Free as a Dodo: UK Politics Welcomes 2021

the drugs correspondent from Vice: If you want to know the time ask a nice bobby

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2021/03/owen-hatherley-i-really-hoped-grenfell-metropolitan-elite-debate-would-just-die

Really good interview, and total flip to the John Harris guff.

The Met police told women they couldn’t come together for a vigil. This is the response. pic.twitter.com/yw007qm5yr

— Aamna Mohdin (@aamnamohdin) March 14, 2021

Why is it so important for her to go into politics? “If moderate people don’t go into politics then you leave it to egotistical extremists who are happy to lie. Moderates have got to go in. I’m a radical and a moderate.” In what way? “I do radical things, but my politics are moderate. I perform in French, German and Spanish as well as English when I’m a standup, so that’s slightly radical. And I’m radical because I came out as transgender. I’ve run about 130 marathons for charity. That’s slightly radical.”

Eddie Izzard's self declared radicalism summed up as her being a trans woman and her multilingualism and running lots of marathons and aligning herself with the biggest bunch of cross-party transphobes in the UK. All these decades of being a vacuous Blairite arse-kisser and serial dabbler in NEC politics and she still is seemingly incapable of ever articulating anything explicitly political and still just talks in mindless babble speak.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/mar/15/sarah-everard-vigil-organiser-met-chief-should-not-resign-cressida-dick

Lol @ Reclaim the streets putting the demo together and then not attending and now going onto say Cressida Dick shouldn't resign over her role of policing the event they did not attend.

(xp) So modest too.

Runs a lot of marathons for charity, doesn't like to talk about it. Actually wasn't there once another colourful celebrity/personality who famously ran a lot for charities?

Now then

isn't being a radical centrist effectively just a moderate Tory?

she's a UNICEF ambassador I think, so that requires sympathetically visiting places we've bombed to rubble, doing photos with war orphans and never criticising Blair.

Disclaim the Streets

“We are a movement of women seeking to support and empower other women, and as one of the most senior women in British policing history, we do not want to add to the pile-on,”

that's as pathetically a fallacious argument as numpts who tried to big up May's feminist credentials

Seems a bit off to tell everyone to stay at home then talk about armchair critics who weren't there.

The message is essentially stay home and stfu.

This is the nuance OJ is incapable of hence why he posted like that.

What the hell do borders, open or closed, have to do with allowing or forbbiding protests? You're pretty much proving my point, having measures be dropped in two boxes where one says "AUTHORITARIAN" and is therefore bad is dumb.

Lol @ Reclaim the streets putting the demo together and then not attending

They called it off because they would have been - still are going to be, presumably? - hit with the fines for it.

To expand further on alphie's link: I agree that what is needed is travel restrictions, not closed borders. Both of these are authoritarian measures. I've seen no indication anywhere that OJ is stanning for the latter instead of the former (the gal dem article doesn't even mention him), and he is certainly right that the govt had to be dragged kicking and screaming into accepting any travel restrictions (if indeed they have - wouldn't be surprised if it's still going on like last Summer, where supposedly they were in place but there was no actual enforcing going on). As for actual closed borders with the rest of the world, this would never happen under a govt as enamoured of capitalism as this one - they've closed borders w/ a limited amount of countries they feel they don't need guest workers from right now and everyone else is circulating freely. If you think that came because of misguided left wing pressure, I don't know what to tell ya.

The Cressida Dick situation is a genuine dilemma. Do you want to try to set a precedent that may not be followed in the future that the Commander is ultimately responsible for anything like this that happens under their watch if it means Patel having a free hand to appoint someone, likely Steve House, who is almost certainly going to be even worse? It’s not a clear-cut thing.

WRT protecting statues: Kit Malthouse on R4 this morning repeatedly mentioning threats to war memorials, which as far as I know no-one has ever even suggested targetting.

What the hell do borders, open or closed, have to do with allowing or forbbiding protests? You're pretty much proving my point, having measures be dropped in two boxes where one says "AUTHORITARIAN" and is therefore bad is dumb.

― Daniel_Rf, Monday, 15 March 2021 bookmarkflaglink

I know that article is to do with borders but the underlying theme here is further powers being given to the state as an emergency measure in a pandemic that will be carried forward in a post-pandemic world.

Obviously the article I linked to ties into open borders, that isn't something the conservatives will touch, so I am purely looking at how this debate is taking place on the left. And that tweet from Owen is clearly saying "authoritarian measures were not imposed quickly enough". What I see from OJ is confusion when he should be bringing clarity to these questions in the way that piece I linked to does.

The Churchill statue thing is a tough one because on the one hand I do want to shake ppl out of their demented state and let them know no one's ever threatened it in any way but on the other hand if something DID happen to it this would be undeniably awesome.

Lol @ Reclaim the streets putting the demo together and then not attending

They called it off because they would have been - still are going to be, presumably? - hit with the fines for it.

― Daniel_Rf, Monday, 15 March 2021 bookmarkflaglink

They raised a fund to pay these costs.

xxxxp

by the same token whoever replaces Kieth will doubtlessly be worse than him, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to enjoy seeing the cunt resigning or getting usurped in a leadership election. It's not quite heads on sticks but it can be satisfying seeing horrible public figures getting dumped, regardless of how bad their replacement is going to be.

