Westministender: Amen to that!

[RedToothBrush]

On the Anniversary of the Battle of Britain, Johnson went to Westminster Abbey and was trolled. Its almost divine in its irony.

In a week where just about the entire right wing press has turned on him, for being... well shit... They have the dawning realisation that yes all those annoying lefties were right all along when they said he was full of nothing but hot air. He's been ridiculed for being paid £150,000 a year and not being able to feed his 5000 kids and the pictures to mark the anniversary of him becoming PM do little more than look like a man who couldn't tie his own shoe laces without a nanny to help him.

But its not really a laughing matter. This man doesn't understand what legal agreements he's signed so his solution to his ineptitude is to throw his toys out of the pram together with the rule of law. Which he also does not understand.

Johnson is also ever increasingly keen on ripping up inconvient human right and workers right and he has ample opportunity to do all this in the middle of a pandemic.

Unfortunately the hypocrisy of his cronies isn't exactly helping the behaviour of the public and you have to pity the poor behavioural scientists who have to tell him that 'of course the public are going to give you the vs when you tell them you shouldn't do this when your chief advisor claims to be maybe going blind'.

It seems the whole government strategy on managing the virus seems to be falling flat on its face rather sooner than planned cos they stuck Dildo in charge who wouldn't know her Rs from her elbow if it hit her in the face. And we've got Hancock going full on 1984, telling us not to believe the reports that no one can get a test because its all lies - except half the country has either first hand experience of the travesty of Track and Trace or has a close mate who they know is a hell of a lot more reliable than any of these fuckwits when it comes to telling the truth.

Meanwhile in America Bader Ginsburg has managed to die at possibly the most inconvient and dangerous time possible just as the future of democracy in the US is clinging on by its finger nails.

And yes. Money laundering. Haven't we talked about that a lot on these threads. Its almost as if FinCEN was predictable...

Taking back control was always about the elite taking back control from the masses. But if you've managed to keep following all this time, we've been saying that since April 2016 and no one listened then, so why would they start listening now?

(many of us don't have fixed party loyalty, or indeed any)

Which marks us out as odd, if not subversive ....

Clav I omitted the Talk, Talk you objected to, in the hope you would look at the rest of the article

I did look at the rest of the article - I can't trust the columnist's opinion because he has repeated two 'lies' right at the start.

SInce you keep ignoring these points and defending her Talky Talky record instead, I'll repeat them:

You're brave - three c&ps of the same article - you'll upset the regulars again.

And if anyone thinks that Scientists are a homogenous bunch without any outliers, I offer you this man who challenged all my previous notions. I won’t name him. A professor at a London University and researcher in plant genetics at an important Research Institute, in his spare time he tries to prove that we were all descended from one genetic pair, the so called Adam and Eve gene. The logic seems to be that other Scientists can’t disprove the possibility 100% even if they can 99.99999 %. He tried to found a free school locally but thankfully someone raised some awkward questions about creationism, misogyny and homophobia 🙄

What is so striking about the shameful promotion of Dido Harding for everything is that there must be
hundreds of other Tories who have run large businesses successfully
and of other Tories with public health expertise

Why keep choosing Harding ?
because - as I keep posting without reply - she has these intimate connections at the very top of the Tory party,
the "tory elite"

How do they get away with such blatant cronyism ?
The forelock-tugging deference of many to the uc ruling class and their piffle

If you had put May in charge of test trace and quarantine, in spite of lack of public health expertise I doubt she would have turned her back on civil servants, scientists and public sector resources and presided over the current shitshow.....

@Clavinova

Clav I omitted the Talk, Talk you objected to, in the hope you would look at the rest of the article

I did look at the rest of the article - I can't trust the columnist's opinion because he has repeated two 'lies' right at the start.

SInce you keep ignoring these points and defending her Talky Talky record instead, I'll repeat them:

You're brave - three c&ps of the same article - you'll upset the regulars again.

... His other facst about Harding's background are well-known and easily checked, e.g. some of them here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memberoff_parliament

"Harding is married to Conservative Party Member of Parliament John Penrose
and is a friend of former Prime Minister David Cameron.

Harding was appointed as a Member of the House of Lords by Cameron in 2014.

She holds a board position at the Jockey Club, which is responsible for several major horse-racing events including the Cheltenham Festival < not cancelled >
....
In August 2020, after it was announced Public Health England was to be abolished, Harding was appointed interim chair of the new National Institute for Health Protection, an appointment that was criticised by health experts as she did not have a background in healthcare.
....
Harding is the daughter of John Charles Harding, 2nd Baron Harding of Petherton"

Why Harding and not some other Tories with public health expertise ?

