POLITICS CORNER

[Tripps]

"LAW was launched in late 2017 to challenge what they saw as unjustified suspensions and expulsions of Labour party members"

Trying to get my head around this one - I do wish I was cleverer. . . .

So because he belongs to a group that challenges 'unjustified suspensions and expulsions' he's about to be expelled?

[Stanley]

Yes David, it's as simple and stupid as that.

[PanBiker]

Did you vote in the conference organisers ballot Stanley? The ballot was open to all members and in some way shows the feeling in the general membership. The two left wing socialist candidates were elected to the organising comittee as they have been for the past three years. The other two candidates were both backed by Starmer supporters. There should be some very interesting motions brought to conference this year in Brighton.

It's Barlick branch meeting this Tuesday via Zoom, you should get the link via email from the secretary if you want to participate. Lots of CLP's and branches are sending letters of dissent to the PLP or directly to Starmer.

[Tizer]

This man was a chief scientist at Pfizer then started his own biotech company and is now an anti-vax celebrity. His former science colleagues are surprised and say he has totally changed, they don't recognise him as the man they knew. He's been in the news a number of times but now an article in The Times says he aims to take over the Liberal Democrat party using his thousands of social media followers and make it the anti-vax party...
`Mike Yeadon: Antivaxer with eye on Lib Dems plans resort for unjabbed' Yeadon
`A former executive at Pfizer who has become a key figure in the antivax movement is trying to infiltrate the Liberal Democrats. Mike Yeadon, 61, a chief scientific officer at the pharmaceutical company until 2011, has been embraced by Covid sceptics after making baseless claims about vaccines. He is a wealthy man after selling a biotech company he founded, and has launched the Liberal Spring movement with the hope of signing up antivaxers to the Liberal Democrats. The group aims to turn the party into a mainstream movement campaigning for Covid-sceptic beliefs. Yeadon is also hoping to build a tropical resort for people who refuse a jab. Liberty Place would be based off Zanzibar and residents would have to “demonstrate your politics very clearly to us”.'...

The same story seems to be in full on the Reddit site here: LINK

Before we shrug it off as tittle tattle we should remember how the US Republican Party has been taken over by Trumpism. With our two main political parties in meltdown this could turn out to be very attractive to all the disaffected voters. And if you think `That could never happen' you probably also thought the Taliban wouldn't be in Kabul today!

[Stanley]

I caught a whisper of this on R4 yesterday but it didn't make sense to me. It still doesn't. The man is a nut case and his Liberty resort could be the ideal place to contract Covid and die.....
Yes, these things must be taken seriously and I hate him for trying it but I shall not lose sleep over it.
Meanwhile, we have a vacuum in UK politics on the matter of Kabul. I for one will be watching very carefully to see how many Afghan helpers are abandoned to the Taliban.
I heard Ben Wallace break down under interview when he admitted that some dependents 'won't get back'. As John Bolton said about the US case, the blame has to be shared by all three major parties. We have run our capabilities down but still insisted on 'punching above our weight' and going in hanging on the American coat tails.
Try sending an aircraft carrier in to evacuate Kabul or anywhere else for that matter.
One common theme in both US and UK reporting is that all over the world our enemies are laughing their socks off.....

[plaques]

Parliament to be recalled to discuss the Afghanistan situation. Militarily we can do nothing and the same with diplomacy. The only bit of help would be to take refugees. Priti Patel must be spitting feathers, after years of making asylum seekers the enemy of England we will be helping possibly thousands of Afghanistans to come here on visa or asylum. Animal farm again, some asylum seekers are more equal than others?

[Stanley]

Indeed Ken, Dominic Raab didn't baulk this morning when 'tens of thousands' was put to him.
Actually I don't think they have any policy at all and are doing everything as a reaction.

[plaques]

The Conservatives have been in power over 10 years and they have never had a 'plan' for anything other than privatising the NHS and this is a covert plan started by Blair. Do we have a Brexit plan? No. A Trade plan? No. A North Island plan? No. Sorry I forgot, an Austerity plan? Yes.

[Stanley]

Correct again Ken but add the project to get the workers under control, Thatcher Mark II. The aim is to get us back to a deregulated laisser faire 19th century. Never openly voiced but going very nicely thank you, look at the way the incomes of the upper 5 percentile have increased over the last Covid years!

