So it is going to be Sunak

Whitewavemark2

?? love this

Terrific Whitewavemark yes I think she'll go sooner the better and no have no idea who could replace her but Sunak has a brain cell or three (tho don't like his politics) and he might well find an "outsider".

Johnson moralising about other men's behaviour with women is a bit hard to take seriously.

Eh?
As far as I’m aware none of his women who have had babies to him have ever claimed ‘single parent’ benefit.

Some women actually do see the taxpayer as the ‘father’. I think that’s what Boris was getting at.

Urmstongran

^Johnson moralising about other men's behaviour with women is a bit hard to take seriously.^

Eh?
As far as I’m aware none of his women who have had babies to him have ever claimed ‘single parent’ benefit.

Some women actually do see the taxpayer as the ‘father’. I think that’s what Boris was getting at.

What percentage of the total?

What you're saying is that it's OK to behave like an irresponsible cad, provided you have money.

Strange definition of morality!

Urmstongran

^Johnson moralising about other men's behaviour with women is a bit hard to take seriously.^

Eh?
As far as I’m aware none of his women who have had babies to him have ever claimed ‘single parent’ benefit.

Some women actually do see the taxpayer as the ‘father’. I think that’s what Boris was getting at.

Yes Urms, I know what he was getting at - the article he wrote made it quite clear.

And growstuff has said exactly what I was going to say in reply.

You can be a jack-the-lad with women - provided you are wealthy.

Whitewavemark2

Braverman has done it for me. Unbelievable!

Dreadful, dreadful woman.

But you were never going to give them a chance. Saying someone has now "done it" for you cannot be the truth. It was already your opinion - often put forward on these boards. You hadn't, in any way, relaxed your view on the Tory government.

Appointing Braverman is not the way to move away from personality politics, it's the opposite of that. In fact Sunak seems to have appointed several "personalities" into the cabinet , none of them with a reputation for "integrity, accountability and responsibility" that he promised. Normandygirl

There is a great deal of politicking on this forum - by people who are not particularly good at it. I did not say appointing Braverman was a move away from party politics. I said that if he is working towards normalising government away from personality politics (it) may be a step along the way.

Not at all as you reported it.

"I did not say appointing Braverman was a move away from party politics."

And my reply didn't claim that you did. DaisyAnne

There is a great deal of politicking on this forum - by people who are not particularly good at it

What on earth does that mean?

Do you mean to sound offensive DaisyAnne or do you not realise that you're doing it?

Jack-the-lads are 10 a penny these days. Council estates as well as wealthy. When you see a single mum on tv being interviewed I often think ‘where’s the dad in all this?’. Sorry but although I understand occasionally these mums are widowed very young or were in an abusive relationship, for many it IS a lifestyle choice.

Think it’s more complicated than that.

MaizieD

^There is a great deal of politicking on this forum - by people who are not particularly good at it^

What on earth does that mean?

Do you mean to sound offensive DaisyAnne or do you not realise that you're doing it?

Well that statement certainly can be understood both ways, I'd say 't'other'!

The ‘dad in all this’ is someone’s son, perhaps if parents of sons had conversations with them about how to treat others things may improve.

Urmstongran

Jack-the-lads are 10 a penny these days. Council estates as well as wealthy. When you see a single mum on tv being interviewed I often think ‘where’s the dad in all this?’. Sorry but although I understand occasionally these mums are widowed very young or were in an abusive relationship, for many it IS a lifestyle choice.

You know many of them personally?

It must be the company you keep because I don't know any.

Urmstongran

Jack-the-lads are 10 a penny these days. Council estates as well as wealthy. When you see a single mum on tv being interviewed I often think ‘where’s the dad in all this?’. Sorry but although I understand occasionally these mums are widowed very young or were in an abusive relationship, for many it IS a lifestyle choice.

It might be a lifestyle choice for some - but how many?