What are her qualifications for key public health roles in a pandemic ?

Why were no applications allowed from more qualified people ?

Harding is just so obviously unsuited for the job that there must be some underlying reason for her being so over-promoted. As has been said repeatedly on here, it wouldn't be hard to find other Tory supporters with better and more relevant business credentials, or with public health experience.

If she was actually up to the job, then you might argue that it was a risk worth taking - but she has done predictably badly, because as it turns out (and this will surprise almost no one on here) delivering public health projects is complex and requires expertise and humility.

What is so striking about the shameful promotion of Dido Harding for everything is that there must be hundreds of other Tories who have run large businesses successfully and of other Tories with public health expertise.

I wasn't overly impressed by Angela Rayner last week (silly quips about grouse shooting) - blatant cronyism or not much talent to choose from?

The Tory Party has become the party of blatant nepotism & cronyism

That's their business when it comes to choosing their own party leaders and officials,

but NOT for vital public health roles with high salary paid by the taxpayer
NOT for running organisations funded by the taxpayer with a budget of many millions

Shameful that she didn't even have to compete with other applicants
... because of course she couldn't have done so

but NOT for vital public health roles with high salary paid by the taxpayer

"Dido Harding won't get paid to run Matt Hancock's new replacement for Public Health England, the Mirror has learned."

"The Tory peer has also been working as head of the NHS Test and Trace programme on a voluntary basis."

"Other than a £25-30,000 salary as chair of NHS Improvements, Baroness Harding draws no government salary."

The Tory Party has become the party of blatant nepotism & cronyism

The Frankie Boyle gag about nepotism being incest for cowards is still funny

@Clavinova

What is so striking about the shameful promotion of Dido Harding for everything is that there must be hundreds of other Tories who have run large businesses successfully and of other Tories with public health expertise.

I wasn't overly impressed by Angela Rayner last week (silly quips about grouse shooting) - blatant cronyism or not much talent to choose from?

... Her blathering never sinks to the abysmal level of BJ's flundering and piffle

No PM has ever looked so out of their depth

No PM has ever sat in an obvious sulk, not daring to reply to the Opposition (e.g. Milliband the other day)

And as I posted, the parties may choose their own MPs and spokespeople as they wish
It's a very different skill set

Rayner is not heading testing or the NIH

If Rayner were appointed head of testing or of a public health organisation
especially because of who she had married or made friends with,
then I'd object to that too

@Clavinova

but NOT for vital public health roles with high salary paid by the taxpayer

"Dido Harding won't get paid to run Matt Hancock's new replacement for Public Health England, the Mirror has learned."

"The Tory peer has also been working as head of the NHS Test and Trace programme on a voluntary basis."

"Other than a £25-30,000 salary as chair of NHS Improvements, Baroness Harding draws no government salary."

Admittedly in Brexit Britain we clearly can't afford to pay for talent anymore and have to rely on the kindness of strangers.

Rayner was an excellent choice - like Trump, Boris is visibly uncomfortable around totty with brains.

Harding's "perks" in her new job will be significant
Perks as a peer are useful too

Main problem with her appointments:
They are for vital public health roles for which she is completely unqualified

Her fuckups cost lives

She is running organisations funded by millions of taxpayers money

Noone can answer "WHY Harding?"

except cronyism

BigChocFrenzy

It's a good job I don't mind all your c&p although I am reliably informed that some posters have a short attention span. You made a faux pas on the death statistics though - Mistigri in particular will be upset with you.

Don't worry, I have to go out now.

The Nazis were rampant cronyists too.

It is very stupid of the govt, even if they just thought of their own self-interests:

in the usual public enquiry after the pandemic is declared "over",

the appointment of unqualified cronies like Harding without allowing other applications for vital roles
the awarding of crony contracts to supply essential goods & services

will be among the obvious decisions that the governrment will be hammered for.

Why is it when Clavinova is challenged, she has to go out? It happens every time.

clav You keep avoiding the questions and trying to divert attention with irrelevancies,
so I keep emphasising what you dodge:

WHY Harding ?

Why appoint someone unqualified without allowing other applications ?

#ToryCronyism

I doubt that Harding is being appointed as a scapegoat:

• She is too well-connected and her chums would not allow it
• The Tory govt keep appointing her, so still their fault

Are they really so fucking arrogant that they don't care we all see their cronyism ?

Sagittarius A* is the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy, therefore Dido Harding is doing a great job.

Belated pmk. Thanks all.

'Army'

That'll be Christmas leave cancelled then.