POLITICS CORNER

[Tizer]

Talking of the BBC...I don't hear much from Laura Kuenssberg and Katya Adler these days.

[Stanley]

I've heard both Peter in the last few days, Katya on the vaccine affair. But they are not getting the exposure they had during Brexit.
Ken, I agree with you. Something quite murky going on and everyone who is asked either clams up or starts defending Cameron. The fact he needs defending at all has some bearing.....

[Stanley]

The Greensill affair seems to be gathering momentum.... See THIS BBC report.

[plaques]

From Stanley's link.

The government has said Mr Greensill's role was unpaid and "approved in the normal manner".

Whenever you see statements like that it is generally far from normal with no previous presidents. I hope someone will ask the obvious question about how many unpaid, unknown, advisors there are / has been. And here's me thinking that's why we have all these people employed in Whitehall to give advice.

[Stanley]

Exactly Ken and "approved in the normal manner" covers a multitude of sins.....

[Stanley]

The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities (CRED) was launched last summer in the wake of anti-racism Black Lives Matter protests last summer. In its report published on Wednesday, it concluded the UK was not yet a "post-racial country," but family structure and social class had a bigger impact than race on people's life chances.
This has not gone down well, attracting accusations of whitewash and at least one resignation. (LINK)
What struck me was the way Johnson has aged. Being PM is not good for you!

[Tizer]

I've posted this in the Politics thread because I see it as just one example of the many ways in which our politicians and so-called regulators are failing us by letting businesses and other organisations get away with continuing to act openly in ways that are at least unacceptable and often downright dangerous (take Grenfell as another example). No wonder people have lost confidence in government and are turning into libertarians, populists and far right extremists.
`Sewage discharged into rivers 400,000 times in 2020' LINK
`Water companies discharged raw sewage into rivers in England more than 400,000 times in 2020, according to new figures published by the Environment Agency. Untreated effluent, including human waste, wet wipes and condoms, was released into waterways for more than three million hours last year...'.

[Stanley]

Agreed Peter. The key is the regulators who don't regulate because they are set up to give big capital owners an easy ride. Largely a Tory tactic and you can see who the chief beneficiaries are by looking at the identities of the Tory Party donors.
When the water carriage system of sewage disposal was being introduced in the late 19th century many asked where all the water would come from and how it would be got rid of. Possible the best and most efficient system was the 'dry earth' system as that resulted in valuable fertilizer for agriculture but that would not have worked indoors or have been totally odour free. That was what swung it for water carriage and today we have to live with its disadvantages. The main one is that heavy rain increases to volumes beyond what the plant can cope with. The cure is more investment by privatised industry seeking to make a profit. Spotted the flaw have you?

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report on what seems to be the imminent adoption of some form of certification of vaccination. Michael Gove has an article in one of the papers supporting the idea and quoting Israel's 'Green Pass'. This seems to be how government policy is promulgated these days so a passport is beginning to look more than likely.

[plaques]

Certificate schemes. This will require a parliamentary bill to put this in action. To get round the possibility of a MP rebellion it may have a sunset clause to limit the time period.

I tend to think this is no more than a big political game with Boris offering this half baked idea to open the country up. More than likely there is no real working plan and the whole idea will go belly up should it actually be implemented. Boris will hope that the MPs, particularly Labour MPs will vote against it then claiming the high ground that he was trying to do the best for the country and that if there is a third wave of the virus it would be Labour's fault.
What a complicated world we live in.

[Tizer]

The Greensill-Cameron scandal is getting deeper and dirtier. The Times and Sunday Times have been running articles based on their investigations for some weeks now and the stories get more lurid day by day. The front page of the Sunday Times today tells how Lex Greensill told NHS officials back in 2012 that `We don't need your approval' for his multi-billion pound loan scheme. He claimed to have the personal authority of David Cameron (PM at the time). As we all now know Cameron went on to work for Greensill and was given share options worth (then) £60 million pounds.

