Thursday 15th February 2024

[refitman]

Morning all.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Good morefternoon, all.

Tooth is worse again.

[frog222]

Good morefternoon, all.

Tooth is worse again.

Aaaagh ! Waiting to see WHEN you get a dentist ....

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Afternoon.

For the first time in my life, I’m now beginning to think Britain is finished - Allister Heath

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/0 ... s-finishe/

Britain’s decline over the past 25 years has been staggeringly rapid. Almost everything is getting worse, and almost nothing is getting better. Our public and private institutions are broken, presided over by an incompetent, selfish and narcissistic ruling class. Living standards, when adjusted properly for living and property costs, are declining.

Even the simplest things don’t work any longer. Queuing, scarcity and congestion are rife, our infrastructure is embarrassingly poor, and the honest and hardworking face endless bureaucratic battles to obtain what they are due. Free riding, crime, disorder, fraud, littering and generalised rule-bending are rife, and all too often tolerated by apathetic citizens and an indifferent state. Britain’s residual virtues, our individualism, independence of mind, tolerance and openness, uniquely appealing features of our national character, are fading.

This is a bit confusing because he also says this...

In the 2000s, Britain had a particular idea of itself: a country of post-Thatcherite property-owners which reconciled modernity and tradition, globalisation and national self-determination, low-tax dynamism and fairness, where you didn’t need IDs to vote, where MPs weren’t attacked by screaming mobs, and where, finally, racism was increasingly a thing of the past. We saw ourselves as a socially mobile, law-abiding land of high trust, low corruption, the rule of law, improving race relations and religious toleration: a uniquely open society and a model to the Western world.

So not the last 25 years as he originally stated, presumably because he couldn't bring himself to solely blame the Tories.

Anyway who does Allister think is responsible for this tragic state of affairs? Who are the ne'er do wells who've crippled the country and sown division? Is it the perpetrators of austerity, brexit, and endless culture wars? Of course not! No it's a nefarious coalition of socialists, environmentalists, the woke mob, benefit claimants, and anti Semites who've apparently been running the country when I could have sworn we've had a Tory government for the last 14 years.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Looks pretty beige, although Graham Stuart is inadvertently comedic on occasion so you never know.

[frog222]

The only name I recognise -- she resigned to support Owen Smith, and then this --

[AnatolyKasparov]

Well, that clip just shows that Lucy is OK.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Question Time came tonight from Lancaster.

For the Tories we had Graham Stuart. If there's one thing Graham's good at it's dealing with humiliation with good humour and it's a talent which served him well this evening. To begin with he made a foolhardy attempt to take a holier than thou attitude to Labour's attempt to defend their candidate in Rochdale. This did not go well for him, either with the panel or the audience, as he was reminded of the numerous times Tory MPs have been wheeled out to defend various sex pests, weirdos, and nutters from within their own ranks. So not an optimal start I'm sure Graham would agree and from there it got worse. When asked if Sunak had failed in his pledge to grow the economy given that we're now officially in a recession Graham attempted to fudge the issue and avoid answering the question...and that's when the laughter started. To be fair he did end up admitting it in a roundabout, fingers crossed behind his back kinda way, but it only seemed to make things worse. Apparently not content that he'd inspired enough mirth Graham then went on to claim if the Tories won the election our train services would improve which predictably in the North West led to more guffawing. It was almost like he was doing it on purpose. A career in stand up beckons one he's out of a job at the next GE.

For Labour we had Lucy Powell. Blimey. What's got into Lucy? She was taking absolutely no shit from anyone this evening. Within the first couple of minutes she gave a rather startled looking Graham Stuart an angry tongue lashing and she never let up. It was like watching a cute, cuddly teddy bear suddenly beating someone with an iron bar. She was there to kick ass or chew gum and she was all out of gum. And it didn't matter who it was, Tories, SNP, Telegraph columnists, Lucy was taking on all comers. Which is something that's becoming increasingly apparent with Labour MPs on QT. Where previously we had those awful, anodyne, robotic performances, both under Corbyn and Starmer, there seems to be a confidence now to let them off the leash and it's working a treat. Regardless of what you may think of Lucy or her politics if the audience were anything to go by she had a very good night. As for what she actually said it was standard Labour fare, antisemitism is bad, need to stick to fiscal rules, sustainable ceasefire in Gaza (with caveats), so not exactly inspiring but who cares when she was slaying all before her?

For the SNP we had Drew Hendry. Again why? Nothing against Drew or the SNP but this was in Lancaster not Lanarkshire. Why not the Lib Dems or Greens or even Reform who will actually stand to represent the place? Anyway regardless of that Drew had a pretty good night because he could attack the Tories where Labour can't, especially on brexit and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, the latter getting the loudest applause of the evening. It must be a cushy gig for an SNP MP to appear in England, you completely avoid getting any crap from the voters of your own country while poking a pointy stick at your opponents. Win win.

For business and green development we had Juergen Maier. Juergen has been appearing on QT on and off for years, I remember him appearing as an advisor to the Tory government, he even mentioned it this evening, but that ship has long sailed. Juergen seems like one of those really irritating people who's always positive and full of energy. No matter how shit everything seems and how hopeless the cause Juergen will be smiling and urging everyone on towards a better future no matter what it takes. Not only that but he seems to genuinely care about people and have a healthy sense of empathy. In other words Juergen is a top bloke, one of those rare creatures who have come from the top end of business in an effort to do good. We need more Juergens, even if they're a bit annoying.

In stark contrast, for the Telegraph we had Jill Kirby. In all my time writing these reviews I think this will be the first instance where I'm not going to take the opportunity to mock a right wing journalist. Not because she doesn't deserve mockery, far from it, but because I absolutely detested her. Not one iota of sympathy for the plight of Palestinian civilian deaths, cutting taxes is the only way to grow your way out of a recession, train drivers striking are entirely to blame for problems with our railways. In short an ugly, deluded ideologue who would be at home on GB news if she didn't think they were beneath her.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Getting pretty quiet round here is it not?

I don't mean now, just in general.

Anyway.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Kingswood - Labour gain, unspectacular but solid. If the rumours are right, Wellingborough could be a bit more striking.

[AnatolyKasparov]

And indeed it is - second biggest Tory to Labour swing since WW2.