POLITICS CORNER

[PanBiker]

Immunity from prosecution, executive orders that can't be challenged. It's about as democratic as the Pol Pot regime and that didn't end well but as is the norm thousands of the population had to pay the price in the killing fields. Might not be quite as draconian but I will leave the comments to the thousands about to be deported at the stroke of a pen.

[Tripps]

It's about as democratic as the Pol Pot regime

But he's in - "same procedure as every four years" James . . . . and the orange seems to have faded to a more dignified straw like colour. Perhaps the childish insulting name calling may stop now. It has to be said that in my opinion, we do ceremonial a lot better than the Americans. Theirs is too fancy - produced by Walt Disney?

I noted that when global temperatures have risen out of sight of any targets - the ceremomy had ironically to be held indoors for the first time in forty years due to the cold. That's good - the pictures on the wall were magnificent and I'd like to see them closer up.

I noticed particularly the SLOTUS (get used to it ). She seemed to be carrying a ventrilolquist's dummy. until I realised it was in fact her daughter. She looked too heavy to remain there, and so it proved, and was soon put on the floor. out of camera shot. She got one for the album, and her moment in history though I've checked her out - Usha Vance SLOTUS She easily qualifies for the award for most artificial smile of the day. The FLOTUS gets my award for 'least appropriate hat' - though it was rather dramatic, it was no good for kissing the POTUS under the brim. He failed to make lip to lip contact - which perhaps was a blessing.


Now that's over we can get back to real politics tonight, as the abandoned Oldham council meeting from Dec 18th 2024 resumes. I wonder if Elon Musk will turn up - though perhaps not as he's busy elsewhere today.

PS He didn't come, and everyone was very well behaved.

PS The little ventriloquist's dummy is up a bit late - and stealing the show at the bunfight afterwards.
The FLOTUS still has her 'kiss proof ' helmet on, and could get sponsorship from Sandeman's Port if she needed a few bob extra wages.

[Stanley]

"It has to be said that in my opinion, we do ceremonial a lot better than the Americans."
I totally agree David. I started with the best intentions to watch this historic moment but gave up. I couldn't stand the periods of dead air and the lousy music which was the alternative to yet another fanfare form the Marine Band.
Yes, I noticed the air kiss, that was when I decided I'd had enough.....I know nothing about the executive orders yet but will no doubt learn as the day wears on. (I'll go and have a look.... )

I think Ian was wise to leave comments to others. I have had a look and I shall do the same. These are the actions of a dictator and whilst he is right and they will change America, it won't be for the better. We are in for an interesting ride.
By the way, I agree with David, the orange glow has faded a bit and his hair is slightly more formal. Is this old age taking hold? After all, he's 78......

[Tizer]

Immunity from prosecution, executive orders that can't be challenged. It's about as democratic as the Pol Pot regime...

Yes, and I note this too: The US will now join Iran, Yemen and Libya as the only countries to currently stand outside the Paris climate agreement, which was signed 10 years ago in the French capital.
That's where the US belongs now - with Iran, Yemen and Libya!

[Stanley]

I saw THIS instruction from the government to wind farm operatives to make bomb disposal less noisy.......
The government has ordered offshore energy firms to avoid "noisy" detonations when disposing of unexploded bombs on the seabed, in a bid to protect vulnerable marine life. There are still more than 300,000 pieces of unexploded ordnance from the First and Second World Wars dotted around UK waters, which must be cleared for wind projects to go ahead. Marine minister Emma Hardy said "high-order" detonations of the dormant weapons should be a last resort and the industry must adopt quieter alternatives instead. Large explosive blasts can kill off whales, dolphins and other sea creatures, and the noise can disrupt their behaviour, experts say.
I note that they haven't said how this can be done. Only that they are looking into it. My mind goes to the Beaufort Trench and the SS Richard Montgomery in the Thames Estuary. Has the government any views on them?

On global politics, it might be a good thing to read this again....


