A Fascist Government?
Umerto Eco wrote this essy on Fascism. I hate the way that Fascism is thrown about on social media. BUT Think about this government and see how many of his 14 points can be ticked. Certainly number 1, a fixation with tradition. 2, well, maybe. 3, Action for actions sake. Operation Save Big Dog is a prime example. 4, Liz Truss said that she was a patriot introducing a bill that breaks international law. The obvious inference is that you are not a patriot if you disagree with her. 5, Fear of difference. This seems to me obvious. Ukrainian refuges from conflict are good, Syrians fleeing conflict are bad. 6, Appealing to frustrated middle classes? Just look at The Daily Mail. 7, feeling that there are plots against them? Oh yes. Both within the party and from outside. Johnson is doubling down. 8, “By a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, the enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak.” That is so obvious within the government at the moment. The unions have no power and repressent no one. As well as being athreat to the nation. 9, “Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy” I do not want to be killed in a nuclear war, so wanting to reduce the weapons of mass destruction is unpatrionic (see point 4). 10, Contempt for the weak. “We put a caring arm around the vulnerable in homes, but not during the pandemic. 11, OK not sure about his one. Give me time and I will come up with answers. 12, “Machismo implies both disdain for women and intolerance and condemnation of nonstandard sexual habits, from chastity to homosexuality.” So completely untrue of this country, they embrace difference, unless you are a woman, gay or have a different life style. God help you if you are a gay traveller. NIMBY is this governments, and their supporters’ watch word. 13, “There is in our future a TV or Internet populism, in which the emotional response of a selected group of citizens can be presented and accepted as the Voice of the People.” We are there. 14, “All the Nazi or Fascist schoolbooks made use of an impoverished vocabulary, and an elementary syntax, in order to limit the instruments for complex and critical reasoning.” Sounds like dumbing down to me, and discouraging the study of English lit in universities. Placing more value in learning “practical” skills over learning “soft” skills like thinking. Rant over, for now.
Boris Johnson, an Apology?
Is it a REAL Apology from Boris Johnson? Is Johnson’s apology real? No, of course not. Here is the text; I want to apologise. I know that millions of people across this country have made extraordinary sacrifices over the last 18 months. “I know the anguish they have been through – unable to mourn their relatives, unable to live their lives as they want or to do the things they love. “I know the rage they feel with me and with the government I lead when they think in Downing Street itself the rules are not being properly followed by the people who make the rules. And though I cannot anticipate the conclusions of the current inquiry, I have learned enough to know there were things we simply did not get right and I must take responsibility. “No 10 is a big department with a garden as an extension of the office which has been in constant use because of the role of fresh air in stopping the virus. “When I went into that garden just after six on May 20 2020, to thank groups of staff before going back into my office 25 minutes later to continue working, I believed implicitly that this was a work event. “With hindsight I should have sent everyone back inside. I should have found some other way to thank them. “I should have recognised that even if it could be said technically to fall within the guidance, there are millions and millions of people who simply would not see it that way, people who have suffered terribly, people who were forbidden from meeting loved ones at all inside or outside, and to them and to this house I offer my heartfelt apologies. What it Means How can he say that he has now “learned enough to know there were things we simply did not get right” ? He denied any knowledge of parties. Then the photos were leaked. He denied that he knew anything about quiz nights. Then the photos were leaked. Nothing happened on 20th May. Then the truth was leaked and suddenly he remembered the day. He knew, he always knew but always denied and squirmed. He is not apologising for anything more than an oversight. He did not recognise a party when he was there for 25 minutes. He thought that wine, and cheese went along with work meetings. He is not apologising for lying. He is not apologising