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.
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?
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
Trump and America – Immigration
The National Census Trump and his administration seem to cause chaos where ever its shadow reaches. That, of course, could just be a reflection of how I feel about this embattled president. However, just how is it possible for even Trump to cause confusion about the future of the census? The census first census was in the late 18th century and it has been held every 10 years from 1902. You would have thought that, by now, it would almost run itself. Individuals change, people are born and they die, but the process is the same, surely? One of the problems this time around is the fall out of the trump administration’s culling of people thought to be “not one of us” when they took over. There is no permanent director at the bureaux. John Thompson jumped ship in early 2017. More than a year later Trump’s nominee has not yet been confirmed. The deputy director was to be Thomas Brunell. But Trump’s choice withdrew after his lack of experience and his views on legislative redistricting were criticised. (UK readers think Gerrymandering, or Dame Shirley Porter – you get the idea). Computerisation So, no permanent leader or deputy, what else could be going wrong? Someone has decided that, in this digital age, that the census should be computerised. That is bound to be a good idea, quicker, probably cheaper and no pieces of paper to get lost. In any other country than one that still has to use paper ballots in some of its elections because of the lack of connectivity it would be a great idea. The USA has a situation where 30% of Latinos, African- Americans and some rural areas do not have a broadband connection. (more details HERE) It is also hard to persuade them to go to a centre to register their details. Even harder to persuade anybody that their details will be safe from hackers. Apparently Congress does not care about these issues. They even cancelled 2 of the 3 full field tests. Really, what could go wrong? According to two former Census Bureaux Directors quite a lot. Even before the major change to the way the census is undertaken they were warning in the Washington Post (August 2017) that the census was “Under threat by uncertain funding” Question 11 This is a new question for the census. It asks “Is this person a citizen of the United States?” There are obvious implications. If someone is not a citizen would they want to tell the authorities that when they know Trump’s opinions? Trump could shout from the roof tops that the information is blind, but who would believe him? The trouble is that if the Trump administration asks a question that they suspect people will refuse to answer and so not complete the census then the census becomes something else. According to the constitution of the USA the census is an “actual enumeration” not a sample, not a guestimate, not a survey it is meant to be a full attempt to count as many of the country’s residents as possible. According to the New York Times; “Authorizing the first census in 1790, Congress mandated a count of “inhabitants.” Boundaries were porous, and the country was founded on the principle that anyone could move here. “The bosom of America is open to receive not only the opulent and respectable stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all nations and religions,” George Washington wrote in an open letter to recent arrivals from Ireland in 1783. Newcomers haven’t always been made to feel welcome since then, but the census has continued to reflect the recognition that they are here.” Until now.
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.
Has Police Funding Fallen since 2010/2011?
Police Funding has fallen since 2010/2011. It is heartening that Nigel Evans, the local MP, has just realised that the police need more funding. It is a shame that he has been voting for reductions since 2010, and yet does not accept that police funding has fallen. In fact, the funding from central government fell by 30% during the period 2010/2011to 2017/2018. By increasing funding from local sources (i.e. Cuncil Tax) the average overall fall in funding has been 19%. However, the central funding is going to increase this year, isn’t it? After all austerity is dead. (Isn’t it?) Well, There was an announcement that police funding was to increase by £460m in 2018/2019. (The whole police budget is about £12.3b so it is hardly an earth shattering increase in police funding). But even with this increase the central grant is going to be the same as 2017. As inflation is running at 2% that means a real terms cut. £280m is going to be raised by allowing the police to raise the amount they can raise through the council tax. £50m is being spent on antiterrorism and the other £130m has been set aside for special grants to meet unexpected costs for events such as terrorist incidents, and for improving the technology used by police forces. In summary, the Tories have cut the funding from central government by 30% in 8 years. Even when austerity is dead and police funding is going to increase it is not being increased from central government coffers. Most of the small increase will be from council taxes. And the rest is made up of money for counterterrorism. So, valuable money to fight terrorists but not for more bobbies on the beat. Nigel and his Tory mates are trying to distance themselves from the result of their own policies and beliefs. They are either in denial that they have reduced police funding, or they are just cynical and think that we are all fools. For the record, police funding increased by 31% between 2000/01 and 2010/2011….
