Anyone understand why Johnson is so far ahead in the polls?

Actually bear with me a minute as I’m typing as I’m thinking this thought (probably dangerous!) but could the £58,000 be relative money-wise? As in the wealthy people who have a lot of money might not be looking upon it as ‘cash for curtains with a payback later’. i.e. a ‘bung.

What if we scale this right down to ‘our’ level? To our own groups in life.

What if my car had a puncture and I needed a new tyre but was financially pinched. I was looking at a small loan or an overdraft facility but a kind friend steps in and buys me the tyre? I’m a bit embarrassed but grateful. I offer to pay the friend back when I can (soon as) but she is well off, kind and says ‘no need, it’s forgotten already’.

Not everyone in this life is looking for kick backs. There really ARE kind and generous people in this world. Have you never come across one in an hour of need? I have. Lucky for you if you haven’t ever experienced a financial shortfall.

?

EllanVannin

£50 million--promoting music/ ballet and dance in schools.
£178 million---MP's pay and perks.
£95 million--obscure " natural environment programmes ".
£80 million--refurbishing the national audit office.
£38.4 million--financing gypsy sites across England.
£1.6 billion--on aid distributed to the EU.
£1.3 billion--reducing poverty in Asia.
£148.7 million---national measurements office (pounds to kilo's )
£2.5 billion---Sub-Saharan Africa.
£267.3 million---pensions for highly-trained judges.
£14 billion---pensions for Whitehall civil servants.
£5.6 million---Royal household pensions.
£37 million---historic buildings inc. Royal palaces.
£11.5 million---Royal travel England and around the globe.
£68.3 million---Kew Gardens.
£492,000 ----Princess Diana's inquest.
£442 million---on the quango, Natural England.
£87 million---2011 census ( government's snoopers charter )

Labour's spending 2010 and some of you are going on about carpets, sofas, curtains and wallpaper.

Stay where you are Boris !

Interesting list, EV

I added it up

£20.4 billion

Test, Track & Trace that doesn't really work:

£37 billion

It would be interesting to conduct an unofficial opinion poll in any town centre and ask passers by how bothered they are with curtain and wallpapergate compared with how the country is doing as a whole.

The fantastic vaccine programme is progressing well and we only have to watch the tv news and read newspapers to have much optimism for the economic recovery here.

People are happy that their lives are getting back to normal, seeing family and friends, eating out, planning holidays probably here but possibly abroad later in the year.

Boris’s curtains and his bodies comment come nowhere near those important things about our day to day lives.

As regards the opposition, I have always felt that Starmer has no personality and certainly not a scrap of charisma. He comes across as a permanently petulant man who hasn’t a clue how to deal with Boris’s popularity.

Regarding the Lib Dems I wouldn’t mind betting I am not alone in struggling to name the current leader. That’s how relevant that party is.

Having said that my one fear is that the PM might feel he is invincible and that his current popularity is a given.

There is a very interesting thread on Mumsnet called "What do the Labour Party have to do to win back voters" or words to that effect. It is mostly Labour supporters on the thread and one of the points made is the sneery attitude towards people who don't think like them calling them thick and bigoted

The journalists will understand that most people are not interested in who paid for the wallpaper. when they accept that these people are stupid enough not to see beyond the fact that wallpaper is involved to the fact is that Johnson took (if this proves to be the case) a bung. And for what? That is the question; not that it was wallpaper.

It seems to me that 'the journalists' hate it when they don't have a target to go after and criticize if things are going too well - i.e. the vaccine roll out .
Trump has left a vacuum and they are desperate to fill it with something. I am sick of the media trying to make mountains out of molehills, when will they understand that most people are not interested in who paid for the wallpaper.
We have had far worse examples of greed and corruption, bankers and expenses claims to name a few, and after a big fuss the dust settles and they all carry on as normal.
Frankly I am sick of the lot of them.

I have never liked or trusted Boris Johnson, and I’m talking about the time long before he was a politician. Unfortunately there is no effective opposition.

I don’t care how much his curtains cost, or if he had a loan, but I do care if he has accepted large cash ‘gifts’.

He's a liar and a cheat (been sacked twice for lying) but he's a "personality" and in this day and age that's all that matters to some voters. Every time you see him he's taking part in a photo opportunity, usually wearing a hi viz jacket or white coat. Yes the vaccine roll out has been a great success because it's run by the NHS not the politicians. People seem to forget about the billions wasted on useless PPE and Track n Trace apps because the contracts went to Tory cronies. You'll still get people voting for "good ol Boris " no matter what lies he tells.

