Westministenders: A Year of Johnson

[RedToothBrush]

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)?

to enact the result

Sorry, Louise - you don't get off so lightly with this response. The Referendum was a Leave/Remain. There was no "If you vote Leave then PTO for the options."

As already said, many of us thought that we would go for an EEA type option. Including Farage, and Hannan. That would have suited a majority - it kept the trade advantages but avoided further political integration. It was absolutely fine for MPs to start arguing, discussing this - that is what they should be doing.

Post the December election - the only thing on the table was Get Brexit Done, and enough people thought that was OK by them, he can do what he wants. I think they were fools to vote for Johnson, given his record both as Mayor and Foreign Secretary, but they still said OK. The Manifesto commitments were also to protect the NHS and food standards and get a great deal. Nowhere were people asked "Should we wreck the NHS?" Johnson knew this, hence getting his Cabinet to parrot about 50,000 new nurses and 40 new hospitals. But maybe we should have another Referendum. Do you want an NHS, or would you like an American style health system?
Do you want good food standards, reflecting good animal husbandry and good agricultural practice or is the cheapest price the only option?

The budget is mutually agreed according to a set of criteria

Ireland's GDP / capita is very high at €77,000 (because of having attracted large multinationals)
whereas e.g. Germany's is only about €46,000

If Ireland didn't agree the amount wasn't fair, then their govt would have blocked the deal

• and we've seen from Brexit how effective they can be at that

When it comes to soft power, Ireland is a superpower

Ireland has certainly run diplomatic rings around the Uk, both in Brexit negotiations

and in getting the USA to help protect its interests, not just wrt the Irish protocol in the WA but over much of the last 50 years wrt NI

Tory Brexiters won't make much headway in stirring up the Irish,
because they caused too much ill-feeling during Brexit negotiations by prominant Brexiters saying

Ireland should be "starved out", used by Britain as a "hostage" etc
e.g.

Crispin Blunt MP@CrispinBlunt

UK side had the money, the people, the huge trade deficit, amongst other advantages,
including a hostage, the RoI,
if EU behaved like this.
We capitulated.
....
Priti Patel:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-ireland-food-shortages-threat-risk-priti-patel-negotiate-better-deal-a8672326.html

Britain should use the potential damage to the Irish economy,
including possible food shortages,
to secure a better Brexit deal from the EU

I suspect that the Irish have long memories when it comes to being starved out. Many of us can trace our families back and find an Irish branch. I did myself, and surprise, surprise - when did they come over here - directly after the famine. Ditto for DH's family who also has a branch in America.

Priti Patel probably wouldn't know this, despite being born in Britain. (Yes I know she wants you to think she and her family were refugees from Amin, but they weren't.)

Positive: I'm struggling other than borrowing I’m glad the Tories were in power to spend the billions needed to help businesses through COVID and the recession that’s following. If Labour had done the exact same thing, can you imagine the hysteria as I've had that thought as well.

Negative: everything else. The systematic dismantling of democracy vis the judicary, attacks on the press, gerrymandering, No Deal, lurch to populism and authoritarianism etc. is too depressing for words.

Only a rightwing govt would be allowed this amount of control over the public, even in an emergency
Shame that the govt used it so chaotically

If Labour, in particular Corbyn, had been in power, the media would probably have stirred up mass civil disobedience against the govt at the start of lockdown
and especially as jobs were lost
So the UK would probably have suffered civil disorder and carnage

And of course if Labour had dithered so long before calling lockdown, they'd have been crucified - rightly - for gross incompetence and negligence,
whereas BJ is surprisingly Teflon, when one considers how often he has fucked up, over COVID and Brexit too.

Tomorrow, can we post normal critical stuff holding the prat to account rather than positives? I think we might get stuck on this thread if not We've given him a day's attempt at celebration

Yay! It's tomorrow

Just to confirm, this is not the drug company our govt has backed? www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/24/major-breakthrough-in-covid-19-drug-makes-uk-professors-millionaires

Positive....BJs incompetence at everything he does is now on show for all to see.
Negative.... idiots will still vote Tory.

That looks like some other drug company. On paper the Directors have made a packet, but as the report says for them the satisfaction comes from their life's work being used to help people.

Contrast that with the Reese-Moggs of the world and the hedge fund operators, who make money by a glorified form of gambling.

