We know that Boris Johnson is failure at everything but being a buffoon.
He has failed on Brexit, Covid and now the economy.
He has failed the public services.
He has failed the public.
He has even failed at complying with his own laws, so now he is a criminal. He has admitted it.
The trouble is, an authoritarian element of the UK population do love a buffoon. They were brought up on Dick Emery and Benny Hill. The same people were brought up in awe of Churchill, with a sneaking regard for Hitler. So they bought into Johnson. They probably still do.
On any rational analysis Johnson, and the Tories who support him, are finished. No one who cannot spot a birthday party should be in charge of our nuclear deterrent. But absurd lines of reasoning that people openly laugh at are being brought out in Johnson's defence.
And no one, from Sunak onwards, is willing to bring him down within the Tory party where there is no one to replace him, let alone provide an alternative cabinet in waiting.
So we now move to the familiar territory of the failed tyrant, which is the scorched earth policy as they retreat towards their inevitable demise.
Today we have an attack on migrants with a policy being announced that cross-Channel migrants are to be sent to Rwanda. I rather strongly suspect that Rwanda has not been asked whether it agrees as yet. I also suspect it is illegal. But the Benny Hill fans will like it. And that is all that matters.
Expect more like this. All the usual targets will be hit, starting with benefits for single parents. Then there will be an announced crackdown on serious crime (because going to banned birthday parties is minor crime). There might even be a consultation on the death penalty. That would be incredibly popular. There will also, no doubt, be attacks on Wales and Scotland. Expect some limitations on powers. Green policy will effectively be abandoned. And who knows what will happen with the EU? All of which will simply be to fill front pages of the Mail, Express and Sun.
And what is sad is that it might just work. Maybe thirty per cent of those likely to vote in the UK want this sort of authoritarian posturing, and think they have little to lose from it. If the other parties don't align against it - and for the common good - the policy may just work.
We are in for a torrid two plus years of a remaining Johnson government. And who knows thereafter? Watching Rachel Reeves on Channel 4 last night she managed not a single blow on the Tories. If that is the best Labour can do don't presume that the scorched earth policy might not last a very long time.
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Forgive me for not knowing the name of last night’s C4 anchorwoman last night but she did a great job and actually told Reeves that she hadn’t answered the f****** question.
I wonder how much Reeve’s outfit and makeover was? It must be really nice to be able to afford something like that in these times and looking so smart (did you see her removing a stray hair I think from the front of her outfit whilst she drolly considered the questions – you don’t have see much to realise that there’s not much going on up there in Reeves well coiffured head).
Oh dear – look – I’m sorry if this looks like male bullying of a female politician, but Reeves was truly awful last night.
We have a lawless Government with sadomasochistic tendencies and there was no passion, no indignation and NO IDEAS.
We’ve nothing to turn to but ourselves it seems.
The anchor was right – and I do not know her name either. She seems to be part of the new Leeds set up and I am always slow on names
I looked at Reeves and thought she must have had lots of media training of late, all of it to deliver meaningless waffle
PSR, Richard, the C4 News presenter you mention is Zahra Warsame. She’s been reporting mainly on location stuff for a while now. But with the move to Leeds I presume they’ve added her to the main presenting team along with Cathy Newman, etc. Being pretty new you can see she’s still not totally relaxed using the autocue, but she certainly stuck to her line in the interview with Reeves – who was utterly vapid and useless, as you say. If this is as good as it gets for Labour as an opposition party then God help us all!
This one? Ayshah Tull – https://www.channel4.com/news/government-totally-preoccupied-with-a-crisis-of-their-making-says-shadow-chancellor
Yes
Yes – media training – my thoughts exactly.
That was dreadful! It reminds me of what James Ladyman had to say about bullshit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32ZaTKa2IRg&t=1104s
Reves won’t criticise the Tories because she is one, always has been. Her stated policies make that very clear.
As a matter of fact she is not a Tory so i do not think it sensible to make such claims
But she does not differentiate herself enough
This makes interesting reading
https://davidallengreen.com/2022/04/a-close-look-at-the-resignation-letter-of-david-wolfson-qc-as-justice-minister/
What I cant understand though is that The Tories are the party of the establishment, and you might have thought that at least their backers would want a reasonably competent administration, not one that might end up starting riots and putting the lights out
Robert Shrimsley (in the FT) has been a Johnson apologist (sort of) for a while but has now completely thrown in the towel. The BTL comment is uniformly along the line of “about b****y time”
These potential backers/kingmakers (now that Russian money is harder to get) might get their voice heard in the true blue constituencies of south east England.
Who is Green Lucy and why will she be abandoned?
Corrected!
