FlyTheNest

A C Grayling
@acgrayling
The squatters in Downing St are the core of an illegitimate government. We have as a country quite literally been purchased by a foreign power to be asset-stripped & dismantled. Is there any uglier a word that applies to the in-house enablers of this than 'traitor'?
7:13 am · 22 Jul 2020
" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"the idea that lockdown as a date is wrong because what matters epidemiologically is the behaviour of people....you saw that people were going about their business less and less."
Matt Hancock

citizenJA wrote:Good morning, everyone.

citizenJA wrote:

A C Grayling
@acgrayling
The squatters in Downing St are the core of an illegitimate government. We have as a country quite literally been purchased by a foreign power to be asset-stripped & dismantled. Is there any uglier a word that applies to the in-house enablers of this than 'traitor'?
7:13 am · 22 Jul 2020
" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I like his choice of words
gave me a little righteous thrill

Like the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee report on disinformation and fake news last year, the ISC recommends a British equivalent to the US Foreign Agent Registration (FARA) Act, to flush out potential intermediaries working on behalf of foreign powers. But it concedes that this would only be “damage limitation” because the infusion of dirty Russian money into British life is already so toxic and vast.

The report states:

“A large private security industry has developed in the UK to service the needs of the Russian elite, in which British companies protect the oligarchs and their families, seek kompromat on competitors, and on occasion help launder money through offshore shell companies and fabricate ‘due diligence’ reports, while lawyers provide litigation support.”

Most of the domestic wealth of Russia is held overseas by a handful of oligarchs close to Vladimir Putin. As the money laundering capital of the world, London has been the main recipient of this dark money stolen from the Russian people.

Just two known cases – the Moldovan Laundromat scheme and the Deutsche Bank ‘mirror trades’ scam – saw £20 billion poured into the UK through shell companies and LLPs in the past decade alone, effectively corrupting large swathes of the service industries which process them and, of course, buying undue political influence.

The Missing Brexit Threat Assessment
It has taken Parliament more than 14 years to recognise the true nature of the Russian President’s regime.

With the KGB-trained Putin now ensconced for life, conducting wars in Ukraine and Syria, and funding far-right parties across Europe to destabilise any institutions that can challenge his interests, this is – as the report makes clear in its remarks on MI5, MI6 and GCHQ – a deadly oversight.

The lethal nature of the threat from the Kremlin should have been obvious with the assassination of Alexander Livtinenko in 2006 (( Links to Buzzfeed on the 14 unusual accidents/suicides of opponents of Putin ....))

A mix of policy tourism and schematic imaginings, blended with an ignorance of unintended consequences, simply will not do. Someone must take up the reins, and make it explicable, legible, full of a more realistic sense of choice and readjustment. Make it, above all, political.

Johnson is a gifted frontman, but the extent to which he understands his cribsheet is questionable. If he can’t double and redouble his efforts, the renewed white heat of this technological revolution may quickly look as dated as the hovercraft, the Concorde, the mainframe and the Polytechnic.

Scottish Conservatives
@ScotTories
This report suggests the SNP has questions to answer in relation to Russian interference.

It’s now essential the SNP orders an inquiry on the matter.

The Labour party has apologised “unreservedly” and paid out a six-figure sum to seven former employees and a veteran BBC journalist, admitting it defamed them in the aftermath of a Panorama investigation into its handling of antisemitism.

The settlement and formal apologies to both the reporter, John Ware, and the ex-employees, which have been read in open court, is believed to have cost the Labour party between £600,000 and £750,000, with about £200,000 in damages agreed for the eight individuals.

RogerOThornhill wrote:
Bad for the money that could be better spent elsewhere but good that it's sorted out quickly. Time to move on.

Steve Howell
@FromSteveHowell
Keir Starmer just threw the Labour party into an even deeper mess. By issuing an apology to former staff who appeared in the #Panorama programme, he is pre-judging the Forde inquiry into the serious issues revealed in the #leakedreport in which at least one of them is implicated.

tinyclanger2 wrote:Morning all - I hope all is well in House of Nest. Am struggling to contribute at the moment as essentially every day I get up, go to my desk, work, close my laptop, go for a walk, seethe about people ignoring distancing rule and then read or watch the telly. Am usually utterly convinced anything I do is sufficiently fascinating to report to your patient selves, but even I’m bored of myself at the moment. Combined with ongoing light news aversion this means I have little to offer. Though I remain optimistic about the scientific progress if that helps.

tinyclanger2 wrote:Though I remain optimistic about the scientific progress if that helps

RogerOThornhill wrote:Labour pays out six-figure sum and apologises in antisemitism row

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... mitism-row" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Labour party has apologised “unreservedly” and paid out a six-figure sum to seven former employees and a veteran BBC journalist, admitting it defamed them in the aftermath of a Panorama investigation into its handling of antisemitism.

The settlement and formal apologies to both the reporter, John Ware, and the ex-employees, which have been read in open court, is believed to have cost the Labour party between £600,000 and £750,000, with about £200,000 in damages agreed for the eight individuals.

