Westministers: Happy New Year?

[RedToothBrush]

And so we enter a New Year full of hope that things might just be about to recover from our national nervous breakdown... or perhaps not.

As we have Damien Green ejected from his role as Deputy PM over allegations of inappropriate conduct towards woman and use of porn at the end of last year, 2018 sees a bright new progressive dawn with the appointment to the role of universities regulator of Toby Young. A man who has deleted 20,000 tweets including many which are inappropriate and offensive to women, is a fan of eugenics and hates the working class and disabled.

Meanwhile the NHS is facing a crisis which is totally unexpected to the government and couldn't possibly have been planned for by a man who has over seen it for over five years. Which naturally bodes really well for Brexit planning.

We are apparently planning to join the TPP. Never mind geopolitics we can move the UK to the Pacific region.

We still are not ready for trade talks because the Cabinet can not agree on anything. Not that it sounds like they have actually discussed anything along these lines yet.

Rumours are that the Cabinet - including arch leavers such as Gove - are leaning towards supporting May and a softer option, despite the disgust of Johnson, who once again is the subject of malicious chatter about his sacking in a forthcoming Cabinet Reshuffle.

There is talk of further Tory Party war with the revelation that membership of the party has dropped to a core of just 70,000 hardline authoritarian men, most of whom are over 60. Tory HQ now wants to (perhaps with some good reason to prevent the loons) rewrite the constitution and limit the power of local associations to select candidates. The Tory party is now lining up to be a power struggle between internal authoritarians, who don't like democracy voices or structure.

Meanwhile the Labour Party membership now apparently overwhelmingly looks upon staying in the customs union and single market favourably and is in favour of a second referendum. In opposition to the leadership who are utterly committed to Hard Brexit. Much to the annoyance of Lord Adonis who is pitching a fit about government corruption and incompetence and being accused of being elite because he going skiing. Unlike of prominent Leavers who are in touch with the working class.

And finally Nigel Farage has got a meeting with Barnier. Farage, unlike Clegg, Clarke and Adonis, will not be accused by the Right Wing Press of undermining the government's negotiating position because...

It appears that we are in for another year of Brexit nonsense then.

We've not even heard mention of Gibraltar yet.

I love Marina Hyde.

Referendum II is coming. Farage just can’t bear being a Brexit misfit

By way of background, Farage has spent this year putting his shirt on Steve Bannon. (It’s why Bannon always wears two shirts.) He regarded the former White House chief strategist as the genius of the age, and consequently ended up not just backing the Republican Alabama senate candidate and slavery nostalgist Roy Moore, but sticking with his endorsement even when the allegations of underage sexual assault began to mount up. Nigel was hopelessly in thrall to Steve, and yearned to get some kind of American advancement out of it for himself.

And now? Not only has Bannon’s part in Michael Wolff’s book burned bridges with Farage’s beloved Trump, but on Tuesday his meteoric downfall forced him to resign from even Breitbart, the news website of which he was executive chairman. It will be zero coincidence that in the very week Bannon flames out, Farage suddenly pops back up over here, making the most naked of headline grabs.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/12/referendum-ii-farage-brexit-steve-bannon

Slightly off-topic, but John Humphrys must go, for his condescending attitude to women. (Although he also doesn't give equal treatment to pro and anti EU interviewees.) On the Today programme on Monday he interviewed Carrie Gracie and Mariella Frostrup about the BBC gender pay gay and kept interrupting and cutting over them. Then he is heard saying to Jon Sopel "Oh dear God. She’s actually suggested that you should lose money; you know that don’t you?”

The BBC need to start showing they are serious about rectifying the pay gap by saying goodbye to him.

John Humphrys’ contempt for women is clear

www.the-pool.com/news-views/latest-news/2018/2/Rachael-Sigee-on-John-Humphrys-BBC-pay-gap/Rachael-Sigee-on-John-Humphrys-BBC-pay-gap#

The BBC need to start showing they are serious about rectifying the pay gap by saying goodbye to him.

