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Something I read recently, and I apologise if I'm repeating someone else's line from on here, is that it's like shits deserting a sinking rat.
Seriously do you guys take such easy offence in real life?
Do you suppose you're dealing with AI chatbots when you start flapping your fingers up and down?
Overly keen to jettison ECHR is worrying, never thought I’d see them coming for our human rights in my lifetime.
Its just a sign of his total desperation. He's now so detatched from reality, sat in his Downing Street bunker that he's actually listening to the far right headbangers like Badanoch and Braverman and must seriously think that pandering to their increasingly unhinged far right fantacies is a vote winner.
Theres absolutely no evidence to support that, but hey ho, farther right we go.
Its madness really. If you want authentic, foaming-at-the-mouth racist nutters then you've got Reform, so why bother with Reform-Light? But as they tack ever further right, chasing these idiots, they're horrifying most reasonable voters who don't think Rwanda is the answer to anything and that putting the UK in an exclusive non-Civil Rights Club with Russia and Belarus is probaly not a great look for a liberal democracy.
But as they tack ever further right, chasing these idiots, they’re horrifying most reasonable voters who don’t think Rwanda is the answer to anything and that putting the UK in an exclusive non-Civil Rights Club with Russia and Belarus
Copying their approach to elections as well though is probably the plan with the highest chance of success for the tories now though.
I would wonder if he isnt going to stand at the GE to save us the cost of the byelection shortly after but sadly I doubt he would be that considerate.
Inconvenient, the Rwanda plan hits reality hard once again....
Illegal Migration Act: Parts should not apply in NI, judge rules
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-69001673
The judge at NI's High Court said the law breaches the Windsor Framework
Not competent enough to run a bath!
I’ve seen it reported that the reason there wasn’t a move against him after the locals was because no-one wants to lead the Tories into an election they can’t win.
Behind the, "You've never had it so good apart from Russia wanting to nuke us from orbit" speech, this is the reality of our country after 14 years of Tory rule.
We all know what’s coming. Lil Rishi off to California while what’s left of the Tory party fight like rats in a sack to own the smouldering far right wreckage.
Youd think he’d just want to get it over with, rather than pointlessly prolong this whole inevitable charade.
Youd think he’d just want to get it over with
It's money for nothing, he's got no reason to quit before he's booted, all he needs to do is to pay a bit more lip service and he'll be offski after the next GE, with a big fat wedge in his rear pocket.
no-one wants to lead the Tories into an election they can’t win.
Someone will.. Will the next Lizz truss please stand up? Lol
Someone will.. Will the next Lizz truss please stand up? Lol
Yep - much like the post-referendum shake-up where Boris got to purge the party of anyone of any decency and create a little bubble for his own personal amusement, some absolute fruitloop can take over and then, following a GE defeat, shape the party to their own desires.
If we get some Russian apologist, Trump-supporting RW zealot as the leader of the Conservatives, the current lot will look positively benign compared to the next iteration.
So have I understood this correctly? Sunak negotiated the Windsor framework. Now he’s appealing against the consequences of his own deal?
That speech... "I have bold ideas that can change our society for the better, and restore people’s confidence and pride in our country. I feel a profound sense of urgency"
He's taken a bump on the head and forgotten the last 19 months where he was the prime minister and did piss all. Sense of urgency...
neilthewheel
Full MemberSo have I understood this correctly? Sunak negotiated the Windsor framework. Now he’s appealing against the consequences of his own deal?
He's asked himself "what would Boris Johnson do".
“what would Boris Johnson do”.
Pay lip service until the election, take the money and run. Pretty obviously....
Tory leadership 101.
no-one wants to lead the Tories into an election they can’t win.
There must be a few people who would do it just for the £145k a year for ever after, I certainly would if I put myself into a tory mindset for a few seconds.
On of the numerous joys of Brexit is that it’s most enthusiastic exponents regularly rail against the deal they themselves negotiated and forced through Parliament
I don’t think there’s a single one of them who’s now not publicly stated how shite it is, Sunak just bring the latest in a long line
£145k is only part of it. I reckon there's a big bonus at the end if you're subservient to the US. Look how Johnson went from 'borrowing 800k from a distant Canadian relly' to buying a £4m gaff in the Cotswolds. Either utter corruption or pure magic.
