A comment from a member of the public about the new PM and his cabinet that seems appropriate for this forum. "Like a team languishing at the bottom of the league ,the new manager tries to address the fact that his team is utterly useless by picking the same players in different positions."
Suella Braverman - aka Leaky Sue. Joking aside, it appears that Sunak's reign as PM has got off to a rather shaky start. Not only can he not give a reasonable explanation for rehiring someone recently sacked for breaking the ministerial code, but he appears to have broken it himself. In parliament he defended Leaky Sue by saying that she had brought the security leak to the attention of authorities herself - former Tory chairman Jake Berry had already revealed that she had admitted it after being confronted with the evidence. So Sunak lied to parliament on just his second day as prime minister - even BoJo wasn't that bad. https://tribunetimes.co.uk/news/sue...he Cabinet Office’s Government Security Group.
The Nasty Party's even nastier DWP beaten in court - about time too. They are precisely the reason the Scottish Government set up Social Security Scotland - which now administers disability payments, treating recipients with dignity and respect. https://www.disabilitynewsservice.c...redit-discrimination-led-to-suicide-thoughts/
It looks as though having lost my vote in the UK this year under the 15 year rule, as of today I can register and get it back. If at anytime you were registered to vote in the UK, no matter where you now live you can apply to be registered. The Elections Act 2022 comes into force today, and if my reading is correct it will restore many people the chance to have a say in things that do affect their daily lives. Why should I want to have a say some could ask? Well apart from the disaster that Brexit has been for many of us in the EU, lots such as myself do still pay a small amount of UK tax. Then I wish to have a say in what I would like the future to be for my children and grandchildren. I suspect that although the Act seems to make it harder for people to vote within the UK, many abroad will welcome it.
I have travelled around different countries in the EU without coming across border crossings. Very often you do not know what country you are in until you see a sign in a different language. This is freedom for the individual, something that is very valuable. To take that freedom away is not something that some people were led to believe would happen. It apples very much in Ireland where we witnessed the folly of trying to close a border in the same land mass. Open borders are about trust between countries, something the government in London doesn't seem to understand, and don't mention the DUP.
The border crossings are still there Frenchie and can still be imposed at any time - they suddenly appeared during the worst period of Covid 19 and were usefull in helping against the unrestricted spread of this disease. At one point Germany reimposed all border controls. Some countries in the EU actually imposed internal restrictions on movement from one area to another re. Italy and Spain, and it was necessary at the time. At the moment there are an estimated 3-10 thousand Ukrainians arriving in Berlin every day (because once in the EU they have unrestricted travel) this is from a country where vaccination was very low and where TB is still a problem.
That's anyone's guess, but I doubt the press are interested in asking the question. As an example, he gets just the merest of mentions in this story about an NHS failure - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-63205305 "On Friday 21 October, Cameron Stone, 20, arrived at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital by car after being referred by his GP. He had been unable to keep food and drink down for a week and was dehydrated with a painful abdomen. "A&E was chaotic - more like a supermarket queue than a hospital," said his mother, Debbie Barnfield. Cameron was put on a drip in A&E. Ten hours later he was moved to a small side room with other patients and given a reclining chair on which to spend the night. "He was absolutely shattered and had a fever. All we could do was give him a towel to keep him warm," said Ms Barnfield. The next day - 26 hours after he first arrived - Cameron was put on a trolley and wheeled into a different overspill room for the night, before being moved into the acute medical ward as a bed became free. "I really feel for the doctors and nurses because they are literally run off their feet. I don't know who is to blame but it's an absolute shambles," said Ms Barnfield." For me, this is a case of the press having been ordered to protect the government and its ministers - nothing more, nothing less. Had this occurred in a hospital in Scotland, which is doubtful anyway, every branch of the media and every opposition politician would be playing the blame game - screaming like banshees for Nicola Sturgeon and/or the Scottish Health Minister to resign, under orders from Westminster.
Yes, it is quite right that in certain circumstances such as a health pandemic that borfers can be closed. I don't think too many people would be against that. All countries maintain the right to do it, We all gave up some of our freedoms to fight against Covid, indeed there are still places here you cannot enter without a mask. Freedom from the big brother state is something that most people want, with the proviso that the state is seen to be acting for the common good. Migration for poverty, famine, wars or climate is something that answers have to found for, and it is the rich countries of Western that need to be talking to each other to try and find solutions. As I said in my previous post, trust is so important between nations when it comes to solving some of these increasing international problems.
Even the Express is campaigning against government proposals.regarding pensions. https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-the-papers-63421729
That’s ridiculous, BB. Treat them with no dignity or respect, then you’re likely to have to pay out less. Then we can afford lower taxes; e.g. (and this does sound like urban myth, but truthfully happened to my friend) Find offices for mobility vehicles entitlement that are 21m from the car park. Change the rules for entitlement to those who can walk no more than 20m. Ask them to attend an interview. If they walk in, BINGO! Remove entitlement. The fact the walk, with the aid of walking sticks, took a really long time (I can’t remember exactly how long it took her, but it was a remarkable length of time - and it’s 4.10am, so not a friendly time to ring to corroborate ) as she is proud and determined - all of that is irrelevant. She walked in, she lost her car. For months and months she sat in an armchair (day and night, as often movement to and from bed is too much), not seeing friends or socialising, until it was overturned on appeal. But think how many don’t have the will to appeal. That’s how our benefits system is set up. Beveridge and Our Clem would have been so proud.
Fortunately it's not how ours is set up though. Whilst I have no personal experience of how it works in England, I'm happy to believe what you say - mainly because there have been far too many similar stories published over the last twelve years - they can't all be false.
Matt Hancock has had the Tory whip suspended with immediate effect after he signed up for ITV’s I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, the Conservative chief whip, Simon Hart, has said. The constituents can get lost . He is following in the footsteps of MP for Mid Bedfordshire and former culture secretary Nadine Dorries, who appeared on the show in 2012, and had the whip suspended as a result. I think that MPs who do this sort of thing should have all their pay and allowances stopped.
Totally agree. In his case, I think the word 'celebrity' doesn't really apply - it would be more appropriate to name the show 'He's an idiot, get him out of there' - with the 'there' being Westminster.
