POLITICS CORNER

[PanBiker]

PM also asks the Labour Leader if he has any worthwhile suggestions. ( which by itself seems an admission of if not failure, not quite succeeding ).

One useful suggestion would have been for Boris to get it right in the first place by taking note of what was happening in other countries before it got to us.
At this stage of the game another would be to continue to watch other countries coming out of lockdown, Spain yesterday 2 deaths, UK deaths 324. Spain, not reopening schools until September, UK, lets get all the kids and teachers back as soon as possible. Any notice taken or lessons learned or are they just incompetent?

[Tripps]

Late news - Business Minister Alok Sharma is introducing a second reading of a Bill in the commons - changing rules for administration, and bankruptcy etc. Very topical. He is taken ill during the process, and goes into isolation, with suspected Covid 19. . I watched part of it and didn't notice the reported sweating. I hope he's OK.

The despatch box is reported to have been deep cleaned afterwards.

Follow up to the ridiculous spectacle of the 'distanced vote' yesterday which I now learn was to do it all again. Italy has fully opened all its borders, on the day we announce 14 days voluntary isolation for all incoming air passengers. Who'd want to visit at the moment anyway?

167 Refugees arrive by boat in Dover, and it is reported that we will allow 3 million Hong Kong Chinese to move to UK on a long visitors' visa, with a view to future citizenship, if China continues to be beastly to them.

Can we start again please and let someone else have a go?

[Stanley]

Ian, I have come to the conclusion that US politics is simply different and it's a different country so you get different outcomes. There is more difference between 'right' and 'left' there but in their case it's the Right which is far out and bonkers in the outer reaches. Their Left is actually moderate and is where the good guys are. I agree about the comparison between Spain and the UK.
David, I agree entirely. Can we have a bill that outlaws all antediluvian attitudes? Like getting rid of the lines that stop the opposing parties getting within a sword's length of each other. What happens to the Congo line when it rains?

[Tripps]

What happens to the Congo line when it rains?

Indeed - better ask Rees Mogg -no doubt he will have his nanny to shield him with an umbrella.
Main press emphasis seems to be whether to measure the length of the 'conga' in miles/kilometres yards or metres.

I find this on The Conservative Woman website -

I wonder what Alfred, Lord Tennyson would have made of it all?
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the MPs knew
Someone had blundered.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to vote and cry.
Into the House of Commons
Walked the six hundred.
Whips to right of them,
Whips to left of them,
The Speaker in front of them,
Volleyed and thundered;
Stormed at with shout and yell,
Boldly they queued and well,
Into the House of Commons,
On the division bell
Walked the six hundred.

If you’d ever wanted a graphic demonstration of the total disconnect between public and politician, here was a prime example on live TV. Never was the term ‘lobby fodder’ more appropriate, as we watched Honourable Members who had no idea whether they were supposed to vote Yes or No, and in some cases struggled to remember their own name.

[plaques]

For those who are interested in seeing the £ sink below the horizon the brief fillip fueled by releasing more cannon fodder to the covid virus has been overtaken by reality.
.

Exchange rate.jpg

The size 12 hats have now come to the conclusion that if the UK doesn't get an extension to the EU leaving negotiations then things aren't looking too good and the £ could drop further in the advent of a no deal. Some may think that this is a good thing since inflation will only affect those at the bottom of the income bracket. On the other hand it will boost our exports on the 'things we make'. There is one big flaw to this argument. Can anybody spot it???

[Stanley]

Very good David and accurate observation. It is totally stupid!
P. I think so. We are actively seeking ways to bugger what trade there is. I remember the term 'export boom' and the campaign to 'Buy British'. Expect to hear the term 'invisible exports' any time now but how will No Deal affect that?
Stanley wrote: Thu Jun 04, 2020 3:25 am. What happens to the Congo line when it rains?
David responded;
Indeed - better ask Rees Mogg -no doubt he will have his nanny to shield him with an umbrella.
David, did you hear Jacob this morning saying that he was going to do just that, ask nanny's advice. He's been reading you!

