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£165/h for his personal trainer 🤣
£165/h for his personal trainer
Probably a mate of a mate or some kind of 'in' to a potential shag.
No need to actually do the job and it patently has not worked.
When he had Covid I really wanted him to survive to face an inquiry. Nowadays I'm sorry he didn't perish as they'll never have to be accountable for the mess they helped create.
Hartlepool will have a huge impact on the Tory party actions over the next few years... if they win and i think they will (based on people i know living/working there) then **** me it will give the Tories the biggest hard on ever.
Labour can not recover from a loss at Hartlepool. Two party politics is gone for many many generations.
Much of what the Labour party has achieved since WW2 will be wiped away.
All this supported by the very people they exploit and lie to.
Strange thing is as an older individual with property,pensions and a business i am likely to benefit from whatever the ****s do? My kids will also probably do ok as they have property and degrees and professional jobs.
The people who will suffer (including my extended family) couldn't give a shite about me or mine? Yet i get wound up on their behalf.
Strange times.
In the last 24 years we have only had 4 years of Conservative majority rule.
Whilst it is true that the Labour Party has become totally disconnected with its once solid support there is no evidence that British voters will back the Conservative Party, which is currently being led by an attention seeking clown with more luggage than Melania Trump, to remain in power for "many many generations".
If the Labour Party can't provide the answers then another party will fill the political vacuum.
There is absolutely no way that one political party, here or in any other western democracy, can possibly satisfy the aspirations of ordinary working people.
It just doesn't and can't happen.
Interesting stuff here from the Pew Research Center
I think the problem is that while many people say they want economic reform - especially if that also offers environmental reform - they don't vote for it, and I'm not sure why that is.
Are they lying? Are they being lied to? Do they not understand what they are voting for?
they don’t vote for it, and I’m not sure why that is.
Fear.
While many folk are on the breadline, there's also many folk for whom the current system works reasonably well, they have a house in largely crime fee neighbourhood, they have a couple of nice cars, they can afford a holiday abroad, and their kids are at Uni. Yes, they may have little to no savings or cushion if it goes tits up, but then neither do any of their friends. their saving are "something something house prices" These people see that they don't live in a fair society, they understand global warming and they understand that it's unsustainable but that's not "their fault" they've worked hard, etc etc...They'd love it to be fairer, but can they just stay the same..?
Well put. Combined with the fact the change won't directly help them which then brings out the inner tory "why should I have less" to make society fairer, reduce global warming etc,.
It's always the way, isn't it.
It's very difficult to get people to give things up, once they've got them (even if the car is leased, or what they have is something intangible like social standing etc).
And change brings a human reaction of "what's in it for me".
It's surprisingly difficult to have a conversation with people about fairness, if it doesn't benefit them in some way, or at least not cost them anything. You can see their faces gloss over when they can't argue that those more vulnerable, or less lucky than them shouldn't get help, but they're busy trying to articulate "but why should I pay more tax", or "its not my fault".
We've got very, very entitled as a culture, and this depresses me...
We’ve got very, very entitled as a culture
I think a fairer way of portraying this is: We've taken what was offered to us.
We’ve got very, very entitled as a culture
I think a fairer way of portraying this is: We’ve taken what was offered to us.
A chicken and egg debate there i think
Now the French have conveniently dispatched a boat the Tories will be screaming hysterically about protecting (the Channel Islands) fishing industry. No prizes for red-top headlines.
perhaps a Lancaster bomber flypast for some reason or tax exemptions for British Bulldog owners.
Or we could start a war with the French, although he’s more Henry VIII than Henry V
How do we still not know who gave Johnson a bung gift to do up his pad, and how much they bribed donated to him personally?
We could be seeing a seismic shift in North South politics. Remember it was Lincoln (a republican) who put am end to slavery and the democrats who introduced Jim Crow.
The traditional Labour heartlands of the North have always been a bit racist but that was always sublimated due to class allegiances.
Those allegiances no longer exist. There has always been up to a million voters prepared to vote for a far right party, the Tories being too soft for them and those voters were traditionally beyond the pale for the Conservative party.
Not any longer, Boris has welcomed them into the fold, like when he tweeted out ten times to his Pretorian guard of football hooligans on the day of the London BLM protest to come and protect a statue that Sidique Khan had thoughtfully protected by boarding it up.
