bojo is king, brexit is on, stuff is fvcked, tomorrow starts here -- new govt new thread new battle

Rory Stewart has not had a take on this yet, but going to his twitter tells me it’s his birthday, so he’s ahead of Clive on two counts there.

Oh that’s just what today needs

Sky News understands Labour MP Jess Phillips will announce her bid to become party leader later today

— Sky News Breaking (@SkyNewsBreak) January 3, 2020

Apparently this ghoul hasn't fucked off yet, wish he'd hurry up.

She doesn’t say we need to stand up to Iran who have caused so much of the carnage in Syria. https://t.co/dTj4QlGaIl

— Ian Austin (@IanAustin1965) January 3, 2020

Graham Jones must be devastated he can’t make a booming speech for Hansard today.

Once again, a desolate parade of warmongering bozos clogging up the replies to this moderate & obviously correct statement https://t.co/2AynQweGSu

— Edmund Griffiths (@EdmundGriffiths) January 3, 2020

It’s not as though Raab is particularly disagreeing at this stage.

The default Sensible position is apparently some way further to the right than the Tories.

Actually looking forward to a few weeks of JP being put under a bit of scrutiny and being given anything other than the very easiest of rides from the media. My feeling is she won't be very good at it. (Then again that didn't exactly hurt Boris).

he's been kicked around for it but we shouldn't underestimate the importance of having had a Labour leader who isn't subordinate to the whims of Washington. This needs to be a basic requirement for his successor, especially given the situation we're now in https://t.co/UsYb4fpdrx

— tom (@malaiseforever) January 3, 2020

Good piece on the supposed shake-up of the civil service:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/03/dominic-cummings-whitehall-civil-service-no-10

Jesus I have one drunky lie in and apparently we're in another fucking war, might give 2020 a miss tbh

Good:

With this assassination, President Trump is pushing us to the brink of another disastrous war that would cost countless lives, further destabilise the region and make us all less safe.

Our government should help de-escalate tensions, and we must resist any rush to war.

— Rebecca Long-Bailey (@RLong_Bailey) January 3, 2020

not really the thread for it but this from a useful Economist review of Iraq-US tensions is pretty special:

American officials are quietly seething at the Iraqi government’s willingness to rebuke them while giving a free hand to Iranian-backed groups. Iraq failed in its “responsibility to protect us as their invited guests”, complained a State Department official.

perfectly timed

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07zcbwv

A Small Matter of Hope
Life's getting better. Statistics show the average human is healthier and better fed and educated than ever. So why don't we believe it? Fraser Nelson investigates.

Fraser Nelson investigates

That's the actual answer

YOU'VE NEVER HAD IT SO GOOD UNLESS YOU'VE JUST STARVED TO DEATH AND YOUR CHILDREN HAVE RICKETS

I really think we should start offing people, who's in?

Oh god I just registered the "better educated" bit. Bitter, weepy lulz

Couldn't find a comment space to call Nelson a blithe Panglossian cunt, maybe have to settle for shooting him in the base of the skull

this is a guy who publishes Wehrmacht holocaust revisionism without feeling so fucking ashamed that he tops himself. He is barely human.

Greatly. I think Iran's despots thrive on the hostility of the west. If you wnat them gone, bring Iran back into the comity of nations. Sanctions in Iran have gravely hurt the people, but not the regime. https://t.co/UD2FrOtVh9

— Peter Hitchens (@ClarkeMicah) January 3, 2020

godawful conservative to the left of at least one next Labour leader candidate.

would vote for Hitchens as next Labour leader ahead of half the prospective candidates

Good current affairs piece

https://www.currentaffairs.org/2020/01/what-we-do-when-we-lose

But I do not think it is harsh or cruel to Corbyn to say that he is not particularly effective as a politician. (In fact, depending on your opinion of politicians, that should be a compliment.) The fate of a principled person in politics is that they will be unwilling to “fight back” against smears, won’t know how to manipulate the press to their advantage, won’t think in terms of “branding” and “messaging,” and won’t use rhetoric. Corbyn strikes me as a thoroughly decent man—watch him in interviews and try to reconcile the person on display there with the caricature and hate figure. But he hasn’t mastered the “game of politics.” He can seem laconic when he should be passionate, opaque when he should be crisp.

wooh if I could face returning to work I'd be due a pay rise in April jesus there's the ceo of a recruiting agency on the telly he looks like a vampire class war now plz

gyac - thanks for that link

"Actually looking forward to a few weeks of JP being put under a bit of scrutiny"

pretty funny that Jess says something quite thoughtful + perfectly reasonable for once then gets beasted by the bbc for being too "Corbynite" and also that her "big launch" gets buried by WW3!

