Free as a Dodo: UK Politics Welcomes 2021

listening to Kieth's family agenda speech made me think about the time a work colleague got thrown out of a pub for persistently swearing too much. The manager said "This is a family pub" and he retorted "I'm from a family you fucking dickhead!"

Xps, hey i wouldn't defend that shower, just noting that the government wouldn't stand up to any sort of scrutiny on spending. Boris commissions things like he's in charge of the events soc at Eton. Stick him in charge of the catering and it would be £300 to some tory cheese twat for an entire wheel of parmesan, just cos that was the first guy on his contacts

this govt can get away with murder.. literally, and still be strongly polling at 40%+. A bit of cronyism/corruption/inefficiency is not going to touch them.

Well if neither corbynism or cronyism are going to take boris down, labour might have to miss another turn and get some new letters out of the bag

Sorry I've not had much sleep

In statuary news:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/jan/17/robert-jenrick-statues-must-be-protected-from-baying-mob

“Local people should have the chance to be consulted whether a monument should stand or not. What has stood for generations should be considered thoughtfully, not removed on a whim or at the behest of a baying mob.”

People had been trying to get that Colston statue removed for decades you twat! Ignored by all and sundry to boot! Throw every statue into the sea if you ask me, even the ones of Gandhi and Mandela. Horrible things.

Labour under Kieth is like getting a cursed I I I I I U U rack!

Somebody give Jenrick a backhander and he might change his mind.

Reading about the government's 'solutions' for the Brexit-caused empty shelves in Northern Ireland and reminded of that time they spent £8m on fake shop fronts to cover empty buildings ahead of a G8 summit, Potemkin village-likehttps://t.co/pd4NmPFFWOhttps://t.co/aOAWnvZJtE pic.twitter.com/TECc8hooIl

— Irène DB (@UrbanFoxxxx) January 17, 2021

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EsAYmUCXEAcA68F?format=png&name=small

lol Kieth can't even talk about his own name without sounding like a complete twat

I want someone to shoot me dead if I ever say "that's the basis on which I'll go forward" about my own name

"Well, I've been called Keir all my life-"

"Let me stop you there,"

Tbrr keighth should lean into being a Sir, can only help him with an ultra-deferential British electorate. Parties do better the posher their leader. Labour leaders to have won parliamentary majorities: Atlee, public school, Oxford. Wilson, from Calzino's ends but pretty middle class upbringing iirc, Oxford. Blair, lol nuff said.

That's the basis on which he should go forward lol

true, if I was him I'd play it up to the hilt. "You can call me Sir.. you scratter.. only when I've given you permission to.. now keep shining boy I want to see my ruddy complexion in those Cheaney brogues"

I think once someone has been a big boss/head of an important dept for a certain length of time then they become terminal wankers and can't help talking in that sort of manner.

He actually says "Keir works really well".

I've only just finally seen the clip of the humane doctor defending vaccination of the homeless -- what a tremendous fellow, standing up bravely for the ethics of his profession.

re. Jenrick, this thread is a good take IMO

For some reason, elite decisions without democratic participation to erect statues in the past are 'the people's preferences', but democratically elected local authorities' decisions to take down statues today are not. https://t.co/QEd9mP3iNO

— Peter Mandler (@PeterMandler1) January 17, 2021

He actually says "Keir works really well".

Reads like he's literally reading out the feedback from his "Sir or Not?" focus group.

xp

I'm looking forwards to day when he loses it and snaps on live tv and says I'd love to see one of you cowards call me Kieth to my fucking face!

Every time Kieth opens his mouth he sounds more Pooterish

Tbrr keighth should lean into being a Sir, can only help him with an ultra-deferential British electorate. Parties do better the posher their leader. Labour leaders to have won parliamentary majorities: Atlee, public school, Oxford. Wilson, from Calzino's ends but pretty middle class upbringing iirc, Oxford. Blair, lol nuff said.

You can hardly compare Wilson's background to Attlee or Blair's plus his appeal was largely based around him not being posh. The Tories had just replaced Harold Macmillan with Alec Douglas Home ffs! Wilson was like Barry Chuckle in comparison!

I like that pretty amusing parliamentary exchange where Wilson accusingly calls Alec Douglas Home by his full lordly title (18th whatever of whatever) and Home wittily retorts something like: and you are the 18th Harold Wilson!

1964 election ended up much closer than expected, after the government had plumbed depths of unpopularity, think Douglas Home might be another posho overperforming electorally. By all accounts, he had little else in the way of personal appeal.

Get stuffed. Go hang.

Boris Johnson believes people need to be “civil and kind to each other” in political debate, his spokeswoman has said, as she accused Labour of making the public worry unnecessarily by debating universal credit and free school meals.

