POLITICS CORNER

[Tripps]

She repeatedly stonewalled on answering questions and repeatedly parroted her brief which she has evidently learned by heart

Most of them do that -and she is superb at it. Any interviewer with any self respect would abandon the 'interview', but they won't as it would probably cost them their job. It needs Andrew Neil to be let loose on her, but the BBC have got rid of him.

[Stanley]

Or Paxman. Remember him with Howard? HERE'S the BBC tape of the interview, enjoy!

[Stanley]

Johnson bangs on about cycling but doesn't mention that it is existing funding being diverted.

[Tizer]

Here we go, this is Trump beginning his attempts to stay in power by delaying the election and providing him with an excuse to contest the result if it goes against him or to give him something to blame if he loses...
`Donald Trump suggests delay to 2020 US presidential election' LINK

[Stanley]

Trump.... What a sweetie he is!
He has also repeated his dire warnings about postal fraud. He is desperately trying to avoid what increasingly looks like reality, a defeat in November.

[Tizer]

Senior Republicans have now told him there is no way he can delay the election, so he'll be throwing a tantrum in the White House.

[Stanley]

So, what's new? He's been doing that ever since he gained office. As Bolton said, a one year old spoiled child, and he continually throws his toys out of the pram!
Here at home, one thing about the pandemic and the gradual realisation of the mistakes made dealing with it are beginning to focus on the really important factors revealed by care home deaths. I heard a figure yesterday that while overall spending in real terms on the NHS has declined by 3% since 2010, spending on social care has fallen by 16%. That and the wages and conditions of carers is a matter that will surely now have to be addressed. Read Dilnot again and implement its recommendations. But we all know what they will do, start another interminable enquiry. It's a disgrace! Read THIS article for his opinion.

[Stanley]

Johnson's appointments to the Lords stinks of patronage and could well come back to haunt him. The Speaker of the Lords says it is ridiculous to have 830 Peers. He is right, it devalues the institution (which has its good points) and could hasten radical reform.

[Tizer]

`Russians hacked Liam Fox's personal email to get US-UK trade dossier: Labour queries why MP used unsecured account for classified government business' Guardian
`A personal email account belonging to Liam Fox, the former trade minister, was repeatedly hacked into by Russians who stole classified documents relating to US-UK trade talks, the Guardian understands. The security breaches last year, which are subject to an ongoing police investigation, pose serious questions for the Conservative MP who is currently the UK’s nominee to become director general of the World Trade Organization. Whitehall sources indicated the documents were hacked from a personal account rather than a parliamentary or ministerial one, prompting Labour to ask why Fox was using unsecured personal emails for government business..'.

[plaques]

Whitehall sources indicated the documents were hacked from a personal account rather than a parliamentary or ministerial one, prompting Labour to ask why Fox was using unsecured personal emails for government business..'. It may just be because personal email can be deleted and forgotten about whereas government ones must be retained for possible investigation. It does make one wonder if there is more to these private discussions than meet the eyes. Nod, nod, wink, wink, in smoke filled rooms etc:

[Stanley]

PE will have something to say about that report. I agree Ken, it all stinks of nod wink and nudge. After all, there is a plum appointment at stake! PE know something about THIS MAN as well and his connection with Fox. They have been hinting about it for years. Something deeply troubling about all of it but of course we don't know the inside story.



PE is as usual full of accounts of nepotism and stupidity in politics but have a look at the opening of this article from 'In the Back' in this week's edition. You know my deep loathing of McKinsey and all it's works and the article goes on to detail their involvement as 'consultants and advisers' in the horrendous NHS management reforms. The combination of Cummings, McKinsey and reform of the Civil Service (Note they were appointed in May) will result in enormous follow on payments to McKinsey, far beyond the initial £800,000, and fills me with horror. Watch this space, I predict it will be a disruption too far. (Guess who's paying and will have to bear the brunt of whatever cock-up emerges...)

[Tizer]

News this morning about how few UK CEOs have taken cuts to their salaries at this difficult time when their employees are having to make do with less or lose their jobs. What a surprise. Now, when we are all facing strictures on our way of life and the government needs more money to deal with the situation, is an ideal time to bring in new tax rates. It's time to get up to date and use an algorithm to set an income tax rate that increases exponentially with income level and stops at a fixed point of maximum salary. This is a time when we need a government with a more socialist bent that could handle such a policy but unfortunately that chap Corbyn scuppered the chances for us.

[Stanley]

I tend to agree about Corbyn but react against blaming any one man. It's far deeper than that and basically started with 'Greed is Good'. For over 50 years we have watched a general tide of opportunism and misuse of power leading to higher differentials in wage structures in companies and organisations and now have a situation where the old rule of thumb about the more essential a job, the less the reward, has got ridiculous. Look at only one example, the differential between senior managers in education and health as opposed to the wages of teachers and essential nursing staff and carers. It's not just unfair, it's obscene!
Another area that's bothering me (and this is also Cummings/Johnson related.) is the 'streamlining' of the Planning Regulations. It's a slash and burn policy and will remove many of the safeguards that have been painfully built over the years. I am aware that there are many criticisms of the present system but on the whole it has protected standards and given us a reasonable built environment.
In the US... Trump and "Children are almost immune from Covid infection". The man is a jerk....

[Tizer]

`It's not just unfair, it's obscene!'....Yes, and it's not just those CEOs. News this morning that football celebs at the big clubs are still getting 5-digit weekly salaries while the workers at the clubs are losing their jobs or going without pay.

I agree about Jenrick's bonfire of planning regulations. As we've noted before, there are a million houses already with permission waiting to be built while the developers take their time and get big salaries for not building houses but for holding onto land.

