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

I haven’t posted in these threads for ages but my blood is boiling this morning:

www.theguardian.com/books/2020/mar/01/british-museum-put-mary-beard-on-the-board-despite-downing-st-veto

Mary Beard blocked by Downing St for being a Remainer.

(Coming soon - the same deal for judicial appointments. Big Brother is watching your SM).

Sadly there is nothing new in this. Cameron tried to block Tanni-Grey Thompson from a role with the Sports Council because she had criticisd his PIP assesment regime.

It's not so much people in power having thin skins - that's as old as the hills. It's more that they have given themselves the levers to excise criticism. If people like "slippery slope" stories - that's how one starts.

Still, if Boris is a Caesar for our times, it's worth reflecting how that ended for Caesar ....

Here's 23 minutes some might enjoy

Hypothetical questions:
1> If you were a possibly recently retired Doctor or Nurse, how much would you expect to be paid to return to the NHS?
Remember that it will cause problems with your existing pension and tax code...you might also want "danger money".
Any chance of the Govt coughing up??
2> Would you really want to?

1> If you were a possibly recently retired Doctor or Nurse, how much would you expect to be paid to return to the NHS?

I wonder if any of the healthcare professionals who have returned to the EU feel any urge to return ?

Dashing in during a break in gardening.
Sunshine is making me feel much better (and kills Corona viruses)
I can heartily recommend

A dog is suspected of having the virus and has been undergoing tests in China
I hope cats are not in danger too, our Westministenders' masters

A sense of duty would bring back some of the recently retired

However, how long before their knowledge of procedures etc is a bit rusty ?

Developer paid Boris Johnson’s aide Sir Edward Lister £480,000

Sense of duty in contrast to this:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/developer-paid-boris-johnsons-aide-sir-edward-lister-480-000-9sp3prv3q

Boris Johnson’s chief adviser has been accused of a possible conflict of interest over payments of nearly half a million pounds he received from a luxury property developer,
The Times can reveal.

Sir Edward Lister, the prime minister’s chief strategic adviser in Downing Street,
was paid the six-figure sum by the Malaysian property company EcoWorld between 2016 and 2019

while he was also chairman of Homes England, a government body that funds affordable housing projects.

Despite Sir Edward’s role at the quango,
just 7 per cent of EcoWorld’s UK properties were classified as affordable,
according to its latest annual report.

A dog is suspected of having the virus and has been undergoing tests in China

There have already been stories coming out of the Middle Kingdom that would upset animal lovers (if that was in any way more possible ...)

That adviser is rechurning the claims of Prof Minford, the Brexiters economist,
that although Brexit would probably end UK mass farming (along with mass manufacturing)
it would be worth it

Even more outrageous though was Leuing's earlier idea:

Tim Leuing most controversial policy idea – until today – was to pull all Government support from 'failed' Northern cities and encourage the inhabitants to migrate South
🤯

I wonder if that idea will be psuhed forward if the Tories lose support in their new Blue Wall.

We've already seen that a big factor in winning such seats was that many of the young have already moved out

Tim Leuing most controversial policy idea – until today – was to pull all Government support from 'failed' Northern cities and encourage the inhabitants to migrate South

Anyone else agree (or argue) with me that the North/South divide goes back to pre-Norman times, when the North was markedly more Norse than the South ? Yorkshires unique dialect and genetics being exhibit A ?

Yes agree about that DGR - still evident in the use of language.

I agree, I'd also include Cornwall and N Wales.

Yes agree about that DGR - still evident in the use of language.

And the political legacy ... whereas Toryism is nationwide, the socialist movement seemed to have two distinct flavours - the intellectual elite of the London set, and the industrially exploited northern labour force, and we can see which of those two expressions finally won the keys to the - admittedly empty and decrepit - castle.

If anyone wants a topic to argue over with, there's always speculation about how December 12th would have turned out if it had occurred in the middle of this COVID flap ...

I agree, I'd also include Cornwall and N Wales.

I wouldn't. They may count as distinct regions, but not because they were settled by Vikings ...

No, I wouldn't include Cornwall or N Wales either. Separate countries! Not that the southern English Tories realise this.

Is northern Toryism the same as southern Toryism? A genuine question.

Is northern Toryism the same as southern Toryism? A genuine question.

(whispers) they think they are ...

No, I wouldn't include Cornwall or N Wales either. Separate countries!

Much as they like to play the Kernow card, Cornwall wouldn't last 5 minutes as a separate country. Autonomous region, maybe, with England doing the heavy lifting on things like admin and infrastructure. But as a truly "just like Scotland" country ? I'd need some very serious convincing. With more than flags.

Many, many years ago, there was an excellent (and therefore never repeated) series on BBC, which made the point as as the Romans invaded Britain from the East, the native - Celtic - people migrated West. Which explains Ireland, Wales and Cornwall. There's a scene in the series where a Breton visits Cornwall for his holidays as he can converse quite happily with the locals in Breton/Cornish.

People whose lives are empty and in need of even more media might also like another BBC series that was on around that time about the English Language. Again, courtesy of the YouTubes ...

Late PMK due to being away. Thanks, BCF

Is northern Toryism the same as southern Toryism? A genuine question.

Similar but not quite the same.

Plenty of southerner who have moved north who I would say are culturally slightly different to northern tories.

There are southern tories I've come across who view the North as dangerous and wouldn't visit it even if it was a gated community separate from the rest of the North. There is a weird snobbery going on.

There are northern tories who are much more about community and 'the olden days' nostalgia to a degree which I think is different to southern tories.

I think part of it is to do with different part of the country and whether they've had much experience / contact with elected Labour representatives. The mentality in places which have v places which haven't is different. And that's related to historical levels of affluence and class.

Ah the Dunwich argument
I subscribe to the Economist and between 2010 and 2015 they were firmly of the view that dying towns should be allowed to die and the people effectively forced to move from home to where the jobs might be.
The Economist had the grace after Brexit and Trump and AfD and 5star to admit that taking place away from people was utter bullshit

sadly Cummings is still hiring people who are so last decade

.

What are the chances of someone in the Home Office having audio or video on their phone of PP going ape at her civil servants?🤞

I'm Priti sure someone has her on tape, but to play it would reveal their identity and leave them open to discipline.

....Unless this evidence could be given confidentially to some sort of employment tribubal.