Off Topic Politics Thread

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All this sleaze stuff is interesting, but shouldn't be the only point of attack on this government. Handing out contracts to your local pub landlord and asking him to have a root around for some PPE, or asking some dodgy vacuum cleaner salesman if he can knock up a ventilator or two wouldn't have been necessary if the government from 2010 hadn't been hell bent on destroying public services through their austerity programme.

Somehow, BoJo has managed to avoid scrutiny over the way that the Tory Govt - with the support of the Lib Dems so Big Ed can stop looking so smug - attempted to dismantle the very NHS it now proudly champions.
 
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How these contracts were awarded, and proper PPE suppliers were ignored in preference is scandalous.
I hope every penny spent on contracts that failed to deliver is recovered or the directors of those companies jailed.
I appreciate that some checks need to be short-circuited in a pandemic but this does not excuse such obvious cronyism.

I want to see ministers and senior civil servants testify under oath what happened, and I want the House of Commons to modernize their standards to stop all this informal approaches direct to ministers, or at least record it.
 
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One of yer Norvern Saints said:
All this sleaze stuff is interesting, but shouldn't be the only point of attack on this government. Handing out contracts to your local pub landlord and asking him to have a root around for some PPE, or asking some dodgy vacuum cleaner salesman if he can knock up a ventilator or two wouldn't have been necessary if the government from 2010 hadn't been hell bent on destroying public services through their austerity programme.

Somehow, BoJo has managed to avoid scrutiny over the way that the Tory Govt - with the support of the Lib Dems so Big Ed can stop looking so smug - attempted to dismantle the very NHS it now proudly champions.
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Chilcs has posted a number of the Good Law Project's activities in bringing the incompetent and corrupt incumbents to book see https://www.not606.com/threads/politics-thread.323930/page-1508#post-14850165
 
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Schad said:
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I'm a firm believer in the "no spoilers" rule, but he really should have watched a documentary about the Vietnam war through to the end.
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I highly recommend Ken Burns documentary series The Vietnam War. Riveting stuff from start to finish.


In New York a few years ago, I met an old black dude who was a Vietnam vet. He told me that returning Vets referred to Harlem in the 60s and 70s as the DMZ, because it was as dangerous and lawless as Vietnam. And as badly policed.
 
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Ian Thumwood said:
Boris has not only be caught out but Starmer has done his job extremely effectively for once and has him cornered with the fact that he has potentially engineered him lying before Parliament from where there would be no comeback. He questioning in PMQs was expert. I felt Starmer's tactics were far more forensic that Blackford's who is a bit of an uncultured thug who is fortunate to belong to the SNP who are a slick, modern politic force unlikely to become embroiled in the same kind of pitfalls.After yesterday, I felt that this has changed from being a mere bit of scandal to something that will ultimately bring him down. I believe that the enquiry in to the government's handling of Covid is taking place in a few week's time and I would expect that this will reveal allegations which will prove to be far more damaging than the refurbishing of a flat. I do not envisage Boris being in power in six months time. He will have done well to get through the summer and I think he will be encouraged to resign. Enough damage might have already have been done to ensure that the local election results are catastrophic enough for bring about Boris's resignation even more rapidly. There is no way that I can see him surviving. I also have a suspicion that the police will be involved at some point.
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Uncultured thug ? - take some time Ian, and listen to Blackford when he speaks in the HoC, or when he is interviewed. He`s articulate and clear, and has intellect. He`s concise and gets his facts right.
 
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St. Luigi Scrosoppi said:
The Daily Express says:

Boris urged to refuse to grant status to EU ambassador - 'EU's NOT a country!'

By the same logic neither is Great Britain or the UK for that matter. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are the countries that make up the UK and each by this reckoning should have their own embassies.
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Given the EU is a glorified trade association should'nt it be a Shop Steward anyway?
 