They took a dog whistle and turned it into a fog horn. Any growth for Labour, or any other non Nationalist party will have to look to the South for growth, The north will be lost for.a generation (excepting the larger northern Cities which are politically more similar to London)
Any tenuous link to the working class that Labour had is now history, the term 'Labour Party' is meaningless. The term 'New Labour' recognised this fact, it was clever, if you call yourself 'New' you will always be new. Ditching that moniker was political suicide, all they did was define themselves as the old Labour party, the one that nearly died in the early eighties. Through their own volition they defined themselves as the party of the past.
Labour really isn't working.
Agree. I would say they were probably lucky to hold on for so long as the traditional Labour voters were not really interested in Labour principles (if they were there is no way they would ever vote Tory) and voted Labour because of history, the done thing, what their family have always voted etc,.
Any growth for Labour, or any other non Nationalist party will have to look to the South for growth, The north will be lost for.a generation (excepting the larger northern Cities which are politically more similar to London)
A lot of pragmatic sense up there.
Hartlepool now Tory according to the BBC
It's a bit self fulfilling but how long do you keep voting for the losing party before you think about switching colours?
For all but a blip in the last 40+ years the Labour party have achieved very little noticeable difference in the average working class life whereas they've seen those who vote Tory prosper.
It's wrong and I don't agree with it but I do so some people's reasoning.
Worth taking a look at Jill Mortimer's website ( https://www.jillmortimer.org.uk/myplan). Her entire manifesto is six lines (including "cutting red tape", which is ironic given Brexit) yet she managed to get elected with an overwhelming majority.
Perhaps Johnson trying to spark un war petite with France helped.
For all but a blip in the last 40+ years the Labour party have achieved very little noticeable difference in the average working class life whereas they’ve seen those who vote Tory prosper.
It’s wrong and I don’t agree with it but I do so some people’s reasoning.
I really can't see the reasoning. I would love someone to explain it to me. I just don't get how anyone could align with Tory values. Sorry feeling pretty fed up about this result.
I really can’t see the reasoning.
People who vote Tory tend to have better jobs, nicer cars, bigger houses. Voting labour hasn't has levelled up the divide so they vote Tory and see if it helps. Its pretty flawed, but then so is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Lots of people don't want what they have but don't want change either. Don't know what the solution is (but I'm pretty sure its not more Tories).
If anyone thinks that voting Tory will bring a magical leveling up they're delusional
If anyone thinks that voting Tory will bring a magical leveling up they’re delusional
But voting Labour for 40 years hasn't helped them. It's flawed, but I can understand the desperation. See also "Brexit"
Remember it was Lincoln (a republican) who put am end to slavery and the democrats who introduced Jim Crow
That's more to do with the parties basically switching ideologies over time
Is it just me, or does this have a really strong "together, but not together" vibe?
https://twitter.com/BorisJohnson_MP/status/1390553674418634755?s=20
I'm way past the point of trying to understand it or be conciliatory, all I can do is to pointlessly rage as we willingly slide open-eyed into third-world tin-pot dictatorship status.
If anyone thinks that voting Tory will bring a magical leveling up they’re delusional
Given that the Tories have moved some civil service jobs to Darlington, and there's a Tory Mayor in Hartlepool that being given wads of cash by central govt. The voters in Hartlepool would probably strongly disagree. The Tory campaign leaflet made it pretty clear when they said that the reason Hartlepool has done so badly recently, is partly down to the fact it keeps voting for Labour...
I’m way past the point of trying to understand it or be conciliatory, all I can do is to pointlessly rage as we willingly slide open-eyed into third-world tin-pot dictatorship status.
basically how i feel too. I honestly feel at the next GE we will get another tory majority.
Worrying isn’t it, that we will likely see an even more blue England by mid week next week. I don’t get it at all, but I guess that’s more labours fault for not compelling the public to a reason to overrule conservative corruption.
It’s a bit self fulfilling but how long do you keep voting for the losing party before you think about switching colours?
Hmmm, it's not really like switching your favourite wendyball team because the old one didn't win enough trophies. Or maybe it is, some people like to be 'winners' regardless of the consequences, they at least get to be smug about backing a winner as their country slides into chaos...
The nation as a whole has drifted away from voting for the ideology that best aligns with their own and instead gotten caught up with what's in it for me-ism.
