POLITICS CORNER

[Stanley]

David, they call it democracy......
David (Tripps), forensic textual analysis should be taught in schools......
Richard, the incompetent sods who are driving these policies through don't have to worry about how the veggies get out of the fields or the other lousy jobs in slaughter houses, renderers etc. They don't even recognise that they exist. I am reminded of the HSE regulations which have to be ignored by the workers in order to do some jobs, one I know about is boiler repairs in very confined spaces but there are many more. The workers are told what the regulations are and when there is an accident the employers, who have turned a blind eye to the facts on the shop floor say 'Not me Guv, they knew the regulations' and the worker gets the blame.
Boris...... Think back to Ernie Bevin and contrast and compare. No wonder EU politicians watch how we are running the country and laugh. I agree with everything you say Richard.

[Stanley]

Trump is now the US President...... We will have to wait and see but at the moment it looks as though the US is moving into an inward looking phase and it remains to be seen what this means for the global economy and trade. The last time the US tried this was in the 1930s and it failed. News this morning that he has signed his first Executive Order, to cap the amount spent on the Affordable Care Act; 'Obamacare'. Not a good sign for the poor......

[Tizer]

Now the turkeys are going to find out what happens after they voted for Christmas. They'll find out that their jobs weren't taken by immigrants but by automation and increased efficiency and productivity. There won't be a return to the rust belt jobs. Workers will need to be well educated, especially in maths, science and engineering to take jobs in robotics, artificial intelligence, computing, electronics and the like if they want to earn a good wage. Others will need to do the jobs that the immigrants did. They'll discover that they, and those who did work for them, were being supported by Obamacare and are now left to the forces of the market. They'll find that it gets harder for the US to export goods because other countries will be demanding `If we buy your goods you'd better start fighting climate change like the rest of us are doing'. They'll find that China is the new world leader in trade and suddenly discover that much of America is dependent on Chinese investment and much of America is owned by China. The list just goes on and on. The big experiment is under way, watch this space!

[Stanley]

I agree with all that Tiz and would add that they will also find out very quickly they have voted in a political incompetent. He's signed his first Executive Order to start dismantling Obamacare. What does he thing will be the reaction of the people who benefited from it? Or doesn't he care? I see this morning that on his second day in the job he has attacked the media and accused them of lying about the scale of the turnout at the inauguration when the TV footage clearly shows it was less than it was for Obama. This attack was later backed up by his aides in a major press release. He seems to believe that the fact he got the support of enough air-heads to win the Electoral College with a manifesto that is quite obviously spurious he can disregard basic political facts like the need to get all sections of society on-side. He ignores the fact that the popular vote was for Hillary Clinton and also, and most important, that he is not regarded as a Republican by many in the House of Representatives and the senate. He also has the lowest approval rating of any President in the modern era.
He's going to try to run the US like his businesses, by bullying and bulldozing and a fine disregard for ethics and the truth. He has no principles beyond massaging his own ego. He is going to learn some harsh lessons, he is not the most powerful man in the world even by US standards and there are small external matters like the giant economies of China and India on an upward curve. I don't believe he has the temperament or intelligence to learn these lessons, let alone apply them. I forecast he will become so frustrated he will end up fighting both houses and eventually will implode. I can't see any other result unless he changes. It's as big a mess as Brexit and that is saying a lot.......
I suspect that the heads of other states are thinking on these lines and wondering how such a threat to global stability can be managed.

[plaques]

As reported in the book 'Trump Revealed' The first thing to consider is "does it turn a profit for the big companies especially those who have spent millions lobbying for legislation that will favour themselves'. Generally these changes go under the umbrella of greater efficiency and ultimate more jobs. The old Chicago School of economics. The bottom line being, if you don't have any money you don't enter the profit equation therefore you can be safely discarded. Trump's reaction to bad press or even legal action is to go on the attack. By giving in you are admitting defeat or worse than that that you were wrong. Watch out for more of the same.