[Tripps]

No I missed that - I don't do BBC very much these days. I think his star is waning. Did you notice how much he looks like Lord Snooty (of fond memory) from the Beano comic.

P. the 'collapse' yesterday of the pound sterling from US $125.55 to $1.25.50 seems to have been short lived. Today it has 'rebounded' to $1.26. I used to buy second hand rare CD's from the USA, not so long ago, at $1.47 to the pound. It was $4 during WWII- hence half a crown was commonly known as half a dollar. Things change.

[Tizer]

China takes advantage of the US riots...
`George Floyd death: China takes a victory lap over US protests' LINK

[Whyperion]

P. the 'collapse' yesterday of the pound sterling from US $125.55 to $1.25.50 seems to have been short lived. Today it has 'rebounded' to $1.26. I used to buy second hand rare CD's from the USA, not so long ago, at $1.47 to the pound. It was $4 during WWII- hence half a crown was commonly known as half a dollar. Things change.

the Dollar is linked to international trading rather than the pound, with inflation costs in the UK from the 70s onwards the pound was always going to fall with little one could do about it

[Tizer]

More on China's attempts at world domination...
`Is China bolder in the wake of the pandemic? LINK

[Whyperion]

How will Dominic Cummings react when he has to kowtow to his Chinese Masters - or is he expecting a reward for loyalty?

[Stanley]

There is growing unrest amongst MPs of all parties about the government's recent actions, particularly springing the face mask rules on the NHS, that they are making policy on the hoof in an effort to be seen to be doing something.
I have to say that this has been my impression for a while.

[Stanley]

Another government 'decision' collapses. See THIS BBC account of the reverse ferret, plans have been dropped for getting pupils back into school before September. So the teachers and the unions were right, they said it was impossible.

[PanBiker]

It was always a non starter if they had listened to the teaching staff. Not rocket science anyway, you can't fit a quart into a pint pot!

My daughter teaches at primary school and her class is normally 30 kids. On the distancing regs she could fit no more than 10 in her classroom and that was pushing it, 8 would have been better. A quick calculation means that her class alone would need at least 3 classrooms or 4 to be safe and that does not take into consideration the teaching staff. Carla teaches an entire year group as do other members of staff. You not only need 4 times the amount of space you also need 4 times the number of teachers. Last time I looked Glusburn Community Primary School had not quadrupled in size and neither had the staff.

[Stanley]

Exactly Ian. Young Gavin seems to have missed the consultation point entirely.

[PanBiker]

She is still in school though, managing best they can with the year 6's and any kids of essential workers. Jack's girlfriend Jemma is the same but her school is managing with having the kids as half timers. Neither is supportable in the long term. It either needs massive investment in the sector with extra space provided in portable accommodation and staff numbers, (improbable) or a reliable vaccine to reduce the risk to minimal.

[Stanley]

True Ian and we have underfunded primary and secondary education for as long as I can remember. This single fact is at the root of may contemporary problems. James May had a point when he said yesterday that even a small part of the investment in HS2 would transform cycling. This would be equally true of education.
Have you been listening to the BBC book of the Week? It's by an ex police officer who is saying some very practical things about policing and its problems and education is part of it.

[Tizer]

`Firms can't cope with no deal and virus - CBI boss' LINK
The CBI's Carolyn Fairbairn: "The resilience of British business is absolutely on the floor. Every penny of cash that had been stored up, all the stockpiles prepared have been run down. The firms that I speak to have not a spare moment to plan for a no trade deal Brexit at the end of the year - that is the common sense voice that needs to find its way into these negotiations. As one member put it to me - just because the house is on fire, it doesn't make it OK to set fire to the garden shed. If we have a political timescale that takes us to a brinksmanship deal in December that will be catastrophic for British business - they will not be ready. Small businesses were not ready last time there was a no-deal Brexit threat - this time they will not have had a moment to prepare for it."

