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boss that sanctioned it all
Nah they need to take responsibility for their own actions.
Boris needs to go -of course- and the Met are a disgrace.
I lost both my parents during lockdown.
They lived in Glasgow, I’m in Yorkshire, so I hadn’t seen them since before lockdown.
For the funeral, we drove up and back in a day. We had to take everything we needed to eat and drink with us in the car eating in the car parks of closed motorway service stations (no food available). I couldn’t put an arm round my tearful nephews. Only my brother and sister’s families plus mine got to go. My mother’s brothers couldn’t be there - I read pieces they had written.
There was no wake - we just drove home again.
Later in the pandemic my mother’s younger brother also died. The rules weren’t quite as strict by then, but it was still somewhat restricted.
All the time it appears Boris and Co were holding a regular party.
Nothing more to say really.
Unfortunately It feels like He could still ride this one out.
If back benchers really think us plebs have "Priced In" Boris being the eternal Bullingdon Boy then the nation is in trouble. This is "Trumpian" to borrow a phrase.
I'll keep saying it, There's only one group of people you need to relay the details of your personal suffering and related anger at our PM, and that is Tory MPs. It's no good preaching to the choir.
Tory MPs are the only people who can bring about his departure, they've been dancing about the fringes of it for months, let's be honest a fair chunk of them will have known about the parties and the general culture at No.10.
But clearly some still need a firm shove to do the right thing, that shove comes in the form of a proper threat to their own seats if they continue to back Boris.
To be clear, just keeping quiet and not submitting a letter constitutes "backing".
But clearly some still need a firm shove to do the right thing, that shove comes in the form of a proper threat to their own seats if they continue to back Boris.
It seems likely they'll lose the upcoming by-elections, if they do lose both then that might, just be enough
But Johnson really is a greased piglet 🐖
Mirror post ^^^ what a piss poor selection of wine and nibbles.
That really tells you all you need to know about the cretins and enablers at 10 downing street.
Mackeson, Romanée-Conti, pots of whelks and sautéed bulls testicles would be so much better.
I wouldn't wash my socks in the booze on display; as for krispy kreme - made from vomit and now available in vomit flavour.
Report out today. So I think we can expect the government to unveil some sort of help for the public over energy bills and the increased cost of living.
But knowing this government and what they stand for, it will be in the shape of a loan of some sort, to tide the public over, rather than initiating a windfall tax or forcing energy companies to take lower profits.
it will be in the shape of a loan of some sort,
Which they will then try and persuade everyone it isn’t.
Or just lie.
It’s a bit like a certain parrot sketch.
When’s the revolution?
it happened. We got Boris.
That’s pretty good 🙂
Yep the protest voters did really good sticking it to the man.
I can’t see them surviving the next election unless they do something like a windfall tax, prioritising companies profit over people probably won’t go down well and if its bad now wait till winter when the heating needs to be on more.
Covid also showed the plebs that the government can actually provide financial help for its citizens if it so wishes.
Hmm throw a lot of money in early and go for an early election whilst the suns out.
Report out today. So I think we can expect the government to unveil some sort of help for the public over energy bills and the increased cost of living.
Press headlines are trailing it - whoever said the package would be announced 5 minutes before or after the Sue Gray report was spot on
Rishi Sunak is on course to announce a multibillion-pound financial package to help with the cost of living on Thursday, just a day after the anticipated Sue Gray report, Sky News understands.
Well, who could possibly have seen that one coming.
So ‘there’s no money’ actually means ‘there’s no money… unless Boris has got himself in a spot of bother again and needs a distraction’
I’m going to go out on a limb here and predict a grand announcement, pre-trailed to the press to splash all over their front pages, with big figures (41 new hospitals/a nuclear power plant a year) and absolutely zero detail (there isn’t any) all of which, like everything else they announce, will be quietly dropped as it was only ever a soundbite anyway
Just more of the usual.,. Government by third rate newspaper columnist
If there is any actual policy, which I seriously doubt, it’ll be some back-of-a-fag-packet cobbled together bullshit which is soon shown to be unworkable, and benefit nobody other than maybe some corporate party donors
Did anyone watch Newsnight last night?
The two women from The Guardian and The Spectator were commenting on Johnson's prospects for survival. The more interesting thing was the body language on display. It was like they'd had a fight in the green room and were sat in front of teacher. Bizarre!
