Is corruption and incompetence the new normal?

Normally the PM does get invited for a weekend at Balmoral.

Whether or not that happens, I would guess that HM will not believe a word that Johnson says. She has experience of being lied to by him when he illegally prorogued Parliament.

Yes but she went along with it didn't she? Then, was found out it was unlawful

She went along with it because as a constitutional monarch, her powers are severely limited by our unwritten constitution.

It was only later that the illegality was proven by the Supreme Court. By now, HM must be in no doubt that her PM is a cheat and a liar, and I hope she treats anything he says with the contempt it deserves.

It can't be right that the Queen head of state is there for no reason other than do the PM's bidding.

Ministers can do almost anything they like – including taking away our rights and liberties – safe in the knowledge that there is no final check on their power.

Unlike with an elected Head of State

My DH is on our local Parish Council and if he, or his fellow councillors behaved as the current cabinet have they would be removed from office and quite possibly prosecuted. All public spending has to be done properly and proper bid evaluation has to be undertaken. If the PC awarded the contract for grass cutting to another member's son, they would rightly be called to account and likely de-selected at the next election, so why is this corrupt, venal crew getting away with it? Does nobody care that they are awarding contracts to their buddies? Buddies who are often not even qualified to undertake the contract?

The answer to your question whitewave is yes. But I will add that I don’t think it’s new. It’s been going on for a good while, maybe always, I don’t know. But I do think things have got worse in the last twenty years or so.

Or even longer.

Editorial in Times relating to yet another Tory who is hoping to get away with rape

To solve all these problems and have an accountable government we need an elected Head I'd State
Do you agree?

The idea that the Queen can act as a check on politicians may be comforting, but it's a fantasy. The opposite is true - the monarchy gives huge power to politicians, while the Queen just does what she's told. That’s why republicans want a head of state who is both elected and effective, someone independent of politicians who can act as an impartial referee of the political system.

There is simply no constitutional mechanism by which the Queen could stop a potential dictator, other than by becoming one herself. The greatest safeguard against tyranny is a culture of active citizenship and a political system with clear rules based on equal rights, transparency and accountability – values to which monarchy is directly opposed.

Grany

To solve all these problems and have an accountable government we need an elected Head I'd State
Do you agree?

The idea that the Queen can act as a check on politicians may be comforting, but it's a fantasy. The opposite is true - the monarchy gives huge power to politicians, while the Queen just does what she's told. That’s why republicans want a head of state who is both elected and effective, someone independent of politicians who can act as an impartial referee of the political system.

There is simply no constitutional mechanism by which the Queen could stop a potential dictator, other than by becoming one herself. The greatest safeguard against tyranny is a culture of active citizenship and a political system with clear rules based on equal rights, transparency and accountability – values to which monarchy is directly opposed.

Your argument is persuasive

Thank you Whitewavemark2

someone independent of politicians who can act as an impartial referee of the political system.

I don't see how you achieve that. Everyone has a political viewpoint. I'm sure the Queen has one, even though it is never overtly expressed.

Where do you get your potential Presidential candidates from? Will they have had an active career as politicians? (After all, we really don't want to go down the talk show host route, do we?) Then you still have the problem of tribalism. How can you guarantee political neutrality?

This explanation might answer some of your questions MaizieD

An independent and neutral head of state
Even if an elected head of state has previously been a party politician they can still be independent and neutral (impartial) once in the job. The rules of the job would require them to be non-partisan and because their actions are open to scrutiny the public and politicians can judge whether those rules are being followed.

Britain already has plenty of examples of people in these kinds of positions, most notably the Speaker of the House of Commons. The Speaker is elected to parliament as a party MP, but once he or she is chosen as Speaker they remove themselves from party political debates and instead represent the whole of the Commons and act as referee in MPs' debates.

Candidates may be people with successful careers in law, business, foreign affairs, teaching, science, or someone who has made a name for themselves championing a popular cause or running a big charity. In a great country like ours, with over sixty million people, we'll be spoilt for choice.

The experience of other countries
Other countries have heads of state similar to the one Republic supports for Britain. Most notably is our nearest neighbour the Republic of Ireland. Ireland has elected a series of excellent presidents including Mary McAleese (so popular she was re-elected unopposed), Mary Robinson who went on to serve with the United Nations and Michael D Higgins.

Germany's head of state is elected by an assembly made up of national and regional politicians. In recent years two presidents have had to resign for either breaking the rules of the job or getting into political controversies. These resignations and the way in which the presidents were replaced show how robust the democratic alternative is. When an elected head of state gets it wrong they are held to account. If a royal gets it wrong it's either laughed off or excused without debate.

