One thing they’ll never go after, though, on the ‘someone else is taking the piss’ front is cash in hand work.
Funnily enough, a very large government department spends a lot of time trying to stop people taking the piss with cash in hand.
I don't think most people link what happens in their lives with Westminster politics at all. If they have to wait for an op at hospital, or can't get an appt at the GP, they blame the NHS (or queue jumpers), if their bus is cancelled or the bins aren't collected , they blame the Bus firm or bin collectors, or maybe the council...They might have notice their council tax bill has gone up or down a few quid, but that's soon forgotten.
And that's the sum total of most folks interface with local authority. Most folks couldn't tell you who their MP is, it's as meaningless as the bit on the news (if they listen/watch the news at all) when they tell you the FSTE100 number, it's just noise.
To most folks it makes no difference
Funnily enough, a very large government department spends a lot of time trying to stop people taking the piss with cash in hand.
Which has been consistently defunded and reduced in ability over the last ten years... It is now really, really difficult for them to do serious VAT fraud investigations because of the lack of staff and funding. Private business pays better and the way that senior HMRC and BofE staff move between consultancy firms means that HMRC are always on the back foot for getting big wins against tax cheats.
Which has been consistently defunded and reduced in ability over the last ten years… It is now really, really difficult for them to do serious VAT fraud investigations because of the lack of staff and funding. Private business pays better and the way that senior HMRC and BofE staff move between consultancy firms means that HMRC are always on the back foot for getting big wins against tax cheats.
That is 100% perfectly what I was on about.
If you're a little guy taking a 'reasonable' % of your income as cash in hand and not putting it through your books you have a rapidly decreasing chance of getting caught.
And if you're a brainy type who works for HMRC and can earn two or three times your current salary by reversing your expertise in the interests of a large company....
But it is not the big boys the tories want or need to court - they're already sorted on the tax avoidance front. And they equate to donations, not votes.
Makes you wonder why the clever people on the left can’t make use of the stupidity of the masses
It's like entropy of thought, the stupidity is the lowest effort/most automatic/most base response to any given issue.
It's why 'they don't pay road tax' is still such a potent anti-cycling argument, because it is simpler, more obvious, and requires less thought to comprehend that the actual reality.
Blaming foreigners is just basic tribal human nature.
Benefits and welfare? Giving money to people for free???? OBVIOUSLY wrong. The compassion and reasoning required to comprehend that it might be morally right is just too much to ask.
This is why the Left struggles, the arguments for almost any of their stances are just too opaque, or complicated, or simply requiring of too much thought. I'd even suggest that the mildest form of socialism is against human nature, for better or for worse, so you are fighting that particular gravity every step of the way.
Lockdown Challenge: find some anthropological or sociological evidence for 'human nature'.
Going a bit John Nash game theory there.
Lockdown Challenge: find some anthropological or sociological evidence for ‘human nature’.
Good point, I think for the purposes of my argument I actually meant our basic animal nature!
e.g. view 'fear of foreigners' from a simian perspective, would you see chimpanzees willingly giving up a portion of their bananas to feed an influx of chimpanzees fleeing deforestation in a neighbouring jungle?
Perhaps the 'naked ape' school of thought was disproven back in the 70s, I'm only part way through 'Sapiens' so haven't updated my thinking... 😀
Benefits and welfare? Giving money to people for free???? OBVIOUSLY wrong.
Weird innit? The idea of deserving and undeserving poor starts around the 1550's (when the economy starts to shake communities around a bit) Old folk, or sick folk; deserving poor, closer to god, Good Thing, able bodied men and women able to work, but haven't got any work...Bad Thing, and should be flogged or thrown in the stocks.
Nothing's really changed all that much.
Lockdown Challenge: find some anthropological or sociological evidence for ‘human nature’.
Sure: 6 month old infants are "instinctually" afraid of snakes, and most primate infants have a cry response that is instinctual, as is the female response to it. Herding instinct (seen in abandoned chimpanzees) is reasonably common to primates (including humans).
Testosterone is responsible for sex drive in men and dominance (both 'probably' instinctual) and varies in tune with ovulation cycles (driving levels of aggression as well as a result it's variable when other men are nearby)
Fear and disgust are instinctual reaction that are 'probably' evolutionary
Funnily enough, a very large government department spends a lot of time trying to stop people taking the piss with cash in hand.
No they seem to spend their time trying to find ways to screw the self-employed people who cannot do work cash in hand. I.e. freelancers etc.
