POLITICS CORNER

[plaques]

Funny that you should say that about the Sheffield Forge Masters. Burnley has an anchor on display from HMS Active. This anchor was made in Sunderland. How many more critical parts are going down the tube?

[PanBiker]

I find it mighty strange that the electorate can accept socialist policies pinched by the Tories but wont welcome more of the same.

[Stanley]

Ian, in a world where social status seems to be governed by the ability to consume anything suggesting 'labour' or 'working class' is out of fashion and that's about as far as many modern voters go in terms of political thinking. So any mention of socialism is an automatic red flag.

[PanBiker]

As a party I think we should constantly ram home every socialist policy pinched by the Tories that has a positive impact on the populace. We need the right person to put it over though. Starmer is a damp squib in my book, waste of space, I'm glad I didn't vote for him or any of his cronies. Sooner we sack them all off the better.

[Stanley]

One thing is certain Ian, the party we both love and support is not doing well. I agree with you on Starmer. Beyond that I have nothing to offer apart from a burning conviction that these Tory sods are shafting us and gradually advancing the project to bring back the good old days of the 19th century. I have been banging on about this for ages and as time passes it becomes even more clear.

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report about migrants being detained in unsuitable conditions by the Border Force. Here's what the Home Office said in response to the complaint....
"Responding to all of the committee's concerns, a Home Office spokesperson said: "Unacceptable numbers of people are making life-threatening journeys crossing the Channel at the hands of criminal trafficking gangs. "We take the welfare of migrants extremely seriously and despite these pressures we have improved our facilities, arranged additional staffing and are working to process people as quickly and safely as possible. "The government continues to take steps to tackle the unacceptable problem of illegal migration through the Nationality and Borders Bill which will protect lives and break this cycle of illegal crossings, and we are continuing to return those with no legal right to remain in the UK.""
So how does this affect the immigrants being held in bad conditions? Too many legitimate complaints are brushed off with statements like this, usually parrot-like statements about funding. Is this part of the 'hostile environment'?

[Stanley]

Here's another report to look at... LINK to the financial Times article that reveals (Shock, Horror!) Property donors provide one-quarter of funds given to Tory party. The UK governing party has received nearly £18m from donors with property interests in the past two years and a Conservative party spokesman said: “Government policy is in no way influenced by donations the party receives. They are entirely separate.” Right........
Who the hell do they think they are kidding? How many of the remainder are hedge fund magnates?

[Stanley]

See THIS report which though it is in an obscure local publication is bringing attention to something they will all be talking about it soon at national level. It is something I never thought I would see addressed, the possibility of attracting 'national dishonour'. This started to surface when we cut overseas aid but is back with a vengeance now we are rejecting asylum claims by Afghan interpreters who are in great danger from the Taliban.
It is a national disgrace that this is happening. We are doing the same with Iraqi interpreters.

[PanBiker]

Historically we are a pirate nation, well used to exploiting johnny foreigner, we have done it for centuries subjugating entire continents. What was the saying, "the sun never sets on the British Empire" and some of the worst traits have always taken precedence.

Churchill had no problem in shafting Poland toward the end of WWII even though we had gone to war in the first place over Germany's refusal to withdraw from a sovereign country. Four years later and 20 million dead Russians and he secretly agreed with Stalin to let him have the Eastern half of that previously "sovereign" nation without batting an eyelid. Right bloke to run a war but no more than a snake organising the peace. I know it was a lot more complicated than that redrawing the borders with fingers in multiple pies but nevertheless his actions with Poland were despicable.

No different now really, what are the lives worth of a few Afghans or Iraqi interpreters? Bugger all apparently, it's abhorrent but obviously perfectly acceptable to our caring government. They took the Queens shilling and put their lives on the line and as such should continue to come under our care. Having said that they don't even take care of our own combat veterans

[Stanley]

" Having said that they don't even take care of our own combat veterans"
Quite Ian....
Keeping promises used to be part of politics, I'm afraid that has gone now. Another of my forgotten corners.....

[Stanley]

I saw THIS BBC report of the first trial after the attack on England's chief medical officer Chris Whitty. Good, the second trial should give an even more salutary verdict.
No public servant should ever be attacked by anyone.

[Tizer]

`Elite Tory donors club holds secret meetings with Johnson and Sunak' FT
`A secretive club for major Conservative donors known as the ‘Advisory Board’ has been holding regular meetings and calls with Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the chancellor Rishi Sunak. The club, some of whose members have given at least £250,000 to the party, has been developed by Ben Elliot, Tory co-chair, as a means of connecting major Conservative backers with its top figures. The club does not appear in party literature but Conservative officials confirmed the Advisory Board “occasionally” meets with Johnson and Sunak “for an update on the political landscape”..'.

[Whyperion]

Cash for Questions by Any other name?
Never mind Sheffield Forgemasters there is also the welsh software/chips maker under potential purchase from hostile powers (or ones that would like the information and influence for their own ends). The flip supposedly is that the private sector is needed to generate real income, that socialist state owned enterprises do not. (and one can make the arguement if the only customer is defence - to whom can you sell a metal tube at a profit to that wont come back to bite you?

