POLITICS CORNER

[Tripps]

Her whole defence to the "mistake" was that she made such, and immediately confessed to it. Must have been true - Nadhim Zahawi and others endorsed the line. This has now been shown clearly to be a lie. She will be leaving us soon.

PS - just came across this. Gurumurthy v Braverman Time came to her rescue as it always does - and they know it, so waffle until it runs out. Like nailing a jelly to a wall.

Doesn't fit well with Sunak's pledge of accountability made outside Downing Street a few days ago. I'm fairly sure that Gurumurthy once lived in Barrowford - his dad was a Doctor - but I can't find any reference to it now.

[Stanley]

I watched that clip David.... Well done for finding it. It's a splendid example of how this country is run, by small cabals who, despite what they say, are secret societies in that their discussions and proceedings aren't open. Is it any wonder that old farts like me who can remember the days before the modern spin doctors and styles of government get so excited and angry? Nevertheless thank you. We have to know the enemy!
See THIS BBC report of the incident. (And then look at the cartoon in the joke thread.....) I think you may be right David, she is going to have to go. So much for Sunak's attempt to include everyone.... Over to the ERG and the Irish question.....
Later.... See THIS Guardian report of Sunak having a brief encounter with a common sense lady when he visited Croydon hospital. Wonderful, Catherine Poole will be long remembered!

[plaques]

Rishi Sunak is in his do nothing mode. First the fracking is off the table. Next I've read but not substantiated that Rees-Mogg's bonfire of EU rules (actually EU rules converted to UK rules via some quick fire loop hole) has now been put to one side. 2,400 rules which we agreed to and helped to write when we we in the Common market covered everything that rules our lives. Had this bill gone through it would have stripped workers of ALL the rights that had been built up over the years. The excuse is that it would present too much work and too many civil servants The ERG won't be pleased about this.

[Stanley]

Why does the ERG remind me of this bunch of jerks....?

[Tripps]

Over to the ERG and the Irish question.....

Not true but it amuses me

It is said that the DUP recently asked the PM if he was from Delhi or Londondelhi

[Stanley]

We should not lose sight of the fact that whilst we are getting all these distractions about Braverman and Truss being hacked J Hunt is beavering away on his November budget/statement and putting out scary comments that all emphasise how bad things are. I fear this points to another burst of austerity and in particular, bad news for the lower 50 percentile of the country.
What he and the Treasury seem to have missed is, like 'trickle down', 'austerity' is another economic ploy that has been proved not to work. In terms of the overall economy the spending power that really counts in terms of growth is that of the lower 50 percent, they are forced to spend their money to survive. The rich can find other avenues like investments, savings etc which whilst useful do not have the impact of the rock bottom spending of the poor. Perhaps they should look up another economic concept, well tried and trusted, 'The multiplier effect'.
As it is Hunt is preparing us for the worst by saying we are all doomed if we don't do what he says. That's the clear and present danger!

[plaques]

One of the biggest con of austerity is that ALL debts must be paid off as soon as they occur. the parallel is ordinary household debt which must be kept to zero. But even this isn't correct. People buy houses with years of debt knowing that in the long run its generally more efficient and cheaper than renting. They buy cars to get to work and white goods to save time. All considered acceptable debt. The government is in the same position by spending on infrastructure which should include health and education which in turn leads to long term growth. Truss's 'trickle down' borrowing money to give to the already wealthy in the hope they may spend it on something useful is total nonsense. The ERG crocodiles will never be satisfied and will always want feeding more and more goodies until the country is bankrupt and the workers reduced to abject poverty. Unfortunately for the working class Sunak and Hunt will carry on feeding the crocodiles.

[Stanley]

Correct Ken as usual. And let's remember that the reason they pander to the crocodiles is that they guarantee their jobs and the rich provide the Party Funding. So, to act sensibly and tell the truth is, in their minds, to hand in their cards and actually compete in society instead of being on the public payroll and having a good guaranteed pension.....