for appalling judgment. He is not appologising for knowingly expecting the rest of us to do what he thought did not apply to him. Then he went on to say; “I know the rage they feel with me and with the government I lead when they think in Downing Street itself the rules are not being properly followed by the people who make the rules. ” When they think? When They Think? He does not know the extent and depth of the rage and anger. He has no idea. Boris Johnson, An Apology Scorned? Some of his MPs have had enough. William Wragg, a senior MP, has said that he should go. However, he has never been afan of Johnson’s. Looks like the Scottish Conservative party is ditching him, but then, Johnson was always a liabiliy for them at the poles. What will really tip the balance against him is if the Tory MPs begin to feal that he may cost them therir seats. To trigger a confidence vote just over 50 Tory MPs have to write a letter requesting a vote. It was interesting to see members of the cabinet supporting Johnson today. Most of them that is. Sunak had urgent business in Devon and could not get tothe Commons for PMQs. Johnson should not complain. He once dodged a vote about Heathrow by flying off to Afghanistan. (Remember him saying that he would lie down in front the bulldozers when they started work on the third runway?) For now he looks safe. At least until Sue Gray’s report is published. I imagine that any eport that does not directly blame Johnson by name will be presented as vindication by Johnson. He may well survive. The thing that he does not seem to understand is that he has passed the Clegg Point. The Clegg Point is that tipping point when a politician can not regain the public’s trust. For Clegg it was student loans for Johnson it was 20th May 2020. Links; Senior MP joins Scottish MSPs in calling for Johnson to resign (Guardian) Johnson mocked online (Mail Online) Boris Johnson faces calls to resign after he admits attending ‘bring your own booze’ event (Financial Times) I Agree with the Sun (blog about MP Expenses)
Another Day, Another U-Turn
Tory Sleaze, Again Or, Another misjudgement by Boris (Blunder) Johnson It seems that the sleaze fest that is the Tories rumbles on with misjudgement adding to their woes. People objected when the Tories tried to let off one of their own who was found guilty of an “egregious” breach of lobbying rules. What a surprise. It would seem that some people (everyone apart from Boris (Blunder) Johnson) thinks that having a jury consisting of Blunder’s friends, presided over by one of Blunder’s friends, ruling on Blunder’s friends is not a good idea. Who’d have thought? That one came out of the blue didn’t it? Jacob Rees-Mogg Announces a “Re-think” For “Re-think” read, climb down. If you are going to be corrupt and mired in sleaze the least that you owe your corrupt pals is that you do it well. Blunder Johnson just can not get anything right. He has no ability to think things through. If he had he would not have bought water cannons that could not be used. Would not have wasted millions on a garden bridge etc. etc. If he had any integrity he would not have avoided the vote on the third Heathrow runway by running away to Afghanistan. Tory Sleaze There is something reassuring that Blunder Johnson is so bad at being corrupt and incompetent. He will be found out. The trouble is that he has a large majority. It would take a number of Tory MPs of integrity to face him down. However tghere are not a number of such Tory MPs and they are cowed into silence. God help us all.
Tory Sleaze, Tories Vote to Rip Up Ethics Committee
Tory Sleaze is back, Did it ever go Away? Remember this list? This was, if my memory serves, a list put together by the Tory whips so that their members could be “pursuaded” to vote the right way. Some interesting names on the list. Foreign secretaries (past and present), Transport Minister, Ex Home Secetary, etc. etc. The great and the good of the Tory party, well the great, well, the pompous and dodgy. That was Tory Sleaze in 2017, This is Tory Sleaze in 2021 Owen Paterson, broke lobbying rules, not once, but 14 times. Yet, he has been saved by his Tory mates. They have voted to abolish the rules! You could not make it up, or perhaps you could. Rotten to the core. Did we really expect anything else from Johnson’s party? (Owen means “noble”, noble by name but not by nature) Common decency would suggest that Paterson should have been cut loose, if for no other reason that this comes hard on the heals of Cameron’s exposure of his greed, but no, the Tories have circled the wagons to protect one of their own. An absolute disgrace.
