Westminstenders: Where are we now?

[RedToothBrush]

Twenty thousand people
Cross Bösebrücke
Fingers are crossed
Just in case
Walking the dead

Where are we now, where are we now?
The moment you know, you know, you know

Just that.

Don't really want to reflect more than that right now.

Link if anyone is interested

https://dit.webex.com/mw3300/mywebex/default.do?nomenu=true&siteurl=dit&service=6&rnd=0.8369455621904304&mainurl=https%3A%2F%2Fdit.webex.com%2Fec3300%2Feventcenter%2Fevent%2FeventAction.do%3FtheAction%3Ddetail%26%26%26EMK%3D4832534b000000045b4ac1ea08a090ef9b99b36945073486eb6dfe4a0d179d76e2a90dc97d3db25f%26siteurl%3Ddit%26confViewID%3D163529740953590798%26encryptTicket%3DSDJTSwAAAASZjou4ahbGtrqzk6N5cscQnp4oWMpp_4XXr2mTBtsiWwQ2%26

its one reason Sunak is interesting his wife is so unbelievably rich that no job offer in business could turn his head so he might focus on doing the job well

Once someone has decided that wealth trumps everything, there really is no limit. It's the third thing that Einstein should have considered infinite along with the universe and human stupidity - greed.

Retroactive laws eh ? Nothing tyrannical about that, eh ? King Donald ?

"and will not be running for the revolving door as many others have done
(Clegg, Osborne, Blair et al)"

Sorry, that makes no sense. Blair spent years in the Labour Party and was PM for a decade. He got booted eventually (as most leaders do). Clegg was the junior partner in a coalition government that he seems to take more blame for than Cameron. He got booted. The only one who even vaguely meets your criteria is Osborne, who could arguably have stayed on the back benches for longer than a year after May sacked him, but in spite of taking a job at the Standard is also (wait for it) independently wealthy.

I get that you don't like Blair and Clegg and believe there should be no earnings after political life. I fail to understand how you can make a case that independent wealth in any way ensures a lack of corruption.

Like I said, I've seen this "unbribeable Sunak" comment elsewhere, repeated over several weeks. I find it chilling that Britons are eagerly repeating the idea that the only thing that can make someone honest is not needing to worry about how to support themselves.

...it's Trumpism, basically. He was also sold to voters as being too fabulously rich to be influenced by the likes of lobbyists.

Like I said, I've seen this "unbribeable Sunak" comment elsewhere, repeated over several weeks. I find it chilling that Britons are eagerly repeating the idea that the only thing that can make someone honest is not needing to worry about how to support themselves.

It chimes with the "strong man" fallacy that Trump and Hitler played to. Someone who will cut through those pettifogging laws and rules and sort out the bad guys.

singasonga
Osborne's job at Black Rock pays far more than his family wallpaper firm.
Trump is not really rich at all.

The more interesting point about Sunak is that he seems to be running a very unleaky ship at the Treasury.
Every other department is like a colander with the amount of leaks to the press about upcoming changes.
That one is not
which is interesting in that they do not seem to need to tabloid test every idea in multiple ways

PS I cannot consider Sunak a strong man.
His mum was/is the scary one.
And he had the good fortune to marry well

retrospective penalties - only possible under tyranny, not in a democracy

Don't see how Sunak can be seen as an upright unbribable guy when the very reason he has the job as Chancellor is because he agreed to do things Cummings's way in order to replace Javid. Doesn't exactly make him 'his own man', does it?

Don't see how Sunak can be seen as an upright unbribable guy when the very reason he has the job as Chancellor is because he agreed to do things Cummings's way in order to replace Javid. Doesn't exactly make him 'his own man', does it?

Might explain the "tightness" of his department.

So from recent news it seems the world is zigging, and the UK zagging.

Imagine what a really sinister government could do with the realisation that no matter how many people croak it from (in this case) C-19, they can just make up numbers and nobody gives a shit because the pubs are open again.

Crisis ? What crisis ?

Has anyone read anything about Johnson's plans to renege on the withdrawal agreement? It came up on my newsfeed, Independent I think, but was behind a paywall. Not the political declaration, which isn't legally binding, but the actual legally binding withdrawal treaty. The bit I could read said something about refusing to comply with UK/NI border checks bit.

