Thursday 25th April 2024

[refitman]

Morning all.

[frog222]

One of the shorter commets on last night's Crace --

TonyStopyra

" Angela must have been a tad disappointed that when she went in for the kill there was nothing much there to put out of its misery."

Zionists Rule, OK ?

[frog222]

Strange stuff from Julia Davis . They've always had the odd very outnumbered critic of the régime, but this level is new ?



Further down the thread a vid of Putin making a fool of the FSB boss in front of all the other apparatchiks, I think that was very early on, 2022.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Thanks god for booze, because let's be honest, who in their right mind would voluntarily listen to Chris Philp, Wes Streeting, and Charles Moore sober?

[AnatolyKasparov]

Its all kicking off north of the border, it would appear!

[Sky'sGoneOut]

They had a discussion about Labours plan to begin the process of renationalising our railways on Politics live.

Kate Andrews was making one of her customary appearances and I was absolutely astonished when she fully backed the plan and declared that the privatisation of public assets had been an unmitigated disaster...only joking, she talked a load of absolute guff about how it would deter investment and be starved of cash, the usual bollocks.

So it seems to me there are only two groups of people who are against renationalisation, blind right wing ideologues like Kate, and at least some passengers using Avanti West Coast. I saw one interviewed who said the delays were so bad he got so many refunds that half the time he was travelling for free.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Its all kicking off north of the border, it would appear!

It genuinely saddens me that Yousaf has caved to the right of his party, but what disgust me more is seeing Labour joining the Tories (as they so often do in Scotland) in performatively putting the boot in when they know they've got zero chance of bringing down Yousaf or the SNP government with their pantomime antics.

And here was me thinking Labour were promising to be the adults in the room and bring some mature competence to government.

[notnowsonny]

Kate Andrews was making one of her customary appearances and I was absolutely astonished when she fully backed the plan and declared that the privatisation of public assets had been an unmitigated disaster...only joking, she talked a load of absolute guff about how it would deter investment and be starved of cash, the usual bollocks.

I'm deeply interested how the BBC will cope with Labour getting in (if, of course they do win come October or whenever Sunak graciously allows us to vote) as far as filling the Politics Live panel and others of that type. This one was Tory, Labour, LibDem, and Hard Right Journalist, a set up typical of this sort of programme. Who will be the left wing equivalent that the BBC bring in to bolster up the government mouthpiece if that spokesperson is Labour?

It won't obviously be a real Leftie, but I can see lots more work for the likes of Steve Richards, which will make me, at least, happier than I am at the moment!

[AnatolyKasparov]

Its all kicking off north of the border, it would appear!

It genuinely saddens me that Yousaf has caved to the right of his party, but what disgust me more is seeing Labour joining the Tories (as they so often do in Scotland) in performatively putting the boot in when they know they've got zero chance of bringing down Yousaf or the SNP government with their pantomime antics.

And here was me thinking Labour were promising to be the adults in the room and bring some mature competence to government.

It is a VONC, there is no way ScotLab can seriously be expected not to support it. The fact it just happens to be tabled by the Tories is close to irrelevant.

EDIT: and now it is reported that the Greens will vote FOR the motion, ie "with the Tories". That will upset a few narratives.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

It is a VONC, there is no way ScotLab can seriously be expected not to support it. The fact it just happens to be tabled by the Tories is close to irrelevant.

EDIT: and now it is reported that the Greens will vote FOR the motion, ie "with the Tories". That will upset a few narratives.

What narrative? The Scottish Greens are the injured party in all this so they're hardly going to be in the mood to do Yousaf any favours.

We both know that if this were the other way round and it was the SNP joining the Tories to opportunistically take a shot at a minority Labour government in some self indulgent pantomime you'd be spitting feathers.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Please stop trying to make this all about Labour, when its really down to the SNP's failure.

Anyway, assuming a full turnout on both sides it is now basically down to Ash Regan's "swing vote".

Maybe on reflection Humza now regrets publicly rubbishing her after she jumped ship.

[RogerOThornhill]

Good afternoon.

For utterances of meaningless bollocks, take a listen to this. And remember that the only reason that this one has been chuntering on about individual research grants over the past few weeks is that she has been able to look them up on a website which open to everyone to look at.

I think she wants everyone to able to examine every part of government spending in detail & has no flippin' idea of how vast a job that would be. I recall that there was such a thing about a decade ago where you could download a government department's spending for a month. Did anyone actually do this? Probably not. Who has the time?

[Sky'sGoneOut]

I'm deeply interested how the BBC will cope with Labour getting in (if, of course they do win come October or whenever Sunak graciously allows us to vote) as far as filling the Politics Live panel and others of that type. This one was Tory, Labour, LibDem, and Hard Right Journalist, a set up typical of this sort of programme. Who will be the left wing equivalent that the BBC bring in to bolster up the government mouthpiece if that spokesperson is Labour?

It won't obviously be a real Leftie, but I can see lots more work for the likes of Steve Richards, which will make me, at least, happier than I am at the moment!

I can't imagine anything changing until Labour have the opportunity to purge the likes of Robbie Gibb from the BBC.

To be fair QT does have real lefties like Ash Sarkar or Monbiot on but only once in a blue moon.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Please stop trying to make this all about Labour, when its really down to the SNP's failure.

