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

[Filuwaúrdjan]

You really don't know the first thing about any of this.

[Blair]

Only just realised that Richard Holden, the MP who pushed Beergate, is a former CCHQ press officer and SPAD.

They really do make the worse MPs don’t they?

Give me a clueless Luddite or an obsessive ex councillor over them any day. Brings the worse parts of Westminster to daily life; unnecessary aggression, an obsession with day to day coverage and an undying need to be seen as the one engineering it all- it’s just as bad on the Labour side.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Let's just say that his commitment to his constituency has been somewhat questioned by quite a few locals.

[EastAnglianLefty]

Only just realised that Richard Holden, the MP who pushed Beergate, is a former CCHQ press officer and SPAD.

They really do make the worse MPs don’t they?

Give me a clueless Luddite or an obsessive ex councillor over them any day. Brings the worse parts of Westminster to daily life; unnecessary aggression, an obsession with day to day coverage and an undying need to be seen as the one engineering it all- it’s just as bad on the Labour side.

I'm mostly inclined to agree with this, but it's worth noting that the other Tory MP who is keenest to push Beergate is Andrew Bridgen, who (when he's not lying in court) is very much a local Luddite for local people.

[CumbrianLefty]

Yes, but the *general* awfulness of ex-SpAd MPs has been very noticeable for a while.

(there are indeed exceptions, but the whole point is that they are just that - exceptions)

[DINGO Joe]

https://mobile.twitter.com/SwedeninEU/status/1524370157241618435

Is it wrong to make a Fredo joke here?

[Statilius the Epicurean]

Focus groups can always be overinterpreted but an interesting one

https://twitter.com/jamesjohnson252/status/1524663988440776705?t=fXmfivD7WpmQ-uO...

Re: "Beergate", this bit was particularly interesting:

https://twitter.com/jamesjohnson252/status/1524664052403867648?t=xBLYVWAiEc0D8e7...

[Silent Hunter]

Starmer is likely to become PM via not being Boris more than any great love for him.

[CumbrianLefty]

Starmer is likely to become PM via not being Boris more than any great love for him.

That is quite often the way, Blair was an exception to this as in many other respects.

(and maybe that wasn't an unalloyed good for Labour in the longer term)

[Filuwaúrdjan]

There was another exception as well, much earlier, and there are even clearer reasons for the suggestion that, perhaps, this was not such a great thing on balance!

[afleitch]

Why not. Let's test!

At least Boris isn't Corbyn -True
At least May isn't Corbyn - Debatable then but True in retrospect
At least Cameron isn't Miliband - True
At least Cameron isn't Brown - True
At least Bliar isn't Howard - True
At least Blair isn't Hague - True
At least Blair isn't Major - True
At least Major isn't Kinnock - True. And he wasn't Thatcher either.
At least Thatcher isn't Kinnock - True
At least Thatcher isn't Callaghan - False
At least Wilson isn't Heath...again -True
At least Heath isn't Wilson - True
At least Wilson isn't Heath - True

Etc

So the At Least Rule holds up well 😅

[Oryxslayer]

Focus groups can always be overinterpreted but an interesting one

snip

Adding on to this:

https://twitter.com/keiranpedley/status/1524714074180882433?s=20&t=BOWjR4JB0...

There's increasing evidence now that the Lib-Dem recovery isn't a mirage, though we are probably taking about 20-30 constituencies, many which were lost by small margins in 2019, rather than over 50.

[Blair]

The interesting thing is that it was hard to tell how much of the Lib Dem revival in 2018-19 was masked by Brexit- while it gave them a big boost it certainly also meant that they were seen negatively by some people who previously supported them and cost them a few seats.

It’s why, despite some FBPE anger, they’re very keen to ignore it and talk about bins, ambulances or whatever they want.

[Blair]

Another depressing day of discussions about food poverty after a stupid comment by a Tory backbencher. The interested thing is how many people defend them every time.

I’d be fascinated to know why a certain generation or type seems to fetish the idea that ‘hard work’ ‘going without’ or avoiding ‘big TVs and mobile phones’ can solve all of this.

[Silent Hunter]

Another depressing day of discussions about food poverty after a stupid comment by a Tory backbencher. The interested thing is how many people defend them every time.

I’d be fascinated to know why a certain generation or type seems to fetish the idea that ‘hard work’ ‘going without’ or avoiding ‘big TVs and mobile phones’ can solve all of this.

A mobile phone is essential for any jobseeker today.

[Blair]

Another depressing day of discussions about food poverty after a stupid comment by a Tory backbencher. The interested thing is how many people defend them every time.

