Westministenders: Hey Hey we're the Monkies.

[RedToothBrush]

Welcome to the Listening Parliament.

Have you noticed it yet?

The Three Monkeys of See No Evil, Hear No Evil and Speak No Evil have been in a bit of a fight with didn’t fair well. Its funny how politicians of all shades and levels are desperate to prove just how good they at listening and how they see the problems.

Its quite incredible to think that officials elected to serve the public are even in this position where they are having suddenly think about how they show they are listening. It rather shows up that they have been accustomed to telling the public what to think and what to believe.

What they are still to work out, is that in saying they are listening, they also have to demonstrate they are listening and be credible.

The trouble is, that even though some of the monkeys have been killed off, we still have a lot of monkeys in parliament. 'Monkey say, Monkey do' actions still lurk. Politicians who imitate others without understanding the consequences.

There is no point in listening if you are only listening to one group and don’t understand the consequences of simply repeating the words of others.

Politicians saying they are listening when you can find dozens of incidents where they have said completely the opposition, without having the gumption to explain they have changed their position and without having the grace to explain the evidence that has lead them to change that position rather undermines the idea they are listening.

U-Turns are not a bad thing. U-Turns can show that you were making an error but were wise enough to admit that and why you were wrong. U-Turns are bad when you fail to acknowledge your failings and only do it to chase votes. This is where cynicism creeps in and lack of trust in politicians occurs.

Listening also requires actions to reflect words. There is no good in saying one thing, if your actions don’t reflect that. This is where the Listening Parliament is already failing. And I’m sure we will see it more.

Above all, listening is only part of a conversation. A politician is supposed to be accountable. They are supposed to have their eyes open to evil, not deaf to it and not unwilling to speak inconvenient truths where they recognise the evil.

Any politician who tells you they listen needs to back it up somehow. They need to demonstrate and justify their positions accurately. If they don’t they aren’t listening properly.

Isn’t it funny how it was in Hartlepool that the monkey got hung for being a Frenchman? No one was there to explain differently.

What are they thinking?

I assume the Conservatives are looking for an elegant way to raise income taxes / NI to improve public services and this policy is full square in the LibDem manifesto.

The LibDems would get to walk away from the coalition mistake by showing how to deliver part of their manifesto through issue by issue support while opposing in other areas like Brexit. Would give them a clear USP from SNP opposition for opposition's sake (they in theory have 6ish Scottish seats to play for plus Holyrood) and also look like a more grown up coherent version of Labour. Also supports their narrative for grown up multi party politics.

The LibDems may also be looking for a way into a more cross party approach to Brexit, if this is also Labour strategy as otherwise they would risk looking irrelevant on the sidelines?

LibDems and Conservatives would also be discussing an elegant escape from the tuition fees hole they jointly dug for themselves if they had any sense.

X-post with Divided. Interesting to see a LibDem and non-LibDem perspective side by side and vaguely in agreement.

The last GE indicated people voted Labour over LD even when their core voting value (for want of a better expression) was anti-Brexit in all forms (no Brexit, soft Brexit, 2rd ref, whatever).

I didn't understand why people did that at the time

I did, as a vote for LD (if scaled across the constituency) would almost certainly have let a Tory in.

My strategy is to reverse Brexit. The firsttactic was to ensure no Tory majority, and then work on Brexit.

If Labour are a trojan Tory Brexit, I shall be a little disappointed

So back room chats have revealed that a party will vote in line with its own policies? Maybe I'm odd but I'd sort of expect that to happen.

LibDems and Conservatives would also be discussing an elegant escape from the tuition fees hole they jointly dug for themselves if they had any sense.

Sadly I think the tuition fees are a done deal. Vince Cable could tour the UK personally cancelling every students debt for the next 5 years, and people would still refuse to vote LibDem "because of tuition fees".

< is red moonlighting for Vince ? >

Mutters something about wishing I'd get paid for doing something

Mutters something about Nick previously being in the habit of 'copying' topics on Westministenders

Generally mutters

LDs need to change the approach they have been taking. Personally I'm not convinced Vince is going to be able to pull that off because he's inherited Nick's role of being the whipping boy of the LDs failings in the coalition. But I don't know there is anyone else.

