The banker loving, baby-eating Tory party thread (regenerated)

[peterms]

So, having had to sack her chum, May wants an investigation into the leak of information by the police.

How ironic.

The whole thing started because the tories persuaded a civil servant to breach his contract of employment by leaking anything he could find that might be damaging to Labour.  Here.

Quote

The reasons why Quick raided Green’s Commons office nearly nine years ago can be traced back even further, to a day in 2006 when a young civil servant called Christopher Galley, working in Jacqui Smith’s Home Office, was allegedly told by Green, then opposition immigration spokesman, to get “as much dirt on the Labour party, the Labour government, as possible”.

Galley had been introduced to Green by his then boss, the shadow home secretary, David Davis, whom he had approached saying he was a committed Conservative and was willing to leak material. Galley had also mentioned he wanted a “parliamentary job” with the Tories.

Over the next two years, during which time Galley got a job in the home secretary’s private office, he passed at least 31 separate documents, some classified restricted, from the heart of the Home Office, including from the private office inbox and the private office outer safe.

Green made maximum use of the documents to secure headlines damaging to Labour in the Daily Mail, Sunday Telegraph and other papers on immigration, criminal justice and other Home Office issues.

This sustained and high-profile campaign went far beyond the normal trade in leaks between whistleblowing civil servants and opposition MPs. In the belief that as many as 40 other documents involving national security had also been leaked, the Cabinet Office called in Scotland Yard.

 

[HanoiVillan]

What happens when you appoint a failed comedian as Foreign Secretary, part many:

 

[tonyh29]

On 21/12/2017 at 17:25, peterms said:

So, having had to sack her chum, May wants an investigation into the leak of information by the police.

How ironic.

The whole thing started because the tories persuaded a civil servant to breach his contract of employment by leaking anything he could find that might be damaging to Labour.  Here.

 

The article tells a different version of events to the actual events in the 2009 police investigation which collapsed after the Crown Prosecution Service said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute either man as the information leaked to Green on the government's immigration policy was not secret and did not affect national security or put lives at risk.

Galley admitted to passing on 4 items ... interestingly Galleys actions appear to be no different from the actions of the people you are championing in the Paradise papers thread ... he felt he was a whistle blower because he was shocked at the incompetence he discovered and took the action he did because “what I saw happening was wrong," 

 

 

[Xann]

20 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

What happens when you appoint a failed comedian as Foreign Secretary...

Doubly funny as the Russians suggested the Chinese had sent kettles to spy on them.

[peterms]

1 hour ago, tonyh29 said:

The article tells a different version of events to the actual events in the 2009 police investigation which collapsed after the Crown Prosecution Service said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute either man as the information leaked to Green on the government's immigration policy was not secret and did not affect national security or put lives at risk.

That's actually what the article says, if you read it - that Keir Starmer as DPP decided there was not enough evidence for a prosecution.

1 hour ago, tonyh29 said:

Galley admitted to passing on 4 items ... interestingly Galleys actions appear to be no different from the actions of the people you are championing in the Paradise papers thread ... he felt he was a whistle blower because he was shocked at the incompetence he discovered and took the action he did because “what I saw happening was wrong," 

The article explains that Galley offered to leak things because he was a committed Conservative who wanted to hurt Labour and benefit the Tories for party political reasons, and also because he wanted to curry favour in order to be given some kind of parliamentary role, ie personal advantage.  No, it's not the same as exposing corruption and criminality for no personal gain.  It's a ludicrous comparison.

What is amusing is that Green's actions in asking for these leaks was the direct cause of the investigation which resulted in his own downfall.  It's like a pound shop Greek tragedy, without the grandeur, just a shabby little tale where some chancer gets stuffed because of his own actions.

[markavfc40]

Fair pay to Sam Allardyce for speaking out about extreme poverty and the dependence on food banks in this country. We all have a responsibility to shame this Government into addressing an issue they have made far worse over the last seven years.

 

Edited December 23, 2017 by markavfc40

[markavfc40]

This is the kind of news that should be on the front page of every paper and the top story on TV news programs. The increase in equality is a major issue and one that Government policy has made happen and one that they have no plans to address. The most important role for any Government has to be helping those with the least, the weakest and most vulnerable and some how we have landed ourselves with one doing the exact opposite.

