POLITICS CORNER

[Stanley]

I think you exaggerate a touch Ken but not much. Basically I agree with what you say. I had a visit from a Labour candidate and a lady, I think she's the secretary, yesterday. He asked me what I thought and I told him that I reckon we can forget about winning a general election as long as we have that Starmer as the leader. Interesting that neither of them argued with me.

[PanBiker]

The lady was indeed our secretary Anne, she asked me earlier for your address. The prospective candidate is hoping to become the CLP's PPC and has requested visiting as many members as he can during the canvassing sessions of which he has attended quite few over the last few months. He want to meet members who have not already met him at the various branch meetings around the CLP. He has lots of hoops to get through, notwithstanding the fact that we can't choose him unless he eventually ends up on our short-list which the branch or CLP has no say in!

[Stanley]

Good Ian, that was what I understood. He seemed to be under the impression that I had cancelled my membership so I corrected that. Neither of them seemed upset by my negative assessment of Starmer.
See THIS for this morning's main political news so far. Dianne Abbott suspended from the Party pending an investigation into a letter she wrote about racism to the Observer,
The politician said "many types of white people with points of difference" can experience prejudice, in a letter published on Sunday. But they are not subject to racism "all their lives", she said. She later tweeted to say she was withdrawing her remarks and apologised "for any anguish caused". Labour said the comments were "deeply offensive and wrong".
What they could also have said quite accurately is that they were stupid and thoughtless and were a repetition of so much that we have seen before. Everything from being badly briefed to ludicrous statistics. Expecting her to act any differently is akin to expecting Starmer to become charismatic.
As we near the Coronation THIS subject pops up.
The long reign of Queen Elizabeth II had significant family turmoil, but was largely a period of stability and continuity for the monarchy. There is now a new king. But is public opinion about the monarchy changing too? Recent visits by King Charles have seen anti-monarchy protesters making their presence noisily felt, alongside those showing support for the new reign. Those anti-monarchists have acknowledged that they would have been reluctant to carry out such protests when the late queen was alive, because of the risk of antagonising the public. But now it seems the gloves are off.
The main result Panorama seems to have found with its enquiry is that Chuck isn't getting across to the young. Surprise surprise! Why should they feel any affiliation to an old man with pots of money and a privileged life who has also proved to be an adulterer. They might think that a world without the Royals, false 'traditions' and a scandalously unfair and biased 'honours system' might be quite a brave experiment. It has worked for so many other small European countries like ours.

[plaques]

Dianne Abbott is a trained lawyer and knows full well that discrimination against other groups is just as illegal as that against black people. She is wrong and deserves to have the whip withdrawn and possibly thrown out of the Labour party.

Kinkg Charles III , remember the days of standing at attention after shows or films and the mad scramble to get out before the anthem started. Of course there will be millions of people watching the pageantry of the coronation many waving their little union flags in support. Few will question why we tolerate such an ostentatious show of underserved wealth when poverty is growing all round them.

Stanley gave me a mild rebuke for my last slightly extreme post. He was quite right to do so but in mitigation I'm getting more and more annoyed with the media totally ignoring the poverty elephant in the room or down playing its affects as something that will be all right in the long run.
Energy prices will drop any time soon, so far they are rock solid as they have been for the last nine months. Food prices are set to drop shortly but may take six to nine months to work through. We have seen the last of the interest rate rises although there could be two more before the end of the year.
Promises, promises from our do nothing government.