It's funny really the Tories created that culture by deepening the divides in wealth and attainment, manufacturing desperation and then won power again with empty slogans like "leveling up" selling themselves as the alternative to... Themselves?
Voters are stupid, have short memories and (if they were being honest with themselves) fear change, while simultaneously claiming to want it.
Don’t know what the solution is (but I’m pretty sure its not more Tories).
I agree, it seems obvious... Yet every alternative the electorate are offered seems to get turned down in favour of ever more blatantly greedy, callous Tories.
I think we have to admit the voting public is like one of those girls that seems to enjoy the drama and attention that comes from picking the abusive, unfaithful "bad boy"...
I think we have to admit the voting public is like one of those girls that seems to enjoy the drama and attention that comes from picking the abusive, unfaithful “bad boy”…
Harsh but I know exactly what you mean
The tories have managed to persuade the North “Labour have failed you”. The fact people can’t understand having a Labour MP doesn’t mean Labour are in charge says it all really.
Trumpism/Bannon politics works because people are a bit disinterested in actual politics.
Is it just me, or does this have a really strong “together, but not together” vibe?
I reckon Private Eye would do a right number on that.
Johnson: Thank heavens for a nice bit of window dressing.
Symonds: The actual window dressing cost £1000 per curtain, not a problem now I've got to where I want to be.
It is a business arrangement, no more, no less.
I think we have to admit the voting public is like one of those girls that seems to enjoy the drama and attention that comes from picking the abusive, unfaithful “bad boy”…
A pretty good analogy. And while he's beating somebody else up, he's not hitting them.
I think I'll try and avoid all forms of media today. We're going to be treated with that fly-tipped sofa looking even smugger and more pleased with himself than ever
Is it just me, or does this have a really strong “together, but not together” vibe?
I don't think theres any doubt who's wearing the trousers in that relationship. They're underneath that Laura Ashley monstrosity.
He looks like a schoolboy being dragged off to somewhere he doesn't want to go by his mum
We’re going to be treated with that fly-tipped sofa looking even smugger and more pleased with himself than ever
Maybe not so smug when the Scottish results come in (hopefully)
He looks like a schoolboy being dragged off to somewhere he doesn’t want to go by his mum
Or; being lumbered with taking totally embarrassing recently divorced dad to your graduation because he paid for you to go to St Andrews
It is a business arrangement, no more, no less.
Yep. Boris was installed as the inside man to facilitate a smash and grab operation. This is his actual job and is ongoing...
It was interesting listening to R4 this morning, I get the feeling that these local elections have been seen variously as a "protest against Labour" and/or "support for the government"... TBH I'm not quite sure what can be read into them yet
Anyway Labour are about to start a second round of infighting as a result I reckon, the results being interpreted by some as a signal to lurch left and others as a signal to lurch more to the centre (right)...
Today a woman wearing a hat made from precious jewels and gold will tell us that her govt intends to enact measures to suppress democracy by making it harder to vote, will reform the judiciary to stop it from challenging illegal things her govt does, and will tell us that they intend to make it harder to protest about any of it.
Great, our country just gets better and better
Disappointed that she didn't wear that hat made from gold and jewels, as that was the least unpleasant prospect from your post
Another apology from the BBC for blatantly misrepresenting the facts…
BBC press release:
We accept that Sir James Dyson is not a prominent Conservative supporter as was stated in some of our coverage of his text messages with the Prime Minister.
The James Dyson Foundation made a charitable gift to support the Wiltshire Engineering Festival for school children.
We accept that this does not signal affiliation to any political party and we would like to put the record straight.
Sir James also raised concerns about the accuracy of other aspects of our reporting.
We wish to make clear that Sir James contacted Number 10 in response to the Prime Minister’s direct request to him for assistance in relation to the urgent need for ventilators and incurred costs of £20 million which his company voluntarily absorbed in trying to assist in the national emergency.
His text messages to the Prime Minister were also later sent to officials. We are sorry that these facts were not always reflected in our coverage, and we apologise for not doing so.
Response from Sir James Dyson:
“The BBC now acknowledges that it was wrong and has issued an apology – which I accept.
To justify its claim that I am a “prominent Conservative supporter” the BBC shamefully twisted our charitable gift to school children to suit their political narrative.
The Prime Minister asked Dyson to help at a time of crisis, in the national interest, and we did just that.
We dropped everything and focused on the national effort.
Far from any gain, the project cost us £20 million – a sum we voluntarily bore.