Anyone heard more?

What would be the consequences if this is true?

I suspect one of the aims all along wrt I/NI border is to do as little as possible and then blame the EU for doing something (i.e. protecting the single market). By refusing to allow EU bodies to be established anywhere in NI, the only recourse to the EU is to check stuff at the border.

UK is unlikely to break the legally binding parts of the treaty,
except through incompetence to get some GB / NI checks organised in time
and / or only by a few weeks to willy-wag

The EU would probably give some leeway in timing if the UK was intending to comply, but was delayed

If deliberate, then the EU could apply sanctions on UK goods & services / sue in the international court at the Hague / work with Ireland to apply political pressure via Irish-American and other Irish groups in Australia etc / any or all of these

Other countries will be watching all this
and noting if the UK reneges on legally binding treaty terms.
Not a good look for a country that's desperate for treaties with a lot more countries

I have felt and said all along that any attempt by the EU to impose rules will be presented as "nasty EU not letting us have our way". We have already seen those arguments on other threads. E.g. the UK voluntarily sold its fishing quotas - "nasty EU wants to fish in our waters". A bit like if you sell your house, and then get annoyed when the people you sold to want to move in.

Other countries will be watching all this and noting if the UK reneges on legally binding treaty terms. Not a good look for a country that's desperate for treaties with a lot more countries

Presumably, proper countries with grown up governments will also need any treaty to be passed by their legislature ? Which might be difficult if the opposition parties refuse to sanction a treaty with a country that has demonstrably broken a previous treaty.

@DGRossetti

So from recent news it seems the world is zigging, and the UK zagging.

Imagine what a really sinister government could do with the realisation that no matter how many people croak it from (in this case) C-19, they can just make up numbers and nobody gives a shit because the pubs are open again.

Crisis ? What crisis ?

I don’t always agree with you DGR (understment ) but that last comment of yours I think is absolutely on the money, scarily close to the potentia reality IMO.

Well UK numbers are being made up as people actually looking at them have twigged. (Plus anecdata from people whose relatives have died from it being surprised their area have recorded "zero" deaths ....)

Meantime China is relocking down at a rate of knots, while warning the resurgence/recurrence/second wave appears to have mutated from it's time in Europe ....

www.thailandmedical.news/news/warning-d614g-mutation-coronavirus-strains-from-europe-could-render-those-recovered-from-earlier-strains-defenseless-according-to-china

Germany starting to lockdown again ...

www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-latest-fresh-lockdown-for-german-district-after-meat-packing-outbreak/a-53903416

I stand by what I said a week ago. The UK has just given up. Clearly we can't do "hard" anymore. And now we are seeing exactly the same approach to Brexit. With Gove simply giving up over borders, and any pretence of trying to get a good deal washed away.

Do you think lockdown shouldn’t be being changed then?

@LouiseCollins28

Do you think lockdown shouldn’t be being changed then?

I have no idea. But the last person I would trust to make that determination is someone sacked twice for lying who is a proven cheat who conspired to get someone beaten up.

In fact - and this is how bad it is. I would trust Harold Shipman to have my interests at heart over Boris Johnson.

I know that with a social group I belong to, where most of the members are elderly, we have decided that despite the restrictions being eased, we don't want to risk meeting again until the autumn.

I have felt and said all along that any attempt by the EU to impose rules will be presented as "nasty EU not letting us have our way". We have already seen those arguments on other threads. E.g. the UK voluntarily sold its fishing quotas - "nasty EU wants to fish in our waters". A bit like if you sell your house, and then get annoyed when the people you sold to want to move in.

How will that explain Japan being nasty to the UK ?

I must admit, Japan has impressed me with their patience with the UK over Brexit. But a trawl of these threads will reveal a few siren voices warning that Japan really doesn't play games, and not to mistake politeness for weakness.

we don't want to risk meeting again until the autumn.
Just in time for flu season

You are MUCH safer sitting in the sunshine
all arms length apart
than cooped up together on a cold wet October day when the next batch of viruses starts circulating

You are MUCH safer sitting in the sunshine

As long as you don't burn ...

But free Vitamin D can't be a bad thing (unless you have mates that are into hawking vitamins )