 

Quote

 

Huge health gap revealed between UK’s rich and poor

Report shows ‘devastating impact’ of deprivation on child health with poorest teens 70% more likely to visit A&E than their wealthier counterparts

Children from poor families are far more likely to end up in hospital A&E departments or need emergency treatment for conditions such as asthma and diabetes, according to shocking figures revealing the consequences of poverty in Britain.

In findings that senior doctors said showed the “devastating impact” of deprivation on child health, the nation’s poorest teenagers were found to be almost 70% more likely to appear in A&E than their less deprived counterparts......

 

Huge health gap revealed between UK’s rich and poor

[Risso]

11 hours ago, markavfc40 said:

This is the kind of news that should be on the front page of every paper and the top story on TV news programs. The increase in equality is a major issue and one that Government policy has made happen and one that they have no plans to address. The most important role for any Government has to be helping those with the least, the weakest and most vulnerable and some how we have landed ourselves with one doing the exact opposite.

 

Huge health gap revealed between UK’s rich and poor

Always better to look at the source material than a read in that utter arserag the Guardian.

https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/research/admissions-of-inequality-emergency-hospital-use-for-children-and-young-people

This briefing looks at the relationship between deprivation and the use of emergency hospital care by children and young people in England (between 2005/6 and 2015/16). It aims to describe and highlight areas of inequality and to explore how they have changed over time. As well as looking at the overall patterns of emergency hospital use, we focus in particular on three common conditions – asthma, diabetes and epilepsy – where more timely and effective primary, community or outpatient care could prevent admissions.

We find that while there has been progress in reducing the rate of emergency admissions for the most deprived children, a stubborn gap remains between rich and poor: children and young people from the most deprived areas are consistently more likely both to go to A&E and to need emergency hospital treatment than children from the least deprived areas.

Encouragingly, in many areas the inequality gap is narrowing. This may be due, in part, to certain national policy initiatives and quality improvement work. However, the size and persistence of any gap is a matter of concern. Indeed, there are areas where the most deprived children are experiencing a higher rate of emergency admissions than they were a decade ago and where this inequality gap is growing.

Funnily enough, the bits in bold didn't make it into the Graun's headlines.  It's the left wing version of The Mail.

[StefanAVFC]

Quote

It's the left wing version of The Mail.

Minus the xenophobia, race-baiting and potential inciting of violence.

Piss-poor comparison.

Edited December 25, 2017 by StefanAVFC

[meregreen]

I wouldn’t wipe my arse with the Heil. The Guardian, although not perfect, is pretty good.

[peterms]

5 hours ago, meregreen said:

I wouldn’t wipe my arse with the Heil. The Guardian, although not perfect, is pretty good.

I find the Guardian's ink comes off far too easily for arse-wiping purposes.  It's a bit of a mess.

[peterms]

7 hours ago, Risso said:

Always better to look at the source material

From that summary document:

Quote

Key findings

    In 2015/16 the most deprived children and young people overall were 58 per cent more likely to go to A&E than the least deprived. A&E attendances for the most deprived infants and pre-schoolers were over 50 per cent higher than the least deprived. For the most deprived teenagers they were nearly 70 per cent higher.
    While, overall, emergency (or unplanned) hospital admissions have increased slightly (by 9 per cent between 2005/6 and 2015/16), the gap between the most and least deprived groups has narrowed. Nonetheless, the most deprived children are still 55 per cent more likely to experience an unplanned hospital admission than the least deprived.
    Across the 10 most common conditions leading to an unplanned hospital admission, the rates were consistently highest among children and young people from the most deprived areas.
    Looking specifically at asthma, in 2005/6 school-aged children in the most deprived areas had about double the emergency admission rate of the least deprived (248 admissions per 100,000 population compared to 125). By 2015/16 this had grown to around two and a half times the rate of the least deprived (323 admissions per 100,000 population compared to 127).
    Unplanned admissions for diabetes (all types) have been stable or have decreased for younger children (0–14). However, when children transition into adult services, there has been a striking growth for all 20–24-year-olds (between 40 and 90 per cent across the different deprivation groups) and the inequality gap remains significant. The most deprived 20–24-year-olds were almost twice as likely to experience an unplanned admission in 2015/16 as the least deprived.
    Unplanned hospital admissions for epilepsy have reduced over time for all age groups and there has been most progress in reducing unplanned admissions for the most deprived groups.
    Evidence suggests the reasons behind these findings are complex and likely to be down to many different factors – from the relative health of the population to the availability of services outside hospital. However, the data highlight the importance of national policy initiatives in improving outcomes. For example:
        The reduction in unplanned admissions for children with diabetes in the 0–14 age group coincided with the introduction of the National Paediatric Diabetes Audit and the best practice tariff
        Similarly, the reduction in unplanned admissions overall for epilepsy coincided with initiatives such as Epilepsy 12 (the national clinical audit for paediatric epilepsy) and a new national best practice tariff.
    As well as the inevitable human cost, these inequalities also have a significant financial cost: if unplanned admissions among the whole population were brought down to the level of the least deprived, this would have led to a decrease of around 244,690 paediatric emergency hospital admissions in 2015/16, a potential saving of almost £245 million per year. This translates to a potential saving of £8.5 million for asthma, £3 million for diabetes and £3 million for epilepsy.
    Designing and implementing policies that help reduce deprivation and improve social determinants of health should remain the overall long-term objective for policymakers. In the short term, the inequality of health outcomes we describe in this briefing should be the basis for a renewed emphasis on health care policies that specifically engage and focus on deprived children and young people with ongoing health needs and their families.