I’d be fascinated to know why a certain generation or type seems to fetish the idea that ‘hard work’ ‘going without’ or avoiding ‘big TVs and mobile phones’ can solve all of this.

A mobile phone is essential for any jobseeker today.

Yeah it’s a good hint of where they are in the job market and when they last had to find work!

[parochial boy]

Another depressing day of discussions about food poverty after a stupid comment by a Tory backbencher. The interested thing is how many people defend them every time.

I’d be fascinated to know why a certain generation or type seems to fetish the idea that ‘hard work’ ‘going without’ or avoiding ‘big TVs and mobile phones’ can solve all of this.

As much as anything, I can’t help but come to the conclusion that holding the mindset that people should be poorer is basically just a tacit admission that your ideology has failed

[NewYorkExpress]

An employment tribunal ruled that calling men bald is equivalent to sexual harassment.

Calling a man “bald” as an insult is sexual harassment, an employment tribunal has ruled.

Hair loss is much more prevalent among men than women so using it to describe someone is a form of discrimination, a judge has concluded.

Commenting on a man's baldness in the workplace is equivalent to remarking on the size of a woman's breasts, they suggested.





The ruling - made by a panel of three men who in making their judgement bemoaned their own lack of hair - comes in a case between a veteran electrician and his manufacturing firm employers.

Tony Finn - who is now in line for compensation - had worked for the West Yorkshire-based British Bung Company for almost 24 years when he was fired in May last year.

He took them to the tribunal claiming, among other things, that he had been the victim of sex harassment following an incident with factory supervisor Jamie King.

Mr Finn alleged that during a shop floor row that almost erupted in violence in July 2019, Mr King had referred to him as a 'bald c***'.

The tribunal heard that Mr Finn was less upset by the 'Anglo Saxon' language than the comment on his appearance.

The allegation resulted in the panel - led by Judge Jonathan Brain - deliberating on whether remarking on his baldness was simply insulting or actually harassment.

"We have little doubt that being referred to in this pejorative manner was unwanted conduct as far as (Mr Finn) was concerned," the tribunal found.




"This is strong language. Although, as we find, industrial language was commonplace on this West Yorkshire factory floor, in our judgment Mr King crossed the line by making remarks personal to the claimant about his appearance."

[Joe Republic]

"British Bung Company"

[beesley]

I’d be fascinated to know why a certain generation or type seems to fetish the idea that ‘hard work’ ‘going without’ or avoiding ‘big TVs and mobile phones’ can solve all of this.

Not sure they realise it and if they did they wouldn't care, but I don't like the idea that people shouldn't enjoy any simple pleasures at all, as if that is a valid precondition for being able to feed oneself.

[CumbrianLefty]

Its a bit like the WW2 thing - many parents of boomers *did* endure genuine hardship in the 1930s.

They mainly saw that as something that should never happen to anyone else again - but many of the next generation came to valorise it as they do the war that happened before they were born, and (still more ridiculously) see their much milder privations post war as somehow equivalent.

[Blair]

Papers reporting Labour seem more confident Keir won’t get punished (famous last words) and that he has received various pieces of legal advice saying so and has evidence to defend himself.

It would be v on brand for policing performance if Durham finish before the Met- how is it taking 3 months???

There’s still at least 3 more for them to investigate I think?

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

The thing is a lot of things old people instinctively think of as luxuries: electronics, weekend trips abroad and foods from different countries (see the nonsense about avocados) are very cheap these days: say what you like about capitalism and free markets, this is what they are good at creating and supplying in abundance, but house prices are not really following these numbers. If it was a matter of ""I didn't upgrade my iPhone this year and I took a staycation so bow I have the equivalent of a down payment" then the logic would hold more water.


On a broader scale, we have the issue that we are a consumer economy that depends on disposal income being thrown around - the results of everyone cautiously dumping everything into ISA's while eating own brand cornflakes would be a slump.

[Torrain]

The Telegraph is still banging the drum on the Lib-Lab coalition story. Struggling to see who this is for - maybe reluctant Tory voters who are disinclined to vote after Partygate?

Ironic that they are trying to scaremonger about Starmer and Davy, two of the most inoffensive party leaders in recent memory. If this is a taster of the Conservative line in 2024, I doubt it will be as effective as the "coalition of chaos" hit against a theoretical Miliband-Salmond pact.

https://twitter.com/TelePolitics/status/1525863500945530880

I guess they're betting on Starmer surviving the summer?

[Pericles]

A Labour-LibDem government is more attractive than one dependent on the SNP, this is the opposite of a scare campaign lol.