[Stanley]

"Stanley gave me a mild rebuke for my last slightly extreme post."
Not really Ken, just a comment. I totally agree with you about the way the terrible state of the poor is being ignored as politicians play their games, the Monarchy machine rolls on regurgitating the 'traditions' it invented in the 19th century to save itself and almost all the media plays ball, mainly because most of the journalists have peen sacked, most media is functioning as PR for the Tories. Private Eye is perhaps the only place where true journalism survives. (And here of course!)
I note that Cleverly said yesterday that the government is doing 'all it can' to help our nationals in Khartoum.
Please could someone tell me what 'all it can' means? Or is it just a convenient form of weasel words.....
See THIS for the latest on the progress of the Illegal Migrants Bill.
"Plans aimed at stopping people crossing the Channel in small boats risk breaching the UK's human rights obligations, a watchdog has warned. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said the government's Illegal Migration Bill also risked exposing people to serious harm. It said it was particularly worried about the possibility of children and pregnant women being detained. The government said the bill was "within our international obligations". "
If that last statement is true why has Suella Braverman said she is prepared to break the law to protect the government's policy on dealing with asylum seekers?
Dianne Abbott is dead wrong and guilty of racism. Why is Starmer banging on about her but not expelling her and getting on with fighting the Labour corner for the elections on May 4th?

[plaques]

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said the government's Illegal Migration Bill also risked exposing people to serious harm.

The target isn't really about small boats, this bill will do nothing to solve the problem, but will move the pressure for the ultra right wing nutters to get rid of the EHRC altogether. This is their main goal. Take the rights off everybody and get back to pre Victorian days when money ruled absolutely. Does this sound extreme and far fetched? The rhetoric is already sliding in this direction with statements that only a few years ago would never have been even thought about are now common currency. Sunak is allowing this to happen. The nice guy image is starting to fade and his leaning towards the right is beginning to show more and more by the day.

[Stanley]

Dead right Ken. I always said he was a spiv and he is proving me right.
As for the Rabid Right wing and the attack on the EHRC, you're right again and we are allowing them to get away with it. Starmer should be attacking on this and not wasting time on Abbott, treat her the same as he treated 'his friend' Jeremy Corbyn..... Concentrate on the things that actually matter!

[Stanley]

See THIS for something many of us thought was inevitable as the truth became obvious.
"MPs have urged the UK government to launch a public inquiry to assess the effects of Brexit in a parliamentary debate triggered by a petition. A three-hour debate was held after 183,000 people signed a petition calling for a public inquiry into the impact of leaving the European Union. The government says Brexit was a "democratic choice" and dismissed calls for a public inquiry. But some MPs branded Brexit a "disaster" and an "error"."
Problem is of course that there is no way the Tories will allow an enquiry unless they can guarantee a favourable outcome for Brexit. Most reputable economists agree that Brexit has damaged trade and the UK's overall economic performance but the Tories conveniently ignore this. This is why their economic decisions aren't working, they are based on false base principles.
See THIS BBC reort for hard evidence just how bad things are out in the country....
More food parcels than ever before were handed out in the past year by the UK's largest food-bank provider. The Trussell Trust said almost three million had been distributed - 37% more than the previous year - with 1.1 million of them provided for children. And in December it gave out a food parcel every eight seconds, on average. The Department for Work and Pensions said it was giving vulnerable families "record levels of direct financial support".
Look carefully at that statement by the DWP. the fact that they are making 'record levels of .... support' is, in itself, an admission of the severity of the situation and the scale of the need. It's obvious that whatever levels are being given they are not enough.
This is the same response that we hear to every complaint about shortages or bad service, 'we are giving £Xmillion/billion, when in every case it is clear that whatever the scale of support it isn't enough. What will the response be when the inevitable report comes in of the impact of malnutrition on health? In this case the malnutrition being simply not enough food.
Food price inflation is about 20% overall and showing no signs of falling. We are living in a 'sovereign country' that can't afford to eat!

[plaques]

The Tory MP said the biggest benefit of Brexit was that "our sovereignty has been repatriated".

