Boris Watch - Thread 1

[chomalungma]

Well, it's been done for Trump since he got elected.
No doubt some people will complain it's on AIBU - but it's a place with traffic.

So let's use this to keep an eye on the changes under Boris.

First Thing:

Boris introduces clause in the withdrawal agreement so the UK must leave with WTO rules if there is no trade agreement with the EU by the end of 2020

www.theguardian.com/business/2019/dec/17/pound-slides-to-pre-election-levels-in-wake-of-bid-to-outlaw-brexit-extension

Feel free to comment and add things that you notice changing. The Trump threads are at 97 now.

They need to see and experience it all for themselves

Hopefully these threads will allow us to keep track - instead of a wide range of threads on AIBU etc - although I am sure more specific topics will be covered when things heat up. Dec 2020 for example.

It will be interesting to see how the economy changes, as well as the law changes that come into place and might not get noticed if dead cats get put on the table,

Really brilliant idea for a thread. Thank you for this. I have a feeling this is going to become a long list of threads, quite quickly.

On another thread I have posted a link to what a new Tory mayor is doing in the North East. One thing he has done is taken an airport back into public ownership which was failing under private ownership. This is a big departure from Toryism from Thatcher onwards, with "public sector bad, private sector good", especially when something was working in the public sector and then fails when private.

So if they knocked their silly obsession with privatisation on the head, then yes, a lot of people would be able to accept moderate Conservatism.

Great thread. Watching for some positive news too. One positive so far for me is that I seem to see Nigel Farrage about less or is that just wishful thinking🤔

Excellent thread, will be following closely.

Thank you.

Boris Johnson announced on Tuesday evening that all nursing students on courses from September 2020 will now receive a £5,000 a year grant, while additional payments of up to £3,000 are available for students in regions or specialisms struggling to recruit.

This is the first element of the 50k extra nurses recruitment plan. Student nurses will still have to pay tuition fees.

By comparison:

In Scotland the bursary for student nurses was increased to £8,100 for students joining in September 2019 and will go up to £10k in September 2020.

I’m really pleased you’re doing these threads for Boris. Please keep them up like we have for Trump! It is never, ever a waste of time to catalogue in real time what is happening. Read and re-post from a variety of sources, from a range of viewpoints. I cannot stress this enough.

It will be interesting to see about the 'retention of 19k nurses to the 50k new nurses' and what this will look like. There was little explanation of how they were going to do this. I have thought about this and wonder if the government may be eyeing up the voluntary retirement age of 55. If they went ahead and took away this option for nursing staff it might point out as to why they are bandying about the 19k figure, as it seems very specific.

It doesn't cost much more in terms of pension costs as they reduce access to pension credit and spread the cost of the pension over the 10 years (until they reach stat retirement age at 65) but it does force retention?

A range of sources?

Ok

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7803623/Boris-Johnson-promising-revive-bursaries-8-000-year-student-nurses.html

Now the PM is guaranteeing all student nurses get a grant of at least £5,000 a year in an attempt to fill tens of thousands of vacancies
But applicants planning to work in locations or medical specialisms which are particularly short of staff will be offered bursaries of up to £8,000 a year. University tuition fees will not be included.
Nurses will still have to pay their tuition fees which typically cost £10,000 a year with degrees normally lasting for three years. Prior to 2016, these fees were covered by the state, although ministers pointed out that future nurses could still get loans.

Thank you for the thread - vigilance is needed.

"Beware those men, the jokers and the tricksters and the clowns. They will laugh us into hell.”

Please can everyone spare a thought at this time for Richard Ratcliffe and Gabriella Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

Johnson's past blunders at the very least contributed to the length of her jail term.

Richard has renewed calls on Johnson to take responsibility and secure Nazanin's release from prison.

Reading the details of the effect on the family is heartbreaking..

www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/husband-of-jailed-mother-nazanin-calls-on-boris-johnson-on-to-take-responsibility-a4316191.html

Good idea OP, will be following

Day one, taking away the rights of disabled people.

morningstaronline.co.uk/article/tories-use-first-day-back-attack-disabled

Boris Johnson set to move forward with anti-BDS law
UK Conservative party vowed last month to enact legislation banning local councils from boycotting products from foreign countries, including Israel

www.timesofisrael.com/boris-johnson-set-to-move-forward-with-anti-bds-law/?fbclid=IwAR0n4GxcTVYdNiTbo184LN0XaZmLck8ByoT_xsCzPcNO40vrejbfBLRgCvQ

Great idea for a thread. What better place than on the busiest section of the site for following the progress of someone whose actions impact the lives of every single one of us.

Anyone who doesn't want to know what BJ is doing can easily scroll on by, I presume?

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance, so let's have the hive keeping vigil. What harm can it do, except to people's illusions?

Well the nurses bursary is good news at least, even if it’s a bit on the low side. I don’t mind them paying tuition fees as these only get repaid if they earn enough.

Oh, good, thank you op. Hope this will be the start of many Boris Johnson threads.

Oh, and yabu for calling him Boris.

Yes please can we call him Boris Johnson or the Prime Minister?

'Boris' makes him sound like some cuddly guinea pig beloved by the nation. Let's not forget that people who have worked with Boris Johnson generally have a low opinion of him.

Whilst his ability as an entertainer may have initially worked
for London as its mayor, he is unfit for national office, because it seems he cares for no interest save his own fame and gratification.

Completely agree, I flatly refuse to call him Boris. He’s Johnson to me. My stepdaughter was in the last cohort to receive the nursing bursary. She’s now an ITU nurse, she wouldn’t be doing that without the bursary.

It's great to see a lot of people on social media are also watching Boorish's every move.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-foreign-aid-department-international-development-election-a9248626.html?

Senior Tories have attacked Boris Johnsonn^’s plan to axe the department delivering Britain’s foreign aid, warning efforts to help the poor – and the UK’s security – will suffer.

On the plan to axe the department delivering Britain’s foreign aid, warning efforts to help the poor – and the UK’s security – will suffer.

Just wanted to post this chart again it shows that the foreign aid expenditure was a pretty small percentage of GDP and, of course, gave a lot of soft diplomacy power.

Overseas aid is the narrow olive green segment next to EU expenditure.

Chart shows small foreign aid expenditure as a % of GDP.

PMK