Bad for the money that could be better spent elsewhere but good that it's sorted out quickly. Time to move on.

AnatolyKasparov wrote:

tinyclanger2 wrote:Though I remain optimistic about the scientific progress if that helps

Yes, that remains a cause for optimism. At a time when we certainly need some.

AnatolyKasparov wrote:Not disagreeing about how bad the media is!

AnatolyKasparov wrote:The media is key to so much else, however.

gilsey wrote:'Should be 20% ahead in the polls'

These 'journalists' are supporting Starmer, not Labour.
They don't see it as the same thing, neither do many of the public if you go by the polls. One of Starmer's challenges is to change that.

AnatolyKasparov wrote:The two things are not actually the same?

CP20/12: Consultation on delay to the implementation of the European Single Electronic Format

We set out proposed rule changes to postpone by 1 year the mandatory European Single Electronic Format (ESEF) requirements for annual financial reporting under the Transparency Directive (TD).

https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/con ... nic-format" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

howsillyofme1 wrote:Interesting to see on twitter the number of media centrists tweeting examples refuting Johnson's claims about Starmer

Don't remember them doing th same with lies about Corbyn - in fact they were the ones often making the false accusations

How is Labour 10% behind and actually performing worse than over much of the last Parliament with such ready support from these hugely influential (in their own minds) journalists?

gilsey wrote:

AnatolyKasparov wrote:The two things are not actually the same?

Didn't they both have the same objective, ie burying Corbyn in shit?

Happy to be corrected.

Steve Howell
@FromSteveHowell
Keir Starmer just threw the Labour party into an even deeper mess. By issuing an apology to former staff who appeared in the #Panorama programme, he is pre-judging the Forde inquiry into the serious issues revealed in the #leakedreport in which at least one of them is implicated.
10:50 am · 22 Jul 2020
" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

citizenJA wrote:

gilsey wrote:

AnatolyKasparov wrote:The two things are not actually the same?

Didn't they both have the same objective, ie burying Corbyn in shit?

Happy to be corrected.

I think AK was responding to this. I agree with AK. Howell is disingenuous.

Steve Howell
@FromSteveHowell
Keir Starmer just threw the Labour party into an even deeper mess. By issuing an apology to former staff who appeared in the #Panorama programme, he is pre-judging the Forde inquiry into the serious issues revealed in the #leakedreport in which at least one of them is implicated.
10:50 am · 22 Jul 2020
" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Starmer's apology to a former Labour staff member doesn't mean Starmer pre-judged anything.
If I've misunderstood, please let me know.

AnatolyKasparov wrote:Yes, the party's own statement said it wasn't pre-judging anything else by its apology over this.

RogerOThornhill wrote:Yes, I just read Sparrow's summing up of PMQs.

Oh dear...lies and weak jokes are all the PM has it seems - so nothing's changed then. T'was ever thus.

howsillyofme1 wrote:

AnatolyKasparov wrote:Yes, the party's own statement said it wasn't pre-judging anything else by its apology over this.

I don't believe them, sorry

How can you give a pay out to a 'whistleblower' for an account of the story that is significantly undermined with documentary evidence?

Surely to settle a defamation action out of court (and apparently against legal advice) is a strange decision and needs more explanation to those of use whose money was used to pay for it - it is my money given to the party in good faith not Starmer's!

Edited to add

" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

howsillyofme1 wrote:---
It goes right to the heart of some of those who appeared in the leaked report and whose testimony and claims seem to have not met the standards of truth that I think the BBC would expect

https://novaramedia.com/2020/07/22/bbc- ... -response/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Whistleblowers must be protected but ion the proviso they are actually telling the complete story - it wasn't as if they tried to stay anonymous.

AnatolyKasparov wrote:

howsillyofme1 wrote:Interesting to see on twitter the number of media centrists tweeting examples refuting Johnson's claims about Starmer

Don't remember them doing th same with lies about Corbyn - in fact they were the ones often making the false accusations

How is Labour 10% behind and actually performing worse than over much of the last Parliament with such ready support from these hugely influential (in their own minds) journalists?

Short, light hearted answer - people like the effectively free money that Dishi Rishi has handed out.

Longer, more sober answer - the ordure many of these very same people heaped upon Labour for five full years was never likely to be fully expunged in a matter of months, and they should have realised this if they weren't caught up in their own centrist fantasy world. Some of us did try to warn them, though.

UK politics live news: Corbyn criticises Labour's decision to settle antisemitism libel case
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/ ... ws-updates" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Test and trace failing to contact thousands in England's worst-hit areas

The government’s flagship test-and-trace system is failing to contact thousands of people in areas with the highest infection rates in England, raising further questions about the £10bn programme described by Boris Johnson as “world-beating”.

Local leaders and directors of public health are demanding more control over the tracing operation amid concerns that their ability to contain the virus is being put at risk.

Data obtained by the Guardian shows that in areas with the highest infection rates in England, the proportion of close contacts of infected people being reached is far below 80%, the level the government’s scientific advisers say is required for test and trace to be effective.