We need a coup

It would be good to live in a democracy and not an "elective" dictatorship"

Now there's a thought GillT57, a government that has a transparent process and the tender that is best, even if it costs a little more gets the work.

I would settle for a government doing what they are supposed to do, not just use it as an opportunity to line their friends pockets, gaslight the public and lead us head long into economic and cultural disaster. I don't want mobs and police on the streets, I don't want blood shed, I just want people to do what they were elected to do, and to the best of their ability, irrespective of their political beliefs.

A great victory for progressives in Chile's Referendum, showing how unity can build a better, more democratic society.

I don't think I have 40 years left to wait for a 'better, more democratic society' Grany. Chile had some pretty horrible times on route to it, too...

We need something less anarchic, like a general strike, or even all those tory stooge backbenchers rebelling and supporting a vote of no confidence, to get the govt out legally and effect change through parliament and our constitution.

Be careful what you wish for .
From Julius Caesar to Robespierre to The Russian revolution to Stalin to Mao to God knows how many African or Latin American countries - coups have rarely solved any problem and invariably contributed more to the sum of human suffering.

"I read Jonathan Freedland’s detailed and excellent summation of the way contracts and honours have been awarded in recent months by the government very shortly after I had emailed Anneliese Dodds precisely to urge the Labour party to do more to expose this pattern of behaviour.

I don’t understand why people still shy away from the word “corruption” in describing the awarding of contract after contract to friends, relatives and financial supporters of the government without any pretence of competitive tendering, or of checking the capacity and experience of the companies to carry out the work for which they are being paid. If this was any other country, corruption is the only word we would be using."

John Rowe

www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/aug/10/wheres-the-anger-over-these-dodgy-tory-deals

A great victory for progressives in Chile's Referendum, showing how unity can build a better, more democratic society.

‘An End to the Chapter of Dictatorship’: Chileans Vote to Draft a New Constitution
Voters overwhelmingly approved a bid to scrap the charter inherited from Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship, a move that could set a new course for the country.

The movement soon seized on a vehicle for their demands: Chile’s Constitution.

The existing charter, drafted without popular input during the military dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet and approved in a fraudulent plebiscite in 1980, was widely blamed for blocking change — and seen as a lingering link to a grim chapter in Chile’s history.

www.nytimes.com/2020/10/25/world/americas/chile-constitution-plebiscite.html

Court to Look into UK Government’s Concealed COVID-19 Spending

And about time too.

Court to Look into UK Government’s Concealed COVID-19 Spending

www.occrp.org/en/daily/13239-court-to-look-into-uk-government-s-concealed-covid-19-spending

@JolyonMaugham

I gave an interview to German telly the other day. They couldn't understand why (most of) our media was ignoring what looked for all the world like powerful prima face evidence of, basically, corruption. It was a good question, and I gave it some proper thought.

Sparklefizz

trisher

I see no real positivity about what a great job the government is doing (I wonder why) just little digs at other posters. Just proves what a disaster this government is.

No, it proves that GN members have got enough going on in their lives to have to cope with, without having pointless arguments on here.

And yet posters have the time to write about Labour MPs children and their schooling!

So Janpt. You are totally unable to answer and instead deflect attention. Even you have nothing good to say about them!

trisher

I see no real positivity about what a great job the government is doing (I wonder why) just little digs at other posters. Just proves what a disaster this government is.

No, it proves that GN members have got enough going on in their lives to have to cope with, without having pointless arguments on here.

Janpt just because people may have voted for a political ideal that did not win the election /referendum does not make that ideal bad or wrong.

The current Conservative Government made many claims and promises in their election campaign, as all parties do, mainly concerned with their ability to get the best deal possible for exiting the European Union. At this point in time it appears that they may not be able to succeed in all the ways they had anticipated. As a keen supporter of the EU I am obviously wanting the best deal possible to mitigate what I consider the disadvantages of abandoning the Union.

Of course the Covid 19 situation is/was unchartered and there is no way of knowing how different things might have been with a different cabinet in place. There have been decisions and approaches that I totally disagree with, in particular the unwillingness of the cabinet to engage more widely in a cross party way to deal with the pandemic crisis. Some things are bigger than party politics. The awarding of contracts to personal friends and contacts , apparently without due process , is not what I consider the sign of a good government.

I cannot support the 'hostile environment' pushed by Theresa May and carried on with vigour by the current Home Secretary. It does not sit well with my British Values.

I see no real positivity about what a great job the government is doing (I wonder why) just little digs at other posters. Just proves what a disaster this government is.

Grany

Well Said Anniezee

Well Janptfor a start Corbyn McDonnell and Starmer would have properly funded the NHS so it would cope far better with the pandemic. Our NHS would NOT be on the table in trade talks with Trump. They would definitely not have given test and trace to their mates private companies which Johnson did costing billions and which have failed to deliver. So Johnson and co saying world beating far from it a total failure.

If it makes you feel better to think that so be it.

Starmer sends his children to local schools. I don't know about McDonnell but I'd be surprised if he sent his to private school
It's well known that Abbott sent her son to private school, I think as he was heading for his teens. She never tried to hid this and was open in saying she made the only choice she could for her child. Given them tragedy of his mental health problems, I'm prepared to accept that like most of us, she did what she believed was best for her child.

Janptwhat would a Labour government have done differently? Well they would have used the public health systems in place in the country for test and trace. These people have experience of disease control and already work in the public health sector. They would not have given billions to their mates for a system that doesn't work. Germany did just this www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m2522 and their success rate is much higher. Really this government is neither efficient nor value for money (unless you are one of their mates of course then you are quids in!).

I've just read That Mrs Thatcher was a fine example to women. No she wasn't, she was a token man. When the suffragettes campaigned for the vote they did so because they believed men did not care properly for women and poor children, and only women with the voote cold change things. Thatcher demonstrated that some women don't care either.

Some people do regard it as hypocritical if a politician who says he wants to abolish private schools does send his own child to one, and I can see why. That is why these acusations should not be made unless they are true.

Keir Starmer's children attend their local state primary school, not private school as was asserted as fact

varian

"Starmer, Mcdonnell and Abbott are just the same. They all send their children to private schools. " posted janpt.as if it was a fact.

Does anyone know whether this is true? It may have been true of one of them, but not all.

I always think discussion about people's personal choices for their children's schools should be off limits.

Something that the Government did right:

I thought they were right when they told ventilator manufactures that the Govt would buy as many as they could make. Since then the demand for ventilators has fallen as we learned more appropriate treatments in some cases, but at the time it was thought they would be needed and I thought that was a good, fast reaction.

What would another Government have done better:

I really don't think that any other Government, whether Labour or the more sensible Conservatives would have given valuable multimillion pound contracts to recently set up companies owned by people that they liked, rather than established and professional companies with experience.

And as other bullies people have said, the Labour party would not have underfunded the NHS and would not be including it in negotiations with President Trump.

Just admit you backed the wrong horse or any other way you want admit it.

I backed the horse that won 48 out of the 59 seats they fielded candidates in. Not everyone who disagrees with you Janpt is a Labour voter.

"Starmer, Mcdonnell and Abbott are just the same. They all send their children to private schools. " posted janpt.as if it was a fact.

Does anyone know whether this is true? It may have been true of one of them, but not all.

Well Said Anniezee

Well Janptfor a start Corbyn McDonnell and Starmer would have properly funded the NHS so it would cope far better with the pandemic. Our NHS would NOT be on the table in trade talks with Trump. They would definitely not have given test and trace to their mates private companies which Johnson did costing billions and which have failed to deliver. So Johnson and co saying world beating far from it a total failure.