The fact he made that nut job speech from Policy Exchange HQ says it all.
Have a look at their website, it’s basically the current Tory party manifesto.
Exactly the point Policy exchange looks very dangerous, even has the audacity to say it is a registered charity promoting education, more like indoctrination of the stoopid. Almost as bad as the publicly funded ERG...Good grief, as if the are trying to gain credibility.
JeZ
He made his speech the other week about targeting sickness and disability benefits at the HQ of the ironically named ‘Centre for Social Justice’ which is the thinktank set up by that famous philanthropist and humanitarian Iain Duncan Smith.
These right-wing, opaquely funded thinktanks have had policy-making devolved entirely to them by the Tory party. Ministers are now little more than PR spokesmen for them
These right-wing, opaquely funded thinktanks have had policy-making devolved entirely to them by the Tory party. Ministers are now little more than PR spokesmen for them
Should be easy to follow the money if they have nothing to hide....oh, wait
seeing some stuff on other sites about this
2 new allegations under investigation.
Should be easy to follow the money if they have nothing to hide….oh, wait
Good job Rishi promised a Government of integrity and transparency.
Oh wait...
Gullis is just a shouty Muppet. Stoke North must be very proud
Gullis is just a shouty Muppet
I stick by my original view that Gullis is a football hooligan who was supposed to be going to a court appearance (hence the shit suit) but mistakenly wandered into Parliament instead and the Tories just kept him on.
He's a moron with zero class or charisma.
https://twitter.com/PickardJE/status/1790463443306176635?t=sDw3sWpnGYTzRqr2iX5e1Q&s=19
doubt another one will jump, they've done a pretty good job of leaking elphickes shenanigans
If another one in the league of Elpicke goes to Labour then definitely a mission to cause harm to Labour Party by sacrificing themselves for the tory party. I am sure Starmer will see through it though and not welcome them with open arms this time...
they’ve done a pretty good job of leaking elphickes shenanigans
It was rather insightful as to how biased the RW press are because everyone knew about Elphicke's shenanigans at the time but not a lot was said (other than in Private Eye), there wasn't much scandal about it.
But within minutes of her defecting to Labour, the Daily Mail was running full page stories about what a horrible piece of work she is.
As a Tory MP, you can get away almost literally with murder but as a Labour MP if you dare to eat a bacon sandwich slightly "wrong" or open a can of G&T on the Tube, the press will be all over you... Apparently the same applies for historical wrongdoings as well. All fine if you're a Tory but as soon as you change parties, those exact same wrongdoings can be dug up and used against you.
doubt another one will jump, they’ve done a pretty good job of leaking elphickes shenanigans
It was public domain anyway aside from Buckland's claim.
Which was a major part of the problem with her defection. Labour knew she was an absolute turd.
The one the week before on the other hand didnt have the same vulnerabilities and hence was quickly forgotten.
Seeing as Lil Rishi’s Big Speech was met by a collective yawn from the whole electorate, followed by even louder calls for a general election, I see he’s reverted to his familiar culture war bollocks comfort-blanket
Lets promise the boomers we can help it be a comic book myth of 1955 again and maybe they’ll go out and vote for me
Schools won't be allowed to teach children that they can change their gender ID, reports say
🙄
As a Tory MP, you can get away almost literally with murder
Almost literally? You would not expect the Tory Party, or any political party, to leak negative stories to the press about their own MPs, but you would reasonably expect them to do so about an MP from an opposing political party.
Elphicke is now a Labour MP. As John Major pointed out in his House of Commons tribute to John Smith the UK has an adversarial system of politics, so it would be strange indeed if the Tories kept any criticisms of a Labour MP to themselves.
It's worse binners. No sex education at all would be allowed to be taught to young kids. A gift to child abusers.
I’m sure that it’ll have a really positive effect on teenage pregnancies too
They really are trying to turn the clock back 60 years. Maybe if we all pretend the interweb doesn’t exist, it’ll all go away
the sex-ed stuff wont actually happen, pointless culture war nonsense
anyway, who is on defection watch in the Tories today before PMQs?
Especially with a dwindling majority. I'm not expecting any more defections though... just more Conservative MPs giving up and staying home.
I'll be taking an early lunch and put LBC on.
I think it’s reasonable to assume at this stage of the parliamentary cycle nothing they announce will actually happen.