Always better to look at the source material as a whole.

[Amsterdam_Neil_D]

On 12/23/2017 at 15:42, markavfc40 said:

Fair pay to Sam Allardyce

Got to say, I thought he was really good there in how and what he said.

 

[bickster]

24 minutes ago, Amsterdam_Neil_D said:

Got to say, I thought he was really good there in how and what he said.

 

Didn't say he was donating his next bung though did he? 

[snowychap]

And yet, on the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge:

Edited December 25, 2017 by snowychap

[darrenm]

This seems extremely dodgy https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/dec/26/government-admits-losing-thousands-of-papers-from-national-archives

Thousands of government papers detailing some of the most controversial episodes in 20th-century British history have vanished after civil servants removed them from the country’s National Archives and then reported them as lost.

Documents concerning the Falklands war, Northern Ireland’s Troubles and the infamous Zinoviev letter – in which MI6 officers plotted to bring about the downfall of the first Labour government - are all said to have been misplaced.

..

In other instances, papers from within files have been carefully selected and taken away.

 

[chrisp65]

Yep, lot's of stuff about Orgreave has been misplaced apparently.

But in many ways, we've already rumbled that Thatcher was a violent psycho and the police became the enforcement wing of the tory party. So perhaps we don't need every last piece of evidence on every last crime they committed together.

 

 

[HanoiVillan]

In amongst the excitement about Nick Clegg getting his knighthood, it has been largely overlooked by most commentators that the most despicable man in the Commons also received a knighthood. Step forward 'Sir' Christopher Chope, MP for Christchurch. Wikipedia helpfully lists some of his greatest hits as a parliamentarian:

'Chope was . . . promoted by Margaret Thatcher to serve in her government as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for the Environment later in the same year, where he was responsible for steering through the "Community Charge" (popularly known as the Poll tax) legislation. He was moved under the leadership of John Major to serve in the same rank at the Department of Transport from 1990 until he lost his Southampton Itchen seat to John Denham at the 1992 general election.

[. . .]

After his defeat, Chope took up a consultancy with Ernst & Young in 1992, but was re-elected at the 1997 general election for the Christchurch constituency.

[. . .]

On 10 February 2009, he called for the minimum wage to be abolished . . . 

Later that year, in the expenses scandal, it emerged that Chope claimed £136,992 in parliamentary expenses in 2007/08. This included claiming £881 to repair a sofa.

On 12 March 2010, he was responsible for the blocking of a bill to protect poor countries from "vulture funds", despite his party's support for the bill.

In October 2010, Chope helped host a meeting of climate-science sceptics at Westminster.

On 11 October 2011 Chope raised an eleventh hour objection to the Hillsborough debate taking place because he believed a debate about MP's pensions was more important. Cries of 'shame' echoed around the chamber and Labour MP Jamie Reed said that the perpetrator should be 'named and shamed' for raising the objection.

[. . .]

Chope came under fire in January 2013 for referring to some staff in the House of Commons as "servants". Parallels were drawn between this opinion and his views on the minimum wage.

Chope voted against the legislation for same-sex marriage in 2013.

In June 2013 Chope was one of four MPs who camped outside Parliament in a move to facilitate parliamentary debate on what they called an "Alternative Queen’s Speech" -an attempt to show what a future Conservative government might deliver. 42 policies were listed including reintroduction of the death penalty and conscription, privatizing the BBC, banning the burka in public places and preparation to leave the European Union.