The Italian head of state has been central to holding the state together while Italy suffers political and economic crises. This is the role of referee in action, as the politicians argue about forming a new government the head of state can keep things together and provide continuity. In Britain if we faced a similar crisis we would have no-one but our MPs to look to, the Queen simply cannot play the same role as arbiter and referee (and made a point of refusing to get involved after the 2010 election when we were left with a hung parliament).

Not like the US or France: A very British head of state
Republic supports a non-partisan head of state who is not involved in making political decisions or running the government. So we don't support a system like they have in France or the United States. We believe the best alternative to the monarchy is a head of state who is able to do the job that the Queen cannot do. It is a serious job of representing the nation, acting as referee in the political process, championing the interests of the people and defending our democratic traditions.

Whitewavemark2

Although I think Johnson is preparing to use the army. I’m not sure how the ordinary soldier will feel about that.

I suspect that they'll do as they are told. Just look at America and the use of the federal forces. I doubt many of those men will have thought about about their orders.

"The government SAYS they're not privatising our NHS that we all love but Matt Hancock handed track and trace in England to private companies like shady Serco for big money. Their failures put us all at risk of coronavirus, as yesterday's headlines show the system is not enough to stop a second spike. We've been working behind the scenes to find out what's going on. Now we know that the contracts with private companies Serco and Sitel END on August 23rd. This is HUGE!

If you have an English address, we need to call on your council leader today to appeal to Matt Hancock: give experienced public health teams funding for track and trace instead of outsourcing companies. Email your council leader to get safe track and trace now

Matt Hancock has allocated £10 BILLION to test and trace but local authorities have only been given £300 million of this. It's a joke that strapped local authorities aren't getting help when THEY'RE the ones doing contact tracing best, while private companies are potentially getting billions to fail again and again. They should get this money to grow their vital work IMMEDIATELY. You can help to get a safe track and trace system in England, one that could allow us to keep coming out of lockdown for good, and avoid a “long and bleak winter”.

We haven't got long to make sure that Hancock ends the contracts and gives money to local teams instead. Council leaders and the Labour Party have joined the call, so now it's time to ramp up the pressure.

If you live in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, you probably know that public health teams are leading the response, and this is a far better way of running contact tracing, however we still hugely appreciate your solidarity - you can take action right here.

In England, Public health teams in Sandwell and Blackburn with Darwen are so concerned about the national privatised track and trace that they have set up their own in house contact tracing systems. One Director of Public Health said "we're having to deploy resources that we don't really have...to try and do it ourselves. And essentially, the taxpayer's paying twice". It's ludicrous. The next few weeks are crucial to changing the coming months. "

weownit.org.uk/act-now/matt-hancock-needs-listen-communities-and-let-local-teams-lead-contact-tracing

IDS is now complaining that the Deal he advised all to approve and get behind- deriding those who said more time was required to examine the small print and implications - is now saying the Deal is unfair and favours the EU and should be put back on the table. Incompetence farce and hypocrisy.

www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/james-obrien/two-contradictory-statements-iain-duncan-smith/?fbclid=IwAR3V1WtK8MoWclfGyztpbQw22_r1cypoNz3uf02shZ2Ol0Kyes16qGe-hRw

Signed varian

I am losing the will to live.

And tell you local Council leader that we want safe locally lead test and trace too

weownit.org.uk/tell-your-council-leader-you-want-safe-locally-led-test-and-trace

Signed Varian, let's hope lots of Gn's do this.

Thank you to those who have signed and contacted their local council.

Us old folk, locked down or shielded, can do very little to help our country but this is something we can do.

I often think how fortunate we are to have the internet. We can all remember a world without it and just think how much worse this pandemic would have affected us, say thirty years ago!

On the news today, some people still "working" on track and trace but with nothing to do. Some people on the receiving end of the inquiries say that they have been contacted more than once. One in fact around 20 times.

biba70 Thanks for the link to JOB. He's hit the nail on the head as usual.

Coronavirus: North launches own track and trace after failures in national scheme

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/coronavirus-north-launches-own-track-and-trace-after-failures-in-national-scheme-lxf8xdtpr

quizqueen

I don't think there is much to chose between all the political parties for incompetence and dishonesty, in my opinion.

A case of: Same circus, different clowns.
In 1517, Martin Luther a Catholic monk, attacked the Church's corrupt practice of 'selling' indulgences to absolve sin. Like you can buy your way into heaven.
We know what the outcome of that was.