[Stanley]

15th of November 2018 headline:
"The shabby end of a pitiful career. Dominic Raab resigned this morning over a deal he ostensibly negotiated. In reality, he'd been sidelined in recent weeks, at least since he demanded a unilateral ability to end the backstop – a suggestion which was never going to have any success in Brussels or indeed in the world of objective semantic meaning. But he sat there anyway, reading the terms of the deal, understanding the dynamics, and somehow found that this was the moment his principles kicked in.
It is hard to think of a less distinguished ministerial career. Raab was sold to us for years as the big brains on the Tory backbenches, the man who knew how to disentangle Britain from the European Convention of Human Rights without unraveling the Good Friday Agreement, the eurosceptic who really grasped the technical and trade implications of leaving the EU.
In reality, when his moment came, Raab was a nervous mess. He plastered a petrified smile on his face as he stood next to Michel Barnier after talks. It was simply embarrassing to watch him stand there and sweat in the limelight, as far better briefed negotiating partners peered at him over their glasses, like a cat looking at its prey.
Later, the full extent of his ignorance was revealed. In an astonishing aside, he revealed that he had no idea that the UK relied heavily on the Dover-Calais route for trade. In the business end of negotiation, Britain's Brexit secretary was learning the basics."
I remembered this when I heard about Raab ignoring the advice of his advisors. Is he another Grayling?

[Stanley]

Later news that the call to Afghanistan that Raab delegated was never made. Johnson is said to be furious, he should sack him.

[Tizer]

Later, the full extent of his ignorance was revealed. In an astonishing aside, he revealed that he had no idea that the UK relied heavily on the Dover-Calais route for trade. In the business end of negotiation, Britain's Brexit secretary was learning the basics.

Almost every week since that incident Hugo Rifkind has managed to work into his weekly humorous article in The Times Dominic Raab saying something like "I seem to have missed the full extent of that". Raab should have it tattooed on his forehead.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The BBC defends Labour and exposes Ben Wallace's lies....
`Afghanistan: Who originally supported Trump's deal with the Taliban?' BBC Reality Check

[Stanley]

Listening to the news that access to Kabul Airport could be cut off at short notice I reflect on the number of applications for resettlement that have been ignored or rejected in the weeks leading up to the collapse. Patel and Raab not caring a jot about these people. The Taliban are hunting them down now and killing them.
The moral? Don't trust the British government, at the first sign of trouble they will throw you and your family to the wolves. Makes you proud to be British doesn't it?

[Tripps]

From ITV website

"As a rebuke to the accusations, in a statement released on Friday, Mr Raab said the call to the Afghan Foreign Minister had to be delegated to a more junior minister, as he had to focus on the deteriorating security situation at Kabul airport."

It now emerges' that the junior minister was in fact Frank Zacharias Robin Goldsmith, Baron Goldsmith of Richmond Park Presumably he initially said he had phoned - then admitted he hadn't. If so that's as bad as Raab's behaviour but no calls for his resignation.

Awarded a peerage by his fellow Old Etonian (motto Floreat Etonia) Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, in order that he could maintain his Cabinet position after defeat by Sarah Olney in the election. Ironic - Zac got the peerage that his father craved but never achieved.

His ministerial duties seem to cover the environment, and the Pacific and he's very strong on sharks fins.

His name last cropped up on here following the Lord Lucan affair. Close to Aspers (et al), who is very keen on wildlife matters, and has a scheme to send his Canterbury herd of elephants, which have never been out of Kent, back to Africa. What could possibly go wrong? That may explain why Mrs Carrie Johnson is currently 'employed' as a communications manager. She could perhaps put in a word when some public funds are required.

I read that they want to 'rewild' the oceans and wish to free all fish currently in garden ponds and aquariums. I promise you I'm not making all this up. It would all make a good Evelyn Waugh novel as perhaps a sequel to Decline and Fall.

[Stanley]

Didn't think for a minute you were making it up David, I have been reading and hearing the same reports.
The Tories are riddled with nepotism and the old boys network. I wonder if all parties are the same?
Raab is another member of the Grayling Roll of Dishonour and incompetence. As for Goldsmith..... words fail me.

[plaques]

Just heard on BBC radio. The government have refused to issue licences for thousands of EU lorry drivers requested by the road transport organisations. The governments response being that people have voted several time to cut all links with the EU. Really? when did those take place?

