Off Topic News & Current affairs

Jeremy Corbyn's last PMQ today. What a blessed relief.

 

I hope he uses it well for a change.

Press for a halt to construction work on everything except essential buildings.
And press for support for the self-employed.

Come on Jezza, you can do it.

 

Sadiq Khan pressed for a halt to construction work at the last Cobra meeting, but was overruled.

 

He was right on that call.

But he was wrong to reduce the tube & bus services.
And more than a bit disingenuous to claim later that the reductions were purely down to some staff self-isolating.
That was a porky.

 

Khan is a little 5hit trying to make political gains out of Covid-19 …. as nasty a person as Trump, in his own way!

 

What else were the reductions down to? Seriously, I don't know.

 

The services were reduced because the number of people using them dropped off sharply. About 60% for the tubes I think.
Good for those who were left, who could now have a bit of space around them
Then the services were reduced at a stroke (not gradually run down because of lack of staff).

The result was the remaining 40% of travellers were crammed back together again in the reduced number of trains.
After waiting together for longer on platforms of course.

I know it's easy to criticise this move with hindsight.
But the Mayor could have held his hands up and said "sorry, in retrospect it was a mistake".
Instead he was less than honest.

~

Khan is looking rather scruffy as well lately.
Is he self-isolating at home? Does he have coronavirus?
If he does then fair enough, that explains it.

If not, I don't see why he can't keep himself looking reasonably smart (as he always used to).
Most of the Government bods and politician we see on TV are still managing to present themselves tidily, but Khan has apparently let himself go.

If this is just his take on expressing the gravity of the crisis, it's a strange one.
Doctors, nurses and other key workers have every right to look a bit unkempt at the moment when interviewed for TV, they are going through a hellish experience.
If our Mayor is also genuinely too stressed to present a composed presence for interviews, maybe he should take a rest and let his deputy (or somebody else on his staff) do the PR stuff.

 

Really FHB you don't know the real reason? Workers who risk losing their jobs if they take a lot of (suspect) sick leave are at work, people where the management are unable to reprimand staff for excessive sick leave have a high level of staff absence!

 

I've worked for a fair few firms in my time, but never for one where the management is unable to reprimand staff for excessive sick leave. Times must have changed.

 

London Underground is run by the Unions... NOT .. by TfL

 

I agree Khan looked positively haggard last night. Heidi Alexander has just given a lengthy detailed explanation of the problems, which include a 30% absentee rate atm, in an interview on LBC. There are not the simplistic solutions some are suggesting. As I said before, and will probably say again, I think everybody is doing their level best, and if anyone has made the wrong call it has been with honest intentions, and will be discussed at another time. I don't know where AHLL gets the idea that Khan is using the pandemic to get political capital. If anyone is it's his mayoral opponents who are proposing simplistic solutions which sound good but are not realistic.

 

Fair enough.

It's not good form to keep picking away at Sadiq Khan under the present circumstances I suppose.
The numpties who are ignoring the lock down rules, and profiteering twats like Mike Ashley, deserve the stick instead.

And Nimer & Southall of course.

 

Heard the first blackbird of spring today. The Red Red Robin has probably told him to get his beak in gear, I'm clocking out in a couple of weeks.

 

The Wren is my favourite

 

A twitcher relative tells me that wrens survive harsh winter weather by huddling togetheR at night.

 

The chancellor's speech today will spell out how the government is going to help the self-employed. It makes you realise how much the self-employed keep the country running. Twas not always thus. I can remember when self-employed tradesmen were ostracised on building sites, and referred to as "lump labour". Now nearly all tradesmen are self-employed, but I'll leave it to others to pass judgement on the rights and wrongs of that.

 

There will be time to examine our society when this scourge is beaten.
I think it very unlikely that matters will just go back to being exactly the way they were, in many respects.

Now it's important that everybody is looked after as well as possible.
No hard working person deserves to lose their livelihood, their home or their long term plans for the future because of this crisis.
We're going to lose too many good people already. Perhaps the future can eventually be made a tiny bit better, a tiny bit fairer, for the rest of us.

 

The Donald has said that Harry and Meghan (Sussex Disloyal) will have to pay for their own security arrangements while they are staying in the US.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52086992

Every now and then Trump gets something right

 

I think you will find that the 'Sussex Parasites' will not expect to pay their own way and the security costs will be paid for by the Dutchy of Cornwall or the British Government as usual.

 

Sadly I agree this is what will happen.
We'll foot the bill as usual.

But Trump is still right to make it known this pair of freeloaders are not going to leech off the American People.