johnson did. Everyone knew this, but it was an attempt by the Daily Mail et al to try and play to the "they are all the same so Johnson's behaviour is OK" narrative.

    In days past, when PMs had honour, a PM would have resigned for less. Johnson apologists astonish me. When are they going to get it that we have never had a less appropriate person to be PM? He has trashed the Conservative Party's reputation on so many levels in the same way as Trump has done for the Republicans. As a person who is right of centre and one who was a Conservative Party activist for many years I see it as pretty tragic.
    I read over the weekend that maybe 60K of the membership are newbies who have joined during the Johnson years because they love Boris and want to get Brexit done. These are the peeps signing this petition that is going around. They will be yearning for the King over the Water for years now. I guess a lot of them were actually former UKIPers who moved across when Johnson took over.

    So, like GOP, Tory party has a serious problem.
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 29,844
    Driver said:

    You don't think it's hypocrisy to demand restrictions on ordinary people and then to take advantage of a loophole in those restrictions to do what you want to do?

    Remember, we aren't talking about campaigning. We're talking about going for a meal after campaigning.
    They did not go for a meal after campaigning.
  • Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 62,476
    Mr. Eagles, *before* the election? Is that not wishful thinking on your part?
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 55,161
    Pulpstar said:

    Prison hulks for asylum seekers not going to turn it round ?
    Neither of them have had the moral courage (although Rishi likes to talk about that) to call out the Rwanda nonsense for the obscenity that it is. The major difference between them is on economic policy and that is also Rishi's home ground. He will want to talk about that to the exclusion of all else if he can get away with it.
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,612

    You can still call Leon by his real name ("Xipe") - he doesn't mind.
    So who was ORKA ?
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,785
    Driver said:

    Eh? What did he do then, if not go for a curry?
    He had a meal brought in. It is really quite simple. He didn't break the law and he didn't get a FPM. In this regard he is not remotely equivalent to Boris Johnson, who by all accounts was pretty lucky to only get one FPN. Johnson presided over a culture of rule breaking and did not ask anyone to intervene and stop it, and seemed by all accounts to have encouraged it.
  • DriverDriver Posts: 5,560
    IshmaelZ said:

    Not like the facts are not accessible online
    Then it should be trivial for you to explain.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    Driver said:

    Nonsense. There was possibly justification for the initial three weeks - certainly under the media onslaught it would have taken a very special politician to stand up for the right thing. But even at the three week renewal, we knew that it hadn't been necessary, that infections had peaked before lockdown, and therefore that voluntary action had been enough.
    Are you somebody else, if you don't mind my asking?
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 54,181

    Truss might also be binning the Boris-Cummings DARPA-lite (did it ever get off the ground?). It is hard to be sure from that tweet. It sounds like the sort of thing Mrs Thatcher would have said and perhaps that is really the point.
    The classic “picking a winner” was the almost desperate investment in hydrogen fuel cell research for automotive use, long after it was clear that electric cars have won.

    This was because hydrogen advocates promised the politicians and civil servants some political advantages from it.
  • DriverDriver Posts: 5,560

    Surely though the Conservative Party wanted restrictions because they brought in restrictions. Which had various exemptions. Which they exploited as much as the Labour team did.

    So I struggle to follow your logic - is there any? You are attacking the people who wanted the restrictions and then exploited "loopholes" as being hypocrites. Yet only mention red rosette hypocrites and not the blue rosette hypocrites who actually introduced both the restrictions and the loopholes.

    I assume you have a logical reason for this rather obvious screaming hypocrisy?
    Oh dear. Have you not been reading my comments? I've made it clear several times.

    Boris and the Tories removed the restrictions. Many months too late, but they eventually did.

    When they did, Sir Keir and Labour objected to the restrictions being removed.
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 29,844
    Taz said:

    So who was ORKA ?
    That was Lady_G
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022
    Stereodog said:

    The law exempted any volunteer out campaigning in that election. It’s not just politicians it’s any activist. Unless you’re suggesting that absolutely no-one should have been able to eat together indoors in those circumstances then I can’t understand what your point is. It seems to me that you’re real point was that you hated the idea of there being any pandemic related restrictions.
    People working together in an office, for example, were not allowed to eat together. The exemption was specifically for political activity. @Driver is correct that politicians carving out specific legislative exemptions for themselves, is a very bad look.
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 29,844
    Driver said:

    Then it should be trivial for you to explain.
    As (a) others have explained it and (b) the facts are widely known and were on the front of the Mail for about a fortnight I have to assume that (c) you do know the facts but (d) are just being a prat.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 43,314

    What’s important to Nad:

    .⁦@trussliz⁩ will be travelling the country wearing her earrings which cost circa £4.50 from Claire Accessories. Meanwhile…

    Rishi visits Teeside in Prada shoes worth £450 and sported £3,500 bespoke suit as he prepared for crunch leadership vote.


    https://twitter.com/NadineDorries/status/1551459390502440960

    Perhaps someone should break it to Nads that the bust-up Church’s BJ favours currently cost £800-£1200.
  • Driver reminds me of another poster.
  • eekeek Posts: 29,731

    Yes, because there’ll be another leadership contest before the election.
    So you expect another election after Truss is found out and removed.

