POLITICS CORNER

[plaques]

My opinion is that neither side wants to be held responsible for walking away. They will Jaw jaw until the cows come home. Some fudged agreement will appear that requires an armistice until the detail is worked out. By then Boris will say that he was always ready for a NO Deal but because of the parlous state of the economy within the European Union and at home due to covid it was wise to search further for a solution but if that doesn't materialize he will definitely walk away. So there I haven't lost.
Clone of Trump video is now available at all good stores.

[Stanley]

Brilliant clip. I think you have it right Ken. I seem to remember us forecasting something very similar to this debacle some years ago. Ah well, I've ordered an extra three boxes of my vinyl gloves for the shed. They are sourced from China I believe and might be delayed somewhat. Good luck everyone.
[I wonder if anyone will propose negotiating through the Xmas break? That would demonstrate the ultimate in dedication!]

[Stanley]

One firm piece of news. Joe Biden is now officially President in Waiting as the Electoral Colleges post their results.
See THIS BBC report of the 'resignation' of Bill Barr the Attorney General. Read the article, there could be more to this than meets the eye. Trump still has an agenda which includes executions and pardons, he could be clearing the way for these.
The current conundrum is whether Trump will attend Biden's inauguration. My guess is not but we'll see.

[plaques]

For those with a reasonable memory and a passing interest in politics this poster became the battle ground of the Callahan V Thatcher election in 1978. unemployment had risen to 1.35% of the working population. It actually remained that way in the early years of the Thatcher government.

Labour.jpg

Boom and bust cycles were at that time part of the cynical politics of 'corrections' to the pecking order. The longer term ups on down can be seen here.

Labour 1.jpg

The covin pandemic has now thrown a spanner in the 'corrections' pushing those at the bottom further down the pile. BBC

The unemployment rate rose to 4.9% in the three months to October, with the jobless total up to 1.7 million people.
And redundancies hit a record high over the period.

The effect of the pandemic isn't finished yet with more redundancies in the pipeline when the 'special offers' finish. And then we need to factor in the Brexit sale of the century which nobody is prepared to put any numbers to other than a suggested 2% drop in GDP or 8% drop over 4 years.

Take back control?????

[Tizer]

A bit of movement here?...
`Brexit trade deal possible within days after Johnson concession, says EU: Barnier says PM’s acceptance of need for ‘evolution clause’ as standards diverge has unlocked talks' LINK

On resignation of the US attorney general, Anthony Zurcher writes: `With William Barr gone, however, there may be less institutional resistance if President Trump decides to bypass traditional Justice Department procedures and issue a spate of controversial pardons for his closest allies. By exiting now, Mr Barr is affording himself the ability to stay silent on such matters.'

[Stanley]

Peter, they are looking for a fancy 'fig leaf' formula to adopt so they can say that they have achieved a deal.
I heard that comment about Barr as well, watch out for a flood of pardons....
Ken, you're right of course and we have all known it since 2010, the 'party which understands money' has pursued the wrong economic policy ever since then. Have you noticed how Johnson' is toning down the sovereignty and broad sunlit seas rhetoric. When the shit hits the fan he will assure us that we were mistaken and that the main aim of Brexit had been to avoid the over regulation by unelected EU bureaucrats and becoming part of a federal Europe and is therefore a stunning success.
The other thing that strikes me is that so many of the matters that appear to have been 'agreed' are actually only kicking the can down the road for six months. For instance, nobody can say with certainty what the position will be in six months in respect of airlines operating into the EU. There are many more matters like that.

[Tizer]

A combination of dreams of Britannia ruling the waves and deregulation? It looks like regulation on training will be watered down...
`UK draws up plans to rival Singapore with post-Brexit shipping regime: Push to attract more vessels to sail under British flag with reforms to tonnage tax' LINK
`The UK is drawing up plans to turn London into a rival of Singapore as a hub for shipping companies to register vessels after the Brexit transition period, according to people briefed on the proposals. Industry bodies and unions have been canvassed over the reform of the shipping industry’s so-called tonnage tax after January 1 2021, when the UK is no longer subject to the EU’s state aid regime on subsidies..'.

