Westministers : Saving the Union

[RedToothBrush]

Apparently we need a tunnel. Just like we needed the £53 million failed Garden Bridge.

Nice little earner for anyone involved.

Meanwhile, SCOTUK declares Uber drivers are workers.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56123668

Not a great result for the company. Hopefully this will close one avenue of "heads I win, tails you lose" the gig economy provides for.

Of course the Tories could just pass a law retrospectively making drivers self employed and save Uber a packet. After all, they've done it before. More than once. Ask anyone who was ripped off by Workfare.

@prettybird

There was a thread a few days on MN started by someone saying that they had been disadvantaged when they were small but had managed to get three degrees and done well for themselves so therefore there was no reason for anyone to stay in poverty or continue to be disadvantaged.

They claimed to be close to retirement - yet had had to take out hefty student loans to get their degree(s)

It got pulled pretty quickly

Yes, I thought the "massive loan debt" and "almost retirement age" was a dead giveaway.

You could take out a loan for students before student loans came in. It was to supplement the grant. Late 80s early 90s. Not sure you were allowed a massive loan as we didn't take one out in the end.just learned to live in very little but enough like you did in those days.

Whether one is approaching retirement in early fifties is another thing though.

I do hate the "I managed so everyone can" posts." Usually shows a lack of understanding that circumstances can differ.

Here we live without heating most of the time, yesterday was shorts and t-shirt warm. ( Back in thermals today) yet my mum's house is heating and thermals in August.

Placemarking. Thanks, @RedToothBrush et al

Yup - I'm "close to retirement age" (60 in April ) and not only did I not have to pay fees or take out a student loan but I got a grant And not even a minimum grant at that as despite Mum being a teacher and Dad being a doctor, we had a humongous endowment mortgage (result of bad timing emigrating to/from NZ) and the financial calculations for the grant allowed mortgage interest payments to be deducted

I do hate the "I managed so everyone can" posts." Usually shows a lack of understanding that circumstances can differ.

There's a poster somewhere that says "A tory says it hasn't happened to me, so I won't do anything. A socialist says it shouldn't happen to anyone" ...

I was fortunate enough that, as a tax payer for 3 years I got my university fees paid by the Local Authority, a Grant for term time maintenance and a Bursary for the holidays. Those were the days ...
But I did pay in full for my Masters degree 28 years later !

.

So we're planning to 'donate' excess vaccine - what's the betting rishi will use the (already reduced) aid budget to cover the vaccine costs.

@FrankieStein402

So we're planning to 'donate' excess vaccine - what's the betting rishi will use the (already reduced) aid budget to cover the vaccine costs.

Well it seems we don't need so much in the UK

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9277667/Only-50-appointments-Covid-jabs-mass-centre-Manchester-taken-up.html

Will they:

a) ignore this
b) retrospectively amend the law so that Hancock did not act illegally
c) engage an army of dumbots to c'n'p about how bad things are somewhere else

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/matt-hancock-covid-contract-ruling-b1804667.html

Health secretary Matt Hancock acted unlawfully by handing out coronavirus contracts without publishing details in a timely way, a High Court judge has ruled.

Mr Justice Chamberlain was ruling on a legal challenge brought by three opposition MPs and the Good Law Project over contracts running into hundreds of millions of pounds to supply face masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE), which were awarded without competition.

DGRossetti
Will they:
a) ignore this
b) retrospectively amend the law so that Hancock did not act illegally

He "breached his legal obligation" - he did not "act illegally".

Also, from your link;

But the judge declined to order Mr Hancock to publish all remaining contracts, noting that the backlog was already being cleared and he was “moving close to complete compliance.”

So we need 140 million doses and we will have 400 millions and give away the surplus.
So basically the vaccine is going to cost 3 times as much...

All the PPE approach once again but probably with a bit more success this time.

I would be happy to get my mid 40s self to the Etihad if it wasn’t stopping someone at more risk getting jabbed, and I’m sure DH would jump at the chance as well. I just can’t do it at short notice because I need to get unblinded from my trial first in case I already had one (I’d guess not, having not had the remotest trace of a side effect).

Having spent the day on Zoom calls about Audit and Transparency and Governance
I hope the NAO roast the Government on their COVID contracts
its looking like they will

I hope the NAO roast the Government on their COVID contracts

But then what? This lot have no shame, they will just either lie their way out of it or treat it as a huge joke. After all enough plebs were stupid enough to vote for them so people must like what they are doing. The only thing which might stop them would be some stiff prison sentences.

Peregrina
As you know, all that geeky government audit stuff is my thang
and the ship is turning at an increasing pace.
Its very interesting.
Nothing obvious yet, but look back in a year and you'll be pleasantly surprised.

but look back in a year and you'll be pleasantly surprised.

I hope so.

Hancock was found to have acted unlawfully.

It follows that, in my judgment, the Secretary of State acted unlawfully by failing to comply with the Transparency Policy.

You can't weasel out of that wording either (Paragraph 135 for those that are interested).

www.judiciary.uk/judgments/good-law-project-v-secretary-of-state-for-health-and-social-care/

Anybody else very impressed that getting Perseverance Rover onto Mars cost 1/10th Dildo Harding's Test & Trace system?

@TheElementsSong

Anybody else very impressed that getting Perseverance Rover onto Mars cost 1/10th Dildo Harding's Test & Trace system?

Just keep repeating that for the cost of Brexit and Covid so far the UK could have put a man on the moon many times over.

Also bear in mind the ESA are supposed to be sending up another mission to collect Perseverance's canisters and return them to earth ....

ESA's next astronaut recruitment programme opens on 31st March 2021, if anyone's interested.

@LostToucan

ESA's next astronaut recruitment programme opens on 31st March 2021, if anyone's interested.

DW was very interested as they want astronauts with disabilities.

Although it's a cruel kicker that they expect them to have managed to achieve a doctorate already ... given the pisspoor provision for the less able in academia.

We're still up for a one-way trip to Mars. Beats Switzerland.

Don't forget you also need to be able to swim and are up for spending up to 8 hours a day underwater in training. So an ability to not wrinkle up like a soggy prune would be an asset.

Just a one liner on the Government corruption and fraud breach of transparency laws in the awarding of Covid contracts on the 6pm BBC news

....after about 5-10 minutes about Harry withdrawing from Royal duties

One directly affects us. The other doesn't.

I do not understand why Harry (6th in line to the throne) choosing to stay in California is even worth covering in a 30 minute bulletin over

• COVID
• USA rejoining Paris Accord
• Brexit
• Mars lander
• Texas weather
• UAE human rights

its almost as if the BBC has been infected with squirrels