the video doesn't mention the word "Labour" once; not even in the shot showing the exterior of her constituency office https://t.co/EUywVty30T

— charlie (@vampiretraums) January 3, 2020

she'll quit the party when she loses and try to do a Macron, calling it now

— charlie (@vampiretraums) January 3, 2020

It’s been said itt before, but here’s a handy piece of her greatest hits

http://gal-dem.com/heres-why-weve-got-no-time-for-jess-phillips/

Good piece, time for JP to get purged

She's got a 2020 bbc series about her salt of the earth 2nd home in France owning zany working class family or something in the pipeline. She should just concentrate on that, seeing as she's starting with a 5% negative approval rating with members. I feel for her husband though, people often never think about those unemployable bearded-tosser drudges that marry celeb MP's for a job 4 life!

working class credentials seem le gîte

She should just concentrate on that, seeing as she's starting with a 5% negative approval rating with members.

If she had the imagination for it, dropping some big room anti-war with Iran tracks could help with that. Especially if the competition is sending everyone to sleep with non-answers.

Speak Truth, Win Power.

I thought the expression was that you are meant to speak truth to power...?

these melts are always terrible at slogans, you'd think they'd be naturals at this side of the game!

Politics needs honest voices. Only when we are honest again, with ourselves & with the country, will we become the people who get to make the decisions

what a muddle of nonsense and would probably fail GCSE English i think!

when was the last time we were honest (with ourselves)?

Nandy's pitch has been a load of legit concerns bigotry so far, but her launching her bid in the local Wigan rag rather than the Graun is commendable imo.

they all need to stop dealing with the same hacks that helped kill the last leader.

Literally no chance of any prospective Labour leader sticking their hand up and saying that yes joining Trump's war in Iran would be a great idea.

Lisa Nandy's launch is clever spin: pretending to launch exclusively in her local paper....actually just launching the same way as the other candidates, with a Guardian/Observer oped. https://t.co/BveOkcr8f9

— Stephen Bush (@stephenkb) January 3, 2020

xp
Unguided missile Clive has come the closest and then backtracked a bit. I've not heard Hilary "drums of war" Benn yet but I reckon he might be as reticent to back Trump as well. Things have definitely changed when it is seems the BBC's Nick Robinson is more hawkish and to the right of Raab and most of Labour Right are basically with Corbyn on this.

hah! Nandy fooled me with that local paper stunt bullshit, thought it was too maverick to be true.

Journalists, when Labour want to renationalise something: "Where's the money coming from?"

Journalists when money needs to be spent attacking a Muslim country: pic.twitter.com/eSeqlMyaKg

— Sinan Kose (@TheSinanKose) January 3, 2020

There have been heavy hints that Johnson wasn’t warned in advance, unlike Israel, and Pompeo has criticised the U.K., along with France and Germany, as being unhelpful. It’ll be interesting to see whether the gung-ho press line holds.

Raab basically said that the Foreign Office wasn't told in advance and even he has been talking about the need to de-escalate tensions.

The Trump administration is probably (and correctly) surmising that as the little Brits are in the process of shredding their most important trading relationship they can be relied upon to fall into line when the moment arrives if they want that trade deal.

Also theoretically at least the UK, France and Germany are still signed up to the nuclear deal although whether that means anything any more I have no idea.

Literally no chance of any prospective Labour leader sticking their hand up and saying that yes joining Trump's war in Iran would be a great idea.

― Matt DC,

True but can either come out strong and gain some points, or weasel around like Warren

unguided missile C was taking the Warren approach at first, then he seemed to temper his words with another less weasily tweet when he noticed he was stood alone in the corner of the playground!

Everyone else basically took a variant on the same line (not really seen Nandy's response admittedly). Either because they believe it - to be fair the alternative is insane - or because they know its toxic with members, or both. Lewis doesn't seem the sharpest tool in the box and bungled it.

How not to run a campaign

Don’t you think we all know a Jess? A doer. A matriarch. A turn-to.

Might not be your pick. But she is the mum at the school gates, the receptionist at the doctors, behind the counter at the corner shop, loud Aunty in the kitchen or person pulling pints in the pub to me.

— Melanie Onn (@OnnMel) January 4, 2020

Who on earth would want to be likened to a GPs receptionist?! https://t.co/cVnbwj6LT6

— The Suspicions of Mrs Warboys (@ThatJoelfella) January 4, 2020

Why? I’m so pleased I don’t have to try and weed out hypochondriacs from the genuinely ill. Tough gig, pretty thankless.

— Melanie Onn (@OnnMel) January 4, 2020