POLITICS CORNER

[Tripps]

Came across this clip yesterday. President Biden Not very impressive.

[Stanley]

I'll bet there are times when I don't appear to be at my best. He doesn't seem to be doing too badly at the moment.

[Tripps]

I'll bet there are times when I don't appear to be at my best. He doesn't seem to be doing too badly at the moment.

Not sure what evidence you'd need to change your mind about him. Perhaps the autocue stopped working and he had to think for himself.

Here's what those plain speaking folk in Australia are saying, very recently. President Biden

[plaques]

Nearer home. The NI protocol which Frost, Johnson, drew up and to which the DUP agreed to, is now being declared a load of rubbish and wants scrapping. Life isn't so simple, its now an International treaty which can't be broken so easily. From recent discussions between Frost and the DUP Frost said it was Teressa May's fault for starting the original discussions along these lines. Not a word about them being kicked into touch when Johnson devised his new super customs plan. Can you believe anything that this government says?

Triple lock manifesto promise looks like biting the dust. An aberration of statistics where if all the lower paid stop earning then the resultant average of those still earning will rise. This aberration would give pensioners a near 8% rise. Far too much is the cry but what about levelling up you may ask. And what about the poor sods who have suffered no income? Not a word. The UK is clearly heading towards a low income society

[chinatyke]

The UK is clearly heading towards a low income society

And why shouldn't it? Get realistic, the UK is a small fish in a big pond!

[Stanley]

Ken, I noticed Frost blaming Theresa.... They have no shame.
China, how well off people are is nothing to do with the size of the country. If that was true you'd be a millionaire! It's a consequence of how national income is divided and spent and that's where our problem lies....

[plaques]

The governments answer to the shortage of lorry drivers is simple. Let them work longer hours and add another trailer making it two trailers. (road train springs to mind). Bearing in mind that the average age of these drivers is 55 years and the majority are already working unsociable hours its difficult to see how making the conditions worse will attract younger drivers. All down to Brexit where we are making it more difficult for qualified foreign drivers to work in the UK. I'm sure I remember that Johnson promised that working conditions would NOT be watered down and would be maintained at the current EU level. (He lied)

[Stanley]

I think he did Ken. And you are quite right about hours and numbers of trailers. When I got my maximum length wagon and trailer (Almost 60ft long) Jack Platt told me the bigger the wagon the bigger the pillock driving it. I think he was right and that covers it.
Has anything connected with the 'withdrawal agreement' gone to plan?
Today the politicians have to explain why England lost.....

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report about reaction to Priti Patel's condemnation of the racist taunts directed at black footballers. I think Ming has a point. Patel's actions and reactions in cases like treatment of migrants and her allowing May's hostile environment to continue to disadvantage the Windrush generation could in themselves be described as racist. A quick grab at a sound bite doesn't change this.

[plaques]

Booing players for making a gesture of solidarity becomes the slippery slope of other cretinous imbecilic actions of booing opposing teams then their flag making it a total insult to the visiting country. All the Brexit jargon is about going it alone where all foreigners are becoming our enemies especially those in the EU. How long is it going to take before they turn the tables and say you bigots from the plague island can stop at home we don't want anything to do with you. The government should be condemning every racial action not being selective about which are OK and which are not. Similarly the FA should be closing venues down immediately plus eyewatering fines for persistent offenders.

[Tizer]

According to someone on this morning's Today programme booing is abuse. Will I be fined or thrown in jail for booing Boris Johnson if he comes to my town? And will the audience at the next Christmas pantomime be arrested for booing?
-----------------------------------------------------------

More seriously, the US political situation is sliding further into dangerous territory...
`Texas Democrats flee state to block Republican voting law' LINK
`Democratic politicians in Texas have left their state en masse in an effort to prevent Republicans there from passing a law to tighten voting rules. The move will temporarily paralyse the state's House of Representatives, which requires at least two-thirds of the 150 members be present for a vote. At least 50 House Democrats boarded two private jets from Austin to Washington DC on Monday. The move comes amid a wave of voting restrictions in Republican-led states. Republicans argue the measures are essential for election security but Democrats see them as an attack on the right to vote. The bill in Texas would ban 24-hour polling places and expand the authority of partisan poll watchers. A first vote is planned later this week.'...