So ‘there’s no money’ actually means ‘there’s no money…
At the same time it was announced we borrowed £18.5bn in April. Yes, just April and the fourth highest ever. Like petrol, whatever’s announced will likely be a very short term fix until the October energy price rises vastly overshadow it. In the meantime, whenever we get rid of this administration the next one will inherit a mountain of debt caused by this lot attempting to buy its way out of trouble.
The Tory legacy will penetrate far beyond their running of the country I’m afraid.
Btw, Martin Lewis is reporting the oil prices have been dropping since March, so the endless profiteering of oil companies with the attempted cloak of green infrastructure marches on unabated.
I wouldn't worry about the debt right now. The whole "spending our children's money today for them to pay back tomorrow" line has been used to allow a huge switch of resources away from young people. That needs to stop. We need to invest in their futures... along with doing the basics of making sure everyone, without exception, can eat and stay warm this winter.
Don't worry about the borrowing, worry about where the money goes, who it is used to benefit, and whose pockets it ends up in.
Best borrow the money while we can, with the global economic shocks compounded by Brexit we'll soon struggle to find a lender.
Btw, Martin Lewis is reporting the oil prices have been dropping since March, so the endless profiteering of oil companies with the attempted cloak of green infrastructure marches on unabated.
I think it spiked hard in March, but prices are still well above the figure from the turn of the year and showing no particular signs of returning there.
https://www.hl.co.uk/shares/trading-commodities/brent-crude-oil
https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/crude-oil
Expect to see something on the side of a London Bus soon . . .
A reminder that what “we” are going through isn’t the same for all of us…
https://twitter.com/theifs/status/1529341497086124032?s=21
Still it’s the Sue Gray ‘Rate My Party’ show later.
I'm trying to not get too excited about it as I'm sure I'll be disappointed because teflon bozo will inexplicably get away with everything again.
The economic historian Adam Tooze claims in the US in 2020-1 unit labour costs made a 7.9 percent contribution to price increases, non‑labour costs 38.3 percent and corporate profits 53.9 percent. I should think not too different over here with brexit contributing 10-15%. Choices innit.
Teflon Boris
Of course he will get away with it. Nobody who remains in any position of power in the Tory Party cares. And that will stay that way until they see chances of election victory disappearing down the toilet.
And that is the size of the UK's problem.
The collective character of the Tory Party has been on full view for some time now. It will stay that way until Labour pose a credible threat. Or by some inexplicable and confusing circumstance or accident, the Lib Dems appear out of nowhere.
In another branch of the multiverse, we have a functional electoral system, not this two party FPTP rubbish, and disasters like Boris do not get anywhere near the top job. My own rather glum prediction is that things will get worse not better. When Labour lost Scotland, what uneasy balance existed between Tory and Labour was lost and the Tory Party is now accountable to no one but themselves.
I wholly endorse Sam Coates (Sky News) continuing to shout awkward 'questions' at politicians. OK it's a bit childish and sort of like Dennis Pennis used to be with celebs back in the day but given politicians never provide any meaningful/true/straight answers I'm all for reporters just shouting veiled insults at them for our entertainment until they change...
Of course he will get away with it. Nobody who remains in any position of power in the Tory Party cares.
The problem is that all the key players in the Tory Party are there because of their belief in Brexit, not because of any competence.
And Boris is only there because the already flaky and unworkable Brexit is only a possibility while he remains there to ignore international law as and when he feels like it.
The Tories, and Boris, got where they are because of Brexit so the Tories need Boris to stay there. He knows this which is why he's still so gung ho about it all.
In another branch of the multiverse, we have a functional electoral system, not this two party FPTP rubbish, and disasters like Boris do not get anywhere near the top job. My own rather glum prediction is that things will get worse not better. When Labour lost Scotland, what uneasy balance existed between Tory and Labour was lost and the Tory Party is now accountable to no one but themselves.
It's not just FPTP, in fact I would suggest that FPTP is a secondary problem compared to political funding. Parties only offer the electorate policies that allow them to be funded by a small group of rich people. Western democracy is card trick, we only get to vote on what the magician offers us.
Nice of the RMT to come out today, of all days, to announce rail strikes, writing tomorrows Daily Mail and Express front pages for them
****ing morons!
So, here we go again then!
I see we've covered all the saliant points, so let's try to have a little bit of fun with it.
