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Catching up with what the government is doing

(92 Posts)
Whitewavemark2 Thu 03-Jun-21 16:51:39

So much emphasis and focus has been on covid, that a lot of what is happening is sliding quietly by, particularly as the media contrive to hide a lot of information.

So perhaps we can begin to record important stuff that needs to be in the public domain.

GillT57 Thu 10-Jun-21 16:28:42

Actually lemon I am getting sick and tired of you.criticising all my posts just, it seems, for the sake of it. Childish distractions from the tiresome facts perhaps? You often state that you don't particularly like Johnson so why the defence? Actually don't bother answering I am tired of this

MaizieD Thu 10-Jun-21 16:22:53

Whitewavemark2

Unbelievable. No one can now take Gove seriously.

Michael Gove will not be resigning, stating that he had not anticipated a High Court ruling that was going to adopt such a purist attitude to the law.

Perhaps this is appropriate here if we're talking about 'purist attitude to the law:

It discusses Frost but is obviously applicable to all law, so will cover Gove's claim, too...

Beware Lord Frost’s ‘legal purism’ line – for it means a disregard for the rule of law and is strategically unwise
by David Allen Green

9th June 2021
There is a new line-to-take.
This line is that a requirement to comply with legal obligations is to be dismissed as 'legal purism'.
This line is being promoted at the moment by Brexit minister Lord Frost in respect of the obligations of the United Kingdom under the Northern Irish Protocol (obligations that, of course, Frost himself negotiated and endorsed).
Frost avers that for the European Union to require the United Kingdom to comply with this obligations is to take a 'purist' approach.

For many years the United Kingdom was protected from the European Union's legal(istic) approach to its engagement with 'third countries'.
As one of the big three member states, it generally got its way internally, and had a number of opt-outs for things it did not like.
Trade agreements were left to the European Commission to negotiate: the United Kingdom just benefitted from the results like a teenager benefiting from the washing and ironing magically being done
And now we are on the outside - looking in on an international organisation that, more than any other in the world, is a creature of law.
And the European Union takes law very seriously.
We are going to have to get used to it.

That said: it is not unusual for a party to a serious agreement to want to re-negotiate terms.
And mocking Frost for wanting to change something he so recently approved can only go so far, and it does not rid us of his perceived concerns.
Perhaps there is a case for the protocol to be amended, or perhaps not.
But, either way, it is a folly for him to approach the problem by dismissing legal obligations as 'purist'.
For, if this is the United Kingdom's approach to law, why would one expect the United Kingdom to abide by any replacement legal obligations?
^By attacking the very notion of legal compliance, Frost is not helping the long-term interests of the United Kingdom.
What he is doing is a silly thing, and he should not go there.^
The rule of law matters - pure and simple.

davidallengreen.com/2021/06/beware-lord-frosts-legal-purism-line-for-it-means-a-disregard-for-the-rule-of-law-and-is-strategically-unwise/#comments

I have followed D A Green since 2016. He is not particularly a 'Remainer'; I think he remained agnostic on whether or not to leave the EU. He just commentates on the law.

lemongrove Thu 10-Jun-21 16:06:14

Ah, the old head in the sand comment given another outing.
Your comments recently have been oh so defensive Gill can’t think why, you like knocking a Conservative government and I like pointing out that with the terrible year for health and the economy that they haven’t done a bad job of it.

GillT57 Thu 10-Jun-21 15:56:44

Yes well you just bravely soldier on sticking your head in the sand lemon. What will this government have to do to make you stop defending them?

lemongrove Thu 10-Jun-21 14:33:16

Since everything mentioned on here is already in the public domain I can’t see any point in the OP.
If it’s just a government bashing spree then at least say so.
Still, bravely soldier on if you enjoy it.?

Whitewavemark2 Thu 10-Jun-21 14:12:32

Unbelievable. No one can now take Gove seriously.

Michael Gove will not be resigning, stating that he had not anticipated a High Court ruling that was going to adopt such a purist attitude to the law.

GillT57 Thu 10-Jun-21 11:17:07

Oh yes it is easy, the hard bit is getting people to take their heads out of the sand. Why are decent, kind, hard working people so quick to overlook the theft of tax payers money, the lies?.....Oh, I get so, so tired of it all and of the mindless acceptance of what would have meant ministerial resignation and probable prosecution once, ironically, in those good old days that so many hanker after, the good old days that we were supposed to return to after we threw off the shackles of the EU. Nobody will take a blind bit of notice until the Tories hit the pensioners, then they will all sit up and take notice.

Whitewavemark2 Thu 10-Jun-21 11:07:42

gill it isn’t brave it is dead easy, because there is so much that is wrong.

GillT57 Thu 10-Jun-21 11:05:43

Good thread WWMk2 and well done for bravely soldiering on. I propose that we compare and contrast with what is being discussed on BBC news, in popular press, and on GN:

Meghan and Harry

Did the Queen agree/not agree to baby's name?

a few attention seeking students ask for portrait of HM to be removed from the wall

All a distraction from what is really going on.

A succesful distraction in many cases

Whitewavemark2 Thu 10-Jun-21 10:57:00

If it wasn’t for the foreign press we would miss so much, as the BBC and the Tory press sieve out so much that is detrimental all to the Tory government.

Whitewavemark2 Thu 10-Jun-21 10:55:23

They want Dacre to protect the new Fox channel.

Dinahmo Thu 10-Jun-21 10:49:01

A govt committee set up to find the new head of Ofcom rejected Paul Dacre. This went against Johnson's wishes and so a new committee has been formed.

