POLITICS CORNER

[Stanley]

Later...... SEE THIS BBC report on the latest bid to keep in the forefront of the news by Boris Johnson. With colleagues like this T May needs no other enemies.
On another matter, what the man does in his spare time is his own affair but I heard the suggestion yesterday that his divorce is carefully calculated to gain the maximum publicity effect. I can only say that I wouldn't put this past him. There is also a report that an old assessment drawn up when Michael Howard sacked him for allegedly lying about a relationship has been revised and issued again. The Cabinet Office of course denies this.....
All good copy for the papers but is it constructive politics?

[Tizer]

A couple of items from the BBC web site's review of the papers today...

1. The Observer leads with what it calls a "bombshell" poll, suggesting members of Britain's three biggest unions - Unite, Unison and the GMB - now support a second Brexit vote by a margin of two-to-one. It believes the survey will "cause political shockwaves on the eve of the party conference season". The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, tells the paper his preferred option is for voters to be given a say on any deal in a general election. He says he believes the government will almost certainly fall apart within the next six months. However, he is keeping all options open, including supporting a new referendum.

2. A former KGB agent who fled to Britain in 1998 tells the Sunday Express he was ordered by Moscow to murder dissidents using the same method as the Salisbury attack on Sergei Skripal. Boris Karpichov says he was told to kill two targets by smearing poison on their door handle. According to the Sunday Mirror, four more Russian suspects are yet to be named in the investigation into the Salisbury attack - in addition to the two whose pictures were released during the week. Security sources have apparently said that there were six people in an assassination squad, codenamed "The Cleaners".

[plaques]

....says he was told to kill two targets by smearing poison on their door handle

And when you have done your bit throw anything you have left in a charity box so that someone fortunate enough to find / steal it can experience our deadly technology. That way they will never trace it back to us. Even Mickey Spillane would baulk at such a feeble plot.
Ps, not a conspiracy theory just a statement.

[Stanley]

No wife, no free government pad and now his former colleagues round on him and call him a schoolboy. If this is a bid for power by Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson it is going off track a bit......
Good Profile of John Martin McDonnell on R4 yesterday morning.

[Tizer]

If the election of Trump in America is anything to go by, Boris will be the next PM in Britain. It's like that Dead Ringers programme where it turns out at the end that Earth is just a set for a game show.

[PanBiker]

We need Trinity and Neo.

[Stanley]

Who They?
See THIS BBC report on what looks suspiciously like a life line being tossed to Mrs May. Problem is that whatever ground the EU gives it won't be on the major unresolved matters and I wonder how T May will justify swerving round her 'Red Lines'.
Meanwhile in the Westminster Village the peasants are revolting saying that they will vote any version of Chequers down by at least 80 votes.
The Tories ("you can trust us") have managed to produce a situation where the only sensible thing to do is cancel Xmas and work through, it will be unforgivable if they all swan off and decision making dies for a month. Will they do this? Will they heckers! I heard an EU politician (can't remember who he was) yesterday saying that Brexit was 'Lose Lose' for the UK. I think he could be right.
If I was in charge of any business relying on EU linkages I would be in full mitigation mode now but crucially, keeping stum in case I was accused of leaving the sinking ship. I am convinced that this is happening now.
On a slightly different tack, but I think closely related, I heard a very sensible sounding spokesman for the retail industry who was asked what the prospects are for the big High Street Traders and it was obvious (but he didn't say it) that he thinks they are dire. However he said that the ones who would survive and might even prosper were those businesses whose trade relied on basic values of high quality, fair trading and often niche markets. I suspect this could apply to a lot of smaller businesses. This may be where we are heading, a nation of small manufacturers and shopkeepers.

[Tizer]

The Telegraph cartoon this morning....A man is walking up the front steps of a building to a door with the sign above `European Research Group'. There is a notice on the door and it reads:
In case of fire
Don't go that way
Go a better way
That we don't know

[PanBiker]

Who They?

