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Brexit

Westministenders: A Year of Johnson

976 replies

RedToothBrush · 24/07/2020 21:34

So having given the benefit of the doubt...

... whats your reflections?

Good (and yes do have some thoughts on the positive - challenge yourself on this one as its important) and the bad (and yes this is the easy bit but keep it within reason)?

OP posts:
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RedToothBrush · 24/07/2020 21:35

By that I mean, thinking about the future and particularly in terms of the EU/trade in particular

OP posts:
yoikes · 24/07/2020 21:41

Nothing good to say so as I was brought up proper I'll remain silent 😃

HoneysuckIejasmine · 24/07/2020 21:43

Pmk thanks Red.

Good .... Erm ....

prettybird · 24/07/2020 21:46

Will need to give that some thought. In the mean time....

Westministenders: A Year of Johnson
ListeningQuietly · 24/07/2020 21:46

You can't always get what you want
but you just might find you get what you need

TokyoSushi · 24/07/2020 21:50

PMK

GaspodeWonderCat · 24/07/2020 21:54

I agree with Boris 'Visiting a doctor’s surgery in east London to promote the extension of free flu jabs to more people, Johnson told staff: “There’s all these anti-vaxxers now. They are nuts, they are nuts.”

That's about it really.

EU trade etc - he is quite capable of turning everything on end and agreeing to a EU deal. He is also capable of sticking with no deal. Whatever is easiest and will get him the biggest cheer ...

We need a grown up as PM and we have a child narcissist ... rest of the cabinet do not inspire trust either ...

Peregrina · 24/07/2020 22:03

Hmm, have I got to be neutral?

He won an election that he said he didn't want. He breached the Red Wall of Labour seats.
Getting Brexit Done - (by getting a worse WA through that May's. A detail though Grin)

Bad - where do we start?
Being on holiday half the time.
Proroguing Parliament illegally.
Kicking the more moderate Tories out of the party. A party I don't vote for, but I am not prepared to say that they were all bad people - some were conscientious MPs.
Making a complete and utter f** up of the handling of Covid -19.
Catching it himself, (idiot).
Supporting Cummings through thick and thin.
Allowing Jenrick to get away with his behaviour,
Sitting on the Russia report.
Putting incompetents like Priti Patel and Suella Braverman in key positions.
Sacking Julian Smith as NI Minister - one who earned respect in the five minutes he was allowed to do what is a very difficult brief.

Is that enough? We need Cendrillon and Clavinova to tell us how absolutely fantastic he is.

mrslaughan · 24/07/2020 22:05

My mindset seems to lurch from various levels of despair..... not for myself personally, but just seeing where we are heading, but it's not linear, it's despair on so many different fronts ..... the justice system , immigration, health, food standards, trade , manufacturing.

And maybe that's what makes it so hard to tackle is that it is so overwhelming, as they are just attacking, dismantling and weakening so many things that I value or feel that is important

jasjas1973 · 24/07/2020 22:11

BBC's R4 this morning, Nick Robinson gave a glowing "one year on.." Johnson summary, it was glowing and i finally realised what CBBC really stands for.

A few days ago, Bojo said he hopes we will be back to relative normality by November, today its midway next year, Johnson, like Trump just says the first thing that comes into his mind and the MSM report it like Abraham coming down from Mt Sinai.

There really is no hope.

Peregrina · 24/07/2020 22:17

A friend who I am pretty sure voted Remain, would not talk about Brexit, saying that it would not be as bad as people thought, because she had faith in people to make the best of things.

I might add, I haven't seen her since the lockdown - I do wonder if she still holds that viewpoint. I wonder how many people thought like that in e.g. Germany just as Hitler came to power andFranco's Spain. Or people now who are refugees in camps, or the Uighars?

Phoenix21 · 24/07/2020 22:20

The best thing Johnson has done is to ensure that with a large majority that the Tories completely own what’s coming.

The bad? I haven’t got the energy to list it.

RedToothBrush · 24/07/2020 22:22

Hmm, have I got to be neutral?

I think its useful to try and reflect and find something positive, just to try and get people thinking.

I don't expect many answers to come up with something glowing - nor even neutral tbh.

In the same vein as my last post on previous thread about government priorities:
www.theguardian.com/money/2020/jul/24/uk-working-mothers-are-sacrifical-lambs-in-coronavirus-childcare-crisis
UK working mothers are 'sacrificial lambs' in coronavirus childcare crisis

The failure to put access to childcare at the heart of government policy risked sending women back to the 1970s, said Caroline Nokes, the Conservative MP who chairs the women and equalities select committee. She called the lack of a single reference to childcare in the summer mini-budget “shocking”.

