[davidjay]

Oh dear.

[Abernathy]

13.2% signed it. That's less than the other recall petitions which succeeded (which is all of them apart from Paisley Jnr in Antrim North).

Don't know whether to read into that if the Tories have a chance of holding the seat.

Well, what you need to remember is that very few, if any, of that 13% actually voted for Bone as their MP in the first place. My guess is that some of them did,but now want shot of the cunt. Perhaps those who didn't bother to vote for the recall petition will still vote for whatever schmuck the Tories put up, but I really don't think that is very likely.

[Bones McCoy]

Mone
Bone
Mobile phone

[davidjay]

Talking to one of the outer branches of the family today. Visiting another branch, their four year old said something about "broke". Thinking one of her toys was broken he asked if it could be mended. "No, we're broke. We've got no money." She's four. Damn these bastards to hell with every fibre of my being.

[Abernathy]

I wonder if the realisation has yet hit enough people that what the Tories do is lie to get elected to government, spend their time running public services into the ground and pretending to give out tax cuts while actually raising people’s taxes like buggery, cream off as much cash as they possibly can for themselves and their chums, fuck everything up generally in the name of some fucking right-wing twattish ideology (ie Brexit) or other, try to mobilise as much hatred, racism, and prejudice as possible, then try to persuade everybody that everything in future will be rosy if they’ll just elect them one more time. Repeat (literally) ad nauseam .

We had the chance to ensure that these utter cunts are kept permanently away from government when we were in from 97 - 10. I hope that we somehow find time to do it this time around. The damage that they do is simply unconscionable.

[davidjay]

I wonder if the realisation has yet hit enough people that what the Tories do is lie to get elected to government, spend their time running public services into the ground and pretending to give out tax cuts while actually raising people’s taxes like buggery, cream off as much cash as they possibly can for themselves and their chums, fuck everything up generally in the name of some fucking right-wing twattish ideology (ie Brexit) or other, try to mobilise as much hatred, racism, and prejudice as possible, then try to persuade everybody that everything in future will be rosy if they’ll just elect them one more time. Repeat (literally) ad nauseam .

We had the chance to ensure that these utter cunts are kept permanently away from government when we were in from 97 - 10. I hope that we somehow find time to do it this time around. The damage that they do is simply unconscionable.

Anyone with any sense knows all that and yet for many people the idea that someone, somewhere, is getting something that they're not outweighs everything else.

[satnav]

I've been a bit disappointed that we have not seen more of the Minister for Common Sense in the run up to Christmas. Surely the minister for Common Sense should have spent the last 7 days warning people not to leave all their Christmas shopping until the last minute, to post their Christmas cards early and to stay away from the photocopier if you have too much to drink at the office Christmas Party.

If the Minister for Common Sense is not issuing such advice at this time of the year what is the point of having a Minister for Common Sense?

[Spoonman]

Hitchens The Lesser will not be impressed...

Rishi Sunak scraps return to imperial measures

Rishi Sunak has abandoned Boris Johnson’s signature Brexit “dividend” of allowing British shops to once again sell products in pounds and ounces.

In an announcement slipped out ­quietly over Christmas, the Department for Business and Trade said that ministers had dropped plans to bring back imperial measurements after 98.7 per cent of people opposed the move in a government consultation.

Instead they would make a far more limited change and allow the reintroduction of Winston Churchill’s ­favoured pint bottles of champagne, which were banned by the EU.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/5b17 ... ec218b327d

...meanwhile someone pops up and the end of the article that you might expect to complain about it...

The move is unlikely to be enough to appease all Tory MPs. Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary, said: “It is hard to see why this harmless little measure is not being implemented especially as our largest trading ­partner, the United States, still uses ­imperial units.

“It is typical of the rather bureaucratic and dull approach this government likes to take”.

...maybe because the American customary units differ from British imperial units (the American's, of course, do not refer to their units as "imperial") in a fairly wide range of circumstances. Not that Rees-Mogg would allow himself to let others know there is a difference of course, in an effort to keep up his LARPing.

[Youngian]

A 50cl bottle of Champagne is already referred to as a pinte (or demie), according to a wine merchant. Another person in the trade told the government to stop embarrassing themselves, no wine supplier is going to order bespoke bottles for the British market. Experts, schmexperts what do they know?

[Spoonman]

A 50cl bottle of Champagne is already referred to as a pinte (or demie), according to a wine merchant. Another person in the trade told the government to stop embarrassing themselves, no wine supplier is going to order bespoke bottles for the British market. Experts, schmexperts what do they know?

There might be one or several, but I'm willing to bet that the cost of these new pint bottles of champagne will either be the same price as or only a few pennies cheaper than larger bottles of the same stuff. Then cue sadface (likely) Brexiteers accusing the EU of short changing them & ripping them off. Keeps their "superior victim" complex going.

[Andy McDandy]

..meanwhile someone pops up and the end of the article that you might expect to complain about it...

Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary, said: “It is hard to see why this harmless little measure is not being implemented especially as our largest trading ­partner, the United States, still uses ­imperial units.

“It is typical of the rather bureaucratic and dull approach this government likes to take”.

JRM of course never coming across as dull or bureaucratic.

[Bones McCoy]

..meanwhile someone pops up and the end of the article that you might expect to complain about it...

Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary, said: “It is hard to see why this harmless little measure is not being implemented especially as our largest trading ­partner, the United States, still uses ­imperial units.

“It is typical of the rather bureaucratic and dull approach this government likes to take”.

JRM of course never coming across as dull or bureaucratic.

I often miss the dull and bureaucratic because he's got the cunt dialled up to eleven.
A quietly spoken eleven with the trying to sound rational pedal in use - but unmistakably cunt.

[davidjay]

Him and 30p Lee between them have got the working-class Tories off to a tee - they're all honest, down to earth blokes then they line up to kiss the arse of anyone with a posh accent.

[Spoonman]

Back to Champagne...

[Tubby Isaacs]

More heavyweight political thinking. Childcare is "handing over to the state"- except that it isn't.

You'll be amazed to hear that the alternative to parents working (and boosting the economy) is tax cuts.

[Tubby Isaacs]

And here. This is apparently James Daly, a new one on me.

[satnav]

Far too many Tory MPs like James Daly got elected on the coat tails of Boris Johnson with minimal scrutiny. Vague promises of levelling up and getting Brexit done seem to have worked wonders in many Red Wall seats.

[Tubby Isaacs]

They've been phoning it in with "working class Conservatives" at least since 2015. The Brexit referendum got them over the line in 2015. They're hopefully due a very large fall in the "Red Wall", even if they don't need much of it to win an election.

Individual candidates don't matter as much as they should, but the quality of some of those elected won't be helping much. It's not like I've even seen many of them talk about raising taxes in Beaconsfield. I rather think their electorates did have exactly that in mind. Miriam Cates went into bat for tax cuts today. Incredible.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Fuck fiscal conservatism. What matters is "clear dividing lines" with Labour, and primary school level polling analysis- what percentage don't like VAT, Iain? Shall we scrap that? It's a "tax on a tax" (?!) too.

Interesting argument that changing the rates of taxes is a waste of time.

[Abernathy]

How is it a tax on a tax ? What’s he talking about?