Johnson: bang to rights

Unfortunately the billionaire owners of these tabloids see it as in their interest to pursue a populist agenda.

That means stirring up hate. The readers have to hate some group of people to blame for their poverty and powerlessness.

The villains may change from time to time but foreigners are always good, especially assylum seekers, especially those who arrive on small boats.

Striking workers are also good villains, being manipulated by the Trade Union Barons.

Then of course there are benefit claimants - lazy workshy scroungers the lot of them.

They do ring the changes from time to time but there is always someone, or some group to blame for everything, except of course the people in charge - the corrupt and incompetent Tory Government

But we have been told again and again on GN that reading the tabloids is perfectly fine and honorable. I saw the other day a page with the pure racist vitriol of front pages from the DM over a period of time, it is struly sickening. And it must have an influence on perception, for many people.

The culture wars are definitely being ramped up as was expected.

The small boats and Sunak threats being an example.

I think the answer is a resounding "NO" *Dickens.

But then more than 80% of the readers of national newspapers in the UK read right wing propaganda foisted on them by the foreign billionaires and tax exiles who own these papers and have their own agenda.

It is absolutely amazing that in spite of this bias, polls are now reporting a serious drop in the Tory vote.

You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time .... but if you keep lying enpough of the people will find you out.

Grantanow

The Tory Party is ruthless in its desire for power. BoJo was an great electoral advantage to them for a while and that is why he was able to get away with it. Now he is has little chance of regaining high office and with a reputation deeply unattractive to many voters he is no longer an advantage and will be ditched.

I think that's true. The party - to protect itself, its members' interests, and those that financially support it and endorse it, will do whatever it takes to hang on to that power. Fair means or foul - so much hangs on its survival. All those with money - and I mean serious money, not those with well-paid jobs who go out and earn their salaries - have huge vested interests and portfolios to protect. They are rich and they are powerful and they are not going to let some 'socialist' party take over the reins which might threaten to relieve them of some of that wealth, position and status. So the stakes are high.

But, they need us, the voters, and en masse we are a huge threat with our pesky universal suffrage, because we are greater in number - just imagine what a disgruntled united electorate could do to them!

So they are attempting to push through laws that will prevent mass demonstrations with many voters cheering them on because they think it's simply to prevent those annoying environmentalists from gluing themselves to bits of the road. Meanwhile, they whip up the culture war by denigrating anyone who's a millimetre to the Left of Right wing ideology as woke lefties because they know how well that plays to the outraged patriotic Briton who feels victimised because he / she can't use insulting terminology and "say it how it is" without being held to account for it.

So good old divide-and-rule... get the peasants fighting each other instead of allowing them to see who's really got their hand in their collective back-pockets, robbing them of the services that they rely on, sucking up money out of the economy, shorting the £, voting to leave the EU and then moving their interests to the continent - or even in some instances buying citizenship to avoid the rules that they voted for and which everyone else has to abide by.

And just look at what they wheel out in the process - Boris get-Brexit-done Johnson, sacked from three previous jobs for lying; Liz Truss whose flirtation with the economy has hit millions of home-owners; and now Rishi Sunak basking in the glow of admiration for his NI protocol, because he's given them a special "prize" that no other country has - ignoring the fact that we also had that same prize until he voted to take it away from us.

And yet there are still those that think we're being unfair to 'Boris' and the Tories and attacking them simply for the sake of it. I'd ask them to be truthful - would they be as magnanimous towards the Labour party - or even the Lib Dem party - had they behaved in a similar fashion?

I can’t remember who said it: it might have been Cummings. Now he’s been pretty quiet of late. I wonder what he’s plotting!

Funny. I passed his parent's place today and that thought crossed my mind, too...

GrammyGrammy

Was this before or after he was on a ventilator fighting for his life with Covid? Was this when he went into his own garden? Or was this when he went into the garden of his office with the colleagues he'd been inside with? You've all been played on a daily basis in so very many ways, but it was all what you wanted to believe and so you jabbed it up. Booster boost.

He's actually on record as saying that his attack of covid was 'quite mild really'.

GrammyGrammy

Was this before or after he was on a ventilator fighting for his life with Covid? Was this when he went into his own garden? Or was this when he went into the garden of his office with the colleagues he'd been inside with? You've all been played on a daily basis in so very many ways, but it was all what you wanted to believe and so you jabbed it up. Booster boost.