Perhaps its time to put 'sovereignty' back into Pandora's box. Even the most right-wing of right-wingers Jacob Rees-Mogg and his Department of Brexit Opportunities couldn't find any 'opportunities'. All that our new found freedoms has done is to create masses of red tape paperwork for British exporters. However much the right-wing media likes to spin these as more EU paperwork the truth is that the UK chose this option against the zero red tape paperwork we enjoyed as members.
Can anyone point to a UK improvement where with some pride we can say we have done this. .. More Sh-t in the rivers. Churchill's promise "We shall fight on the beaches" takes on a whole new meaning. More food banks and food parcels. Higher levels of unemployment requiring more income support. Longer NHS waiting lists. Food inflation at near 20%. On and on it goes.

One little amusing sideline causing some smiles on the continent was that the UK insisted that all citrus fruit preserves shall be called 'marmalades'. Normally they called all their preserves Jam, marmalades or whatever name they liked. With the UK leaving this marmalade ruling can now be ignored.

[Stanley]

But Ken. if they allow us left wing yobs to denigrate sovereignty, the whole basis of Monarchy and the Honours System is undermined..... (Small voice at the back of the hall;"So what?")

[Stanley]

Ken, I have only now remembered the tin of dog food I saw in a supermarket in Montreal labelled 'Confeiture du Chien' which my school French says means Dog Jam.
Statistics are always confusing. See THIS for a BBC reality check on the Tory claim to have replaced the 20,000 officers they promised in an election pledge.
"The government has reached its target to recruit 20,000 more police officers in England and Wales. It has employed 20,951 more officers since 2019 so the total is now 149,572. This means the number of officers is about 3,500 higher than it was in 2010, when the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats began cutting police numbers. But there are concerns that the rise hasn't kept pace with the increase in population since 2010 and that many experienced officers have left. Many of the new officers are replacing the approximately 20,000 who left between 2010 and 2019."
All I know is that there are valid complaints of whole areas of policing simply not happening which makes me wonder what all these officers are doing. It couldn't be paper work could it?

[plaques]

The 'Illegal immigration bill + amendments' has been cleared through parliament. Suella Braverman has got her way and one would imagine that' Stop the Boats' is done. Of course we all know this is complete nonsense. Boats will still come and the UK will try to make criminals out of underage children. A lot of capital is being made from moving these 'illegals' to other safe countries. Although its almost impossible to identify another 'safe' country anywhere in the world that without bribery wouldn't give them the time of day. Surely the UK is a safe country so why should anyone accept our illegals on the back of some populist whim that satisfies the blue rinse brigade for being the wrong colour or religion?.

[Stanley]

I suspect that like me, many of you might dislike Lee Anderson, deputy chair of the Tory Party since February.
Have a look at this, I suspect it might reinforce your prejudices.

[Stanley]

I'm afraid that all too often, the old adage of 'no smoke without fire' turns out to be true and THIS could be one of those cases.
We have seen, in the case of the CBI, what damage can be caused as a consequence of inappropriate behaviour and it looks as though more people are prepared to come forward with complaints. I recognise that this could be a slippery slope but genuine complaints must be heard and acted on.

[plaques]

Jacob Rees-Mogg must be spitting feathers his chaotic retained EU law bill planned to remove over 4,000 laws agreed by the UK was due to be discussed in the House of Lords next month and promised to see a total revolt by both Labour and Conservative peers has been pushed back even further with talk of it not taking place after the the next general election. Also adding further insult to Jacob Rees-Mogg Kemi Badenoch has hinted that the number of laws involved may only be 800 but has declined to say which ones they are. This reduction exercise looks more like a face saving move to paint the Conservatives as a reasonable party led by a reasonable leader who has the public welfare as their No1 priority. The number one rule on damage limitation is to drop this sort of nonsense before it leads to total humiliation.

