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.

Let us hope that Johnson listens to his new Red Wall voters.

TL;DR the UK didn't know what Brexit meant then. And still doesn't now.

Johnson lead a call and response and the cabinet duly chanted back to him - 'how many hospitals are we going to build' '40' etc.

Worse, people in the cabinet must know those numbers are false.

Worse, people in the cabinet must know those numbers are false.

And when the hospitals don't get built and the nurses don't appear - how many of these parroting this nonsense will swear black is white that they never said this?

Here is that cringeworthy video of the cabinet.

Cabinet dutifully chant Boris Johnson's dodgy election slogans at first meeting

There must be some self-respecting cabinet members who feel uncomfortable with this. I hope.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/cabinet-dutifully-chant-boris-johnsons-21496849.amp

Kim Jong Un would be proud.

Morning all. I was hoping Brexit would be less depressing than coronavirus, but no...

In other news, Grant Shapps says Cabinet does not know when or if there will be a Budget.

(Possibly Cabinet does know, but they've decided not to tell Shapps because he's an annoying little prick.)

In other news, Grant Shapps says Cabinet does not know when or if there will be a Budget.

I was told yesterday there has to be one by April 5th. I responded by saying with his big bold majority, Boris can just pass a law saying otherwise. And then pass laws to address whatever the fall out of not having a budget would be.

Tanking sterling seems to be harder work than they imagined. Presumably a lot of money men are hoping this shower will be gone before too long.

Presumably no budget means all benefit payments cease automatically ? That'll be fun. (Goes off to buy shares in bailiffs and cardboard suppliers).

Income Taxes have to be imposed annually, but there would be nothing to say that they can't pass a law to say ' carry on as last year'. Let's hope that they are shown up as complete financial incompetents.

But still, we do have to be careful what we wish for.

Income Taxes have to be imposed annually, but there would be nothing to say that they can't pass a law to say ' carry on as last year'.

The problem with that, is knowing exactly what "last year"s budget provided for. Such a law could introduce untold ambiguities into the process. With companies (and wealthier individuals) taking HMRC to court if they get it wrong. Obviously retrospective legislation is now the norm, so a simple bill saying "get fucked" would stop such fripperies, albeit at the expense of any reputation for fiscal probity that would be needed as leverage in trade deals.

Let's hope that they are shown up as complete financial incompetents.

As the saying goes, never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence ....

I was hoping Brexit would be less depressing than coronavirus, but no...

TBH I'm personally emotionally relaxed, in a fatalistic and inevitable sense, about COVID-19 (this doesn't mean I think it's not concerning, in fact rather the reverse).

But meanwhile, we could apply Brexiteer logic to COVID-19:

🔹As long as the entire species isn't wiped out/ the earth continues to spin on its axis/ the planet isn't consumed by fire as the Sun goes red giant 👉 nothing to be concerned about!

🔹Look at something worse e.g. bubonic plague or smallpox, or somewhere worse, e.g. the planet Venus or the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* 👉 squirrel which means our current predicament is somehow fiiiiiiiiiine!

🔹If there is anything which might be concerning, or hard to deflect with a bombardment of squirrels, then blame it on anybody who suggested that COVID-19 might not be entirely a barrel of laughs 👉 the thoughtcrime of emoting negatively/ talking disease down/ not having faith in the power of positivity.

pmk

I wonder which of the nodding dogs around Johnson's Cabinet will be the first to stab him in the back? Govey must be a Prime Candidate.

Thanks, red 💐

The chanting was pathetic - Cabinet ministers anxious / proud they'd got the right slogan
I was pinching myself that it wasn't a spoof

... but BJ hadn't been PM for long before I ran out of eyerolls and had to chase my eyeballs down the road 👀

Given that the nodding dogs Cabinet parroted (to mix metaphors ) the pledge to recruit 50,000 new nurses, can we hold them to that?

(Which is up on what they said during the election campaign, which was 39,000 new nurses and retaining 11,000 existing nurses )

All seems a bit fantasy football to me.

re the BBC:
I bitterly resented the licence fee for decades, even back when the BBC really was a towering giant
It was never an issue of politics for me, just the principle of being forced to pay an unfair flat tax when I was poor.
Being so poor that the licence fee hurts is not a new thing at all

However, the much-vaunted BBC independence was only possible when government allowed it:

Tory PMs like McMillan, Douglas-Home, Heath never tried to encroach - even the Thatcher govt was not a serious threat

The right no longer play by the rules of the past; they use all the power they have
No gentlemen's agreements
If they hold the BBC pursestrings, whether licence fee or tax, then they will increasingly use those strings to make the BBC their puppet, their bitch.

Labour seem to have decided on Opposition for the next 20 years or so
Try to imagine what the BBC would be like then, considering how much it has deteriorated over the past few years, at an ever-increasing rate

I'd actually be relieved if the BBC is no longer publicly financed ....
because if you're afraid of Fox News rising up, imagine how much more powerful a government version of that would be - and that's what the BBC would be turned into.

I've read that in practice Canada has only been able to export a few % of its allowed quota to the EU
.... because of the stringent EU rules & checks it has to satisfy
It's not worth it or practical for most Canadian exporters e.g. meat exporters

CETA really isn't what we need for by far our largest trading partner
and since we are right next door to the EU and a much larger trading partner, they won't take the much greater risk of letting goods in from a competitor advantaged by a NON-Level Playing Field

PMK
I just wish we had an opposition leader .... only 6 more weeks to go

I just wish we had an opposition leader .... only 6 more weeks to go

Be careful what you wish for ...

I can't see Labour providing any credible opposition for the foreseeable future.

Any credible opposition has to really be concentrated on England, in my humble opinion. Scotland and Wales are lost to Labour.

Early PMK for once. It’s very depressing isn’t it. There’s so many crazy things coming out of government these days that only a few years ago would have each sunk the government or at least the minister responsible. Guess that’s the point though - confuse people who are paying attention, rely on everyone else not paying attention.

Brexit: Britain and EU 'will rip each other apart' in trade talks

French govt seems to be ramping up the tension
Several other EU govts supporting their tough line on fishing

• I thought it was a v small % of the economy for both EU & UK, but seems a very sensitive one

German govt staying quiet so far

www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/feb/16/brexit-britain-and-eu-will-rip-each-other-apart-in-trade-talks

Brexit: Britain and EU 'will rip each other apart' in trade talks

Not really what harm the UK will do to the EU ? Interesting use of language there.

Speaking of which, if anyone wants to watch something worthwhile on the BBC, Frankie Boyles Tour of Scotland might be worth your time. BBC iPlayer.

The way Labour are going, I wouldn't be surprised if we have Tory govts for the next 20 years

On that AIBU thread, some Labour posters were rejoicing that GC feminists were being kicked out and were telling GC voters they are not wanted

How many lost voters would be won back by going hardcore TRA ?

Then there are all those denying the misogyny and anti-semitism in the Labour party
The snootiness of people like Thornberry - at least thankfully out of the leadership contest
Labour don't seem to want to change those things that repel many voters

All that will definitely change is the toxic leader.
Starmer at least is intelligent and capable, but is he prepared to tackle the toxic parts of Labour ?

Even if he is, think how long it took to make Labour electable after 1983

• it was 18 years in the wilderness

and imo Labour then were nowhere near as toxic and had a much higher quality of politicians for the leadership & Shadow Cabinet