Hasta la vista, baby!

Yes!

;)

(just please, don’t follow that ****show with Truss… or Patel… or…)

He’s not actually resigned yet…unless there’s news since I last heard…he only said he’s “going to resign” but seems to mean “in a few months’ time”…

I’d like to say “Good riddance”, except we’re not actually rid of him yet.

I will never forgive him for the damage he has done to this country.

I will never forgive him for the damage he has done to this country.

I think the main culprit here was Cameron, who held an ill defined referendum, and when he “shock horror” lost because he failed to crack open a copy of the Daily Mail once in a while, he immediately buggered off rather than trying to calm the mess and point out that it was an advisory referendum and use that as a weapon against the EU (like offer us something better because we really don’t want to be here with this deal even though it’s way better than anybody else’s).

But no. He held the vote, with a simple majority win making fundamental changes to the country’s relationship with the world, because he was overly confident of winning so didn’t bother to include any sort of guard values… and when he lost he ran away leaving…I would say the worst of the Tory party to pick up the pieces, but that implies there is a “best” somewhere. Leading to May. Leading the country to threaten to crash out, which more or less backfired because by that point the EU side was so fed up (how many British negotiators?) that it was pretty much a take it or leave it last minute agreement that, well, showed exactly how little power the UK really had.
Of course, had they spent four years trying to come up with something rather than playing to the peanut gallery, things might have turned out better.

When May was shown as being as useless a PM as she was HS, the hat was passed to Johnson. Who’s first act was to try to stifle debate by shutting down Parliament. He then held a snap election to give himself the mandate to carry on. But it wasn’t really a fair election given his opponent was the lamest and lousiest Labour leader in a long time. The Tories could have made an actual Maybot ¹ and that would have won.

That said, it’s ironic that people feared Corbyn as an awful throwback to the mess of the seventies, while a perfect storm of Brexit, Covid, Ukraine, and Johnson have taken the country to a darker version of the seventies than even Corbyn could manage…

So, don’t take it out on Johnson. He only got where he was because the entire party is an omnishambles of corruption, enablers, snouts in troughs, and various random perverts. All looking out for each other (I mean, how else can one explain Dorries even having a job?).

It’s the Tories that inflicted this upon the country. And it might be them ultimately responsible for the demise of it.

he only said he’s “going to resign” but seems to mean “in a few months’ time”…

My understanding was that he has resigned, but plans to stay on as a caretaker until the new PM is announced. Of course this should put the fear of <Deity$Name> into everybody. I mean, who is he going to be accountable to? And what can they do given that they can’t exactly fire somebody who has essentially quit.
The best thing would be for him to either wise up and go (possible, given he eventually got the message that his party now think of him as a liability) or Starmer could hold a no confidence vote.
But this “I’m done, bye, but I’m still in charge for three or so months”? Balls. Not even Trump managed to pull a trick like that.

Go. Just. Go.

¹ Of course, a Maybot being a British government IT project would cost about £27 billion, be three years late, only be able to understand Welsh because there wasn’t enough time or money to get it to understand all the English accents, and it would essentially be capable of screaming incoherently or pouring tea. All other features would depend upon Capgemini being awarded a contract for another couple of tens of billions. There would also be an official Maybot app that would fail to start up, at all.

Hear, hear, to all that. Exactly.

Cameron, 100%.

A brilliant one-take five minute “parody” rant of what a complete and utter cock Johnson is.

I put parody in quotes as, well, it’s all true and it’s kind of how we all should be feeling.

NSFW (plentiful sweariness) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKrLBPmRsrM

I’d like to say “Good riddance”, except we’re not actually rid of him yet

In conversation yesterday, and again this morning, I compared BJ to herpes¹ – no one wants it, and it’s difficult to get rid of.

¹ I feel I may be doing the virus an injustice with the comparison.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKrLBPmRsrM

Tragically, it’s not much of an exaggeration. Entertaining, though, in a sad sort of way.

He then held a snap election to give himself the mandate to carry on. But it wasn’t really a fair election given his opponent was the lamest and lousiest Labour leader in a long time. The Tories could have made an actual Maybot 1 and that would have won.