Should People in the UK Be Worried about Donald Trump?
--by Bob Bliss

Stanley Graham tells me that many of his friends and readers are worried about Trump and he asks me to provide a “liberal” view of the problem. If everyone will take my advice with a grain (or block) of salt, I am happy to oblige, and will take the “liberal” characterization as a compliment.
If I found Trump incredible, I would be less worried myself. But as a phenomenon of US politics, he is all too credible. First of all, and so far, he’s winning a plurality of Republican votes and, given the rules of that party’s national convention, he is now the most likely nominee for President. As of this writing, I hope he gets the nomination, because if he doesn’t, the person who wrests it from him could enjoy some considerable electoral advantages as the person who’s saved the nation. I don’t think it would be very easy for Cruz or Rubio to don that shining armor, but someone like Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House, could do so and, as knight or savior, or both, give Hillary Clinton a run for her money. If Trump sails on and through, I think Clinton will beat him, flawed though she may be (I am a Bernie Sanders kind of guy, and enjoy thinking how much he reminds me of Michael Foot).
Trump is credible also because he is a logical, historical, cause-and-effect outcome of over a generation of Republican Party con tricks. He is what they deserved, “they” being a party elite that, for their own ends, have sold a large portion of the American electorate on unreal visions of past and future and on promises that they could not keep (and never meant to keep). Part of it involves the so-called Southern Strategy, devised by Nixon but perhaps with its real roots in the Republican contest for the 1952 nomination, when the liberal Republican Eisenhower used southern Republican votes to wrest the prize from “Mr. Conservative,” Robert Taft of Ohio. The southern Republican party then was largely moribund and largely (ironically) black, a gaping hole in the two-party system that begged to be filled.
The Democratic Party’s halting embrace of Civil Rights (1945-1968) opened the door to creating a conservative, white, southern branch of the Republican Party. This left no place for liberal Republicans (like my parents, who left the party in disgust well before it foisted Reagan on the nation). Its racist tendencies (by no means all southern conservatives are racist) are of course coded into more acceptable messages about criminality, welfare cheats, educational choice, and (yes) making American great again. Bizarre redistricting maps of southern state and national representative constituencies have placed the South pretty securely within the grip of nearly any Republican running for nearly any office. Luckily, running as President, Trump would have to win a whole state’s vote, which will be a stiffer challenge.
Meanwhile, nationally, while in actual demographic fact the country was rushing pell-mell to become the most diverse society in the developed world (ethnically and in many other ways too), the Republicans invented, caressed, polished, and lived by the myth of a “silent majority” (Spiro Agnew) made up of “real Americans” (Sarah Palin) who were the blood-rightful governors of this land. So deeply has this become a Republican article of faith that they cannot believe they can, or should, ever lose a national vote. Racism aside, this underlying belief in their right to rule governed their reactions to Clinton’s victories (in 1992 and 1996) and Obama’s (in 2008 and 2012) and made them into a party that simply does not know how to behave after losing an election in a democratic polity. Indeed, Republicans do not lose national elections. They wuz robbed. And so in congress (in marked contrast to the Democrats’ legislative reaction to George W. Bush’s very odd victory in 2000—speaking of robberies) the Republicans’ only strategy is obstruction. Elsewhere they encourage the idea that Obama is not an American, that he is Muslim, and most recently (in a Texas school board campaign) that he is a secret homosexual. (Someone should tell them down there in Texas that you don’t need to be a “secret” homosexual any more.) More seriously, through new and inconvenient voter registration and identification laws, they raised obstacles in the way of certain people (especially the poor) being able to vote at all, thus turning their backs on 230 years of lowering suffrage requirements and eliminating suffrage restrictions. Whatever else can be said of Trump’s support, and those who crowd his rallies, they are by these definitions “real” Americans and, clearly, they believe themselves to be “real” Americans, and where in those rallies they see dissent they know that the dissenters cannot be “real” Americans.
Additionally, and significantly, leading Republicans have for decades been promising various moral nirvanas or nostrums to their supporters: “hot button” issues. For the most part, the Republican elite doesn’t really care about these things (the Bush family in its private life was once a strong supporter of Planned Parenthood), and often they must know that they can’t really deliver them, but like Maggie Thatcher’s cynical use of “bringing back hanging” it helps to whip up the loyalists and raise their political temperature to delirium pitch. Hysteria is a symptom of modern Republicanism. In this cycle, the clearest example of this—by far—are Trump’s promises concerning immigration and immigrants. He will build (and force Mexico to pay for) a wall all along our southern border. And he will immediately begin, and soon complete, the deportation of over 11,000,000 illegal immigrants. (These absurd, cruel, and impossible promises have, in spirit if not to the letter, been endorsed by all the other Republican candidates, by the way). One thing you should not worry about is this mélange of xenophobic racism, legal la la land, and economic suicide. It can’t be done and it won’t be done. Getting rid of illegals would collapse the economies of small towns across the rural Midwest and, in any case, require wholesale suspension of several constitutional guarantees for citizens and immigrants (whether legal or illegal).
But this pie in the sky stuff has been the campaigning staple of Republicans ever since Ronald Reagan (another myth) ran for office in California promising that more severe legal penalties would help him to stamp out crime. He won, and California actually instituted severe incarceration policies, but crime went on its merry way (and now the Republican elite is complaining that prisons cost too much). At the time and since, criminologists have told Republicans that such policies have not worked, will not work, and cannot work, but as with climate change and biological evolution, scientific arguments such as those advanced by criminologists are immediately dismissed as “liberal.”
This is what most worries me. Of course in the short term President Trump would be, most likely, a disaster. But possibly not a major disaster. He cannot remake the world, and probably would not remake America. He’s a con man, and if he did take office he would find fake ways to retreat from his fake offers to the electorate. He has learned, in business, how to cut his losses. The Democrats, unable to shed their belief in democratic processes, would rush to help him do just that, hoping to hammer him in 2020. But he is the end product of a political movement that no longer believes in learning about how the world actually works and is vastly content to create a make believe universe where tax cuts always bring prosperity to everyone, where stiffer punishments end crime, where the way to win a war is to say you won it, where God would not allow Miami, or Myrtle Beach, to sink beneath the rising tide of the ocean, and where the national forests and grazing lands “really should” belong to armed trespassers and God-besotted squatters.
Today’s Republican Party fits Donald Trump really rather well. He inherited wealth and has rarely had to deal even with a shareholder’s meeting let alone that very rare phenomenon of a rebellious board of directors. He’s a deal maker, and he’s got plenty of cards. Some deals work. Others do not. Trump Towers sprout like cornstalks, Trump Steaks don’t. Trump University taught us nothing. From a President Trump we might actually learn something, although I hope very much that there are easier and better ways to get an education.

