General UK politics

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Is that Eric Pickles? The guy whose name seems too on the nose because he's so corpulent?

What a tosser. Conservative sleaze is back.
 
I note that the Daily Mail has a "Starmer the Covid Party Hypocrite !" headline accompanying a long lens shot of Kier Starmer, with a bottle (presumably of beer) in hand talking to colleagues allegedly taken on April 30 2021.

I'd suggest that there are a number of key differences between this, and what the Prime Minister and various ministers, advisors and senior civil servants have done:

  • The photo is clearly taken at night so it is entirely possible that it was taken as a busy working day was wrapping up - not mid-afternoon
  • There's no suggestion that invitations were sent out to 100 people to attend this shindig
  • There are three staff members visible in the photograph and as such was in line with restrictions at the time
  • The are visibly in an office, not lolling around in a garden
  • There is no suggestion that this was, like Wine Day Fridays, a regular occurrence to which tens of people were invited

It's regrettable that this photograph of Kier Starmer exists but once again it's an example of right wing whataboutism.
 
When the Mail are stealing debunked Sun stories from last May you know they’re in trouble.

It literally was work. There was video of the work event. And it didn’t break any rules.
The photo was taken on May 1st after restrictions were lifted.

Even then, it's when he was in the North East visiting Hartlepool and Durham supporting by election efforts.
It was in the office of a Labour candidate in a By election when they stopped for food half way through a constituency online event.
The Sun tried to run with it last year and it was shown to be bollocks then.
 
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https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-downing-street-partygate-b1993433.html

Operation Save Big Dog: Boris Johnson draws up plan for officials to quit over partygate so he can keep job
Exclusive: The blueprint is designed to limit fallout from Sue Gray’s investigation, sources say
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Boris Johnson is drawing up a list of officials to offer resignations over Partygate in a bid to salvage his premiership, The Independent has learned.

Dubbed “Operation Save Big Dog” by the prime minister himself, the blueprint includes a drive to work out which heads should roll following the publication of senior official Sue Gray’s findings, as well as highlighting the prime minister’s achievements, according to sources. Officials have also started using the code name, The Independent understands.
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That's probably going to go down well amongst his staff.

The fact that he seems to realise it needs saving is also a tacit admission of vulnerability.
 
jimbob said:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-downing-street-partygate-b1993433.html

Boris Johnson is drawing up a list of officials to offer resignations over Partygate in a bid to salvage his premiership, The Independent has learned.

Dubbed “Operation Save Big Dog” by the prime minister himself, the blueprint includes a drive to work out which heads should roll following the publication of senior official Sue Gray’s findings, as well as highlighting the prime minister’s achievements, according to sources. Officials have also started using the code name, The Independent understands.
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That's probably going to go down well amongst his staff.
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I thought the party line was that we should wait until everyone has forgotten about it Gray’s findings are published before pointing any fingers.
 
MarkCorrigan said:
Is that Eric Pickles? The guy whose name seems too on the nose because he's so corpulent?

What a tosser. Conservative sleaze is back.
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It never went away, but Johnson's government has turned it up to 11

The Don said:
Om-Nominative determinism ?
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Unlike the Honourable Member for Braintree, who embodies the opposite of nominative determinism
 
https://www.theguardian.com/society...rth-south-divide-is-deepening-says-new-report

I doubt it will surprise no one:

England’s north-south divide continues to deepen despite two years of “levelling-up” rhetoric from the government, according to a landmark new report to be published tomorrow.

Entitled State of the North 2021, and produced by IPPR North, the northern branch of the Institute for Public Policy Research thinktank, the report compares levels of public investment in London and the south-east with that in the north. Its authors estimate that, in the five years to 2019/20, London received the equivalent of £12,147 per person, while in the north the figure was only £8,125.….
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I’m a little confused, wasn’t it a Conservative government that effectively demanded the end of free BBC licences for the over 75s as a cost cutting measure?

Labour introduced free TV licences for the over 75s and, crucially, recompensed the BBC for the lost value.
Osborne ditched that reimbursement, calculating that stupid people would blame the BBC.
Looks like he was right.
 
David Allen Green on the Sue Gray enquiry
https://davidallengreen.com/2022/01/a-critical-general-overview-of-the-sue-gray-investigation-2/

If you control the flow of evidence in to the process, you often have significant influence of the ‘findings’ and ‘conclusions’ that come out of the other end.

Garbage In, Garbage Out.

The eye-opener for me on this was when I was a central government lawyer about fifteen-or-so years ago.

I met other central government lawyers who explained how on inquiry work they would work backwards from what they wanted to achieve to the terms of reference of the inquiry so as to ensure they put in the evidence that would tend to the desired outcome.
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All she can do is present her findings to Boris.
He gets to decide what happens to them and what action is taken.
 
Captain_Swoop said:
I’m a little confused, wasn’t it a Conservative government that effectively demanded the end of free BBC licences for the over 75s as a cost cutting measure?

Labour introduced free TV licences for the over 75s and, crucially, recompensed the BBC for the lost value.
Osborne ditched that reimbursement, calculating that stupid people would blame the BBC.
Looks like he was right.
Click to expand...

Yes. Labour funded free TV licenses for over 75s out of general taxation and the Tories told the BBC they were stopping the funding but expected the Beeb to keep doing it anyway.

Now the TV licence system needs a total rethink anyway. It will soon be as anachronistic as, say, trying to fund the internet by taxing phone landlines. But the alarming thing is imagining whatever madcap scheme they replace it with, with this shower of ***** in charge. You can fully expect that it'll be based not on a sensible long term plan but on exacting petty revenge for every real or imagined sleight the Tories hold against the BBC.
 
Jack by the hedge said:
Yes. Labour funded free TV licenses for over 75s out of general taxation and the Tories told the BBC they were stopping the funding but expected the Beeb to keep doing it anyway.

Now the TV licence system needs a total rethink anyway. It will soon be as anachronistic as, say, trying to fund the internet by taxing phone landlines. But the alarming thing is imagining whatever madcap scheme they replace it with, with this shower of ***** in charge. You can fully expect that it'll be based not on a sensible long term plan but on exacting petty revenge for every real or imagined sleight the Tories hold against the BBC.
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Don't be unfair, it will also be how much they can flog it to their mates as well as revenge!
 
Tim Shipman of the Sunday Times tweeted
@ShippersUnbound
·
14h
NEW: Boris Johnson is 'in survival mode' says a cabinet colleague. How does he know? 'Because he's started reading his briefing papers' to appear on top of things! My big read on another strange week in politics
 
Captain_Swoop said:
I’m a little confused, wasn’t it a Conservative government that effectively demanded the end of free BBC licences for the over 75s as a cost cutting measure?

Labour introduced free TV licences for the over 75s and, crucially, recompensed the BBC for the lost value.
Osborne ditched that reimbursement, calculating that stupid people would blame the BBC.Looks like he was right.
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Do you mean the electorate, or Dorries?
 
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