Putins control of gas supply
Luckily we're part of a large international bloc with some influence.
Oh, hang on...
If anyone is interested there was a programme on 4 Extra overnight covering JB Priestley and his postscript programmes at the start of WWII after the evening news on the Home Service. It shows that it's very much a case of "Plus ça change. . ." with the Conservative party. There's a hint that his socialist, northern sense of fair play annoyed Churchill enough to have him removed for the airwaves.
EDIT It was Archive on 4
BBC.CO.UK Imagine for instance/one moment, say, Gove in there?
I think that Gove is is Brexity-****, but I also think that he’d be a lot more competent than Johnson, Raab, or Patel. Sunak is a one-trick pony and is surfing on a brief wave of popularity after furlough payments.
Fundamentally though, why is this latest balls-up any less likely to bounce off him than the countless previous ones?
Anyone just catch the clip on the BBC lunchtime news of the Scottish tory leader, (Douglas Ross) being unable to name one good quality that Johnson has? 🤣
as excited as everyone is getting over this, I don't think this'll be the end of boris. the knifes may be being sharpened but I think its a poison chalice no one has the appetite to take on until its clearer how omicron is going to pan out.
it's a funny one, even though it's a poison chalice leaving Johnson in charge may damage the party and some very ambitious people may think they may not get a better chance. Though he has surrounded himself with a cabinet more spineless than himself and the one wielding the knife rarely gets the crown.
Lord Voldemort
i prefer nosferatu
When Vald the Emailer sets fire to his front porch, BJ is not the person you want in charge.
The 1922 et al know this and seeing how the build up is continuing (Buks being moved West, I read), they will want the pissed-up, lying fool out of the way.
I reckon he might be gone by Jan 1st and a very rapid replacement anointed within a week.
Fundamentally though, why is this latest balls-up any less likely to bounce off him than the countless previous ones?
I very much agree with the sentiments behind that although I think there are reasons why this balls up could be different.
The problem for Johnson is that he has no firm solid support among the various wings of the party as a consequence of wanting to be loved by everyone and trying to keep everyone happy. He has described seeing himself, despite the obvious contradiction, as a "Brexity Hezza".
I have no doubt that the Nationality and Borders Bill, which is a completely pointless exercise, is an attempt to keep the Thatcherite wing of the party and Daily Mail columnists happy whilst he pursues interventionist Nation Tory policies.
The problem of course with trying to keep everyone happy is that it leaves no one very happy. Which wasn't a problem for Johnson when he was seen as a vote winner. If however that changes and the Tories start losing safe seats then it is a whole new ball game.
Without a solid and loyal base Johnson is particularly vulnerable to "circumstances".
some very ambitious people may think they may not get a better chance.
Yup, I wouldn't underestimate how ambitious Liz Truss is, probably more so than Johnson himself. To give an example in 1994 Truss was on left of Liberal Democrats criticising the party leadership :
Elizabeth Truss of Oxford University turned on a statement by Paddy Ashdown that everybody in Britain should 'have the chance to be somebody'. But, she said, 'only one family can provide the head of state. We Liberal Democrats believe in opportunity for all. We believe in fairness and commonsense . . . we do not believe people are born to rule'.
INDEPENDENT.CO.UK Two years later Truss had joined the Tories and was comfortable on the right-wing of a party whose hiarchey believe were born to rule. No one changes their core beliefs so dramatically in just a few months.
And for those who dismiss Truss as a threat because she is apparently a ridiculous fool who can't be taken seriously, as I've seen some do, do they believe that Johnson won elections because he wasn't burden by such handicaps?
I’ve just stuck a fiver on sock-puppet Truss at 4.5/1 as next Tory party leader. Rishi is favourite at 3/1, Gove next at 7/1, Hunt at 11/1 and, somewhat bizarrely; Oliver Dowden at 15/1
Actually; that last one is just the type of thing the Tory party would do. Might stick a few quid on that odd outcome
Johnson is particularly vulnerable to “circumstances” entirely of his own making.
Agree that Truss is one of those politicians that you can always find an apposite opposite quote from to show she is an opportunistic apostate.
I mean, considering her current and previous ministerial roles involved trying (and failing) to strike post Brexit trade deals that are more beneficial to us than the ones we had as EU members…
Slippery. Just like Johnson. She could well slide to the very top.
Slippery. Just like Johnson. She could well slide to the very top.
More slippery than Johnson imo. Although he is undoubtedly an opportunitist who checks which way the wind is blowing she makes him look an amateur in comparison.
When Johnson was first Mayor, he was strongly in favour of everything he had to renounce and campaign against to become PM. I wouldn’t underestimate or play down his own volte-face to further his rise to be PM.
Remember the amnesty for immigrants?
