Westminstenders: Magical Thinking

[RedToothBrush]

This week has seen reports of the government editing footage of Johnson to avoid embarrassing questions about the early government response.

We've been asked to accept that the rules were different to what we were told to excuse the law breaking behaviour of a senior government advisor. As Johnson said he was being a responsible father (as if Johnson knows what this is) and it wasn't as if he was visiting a lover (this Johnson would know all about). Let's be honest Johnson is the master of brazening out controversy.

We also have the ERG complaining they were lied to by Gove about the new Withdrawal Agreement and the border in the Irish Sea which surprises precisely no one else.

They appear to be a little upset by the Cummings debarkable too.

Did nobody notice that one of the first jobs to be freed from lockdown was domestic cleaners? You can only meet one loved one outside the home but as long as long as they wear a mask and keep a suitable distance away you can have a stranger come into your home, possibly after travelling on public transport, leaving their viral load all over your surfaces.....

You could make comment that the Tory matrons are appeased but it is a huge issue around the world, even more so in societies even more patriarchal than the U.K., that domestic help is what enables women to work, not men sharing the load. And so working women have had that work, which they are useless at, replace the work they are skilled in. I predict many relationships will crack after lockdown as a result of realising that partners would not step up to help.

And where the domestic help lives in the home, and abuse of domestic helpers is culturally acceptable, then the issue of domestic abuse being exacerbated by lockdown must be huge worldwide.

Re: that Mail poll. I’m curious about the 8% of voters that think the eyesight story is true.

Have we found the portion of society who will literally believe anything?

I see your point @Emilyontmoor.

It would have gone down a bit better if you exhibited more sympathy for the cleaner’s exposure to the virus whilst in a stranger’s home, or on public transport. The virus is detectable for long time in feces for example, so cleaning other people’s toilets wouldn’t be top of my “safe list” of activities at the moment.

Jessica totally agree, I was actually thinking from the point of view of the Tory matrons who presumably lobbied successfully for this. I think it is totally ridiculous. I am in London so most cleaners will have to travel by public transport, and most will also be part of the black economy / self employed so if they do not have considerate employer(s) will be under huge pressure. Many people I know have paid their cleaners through lockdown and are not asking them to come back but I doubt that is the norm 😟

Personally I start at the principal that no way is it worth risking public transport to clean my house......

Squid
The lovely Cendrillon is on some of the Cummings threads

"Dim and Dom" starting to trend on Twitter. NZ started it with "The Dim and Dom Show." So proud to be British.

So proud to be British

There are advantages to a "furrin" surname sometimes.

DrBlackbird Unfortunately, class actions against a govt haven't much chance in the UK
e.g. They haven't done much for families of those killed by benefits sanctions

Also, it would take a huge GoFundMe for the legal fees - probably too long & expensive for any lawyer to take it on pro bono

.

and Dominic Cummings’ Deezer playlist ..

I notice Twitter are slapping a "fact check" on Trumps account (finally).

www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/05/26/trump-twitter-label-fact-check/

Be interesting if they decide HMG should also be subject to some fact (or indeed reality) checking

This poll for the Fail looks at the views of Conservative voters âfter Cummings' statement- went down like a dish of cold puke:

J.L. Partners**@JLPartnersPolls

J.L. Partners conducted a nationally representative poll of 1,038 GB adults for @DailyMailUK on 26/05.
All fieldwork took place after Dominic Cummings’ statement and this morning’s headlines.

Full @DailyMailUK graphic and data tables here: https://jlpartners.co.uk/polling-results

One final comment this evening on my firm's new poll.

This is the most consistently one-sided political topic I have ever ran a poll on.
I expected nuance, there was no nuance.
Public completely united in their views

Meanwhile, I hate to even type it, but I'm kinda with Donald on this one.

What??? If someone can have their ballot influenced at their kitchen table, they can have it influenced at the polling station.

If there's even one in their neighbourhood. If they can get there. And wait in line for hours without losing their job.

Trump will change his tune when he finds that the postal ballots favour the Republicans.

Takes one to know one DGR re Trump/votes

I so relieved that people in my friend circle finally understand why I have been so upset about Cummings. More people now see that this unelected "nobody" has actually weaseled his way into the most powerful job in the country. A lot of people are wondering who they voted for and his blog posts have been quite eye opening for those who brushed him off when I talked about him before.

I have no idea what Bozo would do without him though so I am sure he won't be off. They have 4 years to cobble together whatever they like as far as they are concerned; he has a majority. They'll ride this out and hope people forget before election day.

There are plenty of (primarily) Tories who see that as a win, and are busy dreaming up ways to keep it that way. Probably one of the contentions around lifting lockdown.
Do you have any examples to share? Of the people who are trying to keep it that way.

What??? If someone can have their ballot influenced at their kitchen table, they can have it influenced at the polling station.

I remain deeply opposed to anything which weakens or lessens what I consider to be the Gold Standard of democracy - a secret ballot in person. Obviously there should be allowances for postal and proxy voting; but they should be the rare exception - say less than 5% of votes cast.

You can also stick any form of electronic voting where the sun don't shine either. Old school pencil and paper that are counted and kept for me.

squid not seen hide nor hair

@Emilyontmoor, the U.K. is actually in the 7th place for patriarcal societies.... it is right at the top.

That's interesting, Question. I'd be interested in having a look at the study, if you have a link to it.

I don't think the questions will go away. "Doing a Dom" is going to become shorthand for arrogance and Boris will be reminded of it at every opportunity. He has been lucky in that Parliament is scattered and there's no PMQs at the moment (damn!).

It's an absolute gift for Labour after Stamner drew a line under the anti-Semitism row by doing the exact opposite to Johnson.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/may/27/anti-porn-filters-stop-dominic-cummings-trending-on-twitter

Twitter’s anti-porn filters have blocked Dominic Cummings’ name despite Boris Johnson’s chief adviser dominating British political news for almost a week, the Guardian can reveal.

"stick any form of electronic voting where the sun don't shine either.

Yep
Of course, closing polling stations in black areas,
making people queue for several hours in bad weather,
under the intimidating eye of heavily armed Republican "poll-watchers"
and even closing the polls early if that doesn't put off black voters ....

shows paper votes have problems too

Also depends if there are enough truly independent observers watching the actual count

and the Electoral College is heavily gamed.

Didn't the USA get slated by international observers last POTUS election for lack of democracy ?