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.

And another squirrel tailed Siamese.

Re the bbc, my issue is that no fee means that tax payers/the population has lost their voice with what happens. The only stakeholders will be the government, aka a door wide open fur them to use it for propaganda with no counterbalance.

Isn't that a patronising view of society ? That they need to be spoon fed impartial news rather than being able to seek it out themselves ?

Given the law of unintended consequences, is it not possible that making the BBC nakedly and officially partisan simply drives people to other less "approved" sources ? After all, it's not as if there wasn't underground news in the USSR.

And as this thread hints at, no reason why dissent needs to be in English anyway. Why not fuck up all the laws about "offensive" content OFCOM is bludgeoning into place, and switch to another language to conspire in ? I'm sure our Irish and Welsh cousins would have some tips ?

Only recently someone started a thread in Welsh. God (and Google) alone what was being discussed on it ? Who knows, someone might have been expressing some very robust views on gender politics under the noses of the woke brigade . I'd like to think so, anyway.

Maybe someone should start a Brexit thread in French ? Pourquoi pas ? Bien que tu devrais pardonner mon orthographe

(Mind you, one sentence in, and I am floundering. I tried using Google Translate to boost my confidence [in real life I'm very insecure]. And it insists on "tu" but I am sure grammatically - and colloquially - it should be "vous" since I am addressing many of you. I'll have to find some decent French TV to binge on. Whatever happened to "Les Revenants" ?)

Yes, s'étriper is quite commonly used in French. It does mean arguing strongly but it's a bit more humorous than the English translation suggests. Friends can 's'étriper' over something but still be friends iyswim.

There's also the French penchant for puns to keep an eye out for ...

Surely £5k "Learning Accounts" will merely have the effect that the providers of courses will increase their cost by circa £5k per student? Like the Universities did when the "opportunity" to raise tuition fees was given them.

Yes. Government is going to have to address the skills gap. Either by spending a lot of money rebuilding FE, which is in tatters. Or by going hell for leather incentivising employers to provide degree apprenticeships (I think there is some issue over these not taking off because employers can't take full advantage of the levy as it is currently constructed but can't remember exactly what).

Either way, a £5k individual learning account is not going to do it. Despite the journo seeming to think it a hugely radical proposition!

Bring back "Les Revenants" ?

Government is going to have to address the skills gap. Either by spending a lot of money rebuilding FE, which is in tatters. Or by going hell for leather incentivising employers to provide degree apprenticeships (I think there is some issue over these not taking off because employers can't take full advantage of the levy as it is currently constructed but can't remember exactly what).

Or just use immigrants to fill the gaps. Much simpler, cheaper (thus allowing them all to keep that lovely lolly we pay in taxes) and less risky. After all, an educated electorate is one that is more likely not to vote Tory. But if you ship the educated in, they can't vote. Genius.

Now delve into recent history and prove me wrong.

Thanks, chatongris

Also thanks to ToElle & other pp
Typical French trick - baffling us all by talking foreign

I hope the Cabinet hear the less dramatic translation though
so they don't cheerlead themselves into a very hard Brexit

That's a thought, btw 🤔
Having seen the organised ra-ra chanting led by big bolloocks boss BJ,
maybe the next media event will be the cabinet dressed in frilly skirts and waving pom-poms as he lies for England & the Tory party

I would regard the 5k as a further education grant
The grants I received back in the 70s-80s enabled me to go to uni and break out of poverty

However, these 5k grants were proposed for much shorter courses of a few months, mainly for practical skills

So they cost up to 5k now
Eligible courses would only be those that haven't increased costs by more than X amount over the last year say

Sometimes just giving people money directly is the answer, as we do for certain benefits
instead of always giving it to institutions where it too often disappears

No it's far from a perfect suggestion, but it's a starting point and it could help some people a lot
Quite a few people - even see some MN threads - are unable to do specific courses they want to retrain, just because they can't afford to

Even if billions were spent building up colleges of further education, people would still need grants / fees paid i.e. the 5k

Placemark - I haven't been on these threads for a long time but have been lurking when I had the time.