THEGUARDIAN.COM And Heathrow?
he is undoubtedly an opportunitist who checks which way the wind is blowing
Yes he is. Not sure Truss makes him “look like an amateur” though, no one has been more politically successful as an opportunist than him. If she makes it to be PM, with a few more switcheroos along the way, at that point I’ll be able to agree with you. She more of an understudy than a lead at this point though [ avoids Star Wars references ]. You are right that no one should rule her out as a future Conservative Party leader. More slippery than Johnson? You may be proved right there…
Whilst Johnson is undoubtedly guilty of political somersaults I wouldn't call opposition or not to a third runway as a core belief.
Truss changed her entire political ideology over a matter of months. People can and do change their ideology but it is generally slowly in stages over a period of time, unless they lack sincerity. Truss went from leftie Liberal Democrat star of party conference to Thatcherite Tory within a couple of years.
Still, I'm not much bothered who wins the greatest opportunitist competition I was simply pointing out that how ambitious Truss is shouldn't be underestimated. IMO
Surprise surprise - Johnson's 'address to the nation' scheduled for 20.00 tonight will be pre-recorded.
I suppose at least it means he can't be late for it though.
Or fluff it… “forgive me, forgive me, forgive me”.
Surprise surprise – Johnson’s ‘address to the nation’ scheduled for 20.00 tonight will be pre-recorded
And now a word from our sponsor…
He really is a shithouse, isn’t he?
Let’s do it so that nobody can ask me any awkward questions
He really is a shithouse, isn’t he?
Yep. And the rest of the world sees him as the public face of 'us'.
It boils my piss.
I'm not usually a John Harris fan - he's too much on the side of "oh bless, you voted for a xenophobic far right government because no one listens to you", but....
This is spot on. Contempt and disdain. The only thing that makes me feel slightly better is that the people he holds in most contempt are his supporters.
Surprise surprise – Johnson’s ‘address to the nation’ scheduled for 20.00 tonight will be pre-recorded.
It meant he only looked half-pissed instead of utterly bladdered.
'This is an emergency...tidal wave of Omicron..'
But you can still go to a packed pub.
It's one thing trying to terrify the public into trying to get boosted, whether the NHS is in any position to deliver the quantity of jabs 'our way of life' depends on is another matter. His entreaties to NHS staff to redouble their efforts suggests to me it isn't, at least not without stopping equally vital services.
whether the NHS is in any position to deliver the quantity of jabs ‘our way of life’ depends on is another matter. His entreaties to NHS staff to redouble their efforts suggests to me it isn’t, at least not without stopping equally vital services.
It was a bit vague but he did claim that :
We will also assist this emergency operation by
deploying 42 military planning teams across every region,
standing up additional vaccine sites and mobile units,
extending opening hours so clinics are open 7 days a week, with more appointments early in the morning, in the evening, and at weekends,
and training thousands more volunteer vaccinators.
And we’ll set out further steps in the days ahead.
I have no idea what the "military planning teams" involves but does sound impressive. Likewise thousands more vaccinators is a bit vague.
He did say that some NHS services will be affected but suggested that if they weren't now then next year they would likely be even more affected. Which sounds at least plausible.
it will mean some other appointments will need to be postponed until the New Year.
But if we don’t do this now, the wave of Omicron could be so big that cancellations and disruptions, like the loss of cancer appointments, would be even greater next year.
I suspect that he has every interest in making this booster campaign a significant success as it might well save his political skin. For a while.
Doesn’t this all rather depend on him being able to get any of this past his own unhinged libertarian ****-tard backbenchers on Wednesday?
Sounds impressive, until you remember that this new 'target' is to get every adult in the UK done in the next 19 days (including a couple of significant public holidays).
Does anyone think that throwing in 42 new 'military planning teams' into the NHS effort will do much aside from generate chaos? How long does it take to train a vaccinator?
I'm fully behind anything that will enhance the booster campaign, but throwing the kitchen sink at it like this sounds like, as you say, desperate skin-saving efforts rather than something that will actually help.
Doesn’t this all rather depend on him being able to get any of this past his own unhinged libertarian ****-tard backbenchers on Wednesday?
Well he did say that as well. Although he didn't quite put it like that.
NHS is in any position to deliver the quantity of jabs ‘our way of life’ depends on is another matter.
That is the main problem, my wife is on a temp contract which ends in March. Contracted to do 7.5hrs a week .New contract after march says she has to commit to 15hrs a week she also works P/T as a midwife 22.5 hrs a week. Its been hard enough for the vaccine roster people to understand that her main job takes priority over her work hrs, they've had her doing a full shift before her nights or after her nights. Mangers at vaccine centre now say they are not entitled to a break in afternoon as it is not mandatory. Sorry but if you continually speaking and going through the same thing over and over again, mentally you need a break. She and many others will not be renewing her contract in March, many others have also handed in their notice, due to the general attitude of management of treating the whole task as a sausage factory production line.
