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If Johnson goes, we are balls deep into “be careful what you wish for” territory
I'm guessing Cummings would want his chum Gove in the job, but Gove is electorally repulsive
Im sure the tory vultures are circling, but brand Boris is a big part of the Tories appeal, losing him would be a dangerous move.
It all comes down to how vindictive Cummings is, and even then, Cummings not as smart as he thinks he is by a long way.
If Johnson goes, we are balls deep into “be careful what you wish for” territory.
Priti Patel is Home Secretary. Makes you think...
I’m guessing Cummings would want his chum Gove in the job, but Gove is electorally repulsive
Actually, what's happened to Gove? Not heard a peep out of him for weeks.
gove is leading the anti SNP unit at Westminster. apparently he is the man to save the union from nasty Nikki
Wait until his select committee appearance in May; he and Gove have their gameplan in place.
tjagain
Full Membergove is leading the anti SNP unit at Westminster. apparently he is the man to save the union from nasty Nikki
And you never know, at some point we might find out how much taxpayer's money has effectively been spent on political campaigns and FB adverts in the runup to this scottish election, and add that to the sleaze pile.
there are certainly several pro union outfits have sprung up and keep on placing ads on facebook etc
Given that so much anti-lockdown propaganda is being funded and broadcast by several prominent Tory donors and several numbskull Tory MPs, I'd be amazed if there were a single senior Tory who hasn't echoed the sentiments published on the front page of the Daily Heil this morning. We're all cannon fodder for the libertarian view that people should just accept dying as a sacrifice to the economy - the very same economy that's tanking thanks to Brexit.
As for Alexander de Pfeffel's continued lambasting in the press, this sort of thing happens every time that a Tory PM goes off-script. They did it with May and will do so with the next incumbent. The depressing reality is that there's no shortage of congenital incompetents and/or sociopaths waiting in the wings who'd privatise their own grandmothers on a whim if it would help make one of their mates rich(er).
Cummings not as smart as he thinks he is by a long way
Maybe, but he is a lot smarter than his previous employers.
That's a pretty low bar though.
All of us who do care need to keep kicking up stink. There’s more of us than we realise, but too many are silent
‘They’ voted for this lot is always quite convenient when casting blame. Actually as a nation we kind of vote on a vaguely right of centre basis but the electoral system spits out a right wing landslide. A bit like brexit. 52/48 and you’d think we’d have got a compromise sensible single market type thing, but no, we get a batshit version.
Well it for combined with splintered politics.
The Tories sweep up social conservatives (probably most of their support), free market conservatives together. A few of the more nuuter socially conservative are members of UKIP or whatever the latest bat shit mental party Nigel has started to suck money out of the stupid and try and influence Tory part policy but not in significant numbers.
In the opposing corner we have:
Labour grabing hardened trade unionists, and navel gazing idealistic people telling everyone how things should be not how they are, ignoring where we are and demonising none believers, a few extra ex new Labour realists have been largely beaten out.
Lib Dems grabs a lot of middle road people but tend to tell people they can't have their cake and eat (which for some reason people don't like) it but can't be trusted and it's a "wasted vote".
Greens now diverging into labours land but with more ambitious bgreen targets and no trade union support.
SNP are obviously happy with this split as it furthers their cause to have a Tory government.
Until something splits the Tories, or something splits labour allowing libdems and labour to join forces in some way or fptp is removed the conservatives are in such a strong position they will only be out of power for very limited periods imo.
Until something splits the Tories, or something splits labour allowing libdems and labour to join forces in some way or fptp is removed the conservatives are in such a strong position they will only be out of power for very limited periods imo.
Which has already been the case for almost the last 100 years hasn't it apart from that period when the Blair (boo, hiss, tory lite etc,.) government had a longish stay. With SNP now taking such a number of seats from Labour it is never going back.
Nothing will split the Tories now they've realised (in no small part thanks to Dominic Cumstains) how thick the electorate is.
SNP are obviously happy with this split as it furthers their cause to have a Tory government.
