Westminstenders: Frozen

[RedToothBrush]

Boris Johnson was empty chaired by C4 with a block of ice.

The Conservatives went mental and have threatened to look at C4 broadcast remit.

This is illiberal and anti democratic.

Journalists are supposed to hold power to account on behalf of the public. If MPs don't turn up then they can't be held to account.

They have a duty to show. It's not good enough to avoid scrutiny because it might make you look bad. That's the whole point.

The contempt with which Johnson holds the press and public is reprehensible and you should be concerned whatever your political alligence. It allows corruption to fester without consequence.

And to then threaten C4 because they do their job in line with their responsibility as a broadcaster is alarming.

This is how authoritarian dictators work.

listening : I have done well. Back in the day I had George Galloway.

I now have Nadine Dorries....

I heard the letterbox earlier but there was nothing on the mat.

Puzzled "Was that the post?" (loudly, to the house in general).

DP: "Just a Conservative leaflet"

Me: "Oh, where is it?"

DP: "I'm on the toilet reading it"

Laughs from 3 rooms as the same thought crosses our minds.

My Tory ex-MP is also the chairman of the ERG, and his seat has not had a Labour MP in it since 1951 (it returned the Labour candidate with a 476 majority in 1950).

He had a 14,856 majority over Labour in 2015, and a 6,578 majority over Labour in 2017.

There seems to be a feeling that he is in a safe seat. But I have seen no sign of the Conservatives as I go about the place, and while I assume their supporters may all be in the rural part of the constituency I haven't seen any of their placards in places where I would have expected them from last time and the time before. Either they have information which is being kept from the rest of us, or they might be being a bit complacent.

I am going to go to some hustings tonight in the hope of actually seeing the man; it's probably my only chance to do so. Well, to see him and to support the candidate I shall be voting for if I am spared until 12th!

Baloney
Has he finished reading it yet

From a link on here a week or so back I read something I remember as an internal US trade document about their position regarding drug pricing and trade deals.

Has anyone got the link again please? I remember it was a bit of an eye-opener for me about the whole drug pricing issue.

Oh, David Merrit, you’ve made me cry.

Posts not connected obviously. I'm worse for wear and butterflying.

Just posted this on the AIBU voters without influence thread:

*I think I posted earlier about my visit from the Tory canvasser.

What is interesting, is that in 21 years of living in a safe Tory seat, we've never been canvassed before - our house is hard to find. Yet this guy found us, and tramped across a field to actually talk to me. I think they're worried...*

I really do think they are getting worried. Has the Orange One landed yet? Been without TV all day, need to watch the news.

I can't keep up!

I posted earlier and sorry if anyone answered and I missed it, does anyone know when the Yougov MRP will be updated?

I'm in a super tight marginal and hoping for good news. I've never seen so many posters and signs for the (Labour) MP, but yougov as it on a knife edge.

And strangely, I have had so many leaflets and mailshots addressed to me (late 30s female) and none to my husband, from the Tories. In the past they have always ignored me and written to him.

(have used them to light the fire)

I'm not sure that the yougov MRP will be updated?

Really? I thought it would have to be as it was a snapshot of the time it was published and so now out of date.

Polls are election tools... used to shape opinion rather than assess it
(My view)

GeorgeDawes
Polling companies do the polling they are paid to do
they will only re-survey 100,000 people if somebody bungs them lots of moolah

The only reason I ask is I have a recollection of it changing in 2017 (but perhaps I am mistaken!). And it was also released a lot later.

It definitely had an effect, at least in our area, of showing the Tories could lose. The previous MP barely bothered to campaign as he thought the seat was safe, and then at the last min the Yougov poll showed a slight Labour lead, which was the result on election day. I think it helped show Lib Dem voters that lending their vote was crucial.

As I understand it the YouTube MRP we've just had was done at a similar stage to that of the 2017 campaign. Because in that election it was one of the most predictive of the final result, a lot of weight has been given to this recent one predicting a 68 seat Tory majority.

Yougov... obvs

baloney I posted this about US trade aims:

As of 2015, USTR [United States Trade Representatives] are bound by Congress not to include mention of greenhouse gas emission reductions in trade agreements.

The US side stated this ban would not be lifted anytime soon."

From the USA Trade Dept: United States-United Kingdom Negotiations
Summary of Specific Negotiating Objectives

https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/SummaryoffU.S.-UKNegotiatinggObjectives.pdf

On investment, the US objective in negotiation of the UK-US trade deal is to:
‘reduce or eliminate barriers to U.S. investment in all sectors in the UK’’

Similarly, on government procurement, the US wishes to:

‘increase opportunities for U.S. firms to sell U.S. products and services to the UK’,
while simultaneously restricting access for the UK
(for example, through keeping domestic preferential purchasing programs at state and local government levels).

The US document also attempts to regulate the UK’s relationship with third countries!

For example, it would constrain the UK’s ability to sign a trade deal with China by creating a mechanism to:

‘take appropriate action if the UK negotiates a free trade agreement with a non-market country’.

To preserve its commercial partnerships with Israel, the US states that one of its objectives is to:

‘discourage actions that directly or indirectly prejudice or otherwise discourage commercial activity solely between the United States and Israel’.

< code for making it illegal for UK firms to follow the anti-Israel boycott >

and I also posted this re a US deal on an earlier thread:

Obtaining some of the huge public procurement contracts is a major UK aim in a US FTA, but in practice even an FTA leaves roadblocks

The UK would give open access to all contracts,
but the USA would give only limited access, because much of this is at state levels, hence not regulated by the FTA:

https://scholarship.law.gwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2569&context=faculty_publications

"But while access under the GPA and other free trade agreements has been codified in the Federal Acquisition Regulation and its supplements,
and so access is generally honored as a matter of practice in the federal acquisition process,

there are legal and practical barriers to any foreign vendor that seeks to enforce access under trade agreements.

In sum, foreign vendors’ access to the public procurement markets in the United States is far from assured, as a legal matter.

and it should be emphasized, however, that the sheer bulk of federal procurement regulations – which run to thousands of pages – itself works a barrier to access.

Reformers have often recommended reducing the regulatory bulk, to lower costs for business and to minimize barriers to entry.

Practically speaking, however, there are strong countervailing forces,
whether born of inertia or bureaucratic self-interest,
that resist any wholescale dismantling of what is, in fact, a startlingly complex regulatory regime."

I just cannot see the Tories getting a 68 seat majority. People surely are not that stupid.😖

People surely are not that stupid.

I've just watched an ex-Labour voters focus group on Channel 4 News. Honestly, here is a group of people prepared to vote for a party that doesn't care about them at all.

I've missed it, Swedish. Why were they switching votes?

Because they trust Johnson. 😮😮😮😮.

I saw that too. They think Brexit will only hurt the rich so the “loveable buffoon” is being altruistic. I despair.

Thanks, not those links.

It was a very detailed analysis of the US objectives for increasing prices of drugs overseas.

It showed how much of a discount various countries, including the UK, paid for drugs which were still in-patent in the US, and gave the argument for why we should be paying more.

Maybe I clicked through to it from some Twitter thing about that drugs trade event BJ hosted at the Foreign Office?

It's one of those things that meant less to me when I read it than it would have done 2 days later.