Bob Bliss (Historian, St Louis)

[PanBiker]

History repeating itself since Bob wrote that and still just as relevant. I still cant get my head round the Executive Order thing. He has pardoned at a stroke all 1700 people involved in the illegal storming of the Capitol Building when he lost last time. This includes convicted felons and the main perpetrators already in prison. The same 1700 hundred who by their actions killed 8 people and injured 170 more. About as undemocratic action as you can make in my book. It makes a mockery of the legal system and negates any deterrent that it may offer. Having said that the rules also allow the election of convicted felons to the role of President and once there he can pardon and expunge from record even his own convictions. They say folk get the government they deserve, having said that nearly 50% didn't vote for him.

I am waiting for him to pull out of NATO and stop support to Ukraine which I also fear may be on the cards.

[Tripps]

Little mention that former President Joe Biden issued 'pardons' to his whole family - literally in the final ten minutes of his presidency. The pardons covered offences which had been widely classified as conspiracy theories, and some were for members of the family of whom we were unaware, and had not even been accused of anything. Best be on the safe side.

"here's that fifty dollars I owe you"

[Stanley]

I stopped trying to understand US politics a long time ago and that included when I was being taught US history by Bob at Lancaster.
You're right Ian, executive orders are anything but democratic or even logical. They make a nonsense of the Legal System.
Meanwhile in our part of the forest..... See THIS BBC report that Chancellor Reeves is optimistic.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves says she is "optimistic" on the UK economy despite pressure on government finances after borrowing rose more than expected in December. Borrowing - the difference between spending and tax revenue - was £17.8bn last month, the highest December level for four years, according to official figures. Spending on public services, benefits, and debt interest were all up on the year, while an increase in tax receipts was offset by National Insurance cuts made by the previous government. Recent rises in borrowing costs threaten the government's economic plans, with Reeves under pressure after figures last week showed the UK economy had flatlined.
It seems to me that this is a triumph of hope over experience.

