National politics

[SteveH]

I am being cynical again...........

Yesterday...   "Scottish court rules prorogation of parliament is unlawful "

Today .......    "A new generation of Royal Navy frigates has been won by a consortium led by Babcock.
                      The firm has been named preferred bidder for the £1.25bn contract for five Type 31 warships.
                      The deal secures hundreds of jobs at Rosyth in Fife"

[Hugo]

Jeremy Corbyn walks into a Bank to cash a cheque. "Good morning, could you please cash this cheque for me?"

Cashier:"It would be my pleasure. Could you please show me your ID?"

Corbyn :"Actually, I did not bring my ID with me as I didn't think there was any need to. I am Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party.

Cashier:"Yes, I know who you are, but with all the regulations and monitoring of the banks because of impostors and forgers and requirements of the legislation etc., I must insist on seeing ID."

Corbyn: Just ask anyone here at the bank who I am and they will tell you. Everybody knows who I am."

Cashier: "I am sorry, Mr Corbyn, but these are the bank rules under the legislation, and I must follow them."

Corbyn,"Come on please, I am urging you, please cash this cheque."

Cashier: "Look sir, here is an example of what we can do. One day, Tiger Woods came into the bank without ID. To prove he was Tiger Woods he pulled out his putter and made a beautiful shot across the bank into a cup. With that shot we knew him to be Tiger Woods and cashed his cheque."

"Another time, Andre Agassi came in without ID. He pulled out his tennis racket and made a fabulous shot where the tennis ball landed in my cup. With that shot we cashed his cheque. So, sir, what can you do to prove that it is you and only you?"

Corbyn stands there thinking and thinking and finally says, "Honestly, my mind is a total blank...there is nothing that comes to my mind. I can't think of a single thing. I have absolutely no idea what to do. I don't have a clue."

Cashier: "Will that be large or small notes , Mr Corbyn. ?....

 

[DVT]

 

I reckon without the media lies (it's not just the politicians) and scaremongering we would all have a better idea of what was in store.  I just wish someone would come up with a definitive list if what will happen if we go, without any name-calling and slagging off of the opposing parites.  I suspect it will be quite a short list.

As an insulin dependent diabetic can someone explain to my why I will not be able to get my essential medication if we drop out of Europe.  That is one of the stories going round, however I am one of the few to use animal-based insulin produced in Wrexham so it seems I'll be OK ...

https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-are-insulin-supplies-really-at-risk-from-a-no-deal-brexit

[Hugo]

Talk about bad timing and the way Labour seem to be heading.


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49776100

[Hugo]

Well, Boris has broken the law after all and Labour are sitting on the fence ( as usual ) over Brexit       

It's a mad mad world in Politics right now



https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-49807552

[Bri Roberts]

Time to go for walk, Hugo. 

[Hugo]

Sounds like a good idea Bri         

[Ian]

Had the court concluded that he'd misled the Queen deliberately there is still an ancient law on the books that would have allowed for his beheading...

[Hugo]

Brexit: MPs' vote on deal ruled out by Speaker John Bercow

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-50128740

[Ian]

The next General election could be very interesting. Apart from the Tories having to make three apologies this morning, including one for having tweeted a doctored video about Keir Starmer, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) found that a government claim that people moved into work faster on universal credit (UC) than under the old system could not be substantiated.

Two other claims – that jobcentres will pay an advance to people who need it and that rent can be paid directly to landlords under UC – were also found to be unsubstantiated.

The adverts, part of a £225,000 Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) campaign to detoxify UC, appeared in print in the Metro newspaper and on its website, as well as on the MailOnline, in May and June.

They attracted 44 complaints, including from the Motor Neurone Disease Association, the Disability Benefits Consortium (DBC) and the anti-poverty charity Zacchaeus 2000 Trust (Z2K), who have called for the DWP to apologise in light of the ASA ruling.

The Z2K chief executive, Raji Hunjan, also demanded an investigation into working practices at the department.

“If it has misled the public on UC, its flagship policy, what else is it misleading us on?” Hunjan said. “The next government must engage with the compelling evidence that points to the harm UC is causing, leaving many people reliant on food banks and others destitute. Enough is enough.”

Full story here

[Ian]

The other apologies concerned attempts by Jacob Rees-Mogg to draw a line under his remarks that the victims of the Grenfell fire lacked “common sense” and the doctored video of Keir Starmer.