[Stanley]

I think you could be right Ken. I am not sure there are any limits Sunak will not go to to avoid conflict in the party.
Have you seen THIS?
"No more powers should be devolved to Wales, the prime minister has said. Rishi Sunak told Welsh Conservative conference voters do not want politicians focused on "constitutional tinkering". He accused Labour of making people in Wales "guinea pigs in a socialist experiment". Earlier Andrew RT Davies said Mr Sunak should resist any calls for further powers for the Senedd and Welsh government. The Welsh Conservative Senedd leader accused "out of touch" Welsh Labour ministers of holding "extreme beliefs". Speaking at the event in Newport, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said people "do not want to see focus on more constitutional reform [and] constitutional tinkering". "We need to move away from this kind of devolve and forget," he said.
Add THIS to the mix.
Rishi Sunak says he will keep using the English name Brecon Beacons, which the national park has dropped. It rebranded with its Welsh name, Bannau Brycheiniog, this month, a decision criticised by Welsh Tories. Ahead of this weekend's Welsh Conservative conference, the prime minister said he thought "most people" would still say the Brecon Beacons. He also defended railway funding after the Senedd said Wales was owed money from HS2. In a TV interview, the prime minister said he was a "big supporter of the Welsh language and Welsh culture" and funding for S4C was rising. The UK government no longer directly funds S4C, but has increased the amount of licence fee funding it gets.
He can't act the hard guy in Westminster but it seems he thinks he can get away with it in Wales. I wonder if the fact there are no local elections in Wales has anything to do with it?

[Tizer]

The front page of the `i' newspaper today reports that the Russian Wagner Group is actively involved in fighting in Sudan and is patrolling the port and guarding gold shipments. Guess where those shipments are going!

[Stanley]

I heard that reported on the news Peter. I often wonder how 'unofficial' the Wagner Group is. They seem to come in very handy when there is dirty work to be done of prison populations to reduce.....
See THIS government statement.
An operation to evacuate people from Sudan has been "extremely successful", a government minister has said. A deadline for UK nationals to reach an airstrip north of the country's capital Khartoum for the final rescue flights expired on Saturday. "We can't stay there forever in such dangerous circumstances," said Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell. It follows a government U-turn to allow NHS doctors to now catch evacuation flights out of Sudan.
How do they measure successful? How many evacuees failed to reach the airport due to the dangers of travel? How many never tried because of the refusal of permission to board flights for non UK passport holders? Remember this denial was only rescinded at the last moment. They pedalled very hard after coming late to the race. This smacks of propaganda with an eye on how the government comes out of this.

[plaques]

ITMA, (Its that man again) , Andrew Bridgen MP along with Dr John Campbell. a 36 min YouTube,Bridgen giving his background and explanation of why he is being expelled from the Conservative party. I thought he came over very plausible admittedly with a favorable interviewer. Bridgen with a scientific university training said he doubted the mRNA explanations and did his own background investigations sufficient to go against the established rhetoric. His big mistake was to re-tweet a paper that compared the mRNA saga to the worst thing since the holocaust. Bridgen as a MP and should have known that the very mention of the holocaust even on a comparative basis would have put an end to his campaign.

Until our medical experts come up with some incontrovertible facts then conspiracy theories will grow casting doubt on the whole mRNA vaccine programme.

[Tizer]

Bridgen is a loose cannon and behaves like Donald Trump. Here's an example from Wikipedia...
`Bridgen has been involved in a long legal battle against his own family's potato and vegetable business, AB Produce, stating the firm treated him unfairly and forced him out, while the business was suing him over claims he has failed to pay rent on a £1.5 million property owned by the firm. In April 2022, High Court Judge Brian Rawlings ruled against Bridgen, stating that he "lied under oath and behaved in an abusive, arrogant and aggressive manner", was "an unreliable and combative witness who tried to conceal his own misconduct", and "gave evasive and argumentative answers and tangential speeches that avoided answering the questions". After losing the case, Bridgen stated that "in actuality I won the case and my brother will be compelled by the Court in due course to repay considerable sums of money back to the businesses", adding "if courts always got everything correct the first time there would be no need for appeal mechanisms". In August 2022, Bridgen was evicted from the property, and ordered to pay £800,000 in legal costs.' LINK

[Tripps]

I watched all of the Bridgen interview by Doctor Nurse John Campbell yesterday, and looked up his wikipedia entry straight afterwards as you seem to have done.

