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General British politics discussion thread

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    #362
    Larbre34
    Registered Users Posts: 23,871 ✭✭✭✭Larbre34


    This description he giving has been the story of a million British family for 10 weeks, most of whom never thought to drive 400 km as part of a solution.

    The bringing of Covid into No.10 in the first place is now also a focus, what with Boris's own cavalier attitude to handshakes and physical distancing in the early stages even though he was warned and warned.


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    #363
    Itssoeasy
    Registered Users Posts: 39,644 ✭✭✭✭Itssoeasy


    So that was Dominic Cummings then ? I'd never heard him speak and from that statement he comes across as thoroughly unimpressive. It's heard to believe that's the brexit mastermind.


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    #364
    Larbre34
    Registered Users Posts: 23,871 ✭✭✭✭Larbre34


    Itssoeasy wrote: »
    So that was Dominic Cummings then ? I'd never heard him speak and from that statement he comes across as thoroughly unimpressive. It's heard to believe that's the brexit mastermind.

    You don't turn up at the Punch and Judy to hear the puppeteer speak.


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    #365
    ancapailldorcha
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 37,734 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    Itssoeasy wrote: »
    So that was Dominic Cummings then ? I'd never heard him speak and from that statement he comes across as thoroughly unimpressive. It's heard to believe that's the brexit mastermind.

    This is him on his best behaviour being recorded live. I wouldn't say that this gives a true impression of him.

    We sat again for an hour and a half discussing maps and figures and always getting back to that most damnable creation of the perverted ingenuity of man - the County of Tyrone.

    H. H. Asquith



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    #366
    Itssoeasy
    Registered Users Posts: 39,644 ✭✭✭✭Itssoeasy


    ancapailldorcha wrote: »
    This is him on his best behaviour being recorded live. I wouldn't say that this gives a true impression of him.

    Fair enough. That recounting of the events may not help him. They don't dispel the fact that he didn't stick to the rules as laid out.


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    #367
    Larbre34
    Registered Users Posts: 23,871 ✭✭✭✭Larbre34


    I didn't know his Mrs is a sub editor at the Spectator. So he hates the media, but not the Spectator or presumably the Telegraph, Express, Mail, Sun etc


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    #368
    ancapailldorcha
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 37,734 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    Larbre34 wrote: »
    I didn't know his Mrs is a sub editor at the Spectator. So he hates the media, but not the Spectator or presumably the Telegraph, Express, Mail, Sun etc

    A friend of mine is a nanny. Given that we're talking about one of the most powerful people in the country, there's no way he doesn't have a nanny if his OH is an editor at the world's oldest magazine.

    We sat again for an hour and a half discussing maps and figures and always getting back to that most damnable creation of the perverted ingenuity of man - the County of Tyrone.

    H. H. Asquith



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    #369
    Larbre34
    Registered Users Posts: 23,871 ✭✭✭✭Larbre34


    ancapailldorcha wrote: »
    A friend of mine is a nanny. Given that we're talking about one of the most powerful people in the country, there's no way he doesn't have a nanny if his OH is an editor at the world's oldest magazine.

    I'm not defending him, but would she stick around a family clearly ailing with this disease when she would probably be required to isolate herself somewhere.


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    #370
    BonnieSituation
    Registered Users Posts: 18,923 ✭✭✭✭BonnieSituation


    He had a gimme and a lay up from Beth Rigby:

    Do you think that you should have talked to the prime minister on the Friday?

    Should have said: Probably, yes.

    Dom says: * indefensible gibberish *


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    #371
    Larbre34
    Registered Users Posts: 23,871 ✭✭✭✭Larbre34


    Daily Mail putting the boot in is quite amusing.


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    #372
    Headshot
    Registered Users Posts: 53,966 ✭✭✭✭Headshot


    Anyone see the press conference.

    I've seen some quotes and flabbergasted by the eye sight excuse

    elitism at it's best.....


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    #373
    BonnieSituation
    Registered Users Posts: 18,923 ✭✭✭✭BonnieSituation


    Headshot wrote: »
    Anyone see the press conference.

    I've seen some quotes and flabbergasted by the eye sight excuse

    elitism at it's best.....

    Most commentary of it is over on the UK Covid page.

    It was a car crash.


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    #374
    ancapailldorcha
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 37,734 CMod ✭✭✭✭ancapailldorcha


    Headshot wrote: »
    Anyone see the press conference.

    I've seen some quotes and flabbergasted by the eye sight excuse

    elitism at it's best.....

    He seems to think that because he says that he technically did not break any rules (which it seems that he did) then there's no problem. He does seem to get that he's trashed the spirit of this law and because the prime minister has outsourced himself to this man he will not be held accountable.

