Westminstenders: How many Dead Cats Do You Get In A Thunderstorm?

[RedToothBrush]

It never rains. It only pours.

What I wouldn't give for a bit of old fashioned drizzle right now.

4 years on and we are facing a torment of calamities. Brexit, serious political instability in the USA ahead of an election that Trump will refuse to lose even if he does, trade deals with the rest of the world put on 6 week deadlines, anger within the commonwealth, a sick weak dependent PM on the back foot and ill briefed, rampant growing corruption in the Tory party, woke nut jobs out of touch with reality, councils on the brink of bankruptcy and the whole covid-19 crisis.

I don't just have one bookshelf.

I'm like every panelist on zoom have I got news for you with a whole wall of books.

I'm doomed.

Books have been my luxury lockdown purchases. I can't stand kindles.

Tonight's not an announcement about an announcement is the Times carrying the story on their front page that on Tuesday Johnson is going to make a speech about how those who bore the brunt of austerity won't do so again.

The idea that he's going to rich well off tax pensioners rather than those of working age (especially with children and on low income) is bloody hilarious to me.

And we already know it's not going to come from anyone who might be tempted to donate to the tory party in exchange for favourable decisions.

Unless he's going to take it all off big international corporations, I'm not sure how that promise can be kept.

'We've bought the wrong satellites': UK tech gamble baffles experts

.... for £500 million
Maybe they sent out Grayling to buy satellites
(since he is BJ's chosen Chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee)

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jun/26/satellite-experts-oneweb-investment-uk-galileo-brexit

“The fundamental starting point is, yes, we’ve bought the wrong satellites,”
said Dr Bleddyn Bowen, a space policy expert at the University of Leicester.

“OneWeb is working on basically the same idea as Elon Musk’s Starlink:
a mega-constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit, which are used to connect people on the ground to the internet.

“What’s happened is that the very talented lobbyists at OneWeb have convinced the government that we can completely redesign some of the satellites to piggyback a navigation payload on it.

It’s bolting an unproven technology on to a mega-constellation that’s designed to do something else.
It’s a tech and business gamble.”

Giles Thorne, a research analyst at Jeffries, agreed.
“This situation is nonsensical to me,” he said.
“This situation looks like nationalism trumping solid industrial policy.”

Every major positioning system currently in use
– America’s GPS, Russia’s Glonass, China’s BeiDou, and Galileo, the EU project that the UK helped design before losing access to due to Brexit –
is in a medium Earth orbit,
Thorne said, approximately 20,000km from Earth.

OneWeb’s satellites,74 of which have already been launched,
are in a low Earth orbit, just 1,200km up.

UK asks Germany for help with "app"

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/coronavirus-boris-johnson-germany-help-contact-tracing-app-nhs-a9587106.html

Where's C&Pinova to tell us this was the plan all along ?

Is Boris fit to be PM ?

www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jun/25/doctors-find-brain-issues-linked-to-covid-19-patients-study

Brain complications, including stroke and psychosis, have been linked to Covid-19 in a study that raises concerns about the potentially extensive impact of the disease in some patients

"UK asks Germany for help with "app"

tbh, more useful to ask for help building up the "boot leather" contact tracing by public health teams that German has relied on from the start

As with many systems "not fit for purpose" the UK's big problems are due to many years of cuts and decades of centralisation

Call centres staffed with almost entirely untrained new recruits are no substitute for public health staff with years of experience

Even 10 years ago, the Uk had 10,000 environmental health staff based at nearly 350 local council offices.

Big mistake, after transfering all this public health function to Public Health England,
was to savagely cut this capability to 226 staff operating out of 9 offices.

Germany started the crisis with tens of thousands of staff in nearly 400 local administative districts,
who could readily be tasked to lead teams that track & trace contacts of infected people.

