FlyTheNest

Morning all.

Michigan

Morning all.

Oh dear...he's getting widely ridiculed for this one...

Toby Young
@toadmeister
New study suggests more than five million Britons have had the coronavirus. Given that ~50,000 people have died from it, that means it has an IFR of <0.1%. That’s roughly the same as seasonal flu.

Only out by a factor of 10...

NAO report seems to have got this scandal onto the MSM's radar.

PPE suppliers with political ties given 'high-priority' status, report reveals

“The criterion [for being referred into the high-priority channel] seems extremely wide and discretionary,” said Liz David-Barrett, a professor of governance and integrity at the University of Sussex. “It’s not clear to me why MPs or peers should have any special expertise on whether a company is qualified to provide PPE.”

She pointed out that individuals with links to politically exposed persons – or PEPs, in anti-corruption parlance – are ordinarily treated as high-risk and deserving of more scrutiny, rather than less.

“Normally we would expect that due diligence processes explicitly look for links to PEPs and treat suppliers that are associated with PEPs as high-risk, requiring further checks before you would enter into contracts with them,” David-Barrett said. “This seems to have done the opposite, in that suppliers with these links were treated as more credible and lower-risk.”

Don't think there's any redress though, if the govt continues to be utterly shameless. We'll see how the Good Law project get on.

Alexander Clarkson
@APHClarkson
Again, the key question is not "why does Toby Young says stupid things?"

The key question is "what structural dysfunction in the British media and political system has enabled Toby Young to get so much attention and influence through saying stupid things?"

tinyclanger2 wrote:Michigan

What about it?

Got a bit scary for a minute. The moment passed though.

Well.

Keir Starmer
@Keir_Starmer
Replying to
@Keir_Starmer
In those circumstances, I have taken the decision not to restore the whip to Jeremy Corbyn. I will keep this situation under review.
11:02 AM · Nov 18, 2020·Twitter for iPhone

Yeah, looks like the coup is off again. If it was ever really on, of course.....

@Keir_Starmer

1h
The disciplinary process does not have the confidence of the Jewish community.

That became clear once again yesterday.

Sorry, this is bollocks.

The views of Jewish community are not solely represented by the Board of Deputies of British Jews or any other group.

I encountered plenty of Jewish Labour members yesterday who held the complete opposite view to the Board.

If you believe the rumours of at least one MP being ready to walk had Corbyn been given the whip today, Starmer maybe didn't have much choice.

This still has to be "finessed".

Yes, it's certainly a tricky one alright.

tinyclanger2 wrote:Michigan

the mitten state
I lived there a while when I was kid

God afternoon

citizenJA wrote:God afternoon

That is some typo tbf

AnatolyKasparov wrote:

citizenJA wrote:God afternoon

That is some typo tbf

It was a typo I let stay

Boris Johnson is 'single biggest threat to future of UK', says Keir Starmer
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... ir-starmer" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

this is accurate

Two of the three Scottish byelections due this week have been postponed until the spring after a stricter lockdown was introduced in that area.

Michael Fabricant
@Mike_Fabricant
This character is deliberately milking and misreading the fact that I criticise his tweets for being divisive, damaging to Muslim-nonMuslim relations in this country all for his own ends, and not calling out #LabourAntisemitism.
Nationality & religion are NOT the same thing.
" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Miqdaad Versi
@miqdaad
As part of Conservative MP Michael Fabricant's attack on me for highlighting Islamophobia in the Conservative Party, he chose to imply English & Muslim are separate categories by saying I am harming "Anglo-Muslim relations".

This is totally unacceptable.
" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Fabricant can't manage to respond professionally or without personal attacks. It's horrifying to me, Fabricant's series of tweets. Fabricant and his party are so out of it, they don't understand their problems or accept they have any.

After Scotland's capitulation to Israel tonight in the football they can always look on the bright side and know they'll be welcome in Keir Starmer's Labour Party.

Goodnight, everyone.
love,
cJA

AnatolyKasparov wrote:If you believe the rumours of at least one MP being ready to walk had Corbyn been given the whip today, Starmer maybe didn't have much choice.

This still has to be "finessed".

The trouble is I'm not sure how you finesse making someone an obvious scapegoat and sacrifice for reasons of transparent political expediency.

I may have no love for Corbyn to say the least, and if he'd just kept his mouth shut and his head down this wouldn't be happening, but an injustice is an injustice and we all know he's been left out to hang to placate the political right, some sectors of our media (including the BBC) and groups of right wing Jews who purport to represent some mythical community.

It was disgusting to watch Kirsty Wark on Newsnight last night berating and hectoring a lovely Jewish lady for the crime of being a Left wing Corbyn supporter, she didn't fit the narrative so she had to be treated with contempt. At one point Wark was having a go at her for trying to claim she spoke for all secular Jews (she wasn't) after Wark herself had just minutes earlier spouted the 'Jewish community' trope. As far as I'm aware it's considered anti-Semitic to stereotype all Jews as some homogenous mass but it doesn't seem to stop the BBC or indeed the Board of Deputies of British Jews.

This is a horrible affair all round, and to be fair to Starmer I can't see any easy or obvious way out of it, it's been a purely political, muck raking, mob raising endeavour from the start and however it ends will be equally unpleasant. But one thing it won't be is just.

Sky'sGoneOut wrote:After Scotland's capitulation to Israel tonight in the football they can always look on the bright side and know they'll be welcome in Keir Starmer's Labour Party.

Oh, very good. Not often I understand, let alone smile at, a football jest.

Given that tonight's football has been mentioned - does anybody understand how the Nations League actually works yet?

AnatolyKasparov wrote:Given that tonight's football has been mentioned - does anybody understand how the Nations League actually works yet?

It's kind of like the I Ching, you throw a bunch of national football teams up in the air and depending how they land some go in the Euro's and some go to the World Cup.

Scotland, being the aggravating bastards that they are, landed awkwardly meaning they go to the Euro's but not, in all likelihood, the World Cup.

In short, no nobody does.

(I actually do but the answer would be too long winded and boring at this time of night, or indeed any other time).

Good job Cummings managed to sort out defence procurement...

Sky News Breaking
@SkyNewsBreak
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to announce tomorrow a £16.5bn increase in defence spending over the next four years in what is being billed as the biggest programme of investment in Britain's armed forces since the end of the Cold War
10:34 PM · Nov 18, 2020·TweetDeck

I can't imagine the thinking behind this at all. Unless he thinks the EU are going to invade.

Don't know about you lot but my Brexit stash began today, Olive oil, tins of tomatoes, an extra bottle of French wine, all going in the cupboard. I've already got a fair sized stash of the basics because you never know with the DWP but now I'll be stocking up on Continental stuff. I read Monbiot's article yesterday* and given what Hindle told me about the vast wharehouse he worked in everything he said rang true.

Even under lockdown it all seems so normal now, but in a few short weeks we shall be living in interesting times.

*The British government's first disaster of 2021? A food shortage

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... rage-space

What do we need to stock up on and what will keep?

And just to be clear about turnips as we're going to be eating them for quite a while.

What you call a 'swede' down South is in fact a turnip or indeed bagie, while those little white and purple things you call turnips are also turnips.

Personally I can't stand the taste of any of them.

Turnips are vile. Swede (mashed with butter, milk and black pepper) is delicious.

I grew up on mashed swede.

It was fucking horrible.

[youtube]2zpYieracgw[/youtube]

[youtube]XYdQ3J91VFg[/youtube]

[youtube]tV9T0cY38OE[/youtube]

Night night.