Lamest and lousiest? Oh dear, it’s tragic that people still believe that. With the possible exception of Ed Miliband, he was the one chance in decades to drag us out of this awful mess, and the one genuinely honest leader. But still people believe the smear campaigns, and our so-called centrist, liberal media clearly preferred to inflict Johnson on the world, over giving Corbyn’s Labour a chance. Oh well, you can lead a horse to water and all that, I suppose.

Anyway, it seems Johnson will go eventually, but I don’t see any replacement being much of an improvement and they’ve locked in so much power for themselves it would take a miracle to get us out of this now.

With the possible exception of Ed Miliband, he was the one chance in decades to drag us out of this awful mess, and the one genuinely honest leader.

He was unelectable, except to the Loony Left fringe – of whom there are not enough to win him an election, fortunately.

I should mention that I’m with Andy S on this one. I disagreed with Corbyn about regarding the result of the “advisory” referendum as mandatory; I agreed with him about his criticisms of the EU that he aired before the referendum (while, be it noted, speaking strongly against Brexit, wanting to reform from within); but otherwise, his policies, far from being “loony left,” are broadly mainstream in the rest of Europe.

We’ve suffered the loony right for far too long.

He was unelectable, except to the Loony Left fringe – of whom there are not enough to win him an election, fortunately.

The left are in a really difficult position in Britain, to be honest. The moment any leader mentions helping the poor in terms of any actual policy, no matter how mild, all of the mainstream media will pounce on them and they will be attacked relentlessly in the same way that JC was. Corbyn did present himself as something of a radical and that energised approach was necessary to mobilise the many disaffected youthful voters into showing up at the polling stations. It almost worked in 2017. Someone more like Blair or Starmer is going to lose quite a bit of that youth vote even as they may gain voters towards (what they now call) the centre.

For what it’s worth the Labour manifesto under Corbyn was actually fairly moderate. I would argue, if allowed to be implemented, it would’ve taken Britain back closer to the 1990s than this dystopian version of the 70s that we seem to be arriving at, as Rick identified. Let’s just hope it doesn’t end up more like the 30s!

We’ve suffered the loony right for far too long.

Haven’t we ever!

Jeezuz! Clive, Andy, is it hot in the UK at the moment? Go somewhere cool and hope sense returns.

Sounds like I need to come back pretty soon.

:)

Lamest and lousiest?

Yes. He was far too polarising a person. Not his policies, him.

For the record, I’m a LibDem and if I had the right to vote in the last election, I’d have voted Corbyn (even though I do not like Labour) because nobody with a functioning brain would choose to put Johnson in power.

and they’ve locked in so much power for themselves it would take a miracle to get us out of this now.

This is the big concern. Same story on both sides of the Atlantic, it would seem.

far from being “loony left,” are broadly mainstream in the rest of Europe.

Sadly, the far right is gaining traction. Unless something big happens, I fear France’s next election will be between the far left and the far right.
What the hell has happened to moderate centrist parties?

The left are in a really difficult position

Given that the policies of the traditional mildly right (like Macron, like the Tories) are shifting further and further to the right.

It seems that the current Tories are further to the right than UKIP were when they began. Patel seems to be aiming for BNP territory.
God, I hope she isn’t vying to be the next PM…

and hope sense returns.

With the current shower, I don’t think I’ll hold my breath. The face will change, but will the Nasty Party be any less nasty?

It’s just a shame that Starmer is so willing to appeal to the red wall that he rules out any sort of rejoining with the EU. The country, at least, needs to re-enter the customs union. I can’t imagine how else to resolve the Irish problem, not to mention the imports and exports problems…

Sounds like I need to come back pretty soon.

A friend of mine told me this morning that she is selling up and moving back to England. I blurted out “oh my god, why?”.
Then remembered this person is politically right (and gets news from Facebook!).
I probably should have said “oops, sorry” but instead repeated my question. The last six years have been a disaster, and the past three have been beyond a joke.

What the hell has happened to moderate centrist parties?

Trump.

Antisocial media.

He was far too polarising a person. Not his policies, him.

No disagreement there.

