Mailwatch(ed) Forum

There's an interesting difference between the takes on today's story of Tory sleaze.

Mudoch goes with:

Liz Truss wants to lunch, and only a Tory donor’s place will do
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/liz- ... -z0gq8pknc

While Dacre prefers:

Whitehall mandarins tried to stop Liz Truss wining and dining US diplomat and eight others at Tory donor's Mayfair club to save just £400 on bill

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... lomat.html

Isn't the Fail the shiterag with a track-record of lambasting civil servants for spending something like£40 on b&b in a Travelodge when they could have room-only in a flea-bitten dosshouse for £35? Why, yes. Yes it is.

One rule for the ruling class, another for the chair-polishers.

The Daily Fail is full of shit and I diskard it.

Cyclist wrote: ↑Sun Jan 02, 2022 3:02 pm ...
The Daily Fail is full of shit and I diskard it.

I read that in a thick, rasping Russian accent. It helped.

I'm not sure that the Mail story is comparing like with like. After Truss picked the most expensive restaurant civil servants then negotiated the price down but the Mail is comparing the discounted price with the price at another restaurant where there was no attempt made to negotiate the price down.

satnav wrote: ↑Sun Jan 02, 2022 9:55 pm I'm not sure that the Mail story is comparing like with like. After Truss picked the most expensive restaurant civil servants then negotiated the price down but the Mail is comparing the discounted price with the price at another restaurant where there was no attempt made to negotiate the price down.

Of course they aren't being even-handed. The story is full of unrelated digs at civil servants (or unelected remainer Mandarins if you prefer).

From which we may infer that the Mail like Truss and the Times don't.

The Times are right on the specifics and the generality. You shouldn't bust budgets (diplomats have likely come across the old flash restaurant, do us a favour" thing before), least of all bust it on a party donor.

Tubby Isaacs wrote: ↑Sun Jan 02, 2022 11:09 pm From which we may infer that the Mail like Truss and the Times don't.

The Times are right on the specifics and the generality. You shouldn't bust budgets (diplomats have likely come across the old flash restaurant, do us a favour" thing before), least of all bust it on a party donor.

It helps to remember that Johnson is Murdoch's candidate, with Gove primed to inherit the mantle,
For him Truss represents a dangerous loss of control.


Sane readers might wonder why taxpayers are providing so much alcohol (Both "fizz with Liz" and "Number 10 work meetings") to individuals with a track record of poor decision making.

When I was a civil servant we weren't allowed to claim for alcohol.

I once had to refuse a claim for £65 for 'tea and biscuits'.

Could that be part of Truss' appeal to the backbench nutters, She's not in Murdoch's pocket? He's not universally loved by the right wingers.

Malcolm Armsteen wrote:When I was a civil servant we weren't allowed to claim for alcohol.

I once had to refuse a claim for £65 for 'tea and biscuits'.

We're allowed one drink with a meal. More than that we have to pay for ourselves.

Interesting. We paid for the food but no alcohol. Which led to some receipts with very creative ever-writing.

Incidentally, we all had 'army ranks' so that we could deal with the military. I was an ersatz Lieutenant-Colonel, apparently. But I didn't get a badge...

Sod the badge. I'd rather have a Lt Col's pay and pension.

That didn't come with the deal. I was on teachers' pay!

Bones McCoy wrote: ↑Mon Jan 03, 2022 10:22 am

Tubby Isaacs wrote: ↑Sun Jan 02, 2022 11:09 pm From which we may infer that the Mail like Truss and the Times don't.

The Times are right on the specifics and the generality. You shouldn't bust budgets (diplomats have likely come across the old flash restaurant, do us a favour" thing before), least of all bust it on a party donor.

It helps to remember that Johnson is Murdoch's candidate, with Gove primed to inherit the mantle,
For him Truss represents a dangerous loss of control.


Sane readers might wonder why taxpayers are providing so much alcohol (Both "fizz with Liz" and "Number 10 work meetings") to individuals with a track record of poor decision making.

I would think Murdoch's given up on Gove. Even I don't think he's worse than Truss, but he suffers from having been around a relatively long time. Plus he's not looked very enthusiastic about Brexit lately. He's also been dumped with the shit sandwich levelling up portfolio.

Go Team-Gove!

Gove is rightfully miffed that the promises he made to farmers over standards were in fact a load of baloney as Liz Truss is demonstrating. Shouldn’t have made them unless he’s planning to bail out of hard Brexit strategy.

Youngian wrote: ↑Mon Jan 03, 2022 5:51 pm Gove is rightfully miffed that the promises he made to farmers over standards were in fact a load of baloney as Liz Truss is demonstrating. Shouldn’t have made them unless he’s planning to bail out of hard Brexit strategy.

What about all the shattered promises he made to the fishers and any other passing cunt who would give him the time of day? Is he miffed about those, too?

Frankly, I wish him eternal isolation, chronic harm from his vices, and a torturous, lingering death. (Which reminds me, tix for Don Giovanni at the Staatsoper at Easter are on sale.)

Gove sold off the school I spent my working life creating to help a Tory donor.

I wouldn't piss down his throat if his teeth caught fire.

The man is a criminal.

Taxpayers alliance are characteristically quiet.

While Eastern Europe is about to become a war zone, Liz has decided to jet off to watch the Women's Ashes.