Thursday 30th March 2023

[refitman]

Morning all.

[frog222]

Morning refit

The Woke Wars continue, thread --

[frog222]

Thursday,it must be time for another moral panic on the Today programme ?

I wonder who funds this lot --
https://www.newsocialcovenant.co.uk/

From their site --


Demolition thread --

[frog222]

[frog222]

[RogerOThornhill]

Good morning.

More on that Policy Exchange report.

Quite why a Labour MP is putting their name to this given PE's rightward drift* over the past couple of years is quite beyond me.

* they were quite socially liberal at one time.

[refitman]

Good morning.

More on that Policy Exchange report.

Quite why a Labour MP is putting their name to this given PE's rightward drift* over the past couple of years is quite beyond me.

* they were quite socially liberal at one time.

Labour are institutionally anti-trans (a few MPs excepted), so one of them backing this, isn't a surprise.

[AnatolyKasparov]

If anything its the other way round, only a relatively small number of Labour MPs are actually TERFish.

Unfortunately, our MEDIA is so totally slanted on this issue that the leadership (any leadership IMO, not just this one) will decide that dealing even with the worst offender (ie R*s*e *u*f*e*d) is going to be more trouble than it is worth. As with so much else, not much can be done until that changes.

[refitman]

There is no official Labour Party policy that supports trans people. They have recently actively worked to restrict their rights.

[refitman]

[AnatolyKasparov]

There is no official Labour Party policy that supports trans people. They have recently actively worked to restrict their rights.

Well a Labour government would, in practice, treat trans people a lot better than the Tories do. I think this is indisputable by anyone remotely serious.

[frog222]

Just good friends




Lebensraum ( Psst we 're bigger than you )

[tinyclanger2]

Meanwhile in Clanger world:

[frog222]

So schools already have guidance and SKS has missed the obvious point that if kids cannot trust teachers they are even more isolated and at risk

Nate @nateffo 7h

The statutory guidance is unequivocal on this: 'The fact that a child or a young person may be LGBT is not in itself an inherent risk factor for harm. ... Risks can be compounded where children who are LGBT lack a trusted adult with whom they can be open'.

[frog222]

I let this run in the background while I cooked

Ears pricked up at "hung parliament" in last two minutes



Tony Blair warned Starmer at Davos that in the event of a hung parliament he'd need every last vote he could get ....

[refitman]

[AnatolyKasparov]

I let this run in the background while I cooked

Ears pricked up at "hung parliament" in last two minutes



Tony Blair warned Starmer at Davos that in the event of a hung parliament he'd need every last vote he could get ....

Apart from the DUP (and *they* are less reliable than before) who is going to back the Tories in that scenario?

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Question Time tonight came from Bristol which provided a splendidly boisterous audience. Perhaps because it's a Labour/Green city rather than some of the miserable Tory hovels it's been held in recently.

For the Tories we had Andrew Murrison. This evening Andrew got to join the inglorious list of Conservative MPs laughed at by the public and he did not like it one bit, so they laughed at him again, and again. For some reason getting visibly annoyed, raising his voice and jabbing his finger at the audience only seemed to make things worse for him. He was laughed at for waffling some nonsense about making the airline industry more green while his government supports the expansion of Bristol airport, he was laughed at for completely ignoring the righteous tirade of a lady who pointed out a multitude of his government's sins, and he was laughed at when he tried to claim crime was down 50% if you excluded fraud. Andrew's justification for this exclusion of fraud was that the criminals were invisible. So apparently now, according to the Tories, if you can't actually see the person commiting a crime against you it's no longer a crime. Which would be news to H.G Wells because his original Invisible Man was a murderous criminal who instigated a reign of terror and ended up being beaten to death by an angry mob.

For Labour we had Emily Thornberry. I like Emily but she's increasingly stymied by the strictures placed on her by Starmer's politics. Take tonight for example. The first question was about the government's ludicrous, immoral immigration bill. Emily huffed and puffed but ultimately refused to answer when asked if Labour were against placing asylum seekers in old military barracks. It was painful to watch. We have the largest 'progressive' party in the country shit scared of the the right wing press and a drooling minority of racist dickheads because they think they need their votes. The rest of us can be taken for granted apparently while we watch on sickened and depressed. Having listened to Thornberry over the years I'm of the opinion she's a decent human being and it must be soul destroying for the likes of her to have to pander to this cowardly bollocks.