In December 2013 Chope objected to the second reading of the Alan Turing (Statutory Pardon) Bill in the House of Commons.

On 28 November 2014 Chope, a private landlord, filibustered a Lib Dem bill with cross party support intended to make revenge evictions an offence.

In 2014 Chope along with six other Conservative Party MPs voted against the Equal Pay (Transparency) Bill which would require all companies with more than 250 employees to declare the gap in pay between the average male and average female salaries.

He came under criticism in late 2014 for repeatedly blocking a bill that would ban the use of wild animals in circus performances, justifying his actions by saying "The EU Membership Costs and Benefits bill should have been called by the clerk before the circuses bill, so I raised a point of order".

In October 2015, Chope joined fellow Conservative members Philip Davies and David Nuttall in extended speeches, known as a filibuster against a private members' bill which would have placed restrictions on hospital parking charges for carers. Their actions caused the bill to run out of time.'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Chope#Parliamentary_career

What a hero. 

[NurembergVillan]

More like Christopher 'chode', as the youngsters might say.

(Mooney it if needs be.  It's a great little insult.)

[darrenm]

1 hour ago, HanoiVillan said:

In amongst the excitement about Nick Clegg getting his knighthood, it has been largely overlooked by most commentators that the most despicable man in the Commons also received a knighthood. Step forward 'Sir' Christopher Chope, MP for Christchurch. Wikipedia helpfully lists some of his greatest hits as a parliamentarian:

'Chope was . . . promoted by Margaret Thatcher to serve in her government as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for the Environment later in the same year, where he was responsible for steering through the "Community Charge" (popularly known as the Poll tax) legislation. He was moved under the leadership of John Major to serve in the same rank at the Department of Transport from 1990 until he lost his Southampton Itchen seat to John Denham at the 1992 general election.

[. . .]

After his defeat, Chope took up a consultancy with Ernst & Young in 1992, but was re-elected at the 1997 general election for the Christchurch constituency.

[. . .]

On 10 February 2009, he called for the minimum wage to be abolished . . . 

Later that year, in the expenses scandal, it emerged that Chope claimed £136,992 in parliamentary expenses in 2007/08. This included claiming £881 to repair a sofa.

On 12 March 2010, he was responsible for the blocking of a bill to protect poor countries from "vulture funds", despite his party's support for the bill.

In October 2010, Chope helped host a meeting of climate-science sceptics at Westminster.

On 11 October 2011 Chope raised an eleventh hour objection to the Hillsborough debate taking place because he believed a debate about MP's pensions was more important. Cries of 'shame' echoed around the chamber and Labour MP Jamie Reed said that the perpetrator should be 'named and shamed' for raising the objection.

[. . .]

Chope came under fire in January 2013 for referring to some staff in the House of Commons as "servants". Parallels were drawn between this opinion and his views on the minimum wage.

Chope voted against the legislation for same-sex marriage in 2013.

In June 2013 Chope was one of four MPs who camped outside Parliament in a move to facilitate parliamentary debate on what they called an "Alternative Queen’s Speech" -an attempt to show what a future Conservative government might deliver. 42 policies were listed including reintroduction of the death penalty and conscription, privatizing the BBC, banning the burka in public places and preparation to leave the European Union.

In December 2013 Chope objected to the second reading of the Alan Turing (Statutory Pardon) Bill in the House of Commons.

On 28 November 2014 Chope, a private landlord, filibustered a Lib Dem bill with cross party support intended to make revenge evictions an offence.

In 2014 Chope along with six other Conservative Party MPs voted against the Equal Pay (Transparency) Bill which would require all companies with more than 250 employees to declare the gap in pay between the average male and average female salaries.

He came under criticism in late 2014 for repeatedly blocking a bill that would ban the use of wild animals in circus performances, justifying his actions by saying "The EU Membership Costs and Benefits bill should have been called by the clerk before the circuses bill, so I raised a point of order".

In October 2015, Chope joined fellow Conservative members Philip Davies and David Nuttall in extended speeches, known as a filibuster against a private members' bill which would have placed restrictions on hospital parking charges for carers. Their actions caused the bill to run out of time.'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Chope#Parliamentary_career

What a hero. 

Just sounds regular Tory to me.