“The prime minister believes that all of us, in our political language and debate, need to remember to be civil and kind to each other,” Allegra Stratton told reporters when asked why Johnson had compared Labour tactics with those used by supporters of Donald Trump.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jan/18/tories-oppose-universal-credit-cut-keir-starmer-labour

this country since 2010 has been tories saying "why are you hitting yourself" to the left and it working

I do miss those days when McD would say these subhuman scum should be scared to walk the streets

cool that these bullshit comments from former grauniad hack allegra stratton are being uncritically reported in the grauniad

You know what else is cool?

Labour's lawyer also said there were “no notes” and “no minutes” from the meeting attended by Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner, Morgan McSweeney, Unite’s Len McCluskey and Jon Trickett MP following Corbyn’s original suspension.

— Sienna Rodgers (@siennamarla) January 18, 2021

Can the centre-left take a shit?

'Starmer can chair a meeting. He can draft a minute. He can lead a team. He can hold a press conference. He can stay calm in an interview. Those skills look simple, but they’re not, and they’re vital.' @gsoh31 on the breadth of Sir Keir Starmer's potential https://t.co/nkxtholWy1

— British GQ (@BritishGQ) June 10, 2020

every time they open their mouths iirc

they must have meant he can sink a draught in a minute because apparently it's against the party rules to have no minutes/notes at disciplinary meetings

Good Sense Of Humour 31?

Why is he not wearing a mask https://t.co/J1iyVP9v5Y

— No-One (@judeinlondon2) January 18, 2021

he's so fucking ham-fisted in everything he does, he could have at least slipped one on for the photo op, is he a Trump republican or something? what is actually right with the cunt.

he gets such an easy ride, if leader Jezza Crumblin was stood mask less in front of a Mask Up sign it would have been tomorrow's front page, but I guess that is why Kieth is 20 pts ahead.

The relieved “sister parties”: https://t.co/2wgM7VccCs pic.twitter.com/pxpvJ56rsa

— Paul O'Connell (@pmpoc) January 18, 2021

Lisa Nandy talking to a right-wing conservative Murdoch talk station about the relief felt amongst the international centre-left melthood that Labour is now as unelectable as they are.

An absolute failure of stunning proportions
https://t.co/x2DrJlLjBN

— 'Client Journalism' Expert (@ClientJournoExp) January 19, 2021

I'd be calling for a vote of no confidence but Marcus Rashford isn't an opposition party and is only available part time.

I heard the BBC spinning the flagrant lie that Boris is glad Trump lost, that certainly hasn't been apparent until the last week or so.

yeah. insane. don't see how that passes any bar for newsworthiness partic given how transparently self-serving it is. it suited Boris to kiss Trump's ass until the moment Trump was deemed a liability.

just picturing the pitch session at 6am on that one - 'what have you got Chris?' 'Well I have a highly placed source that says... ' 'Yes?' 'that the Prime Minister....' 'Yes?!?' 'actually is happy, on balance, that Trump lost' '.....'

Newsnight was dire last night as well, which is of course the rule now. Nicholas Watt's two-way with Wark was sourced exclusively from govt sources on what the chancellor 'might' do, and all other points of view, dissent, etc, sourced also exclusively from Tories. i'm aware Labour is now not actually providing opposition but i guess i'm still surprised when reporters don't at least go through the motions of communicating their views.

I had a BBC survey yesterday, said some measured but honest stuff about the lol news output

just nitpicking here but when the BBC headline is about floods in South Yorkshire you don't have a pic of the River Ouse in York. York/Sheffield is like the same distance between Cambridge and London ffs, you can't just use random "The North" pics for every news item.

Westminster Voting Intention (Wales):

LAB: 36% (-7)
CON: 33% (+1)
PLC: 17% (+4)
REF: 5% (NEW)
GRN: 4% (+1)
LDM: 3% (=)

Via @YouGov, 11-14 Jan.
Changes w/ 26-30 Oct.

— Election Maps UK (@ElectionMapsUK) January 18, 2021

Welsh Labour feeling the benefit of that Starmer Surge!

it suited Boris to kiss Trump's ass until the moment Trump was deemed a liability.

Plus it’s pretty well known that Biden & Harris hate him for saying racist shit about Obama! Yeah I’m sure he was fuckin thrilled they won

Not to mention trying to sell Ireland down the river a couple of months ago.

wasn't there a biden ultimatum about irish border as well? which made eu negotiations harder. (xp?)

it pains me that the bbc can't do better than reporting second hand what some lord said he believed in the daily mail, especially when they end up getting flack for it.

Hat mancock self isolating, I reckon they just do this whenever they want to lie low for a bit and achieving the worst death rate on the planet might be such an occasion - plus it’s a chance to pretend the nhs app is an actual thing that does anything

this was good

Ten days at the Royal London Hospital. Our reporting from the frontline of the war on coronavirus. All this week ⁦@BBCOne⁩ bbcnewssix #bbcnewsten. pic.twitter.com/Nc0bO2pZzF

— Clive Myrie (@CliveMyrieBBC) January 17, 2021