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Frank, your link is behind the paywall...
Nickc, thanks for letting me know; will post full text later this afternoon.
Thanks Frank, much appreciated
TBF parris has been anti Johnson for a while
This Article he wrote just over a year ago was not wrong
The sadness, and it frustrates his critics tremendously, is that in writing this I’m preaching to the converted. They know he’s lazy. They know he’s untrustworthy. They know how he tries to wing things for which he ought to prepare. They look at the £700,000 he has earned since he quit government, much of it on the national and international speaking circuit, and wonder. They know he ducks. They know he makes conflicting promises. They know he skates on thin ice.
And in their hearts they have no confidence in Boris. But they’re scared. They think he may possess a kind of magic. The magic, my friends, will fade.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/let-me-assure-you-boris-johnson-will-fail-as-pm-hl7b6tkx5
Toby Young can f off into the sea though
Boris getting skewered and punted into the sea is the good news we need right now in a sea of shite. Just to see the pathetic look on his face as he is ejected into the outer darkness.
What follows will probably be even worse, but you never know, when the Conservative Eye of Sauron's gaze switches to a leadership contest away from the pandemic, handling of that issue might actually improve.
I could be wrong but I can't remember Mathew Parris ever being a cheerleader for Boris. I heard a podcast on the Spectator he did about the Edward Coulston toppling and it was probably the best piece of joirnalism I heard on the topic, the complete antithesis of his fellow Spectatorists.
He may be a pompous ass at times bùt he's a good writer and one of the few independent conservative voices, a bit like Rory Stewart. He hasn't served as an MP for a long while and I see him as a Tory centrist, I don't associate him with doing the bidding of the current Tory Party.
Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
Matthew Paris has never been a Boris Cheerleader.
Toby Young is just an even lower rent Boris mini-me.
I don’t think for a minute that Johnson will still be there in February. The question at the moment is will he last until Christmas, given how everything is panning out for him.
The next question then is obviously which of the vacuous incompetent half-wits will inherent the poisoned chalice
I don’t think for a minute that Johnson will still be there in February. The question at the moment is will he last until Christmas, given how everything is panning out for him.
If Johnson goes which awful person takes his place Rishi, Hancock... or ANOTHER election.
I think the one thing we can be absolutely certain of, given the polling, is that there’s no way on earth there will be an election
Once again the PM will be decided by a few thousand senile, Home-Counties-dwelling, Daily-Mail-reading old racists
Expect the worst. Probably Raab.
If Johnson goes which awful person takes his place Rishi, Hancock… or ANOTHER election.
Gove. He's the only other one close enough to Cummings and arch-Brexit-y enough to fit the bill.
The problem when you've shoved your Cabinet full of vacuous, incompetent Yes Men instead of ministers who actually know what they're doing is that it's not going to make the situation any better it just puts a different arse in charge of it all.
When johnson goes - in the next few months - others in the clown circus, except govey-gove, will be thinking...FFFF he couldn't handle it, do I really want this?
gove and cummings have been on manoeuvres for months; co-dependent.
Briefing against Sunak started weeks ago.
Would anyone on here care to out themselves as a tory voter in 2019 and share with us how they now feel about how they voted?
Once again the PM will be decided by a few thousand senile, Home-Counties-dwelling, Daily-Mail-reading old racists
Suddenly, a second wave doesn't seem so bad....🤔
Give doesn’t want it. He’s not that daft. He just wants to keep running the show from behind the scenes with Cummings.
Whoever’s next will be just another sock-puppet in the same mould as Boris, but even worse.
Raab’s a shoe in. The right colour. Thick as mince. Nasty as ****, with not a single shred of empathy, compassion or human decency
Would anyone on here care to out themselves as a tory voter in 2019 and share with us how they now feel about how they voted?
This I would love to know. Promised he was gonna "get brexit done" and his deal was "oven ready" wouldnt sell off the nhs and believed the whole Comrade Corbyn rubbish. If i voted Tory (that make me a little sick in the mouth) I would feel well and truly mugged off.
General answer from the tory voters I know is that 'Corbyn would have been worse'.
ffs.
To be fair to them, they’ve got a point. I doubt having the endless fence-sitting procrastinator Jeremy Corbyn at the helm at this precise moment would have been much better. Just a different type of awful.
