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Phew, all the news coming out recently about Obama and his minions is stinking up the place.
My prediction is that when this runs it's course, Obama's legacy will be in tatters and he will be exposed for the slippery forked tongue politician that he has always been. Buckle up!
Its making some impactKarmer pulling BoJos pants down over the care home guidance was glorious to see, especially his official letter explaining it was a lie.
Shame that people won't care unless it's on the cover of a redtop.
If they won a majoirty, which was never going to happen otherwise referendum (so not really anti democratic they would have been given an electoral mandate). But Swinson said some nonsense how they could win....it was a **** campaign.It's incredible that the Lib Dems position going into an election was to revoke Article 50 and not even have a second referendum. Political suicide. May as well have called themselves the Liberal Anti Democrats.
If they won a majoirty, which was never going to happen otherwise referendum (so not really anti democratic they would have been given an electoral mandate). But Swinson said some nonsense how they could win....it was a **** campaign.
Its been a Lib Dem issue for ages complex messaging instead of keeping things simple.
A general election (despite all the foilbles of FPTP) is considered the highest manadate in the land in terms electoral will. Its not that they'd view it as mandate it absolutely is a mandate. That's why the Tories can do whatever they like with Brexit now regardless of what was presented on the table as options back in the referendum.They were essentially saying "Vote for us and we'll view it as a mandate to ignore what you voted for last time around". Crazy stuff.
It's incredible that the Lib Dems position going into an election was to revoke Article 50 and not even have a second referendum. Political suicide. May as well have called themselves the Liberal Anti Democrats.
I like Starmer too but Labour's problem is that the Tories have got enough of the press and media in their back pocket.
Just so people can see it https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politic...ook-boris-johnson-apart-like-duplo-train-set/The Torygraph had an article saying Starmer took Johnson apar tin PMQs. Ultimately we haven't yet reached a stage in this country where the PM can simply deny his own words and people accept that. Starmer has used to governments own words, own figures, own graphs etc and fired them back at them. What can an even remotely reasonable press use to argue against that? How dare he quote what the government said to the government! At the moment Johnson is trying to use the virus to grant him immunity to all criticism, the old "now is not the time" defence. Fortunately it isn't working as Starmers questions are all precisely about the crisis and therefore now is definitely the time to be discussing faults in how it is handled.
Unfortunately I don't have faith in Labour to not just split into factions once again and tear themselves apart as they always do.
It's always the toughest stage of The Apprentice: the interviews round. A slick-haired young telemarketer in a shiny suit will swagger in, and start bragging about the foolproof business idea he's had – only for the interviewer to take him apart like a Duplo train set.
In no time, the candidate has dissolved into a puddle of babbling neurosis, unable to give a convincing answer to any question, up to and including the spelling of his own name.
This is what it's like, these days, watching Sir Keir Starmer grill Boris Johnson at PMQs. Labour's new leader is calm, polite, and utterly merciless.
He doesn't rant or shout putdowns. Instead he asks factual questions designed to establish whether or not the Prime Minister knows what his own Government is doing.
The latest figures, began Sir Keir today, showed that at least 40 per cent of deaths from the virus had come in care homes. Yet according to the Government's advice in March, it was "very unlikely" that people in care homes would become infected.
Mr Johnson protested. "No, Mr Speaker," be blurted, "it wasn't true that the advice said that!"
But it was. Sir Keir was quoting the advice word for word, from a sheet in paper in front of him.
Next he asked about the vast number of unexplained deaths in care homes. In April, there had been 26,000 care home deaths. The previous April, there had been only 8,000. Yet of these additional 18,000 deaths, only 8,000 had been officially attributed to the virus. Could Mr Johnson give the Government's view as to the possible cause of those 10,000 "unexplained" deaths?
Mr Johnson could not. In fact, it wasn't obvious he'd understood the question. His reply was a cascade of helpless waffle. "Appalling disease… tragedy taking place… critical to our ability to move forward as a nation…"
On to the death toll overall. The Government, noted Sir Keir, had stopped producing the daily chart which plotted death tolls in various countries, including Britain. Why?
"He seeks to make comparisons with other countries," snorted Mr Johnson, "which I am advised are premature."
Sir Keir looked puzzled. The Government had been publishing these "comparisons with other countries" for seven weeks.
"It's pretty obvious," he said, "that when we didn't have the highest number of deaths in Europe, the graphs were used for comparison purposes. But as soon as we did have the highest number, they were dropped."
It was tough to watch. Mr Johnson's supporters might well say: who cares about PMQs? The Prime Minister has far more important things on his plate. He's trying to tackle a pandemic, for pity's sake.
Which is true. The trouble is, all of Sir Keir's questions were about the Prime Minister's handling of that pandemic. About his Government's advice, its actions, its figures, its findings.
And this week – like last week – the Prime Minister didn't have the answers.
Too much nuance - it always was. Nuance is great for governing, terrible for a campaign.If they won a majoirty, which was never going to happen otherwise referendum (so not really anti democratic they would have been given an electoral mandate). But Swinson said some nonsense how they could win....it was a **** campaign.
Its been a Lib Dem issue for ages complex messaging instead of keeping things simple.
They'd have been right as well - that's kinda the point of a general election.They were essentially saying "Vote for us and we'll view it as a mandate to ignore what you voted for last time around". Crazy stuff.
Too much nuance - it always was. Nuance is great for governing, terrible for a campaign.
The tories have gone the precise opposite direction; and thrown out anything that can't be summed up in a 3-wrod slogan; and are trying to govern with that same attitude.
They'd have been right as well - that's kinda the point of a general election.
Fair enough, in that case, I agreeWhen I said 'crazy stuff' I was referring to their position. Not so much the question of whether or not they would have had a mandate.