POLITICS CORNER

[Tizer]

This is a real problem if you like custard creams and live in Belgium (joking apart, I once spent some time in a research institute in Leuven and found there were many Brits living there and they'd sell their granny to get a bottle of HP sauce!)...
`Brexit effect: No custard creams for Brits in Europe' Video

[Stanley]

More on the traffic figures for what is now called the short crossing. The RHA say that the reason the government figures are different than theirs is that the government is counting wagons, not loads and many wagons, including continentals who have delivered here, are returning empty. UK wagons going out to pick up continental loads for import have problems finding a load from the UK to get them out there loaded, always the aim with a wagon, empty running is no good to anyone. I still believe the hauliers, their account agrees with the reports we are getting about UK exporters, particularly those with small consignments, are having problems.
Besides, on track record, I'll take the RHA as more likely to be right than Messrs Gove and Shapps any day!

[Tizer]

What caught my attention in this article is at the end - It remains unclear how many off-duty police officers may have been involved, but reports suggest that at least 31 police officers from agencies across the US are under investigation for their alleged participation in the protest and the eventual mob violence at the Capitol.
`Capitol riots: Five takeaways from the arrests' LINK

[plaques]

There are already dozens of books out in circulation which are not too complementary about Donald Trump. The impeachment trial and the fact that he is now Ex-President will produce another flood of exposé books written by 'insiders' that have fallen foul of Trump's 'you have been fired' tweets. Trump will continue to claim 'Fake News' and brand them as 'losers' and keep plugging away at his 'stop the steal' rhetoric in spite of there being no evidence to substantiate his claim. Having been brainwashed for four years that the only true news is Trump news his followers will continue to divide America down a road nobody wishes to go. Meanwhile at the impeachment trial the Republican party's first aim will not to let the Democrats win any sort of victory, secondary to avoid splitting the party, and lastly to do what's best for the country. Watch this space.

[Stanley]

I think that's a good summary Ken and I have nothing to add.
I am listening to reactions to Jenrick's statement on extra funding for cladding. The best immediate summary seems to be from a Conservative MP who said he sat with his head in his hands wondering how Jenrick could get it so wrong on so many levels. He said that basically the whole statement was smoke and mirrors. Others agree with him and one of the problems is that this is solely about cladding but there are many more problems that are not cladding related.
It's very complicated and you'll have to do a lot of reading to fully understand all the serious problems. Wait until there has been time to analyse the problem. The bottom line is that this is not a definitive solution or anything like it.

[Tripps]

I just heard that MP on radio. I had to check out that he is a Tory MP ! (For Stevenage I think though he had a slight Merseyside accent). Stephen McPartlandHe just said it would take £40 billion or so to resolve all the fire issues. It's not just the cladding.

Can't see the treasury going with that, but with well over £2trillion National debt, and interests rates about to go negative - what's a few billion here or there at the moment? The work might help to revive the whole economy.

[Stanley]

I heard a figure of £15billion for cladding plus the other matters David which sounds about right.
THIS Guardian article touches on some of the other matters but still doesn't make the extent of the problem clear.
One example is that when old cladding is stripped off it can reveal structural defects that are nothing to do with fire safety but mean that the building has to be evacuated while the necessary works are done. Then there are buildings where the design is at fault, ie. one staircase.
This is more an attempt to lay the matter to rest on false grounds than an actual solution to the problems which are the result of years of neglect of the Building Regulations.
Your point about the work being a help to the whole country is a good one David but a bit too imaginative for the government who don't understand how creating work helps. All they understand is penny pinching austerity and tax receipts!

[Tizer]

This is a useful summary by BBC Reality Check's Jake Horton...
`Trump impeachment: Fact-checking the Senate trial' LINK

[Stanley]

News just come in that the Northern branch of HS2 to Sheffield and Leeds has been passed by Parliament and signed off by Brenda. Spend away lads!

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC account of the state of HS2. I like the last para....
"Critics say the government could have created far more jobs for the same amount of money by developing a labour-intensive national scheme to renovate leaky homes – an activity that would actively reduce carbon emissions."

[Tizer]

That would have been my choice but our government's prefer things that use more energy rather than less, especially if it looks impressive and Dan Dare-ish!

[PanBiker]

I know I have said it many times before but we lost our way with rail transport in the 50's and 60's by not investing in MagLev technology. 200mph and the rest is very Dan Dare-ish.

