[Politics] Tory meltdown finally arrived [was: incoming]...

[BLOCK F]

Yup, we have heard what the boffins and the politicos have been saying and although I haven’t been following the enquiry as closely as some on here ( other more important personal matters to attend to), it does seem that there is a wonderful array of arse covering and hind sighting going on on all sides.
Basically, the boffins say ‘should have gone harder and earlier re lockdowns etc.’ and the politicos say,’ yes, but we had to make unprecedented decisions and weigh up scientific advice against other factors…..social and mental well-being, economics, jobs etc.’
All true and can be justified by both ‘teams’. An impossible situation in which the boffins would have us locked up for ever and a day and the politicos not so. As Whitty et al said at the time, we give our view and advice, which is a relatively straightforward thing to do, but the politicos have to make the hard decisions.

 

[Bob!]

So the HS2 alternative, funded by the levelling up fund.
Upgraded signalling on a 5 mile Heritage Railway!

BBC News - Levelling up funding to help Keighley heritage railway become commuter route

Levelling up funding to help Keighley heritage railway become commuter route

More than £115m of Levelling Up Fund cash has been awarded to projects in West Yorkshire.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Pavilionaire]

Shouldn’t the point of the enquiry be how we learn lessons so next time we will be prepared and know how to manage a pandemic better? All we are getting is he said this/he said that. May help fill pages on nsc and confirm our views and prejudices but not going to save lives in the future

In 2016 the government and civil service carried out a 3-day 'war game' exercise known as Operation Cygnus to simulate a pandemic atrocity with the express aim of preparing the UK for such an attack. Yet a mere 4 years later - and still with the same Government and civil servants in place - everything gleaned from that exercise appears to have been forgotten.

We had a similar but bigger simulation in 2007 named 'Winter Willow'.

So who is "learning the lessons" from these exercises?

For me, the enquiry so far has not revealed anything that we couldn't see with our own eyes at the time. What we should be doing is drawing up a process manual with contingency planning and have free vote on it so it gets cross-party agreement, so that when the next pandemic strikes - as far as possible - we take it out of the hands of politicians and let the civil service implement measures.

For all the war gaming and preparation, if you are still going to be reliant on whoever is Prime Minister - and they (like Boris) judge it acceptable to miss 5 COBRA meetings over 5 weeks - then you are stuffed.

 

[CHAPPERS]

I see James Cleverly had come up with a lie about what he said yesterday. Apparently didn’t call Stockton and shithole, just said Cunningham is a ‘shit MP’. f***ing Tories eh?

 

[Bodian]

I see James Cleverly had come up with a lie about what he said yesterday. Apparently didn’t call Stockton and shithole, just said Cunningham is a ‘shit MP’. f***ing Tories eh?

Took him quite a long time to think of that defence.

So, now he has admitted to the 'shit' bit - it's clearly him on the recording. Must say that the following syllable doesn't sound like 'MP' to me....

 

[BLOCK F]

In 2016 the government and civil service carried out a 3-day 'war game' exercise known as Operation Cygnus to simulate a pandemic atrocity with the express aim of preparing the UK for such an attack. Yet a mere 4 years later - and still with the same Government and civil servants in place - everything gleaned from that exercise appears to have been forgotten.

We had a similar but bigger simulation in 2007 named 'Winter Willow'.

So who is "learning the lessons" from these exercises?

For me, the enquiry so far has not revealed anything that we couldn't see with our own eyes at the time. What we should be doing is drawing up a process manual with contingency planning and have free vote on it so it gets cross-party agreement, so that when the next pandemic strikes - as far as possible - we take it out of the hands of politicians and let the civil service implement measures.

For all the war gaming and preparation, if you are still going to be reliant on whoever is Prime Minister - and they (like Boris) judge it acceptable to miss 5 COBRA meetings over 5 weeks - then you are stuffed.

One would hope that ‘lessons are being learnt’ by politicians, boffins, NHS and civil servants. If not, what is the point of an enquiry taking up God knows how much time, except to point the fingers of blame?
I don’t think you can remove the decision making process from the politicians. As our elected representatives, it is their job to make these decisions. Thankfully, (or hopefully), we won’t see the likes of another Boris Johnson in the top seat for the foreseeable!