There can’t be many people looking at the present cabinet and the state we’re in and thinking “do you know what a time of crisis like this requires? ... Dianne Abbott and Richard Burgan. They’d soon have this all sorted...”
That big long article about Boris up there ^ misses out a very important thing. All the massive ****ups this year - the app, exams, testing, Cumming's cumshot in our gobs aka Durham. Add all that in and it's an assassination.
I honestly don't think Corbyn et al would have got this as wrong as Johnson has.
The Tory ideology is a big part of the problem here as to why Covid was/is handled so poorly. In other words, in this scenario and many others, the current Tory/Leave party ideology is malignant.
I had some serous reservations about Corbyns ideology but I could never have labeled it as malignant. At worst naive.
I'd take naive every time these days and others. That said, this is off topic anyway and been done to death.
"Will you help England by populating her with liars?"
Poop, you're not off topic.
Too many of our concerns and problems lead directly back to johnson; his unwillingness and, more importantly, his inability to lead or manage or inspire - on any subject.
His pathetic use of greek and latin are attempts to convince the naive he is superior; only in his own mind.
I would have more confidence in the views of a bloke who licked bogs clean for a living.
I honestly don’t think Corbyn et al would have got this as wrong as Johnson has
It's a tricky one. Would more support for the NHS and more support for the poor (by far the hardest hit group in the pandemic) really have helped? Meaningless slogans and contracts for dodgy Tory supporting companies is how we are going to get through this.
Corbyn would not have sidelined existing expertise in track and trace so we would have had a wiorking system
Much of the tories poor performance in this crisis has been down to dogmatic ideology refusing to use the public sector
Much of the tories poor performance in this crisis has been down to
dogmatic ideologywanting to line their mates pockets by refusing to use the public sector
FTFY.
The whole "oh Corbyn would have been worse" is such an awful argument and not even something to debate its 100% fictional. People are like oh Boris makes decisions but there is zero conviction in then because in 5 seconds he will change his mind. Also, why are Tories still so concerned with Corybn hes not even in charge any more... Tories are a joke.
I would have more confidence in the views of a bloke who licked bogs clean for a living.
Finally!
I thought you were never going to ask
I honestly don’t think Corbyn et al would have got this as wrong as Johnson has.
Theres two levels of problem in the impact the pandemic has had on the UK - one is poor choices made directly in response - dithering and delaying, we even stopped our existing track and trace system of 6 weeks right at the height of the first wave as part of the heralding in on something new that wasn't ready. But the other impact is the toll of the last decade of tory- a lack of capacity as a result of under-investment. We fundamentally can't implement good decisions even if they were being made. Part of the reason the current government are throwing money at cronies in the hope that will fix things is theres no other direction for them to throw the money in.
Corbyn's crazy plan was, in summary, to turn a UK public sector that is approx 40% of GDP (as we have it now) into one where the public sector is 46% of GDP..... a bit like Germany. The difference between Boris's and Corbyn's promises was measured in 100s of Billions when they really should have been stated as just a few percent. Aside from any good or bad strategic decision making the difference between 40% (the UK) and 46% (Germany) is an infrastructure that fundamentally can't cope under stress and one that clearly can.
It feels safe to say Corbyn would more readily have sacrificed the economy to try and save lives (and probably fail) than sacrifice lives to try and save the economy (and probably fail) but he would basically have the same lack of tools the Boris has because he couldn't have turned 40% into 46% in 3 months - throughout the pandemic Boris has been fundiemetally unable to deliver on promises simply because our entire public infrastructure has been run down to a bare minimum - it only takes 'winter' to bring the health service to its knees. No matter how many test kits you buy the bottle neck is qualified people and suitable facilities. If we could buy 70 millions doses of vaccine tomorrow... we would have nothing close to the means to distribute and administer it effectively- and that would be same if functional vaccines could be produced in 6 months time or 6 years time.
We would need to have elected a Corbyn 20 years ago and keep electing people a bit like him to have both been able to make the right decisions now and actually deliver on them.
Leadership campaigns incoming
https://twitter.com/Jeremy_Hunt/status/1307588850521460738?s=19
https://twitter.com/michaelgove/status/1307389566299582465?s=19
Much as I enjoy tories fighting like rats in a sack I'd rather have a proper government.
