Do you mean John MacDonnell?
Good Morning Saturday 20th April 2024
Estranged Son and Future Granddaughter
To think that London, or anywhere else for that matter, does not belong to any one demographic
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News & politics
A Week in tory ending 13th August
(65 Posts)'Russ in Cheshire's' latest update on what has been happening in the UK
Start
1. The govt said they had to "balance the nation’s health with our economy", and in that respect, they have succeeded: both are evenly balanced as the worst in the G7
2. So Boris Johnson went on holiday. See if you even notice.
3. Britain’s death toll, pretty much the worst per-capita in the developed world, rose again to the levels it was 2 months ago
4. Fortunately, the govt solved those deaths by the simple expedient of publishing the figures on a different website and not telling anybody
5. A mere 6 months into the Covid-19 crisis, the govt advertised for a "Head of Pandemic Preparedness" with a salary of – honest to god – less than mine. And I do colouring-in for a living.
6. In Feb the govt said "nobody will go hungry as a result of Covid-19"
7. The FSA said 7.8 million Britons had skipped meals or eaten unsafe food as a result of skyrocketing “food insecurity” since the outbreak
8. So the govt is planning to stop the furlough scheme to force us to go back to jobs that don’t exist
9. Britain’s GDP fell 21%, more than twice as much as Germany or the USA, and even more than Spain, which we keep telling ourselves is doing terribly, whilst avoiding mirrors
10. And an IFS study showed UK can expect to be permanently 9% poorer if we have no Brexit deal by Nov
11. So naturally, Liz Truss paused a £14bn trade deal with Japan over concerns for the fate of Stilton, which is 0.007% of the deal. But she’d made a big deal over Brexit saving Britain’s vast and vitally important Stilton industry, and everything else comes second
12. Liz Truss suggested increasing the speed limit to 80mph could be the solution to all our economic woes
13. And then The Express – yes, them – suddenly discovered the USA favour a deal with the EU over a deal with the UK because, and this will shock you, the EU is much bigger
14. Boris Johnson insisted the central Test and Trace system was "still world-beating" after it traced only 56% of cases
15. Local councils set up their own tracing in Lancashire, Liverpool and W Yorkshire and traced 98%. "World-beating" isn’t even beating Blackburn council
16. NHS Providers said Test and Trace is “not fit for purpose, let alone world class”
17. A month after knighting Sir Tom for raising £32m, the govt gave 10x as much to company valued at £100, and with no expertise in producing PPE, for 50m masks we can’t use
18. By one of those massively rare coincidences that happen 9 times out of 10, the owner is a close friend Liz Truss
19. And then it was revealed the govt didn’t just sign one inexplicable contract with a useless and inexperienced supplier: they had at least 20 contracts
20. One of the contracts is for £108m, paid to a pest control company with assets of just £18,000. The company is now using money from that contract to threaten legal action against a lawyer who asked what it is doing with the money. I kid you not.
21. Education news, and in the beginning, the govt opposed adjusting A-level grades
22. Then top fireplace salesman and irony no-fly-zone Gavin Williamson said “The danger is that pupils will be over-promoted into jobs that are beyond their competence”
23. And then the govt introduced a “moderating” algorithm to adjust grades
24. Then the Tories told the Scottish govt to abandon its own adjusted grades
25. And when the Scottish govt did Tories had asked, the Tories said it was a disgrace and they should resign
26. Then multiple Tories called for Gavin Williamson to do exactly the same thing
27. The Assoc of Headteachers said the govt’s handling of this is "a rolling disaster"
28. Things are moving fast. But not as fast as the contents Gavin Williamson’s small intestine
29. The govt’s algorithm awarded twice as many grade increases to pupils from private schools as it did to state schools.
30. And an Education Policy Institute report found wealthy pupils get 1/3 more funds from the "levelling up" budget as poor pupils get
31. Scrupulous honesty news: property developers gave the Tories £11m in the last year, and then, miraculously, the Tories relaxed rules on planning permission
32. Amongst the regulations they tried to scrap was the one requiring dwellings to have at least 1 window
33. Robert Jenrick said "you can trust me on housing", 3 weeks after he admitted wrongdoing in helping a Tory donor avoid £45m tax
34. To be fair, he then denied admitting wrongdoing, even though he had admitted it on camera, and that's always the mark of a man you can trust
35. The Royal Institute of British Architects said the reforms were "shameful" and would "lead to a generation of slum housing"
36. Housing charity Shelter said the reforms "will mean the end of affordable housing" and force more than 1m people onto housing waiting lists
37. But Priti Patel said Syrian refugees were the real cause of our national housing crisis
38. She asserted that people claiming asylum in the UK was illegal, which it absolutely is not, under any circumstances, ever
39. Then she appointed an excitingly-titled "Clandestine Channel Threat Commander" tasked with, amongst other impossible things, pushing migrant boats back out to sea, in direct contravention of international law and British Navy regulations
40. A leak from inside the MoD said Patel’s plans were "completely potty", "inappropriate, impractical and unnecessary” and had "more holes than a slice of Swiss cheese". I’ll put them down as a 'maybe'
41. Priti Patel then had an argument about this with some ice-cream
42. James Cleverley, a hugely successful one-man campaign against nominative determinism, joined in, but confused "virtue signalling" with "obeying the law"