Oh I don’t know. Rishi is enacting his ‘you’re safer with the Tories’ philosophy, announced earlier this week, by releasing prisoners early and getting the courts not to send any more criminals to prison as there’s no room
You literally couldn’t make it up
maybe this has been done already but, if i was a "leader candidate" I'd be pushing my supporters to get Sunak out and me in BEFORE the election defeat we all anticipate, so at least I can be a leader and have the ex-PM income for life. After the next election my hopes are that it'll be at least 10yrs to the next consrvative PM and so even "young" contenders like Badenough, Braverman or Mordaunt might be seeing pressure from younger candidates who're yet to emerge
??
Have we done much on the Tories slowly killing the HE sector in the UK?
There's a number of factors
- Stagnant tution fees (which is completely the wrong model, but what we have right now)
- Limiting visas for postgrads, cutting of a major income stream
- Pulling us out of horizon and then not backfilling the lost research income. Now we've rejoined it'll take a while to recover
- Fostering an environment where universities are having to court inward investment from foreign sovereign wealth funds with slightly shady humanitarian records
- Not capping undergraduate places so higher ranked universities (cough, Russell group) can 'reach down' for students who would normally go to mid tier universities and offer places on lower grade entries, leading to a cascade effect
- Not regulating student accommodation prices so students might only have £10-£20 per week to live off, and pricing out lower income students
Bradford university just announced a voluntary redundancy scheme, and are the latest in a line of formerly financially stable unis that are now heading towards bankruptcy
Have we done much on the Tories slowly killing the HE sector in the UK?
Is this because no properly educated person would vote Tory?
PMQs... "look at the dangers in the rest of the world, not at our record at home"
Apparently they did.
I think Sunak has taken a big risk taking on Starmer on "law on order". The PM sounds totally out of his depth.
He'd be out of his depth in a car park puddle TBF.
Sunak will be very happy that the news is showing clips of Starmer calling him a jumped-up milk monitor. Doesn't reinforce the popular view of him at all! 😀
A supporter of the little fella is reported to have described him as...He's like a children's TV programme; the more you see of him, the less you like him.
Can't dispute that.
Even today's Times in giving fashion advice recommends not to look like Sunak. Oh dear.
Sunak " As I've been crystal clear" what does he mean? I mean he doesn't answer the questions, then tries to deflect the answer. Can we please have an election this party is turning our country into a joke...Well in fairness since Brex5h1t it was one anyway, it just now looks like a banana republic ;-(
JeZ
He's obviously not enjoying it and you can see he's under a lot of pressure.
Why doesn't he just **** off?
banana republic
It’s not even a republic.
Can we please have an election this party is turning our country into a joke…Well in fairness since Brex5h1t it was one anyway, it just now looks like a banana republic ;-(
Much as I want rid of the tories I'm always curious at comments like this. I don't really care what 'our' country 'looks like', all I'm bothered about is whether normal people can live their lives without worrying too much about money and getting healthcare and education for their kids etc. Even with all the problems the tories have caused life is still pretty good in this country and is very far from what you call a banana republic.
Even with all the problems the tories have caused life is still pretty good in this country and is very far from what you call a banana republic.
Yeah but the UK has been falling notably down the international rankings...
Yeah but the UK has been falling notably down the international rankings…
Perhaps but even the least corrupt countries still have lots of problems. I'd much prefer a corrupt govt which does stuff in the interests of everyone than a less corrupt govt which only acts in the interests of the rich. Then of course there's the corruption enshrined in the capitalist system which is legal. Is that better or worse than the corruption measured in your league table?
No matter how shit a UK government gets... someone will always come along and say "at least we can buy bread and water comes out the taps".
“at least we can buy bread and water comes out the taps”.
Yeah but the UK is not a banana republic nor close to being one. It is just hyperbole to claim it is.
The UK does not have a single foreign owned export which causes political instability and which in turn causes endless succession of military coups.
Whatever problems the UK has they are not caused by the United Fruit Company. In fact it should be emphasised just how wealthy the UK is. It certainly doesn't look like a banana republic.
Lots of things can be true at the same time.
The UK is the 5th/6th richest country by GDP - but where I live there are plenty of depressing shit-holes and wealthy bits side by side. Walk half a mile and it looks rough as hell. (I don't blame the people - they are products of their environment despite what capitalism tells you.)
