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

[Davkaus]

Always an entertaining read. In a car-crash kind of a way.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1307988591356923904.html

Quote

#TheWeekInTory returns for the second time in 4 days
The weeks grow shorter, but the days last forever
1. The consultant who advised the govt to look for "alternative arrangements" on the Irish Border is in line for a £200m contract if alternative arrangements go ahead

2. But to facilitate this, the govt has to break international law with the Internal Market Bill (IMB) 

3. Nobody can tell us what the "alternative arrangements" are, but the IMB passed through parliament anyway
4. The UK’s highest-ranking law officer in Scotland resigned over the IMB
5. The UK’s special envoy on media freedom, Amal Clooney (yes, that one) quit over IMB 

6. The former (Tory appointed) ambassador to USA said the IMB was "hugely damaging to our international reputation"
7. Those snowflake liberal Remoaners Toby Young, Peter Hitchens and Tim Montgomerie turned on the govt over IMB. As did every living former-PM 

8. Joe Biden said there would be no UK/US Trade Deal if the IMB went ahead
9. Iain Duncan Smith said "we don’t need lectures" from Joe Biden
10. Trump’s special envoy to NI also said there would be no Trade Deal
11. Apparently, IDS does need lectures. Who knew? 

12. Oh, and IMB also includes a provision allowing the govt to break absolutely any law, absolutely any time
13. Unrelated, I’m sure, but the number of "problem drinkers" in England doubled this year
16. So the govt cut funding to alcohol addiction services 

15. Dominic Raab, whose job it is to understand the Good Friday Agreement, admitted he hasn’t read the Good Friday Agreement
16. His excuse is: "it’s not a novel". True. Novels tend to be longer than 35 pages, aren't vital to solving conflicts that killed 3600 people 

17. The PM, who literally voted to break a deal he signed with the EU, said the EU was "not negotiating in good faith"
18. The next morning, NI minister and arch memo-misser Brandon Lewis went on TV and said "I believe the EU is negotiating in good faith" 

19. It was revealed the Smart Freight System to handle post-Brexit trade won’t be ready until at least April 2021.
20. That’s at least 4 months without a freight handling system, during the time of year we rely on food imports the most 

21. The Road Haulage Assoc said a meeting with Michael Gove to discuss border checks provided "no clarity" and was "a washout"
22. An official report says 2-day queues at Dover in January are "a certainty" 

23. So the govt closed a Covid test site in Kent, to convert it into a lorry park, in what experts (well, me) are calling "the world’s shittest game of whack-a-mole"
24. The govt said people would be fined £1000 if they don’t self-isolate after getting a positive test 

25. And then all tests ran out in the 10 worst-hit Covid hotspots
26. And then all home testing kits ran out, nationally
27. And then the website for booking tests broke, and just showed a series of error messages 

28. And then the govt said the system was under strain cos people were asking for tests when they didn’t know they were infected
29. So [deep breath] you must self-isolate after getting a test that doesn’t exist, and you can only get a test if you already know the result 

30. Naturally, honesty no-fly-zone Priti Patel went on Radio 4 and announced tests were available everywhere and there were "no problems getting tests"
31. Same day - same hour, in fact - Boris Johnson said the testing system "has huge problems" 

32. Jacob Rees-Mogg, who simply cannot shut up about fish, said we should stop the "endless carping" about not being tested for a fatal infection
33. Boris Johnson went on national TV and announced a "£100bn moonshot" approach to Covid, which would test "10m people per day" 

34. Three days later, in front of a Parliamentary Committee, said he "didn’t recognise" the figure of 10m a day
35. And it was reported his half-brother is on the board of the business that would get most of the £100bn budget, which I’m sure is just a massive coincidence 

36. Officials branded the moonshot as "Moonf**k"
37. And then Matt Hancock had to ask other cabinet ministers to stop referring to him as "Matt W*nkCock"
38. Despite appearances, these are not 7 year old boys 

39. Food news, and Tory MP Douglas Ross said "I have seen the difference free school meals can make, and I want to make sure nobody falls through the cracks"
40. Douglas Ross voted against free school meals 

41. Boris Johnson said we cannot put punitive restrictions on food imports from the EU (to force them to give up on Ireland), or we will starve
42. And then, minutes later, he agreed with a Brexiter MP who said we SHOULD put punitive restrictions on food imports from the EU 

43. Boris Johnson said "I venerate our civil service" after sacking the innocent heads of multiple departments to protect friends including Gavin Williamson and Dominic Cummings. And as a result, people leaving the civil service rose 14% in a year 

44. Planning-ahead news: an international conglomerate pulled out of a £16bn power project because the govt hasn’t performed its part of the deal for the last 20 months
45. Funding cuts since 2010 meant the govt had to inject £700m to prevent further education going bankrupt 

46. This week it was found the govt – which last week voted not to implement the recommendations of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry – has also failed to deliver its promise to remove the same dangerous cladding from at least 2000 tower blocks. Sleep well. 