    We sat again for an hour and a half discussing maps and figures and always getting back to that most damnable creation of the perverted ingenuity of man - the County of Tyrone.

    H. H. Asquith



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    #375
    Headshot
    Registered Users Posts: 53,966 ✭✭✭✭Headshot


    BJ is very lucky Parliament isnt back yet as Starmer would destroy BJ

    I'm listening to BJ news conference at the moment and mind boggling how this guy is the UK Prime Minister. He constantly talks so much crap and lies so much that it's like second nature.

    I like the way BJ isnt let the journalist have a follow up to their questions...


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    #376
    golfball37
    Registered Users Posts: 4,581 ✭✭✭golfball37


    Some witch hunt. All because the great and good hate him for his work on the referendum. No other country would a civil servant be hounded to this extent.


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    #377
    fash
    Registered Users Posts: 2,271 ✭✭✭fash


    golfball37 wrote: »
    Some witch hunt. All because the great and good hate him for his work on the referendum. No other country would a civil servant be hounded to this extent.
    He's not a civil servant- he's an unelected bureaucrat with almost absolute power and to whom the laws don't apply when he says so. No other country would allow such brazen illegal actions go unpunished. The turkeys really voted for Christmas when they gave control over to this guy.


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    #378
    farmerval
    Registered Users Posts: 653 ✭✭✭farmerval


    fash wrote: »
    He's not a civil servant- he's an unelected bureaucrat with almost absolute power and to whom the laws don't apply when he says so. No other country would allow such brazen illegal actions go unpunished. The turkeys really voted for Christmas when they gave control over to this guy.

    The above unintentionally gives the whole game away. Un-elected government adviser, remember all those un-elected bureaucrats in Brussels who made British people's lives unbearable, they now have the Prime Minister spending his full time defending the indefensible actions of his advisor.

    This is a really really bad day for British democracy. Defending Cummings is going to push the agenda into an even bigger political split. It's really going down the Donald Trump route for the Tories, support the indefensible or be booted from your own party. The ramifications from this will be felt for a very long time.


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    #379
    Hermy
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 11,324 Mod ✭✭✭✭Hermy


    farmerval wrote: »
    This is a really really bad day for British democracy.

    Is there a chance that this could be a good day for British democracy?

    After the mishandling of such a sensitive issue will the public finally see through the lies and the bullsh!t and recognise that this unelected representative has been stringing them all along for years?

    Genealogy Forum Mod



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    #380
    Roanmore
    Registered Users Posts: 1,801 ✭✭✭Roanmore


    Really shameful from the Cabinet. All tweeting the same just changed slightly as if to gibe the impression they came up with it themselves when obviously they were fed the line.

    Gove said he addressed the untruths which were put out yesterday, any idea what they were because the story about Barnard Castle is true?


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    #381
    marno21
    Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 14,361 Mod ✭✭✭✭marno21


    Headshot wrote: »
    BJ is very lucky Parliament isnt back yet as Starmer would destroy BJ

    I'm listening to BJ news conference at the moment and mind boggling how this guy is the UK Prime Minister. He constantly talks so much crap and lies so much that it's like second nature.

    I like the way BJ isnt let the journalist have a follow up to their questions...
    The Tories have basically been operating unchecked since Corbyn and McDonnell moved in across the way from the PM in the House of Commons.

    Starmer has made an excellent start of restoring the credibility of the Labour Party and it's politically useful that Starmer was elected leader during a massive crisis for the Tory leadership.

    Johnson, Raab, Hancock, Patel etc. might not be so popular when someone calls out their calamitous behaviour.


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    #382
    farmerval
    Registered Users Posts: 653 ✭✭✭farmerval


    Hermy wrote: »
    Is there a chance that this could be a good day for British democracy?

    After the mishandling of such a sensitive issue will the public finally see through the lies and the bullsh!t and recognise that this unelected representative has been stringing them all along for years?

    If the person/people responsible for this disaster cannot be held to account over this, what can they be held to account for, it really drives a bigger wedge into the with us or against us form of politics. This will really drive the Tories into the Republican mode in the states, whatever we are doing doesn't matter once we are benefiting from it.
    If Johnson and Cummings survive this, how can anyone in the Tories challenge them in the future. This is so brazen, Vladimir Putin would be proud of it.


