Mr. Johnson live on GMB 8.30 today

Brownowl564

OakDryad
Reid’s faux outrage is pathetic, if you ask a question have the good grace to allow someone to answer.
Elsie is a made up load of rubbish, someone in a F band house does not ride the bus all day to keep warm , if it was a council house, no way would they allow a single person to stay on a family home and a smaller place would be more practical and a lot cheaper and if she owns it then sell it and downsize or equity release

I think it's disgusting to make an old person move out of their home. How heartless can you get.
I think interviewers are right to push if people are trying to avoid answering.

it was a waste of time and effort as no real answers.

Aside from any of the lies he spouts, as a human being he really does not demand respect from anyone. He plays the buffoon, he lies through his teeth and the man can't even keep his hair under control. He make Mr Bean look like a Statesman. The sooner we get someone with 'presence' and actually speaks as though he feels obligated to work for the people the who pay his salary and his dinner bill, the better. Many Americans are apologising for the state of their homeland under the 'control' (yeah, right) of a man who clearly has dementia while we have a Fool as a Leader. He's not a good advert for Eton College as a place to gain super knowledge.

Brownowl564

OakDryad
Reid’s faux outrage is pathetic, if you ask a question have the good grace to allow someone to answer.
Elsie is a made up load of rubbish, someone in a F band house does not ride the bus all day to keep warm , if it was a council house, no way would they allow a single person to stay on a family home and a smaller place would be more practical and a lot cheaper and if she owns it then sell it and downsize or equity release

Brownow1564

Reid explained that Elsie lives in a council house. The bedroom entitlement rules do not apply to pensioners living in social housing accomodation such as council or housing association properties.

www.entitledto.co.uk/help/under-occupation

Elsie’s house is band F (not E my mistake - apologies growstuff) but, as I have explained upthread, many London council houses can fall into bands higher that D. My family’s example was based on the market value of a very small council house in an outer London Borough. Small living room, small kitchen, pre-fab bathroom tacked on the back in the 1960s. I don’t know where Elsie lives. Maybe her house is in an Inner London borough. That could easily have been rated F in 1991.

Ah! I’ve just seen that Elsie is now being supported by Age UK in Westminster which explains the high band.

Tomorrow's elections are local not national. I've always voted for who will provide the best services and tackle local issues. It seems the media, again, have managed to blur the lines. I'm sure the Conservatives will get a hammering but that's not going to change the national picture. A hiding locally may cause Tory MPs to turn their backs on Boris and call for a leadership resignation, but that doesn't mean there'd be a general election.

Boris Johnson has been out of his depth for a long time and certainly isn't the kind of person you'd want running your country. He's the personification of the spoilt entitled elitist that exists in politics thesedays. Westminster is toxic

Johnson says what he thinks his audience wants to hear. Always has. It means nothing.

Brownowl564

OakDryad
Reid’s faux outrage is pathetic, if you ask a question have the good grace to allow someone to answer.
Elsie is a made up load of rubbish, someone in a F band house does not ride the bus all day to keep warm , if it was a council house, no way would they allow a single person to stay on a family home and a smaller place would be more practical and a lot cheaper and if she owns it then sell it and downsize or equity release

Perhaps in view of the evidence presented above you might like to rethink your comment Brownowl564?

Twitter is awash with Tories and Tory bots denying that Elsie is real. So Age UK have tweeted in response to confirm that not only is Elsie ‘real’, but they are supporting her.

It’s ironic that ‘bots’ (not actual people) are denying the existence of an actual woman.

I didnt bother to watch as what is the point of watching a proven liar. Whatever he says cant be trusted.

OakDryad I knew that council tax was based on 1991 values. I was just surprised that a council house would have been valued so highly. However, it doesn't really matter. The point is that Elsie is receiving Pension Credit, so she must be quite poor. Johnson should at the very least have shown some empathy.

I saw it first thing and then watched it again. Not that I am a fan of Susannah Reid but I thought she did quite a good job. BJ is a shameful excuse for a PM and the way he was sitting was cringe worthy. I saw the initial piece on Elsie and it is shameful that the system treats people like this, and also the couple with the disabled children. Boris needs a reality check. Let him try and manage on what many people have to. We have our chance to say what we think in tomorrows election, even if it is to write a comment on the ballot paper. I know where my vote will not be going.

Boris's lies and arrogance know no boundaries. He arrived 15 mins late for the interview. He doesn't care about Elsie or anybody except himself. He won't change. How much longer can he survive?

As previously mentioned, the way he was sitting was just awful. Doesn't he have people advising him on how to present himself? Amazing how his hair changes depending on where he is, I have noticed! The split screen was inspired, you could see Susannah's reactions throughout. So many lies. He just loves being in the forefront, but doesn't tell the truth. Unfortunately some folk believe him and think he is wonderful!