Trump...Biden's sneaking up behind him...
`US election 2020 poll tracker: Who is ahead - Trump or Biden? LINK
James Naughtie's 40-minute programme on Biden was useful background and, of course, `The Mooch's comments on Trump were no surprise but very amusing!

[PanBiker]

On the house building debacle, the problem is that the developers hold all the cards. That needs to change and could do easily with a bit of blanket legislation or national policy. In all council areas there should be a basic planning rule that no one can build on green field until all brown field sites in the area have been redeveloped. It's too easy already to gobble up pristine countryside for a quick profit. In Barlick alone we have capacity for about 350 houses new house builds on existing brownfield sites which have been abandoned and laid fallow for over 20 years in some cases. 50 /50 split on social housing or better still only social housing. No further expansion anywhere without upgrade to essential infrastructure.

[Big Kev]

Screenshot_20200806-130126_Chrome.jpg

[PanBiker]

Cunning plan to kill even more people off Kev. Another thing they should ban is the "Just Eat" campaign for that is all that it is, not sending the right message.

[Stanley]

Ian, dead right! I have been banging on about it ever since it started.
I agree with all the posts. When gently questioned on Today about a link between building permissions and party donations a la Desmond, Jenrick professed ignorance. So that's all right then.
Who do they think they are kidding?
I see nothing but dark clouds on the horizon but what the hell do I know about it. I am one of Yesterday's Men sat chuntering in the corner. But watch this space, you ain't seen nothing yet!
See THIS for some of the best US news I have seen for a while. New York's attorney general, Letitia James, has announced a lawsuit aimed at dissolving the powerful National Rifle Association over alleged financial mismanagement. Good and double good! I do hope it succeeds. If nothing else it will distract them from supporting Trump in the November elections.
Did you note that Trump has embraced religion? He's not noted as a church goer but is criticising Joe Biden, a Catholic as being against God. All election posturing of course, he needs the evangelical vote in November. The man is transparent.

[Tizer]

I see nothing but dark clouds on the horizon but what the hell do I know about it. I am one of Yesterday's Men sat chuntering in the corner. But watch this space, you ain't seen nothing yet!

That makes two of us!
--------------------------------------------------

`Christopher Steele: Ex-spy says more must be done to stop Russian interference' LINK
`There must be an organised effort to prevent Russia from disrupting and distorting political life, former MI6 officer Christopher Steele has warned. Mr Steele was behind the so-called Trump-Russia dossier, which alleged collusion between Moscow and the US president's 2016 election campaign. In an interview with Conservative MP Damian Collins, he warned that Russia is targeting all political parties. He added the UK had been "behind the curve" in deterring Russian activity. Speaking on Mr Collins' podcast, Infotagion, Mr Steele said political parties in the UK are being targeted, whether through donations or cyber-hacking, and must proactively approach the security services for help. Mr Steele argued that Moscow's aim was "to create great polarity, great partisanship and divisions within political life, the likes of which we have not seen in democracies before". He said the Kremlin was seeking to shatter consensus and push political debate to the extremes, pointing to Brexit as an example..'.

[plaques]

He said the Kremlin was seeking to shatter consensus and push political debate to the extremes, pointing to Brexit as an example..'.

The cold war between 'the free West' and commie Russia has never stopped in spite of Mikhail Gorbachev doing his best to get relations back to some kind of normality, unfortunately the establishment inside both America and Russia didn't want any changes. The West does its damnedest to derail the Russian economy so Russia in retaliation takes advantage of the corruption in the West by getting involved in their politics. As far as we plebs at ground level go just soak up the propaganda and do as you're told.

[Stanley]

Dead right both of you. Does anyone stop to think what spying tricks we are up to? We know next to nothing about our 'secret services', they're secret! I have always worked on the theory that we are just as bad as the enemy and sometimes worse.
"As far as we plebs at ground level go just soak up the propaganda and do as you're told."
Exactly so Ken.

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC account of the latest news of migrants in the channel. What I note they haven't reported is that when 'a source' in the Admiralty was told of Rishi Sunak's statement about sending the navy in he described it as 'completely potty'.
The bottom line is that as the law stands at the moment there is no alternative to accepting applicants for asylum. How is the initiative to 'negotiate strongly' with the French government going to change that. Are the ministers just whistling in the wind? Note that much of this news was tweeted. We are being governed by Twitter and the phrase that springs to mind is knee jerk.

[plaques]

Priti Patel accused of telling porkies. The French are stopping quite a number of boats but like our pop up raves there's only so much you can do. When all's said and done these illegals are people trying to improve their lives. Once here we have a moral obligation to look after them, not such a big deal for the fifths richest country in the world? She is just stoking up bigotry and xenophobia which goes down well with the right-wing press and most of the 'I'm all right Jack' brigade

[PanBiker]

Another thing of course is that why should we expect the French to stop the migrants, we have just told them to bugger off haven't we? When we were part of the club we used to have OUR border controls in Calais but we no longer have that provision. Boris said it was our destiny as a sovereign nation to have control of our borders, yeah right!

[Tizer]

More on the foreign interference in Western elections...
`US election 2020: China, Russia and Iran 'trying to influence' vote' LINK

Migrants crossing the Channel...Perhaps we should be diverting money to the Red Cross and lending them some RN small boats, painting up the boats in Red Cross colours and insignia, staffing them with RN sailors on loan to the charity and having them return the migrant in their boats to France under Red Cross control. Surveillance drones or patrol aircraft could detect the migrant boats leaving the French coast and alert the Red Cross boats. The Red Cross boats going into French waters on a mission of mercy (prevent the migrants drowning or dying of exposure) shouldn't cause any international furore.