The Tchambuli tribe and bonobos would disagree. So fear of snakes and herding instincts translate into however things are now is 'human nature' and therefore can't be changed. Johnson would have human nature as 'capitalism and greed'. I'm not so sure.
At the few moments my naturally worrying head detaches itself from the news, I can see the value of the average Sun reader who’s purely focused on waiting for his pre booked Benidorm holiday whilst sitting on the couch with a Stella watching Corrie. I mean who cares if you have telly, a beer and a newspaper after a 9-5 job driving a forklift?
I know you probably didn’t mean it in this way, but I find this type of stereotyping a bit offensive. Not everyone has the disposable funds for the Maldives or has the time to go through the ‘long read’ on the guardian website. It doesn’t automatically mean that they’re shit-beer drinking idiots with no grasp of right/wrong. Or that they automatically voted brexit.
In my opinion it’s this type of attitude that creates the division between left and right, and that the remainers are just as guilty as the leavers when it comes to the shambles that is brexit, at least following the referendum. Ultimately everyone has the same level of power regarding voting, surely discussing things is a better approach than just branding people dickheads Because they voted in a certain way.
The fact is, people were lied to over Brexit and there was a massive amount of disinformation being banded about when people actually just needed the facts. The fact that one of the key Goons involved is now running the country (badly) just goes to show that nobody has been held responsible for the shit show.
This country is broken and in my opinion the divisions created by this/Covid/BJ is just making it worse. It won’t happen, but it’s about time we all rallied as one rather than dissolve further into extremist groups and hold the necessary bastards responsible.
Benefits and welfare? Giving money to people for free???? OBVIOUSLY wrong. The compassion and reasoning required to comprehend that it might be morally right is just too much to ask.
Isn't that just an example of the overall dumbing down (of society, the news, etc)?
Complex social issues such as benefits, universal basic income, a welfare state all reduced to a single simple chant of YOUR Taxes being used to support THOSE people. OK, it's divisive [b]as well[/b], it's very much the "othering" of THOSE people over there (the scum, the poor, the scroungers) against YOU over here (the fine, upstanding, taxpaying, hardworking) but at it's heart is just a simplistic answer to a complex question. Much like Brexit was the incredibly simple and stupid question and answer to an extremely complex situation.
That said, it fits perfectly with BJ as a person - famously dismissive / ignorant of details. Marina Hyde did an article on the manufactured culture war that is being vigorously stirred in the corridors of power.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/02/culture-war-government-race-report
The Tchambuli tribe and bonobos would disagree
About male dominance? yes probably, but it's a probably for a different thread innit
Isn’t that just an example of the overall dumbing down (of society, the news, etc)?
No its a deliberate campaign of disinformation and victim blaming. Its deliberately othering people and hiding inconvenient details by shouting about the welfare bill whilst not mentioning just how much is going to landlords after all the housing was sold cheap and how many people are working full time but still not earning enough to live on. Who is really being subsidised there?
No they seem to spend their time trying to find ways to screw the self-employed people who cannot do work cash in hand. I.e. freelancers etc.
Yes, because freelancers don't tend to make displaying the flag of St George in their vehicles practically mandatory or shout 'oi-oi' out of said vehicle at every opportunity. As well as constantly bellyaching about how they're being undercut by forriners - even though they themselves are evading tax like the plague.
Isn’t that just an example of the overall dumbing down (of society, the news, etc)?
No its a deliberate campaign of disinformation and victim blaming.
I’m convinced of both. A ‘useful’ co-depency for those exploiting/creating it
Isn’t that just an example of the overall dumbing down (of society, the news, etc)?
No its a deliberate campaign of disinformation and victim blaming.
I’m convinced of both. A ‘useful’ co-depency for those exploiting/creating it
I think both is a sound answer.
There's a sensible middle ground. Post war the majority of the population seemed to understand what the welfare state needed to do, but its scope was much more limited then.
This country is broken and in my opinion the divisions created by this/Covid/BJ is just making it worse. It won’t happen, but it’s about time we all rallied as one rather than dissolve further into extremist groups and hold the necessary bastards responsible.
Meanwhile caring people are encouraged to define themselves into smaller and smaller boxes based on sexuality, skin colour, preferred mode of transport etc so we miss the bigger picture, or are too fragmented to do anything about it.