With the current shower, I don’t think I’ll hold my breath.

Nor there.

It’s just a shame that Starmer is so willing to appeal to the red wall that he rules out any sort of rejoining with the EU. The country, at least, needs to re-enter the customs union. I can’t imagine how else to resolve the Irish problem, not to mention the imports and exports problems…

Nor there. Although Starmer’s politics are far to the right of mine, and his being in thrall to the Friends of Israel is a tad hard for a left-wing Jew like me to swallow.

I wonder if any of the Russian Tory Donner’s pulled any strings?

The Doners have been skewered ;-)

Concerned as I am (and I really am) about Russian donors and their influence, I’m even more concerned about the influence of the likes of Rupert Murdoch.

the Friends of Israel

Polite way of saying America? If so, it’s amusing to note that said country would have been British, had Westminster back then not been as big a shower as Westminster now.
I mean, all the pink bits. The massive British Empire. Had they run it in a way of giving natives reasons to want to be British, Rees-Mogg’s wet dream of ruling the world would be reality. But instead, it was a horribly mismanaged mess of people to enslave and resources to plunder. America’s big independence day? It’s independence from us.

And now, a century later, it’s America with most of the global clout and the former empire sucking up. Because, well, our relationship with our neighbours is strained at best. Johnson vacillating between starting a trade war and telling everybody else what to do with Ukraine…

Maybe, just maybe, if there’s a general election and anybody else (not the Tories) get in, they might be able to go to Europe (the continent) and apologise for the complete shambles of the last decade, and maybe be able to hold proper negotiations this time around.

about Russian donors and their influence

Russia is fairly easy to work out. “Forrrr da motherrrrland!”. The average Russian probably doesn’t give a crap either way, but the idiots in charge are lustful for the glory days of the USSR.
It’s a bit of a shame really, because Russia had defrosted somewhat. It was never going to trust The West (and certainly not America), but they were supplying Europe with resources (crops, gas, oil…) and, well, they were pretty much that huge country up in the north where all the scary dashcam videos came from.
And then the nutter in charge went and broke everything.

So, yes, Russian trolls are one thing but, as you say…

more concerned about the influence of the likes of Rupert Murdoch.

This. Murdoch, the Barclay brothers, etc. Ridiculous amounts of money, tax havens, and a loathing for the EU that wanted to close various tax loopholes.
Thing is, when one has that sort of money, they won’t be particularly concerned if their right wing stance and support for some things that range from highly biased (Telegraph) to dangerously unhinged (Daily Express) happens to wreck an entire country as collateral damage.

After all, look at the Wrexiteers and how many of them and/or their family went to secure continued access to Europe either by way of Irish passports or applying for nationality of a member state.

And for all the rest of us? We who had those rights until they were taken away?

I’m even more concerned about

Be concerned about Twitter. Elon Musk is not the person to run such a service. I’d imagine the first thing he’d do as CEO is reinstate the accounts of the batshit crazy (looking at Trump and that looney bible fondling woman).

Polite way of saying America?

No, a lobbying group who actually call themselves that. Quite a few actual members in the parliamentary Labour party – not even secretive about it.

Be concerned about Twitter.

Oh yes, only too true. Not that FeySpook is that much better.

Wrexiteers

Oh no, not Wrexham too!?

Quite a few actual members in the parliamentary Labour party

Just looked it up on Wiki. It’s a Labour UK initiative to have closer ties with the Israeli equivalent.
And there I was thinking Labour was supposed to be full of anti-semites… hmm…

Oh no, not Wrexham too!?

Portmanteau of “wrecker” and “brexiteer”, given that’s pretty much what’s been happening.

As for Wrexham… well…

I asked Google if it was a bad place. “Wrexham is a brilliant location if you’re looking for a fantastic home” <scroll down> “More than 50 per cent of people feel unsafe in Wrexham during daylight hours” (yikes, and how many at night?) <scroll down> “Wrexham’s ‘dubious honour’ in worst places to live list” and a review on ilivehere is titled “Wrexham – a terrifying spice-zombie filled cesspit”.

Anybody here willing to admit to living in Wrexham? ;-)