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

[urutzizu]

Also the J&J Vaccine doesn't seem to be used at all in the UK despite regulatory approval. We have done somewhere between 2-2.5 Million shots of it, and because it is a single dose vaccine that translates into having about 5 Million more Biontech/Moderna doses.

It's weird because it was thought that the UK authorities were more flexible but on this Issue it was actually the opposite! UK seems to only use Moderna/Biontech on under 40s, while in Germany (and most European countries I know of) there was a recommendation against it by the advisory committee (sub 60), but in practice anybody could get it if they didn't want to wait for the mrna, the authorities actively promoted that, and many people did. Same with the Child vaccinations by the way.

[Silent Hunter]

The J&J order hasn't arrived yet, I believe.

[CumbrianLefty]

For all the crowing earlier this year, a few EU countries have caught up with the UK with vaccinations now - though some others (especially in Eastern Europe) are still struggling quite badly.

[Blair]

Baffled why Keir Starmer still does these LBC call ins- it just seems to create more westminister drama, poor headlines and I doubt anyone really likes that he does to the extend that they’d vote for him!

[NewYorkExpress]

A former UK Nurse turned anti-vaxxer suggested that pro-vaccine doctors should be hung, bringing up the Doctor's trial in Nuremburg during 1946-1947.

Former nurse turned anti-vaxxer Kate Shemirani suggested that pro-vaccine doctors should face the same penalties as the doctors who were charged at the Nuremburg Trials at an anti-vaccine protest in Trafalgar Square in London on Saturday.

“Get their names, email them to me," Shemirani said. "At the Nuremberg trial the doctors and nurses stood trial, and they hung”.

She was likely referencing the Doctor's Trial, which took place before the Nuremburg Trials between 1946 and 1947. In it, 23 doctors were tried for their involvement in Nazi human experimentation and mass murder masked as euthanasia. Seven of them received death sentences. Another seven were acquitted and the rest received varying prison sentences.

https://twitter.com/marclister3k/status/1418907451190038533

[EastAnglianLefty]

Baffled why Keir Starmer still does these LBC call ins- it just seems to create more westminister drama, poor headlines and I doubt anyone really likes that he does to the extend that they’d vote for him!

I'm baffled there was no backlash when it became clear that LBC had deliberately put a Neo-Nazi caller through to him.

[Blair]

There’s a gradual narrowing in some polls… I’m oversimplifying but the average for the last 18 months largely follows how well the Government are judged to be doing. (Huge drop after Cummings, drop in September, huge Christmas drop and rise after vaccines approved and restrictions eased)

They’re still largely irrelevant for 2023/24 but will cause some flightyness.

[Blair]

Grim news from Lambeth

[CumbrianLefty]

Yep, though since the usual statements about "Labour councils" are predictably being made it may be noted that all this continued unabated during the periods when non-Labour coalitions ruled.

[Cassius]

True, although as far as I’m aware Labour were in power for all but eight of the years in which these events took place, including periods when the council was one of the most radical in Britain.

[EastAnglianLefty]

Also including periods when Blair described the council as "more New Labour than me". It's a bad story that nobody comes out of well, but what characterises it is a strong lack of interest in the children concerned from the political leadership, because providing care was less important and less interesting to them than picking a fight with their political opponents.

[CumbrianLefty]

True, although as far as I’m aware Labour were in power for all but eight of the years in which these events took place, including periods when the council was one of the most radical in Britain.

Well yes, but the point is the opposition didn't show any interest in tackling this when they did take office (nor did they bring it up much at other times) Its about more than any one political party.

[NewYorkExpress]

A draft law in the Scottish Parliament was amended to exempt Queen Elizabeth's land from measures to encourage green energy after her lawyers raised "concerns".

A draft law in the Scottish Parliament was amended to exempt the Queen's land from measures to encourage green energy after her lawyers raised "concerns".

The changes meant land owned by the royal household could not be subject to compulsory purchase orders without the monarch's approval.

The correspondence between Buckingham Palace and the Scottish government was first reported in The Guardian.

Buckingham Palace insisted the process did not alter the nature of any laws.

But Liberal Democrat MSP Willie Rennie said such lobbying - details of which were revealed in a Freedom of Information request by a party researcher - should have been declared.

The Heat Networks Bill encouraged the use of underground pipes to heat homes and buildings rather than boilers powered by fossil fuels.

The documents show correspondence took place between the Scottish government and Buckingham Palace around the procedure known as Queen's consent, where the monarch is given sight of legislation which affects her interests.

The concerns centred on the potential use of compulsory purchase orders - a legal process by which land or property can be obtained, for instance for major infrastructure projects, without the the consent of the owner if deemed in the greater public interest.

Queen's consent for the Heat Networks Bill was sought in January this year, the documents show, though the content of many exchanges was redacted.