Main characters (I should also have included Morpheus) from "The Matrix" first of a film trilogy about a dystopian alternative reality world. Released in 1999 the trilogy is a massive Sci-Fi classic.

The Matrix - Wiki

The Matrix - IMDB

[BBvideo=560,315]https://youtu.be/vKQi3bBA1y8[/BBvideo]

[Stanley]

Ah, I've seen it Ian, never did understand what was happening.......

See THIS and ask yourself what you would do. My answer to the question is dead simple.... Write to the EU and rescind the Article 150 letter on the grounds that Brexit is too dangerous and difficult. Then engage fully in the councils that govern the EU and work through diplomacy to modify the structure from within. Solves all the problems at a stroke and enables normal governance to be resumed. Simples!!
We are constantly reassured by selective use of statistics that the economy is doing well and buoyant forecasts about life after Brexit promise a bright future. However, factual studies like that made public this morning by the Institute of Fiscal Studies casts a somewhat different light on things. (LINK) They find that wages for the middling class are 3% down compared with 2008. On average they have lost £800 per annum. Put another way, the gradual rise of wages is at its lowest since the 19th century.

[plaques]

Statistics is one of those things you can play with forever. Take this example. A lot of foreign workers are now going home. These workers are on the bottom rung of the pay scales. Therefore when they leave the country the average wage increases although nobody actually gets a pay rise. If these people also have a high level of unemployment then the employment level percentages also rises. And so it goes on.

[Tizer]

Statistics is one of those things you can play with forever.

Another example for you, Plaques. I've just read a claim that sales of electric cars are going well in the UK and went up from 1 in every 20 cars sold ten years ago to 1 in 12 now. What the writer doesn't consider is that sales of electric cars may be static and sales of conventional cars are going down and you'd still get the same statistic on that basis.

I heard Michael Gove this morning talking about Brexit and he said: `We are open to all options'. That's politician speak for `You can suggest anything, but we'll do what we've already decided.'

[Stanley]

I heard Gove as well. What puzzles me is that my reading of the latest statistics is that we import 53% of our food, in the interview it was said that we grew 60%. Take your pick.....
We are saved, the Brexiteers have an easy answer to the Irish Problem.

[Tizer]

I heard someone saying that we should ban the import of any foreign food that doesn't match our standards of quality and of animal welfare and environmental care. I can't see how you can do that when we are unable to grow or raise enough of our food in the UK and some types can't be produced here anyway.

I've been listening to recorded episodes of `Morality In The 21st Century' on Radio 4 featuring Lord Sacks interviewing contributors and young people. They're excellent and raise lots of important issues followed by discussion on how we might be affected and what we can do about it. Although morality is in the title a lot relates to politics and business, such as how we can live with artificial intelligence. Full details are on this web page: LINK and the podcasts can be downloaded from this page: LINK

[Stanley]

I listened to most of them Tiz. I agree but am not enamoured with Sacks and the way he delivers. Can't put my finger on it but something grates with me.
The Cabinet seem to be perfectly satisfied with our arrangements for Der Tag if it goes wrong. Beware the Ides of March!
I note that there seems to have been a shift away from ousting the PM during the final stages of the negotiations, I suspect because nobody wants the job. Instead there are now open opinions that as soon as Brexit is accomplished and she has done the dirty work there should be a leadership election. This seems to suggest that the expectation is that the aftermath of March will be so bad that a scapegoat will be needed. I suspect they are right and this is acceptance of what is clearly wrong is one of the worst aspects of what is going on at the moment. Secretly I think that many MPs agree with our opinion that Brexit is the biggest political mistake this country has made in living memory, and I include my own which goes back further than most.

[Stanley]

Later.... See THIS Report in the Independent on an opinion voiced by Mark Serwotka who is General Secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union. He says that the anti Semitism furore against Labour was instigated by Israel to divert attention from their actions and undermine the Palestinian cause. I don't know whether he is right or not but it's a plausible theory and I would like to see evidence.