[Stanley]

Looking at the political scene this morning makes you wonder why anyone should want to be Prime Minister.
What started as an adverse report on the Manston reception centre has now cracked open to reveal a migration crisis far worse than anyone admitted. (Did you see Jenrick giving his anodyne 'nothing to see here' statement on the position last week? We are now seeing the true scale of the problem.)
Facts like 1000 channel crossers a day, £7million a week going on bed and breakfast in hotels. (And I don't think this includes the money being spent by local authorities....) The collapse of the Home Office's ability to deal with asylum claims. The breakdown of the much vaunted Rwanda deal, they have lost the airline partner and nothing appears to be happening.
As if that wasn't enough more information emerges about the Braverman affair, evidence suggesting her explanation was a lie.
Then throw in the Liz Truss hacked phone and the fact that Gove has re-committed the government to what Truss described as a 'Stalinist Target' of 300,000 new builds a year.... (That one will surely come back to bite them....)
Overlaying all this is the looming attempt by J Hunt to put a sticking plaster on the economy in his November budget/financial statement, call it what you will. Nobody is admitting it but it's a foregone conclusion that what should have been the Xmas shopping spree that rescues the retail sector is not going to happen. I say nobody is admitting it but Amazon have already forecast a collapse in demand.
I'd better stop or I'll be accused of spreading alarm and despondency in the ranks.... but all this is fact and can't be magicked away by a clever statement to the house dreamed up by a group of wet behind the ears kids in a back room somewhere calling themselves 'communications'.
Have a read of THIS to get fully up to speed on what's supposed to be happening this week in Parliament.

[plaques]

Sunak fiddles while the world burns. The trip to COP was off due to pressing economic issues at home. Now there is a hint that he will turn up after all. Appreciating that the economy is in a mess its not Sunak's job to put the detail together into a working plan. Sunak defines the parameters and the civil servants devise various options to meet these parameters. Feeding the ERG crocodiles can be left to Hunt and the other ministers. Meanwhile all the public will hear is speculation about gas prices down, petrol prices up, 'illegal' immigration up, bank rate up, mortgages up, cost of living up and on quiet days Suella Braverman sacked, resigned, or full confidence.
To quote a line from Marriott Edgar's 'Albert and the Lion' Nothing to laugh at at all.

[Tripps]

1000 channel crossers a day,

Is that the new PC description now? It could loosely include Sue and Bob.

[Stanley]

It was a bit loose wasn't it David. Modify to 'illegal Channel crossers'.

[Tripps]

We're heading for deep waters here. There are some who would say that it can never be illegal to seek asylum.

Judging the Government by their action (or their inaction) not their words - it must be concluded that they approve of the situation.

There are no safe routes to UK for such people, so they take a chance. The solution as I have mentioned before, is to set up offices in various countries such as (but not limited to) Afghanistan, Somalia, Syria, Pakistan, etc and encourage asylum seekers to attend for processing. There should of course be no limit to the number of applicants, and no discrimination as to who applies. We are a wealthy nation and should accept as many as wish to come here.

[Stanley]

I think the illegal aspect has been the way they entered, not the application for asylum.
I agree with you about our duty to accept requests for Asylum and further, we should process them efficiently and that is not happened..
I'm listening to the news unfolding and I think the MP's suggestion that what we are looking at is the Home Office pursuing a policy of 'hostile climate'. The Home Office deny this but I think that's wearing a bit thin.

[Tripps]

Just watched most of the Home Secretary's performance in the House. Lots of woolly thinking, and confusion between the current tactical Manston situation, ( I once watched Concord take off there), and the wider strategic one. The sparsity of colleagues surrounding her was noticeable.

She is quite an expert at vigorously denying things she hasn't been accused of (leaking Top Secret documents) and of course failing to answer the question at all. She said more times than enough -" I refer you to "the letter I wrote today to the Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee"- despite it having been shown (to my satisfaction at least) that she is lying. She says she has a plan to deal with the situation. I ethink she means Rwanda. Why did no one press her to reveal her plan?

I loved the intervention by an SNP MP (I think) when he referred to Grant Shapps as "her successor, or predecessor - depending on which direction you're looking from". This should be a 'penalty kick' for Labour but she's surviving at the moment.

The main press 'takeaway' seems to be her use of the word 'invasion', which it appears is 'the language of the far right'. The Cambridge Dictionary gives a definition as "an occasion when a large number of people or things come to a place in an annoying and unwanted way" which I would say fits the bill. Perhaps it's a 'far right ' dictionary?