47. And then the govt said files on Grenfell were "lost forever", after a laptop was wiped. Cos everything is always stored on a single laptop. We all know this.
48. The govt runs G-Cloud, its own dedicated cloud backup service, which has been active since 2012. So... yeah. 

49. At a committee in parliament, an MP read out the Covid test figures. Dido Harding, in charge of testing, said “I’m sorry, that’s just not true, I don’t know where that number is from”
50. It was from her own report. Page 8. In bold type. 

51. Dido Harding said "nobody could predict" a rise in demand for testing
52. Govt scientists predicted it, and in a July report sent to Dido Harding – maybe it was a different one? - said "July and Aug must be a period of intense preparation for a Sept resurgence in Covid" 

53. Oh, and standard advice says the NHS must always prepare for cold and respiratory infections to spike immediately after the return to school in Sept
54. Dido Harding wasted £13m on a "world-beating" testing app that cost £12.3m more than the German app, and didn’t work 

55. She is now in charge of the test-and-trace service which has collapsed completely
56. So naturally, it was reported the govt wants to sack the head of NHS England and install Dido Harding instead. Let's make the most of that successful record, eh? 

57. In June the govt tweeted "grab a drink and raise a glass, pubs are reopening"
58. The PM said "it is your patriotic duty to go out and enjoy yourselves"
59. This week they said the public is responsible, and "people going to the pub fuelled the rise in Covid" 

60. So the govt closed pubs at 10pm, cos it’s well-known viruses only pop out for last orders.
61. Matt Hancock said the govt "threw a protective ring around care homes"
62. A leaked document said care homes are now being asked to accept patients who are known to have Covid 

63. Hospitals were banned from launching their own testing regime for staff and patience because… nope, nobody knows why. Just because.
64. There hasn’t been a meeting of COBRA (the govt’s committee for national emergencies, headed by the PM) since 10th May 

65. As Covid infections surged, Matt Hancock said restrictions are increasing, and pointed to a chart showing the govt has "moved to alert level 3". Level 3 is "a gradual relaxing of restrictions". Not only can't he remember his own alert system, he can't even read it. 

66. Despite travel restrictions, it was reported the PM flew off for a long weekend in Perugia, where his friend the Russian billionaire Evgeny Lebedev lives. He denies it, but the airport has his landing documents. So either he’s lying or... no, that’s the end of that sentence 

67. In June the govt spent £500m on a GPS satellite system to replace the one we lose due to Brexit
68. In July it was reported "we bought the wrong satellites"
69. This week the govt cancelled the programme and began asking the EU if we can keep on using their GPS system 

70. A cross-party committee of MPs found nurse-Ratched cosplayer Priti Patel "bases immigration policies on anecdotes and prejudice"
71. It found her dept has "no idea" what its annual spending achieves, and referred to "the wreckage that [Patel’s dept’s] ignorance caused" 

72. She is one of the favourites to replace Johnson
73. This is because it was reported the PM is thinking of quitting because he’s worried about his personal finances: the poor man has to "pay tax", "buy his own food" and "support 4 of his 6 children". Oh, the humanity! 

74. And Jonathan Aitken – look him up – continues to get privileged access to parliament despite a ban on MPs who have served more than a year in prison. Which he did. And it was hilarious. 

75. And finally, because he always needs a guest appearance, Chris Grayling, the man who awarded a ferry contract to a company with no ships, has got a £100k appointment to advise ports

 

 

[Davkaus]

That was a lot longer than I thought 

[snowychap]

11 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

That was a lot longer than I thought

[ml1dch]

 

So don't worry about following the rules y'all. And for those of you that have, you idiots. You clearly just don't appreciate your freedom enough.

Prick.

[Dodgyknees]

5 hours ago, Davkaus said:

That was a lot longer than I thought 

Aha, you got your leg over! Good lad.

[snowychap]

This could have gone in any number of threads (as DAG points out this is not peculiar to governments of a particular colour) but it's getting more and more relevant by the day under this current lot:

 

[snowychap]

Again, this carries on points made in other threads but the conclusion is specific to this government and what I fear they actually want out of this legislation (The Internal Market Bill):

Quote

Ronan Cormacain: The United Kingdom Internal Market Bill and Breach of Domestic Law

Huge controversy has already been generated over provisions in the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill granting Ministers the power to disapply the Withdrawal Agreement.  Most of the debate (Elliott,  Armstrong) has been focused on the potential breaches of international law. This could severely damage the reputation of the United Kingdom in the world.  However, what has been relatively overlooked is that this Bill is also a flagrant attack on the Rule of Law at the UK domestic level.  This remains the case even if amendments proposed by Sir Bob Neill MP (and apparently accepted by the Government) pass.

...

