Anna B Â Â 1,414 #757 Posted January 21, 2021 (edited) 10 hours ago, tinfoilhat said: its what the country voted for. I can write to my mp, he'll sidestep the question (he's a proper Boris acolyte). We'll have to wait 4years - he's got an 80 seat majority. So Starmer will probably get in next time, but he's just another Tony Blair, and won't change anything. He's a another Tory in disguise. All following the same overriding ideology. Edited January 21, 2021 by Anna B Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
alchresearch   214 #758 Posted January 21, 2021 2 hours ago, Anna B said: So Starmer will probably get in next time, but he's just another Tony Blair, and won't change anything. He's a another Tory in disguise. All following the same overriding ideology. Blair didn't change anything?  Quote During his first term as Prime Minister, Blair raised taxes; introduced a National Minimum Wage and some new employment rights; introduced significant constitutional reforms; promoted new rights for gay people in the Civil Partnership Act 2004; and signed treaties integrating the UK more closely with the EU.  He introduced substantial market-based reforms in the education and health sectors; introduced student tuition fees; sought to reduce certain categories of welfare payments, and introduced tough anti-terrorism and identity card legislation.  Under Blair's government, the amount of new legislation increased[9] which attracted criticism.[10] Blair increased police powers by adding to the number of arrestable offences, compulsory DNA recording and the use of dispersal orders.[11] And the list goes on under "Social Policies"  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premiership_of_Tony_Blair#First_term_(1997–2001) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Magilla   510 #759 Posted January 25, 2021 The bungs roll on: https://hexus.net/tech/news/laptop/147326-malware-found-free-laptops-uks-vulnerable-children/ "According to research by the Good Law Project, this latest batch of laptops bought by the Department for Education were bought from Computacenter, a firm founded by a major Conservative party donor. It says that the DfE has placed orders worth £39.7m with Computacenter and for that 192,400 of these devices are expected to be delivered to schools. Simple maths suggests a price of £206 per device. The £206 per device price might seem pretty reasonable even if you consider the dire specs outlined above. Checking out high street store Currys in the UK, I can see I can get a similar spec 11.6-inch Asus or Lenovo branded 4GB RAM/64GB eMMC machine for £199. However, an 'education IT expert' told the Good Law Project that he thought a business could have secured these laptops direct from an OEM for less than £100 a piece."  You'd think if you were spending £39.7m you'd be getting a discount, not a surcharge! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
melthebell   863 #760 Posted January 25, 2021 On 21/01/2021 at 10:13, Anna B said: So Starmer will probably get in next time, but he's just another Tony Blair, and won't change anything. He's a another Tory in disguise. All following the same overriding ideology. I'll say it again, how do labour change anything by fighting each other over how "socialist" / "blairite" they are, yet staying in opposition for 40 odd years?, you dont get to change a damn thing being in opposition. have you read Starmers manifesto thingy? looks quite decent to me, more socialist than right wing Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Anna B   1,414 #761 Posted January 26, 2021 10 hours ago, melthebell said: I'll say it again, how do labour change anything by fighting each other over how "socialist" / "blairite" they are, yet staying in opposition for 40 odd years?, you dont get to change a damn thing being in opposition. have you read Starmers manifesto thingy? looks quite decent to me, more socialist than right wing The ordinary voter can change very little. We no longer live in a democracy, we live in a plutocracy. It's the very tip of the top layer that's in charge now. and globalization means they own the world. Voting is just a sham, whoever you vote for you just get more of the same. As for manifestos, they can say whatever they like to get into office. They no longer feel obliged to deliver on it. It's just for show.  Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Mister Gee   823 #762 Posted January 26, 2021 (edited) On 20/01/2021 at 21:35, Mister M said: A healthcare company ultimately controlled by leading Tory donor and former party chairman, Lord Ashcroft, has received a £350m contract as part of the government’s COVID-19 vaccination roll-out  Tory donor Lord Ashcroft’s outsourcing firm lands £350m vaccination contract | openDemocracy  Never let a good crisis go to waste....   We’ve passed 100,000 deaths today. Public health has never been a Tory priority, enriching their pals in the private sector has. Edited January 26, 2021 by Mister Gee Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
