POLITICS CORNER

[Stanley]

I see the Damien Green fan club is making a concerted attack on the police officers who blew the whistle on him and also, by implication, on Kate Maltby who was regarded by the enquiry as a 'plausible witness' when she reported him as well. She has said this morning that she reported him to a 'senior official' in Downing Street and yet the PM says she 'had no knowledge'. I suppose the retired police officers are fair game but I think the implied rubbishing of Kate Maltby is reprehensible. Some very dodgy standards would appear to be in force here and it all has a very nasty taste.
The Catalonian vote on a turnout of 80% has turned out to be a bit of a facer for the Spanish government. This one is going to run and run!

[Stanley]

Watching Boris doing his clown act in Moscow. What the hell must the Russians make of us? Does anyone take him seriously? I also wonder about the strategy of TM slagging the Russians off as he was on his way there.... I would have thought that this was better saved up until he returned.

[PanBiker]

I have commented elsewhere but it was embarrassing to watch, the man is a liability. Did you see his Russian counterpart, steely eyed, that bloke has been round the block.

[Tizer]

I think she sent Bojo to Moscow in the hope that they might keep him as a curiosity, rather like monarchs used to send each other exotic animals as a gift. I can picture him now, in Moscow Zoo sitting contentedly with the pandas chewing on bamboo and making phwaw phwaw noises.

[Stanley]

My thinking is that TM is giving Bojo every chance she can for him to make a high profile mistake. I think it may be working..... can anyone seriously consider him as a contender for PM?
The hot rumour in the Westminster Village is that Jeremy Hunt is manoeuvring to take over Damien Green's slot.....
They will all be at home now stuffing their turkeys and plotting. Meanwhile overstretched public services will be working overtime to hold the fabric of society together and the ills of society like badly cared for old people and the homeless and poverty stricken will be fending for themselves as best they can. Ain't life grand!
Two things strike me.... Arms Minister Williamson stops the ludicrous move (on which over £500,000 has been spent already) to do away with the army motto and logo on the grounds he believes the army is the best. T May issues her Xmas message thanking the armed forces for keeping us safe. Not a word about the chronic underfunding and proposals to impose even more cuts. This at a time when all the type 45 frigates are in trouble, most of our submarines are out of service and there is doubt about the number of planes we can afford for the biggest moving target afloat. I'd be more impressed if they addressed these matters.......

[Tizer]

All that money that was spent on asking `branding experts' to tell them whether the motto needed changing. They're not going to say "It's fine, you don't need us, save your money and spend it more wisely" are they?

[plaques]

Yes I know its Christmas but somebody has to keep an eye on the Tory shenanigans. Most of us will probably know that a few well healed Tories backed the 'Leave the EU campaign' with large dollops of cash. What we probably didn't know was they expected to get a tax break on these donations. ie: ordinary Plebs like you and me, whether we liked it or not, would indirectly be contributing to the leave campaign. The HMRC have refused to play ball, the bounders, and are demanding that the deductions are repaid. Linl. The two cabinet clowns (B & G) are claiming foul which is what you would expect since they got nice little earner positions out of it. But don't let it spoil your Christmas I know you've got better things to do.

[Stanley]

Private Eye is particularly good on that this week P. You're dead right and the Leave campaign is under investigation as well. Xmas day makes no difference, this is the time of the year when the bastards slip bad news out hoping it won't be noticed.....Two names to bear in mind in the New Year. Werrity and Ashcroft. With luck we shall learn why PE keeps mentioning the former. They know something we don't! Ashcroft is feeling the bands tighten on him and about time too!

[Tizer]

...a few well healed Tories backed the 'Leave the EU campaign' with large dollops of cash.

I suppose the `well healed Tories' had been recovering from a dose of `EUitis'?

I enjoyed the Dead Ringers impressions of DD: "Hello Theresa, yes it's me again, the Brexit Bulldog, haha!"