In February, officials working for Energy Minister Paul Wheelhouse said the minister had agreed to amend the bill, which had been introduced at Holyrood the previous year.

The officials said: "Minister agreed to proposed amendment that would addressed [sic] concerns from Queen's solicitors".

[Blair]

I might be a bit cynical but surely this is the type of event that comes hand in hand with having a monarch?

She only started paying tax on her private investments in the 1990s!

[CumbrianLefty]

Nigel Farage (remember him?) has apparently been soiling his pants over the RNLI doing their job.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Well yes, but the point is the opposition didn't show any interest in tackling this when they did take office (nor did they bring it up much at other times) Its about more than any one political party.

The more complex issues that local authorities have to deal with always are. In practice the Party X run council or whatever is always a bit of a joke and has only become more so over time: most councils end up with broadly similar policies on pretty much every important matter no matter who the political 'leadership' is comprised of.

[Blair]

Not sure who this reflects worse on

https://mobile.twitter.com/christopherhope/status/1421586723428048899

[CumbrianLefty]

BoJo doing his bit to solve the coming demographic crisis is it......

[NewYorkExpress]

Michael Gove says another referendum on Scottish Independence will happen "if the public wants it".

The UK government would not stand in the way of another vote on Scottish independence if it is the “settled will” of voters, Michael Gove has said.

Westminster has repeatedly rejected requests from the Scottish government for the necessary powers to hold another vote but the Cabinet Office minister said if the public desire a second referendum, “one would occur”.

The comment follows a decline in support for independence. After about six months of consistent polling showing majority support for separation last year – with one poll going as high as 58% in favour – the tide began to turn at the beginning of 2021.


The most recent survey by Panelbase for the Sunday Times found 48% of the 1,287 respondents supported leaving the UK.

Gove told the Sunday Mail: “The principle that the people of Scotland, in the right circumstances, can ask that question again is there.

“I just don’t think that it is right, and the public don’t think it is right, to ask that question at the moment.

“If it is the case that there is clearly a settled will in favour of a referendum, then one will occur.”

It is unclear what would convince the UK government that another vote is the “settled will” of Scots but it could mean positive election results for independence parties or continuous polling in favour for a certain period of time.

[Zinneke]

Is Cummings talking sense in this thread about the British media sphere's approach to the pandemic?

https://twitter.com/Dominic2306/status/1422496357466640396

[CumbrianLefty]

He often talks sense combined with nonsense *in the same tweet*.

[Cassius]

The only thing Cummings has a point on re the government’s pandemic response is the failure to shut the borders in March 2020. That was the only point at which an Antipodean solution to the pandemic was a possibility (although given that Britain is neither Australia nor New Zealand that was always a possibility only). Since then the only way of keeping deaths at an absolute minimum would have been to keep the country in a permanent state of March style lockdown, which would have been fairly unsaleable politically back in the Summer of 2020 when no-one had any concrete idea as to the timescale of vaccine development. Cummings’ is bullsh**tting (not surprising but hey ho) if he thinks that his approach (of instituting lockdowns a couple of weeks sooner than the government eventually did) would have made a significant dent in the death toll.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

How long before he gets an account here?

[Continential]

How long before he gets an account here?

I’d expect him to get an account on voteuk first if he joined a political forum but thinking about that made me laugh.

[Zinneke]

The only thing Cummings has a point on re the government’s pandemic response is the failure to shut the borders in March 2020. That was the only point at which an Antipodean solution to the pandemic was a possibility (although given that Britain is neither Australia nor New Zealand that was always a possibility only). Since then the only way of keeping deaths at an absolute minimum would have been to keep the country in a permanent state of March style lockdown, which would have been fairly unsaleable politically back in the Summer of 2020 when no-one had any concrete idea as to the timescale of vaccine development. Cummings’ is bullsh**tting (not surprising but hey ho) if he thinks that his approach (of instituting lockdowns a couple of weeks sooner than the government eventually did) would have made a significant dent in the death toll.

I think his main criticism in that thread is that the right-wing gammons and Guardian caricatures like Calladwhatshername were so obsessed with their favourite "FREEDOM VS GOVERNMENT" or "Real lockdown was never tried" hobby horse that they turned Covid into a "Culture War" issue and the result was that science, reason and any kind of realistic, data-based policy was hindered.

But yeah keep frothing at the mouth with your Telegraph subscription. Saving Britain everyday.

How long before he gets an account here?

I’d expect him to get an account on voteuk first if he joined a political forum but thinking about that made me laugh.

Actually Vote Uk, albeit an outlier, is still a case in point. I was stunned reading it how opposed they were to the mere act of wearing a face mask. Obviously mostly driven by the "libertarian thatcherite" (read : crypto-authoritarian neo-fascist) but even some left-wingers were getting into intellectual debate about the utility of the face mask as an act of oppression.

I remember the days when anti-government people were campaigning for the right to cover their faces in demos.