Westminstenders: Political vacuums are very bad things

[RedToothBrush]

Johnson has been notible (once again) but his absence.

Whilst we appreciate he has been ill and has a new baby, we are in the midst of a national crisis and a sense of leadership and guidance from our prime minister has been lacking.

And its not gone unnoticed.

Not just by the press. And not just by opposition. Nor NHS and care managers. But on the ground where it matters.

The lack of the sense of seriousness has dissipated. The sense of duty to country to behave. The idea that it will some how be all over this week when it doesn't appear to be the government strategy. The total lack of policy for a week whilst it's become clear bit by bit that these things have been under discussion and decided upon prior to the supposed key meeting on Thursday from the announcements from the regional assemblies. All in favour of a TV stunt tomorrow night.

Let's see how that goes.

The grandstanding isn't a substitute for detail and substance in a crisis. And we still have the looming show down at the end of June over extension of transition. More optics. More lack of practicality at a time when things will really be on the brink.

The next month will be telling and we hit the wall of economic reality which will bring the whole world crashing in on the lives of so many people.

This is the calm before the storm. Enough the sunshine. Enjoy the time with families. Before this is over everything will have changed for so many.

This is just the start of things unravelling and it needs someone to take control and draw up solid blueprints for all our futures. Is a man who is so frequently awol from where he is supposed to be and doesn't take commitments and responsibilities seriously, really the man for that?

Churchill had a vision for the country that cited housing as our second social service, the NHS being our first.

Will Johnson manage to some how forge out so grand new venture which gives the resource and rewards it deserves to the NHS (beyond lipservice and empty platitudes and clapping, that recognises the importance of social care and can stop the almost inevitable coming wave of homelessness and unemployment

And can he do it without selling us off as a basement bargain to the us?

and the Soviet armed forces were fucking huge

and equally significantly BigChoc the Soviet Union was huge. It could move its factories out of harms way and in attacking it the German armies supply lines were stretched beyond their limits. Even the most technically advanced army in the world rapidly becomes ineffective if its personnel have too little to eat or too few bullets.

but the USA militarised v quickly and became a military superpower during WW2

And remained so because they twigged that they couldn't trust the British to run a whelk stall, much less an Empire. Fool me once etc.

and the Soviet armed forces were fucking huge

I think they forgot to tell Finland.

Anyway, speaking of American Imperialism and exceptionalism (they certainly learned from the masters here), I notice slipping through the news that an International Arrest Warrant has been issued for Anne Sacoolas ..

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/anne-sacoolas-wanted-interpol-red-notice-harry-dunn-death-a9508886.html

Which won't mean much if she stays in the US. But you have to wonder that such a restriction on her movements will translate well for her career, or her family. I'm guessing trips to Canada might be awkward ?

I wonder if he's considered Morecambe Bay?

Probably not - his constituency is on the English-Welsh border and Morecambe Bay is about 130 miles away.

"One example, he said, was the conflicting messages between the Westminster and Welsh governments on whether one could go to the beach."

"The Prime Minister has told us we can go to the beach now, but we are then told we can't go to any of our closest beaches because they are in Wales, and the Welsh Government doesn't want us to come," he said.

"There are some golf courses in Shropshire which are half in Wales and half in England, and we need a cohesive policy which covers the whole of the country. At a time of national crisis, people expect to hear a single, united voice."

"Mr Kawczynski said there were other areas, such as transport and health, where the divergence of policy caused problems for border communities."

"I'm happy with the Prime Minister's statement, but worried what the Welsh Assembly is doing to cohesion of Britain," he said.

"Their undermining of the PM at a time of crisis will I hope start a debate in Wales over the longer term as to whether or not to continue with this expensive and unnecessary body."

"Mr Kawczynski said he had spoken to many people in Wales who would also like to see the Welsh Assembly abolished, and said the time had come for the people of Wales to have another vote."

"We had a referendum 23 years ago, and Tony Blair forced it through on a majority of 0.6 per cent," he said. "It is right that we should review these things periodically, and I would like to see my friends in Wales given the chance to have their say in another referendum."

"Mr Kawczynski said he had been told by doctors that the devolved health services were having a negative impact on Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, as it was underfunding patients from Wales who used the hospital."

www.shropshirestar.com/news/politics/2020/05/12/we-cant-go-to-the-beach-mp-says-welsh-government-is-undermining-coronavirus-message/

"We had a referendum 23 years ago, and Tony Blair forced it through on a majority of 0.6 per cent," he said.

Oh the fucking brass neck of the man.

but at least he can tell us what he believes the correct majority should be for implementing referendums. Clearly 0.6% is "too small".

Also 23 years appears to be the shelf life of a referendum result. (Quietly makes note in calendar for 2039).

Oh the fucking brass neck of the man.

One more factor (among many) I think is often overlooked in assessing the vital help European nations (particularly Britain) received from the USA in continuing the fight...

American industrial capacity was not only huge to start with, but it could run unimpeeded throught the war because the United States wasn’t being bombed.

Good point about USA industrial capacity , louise

This is why most of Germany's neighbours really don't want them to have a strong military again, even in NATO

The original purpose of NATO was, in Ernie Bevan's words, To keep the Americans In, The Russians Out, and the Germans Down.

Rearmament of West Germany was a belated response to the massive Soviet garrison in Eastern Europe, which was a response to the US Atom Bomb.