Turning to the Pandemic - a quote from the New European -

Dominic Cummings' assertion that there was no plan in place to deal with a global pandemic did not go down well at Porton Down, the home the MoD's top secret Defence Science and Technology Laboratory.

"That is the whole reason we have Porton Down, where they've long recognised that a pandemic is the number one threat on the National Risk Register," says my man in Whitehall. "It so happens the whole idea for furloughing staff was thought up there, in conjunction with the Treasury, after the Foot and Mouth crisis in 2002.

"After that, they war-gamed a lot of potential pandemics and actually shared their ideas with Europe, Singapore, the Gulf States etc. Ironically, some of them ended up putting Porton Down's ideas into practice and looked back at us mystified, not understanding why weren't doing what we'd advised them to do.

"It's precisely because they saw a pandemic as inevitable that Public Health England was relocated to Porton Down, as they knew they would have to work together when a pandemic hit. Take it from me, there was a plan in place, but, when Cummings denied that there was one, it was only because they ended up with nothing that was salvageable, after they'd missed all the crucial decision points."

westendgirl Thu 10-Jun-21 10:31:58

With a Prime Minister who thinks Theresa May (Yesterday at PMQT) is a left wing propagandist what hope is there. ?

Whitewavemark2 Thu 10-Jun-21 10:24:31

This government has now been found guilty of breaking the law 11 times!

Not a single minister has apologised or resigned from Johnson, to Hancock to Gove to Jenrick and Patel.

Whitewavemark2 Thu 10-Jun-21 09:18:31

Let’s turn now to education and PMQs.

Yesterday Starmer asked why Kevin Collins had jumped ship from his roll as education chief.

Johnson’s reply was that Collins had fully delivered on his proposals and therefore his work was done!

That’s not how most of the country including Collins saw it, but let’s plough on.

Johnson then declared that the tutoring programme (clearly on the cheap) was the biggest of its kind in the world. It makes you wonder what the Americans and Dutch amongst others spending so much more are doing with their money!

Johnson then declared that he was investing 14bn in catch-up funds.

He meant to say £1.4bn, but what’s a decimal point between friends?

Johnson then went on to say twice that pupils who had received extra tutoring paid for by their hard working parents were obviously at an advantage, so the funding would help other pupils (with lazy shiftless parents) to catch up.

With thanks to John Crace

MaizieD Thu 10-Jun-21 08:42:39

Daisymae

A lot of these issues would have resulted in resignation under previous administrations. The government are secure in their majority and indifference of the electorate. Jenrick was the first head that didn't roll as far as I can recall. We have to ask too why the opposition are not making the government more uncomfortable with a former DPP in the lead.

Given the government's big majority and the popular media and most of the public's indifference to the lies and corruption that pours from it almost daily, how can the opposition make it 'more uncomfortable' for them?

Polarbear2 Thu 10-Jun-21 08:30:31

I have nothing helpful to add. It makes me despair. I have no idea how we get rid of these corrupt useless people in our parliament. As for the Daily Mail. Jeez. I wouldn’t use it to line the cat litter tray.

Daisymae Thu 10-Jun-21 08:06:15

A lot of these issues would have resulted in resignation under previous administrations. The government are secure in their majority and indifference of the electorate. Jenrick was the first head that didn't roll as far as I can recall. We have to ask too why the opposition are not making the government more uncomfortable with a former DPP in the lead.

Whitewavemark2 Thu 10-Jun-21 07:48:41

Tory backbenchers are alarmed at a government radical proposal to give developers freedom to build in so called growth zones without any hinderance by planning objections etc.

It would mean that constituents would lose power over what happens in their local area.

Whitewavemark2 Thu 10-Jun-21 07:44:34

No apology has been issued by the government on this issue of being found guilty of cronyism. Neither has Gove resigned, which would have been the case previously when government had integrity and trustworthiness.

Whitewavemark2 Thu 10-Jun-21 07:42:25

Mrs Justice O’Farrell has ruled that Gove acted unlawfully when awarding a contract worth £500,000 of taxpayers money to Public First.

Public First is a company owned by a long term associate of Gove.

This is th3 first ruling on a series of judicial reviews legal challenges brought by the GLP against government covid contracts awarded to people where no competitive tendering was given.

The government defended its case but determined not to limit its costs - costs to the tax payer- in the hope that if the GLP lost the case it would be put at severe financial risk - it is funded by the voter -. However GLP won and the government and taxpayer lost big time.

The high court ruled that an informed observer would conclude that favouritism was used in awarding these contracts.

Whitewavemark2 Thu 10-Jun-21 07:32:02

One of the biggest Care Home providers has said that Hancock was repeatedly warned of the risks of not testing people being discharged from hospital and going straight into care homes.

Hancock completely dismissed this warning until mid-April, by which time it was tragically too late and thousands of people died as a result of Hancock’s apparently superior knowledge.

Whitewavemark2 Thu 03-Jun-21 19:08:50

The government has caused chaos in the travel industry. The government had promised to give the travel Industry sufficient time of change but has completely gone against that promise.

Whitewavemark2 Thu 03-Jun-21 18:35:32

Damning court judgement shows Home Office failed to follow public health advice, using dormitories in a pandemic; “it was virtually inevitable that large numbers of residents would contract Covid 19”

c200 people were to catch Covid in Jan as a result

Whitewavemark2 Thu 03-Jun-21 18:25:31

Tory party fined £10000 for breaching the data law by sending 51 emails supposedly in Johnson’s name to people who didn’t want them.