[Stanley]

He is the most divisive man I have ever seen in high office P and I agree with everything you say.
I note that May is crowing about the mythical 'special relationship' as she is getting the first meeting with Donald Duck. Will she wear a knitted 'pussy hat'? Unfortunately she hasn't recognised that she is part of the Trump ego trip, securing a full state visit to the UK and rubbing shoulders with the Queen. Once this is accomplished she becomes surplus to requirements.
May avoids answering questions about the Strangelove scenario of the Trident missile that headed straight for the US. Little doubt she knew but kept quiet in Parliament.
Universal outrage about the claim that the Trump inauguration crowd was 'biggest ever' despite the evidence of aerial pics. Truth is also surplus to requirements.....
Am I living in a dream world or has half of it gone mad?

[Tizer]

When NBC said that Trump's press secretary, Sean Spicer, lied about him having `the largest audience ever to witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe,' Trump's White House counsel, Kellyanne Conway, told NBC: ”You’re saying it’s a falsehood and Sean Spicer ... gave alternative facts to that.” `Alternative facts ', that's what they call it now. It was post-truth yesterday, today it's alternative facts.

[Whyperion]

I sometimes wonder if Trumps 'speeches' were translated into German, and A Hitlers into English, if there would be any discernable difference between the two.

[Whyperion]

Logo is interesting , but in statistical analysis the proportion whom voted would be (as it is a large enough sample ), that within +/- 5% , the same proportion applicable to those that did not vote (or the total population), which does make the large chunk less dramatic - but still enough to argueably have a legitimate voice. The problem with Democracy is that the majority is not always right ( particulary if full facts , implications, and information to make an informed decision are lacking, withheld, inaccuarate or uncertain)

[Stanley]

I heard that exchange Tiz and the reporter who pointed out that an 'alternative fact' was not a fact and was indeed a falsehood. Quite right and well done that man! Worth looking at THIS if you want confirmation that it was a lie. There is also the small matter of the 'Pussy Protest'.......
May gets deeper in the mire over the failed missile launch. See THIS BBC report which mentions the statement in the US that the missile did malfunction, headed towards Florida and had to auto destruct. The question being asked here is why do people in the US know what happened and yet we cannot be informed. There is also the question about how 'independent' our missile system is. There is a suspicion that the destruct button was controlled by the US......
The Supreme Court rules today on whether May has the power to force Brexit through without a Commons vote......

[plaques]

Ref missile malfunction. I suppose it doesn't matter too much if the odd missile drops in the wrong place once people start lobbing these things at each other its goodbye from him and goodbye from me. "MAD" Mutually Assured Destruction as they used to say. The major point is that Mrs May kept the whole thing back from our own parliament at a time when they about to discuss the renewal of the Trident submarine. Then we have this unbelievable statement from the Minister "He cautioned people against "believing everything" they read in newspapers". So it appears that when something happens they keep their mouths shut and when they say something don't believe it anyhow. If we now read this across to Brexit don't believe a word they publish in the newspapers and what's really happening we are not going to tell you. From Alice in Wonderland-: "words mean whatever I want them to mean".

[Stanley]

It's a problem isn't it P. They used to say that truth is the first casualty in any war, the same applies to everyday politics now. The most sensible contributions I heard yesterday were from Sturgeon and Corbyn. I really do believe that part of the motivation for Brexit is freedom for the financial sector to start a race for the bottom. They have scented an opportunity to make money.
on the subject of money there are some worrying signs yesterday about the fragility of the current boom in the markets. BT dropping 20% has given everyone a shock. I still say we are watching a train wreck in slow motion and this applies equally to the EU. There is something nasty in the woodshed......
Later..... News that Trump is now claiming that 'many' illegal immigrants voted for Hillary Clinton and this explains her winning the popular vote. Republicans have in effect told him to shut up as there is no evidence for this and he is damaging democracy with his incessant tweets.At the moment he is like a kid in a sweet shop, firing off Executive Orders right left and centre. I predict that many of these are going to come back to haunt him. Being a President isn't as simple as that he is also saying he will act against allowing refugees, particularly those from Muslim countries, entry into the US. Nothing this man does reassures me that he isn't a racist bigot. Oh BTW, the action against abortions yesterday?
06:45. Stupid report just out that the Tories are prepared to flood the Lords with hundreds of new peers if Brexit is hampered there. Who the hell makes these rumours up.....