I see you don't disagree with my assertion that if this were the other way round your response would be very different.

Besides, I've already said I'm far from happy with the decision Yousaf has taken today.

Some of us can walk and chew gum at the same time.

[gilsey]

I'm deeply interested how the BBC will cope with Labour getting in (if, of course they do win come October or whenever Sunak graciously allows us to vote) as far as filling the Politics Live panel and others of that type. This one was Tory, Labour, LibDem, and Hard Right Journalist, a set up typical of this sort of programme. Who will be the left wing equivalent that the BBC bring in to bolster up the government mouthpiece if that spokesperson is Labour?

It won't obviously be a real Leftie, but I can see lots more work for the likes of Steve Richards, which will make me, at least, happier than I am at the moment!

Centrist Dads all the way.

[notnowsonny]

Centrist Dads all the way.



Can’t speak for Mr Richards, but in my case it’s a little-bit-left-of-centre-but-not-really-that-much grandad!

[notnowsonny]

Crap formatting. Sorry, but you know what I mean.

[RogerOThornhill]

Oof.

The expression on West Streeting's face at the end...

[AnatolyKasparov]

Steve Richards is an excellent commentator who actually understands the Labour party and its culture in a way most fellow pundits do not.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Question Time came tonight from Tottenham, which can be proud of the audience it provided this evening. They seemed like a genuinely compassionate and pleasant lot who needless to say had zero time for any Tory bullshit.

I usually start with the Tory panellist, but after an absolutely bravura performance which dominated the whole programme I'll begin with Victor Adebowale instead. Victor had clearly turned up meaning business tonight, and whether it was disability benefits, the Rwanda scheme, or housing, he was on top form. This wasn't mere disagreement or debate, he was openly mocking the Tories, laughing at Philp and Moore, pointing out their performative cruelty and fact free bullshit with the cheerful confidence of a man who knows he's fighting the good fight. There was no angry shouting, no snide put downs, just a relentless grinding down of their nonsense. He made them look ridiculous and the audience loved him for it. I rarely watch QT and think now there's someone I'd love to have a drink with but with Victor I'd even be buying them. Absolutely wonderful stuff, best I've seen in a long time.

For the Tories we had Chris Philp. Can anyone remember that awful programme called The Brittas Empire? Yeah, that's Chris, but instead of haplessly running a leisure centre he's a government minister. For those keeping a tally wondering if Chris got laughed at, yes he did, at least three times by the audience and Victor got in on the act as well. One excruciating exchange which resulted in Chris inciting guffaws was when he was asked by an audience member from the DR Congo if people from his country should be sent to Rwanda despite the murderous violent border clashes between the two countries. Chris' first attempt to answer the question was to say that under the scheme people from Rwanda can't be sent to Rwanda, which led to the somewhat incredulous questioner pointing out to him that DR Congo is a different country to Rwanda which seemed to confuse poor befuddled Chris to the point of him asking the questioner if they were indeed separate countries. I'm not making this shit up. It really happened. Inevitably this led to a considerable amount of laughter and groaning at Chris' expense but he remained undaunted and continued to humiliate himself for the rest of the programme.

For Labour we had Wes Streeting. To be fair to Wes he got off to a decent start in his inimitable style, angrily denouncing the Tories' demonisation of disability benefit claimants, while at the same time offering a chink of light to the right by echoing some of Sunak's claims about GP's handing out sick notes too readily, before being completely eclipsed as soon as Victor Adebowale started offering an authentic left wing voice. After that he could have walked off the stage and I don't think anyone would have noticed or cared.

For the Lib Dems we had Munira Wilson. Munira said all the right things about taking a more humane liberal, centre left approach to benefit claimants and refugees that went down well with the audience. The problem for someone like me as an ex Lib Dem is they were saying all the same stuff until Clegg got a sniff of power and we all know what happened next. Yes I know it was a while ago, and I'm not usually one to hold grudges, but some things can never be forgiven. I still wish them well in taking Tory votes in the South though.

For vacuous pompous right wing arseholes we had Charles Moore. Whoever said Thomas Young (a genuinely brilliant chap) was the last man who knew everything has never met Charles. This evening Charles knew better than doctors and psychiatrists about diagnosing mental health problems, he knew better than our supreme court about immigration law and the safety of Rwanda, he really is a marvel of our time, a true polymath...oh no wait, everything he said was laughable tripe. He claimed Rwanda was safe because he'd been there and it seemed safe to him. Victor rightly mocked him for it but I'd have gone further and called Charles a useful idiot in service to a murderous despot. As for his contention that doctors are handing out sick notes like sweeties and people are being diagnosed with mental illnesses when there's nothing wrong with them and they just need a good kick up the backside (I paraphrase but he didn't dare say what he obviously thought in front of a hostile audience), I hope someone posts a video tomorrow of the wonderful mental health community nurse who took his nonsense apart.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Oof.

Thanks Roger.

People assume I sometimes exaggerate for comic effect, which when reviewing Question Time drunk is kinda part of the fun.

But as you can see from my review above sometimes just repeating a Conservatives words verbatim is funnier than anything I could make up.

[Sky'sGoneOut]