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

[CumbrianLefty]

That's the point though, the left (in its broadest sense, thus including the LibDems) in this country is ultimately going to coalesce around some sort of EEA/EFTA type arrangement with the EU. But only once the next GE is out of the way, in all probability.

And we *won't* be actually rejoining, not until I am in my 80s or thereabouts anyway.

[cp]

That's the point though, the left (in its broadest sense, thus including the LibDems) in this country is ultimately going to coalesce around some sort of EEA/EFTA type arrangement with the EU. But only once the next GE is out of the way, in all probability.

And we *won't* be actually rejoining, not until I am in my 80s or thereabouts anyway.

Those could happen. It could also be that the left remains hopelessly divided on the issue and never coalesces around meaningful reform in the next 10-20 years. I'm more optimistic about a rejoiner movement taking off in 10ish years, but that's predicated on a fair dramatic set of policy failures on the part of the ruling party/caste (Scottish independence, Irish unification, a Suez-style diplomatic catastrophe).

[Cassius]

Handforth Parish Council. Discuss.

‘In the name of the Parish Council of Handforth, you have no authority here, Jackie Weaver’.
‘Are you threatening me Master Clerk’?
‘The Parish Council will decide your fate’
‘I am the Parish Council’

[Estrella]

Handforth Parish Council. Discuss.

[Blair]

Handforth Parish Council. Discuss.

As much as I love it I felt like I've sat through those scenes at least 5-6 times in CLP meetings.

[Silent Hunter]

Never happened to me at my CLP meetings.

[bore]

Handforth Parish Council. Discuss.

We shouldn't judge people by a viral clip of them at their worst, maybe Councillor Brewerton is normally a perfectly reasonable man.

Someone else who isn’t talking, as it turns out, is Councillor Brewerton, the one who lost his temper.

When The Independent phoned him, a man calling himself a lawyer – but declining to give his name – picks up.

“I suggest you keep very quiet on this,” he says, apparently not aware there are literally already mugs and T-shirts on sale referencing the whole affair. “You are talking to a lawyer. There are three lawyers in the [Brewerton] family … You are now at the top of our list.”

...oh

[Statilius the Epicurean]

Saw it from an Al retweet but I have to post it here:

https://twitter.com/dmk1793/status/1357824187965054982?s=20

[Estrella]

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

Sorry for Italianposting but combining different memes into one is fun:

#quellavoltacheDraghi ("that time Draghi...") is the new Thing on Italian Twitter.

- SNIP -

That time Draghi took part at a Handforth Parish Council meeting and everyone respected Jackie Weaver's authority.

[Antonio the Sixth]

What's the story here exactly? Can someone give me a quick rundown? This sounds hilarious.

[Blair]

What's the story here exactly? Can someone give me a quick rundown? This sounds hilarious.

Honestly too hard to explain without watching the video below but a combination of people managed to make the zoom recording of a Parish Council Meeting that went off the rails go viral.

Parish Councils  are the lowest levels of local government in England, have very small or non existent budgets and have a reputation of being dominated by the eccentric, the elderly and busy bodies.

This meeting was pretty much an argument about whether to even have the meeting & Zoom made it 100 times better.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/feb/05/handforth-insults-and-expletives-turn-parish-council-meeting-into-internet-sensation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgGmYeAm0jk

[Antonio the Sixth]

What's the story here exactly? Can someone give me a quick rundown? This sounds hilarious.

Honestly too hard to explain without watching the video below but a combination of people managed to make the zoom recording of a Parish Council Meeting that went off the rails go viral.

Parish Ccouncils  are the lowest levels of local government in England, have very small or non-non existent budgets and have a reputation of being dominated by the eccentric, the elderly and busy bodies.

This meeting was pretty much an argument about whether to even have the meeting & Zoom made it 100 times better.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/feb/05/handforth-insults-and-expletives-turn-parish-council-meeting-into-internet-sensation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgGmYeAm0jk

Oh fascinating. I'll give it a watch when I have some time.

[Joe Republic]

"Fun" fact:

If the Conservatives win the next election scheduled for 2024, and serve to completion in 2029, this will be the longest unbroken run of party control since the early 19th century.  Considering it began with an unlikely coalition, segueing into the chaotic May government, that will be quite the feat.

[Pericles]

What's the story here exactly? Can someone give me a quick rundown? This sounds hilarious.

Honestly too hard to explain without watching the video below but a combination of people managed to make the zoom recording of a Parish Council Meeting that went off the rails go viral.

Parish Ccouncils  are the lowest levels of local government in England, have very small or non-non existent budgets and have a reputation of being dominated by the eccentric, the elderly and busy bodies.

This meeting was pretty much an argument about whether to even have the meeting & Zoom made it 100 times better.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/feb/05/handforth-insults-and-expletives-turn-parish-council-meeting-into-internet-sensation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgGmYeAm0jk

It did strike me how old they all were watching it. Also they were all white, though their area might not be diverse so while diversity in local government is an issue I don't know if it's a big problem in that parish.