The rapper Stormzy joined relatives, including the nephew of a Grenfell Tower victim who died after being told to stay put by the London fire brigade, in angrily dismissing Jacob Rees-Mogg’s statement that victims should have left the burning tower block.

Rees-Mogg issued “a profound apology” after he told a radio interviewer: “I think if either of us were in a fire, whatever the fire brigade said, we would leave the burning building. It just seems the common sense thing to do.”

The Starmer video involved doctoring a video of Starmer appeared to be non-plussed over a question which,i n fact, he had already answered in full. Fullfactg.org has already condemned it but interestingly, even Piers Morgan said the Conservative version was unfair. 

Morgan tweeted: “You doctored the end of the clip you originally put out, to make it look like @Keir_Starmer had no answer to my question. In fact he answered immediately. You could have had plenty of fun with that interview anyway - why fake it?”

Why does this matter?

The incident highlights the difficulty in reporting on misinformation and online duplicity during a general election. The extra attention given to misleading social media posts often creates a feedback loop, with algorithms on Twitter and Facebook responding to the high levels of user engagement by pushing it into more people’s feeds.

This has led to fears that there is very little to be lost by political parties reinforcing lies and deceptive material in a media environment where the aim is often to get attention at all costs and by any means. After the misleading edit of the video was highlighted by the BBC journalist Daniel Sandford, the video attracted almost a million additional views.

In very simple terms, telling lies works in the age of social media.

[Ian]

Well, after the Tories spent yesterday shooting themselves in their collective feet, today it's Labour's turn. Ian Austin has contributed to the incredible mix we have in this election by describing JC as 'unfit to lead' as PM.

It's no secret whatsoever that I agree about Corbyn, although it's mainly his lack of decisiveness in dealing with the fringe groups I deplore, but to argue that the previously Labour-voting electorate should now vote for the egregious Johnson is, I think, taking things a bit too far.

[Ian]

There is more. His local paper reports:

"The adopted son of a Jewish refugee who escaped the Holocaust, Mr Austin’s aunts and grandmother were murdered by the Nazis.

He says his late father Fred, who died earlier this year, taught him to “always stand up to racism and prejudice”.

“I have done that all my life and I could not stand by as the Labour Party has been poisoned by racism, extremism and intolerance under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership,” he added.

“I regard myself as proper, decent, traditional Labour, but I think he is completely unfit to lead our country. "

This promises to be the most...interesting election in my lifetime.

[Hugo]

The situation changes on a daily basis and now Tom Watson has resigned as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.     I think that the present day politics has lost all its credibility and instead of uniting the country all it is doing is dividing it.
How can anyone decide which way to vote?            The Conservatives only represent a fraction of the voters that have actually voted for them and the Labour Party has turned into a Marxist Party while the Liberals are campaigning on a remain in the EU policy  against the wishes of the majority of people who voted to leave the EU

The SNP are seeking independence  but expect to have no hard borders with the rest of the UK.    The fact that if they do leave the UK it will take years for them to get into the EU but they can expect opposition to their entry from Spain.   In addition they have been told already that they cannot have the pound sterling as their currency or the Euro for that matter.   In addition there must be a brexit type divorce settlement from Scotland

I don't know if the Communist Party are putting any candidates forward but perhaps they are happy that their policies are being represented by the Labour Party.

No wonder people are confused by all of this

[Blongb]

The other apologies concerned attempts by Jacob Rees-Mogg to draw a line under his remarks that the victims of the Grenfell fire lacked “common sense” and the doctored video of Keir Starmer.

The rapper Stormzy joined relatives, including the nephew of a Grenfell Tower victim who died after being told to stay put by the London fire brigade, in angrily dismissing Jacob Rees-Mogg’s statement that victims should have left the burning tower block.

Rees-Mogg issued “a profound apology” after he told a radio interviewer: “I think if either of us were in a fire, whatever the fire brigade said, we would leave the burning building. It just seems the common sense thing to do.”

Jacob Rees-Mogg's comment was absolutely the right one to make. In the event of a fire you get out, stay out and call the brigade out. Its so basic, that it beggars belief London Fire Service didn't follow that procedure, if they had a lot of lives would most certainly have been saved. To be giving people the advice to stay put in their flats 2 hours after arriving on site, is in my opinion, wholly unforgivable and the top management of London Fire Service are not fit to hold their positions. (politically correct, promoted persons, instead of the best person for the job)