Trump...as well as the pardons he's already pushing ahead with executions. It's despicable. Execution, if used at all, shouldn't be at the will of one man who is not a judge, lawyer or even on a jury - and who I would say isn't mentally stable. Some of those to be executed have been in prison for a very long time, so they've almost served a life sentence already and now are going to be put to death by Trump.

[Stanley]

'Singapore on Thames' is the open ambition of many Tories and not only in shipping. What is disturbing me is Rishi Sunak's plan for 'freeports'. You don't have to go far to find good reasons why these are a bad idea. Get a copy of PE and read up on the opportunities for tax and regulation avoidance. Then there is the open discussion of UK achieving 'tax haven status'. Funny, I never knew that was a 'status'. I thought it was a suspect financial manipulation of funds and tax liabilities.
I have no evidence but I believe that the pressure for a no deal Brexit or at least one with the minimum of regulation that we have seen from people like the ERG is because under those conditions there is the widest scope for innovative financial management. In other words there was money to be made out of it.
As for what is happening at the moment. A large part of the activity is what we used to call CYA, cover your arse. If and when the shit hits the fan they all need 'evidence' to show they tried and reasons to point the fingers at the other guys. There will be gestures made to working over Xmas but it won't happen and failure to do it will be placed on 'the other side'. In other words it's all politics at its finest and there is sod all we can do about it.
Lets not forget the heroes who got us to this point and the reasons why they did it. We must make sure that all this is part of their legacy.

[plaques]

The German's have released a parody on Boris Johnson equating him to a clown, and I'd been told they have no sense of humour. How dare they poke fun at our Prime Minister. Typical of the EU trying to take control of everything that makes the British way of life unique in this world. Hands off Boris he's our clown one of our great British institutions.

.

This video also appears in the Express. Clown

[PanBiker]

[Tizer]

Nice one, Plaques!

[Tripps]

'Singapore on Thames' is the open ambition of many Tories and not only in shipping.

I noted this clip from the comments on another website - it's not far from the truth.

the "dangers of turning the UK into Singapore on Thames".

Have these people ever been to Singapore? You can eat off of the pavements, there is no trash anywhere to be seen, there are no homeless and no illegal immigrants, the welfare system is linked to the National Provident Fund which also provides a mortgage guarantee for first-time homebuyers. The health service makes the NHS look like shanty town voodoo, the GDP per head is higher than the UK as is the prosperity index. The justice system is less bent than the UK and crime is negligible and mainly white collar foreigners. The nanny-state laws are a bit irritating, but one can live with them.
I would look forward to it.

Ed - PS. and they're now making the Rolls Royce jet engine blades that used to be made in Barnoldswick.

[Stanley]

I've never been to Singapore David but what I am certain of is that if an attempt was made to transplant such a paradise to England it would fail because we would incorporate 'traditional values' into it. These being tweaks to the system that ensure the 'upper classes' always have the edge and can maintain their 'proper position' in the fabric of the country.
That video is a great find Ken and so true, they have evidently been keeping an eye on us. All my friends abroad have expressed the same sentiment; "How could they be so stupid?" and it's evident the Germans share that view.
How can we ever go into one of the great world forums as a 'world power' after demonstrating so comprehensively that we aren't fit to run a booze up in a brewery. (Then of course there is our handling of Covid. Did you see Mark Drakeford's face yesterday as he announced the scale of the cock up in the figures?)

[Tizer]

This is unsettling (British understatement!) and the UK is experiencing something similar but on a lesser scale. Russia is being blamed of course but the US should be looking also at the possibility of an `inside job'. Could it be spiteful Trump supporters? As well as the Trump supporters we see on the streets remember that Trump replaced many senior officials with his own people so the US national hierarchy is `contaminated' with Trump people.

