UK Politics: Unboldy Go There Where No Country Has Gone Before

[Stannis Eats No Peaches]

Not on BBC, actually. I’m hesitant to believe it’s the full story when I’ve only read it in the Guardian.* It’s also being reported by the Independent, the Daily Mail and the Mirror but the first two are such trash that I won’t use their websites, and I’ve no idea how reliable the Mirror is (I assume it’s a left wing version of the Sun).
 

*the Guardian is generally reliable, but they’d take any chance they’d get to shit on Johnson

[polishgenius]

6 minutes ago, Stannis Eats No Peaches said:

 It’s also being reported by the Independent, the Daily Mail and the Mirror

What's so bad about the Independent?

[argonak]

20 hours ago, The Anti-Targ said:

I think the plan is to use this year to propagandise the notion that Brexit got done on 31 Jan 2020, and nothing bad happened. And then when Brexit actually happens on 31 Jan 2021, if anything bad happens the propaganda machine will get busy telling people that the bad thing isn't about Brexit, because that happened a year ago, this is just the  being mean.

 

I'm not from the UK so maybe i'm wrong, but don't the Tories have a guaranteed majority for 5 years until the next election?  What does it matter what happens in 21 if they're in charge until 25?

[The Anti-Targ]

9 minutes ago, argonak said:

I'm not from the UK so maybe i'm wrong, but don't the Tories have a guaranteed majority for 5 years until the next election?  What does it matter what happens in 21 if they're in charge until 25?

If shit goes sideways in '21 it'll probably last until '25 at least, or the memory of it and who is to blame will. Which means being able to deflect blame for anything bad that happens in 21 will be important to the 25 election. Also if shit goes sideways in 21 that will increase pressure on the Scottish secession, and might hasten Irish reunification. And if the prophetic vision of Star Trek is accurate and Irish reunification happens in 24 that could also have electoral repercussions in 25. Do the Tories want to be the govt that lost Northern Ireland?

Of course there's always the possibility that the optimists around here will be right and the British economy will improve* in 21. Though the arguments in favour of that don't seem to be terribly sound.

 

*my meaning here is the British economy doing better than it would if it remained in the EU.

[Stannis Eats No Peaches]

8 hours ago, polishgenius said:

What's so bad about the Independent?

It’s clickbait trash. It has the content of Buzzfeed coupled with an undeserved aura of reliability because it used to a printed newspaper. It’s the left wing version of the Daily Mail. And it has the fucking gall to continue calling itself “the Independent”.

 

I hate it in particular because it’s on my side. It’s difficult to blame the Tories for spreading misinformation, even with that Fact Check UK bullshit, when the Independent and others like it are no better. It gives the other side ammunition. 

[Which Tyler]

9 hours ago, Stannis Eats No Peaches said:

Not on BBC, actually. I’m hesitant to believe it’s the full story when I’ve only read it in the Guardian.* It’s also being reported by the Independent, the Daily Mail and the Mirror but the first two are such trash that I won’t use their websites, and I’ve no idea how reliable the Mirror is (I assume it’s a left wing version of the Sun).
 

*the Guardian is generally reliable, but they’d take any chance they’d get to shit on Johnson

Sorry, you're right, not the Been, that was obviously my assumption as Kuensberg's seems to have been the first tweet.as far as I can tell, BBC are about the only news outlet NOT covering it!

 

[Heartofice]

8 minutes ago, Which Tyler said:

Sorry, you're right, not the Been, that was obviously my assumption as Kuensberg's seems to have been the first tweet.as far as I can tell, BBC are about the only news outlet NOT covering it!

 

It's barely being mentioned at all anywhere this morning, even on the Guardian.

Sorry no, I take that back, Owen Jones thinks we’ve turned into Hungary! 

Also, agree the Independent is basically Daily Express for lefties.

[Which Tyler]

Odd definition of "barely being mentioned" I've seen it on both channel 4 and ITV news (admittedly, yesterday, not this morning), otherwise, the online newspapers:

Guardian, i, Times, Mirror, Mail, Metro, Sun, PoliticsHome, NewEuropean, Politico, FT, Scotsman, TheCanary,

Huff Post, Australian, ABC/CBN, France24,

The only notable domestic absences I can see are the Telegraph and BBC (online, at least)

[Pebble thats Stubby]

I also saw it on the BBC news channel yesterday.

[Heartofice]

8 minutes ago, Which Tyler said:

Odd definition of "barely being mentioned" I've seen it on both channel 4 and ITV news (admittedly, yesterday, not this morning), otherwise, the online newspapers:

Guardian, i, Times, Mirror, Mail, Metro, Sun, PoliticsHome, NewEuropean, Politico, FT, Scotsman, TheCanary,

Huff Post, Australian, ABC/CBN, France24,

The only notable domestic absences I can see are the Telegraph and BBC (online, at least)

If it was massive news I would expect it to be one of the top stories on the Guardian and the major news outlets this morning,  but it’s simply not. Linking to individual news items is meaningless.
 

It’s being reported more by the smaller outlets because those are the ones being hit. Clearly the big publications don’t care that much.

