POLITICS CORNER

[plaques]

As far as the media is concerned the country has gone into purdah with almost a complete ban on UK internal bad news. With the prospects of Liz Truss becoming PM and moving the Tory party to the right of Genghis Khan the Vox pop is that things are going to get a whole lot worse for the ordinary working man who may morph into the unemployed working man.

It all leaves me with one thought 'The Snow Storm' by J M W Turner.

Snow Storm By Turner. .jpg

[Tizer]

This is also appropriate, symbolic of the future of the United Kingdom...

[Stanley]

I fear you are right Ken. We are in for a strong dose of right wing Tory governance made worse by the fact that it is an imitation of Thatcherism. We often hear the phrase 'the Tory way' but I doubt if anyone really understands what it means, if indeed it has any meaning. In 1938 Harold Macmillan wrote a book on political philosophy ; 'The Middle Way' and I doubt if many in today's party have even heard of it never mind read it. As the title suggests it suggests a middle course and was a product partly of Macmillan's service in the Great War where he learned much about 'the lower orders'. Some idea of how much this affected him can be gauged from the fact that when he lost his Parliamentary seat on Stockton on Tees in the 1929 general election the Daily Telegraph reported it as 'The socialist Captain Macmillan' losing his seat.
Neither of the two candidates and most of the Tory MP's have any knowledge of what poverty means or who the 'lower orders' actually are. Their sights are firmly set on their own, the wealth holders and what we used to call 'the middle classes' (who are just beginning to learn what poverty can mean as their incomes are eroded).
All this adds up to a bleak prospect for these 'lower orders'. Both candidates will only throw enough money at the poor to avoid social revolt. The present government has shown no signs of understanding the food shortages that are on the horizon or the depth of the recession we bare entering, made much worse by the effects of the failed policy of Brexit. We have the worst economic figures and outlook of any of the G7 countries already and this is going to get much worse.
Yes, I am old and pessimistic, I admit it but I have been here before and cannot see any of the brighter patches of light on the horizon that were present then. I only have to look at the pinched little features of Liz Truss and her pursed mouth to be reminded of this. (And even if Sunak won I don't see him being any different.)

[Tizer]

I only have to look at the pinched little features of Liz Truss and her pursed mouth to be reminded of this. (And even if Sunak won I don't see him being any different.)

Well you're going to get one or t'other, no matter what. I hope a magic fairy embarrasses all the pundits and Sunak becomes PM. Well, I can dream, can't I? At least Sunak doesn't want to blow us all to smithereens. I don't care if he's rich, he's got more sense than Truss.

Taking a global view, I think we're in for a tricky spot of bother. As well as all our domestic problems Putin is causing as much damage to the world as he can manage. Even if he fails to get his desired bits of Ukraine he's going to make everyone suffer through other ventures and behind-the-scenes disturbance of world order. The situation in the US has `gotten' much worse. Trump made a 2-hour speech to his ecstatic MAGA followers yesterday after Biden called him an enemy of the state and accused him of damaging democracy. The US is falling apart and Trump will either win the next Presidential election or start a civil war if the democrats look like winning. We can kiss goodbye to the `special relationship' and perhaps to NATO as we know it. In the meantime, Putin and his Wagner Group will be disrupting democracy worldwide. Sorry to be so pessimistic but that's how I see the world just now.

[Stanley]

"Sorry to be so pessimistic but that's how I see the world just now."
I don't see you as pessimistic Peter, realistic yes because what you describe is certainly possible. All we can hope is that somewhere common sense breaks through and we move in a better direction. In the US a lot depends on the results in the mid term elections. When the dust settles from them we may have a clearer picture....
As for Sunak, I have to agree with you. I don't want either but I thing Truss really is deluded. Not least because she believes she is right. It may be that, as some commentators suggest, the last weeks have been about getting the vote of the blue-rinse brigade in the Shires and that once in power she will change tune and act in a more populist way. We shall see, but I fear she is on a Thatcher kick. Let's see what sort of a speech she makes when she enters Number Ten.....

