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

Nicola Sturgeon on Sky News last night and just now about COVID-19

We hear nothing from the PM other than 'it'll be ok' whereas Nicola is clear, concise, calm and professional as usual - it seems she is running the response to this!

Nicola is clear, concise, calm and professional

Oh to have someone with those attributes as prime minister. Until the last 2, you'd have thought they were prerequisite skills.

Apparently the USA wants a clause in any trade agreement that it can veto any UK trade agreement with anyone else.

Taking Back Control and all that.

How can the UK sell Scottish Smoked Salmon to the USA after Scotland becomes independent?

- and taken the one sensible political leader with us!

prettybird - do you think Scotland will gain Independence within a few years time?

Not on this subject but I was just reading a post by Dave Allen Green, who said that it's hard to believe but the 5 years since Cameron won a majority with a commitment to the Single Market, is not yet up - and since then we have left the EU.

In a way that gave me some hope - I can't see Johnson lasting. I just wonder how much damage he will do before he is ousted? I could see someone like Julian Smith coming to be a saviour of a reformed Tory party.

TBH I already own two stetson hats so that bit of the trade deal would not be much use either

Peregrina - I honestly don't know but I'd like to hope so . The more that BJ digs his heels in, the more he will increase support for independence. Next year's Holyrood elections will be interesting - although you wonder how many times Indy supporting parties have to win elections for it to be accepted that they have a mandate

Nicola is a savvy and strategic politician and I'm sure has some cards hidden up her sleeve.

Interestingly muted comments on the BBCs reporting of the UK-US positioning ...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-51706802

The silence speaks volumes.

Things just get better:

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/02/29/call-napoleon-iii-part-post-brexit-deal/

First it was the treasures of empire, now it is the emperor himself campaigners want back.

Diplomatic debate has long raged over returning alleged historic plunder like the Elgin Marbles.

A clause covering these supposed imperial spoils has even appeared in negotiations between the UK and EU.

Now French historians have demanded the repatriation of Napoleon III whose remains are in a tomb in a church in Hampshire.

(contd)

Irrespective of the rights and wrongs, if a list of (say) 1,000 of these appears, the UK is in danger of getting bogged down having to deal with every single one on a case-by-case basis. At which point pissing of experts like Mary Beard (and by association Francis Pryor who was quite vocal on Twitter) might not seem quite so clever after all.

Maybe the French should not have sent him into exile then
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Michael%27s_Abbey,_Farnborough

My cat took a bite out of the vet today just so I could place mark on this thread. Little sod.

A clause covering these supposed imperial spoils has even appeared in negotiations between the UK and EU

Not this Torygraph nonsense again.

The clause in the EU brief covers the existing EU directive that currently applies to the UK and doesn't include things removed pre 1993 like, ahem, the Elgin Marbles.

Directive 2014/60/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014:

eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32014L0060&from=PL

It would be nice to think that somewhere, in Rome, a British tourist stood up and took the mike ...

Govey announces a fair, impartial and totally unbiased enquiry into PP at the Home Office, then adds that PP is a brilliant Sec of State doing a great job.

Don't worry, Gromit Lad, everything's under control.

Somewhere in Rome

mashed How's the cat? [saucerofmilkemoji]

Not this Torygraph nonsense again.

Even a stopped clock etc ...

As a self contained story it may be nonsense. In fact my default reading of any UK MSM story starts with "what's the actual truth here ?" anyway.

However, behind the nonsense is the uncomfortable fact that with the UK no longer a member of the EU - with the square root of fuck all ability to influence future EU policy - is highly vulnerable to such a death by a thousand cuts. That's before you get to the real showstoppers like Gibraltar.

Latest word on PP:

The compainant at DWP who PP 'was not aware of' was driven to take an overdose by PP, then paid off on the quiet.

@ListeningQuietly

Surprised EMIs snatch squad have let that stay up so long. One channel I watch had a piece taken down for whistling 7 notes from a Beatles song ...

Latest word on PP:

The compainant at DWP who PP 'was not aware of' was driven to take an overdose by PP, then paid off on the quiet.

Do you have a source? If true, that's truly terrible.

Source was R4 PM just now.

The compainant at DWP who PP 'was not aware of' was driven to take an overdose by PP, then paid off on the quiet.

Do you have a source?

Appears to be a BBC correspondent - but not necessarily Priti Patel doing the bullying though;

Danny Shaw
@DannyShawBBC
Latest on Priti Patel bullying claim from her time at Department for Work & Pensions:
@BBCNews has seen legal letters alleging a female member of her private office took an overdose on the day she was told Ms Patel wanted to remove her from her role...

Danny Shaw
@DannyShawBBC
Replying to
@DannyShawBBC
and
@BBCNews
The woman, who doesn't want to be named, received £25k from DWP after alleging unfair dismissal, victimisation, harassment & discrimination against the department.Other individuals were also named in the complaint; some claims pre-date Ms Patel's time at DWP...

Meanwhile, it seems Sadiq Kahn is excluded from Coronavirus planning.

Clearly things aren't so serious Boris has to stop playing politics ...

Oh, some more:
"Legal correspondence alleges an official told the female staff member Ms Patel wanted to remove her because she "doesn't like your face". MPs were told Priti Patel rejects all bullying allegations against her & has the PM's full support. Cabinet Secretary will investigate."

The official who said; Ms Patel, "doesn't like your face" is clearly a bully.