Monday 20th September 2021

[refitman]

Morning all.

[PorFavor]

Good morfternoon.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Someone on Twitter is loudly putting forward that a GE in November is "inevitable".

[Willow904]

Someone on Twitter is loudly putting forward that a GE in November is "inevitable".

Because an early election went so well for Theresa May?!

[AnatolyKasparov]

But it worked rather better for Johnson. The first time.....

[Willow904]

Only because British voters don't like hung parliaments. Going to the country to get a working majority is one thing but what do you need an election for when you have the majority to do whatever you want? People didn't respond well to May dicking around with an election when there was Brexit to be done, will they really be happy with Johnson dicking around when shelves are empty, energy prices are spiralling and we're still in the grip of Covid?

[Sky'sGoneOut]

I very much enjoyed Richard Madeley's inclusion on the Daily Politics today. It's always enlightening to have a contributor offering such insightful gems as, "when you raise taxes some people are bound to lose out," or, "politics is cyclical," before sitting back and smugly basking in the glow of his own genius. I thought his defense of the Tories failure to forsee the gas price rise was particularly brilliant. It was, "Well I'm a journalist and I didn't see it coming." Outstanding. Do contributors like him get paid? Even if he was free a brick would have done a better job. Or indeed any other inanimate object. Mind you he was still better than the Tory who said even though he knew taking £20 a week from his poorest constituents was going to make life even harder for them he was still going to vote for it because 'we' have to make 'difficult choices'. Where have I heard that before? And there was me thinking austerity was gone and Johnson's government were the new big spenders.

With NI and fuel bills going up, inflation rising on food and drink and the cut in UC it's going to be interesting to see how levelled up people feel over the coming months.

[gilsey]

The gas supply situation gives the govt a reasonable justification for cancelling the £20 UC cut now, should they wish to. Which they don't.

[gilsey]

SNP's poll ratings going ever higher.

[PorFavor]

Dan Bloom
@danbloom1
BREAKING: There will NOT be a showdown vote on Universal Credit tonight - because Iain Duncan Smith's amendment has not been selected by the Speaker
1:42 pm · 20 Sep 2021·TweetDeck

[PorFavor]

Boris Johnson told journalists on his flight to New York that Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minster, “wanted to come and see if he could mediate [between the UK and the EU on the Northern Irish protocol],” the Financial Times reports.

However, the Dutch have said that Johnson’s memory has let him down. The FT reports:

A senior Dutch diplomat said it was incorrect to suggest Rutte had offered to intercede on the UK’s behalf with the European Commission or EU member states. “Rutte’s message was clear: ‘be pragmatic, don’t escalate and talk to the commission who are negotiating on our behalf’,” said the diplomat briefed on last week’s meeting. (Politics Live, Guardian)

Boris Johnson may be not (lately) a frequent flier, but he's always a frequent liar.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

There will NOT be a showdown vote on Universal Credit tonight - because Iain Duncan Smith's amendment has not been selected by the Speaker.

Even on this one single occasion when IDS tries to do the right thing he still fails miserably. Useless bastard. Couldn't they have got somebody else to table the amendment?

[refitman]

The Party aren't going to do anything, are they?

[AnatolyKasparov]

Believe it or not, more than one newspaper columnist has been busy dumping on Starmer for not *supporting* Duffield.

Given how powerful and vocal her apologists are, this is a bit of a no-win situation and maybe people should better understand this.

[tinyclanger2]

Taking 20 quid off people with nothing is not a "difficult choice" it's inhuman and obscene.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Ah yes, the same sort of "hard choices" that Mr Tony used to like talking about. Not usually that hard for him or his mates, that's the thing.

[RogerOThornhill]

Good afternoon.

Interesting take on the lack of "Local Government" in the new department's name.

Do they give a LUHC about local government?

https://www.lgcplus.com/politics/lgc-br ... 0-09-2021/

There is no doubt about it that local government’s removal from a Whitehall (and a Wolverhampton) nameplate is unmerited. It also speaks volumes about how local government is perceived by the centre. To answer the title of this LGC Briefing, sadly too few in the corridors of power give a LUHC.

But perhaps local government has won a bigger prize in that the government has recognised its approach to levelling up has failed and a radical reappraisal – signalled by Mr Haldane’s appointment – is required.

The onus is now on local government to demonstrate how all of its services contribute to levelling up. Children’s services level up starts in life; social care support levels up wellbeing across generations and mobility levels; environmental services seek to level up the attractiveness of areas; and public health seeks to level up health and life expectancy.

[RogerOThornhill]

And I see my mate Calvin has been doubling down on his claim that he wouldn't send his kids to any state school in the country. Which presumably includes the one where he was a Director for about 18 months...Ms Birbalsingh's Michaela Community School. Which is kinda interesting...

Calvin
@calvinrobinson
·
6h
Replying to
@calvinrobinson
I recently suggested people should homeschool if possible, not considering it to be an extreme viewpoint. Homeschooling is v common in the US.

Leftist teachers went on the attack. I had to take a break from Twitter.

Surely, education is paramount, or is it just on their terms?!

No, they asked him was he seriously suggesting that no state school in the country was free from "leftist indoctrination".

I do like the idea that he took a break from Twitter - yeah, for a few hours!

[tinyclanger2]

If left wing indoctrination is so big in the UK why do we keep voting in Tories. It's pathetic.

[refitman]

If left wing indoctrination is so big in the UK why do we keep voting in Tories. It's pathetic.

Well, we won't have to worry about nasty left-wingers coming from the Labour party any more

[tinyclanger2]

Good lord.