I think that's probably a little unfair. There will be some in the SNP who prefer this, others would probably prefer that there was a labour minority government and they held the balance of power, and I'm quite sure there is a faction in SNP who would rather we had a UK that works for Scotland (perhaps a federal system, major electoral reform) but as nobody has seemed interested in that Indy becomes the alternative. But, lets be clear the shitshow that is Brexit helped the SNP in the short term but now faces them with the "Border problem". It would be somewhat ironic if as part of Indy negotiations the SNP were to actually find a solution for the Border issue which then is used to fix the NI border issue.
You have to be careful jumping from "in some ways that helps them" to "they prefer this" or "are happy with it".
Nothing will split the Tories now they’ve realised (in no small part thanks to Dominic Cumstains) how thick the electorate is.
And they can lie with impunity and no-one will pick them up on it. See: 40 hospitals, Jeremy Corbyn is a friend of terrorists, No border in the Irish Sea, EU borders with Turkey etc etc. It's the new normal.
So, our man is to present himself in front a parliamentary select committee this week. What are the odds that he'll 1. insult someone's intelligence (I think the odds on that have to be pretty small don't they?) 2. He'll drop Johnson in it, up to his neck, 3. It won't make the slightest bit of difference to Johnson polling. 4. that vein on his head will finally go bang...
1, 2 & 3 are nailed on. 4 is just wishful thinking.
He can play a long game though... 3 may well change a year or two down the line, based on the seeds sown this year... who knows.
1, 2 & 3 are nailed on. 4 is just wishful thinking.
Yeah his recent tweets give a good idea of it. I do like his consistent blaming of people in charge. If only he had been in a influential position in number 10 instead of being stuck on the sidelines just think what he could have achieved.
It won’t make the slightest bit of difference to Johnson polling.
The thing with Cummings is - when he was cosy with Boris everyone thought he was a dick - but he was their dick so they were prepared to tolerate him if they thought it got them what they wanted. Now he's out the door nobody cares what bombshells he drops because now he's just a dick.
I think Dom might be in for a stern lesson in his true place in the grand scheme of things, now he's no longer got the ear of the emperor.
He'll drop what he thinks are bombshells, but aren't, a few political journalists will wet their pants with excitement, Twitter will go mental for a couple of hours, they'll do a special 10 minute thing on Newsnight, mostly talking about Barnard Castle and Boris will just shrug and carry on as normal, poll ratings unaffected.
Dom will then spend the rest of his life even more bitter than before, furiously writing long blogs that no-body will ever read, sat in his room in his piss-stained joggers like the overgrown teenager he is
I think binners has it. Unless Cummings has a tape of Boris saying "**** it, let them die" he'll just come across as an angry bitter has been.
And I would put money on Johnson, even with a tape saying that, will just carry on as normal, without people giving much of shit.
If the last year has taught us anything, it's that that lying, bullshitting sack of shit can do no wrong in the eyes of his voter base because he's "just Boris".
Cummings will need evidence of criminal wrongdoing, legit crimes being committed in a way that cannot be swept under the carpet or dead-catted for it to take down Johnson.
Yep, I don't think theres anything Dom is likely to have that will cause lasting damage that anybody cares about.
Tin Foil On/Would not surprise me at all if there happened to be a number of record vaccination days coming up./Tin Foil Off
He’ll drop what he thinks are bombshells, but aren’t, a few political journalists will wet their pants with excitement, Twitter will go mental for a couple of hours, they’ll do a special 10 minute thing on Newsnight, mostly talking about Barnard Castle and Boris will just shrug and carry on as normal, poll ratings unaffected.
Bang on. Very few people will care or even know Dom is going to be interviewed this week. I feel the majority of the population mostly apathetic to the whole Tory gov. Its like oh surprise surprise they are all bent and lie all the time.
Without the Worzel Gummidge/Honey Monster hybrid running things I do wonder if they'd be polling quite so well...
Its like oh surprise surprise they are all bent and lie all the time.
It feels increasingly, well, Russian.
I expect Prince Harry will probably do an unexpected press conference the same day.
