Kemi demands Starmer and Lammy apologise for their offensive comments

MaizieD

Allira

I remember having no electricity and having to go fetch water in a galvanised bucket when my children were small.
I doubt that the children remember that.

We were hard up too. That was England 1970s.

That was when we had a drought, summer of '74 or '75?

It was an attempt to conserve water. It wasn't a regular occurrence as a result of poor infrastructure.

😀 I know! It was 1976.
Anyone who was over a certain age and there remembers it.

Then 1978 to 1979

I blame the Socialists.

Allira

I remember having no electricity and having to go fetch water in a galvanised bucket when my children were small.
I doubt that the children remember that.

We were hard up too. That was England 1970s.

That was when we had a drought, summer of '74 or '75?

It was an attempt to conserve water. It wasn't a regular occurrence as a result of poor infrastructure.

Exactly!

I remember having no electricity and having to go fetch water in a galvanised bucket when my children were small.
I doubt that the children remember that.

We were hard up too. That was England 1970s.

Allira

Badenoch spent her childhood living in Lagos, Nigeria, and in the United States, where her mother lectured.

^Badenoch has spoken about having a “very tough upbringing” in Nigeria.
Her family lived in the middle class neighbourhood of Surulere and she was a student at the private International School of Lagos.^
(Wikipedia)

Of course poverty is relative but it is, in my mind, relative to people in your own country or town and not really relative to the UK (say). I don't think it was as bad as she often portrays.

Wikipedia says Badenoch has described her background as "middle-class" but said in 2018 "Being middle class in Nigeria still meant having no running water or electricity, sometimes taking your own chair to school" and claimed that her family went through “periods of poverty” due to inflation.

My son us currently in the Philippines and although he is definitely privileged there, the hotel pretty regularly has no water!

I think people often re-invent their past.

Hope you all have your candles and rusty buckets ready to hand.

GrannyGravy13

MaizieD I was just posting ^the timeline of events^

Here's another:

“Growing up in Nigeria I saw real poverty – I experienced it, including living without electricity and doing my homework by candlelight, because the state electricity board could not provide power, and fetching water in heavy, rusty buckets from a borehole a mile away, because the nationalised water company could not get water out of the taps,” she told the chamber. “Unlike many colleagues born since 1980, I was unlucky enough to live under socialist policies.”

True or not? She allegedly had a privileged childhood although, when she was a young child in the 1980s, it was a turbulent time in Nigeria.

NotSpaghetti

I don't like her rather "schoolgirl" style but I do hope she improves with practice.
PMQs is not a good format in my opinion.

Totally agree, it is purely about point scoring and getting your sound bites in the media.

The real work of government takes place in the select committees, along with the debates (which are usually held with a minimum amount of MPs in attendance, which can be seen in the parliamentary channel) unless of course it is a big issue.

Her opening words could have had so much more dignity and power! For those of us watching the whole PMQ we saw a lot more - sessions will be lively.

I don't like her rather "schoolgirl" style but I do hope she improves with practice.
PMQs is not a good format in my opinion.

MaizieD

GrannyGravy13

MaizieD I was just posting ^the timeline of events^

Sorry, it looked like a defence to me.

Definitely not.

KB wasn’t my choice of leader, I am trying to sit in the fence and give her time, but it is proving to be rather uncomfortable.

GrannyGravy13

MaizieD I was just posting ^the timeline of events^

Sorry, it looked like a defence to me.

GrannyGravy13

I also thought he would win, again not because I am a supporter, but there is no way that the sections of the male electorate would vote for a women over the pond.

(I thought the same about the male voter thing, GG13)

And I'm sure if we dug further into KB's past, there will have been things she said or did that could be picked on and brought out in an unfavourable light (as with most politicians).

Badenhoch chose to start with a 7 year old quote, obviously researched and scripted with the occasion of the US in mind.

A cheap trick, when politicians go down the route of "you said in such and such a year", it can rebound. A weak beginning.

It's a shame we aren't looking at the first PMQ as a whole, as a lot of other things happened with far more relevance - things happening in the present

I suspect that the Tory MPs were very disappointed at the schoolgirl level of questions by Badenoch at PMQs.

It is early days though and she might grow up and improve, thus realising that undermining one’s country by your questions is not the way to go - rather supporting the U.K. in every way possible should be the mission of a good parliamentary leader.

You are SO right MaizieD!

MaizieD I was just posting the timeline of events

Unlike KB, Harriet Harman is a decent human being. If KB had some information about an opponent doing a bit of website hacking I suspect that forgiveness would not be forthcoming at any stage.

She changed something on Harriet Hartman’s website in 2008, before KB was in politics.

She was elected on to the London Assembly in 2012, then stood for MP and won in 2017.

Harriet Harman forgave her when KB confessed when asked what was the worse thing you have ever done in an interview in 2018.

Jane43

keepingquiet

She's ridiculous.

Her arrogance will be her undoing. Lammy was foolish in his comments but it was seven years ago, he wasn’t Foreign Secretary and it wasn’t a criminal act. Kemi on the other hand was very lucky not to be prosecuted for hacking into Harriet Harman’s website and changing the content. Unless her past is spotless she shouldn’t dredge through other people’s.

I’d forgotten that.

I’m another who expected Trump to win. I hoped he wouldn’t but could see his ability to mesmerise his base supporters. His ability to lie, to raise a laugh by making obnoxious comments should have alienated. Instead it seems to have led people to believe he could work miracles. Better wages, make the border impossible to cross, deport people we don’t want here. Stop the wars etc. No policies set out to achieve these things, just absolute self belief
Scary

keepingquiet

She's ridiculous.

Her arrogance will be her undoing. Lammy was foolish in his comments but it was seven years ago, he wasn’t Foreign Secretary and it wasn’t a criminal act. Kemi on the other hand was very lucky not to be prosecuted for hacking into Harriet Harman’s website and changing the content. Unless her past is spotless she shouldn’t dredge through other people’s.

I also thought he would win, again not because I am a supporter, but there is no way that the sections of the male electorate would vote for a women over the pond.

MayBee70

Oreo

I can never understand politicians venting feelings about world leaders when they know one day soon they may well have to work with them.Diplomatic it ain’t.

Did anyone genuinely believe that Trump would/could be president again, especially after the insurrection?

I have a friend who lives in Minnesota. Ever since Trump lost the last election she has said he would win in 2024, she is a Democrat. She told me yesterday that Trump is talking about changing the rules and running for a third term.

MayBee70

Oreo

I can never understand politicians venting feelings about world leaders when they know one day soon they may well have to work with them.Diplomatic it ain’t.

Did anyone genuinely believe that Trump would/could be president again, especially after the insurrection?

Yes, me. That’s why I put money on it. Not because I support him but because you could see which way the wind was blowing in the US.
Then he was given the gift of Kamala. Win win.