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    #383
    Sam Russell
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 19,430 Mod ✭✭✭✭Sam Russell


    farmerval wrote: »
    If the person/people responsible for this disaster cannot be held to account over this, what can they be held to account for, it really drives a bigger wedge into the with us or against us form of politics. This will really drive the Tories into the Republican mode in the states, whatever we are doing doesn't matter once we are benefiting from it.
    If Johnson and Cummings survive this, how can anyone in the Tories challenge them in the future. This is so brazen, Vladimir Putin would be proud of it.

    He probably is.


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    #384
    Hermy
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 11,324 Mod ✭✭✭✭Hermy


    farmerval wrote: »
    If the person/people responsible for this disaster cannot be held to account over this, what can they be held to account for, it really drives a bigger wedge into the with us or against us form of politics. This will really drive the Tories into the Republican mode in the states, whatever we are doing doesn't matter once we are benefiting from it.
    If Johnson and Cummings survive this, how can anyone in the Tories challenge them in the future. This is so brazen, Vladimir Putin would be proud of it.

    Does he need to be held to account when the electorate still support what the Tories are doing?

    I'm just musing as to whether this is a bridge too far and the electorate make an about turn but maybe it's too late for that.

    Genealogy Forum Mod



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    #385
    farmerval
    Registered Users Posts: 653 ✭✭✭farmerval


    Hermy wrote: »
    Does he need to be held to account when the electorate still support what the Tories are doing?

    I'm just musing as to whether this is a bridge too far and the electorate make an about turn but maybe it's too late for that.

    Traditionally, the press held the government to account somewhat on the public's behalf. It's very hard to imagine that right now that the electorate would support keeping Cummings as a Government advisor.
    If Boris Johnson can brazen this out, then what policy would he need to advance that he could be made do a U turn on. The Visa cost for NHS staff was one, but again that was so crass a move, especially when it was announced as to be unbelievable. Just after Boris was blustering on about the foreign nurses that had looked after him.
    The fact that the cabinet all support everything they are told to like nodding donkeys tells us all we need to know. Presumably Cummings told them what to tweet this evening supporting him.


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    #386
    golfball37
    Registered Users Posts: 4,581 ✭✭✭golfball37


    The reaction to this is quite fascinating. A guy breaks a soft law akin to running a red light at 4am with nobody on the road, all to visit elderly parents and the world wants his head.
    I wish we were as good at demanding accountability from our own unelected civil servants but won’t hold my breath


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    #387
    Hermy
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 11,324 Mod ✭✭✭✭Hermy


    golfball37 wrote: »
    The reaction to this is quite fascinating. A guy breaks a soft law akin to running a red light at 4am with nobody on the road, all to visit elderly parents and the world wants his head.
    I wish we were as good at demanding accountability from our own unelected civil servants but won’t hold my breath

    He wasn't visiting his elderly parents.

    There's also the small matter of a pandemic.

    Genealogy Forum Mod



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    #388
    listermint
    Registered Users Posts: 33,790 ✭✭✭✭listermint


    golfball37 wrote: »
    The reaction to this is quite fascinating. A guy breaks a soft law akin to running a red light at 4am with nobody on the road, all to visit elderly parents and the world wants his head.
    I wish we were as good at demanding accountability from our own unelected civil servants but won’t hold my breath

    He's not a civil servant as has been pointed out to you.
    Try harder.


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    #389
    Professor Moriarty
    Registered Users Posts: 14,364 ✭✭✭✭Professor Moriarty


    farmerval wrote: »
    If the person/people responsible for this disaster cannot be held to account over this, what can they be held to account for, it really drives a bigger wedge into the with us or against us form of politics. This will really drive the Tories into the Republican mode in the states, whatever we are doing doesn't matter once we are benefiting from it.
    If Johnson and Cummings survive this, how can anyone in the Tories challenge them in the future. This is so brazen, Vladimir Putin would be proud of it.

    Unless there's a new twist, I think they've already survived. The Tories will come up with some look-over-there rubbish and the Tory press will fall back into line as they're being paid to do.


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    #390
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 5,121 ✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    golfball37 wrote: »
    The reaction to this is quite fascinating. A guy breaks a soft law akin to running a red light at 4am with nobody on the road, all to visit elderly parents and the world wants his head.
    I wish we were as good at demanding accountability from our own unelected civil servants but won’t hold my breath
    That is an inadvertently great analogy as a disproportionate amount of road deaths happen at night.
    Nobody is on the roads but about half of all road deaths happen between midnight and 8 am.

    https://www.rsa.ie/RSA/Road-Safety/RSA-Statistics/Deaths-injuries-on-Irish-roads/


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    #391
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 90,921 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    golfball37 wrote: »
    Some witch hunt. All because the great and good hate him for his work on the referendum. No other country would a civil servant be hounded to this extent.
    How many civil servants have been hounded on his account ?


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