Westministenders: The Truth Isn't A Made Up Concept

[RedToothBrush]

“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

Not George Orwell but often attributed to him. But a powerful statement with resonance nonetheless

@Peregrina, up until last week, I would agree with you. Johnson seems almost designed for a bad Brexit - power hungry, amoral and a bit dim. Far too useful not to keep around.

However, if we do have a bad June (as scientists and doctors fear), then all bets are off.

I wonder if she actually said "tripe" or if that is just a BBC typo?

Former Prime Minister Theresa May has written to her constituents saying that Boris Johnson's adviser Dominic Cummings did not "follow the spirit" of lockdown guidance during his tripe to Durham in March, and that she could understand their angered

Autocorrect added the "ed" to "anger" while I was putting in the italics

Coronavirus: Risk in UK lockdown easing too soon, warn scientists https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52858392

End of free movement of people...

.... If you are a student from England and wish to study in Wales, Scotland or NI

amp.theguardian.com/education/2020/may/30/england-to-limit-students-going-to-wales-scotland-and-n-ireland
England to limit students going to Wales, Scotland and N Ireland
Devolved nations angry at policy to introduce cap on undergraduate numbers

Or was the 'tripe' a Freudian slip?

Official PMK instead of watching and lurking, 'cos I think we're in serious trouble right now.

Ending FOM between UK states - that could be a shot across the bows to the devolved countries with strong independent identities and increasingly hostile to Westminster. "You know you can't survive without us"?
Up until now, I have innocently assumed Johnson's majority would keep him comfortably in power until the next election...Given this Government's terrifying ineptitude, it could happen before the end of 2020. - I don't know about a leadership challenge, there is no one in the frontline to challenge if Gove is backing him, but I think this government will collapse before the end of 2020.

Does anyone have any idea what is happening in Russia? They're producing propaganda by the wagonload.

Interesting answer from Van Tam on whether the rules should apply to all. Closest you'll probably hear to one of them saying what they think of Cummings

I didn't think any level of incompetence from this government could shock me any more, but the track-and-trace article did. fucking hell.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/30/boris-johnsons-test-and-tracing-system-britain-lockdown

Sorry if this has already been posted.

This is an interesting piece. www.irishtimes.com/opinion/we-need-to-pay-very-close-attention-to-what-is-happening-in-britain-now-1.4264046

Boris Johnson is the prime minister. What did they expect? Send in the clowns, and you wake up in a circus

As an English person who studied in Wales, I am horrified that that chance may be taken from students. I still had to pay fees, why on earth shouldn't I have been able to choose which institution I paid them to if I were going now?!

(Of course I probably wouldn't go this year as I did a lab based course and that's not very likely to be happening this coming semester)

As an English person who studied in Wales, I am horrified that that chance may be taken from students. I still had to pay fees, why on earth shouldn't I have been able to choose which institution I paid them to if I were going now?!

Hotbeds of sedition, donchaknow ?

In a way, we're just continuing the reformation.

That’s one reaction Pepperwort. Were Una Mullally to ‘start looking in the mirror’ I’m presuming she’d be looking at Ireland. I suggest she takes her own advice.

Fucks sake, going to have to emigrate at this rate. Thank you Brexiteer FIL for being born in NI.

I didn't think any level of incompetence from this government could shock me any more, but the track-and-trace article did. fucking hell.

A serious note is that being cynical - and not wasting precious time on arseholery like that - eventually leads to an edge over the less cynical who have to waste time and effort in evaluating stuff before realising it's shit.

On an even more serious note, I won't be engaging with anyone from HMG over the phone about Covid anyway, and I'm not alone. So the pisspoor training won't really be too much of a problem anyway.

Why? Did Ireland colonise people?

I didn't fully agree with her reducing it to colonialism when in the UK it's as much about social class as the glory of Empire, but I thought it an interesting article. As for Johnson, he is shaping up to be the other Churchill, Oh yes, but nothing like as lovable.

Why? Did Ireland colonise people?

No you come to mention it, there's an Irish pub in every city in the world ...

Did Ireland colonise people?

The Irish, or some of them, were prominent actors in British colonialism. The Duke of Wellington is the most notable among the many Anglo-Irish colonialists, and there were also many Irish colonisers, notably in Montserrat where Irish was the most common language in the 17th and 18th centuries and whose population today are all partially of Irish descent.

The Irish, or some of them, were prominent actors in British colonialism. The Duke of Wellington is the most notable among the many Anglo-Irish colonialists

Surely, technically, anyone from Ireland was actually British anyway ? ( .. and as such couldn't help but possess some decent qualities ... for those of you that recognise the quote )

The Irish are not and have never been British. In 1801 the Act of Union created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

On the other hand, the Irish being Celts like the Scots, Welsh, Manx and Cernow, are in that sense Britons in the ancient sense unlike the Cnut-come-lately Anglo-Saxons.

I'm not sure you can equate Irish and British colonialism, and the Anglo-Irish in Ireland at the 18th century are the Anglos who were sent over there as part of colonising / pacifying Ireland, certainly the Anglos, so you might irritate some proper Irish Irish there. If I've understood that correctly.

I thought the reference to class systems in that piece showed an understanding that the first victims of British colonialism were the English lower classes themselves.

Congratulations Honeysuckle, I wish I had Irish family links right now. Or any non-English family links. I'd be so out of here.

certainly the aristos, that was meant to be. Like the Duke of Wellington.

Really worth watching drunk history on Wellington.
Very funny.

This is the time for me to link again to Daniel Hechter's Internal Colonialism: Celtic Fringe In British National Development

Dh studied it back at uni in the late 700s/early 80s.

TL;DR : the Celtic fringe is what is left of the British Empire and will be cling on to for dear life

Internal Colonialism: Celtic Fringe in British National Development https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0765804751/ref=cmswwrcppapiii_dpP0Eb9FCAM40

It's not a contest to see who is badderest. As colonialists go, the British were perhaps the best, or least worst in history since the Abbasid Caliphate.

There was plenty of Irish colonisation of the British West Indies, much of it a consequence of Cromwell and what he did to Ireland's economy.