Westministenders: Transition

[RedToothBrush]

Last thread opener, it was all about the government buzz word being shown to listen at every opportunity.

Now transition is creeping in as people realise that no we can't just do a settlement, arrange a new trade deal with the EU and have a whole host of other deals in place in two years.

Who'd have thought.

We will be getting Brexit because we give in to threats of terrorism. Not quite getting how that takes back control.

But Brexit will be good. It will be glorious. And in the long term we will be better off for it.

Er ok.

The UK has chosen tax cuts for the better off, instead of maintaining public services, or a decent standard of support for the poor and vulnerable.

Those choices have nothing to do with Brexit and everything to do with "I'm all right, Jack"

Brexit or Remain - neither will affect the selfishness of that section of the better off, or the "aspiring"
The Uk needs a fundamental change in attitude, a renewed social contract

Here are a couple of examples Howabout The Dutch and German Postal Services are both provided by privatised state industries with the state still having a substantial stake. As they were privatised the state invested in substantial acquisitions (DHL and TNT respectively) so that they could be built into the global logistics players they are today thereby sustaining the public service provision. It was a strategic solution to the increasingly intense competitive pressures on state run postal services that would have worked here too (and had John Smith's support incidentally) It was not the EU obviously that prevented the UK from taking the option that would have delivered us with a better and more sustainable postal service, it was the Tories. It was their backbenchers clinging to a romantic olde English view of the Queens Royal Mail, the same affliction that has them clinging to the idea of free trade as some sort of buccaneering Empire 2.0 grand national escapade. Margaret Thatcher putting a stop to any plans that would interfere with her free market dogma. The fact that the Royal Mail has been a useful source of indirect taxation, short term income rather than investing in long term gain........

ron, stop it. You're doing that thing with common sense and evidence again. You'll be bringing in experts next.

All I know is that I am damned glad DH is American, with access to US air bases in Suffolk. The bases fly their stuff in from Germany, where they have a deal with the German government. We get to buy food and essentials on base because of DH's employment so in the event of an import/export logjam and shortages, we will at least have food. How the inevitable resulting civil unrest will impact us remains to be seen.

Although ron the liberalisation of postal services in Europe has been very bad for labour - huge reduction in full-time jobs, huge increase in part-time jobs, casualisation and fake self-employment. Just like here, in fact.

It's one of the factors that encourages Lexitisim.

Thanks mrsm suppose I'll get used to making less sense than an average drunk when I use it then

In sad new for the world of comedy, Sean Spicer has actually stepped down now.

You only need to spend some time in hospital now to see where austerity has struck. I've finally got dh home, not without a load of communication errors that could have proved very bad but thankfully either one of us or a nurse was on the ball, including him being given 3 times the amount of a drug than he was meant to have. Not that they weren't great with him otherwise and highly reactive when cock ups were realised, just massively understaffed and somewhat drowning.

Yes
Mum was in last week - sent in as am emergency by Dr - we were there from 9-7
No beds
Sitting on hard armchairs
Grim

Patty I am afraid that is a result of the competitive pressures I mentioned. If the private sector competitors are reducing their costs that way, bar focusing on the high end of the market to generate higher revenues, the public service provider will follow suit. It is also tied in with developments in the retail sector and the number of players like ASOS who pile it high and sell it cheap and will squeeze delivery costs. In our road we have high end delivery from RM /Parcelforce and other players focused on that market like DPD /Yodel and then a couple of blokes who turn up in n battered old cars (including to deliver ASOS ) who I am pretty sure are self employed Couriers operating out of their garages, if they do not get the drop density they are on sub minimum wage. I think there is a need for greater regulation but given some of these players would not be in business if their costs increase I am not sure there are any easy answers

www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jul/21/britons-travelling-to-europe-offered-just-88-euro-cents-to-the-pound
Britons travelling to Europe offered just 88 euro cents for £1

I'm out of the country and we have been getting about one to one this week. I'm really unsurprised by this article. People are going to be moaning next week.

The fluctuations mean that anyone who reserved a hotel room as recently as May will pay 6% more this week than if they had paid upfront.

This is the especially painful bit for some.

I must say I have been enjoying my free roaming and using my usual data abroad. It's been nice to switch on my phone and just not worry. Damn that EU law.

www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-politics-40688367?ocid=socialflow_twitter&ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbcnews&ns_source=twitter
UKIP AM uses racial slur about black MP Chuka Umunna

Sorry, far too long to post here (but I know it will be read) ..

www.jayrayner.co.uk/news/michael-gove-asked-me-to-a-meeting-to-share-my-expertise-i-declined-instead-ive-given-him-a-piece-of-my-mind/

Urgh, Gove. In the Independent cartoon of the dogfight amongst Brexiteers whilst Barnier looks on, waiting, I have matched the bare bum to Michael Gove. It was the knife he was brandishing what gave it away.