Israeli Minister Denied Access to COP 26
COP 26 Johnson’s mob makes me ashamed. Just when you think that they could not get worse. “Karine Elharrar, Israel’s minister for energy and water, was forced to wait two hours outside the event site Monday after organizers refused to let her enter in her adapted vehicle, she said. Her office said she was later offered shuttle transport to the summit area, but the bus was not wheelchair-accessible and she had to return to her hotel in Edinburgh.” (source) Johnson Falls Flat The first day of COP 26 did not start well. It was late starting, then Johnson made his opening speech. The jokes fell flat and he exposed the difference between his rhetoric and his government’s actions. He appealed for action to protect and save the world. This a week after his Chancellor slashed internal flight taxes. His government continues to pursue oil extraction and wants to open a new coal mine. Scottish Greens climate spokesperson Mark Ruskell MSP said: “We all know the Prime Minister’s actions seldom match his rhetoric but when it comes to climate crisis Johnson is taking duplicity to new levels.” (Which you must admit is an achievement, given his record of lying and obscurification). This is a man who will not even admit to how many children he has. (His father claims to have at least one more grand children than Johnson admits he has kids). His record of incompetence is amazing. Remember the water cannon that could not be used in London, it would have been illegal. They were eventually sold for scrap, at a loss of £300,000. How about the garden bridge? Failed, failed, failed. At least it only cost the taxpayers £43m (only). The list goes on. Not firing Dominic Cummings (irresponsible), Patel (incompetent bully), Hancock (incompetent – too stupid to realise he was on CCTV, JenricK (breaking covids rules) and all the others. And yet this is the man in “charge” of COP 26. God help us all.
Gavin Williamson is Missing
Where is he? Has anyone seen Gavin Williamson? If you have forgotten (as he seems to have) he is the minister for education and he has been having a hard time recently. First “A refusal to make contingency plans was the “most unforgivable” element of the UK government’s handling of education during the pandemic, according to a damning report detailing widespread failures. In the findings, based on interviews with senior officials, the Institute for Government, a think-tank, on Wednesday laid out what happened behind the scenes in a year of policy twists and turns as schools struggled to keep up with conflicting advice from ministers.The account paints an unflattering picture of both the Department for Education and Downing Street, suggesting both were opposed to local authorities and fixated on centralisation.” (Source The Financial Times) Then there is the scandal of the confusion when this year’s GCSE and A-level exams were dropped in January after the government had insisted for months they would go ahead. Then there is the huge, and growing, discrepancy between the results obtained by the independent schools, and the results of the schools the rest us use. (Hardly surprising that he doesn’t care about this when Good Ol’ Gav had to be shamed into even feeding poor kids.) You would have thought that e would come out hitting, defending his department but he has been strangely quiet, hidden from the press and public. Can’t say that I blame him, perhaps he has a sense of shame after all. Gavin Williamson, the Sly Schemer For someone who seems so affable and reliable Gavin (or Good Ol’ Gav, as no one calls him) has attracted some oddly negative comments from those on his own side, let alone The Opposition, parents, or anyone who knows him in fact. Take Alan Duncan’s wonderfully indelicate diaries (Amazon link). Duncan has a few choice words to say about Gavin, the diaries are contemporanious so they show how prescient Duncan is. In November 2017 Gavin was promoted to Secretary of State for Defence, and Duncan wrote; “In quite the most extraordinary cabinet appointment I can think of, Gavin Williamson has been promoted Defence Secretary. It is absolutely absurd. He seems to have pushed himself forward for this undeserved promotion. It is a brazenly self-serving manoeuvre that will further embed the view of him as a sly schemer, which he undoubtedly is,” “He is also ludicrously unqualified for the heavyweight job of defence secretary, having never run anything. His experience amounts to having been a fireplace salesman, then bag-carrier for two PMs, then chief whip for a year. What on earth was the PM thinking?” Gavin Williamson, a venomous, self-seeking little shit Duncan reports that Gavin Williamson is suspected of leaking against Cabinet colleagues and so is “universally detested” by those on his own benches. He accuses Williamson of scheming against former Defence Secretary Amber Rudd. He also accused him of working against the then Prime MInister. His comment is that Gavin Williamson is a “venomous, self-seeking little shit”. Don’t you just hate it when people sit on the fence. Gavin Williamson, Here Today, Gone Tomorrow? There is, it would seem, a good chance that Williamson will be thrown to the wolves at the next reshuffle, as reported in The Guardian. The one question I have is whether that will ever happen. Remember, he used to be chief whip and knows where the bodies are buried. He also, apparently, a history of coniving against his rivals and friends (although there are few of them). He has a list of all the scandals, the rumours, the schemes and the lies. Can you see him going quietly? Neither can I. If he does go what price will he demand, and get from Johnson?
