Bloody hell!!
"A political system that delivers a choice between Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson is a political system that is completely broken. Neither of those two is fit to lead"
Difficult to argue with that
Rebecca Long-Bailey's questions have been beautifully to the point, compared to the other MPs flapping around. His answer to her about "wrong people in the wrong jobs, with the wrong incentives" was absolutely brilliant. Making it so clear that he was part of the problem there was, well, surprising.
It was the default because coming up with a workable plan in February seemed a bit boring and too much like hard work for our dear leader and his acolytes.
By his account, they were more concerned about where they were going skiing
delete
The only person coming out of this well is Rishi Sunak. He seems to be the only grown-up in the room who grasped the magnitude of the situation and was prepared to take the action necessary.
Can't say that comes as a surprise because thats exactly how it looked at the time
This is nuclear stuff, and I'm liking him more and more. Hancock in particular has been exposed as the charlatan we all know he is, someone promoted way above his ability and completely blagging it. He's toast.
Cummings says "it is “crazy” that someone like himself was able to have so much power. And it was “crackers” that Johnson was in there too"
Yeah, that was part of the answer I was referring to Nick. I was surprised he was so ready to declare his elevation to a position of power (of the back of Brexit) as part of the problem.
We're stuck now with a Tory MP trying to nail him as regards "a source at number ten" txts, rather than ask anything about the government's pandemic response. Bring back Rebecca!
Making it so clear that he was part of the problem there was, well, surprising.
Cummings says “it is “crazy” that someone like himself was able to have so much power. And it was “crackers” that Johnson was in there too”
Yeah I had himself down as a conscious competent up until this point but he's just declared himself consciously incompetent (for the role in which he was operating).
He's getting a bit skewered now...
This should bring down Boris.
But we all know tomorrow’s headlines will be Princess Diana & immigrants
He’s toast.
Maybe, but if he's thrown under the bus, so what?
“A political system that delivers a choice between Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson is a political system that is completely broken. Neither of those two is fit to lead”
Cummings says “it is “crazy” that someone like himself was able to have so much power. And it was “crackers” that Johnson was in there too”
And they call Starmer "Captain Hindsight"...
Maybe, but if he’s thrown under the bus, so what?
The problem is that they're all in it together. If Boris tries to throw Hancock under the bus what do you think Hancock will do? This is the sort of stuff that could bring down a whole government.
Now if he could just reveal what a snivelling little brown noser Dross is I'd be chuffed to bits 😀
This is sickening stuff, I find myself both agreeing with, and liking, Cummings.
I need to go outside and have a strong word with myself.
He’s toast.
Its been obvious from day one that little Matty was ultimately going to be the fall guy for all this. Its a testament to how dim he is that he was the only person who couldn't see it. Still probably doesn't
Also notice how Gove's name is completely absent. He's kept himself away from the whole shitshow and now his lieutenant is pressing the nuclear button. The grand Murdoch plan to have his lackey as PM is in full swing.
Not heard the 'pointing Spiderman meme' referenced in a HoC committee meeting before. 🙂
Cummings saying that on the 16th of March, no-one in the Cabinet Office had even set eyes on what passed for a pandemic plan.
The Civil Contingencies Secretariat completely collapsed under the pressure of this...they didn't have the staff...they didn't have the data.
Basically the left hand didn't know what the left hand was doing, let alone the right.
The image of Cummings wheeling a whiteboard into a meeting on March 16, Getting ICU numbers from a civil servant off scraps of paper, and explaining the concept of five-day doubling using his Iphone calculator... 🙁
The problem is that they’re all in it together. If Boris tries to throw Hancock under the bus what do you think Hancock will do? This is the sort of stuff that could bring down a whole government.
I hope you're right but just don't see it. The norms of decency and resignation have been well and truly shredded.
This is nuclear stuff, and I’m liking him more and more. Hancock in particular has been exposed as the charlatan we all know he is, someone promoted way above his ability and completely blagging it. He’s toast.
I don't disagree with you - it's fun watching him absolutely eviscerate the government.
However I think this will be forgotten about by the weekend.
Everyone has always expected Hancock to be the fall guy, yes? They'll find a way to get rid of him well before the next election, without him taking the top players with him. What's interesting is that Cummings sees no need to let the buck stop with Hancock even as he eviscerates him... he's doing his best to link it to others (most importantly Johnson). I don't think he'll manage it though... time will tell.
The grand Murdoch plan to have his lackey as PM is in full swing.
It wouldn't be the first time.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m000kxw1/the-rise-of-the-murdoch-dynasty
Cummings now says it would be better to have some sort of “dictator” in charge. If he had been prime minister, he would have put Mark Warner (his data scientist colleague) in charge of everything, giving him “kingly authority” over Whitehall. So, at the same time it's "crazy" to have so much power, he thinks it's better to have the ability to appoint some-one else with to have so much power...
Uh, huh....
He's now saying what @Tired was saying a year ago, as regards missing data and lags.
I don’t disagree with you – it’s fun watching him absolutely eviscerate the government.
But all it needs is for the Sun, Daily Mail and Telegraph to lead with some stuff about how great the vaccine rollout is going, we can soon go on summer holidays, Diana and the BBC (continued), Meghan (continued), possibly some blurb about immigrants and Taking Back Control and the plebs won't even realise there's been anything said by Cummings.
He strikes me as someone who was happy to go along with the whole shitshow while he was in the centre of it and only now has he come out to seek revenge (and let's face it, that's what this is).