[Tizer]

To be fair, the people voted in the EU Referendum to leave the EU and then they voted again (via their parliamentary representatives) to put that decision into action. But that doesn't make it the right decision, of course! Many of our politicians don't understand (or are unwilling to accept) that the UK has been relying on Johnny Foreigners to do the work for us for ages now because home-grown Brits won't do the jobs. Businesses are finding they don't get any applicants when they advertise jobs now.

[plaques]

Anything that wasn't written on the side of a bus was labelled 'Project Fear'. Even our Foreign Secretary effectively deputy PM. Previously Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, Dominic Raab, didn't realise the amount of trade passing through ports. With 14,000 EU lorry drivers moving goods round England our leave it for later government didn't understand that this could be a problem even though they had been told about it over 12 months ago. Then we have the Afghanistan Embassy was still writing visas out on the last day even though anyone with half a brain knew what was going happen 18 months ago. Which proves the point this buffoon led government hasn't half a brain between them.

[Stanley]

The 'majority vote' wasn't really Peter, it was just over half of those who did vote and if repeated now I think would have a far different result as people are beginning to realise what is happening to us. If you listened to Tim Lang yesterday, add food shortages to the list. Ken is right, leave it until later doesn't work. If we had been more open we could have got thousands of people out who helped us in the last few weeks. Now we have reports they are being hunted down.

[plaques]

Joe Biden being pilloried for withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan. Of course Trumps negotiated the withdrawal and Biden has gone along with it. For European countries its going to be a big problem but for America and its voting population it would look the right thing to do. Bring our boys home and stop spending $'s for no advantage, the profit on reconstruction is long gone, and there's always one eye on the next election. Biden may just be playing for the Republican vote to see him through the next term. A parallel situation applies to the UK imagine Boris doing a vault face on Brexit and saying we are going to cancel it. He would be out on his ear in no time. The thinking population may like it but the right-wing Tories would be up in arms. Biden like Boris is stuck with keeping the media in check to say nothing of keeping his job.

[Tizer]

The 'majority vote' wasn't really Peter, it was just over half of those who did vote and if repeated now I think would have a far different result as people are beginning to realise what is happening to us.

I agree and I think we should have better rules for any future referendum - after all, under present rules as far as I know if we had a referendum on whether or not to bring back hanging and only 10 people in Skelmersdale voted and ticked the Yes box then we would have to bring back hanging.

[Stanley]

First past the post is too easy. That's why it is so attractive to government. That's why proportion based elections always get booted out one way or another.
I see Raab's explanation of why he delegated the call to Afghanistan has hit more problems. The Sunday Times reported that Raab had been told on the Friday that he should return to the UK, but that he persuaded Boris Johnson he could stay in Crete for two more days. According to the report, officials felt that Raab “nobbled” the prime minister into agreeing. What a picture of governance... Neither of them realising that what was happening was more important than another couple of days on the beach.
On another matter see THIS BBC report of the case of the man held without trial in India and Nicola Sturgeon approaching Raab over the case.

[Stanley]

THIS Article By Jon Sopel the BBC Washington correspondent is worth a read. I too was surprised when I heard Blair use the word imbecilic to describe the Biden slogan about never-ending wars and sure enough it was grabbed by lazy editors and used to describe Biden himself.
I think Sopel is right about the 'special relationship'. I have always said it is spin and ignores the numerous times the US has not been a friend of the UK. We are now trying to embarrass Biden into extending the US stay in Kabul. Don't hold your breath on that one!

[plaques]

When are people going to wake up to the fact that NOBODY tells America what to do. Buffoon Johnson's whimper request will get the same response as Olive Twist asking for more. The media will try to spin it that the Americans waited until the majority of the UK government were on holiday, of course they won't say it like that, before they sprung the surprise they were withdrawing. So with the Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary and the minister for Afghanistan all away at the same time they pulled this dastardly trick. All this happening while we were astutely ignoring the affects of covid and battling our self inflicted Brexit wounds they can keep their chlorinated chickens.

[Stanley]

Nether the US or the UK can avoid carrying responsibility for what is happening. If we had brought our Afghanistan helpers back when we first identified the need instead of Priti Patel bleating about immigrants and extending May's 'hostile environment' we could have had most of the people now in trouble out. Just think how easy it would have been if Bagram had still been open. All that money and we walked out and left us relying on Kabul Airport.