Lies and facts

Whitewavemark2

Rwanda is apparently one of the safest countries on earth!

Who knew?

I knew something about that. It’s apparently been ranked one of the ten safest African countries and sixth safest in the world for solo travellers. I don’t know how the research was done or if it would stand up to scrutiny. However I have a friend whose daughter has gone to live there because she married an African. They both work for a charity. They got married and now have three children all born there. They come home regularly to visit. Her mother, my friend has visited Rwanda and says it’s very safe and very beautiful.

Rwanda and capital Kigali in particular is very safe there are no difficulties for everyday life or travel, the African countries I have travelled to are not as well developed but have been safe, the risk of getting mugged is higher in the UK or USA.

The difference is opposition to whichever government is in power or any illegal activity is likely to be stamped on by the police, that would be true in most African countries.

lixy

Fennel So what do we need from a leader?

Honesty
Respect for others
A sense of reality
A sense of pride in representing a country

'Getting things done' is a great catch phrase, but its value rather depends on what those things are.

I would just go for competence at the moment and work on the others.

I truly do not believe we have ever had a more incompetent government. A lot of the lies are just to cover this up.

That list was an eye opener Varian. I always knew he was a lying toad but the extent of the lies is unbelievable.

I am ashamed to be British.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202204/medium-309921-cf892569-446a-4317-b3cd-2983a8af6d51.png https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202204/medium-983310-ceb286ec-43c2-49c8-9f35-959337a2ec9e.png

Whitewavemark2

Rwanda is apparently one of the safest countries on earth!

Who knew?

Hmm

Katie59

Rwanda and capital Kigali in particular is very safe there are no difficulties for everyday life or travel, the African countries I have travelled to are not as well developed but have been safe, the risk of getting mugged is higher in the UK or USA.

The difference is opposition to whichever government is in power or any illegal activity is likely to be stamped on by the police, that would be true in most African countries.

The police in the UK don'r make a habit of shooting protesters dead.

Thank you for this list.

29 June 2021. Jacob Rees Mogg, in his podcast The MoggCast says not once but twice “What you want to know is that your Prime Minister is an honest man and the Prime Minister is unquestionably an honest man."

This was only four months after Peter Oborne published his meticulously fact-checked book The Assault on Truth describing the lies that Johnson told throughout the EU referendum campaign, throughout the the 2019 Election campaign and more.

From the book’s cover:

Political lying is a form of theft. Voters cannot make fair judgements on the basis of falsehoods. Johnson’s culture of deceit is stealing our democratic rights.

Podcast at tinyurl.com/3rv4rsc5 if you want to listen to Rees Mogg lying. About 12 minutes in.

As the thread is about lies but seems to be focussing on Rwanda, it's worth repeating that, last week, Richard Harrington, the Minister for Refuges, when asked by LBC if the government had any plans to offshore refugees to Rwanda, replied with an unambiguous no. He had no clue where such an idea might have come from. No one in the Home Office had discussed anything like this with him. Ten days later Priti Patel made an announcement about those plans.

According to Peter Oborne "Putin, Johnson, Trump - use lies as a manifestation of power."

Other politicians may lave lied but they did not want to be found out. Some resigned or went to prison when they were found out. But they don't care that you know they are lying.

Remember the TV interview with the two Russian "tourists" who had just wanted to visit Salisbury Cathedral? It was so blatantly a case of "We're lying. You know it's a lie. We know that you know - but what are you going to do about it?

On one memorable occasion Trump told the truth when he claimed he could shoot someone on Park Avenue and they (his supine uncritical supporters) would still vote for him.

Johnson doesn't care that everyone knows he is a habitual liar as long as he gets away with it. The right wing press are complicit in his lies and have helped him get away with it time and time again.

When Peter Oborne, former chief political commentator of The Telegraph, wrote " The Assault on Truth’ last year, he took part in a discussion with Open Democracy which is well worth listening to (about 53 mins)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBVCIT7Wn8k

Thank you varian. I have just watched it. It repeats much of what Oborne says in his book but I enjoyed hearing David Leigh's take on the situation. The discussion is over a year old now and much had happened since. They were absolutely right in saying how far right the Tory government has become and how dangerous that could be. It was interesting to be reminded of what happened to Aitken and Archer. Probably why Johnson will pay his fine (or fines as some predict) as to appeal would mean a court appearance and the danger of him commiting perjury and being send to jail too. I had a wry smile at Oborne saying he had written to Rees Mogg, the arch stickler for HoC procedure. I wonder if he ever replied and what he said bearing in mind what he said in his podcast four months later ?

This is very interesting actually because it shows how a person can have a positive experience in a country as a visitor whilst some unsavoury things are actually happening but probably not known about. I’m thinking of my friend’s experience whilst her daughter and grandchildren in Rwanda.

I knew somebody who went to South Africa and lived under apartheid for a couple of decades. I bumped into him after he'd come back and said the same as your friend. Life was great for him and his family. The children went to a private school and they lived in a relatively affluent suburb. But they're white. He'd never been to one of the townships or witnessed poverty and the police state at first hand.