Lies, Damned Lies and Boris Johnson – Part 1
In my last post about the Tory Leadership race I called Boris Johnson (real name Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson) a pratt and a serial lier. I thought that it might be a good idea to justify my accusation that his grasp on reality is frail – as well as being self serving. Originally it was going to be just 1 post, however Boris Johnson has told so many lies…… The lies, in no particular order. Brexit 1. ‘once we have settled our accounts, we will take back control of roughly £350m per week. It would be a fine thing as many of us have pointed out if a lot of that money went on the NHS, provided we use that cash injection to modernise and make the most of new technology.’ This claim has been thoroughly shown to be false. Either Boris was stupid and believed his own lie, or he was wilfully lieing. He also lied about refering to the £350m at all, until shown TV footage of him talking about it – Oops! Boris Johnson is being taken to court over this lie. Marcus Ball has raised over £200,000 from public donations to prosecute Boris over this lie. 2. ‘I look at so many young people with the 12 stars lipsticked to their faces, and I am troubled with the thought that people are beginning to have genuinely split allegiances. And when people say that they feel they have more in common with others in Europe than with people who voted leave I want to say, but that is part of the reason why people voted leave.’ OK, so not a lie, but is he really calling 16m people unpatriotic because they disagree with him??? 3. People from the EU are responsible for the housing shortage. ‘And I can think of obvious ways in which Brexit can help us tackle the housing crisis – perhaps the single biggest challenge for the younger generation.’ Where to begin with this one? He really was scraping the bottom of his barrel of lies when he pulled out this plum! It is not investors from the EU that has caused the housing crisis. It is the chronic underfunding of housing by this and previous governments that is the root cause of the problem. Changing the cause and blaming those damned foreigners is such a cheap lie. 4 It is “absolutely crazy” that the EU was setting rules on the shape of bananas. Can you believe that Alexander, sorry Boris Johnson, ever said this? Yes, at the Brexit campaign launch he made this tired, and worn old claim. It was a lie when it started doing the rounds in the 1990s it was a lie when he said it in 2016, and again in 2017. 5 Three lies for the price of one, Boris really is the gift that keeps on giving! Boris said “I am very pro-Turkish, but what I certainly can’t imagine is a situation in which 77 million [his estimate] of my fellow Turks and those of Turkish origin can come here without any checks at all. That is really mad” – Daily Express, 18 April 2016 Then he went on to say; “It’s government policy to accelerate Turkish accession” – BBC EU referendum debate, 21 June 2016 The allegation that Turkey is anywhere near joining the EU is as wrong today as it was when Boris started peddling this lie. The third lie? That he ever mentioned Turkey during the Brexit campaign! Boris Johnson has wrongly claimed that he “didn’t make any remarks about Turkey, mate” during the EU referendum campaign, in comments that overshadowed a speech in Staffordshire intended to burnish his leadership credentials. Leadership credentials? Consistancy is fundemental, Boris is consistant, he lies like the rest of us change our socks…..