[Stanley]

And when investigative journalists like those at Private Eye asked questions they were told nothing to see here....
It is perfectly obvious what is happening here. The infamous 'revolving door' whereby politicians morph into advisers to people with lots of money is a scandal. Let's also give a mention to the sources of funding the Tories enjoy and which also proved to be crucial for the Leave faction in the Brexit debate. We can be forgiven for thinking there are politicians who can be bought and Cameron and Osborne look like likely candidates.

[Stanley]

I'm listening to people arguing very earnestly for a quicker relaxing of restrictions on everything from pubs to airlines.
I don't care how well researched their arguments are, have they forgotten what happened last summer when we relaxed our grip? Economic and 'behavioural' reasons carry no weight with me. All I am interested in is the infection rate and the death toll.

[plaques]

Cameron's lobbying saga rolls on. Link There is now more than a suggestion that he (Cameron) was directly lobbying for Greensill to have a larger share in providing finance for NHS suppliers. The lobbying loophole seems to be based round the definition of 'Outside' lobbyist ie: someone employed by an outside lobbying organisation against an 'Inside' lobbyist ie: one who does it directly for the organisation. Cameron was supposedly on the inside.
Can't make it up can you.

[Marilyn]

I'm listening to people arguing very earnestly for a quicker relaxing of restrictions on everything from pubs to airlines.
I don't care how well researched their arguments are, have they forgotten what happened last summer when we relaxed our grip? Economic and 'behavioural' reasons carry no weight with me. All I am interested in is the infection rate and the death toll.

For once I am with you Stanley
( did I say that...did I really SAY that?)

[plaques]

I keep having these fantastic ideas.
The Garden Bridge
The airport in the Thames.
Tunnel from Ireland to Scotland.
Brexit
And now my latest master piece Covid passports.
But none of the others actually work.
Its not my job to make them work that's down to others. I can't help it if they can't do their job properly. I'm here to have fantastic ideas.

[Marilyn]

“Well...there is only one thing for it” said Pooh.
“What is that?” asked Piglet
“We must get a pot of hunny to every last person in the kingdom.” replied Pooh
“Will that help?” asked Piglet
“No” replied Pooh “not much, but when the pot is empty it will give them a place to store their Vaccination Passport safely...a secret place...nobody will ever know.”
“Why can’t they just keep the passport in their pockets? said Piglet quietly
“ I’ve always thought you lacked forethought and proper planning...” said Pooh, shaking his head. “Best leave the brainwork to me”.

[Stanley]

He's good at ideas Ken, you could have added the water cannon...
See HIS BBC report.
The government should create a food security minister to ensure continued progress in helping to feed poverty-hit people, according to MPs. A report from the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee says progress made during the pandemic should be maintained as lockdown eases. Ministers mobilised their departments during the pandemic, "but this impetus needs to be sustained," MPs say. And the government should consider enshrining in law a "right to food".
I couldn't agree more. It is a shameful thing that we have people, especially children, going hungry in a rich country like ours. Redirect some of the resources blown away on high profile statement projects into feeding our poor!

[plaques]

“ I’ve always thought you lacked forethought and proper planning...” said Pooh, shaking his head. “Best leave the brainwork to me”.

I like that. When / if the covid becomes less of the blanket covering headlines then Brexit will be shown to be the really big problem. So far there hasn't been one fantastic deal to our advantage. Everything so far is at the best equal to what we had with the EU but generally speaking puts us in a worse position than we had before our leaving. The big ticket item of fishing is a prime example. No advanced planning, no thoughts as to who were going to buy all OUR fish if the EU said they didn't want them. Remember when we were part of the EU we helped to frame the rules about Third country status but now we are ourselves a Third country the rules come as a bit of a surprise.
It looks like food banks are here to stay for a very very long time.

[Marilyn]

I feel your pain, Plaques....

[Tizer]

Yes, I like both Plaques and Maz's posts!