I am proud of the efforts of every Dyson person who contributed and we would do precisely the same again.
It was deeply disappointing, for me and for the hundreds of Dyson people who gave it their all, to have our efforts developing an emergency ventilator mischaracterised and used for political mudslinging.”
Source: Guido
I can't think of anything more insulting than being accused of being a prominent Conservative supporter. Quite outrageous really. It was very good of him to accept their apology.
Interesting that no one knows what his CCJ is about yet. Assume there is some sort of injunction as surely the creditor would be only too keen to hoof him in the balls.
Dyson has been scrupulous about keeping out of politics, so it's outrageous that he should be be treated like this.
Oh wait:
Interesting that no one knows what his CCJ is about yet.
Will be some sort of childcare provider who has fallen out with the delightful Carrie.
Supporting Brexit doesn't make you a Tory supporter. He may feel the Tories are too left wing for him.
I'm hoping it's more a dodgy lockdown breaking champagne and strippers night that he ran out on. Or perhaps an unpaid utility bill on the new mistresses' flat.
Dyson, like Cummings, isn’t a Tory. But they both supported, and worked in the interest of, Johnson and Vote Leave. Any ‘returning favours’ concerns come from that, and is personal to Johnson, not his party.
Supporting Brexit doesn’t make you a Tory supporter. He may feel the Tories are too left wing for him.
It was more aimed at his distaste for 'political mudslinging' in general, rather than his direct affiliation.
Assume there is some sort of injunction as surely the creditor would be only too keen to hoof him in the balls.
Unlikely since if you can be arsed to sort out an injunction then paying off the creditor would be easy.
Might be a valid case with a professional company who wouldnt want the bad press or given it was a default judgement which didnt use his real name or address I wonder if it is some anti lockdown nutter who decided to bill him for their holidays and it somehow slipped through.
Imagine being the bailiff though? Every time you pick something up to repossess it "No, that's not mine, it was paid for by the taxpayer" "No that's not mine, it's Carrie's, though it was also paid for by the taxpayer" "No that's not mine, it was paid for by a mysterious secret benefactor". Seriously mate, is there anything that actually belongs to you? "Well, about 19 illegitimate kids?"
CCJ has been cancelled, probably a spurious claim in the first place, I imagine most people Boris owes money to won't be collecting via the small claims court.
CCJ has been cancelled, probably a spurious claim in the first place
My guess seems to have been fairly close. Still begs the question how it was ignored to allow it to be passed.
One of my friends in the US just sent me a link to this video and highlighted a direct quote from our PM:
"You can't rule out the possibility that beneath the elaborately constructed veneer of a blithering idiot there lurks a blithering idiot." - Boris Johnson
He said that his friends in the US don't normally follow UK politics but for some reason have been intrigued by how he ended up as PM and have been looking at YouTube videos of his time on various TV shows. Some of them even voted for Trump the first time round but their general consensus is "How the hell did you lot vote him into power??"
I genuinely don't have an answer to send back other than "We're more moronic as a nation than you lot."
I genuinely don’t have an answer to send back other than “We’re more moronic as a nation than you lot.”
Agree, Americans moving on from trump (republicans stop split Tbf) but in Britain vista seem to be doubling down on Johnson 😬
Bent as a nine bob note. But talks posh, so people who should know better give him a free pass.
Seems fairly standard. Outside of Twitter, does anyone care anymore?
Blatant corruption also seems to have been ‘priced in’ to People voting for Boris and co. I mean look at all the stuff that came out the other day about ‘Call-me-Dave’ - cronyism on an industrial scale - and it was just met with a collective shrug.
I see they’re firing up the next stage of the culture war. We can look forward to the opening of the Jim Davidson wing of the V&A
https://twitter.com/swgannon/status/1393829479005532170?s=21
To summarise Oliver Dowdens article: we should be proud of our slave-trading past and anyone who says we shouldn’t celebrate it is probably a communist that hates Britain 🙄
You know it's bad when folks starting quoting Guidofawkes as a "source" 🤣
Blatant corruption also seems to have been ‘priced in’ to People voting for Boris and co. I mean look at all the stuff that came out the other day about ‘Call-me-Dave’ – cronyism on an industrial scale – and it was just met with a collective shrug.
I think the elephant in the room with CMD isn't the cronyism it his absolute abject failure in his attempts to be a crony.