The Saturday issue of The Times devoted its magazine to cartoons from 2017 by Peter Brookes. He said Trump had been a wonderful gift for him, so easy to draw and so many possibilities for caricature.

[Stanley]

Those two images convey so much...... Madness stalks the world.....

[Tizer]

Steve Bannon, who was Trump's White House Chief Strategist and is now executive chairman of Breitbart News, has been having a go at Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, a duo that he refers to as `Javanka'. LINK

[Stanley]

Tiz, it all goes to show the accuracy of the description of the White House as a 'kindergarten'. How the hell did we get to this......
The Tories will be plotting in corners now the crackers have been pulled......
Later, some news is trickling through. Lord Heseltine gives his opinion that a Corbyn government would be better than Brexit.... Can't argue against that! The forecast for wages during 2018 is no real increase for most of the year but this makes no allowance for the continuing effects of Brexit. No let up from Austerity in sight.....

[Stanley]

Hesser put the cat among the pigeons yesterday! Calls from rabid Tories for the whip to be withdrawn. It shows how antsy the Brexiteers are, they attack anyone who argues with them. Makes you wonder how secure they are in their belief.... Personally I think that they couldn't care a toss about any economic consequences so long as they get their preferred state of the world's biggest offshore money launderer.
THIS is an interesting read. Much speculation about what is going on but the consensus seems to be that this is an attempt to smoke Jeremy Corbyn out but it's a tricky one as many hard line Labour supporters are also Brexiteers. One commentator said that she expected Jeremy to be washing his hair that day.... One thing is certain, there is a growing feeling that Hard Brexit would be a disaster!

[plaques]

but the consensus seems to be that this is an attempt to smoke Jeremy Corbyn out

A recent YouGov pol Link. tries to muddy the waters along similar lines. To repeat the Quote. Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. - Napoleon ... The position is clear, the plebiscite gave Mrs May the authority to leave the EU which is exactly what she did. The Labour party plus all the others are in a minority and cannot change this decision without the Tories changing their minds and voting with Labour something they will never do if it looks like bringing the Government down. It has been said before Corbyn only needs to sit back and offer up reasonable proposals against the confusion that we are seeing at the moment. To get involved with an internal war with his own party members would offer up the opportunity for the rightwing press to have a field day at Labour's expense. Those Labour politicians who can't see that this is just a well worn attempt at 'divide and conquer' shouldn't be in politics.

[Tizer]

I wrote on the 20th about how I'd heard half of the Walter Bagehot radio programme LINK and found it very good. I've now heard the full programme and liked it even more. I recommend everyone to listen to it. LINK If Bagehot were alive today he'd understand exactly where we're going wrong with Trump, with Brexit and with our failure to provide a better life for the great majority of people who are not sharing in the successes enjoyed by the rich.

[plaques]

Like Private Baldrick Mrs May has a cunning plan. After we have negotiated a complete shambles of a Brexit getting everything we don't want and nothing of what we did. She will sack her Three Brexit Musketeers and demonstrate how 'Strong and Stable' she is.The SS Maybot will then rally her troops to much cheering and huzzahs and after attempting to snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat will then like the good Captain Smith of the Titanic go down with her ship.

[Stanley]

P. I think you are right about Corbyn, Labour and Brexit. I'd forgotten that Napoleon quote, thanks for reminding me, it's a good one! Not too sure about your May/Baldrick theory. My version is that at the moment she's flying by the seat of her pants and simply surviving as PM. Nothing is certain about her future as nobody can predict what 2018 will bring. I think she suspects it's going to be far more difficult than her public pronouncements, getting her fudge agreed to by the EU was the easy bit! I can't see the EU budging from their stated position that the UK is not going to get any favours as this would encourage other members to aspire to the same status. This being the case, May will only have two choices, resile on her red lines and infuriate the hard-line Tory dinosaurs or do her difficult woman bit and get a 'Hard Brexit' which will cause even more problems with the pragmatic Tories and the electorate. Worst case it could sink the Party. Hesser has seen this looming hence his statement that Corby would be preferable. This is why he caused such ire when he spoke out.
What a bloody mess and don't forget where it all started!
Tiz, reading Norman Davies on Forgotten Kingdoms brings up many examples of incredibly principled leaders who based their rule on sound principles, many of them 'uncivilised' Eastern dynasts.... Our present situation demonstrates to me a complete lack of these altruistic ambitions, there is no discernible principle behind it.

