WHAT !!!! ?

Well said Elegran

It is often the undeserving who reap rewards in life.

There are some fact checking websites for when you suspect the news may be fake although this may well be true

www.snopes.com/

Thirties Germany does come to mind - nightclubs with socialites scandalising the bourgeoisie, the bougeoisie abusing Jews and the disabled, money having less and less value, government ostensibly following "the will of the people" while neglecting more and more of those people, a leader whose personal obsessions and prejudices affected official attitudes. That last more (so far) in the US than the Uk - and in the UK it is more the aims of the advisor behind the front benches than the power of the leader.

Almost every other country has has its Revolution. The UK has managed change for centuries without major upheavals and conflict, but I fear for the future. There are those who would tear down the structure without waiting to finalise plans for building a better and acceptable replacement.

To carry on the analogy in my final sentence - If we don't " finalise plans for building a better and acceptable replacement." we will end up with a jerry-built one!

I have to admit that when I came across this on twitter and first posted it I thought that it was likely to be a spoof. Growstuff's insomniac researches have shown that it's not.

For once I'm joining everyone in their pearl clutching!

I realise that this sort of thing has gone on for hundreds of years, but it was privately financed. Tapping into public money (or attempting to tap) is just not on...

No need to be snippy MaizieD. What did Shania Twain sing ‘that don’t impress me much’ ‼️ ? ?

I don’t have a history degree but was I was attempting was some on-line conversation.

I think I’ll go away and make some coffee ...

Everybody seems to have overlooked the Downing Street connection. Killing Kittens isn't a start up company. It started in 2005, organising posh orgies.

Emma Swayle, the founder, previously worked for "Fever Parties", the company owned and founded by Dougie Smith. Smith was previously David Cameron's speechwriter and is the husband of Munira Mirza, who is (along with Dominic Cummings) the top advisor in Downing Street. Mirza was Johnson's deputy for 8 years, when he was Mayor of London. Dougie Smith was appointed to an advisory role in Downing Street a couple of months ago. Swayle also has connections with other influential people.

It would appear that Killing Kittens has applied for (and will probably receive) £170,000 from a fund, which is supposed to be supporting tech start ups in the current Covid-19 crisis. Killing Kittens as a business is already worth £11 million. This is taxpayers' money, which should be going to people much more worthy than Emma Swayle.

I don't really care if posh people want to pay to be swingers at sex parties or to watch porn online (as, apparently, up to 20% of people do). I do care about such businesses receiving taxpayers' money and the possible conflict of interest, given this woman's connections to Downing Street.

The similarities are very evident Elegran.

The granting of funds to businesses should be completely independent of whatever the current government is. It may be swayed toward some sectors if Government policy is to encourage those but it should absolutely not be preferential toward anyone with a connection to that Government.

I am surprised that there isn't a clause in the rules of this lending organisation prohibiting anyone with such a connection from applying. Perhaps they would claim that they were being discriminated against

There should also be some consideration of the desirability of funding certain kinds of projects.

Emma Sayle not Swayle

growstuff

... or it might be the latest instalment of the government's dead cat strategy!

Nobody's talking about the £840,000 contract handed to Public First, run by James Frayne and Rachel Wolf, who has been an associate of Michael Gove and Cummings for ages.

Something stinks - and it's not just dead cats!

Growstuff I previously started a thread about government contracts. The responses haven't gone past page 1. What interests me is that when a serious topic is started not that many people comment but there are hundreds of responses to the Royal Family.

This does not surprise me, in fact nothing about this sordid, corrupt Tory government surprises me. What does shock me though, is just how few people are shocked, or just laugh, or dismiss it as 'it has ever been thus' really? Is that the best you can do? If this kind of bent, corrupt contract awarding was going on at local level, say to do with filling potholes or emptying bins, I assume more people would be up in arms? Why are people so indifferent to the terrible things being done, or are some just turning a blind eye as long as there is a blue rosette pinned on the person taking the backhander? I have posted on here before about contracts being awarded without proper bid evaluation and very few were concerned, what a bloody state we are in.

You've inspired me to post on your contracts thread, DinahMo.

I'm sorry you're not getting much response. I feel so battered by the appalling revelations about this government that come day after day that I'm sometimes just lose the will to protest about it.

I, too, cannot understand the prevailing indifference to the blatant corruption from many Gnet posters. They're always so ready to pass judgement on the most trifling things.

I saw what I thought was an apt comment on twitter the other day in relation to the sacking of civil servants.

"They're draining the swamp to fill it with sewage"

It really is quite sobering Dinahmo that people are more interested in soap operas (of the TV or royal family kind) than in real life issues, which affect every single person in the country. For the first time in my life, ever, I no longer feel happy to be British. The level of corruption is beyond a joke. I find it difficult to believe that the same people who get excited when Big Ben bongs or celebrate every anniversary of UK victories in WW2, actually care about their country.

Poor little kittens. I hate cruelty to animals.

Sparkling

Poor little kittens. I hate cruelty to animals.

It's not really true that a kitten dies every time somebody masturbates! If it were, there'd never be any cats. It's an internet meme.

I hate lack of humanity towards other humans too.

Thanks MaizieD

It is in the Sun too and, though I'm no fan of the Sun, presumably they can't print out-and-out lies.

There must be hundreds of hardworking and useful companies and individuals who see their businesses going down the drain and yet we subsidise an already established seedy "enterprise" such as this. Is this the sort of highly profitable business Johnson envisaged when he talked about "unleashing Britain's potential"?

The royal family certainly seems to make some very questionable acquaintances.

I wonder if Wills and Kate have been to any of her parties...

I bet Kate wishes she could delete all the photos online of her with Emma Sayle. Apparently, they were childhood friends and have kept in contact.