Except nothing the BBC has done so far, from constantly minimising the issue to refusing to allow female employees to speak on the issue, has suggested they are at all serious about rectifying the pay gap.

I have always sat on the fence and been prepared to give the BBC a bit of an easy ride on the bias issue simply because I hear exactly the same number of complaints on it from both sides of the political spectrum. However, their response to the pay issue has genuinely shocked me. They have downplayed and excused it over and over, even going as far as to actively try to silence women speaking out. It makes me so sad and flipping angry.

I caught a bit of newswatch this morning and their response, which has been given before, was basically to say out pay gap is less than other places so its OK.

I'm wondering if the Humphrey's tape and the silencing in BBC women workers could be very useful.

It fits in well with the abolition of the Equalities Act this week; I've always wondered if it was planned or accidental or both.

Labour's treatment of women workers is the same, or a bit worse.

We got rid of trump, this could be next: not just humphreys.

John Humphrys just doesn't get it. He says the leaked conversation was a 'jocular exchange'. The fact that he thinks you can have a jocular exchange with a colleague about something so serious is very telling.

If a man I knew started joking about unequal pay, I'd call them out.

www.theguardian.com/media/2018/jan/12/just-joking-john-humphrys-defends-leaked-equal-pay-comments

ElenaGreco123 That article is beautifully written. NF becoming an irrelevant joke.
I do think that a lot of these shenanigans is because the @50 challenge looks promising, and they know it.

Theresa May will fight to bitter end like Gordon Brown, David Cameron tells friends

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/a89fc1e0-f7de-11e7-9cfd-f28094b4d5ce

Sam Coates Times
@SamCoatesTimes
Hence the moves of the likes of Raab and Stewart - sideways not up

And the likes of Mercer not promoted

(View from the EU) Germany looks on with horror as Britain's deadline looms

2018 promises to be the year when the battle over Brexit will hit Britain with full fury

< Personally - IFF the transition period is agreed -
I expect even worse panic in late 2020, which is when the govt may fall and / or the UK asks for an extension / revocation >

https://global.handelsblatt.com/opinion/germany-looks-on-with-horror-as-britains-deadline-looms-872453?

Open warfare on the question seems likely between Brexit supporters and opponents, both in government and in parliament.
….
So far, the British government has not specifically outlined its vision for the time after Brexit.
And with good reason: it doesn’t have one

The Cabinet will discuss the issue for the first time in the coming weeks.
The ideas floated so far have all been unrealistic,
for example, the deal dubbed “Canada plus plus plus,” based on the EU’s free-trade agreement with Canada.

In fact, there is no reason why the EU would offer Britain more far-reaching concessions than it granted the Canadians.
…
The hope that Britain, “freed from the EU chains,” as Brexiteers put it, will secure lucrative trade pacts with the great nations of the world, will remain a pipe dream.

Even the United States, with whom Britain enjoys the much-vaunted “special relationship,” has so far shown little desire to leap to Britain’s aid
…
The British government’s horrifying to-do list for 2018 includes:

conduct difficult negotiations, both in Britain and in Brussels, on transition and on future relations with the EU,
continue to search for post-Brexit partners outside the EU,
and manage relations with the United States.

Humphreys has form for belittling women. I remember an interview he did with William Haig a few years ago. He accused WH of being starstruck, of ignoring the Iraqi situation while he spent time with Angeline Jolie. All very well - and the accusation was against WH rather than AJ - except that WH had met AJ in her role as UN ambassador and JH went out of his way to sneeringly depict her as 'just' a Hollywood star, making no mention whatsoever of her UN role, ie. he didn't say 'why are you wasting time talking to UN Ambassadors?'. He said 'why are you wasting time talking to actresses?' He's a sexist wanker.

Germany looks on with horror I imagine they might look with horror at this too, BigChoc. Red again raised this ages back, but it looks like it's 'up and running' on Home Office website at least.

