Maitliss cannot hide her EU bias on Newsnight. Aghast at the Leaver (who’s a knob, by the way) and leading the witness as far as the Remainer Old Dutch is concerned.
Off Topic The Politics Thread
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Who made Corbyn PM? £ taking a hammering as if we had a Labour Government......
Or Oliver Letwin. We really are living in a mixed up crazy world when someone like him can be called an extremist.
Thought you were Kiwi for a moment . But then he doesn't delve too far to the centre to find his articles.
Uncle Tom’s cabinet
Boris Johnson’s appointment of ethnic-minority ministers has unmasked the ugly racism of identity politics.
Fraser Myers
Staff writer
28th July 2019
Boris Johnson has appointed the most ethnically diverse cabinet in history. Almost a fifth of all ministers come from a minority ethnic background. Two of the great offices of state are occupied by politicians with family backgrounds from the Indian subcontinent: Sajid Javid and Priti Patel.
We live in a world where diversity rules. Achieving ethnic diversity, in particular, is viewed as an overarching progressive goal for businesses, the arts and politics. ‘Now more than ever, we need to celebrate the profound and enriching transformation brought by the diversity of people in this country, with all their different experiences, talents and contributions’, reads the Labour Party’s 2017 manifesto.
In that case, you might expect Johnson’s cabinet appointments to be a cause for celebration. But you’d be wrong. Instead, many on the left – mostly other ethnic minorities, in fact – were quick to denounce the newly appointed ministers. Shadow treasury minister Clive Lewis sarcastically congratulated Conservative chairman James Cleverly, accusing him and other ethnic-minority ministers of ‘selling their souls’ for office. Novara Media’s Ash Sarkar dismissed the ‘ascendence of Priti Patel and Sajid Javid’ as ‘tokenism’, accusing them of assimilating ‘oppressive ideologies in return for representation’.
It gets worse. Canary editor Kerry-Anne Mendoza tweeted that any politician that ‘serves in a far-right government’ (itself a ludicrous accusation) ‘is no longer a person of colour. They are a turncoat of colour.’ A writer in the Huffington Post said she was ashamed of Patel and Javid: ‘We can’t let our young look to them for inspiration because they are a product of internalised whiteness… Patel is used as a pawn in white supremacy and takes it in her stride.’ This goes way beyond disagreements over policy, whether on immigration and Brexit. These ministers are being slurred as Uncle Toms and race traitors. They are being singled out for attack entirely on the basis of their race.
Less heated critiques of Patel and Javid have labelled their appointments as ‘window dressing’. The diversity of the cabinet is a ‘distraction’ from Tory racism, argues Kehinde Andrews in the Guardian. His ire is more focused on Johnson, ‘parading a set of token figures to legitimise his agenda’. But the sense pervades that these ministers, even if they are not outright race traitors, are inauthentic ethnic minorities. ‘A cabinet packed with ministers with brown skin wearing Tory masks’ is surely just a long-winded way of calling them coconuts.
Certainly, there has always been something skin-deep about the diversity obsession and there is a legitimate critique to be made of it. We can all agree, for instance, that Britain’s first female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, was no feminist. And in terms of race, it has never been a given that ‘black faces in high places’ will translate into improved conditions for ethnic minorities in general. Nevertheless, everyone is usually expected to pay lip service to the politics of diversity or find themselves branded a ‘bigot’.
In fact, diversity and the politics of identity have played a key role in facilitating these ugly outbursts. Traditional anti-racist politics – working towards the abolition of race – has been turned upside down. Today, the identitarian impulse has taken over. Everyone is exalted to think racially and to see race as part of their personal and political identity. Some even argue that it is racist to refuse to acknowledge racial differences. Races are also divided into oppressor and oppressed. The white race is, naturally, the chief oppressor group and even its most hard-up members are said to benefit from ‘white privilege’.
In this worldview, people are increasingly seen not as individuals, independent of their race, but as ‘representatives’ of their race. In politics, this burdens ethnic minorities with the expectation that they will hold the ‘correct’ views. These ethnic-minority Tories have committed the cardinal sin against diversity by thinking for themselves. They have crossed a line and defied what is expected of them as ethnic minorities.
The dehumanising slurs and accusations of race treachery thrown at Javid, Patel and others are a product of a worldview that reduces all individuals to their immutable characteristics. Identity politics is inherently dehumanising. That it has now taken such an ugly turn against ethnic minorities should surprise no one.
Boris Johnson’s appointment of ethnic-minority ministers has unmasked the ugly racism of identity politics.
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Fraser Myers
Staff writer
28th July 2019
Boris Johnson has appointed the most ethnically diverse cabinet in history. Almost a fifth of all ministers come from a minority ethnic background. Two of the great offices of state are occupied by politicians with family backgrounds from the Indian subcontinent: Sajid Javid and Priti Patel.
