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BoJo goes next week but what then? – politicalbetting.com
BoJo goes next week but what then? – politicalbetting.com
With all looking set for a handover next week a big question remains and that is what is Boris Johnson going to do when he is no longer Prime Minister.
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-48676894
Edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Letts
On 18 August 2019 it was reported that the British government had revoked Letts' British citizenship. However, the Home Office declined to comment on the case.[38] In response, Canadian Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale described the move as a "unilateral action to off-load [the UK's consular] responsibilities," leaving Canada responsible for further diplomatic assistance for Letts.[39]
https://twitter.com/DavidInglesTV/status/1565129496868851712
I wouldn't be surprised if he resigns as an MP rather than get kicked out by the electorate, that he'll become the Tory King over the Water, and he'll just make money doing the kind of stuff all ex PMs do.
1.06 Liz Truss 94%
17.5 Rishi Sunak 6%
Next Conservative leader
1.05 Liz Truss 95%
18 Rishi Sunak 6%
Le Deluge, presumably.
In his time he’s been a successful foreign correspondent, editor of the Spectator, mayor of London, Brexit campaigner, Commons MP, Cabinet Minister, and Prime Minister
He’s also been a novelist, columnist and TV presenter. And he doesn’t slack when it comes to the laydeez
You can dodge tasks in life, to an extent, but you can’t do all that without some real graft
Boris’ “problem” is that he is very bright so he can make all this seem bumblingly effortless: so that is what people perceive
Does BoJo have a crest and motto yet?
A quote from Marie Antoinette seems eminently suitable. "Let me eat cake"?
My favourite public damsons spot is the lanes around Bradwell on the Blackwater.
Not likely this year, but I need to get into Derbyshire for bilberries soon.
Asexuality is absolutely a valid life choice. And one to be respected. I have asexual friends who are happy and productive citizens
I just don’t believe a life without sex would willingly be chosen by a third of men aged 18-24. That’s outwith the findings of any sexual survey in history. It’s not a healthy sign
https://news.sky.com/story/boris-johnson-cost-gq-magazine-4-000-in-parking-tickets-former-editor-claims-12598087
"When the cars were delivered to his house in Islington, the car company always made a note of the mileage, something that is standard practice.
"The mileage would also be noted when they came to pick them up again. And on more than one occasion - OK, on many, many, many occasions - the mileage was precisely the same. So I leave you to draw your own conclusions."
Saying the law should be changed is reasonable, but unless or until the law is changed the law stands as it is. Saying the law should be changed is completely different from as Rochdale is saying that the law isn't being applied or people are "lying" about it.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-62750584
That would be fine if he had built a competent team to attend to the detailed business of government, but he didn't. He hired the crank Dominic Cummings instead.
It was said that Johnson would be clinging on to the No10 doorframe. He has even been called a "narcissist". (He obviously isn't one. Or at least, if you run with the thesis that he is, then you'd have to conclude he has Oscar-level acting skills to masquerade as somebody who isn't.) Some say he's going to be the king over the water. (Perhaps he should pivot to supporting Scottish independence if he wants to be a full-on 45er?)
He's more likely to make some speeches in the US, churn out a couple of books, pen the occasional article for the Speccie, and do some paintings. I hope he publishes his memoirs. I'd love to hear more from him about the "condescending" people and the "deep state". And about Michael Gove the "snake" for that matter!
Did the Telegraph do this out of charity? Or because he was good at it, and attracted readers?
The “Boris is lazy” stuff is just, well, lazy. It doesn’t hold up to scrutiny
It is perhaps ironic that this morning neither the app nor online banking are available from my bank!
I empathise a bit - I have a quick mind too (minus the charisma), and it's quite seductive not to bother with the 100%, especially as I don't find that really putting in the effort gets me to 100% quality anyway - more like 85%. Not comparing myself to the PM, but maybe there's a similar process going on. I've got this week off work, and in theory I could be taking the time to really understand some complex issue. Instead, it's more fun just to chat here.
No PM can do everything themselves, they need to know their own limitations and know what can be delegated.
2. He is a natural clown. We know that Bumbling Boris is an act - his given name is Alex. He ruffles the hair and crumples his clothes deliberately. He rocks up to do speeches and does the same hick "sorry I'm late, where am I" routine with the same jokes
3. Since the Tory party have chosen to rehabilitate him in the long gap between announcing he was reigning and the actual event itself, he is free to sit on the backbenches AND write articles for the media and go on lecture tours in America AND be the focal point for the Tory MPs who dislike the hell on earth that is the Truss government.
It’s a bit of a mystery, because he was good at it as Mayor. And he can definitely spot talent - eg Kate Bingham on vaccines
Very important thread from Richard Murphy.
