[Malcolm Armsteen]

Raab proving that he is an utter intellectual lightweight.

A sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Raab has just said that they needed an alternative SAGE to offer counter-evidence/opinion.

This is the least intelligent comment I have heard in weeks. Here's SAGE's advice. Let's find someone who disagrees and 'balance' them...

[Spoonman]

Raab has just said that they needed an alternative SAGE to offer counter-evidence/opinion.

There actually was an self-congregated "alternative SAGE" group - I happen to personally know one of the people that was on it. However I would have seriously doubted Raab would have wanted to hear much of what they offered/proposed.

As for Raab, to quote Malcolm...

Man's a cunt.

[Youngian]

That is how this government operates, installing Tufton Street stooges to provide alternative facts to the know-nothing experts undermining Brexit.

[Andy McDandy]

Reinforced by "talks proper, was alright at Oxford". Because that's apparently all you need.

[Bones McCoy]

Raab proving that he is an utter intellectual lightweight.

A sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.

Or perhaps the end of a bell.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Hancock today.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

"Infamy! Infamy! They've all got it in for me!"

Vomit-inducing narcissism...

[Crabcakes]

Hancock is absolutely shitting a pallet of bricks. It’s like he saw Johnson’s pitiful performance at the parliamentary standards committee and thought “well blustering and making stuff up worked out great for him. I’ll give it a go!”, and has then proceeded to do even worse and be less convincing while looking more sweaty and nervous than Rudy Giuliani at 4 Seasons Landscaping.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I'm not surprised that he asked for immunity.

Just admitting that he didn't read the SAGE briefings ought to be enough to put him behind bars.

[Abernathy]

Seems he has had to admit that his bullshit about “throwing a protective ring around our care homes “ was also a big, fat lie.

He has immunity ?

[Malcolm Armsteen]

He asked, he was not given.

(Though quite what he was asking for immunity from was not made clear - perhaps he has taken advice that corporate manslaughter or other charges may ensue when the inquiry reports).

[Abernathy]

If anybody (Johnson aside) deserves prosecution, it’s Hancock.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

And Williamson.

Not sure what the charges would be, though.

Misconduct in public office? (possible life imprisonment)

The offence is committed when:

a public officer acting as such
wilfully neglects to perform their duty and/or wilfully misconducts themselves
to such a degree as to amount to an abuse of the public's trust in the office holder
without reasonable excuse or justification

[Abernathy]

(Sir) Gavin Williamson?

Tempted to put him in the sheer incompetence bucket rather than the deliberate misconduct trough.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

September 2020 - January 2021. No school closures.

139 dead teachers.

[slilley]

This coming week sees Boris Johnson giving evidence on Wednesday and Thursday. I am sure Hugo Keith KC has been using the last couple of days to make sure he is very well prepared for the sessions given that Johnson has trailed his defence in The Times.

[mattomac]

I can see him tear him apart.

[Crabcakes]

It could be quite telling that at the bitter end of all this, we will have a group of people who were running the country desperate to imply that they were, in fact, far too stupid to be allowed to run the country and it was all the fault of the person who gave them the job. All the way up the rotten tree to Johnson, who will in turn argue he was too stupid to realise they were too stupid to advise him (or further, to advise him to follow the advice of the scientists who are the only ones who definitely aren’t too stupid). A massive, shitty vortex all created to serve the hubris of one man (Johnson) because of the arrogance and laziness of another man (Cameron) who couldn’t be arsed to properly tackle the bigotry of another man (Farage).

[Andy McDandy]

As said before, the nature of our system means that you don't need to demonstrate any sort of ability or great ideas - you just have to present yourself as less shit than the other guy. Not even that in some cases - just trip up the nerd and have everyone laugh at his pants. Or tell everyone that the other lot are big girly swots and if you like them you probably like bums and that. Sorry for the schoolboy language, but that's what it is. Telling Miss that the other kid said a rude word. Give us your dinner money or we'll deck you. Eat this dogshit if you want to hang around with us. Ha ha, that kid ate some shit.

That's how Cameron came to power, and it's how his successors - particularly Johnson and Sunak - have behaved since. I credit May with just enough self-respect to try to act like a human being (when she wasn't grovelling to Trump), and Truss is a fucking footnote. But built into it all is that vox populi, vox dei idea - if it went wrong, it was your fault for putting us in charge. Even though we actively campaigned to get in, and shut out anyone we thought was a threat.