Vince's job now as I see it is to provoke debate and talking points - and put a LD angle on it. I'm not sure what's a better way to do it but take the issues of the day and go from there. The LD press office have done this for a fair while as it's the natural thing to do, and the LDs media stuff is good considering their resources and limitations of reach.

I think the Tories are realising they won't get anything through without it being good and having merit. The problem is ideas they have are half baked. One of the things they are supposedly trying to seek common ground on is mental health. My guts thinks the LDs and Norman Lamb won't touch it with a bargepole if it doesn't come with increased funding attached, because it's a pointless exercise more likely to do even more harm than good if it's not in parallel with other changes across the board.

The other common interest thing I can see cropping up is housing, particularly rent to buy. My suspicion is the Tories will steal the proposal and try and water it down, fucking it up and the principles behind it in the process. Again this is why I think the LDs will keep their distance.

Once bitten twice shy.

But this is too simplistic, as any tax professional will tell you.

I'm sure they will. As others have pointed out 'professionals' have wet dreams over things being complicated.

Change the law so that what now is legitimate is no longer so.

Lurking, I don't know enough to argue whether HMRC collects taxes or not, all I know is that when we ran our own business, one VAT inspector told us right from the start, the money in the till is mine, I decide how much you keep. Sounds like he was collecting and obviously didn't need a sawn off shotgun to enable him to do it.

Also I personally I always thought the election came too early for the LDs. I think they will sit back and ride the storm to a certain extent, waiting for the 'betrayal' or the 'failure' from both Labour and the Conservatives.

I do think they need to come up with some radical ideas, but this in itself might be to just be sensible and creative and think outside the box based on evidence rather than having an overall ideology.

I do think if they go down that route they perhaps need to cultivate the idea of grassroots politics that are practical and offer solutions to different types of communities.

Their marketing has always really been the problem. Selling complicated in 140 characters.

I know some people who say voters are looking for a Macron to do this, but state Clegg was that golden boy so we've passed that. I find it difficult to argue against that. I also don't see anyone coming riding in from Labour on a white horse in that mould either to the LDs or a new centrist party.

Jack Blanchard‏Verified account @JackBlanchard

I'm not saying Cabinet Ministers are freelancing at the moment, but Sajid Javid is now comparing Theresa May to the latter days of Major

In response, PM's spokeswoman says "No.10 sees all speeches given by Cabinet Ministers in advance." But apparently now unable to intervene

We need to go back to the election and remember that the vast majority of predictions came nowhere close to the final result ... IIRC there were 2, of which YouGov was one. I remember being astounded they were prepared to be so far out (which as it turned out, was pretty much bang on the money).

Something is up with UK politics. I don't think it's a blip, or an anomaly. I think something is shifting under the covers, and no one is able to cast the runes yet.

One thing seems to be a complete oversight of the people who voted Labour by traditional pollsters. Was this a sign that the online media space is in the ascendant ? YouGov being exclusively online.

Could the fact my DS - no fool he - carefully decided that going to University was a waste of money (which as someone who marched in 1984, breaks my heart ) is part of a sizeable similarly-minded community mean that Tories are losing their undergraduate base ?

Why has Vince Cable pencilled in a "D.Trump" lunch engagement next month ?

Who was the man in black seen walking with Theresa May as she exercised the Downing St. cat ?

Why has no one seen Tim Farron in the same room as Paul Nuttall since that hot June night ?

Will John Bercow get away with it ? Especially when he finds out what it is ?

These - and many more questions are waiting to be answered.

Nick Clegg‏*@nick*_clegg 1h
Govt drops axing free school lunches cos it listened "very carefully" to public. Has it looked "very carefully" at latest polls on Brexit?

What did I say about listening?
The listening government.
(Spin for we are bricking ourselves and haven't got a clue what to do)

Googles current take on "strong and stable" ...

www.standard.co.uk/news/london/fraud-squad-probe-into-grenfell-tower-fire-alarms-firm-a3579206.html
Fraud squad probe into Grenfell Tower fire alarms firm
EXCLUSIVE: firm responsible for tower'sfire alarms facing accusations it installed defective equipment in HUNDREDS of properties

Housing services company Lakehouse is at the centre of a fraud inquiry after a three-year investigation by police and Hackney Council relating to a £184 million government grant to renovate council properties and install fire and smoke alarms and emergency lighting.

