Westminstenders: It couldn't get any worse... Until today

[RedToothBrush]

We are trapped in the tailspin of the end of the UK. Firmly headed downward and getting more and more frenzied and desperate.

Even the most sensible of types like David Allen Green have finally noticed that Brexit isn't about leaving the EU it's about the frenzied and wilful destruction of our state instutions and structure. The collapse of the civil service, of our justice system, our democratic institutions and social order. All in the name of rule Britannia, a warped sense of taking back control to preserve an ideal that never existed and an idea of sovereignity that simply was a fantasy.

We move ever closer to Johnson becoming Prime Minister and a life under President Trump.

Joy.

Ode to Joy really isn't that bad.

Peregrina Yes exactly! these people, like Rudd, will do what it takes to preserve their influence and power.

Few will do the right thing, spineless and weak, i hold them in utter contempt.

Poverty in childhood affects overall life expectancy and health though (see Marmot's The Health Gap) so actually it just keeps up the perpetual cycle of illness, poor mental health and general despondency that keeps the poor poor.

Health deserts happen in UK too but possibly not as extreme as we are relatively close-knit in comparison. Still hard to find seasonal veg in the local Spar if you can't afford a car though.

I can't quite figure it out but the unholy alliance between victims of austerity and the people who exacerbated it, is no coincidence.

I read a piece which touched on this in late 2016 / early 2017.

The point was that the working class never socialised with the upper classes. It was the educated middle classes them came in contact with them on a daily basis 'telling them what to do' and 'looking down their noses' at them. By this they were referring to the teachers, the doctors, the lawyers and just generally experts. The ones who tell them they have lost their tax credits because they haven't filled in the right form. The ones who endlessly tell them that their way of life is unhealthy / backwards / stupid. They didn't like the attitude that they got from them that they were inferior and should comply with what they said.

Instead this resentment has been harnessed by this upper class - and its particularly telling with Farage and Trump because of the type of language they use. Its simplistic and doesn't try to echo the experts for that reason. They don't share the middle class taste and style. You have Trump with his gaudy gold and his McDonald's which doesn't care for middle class group approval. The more the middle class hate it the better.

Thus as in any authoritarian regime the middle class are the targets. They are the group capable of holding power to account, so the upper classes mobilise working class resentment against it. The aim is to weaken the middle class by fear outright and economic fear - by shrinking it in size (poverty works).

No deal Brexit fits into this. The middle class are either ruined or just desperately grateful for work. The working class seeing the power of the middle classes shrink are happy to have damaged those they pecieve as smug and be comfortably off at their expense.

The upper classes are able to seize power of the judiciary, education, media to consolidate their grip on government and prevent meaningful opposition.

Works a treat doesn't it?

Farage calls for anyone anti Brexit to be removed from the civil service and the military.

Colour me unsurprised, when Brexiteers (and Leavers) have been effectively saying this for 3 years. Making Britain Grate Again, you see.

Suez II - far more serious than Suez I in its consequences

Hugo Rifkindd@hugorifkind*

This is Suez-level humiliation.

We're a small, frightened country, being pushed around.

Another Faragist wanting to "cleanse" the civil service

Even copies Trump's "drain the swamp" slogan - expect to see that slogan a lot in the UK

Andy Wigmoree@andywigmore*

It was you and Blair that politicised our once independent civil service @campbellclaret

it’s now filled with dripping wet leftie civil activists,
your fault
and when @BorisJohnsonngets the top job we will drain the swamp, ridding the CS of types like @KimDarrochh

Some leading Faragists obviously consider BJ to be one of them - "we"

Some leading Faragists obviously consider BJ to be one of them - "we"

I think they've misjudged him. Boris - as we've discussed - is for Boris. No matter what he says no, he will do / say whatever it takes to cling onto power for as long as possible if when he becomes PM.

There may well be some backtracking done, though Boris is too brazen to care about that, I reckon.

I'm consciously not restocking my stockpile until after the new PM starts their job. I'm not convinced we can accurately predict what will happen when the new PM gets into the role.

And I'm determined to at least try to remain hopeful even if it looks very shit right now.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/entertainment-arts-48948591?__twitter_impression=true
BBC director general warns against 'assault on truth'

The BBC's director general has warned that the world is facing "the biggest assault on truth since the 1930s".

Speaking at the Global Conference For Media Freedom in London, Tony Hall said: "An assault on truth is an assault on democracy."

He compared the spread of fake news to propaganda used by the Nazi party in the build-up to the Second World War.

"All those who believe in integrity in news must work together to turn the tide," he said.

Lord Hall added that the BBC had a role to play in battling fake news and press repression across the world. "We are ready to do even more to promote freedom of expression worldwide," he said.

Argghh... just back from a few days away (brexit free). I am utterly disgusted with Rudd's u-turn. Utterly.

I was in a good mood today. Now I've seen that about craven Amber Rudd and my spirits have plummeted.

Cross posted with Song

Lord Hall added that the BBC had a role to play in battling fake news and press repression across the world. "We are ready to do even more to promote freedom of expression worldwide," he said.

Ah, that'll be why they've challenged each and every lie peddled by a pro-Brexit politician since before the referendum. Oh, no, they haven't. Too little too late.

Reading the piece about Truss and Rudd made me want to vomit 🤢

*the piece in The Guardian

The upper classes are able to seize power of the judiciary, education, media to consolidate their grip on government and prevent meaningful opposition.

Thanks Red for the class insights.Instinctively I feel it's part of the barrier trapping us in this clusterfuck.

Interesting

MPs Plot Commons 'Sit-In' To Stop Boris Johnson's No-Deal Brexit Plan To Shut Down Parliament

m.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/mps-commons-sit-in-boris-johnson-no-deal-brexit_uk_5d27989be4b0060b11e993ea?h9c

Sounds plausible?

Rudd's majority is extremely slender. A slight push and whoosh, it's gone.

May she lose her seat at the earliest opportunity.

“Drain the swamp” has been around for longer in politics than Donald Trump I think, Reagan the first to popularise it maybe. I remember it in 2012 coming from Ron Paul, here’s the advert that was called “Big Dog”

m.youtube.com/watch?v=fyqqhXpFpOg

Ah, it's a rightwing US perennial then, now crossed the Atlantic to the British right

Yes we are reduced to clutching any straws Mother

They are NOT all the same:
This Brexit / populism batshittery is totally different to normal politics

Major is long retired, so not worrying about getting re-elected, doesn't suck up to anyone
when it comes to the crunch, puts country before party

Rudd is no Brexiter, just cynically prioritising keeping her seat above what is best for the country,
so keeps her nose firmly to BJ's arse

The hard right Brexiters are fanatics:

very different to the traditional Tory party that they have taken over
Polls consistently show they are willing to bankrupt businesses and even dismantle the UK, to get No Deal Brexit
They are nihilists, destroyers

Major & Clarke are Tories, but like most Labour politicians of their day, were pragmatic - and "conserving" not destroying -
they were NEVER fanatics about anything

What BCF said.

As I said before, you're comparing oranges and house bricks.