POLITICS CORNER

[Big Kev]

Apparently it all got a bit messy at the Pendle Council meeting last night, accusations of assault and people being injured from doors being kicked open. All I can see is 'playground' behaviour, no evidence of injury.

[Tripps]

I watched a lot of this meeting live. (I know. . . )

I approve of such meetings being live screened, and I believe that credit must go to the Liberals for that. That said I didn't have a clue what was going on for most of the time. The audio was poor - so is my hearing - and to get professional standard is probably not possible.

David Whipp gives a fair summary of what went on on his Facebook page.

He says :

An attempt to bend the rules and push through proposals to remove the rights of residents and remove decision-taking from local area committees was prevented at last night's special council meeting of Pendle Council, with no resolution of the issue that has divided the council since spring.
At the annual council meeting in May, Conservative councillors passed a resolution by a single vote to remove planning issues from local area committees. In the following months, the controlling group has failed to agree the details of how a centralised system would work.
At last night's meeting Conservative councillors attempted to force through the changes, despite the council's rules preventing this. The controlling group rejected a compromise which would have allowed processing of planning applications as normal.
Councillors from opposition groups left the meeting when the Conservatives attempted, against the rules, to force through their centralisation proposals. The Mayor ended the meeting when it became clear that the issue could not be resolved.
The council meeting dealt with outstanding planning applications after a lengthy adjournment to try and resolve procedural matters, which was unsuccessful.
The main part of the meeting can be seen on this YouTube video, which includes the adjournment from 30 minutes in until 1hour 36 minutes when the meeting resumes.

[Stanley]

We live in exciting times..... I love the fact that in the middle of the most chaotic national politics ever One Guy is discussing Pendle Borough Council matters..... I thoroughly approve but we must try to make sense of last nights chaos at Westminster.
I'm not clear why Braverman resigned but I'm glad she has gone, I had a very bad feeling about her. I see that her replacement is Grant Shapps.... Good grief! Is that the best they can do? I'm not going to bang on about him. Have a look at THIS Wikipedia biography and make up your own mind whether he is a fit and proper parson to be in charge of anything.
Then we had news of the resignation of the chief Tory Whip and his assistant after accounts of them physically manhandling Tory MPs to ensure they voted in the 'correct' lobby in the confidence vote on fracking. Multiple witnesses complaining about their behaviour. Then in another example of seething chaos they have not resigned or been sacked this was a mistake by some apparatchik in Downing Street.
See THIS BBC version of events in case I have missed anything.
The question now is can Truss and the Tories recover from this new low. Many leading Tories are quite openly saying that she has to go for there to be any chance of recovery. We shall see.
It strikes me that ever since 2010 I have been complaining that the Tories do not have any framework of ethics and principles to guide them. I forecast that in the end a combination of this and totally wrong policies would destroy the Party. Could I have been right? Is this what we see happening, a natural end for a Party that has totally lost its moral compass?
Later.... Reports citing multiple sources have appeared in the Daily Mail reporting a 90 minute shouting match between Truss and Braverman after Truss asked her to relax immigration rules to stimulate growth.

[plaques]

Chaos is now the in word. All the governments political events seem to contain this word. Sulla Braverman's oxymoron of a 'Coalition of chaos' has set the pattern for the rest of the media. My take on this is if chaos can be caused by a butterfly flapping its wings the a collection of parliamentary butterflies must create a kaleidoscope of chaos.
Amongst this kaleidoscope is 'will she jump or will she get pushed', every butterfly has its moment of fame. Truss's was the Tory part conference and downhill or over the cliff depending which analogy you prefer.
Hunt is attempting to fill in the financial black hole totally unaware that the more you stuff into a black hole the bigger it gets. Borrowing more money in Gilts pushes the price up. raises interest rates and makes the debt black hole bigger. Osborne is jumping up and down say "see, my 10 years austerity was right". Another siren voice urging Hunt to make the poor poorer.
Fracking bill has now been passed. This vote wasn't about fracking but a show of support for the government. Bugger the environment its the Party that counts.

The only person acting with any sense is Ben Wallace who flew to America to discuss the Ukrainian crisis which is probably the biggest threat to the UK since Brexit.

[PanBiker]

Steeling myself for a potential General Election the way things are going, they can't hang on much longer. For my sins I am in charge of all the electoral data system that the constituency party maintains.

[Tizer]

It strikes me that ever since 2010 I have been complaining that the Tories do not have any framework of ethics and principles to guide them. I forecast that in the end a combination of this and totally wrong policies would destroy the Party. Could I have been right? Is this what we see happening, a natural end for a Party that has totally lost its moral compass?

Not necessarily an end for the Tory Party - there's a core of moderate Tories out there. I'd say more likely the far right splitting off to make a new party , `Britain Unchained' perhaps?

[Big Kev]

I suspect this to be too close to fact to put in the 'jokes' thread

Screenshot_20221020-124454_Facebook.jpg

[PanBiker]

Looks like they are hanging on with yet another leader to be put in place just by the Tory MP's! Surely they will have to go to the polls then?

[Tripps]

Turkeys and Christmas. . . .