`US cyber-attack: Hack of government agencies and companies poses 'grave risk'' LINK
`US officials have warned that a sophisticated hacking campaign uncovered this week poses a "grave risk" to the government, critical infrastructure and the private sector. The US Treasury and commerce departments were among those attacked. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (Cisa) said thwarting the attack would be "highly complex and challenging". Many suspect the Russian government is responsible. It has denied the claims. In a statement on Thursday, Cisa said government agencies, critical infrastructure entities and private sector organisations had been targeted by what it called an "advanced persistent threat actor", beginning in at least March 2020. The actor behind the hacks "demonstrated patience, operational security, and complex tradecraft in these intrusions", it said....

`The Energy Department and National Nuclear Security Administration also have evidence that hackers accessed their networks, Politico magazine reported, citing officials familiar with the matter. Cisa said the perpetrators managed to breach computer networks using network management software made by the Texas-based IT company SolarWinds. Up to 18,000 SolarWinds Orion customers downloaded updates containing a back door that let hackers in. All US federal civilian agencies were told to remove SolarWinds from their servers earlier this week as a result of the hack. In its statement on Thursday, Cisa said it was investigating "evidence of additional access vectors, other than the SolarWinds Orion platform"..'.

Meanwhile, back in the mother country....
`Dominic Cummings: Politicians too focused on Twitter and gossip' LINK
`Boris Johnson's outgoing aide Dominic Cummings has attacked a system which he says "incentivises politicians to focus more on Twitter and gossip-column stories about their dogs" while ignoring "existential threats". In the Spectator, he also warned that parts of the UK's "nuclear enterprise have rotted from years of neglect". And he called for more focus on "low-probability, high-impact events".

The BBC's Chris Mason comments: `No names mentioned, of course, but which prominent resident of Downing Street combines a love of dogs and social media? Ah yes, the Prime Minister's fiancee Carrie Symonds, frequently pictured in the company of Dilyn, her Jack Russell cross. And who was seen as particularly influential in Mr Cummings' departure from No 10? You guessed it....'.

[plaques]

Singapore, Its over 30 years since I've been there. Yes they have very strict laws and enforce even litter dropping and Taxi overcharging with prison sentences. Rather shocked but comforted when when we took a walk through a public park and woods and seeing policemen with machine guns behind trees watching over visitors.

Boris and Brexiters, Its not what happens its who is in charge that counts. There's always room for manoeuvre to blame someone else when it all goes wrong. Typically start with under funding then demand an excessively complex operation based on low pay rates, sack the current practitioner/manager as not having enough forward vision and not making it 'happen'. Set up a number of outside independent agency studies which will take ages to complete and at the same time can be classed as budget spends on the department. Ignore the findings and then claim times have moved one requiring a re-organisation but will all come together in the long run. Meanwhile it will be hoped that the suffering public will have forgotten that the problem started with a 55 year old whose last name started with 'C' followed by another 56 year old ex-american starting with 'J' who both went to Eton and Oxford.

[Tizer]

I heard a minister on the radio the other day talking about covid and Christmas and saying we could rely on `the good judgment of the British people'. Somebody should explain to him that there is no such thing as `the good judgment of the British people'. We are all individuals, some have good judgement, some have bad judgement, some don't make any judgement. Those with good judgement are not the ones causing the problems, it's the others who think they're invulnerable that we should be concerned about.

[Stanley]

Good posts and I agree particularly with you Peter. No such thing as 'the good judgement .....'
We go into Xmas with schools in chaos because of the crass actions of the Ministry of Education. teachers are telling the government now that there isn't the time or resource available to set up the testing regime demanded.
On Brexit the EU warns that the cliff edge is today, we are at the end of the road. Johnson repeats the mantra 'the EU needs to move on principles. The EU say 'the path is narrow'. What it all boils down to is that Brexit has been badly mismanaged and is an ongoing disaster.
Can anyone think of something that's going well?

