The Political Thread

[The Legendary Shark]

There's so much evil loose in the world right now and this is the focus of attention. To me it's just theatre, an emotional distraction from things that can't be talked about.

[pauljholden]

I think the big question is whether Sunak wants to be PM now, or in the summer.

I'm hugely impressed by the likes of Pippa Crerar at the Mirror for this drip, drip strategy with he Downing Street revelations. She could have released a huge expose, as has been done in the past, and Johnson would have bluffed and blustered his way through a few days of bad news before finding the latest dead cat. As it is, she and her colleagues have sustained a slow, painful death in the polls for the Tories.

All Kier Starmer has to do is stand around and look semi-competent. Which is good, because that's about his limit.

As delightful as it might be to imagine this is the strategy of Pippa Crerar I suspect she’s putting stuff out as it’s been leaked to her. Someone with rather a lot of evidence is trying to damage Johnson from the inside. (Assuming it’s not just Cummings )

[Funt Solo]

There's so much evil loose in the world right now and this is the focus of attention. To me it's just theatre, an emotional distraction from things that can't be talked about.

Dear Points of View: why-oh-why do people insist on talking about politics on The Political Thread?

[IndigoPrime]

I suspect with Crerar, it’s a bit of both. Newspapers, if they have enough of a bombshell, will hold things back if the story can run over multiple days. But in this case, someone is clearly attempting to keep this in the news cycle. Would be interesting to know who.

And, yes, Shark is right that it’s depressing this is the focus of attention, when the government is putting through legislation that will effectively ban protest in the UK, along with many other shitty things. But if that’s what it takes to finally knacker this Tory government, so be it. (Not that it definitely will, mind.)

[JayzusB.Christ]

Labour seem to be ahead by a considerable margin now.  No idea how things will pan out if Johnson goes - if fellow Tories back him right now, they've lost the support of two-thirds of the people, but if they turn against him, they have to deal with the sycophants who still run the party.

[IndigoPrime]

The issue the Tories will have is that none of them enjoy the broad popular support of Johnson. He is a vote winner. Truss isn’t. Sunak has elements of that, but that’s mostly from him giving away money; he won’t be nearly as popular when he’s taking it back. Patel? Just no. So I suspect there will be a leadership change and an immediate poll post for the Tories, but it won’t necessarily be sustainable.

[JayzusB.Christ]

. He WAS a vote winner.

FTFY 😀
Speaking as an outsider and not REALLY having much of a clue, I would tentatively suggest that the fun-loving, zipline-fumbling panel show presenter persona is gone and won't be back. He got Brexit done already and it turned out not to be very done at all - 'Let's get the bits of Brexit done that we didn't do properly last time' isn't the strongest electoral slogan. 

I'll be very saddened if I turn out to be wrong, and I may well be given the mind-bogglingly awful results of various elections and referenda around the world in recent years, but I think his vote-magnet days are behind him.

[IndigoPrime]

I suspect his star has faded, but he still has clout. There are a lot of people who still want to give him the benefit of the doubt. Once he’s gone, who fills the void? Who will appeal to the people who like ‘Boris’ but frankly couldn’t give much of a shit about the Conservatives? Dangerous times for the Tories, because if we revert to politics being boring (which it should be), then people will become more interested in competence — and the Tories excised almost all quality from the party’s ranks during the Brexit purge.

[JayzusB.Christ]

Fair enough.... I was naive enough to think the Capitol riots would finish Trump's reputation too.

[Funt Solo]

I have started to seriously consider my position in the US. It feel's like a coin flip at the moment between a fairly liberal society with some deep-rooted issues and a fascist dictatorship - depending on how the Republicans manage to fix the voting laws before the next election.

I think if they win it, by cheating, then they'll just change the laws even more so that they remain permanently in power. It's what Trump was trying to achieve last time - and he managed to get secret police onto the streets of Portland and almost managed to enact mob rule.

So - do I scarper back to Scotland and try to persuade my family to come with me? Or do I buy a gun to defend myself when the civil war happens? Or write a book about the madness of people who are trying to usher in a new dark age, before being executed by the new regime?

Probably just go for a walk...

[IndigoPrime]

To some degree, I imagine it’d be down to where you are and where things are headed. My family used to holiday often in Florida, on the west coast. Over-development and the shift from ‘policing’ to ‘security’ over time transformed a rather lovely city beach into a place where I at weekends felt genuinely uncomfortable walking around. We’re unlikely to ever go back, and I really miss what the place was but not what it became. Hopefully wherever you are is closer to the former than the latter.

[Mister Pops]

I'm reminded of an Onion headline that went something like:

"Americans Predict Impending Dystopia as a Way to Cope with Already Living in One"

I wouldn't worry too much about a second American civil war. It won't last long unless these "well regulated militias" have access to drones and the like.

I read somewhere that if California, New York and Texas seceded, the remaining US GDP would plummet to third-world* levels. That may be an urban myth though.

*Technically Ireland would be considered third-world, being neither a member of NATO nor a signatory to the Warsaw Pact

[Funt Solo]

It was all cool when I was reading it in Martha Washington Goes to War.

Oddly, I ended up marrying a Martha, in Washington.


---


Some powerful interviews on Channel 4 News yesterday from people who suffered while Number 10 partied. Yet, there are still plenty of folk tugging the forelock and defending their betters for quaffing champers while the plebs either toed the line or were fined for crossing it.

Where's Bear and his guillotines, when we need them?

[Robin Low]

Where's Bear and his guillotines, when we need them?

I'm now imaging Michael Hordern narrating that particular episode.


While I won't take responsibility if it all goes wrong I'd say move back to Scotland. I'm not wildly happy with what's going on in Britain these days, and I'm given to understand that there are many decent people in America, but I'd rather be here than anywhere else in the world. I just wish we could learn to look after the place - and each other- better than we do.

Regards,

Robin

[IndigoPrime]

Not sure I’d rather be here, TBH. We stay here primarily because of roots now: mini-IP’s school and friends; close proximity to my parents. If it wasn’t for those things, England could go fuck itself as far as I’m concerned. The wife and I would be elsewhere in a jiffy. (Although these days I’d have to rely on her for FOM, because 17 million people in my country are fuckwits.)