I also think party politics is outdated as a concept and I don't know why we go along with it. If we start at town council even, those sitting who belong to a political party vote the party line ALL THE TIME. It is only the independent councillors who seem to vote for what is best or right and they call 'the others' to account.

I do think, JaneJudge, that you are putting forward a good argument here for proportional representation, which is likely to produce results more like the ones you describe. It would, at least, bring about a situation where there has to be consensus about decisions and more views taken into consideration.

It would be too much too hope for party politics to disappear, but coalitions would be a step in the right direction...

It’s a mystery to me but then again I could never understand the popularity of Trump.

MaizieD

grandmajet

I know people with many different political views, but those who are the most strongly left wing all seem to have university backgrounds, are/were teachers or nhs staff, and are also the ones who own second homes and seem to know how to avoid as much inheritance tax as possible. (I don’t need to know how to avoid it! Not rich enough)
They also talk down to people who disagree with them in a Corbyn-like manner. Double standards or what?

There was a time when working class people respected and wanted to be educated. They set up Mechanics Institutes with reading rooms and lecture series ; they read the newspapers (written in far more formal and 'difficult' language than are todays papers) and discussed politics and world news. They set up the Workers' Educational Association to offer educational opportunities to the workers who could not aspire to attending a university. Basically, they aspired to improve themselves and to give their peers and their children every opportunity they could to achieve that.

Now they just sneer at people who have achieved the very things their parents and grandparents worked for.

That is sadly very true Maizie, not just of "education" but of simply acquiring knowledge. I wonder what sort of society we will leave our our grandchildren where being "clever" is making knowledge the butt of sneers.

"Ignorance excuses no one", neither in law nor in life.

He got cracking with the vaccine roll out but per head of population dying the U.K. still comes up high.
The tories haven't got anyone they think is better at the moment. The opposition leader whilst clinical and thorough does not have a lot of" charm.". Boris appeals to the rebel inside of us who wants fun not gloom, I'm not saying I agree with him but that is how it appears to me.

I think the whole thing would have had more traction if it hadn't been for the vitriol of Dominic Cummings or the bombardment by the media. You don't make an enemy of DC without him putting the knife in and the public are aware of that. Out of the two of them, who is more likeable? A liar with an soft, cuddly veneer, or a liar is so arrogant that it is difficult to believe anything he says? This has been so badly handled that it is more likely to help Boris rather than convict.

Sadly, all politicians seem to be in it for what they can get and I find it incredible that anyone would spend this sort of money on a property that isn't theirs from their own pocket.

Joelsnan

Have you seen the alternatives? Many don’t particularly like him, but realise he is the best of what is on offer.

I don't think a majority see him as the best Joelsnan, far from it. They see him as what we have got and sadly don't expect better.

Ellianne

I'm with you Urmstongran.
Many voters can't be doing with forensic examination of politics or even trying to understand the half of it. At the present moment it's all about positivity and even if he is a bit of a fool, he gees people up to go forward.

I think you are right about at least 60% who will vote how they vote whatever; that is 30% Cons and 30% Labour. They are not interested in what is happening - until it affects them.

I think the Major Sleaze accusations will stick and who knows when it will breakthrough. Trump's behaviour still hasn't reached a tipping point with his base so I imagine there will be some who always believe he was "done wrong". The same will happen to Johnson. That there will be a breakthrough I have no doubt. It may be when we all feel safe because of the vaccine (although the walls of that safety could be brought down again by Johnson's lack of insight into his role). It may be when he loses court cases or it may have to wait until we see just what happened to the economy post the worst of Covid when those who don't currently want to know realise jobs are going and there is no "leveling up".

Who it will help is another question entirely. It may not be Labour led by Starmer or it could be - if he can show a steady hand (already done that) combined with vision. It may not be Labour at all if they do not show that, unlike Johnson, they are working for the common good rather than a populism that has translated into sloth and cronyism with no real vision, just three-word slogans.

To paraphrase Richard Murphy's morning blog, while Biden is saying "we the people" making it clear that he is the servant of those people, Johnson is blustering "you, the exploited". Whatever he does for the country will be less than he does for himself and it will catch up with him.

I find the more important question to be - who have we got to represent all the people of the UK? It may be Starmer but I think we are still waiting to see.