I wonder how people who voted for Boris will feel about pob in charge? Probably won't give a **** I suppose.
Lets not forget Strong And Stable.
maccruiskeen, that is the best post I’ve read on here in quite some time
Corbyn may have enacted lockdown quicker and done other things differently too, but I can imagine that he'd have had an opposition who would have been resisting his efforts, rather than Johnson's opposition who mostly have been pushing for him to do more. Assuming that Corbyn would never have gotten the sort of majority Johnson has then that would have caused quite a lot of problems.
The Spectator today has a piece that is very clearly pushing the line that Johnson will quit. They place Gove as the main contender to take his place but also hope that maybe the Tories will find someone who is both popular with the electorate, and possessing enough intelligence and application to run the country: https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/could-boris-quit-
but also hope that maybe the Tories will find someone who is both popular with the electorate, and possessing enough intelligence and application to run the country:
That's the kind of half-baked fantasy that the Spectator specialises in.
Johnson will walk away on the 1st of Jan, and anyone who says "oh, but Corbyn would have been worse" can GTF in the sea.
I tink the Tories will want to wait until there is a vaccine in the pipeline at least and the no-deal Brexit wave has broken. No-one is going to take on responsibility before then.
Johnson may go first but he knows history will judge him as both incompetent and a coward if he does
GTF in the sea.
That doesn't sound like a punishment, the way you've phrased it. Depends on which sea, obviously.
Johnson is going nowhere! Will he fight the next election? Only if they let him. But he’s not about to disappear next year, when it’s time to start to dish out the “tough love” and see still more billions of money taken from tax payers and given to backers and fellow travellers. He’ll wear the crown whole Cummings and Gove smash up the UK, while making sure we get the cracks to deal with, and their people get all the pieces to do with as they see fit.
maccruiskeen, that is the best post I’ve read on here in quite some time
Yup,we are truly 'upstream without a paddle' in a sinking canoe,surrounded by crocodiles,heading for a waterfall with rocks below.
Still,could be worse.
It could indeed be worse.
And I think we can absolutely 100% guarantee that it will be. Considerably worse.
This shower of clowns may be wilfully refusing to see what’s coming down the tracks, as they have done from the off, but those of us a bit less blinkered know that January is going to be absolutely catastrophic! They seem determined to plough on with a No Deal Brexit, while ignoring the fact that by that point we could be in the middle of a second wave, potentially even worse than the first.
This government does indeed take its cues from its leader: reckless, dangerously incompetent and just winging it
This government does indeed take its cues from its leader: reckless, dangerously incompetent and just winging it
I fail to get worked up about this. From top to bottom our entire society is winging it. There are only a few people who are actually any good at what they do with the work ethic to put that competence into practice (most of them public sector employees too). The rest of us are either useless, lazy or both, and spend most of our time figuring out how to milk the system without being exposed or held to account. It's hardly a surprise that we've elected a PM who reflects this. Can you imagine the opposite where we're expected to do our jobs and answer for it if we don't? No thanks.
From top to bottom our entire society is winging it.
Speak for yourself.
Their are plenty of experts doing their jobs for the right reasons, and eager to contribute to how we as a society should handle things like… our relationship with neighbouring countries… or our response to a health crisis… the problem is our leadership, and importantly, the deceits used by them to become our leaders.
Their are plenty of experts doing their jobs for the right reasons
For every one of these there are a hundred Dido Hardings who blag their way to the top and then believe how great they are. The reason we are where we are is because the vast majority of us worked out long ago that hard work, honesty, and integrity do not pay. I could give you numerous examples just from my own workplace. It's the logical result of hierarchical systems. The problem isn't poor leadership, it's the concept of leadership itself.
No, the example you give is directly attributable to who is currently at the top of our government.
You’re building towards some lovely anarchist rant… aren’t you. Yawn.
The problem isn’t poor leadership, it’s the concept of leadership itself.
I'm not sure thats the issue, a society that was more equal would allow the best to rise, as it is its the 20% from private schools that run most things, so we get the entitled running the country
That doesn’t sound like a punishment, the way you’ve phrased it. Depends on which sea, obviously.
It's not literal, its actually one of my favorite insults at the moment..