The company was identified by the Standard last week as the contractor responsible for testing and maintaining the fire alarms at Grenfell Tower, which some surviving residents claimed failed to go off in the tragic blaze.

Ten people have been arrested by police after Hackney Council received allegations of “fraud and overcharging” from whistleblowers.

Further investigation revealed some of the fire safety work was “defective, including incorrectly installed alarms and emergency lighting systems”. Lakehouse denies any wrong-doing.

The council has now written to 166 town hall chief executives warning them to check work done by Lakehouse and subcontractor Polyteck in case more homes could be at risk.

politicalscrapbook.net/2017/07/ukip-councillors-brand-homeless-people-unwelcome-detritus-to-be-cleaned-up-by-police/#more-65590
UKIP councillors brand homeless people “unwelcome detritus” to be cleaned up by police

UKIP councillors in Portsmouth havecomparedhomeless people to rubbish and called for them to be forcibly removefrom the streets.

Colin Galloway and Stuart Potter, who are leader and deputy leader of the UKIP group by virtue of being the only councillors, proposed their sinister solution in a motion tabled for the next meeting of the city council.

^The motion states that “beggars” are “dominating” parts of the cityand goes on to clarify:“Yes beggars, note I didn’t say homeless.”
The pair call for the areas Police and Crime Commissioner to “put pressure on his police force to help us clean up this unwelcome detritus.”^

And the troubling motion concludes that:

“These beggars, vagrants, rough sleepers, homeless, troubled folks or whatever label you want to put on them must be removed from our city and placed in specific care whether they want to or not. We have tried the soft approach and have found it wanting. It’s time for some serious tough love. We need to save our city and we need to save these lost souls.”

TM was out of the starting blocks and off to the palace before a shake of a lambs tail. Now, at leisure, after chucking a billion off towards a sectarian outfit (two fingers to NI powersharing), Con's are going 'er, you have a duty to back us as our sharp power grab looks without a foundation.'

If they wrongly gave the impression they could form a proper gov't and cannot, they need to go. They used precious months on an unnecessary election for their own whims and are still time wasters. Of course, they are there for the good of the Conservative party.

If the LD support them, I would lose all faith in the LDs. The tuition fees are not a block for me. They were junior partner in coalition and that reduces manifesto to wish list. If, as I read here, they kept the pupil premium as they could only keep one, I think that is miles more beneficial in helping with life chances in education.

It is insult to injury by the Cons. They are pissing even more time away. They brought this ref without their ducks in a row and have taken no responsibility. People have to listen to a whole load of empty slogans and soundbites. And delusions and contradictions. And let lies multiply. Should there be a tribunal?

This seems apposite given the date:

"When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

Could any of our modern politicians explain why we are compelled to leave the EU? Have any of them set out a vision for the future outside the EU? No, we just get "Brexit means Brexit"

order-order.com/2017/07/04/number-10-director-communications-runners-riders/
Number 10 Director of Communications Runners and Riders

Jim Waterson‏*@jimwaterson*
BBC's head of political programming competing vs BBC's diplomatic editor to be Theresa May's head of communications. That'll go down well.

www.politicshome.com/news/uk/political-parties/conservative-party/david-cameron/news/87256/david-cameron-politicians
David Cameron: Politicians calling for an end to austerity are selfish

FT Big Read

www.ft.com/content/02f15952-6099-11e7-8814-0ac7eb84e5f1
Theresa May braces for a fall as Brexit tests loom

Facing cabinet indiscipline and a divided party, European leaders wonder if the PM will survive long enough to negotiate the UK’s exit

A Conservative minister laments: “There is no plan, no strategy, no direction.”

and

“There is a general mood of seriousness and a sense that if we screw this up, a Marxist government steps into the breach,” says one senior Conservative MP. Another says: “The person holding the party together is Jeremy Corbyn. The fear of Corbyn is greater than any nuance in the Brexit negotiation.”

and

“It would be nice to know exactly what we want from Brexit,” confided one government insider.

