Westminstenders: The Imperial March

[RedToothBrush]

There are many ways to enforce power indirectly using privilege. Jacob Rees Mogg knows every trick in the book and dresses it up as respectability rather than a subtle form or intimidation and deliberate exclusion.

It's not the stuff 'of the people'.

Meanwhile the newly crowned PM, is making rather a bug deal of how he is the man 'of the people', here to serve them and to deliver their will.

There's a big theme here about presenting as 'of the people' whilst simultaneously serving the interests of the elite and reestablishing its power over the people.

It's a theme that is set to run for some time, and is entrenched in Trumpism too.

This shift in power is particularly harmful to women it must be noted.

'Strong and stable' was 'weak and wobbly' and we should be mindful that in the era of reversed spin, what 'of the people' signifies.

We've long known about the authoritarianism at the heart of leaving thinking. It's only now that it's finally going to start stomping it's feet all over our freedoms and power.

The road back will be a long and hard one because we failed to spot the threat and the dangers of it.

Also, remember what I said about HS2???

Andrew Gilligan: Transport adviser
A journalist at the Sunday Times, Gilligan advised Johnson on cycling when he was mayor of London and will be taking on the transport brief in Downing Street. A fierce critic of HS2, which he has called a “disastrous scheme." When working for the BBC, Gilligan famously claimed that Tony Blair’s government had "sexed up" a dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. He worked for Iranian state television channel Press TV for two years, which is ironic given Johnson’s criticism of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for his own appearances on the station.

I think perhaps you mean Holy Loch?

If we are talking about the same prog (Britains nuclear bomb) then yes. I recall Macmillan was forced to allow the US access to it as part of the UK being allowed to be reunited with all the hard work we did on nuclear weapons that the US claimed credit for. (When my DB worked at ORNL he said he was taken aback at how advanced the UK was compared to the US in the late 30s early 40s).

I didn't realise the US had pulled out - my bad.

All of which said, it's hard to fault the US keeping secrets from the UK in the 50s, since we had a habit of spaffing them to the USSR priority post.

in fact, as I recall, the US has never completely trusted the UK intelligence community specifically because of the prevalence of the "one of us" ethos which acted as a perfect cover for the Philbys of this world. I wonder what their current briefings are, given we are returning to an Eton/Oxbridge cabal ?

(back in the 80s Alexei Sayle did a great routine about privilege:

80% of government have been to public school, Oxford or Cambridge;
70% of newspaper editors have been to public school, Oxford or Cambridge;
60% of the BBC have been to public school, Oxford or Cambridge;
50% of the KGB have been to public school, Oxford or Cambridge ....

Holy Foch?

Is Boris trying to buy off Remainers ?

Scrapping HS2 is a poor exchange for Brexit, but I'll take what I can.

Holy Foch?

PMSL

twitter.com/marksugruek/status/1155957402312663041
Mark Sugrue @marksugruek
Some fun @BorderIris crossings between Ireland and the UK. Would love to see 'technology' solve this... #brexit

Thread.

I like the ones where the business straddle the border...

Its impossible to fix with technology.

A fierce critic of HS2, which he has called a “disastrous scheme."

I looked into this in some depth a few years back as part of a course of study I was doing. I am a great fan of railways, but in fact, I agree with him. There is a lack of rail capacity in the south east, but it would be better improved by building a freight line, or improving existing freight lines. As it stands HS2 will just make London more commutable from Birmingham.

Johnson will get a bonus because it will keep the Nimbies who always vote Tory happy.

If Johnson wanted to be really radical, he could do something like move the House of Commons to the North. In my book Manchester only just scrapes into the north - there is an awful lot of country beyond that.

Scrapping HS2 frees up a lot of money to spend on Brexit, whilst pleasing people who don't like the idea (and theres lots of them).

I'd be happy to see hs2 scrapped.

Won't help get my mum or sister's meds though....

It will be wasted on Brexit.

Red It would be very much better to do things like improve the trans pennine rail links. So far Johnson has only promised a few crumbs for the rail line between Manchester and Leeds. It really needs an upgrade from Liverpool via Manchester and Leeds to Hull and then an upgrade from Manchester to Sheffield and on to Doncaster which would then link into the East Coast main line, with its connections to London, Newcastle and Edinburgh.

We could be even more radical and electrify and upgrade the line from Crewe via Chester to Holyhead, which is after all an international route. If we had been talking nicely to them, we might even have found the EU would have given us some money for it.

Other neglected parts of the country - in Devon the line from Exeter via Oakhampton to points further south, closed during the Beeching era, could then be reopened, thus avoiding the current main line which gets washed out at Dawlish cutting rail links south of Exeter.

But what do these London toffs know hey?

As an aside, I would want Leavers to start telling us about the sort of things they would like to see, instead of crowing about what fun it will be to crash out without a deal. If they were to come up with them, I don't think we should dismiss ideas out of hand, because things like the NHS only came into being because there were people with vision who wanted something better.

Just read this statement from Varadkar. My spider senses say he is suggesting that the UK should tweak its red lines .

Peregina, I'm inclined to agree with just about all that.