[plaques]

As for Sunak, I have to agree with you. I don't want either but I thing Truss really is deluded. Not least because she believes she is right. It may be that, as some commentators suggest, the last weeks have been about getting the vote of the blue-rinse brigade in the Shires and that once in power she will change tune and act in a more populist way. We shall see, but I fear she is on a Thatcher kick. Let's see what sort of a speech she makes when she enters Number Ten.....

I would have agreed that she may mellow when in No10. but the weekends interviews, which needn't have taken place since voting had closed, she went the full Monty with a lurch to the right. 'The poor have had it too good and the rich need looking after. This is the Chicago economics by Milton Friedman with market forces left to ravage and pillage until the poor have absolutely nothing and the rich become dictators. The road she is following doesn't lead to Damascus but the road to serfdom. Lets hope that the more sane Conservative MPs reign back these extreme positions.

[Stanley]

Ken, the only thing that can save us is if the broad church of Tory MPs thinks her policies will win or lose an election, which they are convinced will happen sooner rather than later.... The next three months are going to be turbulent and I wouldn't rule anything out.

[Stanley]

I am listening to Andrew Stephenson (for it is he!) speaking in his capacity as Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party, alongside Ben Elliot. Truss got 81,000 votes, Sunak got 69,000 (I think!) (57% to 43%).
So now we know what we are in for....

[Tripps]

Closer than most thought - I make it about 57.4% to 42.6% - thank goodness it wasn't 52% /48%. There'd have been calls for a re-run if that happened.

[Tripps]

Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party, alongside Ben Elliot

I have never heard of him, but he's just resigned. No doubt I'll be told what it all means later.

[Tizer]

I hope you all watched the HIGNFY special on Boris!

[plaques]

Stanley wrote: ↑05 Sep 2022, 12:47
Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party, alongside Ben Elliot
I have never heard of him, but he's just resigned. No doubt I'll be told what it all means later.

Never heard of Ben Elliot. Joint the club.
.

Ben Elliot. .jpg

Andrew Stephenson MP now becomes big chief for collecting party donations.
.

Andrew Stephenson..jpg

[Big Kev]

Priti 'orrible has resigned.

[Whyperion]

Joe Lysatt's BBC performance on Laura Kuensberg's sunday morning show was a bit of a classic.

Meanwhile the BBC welcome Truss - elected by well under half of the conservative members eligible to vote.

aka The Iron Weathercock (c) The French. (feel free to write your own captions)

[Whyperion]

Asked if she could pledge not to introduce new taxes if she wins power, she replied: "Yes, no new taxes."

They could always be old taxes but bigger,
She has also claimed that not having the detailed information from the Treasury until she becomes PM she can't formulate any plans. The country will have to wait until Sept 5th then she will plead its being drawn up, to avoid Starmer asking awkward questions, then after two weeks its conference recess time when they will probably come out to great applause and cheering and in truth being totally useless and far too late. Crisis what crisis? Or to follow the old adage.. If you don't know what to do act numb.

I expect new, or increased, charges and levies, possibly road pricing.

[Stanley]

How did Moon Face get a tan like that if he was working hard indoors?
I've had a look at BBC politics news and in the absence of real news we are being given a diet of old news regurgitated and bleeding obvious generalities. I shall avoid the news until there is some!

[Stanley]

I've just listened to the Johnson version of the last two years as he makes his farewell speech outside Downing Street. What a performance. A newcomer to our politics, listening to him, would be wondering why we were ditching such a paragon of success.
Unfortunately, for someone like me, it was just another example of how the Tories work, a triumph of rhetoric over reality..... I shall go and have a sleep.....