Altering existing subsidy contracts might be difficult but giving the current Market/Strike difference back to UK consumers (Both business and residential) could be done almost immediately.
He'll be an absentee MP, making plenty of money and waiting to take over once he sees Truss is vulnerable.
Then when the time is right, he gets someone more organized than him to run his campaign.
In many ways - Boris Johnson is perfectly suited to being leader of the opposition. He's phenomenally good at getting headlines and attention. I think he'd welcome not having to actually be bothered by difficult decisions & instead just being able to criticize and say he would do things better.
Biden is controlling the pace of the help to Ukraine and hence the course of the war. The British PM doesn't have to "do" much about it on a daily basis.
It astonishes me how I can get away with doing such a small amount of work - 2 hours a day? - and still make a decent living. Unlike Boris I don’t then take on multiple tasks and careers on top of that. I loaf
Tho this raises an interesting philosophical question: is there a proper amount of work?
It was likely the industrial revolution which firmly entrenched the idea you should do 8-10 hours work a day. Before that people often did less. Hunter gatherers spend about 2 hours a day hunting. The rest is loafing. Like lions
"So next week she will start uniquely weak for a Prime Minister, with no base of positive support anywhere."
"It is at this point that having a weightless Prime Minister will cause problems. She will need to call for sacrifices from a public that never voted for her. She will need to persuade demonstrably sceptical MPs to vote for unpopular policies and risk their own jobs for her. How is she going to inspire and lead in those circumstances?"
"It seems more likely that there may be a policy moment (Theresa May found herself facing a vote of confidence over the Brexit withdrawal agreement and never recovered her authority). This means that Liz Truss will need to be careful to be seen to be broadly consistent with her leadership campaign — or to get her betrayals in quickly before there will be any appetite to replace her. Does she realise this?"
What's not to like about it if you're Putin or Biden ?
Xi's even making bank off it by arbing Russia's gas to more neutral nations in open disguise.
Here is a narcissist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iimj0j4NYME
Johnson's "narcissism", to me, is more of a British class elite kind. He said as a child he wanted to be "King of the World". He grew up in a family, with a name, where that level of ambition was possible without actually much skill. He has some skills - he can give a speech, must have some kind of charm and charisma (I don't see it), and he obviously has an education (I don't think that is the same thing as being bright, but he may also be naturally bright). But what is clear is that he never cared about public service - he cared about being the Prime Minister. And to me that's where the attacks of narcissism make sense.
Once we are all cashless, the government will be able to monitor everyone's spending, and block anyone it dislikes.
As an icing on the cake, it could even be named on the bill as a "Green Rebate", because that's exactly what it is.
If we could harness the meltdown that would trigger from people like @MISTY then that would be even better.
Deputy mayors are nobodies. Highly able nobodies, but nobodies all the same. Go on, name three of them, without looking up. Perfect role for talented people who don't want to climb the greasy pole but do want to do a bloody good job in their specialism.
Cabinet ministers are somebodies. Rivals, potential successors. That causes two problems. One is that it's not easy to appoint the best able nobodies, because they won't do the stuff to become an MP and hence eligible to become ministers. Different ways of doing democracy balance that differently, but it's one of the checks and balances that makes the British system mostly work.
The second problem is one of BoJo's apparent personality flaws- his need to be the tallest poppy. When push came to shove, his Cabinet picks were more about loyalty than ability. Really great PMs were able to appoint rivals and enemies to big jobs and Johnson didn't do that.
I’d say Boris is definitely on that spectrum, he’s quite selfish (it seems) and will happily sacrifice others for Boris but he’s not a pathological case like Trump
I have a friend quite far down the spectrum. It is wearying indeed. Only tolerable in small doses
Europe is the fall guy in all this.
Pop culture pun FAIL
Of course he is also immensely gifted and I'm sure has no problem whatsoever knocking out (phnarr) 1,000 amusing words for a Spectator or DT audience which is a bit like shooting fish in a barrel but that's not to say there's no market for it. It is absolutely "real work" - it's just that it is the type that he has a natural affinity for.
Traffic cops in Surrey, England, have drawn criticism after revealing how they game Waze to spook drivers into slowing down while out on patrol.
Waze is a satnav-like phone app that lets users, among other things, report the presence of police on the roads. When that happens, an icon appears at that location for everyone nearby to see, alerting them to the cops being there.
So what the officers do is this: while driving around on patrol, they open Waze, and every so often report their presence as they go, placing markers on the map. Nearby drivers see these icons and slow down in hope of avoiding getting a fine. They may assume speed traps have been set up all over the place, whereas in reality it's just a cop car cruising neighborhoods spamming the service.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/01/surrey_police_waze_traffic/
The article goes on to explain that American police have the opposite view, that this same Waze functionality allows all sorts of baddies to evade the police.