Best guesses on:
1) Time, in hours between Sue Gray's report landing on the desks of every news agency in the UK and Sunak announcing he's found some spare billions down the back of the sofa.
2) How many Millions / Billions will have been found gathering dust.
3) Will they Tax the Oil / Energy companies? Best of all, which method of 'fairness' with they use to work out which pays what? EDF is owned by the French state isn't it, whilst BP and Shell are usually happy to throw a couple of Board Seats at Tories when they leave office..
4) Which wildly popular 'flags for orphans' measures will they use to save us all from the mess they largely made for us? The Poorest need the most help, but it's Middle Class Tories they need to please...
5) Will Johnson survive?
1) 1/2
2) a lot
3) no
4) who knows, but anything that results in less funding than is currently available
5) yes
yes, that's another whole kettle of worms right there
In another branch of the multiverse, we have a functional electoral system
In Scotland and wales we do have something closer to democracy.
On a more positive note, it looks like the senior civil servants rightly suspect that they're about to be thrown under the bus in the usual Johnson style, and aren't having any of it.
https://twitter.com/MirrorPolitics/status/1529382367177080834?s=20&t=SxyaxG703Gn_Dcke1FQ5aA
Surely he can't sack Simon Case then not resign himself?
Actually... its Boris Johnson... of course he can
That's what he's going to do, isn't it?
I suspect he knows the location of multiple bodies and is unwilling to carry the can for parties he did not attend and for which he wasn't fined.
PMQ's should be interesting
I'm saying its going be a nailed on dead cert that Ian Blackford is evicted from the chamber for calling Johnson a liar again.
It'd be good if Starmer did the same, followed by many other MP's, highlighting the ridiculous situation where Johnson is allowed to lie and lie and lie at the despatch box, While Lindsay Hoyle acts as his human shield, but nobody is allowed to call him a liar
The BBC are reporting the Sue Grey report has now been delivered to number 10. Apparently it's 37 pages, complete with lots of photos.
Shall we see what excuses they come up with not to publish it
I think I'll listen this week. Though it will only make me angry. Still there's some joy to be had in listening to blackford ripping into him again.
well that was a waste of time
Certainly having a read through it is clear that the whole building appeared to be quite happy to be avoiding playing by the rules of law...also seems rather worrying about how much socialising they all do - how and when does any work actually get done???
it's no scott report for sure and if it were there's no Robin Cook to skewer Johnson with it.
There was excessive alcohol consumption
by some individuals. One individual was sick. There was a minor altercation
between two other individuals. 🤦
I suppose we get 290 photos to be slowly leaked out now
Does that tell us anything we didn't know already?
To whit.
1 Plastered people at parties were in particular physically proximity.
2 At a time when it was, literally illegal to do so.
3 Nobody has received a fine of any magnitude.
4 Oh look, Ukraine / Free Money / Coleen Rooney in Court / Are You Not Entertained?
There was excessive alcohol consumption
by some individuals. One individual was sick. There was a minor altercation
between two other individuals.
Is it just me who thinks it all sounds a bit...
Spring break?
Boris clearly thinks he's Chad Hogan
It's good that the report (or rather the writer) makes it clear that this all happened within Johnson's team, but not in the wider civil service. Johnson created the "rules don't apply to us" regime, it was not how civil servants operated beyond his immediate day to day sphere of influence. It is vital that we are on guard to this being turned into an "anti-civil-servants" news story by those out to deflect from Johnson's obvious unsuitability for high office in the press and elsewhere.
Johnson created the “rules don’t apply to us” regime
Rules don't apply to Johnson. When the chips are down, the rules might turn out to apply to all those other people at the party, who were in Johnson's team, and who Johnson didn't have any control over, even if he actually did, which he wouldn't, because they were breaking the rules, which don't apply to him, even if they did, at the time, which isn't the time you're talking about.
See also, being thrown under a bus.
And, doublethink.
Meanwhile, has he actually done anything useful, like prevent Ireland returning to a situation of not quite boiling over civil war and scotching any relationship such as it is that still exists with US and EU?
No, of course he hasn't. He's been preparing his excuses for this shitshow instead.
the whatsapp messages seem the most damning
I’m saying its going be a nailed on dead cert that Ian Blackford is evicted from the chamber for calling Johnson a liar again.
Blackford needs to up the ante and not just call him a liar, but a lying see you next Tuesday. If you're going to get evicted anyway, he might as well go balls-deep.