[CumbrianLefty]

Handforth is very "white" I think. Concur on the age point, typical of local government more generally.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Handforth is very "white" I think. Concur on the age point, typical of local government more generally.

Parish Councils have always tended to be quite elderly - it's essentially uncompensated voluntary work for the administration of the sort of fairly minor local issues that most people find to be quite dull. Local government in general - at the 'principle authority' level - did not used to be as elderly as it tends to be now, though the reason for that shift is actually very different to the longstanding reason for elderly Parish Councils: over the past few decades local government has become increasing 'concentrated' - its powers and responsibilities have remained broadly unaltered, but the number of councillors has been dramatically reduced, which means that each individual councillor has more (and longer) meetings to attend, which is not compatible with holding down most full-time jobs or with raising children. Increasingly large allowances for councillors has not solved this problem, because money isn't really the issue.

[CumbrianLefty]

"Fun" fact:

If the Conservatives win the next election scheduled for 2024, and serve to completion in 2029, this will be the longest unbroken run of party control since the early 19th century.  Considering it began with an unlikely coalition, segueing into the chaotic May government, that will be quite the feat.

Oh yeah, that's great "fun"

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

Apparently Handforth was 91.6% White, 4.7% Asian and 0.8% Black at the 2011 Census, which by the way is less White than Cheshire as a whole.

Feel free to draw your conclusions.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Apparently Handforth was 91.6% White, 4.7% Asian and 0.8% Black at the 2011 Census, which by the way is less White than Cheshire as a whole.

Feel free to draw your conclusions.

Is that 'White' or 'White - British'? My assumption would be the latter. Anyway it's a very ordinary and fairly boring Manchester commuter town - humdrum middle class with a couple of small postwar estates, remarkably unremarkable. Which makes all this even funnier.

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

Apparently Handforth was 91.6% White, 4.7% Asian and 0.8% Black at the 2011 Census, which by the way is less White than Cheshire as a whole.

Feel free to draw your conclusions.

Is that 'White' or 'White - British'? My assumption would be the latter. Anyway it's a very ordinary and fairly boring Manchester commuter town - humdrum middle class with a couple of small postwar estates, remarkably unremarkable. Which makes all this even funnier.

No, that's White total.

Anyway, well this is the sort of thing that always happens in an otherwise unremarkable place, isn't it?

[Blair]

I have wondered if the various scandals that are brewing around local Governments mean we will get to a position where councillors are either full time professionals, or at the very least given a pool of staff members to support their work.

It is amazing that we expect people to pretty much do a voluntary role which sees them having to oversee huge budgets & development projects and also deal with extremely personal individual cases (councillors do a lot of casework for vulnerable people e.g securing care packages, help in re-housing)

Then you get to the fact that most LA councillors are there because the local labour or Tory party has given them a tick... which can lead to interesting results (but at least allows some sort of fail-safe)
 

[Statilius the Epicurean]

I have wondered if the various scandals that are brewing around local Governments mean we will get to a position where councillors are either full time professionals, or at the very least given a pool of staff members to support their work.

It is amazing that we expect people to pretty much do a voluntary role which sees them having to oversee huge budgets & development projects and also deal with extremely personal individual cases (councillors do a lot of casework for vulnerable people e.g securing care packages, help in re-housing)

Then you get to the fact that most LA councillors are there because the local labour or Tory party has given them a tick... which can lead to interesting results (but at least allows some sort of fail-safe)
 

Rotten Boroughs in Private Eye always makes for amazing reading.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I have wondered if the various scandals that are brewing around local Governments mean we will get to a position where councillors are either full time professionals, or at the very least given a pool of staff members to support their work.

Oddly, the obvious solution is to move back towards the traditional model of British local government, which is to have strong officers with a significant degree of specialist knowledge balanced against a larger number of councillors than currently fashionable drawn from a wider pool - note that the size of the pool increases as the time pressures decrease. Broaden things further by introducing proportional representation in local elections. This wouldn't eliminate local corruption scandals (no system can do that!), but would get rid of certain specific factors that have led to some particularly nasty ones that are currently occupying minds.

[NewYorkExpress]

So, apparently Queen Elizabeth II lobbied Parliament to change a draft law so she could hide the monarchy's wealth.

The Queen successfully lobbied the government to change a draft law in order to conceal her “embarrassing” private wealth from the public, according to documents discovered by the Guardian.

A series of government memos unearthed in the National Archives reveal that Elizabeth Windsor’s private lawyer put pressure on ministers to alter proposed legislation to prevent her shareholdings from being disclosed to the public.

Following the Queen’s intervention, the government inserted a clause into the law granting itself the power to exempt companies used by “heads of state” from new transparency measures.

The arrangement, which was concocted in the 1970s, was used in effect to create a state-backed shell corporation which is understood to have placed a veil of secrecy over the Queen’s private shareholdings and investments until at least 2011.

The true scale of her wealth has never been disclosed, though it has been estimated to run into the hundreds of millions of pounds.

Evidence of the monarch’s lobbying of ministers was uncovered by a Guardian investigation into the royal family’s use of an arcane parliamentary procedure, known as Queen’s consent, to secretly influence the formation of British laws.