He was never on a ventilator. But he ended up seriously ill because he didn’t take covid seriously and didn’t seek medical help till he was quite ill with it. His father said at the time ‘he took one for the team’. I often wonder how much his fathers attitude to things has shaped him. Didn’t Johnson have to be prevented from going to see the Queen when he had covid, too? I can’t remember who said it: it might have been Cummings. Now he’s been pretty quiet of late. I wonder what he’s plotting!

It was never reported that BJ was on a ventilator "fighting for his life with Covid" GrammyGrammy

Casdon - my comment on Blair is down to personal experience, connected to how he dealt with issues around soldiers families. Anything to avoid culpability. And we’ve seen that he manoeuvred to do anything to increase his own wealth. That’s all outside of any political bent.
I’m for fairness, not some hackneyed political ethos. Funny how do don’t disagree with my critique of Thacher! Caught you there.

Was this before or after he was on a ventilator fighting for his life with Covid? Was this when he went into his own garden? Or was this when he went into the garden of his office with the colleagues he'd been inside with? You've all been played on a daily basis in so very many ways, but it was all what you wanted to believe and so you jabbed it up. Booster boost.

The Tory Party is ruthless in its desire for power. BoJo was an great electoral advantage to them for a while and that is why he was able to get away with it. Now he is has little chance of regaining high office and with a reputation deeply unattractive to many voters he is no longer an advantage and will be ditched.

ExperiencedNotOld

Dickens

ExperiencedNotOld

Same old nastiness being trotted out by the same few. I can imagine that in a previous life, you sat knitting whilst waiting for the executioner.

But, ENO (if you don't mind that abbreviation?)...

... we are not obliged to be nice or kind to Boris Johnson - are we?

He is a liar. He was our PM. Apart from anything else, that alone is sufficient reason to hold him to account.

Now if he, or a member of his family or, God forbid, one of his children, were ill or suffering some misfortune - then I would agree that kicking someone when they're in a vulnerable position is rather tasteless and unpleasant. But Johnson is romping around the globe, confident, boisterous and in fine fettle.

He is not a victim. He has questions to answer. I believe in fairness and justice. If you practise to deceive... well, you know the rest. The web is untangling. Johnson has brought this upon himself. Lies, deceit, evading questions, obfuscating, these are all actions that have consequences (and I'm not referencing his private life here - that is his own business - only he and those involved in it know the dynamics).

No, not kind, but respectful to all, to some degree. Like him or loathe him, he still attempted to do a job that many others have failed to succeed at. We can be guilty of having a very rosy tinted remembrance. Blair was a manipulative bloater. Things were twisted to his party’s benefit. Thatcher rode roughshod over those in her way. Go further back, when the press was less intrusive, goodness knows what went on, but politics has never been sweetness and light.
It’s the pages of damnation on this forum I find so unnecessary. The conversation is repeated over and again, and again. Let alone the wishing of misfortune on one other human.

No, not kind, but respectful to all, to some degree. Like him or loathe him, he still attempted to do a job that many others have failed to succeed at.

You and I will differ on his motives in attempting the job, the success of which is still being debated.
And I do not respect him, because he is a liar - I reiterate this is political, I'm not interested in his personal life.

We can be guilty of having a very rosy tinted remembrance. Blair was a manipulative bloater. Things were twisted to his party’s benefit. Thatcher rode roughshod over those in her way.

I have no rosy-view of either Blair or Thatcher and could bore you to tears with my criticism of both.

It’s the pages of damnation on this forum I find so unnecessary.

Well the alternative is that one poster speaks for all of us and we give it a thumbs up or down. But that's not how it works on GN is it, so each poster will give their own view - and if it adds up to pages and pages of damnation, it could mean that we're all fed up with Johnson's lies and deception. Or perhaps we should nominate a spokesperson for each camp and only that person expresses a view?! The thing with social media is that everyone wants to have their say - which is why it flourishes.

However, I don't wish 'misfortune' on Johnson. I'd like to see him politically annihilated, but I certainly don't wish him any physical harm.

