Westminstenders: "He's in trouble". No he's not.

[RedToothBrush]

All day I've seen nothing but comments and tweets about he Johnson is in trouble and he's losing it.

They are wrong. He's far from done.

Take a step through the Looking Glass and the world looks different.

Those tweeting and reporting all care about events and are following closely. They are unrepresentative of the population as a whole who don't give two shiny shits.

And so we have the Trump dynamic.

The Liberal elite of broadcasters and journalists who are only seeing through the lens of their own judgement, not from the repackaged marketing.

Instead they are unwittingly publishing the images and slogans in the format Johnson wants and enter the minds of the public as planned.

The media are out of step with perceptions. And that's worrying. They don't see what's coming.

Johnson will have an election at some point. With the Tory party cleansed of moderates it is the Brexit Party one way or another, whether it be by takeover or coalition. And its riding high in the polling.

Even though even his brother has abandoned him, the future looks positive for Johnson as his opponents have a complete lack of self awareness and no understanding of the opposition they are taking on; they are campaigning in a way that plays into the hands of Johnson.

Despite his lack of majority and apparently absence of plan or speech notes, the biggest mistake you can make now is to write off Johnson.

You do so at your own peril.

Pay close attention to how authoritarians work and what's already happened in the US. We are on course to repeat it.

‘Dead in a ditch’

Midlander here my Gran used to use it. Wouldn’t say it was a particularly common phrase though. Older generations perhaps ?

I've been looking at the DM site. Lots of articles/commentary but, although universally condemnatory of Labour/Corbyn, they are not supportive of BJ.

Also, many of the comments below the line highly critical of BJ.

Well, if the Carrie relationship peters out or those tapes of their fight ever get released I am sure we will find out enough about BoZo's sex life. Somehow I can't imagine he knows how to put on a condom, certainly not if you could ever count his numerous offspring. Why would any woman want that riddled thing near them?

I have occasionally wondered in a meandering fashion how much of England's class system goes back to 1066!

90% of the land William the bastard dished out after Hastings is still in the same families. The Norman feudal system has survived several civil wars, the creation of the United Kingdom, the Napoleonic wars, and 2 world wars pretty much unscathed.

I've come to the conclusion that these same families haven't had a chance to screw the serfs over for far too long. For a while colonialism satisfied their greed, but since that's died a death, it's back to exploiting the Anglo-Saxon serfs (and Celts/Britons/Picts too with a bit of luck).

The issue for me is ‘what do you call RICH?’ The professional who earn £50k a year, can go away twice a year on holiday but still has a very average house? Or the one who is earning well into 6 figure, has a house worth more than 1.5 millions, send their 3 dcs to a top end private's school and has 3 long haul holiday a year whilst saving money for their dcs trust fund?

Late to respond to this and perhaps a bit off topic, but I feel it needs saying. I am comfortably into 6 figures and can afford none of the things you describe, mainly due to the fact that I'm spending more than £2k a month on childcare so that I can work full time.

We holiday once a year in the UK, my school age children are state educated, and my house is worth a fraction of the sum suggested.

I can afford to save some money each month so if my tax burden increased under Labour I would survive, and I would try not to grumble too much as I am acutely aware that so many are worse off. But no, you need to earn more than that, or have no kids, or have a stay at home partner to enjoy the sort of lifestyle you are describing as rich.

Yes, usuallydormant.

To me, 'dead in a ditch' suggests murdered and the body dumped. Johnson appears to be conjuring an image of himself as the potential victim of shadowy, malign and anti-democratic forces.

It's inconceivable in the history of what we'd call modern English the phrase "Diad" hasn't been used (I suspect it's use was to deliberately game Google somehow). It's only four words after all.

Perhaps it would be possible to steal a march on Boris, and rather than discuss ad infinitum the origin of the phrase, have a look into investigating the actualité ....

Late to respond to this and perhaps a bit off topic, but I feel it needs saying. I am comfortably into 6 figures and can afford none of the things you describe, mainly due to the fact that I'm spending more than £2k a month on childcare so that I can work full time.

But in the post-Brexit future, you won't need (or indeed be able to work). So that'll solve that problem. Your husband can keep you. As it was always meant to be.

Which is not to say that I wont vote labour given the bigger picture, but implying that higher earners are being selfish because they can easily afford to pay more isn't very helpful. Yes I can pay more tax, but it will certainly have an impact on my budget.

@Spiderhands, yes childcare cost are crazy (and one of the reasons I ended up a SAHM for a while).
But if you earn in 6 figure and struggle, can you imagine people who earn the 'average' wage of £26k?
That was my point. there is so little redistribution in the UK that it has consequences on the economy self because people have no spare money but to buy essentials.

But in the post-Brexit future, you won't need (or indeed be able to work). So that'll solve that problem. Your husband can keep you. As it was always meant to be.

Love it! Yes and I'll be able to claim help with childcare costs and all sorts. Might even be better off!

I am comfortably into 6 figures and can afford none of the things you describe, mainly due to the fact that I'm spending more than £2k a month on childcare so that I can work full time.