[Stanley]

I agree David. I've been watching her and so far I haven't detected any focussed strategy, I suspect because there isn't one. For the last couple of decades the attitude at the Home office towards migrants is not 'how can we help deserving refugees' but 'How can we keep these economic migrants out', May codified this with her 'Hostile Climate' doctrine but hadn't invented it, it had always been there and has grown in strength particularly over the last 50 years.
I don't see what's wrong with 'economic migrants', surely all refugees and migrants strive to improve their lot, that's how our present economically active and successful Asian entrepreneurs climbed the ladder and this includes the parents of many politicians but they don't admit or advocate that.
See THIS BBC report of her latest attempt to stay in post.
"Home Secretary Suella Braverman has pledged to fix the UK's "broken" asylum system and defied opposition calls for her resignation. During a heated debate at Westminster, Ms Braverman denied she blocked the use of hotels to ease overcrowding at the Manston migrant processing centre. She sparked some MP's fury when she said her policies were designed to repel an "invasion" on the south coast. Labour condemned her remarks and accused her of being unfit for office. Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said decision-making at the Home Office had "collapsed" on Ms Braverman's watch and asked how "anyone is supposed to have confidence" in her."
"In her statement, Ms Braverman warned against using "inflammatory language" and spoke of a "witch hunt" against her, as she attempted to rally support among Tory MPs. "I'm determined to do whatever it takes," she went on. "That is why I'm in government. That's why some people would prefer to be rid of me." She then paused as her statement was interrupted by heckles from opposition MPs, before adding: "Let them try.""
I think that gives the flavour of a woman who knows she has cocked up but is adopting the tactic of attacking as the best form of defence.
Meanwhile the situation on the ground gets worse and I heard Farage stoking the fires of controversy as usual in advocating that the runway at Manston should be used for transports to Albania taking all Albanian migrants back home automatically as soon as they arrive and forget the paperwork. That's the sort of hogwash that causes unrest and extreme action like petrol bombing the Dover Centre.....
I see no end in sight to the chaos. indeed I expect it to get worse when J Hunt tells us how hard austerity2 is going to be.....

[Tripps]

The heat is still on Ms Braverman.

As I thought the word 'invasion' has caused a stir. We seem to be the only ones who have actually looked up the dictionary definition of the word and found it to be perfectly 'cromulent'.

Interestingly the attack on her in the Commons yesterday focussed entirely on the fate of the 'channel crossers' - for want of a better generic term - after they have arrived here, and she got a lot of grief for failing to get them into 4 star hotels fast enough. I heard nothing about how after 12 years of her party's government we were in this plight.

She said she had a plan - not one question for her about the detail. I guess she means Rwanda. The ony airline to tender for the contract has bailed out, and I doubt any other will want the job.

I'm a bit conflicted here - watching Gogglesprogs I saw wonderful children of a variety of ethnicities expressing genuine innocent bewilderment, and saying words to the effect that "why does being an immigrant seem to make you a bad person"?

They were watching a documentary of a London school where the class was asked to raise their hand if a parent had been born outsde UK. The entire class raised their hand.

Ponder on that.

[Stanley]

Just heard that Matt Hancock has put forward another reason for regarding him as a bit weird.... He's been suspended as a Conservative MP after joining the cast of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!
What on earth makes him think that this is a good time to go off and spend s fortnight on a tropical island eating unnamed horrors?
Symbolic of the Tory Party?

[Stanley]

David, I have just realised that if I'd been in that class I'd have raised my hand as well. My dad was born in Dubbo NSW.
Just glanced at the political headlines. Sunak is back-pedalling on the Braverman 'invasion' gaffe. It's alright us being pedants about the meaning but the word conveys the wrong sentiment in these circumstances. Fabricant warns Hancock that the food on I'm a celeb is horrible. Sunak has also done a reverse ferret on the 91,000 civil service jobs that he said must go (when he was Chancellor). Johnson is going to Egypt to Cop so No 10 says Sunak is looking at his diary.....
I can't see any legislative process in this to address the pressing needs of the moment, for instance, Ireland should be the focus of all the government's attention in the political sphere and in economics, we have a cost of living crisis and a recession to deal with.
Or have I got it wrong again and is 'bush tucker' more important than politics?