Get in the Sea:
When someone is so unbelievably stupid, the only response is to demand their devolution back to an amphibious state.
The problem isn’t poor leadership
It is.
https://twitter.com/bobrmitchell/status/1307589634331938821?s=21
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/19/meritocracy-dido-harding-rise
That doesn’t sound like a punishment, the way you’ve phrased it. Depends on which sea, obviously.
I don't really mind, as long as they go far enough out in it not to be able to get back. Arctic ocean, would be good, though - or the Southern.
Do we need a revolution?
Not the soft option of angry shouting on facebook type revolution,but a proper wheel out the Guillotines and get the natives revolting ( I know a lot of them already are) kinda of affair.
🙂
maccruiskeen, that is the best post I’ve read on here in quite some time
Just want to echo this. Summed it up brilliantly.
This gives me some hope, that even in his own party they are wanting to strip him of his Emperor powers, I am sure it won't be without a fight:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/sep/20/tory-mps-plot-rebellion-over-renewal-of-emergency-covid-laws
You must remember that the expertise was and still is for contact tracing in local public health - but in England these people were ignored.
This gives me some hope, that even in his own party they are wanting to strip him of his Emperor powers, I am sure it won’t be without a fight:
My concern is that they are wanting to water down the required lockdown measures to appease hard pressed business and "civil liberties" types, rather than a desire to deal with the crisis better.
He has limited authority all over the party. When he was insisting Civil Servants go back into the office, Hancock basically told him to do one.
Jeremy Hunt is gently chipping away - plenty of Tories from the non-swivel-eyed-loon side of the party (relative term!) will have be seeing the no-deal Brexit disaster looming. Tory politicians will tolerate a lot for a competent and/or popular leader - but soon do away with the weak when the time is right.
But I still think no-one is going to want to be PM until there is a vaccine well on the way for Covid and no-deal Brexit has either happened or not
@morecash isn't that what happened in Leicestershire? MP and business leaders lobbied for lesser restrictions, then infection rate rises leading to together restrictions but still not shutting down of pubs and restaurants. Because...... money.
You’re building towards some lovely anarchist rant… aren’t you.
Not really. There are however major questions to ask about how our corrupted system of government and business rewards those who display the very opposite qualities to those which are traditonally seen as high achieving or worthy of leadership. I've got no real problem with leadership, but it has to be earned, and based on merit. Across almost every area of our society we reward the wrong things. Blagging, bullshitting, excuse-making, manipulation, political manoevring, self promotion, avarice, and plain simple dishonesty are all things that will get you to the top in most professions, and especially politics, much faster than intelligence, hard work, dedication and integrity. We need to be asking why? If we don't figure this out and change it then there will be many more Trumps, Boris's, and Hardings. They are not outliers, they're becoming the norm.
If we don’t figure this out and change it then there will be many more Trumps, Boris’s, and Hardings. They are not outliers, they’re becoming the norm
Actually a fair point to make, though I'm not sure all your targets are valid.
Dido Harding the Jeanette Krankie tribute act.
A bit late for that I'd have thought. the story is out of the bag and if he seeks one then it just confirms it as true. The question then is what was the trip for?
This is just panning out exactly as normal people anticipated and feared. A bumbling childish clown and useful idiot of the powers behind Vote Leave behaving as expected.
Jeremy Hunt, sorry Jeremy ******* Hunt, looks like the ultimate statesman in comparison
The question then is what was the trip for?
that would be what the super injunction is for 😉
If he gets a super injunction now we will know he was being naughty. I'd say he's going to come up with some strange bullshit excuse, say we should all move on and focus on beating the virus.
Sounds familiar...
I'm losing track now. Is this the dead cat to deflect from the track and trace fiasco or was the 'no restrictions on Christmas Day' story the dead cat to deflect from the track and trace fiasco?
It's going to be interesting to see this one play out - it's either a massive lie (including number 10 press officers so unlikely) or Republica have played a blinder with some false news:
https://twitter.com/MrHarryCole/status/1307934766017253381
Perhaps he would care to release a photo from his child's christening. Just one, we don't want to pry. That would be the easiest way to rebut the story entirely. 🙂
Or he could get a super-injunction. 🙂
Given that there are probably only a handful of venues in Westminster where the christening could have taken place, it seems almost suicidal to deny the trip if it did actually happen.
