UK Politics: Cost of Living Crisis

[Heartofice]

6 minutes ago, Spockydog said:

It's not just him. Not one of them has ever done anything that can be objectively described as good for the nation. Of course, I am willing to be corrected here, but I genuinely can't think of a single thing they have ever done that was universally welcomed. Apart from abandoning Thatcher's poll tax. Oh, and all the fucking u-turns of the past couple of years.

Gay marriage?

[Werthead]

20 minutes ago, The Anti-Targ said:

I'm curious to know if there is a policy that Johnson has promoted that is objectively of wide appeal to left sensibilities that people on the left have roundly condemned, or sniggered at. Obviously there were a sizable number of people on the left who whole heartedly agreed with Boris that the UK should leave the EU. But he wasn't PM at that time.

The main recent credit I would give to Johnson is on handling COVID, where he was slow to act and react but did impose lockdowns and restrictions that many in his party opposed and, if they had their way, would have resulted in vastly more deaths. So, whilst Johnson's handling of the situation was not brilliant and more people died than was necessary, he at least tried to handle it a bit rather than closing his eyes and wishing for the best, as advocated by some other Tory MPs.

His handling of Ukraine has also been relatively good, with Britain taking a leading role in sanctions and assistance although not, lamentably, refugees.

[Heartofice]

3 minutes ago, Werthead said:

The main recent credit I would give to Johnson is on handling COVID, where he was slow to act and react but did impose lockdowns and restrictions that many in his party opposed and, if they had their way, would have resulted in vastly more deaths. So, whilst Johnson's handling of the situation was not brilliant and more people died than was necessary, he at least tried to handle it a bit rather than closing his eyes and wishing for the best, as advocated by some other Tory MPs.

His handling of Ukraine has also been relatively good, with Britain taking a leading role in sanctions and assistance although not, lamentably, refugees.

I'd say his handling of Covid was good, but from the opposite perspective, in that he opened up earlier than many would have wanted, which proved to be the correct decision and was inclined to not impose restrictions where others such as Scotland and Wales did, instead preferring to push for rapid vaccination rates and testing. A mixed bag though, early response to Covid was bad but I think he was simply following the scientific advice at the time, which was not applicable to Covid, and I'm not totally enamoured by some of the restrictions he brought in, which were unnecessary. 

 

[Raja]

17 minutes ago, Werthead said:

The main recent credit I would give to Johnson is on handling COVID, where he was slow to act and react but did impose lockdowns and restrictions that many in his party opposed and, if they had their way, would have resulted in vastly more deaths.

Hard to give him too much credit given that he was backed into a corner each time that happened. Our covid response was disastrous during both waves, and the time in between. I'd say the vaccine roll out was the only good part of our covid response but I do agree with you that it would have been an even bigger disaster had he done nothing - I just think him doing nothing wasn't really an option given the numbers at the time.

[Werthead]

4 minutes ago, Raja said:

Hard to give him too much credit given that he was backed into a corner each time that happened. Our covid response was disastrous during both waves, and the time in between. I'd say the vaccine roll out was the only good part of our covid response but I do agree with you that it would have been an even bigger disaster had he done nothing - I just think him doing nothing wasn't really an option given the numbers at the time.

I think it's clear that many other Tory MPs, in his seat, would have done nothing, or tried to.

[Raja]

1 minute ago, Werthead said:

I think it's clear that many other Tory MPs, in his seat, would have done nothing, or tried to.

I think it's easy to say that when you're not in charge, as opposed to when you're in the hot seat and see what organizations like NHS providers, Whitty & Vallance were saying.

[Spockydog]

2 minutes ago, Werthead said:

I think it's clear that many other Tory MPs, in his seat, would have done nothing, or tried to.

I think you're giving him waaay too much credit.

"Let the bodies pile high."

It was only getting the thing, and nearly dying from it, that made him see sense.

 

[Raja]

I mean, we had eat out to help out. That was govt policy.

Before a vaccine.

[Spockydog]

Maybe Rishi can Fuck Off To Help (Get A Cunt) Out?