[Stanley]

Peter I seem to remember Cameron saying that was the next big scandal and he was going to attack it. I wonder what happened to that initiative?

[Stanley]

Much talk in politics about the end of the 'vaccine bounce' as the Tories slip in the polls and Johnson comes under attack. Many Tory MPs are also agitating for an end of talk about an 'amber watch list' which could make travel difficult if there was fear of travellers importing 'variants of concern'.
I heard an MP arguing for relaxation of restrictions saying that 'the British public deserve a foreign holiday after 17 months of hell'. Does anyone else think this is just a touch over the top?

[Tizer]

If Brexit had hadn't been long and drawn out, and then taken over by the Covid emergency Boris would probably have been long gone, sacrificed by the Tory right wing using the excuse that he didn't give them the hard Brexit they'd expected, and by the public because they'd finally realised that Brexit wasn't going to work the wonders they'd been promised. Once the recriminations begin over Brexit and the handling of the pandemic Boris will find himself exposed, standing alone and wondering where everyone has gone.

[PanBiker]

I bet the 1922 committee have already had the discussion, only needs a nod from them.

[Tizer]

Seeing the end of my last post - `standing alone and wondering where everyone has gone' - I've just realised that I unwittingly described what I believe was the way that misbehaving officers were dealt with in the old days. Left alone in a room with a loaded pistol. But it wouldn't work with Boris - he'd simply shoot himself in the foot.

[Stanley]

I see the 'amber watch list' has bitten the dust. No doubt due to pressure from businesses who are beginning to panic as the subsidy taps are turned off and the summer slips away with no sign of getting 'back to normal'. There is going to be a lot more pressure when the Brexit reality starts to bite.

[plaques]

If Brexit had hadn't been long and drawn out, and then taken over by the Covid emergency Boris would probably have been long gone, sacrificed by the Tory right wing using the excuse that he didn't give them the hard Brexit they'd expected, and by the public because they'd finally realised that Brexit wasn't going to work the wonders they'd been promised. Once the recriminations begin over Brexit and the handling of the pandemic Boris will find himself exposed, standing alone and wondering where everyone has gone.

I've always thought it was the idea to draw out the NI protocol agreement for as long as possible in the hope that the EU will relent and Boris will get his cake and eat it. Boris knows that the agreement HE drew up was never going to work so the best he can hope is that somehow he can put the blame back on the EU for intransigence, vindictiveness etc: because it was them who made us leave.
The down side of all this is that when, not if, his protocol plan is abandoned altogether then we shall have a hard Brexit. QED. All the promises of 'oven ready deals will be forgotten and the £350M a week destined for the NHS will be just a blur on a passing bus. The 'Get Brexit Done' slogan will gradually morph into a 'Get Brexit Started' with a completion date somewhere round 2030.

[Tizer]

If it goes on long enough the British public will have gone full circle and we'll see a `Get the UK back in the EU' slogan!

[Stanley]

I was watching a video of barge traffic on the EU waterways and reflecting on how easy it was to move cargoes like that inside the EU. Such a contrast to what we are seeing, whole industries failing (Seed potatoes and live molluscs to name only two) because of the flawed protocol. I think Ken is quite possibly right, Johnson is doing his Micawber bit and waiting for something to turn up. When it doesn't (and the EU have made that very clear) we will get the attack on the EU as Ken (And Richard Broughton earlier) predicts. Meanwhile as he says, whole industries will fail as the scope for exporting products shrinks.
Sooner or later, as Peter says, the public will twig and eventually will be agitating for a return to the EU.

[plaques]

Back in the good old Brexit propaganda days Boris was promising that he would match the subsidies handed out by the EU in a seamless transition. The fact that would remove the odd wheel off the battle buses £350M per week was never explained. Now noises are being made particularly in Wales were they received £680M each year from the EU for projects that were identified as being in need for the area. Levelling up comes to mind. After 5 years of stakeholder discussions the governments plan supposedly to be published last year has not seen the light of day. The whisper going round that there will be a £200m hand out to cover the Three devolved regions. Not quite in the same league as before since we are now seven months behind the takeover date with the possibility of only getting one tenth of what the EU was giving. The list of Brexit lies is getting longer and longer.

[Stanley]

Exactly Ken.
Keep an eye on the promise that was made to replace the EU Erasmus programme with our British one called Turing. They have thousands of applicants but nobody is quite sure what the funding will be or where it will come from.
I think I am prepared to lay a small bet that like the EU funding you highlighted it will not be replicated....

[Stanley]

I've just been listening to Rory Stewart talking about developments in Afghanistan. Remember he knows a lot about it and has walked across most of it. He says that the fact that a warlord from the past is holding the Taliban back with the support of the government led by a man who has spent 30 years trying to get rid of the warlords means that the government has collapsed and can no longer cope using the army and police.
All the evidence coming in is of that being the case and there have even been car bombs in Kabul. I think the optimists who have been telling us that all is well will shortly have to re-assess.