Presume we're all watching this morning? Not getting a lot of work done here 🙂
Going for a bike ride
I dont need to see that egomaniac auto fellate his own importance and dump all blame on everyone but himself
Got it on the radio. Don't know why I'm bothering
To summarise: It's everybody else's fault, not mine
I was promised that he would be "napalming" Johnson. Please tell me that the media were not misleading me.
I'll be honest, I quite like Cummings, and share his obvious disdain for politicians. I don't get the impression he's only trying to shift the blame, but he's clearly there to make sure the politicians take their share. Whatever it is I really hope he throws them all under the bus, because right now he's the only opposition to Boris et al.
From what I can gather so far the gist seems to be, We had a plan, but it turns out it was bobbins, from that point on we were either 1. Running about with our hair on fire for no apparent reason or 2. sitting in rooms with not a clue as to what to actually do as it seemed that either options were equally terrible, so we decided to dither...
But, y'know, testimony from a self-absorbed narcissist who has weaponised falsehood...
Just had a really scary thought watching Cummings - what if he's the good guy? <Running for cover>
what if he’s the good guy?
That thought had crossed my mind too.
I like his description of the cabinet office as 'terrifyingly shit'.
The PM was more bothered about pacifying his girlfriend than addressing covid? No surprises there then?
They're not going to be enjoying this in number 10. The question is whether its going to make any difference.
Just had a really scary thought watching Cummings – what if he’s the good guy?
he isn't, the part about adjusting his blog reveals this. He can't accept that he personally made mistakes, he's happy to admit that "we, the govt could've been better" or sins of omission, but he's totally invested in saving/repairing his own reputation, and not admitting to mistakes he's "actually done"
SO the upshot seems to be that the genius of Whitehall with all his experts was about a week behind any competent analyst who had looked at the data, such as yours truly who blogged as early as the morning of the 9th about the NHS being overwhelmed.
https://bskiesresearch.wordpress.com/2020/03/09/coronavirus/
https://bskiesresearch.wordpress.com/2020/03/11/capacity/
Of course my back of envelope calculations were very rough and ready, I was just starting to get to grips with this and didn't realise at that time quite how incompetent the official advice was.
Independence Day analogies now with Jeff Goldblum. Brilliant!
So herd immunity was the plan all along?
This Ben Warner guy is coming out as the star. I think he's going to be a lot more famous after today. Chicken pox parties FFS! If this is exposing anything it's not just the politicians, it's the utter incompetence and dysfunctionality of the entire state apparatus. We are being governed by idiots, and hopefully people might now start to wake up to that fact.
More seriously though, when he's in The Thinker pose, he's either got a huge head or very small hands.
I have changed my mind. I like this guy. This is the no bull Covid enquiry right now.
Problem with Cummings is
1: Everyone thinks he's a lying sh*t.
2: Barnard Castle.
3: He's clearly out for revenge.
Actually I think he is probably going to be telling a true (-ish) version of what went wrong, but the effect of 1-3 means there won't be much impact.
It's going to be fascinating seeing how number 10 is going to try and spin its way out of this.
Boris was more bothered about Carrie's dog than Covid?
It’s going to be fascinating seeing how number 10 is going to try and spin its way out of this.
Boris was more bothered about Carrie’s dog than Covid?
Yeh, but look - a doggie...aaaaahhhhhhhh
Move along, nothing to see here
Where can I view this online? Ta.
I'm watching on the LBC app.
Presumably it's also on BBC parliament...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/bbcparliament
Cummings now saying he told Johnson that Matt Hancock should've been fired...
It’s going to be fascinating seeing how number 10 is going to try and spin its way out of this.
Its easy
1: Everyone thinks he’s a lying sh*t.
2: Barnard Castle.
3: He’s clearly out for revenge.
Shocking today, forgotten by tomorrow morning? What will the newspaper headlines be tomorrow morning to take our collective minds off the government being a huge pile of poo?
Where can I view this online? Ta.
BBC news website
BBC 2.
Cheers all. Waiting for a meeting to finish so I can join in.
Here is the thing, the majority simply don't care.
They don't care that our COVID death rate was amongst the very worse in the world
They don't care that our PM is a convicted liar
They don't care that time and time again Tory ministers are seen to be lining their own pockets
They don't care the our Home Secretary breached the ministerial code and then blamed her victims
They don't care that the the Government is totally incompetent
They certainly wont care enough about Cummings.