[Stanley]

Interesting to see May doing a volte face in the Commons and announcing a White Paper on Brexit aims. At the same time she tried to give the impression that this was her choice. Total nonsense! Let's not allow her to forget that it was the unelected guardians of justice and the unwritten constitution on the Supreme Court bench who forced the government to obey the law!
I see Cameron has set himself up as an advocate for action on dementia. Funny thing is that this subject was totally ignored by his government as they cut NHS funding in real terms. I have often brought up the increase in homelessness and rough sleeping as a consequence of Tory austerity polices and the failure of their housing programme. Yesterday we saw THIS report from Crisis on the rise in the numbers last year. It is estimated to be 16% but this is almost certainly an underestimate. It is a disgrace.....
Trump.... Is there no end to this man's bigoted and antediluvian policies? He is dragging America back into the past on Abortion, toleration, immigration and now the use of torture which he says is OK because it's 'fighting fire with fire'. There is more than a touch of madness in his egotistically driven agenda. Can the US political system tame him?
07:00. Just in. He is proposing cuts of 40% in foreign aid programmes and this includes funding the UN.

[plaques]

In his book "The Age of Deception" The director of 'The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)' whose brief was to overview all member states for potential breaches in the proliferation of nuclear weapons especially in countries like Iraq, Iran, Libya, and North Korea said that in every instant the most sensible diplomatic proposals were offered up by Putin's Russia. Invariably these were blocked or ignored by our two Western World leaders 'B & B' ie: Bush and Blair. In his opinion they had made up their mind to invade Iraq in spite of IAEA's repeated reports that there were no WMD's. We now have Mrs May winging her way to talk to Trump to re-cement our one way special relationship which could result in a preemptive nuclear strike on North Korea. Of course he would have to telephone China first to say that if the missile dropped on them instead of N Korea they didn't really mean it and that he hoped we would stay pals. The best thing that Mrs May could do is keep away from America for as long as possible.

[PanBiker]

We can draw an analogy here from history, (can't we always). 79 years ago now, in September 1938, another British Prime Minister tried to do a deal with the biggest megalomaniac of the day. Returning triumphantly with his "piece of paper" which guaranteed "peace in our time". What's betting PM May will return spouting similar virtues after cuddling up with the most dangerous man on the planet.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." comes to mind.

[Stanley]

In many ways May reminds me of Blair. Like him she has assumed a 'presidential' style of management when what has always served us best is Cabinet Government with her as the first among equals. She may have to address domestic issues very shortly.... Did you see the figures for suicide and self harm in prisons? Chris Grayling left a trail of destruction behind him everywhere he went! More problems showing up in the outsourced Probation Services now being run by a dodgy US contractor..... Trump will want more US providers in our services including the NHS. We have all seen what he is doing to Obamacare.
She tries to persuade us she is going to go into the meeting with Trump in full 'headmistress' mode. We shall see........

[Bruff]

Headmistress mode?

I prefer the rather less tasteful but doubtless more likely image posted by someone online yesterday.

Essentially, she (we) will debase themselves before a circus orang utang, grateful for any dung it chucks from its stool pile.

I couldn’t have put it better myself. We all know monkeys gather up their dung to chuck around willy-nilly. This reminds me of the likes of Trump and Farage: prone to lobbing out muck willy-nilly. It's rather interesting seeing primates do this; bit less us humans.

Richard Broughton

[PanBiker]

I noted yesterday that Trump had the audacity to claim that he was the greatest ever President second only to Abraham Lincoln. This statement alone should ensure that he was impeached on the grounds of mental instability.

