like the queen this thread will never die: in which we ALL resign (ourselves to disgusting miseries to post-boris politics 2022)

i feel like - no memory just vibes as per usual - when Labour in opposition has floated anti private education policy the backlash from the electorate as a whole has not been significant? removing private education kinda feels achievable to me, probly right up to the point where it actually isn't lol

of course the muddy waters of class and the broader snobbery that engenders are percolated right thru the whole education system, hence league tables and local biases towards "good" and "bad" schools. the notion of education to "better yourself" feels just as soaked into the working class left as anywhere else to me and probably has been since at least when Dickie Attenborough did that film about being an oik in a brave new meritocracy

the chapter on class in Kate Fox's "Watching The English" is a good primer on the way it works here, which is not the same as in other countries or in Marxist theory

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guinea_Pig_(film)

think stuff like this was directly responsible for Powell and Pressburger losing their fucking minds

what does "35% went through a pipeline from private school to Oxford or Cambridge University" mean in that tweet up there? (the pipeline bit)

in general it means there's that a well established well-trod route: viz in this case possibly from a specific set of such schools who select and steer some pupils towards this route, to a specific set of university subjects studied (mainly PPE, to a specific set of SPAD-hiring outcomes?

(truer answer: i don't actually know and ^^^is a guess)

I hope you enjoyed PMQs because these people deliberately put the country through seven years of incredible, idiotic shenanigans just so they could have this back: two unfunny professional haircuts in suits trying to out-wanker each other to entertain the worst people in Britain. pic.twitter.com/NAvXNowN6p

— Flying_Rodent (@flying_rodent) October 26, 2022

a) The insistence on calling upper class people "middle class", thus conflating very well off people with people who are just above the working class in terms of financial security

It would totally make sense to split the population into thirds by wealth, or at least have the top 10% be upper class or something. But yeah, Britain is still wary of using the term "upper class" for anyone but those with aristocratic connections. There is a grey area with very posh people who don't seem to be connected to a hereditary title. And of course British people don't agree among themselves about class labels.

I think the distinctions, though they may once have mattered, are increasingly obfuscatory to how wealth and power now operate

There’s the 1% and there’s the rest of us imo

the top tier upper/middle division tends to come down to ownership of land, mostly pre Industrial Revolution/late 18th century

like everything else in this soup it's nonsenical up to the point where it does actually tell you something about manners/attitudes/politics/self ID

the 18th century bourgeoisie marrying itself to the landed aristos is a big part of the industrial revolution because both sides had stuff to gain

that division is less important 200-odd years later of course EXCEPT TO THE KIND OF PEOPLE TO WHOM ITS ACTUALLY STILL REALLY IMPORTANT

but yes that wasn't an argument with you Trace, most difference it might make to me is order of the guillotine/gulag/re-education queue, which ultimately will be down to the queuers themselves

it does still give you little clues about why different groups of Tories are weird/snobbish about each other tho

class in the UK - how the fuck does it work?

what class are the people who put "St Crispin's Day" on resignation letters and insist on using a quill to write them?

Mediaeval

never. not. at it.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/26/charity-founded-by-jeremy-hunt-patient-safety-watch-chief-executive-adam-smith

A charity founded by the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, paid more than £110,000 – two-thirds of its income – to his former political adviser Adam Smith, who lost his job over a lobbying scandal.

>> what class are the people who put "St Crispin's Day" on resignation letters and insist on using a quill to write them?

perfect overlap of empire nostalgia, great island/agincourt/ and being catholic
and have further comment but maybe save that for the UK class thread

Here’s what you could have won

Kemi Badenoch could have used her first appearance as Women & Equalities Minister to ban conversion therapy, demand better trans healthcare and condemn the rise in LGBT+ hate crimes.

Instead, she attacked the CEO of @PinkNews.

The entire LGBT+ community have my full support.

— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) October 26, 2022

fuck

principles, dignity, like an echo from a dimly remembered past

He nearly did! They've been so keen to tramp the dirt down after his 2nd genelec that they can't admit it. Ok, Theresa May had an absolute mare of one, all sorts of things went wrong and she handled them badly on top...

oh god why did i read the replies to that tweet?

Didn't take long for these ghouls to start turning on each other

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/26/suella-braverman-return-after-security-breach-defended-by-james-cleverly

seeing parallels with Dallas character Jock Ewing and Suella here, the actor is dead as a doornail but they keep him alive in the soap for a few more weeks until the scriptwriters can cook up a very unimaginative storyline to kill him off.

