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

[Conservatopia]

Notable that thus far basically each person has been replaced by somebody more rightwing than the original holder of that office.  Possibly to cheer us up after the NICs increase?  Anecdotally it seems to be working so far as the rightwingers that I know are all very happy.

Also notable that lowly Kit Malthouse is about the only Boris ally left now that Williamson, and before him Goldsmith and Leadsom, are gone.  Boris not belonging to a particular wing of the party (although in his heart a one nation Tory) has both strengths and weaknesses and could ultimately be his downfall.

[Suburbia]

I was just thinking, can Brits here on Atlas see your fellow Brits revolting like rightwing Americans did on Jan 6 and try to overthrow the government?

Can Westminster be overthrown? Can you see something of that caliber happening in London? The subjects revolting against the elites?

[Silent Hunter]

I suspect that Boris would prefer Priti Patel inside the tent than out of it.

[Gary JG]

I was just thinking, can Brits here on Atlas see your fellow Brits revolting like rightwing Americans did on Jan 6 and try to overthrow the government?

Can Westminster be overthrown? Can you see something of that caliber happening in London? The subjects revolting against the elites?

No.

To give a longer answer, there have been many revolts, civil wars and riots over the centuries since Parliament came into existence. However in modern times, the demonstrations outside Parliament have been relatively tame, even though some MPs found that popular passion over Brexit was worrying.

[Geoffrey Howe]

I see the Foreign Secretary has been demoted to Deputy Prime Minister....

[Cassius]

I see the Foreign Secretary has been demoted to Deputy Prime Minister....

It’s an irrelevant post in and of itself, but I suspect it was given to Raab to avoid him walking out of the government.

[Geoffrey Howe]

I see the Foreign Secretary has been demoted to Deputy Prime Minister....

It’s an irrelevant post in and of itself, but I suspect it was given to Raab to avoid him walking out of the government.

17 months and waiting...

[Cassius]

I see the Foreign Secretary has been demoted to Deputy Prime Minister....

It’s an irrelevant post in and of itself, but I suspect it was given to Raab to avoid him walking out of the government.

17 months and waiting...

Ah, now I get it.

[The Dowager Mod]

Kissing the ring. 
https://twitter.com/Number10cat/status/1438491847467405313

[Blair]

Junior reshuffles get less attention but will be more interesting. First wave of sackings suggest this could be a generational thing.

[Ferguson97]

https://twitter.com/thetimes/status/1438548409636556800

LOL

[Agonized-Statism]

LOL

Interesting. I wonder if this will give the imperial system more legitimacy and help it survive or produce an international backlash that kills it.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Most scales are printed in both measures and it has never been illegal to sell things in imperial measures. This will change very little in practice and is largely aimed at pacifying the party's members.

[Silent Hunter]

Frankly, I had a hard enough time figuring out pre-decimal currency for a 1960s spy RP I run.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Frankly, I had a hard enough time figuring out pre-decimal currency for a 1960s spy RP I run.

You think that's tricky? Try figuring out how a financial subsidies system based on Old Money worked (do not do this).

[CumbrianLefty]

Most scales are printed in both measures and it has never been illegal to sell things in imperial measures. This will change very little in practice and is largely aimed at pacifying the party's members.

The supposed "change" is that people will now be able to use imperial measures only - which ignores the reality that hardly any businesses will actually do this. This is ultimately market forces at work.

[afleitch]

https://mobile.twitter.com/JolyonMaugham/status/1438853092259287040

Good news.

[afleitch]

Bell's evangelical lawyer is of course wanting to go back to court to target the Gillick Competency precedent (that allows for those under the age of majority to make medical decisions on for example, contraception without parental consent, because that was always the plan

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Most scales are printed in both measures and it has never been illegal to sell things in imperial measures. This will change very little in practice and is largely aimed at pacifying the party's members.

The supposed "change" is that people will now be able to use imperial measures only - which ignores the reality that hardly any businesses will actually do this. This is ultimately market forces at work.

Quite. And given that most scales are printed with both measures... I mean what's the suggestion here, turning custom away if someone is more familiar with metric and wants X kilos of plums rather than X lb? A market trader who did that would not be one for very long.

[CumbrianLefty]

Bell's evangelical lawyer is of course wanting to go back to court to target the Gillick Competency precedent (that allows for those under the age of majority to make medical decisions on for example, contraception without parental consent, because that was always the plan

They have almost no chance of overturning that, surely?

[Suburbia]

Are British Conservatives pro-police, pro-fire department as their American counterparts, or do they look down on those occupations because they are state-run jobs, government jobs?

Is there a Blue Lives Matter UK there?

[afleitch]

Are British Conservatives pro-police, pro-fire department as their American counterparts, or do they look down on those occupations because they are state-run jobs, government jobs?

Is there a Blue Lives Matter UK there?

They are 'pro-police' in rhetoric, but don't adequately fund them. They probably struggle to remember there is a fire service either.

British police and the police system has also been subject to much more historic, and well reported criticism over the decades as well as legal consequences. They are treated with healthy suspicion as they should be in any functional democracy.

I've seen a few 'Thin Blue Line' patches, but if you're a copper you're more likely to be angry at the government for not paying you well enough.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Yep. And the politics of policing and the police have tended to differ in different parts of the country as well. Provincial police forces have always tended to reflect the areas they serve, which are also the areas they recruit from. Senior officers were (are) mostly Conservatives, but that was (is) the norm for higher management posts in general. But the Met was, and to an extent still is, very different: it has always recruited from across the whole country rather than just London, has always attracted more ex-army types than normal, and developed a fierce hard-right political culture that became increasingly toxic and dangerous as time moved on: efforts to reform it since the Macpherson Report have largely involved trying to battle against this and the consequences of it.

[afleitch]

The culture thing is very true. One of the legitimate criticisms of Police Scotland is that's nothing more than an expanded Strathclyde Police in culture, and one of the criticisms of Strathclyde Police is that it was an expanded Glasgow City police. Which explains it's very 'corporate' attitude regardless of who is in power, and also some of the perceived tribalism within.

[Silent Hunter]

Of course, you're dealing with an unarmed police force outside NI, so police shootings are much rarer. They still happen of course and there have been some controversial ones as well.