[plaques]

True Ian and we have underfunded primary and secondary education for as long as I can remember.

. Over the last 10 years or more we have been consolidating small, often well performing schools, into larger ones under the guise of efficiency. ie: making teachers redundant. Now having fully packed classes with fewer teachers now with this covid we are short of space and short of teachers. Answer, carry on as normal and see what happens. Pathetic.

If we have a political timescale that takes us to a brinksmanship deal in December that will be catastrophic for British business

. Even if the EU 'blinks first' the end result will still be catastrophic for industry. But the right-wing Tories will puff their chests out and say "told you so, we won the argument". Double Pathetic.

[Whyperion]

She is still in school though, managing best they can with the year 6's and any kids of essential workers. Jack's girlfriend Jemma is the same but her school is managing with having the kids as half timers. Neither is supportable in the long term. It either needs massive investment in the sector with extra space provided in portable accommodation and staff numbers, (improbable) or a reliable vaccine to reduce the risk to minimal.

Are the govt spinning round in circles. Schools in summer wont be open for key-worker children , ( normally most local authorities run things from street sports to (and private) summer schools). Summer education will attempt to be provided to enable 'disadvantaged' pupils to catch up on education missed.
(Scotland, sensibly, plan to open mid august as normal for their terms) . Anyone know what is happening with sixth-form colleges, will an additional year of 'free' education funding be considered for those to take A level and vocational qualifications?

[Stanley]

Dead right P. Even the OECD infers it is madness to leave the EU.
I see our 'world class' track and trace system is not quite as good as was forecast and Dido is floundering as predicted. Why am I not surprised?
See THIS BBC report on the sudden change in border plans.
"The Financial Times reports ministers have abandoned plans to introduce full checks after pressure from businesses. A government source told the BBC it would take a "pragmatic and flexible approach" due to coronavirus. The UK had committed to introduce import controls on EU goods in January. But the source said ministers recognised the impact the virus was having on businesses, and so pragmatism and flexibility on imports made sense - "to help business adjust to the changes" that were now imminent."
Does "pragmatic and flexible approach" actually mean "We haven't got the infrastructure or the staff and are desperately trying to mitigate the damage to trade we expect to result."
Why don't they admit the truth. They aren't the only arbiters of what border controls will apply, The EU will have a view as well. In addition, on top of the effects of the pandemic implementing Brexit looks suspiciously like an enormous mistake.
One thing is certain, economics 101 isn't behind this policy, it looks more like intransigent attitudes on the part of rabid Tories who in reality are more interested in their own prospects if there is a full-blown recession. There will be some very cheap blue-chip shares and even companies up for grabs. The legal profession and the hedge funds will have a field day.

[plaques]

Fantastic, we ease back on incoming goods and presumably don't collect any tariffs. This makes goods from the EU cheaper. What could be better for the customer buying foreign goods. At the same time the EU, being more efficient, applies tariffs to our goods making them more expensive. The tariff money goes out but doesn't come in. And the bottom line is.....

[Tizer]

I see our 'world class' track and trace system is not quite as good as was forecast and Dido is floundering as predicted. Why am I not surprised?

I'm definitely not a supporter of Dido Harding but for the sake of balance I have to point out that the problem with track & trace is that 30% of people identified for contact are not responding. In the UK we don't have the means to force people to respond so there's always going to be that problem.

Another indication of how much China and Russia are waging war against the West through `social media'. I sometimes wonder if we'd be better off if the big social media companies were banned!
`Twitter removes more than 170,000 pro-China accounts' LINK

[Stanley]

I have sympathy with your point Tiz but see the social media problems as Pandora's Box syndrome. Once you open the lid it's too late to stop it. "You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube".
Besides, if they were banned they would just start again in a different form even on the Dark Web. The whole march of IT is unstoppable and we take the advantages, therefore we have to accept the smaller downside. Just look at what has happened in our lifetime....

[Marilyn]

....perhaps having ankle bracelets clamped on people will make track and trace easier...and those skipping isolation can be locked up!