Tory Leadership Race
Theresa Goes, eventually. May is leaving us with a whimper, and so is Theresa. Yesterday she told the grieving/jubilant nation (depends on whether you are Theresa or Boris) that she had failed. Give her her due, it has only taken 3 rejections by the House of Commons to realise what we all knew 2 years ago. Her “Brexit means Brexit” strategy should have been called “Brexit means exit, stage left”. Now the Tory Leadership race begins for real. Theresay May has done what had seemed impossible, she made Gordon Brown look like an effective PM. The people that I feel real sorry for are the political hacks who will have to write new pieces rather than rehashing the same “TM to be kicked out this week” stories that have dominated the Sunday papers week after week for months. Prepare for weeks of articles peppered with leaks about the Tory Leadership hopefulls from un-named sources. The knives will be out, and how. Politics as a blood sport. The runners and Riders Reading the Tory blogs and you seem to have a field for the Tory Leadership that would be almost as big as that for the Grand National, with the prospect of even m ore fallers! The listy so far; Boris Johnson (Well known prat and serial lier) Esther McVey (Ex- Children’s BBC presenter and briefly “in charge” of Works and pensions) Jeremey Hunt (Re-named, appropriately by James Naughty. Also read about his disgraceful Hilsborough comments here!) Rory Stewart (Who? I mean, really, WHO?) Matt Hancock (Secretary of State for Health, the one that promoted a private company’s health app, while being the Health Minister. He really is dedicated to the NHS, honest) Who else is saddling up to Join the Tory Leadership race? Dominic Raab (Secretary of State for Exiting the EU for about 3 months before it all became too much for the poor dear. Quit and run away rather than fight for what you believe in. At least May tried.) David Lidington (De-facto May’s number 2. Most interesting part of his political career? That he thought that it was OK to claim expenses for, amongst other things, dry cleaning, toothpaste, shower gel, body spray and vitamens. At least we paid to made him healthy and smell nice. I believe that his apology was something like “I accept that many people would see them as over-generous.” Such a fulsome apology) Michael Gove (Yes, the Govemeister is going to try again! Let’s hope that he has been forgiven for stabbing Boris in the back last time, and that he can do it again!) Penny Mordaunt (Always in the top 10 of MPs, at least for expenses in 2015. Beaten by 9 MPs who claimed for travel, like Penny, but then most of them were travelling to and from Scotland, she was travelling to and from Portsmouth North.) Andrea Leadsom (Another making another run at the top job. You will remember that last time she said that she would be a better PM because, unlike May, she had children. Oh yes, a fully paid up member of the supportive sister-hood. On the other hand she was an investment banker in a previous life, Say no more! There are others, lots of them. But I am losing the will to live thinking about these shady chancers. One Name is missing from the Tory Leadership Listings What about Amber Rudd? I hear you ask. Well, she resigned from the cabinet this week and a couple of days later May steps down. Historically, those that cause the Tory PM of the day to fall on their sword are thanked by their colleauges but not supported in the resulting ballot. Did she really cause May to go or not? I can not see how, I think that it had much more to do with May’s misjudgement over her “new, improved” offer. On the other hand she might be scared that people will remember her past record. Such as; Her part in the unlawful detention and deportation of asylum seekers. Overseeing a rise in violent crime (slash police numbers and crime goes up, who’d have thought?) Lieing to the House of Comons about knowing about targets for deprting members of the Windrush Generation. One Dark Horse for the hustings? Sir Graham Brady has resigned as chairman of the 1922 comittee. It would seem that he is readying a bid for the Tory Leadership. As he has been the chairman since 2010 he will know where all the skeletons are buried. This could get interesting! Tory Leadership Odds I think that these odds came from Bet365. I may be a cynic but perhaps their clientelle should do some research before they put any money on Farage and Corbyn………. Boris Johnson 6/4Dominic Raab 6/1David Lidington 9/1Jeremy Hunt 12/1 Andrea Leadsom 12/1 Michael Gove 14/1Penny Mordaunt 20/1Rory Stewart 22/1Sajid Javid 22/1Nigel Farage 25/1 Jeremy Corbyn 33/1Amber Rudd 80/1Jacob Rees- Mogg 80/1
Theresa May – What is she good for?