It's all in the distribution of wealth and the lack of public investment. Two things that should be on the lips of any MP that wants to make a difference but sadly we have the likes of Wes Streeting opening his ferociously stupid gob to look forward to.
Doesn't seem much appetite to fix stuff because - hey the private sector will just do its thing apparently.
The UK is the 5th/6th richest country by GDP – but where I live there are plenty of depressing shit-holes and wealthy bits side by side.
This. Think many on here would be happier if we were higher up some OECD league table than solving the problems of depravity and poverty we see everywhere. Seems like the myth of trickle down wealth isn't dead yet, at least not on STW. 🙄
Relative to our peers we're a poor country with a number of rich people/companies in it that inflates the GDP.
Our wealth inequality is embarrassing. We're far too centralised with central government running too much which means that policies that should benefit localities aren't realised.
What local government were have is being starved of funding
Our education systems, heath systems, utilities infrastructure, road systems, and social housing have been horrendously under funded in the last 14 years.
For a developed nation we're a fkng embarrassment
Amusing little summary of yesterday's PMQs...
Even a satirist like John Crace is struggling to find the difference between real world and satire now.
For a developed nation we’re a fkng embarrassment
We're not a lot different to many other large developed nations. For tens of millions the US doesn't have a healthcare system and those that do use it are often bankrupted. Germany's railways are in chaos and economy in the toilet. The Netherlands didn't even have a govt for over a year, France has massive problems with poverty and racial hatred in its big cities, And Italy has elected a far right reactionary government. I'm not trying to defend the tories but things really aren't that much different here than in other countries. The problem we all share is an economic system which directs money away from the vast majority who need it into the pockets of a tiny few who don't. There's not a country in the western world which isn't suffering from that problem.
The Lanyard thing is nuts, its become a focus of attention, I cant decide if it actually works and some people genuinely get in behind it in the culture war or if its just the result of having someone so plainly unfit for office as McVey in government
TBH I'm not hugely invested in the whole rainbow and rainbow lanyard thing.*
But I now own two and am using them for my security pass at work. Pretty much because a vacuous, crooked culture warrior like McVey doesn't like them. Childish? Yes. Does it make me grin ever so slightly on the inside? Yes.
I also note that Amazon kept freezing on Tuesday when you clicked on a rainbow lanyard - unprecedented demand, I think. 🤣
Keep your chins up, normal people, we will soon be rid of this bunch. Hopefully the electorate can actually get some social democracy out of Starmer.
*I try to be supportive of anyone (within reason, legality etc) who is getting a rough time of it for not being the norm.
Mcvey is now claiming she wasn't banning the lanyards, says the media have made it up, despite it being on the record what she said.
^^^
That's going to be a tricky one.
"Esther McVey Is A ****" lanyards are more difficult to find online.
🙂
If only she'd given her speech in front of a camera, we could check what she said...
“The lanyards we use to carry security passes shouldn’t be a random pick and mix. They should be a standard design reflecting that we are all members of the government delivering for the citizens of the UK. Working in the civil service is all about leaving your political views at the building entrance. Trying to introduce them by the back door via lanyards should not happen.”
Rishi must be baffled that upon appointing somebody with the towering intellect of Esther McVey to the not-even-remotely-laughable position of ‘Minister for Common Sense’ she then spends 12 months doing absolutely nothing, then starts spewing out the kind of bollocks that a Daily Mail editorial writer would consider a bit beneath them 🤷♂️
If only she’d given her speech in front of a camera, we could check what she said…
Which proves she is right.
She isnt banning lanyards but simply requiring everyone to wear the same design of unicorns dancing on sunlit uplands.
Its not the same thing at all.
This seems to summarise the attitude of most civil servants to this shower of a government. Basically "we're just hanging on and waiting for some grownups".
Esther McVey is exactly the type that meant Spitting Image wasn't as good this time. Hard to satirise someone that stupid. She's like a sober Nadine Dorries.
As reported on CS groups, it was the journalist who mentioned rainbow lanyards, not McVey. Though I'm getting one anyway.
More concerned that she regards the civil service as part of government. We are specifically separate, which is why we technically answer to the Crown.
This seems to summarise the attitude of most civil servants to this shower of a government. Basically “we’re just hanging on and waiting for some grownups”.
I can neither confirm nor deny....