^Nick Clegg‏**@nick**_clegg 1h
Govt drops axing free school lunches cos it listened "very carefully" to public. Has it looked "very carefully" at latest polls on Brexit?^

I miss Nick Clegg. I wish the LDs had been more successful.

I told people I voted LD (this was about six months ago). They actually sniggered, as if I was an idealistic fool. They are Tory voters and I live in a staunchly Tory area.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40496572
'Gig economy' workers 'should get minimum wage'

A Conservative minister laments: “There is no plan, no strategy, no direction.”

Yet, they were determined to trigger article 50 as quick as they could.
Push the country into a situation where it would suffer the outcome for which they had no plan or enough resources in place to handle the tsunami of bureaucracy and regulation.

A friend of mine who works in banking in Spain has told me there is another Brexit-related issue not taken into account atm. Properties in a few areas of Spain (very few, but affects coastal areas in Cadiz, Galicia and, this is the worrying bit, the Costa Blanca and Costa Cálida) cannot be owned by non-Spanish / non-EU citizens due to the military significance of said areas. In fact, if a property in these areas is to be sold to a non-EU purchaser a military authorisation is needed and this involves notarised and legalised documents, etc. plus a DBS check. And she says many applications are rejected so the sale cannot proceed.
She now wonders what will happen re the holiday homes in these areas owned by UK citizens... Will they have to apply for authorisation now? If the application is rejected...
The areas are relatively small, so she thinks it won't be a huge problem but she just wanted to make the point... because there are so many things which have not been taken into account...

How does adding the chaos of Brexit help this shameful situation ?

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/may/11/poverty-blighting-health-of-many-uk-children-paediatricians-warn

"Poverty is seriously affecting the health of many British children, who are paying a heavy price as a result of housing, food and financial insecurity, paediatricians have warned.

A report from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Healthh^ (RCPCH) and Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) paints a bleak picture of the wellbeing of children in low-income households.
Among the problems cited by paediatricians are poor growth in children, whose parents cannot afford healthy food or to take them to medical appointments, respiratory illnesses being caused or exacerbated by cold, damp housing, and mental health problems resulting from financial stress.
Two in five of surveyed doctors said they had experienced difficulty discharging a child in the past six months because of concerns about housing or food insecurity."

This CRAP is what May and her govt have been doing, instead of helping the poor and vulnerable :

(Times paywall) May’s pork barrel tactics demean our politics

The DUP deal suggests money is the answer to everything and adds to public cynicism about how we are governed.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/comment/may-s-pork-barrel-tactics-demean-our-politics-rz7nvh5mh

After the scandals of cash for questions and cash for honours this was quite simply cash for votes
— a grubby £1 billion bung to Northern Ireland in return for the support of ten MPs to prop up the prime minister.
.....
Mrs May seemed more interested in protecting her own position than in the potential implications for the Northern Ireland peace process
or the socially conservative views of her new partners.

To the revulsion of Tory MPs,
Downing Street even agreed to spend £20,000 of Conservative Party funds flying the DUP leader, Arlene Foster, back to Belfast in an RAF jet,
although commercial flights are available for only £41
— a vivid illustration of the financial flattery involved in this pact

House of Commons veterans are in no doubt that this is only the first of many ransom demands.
.....
The extraordinary breakdown of discipline within the cabinet shows that ministers have lost all respect for their leader and are preparing for life after she has gone.
“They’ve got her chained to the radiator,”
is how one MP puts it.
.....
Politically, this is a disaster for the Conservatives, who already have a reputation for understanding “the price of everything and the value of nothing”
....
As one former cabinet minister puts it:
“People used to say ‘we may not like those Tories but at least they know how to run things and can deliver value for money’.

Now the DUP have plucked the fruit of the magic money tree and cabinet ministers are vying for popularity by saying let’s spend x or y,
we are sacrificing that reputation for economic competence.”

Yet more poison is being injected into an already foetid political system by the use of money to buy support.

This will only intensify the anti-politics mood that has deepened since the economic crash.

The prime minister has promised to bring the country together after a divisive Brexit vote, to tackle the “burning injustices” of our society and to reconnect Westminster with the voters by ending cynical political games.
< like this ? >
She will achieve precisely the opposite by scraping the bottom of the pork barrel