Dickens

"Johnson seriously scares me. He is a pathological liar and narcissist, he has all the characteristics of the third-world nations' tin-pot dictators - yet here he is strutting around the world stage, smiling, bumbling, deflecting blame, obfuscating - I'm not sure he can even help it - he's so far immersed in his own version of himself, that it's impossible for him to see himself as he really is, and as others, fortunately, are beginning to see him.

He has got to be taken out of the political arena before he does irreversible damage to our country - if he hasn't already done so."

Quite agree. What you say is true and so I can't see that you can be accused by Johnson fans of being disrespectful. Respect has to be earned, and while we could show respect for a position (like PM or US President) we don't have to respect someone (like Boris Johnson or Donald Trump) who themselves show a lack of respect for the position they hold.

...more acceptable!

I agree with Casdon, ENO - you are letting your prejudice show here. My original response to you was courteous and respectful. Your reply to Dickens was neither of those. I would remind you ( respectfully!) of the phrase " two wrongs do not make a right". If previous incumbents of the post of PM have misdemeanours to answer to , then it is they who must justify themselves. It does not make any of the behaviours attributed to Mr Johnson any less acceptable. As I said in my first post, we should all be prepared to face the consequences of our actions - me, you , and Mr Johnson.

What I have seen and am so very heartened about are the amount of posters on GN that all those years supported the Tories, and in particular such a skewed character as Johnson - almost certainly to support Brexit are now turning their backs on the lies , fraud and corruption in the hope for something better.

The pot is calling the kettle black again ExperiencedNotOld.
Is calling Blair a manipulative bloater more disrespectful than calling Johnson a two faced liar? No, it’s just that one suits your personal political preferences and one doesn’t.

No, not kind, but respectful to all, to some degree.

Nope. I cannot be respectful about someone who has shown no respect to anyone but himself.

I cannot recall a PM in my adult life (which spans some 50+ years of voting) who has done less for the UK and who has brought the UK into international disrepute. And who has worked to destroy respect for our parliamentary democracy.

Dickens

ExperiencedNotOld

Same old nastiness being trotted out by the same few. I can imagine that in a previous life, you sat knitting whilst waiting for the executioner.

But, ENO (if you don't mind that abbreviation?)...

... we are not obliged to be nice or kind to Boris Johnson - are we?

He is a liar. He was our PM. Apart from anything else, that alone is sufficient reason to hold him to account.

Now if he, or a member of his family or, God forbid, one of his children, were ill or suffering some misfortune - then I would agree that kicking someone when they're in a vulnerable position is rather tasteless and unpleasant. But Johnson is romping around the globe, confident, boisterous and in fine fettle.

He is not a victim. He has questions to answer. I believe in fairness and justice. If you practise to deceive... well, you know the rest. The web is untangling. Johnson has brought this upon himself. Lies, deceit, evading questions, obfuscating, these are all actions that have consequences (and I'm not referencing his private life here - that is his own business - only he and those involved in it know the dynamics).

No, not kind, but respectful to all, to some degree. Like him or loathe him, he still attempted to do a job that many others have failed to succeed at. We can be guilty of having a very rosy tinted remembrance. Blair was a manipulative bloater. Things were twisted to his party’s benefit. Thatcher rode roughshod over those in her way. Go further back, when the press was less intrusive, goodness knows what went on, but politics has never been sweetness and light.
It’s the pages of damnation on this forum I find so unnecessary. The conversation is repeated over and again, and again. Let alone the wishing of misfortune on one other human.

Whitewavemark2

That post is in the wrong thread really.

Start a new thread and repost it (could you precis it a bit, perhaps?)

I've been desperately worried about this government's misuse of its powers for a long, long time, and have voiced my fears on Gnet several times.

That post is in the wrong thread really.

Reading the By- Line Times it would seem that damage to our country isn’t stopping. There is an alarming article about how our democracy is being seriously undermined.

The new watchdog for Parliamentary Standards -Daniel Greenberg.

“If the present incumbent majority in an elected legislature (which therefore forms the executive) has absolute power to make any changes of the law that it wants, including changes designed to entrench its position, that becomes a parliamentary dictatorship,” Greenberg writes.

He adds that the Government may choose to “preserve the legislature” in a powerless form to “mask its authoritarianism” – or use its new powers to “cast the legislature aside as an irrelevance”.