“The specific needs of women are not on anyone’s agenda right now,” she said. “In order to even stand still on gender equality at this moment you would need real drive and ambition, but we are not seeing anyone grasp that.”

That lack of focus could have dire consequences for women’s future earning power, said Tulip Siddiq, the shadow minister for children and early years. “It’s like a throwback to the dark ages,” she said. “It feels like I’m banging my head against a brick wall. This is not a cabinet that listens to women.”

The point that Caroline and Tulip seem to forget is that the problem that women of working age are not Conservative voters and are therefore are not a priority. The priority is keep Conservative voters content. And the majority are male or women who have retired.

Of course they are going to shaft working age women. They are dispensible in political terms.

This is what populism looks like.

OP posts:
saltycat · 24/07/2020 22:24

I don't think many care anymore about British exceptionalism TBH. Don't see much traction from anywhere about Brexit either.

Let them at it and fall on their sword. Barnier has gone on his holidays anyway.

Peregrina · 24/07/2020 22:33

Not all of us retired women vote Tory. We have daughters and daughters in law, and grandchildren for one thing, so we are mindful of their needs.

One might hope that the Covid-19 debacle put some elderly Tory voters off voting the same way again. He hasn't done very well looking after their health needs, has he?

I think you have to try to find things which people thought positive, because the Tories were returned with a stonking majority. I know the media and meddling helped, but in part they were mining a seam which was there to be mined.

QueenOfThorns · 24/07/2020 22:38

Why do they need to keep Conservative voters content? There isn’t going to be another election for a long time. I don’t think anyone’s going to be happy after they get their no deal Brexit, are they? Apart from JRM and pals, obviously. Empty supermarket shelves and higher prices for everything do not generally breed contentment.

I can think of one good thing that the current government has done - scrap the changes to the GRA and self-ID. But that may not be good from everyone’s perspective.

prettybird · 24/07/2020 22:44

Just dropping this here..... Wink

https://twitter.com/borisjohnson/status/1286693381620596736?s=21

So I know he thinks that there are lots of positives - even though he duplicates a lot as he goes through the 2 minutes and a lot of what he says we wouldn't see as a positive HmmConfused

I first saw it via a tweet by Nicola Sturgeon who wrote This is so last year, eh @jacindaadhern https://twitter.com/nicolasturgeon/status/1194669602518818822?s=21

Suffice to say, I don't think she feels threatened by it Grin

Westministenders: A Year of Johnson
quiteathome · 24/07/2020 22:51

When I was a child we used to watch footage of I think people on the Soviet Union or possibly East Germany queuing for food, only to find out there wasn't any. (I have vague recollections of news reports)

Seems strange to think that is where we have been this year due to Covid and are possibly heading again because of Brexit.

mathanxiety · 24/07/2020 22:52

Pmk

Peregrina · 24/07/2020 22:54

I couldn't bother to watch Johnson, but he said he had delivered 12,000 more nurses? How come. He's apparently started work on the new hospitals? Anyone seen any turf being cut near them for a new hospital?

After that, I gave up.

prettybird · 24/07/2020 23:20

From December last year.... and yes, I know it's not an unbiased source

https://keepournhspublic.com/40-new-hospitals-fact-vs-fiction/

Of the six ‘new hospitals’ that have been given the immediate go-ahead to build over the next 5 years, several turn out to be repairs, refurbishments or extensions – and none is ready to start work at once.

I really don't see that with the added complication of Covid, any of them would be shovel-ready yet Hmm

Peregrina · 24/07/2020 23:58

I can see that substantial repairs or refurbishment could just about amount to 'New' but what I would imagine most people would expect would be to see is a completely new hospital built near them. Especially if they had one and it got closed down.

prettybird · 25/07/2020 00:16

He specifically claims that we have started work on 40 new hospitals [and] upgrades on 20 more Hmm

So substantial refurbishment would come into that additional 20. Confused

So that still leaves the question about where these 40 new hospitals upon which work has started are Confused

mathanxiety · 25/07/2020 01:58

Quiteathome it's all very 'jam tomorrow', isn't it?

lonelyplanetmum · 25/07/2020 06:49

Does the positive have to be directly to with Johnson decisions and governance? Because I thought of one indirect positive ...
Due to the shift to the right Farage is ( sort of) seen off? Do the ERG seem quiet too?

Except it's not a positive because at least Farage split the right wing vote.

(PMK and continuing gratitude by the way.)

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