Westministenders: Crisis, which crisis ?

[BigChocFrenzy]

Main crises facing the government:

. Negotiating a Brexit deal with the EU
. Coronoavirus
. Floods
. Allegations of some ministers - and Cummings - bullying civil servants
. More trouble threatened from Turkey / Syria

Unfortunately with all these parallel crises, we have a workshy lying arse as PM
and the worst collection yet of incompetents in Cabinet
who seem to have decided on a strategy of bullying their civil servants to avoid hearing any facts that don't fit with current Tory party ideology

Woody Allen called one of his early collections of short prose sketches 'Without Feathers'.

(looks at bookshelf where it sits ...)

And it's very good too. Although it's not really on to say so these days.

Incidentally, if one wants a less tainted version of Woody Allen, Rich Halls books are not that different (and very, very funny).

Sorry, shouldn't the Govt let Flybe go bust? Don't they believe in the free market and the survival of the fittest? They do when it comes to individuals. If we had a Labour Government then we might expect intervention.

Do read this with tongue in cheek.

And it's very good too. Although it's not really on to say so these days

Traded my old paperback in for a PDF version. Guilty pleasure...

It's probably a trope, but there is a story of an army besieging a monastery which resisted for months. Eventually a monk turned traitor, snuck out and let the army in to take the fort under promise of being made the abbot.

The invading general obliged, and then hanged him out of disgust for this treachery, while sparing the rest of the monks out of respect for their defiance - believing they would be slaughtered for it.

I may have heard it somewhere in Norfolk.

Traded my old paperback in for a PDF version. Guilty pleasure...

PDF books are an abomination in the eyes of God. Quite aside from betraying their ... shady origins, they simply don't work.

I have Without Feathers, Getting Even and Side Effects in ePub and mobi format. (I use Calibre to manage my enormous e-library).

Rich Halls books are not that different (and very, very funny).

Sounds good, hadn't heard of him but will go exploring.

Oh, wait - are we talking "very, very funny" compared with pre- or post-Hollywood Ending? 😉

I could never get on with Calibre but you're right about PDF, no argument here. I guess making it harder to enjoy is part of my self-flagellation for even letting his name cross my mind these days...

When I was kidnapped as a child my parents sprang into action. They rented out my room.

tobee 😂
Where's that quote from ?

Love that line, @tobee. Except - sorry to be pedantic! - I have a feeling it was "snapped into action".

Thanks for the link, DGR, need to wait until hometime to watch it :)

Flybe has told the government that it is running out of cash and will not survive until the end of the month

Flybe covers some important links to the CI, IOM, NI etc so I agreed with the last bail-out.

But it's owned by well off companies. They need to put their hands in their pockets and stop trying to effectively blackmail the government.

It's also a heaven-sent opportunity to extend transition without admitting failure, citing force majeure

Despite what the UK law currently says, this is possible. Two cases of CV19 at the EU - if talks can't happen, we obviously can't agree any kind of trade deal. I don't think just letting the country crash out of transition when the economy is already damaged from CV 19 would be politically acceptable to a lot of Tory MPs, even if they agreed with leaving the EU.

Or maybe I am just clutching at straws...

Yeah it was from Woody Allen stand up. And yes it is wrongly quoted. I googled after. I was in two minds posting it so didn't. Which was dumb.

Love The Moose too. And the Ballet segment in either Without Feathers or Getting Even I believe.

Always crap to misquote something like that because the choice of words are the best bit!

I saw a clip of our esteemed leader of the opposition talking about COVID
I do wish he's just go away NOW
and allow a Labour leader who will make the government answer important questions

and have the LibDems actually ceased to exist?

Since the CI and IoM are tax havens, perhaps FlyBe could ask the wealthy residents there to crowd fund a bail out for them.

It's also a heaven-sent opportunity to extend transition without admitting failure, citing force majeure

it's also a heaven sent opportunity to smash headlong into a no deal crash out with nobody to blame. And given the current direction of travel, that is what I suspect will happen.

Like the BBC, big business is finally being punished for it's complicity in getting these psychopaths into power. People like Cummings see big business as the problem, not the solution. You can't rebuild a society unless it's been broken first. Ask Stalin. Or Lenin. Or Trotsky. Or Hitler. Or Napoleon. Or Danton. Or Robespierre. They may not be around in person. But their thoughts (and sadly deeds) are.

Being cynical here but has the Coronavirus come too soon for the government? Coz if we crash out no deal end of the year will they still be able to say it's all Corona related? I mean, they'll try but....

Didn't all those people come to a sticky end DGR? Well perhaps not Stalin, but if you saw the film 'Death of Stalin' they could have saved him if they hadn't been afraid to enter his room.

Didn't all those people come to a sticky end DGR?

never underestimate the arrogance of megalomania. Remember, they are more special than the losers that came before. They won't be so stupid. Etc etc.

it's a little akin to the sheer vanity of women who go after an absolute bastard believing "I can change him ..."

Either way, unless someone can convince me to the contrary, that's where we are headed. Mr. Cummings - aided by Boris - is just going to break everything he can. Farming. Industry. NHS. Politics (job done), Civil Service, Judiciary. If Brexit was the Nacht, then COVID is the Nebel. (Swerves Godwin, but only just )

Being cynical here but has the Coronavirus come too soon for the government? Coz if we crash out no deal end of the year will they still be able to say it's all Corona related? I mean, they'll try but....

Surely, if being on MN tells us nothing else, it's that the government could be eating babies and throwing the bones out of the window and there would be enough people to say "But at least we didn't get Corbyn ..."

True.

But I was thinking more economy tanking. Which doesn't mean the dead baby etc analogy doesn't hold true.

"has the Coronavirus come too soon for the government?"

With 12-18 months before a vaccine, we may be going through this again next winter evn if cases drop rapidly in summer, as predicted