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?

PMK

Pmk. Fucks sake, the corruption reeks

PMK in readiness for the post Xmas Brexit end times. This thread is a handy round up of the madness. Thanks RTB and all the regulars.

The Grocer article:

What a no-deal Brexit could mean for food prices

...Should there be no FTA in place by 1 January 2021, EU food imports would face average tariffs of 20%, it concluded.

Looks like we should stock up on olive oil, tinned toms and pasta, amongst other things. Even if there are no shortages, prices will rise a fair bit.

www.thegrocer.co.uk/brexit/what-a-no-deal-brexit-could-mean-for-food-prices/648525.article

Pmk

Pmk after fraught experience of driving in London yesterday after dropping off Dgd at uni. Sooo I goes all the long way to London over Dartford crossing because everywhere on internet told me tower bridge shut till November ( which is only a few minutes from dgds accomodation. After doing massive detour in Kent to get there whilst coming home through London sat nav takes me over Tower bridge which was open ( grr)
Gotta say for a wonder London Covid figure rising. Never seen so many people at 6.30 am on a Sunday morning.

Coronavirus: Boris Johnson 'feeling the weight of responsibility acutely' over COVID-19

Or:
Coronavirus: Boris Johnson 'knows COVID-19 has exposed him as the fraud he is.'

Thanks, red 💐

"just as the future of democracy in the US is clinging on by its finger nails."
The future in the Uk is looking shit too, at least in the shortish term

David Allen Green: The road from Barnard Castle - government and the problem of illegality

https://davidallengreen.com/2020/09/the-road-from-barnard-castle-government-and-the-problem-of-illegality/
.......

But when a government itself does not itself appear to take law seriously it undermines the legitimacy of law.

And this is the problem the government of the United Kingdom now finds itself.
The problem of legality and illegality.

There are two events which illustrate this problem.

First there was the now notorious trip of a senior government adviser to and from Barnard Castle during lockdown
for which he could provide no plausible good reason.
....
Now, months after the trip to and from Barnard Castle,
we have the second event illustrating the government’s problem with legality and illegality.

The government has proposed that legislation be passed that would enable it to deliberately break the law.
....
The government itself is now on its very own journey to and from Barnard Castle.

A grand ‘away day’ from the rule of law.

Some supporters of the government have attempted to justify this proposal,
but even few of them are convinced.
...
And so the impression is again given that
laws are for other people, and not the government

This weekend’s press has told us that the government is now considering ‘tough’ penalties for those who break self-isolation during the ongoing pandemic.

The figure mentioned for the fine is £10,000.

On what basis can the government now insist that others comply with the law?

Of course, there is the resort to coercion: the use of police and the courts.

A government should not, however, have to rely on brute force (or the threat of brute force) to get people to comply with a law,
especially in the context of public health and public safety.

The government may have the brute power to seek to make the governed comply with the law
but not the legitimacy to insist.

That is quite a loss for any government.

And that is what was thrown out of the car window on that journey back from Barnard Castle.

DD1 is waiting to see what happens in the US elections, but is seriously considering renouncing her US citizenship. DD2 feels much the same, but isn't 18 yet.

Twitter rumours that Johnson was in Puglia around the weekend of 11th September meeting Russians.

@OhYouBadBadKitten

Twitter rumours that Johnson was in Puglia around the weekend of 11th September meeting Russians.

Yep - Carol Cadwalladr has more info, such as the Flightradar24 data and the return plane being delayed and Diwning St unexpectedly cancelling Monday morning meetings.

If it’s all above board, why doesn’t No 10 just say it was a private christening (or whatever). Why the need to hide things all the time?

I can't quite bring myself to read the news this morning. I am fed up of living in interesting times.

I would quite like to live in boring times with a competent PM and not a lot going on.

For the dim (me!) Can someone explain the Russian brexit link pls?

Why hide things - because yet again, at a time when there is a severe crisis, Boris Johnson swans off. It doesn't set a good example, and Downing Street has just about enough awareness to have realised this.

Is BJ away despite Whitty & Vallance giving an important 11 am briefing without him (or any other politicians)
or is he away intending an excuse to be absent from a possibly controversial briefing that will say some unpopular things ?

@WickedEmoji

For the dim (me!) Can someone explain the Russian brexit link pls?

... "Wealthy Russian businessmen" - friendly with Putin, or they'd be getting doses of poison too - have for years been making a lot of big donations to Tory Brexiter MPs and the Tory party.

Putin wants Brexit & anything else that would weaken the UK, the EU and the Western Alliance generally

Far right billionaires in the US have also been driving Brexit and far right activities in the UK and the rest of Europe
Putin runs a far right kleptocracy in Russia

The wealthy far right oligarchs in several countries, but mainly the USA & Russia,
buying power and influence to remake the world the way they want,
which of course includes low taxes and removal of laws constraining the power of the super-wealthy to do what they want

Vallance and Whitty's "announcement" and all the fanfare and speculation about it is a useful squirrel to distract attention from BJ's trip or not to Perugia and who he may or may not have been associating with

Oh I am just so depressed by all of this this morning. I miss being able to be optimistic about the future.

OhDearHowSadAndUnexpected

twitter.com/shashj/status/1307612213897814017?s=20

"The Government has formally scrapped Theresa May’s plans for a British version of the GPS satellite navigation programme, leading to parts of Whitehall now pushing for the UK to rejoin the EU’s Galileo system"

PMK

Thank you

But notice how Cummings has disassociated himself from it!

Johnson's alleged trip to Perugia follows previous reports of visits to Lebedev's villa in Perugia when he was Foreign Secretary.

"..Pictures of the now prime minister along with an account from a fellow traveller shed further light on Johnson’s weekend away at the home of the media owner Evgeny Lebedev, who is known for hosting uproarious parties for the rich and famous at his converted castle near Perugia.

Johnson has refused to answer questions about the visit in April last year, including whether he flew to Italy against the advice of his officials and without the 24/7 security detail usually assigned to the foreign secretary.

The pictures..suggest he did go to Italy without a police escort...Johnson was on his own, seemingly without any luggage and very much the worse for wear...

The UK’s most senior diplomat was later overheard telling another passenger that he had had “a heavy night” and that he had been visiting friends...

Johnson went to Palazzo Terranova in Perugia last year at the invitation of Lebedev, the owner of the London Evening Standard and the Independent.

In a brief entry of ministerial interests on the Foreign Office website, Johnson declared he had an “overnight stay” with Lebedev on 28 April, travelling “accompanied by a spouse, family member or friend”.

Johnson did not give any further details of where he had been, who he was with or the reason for the visit – reportedly his fourth to Lebedev’s Italian home in recent years.

Lebedev’s office also declined to give details about the weekend or about another trip Johnson is reported to have made to the castle, in October 2016. On that occasion the party is said to have been attended by the celebrity Katie Price and the actor Joan Collins, among others."

www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jul/26/boris-johnson-security-evgeny-lebedev-perugia-party

www.opendemocracy.net/en/opendemocracyuk/revealed-boris-russian-oligarch-and-page-3-model/

Lebedev was recently appointed to the House of Lords.