I know people who worked with him closely in local government and they all say he is charming but extremely lazy and had no interest at all in the details of governing. Because the London mayor doesn't actually do much and there are good systems in place to run things day to day that mattered a lot less than when he was in Downing Street.
Nothing about his premiership surprised me in the least and I continue to think that it is disgraceful that Tory MPs, who knew his failings all too well, made him PM.
Has anyone attended any of these events? I did look at their website a few months ago but it all looked like a load of guff to me so didn’t bother. I’m surprised any arty, creative types got involved at all. But I guess £120m opens doors.
The DM are furious. Not like them.
Best rated comments below the article are surprising for the DM though. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11166831/Brexit-Fury-120million-arts-festival-celebrate-Brexit-pro-Remain-flop.html
That’s not quite the same as laziness
In a market all actors generally receive the market value for their goods and services. If some firms have lower costs than others, then they don't get paid less accordingly, they make a bigger profit which encourages either them to expand (thus making more profit) or others to invest like them, which ultimately brings the price down.
That renewable firms are making a profit isn't a problem, its what is driving vast renewable investment. If they weren't making a profit, we wouldn't be getting the investment in renewables.
Invest in renewables and our demand for gas comes down, reducing gas prices, so reducing the cost of electricity. Invest enough to cease to need gas at all, the price comes down even further.
Onlyfans?
Unfortunately, several of the skillsets required to stay at the absolute pinnacle simply aren't there. And it eventually finds you out.
Compare the careers of George Best and Cristiano Ronaldo for example.
Customer: Why can't I access any of my money?
Bank: We can't tell you, the Home Secretary has blocked it and under money laundering rules we can't tell you more.
Customer: Can I appeal?
Bank: Yes, sure, you just need to select the right appeal depending on why its been blocked.
Customer: So I can't really appeal?
Bank: Not really, but its a big enough fig leaf to allow supposed libertarians on pb to defend the indefensible creeping authoritarianism of their government.
As rcs1000 often reminds us, automation means fewer jobs which means higher better productivity (and more unemployed people on benefits but that's a different league table).
In other news, I thought Liz's "fiscal event" vs budget was rather good satire on the theme of war vs Special Military Operation. I have just found out it's for real.
You deal with your money as you wish @OldKingCole
All actors certainly are NOT receiving the market value for their goods and services. I'm receiving 5.99p/kwH for each unit of solar I export to the grid and that new windfarm Hornsea is receiving 5.5p/kwh for each unit they send to the grid.
Now whilst we're both perfectly happy with these arrangements as they're part of longstanding contracts that were previously subsidising my solar and historic wind (Where strike prices agreed were higher) the UK consumer is currently benefitting sweet fuck all from these lower priced inputs to the grid.
The sums are usually tiny so it’s worth the risk
The current system works for Gazprom, BP, Shell and short term the treasury (Even though they'll pay more but whoever iseyeing up that pot won't be thinking about that currently) but not so much for anyone else.
The Pandemic Erased Two Decades of Progress in Math and Reading
The results of a national test showed just how devastating the last two years have been for 9-year-old schoolchildren, especially the most vulnerable.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/01/us/national-test-scores-math-reading-pandemic.amp.html
Those who are not contracted and are on the market rate, generally get the market rate though, not a lower rate simply because they're more efficient and their costs are lower.
If the Treasury are getting a windfall from these cost savings, then as I said that Treasury windfall should be rebated back to the consumers paying the bills as a Green Rebate rather than Green Levy.
If renewable firms not on contracts like yours are getting a windfall because they're on the market rate and their costs are low, then good for them and that ought to be taxed as part of ordinary taxation on their profits and their profits ought to encourage further investments in renewables.
One of these skills is concision. Making an interesting point in as few words as possible, while remaining memorable and vivid
A lot of people who can technically “write” can’t do this, they write far too much and bore the reader
There’s a difference between being busy, and making a real effort.
I actually believe he was a pretty good prime minister, given an unbelievably difficult hand to play. For a start he won a majority and therefore got Brexit done: winning is a vital part of politics
He then faced a global pandemic. He made errors there - masks, borders, too many boffins - but he also achieved notable successes: vaccines, resisting lockdown 4
He handled Ukraine so well he is now a Ukrainian national hero
That’s not bad. Remoaners will never accept it, because they loathe him irrationally, but his CV is quite decent
He was brought down by personal quirks and flaws, not inability. He’s arrogant and thought the rules didn’t apply to him, he’s a libertine so he let the staff play
Very pro-nuclear. And pro-wind. Not impressed with fracking.
Very substantial sums of help forthcoming.
Why on Earth this is happening now is an intriguing question.