In either case it has ceased to be a parliamentary democracy in any meaningful sense,” he continues. “Parliamentary democracy is about protecting the rights of minorities: the rights of all those people with whom the majority disagree.”

The Public Order Bill is one piece of legislation he may be referring to, which attempts to put back into law parts of the controversial Policing, Courts, Sentencing and Crime Act that were removed by peers last year. It includes a proposed ban on protest methods including locking or glueing onto surfaces to stop removal by police, as well as police orders that can ban people from protesting even when they haven’t been convicted of an offence.

This week, key parts of the controversial Public Order Bill were thrown out by peers, including a measure that would have allowed police to conduct suspicion-less stop and searches in response to so-called ‘disruptive demonstrations’.

Lords also voted to limit protest banning orders and scrapped a clause that would have outlawed slow marching in front of traffic (but, as the latter provision was only added once the bill reached the Lords, it reportedly cannot be reinstated).

The Government is likely to attempt to put most of the measures back into the bill.

Another concerning law introduced by the Government is last year’s Elections Act, which will impose the need to show voter ID in all elections in England. Up to two million people could be denied a vote due to the measures.

Greenberg appears to reference the move in his paper, writing: “The [current political] system works over the decades and the centuries, provided the party in government never succumbs to the temptation to use its temporary parliamentary majority to alter electoral systems, judicial powers, or other fundamental constitutional arrangements in such a way as to ensure that it will never lose an election again.”

The Elections Act also unilaterally changed the voting system for mayoral elections in England, removing voters’ ability to cast a second preference. Labour believes that this is an effort to undermine London Mayor Sadiq Khan, as he picks up large numbers of second-preference votes from Green and Liberal Democrat supporters.

“Once the government chooses to use its majority in Parliament to erect a one-way portal through which balls can pass but cannot be returned – even if the portal has some limitations – the game is not so much changed as ended,” Greenberg writes.

“If it does that, parliamentary democracy has given way to parliamentary dictatorship; and when that happens in any country, as it does from time to time over the years, the ultimate losers are always the demos – the entire people – whose holistic interests a parliamentary democracy is designed to protect.”

The expansion of executive powers could also refer to the increasing use of so-called Henry VIII clauses, whereby legislation debated by MPs and peers is threadbare, instead letting ministers set the details later of their own accord with very limited scrutiny. This is the case with the anti-union Minimum Service Levels legislation currently being rushed through.”

Clive Lewis a Labour MP is calling for root and branch reform of parliament including the introduction of some form of PR.

“There needs to be a wholesale renewal of democracy in the U.K.

Eddie Mair got it right in 2013 - ten years ago- when he said to Boris Johnson "you're a nasty piece of works"

www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2013/mar/24/boris-johnson-accused-nasty-video

MayBee70

I still don’t understand ( and I never will) how he has got away with so many transgressions when just one of them ( and there are so many I lose track of them) would bring down any other politicians career.

Just attempt to imagine for a brief moment, if Starmer or, indeed, Corbyn before him, had been seen and filmed like this after attending one of these notorious parties... how the media would have reacted, especially the Mail and Express.

The bold typeface headlines - the photographs shown over and over again, the endless editorials penned by the outraged journalists, the readership comments - without let up.

This proves to me what an utterly corrupt government we have - and all those high-profile figures now backing Johnson, still, still insisting that he's the right man to lead the Tories again, Rees-Mogg, etc.

And those voters who without a moment's hesitation have said they would love to see him back as PM again.

We are like a corrupt, third-world country that has installed a rogue dictator - those countries that are mocked by such voters for the very traits that we are now emulating.

Is there anything that the die-hards won't forgive and excuse? The parties are brushed off - "oh, loads of people partied", "I don't care there are more important things to worry about, "this is just the lefties attacking Boris", etc, bloody, etc.

Johnson seriously scares me. He is a pathological liar and narcissist, he has all the characteristics of the third-world nations' tin-pot dictators - yet here he is strutting around the world stage, smiling, bumbling, deflecting blame, obfuscating - I'm not sure he can even help it - he's so far immersed in his own version of himself, that it's impossible for him to see himself as he really is, and as others, fortunately, are beginning to see him.

He has got to be taken out of the political arena before he does irreversible damage to our country - if he hasn't already done so.