[Stanley]

I've always been a bit suspicious of Andrew Adonis.... Never elected by anyone to my knowledge. However, I am forced to admire his resignation as the leading independent adviser to the Tories on Brexit. It seems to me that his resignation letter (described by commentators as 'excoriating') warning of the dangers is spot on.
The Honours Lists always leave me cold, I am not a fan of them. However they can sometimes flag up interesting matters.... Today it is the absence of Cameron while Nick Clegg gets a knighthood...... Probably means nothing....

[plaques]

From Alastair Campbell diaries Andrew Adonis was an adviser to Tony Blair. Some of his ideas were 'out of the box' as they say. Far reaching but I always got the feeling they could be easily abused by the capitalists. Too conservative in his leanings for me so for him to tear into Mrs May in this manner speaks volumes for the Brexit campaign she is running.

[Tizer]

Every time I hear Adonis on Brexit I seem to be hearing my own thoughts, all except for him wanting a second referendum while I want the politicians simply to do their job and make the decision to prevent us jumping off the cliff. There's another possibility - one of the participants on the Bagehot programme reminded us that in Britain we always have the option to go for a change of government. But would Jeremy Corbyn have the courage to keep us in the EU? And does he even want to do that?

[Tripps]

I looked up Mr Adonis - he who is a one man refutation of the concept of nominative determinism - and found he has had an interesting life.

The son of an immigrant, abandoned by his mother at three years old, and later, because his father could not cope, put in the care of the Local Authority, who sent him to a boarding school, and thence to Keble College Oxford.

We are told that 'social mobility' is being reduced - doesn't look like it from where he's standing - if you've got the ability it seems you'll get there.

[Stanley]

"Too conservative in his leanings for me so for him to tear into Mrs May in this manner speaks volumes for the Brexit campaign she is running." Exactly sums up my feelings P.
I wonder if Corbyn is playing it safe. It may be easier to bring the Tories down and sell the idea of staying in the EU later in 2018. After all, they are making a pretty good stab at self-destruction at the moment. Steady as she goes? I have our Jeremy down as an internationalist at heart.....
Later.... Deep Joy! Our leaders have decided on a positive move towards reinforcing the Borders Authority. Only problem is that it is nothing but a cunning wheeze.... They are proposing setting up a volunteer Dad's Army of part time border guards to open car boots and supervise smaller ports. This is transparently ludicrous and nothing more than yet another move away from responsibility for matters which should be firmly under their control. I can think of no positive and fully funded policy that they have introduced. I can identify the biggest mistakes ever in public policy. What bloody good are they?

[Tizer]

The coastguard service too now falls back on volunteers.

I noticed this on the BBC News site this morning reporting on J Corbyn's new year's message:
The 2017 general election showed "the establishment's secret is out: they're not as strong as they appear" and have "no idea how to fix their broken system," Mr Corbyn said. LINK
Surely Corbyn himself is a member of `the establishment', whether he likes it or not?

[Stanley]

I think we all know to whom he was referring. (For he had been to night school)

[Tizer]

BBC news correspondents were giving comments on 2017 and their predictions for 2018 on the radio this morning. One of them, I think it was their Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet, said how she'd spent a lot of time in Europe in the past and always found that the other European countries had a high regard for the UK. They were surprised and confused by the result of our EU membership referendum and felt we'd betrayed them. It's going to be very difficult to for us to recover from that and it doesn't bode well for those trade treaties that the Brexiteers promise to provide.