As for THIS.....
Closing all of Parliament's bars could lead to greater security risks for MPs, the leader of the House of Commons has suggested. Lucy Powell said she was open to "having a debate" on the future of drinking venues on the Parliamentary estate after one bar was temporarily closed for a security review linked to an alleged drink-spiking incident. But she argued that MPs and staff would visit venues outside Parliament's secure zone if bars, restaurants, hair salons and other facilities were shut down. She told BBC Radio 5Live's Matt Chorley said "there is no point spending the millions of pounds" on security if staff were encouraged to leave the estate.
My question is why should there be bars at all in what is supposed to be a workplace?

[Stanley]

If we thought we were being ruled by the wealthy THIS could reinforce that belief.

[Stanley]

THIS is at the head of UK political news....
The closure of Strangers' bar, in the House of Commons, while an alleged spiking incident is investigated has thrown the spotlight on Westminster's drinking culture and what goes on in its many watering holes. You are certainly never far from a bar in the Palace of Westminster. For centuries, British politics has floated along on a tide of booze. Drink is part of the fabric of the place, but the drinking dens of Parliament are not what you might imagine. The bars reserved exclusively for MPs and peers – in the deeper recesses of the ancient building – such as the Pugin Room or the Members' Smoking Room (which is now non-smoking) may have the feel of a Mayfair gentlemen's club, all leather armchairs and hushed tones. But the most popular venue on the estate, The Woolsack, is more like a traditional British pub that you would find in any market square or High Street.
I may be seen as a kill-joy but I don't see why we need bars in Parliament. It should be regarded as a workplace, not a gentlemen's club!

[PanBiker]

Its what you get when the country is run from a redundant pile of Victorian jerry built construction. They also have an army of Open Reach Engineers in the basement who keep the archaic telephone system running. I have said this many times before time to mothball the place make it a tourist trap of how it used to be done in the old days. Charge £10-£20 for a tour which the tourists would pay gladly. Rome makes a fortune out of the pile of stones that was once the Colosseum!
Have a proper debate about PR and get rid of adversarial Yo Yo politics. Time for a purpose built modern chamber in the round and in the middle of the country. Accommodation flats for all the MP's on an adjacent estate. Rental contribution pre deducted from their wages. GB broadband,office space, compact kitchen and sleeping quarters. Gets rid of all the expenses for second houses of convenience in London at stupid prices and all that nonsense. Would cost a fraction of shoring up and constantly repairing the House of Westminster, Maintain the clock tower and Big Ben as that is what most people like.

[Stanley]

I wouldn't argue against any of that Ian.

In the absence of any hard UK political news, see THIS report of the Donald's latest move....
The Trump administration has fired at least a dozen federal watchdogs late on Friday evening, a possibly illegal move that could face court challenges. Speaking from the Senate floor on Saturday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer described the watchdog firings as a "chilling purge". "These firings are Donald Trump's way of telling us he is terrified of accountability and is hostile to facts and to transparency," said Schumer, a Democrat from New York. The White House has not confirmed the firings and did not respond to the BBC's request for comment. Affected inspectors general were sent emails from the director of presidential personnel overnight on Friday telling them that "due to changing priorities, your position as inspector general... is terminated, effective immediately", according to CBS News, the BBC's US partner.
The Canadian border dispute seems to also be alive and well. Trump reminds me of an attention seeking child and I remember what a very good primary school teacher once told me, the cure was to deprive them of attention.
Not a lot of chance of that happening.....

[Stanley]

See THIS for just one example of how Trump foreign policy works.....
US President Donald Trump has said he will impose 25% tariffs and sanctions on Colombia after its president barred two US military planes carrying deported migrants from landing in the country. Trump said the tariffs "on all goods" coming into the US from Colombia would be put in place "immediately", and in one week the 25% tariffs would be raised to 50%. Colombian President Gustavo Petro responded by saying he would impose retaliatory tariffs of 25% on the US.
There is much more on just this one aspect of Trump's policies. The words that spring to mind include disruption and chaos.