Let’s have some basic facts on asylum. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-december-2021/how-many-people-do-we-grant-asylum-or-protection-to
In 2021, there were 48,540 asylum applications in the UK, relating to 56,495 people. That was a 63% increase on 2020, and the highest for years, but it it not a record. It was over 80,000 in 2002. Unsurprisingly, the number of refugees increase in times of civil disturbance and war.
Nearly 10,000 came from Iran, 6,000 from Iraq, 5,000 from Iraq and Albania, and several thousand from Syria, Afghanistan and Sudan. Nearly half were males aged 18 to 29. I wonder if we can think of any reasons why these people may find it easier to leave. But a sixth were children, and over 3,500 unaccompanied.
So that is who we are talking about. Largely young Moslem men from the Middle East, many of whom might speak some English but probably not French.
In 2021, the UK offered protection, in the form of asylum, humanitarian protection, alternative forms of leave and resettlement, to 14,734 people (including dependants). Barely more than 1000 per month.
Around half the people from Iraq and Albania are granted asylum, so there is clearly a problem with people from these countries who are not refugees, but over 80% and for some countries over 95% are granted asylum.
Overall, in 2021, initial decisions on asylum were made in 14,572 cases, so the backlog is getting longer year on year. The number of initial decisions is significantly lower than in 2019 (20,766). And overall 72% were granted asylum or another status allowing them to remain in the UK (which is higher than the usual trend, of about a third).
There were appeals against refusal in 4,035 cases and 49% of appeals were granted.
That left 81,978 cases (relating to 100,564 people) awaiting an initial decision.
These are the sort of of people we might give a one-way ticket to a country in the middle of Africa which has a history of human rights abuses and ethnic violence. That is 90%+ Christian, and English is the third language. Where LGBT rights are problematic. Where the president is a former army officer who has been in office for over 20 years, changed the electoral law to his benefit, banned opposition parties and disqualified potential opponents, and as a result has been elected with over 90% of the vote three times. Either he is more popular than Jesus or … well.
This would not be the first time the UK has set up camps in Africa to hold civilians it didn’t care for.
The prospect of my country treating desperate people in this inhuman manner disgusts me.
Now posted to the blog. Thank you
I have a confession to make.
Whilst not being a Benny Hill fan by any stretch of the imagination, I am partial to a bit of Dick Emery (my favourite character of his was Gaylord the South London thug and his Dad).
All I can ask for is forgiveness but if you wish me resign from the blog, in order to send a principled message to Boris & Sunak I am willing to fall upon my DVD player forthwith if that would make amends.
Regards,
PSR
We all have failings 🙂
PSR – Ooooh, you are awful………but I like you.
Hi, I didn’t feel that Reeves was quite as appalling as other commentators above……those comments prompted me to find the interview and watch it. I’d give it 5 out of ten rather than the implied 1 or 2!…..but yes, we should expect a whole lot better. We need less faint-heartedness in the face of a hostile press. I don’t mean Channel 4 or the interviewer here, but the trepidation that most Labour politicians now exhibit show seems to come from a fear of being traduced in the right wing press. They need to forget that…there is nothing to be gained by playing that game. ( By the way Rachel Reeves’s outfit was, I thought, really rather innocuous – but then I wouldn’t know haute couture if it biffed me on the chin).
The anchorwoman who interviewed Reeves is Ayshah Tull who is an award-winning reporter for Channel 4 News. She joined the programme in 2019 and previously worked for BBC Newsround from 2013-2018. A piece from her biog includes
“Ayshah reports on Channel 4 News’ weekly news show on Facebook ‘Uncovered’ covering untold stories from around the world. She also presents the Channel 4 News Instagram and Snapchat series, ‘Rated’. In 2020 Ayshah won Journalist of the Year and the Grand Prize at The Drum Online Media Awards, the first time this has been awarded to an individual.”
…..I just thought you might like to know!
Al
Noted
And I don’t care about what she wears
And re names….I struggled to remember Cathy Newman’s for ages the other day
So this is just one of those things…
The substance is Labour has to say something now…and it still will not
As Richard has pointed out, Reeves has had some coaching for the media which I would say would include a personal grooming angle and how she projects her ‘image’.
Labour are in my view next to completely useless at the moment and all of them are fair game to me. I’m sorry but I’ve had it up to here with them. I will pick on anything no matter how small to ridicule them. They’re paid enough for their gutlessness so I’m going to get my money’s worth. They’re doing nothing to help me or all of the people I now and work with out here.
And if I have to hear Starmer’s nasal whining voice one more time on the radio it’ll end up in the garden.
What has Labour said about the student loan interest rates going up? I have two kids going to University one this year and the other in 2024. Their student loan interest rate is going up help fund the Government so it seems.