EDIT: Seems like bollox, quickly confirmed he was in Westminster.
Meh, bunga bunga Boris needs his chillaxing
I knew the Vote Leave crooks were up to their necks in Russian money but I hadn't noticed Johnson knighting the son of a KGB officer. Putin must have pissed himself when he heard that.
Seems like he's probably been off partying with his pal again.
EDIT: Seems like bollox, quickly confirmed he was in Westminster.
Really? Where's the confirmation...?
However I'm sure it's absolutely fine. Nothing wrong at all with briefing all your MPs over an unsecured external internet connection in a house owned by an ex-KGB agent.
However I’m sure it’s absolutely fine. Nothing wrong at all with briefing all your MPs over an unsecured external internet connection in a house owned by an ex-KGB agent.
Or international travel and accommodation in close proximity to others just before you go and get up close and personal to the cabinet etc who are supposedly trying to ask folk to reduce travel, interactions with others and prioritising work...
I do wonder if it is a big hoax from the Italian site, but nothing would surprise me....
Seems like he’s probably been off partying with his pal again
https://twitter.com/youwouldknow/status/1307978945116151809?s=20
I’ve got no real problem with leadership, but it has to be earned, and based on merit. Across almost every area of our society we reward the wrong things. Blagging, bullshitting, excuse-making, manipulation, political manoevring, self promotion, avarice, and plain simple dishonesty are all things that will get you to the top in most professions, and especially politics, much faster than intelligence, hard work, dedication and integrity. We need to be asking why?
We live in a blame culture. Something goes wrong therefore someone has to be to blame. Once the scapegoat is found no one either has time to or can be bothered to look at the systematic cause (we have a scapegoat after all) so everything goes on as before.
The result is that a significant proportion of a lot of jobs requires you to have the paper trail to demonstrate that you have done your job, or be able to throw the blame onto someone else. The former can take more time than the job itself, the latter is easier if you have the character traits described above and is much quicker and cheaper so these people seem more efficient and get promoted (We also wonder why we our productivity is so much lower than countries which take a different attitude and a less confrontational legal system).
I don’t believe that it’s a logical result of hierarchical systems, it’s the result of a system where one person, somewhere relatively low down in the hierarchy, can be held responsible for a systematic problem so that those higher up can avoid addressing the problem. It is not a problem unique to the public or private sectors, although in larger organisations the people we talk about thrive because there are more places to hide and more directions to throw the blame
Really? Where’s the confirmation…?
Harry Cole on Twitter up there didn't take long to talk to a couple of people who were at the Westminster Abbey christening. I suppose it could all be a deep state conspiracy...but doesn't look like a goer to me.
The Reppublica story is a weird one, as the press release originated from the airport it's self as just a publicity puff piece, so they shouldn't have a agenda...I'm edging towards mistaken identity right now, but it wouldn't take much to persuade me it's true.
There's enough interest from all the MSM about whether he's asleep at the wheel for someone to find evidence either way. Presumably it's no secret whether Lebedev is (not that that proves Blojo's whereabouts).
I don’t believe that it’s a logical result of hierarchical systems, it’s the result of a system where one person, somewhere relatively low down in the hierarchy, can be held responsible for a systematic problem so that those higher up can avoid addressing the problem.
Haven't you just contradicted yourself? That sounds to me like a great description of how hierarchical systems fail. What you describe could be solved by getting rid of those at the top and giving real responsibility, and the rewards that derive from it, to those at the bottom who do the work.
Whats most telling of all about Johnson is that theres no noticeable difference whether he's in the country, pretending to be PM, or off partying and shagging in Italy with his Russian mates.
We're so used to not seeing him from one week to the next that he could have died of a heart attack ten days ago while boffing a Russian violinist and we'd be none the wiser
Weekend at Boris'
I wouldn't be surprised if Dom was manipulating the press (with a false story about Italy) so other stuff gets by largely unnoticed (dropping the dead cat on the table)
I've lost track of what the dead cat is even masking. It's like the 'Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly'
I’ve lost track of what the dead cat is even masking.
Well there is the embarrassing story about just how heavily tied Lubov Chernukhin is to Putin still.
No wonder he's pleading poverty. I guess super injunctions aren't cheap.