[Werthead]

It looks like the idea of getting Uxbridge to recall Johnson is gathering traction, but unclear if it will really take off.

Short-sighted of the Tory Party. This kind of behaviour makes their defeat in the next election more likely. Dealing with it now and putting in a new leader who manages to take us through the remainder of the Ukraine crisis well and maybe back out of the cost of living crisis is a more credible path to victory in 2024.

[Spockydog]

Meanwhile, in Treason...

MPs to question chair of appointments panel over Evgeny Lebedev peerage

Quote

The chair of the commission that advised on the appointment of the Evening Standard owner Evgeny Lebedev to the House of Lords has been summoned to give evidence to MPs when parliament returns next week.

Paul Bew, an Irish historian, will appear before parliament’s public administration committee on Wednesday to answer what its chair described as “very serious questions” about Downing’s Street’s role in the appointment.

“We will be holding an evidence session on the role of the House of Lords appointments commission with Lord Bew,” the committee’s Conservative chair, William Wragg, said in a letter to the Labour deputy leader, Angela Rayner. He said members would raise some of the issues regarding Lebedev’s elevation in the session.

It should be noted that Wragg is most definitely not a member of the Boris Johnson Fan Club.

[Spockydog]

2 minutes ago, Werthead said:

It looks like the idea of getting Uxbridge to recall Johnson is gathering traction, but unclear if it will really take off.

He first needs to be sanctioned and suspended by the Standards Committee.

[Heartofice]

11 minutes ago, Werthead said:

It looks like the idea of getting Uxbridge to recall Johnson is gathering traction, but unclear if it will really take off.

Short-sighted of the Tory Party. This kind of behaviour makes their defeat in the next election more likely. Dealing with it now and putting in a new leader who manages to take us through the remainder of the Ukraine crisis well and maybe back out of the cost of living crisis is a more credible path to victory in 2024.

If only there was such a person. 

..there isn't.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

14 minutes ago, Werthead said:

Short-sighted of the Tory Party. This kind of behaviour makes their defeat in the next election more likely. Dealing with it now and putting in a new leader who manages to take us through the remainder of the Ukraine crisis well and maybe back out of the cost of living crisis is a more credible path to victory in 2024.

Does it really though? From an outsider's perspective, it seems like the Tories are rarely punished despite fuck up after fuck up.

The news isn't covering this much here, but the few reports I've seen are saying BoJo isn't going to resign. This time in US and UK politics will be remembered as an era of shamelessness. 

[Heartofice]

3 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Does it really though? From an outsider's perspective, it seems like the Tories are rarely punished despite fuck up after fuck up.

The news isn't covering this much here, but the few reports I've seen are saying BoJo isn't going to resign. This time in US and UK politics will be remembered as an era of shamelessness. 

They've taken a massive hit in the polls, and have been for quite some time since partygate. They would probably lose an election right now which is quite the demise given how strong a position they were in after the last election. They have massively squandered any lead they had and basically flushed it all down the toilet.

[Spockydog]

Handy explainer for how the recall process works (TLDR: The Standards Committee can only proceed if Bozo is referred by the Independent Parliamentary Ethics Commissioner. Her name is Kathryn Stone, and she was at the centre of the Owen Paterson affair after ruling that he had broken the rules, prompting Bozo's spectacularly misguided whipping of his own MPs to let him off. A steady stream of letters are apparently arriving on her desk today.)

 

[Zorral]

Would many Brits read

Quote

Shapps insisted Johnson acted “without malice” and did not “knowingly break laws”.

as, "the laws don't apply to me/us?"

[Raja]

 

[Spockydog]

 

 

[DMC]

5 hours ago, Spockydog said:

Up four points overnight.

Damn.  It may well go back down as the news subsides (which I'm sure is what he's counting on), but if it stabilizes at ~60% it's gotta be incumbent on the Tories to sack him, no?  Quickly looking it up, both May and Cameron appear to be around only 50% on the "should resign" question when they did.

4 hours ago, Raja said:

I think it's easy to say that when you're not in charge, as opposed to when you're in the hot seat

Agreed, this is a standard difference between legislators how can evade responsibility attribution and chief executives who can't.