Thousands of extra staff were recruited and trained specifically for thsi, but it makes a big difference when they are slotted into teams led by an experienced public health officer
instead of everyone being new

It's just silly season in the UK isn't it. As long as you can act chummy with someone who knows someone holding cheque-writing powers you can get money for anything - fracking, HS2, non-existent ferries, equally non-existent PPE in Turkey and now satellites. Actual money to go towards keeping the principle of public organisation, the institutions that make us a country, law and defence - nah. Social relationships rule.

As far as Johnson's fitness to be prime minister goes, the same question has been repeatedly asked about Trump. Many think he's succumbed to dementia. We are all just staring helplessly at this total incompetence and ignorance of how states are actually, practically, run, and are utterly incapable of doing anything about it. Paralysed and hamstrung. We have professional competent people, but they are nowhere near the centres of power.

And at some point people are going to have to start realising that you don't just ask foreign powers for help, not unless you have some kind of forged and legally-locked in relationship and treaty with them!

When it's a pandemic, almost all neighbours will be helpful, in their own interests if nothing else

However, when it comes to satellites, trade rules etc .... that's when No Deal bites the UK bum hard.

DGR - I think you mean Cummings? Although it isn't 100% clear if he actually had COVID or a hangover from his wife's birthday celebrations... To be fair they were both a bit far off the usual standard for wielding power before the pandemic, but that seems to be a trend USA started.

DGR - I think you mean Cummings?

No, Boris.

There is a credible body of evidence that having Covid (for reasons that are not yet clear) seems to raise the risks of mental disorders. Certainly to the extent that I would want anyone in a job such as police marksman double or treble checked for mental health before allowing to continue.

So why not Boris ?

To be honest, if spunking £500million on a set of dud satellites from a bankrupt company isn't a sign of mental instability, then I don't know what is.

I can recall Reagan having to promise he'd undergo regular checks if elected ...

This is a serious point. What if Boris mental capacity has been affected ? We return to the sorry fact that when no one was looking the UK joined the long list of failed states where the head of state is the Big Man, and no one dare do anything without their say so. Think of Zimbabwe under Mugabe, or Cuba under Castro, or Uganda under Amin.

Last time I made that point, I recall a certain poster rushing in to "correct" me and actually confirming what I said.

Incidentally, I repeat my note at wondering where the C&P angels have got to of late ?

DW just asked if it's too late for the UK to get a refund on the OneWeb purchase. Personally I doubt it. On what grounds ? It's not as if the UK didn't have the resources to due some due diligence on the sale. So either that wasn't done, or it was and recommended the purchase (in which case there's a lawsuit there) or it was done, did not recommend the purchase and was ignored.

I'm betting it was never done in the first place. Which if we didn't live in a mickey mouse dictatorship would be a matter for the Public Accounts Committee. But since we do, I can already hear Boris saying the matter is closed. Nothing to see. Move on.

To be honest, if spunking £500million on a set of dud satellites from a bankrupt company isn't a sign of mental instability, then I don't know what is.

Other people's money, so it doesn't count. Typical Bullingdon boy behaviour.

The tax payer Daddy pays to clear up their shit and buy them toys to play with to keep them occupied unfortunately not out of mischief .

I don't believe Bozo is doing much actual work and I think Cummings has realised he has bitten off more than he can chew getting his Etonian puppet elected, but other than the media reports on who is really pulling the strings I do agree we officially have Boris named as PM.

Both of them have attested to having COVID though.

We've seen with Trump how hard it can be to prove mental capability, or seemingly glaring lack of it, is not exactly what the public have voted for. Proving it came as a result of COVID and not prior to the election is an impossible task as both were so inept in life beforehand.

I don't believe Bozo is doing much actual work and I think Cummings has realised he has bitten off more than he can chew getting his Etonian puppet elected, but other than the media reports on who is really pulling the strings I do agree we officially have Boris named as PM.

Is that relevant. I stand by what I say. "Big Man Syndrome". No one dare do anything anything without Boris explicit say so. We are one step away from how the Third Reich worked (or, ultimately didn't work ...). The only thing missing (and it's only because I can't prove it exists) is Boris giving unwritten instructions to rival subordinates and waiting for them to knock each other out to keep the ladder below free of challengers.

