Westminstenders: The Mask is Slipping

[RedToothBrush]

This week has seen the department of the Chancellor who launched a 50p piece, the serious contemplation of a tin pot bridge, the rebirth of eugenics as a subject for cabinet, the announcement of the end of the BBC as we know it, the cabinet chanting after the PM in a way Orwell would be proud of, suppression of a report into trade deals which dares to mention the effect of distance and geography, worrying signs of an ever growing rift with Europe over negotiations for a deal, an appointment which starts to make our membership of the ECHR look very dodgy and there have been rather a lot of floods which so far seemed to have escaped the attention of those in London busy in their own swamp.

It's becoming apparent very quickly just how Trump like our new government are and how they want the UK to emulate the very worst aspects of America.

We are falling fast and its not looking like it will be pretty.

All we need is a major global issue to test our national resilience and the incompetence will truly be laid bare for us all to see... But not necessarily speak of. Such us the way it works.

Brexit Britain is not a nice looking prospect.

Am I wrong to assume that in reality there will simply be no more cheap vegetables? Certainly no more bags of carrots, parsnips, sprouts and spuds retailing at 29p at Christmas in supermarkets. No more packs of mushrooms for 65p. All unsustainable

Also choice will narrow.

Those of us who remember the 1970s will already have an idea ...

4. Shipping the elderly overseas a bit like a call centre/ care centre.

Already happening, care homes and rehabs are expanding sectors in Thailand and the UK is one of the main markets. Much cheaper than UK care homes / rehabs and like resorts and in beautiful locations. Completely unregulated of course, no Care Quality Commission and astonishingly 90% of rehab business is self referred online, no assessment and pre referral by anyone with Psychological expertise

I do remember the 1970s, DGR, and I recall the likes of rissoles padded out with pearl barley for school dinners! Lots of lumpy mashed potatoes and very cheap cuts of horrible meat in tiny portions. I must have been 18 before I saw a courgette in real life. I think the Sex Pistols invented them.

Boris Johnson agrees divorce settlement with Marina Wheeler

He's achieved another modern first:
seems he is the first serving British PM to get divorced since the 18th century

www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/feb/18/boris-johnson-agrees-divorce-settlement-with-marina-wheeler

I do remember the 1970s, DGR, and I recall the likes of rissoles padded out with pearl barley for school dinners!

Our school dinners were cooked offsite, as we had no space for kitchens (despite having a fleet of mobile classrooms). That was the baby boom for you. Everything with mash. Then custard. Except for the days when "salad" was on the menu. Slices of luncheon meat and things that crunched. On salad days I went hungry ...

There was an excellent "Timeshift" documentary a few years back, charting the post war gloom in food (it's somehow easy to imaging life tasted black and white then). Have we forgotten when chicken in a basket was the height of sophistication for eating out ?

Our local "greengrocer" only sells "potatoes". One variety. (One reason why I tend to ignore people who witter on about trying "your local whatever". Ironically they will be completely unaffected by any reduction in variety. It's the supermarkets that will suffer first.

Well, I'd even argue that choice has vastly improved since I first got here in the 90s. It was good then (can't remember having issues finding fresh produce) but I do think there's much more variety now.

There was a programme on R4 the other day, a British family who had shipped their elderly grandma off to a care home in Thailand. They waxed lyrical about the marvellous 24 hour health care, and cheap costs. When asked how often they managed to visit her ... a very embarrassed silence.

Will never happen of course - far too unEnglish

Well its almost the Singapore model - national service for 16+ males being armed forces, police or civil defence(fire, rescue, ambulance)
so presumably on the pfeffel/cummings radar?

(When I was working there a local in the team pointed out that the large number of people/youths with experience of policing was a contributory factor, both in trust of the service and the lack of 'trouble' - on balance, like a lot of things Singapore does I thought it had merit.)

Well its almost the Singapore model - national service for 16+ males being armed forces, police or civil defence(fire, rescue, ambulance) so presumably on the pfeffel/cummings radar?

Quite aside from whether you'd trust todays feral youth with anything more deadly than a rolled up newspaper, the collective gasp of horror from armed forces, police or civil defence(fire, rescue, ambulance) would certainly solve our energy crisis for a few years. I can see the windmills spinning now.

Also, if you think our police are untrusted and inefficient now, just wait until they turn up with a bunch of recruits in tow to "see how it's done ..."

Meanwhile, in a story that I suspect might turn out to be an iceberg, WH Smith and the Torygraph are at handbags drawn.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51559810

(The real story is the decline of print media and the retail infrastructure it supported combined with the ongoing woes of teh high street which aren't going backwards for anyone. Not even a Cnut like Boris).

Boris Johnson agrees divorce settlement with Marina Wheeler

Well that's at least half his kids taken care of. Now where are the others?

Sorry - no biscuit intended - just thanks for thread.