[Whyperion]

Leaving aside the failures (mostly rampant inflation and lack of progress on affordable housing), the track record under Johnson has not been too bad despite the distractions, and hang the cost. BBC Fact Checking :

" 13,790 more police on the streets'
The government promised 20,000 more police for England and Wales by March 2023.
The latest figures, up to 30 June 2022, do show an extra 13,790 police officers have been recruited under the government's Police Uplift scheme.
But that doesn't make up for police numbers falling by 20,545 between March 2010 and March 2019 - under Conservative-led governments." = overall there is an increase in the numbers of Police Officers - one could question their effectiveness , ( and are they being held in reserve to cope with any upcoming poverty riots ?). Would Labour have done any different - probably not , the time to train and deploy investigating and keeping of the queens peace officers is about the same, and would have to be done on the same level of funding.

"Neighbourhood crime down by 38% in three years'
This figure is correct - according to survey data from the Office for National Statistics - but it doesn't cover all types of crime people might experience in their neighbourhoods.
The Home Office's Beating Crime plan defines neighbourhood crime as "vehicle-related theft, domestic burglary, theft from the person and robbery of personal property".
But it excludes crimes like arson and theft from outside the house (both up since June 2019 when Mr Johnson came to office) as well as bike theft and violent crime (which have both fallen).
It also excludes fraud which has risen by almost 30% in the same period. Fraud accounts for nearly half the crime estimated to take place in England and Wales." What the BBC doesnt not is either the lack of reporting of crime (much isnt bothered about) , and that much of the reductions have come about from Covid restrictions - has there been a small rise over the last year ? Again would it be different under Labour - difficult to say , one may note that most urban crime have Labour Mayors at least having a strategic role to designing out crime and police prioroties.

"50,000 nurses by the end of this Parliament'
This refers to a manifesto commitment to achieve these numbers in England by 2025.
The latest figures show 319,846 full-time equivalent NHS nurses and health visitors in May 2022. That is up 23,753 since December 2019.
So, there are still 26,247 posts to fill.

But another government pledge - to recruit 6,000 more GPs by 2025 - wasn't mentioned by Mr Johnson.
Progress on this pledge is much slower. There were 35,257 full-time equivalent GPs in post in July 2022. That's up by just 738 since the end of December 2019."
Again I would say that Covid had an impact on those aims, but it is interesting that we claim the NHS is stretched but if there is a rise in Nursing staff and GP numbers ( faster than the rise of population demands ?) why is this ? Looks like the numbers of effective staff accross the NHS need attention. Could Labour have improved on the numbers - possibly , more likely to be the same, but i would expect some better training and university funding.

"40 new hospitals by the end of the decade'
"new hospital" includes new wings of existing hospitals, as well as refurbished hospitals.

In December 2021, analysis done by Reality Check and the Nuffield Trust found that of the 40 projects in England :

three were entirely new hospitals
three involved rebuilding non-urgent care hospitals
12 were new wings within existing hospitals
22 were rebuilding projects
When asked for an update, on 6 September, a Department of Health spokesperson told us that one of the 40 hospitals opened for patients last year and a further six were under construction"

So progress indeed there is, not bad given covid and we can ignore the nightingale distractions. Again , more or less under Labour - possible more but it is not good to rush numbers to end up with a badly built building.

Vaccines - Fastest Rollout - well I would give a +1 to Johnson on this, would a (Corbyn) Labour made the same calls - and would the NHS have gone with following the science on this ? one would hope so but I would not see a change comparatively , maybe a month or two either way.

[Whyperion]

Wonder who wrote Truss' speech. Would like to see it , has more general content than a Boris one but she seemed to be reading it for the first time, with a strange split word on one line. Generally looks like low taxes, lesser benefits, dig for energy, and get roads and houses built (so planning permission is out - will the blue wall like that ? - the developers will ) and as we probably know no restrictions on financial industry liquidity. I dont think it is going to end well.

[Tripps]

Some say that Partygate showed that the politicians, by the way they ignored them, didn't actually believe that the Covid restrictions at the time were necessary. In a similar way I'd say that the fact that the two PM's have flown to and from Aberdeen in seperate aircraft, shows that they don't believe in Anthropogenic Global Warming. If they did - they'd have done the ceremony on TEAMS or Skype etc.
Take note of what they do - not what they say - remains sound advice. That'll be 10 Hail Marys Carrie.