Both of them have attested to having COVID though.

Actually, whilst I agree Boris appearance suggests that, I really wouldn't be surprised to learn he was chewing cordite before each briefing. Such is the low level of trust I have in anything to do with that man.

I feel the same about Cumming's apparent "illness" as suggested by my previous post. I do however think Cummings is the one making the decisions - it feels as though everything changing has been touched upon in his blog going back years. Bozo couldn't come up with a plan to build one bridge, let alone all of this.

Either way it's not great news.

Both of them have attested to having COVID though.

Johnson - yes, he was admitted to hospital. Cummings - we don't know. On the one hand his wife wrote an article saying he was ill, 'lying doggo' or some such. On the other hand, he was driving 250 miles to Durham which he wouldn't be able to do if he was really ill.

More eye opening front line experiences of slow and varied recovery after COVID from a physio www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jun/25/physiotherapist-seeing-impact-covid-survivors-haunt-forever?CMP=fb_gu&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR2eYRCnEmU-9gNytw4BYrP2pE4TXHG3wNN8f8hS3dbH4YgDgfXzkopXvg0#Echobox=1593167490 The last para was quite hopeful, particularly given we all recognise the need for collaborative local Public Health networks over PHE to solve this There is one thing I am confident of within the world of physiotherapy. No matter where a clinician works, there is an unwavering drive to succeed. Evenings are spent on Zoom talking to Chartered Society of Physiotherapy colleagues across the country to share, learn and set up pathways across the NHS. Local areas and trusts are liaising to improve patient care. You can rely on the tenacious, problem-solving nature of physiotherapists. We will not give up.

Johnson - yes, he was admitted to hospital

Sorry means nothing. No one can ethically contradict any claims from his people that he had C-19, so it's all so much anecdote.

This is a man who never stops lying. So if I choose not to believe he has actually had C-19, then it's on him, not me.

I think having bookshelves will mark me out quicker than having an old polling card in a box somewhere.

True. Old polling cards would only be found in searches.

Old polling cards would only be found in searches.

People who understand steganography might have an edge ...

Controversial to some, of course, but I also don't believe Johnson had the virus. It was theatre and it served his purposes at the time, like everything he does (or doesn't).

I'm certain BJ had the virus :

The absolute panic in Raab's eyes the first weeks when he had to stand in

The reports from several sources that all decisions had been paused until BJ was well enough to make them

Now BJ is badly out of touch

• too lazy to keep abreast of the COVID situation (or anything else) before his illness and since then he's been too shattered to even do his day job fully, let along catchup on top of that

Hardly surprising - even if he isn't one of those suffering serious longterm symptoms, ICU requires convalescence and a slow work up back to normal
The UK can't afford its leader to be the "sick man of Europe" or the country soon will be again

I'm more and more convinced that the UK - or rather FUKD if hopefully Scotland can escape - will follow the trajectory that Argentina did in the early 20th century, where a series of catastrophic political and economic decisions resulted in them slipping from being a comfortable 7th in GDP to scrabbling to catch up with the developed world and a memory of faded grandeur

What’s happened is that the very talented lobbyists at OneWeb have convinced the government that we can completely redesign some of the satellites to piggyback a navigation payload on it.

Interesting article about OneWeb here;

19 MAY -
"The bankruptcy and sell-off of mega-constellation OneWeb’s assets has become extremely interesting."

"Analysts at Quilty Analytics were on the case and suggesting that the auction now has 30 interested parties having signed NDAs, and that with Chinese, British, French and US interests involved it is turning into a real-life Game of Thrones. Indeed, Quilty says that it suspects that other government-backed entities could also be involved."

"Quilty admits that it wholly underestimated the potential strategic value of OneWeb to various State-backed actors" ...

“Ownership of the OneWeb system (either as-designed or as-modified) could confer a significant economic, strategic, and geopolitical advantage to its owner/operator."^

advanced-television.com/2020/05/19/oneweb-sale-a-real-life-game-of-thrones/

These helpful analysts everywhere. I wonder who they might be then?