Can someone please explain to me why Suzanne Evans is one of the ost frequent guests on the Daily Politics. She was on with Andrew Neil. When Ed Vaisey tried to speak, Neil turned to him and said he had already spoken and just hear Suzanne out. However, Evans kept talking over Lammy without a similar 'shut up'. In fact Neil said it was only one Suzanne over the other two. Boody hell.

As if that wasn't bad enough she was then on Newsnight. Going on safetly unchallenged with her guff. Steve Bullock mentioned a few things. Aviation and medical isotopes amongst then. Evan Davis then turned to Evans and asked about it. Of course, nothing was a problem. It was all a ruse. She was qualified to tell you wha the votMy OH turned to me and said 'Suzanne Evans, the aviation expert'. I don't think Davis has yet tapped into her vast experience anne must

There have always been rich arseholes wanting to disrupt the status quo for their own benefit. Without Russia behind them the Koch brothers and Mercer's would not have got where they are.

The Koch Brothers and the Mercers (father and daughter) absolutely do not need Russia. They mint their own money. They do not need expertise or anything else from Russia. It can all be bought in the good old US of A.

They capitalised on the knee jerk response to the fact that Barack Obama was a black man, and nurtured the seething layers of racism and resentment that have simmered under the surface of America ever since the Civil War. That ugly aspect of America was given the GOP seal of approval by Richard Nixon and Reagan and last year Trump took it and ran with it.

There is no need whatsoever for fake news from Russia. It is cheerfully supplied by Fox and by all the screeching talk radio commentators, and has been for decades.

I listened to Rush Limbaugh in absolute horror on a trip west to Wyoming with exMIL in 1992 - 25 years ago. exMIL ticked every single box that rabid Trump supporters ticked in last year's election, with the exception of education and wealth. She lapped up every word Rush Limbaugh spat into his microphone.

Same bile, different bucket in 2016. Trump picked up where Limbaugh left off.

math you genuinely believe that the Russians have had no influence at all on the situation in America right now? Their links with the Trump campaign and the alt-right are clearly documented. Their influence on the election is pretty clear. Russian bots regularly publicised Breitbart news stories, flooding social media with them. Bannon has clear links with Russia and a financial stake in Cambridge Analytica. The ties between Mercer and Koch interests and Russia are there.

Russia are not the only players in the game, but I find it hard to see how you can deny their influence to be honest.

Ask the question, if Russia had been an ethical and upstanding friend to America would they still be in this mess? Perhaps we will never agree on this, but I would say not.

bigly you are both partly right i think. The Trump administration's links with Russia (esp dodgy financial dealings) are clear. However the Koch brothers have been involved in this stuff for years if not decades, from a time when the Republican party was extremely anti-Russian. Their interests are standard Republican interests: dismantling the state, paying as little tax as possible, and resisting any attempts to regulate dirty industries.

Koch brothers are oil and have plenty of links to Russia from way back. I believe their father built refineries for the Soviets back in the day and worked heavily with them even when other western businesses wouldn't.

Adam Khan (@khaniosseur) has done a lot of work about it on Twitter if you are interested.

This Khan thread from April outline the influence of the Koch brothers in the trump administration and their relationship with Russia. They would benefit hugely from Russian sanctions being lifted for a start.

twitter.com/Khanoisseur/status/848740753186603008

twitter.com/Khanoisseur/status/848740753186603008

lurking

Thanks for the Jay Raynor link. I have a bit of a thing for Jay Raynor.

bigly don't deny they have Russian interests, they are in petrochemicals so it almost goes without saying. But most big multinational companies have interests in Russia (my employer, which definitely isnt part of some big pro-Russia conspiracy, also has long-standing business interests there; its a big resource-rich country).

IIRC the Kochs didn't support Trump's candidacy, probably because their priority was a Republican win and they didnt think he could deliver that. But now they have a republican administration, they are going to make hay while the sun shines.

math I agree with you on the US and Russian "interference". The whole McCarthyism tendency is as always a distraction from the underlying domestic fractures and prejudices. Bottom line - if money talks then there is a whole load more of it in the US than anywhere else.

Misti now I'm confused about what we are discussing here. This who conversation with math was about whether or not Russia was involved or influencing in the Koch/mercer campaign. It sounds like you and I we agreeing on this.

Tempted to ponder whether MG was seeking advice on growing a beard from Jay Rayner. The definition of "expert" grows ever broader.

Completely agree with Diane Abbott in this piece on the demise of fact based journalism. The Andrea Leadsom slip of the tongue malicious reporting would be another example this week.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jul/21/diane-abbott-fires-back-after-itv-news-tweets-her-interview-stumble?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+main+NEW+H+categories&utm_term=236077&subid=18573163&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2

I also thought it odd that Suzanne Evans was so high profile this week. I am starting to suspect a good many more establishment figures are starting to walk away from the MSM as a means of communication.