Miss you cat, hope you're surviving.

Fans of history might be interested to read Michael Woods column in this months BBC history magazine. It's about Britains influence or otherwise in the world. If my scanner hadn't decided to pack up, I'd have posted a pic. But it has, so that's that.

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Test

EU’s chief Brexit negotiator’s remarks seen as thinly veiled warning to PM Boris Johnson

www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/michel-barnier-rejects-uk-s-call-for-canada-style-trade-deal-1.4177841

Barnier’s response, and that of other EU officials, was one of polite fury.

“We have proposed a trade agreement with a country that has a very particular and unique close geographical proximity, not like Canada, not like South Korea and not like Japan, ”
Barnier said.
“Very particular. We are ready to propose and work very quickly with Britain
on the basis of the political declaration, which was agreed with Boris Johnson.

We stand ready to propose this agreement, if the UK wants it.”

Speaking separately, the EU’s trade commissioner, Phil Hogan,
warned that the UK would bear “full responsibility” for its choices.

“We’re looking for a level playing field and they don’t seem to want it,” Hogan said.
“It’s a big worry for many of the manufacturing sectors in the UK.
If they want to diverge from the existing rules and regulations, we are going to have problems.
And the more they diverge from the existing EU law and regulations, the more problems we’ll have.”

Which is the weirdo-in-chief ?

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/feb/19/sabisky-row-dominic-cummings-criticised-over-designer-babies-post

No 10 declined to comment on whether Cummings still held the same views on selection of genes for intelligence as expressed in the 2014 post.

It has repeatedly refused to answer questions this week over whether Johnson agrees with Sabisky that black people have lower IQs on average.

warned that the UK would bear “full responsibility” for its choices.

Except that they won't. It will be whine, whine, whine, the EU made us do this; meanwhile they will be busy sucking up to the Americans, and won't question whether that is for the good of the country.

No 10 under pressure to say whether it vetted 'racist' Andrew Sabisky

.... since he went public about his views years ago

Is No 10 going back to the 1930s ?
Sabinsky - and possibly Cummings & BJ - seems to think a person's future is so determined by their genetics / IQ that there is no point in early years help

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/feb/18/no-10-under-pressure-andrew-sabisky-hired-cummings-race-intelligence

details of views he had expounded energetically over years of writing, blogging and social media comments,
much of it based around a belief in genetics as the main driver for people’s life chances.

This included arguing that differences in intelligence and ability between races and social classes are largely hereditary,
and thus there is little point running positive discrimination schemes or Sure Start-like early intervention programmes.

V Tired PMK

I was in Brighton today - a town laid absolutely fly by fear about Coronavirus

if the weather and the world news do not improve FAST
Rishi's first budget is going to be rather short of tax take

I'm not even going to start on my views of the new immigration rules

I love the stuff about how the economically inactive should fill the low skilled job gap.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/51560120
Are economically inactive people the answer to staff shortages?

"We have over 8.45 million people in the UK aged between 16 and 64 who are economically inactive," she said.

"We want businesses to invest in them, invest in skilling them up."

and

The biggest category is students, who account for 27% of the inactive. They may be able to take on part-time jobs, but could not be relied upon to deal with the staff shortages that some business groups have warned about.

Another 26% of the inactive population count as sick - almost all of whom are long-term sick.

Next up, 22% of the inactive are those who are looking after their homes or caring for family members.

The fourth most common reason for economic inactivity is people who have retired before the age of 65 - that's 13% of the total.

There is a very small category - less than half a percent - who describe themselves as "discouraged workers".

The last 11% are classified as "other", which includes people who say they have not yet started looking for work, those awaiting the results of job applications and some who say they do not need to work.

The ONS says that of the 8.48 million economically inactive people:
6.61 million do not want a job
1.87 million would like a job

Patel is just illiterate.
First she makes the assumption they need training. (Remembering of course that its UNskilled jobs we need people for)

And just HOW does she make the 6.61 million who don't want a job, take a job?

I am currently 'looking after the home' whilst my son is still very young but ultimately as it stands, unless the right opportunity comes up, I'm not looking to go back to work. I certainly wouldn't be looking at unskilled if it did either. DH earns enough and has so many outside community commitments that our quality family life would suffer if I did.

How exactly would Patel force me back to work? And how would this fix the skills issue?

I'm curious.

This is going to be an interesting one to see play out...

RTB I like that post.

I'm in a different situation: kids grown, DM who I used to look after quite a lot is now dead, DH running a business (and surviving cancer).

I work freelance. My basic income is less than minimum wage. I could apply for a supermarket job - which I would be unlikely to get - and even if I took it and appeared on statistics, my income from 'extra' projects will take me into the tax paying realm much much faster than the supermarket job.

I'm not quite sure how I could be 'forced' back into work either.

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