steved32   55 #763 Posted January 26, 2021 47 minutes ago, Mister Gee said: We’ve passed 100,000 deaths today. Public health has never been a Tory priority, enriching their pals in the private sector has. Tonight Johnson says he takes full responsibility for the high death toll. Then he proceeds to say his government have done everything they can to combat Covid.  PPE, care homes, track and trace, schools. Certainly a lot there...trouble is it was no good or acted on too late. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Flanker7   20 #764 Posted January 26, 2021 (edited) 13 hours ago, steved32 said: Tonight Johnson says he takes full responsibility for the high death toll. Then he proceeds to say his government have done everything they can to combat Covid.  PPE, care homes, track and trace, schools. Certainly a lot there...trouble is it was no good or acted on too late. He couldn't lie straight in bed. Its obvious that Covid could have been stopped dead in its tracks if there were no concerns about the economy. But that is the difficult bit - where to draw the line of keeping the economy ticking over and/or shutting down the transmission of Covid. It is now obvious where the Conservative Party draw the line and it is firmly to 'keep the economy going' and sacrifice a number of infections, hospital admissions and ultimately deaths from Covid. I hope they will stand or fall on that judgement. Remarks like the one above are blatently a lie . . . which doesn't win any votes. Edited January 27, 2021 by Flanker7 crrection. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Mister M   1,625 #765 Posted January 26, 2021 21 minutes ago, Flanker7 said: He couldn't lie straight in bed. Its obvious that Covid could have been stopped dead in its tracks if there were no concerns about the economy. But that is the difficult bit - where to draw the line of keeping the economy ticking over and/or shutting down the transmission of Covid. It is now obvious where the Conservative Party draw the line and it is firmly to 'keep the economy going' and sacrifice a number of infections, hospital admissions and ultimately deaths from Covid. I hope there will stand or fall on that judgement. Remarks like the one above are blatently a lie . . . which doesn't win any votes. Many of his own backbenchers, chiefly Steve Baker latterly of the ERG, now of THE CRG, are holding the proverbial gun to his head telling him that if he doesn't have a 'road map' out of the lockdowns then they'll pass a motion of no confidence in him.  Really chilling that the only time you hear from vampires like Baker is when he & his chums are counting the cost in of the pandemic in pounds, shillings and pence. Never about the staggering death rate. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Delbow   700 #766 Posted January 26, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, steved32 said: Tonight Johnson says he takes full responsibility for the high death toll. Then he proceeds to say his government have done everything they can to combat Covid.  PPE, care homes, track and trace, schools. Certainly a lot there...trouble is it was no good or acted on too late. Of course it may be true that they have done everything they can, in fact that seems to be what he's saying. It's just that their best is nowhere near good enough. Edited January 26, 2021 by Delbow Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
Mister Gee   823 #767 Posted January 26, 2021 Is there a governmental equivalent to corporate manslaughter? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...
RJRB   688 #768 Posted January 26, 2021 1 hour ago, steved32 said: Tonight Johnson says he takes full responsibility for the high death toll. Then he proceeds to say his government have done everything they can to combat Covid.  PPE, care homes, track and trace, schools. Certainly a lot there...trouble is it was no good or acted on too late. It always puzzles me what it means when someone takes full responsibility for a failure ,whether it be a football manager or as leader of a government. Very rarely do they go further and resign . We are now reliant on the vaccines being rolled out ,and all credit to the scientists who I hope have come up with the goods in record time. Many other countries have demonstrated their ability to exert more control much more effectively over the last year. There is a good reason why Johnson will not agree to an enquiry into the story so far and that is that it will reflect badly on him and most of his ministers. Lessons must be learned now in so many respects,including some of the issues which have been exacerbated by previous years of austerity under the Tories.  Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Share this content via...