We live in a world where diversity rules. Achieving ethnic diversity, in particular, is viewed as an overarching progressive goal for businesses, the arts and politics. ‘Now more than ever, we need to celebrate the profound and enriching transformation brought by the diversity of people in this country, with all their different experiences, talents and contributions’, reads the Labour Party’s 2017 manifesto.
In that case, you might expect Johnson’s cabinet appointments to be a cause for celebration. But you’d be wrong. Instead, many on the left – mostly other ethnic minorities, in fact – were quick to denounce the newly appointed ministers. Shadow treasury minister Clive Lewis sarcastically congratulated Conservative chairman James Cleverly, accusing him and other ethnic-minority ministers of ‘selling their souls’ for office. Novara Media’s Ash Sarkar dismissed the ‘ascendence of Priti Patel and Sajid Javid’ as ‘tokenism’, accusing them of assimilating ‘oppressive ideologies in return for representation’.
It gets worse. Canary editor Kerry-Anne Mendoza tweeted that any politician that ‘serves in a far-right government’ (itself a ludicrous accusation) ‘is no longer a person of colour. They are a turncoat of colour.’ A writer in the Huffington Post said she was ashamed of Patel and Javid: ‘We can’t let our young look to them for inspiration because they are a product of internalised whiteness… Patel is used as a pawn in white supremacy and takes it in her stride.’ This goes way beyond disagreements over policy, whether on immigration and Brexit. These ministers are being slurred as Uncle Toms and race traitors. They are being singled out for attack entirely on the basis of their race.
Less heated critiques of Patel and Javid have labelled their appointments as ‘window dressing’. The diversity of the cabinet is a ‘distraction’ from Tory racism, argues Kehinde Andrews in the Guardian. His ire is more focused on Johnson, ‘parading a set of token figures to legitimise his agenda’. But the sense pervades that these ministers, even if they are not outright race traitors, are inauthentic ethnic minorities. ‘A cabinet packed with ministers with brown skin wearing Tory masks’ is surely just a long-winded way of calling them coconuts.
Certainly, there has always been something skin-deep about the diversity obsession and there is a legitimate critique to be made of it. We can all agree, for instance, that Britain’s first female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, was no feminist. And in terms of race, it has never been a given that ‘black faces in high places’ will translate into improved conditions for ethnic minorities in general. Nevertheless, everyone is usually expected to pay lip service to the politics of diversity or find themselves branded a ‘bigot’.
In fact, diversity and the politics of identity have played a key role in facilitating these ugly outbursts. Traditional anti-racist politics – working towards the abolition of race – has been turned upside down. Today, the identitarian impulse has taken over. Everyone is exalted to think racially and to see race as part of their personal and political identity. Some even argue that it is racist to refuse to acknowledge racial differences. Races are also divided into oppressor and oppressed. The white race is, naturally, the chief oppressor group and even its most hard-up members are said to benefit from ‘white privilege’.
In this worldview, people are increasingly seen not as individuals, independent of their race, but as ‘representatives’ of their race. In politics, this burdens ethnic minorities with the expectation that they will hold the ‘correct’ views. These ethnic-minority Tories have committed the cardinal sin against diversity by thinking for themselves. They have crossed a line and defied what is expected of them as ethnic minorities.
The dehumanising slurs and accusations of race treachery thrown at Javid, Patel and others are a product of a worldview that reduces all individuals to their immutable characteristics. Identity politics is inherently dehumanising. That it has now taken such an ugly turn against ethnic minorities should surprise no one.
Alexander Hall@AEHALL1983 17h17 hours ago
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It's 2049. James O'Brien is still ranting about Brexit which happened 30 years ago. The mic isn't plugged in; he's not been on air for years but his family don't know how to tell him. Sometimes they ring his mobile pretending to be a caller debating the Customs Union. #Brexitpic.twitter.com/CldVezIsYP
More
It's 2049. James O'Brien is still ranting about Brexit which happened 30 years ago. The mic isn't plugged in; he's not been on air for years but his family don't know how to tell him. Sometimes they ring his mobile pretending to be a caller debating the Customs Union. #Brexitpic.twitter.com/CldVezIsYP
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Boris Johnson to promise farmers a 'better deal' after Brexit
Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson will promise to give farmers a "better deal" after Brexit as he said they will be "selling ever more, not just here but around the world".
The Prime Minister will visit a farm in south Wales on Tuesday and talk about the "historic opportunity" the UK has to introduce new schemes to support farming after it leaves the European Union.
Speaking ahead of the visit, where he will also meet Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford, Mr Johnson said: "I will always back Britain's great farmers and as we leave the EU we need to make sure that Brexit works for them. That means scrapping the common agricultural policy and signing new trade deals."
Mr Johnson will then travel to Brecon and Radnorshire...