[Stanley]

THIS caught my eye....
The Royal Navy has announced it is changing the name of a new submarine from HMS Agincourt to HMS Achilles, in a move branded "woke nonsense" by former Defence Secretary Grant Shapps. It follows reports of concern within the Ministry of Defence that the original name for the vessel - which is being built in Barrow, Cumbria - may have offended the French. Agincourt refers to a battle England won against France in 1415, as part of the Hundred Years' War. On Sunday, the Royal Navy said the submarine would instead be named HMS Achilles and that the change had been under discussion for more than a year. A spokesperson said Achilles was particularly appropriate as the world prepares to mark the 80th anniversaries of Victory in Europe and Victory over Japan days - both of which take place this year. A previous vessel named HMS Achilles received battle honours during World War Two. Another ship with the name took part in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, when the Royal Navy defeated a French and Spanish fleet. Gavin Williamson, a Conservative former defence secretary, first announced the name Agincourt in 2018 for the under-construction vessel, the seventh of the Astute Class submarines to be commissioned. There had previously been suggestions it could be named Ajax.
First it seems diplomatic to me to avoid using the name of a famous victory over the French but further, look at those two names..... Shapps and Williamson. How the hell did either of them ever qualify to be a defence minister? Why should anyone take any notice at all of what they think?

[Tizer]

If RMS Waterloo still exists perhaps we'd better rename it! LINK

[Stanley]

Brilliant Peter! Should someone inform Messrs. Williamson and Shapps?

See THIS BBC report for a matter which I suspect may become a real problem.
A former cabinet minister who lost his seat at the general election claims he has been automatically rejected for jobs by Artificial Intelligence (AI) software because he does not have a degree. David TC Davies, who was Welsh secretary in Rishi Sunak's Conservative government, has called on employers to rethink the role of AI when recruiting. Many companies routinely use applicant tracking systems to sift and grade CVs, despite concerns they could be filtering out the best candidates. The government has produced guidelines on the use of AI in recruitment, external, which warns companies: "At all stages there is a risk of unfair bias or discrimination against applicants."
Anyone who has ever conducted job interviews knows all to well the value of ignoring set rules at times and appointing on instinct. AI can't do that and I know it has served me well in the past.

[Stanley]

See THIS for a master-class in the art of the reverse ferret!
The UK's choice for the next ambassador to the US, Lord Peter Mandelson, has described his previous criticism of Donald Trump as "ill-judged and wrong". Speaking in an interview with US broadcaster Fox News, he said the new US president had won "fresh respect" from him, adding he was "quite confident" Trump would approve of his appointment. As part of the process Lord Mandelson's credentials have to be presented to Trump, which the president is reportedly expected to agree to. In previous years, Lord Mandelson has described Trump as "reckless" and "a bully". In an interview with an Italian journalist in 2019, he described Trump as "reckless and a danger to the world".
The ability to grovel is evidently one of the main attributes needed to fill the post.....

[Stanley]

THIS BBC Verify article is worth a read....
1 hour ago.
Five years ago, on 31 January 2020, the UK left the European Union. On that day, Great Britain severed the political ties it had held for 47 years, but stayed inside the EU single market and customs union for a further 11 months to keep trade flowing. Northern Ireland had a separate arrangement. Brexit was hugely divisive, both politically and socially, dominating political debate and with arguments about its impacts raging for years. Five years on from the day Britain formally left the EU, BBC Verify has examined five important ways Brexit has affected Britain.
The net result is damning. Little wonder the Brexiteers are so quiet these days.
In short it was the disaster many of us forecast.

[Stanley]

THIS BBC report caught my eye.
When Sir Keir Starmer was preparing to run for the Labour leadership in 2020, his campaign director told the future prime minister what mattered to the party. Morgan McSweeney emphasised that whatever their faction, Labour members shared certain core principles - and top of the list was a commitment to combatting poverty and defending the welfare state. That is why any Labour politician treads carefully when looking at welfare reform. This government, though, is not just looking at reforming welfare - it is preparing to put it at the heart of its economic agenda.
There are stormy waters ahead...... Too many welfare matters have been kicked into the long grass by successive governments and now they will have to be addressed. Join the queue with rising demands from the services.....