Odd how these 'interviews' on TV always include the stereotypical mum from a council estate - never those single mothers like my friend's daughter who, as a single mother, has worked since the birth of her child. Nor the young woman in my street who, without any personal transport, gets her son to nursery and herself to her job every single day.

Johnson is moralising, he is the upper-class equivalent of the "feckless blue-collar" worker (and, according to him, the "white collar" counterpart).

And there is no guarantee that the women in the circles he moves in will not, at some point, need to rely on the state.

There is a great deal of politicking on this forum - by people who are not particularly good at it.

"Politicking" is the act of engaging in political activity. So says the dictionary.

This is the News and Politics forum. We don't yet need a degree in order to comment!

Braverman is a smart cookie, a barrister with strong opinions, but politics is not the courtroom where decisions are made according to a set of rules. Politics is much more subtle and that she is not, I’m surprised Sunak thought her suitable.

Along with a couple of other appointments makes me question his judgement

growstuff

Urmstongran

Jack-the-lads are 10 a penny these days. Council estates as well as wealthy. When you see a single mum on tv being interviewed I often think ‘where’s the dad in all this?’. Sorry but although I understand occasionally these mums are widowed very young or were in an abusive relationship, for many it IS a lifestyle choice.

You know many of them personally?

It must be the company you keep because I don't know any.

You don't have to know the single mothers (although I do know some and can quite understand why) but why are so many men so irresponsible or make such poor partners/fathers that mothers think they're better off struggling along without them?

It must be the company you keep because I don't know any

Not sure what that means - what is wrong with single mothers?

There are several Gransnetters on here, too, who say they brought up their children on their own.

Well done to them.

I wasn't referring to single mothers as a group, but to the ones who make being a single mother (and scrounging off the state) a lifestyle choice.

growstuff

I wasn't referring to single mothers as a group, but to the ones who make being a single mother (and scrounging off the state) a lifestyle choice.

What I would like to know is - how many are actually in that category.
Anecdote is not data, I realise, but all the single mothers I've known throughout my life (I worked as a 'temp' in an awful lot of companies in and around London) - well, none of them were or are in that category. Obviously, as I met them through work.

They never appear to be the ones that are chosen to be interviewed though...

Sunak

“The UK and France are allies with cultural links that span centuries. Our cooperation is vital across a huge range of areas, from supporting Ukraine to our own defence and energy security.

It's in that spirit that I am looking forward to working with President @EmmanuelMacron.”

More needed like this.

growstuff

I wasn't referring to single mothers as a group, but to the ones who make being a single mother (and scrounging off the state) a lifestyle choice.

And saying to Urmstongran
It must be the company you keep because I don't know any
making it sound like an insult ?

Callistemon21

growstuff

I wasn't referring to single mothers as a group, but to the ones who make being a single mother (and scrounging off the state) a lifestyle choice.

And saying to Urmstongran
It must be the company you keep because I don't know any
making it sound like an insult ?

Not at all. She obviously has personal experience of these people that I don't. I feel sorry for anybody in that situation.

Once upon a time there was a category of people on benefits who were considered unemployable. My DH remembers several such in his small town. They were 'on the dole' everyone understood and no one really minded.

They were mainly those who were just not bright enough, not exactly mentally ill. Probably many would now fall into more specific categories.

For 40 years I have known one such person. He has a degree and has always wanted to work, but he doesn't understand how to communicate with people and comes over sometimes as really rude. His idea of dress is also sometimes well beyond what any employer would accept and he cannot see why. He is probably autistic, but back in the 1950s, these problems were not recognised.

One of our group, who is a doctor did give him a lot of time and help to try to get him to be able to make adjustments to be able to work, even if he didn't understand why,but she was not successful.

On the rare occasions when I see single mothers and others like this on tv, who are living on benefits for years on end , they always strike me as being mostly people who fall into the unemployable category. Let them be, but identify those which are hiding among them and could get into work - and get them into work.