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shoot_spiderman said:
Given the Social Media boycott this weekend and the Shearer/Wrighty interviews about online abuse (see BBC) I thought I'd post a couple of links

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/...ght-escapes-criminal-conviction-40047270.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...Ian-Wright-losing-Fifa-match-spared-jail.html

The Belfast Telegraph appears to be presenting the case on behalf of the accused, well done to the Daily Mail fo giving a fuller picture
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Interesting case and one, I’m sure, some of the more right wing readers of the Mail will get up in arms about. I actually agree with the judge in not giving a custodial sentence (I can’t seem to see what the sentence actually was) as this would be likely to haunt the lad for the rest of his life for a stupid, unthinking, idiotic rant. However, he WILL have a criminal record which will be with him for years AND I’d have had him doing a massive amount of community service - especially in the areas of underprivileged people, plus banned him totally online for a long period - so that anyone who thinks they can hide behind social media realises that this kind of behaviour seriously hurts the scum who do it. Send him to clean up a refugee hostel every weekend for a year, fine him and ban him. That would hurt a LOT more than any custodial sentence, I reckon.
 
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davecg69 said:
Interesting case and one, I’m sure, some of the more right wing readers of the Mail will get up in arms about. I actually agree with the judge in not giving a custodial sentence (I can’t seem to see what the sentence actually was) as this would be likely to haunt the lad for the rest of his life for a stupid, unthinking, idiotic rant. However, he WILL have a criminal record which will be with him for years AND I’d have had him doing a massive amount of community service - especially in the areas of underprivileged people, plus banned him totally online for a long period - so that anyone who thinks they can hide behind social media realises that this kind of behaviour seriously hurts the scum who do it. Send him to clean up a refugee hostel every weekend for a year, fine him and ban him. That would hurt a LOT more than any custodial sentence, I reckon.
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Agree about the non-custodial and the rest, but it clearly says he escaped a criminal conviction

Not having a go, but for discussion ...
Do you think you should re-consider your use of the word unthinking as mitigation?
It may not have been pre-meditated, but it was deliberate and he sent 20 messages, so quite a lot of thinking maybe
 
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shoot_spiderman said:
Agree about the non-custodial and the rest, but it clearly says he escaped a criminal conviction

Not having a go, but for discussion ...
Do you think you should re-consider your use of the word unthinking as mitigation?
It may not have been pre-meditated, but it was deliberate and he sent 20 messages, so quite a lot of thinking maybe
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True - I didn’t think about using that term :emoticon-0114-dull: and I missed the bit about escaping the criminal conviction. I am strongly of the opinion that he should have a criminal record for that. Clearly a disturbed individual getting so wound up about an online game - he should be given all I said plus some serious counselling for his obvious anger issue. I’d hate to have someone like that as a friend or family member, as it seems to me that he could explode over anything trivial :emoticon-0104-surpr:emoticon-0121-angry:emoticon-0121-angry:emoticon-0121-angry
 
Ooh - my local MP Caroline Noakes hand delivering leaflets in my street this morning, reminding us to vote conservative on Thursday. Short shrift from yours truly and “no time, sorry .....” to get into a debate over Tory corruption and sleaze ....... :emoticon-0114-dull:
 
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saintrichie123 said:
John Bercow and his thoughts on the PM if anyone wants a listen (haven’t myself yet).
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000vp01
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To busy to listen to the program, this from https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-56962642 Now where did I put those wall plugs and where is the box of crockery Mrs Jab packed for our recent move?

Mr Bercow said of the flat row: "First of all we don't know who paid the initial bill because the prime minister and his acolytes persisted with the refrain that he ended up picking up the bill.

"That is both true and irrelevant - we know that, we've heard it, we've got it... the point is who initially did so creating either the fact or the appearance of indebtedness and an obligation on the prime minister in the future."

He also accused the prime minister of demonstrating "an insouciant, a flippant, a casual disregard for the accuracy of what he says".

In other words a lying bastard of the first order.
 
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