Wednesday 13th January 2021

[refitman]

Morning all.

[RogerOThornhill]

Good morning.

I'm shocked, shocked that Kate Hoey doesn't like the solution to the 5 year old issue of Northern Ireland and Brexit that she doesn't appear to have noticed before!

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/20 ... exit-deal/

Is it time for the Conservative and Unionist Party to admit that the “and Unionist” no longer applies? Northern Ireland has been abandoned post-Brexit. The Secretary of State, Brandon Lewis, who has repeatedly stated that there is no trade border down the Irish Sea, puts in mind the joke about the Emperor with no clothes. Disappointment among Unionists at the involvement of Michael Gove, once seen as the standard bearer for friends of the Union, is turning to anger. It is apparent that he has not guarded their interests.

[Willow904]

https://m.huffingtonpost.co.uk/amp/entr ... ssion=true

Single People Have Suffered Enough. And Yet We’re Still An Afterthought

Government priorities are becoming ever more obvious as restrictions on our personal lives grow ever stricter while work and schools are kept open with minimal or even without precautions and continue to expose people to multiple other households daily for long periods of time. The lack of balance within this latest lockdown is extremely noticeable compared to the first when a lot more workplaces were shut. I'm surprised more hasn't been made of things like garden centres and click and collect shops being open when people are not supposed to make unnecessary journeys to access them. It's pretty obvious they are open so the government doesn't have to compensate them for being shut but with few customers they are being left with taking the economic hit for the government's "stay at home" order.

[gilsey]

Williamson says he was “absolutely disgusted” when he saw the picture on social media this week of an inadequate food box. He says that will not be tolerated. He says Vicky Ford, the children’s minister, met with Chartwells yesterday and told them the proper standards must be maintained.

I bet they're quaking in their boots.

[citizenJA]

Good morning, everyone.

[citizenJA]

Johnson calls Rashford to tell him full review of 'unacceptable' food parcels under way
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/li ... st-updates

A full review doesn't feed children

[AnatolyKasparov]

What is going on in football right now? I'm getting a nose bleed......

[gilsey]

Johnson calls Rashford to tell him full review of 'unacceptable' food parcels under way
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/li ... st-updates

A full review doesn't feed children

Starmer's just waved the DfE's guidance on meal packs at PMQ's

It is not dissimilar from what was going round twitter.

Oops.

[AnatolyKasparov]

BoJo actually caught out in one of his terminological inexactitudes, then?

[Willow904]

Johnson calls Rashford to tell him full review of 'unacceptable' food parcels under way
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/li ... st-updates

A full review doesn't feed children

Starmer's just waved the DfE's guidance on meal packs at PMQ's

It is not dissimilar from what was going round twitter.

Oops.

So are you saying the inadequate meal packs meet the government set requirements? I mean, it wouldn't surprise me at all, the quality and quantity of meals provided in schools has dramatically fallen over the last few years. We may just be seeing the boxed up equivalent of a plain jacket potato with nothing else that parents have been complaining about being served up to their kids in school for a couple of years now.

[RogerOThornhill]

Duncan Baker (Con) asks if the PM will commit to a 10-year plan to review social care.

Johnson says he is committed to reforming the sector. Plans will be brought forward “later this year”.

A bit like the last gazillion years where they've also promised a plan.

[Willow904]

Oh and it's always a "mistake" or a "misunderstanding" isn't it? Not at all a reflection of austerity, slashed funding and a reliance on costly private sector involvement that leaves even less money for actual food because so much disappears on bureaucracy, middle men and profits.

[citizenJA]

"Labour signals end of Corbyn era in setting out economic vision
Shadow chancellor to emphasise commitment to ‘responsible’ fiscal and monetary policy"
https://www.ft.com/content/5b231553-c88 ... 823deec3b3

Financial Times' article title yesterday regarding Labour's fiscal strategy for government doesn't seem to match its content. Labour intend on spending more and not engage in Tory coalition's fixation of whacking local authorities' budgets. I can't find anything of substance indicating a departure from Labour's 2019 manifesto. Shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds is going to use the word, 'responsible' a lot in the annual Mais Lecture today.

I really dislike decisive, sensationalised media. If I've misunderstood anything here, please let me know.
The information isn't straightforward and accurate positions difficult to unravel.