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Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson will promise to give farmers a "better deal" after Brexit as he said they will be "selling ever more, not just here but around the world".
The Prime Minister will visit a farm in south Wales on Tuesday and talk about the "historic opportunity" the UK has to introduce new schemes to support farming after it leaves the European Union.
Speaking ahead of the visit, where he will also meet Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford, Mr Johnson said: "I will always back Britain's great farmers and as we leave the EU we need to make sure that Brexit works for them. That means scrapping the common agricultural policy and signing new trade deals."
Mr Johnson will then travel to Brecon and Radnorshire...
It’s not about looking like a dick
It’s a sensible thing to know the effects
Hoping that you are right with no ****ing plans and no deal is plain stupidity
Perfectly OK by Oliver Letwin
I would say no one is ready and without any plans in place after 31st Oct ... ?
I predict as soon as one small thing fails post Brexit you will feel a blame culture like never before . You are forgetting the divide
It’ll be the EU’s fault for “intransigence” and not appreciating that we won the war.
I must remember in future that every time I am negotiating a settlement for my clients that an element put forward by one side which the other does not like is 'undemocratic'.
Got to hand it to the guy. He’s brilliant at coming up with a short enough phrase for the dimmest Brexiteer to get behind.
They were at least right about those trillion Turks coming here.
Damn that undemocratic 2016 referendum, huh?
What plan's do the eu have in place for no deal
Up until last week it wasn't going to happen
ever
So far nothing, it seems. I saw Barnier interviewed on telly last night claiming Johnson’s mother was a hamster and that his father smelled of elderberries.
I’m trying to stay optimistic and positive but I’m getting confused. Johnson repeats that’s its ‘a million to one chance’ that we will leave the EU without a deal, Gove, who’s in charge of Brexit strategy, says a no deal outcome is the government’s ‘central assumption’.
Welsh sheep farmers threatening civil unrest in the case of no deal. 47% of their lamb is exported, 97% of those exports go to the EU. In the event of no deal this lamb will be subject to 40% tariffs, making the whole sector uneconomic. Apparently the WTO rules that we will be relying on don’t allow us to slap similar tariffs on New Zealand lamb and reduce imports from them. Welsh Tory spokesman reckons that ‘other markets’ will take up the slack on 1 November, like Japan, where exports are rising. That’s because the EU has just concluded a trade deal with Japan, which won’t apply after no deal, you stupid twat.
I hope something is sorted soon because my wife and daughter are off to New York in September, which was going to be ruinously expensive for me anyway, but could be catastrophic the way the £ is going. My money is on Johnson getting off a plane from Brussels waving a bit of paper containing some fudge over the backstop, then it’s back to Parliament.
Welsh sheep farmers threatening civil unrest in the case of no deal. 47% of their lamb is exported, 97% of those exports go to the EU. In the event of no deal this lamb will be subject to 40% tariffs, making the whole sector uneconomic. Apparently the WTO rules that we will be relying on don’t allow us to slap similar tariffs on New Zealand lamb and reduce imports from them. Welsh Tory spokesman reckons that ‘other markets’ will take up the slack on 1 November, like Japan, where exports are rising. That’s because the EU has just concluded a trade deal with Japan, which won’t apply after no deal, you stupid twat.
I hope something is sorted soon because my wife and daughter are off to New York in September, which was going to be ruinously expensive for me anyway, but could be catastrophic the way the £ is going. My money is on Johnson getting off a plane from Brussels waving a bit of paper containing some fudge over the backstop, then it’s back to Parliament.
What's to stop the UK saying to the rest of the world that with effect from 1st November we will continue to act as though we were part of the EU and honour the import/export arrangements that are currently in play for a certain period of time, but invite each country to then sit down with us and discuss where these arrangements should ultimately be tweaked? Seems pretty sensible to me and provides immediate certainty for the markets ("**** 'em , what about the people?", says Strolls).
It seems daft to me that we bleat (see what I did there?) about how expensive our lamb exports will be, but continue to bring in NZ lamb at the same time. Other than the fact that the Welsh lamb will probably have traces of human cum*, is there any difference between the two products? Surely, something could be done to encourage the UK consumer to buy the de-cummed Welsh lamb instead of importing the NZ stuff? Not only solves the problem, but you get to buy British and reduce the carbon footprint of flying Larry Lamb across First Class with free champers via Maori Air.
[*Sorry, Odie, I've done it again... but at least I didn't call the Germans 'huns', 'boche' or 'cabbage-munchers' this time, eh?]
I'm obviously enormously thick as I voted Leave and, by definition, not as enlightened as Watford etc., but why can't we hoover up agreements with other countries in the 90-odd days that are left that allow us to mirror the EU arrangements for (say) 2 years?
She stopped on the wheel once in a while to eat nuts and make love to Stanley.