A corporation hires the ex Prime Minister with the aim of leveraging his influence with his former friends and colleagues in government for its benefit - a government that is openly and blatantly not adverse in handing out money and favours like sweets to their friends and don't even care off they get caught. And he fails. And the company that paid him richly for his services goes bust. He thought these people were his friends. But they obviously didn't think he was one of theirs.
I don't think the word 'blithering' gets used enough these days.
Cameron’s “failure” is more to do with the way German institutions treated those he was shilling for… they smelt a rat and refused any closed door dealings to help out.
"I don't want to take a Maoist approach but a Moreist approach to our heritage".
Do you think he misread his job title as 'Culture War Secretary'?
That "We won't allow Britain's history to be cancelled" That's literally what false history does, it cancels the real history and replaces it with lies.
If you can't love your country warts and all, if you can't live with the reality of what it's done badly as well as what it's done well, you don't love your country at all. You love an imaginary country, you don't even know the real one, you've never lived there.
But then this is Boris Johnston's government, the man who wrote a fanfic about Churchill without actually knowing anything about the man, and for whom "Churchillian" literally means "doing what I want and then just claiming Churchill would have done the same, even though he'd have kicked me in the balls for it"
If you can’t love your country warts and all, if you can’t live with the reality of what it’s done badly as well as what it’s done well, you don’t love your country at all. You love an imaginary country, you don’t even know the real one, you’ve never lived there.
That needs putting on t-shirts and banners and shouting from the rooftops
A nurse who cared for Boris Johnson when he was gravely ill with Covid-19 says she has handed in her resignation, such is her disillusionment with the “lack of respect” shown by the government for the NHS and healthcare workers.
She also lacerated the government’s handling of the Covid crisis, saying: “Lots of nurses felt that the government hadn’t led very effectively – the indecisiveness, so many mixed messages. It was just very upsetting.”
McGee recalled the situation leading up to Christmas last year – a period when the government was coming under heavy criticism for not acting sooner to impose new restrictions as data suggested that measures at the time were not limiting public mixing as much as during the March lockdown.
She described what took shape in her hospital as “a cesspool of Covid”.
“This time there was more than the first surge. The nurses are stretched even more. An absolute shitshow to be honest. At that point, I don’t know how to describe the horrendousness of what we were going through. We were desperate.”
The buck stops with the PM. He made the choice to accept an NHS run to breaking point (it was his stated target) rather than try and prevent that occuring. And then, when staff are exhausted after a winter wave that everyone saw coming, and he refused to act to prevent, he sits back and expects them to work harder than ever to catch up with services lost, for a real term pay cut. And a clap or two.
“I don’t want to take a Maoist approach but a Moreist approach to our heritage”.
What an arsehole.
Just thought that Dowden quote deserved to be aired again to appreciate it's toe-curling combination of cynicism and arrogance.
What an arsehole.
But the nurse who was part of Johnson's care is now of no use to him, so she can be decried as a pinko, or a traitor, or not Believing in Britain or somesuch.
One thing no one should be surprised about is how quickly people (particularly women) fall out of favour with the Fly-Tipped Sofa when they are no longer of use to him.
To echo my post above...
What an arsehole.
She'll be seen as a prime private health nurse, all the experience with none of the training costs.
I do sometimes wonder where all these private health care places expect they'll get their fully trained staff from on once the NHS is gone.
Have they not read the story of the golden goose?
The US health companies will become like Blackwater & import whatever cheap labour they need without govt oversight.
The new is disparaging this morning:
Pandemic - mishandled
Holidays - mishandled
gov green vehicle initiative - no plan / mishandled
Indian Variant - mishandled
Lockdown opening - mishandled
Co2 reductions - mishandled
Education plan - mishandled
He’s making it up as he goes along, hoping someone plugs the gaps of a leaking dam for him as he sails past. What a shower of shit.
He’s making it up as he goes along, hoping someone plugs the gaps of a leaking dam for him as he sails past. What a shower of shit.
That's what he's done his entire life.
The pandemic has also hidden a lot of the Brexit issues. Such as the extra hassle of getting visa's when visiting Europe etc...
The pandemic has also hidden a lot of the Brexit issues
It sure has, and there are loads issues. They just get a few seconds now and again amongst the latest pandemic nonsense from the government on how having a great vaccination program is all that matters and every other issue in the country is irrelevant.