[Tizer]

There's a lot of science going on in the background that's going to get us out of this pandemic and provide better methods and vaccines for tackling future virus pandemics, even for preventing them in the first place. An international group of scientists is going to China to study how the present pandemic developed.

As for Brexit, we were always at the mercy of the EU once we told them we were leaving. They hold all the cards. Yet our Brexiteer government has consistently brain-washed most of the population into thinking we could strong-arm a clever deal out of the EU. There's going to be a lot of disappointed people - leavers as well as remainers.

[Stanley]

I meant in the realm of politics actually Peter.
See THIS, Mr Johnson says he hopes to avoid a national lock down.

[Tizer]

I meant in the realm of politics actually Peter.

In that case....No!

[Stanley]

I've commented inappropriately in Covid Corner about the use of the curious phrase 'The Four Home Nations'. Is this to soften the blow of the realisation that the Union is slowly dissolving?
I know our politicians are too young to remember but I would recommend that they look back at an American general called George Patton. He was not an attractive personality but was good at his job. When asked what the secret of his success was he famously replied, "I gets there fustest with the mostest".
This could be a good motto to adopt in fighting this virus. Many of the problems we face are because of mistaken efforts to ease the situation, particularly economically. They keep saying they listen to the science but in fact ignore it when it comes to popularity or regional influence.

[Stanley]

If you can be bothered, have a look at THIS BBC report on the latest state of the wicket. It's not looking good for a deal and the looming deadline is already affecting transport particularly via the Channel ports. Kent police have their stacking plan in operation already and traffic is being held up.
Reasons to be cheerful anyone?
Later, it becomes clearer. The Kent ports are closed to traffic because the French have suspended freight movements for 48 hours. The authorities promise 'no immediate effect on food imports'. But given the amount of traffic that will be affected I doubt of that can be true on a longer perspective.

[Tizer]

The Telegraph reports that Trump discussed the possibility of imposing martial law to overturn the election results with his former security adviser Michael Flynn at a white House meeting on Friday. Flynn had earlier suggested sending troops into the swing states that he had lost to Biden. Flynn is the one who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI but was pardoned by Trump.

Another nugget of information from the US, this time reported in The Times. The Pentagon has terminated cooperation with Biden's team following an instruction from the acting defence secretary. He's another man installed by Trump and he's annoyed because he doesn't like what Biden's team are doing.

Roll on inauguration day. There'll be some changes of staff then and Trump can go play golf!

[Stanley]

I can't help worrying that Trump may be planning some sort of a surprise for us.....
The quote that grabbed me as I surveyed the headlines.... "Mrs Beggs-Reid, who works as an estate manager, was later contacted by No 10 after Boris Johnson and his fiancée Carrie Symonds said they would like to ring bells on Christmas Eve themselves." I would have thought there were more pressing matters to consider.
Meanwhile, other parts of the media are singing from a different hymn sheet, see THIS Guardian article. Sorry but this brings to mind Mr Johnson's images of the Great Ship of State sailing serenely into a Golden Dawn.... In my mind it is a large black cloud not a golden sun. If the supermarket shelves empty over Xmas he really is in trouble.

[Tizer]

I can't help worrying that Trump may be planning some sort of a surprise for us.....

Here's one surprise Americans didn't expect. I guess he wants to get the contract to build them to his own design then turn them into Trump Tower hotels when he gets into power again (as he thinks he will, of course)!
`Trump order: New federal buildings must be 'beautiful'' LINK

Reading an essay on the situation in the US by an American author in The Times triggered some thought. He points out that though Biden won the election Trump's share of the votes was only a few percent below that of Biden's share. The author asked us to imagine the Republicans finding a contender for the next election who would appeal to those who voted for Trump but was more `normal' and could appeal to a wider range of Republicans. Add to that the fact that the Latino, black and immigrant sector of the population is increasing fastest and that they mostly support the Republican Party. It could be a difficult time for the Democrats.