The Political Thread

[Jim_Campbell]

This government has channelled millions into dubious contracts for goods and services, including a 'test and trace' service that can't even keep track of its own staff.

Not millions, £37 billion that no one can adequately account for on the dysfunctional Track & Trace scheme alone.

To try and put that number into some kind of context, for that amount of money, you could put Perseverance on Mars nineteen times or give every one of the NHS's 285,000 nurses an annual £10K pay rise for the next thirteen years.

[Tjm86]

Fair point Jim.  I also note over at the Grauniad that the number of councils in the UK planning on cutting services, raising council tax and just going under has increased precipitously under the pandemic.

Sunak's latest budget is probably a pretty good indication of who is going to fit the bill for his largesse.  I think what a lot of people forget is that furlough may have kept some people in jobs but the main purpose was to funnel money to employers to keep the jobs going.  So the real beneficiaries were the likes of Sunak's in-laws.

[Jim_Campbell]

the real beneficiaries were the likes of Sunak's in-laws.

Quite so. Track & Trace may not actually have tracked or traced anyone, but it certainly delivered a lot of shareholder value to Serco and Deloittes. Add to that the government simply overriding all normal procurement procedures for public expenditure and awarding PPE contracts valued in hundreds of millions to companies with no track record of supplying PPE but were run by their mates* and what you have is nothing more than a smash-and-grab raid on the public finances, with the small matter of 125,000 covid dead as collateral damage.

This should be a government-ending scandal, with criminal prosecutions, and riots in the street if those things weren't forthcoming. Instead, the media is running interference for the Tories, as always. Never mind the fact that they've handed unimaginable sums of taxpayers' money to their mates and killed your Nan, what about Meghan and Harry, eh? Eh?!


*Supplying PPE at inflated unit costs that was often not fit for purpose. I've seen no suggestion, even from people who are trying very hard to scrutinise this, that any of these fuckers has been forced to re-supply the PPE to the correct spec, or pay back the money due to failure to deliver on the contract.

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

Never mind the fact that they've handed unimaginable sums of taxpayers' money to their mates ...

Speaking of which, the government has commissioned on official feasibility report into building a bridge across an extremely deep chasm, which is now slightly less deep because it's full off bombs. This bridge would link a remote part of Scotland to Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland does not even have basic infrastructure, like a motorway between it's two largest cities.

They're basically paying one of their mates to produce a 300 page document, the first page will be along the lines of "No Boris, what the fuck?" and the next 299 will be a catalogue of all the various bombs dumped in the Irish from what ship and when.

Pterry Prachett had a character called Bloody Stupid Johnson didn't he?

[Mikey]

Last I heard they were going to avoid Beauford's Dyke by building a series of tunnels some distance south, with a big roundabout under the Isle of Man. No, seriously.

I'd love to think there's an aspect of future proofing going on, given the big laugh that is climate change, but it's bugger all to do with that. It's more like Famine Roads.

[IndigoPrime]

The tunnels thing was quite something, given that Liverpool and Heysham both had exits. Beyond the sheer insanity of the plan—and the tiny snag that the Isle of Mann is not British—there were suggestions the insane idea of two English exits that are only 90 minutes away from each other by road was down to Johnson wanting it to look balanced on the images that were being circulated.

[TordelBack]

They're basically paying one of their mates to produce a 300 page document,...

My old company went belly-up 10 years ago now, and I still walk past unlikely parcels of undeveloped land that we were paid to prepare planning application reports on. There's always money to be made consulting on fantasies and pure bollocks.

[CalHab]

Blimey - there's been no politics at all for over a month!

I enjoyed this story: Piers Morgan leaves ITV's Good Morning Britain after row over Meghan remarks.

Mainly because I've always thought Piers was a complete [Khonsu]*.


*Admin. note: your expletive has been automatically replaced with a random deity.

I've occasionally enjoyed him putting Tories on the spot and ripping them a new one for botching the pandemic so much.  For a few seconds I think, 'Nice one, Piers!'... but then I remember: he's Piers cocking Morgan.  Good riddance.

Piers Morgan is contemptible, but he seems to have a knack for following the public mood. Its a bit surprising that he has so badly misjudged how his comments would be received in this case.

I suspect he'll turn up on Murdoch's "news" channel, where he'll have a hard right wing slant (in line with the way English voters now lean).

[Professor Bear]

"We're here today with globally-recognised millionaire tv celebrity Piers Morgan to talk about how he's been denied a platform.  Piers - what would you like to say to our 8 million viewers?"

[sheridan]

The tunnels thing was quite something, given that Liverpool and Heysham both had exits. Beyond the sheer insanity of the plan—and the tiny snag that the Isle of Mann is not British—there were suggestions the insane idea of two English exits that are only 90 minutes away from each other by road was down to Johnson wanting it to look balanced on the images that were being circulated.

Isn't there a Garth Ennis story about tunnels and bridges to Ireland which ran out of money?

[sheridan]

The tunnels thing was quite something, given that Liverpool and Heysham both had exits. Beyond the sheer insanity of the plan—and the tiny snag that the Isle of Mann is not British—there were suggestions the insane idea of two English exits that are only 90 minutes away from each other by road was down to Johnson wanting it to look balanced on the images that were being circulated.

Isn't there a Garth Ennis story about tunnels and bridges to Ireland which ran out of money?

(technically between Mega-City One and Brit-Cit with an off-ramp for Ireland).

[Funt Solo]

Newsthump must have a headline by now about the irony of women holding a vigil for a woman murdered by an off-duty polis being violently arrested by a large gang of mostly male polis.

Let me check ... ah, not yet. They're still leading with the fact that the Burmese protesters being shot in the street isn't getting as much headline space as the Megan/Morgan story.

[JayzusB.Christ]

They've caught up with you...

https://newsthump.com/2021/03/14/people-of-clapham-protected-from-terrifying-small-group-of-mourners-holding-vigil/

[Professor Bear]

Always wondered what I'd be doing if the country ever started slipping towards fascism.  Guess now I know.

[Funt Solo]

Trying to decompress Cressida Dick's defense (see video) of her police going in mob-handed against a peaceful vigil is quite a thing.

The major beats:

1. She says that anyone who wasn't there can't judge how it was policed, then says she wasn't there but trusts that the correct decisions were made.
2. It was peaceful for much of the day, and not illegal, she says, but then it became an "unlawful gathering" (she doesn't explain how), and so police had to act the way they did.

Reminds me of watching those apartheid-era movies where a policeman would shout through a loudspeaker "thes is en illegal gethering" before opening fire on the crowd of unarmed civilians. This event should be a warning that we need to remove some powers from the police - but it looks like the Tories are gearing up to kick the can down the road by talking about reports and tough choices and blah.

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Newsthump's done a few variations on the theme today:
- Beatings will continue until women know their place, confirm Met Police
- People of Clapham protected from terrifying small group of mourners holding vigil
- Metropolitan Police announce crackdown on Mothers' Day celebrations

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Who could have predicted that giving the police sweeping powers to handle Covid restrictions would have resulted in them later abusing those same powers? [I would look back through this thread, but ... that way lies madness.]