[Tizer]

New York Times...
`At a time when even Mr. Trump acknowledged that the focus should be on millions of Americans in the path of the storm, the always-about-me president could not restrain himself for long. Angry at criticism of his response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico last year, he denied on Thursday that nearly 3,000 people had died, falsely calling it a made-up number by Democrats out to get him.' LINK

[chinatyke]

Security sources have apparently said that there were six people in an assassination squad, codenamed "The Cleaners".

That proves they were British: 6 men to do a 1 man job!

[PanBiker]

What I don't get about this is that there is no direct evidence here, none that would stand up in court anyway, it's all circumstance and supposition.
What they have is a few CCTV pictures of two blokes in Salisbury. Claimed traces of the nerve agent in their hotel room. If that's the case why aren't the blokes in intensive care? Apparently everyone else who has come into contact with it has either been extremely ill and made miraculous recoveries from a deadly and non survivable substance (which in itself is a bit weird) or are indeed dead (but the victim was medically compromised to start with).

I'm puzzled, it may well be as the government says, however, without evidence to charge and convict this is now a non story costing millions to the taxpayer and I reckon now is only being used to take the public eye off the main event, our nearing plunge into the abyss. Bugger the Russians, even if true it looks like a spook on spook hit and not a very good one at that. To elaborate a plot, as I said before much easier ways to get shut if that is the aim.

[plaques]

Can I come up with my latest theory? Lets imagine these Russians did spread a bit of nasty stuff on door knobs. Our people put all the facts together , imaginary or otherwise, and conclude 'they did it'. Putin's mob locate these blundering Russians and perhaps because they are working a slideline for one of the oligarchs in addition to their ordinary job he hangs them out to dry. Putin has nothing to lose. The two suspects carry on making fools of themselves and may implicate the mastermind to save their own skins. Putin now becomes the good guy, the Oligarch the real villain and Mrs May with egg on her face.
Sorry Tizer its in my DNA to be sceptical.

[Stanley]

....only being used to take the public eye off the main event, our nearing plunge into the abyss.
It's certainly being used for that!
I heard a report this morning that Dominic Raab said after a 30 minute phone call to Brussels that negotiating on Ireland is going well. The response to this from Brussels is incredulity, their version is that the talks are at 'an impasse'. Typical of what is filtering down to us. Who do you believe? (LINK)

[Stanley]

I watched David Gauke stating that the protests by prison officers protesting against the dangers they face and the lack of support from the Justice Department are unlawful. I would have thought that the major 'unlawful act' was an employer ignoring health and safety and allowing its workers to be exposed to the level of danger that undoubtedly exists. Much of this can be traced back to prison policies that have starved the system of funding, discarded staff and lost a large number of experienced officers.

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report that May is irritated by speculation about her future in general and Johnson in particular. Actually she is in this instance, quite right. Instead of playing schoolyard games and plotting her people should all be working together to mitigate the effects of Brexit. Mind you, the best way would be to rescind the Article 50 letter......

[Tizer]

Sorry Tizer its in my DNA to be sceptical.

I'm glad you're being sceptical, Plaques! You're getting closer to the solution except you have to substitute GRU for oligarchs. Remember Putin has FSB/KGB written through him like Blackpool rock and there's no love lost between them and the GRU. The two GRU men will probably suffer an unfortunate accident for having bungled their attempt.

[Stanley]

I heard a worrying opinion expressed on the World Service this morning. A commentator said that the impression was that the EU is bending over backwards to give the PM the best chance of staying in post until some sort of agreement is reached. If this is true I can't think of a worse reason for moderating their views. Bad for them and bad for us in the long run. An agreement is only an agreement if it works and this one seems to hinge on digital methods of clearing customs at the Irish border to get round what is still an unresolved problem. My difficulty with this is that the majority of businesses are against this saying that the technology isn't in place and it can't work. T May has given herself no room to manoeuvre in that she has said publicly that it is Chequers or no deal.
See THIS report on the latest broadside from B Johnson. Problem is that he could be right but at the moment there is so much rumour and speculation swirling about concerning his private life one wonders how anyone could seriously consider anything he says let alone support him as a leadership contender.