[citizenJA]

"Dodds will take also aim at the Conservatives’ irresponsible economic policies over the last decade, arguing that a culture of short-term economic decision making left the economy in a weak position going into the Covid-19 crisis.

She will accuse current Chancellor Rishi Sunak of compounding the damage over the last year, saying:

“The public’s health has been opposed to economic outcomes, ignoring the impact of fears around the virus on consumption, and the much larger economic costs incurred by restrictions being imposed later than they should have been. One indication of this failure to understand the link between health and the economy was the Chancellor’s refusal to accept SAGE recommendations for earlier, stronger measures against Coronavirus during the autumn.”
https://labour.org.uk/press/a-responsib ... r-britain/

From Labour's website today

[citizenJA]

George Osborne: Mais Lecture - A New Economic Model
https://conservative-speeches.sayit.mys ... ech/601526

Speech by George Osborne on 24 Feb 2010

"...new policies and new institutions.

...a supply side revolution that releases the pent up enterprise and wealth creation of our country, encourages a nation of savers, and addresses the long term structural weaknesses that no government has ever properly tackled - like poor education and a welfare system that traps people in workless poverty."

The last 10-years of Tory governments' "properly tackled structural weaknesses" has caused people and nation a world of hurt.
Don't let Tories get away from their debacles by forgetting what they've done in that time.

[citizenJA]

I think Willow904's post is related to what I've quoted from former Tory chancellor Osborne's disastrous fiscal vision.

[AnatolyKasparov]

There is very little to disagree with in the content (as opposed perhaps to some of the framing) regarding what Dodds is saying today.

[gilsey]

article title yesterday regarding Labour's fiscal strategy for government doesn't seem to match its content.

Good, I was hoping it wouldn't. Will look at the content later.

[citizenJA]

article title yesterday regarding Labour's fiscal strategy for government doesn't seem to match its content.

Good, I was hoping it wouldn't. Will look at the content later.

Please do and let me know if I've misunderstood.
I mustn't let my fear of Tory governments prevent expressing disapproval about Labour.

[RogerOThornhill]

Hmm...

https://leftlockdownsceptics.com/

[AnatolyKasparov]

They exist, but are a small minority on their wing of politics.

[RogerOThornhill]

I was, as I might put it, somewhat sceptical of it due to the lack of any names anywhere.

Needless to say it was picked up by one Toby Young...

[citizenJA]

goodnight, everyone.
love,
cJA

[RogerOThornhill]

Well.

Zeke Miller
@ZekeJMiller
WASHINGTON (AP) — Majority in US House has voted to impeach President Trump for incitement of insurrection; voting still underway.
9:23 PM · Jan 13, 2021·Twitter Web App

[Willow904]

10 republican votes for impeachment.

[gilsey]

Tory MP not getting the answer she expected

https://twitter.com/DehennaDavison/stat ... 6844528642

[RogerOThornhill]

Anyone following the ongoing spat between Jonathan Portes and Andrew Neil over the content of the Spectator?

Basically, Neil, instead of saying that he might disagree with the content of some of the more pro-Trump rubbish that people like Douglas Murray has been churning out he would defend his editor publishing it, has been insisting that he has no responsibility for it and is not accountable as Chairman. As I pointed out in an earlier round, if you're not, then what's the point of you?

But I never thought I'd see Sam Freedman agreeing with Owen Jones...

https://twitter.com/Samfr/status/1349490713071939586

[RogerOThornhill]

PM in "I don't know what I'm talking about" non-shocker.

https://twitter.com/J_I_Jones/status/13 ... 3063479298

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Fuck me my fingers hurt. I probably should have worn gloves.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Anyone following the ongoing spat between Jonathan Portes and Andrew Neil over the content of the Spectator?

Basically, Neil, instead of saying that he might disagree with the content of some of the more pro-Trump rubbish that people like Douglas Murray has been churning out he would defend his editor publishing it, has been insisting that he has no responsibility for it and is not accountable as Chairman. As I pointed out in an earlier round, if you're not, then what's the point of you?

But I never thought I'd see Sam Freedman agreeing with Owen Jones...

https://twitter.com/Samfr/status/1349490713071939586

What I have particularly enjoyed is Andrew Neil having a go at Devi Sridhar because he's obsessed with Nicola Sturgeon and will take any avenue of attack regardless of anything apparently.

He's a very sad man.

[PorFavor]

I rarely wear gloves when typing.