Doesn’t this all rather depend on him being able to get any of this past his own unhinged libertarian ****-tard backbenchers on Wednesday?
not really - Labour will vote for it. So he'll have a decent sized tory rebellion, but it will still pass.
Well the Daily Express clearly isn't going to ease up until Liz Truss is installed as party leader:
Daily Express: 'Comb your b***** hair!' Boris brutally mocked while delivering vital booster jab speech.
EXPRESS.CO.UK Presumably they have never noticed Johnson's hair before which why it eclipsed any news concerning omicron and the new booster targets.
He did look even worse than normal though, didn’t he?
And despite being pre-recorded, he still couldn’t even read from the autocue. Why doesn’t he just take the rest of the parliamentary session off, to recuperate and sort his life out.
Well the Daily Express
Opening the Daily Express website can cause premature hair loss and cancer. Or a barbecue summer, or something.
Can we just file that pointless waste of everybody’s time under ‘now, can you stop talking about all my Christmas party’s now’?
42 military planning teams sounds impressive, because that is the intention: to sound like he’s throwing everything at it. The truth is any team will be going from a standing start with no training, in an unfamiliar region and using unfamiliar systems. It will be chaos and they certainly will not be effective in enough time to contribute meaningfully to getting god knows how many millions of people vaccinated by the end of the month, regardless of hard they graft. It’s a mere sticking plaster to try to mask decades of underspend in the NHS.
We need to get past this idea that throwing the military at the problem is a panacea. We will always go, that’s what we do, but stuff like this destroys morale amongst a force that the Tories have spent the last decade hollowing out; only a week or so ago more news of reorganisation, modernisation and streamlining (ie cuts) landed. I’ve quit because of the shitshow of a Government we are enduring, their incompetence and lies, and the fact I can’t look my soldiers in the face and tell them the future looks great without lying through my teeth.
TWITTER.COM Anyway, rant over; go get a jab.
42 military planning teams sounds impressive, because that is the intention: to sound like he’s throwing everything at it. The truth is any team will be going from a standing start with no training, in an unfamiliar region and using unfamiliar systems
What it looks like is the ‘Nightingale’ hospitals built at the start of the pandemic. Window dressing. Making it look like you’re doing something, when in reality they could never have been used as they couldn’t staff them anyway.
Tonight’s announcement looks like more of the same. It’s just propaganda. It’s all for show. More to do with salvaging political reputations and changing the news agenda rather than having a serious impact on public health in a pandemic
I was surprised he took the 'Address to the Nation' approach - breaking into national broadcast schedules - just to restate a message he's been saying for a while. But then I remembered it's the kind of thing his PR team would tell him to do to look more 'leaderly' when he's in deep shit.
All this suddenly throwing the military at it etc, presumably this is something that's been thoroughly planned and prepared and tested and trained for over the last year, right? Right?
binners
Full MemberWhat it looks like is the ‘Nightingale’ hospitals built at the start of the pandemic. Window dressing. Making it look like you’re doing something, when in reality they could never have been used as they couldn’t staff them anyway.
Said this before but the Nightingales did serve a purpose- if the real hospitals had overflowed, as they nearly did, then we'd need somewhere to put the excess. They wouldn't have been hospitals as we understand it, more waiting rooms- waiting to get better with little help or waiting to die.
We came so close to that actually being useful. Obviously they were sold as being more than that
How long does it take to get, as yet un-recruited, volunteer vaccinators recruited and trained to vaccinate?
In terms of how quickly we can train vaccinators….
I applied in Nov 2020 and finally started working for the NHS in Jun21.
I gave up waiting initially and trained up to jab as a volunteer with SJA.
The idea we are going to train 10000 extra before Xmas is crazy!!
All this suddenly throwing the military at it etc, presumably this is something that’s been thoroughly planned and prepared and tested and trained for over the last year, right? Right?
Err…if it’s been planned, someone forgot to tell the people who make up the teams that something might be happening until about a week ago. But even then it was a ‘be prepared to…do something…we’re not quite sure.’
Brilliant, I’ll go warn off the wife that Christmas might be cancelled.
How long does it take to get, as yet un-recruited, volunteer vaccinators recruited and trained to vaccinate?
My wife did the training some time early this year I think, it took a lot of hours.
She was then told she wasn’t needed and has never heard from them again. Same with her friend.
Might be a lot of already trained people out there.
Might be a lot of already trained people out there.
Aside from if someone got trained earlier this year and then never used that training they are liable to have forgotten it all.