On the BBC license - is it true Murdoch is looking to start a new TV channel fox news ? That said, I can't remember what it was about, it was ages ago and massive, but fox news and sky were much more reliable in their reporting than BBC. I think it was one of the terror attacks? I wish I could remember! That said again, I do know that it is heavily weighted toward trump on a day to day basis. It was only because it was something worldwide that was being reported.

I think we can safely ignore the "£5k" shiny squirrel. Otherwise we are in danger of a classic "Would I Lie To You" mistake of giving the opposition more ideas to dazzle us with .

We wanna get loaded !

No 10 refuses to comment on PM's views of racial IQ

With Labour so useless, this is the kind of thing we'll have to put up with for the next 5/10/20/ ? years:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/feb/17/no-10-refuses-to-comment-on-pms-views-of-racial-iq

Move comes after hiring of new adviser who said black people have lower average IQs

Move comes after hiring of new adviser who said black people have lower average IQs

It's like Richard Nixon was in the room ....

DG It's one of those shiny ideas that would get a lot of publicity and support
which of course is the idea
and it diverts attention from the elecphant in the room : Brexit

I was even speculating it could be developed into something like the council house sell-off, which bought the Tories maybe a million loyal supporters for decades now

They will be looking for another winning gimmick like that, paid for by public money of course

Don't ask what use it is for the country, only what it does for the party

It's pretty telling about Trump that those of us who remember Nixon are quite nostalgic for Tricky Dicky

DG It's one of those shiny ideas that would get a lot of publicity and support which of course is the idea and it diverts attention from the elecphant in the room : Brexit

Of course the small print is a budget elsewhere will be trimmed to pay for it. Remember the "boost" to police spending which it turned out was actually expected to come from efficiency savings ?

PMK

So we are days into a new cabinet and a few months from leaving the EU and the main topics of conversation for this government - Economy? Trade deals? Future relationship with the EU? How to help businesses prepare? No they talking about the scrapping the BBC in its current form and Eugenics. I knew it would be bad but this is just another level.

Re: the skills bursary thing.

Even if it comes about, I imagine it will be destined for private education providers in the main. Further education colleges won't be undergoing a renaissance any time soon.

Westministenders is often an educational experience
Oh wise Westministenders, can you explain this natural phenomenon:

I'm just admiring a stunning pink & grey sunset over the Rhine
Haven't seen this before in the 2 years I've lived here - I wonder why it happened

^I'm just admiring a stunning pink & grey sunset over the Rhine
Haven't seen this before in the 2 years I've lived here - I wonder why it happened^

Dust in the air ? Has the Sahara been blowy again ?

Re: the skills bursary thing. [] Even if it comes about

It won't

I imagine it will be destined for private education providers in the main. Further education colleges won't be undergoing a renaissance any time soon.

I don't know ... there's still scope for a lot of people to learn how to spell (and say) "hegemony" ...

Further education colleges won't be undergoing a renaissance any time soon.

No, they won't, which was rather my point.

That said, government is in a bind. FoM, for all its benefits, has meant employers were able to skimp on training. FoM was regarded as immigration by Leave voters. Government has to get immigration down to keep its electoral coalition going. No points-based system is going to get the numbers down without some upskilling. £5k learning accounts is a grain of sand in a dune.

I think it will be interesting to see what way the Tories will jump, how much fighting they do over it, and how it goes down with their new voters.

Government has to get immigration down to keep its electoral coalition going.

Why ?

The truth hasn't been told about immigration for years for a start.

Even if there were to be an election tomorrow (there won't) it's unlikely much would change. There is very little jeopardy for the government at the moment as we can see. They could appoint Myra Hindley and Harold Shipman as special advisors, and still beat Labour hands down.

Government has to get immigration down to keep its electoral coalition going.

I thought keeping new (profitable) immigration down isn't the only issue with the new Tory converts. Surely its reversing empire legacy migration is the real issue?

I suppose as were going into a borrow and spend chapter the gov could offer lucrative relocation packages...to everyone. Visa's permitting from the host country of course.