Labour will extend 30-hour childcare to more children by eliminating means testing for two-year-olds and no longer restricting provision for three and four-year-olds to children whose parents are working. This will benefit an additional 1.3 million children.

Myriade I agree entirely, I would pay more. The bit that's getting my goat is everyone saying its easy for me to do it and I'm off abroad every year and sticking money in trust funds.

I think there is a difference of understanding between being 'rich' and having a decent disposal income after paying outgoings.

It's very easy to have a high income, but also have high outgoing after childcare, mortgage, other expenses and therefore not feel rich because you have the stress of making those payments every month.

If you are older it's also possible to have a low income, low outgoings and large assets in the form of a large property and therefore are perceived as 'richer' than the family with the high income.

In reality both are technically rich in comparison to an average household, but it may be difficult to recognise this when you are still shopping in Aldi to keep the value of the weekly shop down. Or 'only' go on one holiday a year (that's more than a lot of people)

It is down to lifestyle choice though - if you have a £100k job and are paying £2k in childcare you've made a decision to do that somewhere along the line - and ultimately the ability to have a lifestyle choice of that nature is the very definition of being rich. It's a freedom not shared by everyone.

Still trying to follow the politics. Thank you for this thread, spells it out for me a little.

Someone in our media compared your situation to Italian politics and said

'This is showcasing the inadequacy of British democracy
They (you) have a pm they haven't elected, who is allowed to prorogue parliament by a queen nobody can vote for. This because EU has become a problem for the British democracy'.

@Spiderhands, xpost

This is why I asked what IS a high earner!!
My point is that many people who are put in the 'high earner' category maybe arent actually high earners.
But the ones who are migth well not be 'involved' enough iyswim

eg my DH earns sligtly over the thresehold for the 40% tax and is therefore considered a high earner. We're not. Just like you, we are struggling with one hols a year and a small house in the NE (so worth very little compare to 'down south').
So yes doing well compare to the 'average' but not what i would call a high earner.

But dont want to derail the thread- sorry. I'm simultaneously loving the intelligent discussion and humour, and utterly horrified by the situation!

Love it! Yes and I'll be able to claim help with childcare costs and all sorts. Might even be better off!

Eh "help" ? No help in Brave Brexit Britain. None of that socialist claptrap that so ruined the country. What a quaint notion.

Look to the west, look how the US are doing it. That's what you'll get.

Just make sure you clean behind the fridge.

(Drifting totally on topic, about how people are so easily manipulated .... there's an AIBU thread currently about a 70 year old lady that has given birth to twins. Almost exclusively, every poster is lining up to deny that bodily autonomy "for the childs sake". And that's how the principle of state control over womens bodies is established. Once you have that, as George Bernard Shaw said "we're just arguing over the price". This is how they do it.)

Perhaps it would be possible to steal a march on Boris, and rather than discuss ad infinitum the origin of the phrase, have a look into investigating the actualité ....

Well, yes, but... language is communication... not particularly aiming at all those midland towns that are slowly wandering ever closer to those ditches to die in, is he? Sounds like a central England phrase.

The middle income squeeze is what my parents always used to moan about.

Easy target between those who can afford a good accountant and those who genuinely are poor.

That's what Brexit is about though - squeezing the middle though. And that's why there is the alliance between the hedge funders and off shorers and this 'left behind' group.

I am comfortably into 6 figures and can afford none of the things you describe, mainly due to the fact that I'm spending more than £2k a month on childcare so that I can work full time.

Labour will extend 30-hour childcare to more children by eliminating means testing for two-year-olds and no longer restricting provision for three and four-year-olds to children whose parents are working. This will benefit an additional 1.3 million children.

just are you saying you think it’s ok for someone on 6 figure salary to get 30 hour childcare by removing the means testing?

RedToothBrush all good points.

Prorogue ruled legal!

Re: "Dead in a ditch", this is from the internet obvs but its interesting nonetheless. We have some good discussion on here, thanks Red

idioms.thefreedictionary.com/die+in+the+last+ditch

die in the last ditch
die desperately defending something; die fighting to the last extremity.
This expression comes from a remark attributed to King William III ( 1650–1702 ). Asked whether he did not see that his country was lost, he is said to have responded: ‘There is one way never to see it lost, and that is to die in the last ditch’. Last-ditch is often used as an adjective meaning ‘desperately resisting to the end’.

All the stuff about resisting desperately is I'm sure what Boris meant by his remark but I think the expression less heroic, more rather tragic, in truth.

It says (to me anyway) that only way of avoiding seeing country "lost" is to be dead, i.e. the coming defeat is inevitable but the person who lies dead in the last ditch does not actually experience it because they are dead.

I saw a comment that Labour MPs when confronted that they are chicken not to want a GE should point out that Boris is currently running round the country like a headless chicken.

Rich is relative. We run a small manufacturing business folks that do a manual ‘working class job’ earning probably more than most teachers.

They would almost certainly have more ‘spare cash’ at the end of the month than some ‘professionals’ living in London as their cost of living is lower.