UK General Discussion:The Rt. Hon Alex Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, Populist Hero

[Silent Hunter]

if it even survives the EHRC report.

The EHRC does not try to destroy organisations, its purpose is to clean them up, or, to be more specific, to force them to clean themselves up. It is quite likely that whatever the report recommends will be more or less what the new leadership would wish to do anyway. It might make some of it easier: 'we are legally compelled to do this' makes doomed rearguard actions difficult.

I'm more concerned about the legal actions that will result from all of this; including the GDPR and libel ones in connection with the leaked internal report.

[Silent Hunter]

The irony is that Raab is himself Jewish.

[Silent Hunter]

There seems to have been something very nasty gone down in Reading tonight, two dead and two hospitalised.

Unclear what the motive was.

[Silent Hunter]

I think it's fair to say Corbyn didn't exactly help the situation Labour was in, mind.

[Silent Hunter]

Ms Peake is a known member of 'Left Culture' from her public utterances.

[Silent Hunter]

Wouldn't that be more Die Linke?

[Silent Hunter]

Saying it a lot though is problematic. Especially if you want to be Prime Minister.

[Silent Hunter]

I would say there has already been a bit of that. But equally, what people like you don't like to admit is that Corbyn's actual *policy* programme was *mostly* popular.

Many individual elements were, but the whole package wasn't; it was seen as just throwing goodies at the electorate and not credible in the whole.

Ultimately the person and the policy couldn't be divorced.

[Silent Hunter]

2017 was because May was useless and the antisemitism thing hadn't fully developed yet.

[Silent Hunter]

He massively boosted Labour membership. That's something.

But you have to look at the state of the party when he started and compare it to how he left it. It seems obvious to me that he was an abject failure as leader.

[Silent Hunter]

Police in the UK are excellent at deescalation because they don't have firearms. Neither do most of the criminals they face.

[Silent Hunter]

So much for shielding the most vulnerable.

[Silent Hunter]

Including the antisemitism?

[Silent Hunter]

The restaurant voucher scheme does also apply to takeaways, mind.

Sunak as Conservative leader and PM could be likely sooner than you might think; Johnson isn't exactly in full vigour at the moment after his Covid-19 episode.

Also, an Asian PM from the Conservatives would be... interesting. For one thing, I can imagine what Enoch Powell would feel if he heard about it in the afterlife.

[Silent Hunter]

I suspect the report itself will be pretty deeply embarrassing to the Government, but the central charge made by many that Putin is bankrolling the Conservative Party won't be backed up.

[Silent Hunter]

When I heard of the defection of Prentice, it made a certain character from Roger Moore's James Bond movies a bit less implausible.

[Silent Hunter]

The failure to order an investigation into the Brexit referendum is the big takeaway there. I don't know why Cameron and May, both Remainers, didn't order one though. Fear of a backlash from Leavers?

[Silent Hunter]

A thought that occurs to me is "why aren't we interfering back?"

[Silent Hunter]

Bit of a political scandal brewing in my home borough of Havering over boundary changes

[Silent Hunter]

Perhaps he can go out for a drive to test his eyesight.

[Silent Hunter]

South Asian extended families frequently have the most senior generation not speaking English as a first language; the public health material for them has possibly been rather lacking.

[Silent Hunter]

There are so many "highlights" to choose from, the former RCP's first ever Lords member included.

Its up there with Wilson's "lavender list" in terms of tacky awfulness IMO.

RCP?

[Silent Hunter]

Well, Karl Marx must be spinning in his grave in Highgate Cemetery.

[Silent Hunter]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/01/pubs-england-close-control-coronavirus-adviser-graham-medley

Maybe they should have thought of this before opening pubs in the first place? What an incompetent government.

The thing is, there haven't really been any major outbreaks linked to pubs - a couple of cases among staff, but no superspreading event. A lot of pubs are taking this very seriously.

[Silent Hunter]

A Conservative MP - reported to be a former minister and in his fifties - has been arrested on multiple charges of rape. Still in custody, name not released yet.

Quite probably won't be for legal reasons - i.e. it could identify the victim in this case. That's a criminal offence with a potential for an unlimited fine.