I think you have a point Peasblossom.

I also think party politics is outdated as a concept and I don't know why we go along with it. If we start at town council even, those sitting who belong to a political party vote the party line ALL THE TIME. It is only the independent councillors who seem to vote for what is best or right and they call 'the others' to account.

I think it is a shame we are stuck with this system. I remember my friend saying she never understood why well paid/wealthy people went into politics until she realised a good percentage were doing it further their own causes/business interests. You only have to look at planning applications and how they get passed. A huge amount of money has 'gone missing' at our LA which was given by developers, I doubt these issues are unique to my area.

Any way that was two pence worth <sigh>

I am quite disillusioned with all of it/everything

grandmajet

I know people with many different political views, but those who are the most strongly left wing all seem to have university backgrounds, are/were teachers or nhs staff, and are also the ones who own second homes and seem to know how to avoid as much inheritance tax as possible. (I don’t need to know how to avoid it! Not rich enough)
They also talk down to people who disagree with them in a Corbyn-like manner. Double standards or what?

There was a time when working class people respected and wanted to be educated. They set up Mechanics Institutes with reading rooms and lecture series ; they read the newspapers (written in far more formal and 'difficult' language than are todays papers) and discussed politics and world news. They set up the Workers' Educational Association to offer educational opportunities to the workers who could not aspire to attending a university. Basically, they aspired to improve themselves and to give their peers and their children every opportunity they could to achieve that.

Now they just sneer at people who have achieved the very things their parents and grandparents worked for.

Gillycats

We are Labour voters who wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole. Their lack of direction, leadership and not to mention the anti semitism is just breathtaking. Why is Boris any more or less trustworthy than any other politician? Why, when there is so much going on in the world, are the press and Labour focusing on some furniture that he’s paid for? The Tories have done the best they can to get us through these dark days. Labour would not have done any better. The sooner they get in fresh blood with solid policies the sooner people like us will vote for them again.

And thereby lies the problem. I supported and voted for Corbyn even though I didn’t like him because I didn’t want a rabid right wing party in power. Labour voters (who I sometimes think are Tory plants) who spout this sort of stuff are doing my head in.. Keir Starmer is a Tory, we’re all going to vote Green they say. What good will that do: perhaps they’ll have two MP’s instead on one: that’ll really change the world. No matter how vile the Conservative party is it’s supporters are still loyal to them. It’s about time Labour voters did the same. You can’t change anything if you can’t get elected.

It almost seems that many voters see politics as a branch of entertainment. Trump had his own tv show. Johnson was funny on HIGNFY.

Perhaps the Labour Party need to bring back Ed Balls. He has become a lot more popular since he left politics. He was very amusing on Strictly Come Dancing and actually won another reality show "Celebrity Home Cook". In other words he is now a "celeb" and that, it seems is what the voters want.

Perhaps the question ought to be not Why is Johnson so far ahead? but Why is Labour so far behind?

Those of us, like Gillycats know the answer. Labour just doesn’t represent the bulk of its traditional voters any more and we don’t have any confidence that it become what it once was.

It makes me think of Marks and Spencer. You will buy what we think you should buy, not what you want. Oh, where have our customers gone?

Back to the OP, no I don't either.

And it says a lot about the people who are prepared to go along with the lies, the sleaze, the fraud, and more - if they accept and condone it, perhaps even approve- then what are their standards, I wonder.

Better the devil you know rather than the other load of Muppets that are on offer. As soon as I hit 18 I always registered my vote and taught my children that it was important that they used their vote as well. These days I am of the opinion that it is not so important because I have no confidence in any of the untrustworthy idiots on offer in 2021.

Urmstongran

... shines out of his bottom? ?

Ph please, please, take away that picture from my mind- please.

We are Labour voters who wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole. Their lack of direction, leadership and not to mention the anti semitism is just breathtaking. Why is Boris any more or less trustworthy than any other politician? Why, when there is so much going on in the world, are the press and Labour focusing on some furniture that he’s paid for? The Tories have done the best they can to get us through these dark days. Labour would not have done any better. The sooner they get in fresh blood with solid policies the sooner people like us will vote for them again.

I tried earlier on to ask for specific possible replacements for BJ. All I got was one predictable 'anyone' (Galaxy 0905). At 0934 Bridgeit posed the question much more articulately than me. As far as I can see, still no specific suggestions. Any advance?