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report on what Ed Davey is saying about the EU customs Union.
Sir Keir Starmer should "fire the starting gun" on creating a new UK-EU customs union at a meeting with European leaders in Brussels on Monday, the Liberal Democrats have said. Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said such a move was a "no-brainer" for the prime minister, and would put "rocket boosters" on the UK economy and "strengthen our hand" with US President Donald Trump. Sir Keir has ruled out rejoining the EU customs union and the single market, declaring it a "red line". But Labour has left open the possibility of joining another bloc, the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean (PEM) convention, as part of efforts to "reset" European
He is right of course. It is agreed and abundantly clear that we are being handicapped by the consequences of Brexit and anything that can be done to alleviate those penalties should be done as a matter of urgency. Talk of 'red lines' my make sense politically but it makes no sense in terms of economics.....

[Stanley]

See THIS
4 hours ago
Sir Keir Starmer is heading to Brussels to join a gathering of European Union leaders – the first time a British prime minister has done so since Brexit. Starmer is heading over the English Channel for talks focused on defence and security co-operation and will also meet Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte. The trip is part of what he calls a "reset" between the UK and the European Union.
The more 'resetting' the better and don't let Trump deter you!!

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC editorial on the Trump Tariffs.
The UK is "not choosing between the US and the EU", Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said after President Donald Trump threatened the European Union with trade tariffs. Over the weekend, Trump announced 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico - which have both since been paused - and said he would take similar action against the EU but suggested a deal could be "worked out" with the UK. Asked if he would be willing to water down attempts to forge closer ties with the EU in exchange for keeping the US on side, Sir Keir said both relationships were important to the UK. "Now, that for me isn't new, I think that's always been the case and will be the case for many, many years to come," he added.
My fear as I watch this gavotte unfold is that the UK might lose sight of the fact that Trump's main target is access to our NHS. I hope that our politicians are fully aware of this. What is happening at the moment with Canada, Mexico and China is a mixture of bullying and sleight of hand with the intention of gaining increased US control. We will be next together with the EU.

[Tripps]

He's certainly hit the ground running.

There's a rumour that he will rename the US dollar - the US Donald.

[Stanley]

Morning David, I am more concerned about THIS report about checks on imported meat....
8 hours ago
Efforts to keep potentially disease-ridden meat out of the UK are being undermined by post-Brexit border checks, a senior health official has said. The boss of the Dover Port Health Authority said illegal meat, which has not been through proper health checks, was now available on "most high streets" in the UK. European outbreaks of deadly animal diseases in recent months have left health authorities, Whitehall officials and many in the farming industry worried about the threat they pose to the UK. But the government has previously insisted the new system of post-Brexit border checks that came into effect in April last year is capable of keeping the UK disease-free. Under the post-Brexit system, checks on commercial vehicles do not take place at Dover itself. Instead, drivers are ordered to travel 22 miles (35km) away to a border control post at Sevington. But critics have warned that many lorries are simply failing to turn up for the checks, due to a lack of enforcement.
I'm not worried because of any danger I might buy some, I doubt if my butcher gets any meat from these sources.I think the most likely channel for them is via the fast food market or the food processors making things like pizzas or ready cooked meals.
There was a time when we paid vets a good wage to inspect our food as it came off the boat but the politicians 'improved' that system in the name of efficiency, economy and sovereignty and look where it has landed us.
Imported meat is not the only danger, the whole system of managing waste and contaminated meat needs overhauling. The pet food industry is deeply suspect in this regard. Have we forgotten the scandals that emerged over condemned poultry meat? These matters are closer to home than the antics of an attention seeking pensioner who thinks he is a genius......

[Tizer]

I expected to find a post on this major event on OG this morning but couldn't find any, so here we go...
`Trump wants US to 'take over' Gaza and own it 'long term', with Palestinians resettled' BBC Live
I reckon it will shove the current Middle East mayhem into overdrive!