Westminstenders: Tachographs and Empty Shelves

[pointythings]

So Grant Shapps' solution to the shortage of lorry drivers is to allow them to drive longer hours.

Leading to more accidents and deaths on the UK's roads. But Brexit is Job Done and all is well - isn't it?

@DrBlackbird

Apparently there's a national shortage of... dog poo bags. In baking hot heat... that's an unpleasant thought smell 🤢

I think we can look forward to shortages of random stuff from time to time. I’ve got quite a long list of things which includes Must Have items (eg loo roll) Can’t Do Without (eg Italian espresso coffee) and Emergency (assorted tins). My Brexit stash is bigger, more comprehensive and better organised than ever, though I see jam (CDW) creeping in thanks to an offer on Bonne Maman in Asda.

From Blackbird’s link

In a wide-ranging interview, Mr Cummings also said that, near the start of the pandemic last year, Mr Johnson had wanted to keep his weekly face-to-face meetings with the Queen going - but he had to warn his boss that she might die if she caught coronavirus.

Dom saves the Queen, well done him. I bet he’s one of those anarchists who’s also a Royalist (and a believer in aristocracy and privilege if it includes him).

Dom is a wannabe member of the establishment, but I still largely believe what he's relating about Johnson's views last year on Covid/lockdowns etc.

It's not particularly shocking to hear him say that Johnson put his own personal interests above national needs/ordinary people nearly even the queen it seems

But of course, Kuenssberg was at pains to point out that Dom had been fired and full of sour grapes...

Meanwhile, The Independent reports that the govt is spending twice as much on Brexit admin as it is on the levelling up fund. Another win.

One govt hand renationalises, whilst the other privatises. Is this some unspoken Tory law?

A National Grid spokesman said the company would “work closely” with the government and Ofgem on the role of a future system operator, as well as “the most appropriate ownership model and any future related sale”

And... Home Office plans would remove the public interest defence for whistleblowing, and could put reporters in jail... so even republican governors are too liberal and this is why Orban was invited for a visit...

pmk

Pmk

Hello All - very long time lurker emerging. Anyone watch the Cummings interview last night? Interested in views.

Hope BCF is okay also. Desperate scenes in Germany, though not, I think, where she is.

www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-57911148

Brexit: UK to warn it could override Northern Ireland Protocol

The UK is expected to warn the EU it is prepared to unilaterally override the Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland if a simplified agreement cannot be reached.

surprise surprise

'honesty box' approach. no one surely would take advantage

This govt is actually more communist than capitalist...no no hear me out...

For 'conservatives' (historically, small government, invisible hand, fiscally responsible, individual responsibilities and freedoms), this govt is dead eager to intervene into and dictate to any and all govt funded institutional decision making that goes beyond previous levels. It's as if they truly believe that money is coming out of their own pockets.

For example, seeking greater powers over the NHS and Oliver dowden writing to museums warning them about leaving up statues and more recently, good old Gav Williamson's decision to cut funding for arts and creative subjects in higher education to increase allegedly stem funding all indicate a highly centralised planning mind set.

Now, think about the handing out of contracts to friends and families, their others steps to restrict the judiciary, to hamper citizen protest, to remove safeguards for journalists and whistleblowers and it all makes sense if you begin to think of them/us as a one party communist state.

Okay... just partially joking, but what we're witnessing is not a Tory party. Not sure what it is really...

but what we're witnessing is not a Tory party. Not sure what it is really...

It's a party of complete and utter self-interest and self-centredness

I've never been a Conservative but even I could appreciate that Conservatives just had a different ideology about how to achieve the best for the country as a whole. I disagreed with their approach though - and never agreed with "trickle down economics".

This shower of eejits don't even consider the "good of the country" - it's all about them and their cronies

I hated Margaret Thatcher with a passion - but even she would've handled the Covid crisis better and she did have a decent Cabinet, who had discernible ethics, around her And of course, she would've read any International Agreement that she signed up to - nor would she have signed it with her fingers crossed behind her back, knowing that she would just ignore it in future She didn't shy away from hard work unlike the current shysters in power

Override the NI Protocol and they kiss their much desired Trade agreement with the USA goodbye, and also get a veto from NZ on joining the Trans Pacific Partnership.

I do hope that the tide is beginning to turn against Johnson at last. They got it wrong with the football. They have got it wrong with opening up on 19th July, and the vaccine bounce is beginning to peter out.

I loathed Margaret Thatcher too. She did, however, have a scientific background, which would have helped inform her approach to Covid. She would know that you can't just 'follow the science' - that often the answers are not clear cut, but we would not have seen this flip flopping that we have seen with Johnson.

The mind absolutely boggles at how Dom manages this complete contradiction and/or cognitive dissonance....