[Stanley]

For sheer brass neck you can't really beat the way the Tories have ignored the fact that Brexit has not been the overwhelming success we were promised. And in case you'd forgotten, the worst effects aren't clear yet in the statistics. The really objectionable thing to me is that when the crap does hit the fan it will be blamed on Covid, not allotted to Brexit. Just wait and see...

[Stanley]

I'm listening to NI politicians talking about the overnight violence on the streets. They all agree on one thing, that at the root of the violence is the deep unease of the Unionist community caused by PM Johnson's assurances that Brexit would not result in border problems being seen as direct lies.
Downing Street of course denies this and says that criminals are at the root of the trouble.
Take your pick.....

[Tizer]

The Chinese treatment of the Uyghurs and other Muslims in camps in Xinjiang is bad enough but even when those people leave China they are being pursued with threats against themselves or their families back home. I've copied some of the information here for one of our members who can't access the BBC web site...

`The cost of speaking up against China' By Joel Gunter, BBC News' LINK
`Women who made allegations last month of rape and sexual abuse in Chinese detention camps have been harassed and smeared in the weeks since. Rights groups say the attacks are typical of an aggressive campaign by China to silence those who speak up....In conversations with the BBC over the past few weeks, 22 people who have left Xinjiang to live abroad described a pattern of threats, harassment, and public character attacks they said were designed to deter them from speaking out about alleged human rights abuses back home. According to UN estimates, China has detained more than a million Uyghurs and other Muslims in camps in Xinjiang. The Chinese state has been accused of an array of abuses there including forced labour, sterilisation, torture, rape, and genocide. China denies those charges, saying its camps are "re-education" facilities for combatting terrorism..'.

The article goes on to describe the experience of one of the women who is now in the Netherlands. She received a video call form her sister's phone number and with sister's name. When she answered the picture was a policeman saying `"What are you up to Qelbinur? Who are you with?". It was not the first time so she took a screenshot. The policeman saw her do it so he removed his numbered police jacket. She took another screenshot and both photos are shown in the BBC article.

The article continues: `Among the few who have fled Xinjiang and spoken publicly, many have received a call like the one to Sedik that morning - from a police officer or government official at their family home, or from a relative summoned to a police station. Sometimes the calls contain vague advice to consider the welfare of their family in Xinjiang, sometimes direct threats to detain and punish relatives. Others have been publicly smeared in press conferences or state media videos; or been subjected to barrages of messages or hacking attempts directed at their phones. (Last week, Facebook said that it had discovered "an extremely targeted operation" emanating from China to hack Uyghur activists abroad.) Some of those who spoke to the BBC - from the US, UK, Australia, Norway, the Netherlands, Finland, Germany, and Turkey - provided screenshots of threatening WhatsApp, WeChat and Facebook messages; others described in detail what had been said in phone and video calls. Everyone described some form of detention or harassment of their family members in Xinjiang by local police or state security officials.'

[chinatyke]

Thanks Tiz. I am aware of the current position regarding that BBC program and we have been getting the Chinese response on TV. It is true that re-education centres were set up in Xinjiang. It is also true that there has been no repeated acts of terrorism by the Uyghurs, like the massacre they carried out at Kunming station, since 2016. The Chinese government have lifted millions of these Muslims out of poverty and tried to change their stone-age views. Most people in Xinjiang seem to be happy and thriving and enjoying their prosperity as citizens of China.

Just as an example to counter the misrepresentations, do you realise I can board a train in Nanning tonight (or any night) without any restrictions, and travel to Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang? Would I be officially watched? Maybe, but who cares? I would certainly be watched by fellow passengers on the 59 hours 19 minutes journey, because the Chinese are a curious and friendly people. Honestly, I have never felt as free as I do now.

The Western Press is very much anti-China biased. Make no mistake, China will be the number one nation in the World very soon. Does it matter who holds this position? So long as it is not those Yanks, a nation of stupid people and god-botherers in my opinion.