I think Banky should take the head off the Jan Smuts statue and weld it onto Churchill's chest with little outstretched arms, so he looks like the mutant resistance leader in Total Recall.

I know that article is to do with borders but the underlying theme here is further powers being given to the state as an emergency measure in a pandemic that will be carried forward in a post-pandemic world.

I understand that but you have to think of the counterweight, which is quite in line with tory policy of the past decades - the state divorcing itself from its responsibilities and leaving us all to rot in a laissez faire capitalist hellhole. As I've said, authoritarian measures includes a hell of a lot - travel restrictions, lockdowns, curfews, closing of private businesses, mandatory masks in public spaces - that I haven't seen anyone on the left argue against. And the government has been very clear about wanting as little of that as possible, as it interferes with business, their man concern.

"The Cressida Dick situation is a genuine dilemma."

Sacking her is no solution but it will make cops pissed off. I say go for it.

xp - I don't agree that restriction on travel and business and masks in essential shops are authoritarian measures.

They are a clear restriction on individual's freedoms, they are the state stepping in to impose its will on the people. I don't really see how you could call them anything but.

misread that Jedward comment and disappointed that he didn't suggest that Piers Moran would try fucking the Churchill statue in his back garden

They are a clear restriction on individual's freedoms, they are the state stepping in to impose its will on the people. I don't really see how you could call them anything but.

― Daniel_Rf, Monday, 15 March 2021 bookmarkflaglink

To me these are a set of public health driven temporary measures to stop the spread of a disease that could've killed a lot more people.

Yes, this is a basic disagreement.

I think they are both, there's nothing in your defintion that contradicts mine. In times of major crisis like this one, the government steps in with measures that would be unacceptable in regular circumstances. This is an obvious danger, because these can easily get consolidated into rules that continue after the crisis has been averted, but it would also mean disaster not to impose any.

My God, I can't even imagine the uproar if someone dynamited Churchill *fingers crossed*

rigging up the Jan Smits statue like he's fellating Churchill would also be hilarious

Ugh, Anna Birley from RTS should’ve been drawn on whether or not Dick resigns because a) damned if you do/don’t b) it’ll be a live issue for ages because the Met may well be negligent in the way they handled previous offences by the guy who has been charged, which will also be on her. My friend Jamie is the most articulate of the organisers (never misses an opportunity to be intersectional or anti-transphobe) and I bet she’s banging her head against a wall rn.

I think that A**a B*rl*y is a pro-KS (and was anti-JC) sort of person?

Have seen many many posts from her over the years and gained that impression.

I've got more tangential questions about the use of "resign" as a political gesture and the extent to which it might actually be counterproductive in many situations or at best a distraction from bigger underlying issues but on the other hand it's not like I care what happens to a cop and they should be defunded

NEW Keir Starmer scores his first negative rating from @IpsosMORI and slips behind Boris Johnson and the Govt. for first time😲

Net satisfaction

Johnson: -7 (+2)
Government: -7 (+3)
Starmer: -9 (-14)

Changes from Feb 2020. (1/5) pic.twitter.com/GrckyIUL1p

— Cameron Garrett (@CameronGarrett_) March 15, 2021

nine point deduction!

relegation haunted kieth

"Do you think Cressida Dick, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, should or should not resign over the way police handled the Sarah Everard vigil?"

Should: 23%
Should not: 47%

[18-24]
Should: 34%
Should not: 30%

[65+]
Should: 19%
Should not: 59%

Via YouGov, 15 March

— Stats for Lefties (@LeftieStats) March 15, 2021

Young ppl are ready to Tory

the comments even on usually sane places have been depressing af - I have seen lots of "if they didn't break the law it wouldn't have happened to them" and "nobody should be gathering anywhere for any reason", especially from people outside London

"... Labour had been making gains not from Tories but Greens/Lib Dems, yet there are some signs those voters are now returning to the Lib Dems."

on the latest Lord Hayward polling

Can't Truss it

New: Downing Street confirms part-time Women and Equalities Minister Liz Truss will not be attending a meeting of the Crime and Justice Taskforce this evening to discuss 'violence against women and girls'. Neither will anyone else from Government Equalities Office.

— David Wilcock (@DavidTWilcock) March 15, 2021

even when Truss can be bothered attending meetings, she's rarely *all there* anyway

Can't believe a government led by Boris Johnson isn't doing anything about violence against women

If Zarah Sultana was leader Labour would be 20 points ahead pic.twitter.com/GpB5qtCHMM

— black lives matter (@jrc1921) March 15, 2021

Westminster bridge is blocked there might be some traffic delays! pic.twitter.com/4q3s4ZKwzp

— JEDWARD (@planetjedward) March 15, 2021

Prince Andrew needs to be locked up! @RoyalFamily

— JEDWARD (@planetjedward) March 14, 2021

"We strained at the leash to get things going," one cabinet minister admits. "I was aggressively for that - but I have learned that it is better to go slow."

A Metropolitan Police officer, who was involved in the search operation to find Sarah Everard, has been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct for sharing an “inappropriate graphic” with colleagues: https://t.co/OfEzhDJElG

— Sienna Rodgers (@siennamarla) March 15, 2021

Cressida Dick's part in the Jean Charles de Menezes affair seems to have been completely forgotten btw.

and Starmer at DPP in not prosecuting the officers involved in shooting someone through the head 7 times for the capital crime of using public transport and not looking white enough.