Politics Today

[DB9]

6.6m people in the US have filed for unemployment benefit in the past week, A staggering amount

 

[IndoMike]

6.6m people in the US have filed for unemployment benefit in the past week, A staggering amount

Total 16m in the last 3 weeks. Shocking

 

[DB9]

Total 16m in the last 3 weeks. Shocking

Wonder if Trump reopened up the old coal mines and steelworks that he promised to?

 

[RedPaul]

I'm surprised he doesn't put the 16 mill to work, building the wall.
He'd have it built in no time, for relatively little cost and of course never again would any foreign disease, drugs or illegal worker be able to enter the great USA...

 

[elginCity]

Additional £10k expenses, on top of the £26k they already receive, granted to MPs to help them with working from home.

Why are MPs getting extra £10k in expenses while businesses are collapsing, asks Nick Ferrari

MPs are being offered an additional £10,000 in expenses to help them work from home. Is that wise while businesses are collapsing, Nick Ferrari asked the Culture Secretary.

www.lbc.co.uk

 

[Alistair20000]

Not sure that working from home should increase MP's costs.

 

[Spoonz Red E]

Not sure that working from home should increase MP's costs.

A lot of ink to buy - printing out all that money

 

[IndoMike]

Two-thirds of public think UK coronavirus response too slow – poll

Amid uncertainty about government strategy, survey finds 90% back lockdown

www.theguardian.com

Majority think Govt has been too slow..
90% think lockdown is the correct policy

 

[Stuffy]

Morning Stuffers,

There's no reason not to think he's not his own man. Yes, he got the job because Javid refused to bend to Cummings' will, but Sunak is an ambitious politician and wouldn't want to turn down the plum job with real prospects that was offered to him. As Al has observed, we are living in an age when a day is a long time in politics. A vacancy will arise at the top of the Conservative Party sooner or later. The precise timing will depend on the reasons for Johnson's departure - medical retirement, overthrown from within (as was Thatcher), an election defeat or a visit by the man with the scythe.

When this contest actually happens Sunak will have two huge things in his favour. Firstly, the Conservative Party is likely still to have no coherent ideology, beyond a worshipping of B Johnson and half baked English nationalism ("From Worthing to Workington" as Johnson boasted - no mention of the other three nations in the UK). The desperate need for the drafting of a broader appeal favours bright, superficially attractive characters like Sunak, just as it did Blair and Cameron.

Secondly, he'll be up against a ragbag of mediocrities, some more swivel eyed than others. Or basically decent but uninspiring blokes like your Mr Buckland. And the fact that his competitors are unlikely to be able to seize the opportunity to reinvent the party will also count in his favour.

Plus Cummings will be gone by then; sacked, flounced (most likely) or cleared out with the rest of the Johnson baggage. Even if he stayed, Sunak would have long since ceased to be scared of him... (imho)

Good afternoon Arthur.

I'm very limited what I can say on this thread as you only have pop back and scan previous pages to see my input has been very limited. However, I have my beliefs which I put forward from time to time while endeavouring not to ridicule people in the process.

The name Cummings pops up all too frequently but is he unique? Take the mould that produced Jonathan Powell and Alastair Campbell, chip bits off from here and there and you get Dominic Cummings - although I'm not altogether sure that Cummings churned out porn for Forum magazine Take Campbell again, did he not force government Minister Robin Cook to dump either his wife or his lover? And didn't he also proclaim that Sir John Scarlett was his 'mate' only for Scarlett to suddenly be given the top job at MI6. Powell and Campbell held great sway over a public elected government.

As for Trump, his biggest crime by far was Putting Britain at the front of the queue thereby tipping the balance that made Brexit that more certain. Those spitted out feathers are still fluttering down. As I've said before, the bloke is a twit who needs a respected diplomat stood behind him to vet his utterances before he presses the send button.

As for the current parliamentarians, they're a pretty bland bunch on both sides of the house. Yes, I stand or fall by believing Buckland can eventually make a name for himself, we'll just have to wait and see. As for your take on Boris, I feel you are quite wrong and believe his brush with coronavirus will be a plus with the public. Finally, 'Sir' Keir Starmer, he really looks a decent bloke as I said before. But come election time the dreaded right-wing papers will remind people that he was on the board of the Trotskyist-linked Socialist Alternatives magazine. Also, when under his leadership as Director of Public Prosecutions, the CPS failed to prosecute serial rapist John Worboys for 75 of his suspected crimes. Then of course there was the failure to prosecute Jimmy Savile despite the evidence of his offending. The "quiet people" are watching and listening.

 

[Rosencrantz]

I'll check it out when I can.

If you can access it out in Indo, then check out this weeks John Oliver's Last Week Tonight show. That's where I picked it up from. I do fear for your blood pressure though when you see it