BigChocFrenzy
Ireland should be "starved out"

Who are you attributing the quotation to?

including possible food shortages

From your link;
"Ms Patel said her comments had been taken out of context and that she had not referred specifically to the risk of food shortages."

.

@BCF - you got that Tangoed feeling ?

"Ms Patel said her comments had been taken out of context and that she had not referred specifically to the risk of food shortages."

Of course, back off when challenged. Someone in her position should be mindful of what she says, knowing it can be taken out of context. Just imagine if Corbyn had said that - the media would have had a field day.

Of course, back off when challenged. Someone in her position should be mindful of what she says, knowing it can be taken out of context.

I can't see that Priti Patel specifically mentioned food shortages.

Just imagine if Corbyn had said that - the media would have had a field day.

Had to laugh when Corbyn tweeted "comrades" and "solidarity" last week.

Corbyn is now a backbencher, Priti Patel still is the Home Secretary. There is a difference.

Crispin Blunt?

This is what they have done in one fell swoop to education www.theguardian.com/education/2020/jul/26/anxious-middle-classes-look-to-private-schools-after-coronavirus-disruption
I admit I am one of these and considering now sending dd to my old school. Her school is going downhill rather rapidly since the ex Headmistress left and I don't think being dyslexic at a Grammar is a wise move or even possible.

Why waste a good crisis? A bonus for Johnson and the right wing.

My worry is that not only state schools slump massively, but that parents over stretch themselves financially just before a financial crash potentially leading to an increase in homelessness. I don't think that will benefit the private schools either.

I've been so astounded by the "lack of access" to zoom. I do understand that in the poorer areas of the country this is likely, however in leafy Kent/Surrey where village schools are serving as feeders from Grammar these are just excuses. If there is a child or two in the year with FSM they are easily identified. Yes the key worker children there is an issue, but there is no reason not to do an online lesson with them in the class as well. The idea zoom lessons would be perfect and not interrupted hasn't even crossed my mind; I just want her to be taught rather than have a link. I suspect the issue many of the parents at these particular primary schools have with remote learning is the "time on screens". We need to be clear about which schools have which particular concerns driving them.

This argument for libertarianism - it seems to me on a basic level that if you don’t tell people what’s the right thing to do, then some people will just behave in an individualistic and selfish manner and do what’s best for them, with no regard for others. (I’ve seen evidence of that this year. They just spoil it for everyone else.)

I was brought up to respect/have consideration for others and to act in a ‘communal‘ way. It may seem old-fashioned now, but that’s the only way we can survive as a species, when faced with universal threats like pandemics and climate change.

Back in the gym this morning, felt it was managed well and enjoyed my session, pleased that I don’t seem to have lost that much fitness over lockdown.
Poulet some grammar schools are very good with dyslexic students, some not so much, like other schools. It does rather depend on the way the dyslexia impacts learning. My eldest GD has recently been assessed, and surprise surprise, she is dyslexic like her father. Her (Outstanding) London primary didn’t pick it up - she’s one of the high achievers - but her mother did while homeschooling during lockdown.

I'm sure the hand wringing about private schools will last until
late August
then reality of middle class job losses will bite

That is interesting born, as my friends locally who went to Grammar said simply that "there were no dyslexic kids" which I suspect wasn't true and more about not being tested. Dd is brilliant at maths - to the point her tutor was slower than her figuring out questions - but she does it all in a very different way to how I learnt maths (and the tutor it seems). Her report said she is a methodical learner and has a high work ethic but it simply doesn't seem to compute into English in the same way it does with maths. She loves dictating long detailed stories but will constantly forget to put a capital at the start of a sentence for eg and if she has to write stories herself will do the bare minimum and miss out words in sentences. I know her dad was dyslexic and went on to do Eng Lit at Uni and I suspect I am as well as was highlighted in the penultimate week before I handed in my dissertation. So it can be very hard to diagnose and recognise. I was very lucky that it was noticed under the old HM and they told me early, rather than wait until y4 as many of her peers were. Interestingly it was the same teacher who was baffled as to why she had been put into remedial maths as she "could easily get to the top group with a bit of extra work". Some teachers are worth their weight in gold.

Yes to libertarianism. I think of the people who don't bat an eyelid about chucking rubbish out of a car window, in fact it seems like they think this is somehow "the best way to be" i.e not giving a shit. They are the ones who make community effort so unappealing to many which undermines the whole system.