The last year three years six years forever in British politics was all a dream

The last year three years six years forever in British politics was all a dream is what I meant to say oh never mind

the lie dream of the casino soul

this is completely fucked

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/oct/26/borders-watchdog-left-speechless-by-failings-at-migrants-centre-in-kent

I've seen some discussion re Braverman and the email, and who it was sent to and how she got found out. I'm in an aeroplane so won't see how big a splash this scandal is going to be.

But I'm guessing nothing will happen, to the point of not exactly hushing, as shushing.

It's quite late in the UK now?

Soz, night night...

live blogging from cruising height about UK politics eh? you can get paid for doing that at Novara Media!

Ooo

Should the PM crackdown on strikes?

Today, NHS and school staff are being balloted on strike action in disputes over pay.

If they vote to strike it could bring havoc to hospitals and schools across the country.

So, should Rishi Sunak crackdown on strike action? pic.twitter.com/9ARkMTLZoz

— Jeremy Vine On 5 (@JeremyVineOn5) October 27, 2022

GPs hate this man!

‘Patients deserve better than a two-week wait to see a GP. When we were in government, Labour guaranteed appointments within two days,’ said shadow health secretary Wes Streeting at the Labour Party Conference. Here, Pulse takes a closer look at his claims https://t.co/CtuJK0Mc9a pic.twitter.com/OHmnoNYhEW

— PulseToday (@pulsetoday) October 24, 2022

I can barely read this morning so can I just ask does Wes's solution involve BUPA?

Wesley seems to be suggesting that GPs are simply not trying hard enough

They tried too hard when that cunt had ok I'll stop there

coffey made a big show about 1M extra GP appointments and then a doctor on the radio said that would only by .3% more than the current yearly number

What a shit.

Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman (prev found guilty of electoral fraud but re-elected in May after his ban on standing for office expired in '21) has announced he will reintroduce the Education Maintenance Allowance

No info as to how it will be paid for. Most councils are skint https://t.co/lE7h6srDx7

— Rachel Wearmouth (@REWearmouth) October 26, 2022

Some random twitter person found it. It's from the council's budget.

imo EMA doesn't do much to further education but on the other hand it goes to kids who need the money so go for it

Not an immediate narrowing but it's early days.

🚨 Post-Sunak poll shows Lab 28pts ahead (+/- since 21 Oct)

🔴 Lab 51% (-5)
🔵 Con 23% (+4)
🟠 LD 9% (-1)
🟣 Ref 6% (+1)
🟡 SNP 5% (+1)
🟢 Grn 4% (-)

Seats (+/- since 2019):

🔴 Lab 442 (+240)
🔵 Con 113 (-252)
🟡 SNP 47 (-1)
🟠 LD 26 (+15)
🟢 Grn 1 (-)

Via @YouGov, 25-26 Oct pic.twitter.com/I8W6vDCeRS

— Stats for Lefties (@LeftieStats) October 27, 2022

it will narrow much much further as people see sunak as competent and labour aren’t offering an alternative.

Looking forward to hearing about the NW England / N Wales Red Duck in the analysis next time out.

lol.

i mean yes there are tough times coming. however sunak has a ready-made answer for why it’s all shit now. it was all the fault of that meddling kwarteng-truss gang. plus, you know, global headwinds. what exactly is starmer going to do differently? who knows?

Putin's illegal war in Ukraine.

Kwarteng's illegal occupation of No. 11.

it will narrow much much further as people see sunak as competent and labour aren’t offering an alternative.

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 27 October 2022 bookmarkflaglink

Depends. I think it's stuff like this that Sunak needs to face. House price fall by nearly 10%, with an economic downturn too.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63411783

if the economy's suffering in 2 years time it will be incredibly hard for the Tories to win an election, but i'd like to see how well the appeal of Kieth to the general public is doing by then, assuming his colleagues haven't Julius Caesared him by then

Excellent tweet thread. It would be funny..

so Boris Johnson pulls out of the Tory leadership with a black valentine to his successor, to wit: you needed me in charge to stop an election.>

— jamie k (@jkbloodtreasure) October 27, 2022

NONCE KLAXON

We will work day in, day out to deliver for you. pic.twitter.com/bTOuIWEKUe

— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) October 28, 2022

The Daily Star: "Hey, Downing Street. Why have you used Gary Glitter in this video?"

Downing Street: "Actually, it's stock music we don't pay for."

DS: "...but it's literally Rock and Roll Part 2."

🙃https://t.co/NEifTtVkEi

— Daily Star (@dailystar) October 28, 2022

As memorably used in Joker