"All Boris cares about is Boris and power". Heathcliffe that is all any senior politician cares about anywhere. That why Putin's in Ukraine. They really are all the same - it goes with their rank. They are all just big gorillas, beating their chests and roaring - except that's an insult to gorillas.

I thought Reid did extremely well trying again and again to bring Johnson back to current and immediate needs.

Whether or not we spend hundred of millions of pounds arming Ukraine; whether BP, which is profiting hugely from downstream oil and petrol prices, has a billion less to invest in upstream projects because of a one-off windfall tax; or whether someone might get a high-paid job in the future is of little relevance when you are old, alone, cold and hungry and reduced to riding the bus all day because it’s warmer. It’s a Trolley problem. Do we sacrifice Elsie for, in capitalist eyes, the greater good? I think Johnson would.

Out of touch. Out of his depth. Typical posh Etonian who's had his world handed to him on a served on a silver platter. Typical of someone who's in the Westminster bubble. But I ask, which one of any party is any different?
Suzanna Reid did interrupt alot but she was trying to keep to the issues at hand. I'm no fan of hers. The media on all channels is too divisive and political thesedays.

volver

^Love him or hate him is irrelevant as everyone deserves a right to speak which he didn't get.^

Jesus Mary Joseph and the wee donkey.

She stopped him waffling about what he wanted to talk about and made him focus on the questions that we all wanted answered. She stopped at the end of each questions and allowed him to speak, then told him when he was trying to change the narrative.

Who remembers Robin Day being criticised for asking politicians 'hard' questions and expecting answers? In the 1960s, wasn't it?

We don't seem to have come far since then...

leeds22

Unfortunately the only candidate for our area for the new North Yorkshire elections, who actually lives in the area is a hard working Conservative. I'm loathe to see my vote taken as support for Boris but the alternative candidates are not suitable for what is a quite important election for us.

This isn't him is it?

Love him or hate him is irrelevant as everyone deserves a right to speak which he didn't get.

Jesus Mary Joseph and the wee donkey.

She stopped him waffling about what he wanted to talk about and made him focus on the questions that we all wanted answered. She stopped at the end of each questions and allowed him to speak, then told him when he was trying to change the narrative.

I thought Susanna was great. I like her.
Slimy git - love it!
His Freedom bus pass remark was unbelievable. Or not..

I gave up watching it yesterday as Suzzanna constantly talked over him and interrupted what he was saying.
Love him or hate him is irrelevant as everyone deserves a right to speak which he didn't get.
Hope they get someone different to do an interview with him, and other politicians, as she is too fond of her own voice. You can criticise someone without being as rude as she was

growstuff Homes were last rated for council tax in 1991. Tax bands were based on market value. Reid said Elsie lived in a council house rated E (not F). E or F, it would put her outside the scope for the £150 energy rebate.

The Right to Buy council houses was introduced in 1980. My mother had the option to buy her London council house but refused on political grounds. She simply felt it was wrong and she was right - but that’s another matter.

I recall you had to remain in the property for a certain number of years after purchase. I recall too that the RtB price in 1981 with full discount was £10,000. Neighbours who had exercised their RtB started to sell them on. My mother's near neighbours sold in in 1986 for £75,000. Therefore, it is quite likely that a three bedroom London council house with a market value of £75,000 in 1986 would have been valued in 1991 at between £88001 and £120,000.

I have just checked the postcode of the home I grew up in and all the houses are rated E whether or not, from a Google map walk, they appear to be in private hands.

I can understand the practical reasons for using tax bands to get this help to a lot of people quickly but assuming that everyone in bands A-D need help and those in bands above that don't is wrong.

The council tax banding being used for tax "refunds" is ridiculous. I have a neighbour in Band D. He is single, works off shore, earns £190K a year, more if he goes to Argentina and he is included in all the "help". Yet as some have posted many are excluded who are in actual need. It's criminal in my eyes to use that system.

But Reid wasn't deferential - and is being criticised for it.

Lack of deference to the Great Leader is a bit frowned on in fascist societies...

volver

You know, I was just wondering where the Johnson apologists had gone.

And right on cue, here they are.

There aren't very many of them, though...

Council tax bands are all over the place. Believe it or not, they are based on the price that the property would have been valued at in 1991!

Considering how house prices change as localities become more, or less, popular a 30 year old valuation is patently absurd.

www.gov.uk/guidance/understand-how-council-tax-bands-are-assessed

The political implications of reassessing and changing bands accordingly are massive. I think anyone who has voters in mind doesn't want to touch it with a barge pole..