For the Spectator we had Fraser Nelson. Fraser confidently spouted quite a lot of absolute shit tonight. For example he claimed we're all living better, fuller lives in the very week the government have shelved raising the pension age because life expectancy in this country is decreasing. He extolled the virtues of capitalism in bringing down carbon emissions, utterly failing to mention that it's governments changing laws and courts enforcing them that are changing the behaviour of businesses, and where they're left unchecked, or even encouraged, fossil fuel companies are still sticking two fingers up to the rest of us and our future. He mentioned that his niece was in the audience and she clearly wasn't impressed because he didn't receive a single clap throughout the entire show. Just tumbleweed every time.

For the Lib Dems (wow, it's been a while) we had Helen Morgan (who won the by-election after Owen Patterson had to resign). Unrestricted by racist pandering Helen was able to give both barrels to the Tory immigration bill and she did so with obvious anger, it was a joy to watch after Thornberry's feeble equivocation and she rightfully got the biggest round of applause of the night. However as an ex Lib Dem I did have to chuckle. When criticising the Conservatives record in government she made it sound like everything bad happened after 2015 as if it was all hunky dory during the Coalition years. For example she talked about about councils and public services being starved of cash when it came to tackling youth crime. Now forgive me if I'm wrong but I do believe that all started while Danny Alexander was Osborne's willing sidekick in the treasury and Clegg was deputy Prime Minister. The Lib Dems may never want to speak of it again but I'm afraid some of us have semi-functional memories and hold grudges.

For Oxfam we had Danny Sriskandarajah (I copied and pasted his magnificent surname). Danny was great and said exactly what you would expect from the CEO of Oxfam. His best line was that he'd spent years travelling the world witnessing and trying to mitigate the dreadful effects of poverty and now for the first time he was seeing things in this country that he'd only previously seen in the Third World.

[AnatolyKasparov]

So the Tories are no longer going to prosecute fraud then - why bother, if its not "real" crime? At least some people on benefits will be relieved tbf.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

In regard to Labour, surely there has to be some middle ground between Corbyn on the left and pandering to the lowest common denominator on the right? Dare I say it a centrist path.

I know it's fashionable to call Starmer's politics centrist but for those of us hoping for it when he became leader of the Labour Party, ex Lib Dem refugees like myself, centre Left Labour members, there's nothing centrist about it. Starmer's Labour are way to the right of us.

Blair was smart enough to create a smoke screen with his 'third way', socialism lite if you will, whereas Starmer is offering no such obfuscation, probably because he and those around him don't feel the need with the Tories repeatedly shitting the bed.

So what we get is a bland assurance of being a bit less awful than what's come before, while insulting our intelligence, our moral values, and our self respect.

Are you willing to be taken for granted? I'm guessing most of us are. I'll have to think about it.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

So the Tories are no longer going to prosecute fraud then - why bother, if its not "real" crime? At least some people on benefits will be relieved tbf.

To be fair to Emily Thornberry she did make the point that there are 1000 police officers dedicated to fraud while the DWP has (I can't remember the number but it was much bigger) dedicated to benefit fraud. Hunt was quizzed about this by the select committee a few days ago in regard to tax fraud. When it was put to him that benefit fraud was tiny in comparison compared to the billions lost to tax fraud he claimed both were taken equally seriously despite the fact that you're 23 times more likely to be prosecuted for benefit fraud, despite tax fraud costing 10 times as much.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Anyway that's probably my last QT review. None of you make the effort to say thank you or even criticise. It's like talking to a brick wall.

I might have pissed you off, I might have bored you, but the least you could do is say thanks or slag me off.

It's better than nothing.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Harrumph.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Worry not, I always read it.

And there's not always that much to add is there?

[Sky'sGoneOut]

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Worry not, I always read it.

And there's not always that much to add is there?

I suppose not.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Goodnight, old bean.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Goodnight, old bean.

Night AK.

[frog222]

Anyway that's probably my last QT review. None of you make the effort to say thank you or even criticise. It's like talking to a brick wall.
I might have pissed you off, I might have bored you, but the least you could do is say thanks or slag me off.
It's better than nothing.

I always read it, and you just might have missed my thanks and those of others ...
Tonights was great .