Theresa May’s Record as Home Secretary Before Theresa May became Home Secretary in 2010 there had been five others in six years. That she lasted 6 years goes to show that she is a survivor. What has sunk others was a stepping stone for her to the top job. The media was broadly supportive, and the general public seemed to think that she did well, or well enough. Police numbers and Theresa May When Home Secretary she cut police numbers by 20,000. She was vilified by the Police Federation. She said that they were “crying wolf” over the cuts. However, while she cut the police numbers crime fell. Obviously, TM was right. Except, the crime reduction was in line with a drop in recorded crime internationally. Also, the spread of CCTV and more secure vehicles would have helped. The recent meteoric rise in knife crime has not persuaded her that she was wrong to push the cuts through. Only within the last couple of weeks she said There was “no direct correlation between certain crimes and police numbers”, and. “What matters is how we ensure that police are responding to these criminal acts when they take place, that people are brought to justice.” This obviously true (as someone said cutting the number of police on the street would have no effect on financial fraud), but it does have a direct impact on street crime. The present Home Secretary disagreed with her, he said that the police must be given the resources to tackle violence. It is not just the bobbies on the beat that have been sacked. Out of about 7,000 armed officers in 2010 almost 1,500 had gone by 2016. As most of the remaining armed officers are in metropolitan areas there were real fears that those of us outside of London would have no protection in case of terrorism. She promised to employ another 1,500 in 2015, so that is alright then. It would have been so much better if they had not been sacked in the first place! Talking about terrorism, what was the point of the Tpims (Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures)? No body uses them. That should make us all feel safe in our beds. Also, she had a huge row with Michael Gove when he was Education Secretary. He wanted the “drain the swamp” of Islamic extremists, her approach was more conciliatory (which I agreed with). Later she reneged on that position saying that there had been “too much tolerance of extremism”. So, she was saying that she was wrong and Gove was right!! Immigration and Theresa May Theresa May’s approach to immigration and refugees was to talk tough and when the going got tough to hide. One of her Immigration Acts was supposed to “create a hostile environment” for illegal migrants. It included landlords checking on tenants’ status, among other things. Remember the Go Home vans touring “immigrant” areas? The whole expensive, repugnant exercise resulted in just 11 people leaving the country. As for dodging the brickbats. When the immigration figures came out and the government’s targets were missed, did she front up? Of course not, she sent poor James Brokenshire to face the press and Commons. When she failed to tackle rising immigration effectively it was not her fault, she blamed the rest of the government. When they wanted her to remove the overseas students from the target I (a classic Thatcher tactic to make employment figures look better) Theresa May refused! On the other hand she did keep deporting people who did not earn enough, which split up an estimated 33,000 families. She also refused to limit the time anyone was held in detention centres. Crime and May There was a time when Theresa May could be seen as a “liberal” remember her speech at the Conservative Party’s conference warning them about becoming the “nasty party”? That was obviously a blip. Referring to Ken Clarke when he was Justice Secretary she said “I lock them up, He lets them out.” She pushed through elected police and crime commissioners. That worked so well, catching the imagination of the whole nation. Can you remember who your commissioner is, and di you vote in the election? Oh yes, the last thing that she did as Home Secretary was to ensure that any inquiry into the Battle of Orgreave would not take place for years and years. Somebody has to protect Thatcher’s memory, too many skeletons in that cupboard, obviously. Conclusion But to answer my question in the title, what is she good for? Absolutely nothing (to quote Frankie)….. Next time I plan to talk about Theresa and the European debacle. As a taster here is CNN’s report of her record defeat on Brexit. Poor old Theresa things go from bad to worse…
National Health Service Funding – the £84 Billion Lie
The Tories are telling lies about the funding increase to the National Health Service. Philip Hammond is again playing fast and loose with the truth. Double counting, or quadruple counting in this case, is not normal practice for a government, or anyone else. The health budget for NHS England (other parts of the NHS are funded separately) is about £110 billion so an increase of £84 billion seems really impressive. But, the truth is much less impressive. Through inflation the NHS spending will rise to £135 billion by 2023/24, that is £20.5 billion and that was announced by the government before the budget. It is also where we start looking for this mistical £84 billion. Lies, Damned Lies, Statistics and Damned Tory Statistics. The origin of the £84 billion “increase” in NHS funding is convoluted to say the least. Each year the money spent on health goes up by an estimated inflation figure of between 3.1% and 3.6%. Add each year’s increase together, throw in the inflation increases for the Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales plus a £1.25 billion a year for National Health Service pension contributions and there you have it £84 billiuon. Or, as the less than straightforward Chancellor said on 1st October; “We’ve announced an unprecedented £84 billion real-terms funding boost for the NHS, what the NHS says it needs”. Philip Hammond MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer Do you remember another time Philip Hammond made a rather outlandish claim? Not about National Health Service Funding this time this is the time he claimed that unemployed people are a figment of our imagination! Read about it here! Would a privatised National Health Service work? See this post for my view. Don’t just take my word for it read this from fullfact.org.
Phil’s British Heart Foundation Donation – you know it makes sense