Regards British military might, Bismarck had it about right:

Deutschland ist eine Wasserratte. England ist eine Landratte.

He also said that if the British army ever landed on the continent, he would send the Berlin Police to arrest it.

Deutschland ist eine Landratte. England ist Wasserrate.

Of couse I meant

Many USA workers have felt increasingly angry and betrayed for several years,
because their standard of living isn't rocketing ahead as happened in the first post-war decades

That's been a big factor in getting extreme rightwing wingnut Republicans elected there
and of course Trump - promising to "fix" it.

However, after WW2, the USA was the only remaining power that hadn't been at some stage conquered, occupied, bombed and nearly bankrupted

They had no effective rivals for decades, a headstart in industrial development,
until those other countries finally got back on their feet and started to again become economic powers themselves, although no longer empires.

No US leader can reproduce those circumstances to return the USA to such dominance.
... but the US voters may continue to elect crooks and nutters in their wish to bring back the American Dream decades.

😂 Mockers

Considering we were a mere “Wasserrate” the British did manage to keep their army in Germany for quite a long while 25,000 of them still there as late as 1994 seemingly.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Army_of_the_Rhine

The Special Relationship of WW2 and beyond was very generous in both directions. The total gross UK transfer to USA in 1939-45 amounted to twenty four billion dollars. In addition to this cash, gold and other assets, the USA received masses of technological aid in the way of jet engines, cavity magnetrons and the sum of all UK nuclear research including the work of Frisch and Peierls without which there would have been no US atom bomb.

(Not forgetting that without Klaus Fuchs and other British traitors, there would have been no Soviet bomb either.)

Postwar, the irony is that wholesale nationalisation and the creation of the NHS was financed entirely by American loans and grants, much of whch was repaid by means of the Sterling Area, a scam whereby the peoples of Africa, Asia and the Carribbean were obliged to sell all their produce to the UK for non-convertible £s, in order that the mother country could then sell the lot on for Dollars.

The resulting recession in the West Indies led many men to seek work overseas, and with the racist McCarran act blocking their entry to the USA, they hopped on the Empire Windrush.

American industrial capacity was not only huge to start with, but it could run unimpeeded throught the war because the United States wasn’t being bombed.

They were also lucky enough to have managers that weren't hidebound by having to appoint "chaps" but who were installed on merit. It's lucky for Britain that whilst we had a ludicrously rigid class structure that choked efficiency, the Germans cronyism (and insistence on no "Jewish" innovations like production lines) put them at a greater disadvantage.

In terms of the science, the US was helped enormously by Britain simply giving it our entire military research output for free early on in the war. But it's hard to feel to aggrieved, as Britain seems to be spectacularly shit at actually doing anything with it's expertise. As we are currently witnessing. We are the only country in the world to have developed orbital capability only to never use it.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prospero_(satellite)

Mockers thanks for that last post. Loads for me to go away and look into from that.

I’m not sure what choice other than nationalisation could have been made in Britain with so much of her infrastructure so damaged. The rail companies, for example had basically ceased to operate like companies i think during wartime anyway. Also, though they were huge concerns by today’s standards, they were short of money and the infrastructure they relied upon to run a service was in an a parlours state.

Whatever the advantages and shortcommings of BR as they became, I’m not sure any government could have chosen differently than to nationalise in that situation.

Deutschland ist eine Landratte. England ist Wasserrate

History would tend to support him ...

He also said that if the British army ever landed on the continent, he would send the Berlin Police to arrest it.

And they say Germans don't have a sense of humour ?

Germans haff eine sense of Humour.

The England fans chant, "Two World Wars and One World Cup," and the Germans reply, in perfect English, "No World Wars and Six World Cups..."

Depends how far you go back I suppose DGR

Personally, I’d say Britian’s 5 decade long contribution to defending our Western European neighbours from communism/the USSR should be a source of pride. Do you agree? 😊

However, after WW2, the USA was the only remaining power that hadn't been at some stage conquered, occupied, bombed and nearly bankrupted

The USA made a profit on WW2. And knew it was going to before going in (I am sure there is another forum for people to argue that's the only reason the US entered the war).

Personally, I’d say Britian’s 5 decade long contribution to defending our Western European neighbours from communism/the USSR should be a source of pride. Do you agree?

I agree we can be proud of being something bigger than us.

Haha I missed the picture DGR 😂😂 it didn’t load when I read you last post.

Nice try from them on the “tank” but.....well for a start, for a European theatre, it’s definitely the wrong colour 😂😂. Unless it just needs to sit on the sand at Bournemouth I suppose?

And some of the credit for the German Wirtschaftswunder (double-checked that one) goes to the British occupiers. The joke about the occupation was: The Americans got the Scenery. The French got the Wine. The British got the Industry. And the Russians thought they had Berlin.

THe UK decided the BRD would benefit from a stringly devoloved federal written constitution with statutory tripartism in industry with workers councils and board representation, very much a case of do as I say and not as I do. VW Beetle production was re-started to give the British something to drive around in, and you wouldn't want some god-awful Wolsey or Riley or some such.

Bog Standard was originally BoG standard, British or German, meaning excellence rather than mediocrity.

Bog Standard was originally BoG standard, British or German, meaning excellence rather than mediocrity.

Or "box standard" from a meccano set (with "Box deluxe" being mangled into "dogs bollocks" ? )

Fascinating stuff about WW2. May I commend this to you about the

invasion of Germany in 1939?