"I think anyone who says they’re sure about questions like that has got a screw loose, whether you’re on the remain side or our side ... I think it’s perfectly reasonable to say Brexit was a mistake.... BUT Brexit is still a good thing" How, just how does he get away with saying this?

Thatcher deserved loathing for what she did to so many poor communities, but she was shrewd enough to recognise the benefits of being part of a single market.

Peregrina I suspect that Johnson and Co have given up on a US FTA for now. Maybe foolishly hoping that Trump will pull off another win in 2023/4?

@Words : I've checked with someone who is in contact with BCF. She is fine. Her part of the Rhine is wider and flatter and her apartment is third floor. The water got nearly up to her building but her gym stayed open!

I don't think that Brexit will ever be a good thing, but it could have been handled much better so that the worst effects were mitigated - staying in the CU for example, would have alleviated many of NI's problems. (Note for the Tory Cabinet - if you look at a map, it's in the NE corner of that island that's to immediate west of Britain.)

For 'conservatives' (historically, small government, invisible hand, fiscally responsible, individual responsibilities and freedoms), this govt is dead eager to intervene into and dictate to any and all govt funded institutional decision making that goes beyond previous levels. It's as if they truly believe that money is coming out of their own pockets

Having lived under Tory Governments, they have never been any of those things.
They just say these things and do the opposite, always have,

The problem with Brexit, is it has now empowered the anti-US nutters. The ones who spunked billions on Blue Streak in the 50s and 60s before Macmillan had a lesson in realpolitik.

So - to the horror of some Brexiteers, there is going to be a growing swell of "Fuck the US" over NI.

The UK - in the shape of England - has managed to paint itself into a corner.

Worth bearing in mind that an anti-US UK will very much be more welcomed by Pakistan and India. Ho Ho.

David Frost just announced that the UK government wants to renegotiate the substance of the Brexit Deal that was negotiated between 2017 and 2019, in relation to the Northern Ireland protocol.

"We cannot go on as we are".

So, "Job Done" hey?

Job definitely not done and never was !

@DrBlackbird

This govt is actually more communist than capitalist...no no hear me out...

For 'conservatives' (historically, small government, invisible hand, fiscally responsible, individual responsibilities and freedoms), this govt is dead eager to intervene into and dictate to any and all govt funded institutional decision making that goes beyond previous levels. It's as if they truly believe that money is coming out of their own pockets.

For example, seeking greater powers over the NHS and Oliver dowden writing to museums warning them about leaving up statues and more recently, good old Gav Williamson's decision to cut funding for arts and creative subjects in higher education to increase allegedly stem funding all indicate a highly centralised planning mind set.

Now, think about the handing out of contracts to friends and families, their others steps to restrict the judiciary, to hamper citizen protest, to remove safeguards for journalists and whistleblowers and it all makes sense if you begin to think of them/us as a one party communist state.

Okay... just partially joking, but what we're witnessing is not a Tory party. Not sure what it is really...

Agree. Was thinking the same thing.

[quote prettybird]@Words : I've checked with someone who is in contact with BCF. She is fine. Her part of the Rhine is wider and flatter and her apartment is third floor. The water got nearly up to her building but her gym stayed open! [/quote]
prettybird thanks for that! I'd been thinking about BCF too and had been wondering whether to ask if you'd heard anything from/about her, as I thought I recalled a post where you had some sort of connection.

I must say remembering the photos she posted of the view down to the Rhine path just below her apartment windows caused more than a little worry... best wishes to her if you're in contact

How, just how does he get away with saying this?

Because, so frequently recently, we see that people can get away with spouting any random old tosh, however contradictory, and have so-called intelligent, educated people nodding along.
I’ve completely reevaluated my perception that more education results in well informed people with better critical thinking skills. In many cases it seems to do the exact opposite. Intelligent and articulate people are often the worst affected, using their skills to put forward absurd ideas using carefully illogical arguments.

The most impressive person I heard on the radio recently was a spokeswoman for an organisation for those with learning difficulties. She had a learning difficulty herself, but put forward a cogent and sensible point of view, listened carefully to questions and gave pertinent answers. Oh for more like her. Her common sense and good character shone through.

Thank you @Prettybird . so glad all is ok with BCF.
And that her gym is still open.

I reflected after the Cummings interview that he shares a lot with his former boss: supreme arrogance, total lack of moral compass, and a lack of empathy that borders on the pathological. All expressed in very different ways in both men though. Cummings is smarter, but not as smart as he thinks he is.

The whole psychodrama is positively Shakespearean. In a very bad way.

Thanks prettybird so glad that BCF is ok as well I was thinking about her.

I came on to post about the NI renegotiation, too.

I am surprised the response from Brussels did not include swear words at this stage.