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/apr/13/graduates-to-be-hit-with-brutal-student-loan-interest-rates-of-up-to-12
What is happening is that the Tories are as ever adding to the lie that the money for Government social policy is a closed loop system that relies on income from taxes and now it seems interest rates (if you pay your road tax in instalments you are charged interest on it!!). Anything meant to help is therefore hobbled by this artificial limit set on it be these bastards in power! And if we want more, someone (one of us) has to pay for it – but not the Government. Or their rich friends! It’s our fault for needing it!
I ask you – who in their right mind thinks that is OK? I don’t – and plenty others don’t either. But all I hear out of Labour is nothing. Damn them!
Step aside I say or do something.
I clicked on GB news this morning to sample them.
A Labour shadow minister was criticising the Patel plan for putting asylum seekers in Rwanda and the two presenters (one was Ann Diamond according to my better half) were quite hostile to her points, although the man did try to sum up her points.
I can see why it is called Britain’s Fox News. If people watch that for their information, it is no wonder we have such ill-informed people.
I tried to post some basic facts about immigration earlier, but here is another angle.
The UK has a population of around 67 million. There are around 700,000 births and 600,000 deaths each year. So the population is growing by about 100,000 each year just due to births exceeding deaths. But an increasing number of people are aged 70 and over, and the post-war baby boom generations from the 1950s and 1960s (over a million per year) are at or approaching retirement.
Even without the moral argument that we are obliged to give asylum to people who need it – which is most of those who claim it – if we can accommodate hundreds of thousands of new children each year, who will need health and education services for at least 18 years, and a million people per year entering retirement, whose health and welfare needs will only increase, then we can add some more people seeking asylum without too much problem. Most of the migrants are young, fit and healthy (they need to be to get to the UK) and could be working productively for decades. Many are well educated, and will save us the time and cost of primary and secondary schooling. The economic argument in favour of immigration is almost unanswerable.
No, no. Let’s ship them off to Rwanda. It beggars belief.
Now posted to the blog. Thank you
Like everything else with The Quockerwodger, it will prove to be nothing but a load of empty promises wrapped in meaningless phrases that are just playing to his intended audience. A Johnson promise is a lie that just hasn’t happened yet.
Craig
P.S. Maybe he is after a slot on GB News (The Farage & Johnson Show – Dumb and Dumber)
Mmm…I fear that the criticism of Rachel Reeve and the Labour front-bench for spouting platitudes and bullsh*t are misplaced. This is by design. In their desperation to distance themselves from any links with the Corbyn era there seems to be a strong commitment to having no commitments to practically anything. Like a poor magician who has read the chapter on distraction, they respond to most questions by flourishing the windfall tax. You can’t keep this up for two weeks and sound relevant, let alone two years.
Does that include the May / Corbyn era when Jeremy got the biggest single increase in Labour vote since Clement Atlee?
Perhaps they should narrow that ‘distancing’ somewhat.
“All of which will simply be to fill front pages of the Mail, Express and Sun”.
Exactly right.
They appear to be doing nothing more than trying to shore up part of their base (when they normally wouldn’t need to).
Given that is so, if we put the gripes aside, it has become abundantly clear that Johnson and the Tories are at an all time low, and if anyone thinks that the choice of Rwanda, the mere suggestion of Rwanda was going to become a positive for this government, they’re either kidding, desperate or wildly delusional.
“And what is sad is that it might just work.”
Being as objective as I can, I seriously doubt that. To begin with, the “30 per cent” are (sadly) among those that are most likely to vote anyway, so the idea that this play to the deplorables in the Tory base would be a prelude to an attempt at getting out the vote is, more or less, redundant.
The Tories are either low enough to lack confidence their own mob or – more likely – they are trying create a big distraction by starting a new and stupid little culture war.
The most stunningly delusional part of this whole episode isn’t the “offshore processing” part (although there is no wide support for that) its the farcically absurd choice of Rwanda . The whole idea tying the indentity of the Tory party and more importantly, Britain, to that of Rwanda, verges on political suicide.
Everything about it is tailor-made for parody and ridicule. Make way for Congo Boris.
Provided that no part of this daft proposal goes ahead I am quite glad they made it.
It is, after all, part of “the scorched earth policy as they retreat towards their inevitable demise”.
Right or wrong, this whole Labour strategy of sitting back and saying nothing at the moment does not, despite suggestions to the contrary, reflect on Labour’s abilities although it might reflect on their judgement.
That strategy is the old, cynical and often successful ploy of giving them ‘enough rope’. Of keeping quiet at times when a desperate opponent is busy digging themselves into a hole, of not taking unnecessary risks and giving that opponent any free kicks or distractions when they’re down and falling deeper.
Agree with it or not, this poll data (see ‘graphical summary’ chart in the article linked below) explains why Labour seem to be sitting back and saying nothing much lately.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_United_Kingdom_general_election