Today's Tory lies:

Theresa May
@theresa_may

"From today we're banning hidden charges for paying with your credit or debit card - a move that will help millions of people avoid rip-off fees when spending their hard-earned money."

Except, it's an EU Directive.

woman When I opened an account at the Postbank in Germany last year, they just wanted to see ID card or passport. Nothing else.

Strange, my first job in Germany back in 1987, I found the banks and the country very bureaucratic
In the years since, it has completely switched around

imo, it's that Germany hasn't added any, in fact has simplified a lot
whereas UK govts for the last 20 years (so both parties) have gone full control freak mode

What is different under Tory govts, especially this one,
is creating extra red tape specifically to target foreign nationals - and in practice BME Brits - and making native Brits momitor them e.g. bank staff, nhs staff, landlords

Pouring petrol on the xenophobia that has been whipped up for years;
some join eagerly to put the boot into furrin; others don't want to, but have to keep their jobs / livelihoods

Yep, BigChoc. There's clear historical (and moral) reasons why German state is transparent in its banking protocol. It is odd. I worry too that the HO is so stretched that mistakes will happen.

And another peculiar one; Britain First type, gets only 32 weeks for driving car at a BME Briton.
twitter.com/BarristerSecret/status/952136975045287937

Except, it's an EU Directive.

I have tweeted Theresa May to tell her this, although it hasn't showed up yet. I suggest that everyone who is on twitter does the same.

Ask her if she wants to negotiate the same when we leave the EU, after all, Brexit means Brexit, so why should we have pesky EU rules?

What does "immigration checks on current accounts" actually mean?

Are banks having to cross-reference applicants with HO records? Or do they just need to see something that shows eligibility to be in the UK legally?

Olenna From the Guardian:
The scheme was introduced by ministers as part of attempts to create a “hostile environment” for those staying in the UK unlawfully. It requires banks and building societies to check the immigration status of all current account holders against details of known illegal migrants held by authorities.

Where an illegal migrant is found to be operating an account, this will be flagged to the Home Office. After checks, officials will instruct the bank or building society on what action to take, which could include shutting the account.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jan/12/home-office-banks-check-immigration-status-of-current-account-holders

Faisal Islam‏ @faisalislam
Important speech from @DUPleader Arlene Foster for Phase 2: confirming “fall back position” Phase 1 would mean “any regulatory alignment on issues of North/south cooperation will be for entirety of UK”...
Also floats idea of Nordic Council style cooperation:
So what matters now is defining something that was left vague last month - what are the areas of “full alignment” necessary across the Irish border? Views differ from 5 or 6 to “dozens”...

Even the United States, with whom Britain enjoys the much-vaunted “special relationship,” has so far shown little desire to leap to Britain’s aid

Probably because of all the talk of doing trade with former colonies.

Moronic Brexiteers really do not grasp the antipathy the US has towards the British Empire ...

On a completely separate note, did anyone catch the excellent Dr. Helen Castor on Lady Jane Grey last week.

Did anyone else think of Lady Jane May ?????

Ha, ha, I listened to Dr Castor talking about LJG and didn't think of TM - sadly she has lasted a lot longer and been able to do an awful lot of damage. LJG is an example of how dangerous it is trying to anoint an air though.

The new HSBC ad cheered me up with its not so subtle remain message and the wonderful Richard Ayoade (who can do no wrong, even taking money from international banks)

That was a great advert! not much to do with banking, but a lovely message. More pro remain big companies should start putting out stuff like that - the drip drip drip CAN work in the other direction.

^heir not air

The BBC should charge women less for license fees than they charge men. The proportion should equal the pay gap.

Good idea, math! So the BBC pay gap is almost 10%. That means I'd get £15 off my licence fee!
But seriously, I just want them to sort this out with their staff. It's so utterly disrespectful to women.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/entertainment-arts-41497265

NUJ should be balloting for a strike
(wrong clothes, different industry, exactly the same fight 50 years on)