[Tizer]

"Those who cannot remember the past...

We can look back to 100 years ago, give or take a week, when the then US President broke off diplomatic relations with Germany because they had announced all-out submarine warfare on shipping. This was the slow fuse which resulted a couple of months later, and after much sinking of ships, in the US joining Europe in the war against Germany. Contrast that with Trump and his America First policy and NATO criticism.

[PanBiker]

I'm waiting for the return of our PM. What's betting it will be similar to the "Munich Agreement" where false promises will be made by a totally loose cannon. She can't do any deal yet so he can promise anything he likes for 2, 3, 5 or even the 10 years ahead that it may take to break from the EU. He, one way or the other is highly unlikely to still be in office, neither is our current unelected PM.

[Stanley]

I saw him say that as well Ian.....
My belief is that if you take into account Trumps enormous ego and think it through, what he is after is the endorsement of a State Visit to UK hosted by the queen. That's not been mentioned but I'll bet it was on the agenda.
I'll stick to my unworldly headmistress image Richard. I think yesterday she opened negotiations with a dodgy plumber..... One thing about Trump is that we can be certain there is one policy direction that will remain constant.... "America First".
Did you hear Laura Kuenssberg's splendid question in the press conference? See THIS report.

[PanBiker]

The state visit is definitely on the cards Stanley. May confirmed this at the press conference, she said there was an open invitation from HM Queen Elizabeth who would be pleased to receive him during a full state visit.

I see he has now closed the borders to a raft of middle eastern countries, Saudi Arabia excluded. Does he actually believe that this will make a difference? Any major strike is more likely to come from cells already there and he has already done his damnedest to disenfranchise his own security services. These are not the actions of a rational individual.

Back to a state visit, I would refuse him on the grounds that he is too great a security risk from a targeting point of view.

[Stanley]

I think he has gone too far now and yesterdays effectual discriminatory closure of US borders on the grounds of domicile or religion is a really terrible decision. Can you imagine the effect this will have on dissidents who are already in the US? Can you also imagine the howls of horror that must have echoed round the US intelligence services? The best analogy I can think of is building a cage round you to stop poisonous snakes getting in, locking yourself inside and then poking the snakes in the cage with you with a stick! At the moment he's like a kid in a toyshop and I don't see how it can be allowed to continue, there is going to be a reaction and the most likely place for it to start is in the two Houses.....
Prepare yourself for a barrage of spin from Downing Street.....
See THIS report in the NY Times on the injunction granted by a Federal Judge in Brooklyn which partially rescinds Trump's Executive Order on migration. Not a total rejection but a straw in the wind as to how far he is going to be allowed to go by the checks and balances in the system. A good article which details some of the obvious injustices in the Order.

[plaques]

Trump's ban on a range of Muslim countries has done the American foreign policy no favours. Although the ban is not aimed directly at those practicing the Muslin religion but since the the countries are predominately Muslim they will see this as a slight against their religion. It seems to have escaped Trump and his right wing follows that these countries have a heritage and history that far exceeds America's 240 years of self rule. These are intelligent and proud people who will see this move as more provocation in telling them what they can and cannot do. The natural reaction is to take an opposing position and make any diplomatic solutions almost impossible. What it will do for trade and arms control in these countries is anybody's guess. Mrs May is an a bind in that having reaffirmed our special relationship with the USA she can hardly turn round and say I disagree with everything you are doing.

[Tizer]

Back to a state visit, I would refuse him on the grounds that he is too great a security risk from a targeting point of view.

That excuse would be a good one, Ian. I'm totally against the Queen having to meet him - give the lady a break! And he's already in a row with Prince Charles over environmental issues. I was appalled to see May holding his hand - she should have told him it wasn't appropriate. I expect there'll be a lot more court cases like the one just started over barring Muslims. With luck he'll be drowned under a flood of such things.

Edited later: I've just signed the petition to stop trump making a state visit here - see the Attention page for the petition link: LINK