EU Referendum – Not Project Fear, Project Reality
The EU Referendum campaign was a nasty, divisive affair. Now comes Project Reality. They called it Project Fear, it is turning into Project reality. The Brexit campaigners won, but what has been the fallout? They said that everything that the Remain campaigners were saying were just the establishment lining up to scare the public. Really? What has happened in the 48 hours since the EU Referendum? So far; EDF are considering pulling out of Hinkley Point. Now, that may be a good or a bad thing depending on your point of view. The fact was a large infrastructure project is in doubt. Airbus, that employs 15,000 people in this country, say.as that it is actively reviewing its future investment. We all know what means. Ford, that employs 14,000 people in this country, says that it might be preparing to cut costs. We all know what means. The third runway for Heathrow would be killed by Boris. Large parts of HS2 could be stopped in its tracks. The pound plunged to 1980’s levels. Here comes more expensive petrol and imports. There is more fallout from the EU Refrendum Tata Steel, there are now doubts about the sell offs that were going to save at least some of our jobs. There has been a marked increase in far right racist attacks, graffiti, and the neo nazis are cock ahoop. That Cameron has signaled that he is going and we will not have a PM with any credibility for 3 months. Who is running the country? The Blairite jackals in the PLP are lining up to oust Corbyn. The French want to close the camps in Calais, agreen light for the people smugglers to up there despicable business. The FTSE 250 has had millions swept off its value. The FTSE 250 is a far better barometer of the UK based companies rather than the FTSE 100. 1.2 million Brits who live in the EU now are in fear of what might happen to them. Scotland will seek another independence referendum. The end of the UK. There are calls for the re-unification of all Ireland. The end of the UK. HSBC have announced that they could relocate 1,500 jobs from London to Paris. Farage has been forced to admit that the £350m a week windfall for the NHS was just a lie. Danny Hammon (?), Nigel Evans (my MP) have both admitted that leaving the EU does NOT necessarily mean that immigration will fall. The EU referendum has plunged this country in turmoil. Edmund Burke said, to paraphrase, that the views of constituents should be given due weight by their representatives. However, to give them directions that have to be obeyed strikes at the heart of our representative democracy. Referendums can destroy representative democracy. There is a place for them. However the EU Referendum asked a far too complicated question to be answered by a simple yes or no. God help us all.
Politics – General Election 2015 – A Three Party Coalition?
General Election 2015 Could It Really be A Three Party Coalition? The New Statesman was showing that given the polls at the end of February the two main parties would win 271 seats in the general election. Tories down by 36 seats Labour up by 13. They were also showing the SNP up by 50 to 56, the Liberal Democrats down to 25 seats from 57. I imagine that Nick Clegg is not reading the papers at the moment, or for the last year or two come to that. For a majority a party needs 326 seats. We are back into coalition territory, again, unless either Miliband or Cameron wants to try to run a minority government. Using the New Statesman’s projections what coalitions could evolve? The SNP has said that it would not enter into a coalition with Cameron. It would be suicidal for them to say anything else before the general election. Even after the general election they could not get into bed with the Tories. That leaves the way open to a SNP and Labour coalition. Except that they would still not have enough seats. They would only get to 327, 9 short. UKIP may have a higher percentage of the votes cast than the Liberal Democrats but the first past the post system guarantees that, unless something extreme happens, they will end up with just 4 or 5 seats. They could influence the outcome though as most of their votes would come from the Tories, those that do not come from thr BNP. that is. Where the Liberal Democrats are fighting the Tories in second place in 2010 the UKIP vote could sink the Tories. The way the vote splits on the left could determine whether Labour wins a few seats. Seats such as Plymouth Sutton, Bristol West (a constituency dear to me heart), and Hove could well be decided by the tactical voting of Green and Lib Dem supporters. There are some Tories that see the DUP in Northern Ireland being able to support them after the general election. The trouble is they may well get just the 8 seats. The Tories and Labour then need someone else to support them in a coalition. Who will be the first one to call Nick? That assumes that Nick will still be the leader of the Liberal Democrats, of course and hat is not guaranteed. Have the Liberal Democrats got the appetite to be in another coalition after the bruising experience of this one? God, I love politics, bring on the general election!
Politics – General Election 2015 UKIP Another Barking Candidate
UKIP Shoots Itself in the Foot Candidate Threatens to Shoot Tory Between The Eyes! UKIP are mad and bad. They are obviously bad given their odd policies and stance on immigration. They are obviously bad when their leader wants to leave the EU but is happy to pocket the EU cash. They are obviously bad when Diddy Neil Hamilton can not stand them. But mad? Oh yes. UKIP has announced that they will review their candidate selection procedures after their candidate Robert Blay, their candidate for North East Hampshire threatened to shoot his Tory opponent. He was caught on camera, at a public meeting at which Farage was speaking on Saturday. He said that if Ranil Jayawardena ever became PM Blay would shoot him “between the eyes”. Blay has been suspended by UKIP. The other reason that UKIP is both bad and mad is that it has taken them until the eve of the poll to realise what we all knew. Their candidate selection has allowed some very odd and deranged people to pass the vetting. One more reason, if one was needed why UKIP candidates are not fit to be elected to be dog wardens let alone parliament. Just for the record; The Mirror reported that he said: “If he is I will personally put a bullet between his eyes. If this lad turns up to be our prime minister I will personally put a bullet in him. That’s how strong I feel about it.” Questioning Mr Jayawardena’s background, he said: “His family have only been here since the 70s. You are not British enough to be in our parliament. I’ve got 400 years of ancestry where I live. He hasn’t got that.”
Phil’s British Heart Foundation Donation – you know it makes sense
