Thread 18, Big Dog Halloween Edition

[DuncinToffee]

Previous thread www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4658316-thread-17-big-dog-returns

I work for a bank. It's a head office role and I have zero access to customer data. But every year I have to do mandatory data security training. If I don't do the training I get in trouble. And that training makes very clear what the consequences of transferring work files to personal devices would be - basically don't let the door bang on your way out and never darken our doorstep again.

Just being a huge pedant

Citizen strike anyone?

Not possible, we are subjects, not citizens

If you click the link above again it has updated

party pooper😛

Rishi Sunak not going to climate change summit

it’s a reasonable assumption that his cabinet of errors can’t be trusted alone.

does that mean KCIII can go now?

Got my new book in the post!

Omg!!!!

Oh I follow RussInCheshirebon Twitter @Piggywaspushed - the last few weeks his posts have been mind boggling!

I know - goodness knows what his next book will have to be!

More murky doings from the pit of Tory murkiness. This article is from September,

bylinetimes.com/2021/09/14/ready-for-a-culture-war-meet-the-common-sense-conservative-mps-behind-the-anti-woke-manifesto/

but Lee Hurley on Twitter provides the relevance to the situation we’re in now (the rise of Leaky Sue, and the emails that led to her resignation [part 1 of ?])

“Sir John Hayes, the man Braverman was leaking emails to, wanted Braverman as PM before Truss, and if not Braverman, then Badenoch.
He first met Braverman in run up to 2015 election and they are close friends whose families hang out together.
Hayes founded the 'Common Sense' MPs Group in 2020 to fight 'wokery' and 'cancel culture'. There are around 70 members.
He is anti-LGBTQ+, anti-abortion, anti-environment, pro-oil, pro-tobacco, basically, you know the list.
It speaks to the help that Hayes and the Common Sense Group have had from the media that they went from starting up to having 2 candidates running for PM within 2 years.”

mobile.twitter.com/WeeMelter/status/1585663495164596224

Thanks for sharing Librarians
This is very worrying

Everybody goes on about the ERG. The CSG are now in charge of the Home Office and Equalities just 2 years after being set up specifically to be 'anti-woke'.

Suella’s infamous ‘wokerati’ rant makes much more sense knowing about the CSG.

Yes I checked out who John Hayes is when it became clear who Braverman had leaked to. I specifically recall a journalist saying that Braverman runs everything through Hayes.

Of course it also begs the question of whether Hayes passes the information on to. Clearly his wife gets full access also!

Interesting in that article that the group blames a lot on social media. I seem to have read a lot of posters recently claiming that social media is the real problem.

I have explained that Twitter's own analytics reports reveal that right wing posts get more attention and traction. It's not a left wing site after all.

It was in the Times that Braverman runs everything through Hayes.

@DuncinToffee Yep, it certainly sheds a very bright light on Sunak’s choices for those particular roles and who he has had to appease.

And to add to @Notonthestairs point about the social media connection, and why that particular group has so much power, there are already regimes who are anti-LGBTQ, anti-abortion, pro-oil etc who meddle extensively in social media and have connections to the Tory party. Coincidence or more rot?

Sounds similar to IEA/Taxpayers Alliance/Tufton Street links to ERG etc.

Apologies for going a bit late-night-conspiracy loon, but thinking about the timing of this group and why they’re so powerful and so determined, it’s worth remembering that one of Putin’s targets is to destabilise the EU with a migrant crisis. More here:

“Indeed, much as his Belarusian comrade Aleksandr Lukashenko did last year, Putin is making use of illegal migration as the ultimate form of gray-zone aggression—aggression that harms another country but doesn’t involve military force. While Lukashenko encouraged and directly facilitated illegal migration, arranging for migrants to get to Minsk and be transported to the borders of Poland, Latvia, and Lithuania, the migrants in the Russian-engineered wave are making their way to Europe on their own. But the effect is the same: disruption in the destination countries. That disruption will grow quickly as remaining supplies of Ukrainian grain run dry and more people head toward Europe.”

foreignpolicy.com/2022/07/18/russia-ukraine-war-migration-food-crisis-putin/

Making sure that the UK government is chock full of willing idiots who will perpetuate the anti-migrant, anti-asylum seeker rhetoric to stoke division and push/keep certain groups in power would be particularly helpful.

I saw the Rwanda promotion video the HO made, it was surreal.

"However the problem is defined, the EU will have to limit the current disruption triggered by Russia. The first step is clearly to help countries from Egypt to Bangladesh get wheat from other sources. For his part, U.S. President Joe Biden has already announcedd_ $1 billion in U.S. food aid to the Middle East and North Africa. And in the longer term, countries should learn that in a globalized world, regimes with little to lose can benefit from unleashing waves of disruption that are cheap, involve little risk, and are virtually impossible to retaliate against."
Is that partly what the foreign aid budget is designed to buttress against?
I'm just wondering because I know that budget has been slashed by 3 bn and is likely to be reduced further.

I haven't phrased my previous post well - will cuts to foreign aid (inadvertently) play in to Putin's methods re: the migrant crisis?

(Not sure I've made that any clearer!)

Of course if we processed claims more efficiently (currently something like 18 months -2years) that might go a long way.

@Notonthestairs Yes, you’re right that unfortunately it will exacerbate the problem, as will the effects of climate change. In Syria, climate change contributed to a wide ranging drought which destroyed a large amount of wheat production, and played a part in triggering the civil war.

Cutting foreign aid budgets will exacerbate any migrant crisis. Not mitigating against climate change will cause droughts and food shortages (not even just in the immediate area, as we’ve seen with Ukraine and the knock on effects in Africa) which will exacerbate any migrant crises. Our government has chosen to cut foreign aid and not pay much attention to climate change. That’s on top of not prioritising safe routes/resettlement schemes for asylum seekers, which leads to higher numbers of boats crossings and crazy pressure on the south east to deal with it. And as you mentioned as well, the length of time taken to process asylum claims, wasting untold amounts of money. I think I saw that 4% of channel crossers’ asylum claims were processed in 2021 (that’s not accepted vs refused, that’s the number of processed vs unprocessed/not even looked at yet. It’s horrific.)

It’s like they’re doing everything they can to increase boat crossings and waste money on repulsive schemes, while all the time ramping up anti-asylum seeker hate. It feels deliberate, as surely no-one can be so stupid as to waste so much energy criticising a problem that they’ve created…

I think if we had invested £120 million on speeding up the asylum application process rather than doing dodgy deals with the Rwandan government I'd be more likely to believe they want to address the ongoing problems.

As it is I agree the Channel crossings are a useful tool to galvanise specific bases.

I agree

Totally random post! Just in cases there are other National Trust members reading - do pay attention to the election. Restore Trust is a right wing group attempting to secure a larger foothold on the National Trust. Deborah Meadens tweet has an article from Bylines about them.
Voting closes tonight.

"Is there no part of life that is sacred. Very worrying article about infiltration of the National Trust by those who we should not trust with our precious heritage. If you are a member please vote and be aware of harmful agendas."

twitter.com/deborahmeaden/status/1585889883922505729?s=46&t=NVpVvGuyeygGdEG9ou3xmA

They are quoted in The Times today whining about something. They are certainly very good at getting their views represented.

Thank you @Notonthestairs I will make sure to make my NT vote count. I'd say is nothing sacred but I'm old enough to know that nothing is. The NT has its flaws but it's a huge force for good that has made access to cultural capital for all a focus in recent years. The themed history in some bigger houses isn't to my taste and the garish art installation at Housesteads Fort made me go eeeurghhh this summer but it's on the right track generally