Free as a Dodo: UK Politics Welcomes 2021

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

The BBC doing something good? Does the government know?

keep it under your hat!

do some fucking work you lazy cunt

Exclusive:

“It would not be entirely uncommon in the diary for him to shut the door and have a kip for half an hour or so." https://t.co/RHbc38DhCv

— Matt Chorley (@MattChorley) January 19, 2021

I fancy a power nap in the afternoon, sure it'll be cool with my employer

I stay up late, get up early and have TWO naps in between. This could be the key to immortality. I will get back to you on that one zzz zzz.......

Churchill was an drunk in his 70s, what's Boris' excuse?

to clarify i think working hours in the UK are gruelling, stupid and discriminatory. i only wish Prime Minister Boris Johnson was in a position to take a stand on this cause he obviously believes in.

fresh off setting records as the country with the highest covid death rate in the world, there's a decent chance we'll breach 2,000 deaths a day before long

Due to technical difficulties, today's update to the #COVID19 Dashboard is delayed. An update is expected by 16:30 GMT.

There have been 33,355 new cases and 1,610 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.

A total of 4,266,577 people have now received the 1st dose of a vaccine. pic.twitter.com/k0Y6f4cezR

— Public Health England (@PHE_uk) January 19, 2021

that is of course a new record for uk deaths, fuck this stupid shitty backwater of a country

Even taking the weekend reporting lag into account it's still 1100+ on the 7-day rolling average, and climbing. Not to mention those who died after 28 days since a positive test, which is a pretty contrived metric to begin with. I'm guessing state media aren't mentioning these figures much?

at least the new cases number has gone down a bit, but fucking hell

yeah funnily enough british media is not too interested in digging into the numbers or even reporting them beyond a cursory daily mention

but it’s fine though because 6.4% of the population has been vaccinated and thus are now superhuman