[Whyperion]

Booing players for making a gesture of solidarity becomes the slippery slope of other cretinous imbecilic actions of booing opposing teams then their flag making it a total insult to the visiting country. All the Brexit jargon is about going it alone where all foreigners are becoming our enemies especially those in the EU. How long is it going to take before they turn the tables and say you bigots from the plague island can stop at home we don't want anything to do with you.

Dont forget these are the people that the Common sense of the British Public will inform them when they can wear masks without being compelled by legislation.

[Stanley]

Such a worrying report Peter. That American bloke on Today yesterday who has done a poll here said that America was a basket case and that we should take note because the signs were we are heading in the same direction.
The kicking of the cans down the road ends at the end of August.......Tin hats on Lads!

[Tizer]

I agree with him, for many reasons. We're well onto the slippery slope of populism, public disorder and the break up of the UK. All that with a pandemic, climate change and the smouldering embers of Brexit!

[plaques]

It looks like the UK is heading for a break up. We can't have that says the buffoon department . We are much stronger together as a group where we can negotiate better deals and use each others strength to improve living standards and lifestyles.
I wonder why we left the EU which was doing exactly that from a bigger base.

[Big Kev]

I wonder why we left the EU which was doing exactly that from a bigger base.

Best off asking the great unwashed (who may be having second thoughts now reality is biting).

[Stanley]

You are all correct I think. One thing is sure and certain, September onwards gives signs of being a rough passage.

[Tizer]

Although I'm concerned about protecting the environment and countering climate change I've never been attracted to the Green Party but now they've turned me off them even more - I've found that the party has a policy of backing "self-determination of gender". For me, that's as bad as believing in a flat Earth, Creationism, alien abductions etc. They're now filed in my Loony Box. `Green Party: Co-leader Sian Berry quits over transgender rights row' LINK

[Stanley]

And now I see there are people 'fighting for the right' to have no gender at all. Looking back I am glad I chose the path I did...

[Tizer]

A Guardian exclusive report that documents suggest Russia launched secret multi-agency effort to interfere in US democracy...
`Kremlin papers appear to show Putin’s plot to put Trump in White House' Guardian
`Vladimir Putin personally authorised a secret spy agency operation to support a “mentally unstable” Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential election during a closed session of Russia’s national security council, according to what are assessed to be leaked Kremlin documents. The key meeting took place on 22 January 2016, the papers suggest, with the Russian president, his spy chiefs and senior ministers all present. They agreed a Trump White House would help secure Moscow’s strategic objectives, among them “social turmoil” in the US and a weakening of the American president’s negotiating position. Russia’s three spy agencies were ordered to find practical ways to support Trump, in a decree appearing to bear Putin’s signature. By this point Trump was the frontrunner in the Republican party’s nomination race. A report prepared by Putin’s expert department recommended Moscow use “all possible force” to ensure a Trump victory. Western intelligence agencies are understood to have been aware of the documents for some months and to have carefully examined them. The papers, seen by the Guardian, seem to represent a serious and highly unusual leak from within the Kremlin.'..

[Stanley]

Leaks from inside the Moscow Kremlin? Whatever next?
Meanwhile, almost universal ridicule of Johnson's levelling up speech, some from inside his own party.
The time is long past when huffle and puffle would do the trick. We need joined up sentences now!

[plaques]

Levelling up for Pendle .. Great news £25M pot of money approved,.

The Towns Fund will be invested in eight key projects:

- A revitalised Nelson - bringing high profile and long-term vacant and under-used buildings and sites into the town back into use for residential and commercial purposes

- A Healthy Town – with new leisure facilities for young people at Pendle Wavelengths and improvements in Nelson’s three parks to help address the issue of poor health and wellbeing in the town’s community including childhood obesity

- This is Nelson – a five year arts and culture programme

- Advanced Digital Skills Hub and Academy - creating a new skills facility at Nelson and Colne College and in the town centre

- Pendle Youth Employment Service (YES) Hub – a one-stop shop to support Pendle’s 16-24-year olds to provide training and other opportunities to help young people get into work and training

- Modernising Nelson’s Industrial Offer – acquiring and redeveloping sites for new employment uses

- Business Resilience and Improvement – by providing grants to support expansion projects including premises, plant and machinery to help create sustainable jobs and improve productivity in our manufacturing sector

- Accessible Nelson – improving traffic flow and parking around the town centre, creating a quality environment including at key gateway routes and better walking and cycling opportunities for sustainable transport in the town.

