Just how awful is this government? June 2020 edition

[CHAPPERS]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/01/no-10-lobby-groups-democracy-policy-exchange

This lobby group has called for the prime minister’s office to have greater powers “to develop and direct policy change” through the civil service, and to appoint leaders of public bodies whose “culture and values” align with government’s aims. It has led the public attacks on what it calls the “chilling effects” of leftwing views in academia. Its recent report on academic freedom was brilliantly eviscerated in the Guardian by Jonathan Portes, who found it riddled with basic statistical errors and mistaken assumptions. What purports to be a campaign for intellectual freedom looks more like a McCarthyite attempt to suppress left-leaning ideas. It’s an effective weapon in the government’s gathering culture war.

Policy Exchange’s proposals for changing the planning system, which involve a massive removal of power from local authorities, have been adopted wholesale by the government. One of the authors of this scheme, Jack Airey, has moved from the thinktank to Downing Street, as a special adviser.

Last year, Policy Exchange published a polemic that claimed Extinction Rebellion is led by dangerous extremists. As usual, it was widely covered by the media. Less discussed was the report that the lobby group has received funding from the power company Drax, the trade association Energy UK, and the gas companies E.ON and Cadent, whose fossil-fuel investments are threatened by environmental activism. These are among the few funders whose identities we know. Policy Exchange is listed by Who Funds You? as among the UK’s most opaque thinktanks. It might seem remarkable that without having to reveal its funders, while promoting shifts that could harm civil society, Policy Exchange remains a registered charity.

Conservative governments clearly attach great importance to the way charities are overseen. In 2018, a parliamentary committee sent the government an unprecedented letter, pointing out that the government’s preferred candidate as chair of the Charity Commission, the former Tory minister Baroness Stowell, was “unable to demonstrate … any real insight, knowledge or vision”; could not be seen as neutral; and had failed to withstand the committee’s scrutiny. The government appointed her anyway, and she remains chair today.

By such means, political life is steadily undermined, until little remains but authority and obedience to the prime minister. Without strong civic institutions, society loses its power. From the point of view of global capital, that’s mission accomplished. To resist the government’s machinations, first we must understand them.

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/01/no-10-lobby-groups-democracy-policy-exchange

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Regards
DF

 

[sydney]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Regards
DF

well you may zzzzzzzz old boy but that is exactly what is happening in Australia right now , they are blocking tv news being shown on fb , instagram and twitter , people are being arrested and held under "covid laws" ........it's a ****ing joke what's going on , i thought you'd be on it , obviously not.

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

well you may zzzzzzzz old boy but that is exactly what is happening in Australia right now , they are blocking tv news being shown on fb , instagram and twitter , people are being arrested and held under "covid laws" ........it's a ****ing joke what's going on , i thought you'd be on it , obviously not.

I don't do all that social media bollocks
Regards
DF

 

[sydney]

I don't do all that social media bollocks
Regards
DF

only youtube....??....social, media could well be a thing of the past in the next few months , watch this space....

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

only youtube....??....social, media could well be a thing of the past in the next few months , watch this space....

Where would I be without YouTube
Regards
DF

 

[sydney]

Where would I be without YouTube
Regards
DF

bored....

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

https://twitter.com/KayBurley?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

https://twitter.com/AlistairHaimes/status/1301506659001524225

LOLs another U turn

 

[Randy McNob]

https://twitter.com/AlistairHaimes/status/1301506659001524225

LOLs another U turn

I never understand this idea of 'get back to work' ? Iḿ working from home cos my employer is telling me to, if they told me go back to the office I would do

 

[Machiavelli]

https://twitter.com/breeallegretti/status/1301850686297198594?s=20

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Das Reich will be on in a minute to explain how Boris and chums are doing a smashing job. Just wait.....

 

[Baker lite]

Das Reich will be on in a minute to explain how Boris and chums are doing a smashing job. Just wait.....

Could have been a lot worse H..

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[Lever]

Could have been a lot worse H..

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Or much much better.......

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

Or much much better.......

Jo swinson ?
Regards
DF

 

[Randy McNob]

gaslit

 

[A1X]

 

[A1X]

[TWEET]1303611502788739072[/TWEET]

 

[Baker lite]

Could have been a lot worse..

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[A1X]

That really is all you've got, isn't it?