Tuesday 31st January 2023

[refitman]

Morning all.

[frog222]

Morning refit
I only saw a little of this

but that was quite enough.

Crace -

Darlington was a tougher crowd than Rish! had hoped. Turns out that people don’t really like being talked down to by an awkward tech bro with few interpersonal skills. There is no sense of connection at a Q&A with Sunak: all you get is what he’s learned from a Goldman Sachs training manual on keeping the lower orders quiet. A rather performative attempt to reassure people that not everyone in the room will be fired. He exudes a coldness. A robotic detachment. What was the point of being part of the global elite if you have to waste time with the little people?

The questions were short and polite. Though asked with no real expectation of getting a straight answer. “This is going to be transformational,” enthused Rish! as he mumbled something unconvincing about his rescue plan for the NHS. Not even Sunak believed what he was saying.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... an-or-raab

[frog222]

The Star has it !

The rest -- https://www.tomorrowspapers.co.uk/

[gilsey]

BBC starting to find it hard to get tories to turn out to defend Brexit, it seems. Newsnight panel had Deborah Meaden representing sane* business people, Peter Kyle representing SKS as best he could, and for the Brexiteers ... Ben Habib and Lord Marland (who?).
Habib wouldn't shut up and Marland says trading with Commonwealth countries will be the answer. Nobody asked him in what way the EU prevented us from doing that.


* I say that because there were some clearly insane business people in the audience.

[frog222]

Zahawi’s behaviour is inevitable in a country on the brink of a corporate takeover

Are Conservatives aiming to bypass the problem of losing elections by corporatising the UK and placing themselves on the board of directors?

WHOOPS forgot the link
https://yorkshirebylines.co.uk/politics ... take-over/

The Freeportisation of England is proceeding apace, with stickyfingered Tories & suppporters making millions already, soon to be billions .

[AnatolyKasparov]

Fortunately, it is likely Freeports won't be that far advanced before the next GE.

[frog222]

“It’s in my view, ironic and ridiculous that the UK’s Sanctions Act permits oligarchs who are sanctioned for their human rights abuses, and therefore have no reputation, you would think, [to] bring in money to pay their lawyers to repair their reputation that they don’t have,” Robertson said.

The barrister also criticised the soaring costs of defending libel cases in London – Higgins said last week his costs in defending himself against Prigozhin were £70,000. “Britain is not a land of free speech but expensive speech,” Robertson said.

“Law is a market,” Robertson added, in which KCs “can charge upwards of £900 an hour” and junior barristers “half that” while solicitors who specialised in Russian clients can earn “even more than some of the KCs per hour”.

The result is that “a simple libel case that takes two or three days in court is certain to run into over £1m in costs for either side,” Robertson said, adding that “it’s absurd to talk free speech in that context, where publishers risk £1m if they fight” in court.

In December 2021, Roman Abramovich, the former owner of Chelsea FC, settled a libel case he had brought against Catherine Belton, author of Putin’s People, an acclaimed account of the Russian president’s era.

Had the case gone to a full trial, the legal bill was likely to have exceeded £10m. In the end, Belton and the book’s publishers, HarperCollins, agreed to amend the text to make clear that comments that Abramovich had bought Chelsea at the behest of the Russian president did not represent a statement of fact.

https://www.theguardian.com/law/2023/ja ... ays-lawyer

[frog222]

Good stuff !

[refitman]

A message from Ephemerid:

my thanks and best wishes to the FTNers who commented when I first found out about the cancer and there wasn’t a lot of hope?

Also, it is her birthday tomorrow, if anyone wants me to pass on best wishes back.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Well yes, and the mere fact they are still here is in itself a good sign?

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Also, it is her birthday tomorrow, if anyone wants me to pass on best wishes back.

Count me in.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Happy Brexit day!

Jacob Rees-Mogg was on CH4 news earlier and I'm afraid I lost my cool a bit and had a good old rant at the TV while waving my fist in impotent fury. It wasn't any of his brexit nonsense that set me off. It was his claim that our public services are disintegrating because too many people are working from home. Who knew it was all the fault of doctors, nurses, paramedics, ambulance drivers, teachers who are all sitting on their arses at home sipping tea and watching Netflix instead of going to work apparently. I really wanted to punch him in the face.

As for Brexit day it's been a bit muted hasn't it? I wonder why? Ah yeah that would be poll after poll showing Brexit to be about as popular as herpes. In an attempt to defend their soiled and putrid project it's been hilarious watching one brexiteer after another trying to list any dubious benefits it may have brought. Number one on all of their lists has been the vaccine rollout which as we know happened while we were still in the transition period and subject to EU law. They have nothing and increasingly a significant minority of Brexit voters are beginning to realise they made a big fucking mistake. Most of them, according to the data, in previously Labour voting 'red wall' seats.

Which begs the question. How long is it going to take for Labour to grow some balls*? Surely there must be a tipping point where their own polling tells them pandering to a minority of pig ignorant cretins in a few seats at the expense of most of the rest of their voters is a mistake. At 50% plus in the polls I doubt they'll be losing any sleep about the frustrations of people like me but what was a trickle of brexit regret has become a stream and if/when it becomes a torrent you'd hope they'd take the hint.


*By 'grow some balls' I of course mean cultivating non gender specific spheroids.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Many years ago Ephemerid offered me sound advice as she has done for so many other people then stopped responding when I sounded crazy.

Which frankly I was a the time.

She did her best but I was rude and unhinged.

If you can pass on my apology and best wishes Refitman I'd be happy.

Thanks.

[refitman]

Many years ago Ephemerid offered me sound advice as she has done for so many other people then stopped responding when I sounded crazy.

Which frankly I was a the time.

She did her best but I was rude and unhinged.

If you can pass on my apology and best wishes Refitman I'd be happy.

Thanks.

I will.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Thanks.