43. Tory MP Sir Edward Leigh had a solution: "We should never have lost Calais in 1558. Why not take it back?"
44. Then Sir Edward, a vocal, life-long Brexit fan, said we should pay the EU to manage migration for us, but it has been very warm, and he does look like a man who has been in the sun far too long
45. Speaking of Brexit, it was revealed Tate and Lyle, Tory donors and No Deal cheerleaders, will gain £73m if we get No Deal, because they can import more of the very unhealthy sugar they supply
46. So obviously, the govt started a TV campaign telling us to stop being fat
47. The govt condemned the Russian state, which said it had a vaccine that hasn’t been approved by regulators
48. And then it was revealed UK’s much-vaunted 90-minute rapid Covid test has not been approved by regulators
49. The govt said children would be safe if we re-opened schools
50. And then Boris Johnson said he would "bulldoze schools" in which there were Covid outbreaks, which seems a smidge excessive if Covid can’t spread in schools
51. The govt said there was no evidence any children had caught Covid in school. Schools are closed, so it would be difficult right now, but let’s not try to apply logic any more
52. An international study found pupils over 12 are just as susceptible to Covid-19 as any adult
53. Scientists called for routine testing of teachers and pupils
54. The Schools Minister said no because, I’m sorry, I have no idea why the Schools Minister said no, and neither does he. People asked. He didn’t have an answer.
55. And then Immigration minister Chris Philp asked if he could re-record a live interview, after he forgot what country he was from
I’m sure it’ll be fine.
End
twitter.com/RussInCheshire/status/1293945209760423936
Iam64
I see John McDonnell has spoken positively about the way Keir Starmer is responding to the governments mis handling of the covid crisis.
John McDonald and Jeremy Corbyn are both campaigning to avoid a complete breakdown of the affiliation between the Broader Labour movement and the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP).
They would have addressed several trade union conferences over the past weeks but due to the Covid-19 crisis, those conferences were obviously cancelled.
However, both have addressed affiliated organisations online meetings in regard to maintaining the partnership with the Labour Party which I believe is a great testimony to the character of both men in view of the way they were treated by many within that organisation.
It is also been reported that Jeremy Corbyn has also in recent days spoken to Len McCluskey in regard to the Unite Union continued support of the PLP in view of the fact that they are the Parties largest financial donor.
Three million pounds was given to the PLP in December last year for the General Election Campaign with a further four hundred thousand pounds given between January and March this year.
This week is bad enough, but we are now in what is probably one of the most disastrous weeks experienced by the tragic-comic government.
. (See thread with week ending August 17th)
I see John McDonnell has spoken positively about the way Keir Starmer is responding to the governments mis handling of the covid crisis.
Iam64
Lucca, I agree it isn't funny. Perhaps I should have said, I wonder how much of what Grandad says is meant to be taken seriously.
What should be taken seriously would be that totally unelected people within the Labour party worked to undermine an elected leader and in that, it is also alleged, they acted illegally.
It is strange that on this forum Iam64 we do not witness any condemnation of the above actions from those who now support Starmer as Labour Leader.
However, Starmer personally gained in his political ambitions from all the above, so, perhaps those who support Starmer believe that the end justified the means.
Should that be the case then those persons are no better than those who actually carried out the above acts.
Lucca, I agree it isn't funny. Perhaps I should have said, I wonder how much of what Grandad says is meant to be taken seriously.
Iam64
I often wonder if Grandad is just having a larf
A larf ? Oh I think not.
I often wonder if Grandad is just having a larf
Grandad Democracy is not about putting an X in a box every few years and shutting up in the intervening years. In the UK, the votes of the vast majority don't count anyway with the FPTP system. If people aren't allowed to voice opinions - and initiate action, as has happened with A level grades and free school meals - democracy is well and truly meaningless.
Liz Truss is only in office to make the other incompetents look good.
I respect the decision of the majority of the electorate who voted against the Tory party. Grandad We urgently need to reform our politics and that includes the undemocratic voting system and corrupt party funding.
