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

[Silent Hunter]

The man is 99 and spending five nights in hospital for "observation" does sound troubling.

[cp]

Rumours abounding in the last 24 hours that the life of the Queen Consort is "drawing peacefully to a close", to use the 1930s vernacular.

So they're gonna euthanize him to fit the news cycle?

[Estrella]

Rumours abounding in the last 24 hours that the life of the Queen Consort is "drawing peacefully to a close", to use the 1930s vernacular.

So they're gonna euthanize him to fit the news cycle?

TIL

Dawson, who supported the "gentle growth of euthanasia", admitted in the diary that he hastened the King's death by injecting him, after 11.00 p.m., with two consecutive lethal injections: 3/4 of a grain of morphine followed shortly afterwards by a grain of cocaine. Dawson wrote that he acted to preserve the King's dignity, to prevent further strain on the family, and so that the King's death at 11:55 p.m. could be announced in the morning edition of The Times newspaper rather than "less appropriate ... evening journals". Neither Queen Mary, who was intensely religious and might not have sanctioned euthanasia, nor the Prince of Wales was consulted.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Gender critical feminists have ruffled feathers ober a gender 'self-ID' question on the Census. Despite the fact that nearly all census questions are self-id.

They have ruffled feathers over a sex question becoming self-ID after Twitterati outcry, despite a gender self-ID option also being available on the census. The presence and proper use of both would have produced better data.

[afleitch]

https://mobile.twitter.com/ChrisGreenNews/status/1366667444497113088?s=19

[beesley]

I will post it in the Scottish Parliament Election thread as well, but this article is a good summary of today's groundbreaking events in Scottish politics and what preceded them:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-56259056

TLDR: The claims against Nicola Sturgeon by Alex Salmond have been corroborated by witnesses, who has been shown to have misled the Scottish Parliament and repeatedly broken the Ministerial Code. There are calls for Sturgeon to resign and a no confidence vote has been tabled by the opposition Tories.

She is undeniably in the wrong, in my view. I didn't think Salmond would make it stick.

[njwes]

I will post it in the Scottish Parliament Election thread as well, but this article is a good summary of today's groundbreaking events in Scottish politics and what preceded them:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-56259056

TLDR: The claims against Nicola Sturgeon by Alex Salmond have been corroborated by witnesses, who has been shown to have misled the Scottish Parliament and repeatedly broken the Ministerial Code. There are calls for Sturgeon to resign and a no confidence vote has been tabled by the opposition Tories.

ITSHAPPENING.gif

[Blair]

For the first time my hunch is leaning closer towards Sturgeon quitting/resigning but still hard to to see how this happens in terms of timing.

[CumbrianLefty]

Budget day today.

This has caused the Beeb's "politics" department to release a profile of Dishy Rishi that might quite possibly have been turned down by Kim Jong Un for being excessively hagiographical.

#defundthebbc

[Never Made it to Graceland]

Minimum wage increase from April, eh? My country's so-called "liberal" governing party can't even accomplish that.

[Estrella]

Minimum wage increase from April, eh? My country's so-called "liberal" governing party can't even accomplish that.

Ay, there's the rub.

[Cassius]

I’m sure Treasury officials will be absolutely delighted about potentially moving from London to Darlington.

[beesley]

I’m sure Treasury officials will be absolutely delighted about potentially moving from London to Darlington.

Randomly moving officials to the North will make no difference if the government has no real interest in its people.

[Cassius]

I’m sure Treasury officials will be absolutely delighted about potentially moving from London to Darlington.

Randomly moving officials to the North will make no difference if the government has no real interest in its people.

I agree with you, I was just being a little facetious. I don’t think it will do much for Darlington and I don’t think it will do much for the Treasury.

[Blair]

Leeds made much more sense... the types of people working at senior levels would be more likely to live in the city or surrounding area.

All Darlington does is create another commuter link while the poorly paid staff will be local.

[Alcibiades]

Leeds made much more sense... the types of people working at senior levels would be more likely to live in the city or surrounding area.

All Darlington does is create another commuter link while the poorly paid staff will be local.

I suppose the thinking was that Leeds is too large of a city with a fairly vibrant economy. That, and Darlington is a 2019 Tory gain which borders Sunak’s constituency. Anyway, I agree, a pointless move all round.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Moving a small number of civil service posts to a random large town rarely does anything for the town, certainly does nothing for governance, and is at best highly questionable politically as it entails a bunch of outsiders moving in and getting paid more than the locals, who do not really benefit: such situations can sometimes, if not always, cause backlashes.

[beesley]

Leeds made much more sense... the types of people working at senior levels would be more likely to live in the city or surrounding area.

I suppose the thinking was that Leeds is too large of a city with a fairly vibrant economy.

Leeds itself doesn't have marginal Tory seats, more importantly (unless you count Pudsey). You can never be too cynical about Boris Johnson. What is often attributed to poor judgment or incompetence should actually be attributed to malice.

[CumbrianLefty]

Moving a small number of civil service posts to a random large town rarely does anything for the town, certainly does nothing for governance, and is at best highly questionable politically as it entails a bunch of outsiders moving in and getting paid more than the locals, who do not really benefit: such situations can sometimes, if not always, cause backlashes.

And surely nobody actually thinks many of those uprooted by this are going to *actually live* in Darlington?

Do they??

[Filuwaúrdjan]

And surely nobody actually thinks many of those uprooted by this are going to *actually live* in Darlington?

Do they??

Some might well live south of the river, in the constituency of... oh ffs.

[Cassius]

Alternatively they could build a high speed rail link between London and Darlington so that any senior treasury staff that did get moved there would still be within range of the Royal Opera House and Harrod’s.

[Blair]

Well this is high.

https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/1367527504643293189?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ct...

[Blair]

I can't work out how much of this is Labour having a very bad month, the Lib Dems continuing to be a non-entity or just the Government doing well as a result of the vaccination, the unlocking road-map & the Budget.

[beesley]

I can't work out how much of this is Labour having a very bad month, the Lib Dems continuing to be a non-entity or just the Government doing well as a result of the vaccination, the unlocking road-map & the Budget.

Probably the latter, the government have also had fewer scandals/stupid moments recently. I hope this dispels the stupid argument that 'Keir Starmer will win all Labour voters back just for being more moderate'. You have to have, you know, an actual presence and stuff to win voters back.

[EastAnglianLefty]

Alternatively they could build a high speed rail link between London and Darlington so that any senior treasury staff that did get moved there would still be within range of the Royal Opera House and Harrod’s.

It's a couple of hours on the ECML already, which is a bit much for day-to-day use but is fine for going back to London at the weekend. There are middle-class bits of Darlington itself, but I suspect you'll also see staff buying houses in Gosforth and commuting from there.