    And you expect that election will also allow a member's vote.

    The Tory party is utterly insane if that's the case.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    Driver said:

    Then it should be trivial for you to explain.
    Fuck me, is English not one of your first three languages? Going for a curry is leaving premises which are not an Indian Restaurant, proceeding to premises which are, sitting down at a designated table and ordering, eating and paying for food and drink. And getting a bill with those little mints people say not to eat because of their unacceptably high urine content. This is not what happened.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,663
    .
    Driver said:

    Then it should be trivial for you to explain.
    It is.

    Read the list of competing claims:
    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/may/08/what-is-beergate-and-why-does-it-matter

    And reflect on the fact that the police have since settled the matter.

    That you and Barty are evidently disappointed doesn't factor into it.
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 29,844
    Driver said:

    Oh dear. Have you not been reading my comments? I've made it clear several times.

    Boris and the Tories removed the restrictions. Many months too late, but they eventually did.

    When they did, Sir Keir and Labour objected to the restrictions being removed.
    And before they removed the restrictions, they *introduced* the restrictions.

    Laws were written to stop you or I doing things but allowing political activists to do so.

    Were those written by:
    (a) Boris Johnson, or
    (b) Kier Starmer?

    I'll give you a clue. One of them was the Prime Minister, the other one wasn't. You are saying "well Starmer objected to the restrictions being removed. OK, but Johnson *wrote* the restrictions you are so upset about. Complete with the "loopholes" then exploited by one Boris Johnson amongst others.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 55,161
    I don't think its true that governments cannot help the economy to grow but the effects are more indirect than direct. So a government that provides adequate infrastructure will make the areas affected more attractive; a country with an education system that works for most of the population will definitely improve productivity and output. An economic policy that encourages investment and training can do likewise.

    Where I do agree with @kinabalu is that we should be deeply wary of politicians who promise both cake and the eating of cake. We have just tried that and it has not been a success. Most of the examples I have given above would almost certainly not bear fruit until the politician in question has left office. It is certainly not a justification for spending more on policy X right now.
  • What happened was that they campaigned, curry arrived at the place they were at. They ate it, socially distanced.

    This is not "going for a curry". These facts aren't in dispute
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,785
    DavidL said:

    The prospects of a Sunak win are deterioating sharply. I was surprised that there was not more effort at the weekend just past. It may be that the ODI and GP distracted me excessively but there seems to have been very little effort to reach the electorate in this contest. Maybe it was going on online in social media etc.

    Tonight Rishi really has to persuade the electorate that Truss's economic plans are both irresponsible and unlikely to work. The risk is that if he loses he gives Labour its attack lines for the next 2 years. I suspect what he has to say will have far more traction with the electorate as a whole than with Conservative Party Members.

    We will get Truss, for the simple reason that the Conservative membership is like a stale old cup of tea, where the only part of what was once an exciting and refreshing brew is now reduced to a mouldy old concentrate of dregs.

    The most stupid part of the activist base now holds sway along with ex-members of the Brexit Party and UKIP. They have been told by the ERG to vote for Truss, and some of them are so dim that they will have bought the 21st century Mrs T bollox.

    Nonetheless, it is still a slight improvement on having a clown for PM, though it does mean that we are doomed to a Labour govt after the next election. Yet another "benefit of Brexit" I suppose.
  • Pagan2 said:

    It seems simple to me

    Having 10 people gathered for a curry is either dangerous for covid spread or its not.

    If its dangerous and needs to be discouraged it doesn't matter why they are gathered. Surprisingly covid doesnt say "oh they are on a political campaign so will leave them alone".

    This I think is the point bart is making. At the same time politicians of all stripes and colours were telling families they couldnt get together because its too dangerous for covid spread they were exempting themselves for reasons
    Bingo! Exactly the point I was making, well put.
  • DavidLDavidL Posts: 55,161
    eek said:

    It's why having a membership vote for party leader is utterly insane - as you say the arguments used by candidate A against candidate B are sat waiting to be reused 2 years later....
    In fairness it probably works in opposition but in government the Tories could really have done without this.
This discussion has been closed.