Jeremy Hardy always said he liked BJ's bumbling persona but believed that behind it he had the ruthlessness of a military dictator
So does anyone think the latest lobbying scandal will change effect teflon bozos polling numbers?
Im not sure if the current plan is to leak all the sleaze now so it cant be sprung on them before the local elections
Johnson is supported by people who will say “Labour would be just as bad, and we’d have to queue for food”, or something.
Of all the things he and his Gov have done, why's it this that seems to be causing most trouble?
Hang on - all civil servants have to disclose second jobs, and have done for years........
Times like these Johnson does need to be seen to be cracking a few heads, physically as well as metaphorically, preferably a distractor who is not in government, hopefully someone who approached your competitor and is someone you resent (and they got a 1st.) But you appoint a chum to give a guaranteed light-touch 'inquiry' verdict of 'lessons to be learnt' and no shiny heads get bashed and everyone's let off with a 'it's only human nature' shrug.
Is there a bung for taking a dive?
It's a good time to conduct a 'see no evil hear no evil' light touch enquiry.
The gammons are still weeping into their tea about Prince Philip and the ultras don't give a shit about corruption so long as you tell them someone who doesn't have english as their first language is claiming £x in benefits and 'taking the piss'.
The greased piglet will be happy to keep it isolated to Cameron (remainer, elitist type) but hopefully Cameron will fire a few shots in return. This issue really needs linking to the far bigger scandals of PPE and Track & Trace.
You're forgetting that this lot in charge, from the top down, think they're invincible. They're confident they've got the majority of the press on their side, they're seeding the BBC and C4 boards and directors in their favour, they know how to dupe the general public as a whole into believing they are doing the best job possible and they think they have the ace cards of having 'Got Brexit Done' and the vaccine success (so far) to fall back on.
They are playing the game behind the main game to ensure they cling onto power for the long-term regardless of what they do in the short-term. Sadly it is working so far.
Looking at the broader picture it is a very opportune time to 'get sleaze done'.
Welcome to the past,1984 is where it’s unfortunately at.
Tories vote to not look into Tory sleaze. Now there's a surprise!!
If you can be bothered to sit through this, it’s a real eye opener.
Interviews with the blokes that broke the story: Financial Times' Robert Smith, the Sunday Times' Gabriel Pogrund and Riley Quinn from Trashfuture Podcast. The Riley Quinn bit at the end is particularly interesting.
"Watch out mate, Boris is coming"
- one of group of "lads" on cycle path, Red-wall county, 2021
“Watch out mate, Boris is coming”
– one of group of “lads” on cycle path, Red-wall county, 2021
Silly little chumps think they're 'part of something'.
🤣
Good grief Charlie Brown this Greensills things vile...
It seems they were intent on getting earnd(a payday loan type app) into the nhs during covid.
Cameron rode the wave of covid
(Sunday Times)Sorry it’s behind a paywall but this is wow.
The Times gives you a few articles weekly if you register for free
Surely some big questions for Hancock there about the sell off of NHS staff records
Clapping for carers whilst simultaneously selling of their private data is so Tory
Clapping for carers whilst simultaneously selling of their private data is so Tory
See also plantation owners in the nineteenth century patting a slave boy on the head.
Or giving a teddy bear to a kid in a refugee camp whilst arming the forces that put them there.
DrJ
Free MemberTories vote to not look into Tory sleaze. Now there’s a surprise!!
No, it's a great idea this. Just imagine how it'd revolutionise the court system if we put criminals in charge of that too? Prison populations would be slashed, cases would be fast and efficient... It's the way forward.
Cash for curtains
Looking at the broader picture it is a very opportune time to ‘get sleaze done’.
You should work for Labour PR.
I'd like this to be John Major moment but let's face it this sort of news disappears after a few days now.
Yep vaccine bounce & pubs opening inoculates Johnson from pretty much any bad news you can imagine
Only once economic cosi of covid really hits home and furlough ends will it start to matter
A covid inquiry that isn't a complete whitewash in the autumn for example....
A brave move putting olympic level dimwit Liz Truss up for the press this morning
She simply repeated the same line 'Boris Johnson met the full cost of the Downing Street refurbishment' while refusing to elaborate on where he actually got that money from.
https://twitter.com/CarolineLucas/status/1386237540735332352?s=20
I'm sure Dom'll let us know in due course.
The final line on the beeb report sums up UK politics at the moment...
"I think this a complete load of Westminster tittle tattle that people simply don't care about."