[Stanley]

I went away for five minutes and look what happened. I wonder what Chuck said this time?
How secure does Mr Shapps feel now....?

[Big Kev]

King Charles is already on course to beat his mother's record of prime ministers before we reach the end of the year...

[Tizer]

One week until we know who the new PM is. I wonder who is doing the selection this time?

[Whyperion]

How is the lettuce doing ?

Ms Truss will become the shortest-serving PM in British history when she stands down.

But he(Brady) sidestepped questions about whether one or two candidates would be likely to run, telling reporters: "The party rules say there will be two candidates unless there is only one candidate."



= to me if Sunak came 2nd last time why dont they do what NORMALLY/sometimes happens in local govt and if someone leaves request the runner up to take the place

[plaques]

Tory leadership candidates will need 100 MP nominations to stand, Graham Brady says

Technically there could be three candidates. In practice the raging nutter ultra-right wing will be struggling to get 100. So will Boris Johnson and possibly Rishi Sunak. The the rules are being tuned to find a compromise mid party make no waves candidate that that may calm the markets and last long enough for voters to forget why they suddenly became food bank customers.

[Wendyf]

I want to know if she has redecorated the flat in number 10.

[plaques]

I want to know if she has redecorated the flat in number 10.

It was Boris that decorated No11 with his wallpaper. and good night children everywhere. . Sunak was n No10.

[Stanley]

There will be blood on the walls Wendy.....

[Stanley]

Having surveyed the piste, the first thing that strikes me is that it is much quieter this morning!
Then I start to look at where we are now and in essence we are once more waiting for a tiny proportion of the UK voters to appoint another Prime Minister for us. The justification for this is that they have a mandate from the 2019 general election.
I question this..... Nobody, not even the most rabid Tory supporters voted for what has happened, the trashing of an already weak UK economy by a totally misconceived set of economic policies. It seems to me that they have forfeited that 2019 mandate if it ever existed. Needless to say my view will not be accepted by the Tories.
So we are, once more, in Limbo waiting for white smoke from the 1922 Committee stove. Meanwhile, the world goes to hell in a basket and in particular, the impasse with the EU over the Northern Ireland protocol gets more urgent.
I have a long political memory and I have never seen anything remotely like this situation. High time we got this sorted out and returned to boring old fashioned Cabinet Government via Parliament.
In case anyone has forgotten, Hunt has appeased the markets by impoverishing all of us for at least the next twenty years. The biggest con trick since WW2 Post War Credits!
Later.... I hate to have to say it but the running favourites for the leadership race are Sunak for chancellor and Johnson as Prime Minister.

[Whyperion]

Present Chancellor - Jeremy Hunt "We will do whatever is necessary to drive down debt in the medium term and to ensure that taxpayers' money is well spent, putting the public finances on a sustainable path as we grow the economy."

I am beginning to think that Trickle Down might have been a better policy

[Big Kev]

I know this will be a controversial comment but I'll make it anyway.
In 2019 the conservatives won a 'landslide' election when Boris was leader of the party, an indication of what the voting public wanted. In my mind they should put Boris back in as PM, give him 6 months and then call a GE. Let the voting public decide.

[plaques]

Rumor has it that the Tory party contacted Baldrick for a cunning plan but he reminded them that he won the idiot competition because he turned up while the true winner Boris Johnson was on holiday.

[PanBiker]

I know this will be a controversial comment but I'll make it anyway.
In 2019 the conservatives won a 'landslide' election when Boris was leader of the party, an indication of what the voting public wanted. In my mind they should put Boris back in as PM, give him 6 months and then call a GE. Let the voting public decide.

There is no way that a pathological liar who is still under investigation by the Commons Privileges Committee for more of the same should ever get back into Downing Street. It's less than 50 days since he was chucked out on his ear.

Whoever they pick they should go to the polls for a new mandate if they think all the wrecking over the last 12 years has gone away. The country is presently the laughing stock of the rest of the world, even Italy are taking the proverbial. Meanwhile businesses go to the wall, folk can't pay their mortgages and there is no chance of getting on the property ladder unless you have a lot of brass behind you, normal folk need not apply. Prices continue to rise and the energy crisis will not go away in a hurry. The country has been stuffed good and proper and it is all at the Tory Parties gate, but I would say that wouldn't I?

Of course I will because there is no one else to blame for the last 12 years even though they would like you to conveniently forget it.

I think you could say that I am a tad angry.

[Big Kev]

Are they not all liars?

[Tizer]

No, but Boris Johnson is Master Liar. Worse even than lying is that he's badly damaged the UK's reputation worldwide by proposing, more than once, that the UK breaks international law. That puts us on a par with the likes of Putin. Politics here was already going downhill but he's pushed it over the edge. It would be madness to bring him back. Instead he should play the part of a naughty prime minister in a TV serial, his supporters would enjoy that better than the real thing!

Anyone who thinks we should make Boris Johnson PM again should read this first: LINK

[Big Kev]

So we get another PM the public didn't vote for who could be in power for another 2 years. Boris may well be a liar and a buffoon but he was voted in by the public and his own party ousted him. If, and it's a big if, he got back in as leader and PM, called a GE the voting public would have the final decision. I think that's how democracy works