UK General Discussion: Rishecession

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Will there also be a Sunak government crisis?

I'm sure there will, but probably in 2023.

Sunak is, incidentally, the first Tory Prime Minister to represent a constituency outside Southern England since Home (who was parachuted into a Highlands seat when there were still safe Tory areas there), and the first from a constituency in Northern England since Balfour (whose seat was in Manchester).

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Truss’ farewell speech went about as well as you’d expect. She tried to quote a Roman philosopher, and completely forgot how to pronounce his name. She smiled when she talked about the Queen dying. And they didn’t clear the protestors, so you could hear a combination of what I think was Yakety Sax and I Predict A Riot being played on boom boxes in the background.

"It was a sad scene as the outgoing premier set out for the Palace, clutching her ministerial red box like a life raft for the last time. As the limousine left Downing Street, Rihanna's 2011 hit 'S&M' could be heard playing faintly behind the bulletproof glass windows."

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

https://twitter.com/BethRigby/status/1584945215634563081

Isn't that exactly how House of Cards begins?

On the one hand yes, but on the other hand Francis Urquhart was a respected Chief Whip, lecturer in Italian renaissance politics and former Guards officer, whilst Penny Mordaunt is an ex-PR hack and magician’s assistant.

With no more than 20 butthurt supporters at best.

I like Mordaunt a lot, but that's partly because I have a soft spot for powerful women who are also cringe and fail.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

https://twitter.com/BethRigby/status/1584945215634563081

Isn't that exactly how House of Cards begins?

On the one hand yes, but on the other hand Francis Urquhart was a respected Chief Whip, lecturer in Italian renaissance politics and former Guards officer (and of course, a fictional character), whilst Penny Mordaunt is an ex-PR hack and magician’s assistant.

I admit I'm a bit partial toward her because I feel like she was unfairly shafted back in September, and she does strike me as proposing something a bit more interesting for the party than "BoJo is our Lord and Savior and can do no wrong!!" or "back to business chaps!". But that said, yeah, she didn't exactly cover herself in glory lately.

Yes, that's what I just said.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

HE'S BACK, BABY:

https://twitter.com/10downingstreet/status/1584954207479955457

Ah, some equilibrium has been restored. A Conservative cabinet just doesn’t feel right without Gove sitting in the corner, sharpening his knives, and preparing to be fired.

Gove is the Draco Malfoy of the Conservative Party, but specifically the Malfoy from Harry Potter fanfiction, the sexy-adjacent picaro of perpetually unclear loyalties who's always just there, sulking, somewhere in the background.

https://twitter.com/10downingstreet/status/1584958433304117250

Would it be correct to assume Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is one of the least important and influential cabinet positions?

Unless we’re holding an Olympics, (or the office is being held by Nadine Dorries) it stays pretty low-key. It does have some oversight over things like broadband infrastructure, but it’s not exactly a high office. It’s sometimes used as a proving ground - it’s basically where Jeremy Hunt, Matt Hancock and Sajid Javid’s cabinet careers started.

And what does that last part tell us?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Side note, but would it be fair to say Wallace is in the running for greatest recent Defence Secretary, with the understanding that the baseline isn't particularly high?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Academic qualification don't seem to correlate much with intelligence of Politician's, Richard Burgon has a degree from Cambridge. Thérèse Coffey who famously admitted to giving leftover antibiotics to friends has a PHD in chemistry.

It's almost like being good at writing papers, taking tests, and running experiments is a wholly different skill set and personality trait than sagacity or common sense!

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Will King Charles open Parliament at the House of Commons instead?

The last time a king named Charles entered the House of Commons, things went a bit awry afterward.

The last King Charles was known for fooling around with his mistresses, rather than crashing into the House of Commons.

Yes. His father, though...

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

There's a whole generation of kids out there who think the Tories' full name is the Conservative Lockdown Party.

It's technically still "Conservative and Unionist Party", right?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

So, this is what the 1945 Labour manifesto had to say on the subject of welfare/social security policy:

Social Insurance against the Rainy Day

The Labour Party has played a leading part in the long campaign for proper social security for all - social provision against rainy days, coupled with economic policies calculated to reduce rainy days to a minimum. Labour led the fight against the mean and shabby treatment which was the lot of millions while Conservative Governments were in power over long years. A Labour Government will press on rapidly with legislation extending social insurance over the necessary wide field to all.

But great national programmes of education, health and social services are costly things. Only an efficient and prosperous nation can afford them in full measure. If, unhappily, bad times were to come, and our opponents were in power, then, running true to form, they would be likely to cut these social provisions on the plea that the nation could not meet the cost. That was the line they adopted on at least three occasions between the wars.

There is no good reason why Britain should not afford such programmes, but she will need full employment and the highest possible industrial efficiency in order to do so.

Apart from a brief mention of Labour's support for the Family Allowance scheme recently passed by the Churchill government in the (also very brief) health section, that's it. Quite a fascinating little period piece for several reasons.

So they warned that the first Tory government to preside over an economic downturn would abolish their new social schemes? Was that scaremongering or did things like the NHS becoming immensely popular third rails take them by surprise?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

https://twitter.com/Mr_John_Oxley/status/1682815600622485506?s=20

Cute picture of his kids. It reminds me a little of when Ted Cruz was asked who his favorite My Little Pony pony was and had an immediate answer, not because he was a brony or whatever but because he watched it with his elementary-school-aged daughters.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

The Welsh constituencies are positive proof of the need to Bring Back the Welsh Sunday, even if only for people serving on boundary commissions.

They should be forced to live in Llangollen with no access to the outside world for a year.

Portmeirion.

Perhaps the boundaries would be better if they'd had better information. Information! INFORMATION!

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I know it's the EU anthem, but even in a British context I have to imagine that attempting to make a culture war shibboleth out of "Ode to Joy," one of the most immediately recognizable and universally loved or at least liked pieces of music ever composed, with an extremely widely-known and compelling personal story behind it in the life of its similarly ubiquitous composer, comes across as at least a little bit tacky?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

The probability of a Conservative victory is 50%. Either it happens, or it doesn’t.

The probability of me marrying Sydney Sweeney is 50%. Either it happens, or it doesn't.

Same for me, which means that statistically speaking, one of us will marry her.

But which of you will it be? That's what we in the business call a statistical tie.