[Crabcakes]

I am really amazed at how many members of the public jump to defend Johnson on the grounds that he is hard working.
Where is the evidence to back up the claims that he is hardworking? Are people really taken in by all the photo-shoots he takes part in where he is wearing a hi-viz jacket or a lab coat?

He has missed numerous Cobra meetings, he rarely works at weekends and he seems takes every opportunity to put parliament into recess to avoid scrutiny. He seems to put in zero preparation for major speeches and I'm struggling to think of one decent speech he has given since becoming PM.

To be fair, if he put in half as much effort at being prime minister as he does at acting the part of an upper class buffoon who has been elected prime minister, he'd be fairly decent.

[Andy McDandy]

As said before by me and others, he's a salesman if he's anything. He's a good person to stick out front to do stunts and look a bit silly, and occasionally to make points that others in the Tory party couldn't convincingly make (in that sense doing what Heseltine did in the 80s). The bumbling toff schtick goes down well abroad, as it plays into a commonly held stereotype about the UK. People I know who have met or worked with him say that he's great at gladhanding* people, building up enthusiasm, and projecting a feeling that it's OK, management has your back.

As long as he's in the room, at any rate.

What he is exceptionally NOT good at include crisis management, making tough decisions, diligence, impartiality, planning, long term strategy and personal probity.

*Bit of an unfortunate word, perhaps.

[Youngian]

He's a good person to stick out front to do stunts and look a bit silly, and occasionally to make points that others in the Tory party couldn't convincingly make (in that sense doing what Heseltine did in the 80s). The bumbling toff schtick goes down well abroad, as it plays into a commonly held stereotype about the UK. People I know who have met or worked with him say that he's great at gladhanding* people, building up enthusiasm, and projecting a feeling that it's OK, management has your back.

'Projecting a feeling that it's OK, management has your back' is about right because he hasn't in reality. More Jeffrey Archer than Heseltine.

[RedSparrows]

Strikes me that the sections of the public most proud of their common sense and down to earth natures are most likely to fall for a chancer of Boris's nature.

[Cyclist]

Well, they were completely taken in by the lies from Johnson, Gove and Farage during the run-up to Cameron's Little Vanity Project. It seems "no-nonsense" and "common sense" are just fancy ways of saying "gullible".

[Youngian]

Strikes me that the sections of the public most proud of their common sense and down to earth natures are most likely to fall for a chancer of Boris's nature.

Do performers and artsy types prefer the suits with their facts and figures? Probably because they can see through Johnson’s schtick and prefer people who know what they’re doing.

[Bones McCoy]

[Samanfur]

[Boiler]

The Met has long been unfit for purpose.

[Andy McDandy]

The omerta in the Tory party and government is one thing (they've all got dirt on each other and one person blabs and it all falls down) but the Met is another. My guess is that Patel is protecting Dick politically in return for the blind eye.

I deeply suspect that some really disgusting or illegal shit has taken place that puts dodgy contracts, Christmas parties, and embezzlement in the shade, and it's involved a lot of people at the top.

[Youngian]

My guess is that Patel is protecting Dick politically in return for the blind eye.

A guess but what else is on offer? Dick’s put the credibility of her organisation on the line to protect Johnson even when he’s caught with a smoking gun in hand. As a Tweeter observed its like a horror movie when the cops turn up but you discover they’re Satanists as well.

[Andy McDandy]

Dick has survived several crises and scandals that would have finished anyone else. Also, while the Met has endured cuts over the last 11 years, they've been leniently treated compared to regional forces.

My guess is that Patel wants her Singapore of the North, and wants the Met to be her corporate security force, keeping the scum out of the shiny areas. And directive 4 definitely in effect. And Dick is happy to play along as she gets to be all tough and hard, the odd bit of brutality gets swept under the carpet, and she gets a nice payoff.

[Boiler]

Dick has survived several crises and scandals that would have finished anyone else.

Jean Charles De Menezes should have finished her: however she is at least loyal -

The Metropolitan Police has said it does not routinely probe "retrospective breaches" of Covid laws amid calls for an investigation of a No 10 Christmas party held during 2020's restrictions.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59532066

See also: Daniel Morgan. If ever a police force needed disbanding and rebuilding from scratch, it's the Met (with GMP a close second).

[The All New KevS]

[Cyclist]

Another two weeks of spreading it around before known liar announces measures which should have been implemented last week

Covid-19 rules for Christmas will be announced in next fortnight as Boris Johnson waits for Omicron data

https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/covid ... 336726/amp

Every other government in the world is trying to get on top of this. Our government needs more data.

Bye-bye Christmas

[Youngian]

Even Trump couldn't be arsed with the War on Drugs as a battleground. Does Johnson really have a 10 year strategy? More like a 10 hour strategy on Monday to get him through the week. Where's the evidence recreational drug taking is a predominantly middle class pursuit; Annie Hall from 1976? County Lines sounds like another racist trope. One of many in the drugs war.

Middle-class drug users are to be targeted as part of a 10-year strategy to be announced by Boris Johnson’s government with a heavy focus on war-on-drugs-era punishment.

So-called “lifestyle” users of class A drugs face losing their passports or driving licences under proposals designed to target wealthy professionals who the government will argue are driving exploitative practices with their demand.

Police officers will be handed powers to go through drug dealers’ phones and contact their clients with warnings about drug use in a bid to spook them into changing their behaviour.

The government’s 10-year drugs strategy will be published on Monday with a heavy focus on targeting users and suppliers, including gangs behind the so-called county lines phenomenon, which often sees young, vulnerable people turned into cross-country mules. https://www.theguardian.com/society/202 ... sons-plans

[Bones McCoy]

Let's see whether parliamentary privilege applies to the latest round of the war on drugs.

https://metro.co.uk/2021/12/05/speaker- ... -15720021/


There'd be Karma seeing a bunch of former Bullingdons and unreformed Spartans being led away in shackles.
Though I've a hunch that some would enjoy the shackles as much as they enjoy the toot.

[Andy McDandy]

County Lines is just a term for sending dealers into market towns. It's not a phenomenon, it's not new.

This is just more stuff for Mrs Brady, terrified behind her net curtains of the nasty world outside, but it's all OK because there's that nice Mr Johnson promising to get tough with the layabouts.

[Watchman]

Ermine for Escobar

[Youngian]

That’s brightened up a dull day