[plaques]

The asylum problem, I refuse to call them illegal immigrants until they have been processed, has its roots in the UK leaving the Common Market, Take back control of our borders, sovereignty plus a good dose of xenophobia. Suella Braverman has plenty of supporters within the Tory party in affect the tail wagging the government dog. The official line is 'we must stop these people putting themselves at risk by crossing in rubber boats' while at the same time in parliament one Tory MP said 'put them back in the boats and send them back'.
Braverman and 'illegal' immigrants has become a distraction to hide the fact that it isn't just rubber boats that are in danger of sinking but the whole of the UK. Black Holes are appearing all over the place. Nothing to do with 12 years of mismanagement but all down to workers asking for more money they haven't been getting. The answer is obvious stop any future wage rises and take away what money and services they have. That should teach them.

I suppose Hancock is safer in the jungle than being in the stationary cupboard with a secretary.

[Stanley]

I'm sorry to have to day it but you are right Ken. I can go back a long way but I have never seen things as badly managed as this, not even in WW2! You are also correct in that blame for this is placed on the last policy makers, Kwarteng and Truss. No mention of the decades of mismanagement as the art and craft of politics was allowed to drift away under gove3rnments of all hues. The Tory contribution since 2010 has been the most egregious, it's almost as though the deterioration is accelerating.
Today I see that Sunak is discounting all the promises he made during the leadership election. I didn't know they were being taken seriously as they were all aimed at the rabid right wing of the Party who made up most of the eligible voters. See this LINK. Notice that his move is described as 'Reviewing' the promises.
I think everyone is hoping that the Braverman problem has calmed down but I am afraid that this won't happen because apart from the attacks on her by the Opposition, she is noted as being a 'prominent member' of the ERG group and as such gets opposed by internal party elements who hate the group.
Meanwhile, nothing of any value for the electorate who are sitting waiting for more crap to be poured over them as inflation, interest rates and the possibility of a collapse of the housing market come down the road. Than there is Ireland......

[plaques]

We all know that 'Man bites Dog' is more newsworthy that 'Dog bites Man' so it is with headlines of doom and gloom. Invaded by rubber boat migrants, BoE rate rises biggest for decades, same for cost of living, daily blackouts and a review of 'promises'. The problem here is that they are 90% correct. History points at the 'Dark ages' due to the dearth of written records now we are entering the second Dark Age where nobody knows what's going on in the next few days. With all this dithering and 2 weeks to go before budget's doom day how can people plan their expenditure or businesses plan future orders or expansion.
My cunning plan is to make use of the rubber boats that are impounded and to fill them with Tory MPs and let them lose in the Channel.

[Tripps]

It's alright us being pedants about the meaning

Here's some serious pedantry then - as usual it all started in Latin. invado

I can't help wondering as well, if this Romany Vardois somehow connected. My "English Gipsies and Their Language by Leland is never far from hand, and will be referred to later. Could almost be described as a vade mecum

Sorry about all this - I picked up an Anthony Burgess novel last night "Any Old Iron" and it seems to have had an effect on me. He goes out of his way to show off his knowledge of words, which is considerable - in several languages too. We went to the same school don't you know.

It produced a minor spooky moment in that the word 'cockloft' was seen in the book. I'd never heard of it until Panbiker used it yesterday. so from never to twice in two days. That qualifies as a bit spooky I'd say.

[Tizer]

I heard there had been some serious news to shock the UK today and now I've found it...
`Bounty bars removed from Celebrations tubs in trial' LINK

[Stanley]

Cock loft very common in Barlick David. I almost fell to the temptation to start banging on about associated matters but stopped myself in time. I shall be a good lad and post in dialect and word meanings....
S is the piece of political news that grabbed me this morning. Yet another episode in the shameful matter of the Chagos Islands. If you remember that the United Nations' highest court, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, has ruled that the UK's administration of the territory is "unlawful" and must end.
What is never mentioned is that the US base on the islands, which is the reason the islanders were moved out in the first place, is one of their most important intelligence gathering hubs. A sort of super Menwith Hill. Funny how that is never mentioned overtly.....
As for the rest of the dire news, I agree with Ken that it is mostly accurate reporting, we really are in the shit.
(Vote for the Tories. The Party that understands money.... Funny that the other monster recession in the late 1920s was down to them as well.... All that saved us from that was a World War. Now there's a thought!)