The two do not seem to tally, but the fact that his degree was in genetics and biological science adds a little credence to what he says. He comes across in the interview (to me anyway) as plain speaking and genuine. The family law case says otherwise. What conclusion to come to about him - I don't know.

Who to believe in any of this business? The UK says that Astra Zenica 'vaccine' was dropped because the Pfizer 'vaccine' was better. Thanks to Doctor Nurse John we know that the Australians stopped using it because it was harming people. Which version is true, and why the difference? I'm fairly close to reaching a conclusion - but each must choose their own.

PS Bridgen's political career is of course over. He will not be re elected as an independent. That very rarely happens. I saw one of the few instances when Eddie Milne made it in Blyth in 1974.

I was there . . . .

PS -if you have time - Milne's eventual successor John Rymanis worth a look. He later made Jeffrey Archer look like a beginner. Why does Parliament attract such people so strongly?

Nearby Northumberlandia is in the news today.

[Tizer]

This is an unpleasant business...
`Stella Creasy says police ‘green lighting’ trolls to target politicians’ children' Guardian

[Stanley]

David.... Ryman; the combination of barrister and fox-hunter should have warned everyone off!
Peter, I agree with you, for the police to assert that Jones was 'within his rights' to raise the possibility of threats like that is a disgrace. Sgt Ryan Coleman needs to be sent on a re-education course to be appraised as to what is permissible behaviour. Common sense and good manners should have told him!
The Tory guide book to managing strike threats seems to largely be based on looking for a nasty consequence and concentrating on it asserting that the union involved had that in mind as the target for the action they are taking, with the health workers it is patient deaths, with the RMT Mark Harper has made his choice.
"Transport Secretary Mark Harper has accused the RMT transport union of "cynically targeting the Eurovision song contest" by calling strikes on the day of the final. RMT members are due to strike on 13 May after the union rejected the latest pay deal from train operators. The RMT said the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents the train operators, had "torpedoed" pay talks. But Mr Harper said a "fair and reasonable pay offer" had been made. In an interview on the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Mr Harper urged the RMT - the UK's largest specialist transport union - to put the pay offer to its members and let them decide. Mr Harper said, rather than doing this, the RMT had "called strikes which are cynically targeting the Eurovision song contest". "The reason that's so appalling is because that's not our song contest," Mr Harper said. "We're hosting it for Ukraine." Mr Harper said the RMT should be standing "in solidarity" with Ukrainian rail workers targeted by Russian President Vladimir Putin in war-torn Ukraine."
The message is the Tories are supporting gallant Ukraine while the lefty RMT are attacking them. Not a word about negotiations or even sitting down together. Simply take it or leave it.

[plaques]

"Transport Secretary Mark Harper has accused the RMT transport union of "cynically targeting the Eurovision song contest" by calling strikes on the day of the final.

Mark Harper and other well heeled millionaires could always get their chauffeurs to drive the Ukrainians to-and-fro to the song contest. I don't think the RMT would consider this as strike breaking.

A comment from a YouTube (outside views) by a German commentator. Fresh food in UK supermarkets is cheaper than that in Europe. The comment implied that the supermarkets were trying to keep food inflation down by not increasing prices to their real import prices. If this is true then food inflation will continue adding to the already increase in food banks. We shall see.

[Stanley]

Ken, I have been warning for a while that the supermarkets are one factor in food inflation because they are screwing down on prices paid to producers both here and abroad on the pretext of 'protecting their customers', when actually they are doing it to win retail market share off their rivals with lower prices. The government is leaving price control to them instead of taking a proactive role. The end result is fewer goods coming to market, emptying of shelves and higher prices because of simple scarcity.