“The investment is also designed to help us move forward in an area which has been severely impacted by the pandemic."


And for my next trick has anyone got 5 loaves and 2 fishes.

[PanBiker]

And for my next trick has anyone got 5 loaves and 2 fishes.

Or any investment for West Craven?

[Tizer]

The Bullingdon Club strikes again! One of Stanley's `favourite' images heads the article - but I note the following: Permission to use a photograph of the "class of 87" posing in their club tailcoats on the steps of Christ Church college, Oxford, was withdrawn by the rights holder. A painting of the image by artist Rona Marsden has been used instead by media outlets.
`Boris Johnson's university friend gets ethics watchdog role' LINK
`Labour has accused Boris Johnson of "cronyism" after he appointed a university friend to a committee advising him on ethical standards. Former lawyer Ewen Fergusson will begin a five-year stint on the Committee on Standards in Public Life next month. He was a member of Oxford University's Bullingdon Club at the same time as the prime minister.'..

Well fancy that, the Bullingdon Club advising on ethics and Standards in Public Life. Whatever next?

[Whyperion]

Levelling up for Pendle .. Great news £25M pot of money approved,.

eight key projects:

[1] bringing high profile and long-term vacant and under-used buildings and sites into the town back into use for residential and commercial purposes

[2] new leisure facilities for young people at Pendle Wavelengths and improvements in Nelson’s three parks to help address the issue of poor health and wellbeing in the town’s community including childhood obesity

[3]a five year arts and culture programme

[4]- Advanced Digital Skills Hub and Academy - creating a new skills facility at Nelson and Colne College and in the town centre

[5]- Pendle Youth Employment Service (YES) Hub – a one-stop shop to support Pendle’s 16-24-year olds to provide training and other opportunities to help young people get into work and training

[6]- Modernising Nelson’s Industrial Offer – acquiring and redeveloping sites for new employment uses

[7]- Business Resilience and Improvement – by providing grants to support expansion projects including premises, plant and machinery to help create sustainable jobs and improve productivity in our manufacturing sector

[8]- Accessible Nelson – improving traffic flow and parking around the town centre, creating a quality environment including at key gateway routes and better walking and cycling opportunities for sustainable transport in the town.[/i]

A few comments
1) I suppose in places like Nelson it is easy to spend more than a property is worth in immediate resale market, I have long thought though that appartment blocks over the shopping centre would have some attractiveness. Of course Nelson (Pendle) does not have the additional attraction of big draws of University Campus and Fully Serviced Hospital - having to go out of town to Keithley, Burnley , Blackburn or Preston/Leeds.
2) Have not conservatives been in control of some funding via central govt, LCC and so on that could have worked on those parks and leisure centres anyway in the past?
3) oh well, whatever - what about Colne Blues Festival ?
4) What have the Learning and Skills council been funding and prioritising in the past?
5) See 4,
6) Given the Sainsbury's, Lidl, McDonals sites were industrial (again scope for housebuilding over the Sainsburys Car Park), and the former Mill on the road to Earby - now in as residential, (Sorry thats Colne - but even then the old Bus Station site could have had multi-purposing beyond a drive thru fast food takeaway), Cannot really think of industry as such in Nelson on a large scale - maybe it should celebrate the rural nature of the hills and farmland to the South. Indeed was not Nelson the home of Mill Owners of the industry of Colne and Burnley ?
7) Yes there is some light engineering, I think most plant and machinery seems to be built in Germany (or EEurope/ Far East)
8) So all the previous road and pavement network was not properly designed ? This always seems a make work excercise for highway engineers. Nothing it seems on promoting the extension of the railway line back to Skipton/Leeds (which is now a much cheaper option given multi-model passenger trains meaning it does not at the first investment need to be OHE powered beyond Skipton.