I'm close to HS2, but not so close that it will affect me. The benefit of the line will be only 30mins maximum up here on a direct service as it is anyway. We'd simply be better with more direct trains rather than having to change. And I suspect the cost of tickets will make it completely pointless anyway. DH used to travel to London on at least a fortnightly basis for work. Thankfully he wasn't paying for the tickets! It was cheaper for him to fly to a meeting in his office in Berlin or Frankfurt (often with the same people) than meet in the London office at times, especially when you factor in the cost of hotels!

A lot of people around here think that HS3 (improved line between Leeds and Manchester) would be preferable and thats exactly what Johnson is planning to do. Its an easy voter winner and will benefit people who work up north more than a line to London. It keeps it regional.

But I think its probably more to do with the fact that taking HS2 off the books which is at least £80 billion, will go a long way to making them balance rather than anything else.

All the other side effects to cancelling are a bonus to Johnson. Its an easy win, which is why I'm so sure he will go ahead and give it the chop.

Scrapping HS2 frees up a lot of money to spend on Brexit, whilst pleasing people who don't like the idea (and theres lots of them).

Well, in the spirit of Remainers being constructive, that's a +1 from me. (With the usual caveats that (a) Boris is a liar (b) a Tory and (c) doesn't give a shit what any of us think).

Personally I'd splurge that HS2 money on a set of enormously big shoes, which I would proceed to squarely plant up the backside of business with the aim of discouraging the need to travel in the first place.

Its an easy voter winner and will benefit people who work up north more than a line to London. It keeps it regional.

I am not so sure that northerners will be bought. I think they will say thanks very much, but we are still not voting for you.

I'd be happy to see hs2 scrapped

Me too but not to pay for Brexit. I'd like to see the money saved put into e-cars, cycle schemes and making train/bus transport more efficient and cheaper. We have to do something about air pollution, not just because of climate change but because of the direct damage air pollution does to our health.

Just read this statement from Varadkar. My spider senses say he is suggesting that the UK should tweak its red lines

I'm all for red line tweaking. If Boris doesn't care about immigration levels then for goodness sake lets stay in the single market and retain freedom of movement.

Re scrapping of HS2 - have always thought this was a massive white elephant.

However didn't Johnson pledge to get going on HS3 (Leeds-Manchester) in his Manchester speech? Not that that is worth anything.

I suppose he could piss off Northern Nimbys instead. The two schemes were meant to dovetail, but I guess one could be built without the other...

Me too but not to pay for Brexit. I'd like to see the money saved put into e-cars, cycle schemes and making train/bus transport more efficient and cheaper.

That's trying to solve yesterdays problems. I'm much more in favour of removing the need to travel. Which has a happy side-effect of making travelling easier for those that need to. And saving the planet too. Which (as Jonathan Pie noted ) is the opposite of what HS2 would do.

I imagine it's more of a balancing the books exercise tbh

Darran Marshall @DarranMarshall
One phone call - two takes.

Compare & Contrast. Here's the Irish Gov & UK Gov's readouts on the call between the Taoiseach & Prime Minister. #Brexit

I beleive there are two options for the north.

HS3 as a new project and also the upgrading of the existing trans penine routes (which are utterly dreadful, overgraded and unreliable).

I think Johnson has gone for the later, but that still leaves the door open for HS3 in the long run.

Me too but not to pay for Brexit. I'd like to see the money saved put into e-cars, cycle schemes and making train/bus transport more efficient and cheaper.

Andrew Gilligan is properly into buses and cycles as well as hating HS2.

Unless I missed something, wasn't there a suggestion that HS2 should start outside London initially ? So you'd have to get a train from London to HS2, then HS2 to Brum and so on.

This is at least 14 years in the future (assuming an on-target completion, for which I have zero precedence or confidence).

from BBC website:
Here's more from Lord O'Neill on the BBC's World at One programme.

He explained his view on his feeling that there was only "one way" for the pound.

"I’m pretty sure that a lot of big foreign exchange and hedge fund type people have had a pretty tricky life the past few years for a whole host of reasons and they’re probably looking at what’s being said coming out of the UK as almost close to a free lunch. You’ve got a government that is deliberately promoting the [no-deal] Brexit risk and one that is talking so adventurously about monetary and fiscal policy too."

"The world I was in, of lot of them will be saying ’Thank goodness for Boris, he’s giving us a chance to make some money’.”

However, he added that he thought the pound looked "very cheap", and if there was a Brexit deal and the Bank of England got tougher on monetary policy, then sterling could recover "very sharply".

In other words. You have been warned about currency speculation. Heads you lose, tails the market wins.

I did mean faslane - it's where the boat, missiles and warheads get assembled/disassembled to send for refurbishment.

re HS2 - until recently I regularly travelled london/Birmingham on the Chiltern line - not as fast as West Coast line - about 10mins longer, but far more comfortable, better WiFi, much less crowded and better service - Marylebone to snow Hill - altogether more pleasant working journey than euston - new street. Always felt like plenty of capacity.

Frankenstein402

I have reported your post. Not because it's offensive, but because I don't want the Chiltern Line getting overcrowded You should have been honest, and said it's filthy, you can never get a seat, it's never on time, and gets cancelled at short notice.