Government composed of actual real flawed human beings dealing with an unprecedented challenge shocker.
This is great.
Might be time to rewatch 'The Thick Of It'.
If Cummings thinks Bozo is such a bad PM he might reflect on how he got elected. Anything to do with Brexit? Ring a bell anywhere, Dom?
The problem is that they’re all in it together. If Boris tries to throw Hancock under the bus what do you think Hancock will do? This is the sort of stuff that could bring down a whole government.
I find myself agreeing with daz a bit here. The thing is, even people on here were saying 12-13 months ago that Little Matty Handjob was being set up as the fall guy. Now in a non-dysfunctional government you might expect people lower down the food chain to resign to protect those above (in this case there is only one level above) or to protect the 'greater good' of the government ethos.
But this is a dysfunctional government. It is a government of over-promoted non-entities who only got the top jobs because of their allegiance to a fundamentally stupid overall project (through genuine belief - I.e. stupidity - or political opportunism, or both). They would all have known that a devious shit like Cummings would have been squirrelling away 'insurance' like crazy, so the obvious thing would be for the likes of Handjob to do some of the same.
With any luck this self-serving rabble will start to do the grown-ups' jobs for them and start stabbing each other in the back. With any luck it might go all the way to the top. If this sounds like the plot for a political satire, you would be absolutely right. But remember that satire is now effectively dead as this lot have rendered it redundant with their ridiculousness.
I really hope this triggers some critical mass and the whole thing comes tumbling down on Johnson. But maybe the Fail will go with Diana & Immigrants again and nothing will happen...
Might be time to rewatch ‘The Thick Of It’.
Watching that now tho looks like people who know what they're doing compared to this lot.
He strikes me as someone who was happy to go along with the whole shitshow while he was in the centre of it and only now has he come out to seek revenge (and let’s face it, that’s what this is).
Absolutely. He's nothing but a vindictive ex-lover. If he was female he'd be a Louise.
happy to go along with the whole shitshow
That's how government works. While on the inside, you can scream 'till you're blue in the face about doing things differently, but to the outside world you have to look to be "going along with" that which you've argued against internally. It's even worse for the proper civil servants, never mind the political appointments like Cummings and the ministers. You're only your own man once you leave.
All what we are hearing now is exactly why Labour and Starmer should have been opposing and challenging the government.
Labour gave them this free pass.
Oh Cummings seems to be saying all the things wrong with Govt are all the same things he's been writing blogs about for the last decade...What a surprising coincidence.
Tories trying to bring down Tories is an interesting situation.
Labour gave them this free pass.
Most of the points made by Cummings are a repeat of those made by Labour (if you ignore a few of the anti-lockdown fringe people voting against control measures) for the last year. Late into lockdown costs lives, cripples the NHS and hurts the economy. And we made that mistake three times. Labour supported the government when they (eventually) made the right moves, it's the timing that the government got so wrong and Labour have made that clear many times. Well, apart from a few backbenchers voting against lock downs because, well... "opposing not supporting" or something.
https://twitter.com/Independent/status/1346845228385382401?s=20
mini side question; what is the Jeff Goldblum reference?
Tories trying to bring down Tories is an interesting situation.
He isnt a tory. He just allied himself with them since he thought they were the best way to achieve his goals. He would have probably equally allied himself with Labour, lib dems, greens or the monster raving loony party instead.
There are some old quotes from him where he is rather relaxed about what happens to the tories.
Government composed of
actual real flawed human beingsincompetent halfwits more concerned with bettering their bank balances than dealing with an unprecedented challenge made immeasurably worse by their obsession with cutting public services over the last decade, ignoring the findings of Exercise Cygnus and led by a man more concerned over his girlfriend's dog.
FIFY.
Tories trying to bring down Tories is an interesting situation.
He's always been utterly scathing of the Tory Party. Most of them absolutely loathe him. It was always a marriage of convenience. You could argue that he's tranformed the party from what it was into an English nationalist party that bears little resemblance to what it was before him and the vote leave mob arrived. He has actually successfully destroyed the Tory party in its previous guise. Looks like he's not too keen on the monster he's created in its place now either
Blimey, BBC News 24 bumping PMQs to go back to Cummings!
Only grabbing snapshots via BBC Live updates, but sounds fascinating
BBC News 24 bumping PMQs
Yeah, no one needs to hear about an "alpaca called Boris". Or listen to "stop looking backwards" when asked about any event that's ever happened under this PM... or "the people" being squeezed into every sentence from Johnson.
One tory tosser who was swanning off to Barnard Castle at the height of the pandemic trying to disgrace another tory tosser for not doing things "right" and inbetween, Kier Starmer trying to have a crack at Boris when he should be concentrating on sorting his own shambolic house out first. I'm totally bored of each side... they can all fk right off.
The scary thing about all of this is that pretty much everything he's said is of no real surprise to a lot of us. It's not like he's really said anything new or shocking, he's just confirming what we all thought anyway.
But all it needs is for the Sun, Daily Mail and Telegraph to lead with some stuff about how great the vaccine rollout is going, we can soon go on summer holidays, Diana and the BBC (continued), Meghan (continued), possibly some blurb about immigrants and Taking Back Control and the plebs won’t even realise there’s been anything said by Cummings.
The headlines tomorrow morning will dictate whether today has been a landmark point or a waste of time. Very hard to know which way it'll go as it ,as usual, relies on what is said or promised behind closed doors.