The Bill clearly states that any regulations made under it have effect, notwithstanding that they breach any domestic law whatsoever, including the decision of any court.  This is not quite the same as a Henry VIII clause which would give the Minister the power to amend primary or secondary legislation by way of making a statutory instrument.  It is broader and simply says that any domestic law which is incompatible with these provisions simply does not have effect.

...

Conclusion

Brandon Lewis MP, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has unambiguously stated in Parliament that ‘this [Bill] does break international law in a very specific and limited way’.  As Garner has argued, these clauses constitute an immediate breach of international law as well as authorise future breaches of international law.  Equally damning is the breach of UK domestic law contained in the Bill.  The wording of the Bill is clear – the Government can make regulations which have effect even if they are incompatible with domestic law.  Putting anything above the law is the antithesis of the Rule of Law.

In a proudly Rule of Law compliant country like the United Kingdom, an argument which ends with the conclusion that ‘it’s okay for Parliament to break the law’ cannot be sustained.

 

Edited September 23, 2020 by snowychap

[blandy]

42 minutes ago, snowychap said:

it's getting more and more relevant by the day under this current lot:

It is, you're right. And the troubling thing is that their instinct to want to do that is actually bolstered by a degree of necessity in some limited areas around the corolla fungus. Given that getting law changes through all the stages of parliament takes months, that's too slow for the covi situation. So there's some argument to have very limited ministerial decree for some limited areas, but they are probably the most power-grabby bunch of ideologues, incompetents and whoppers there's ever been in power and their whole modus operandi seems to be to circumvent/sideline/ignore/destroy scrutiny, checks and balances, sound advice and all the rest. We're going to be regretting these things for a decade or more.

[snowychap]

3 hours ago, blandy said:

Given that getting law changes through all the stages of parliament takes months, that's too slow for the covi situation.

Well, yes and no. Legislation can get through Parliament much quicker than that but also there could be the ideas like the sifting committee one (as per the original idea to do with Brexit SIs) which, given we're now six months in to the regular use of emergency regulations and we're told at least six months before the end, could and should really be part of the procedure if Parliamentary sovereignty was at any point an actual reason for some of these gobshites wanting to 'take back control'..

[Xann]

Edited September 23, 2020 by Xann
I don't know where it's from? Star?

[blandy]

18 minutes ago, snowychap said:

Legislation can get through Parliament much quicker than that but also there could be the ideas like the sifting committee one

Yeah, you're right it can. I was keeping my post brief, rather than caveat it all. The Brexit stuff sometimes got turned round in a couple of days or so, and as fun as it was to see the Tories lose, it wasn't an ideal way to handle things from the parliamentary perspective, though it did show what is possible where enough MPs want to do something, and the speaker allows it.

I think under the circumstances some limited authority for (say) the health Minister to impose restrictions to control viruses outbreaks via additional powers beyond those already available to local authorities might be acceptable as a time limited power as an example, but it really should be a sort of non-precedent exception and we don't really think the Tories (or any future gov't) will give something up once they've got it. Especially this lot of twunts.

[snowychap]

25 minutes ago, blandy said:

I think under the circumstances some limited authority for (say) the health Minister to impose restrictions to control viruses outbreaks via additional powers beyond those already available to local authorities might be acceptable as a time limited power as an example, but it really should be a sort of non-precedent exception and we don't really think the Tories (or any future gov't) will give something up once they've got it. Especially this lot of twunts.

That's pretty much right, I think.

Add in to it the extra stuff as per the DAG video and the Cormacain piece and it's truly frightening!

[snowychap]

 

Edited September 24, 2020 by blandy
Fixed link

[StefanAVFC]

They are all awful, awful skin suits.

[Rolta]

4 hours ago, StefanAVFC said:

They are all awful, awful skin suits.

Criticising things as not logical seems to be their new buzzword—I heard blowjob using it today (maybe today) too when Starmer was criticising the lack of any functioning testing. They're massive hypocrites, and their bullshit is so blatant. They have no shame. No souls either.

I can't believe people fall for it.

This is as bad as it's ever been though. You'd hope there are a decent number of people slowly slowly waking up to the fact that nothing this government says is worth anything. They might not be admitting it to themselves yet, but come on. I've never seen such a constant farce.

Edited September 24, 2020 by Rolta

[chrisp65]

[darrenm]

Open corruption

 

 

[blandy]

12 hours ago, chrisp65 said:

I’ve got it. The hidden name is Les O’Hesra

[LondonLax]

This is The Spectator talking (The Spectator!):

Quote

In the light of recent articles in The Spectator, I think it is vital I should point out here and now that I thought Boris Johnson was crap long before Toby Young and our editor, Fraser Nelson, did. I remember suggesting more than a year ago that the entire Johnson clan was a bit thick and borne aloft simply by depthless ambition and droit de seigneur

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/time-for-me-to-be-more-assertive/amp

[darrenm]

4 minutes ago, LondonLax said:

This is The Spectator talking (The Spectator!):

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/time-for-me-to-be-more-assertive/amp

Yeah, I can't imagine what's going on