They don’t care that our PM is a convicted liar
If we're pushing accuracy as a virtue, he's a proven liar, but he's not been convicted of anything.
Absolutely everything he has been saying so far is totally spot on. No idea if it's hindsight, or if he really was saying the same things when it really mattered (as he claims he was).
1: Everyone thinks he’s a lying sh*t.
2: Barnard Castle.
3: He’s clearly out for revenge.
1. More or less of a lying sh*t than Boris and his entire government?
2. Willing to forgive a human error in exceptional circumstances, I'm sure there's a lot of immoral wrongdoing in the background occurring with this government that will never make it to media storm level.
3. Revenge, but revenge for what? He seems to have turned and railing against government incompetence and some strange interaction with the 'trivial' Princess Nutty Nuts.
Alot of people will think 'but what else could be done / it was an impossible situation / Labour would have done far worse'.
Cummings didn't seem to have a problem with any of this when he was on the inside.
We're one of the countries that is ahead of others in our vaccination roll-out.
So as others have predicted, it ain't going to make a blind bit of difference.
Problem with Cummings is
1: Everyone thinks he’s a lying sh*t.
2: Barnard Castle.
3: He’s clearly out for revenge.
Well yes, but his useful role is stopping the government from just punting their woeful handling of the pandemic down the road into a toothless public enquiry some time down the road. Enemy of my enemy, and all that.
Hopefully he will go down in flames with the rest of them.
So herd immunity was the plan all along?
It was the default because coming up with a workable plan in February seemed a bit boring and too much like hard work for our dear leader and his acolytes.
Bloody hell!!
"A political system that delivers a choice between Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson is a political system that is completely broken. Neither of those two is fit to lead"
Difficult to argue with that
Rebecca Long-Bailey's questions have been beautifully to the point, compared to the other MPs flapping around. His answer to her about "wrong people in the wrong jobs, with the wrong incentives" was absolutely brilliant. Making it so clear that he was part of the problem there was, well, surprising.
It was the default because coming up with a workable plan in February seemed a bit boring and too much like hard work for our dear leader and his acolytes.
By his account, they were more concerned about where they were going skiing
delete
The only person coming out of this well is Rishi Sunak. He seems to be the only grown-up in the room who grasped the magnitude of the situation and was prepared to take the action necessary.
Can't say that comes as a surprise because thats exactly how it looked at the time
This is nuclear stuff, and I'm liking him more and more. Hancock in particular has been exposed as the charlatan we all know he is, someone promoted way above his ability and completely blagging it. He's toast.
Cummings says "it is “crazy” that someone like himself was able to have so much power. And it was “crackers” that Johnson was in there too"
Yeah, that was part of the answer I was referring to Nick. I was surprised he was so ready to declare his elevation to a position of power (of the back of Brexit) as part of the problem.
We're stuck now with a Tory MP trying to nail him as regards "a source at number ten" txts, rather than ask anything about the government's pandemic response. Bring back Rebecca!
Making it so clear that he was part of the problem there was, well, surprising.
Cummings says “it is “crazy” that someone like himself was able to have so much power. And it was “crackers” that Johnson was in there too”
Yeah I had himself down as a conscious competent up until this point but he's just declared himself consciously incompetent (for the role in which he was operating).
He's getting a bit skewered now...
This should bring down Boris.
But we all know tomorrow’s headlines will be Princess Diana & immigrants
He’s toast.
Maybe, but if he's thrown under the bus, so what?
“A political system that delivers a choice between Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson is a political system that is completely broken. Neither of those two is fit to lead”
Cummings says “it is “crazy” that someone like himself was able to have so much power. And it was “crackers” that Johnson was in there too”
And they call Starmer "Captain Hindsight"...
Maybe, but if he’s thrown under the bus, so what?
The problem is that they're all in it together. If Boris tries to throw Hancock under the bus what do you think Hancock will do? This is the sort of stuff that could bring down a whole government.
Now if he could just reveal what a snivelling little brown noser Dross is I'd be chuffed to bits 😀