[Which Tyler]

Pretty weird spin there.

"I see your proof that the major outlets are reporting it, albeit as a more minor story"

"It's being reported more by the smaller outlets because those are the ones being hit"

Smaller outlets, in this case, meaning the BBC, ITV and the Times (amongst many others) who were explicitly excluded.

 

Yeah, yeah, we get it. Johnson did a terrible thing, but it's Johnson, and that makes it all okay by you. Freedom of the press really doesn't matter to you, nor does the attempted obliteration of any and all forms of government accountability (presumably that's only so long as you approve of the government, somehow, I can't quite see you being so sanguine if PM Corbyn had acted this way)

[Heartofice]

15 minutes ago, Which Tyler said:

Pretty weird spin there.

"I see your proof that the major outlets are reporting it, albeit as a more minor story"

"It's being reported more by the smaller outlets because those are the ones being hit"

Smaller outlets, in this case, meaning the BBC, ITV and the Times (amongst many others) who were explicitly excluded.

 

Yeah, yeah, we get it. Johnson did a terrible thing, but it's Johnson, and that makes it all okay by you. Freedom of the press really doesn't matter to you, nor does the attempted obliteration of any and all forms of government accountability (presumably that's only so long as you approve of the government, somehow, I can't quite see you being so sanguine if PM Corbyn had acted this way)

Erm.. the BBC and ITV weren’t excluded, they left in protest very different.  They were invited. 
 

The spin is that this is some sort of Orban-esque attack on the press and we are turning into a dictator state, if you listen to the hysterics of Owen Jones. 

[mormont]

I think the story is receiving appropriate coverage: significant, but not dominating the headlines. 

And it is a pretty serious development as far as freedom of the press and government accountability goes. If you don't happen to agree, well, everyone has the right to be wrong. 

[Rippounet]

Well, that's funny.

Several major French newspapers are running headlines saying BoJo promised yesterday to avoid "unfair competitive advantages" with the EU, but English-speaking papers have a far more nuanced vision: "UK and EU set out contrasting goals for post-Brexit trade deal" says The Guardian.

Quote

 

[Barnier]: “In that text, Boris Johnson and we … both say that we are keen to avoid any distortion of competition and any unfair competitive advantages. That is what we are talking about here. There is nothing surprising in that … I can tell you that he and his team paid attention to every word and comma in the text that commits us on both sides.”

Johnson made the case that the UK should not abide by Brussels rules any more than the EU should have to follow Britain’s regulations after Brexit.

“There is no need for a free trade agreement to involve accepting EU rules on competition policy, subsidies, social protection, the environment or anything similar, any more than the EU should be obliged to accept UK rules,” Johnson said.

 

In other news, water is wet.

[Stannis Eats No Peaches]

4 hours ago, Which Tyler said:

Sorry, you're right, not the Been, that was obviously my assumption as Kuensberg's seems to have been the first tweet.as far as I can tell, BBC are about the only news outlet NOT covering it!

 

Fair ‘nuff in that I’ve seen it elsewhere now, just thought it was a bit odd that’s there’s no mention of it whatsoever on the BBC website even though Kuenssberg was there.

[Varysblackfyre321]

19 hours ago, Heartofice said:

Disturbing at face value but interesting that the smaller selected group of journalists wasn’t made up of publications that would be pro government. The Guardian got in seemingly.

Are you actually trying to justify these media-outlets being excluded in the briefing?

If so can you actually provide a rational for why that’s a-ok? 

If you agree it’s a bad thing just condemn Boris on it. 

 

[Derfel Cadarn]

42 minutes ago, Stannis Eats No Peaches said:

Fair ‘nuff in that I’ve seen it elsewhere now, just thought it was a bit odd that’s there’s no mention of it whatsoever on the BBC website even though Kuenssberg was there.

I suspect the BBC aren’t wanting to rock the boat with thr government. A shame to see them increasingly compromised.

[Which Tyler]

https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2020/02/01/johnsons-true-brexit-objectives-were-revealed-by-the-video-he-released-last-night/

 

I watched Johnson’s tawdry little video about the UK leaving the EU this morning: I had not the slightest inclination to do so last night. What surprised me most about the video was not how hollow it was (although it certainly achieved that objective) but just how much it said about his true objectives for Brexit.

...

[HexMachina]

13 hours ago, Stannis Eats No Peaches said:

It’s clickbait trash. It has the content of Buzzfeed coupled with an undeserved aura of reliability because it used to a printed newspaper. It’s the left wing version of the Daily Mail. And it has the fucking gall to continue calling itself “the Independent”.

 

I hate it in particular because it’s on my side. It’s difficult to blame the Tories for spreading misinformation, even with that Fact Check UK bullshit, when the Independent and others like it are no better. It gives the other side ammunition. 

All of what you said, obviously, but also their website is hideous to try and load and navigate.

Priorities, i know...

[BigFatCoward]

I have an email from a tory MP about what I plan to do about a local crime problem. Would 'not a lot because you have massively cut police resources and civilian staff, and ruined morale with 10 years of pay freezes/under inflation pay rises' be an appropriate answer?