Some satisfying sacking in the reshuffle. Goodbye Mr Green - but whither Zahawi? Fingers crossed.

I thought Sunak was head and shoulders above Truss, but his colossal wealth, family connections and Kipling's words kept returning to me

The Stranger within my gates,
He may be evil or good,
But I cannot tell what powers control—
What reasons sway his mood;
Nor when the Gods of his far-off land
Shall repossess his blood.
**************************************************************
Looks like being a busy evening

Andrew Stephenson out as party chair-
Andrew Stephenson announced his departure as chair of the Conservative party.

Therese Coffey to Health and is now Deputy Prime Minister. That's the end of irony too.

[Stanley]

I know it's childish but I had a certain sense of satisfaction as I watched a demonstration of the fact that the highest placed politicians in the land are so lacking in common sense they stood out there in the pouring rain and got soaked. The sight of all those expensive suits soaking up water was quite satisfying.
As for the speech, They hounded Johnson out because of his many failings and now they tell us he was actually one of the most important premiers of the century. It won't be long before the get rid of Truss movement gets under way....
It would have been nice if she had spoken directly to the poor and told them they are a priority.

[plaques]

Truss will now be leading a united Conservative party or will she? Looking at the factions within the party we get..
Truss followers..
Sunak followers..
Johnson followers..
ERG followers.
Gravy train followers.

The last group known for looking after their own interests and could be classed at Weathercocker's or U'turners

[plaques]

Another bunch of names to remember..
Who's in the Cabinet? In her top team, Truss has appointed:

Chancellor - Kwasi Kwarteng. He was previously business secretary.
Home secretary - Suella Braverman
Foreign secretary - James Cleverly He was previously education secretary
Deputy prime minister - Therese Coffey
Health secretary - Coffey, who is a close ally of Truss, also takes this role
Education secretary - Kit Malthouse
Defence secretary - Ben Wallace
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, running the Cabinet Office - Nadhim Zahawi. He's also minister for intergovernmental relations and minister for equalities.
Business, energy and industrial strategy secretary - Jacob Rees-Mogg
Culture secretary - Michelle Donelan
Levelling up secretary - Simon Clarke
Environment secretary - Ranil Jayawardena
International trade secretary -leadership contender Kemi Badenoch
Work and pensions secretary - Chloe Smith
Transport secretary - Anne-Marie Trevelyan
Justice secretary - Brandon Lewis
Northern Ireland secretary - Chris Heaton-Harris
Scotland secretary - Alister Jack
Wales secretary - Sir Robert Buckland
COP president - Alok Sharma
Leader of the Commons, the role that looks after legislation - Penny Mordaunt
Leader of the Lords - Lord True
Jake Berry - who chairs the Northern Research Group of Tory MPs - is Tory chairman and minister without portfolio, and Wendy Morton is the first Conservative female chief whip.

New Chief Secretary to the Treasury Chris Philp, Attorney General Michael Ellis, foreign office minister Vicky Ford and security minister Tom Tugendhat will also attend cabinet.

James Heappey becomes minister for armed forces and veterans, while Graham Stuart is climate minister and Edward Argar is the new paymaster general.

[Stanley]

I wonder how long they will last.
I have a feeling that things are going to get very complicated very quickly. Hands up all those who read that list and came away with a warm glow of confidence......
[PS. does that mean Moon Face has lost all his little perks?

[PanBiker]

Just back from 5 days without WiFi so have had to restrict my news to what came through on my phone.

What smacked me in the face if it is right is that Truss has said that she is going to borrow money to give to the energy companies so they don't have to put their prices up! The QE money borrowed will be paid for by the tax payers over the next 25 years!

So, the burden will be moved to the tax payer rather than forcing the energy companies to use their abhorrent profits. I don't pay tax but I pity the buggers that still have to. If this is the kind of policy we have to look forward to I agree, it will be welcome to serfdom for the majority.