A national scheme to renovate homes is doable also. We did it after WWII to massively expand and update the housing stock. My dad got his trade from that Labour Government scheme and skills learnt carried him throughout his entire working life.

[Stanley]

I'm with Peter. Just imagine what you could do with that amount of money invested in different ways. Imagine the long term return on the investment if part had been put into creating a better nursery and primary school system.
So much of our infrastructure is crumbling and we spend money like water on white elephants like HS2, mega aircraft carriers and obsolete nuclear power stations.

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report of the failed impeachment of Donald Trump. I'm not sure this was a good move, Trump is of course elated and there is a backlash within the Republican Party against those Republicans who voted to impeach. 'Republicans in name only (RINOs) is a new class of right wingers.
This isn't over yet, there is a lot of unfinished business. Time will tell whether the divisions can be healed. At the moment, this looks unlikely.

[chinatyke]

You would think he was innocent but in fact 57% of the vote said otherwise. He is an embarrassment to mankind.

[Stanley]

Here at Westminster a vocal group of MPs is trying to pressure Johnson into ending lockdown and restrictions. They should be ignored! Have they learned nothing? Stop being optimistic, adopt worst case and make sure we don't open the door to yet another peak.

[plaques]

Trump. All predictable stuff. The Republicans are the party of the $ dollar. Tax breaks for the rich, revolving doors on exit, favours from the lobbyists.
The two faced rhetoric is amazing how can the leader of the Republicans say he is innocent and in the next breath he is guilty.

Republican leader Mitch McConnell voted against conviction, but then blasted Trump in an address after the vote, saying he was certainly responsible for the mob and suggesting he could be held accountable in other courts

[Tizer]

Here at Westminster a vocal group of MPs is trying to pressure Johnson into ending lockdown and restrictions. They should be ignored! Have they learned nothing? Stop being optimistic, adopt worst case and make sure we don't open the door to yet another peak.

Yes, 63 of them. They're our equivalent of the US Republicans, populist and selfish, and no technical understanding of the issues. Unfortunately we're heading in the US direction politically and need a big change before it's too late. Also unfortunately, we don't have any political party to do the job of making the change.

More on Mitch McConnell. He deliberately delayed Trump's trial until after he left office, on 20 January, so that the impeachment could be declared unconstitutional. Now he warns that Trump could still be held liable in court. "He didn't get away with anything yet. Yet. We have a criminal justice system in this country, we have civil litigation and former presidents are not immune from being [held] accountable by either one." BBC A criminal investigation is being planned into election interference in Georgia by Trump and his [then] personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani: NYT It's going to be very interesting to see how the Republican Party handles all this. Trump still has many millions of fanatical supporters and he says he's going to run again in the next election. Will the GOP embrace him to avoid splitting into two parties?

[Big Kev]

The Orange Knob has been acquitted
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-56061100

[Stanley]

There was a More or Less programme on claims that traffic across the 'short straits' (What happened to the Channel?) are down by the RHA but I was in bed and fell asleep. What was the verdict?

[Tizer]

You can listen to it here. Figures are confused by empty lorries, etc:
`More or Less: Brexit exports, cladding and are 1 in 5 disabled?' LINK
Are exports to the EU from the UK down 68% since Brexit? This apocalyptic statistic is being widely reported, but does it really tell us what’s happening at Dover and Folkstone?

Or download the podcast to listen to: LINK

[Stanley]

Thanks Peter....
What struck me this morning was that the spokesman for the group of anti-lockdown MPs said that 60 colleagues supported the increased freedom they were asking for. It betrays a frame of mind that says if 60 MPs all decide to go batty at the same time they must be heard and obeyed.

[Tizer]

The Republicans are split on this idea - some for, some against. But even Mitch McConnell said Trump was "responsible" for the assault on the Capitol and "President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office. He didn't get away with anything yet." Trump may not be impeached but he could still face prosecution related to the Capitol riots and other issues.
`Independent commission to investigate Capitol riots' LINK

[Stanley]

One wonders if the best thing to do with Donald Trump is simply ignore him.....
I see our MPs are enjoying a mid term break. How nice for them. Good job there's nothing pressing that needs doing.

[Stanley]

I'm sat here listening to Mr Raab telling us that the ten years of austerity has had nothing to do with the underfunding of children mentioned by Anne Longfield in her parting comments on her role as Children's Commissioner.
How could we be so silly as to think that the Commissioner got it right and knows what she is talking about.