As the majority of the UK office based workforce has worked from and is continuing to work from home. Does it really matter where they are?
Computers, video conferencing we can all be contactable 24 hours a day, why assume that the Government is not working ?
Whitewavemark2
Now Truss is trying to “hide” her discussions with a hard right think tank IEA, by reclassifying the discussions as “personal”
This has never ever happened in government.
“So Liz Truss has some of her meetings removed from the public record and reclassified as “personal”? This is absolutely outrageous. We are being ruled by dishonourable, corrupt people whose behaviour just gets worse every day. Time to take a stand. We cannot go on like this.“
What are you suggesting in the above post then Whitewavemark2 that we set up a military coup??????
The electorate had the chance to vote for having a second Brexit referendum alongside a radical reforming government just eight months back.
However, that electorate polled for Brexit and a Tory party government that has never hidden its contempt for all state controlled bodies.
That is what the electorate now have, and will have in all probability for the next four years at minimum.
I for one as a left thinking political person am totally opposed to almost all the policies and practices of this government, but I also totally respect the decision of the electorate.
And that is the way it should be.
Johnson is on holiday rumour is Scotland, but no one knows where. Other rumours are Greece and France. Still, why shouldn’t he have a holiday there is only an economic and health crisis going on. Plenty of talentless yes men/ women to delegate to- why work when you don’t have to seems to be his latest motto. As well as Dido Harding getting a top job, seemingly without any selection process, the woman given £2000,000 to manage the governments PR over the exam results is a 20- something daughter of a close friend of Michael Gove. Again no application/ selection process. That’s money well spent then. I’m not sure how the Tory fan club on here can support such cronyism.
Now Truss is trying to “hide” her discussions with a hard right think tank IEA, by reclassifying the discussions as “personal”
This has never ever happened in government.
“So Liz Truss has some of her meetings removed from the public record and reclassified as “personal”? This is absolutely outrageous. We are being ruled by dishonourable, corrupt people whose behaviour just gets worse every day. Time to take a stand. We cannot go on like this.“
varian
Is Boris Johnson still on paternity leave or is he having another holiday?
Just read that there is a hint that he is trying to mend (marital) (partnership) discord.
We will soon find if he’s patched things up I guess.
I have totally lost count of the contracts that have been awarded to Cumming’s Gove’s et al friends without tender.
Does anyone have a list, just to make me even more depressed?
Is Boris Johnson still on paternity leave or is he having another holiday?
Thanks, Grany. Done it and shared on FB.
"and this from the "i"-
Who is Dido Harding?
She came to prominence during the pandemic when she was put in charge of the NHS Test and Trace in England which has been widely criticised. The Conservative peer is chair of NHS Improvement and has been appointed the new interim chief of the National Institute for Health Protection following the scrapping of Public Health England. She will lead the search for a permanent successor.
She has made headlines in the past.
She was CEO of TalkTalk when in 2015 it fell victim to a data breach that led to nearly 157,000 people’s personal data being accessed by hackers. The company was fined £400,000 for “security failings”. During her time at TalkTalk she received two wooden spoon awards, in 2010 and 2011, for poor customer service dished out by the Daily Mail’s Money Mail section. There is a rather sullen photograph of her with one of the wooden spoons – according to the newspaper she would not pose with both “awards”. At the time she admitted that the company’s customer service was “not yet good enough”.
Wasn’t she a friend of David Cameron?
Yes, the pair were at Oxford together, where she studied PPE. She was appointed a member of the House of Lords by Cameron in 2014. She held senior roles at Tesco’s and Sainsbury’s and was made CEO of TalkTalk in 2010. In 2017 she was appointed chair of NHS Improvement. A horse racing enthusiast she has also been a jockey and is on the board of the Jockey Club which owns Cheltenham Racecourse. She is married to Conservative MP John Penrose who is on the advisory board of the think tank, 1828, which has published reports calling for Public Heath England to be “scrapped”. It has also called for the NHS to be replaced by an insurance system.
inews.co.uk/news/baroness-dido-harding-appointed-interim-chief-nihp-582711
The DMs take on the Harding appointment.
t.co/nH5ze1AtS0?amp=1
This looks interesting
Colin Blakemore
I am creating a group of like minded individuals to remove the government
remove-the-tory-government.mn.co/posts/7581420?utm_source=manual&fbclid=IwAR2Nii9jMWIx_P9tkGczfw0xXmVWo34lUDnUwoJ1IZiFSDanxeXmX1XyV5k
There's another 'Week in tory' on its way 
I'll post it tomorrow...
That's good thank you trisher
Thanks Grany Done it!
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