 

[clapham_gull]

Took him quite a long time to think of that defence.

So, now he has admitted to the 'shit' bit - it's clearly him on the recording. Must say that the following syllable doesn't sound like 'MP' to me....

I think it's much clearer now that he probably responded with

because he's a shit MP

 

[Tubby Mondays]

I think it's much clearer now that he probably responded with

because he's a shit MP

How can that not be a sackable offence?!

 

[Bob!]

How can that not be a sackable offence?!

Because spineless Sunak has no talent left in the party

 

[Bodian]

How can that not be a sackable offence?!

Because spineless Sunak has no talent left in the party

And Sunak doesn't do 'sackings' - he does 'reshuffles'. And he's just done one, so can't lose face by doing another one immediately.

 

[ManOfSussex]

How can that not be a sackable offence?!

To be fair to Mr Cleverley it's been a very low threshold on standards of decency required to be Home Secretary for quite a while now, so he's fine with this one.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Took him quite a long time to think of that defence.

So, now he has admitted to the 'shit' bit - it's clearly him on the recording. Must say that the following syllable doesn't sound like 'MP' to me....

I've just listened to that again about 40 times and it's a bit like the equivalent of that blue and black/white and gold dress thing that went around a while ago (I think there's an audio equivalent meme, but I can't recall it). Sometimes it sounds like "shithole", but other times it is "shit MP". However, given that Alex Cunningham was closer to it – and members of the Government have a 'difficult relationship' with the truth, I'd go with the former.

Not very Clever(ly) from James, either way...

 

[The Clamp]

He said “shit hole”.

 

[lawros left foot]

Foreigners
Unemployed
The poor
And now the disabled.

The fascist playbook .

We should have a definitive list of all the minorities that the Tories have scapegoated to deflect from either their gross incompetence, their corruption, or their need to be abhorrent for no other reason than they can.

 

[BLOCK F]

Is Stockton North a shit hole or not? I don’t know, I cannot recall ever going there.
Yes, whatever ‘Not so’ said, he shouldn’t have said it, but hey, shit hole shouldn’t come as too much of a shock to us NSC’ers, it is often used (or similar language) on here to describe places we’ve been to and grounds we don’t like.
I can’t get shock horrored about it I’m afraid.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Is Stockton North a shit hole or not? I don’t know, I cannot recall ever going there.
Yes, whatever ‘Not so’ said, he shouldn’t have said it, but hey, shit hole shouldn’t come as too much of a shock to us NSC’ers, it is often used (or similar language) on here to describe places we’ve been to and grounds we don’t like.
I can’t get shock horrored about it I’m afraid.

Talking about other areas of Britain on Nsc or at football grounds is fairly innocuous.
The House of Commons supposedly has a code of conduct. An MP can be thrown out for telling the truth, but calling a minister a liar.
MPs know this. Even the Tory mayor of Stockton is up in arms about Cleverly.

Nobody is shock horrored, but expect the breach of code of conduct to be suitably dealt with by the Speaker. Some chance!

 

[The Clamp]

Is Stockton North a shit hole or not? I don’t know, I cannot recall ever going there.
Yes, whatever ‘Not so’ said, he shouldn’t have said it, but hey, shit hole shouldn’t come as too much of a shock to us NSC’ers, it is often used (or similar language) on here to describe places we’ve been to and grounds we don’t like.
I can’t get shock horrored about it I’m afraid.

I hold my politicians to a higher standard than you, clearly.

 

[Pavilionaire]

I'm looking forward to dinner tonight, we're having my favourite Toad In The MP.

 

[stewart12]

Is Stockton North a shit hole or not? I don’t know, I cannot recall ever going there.
Yes, whatever ‘Not so’ said, he shouldn’t have said it, but hey, shit hole shouldn’t come as too much of a shock to us NSC’ers, it is often used (or similar language) on here to describe places we’ve been to and grounds we don’t like.
I can’t get shock horrored about it I’m afraid.

difference being, of course, that none of us are the HOME SECRETARY

 

[BLOCK F]

I hold my politicians to a higher standard than you, clearly.

Possibly/probably/ likely/certainly!