Mailwatch(ed) Forum

I'm amazed at this. Not just Tories, but Westminster Council.

Pedestrianising the bit of the Strand by Kings College, Somerset House and St Mary-le-Strand. Ready made cultural quarter. Surprised I haven't heard about it. Haven't even heard somebody try and blame Sadiq Khan for it.

My old manor in Tower Hamlets is now a low traffic neighbourhood (5 schools nearby). Lovely. Tower Hamlets have got it done, with honourable mention for Grant Shapps whose department are
(quietly) funding it.

Round these parts, local Tories have been running Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council pretty competently for a number of years I suppose. I'm sure they have a few loons within their ranks, but the rest seem to take their responsibilities seriously. Lord only knows what they think of the grifters and charlatans currently running the country under their banner.

The ones running Warwickshire circa 2013 were alright too. Very little time for Cameron and co.

Andy McDandy wrote: ↑Sun Sep 05, 2021 3:29 pm The ones running Warwickshire circa 2013 were alright too. Very little time for Cameron and co.

The MP for Warwick (now replaced by a very good Labour one) was very much old school Tory - primarily interested in turning up to open stuff and sitting on committees. Was apparently a nice enough guy and did some charity stuff and cross-party work, but was largely anonymous. They didn't let him try and regain the seat though - the guy they stood at the last election was about 12 years old and an absolute smarmy twat: all photos with Boris and empty slogans. Thankfully he lost by a decent chunk.

Tubby Isaacs wrote: ↑Fri Sep 03, 2021 9:30 pm My old manor in Tower Hamlets is now a low traffic neighbourhood (5 schools nearby). Lovely. Tower Hamlets have got it done, with honourable mention for Grant Shapps whose department are
(quietly) funding it.

How far we've lowered our expectations.
When Governing semi-competently gets files as "doing good stuff".

Leicestershire Tory County Council are reasonably competent, in a line of least resistance, don't rock the boat with head office, sort of way, mainly Thatcherite in their guiding principles. The major downside; the leader of the council is No1 best mates with Bridgen

Don't know if anyone else caught this https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p09tzxr3 (Nick Robinson talking to Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the foreign affairs committee), but I was impressed by his thoughtfulness and general disregard for ideology.

Why are adults like this being kept out of the room, while Bunter and the lower fourth daub their own shit all over the walls?

The last 7 words in your analysis

The decent ones are the last vestiges of the One Nationers, being sidelined into irrelevance by the ERG/UKIP coalition. They're out of the Cabinet, soon they'll be out of Parliament altogether.

davidjay wrote: ↑Tue Sep 07, 2021 2:07 pm They're out of the Cabinet, soon they'll be out of Parliament altogether.

Not so, according to Damian "Bruiser" Green! He proudly chairs the recently-formed One Nation Conservatives caucus, which apparently includes no less than one hundred and ten current Tory members of parliament.

What on earth these people have been doing with their time these past few years is another matter. Most of them seemed to be utterly invisible when Cummings and Johnson were expelling nearly twenty of their number back in 2019.

I suppose someone has to order the paperclips and straighten the chairs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Natio ... s_(caucus)

Killer Whale wrote: ↑Tue Sep 07, 2021 12:11 pm Why are adults like this being kept out of the room, while Bunter and the lower fourth daub their own shit all over the walls?

Because the moment you have a direct comparison you can see how staggeringly poor the current lot are. And god forbid he accidentally install someone with morals - Johnson rules by an unwritten code of mutual self interest ("I'll defend your incompetence and lies if you defend mine"). Anyone breaking that who would be willing to speak out *and* have an air of being genuine about them would be incredibly dangerous. The only reason Cummings hasn't brought down Johnson is because he's even less reliable and more unlikeable than he is, and Hancock probably just wants to hide in a cave and never be seen again.

Arrowhead wrote: ↑Tue Sep 07, 2021 3:49 pm

davidjay wrote: ↑Tue Sep 07, 2021 2:07 pm They're out of the Cabinet, soon they'll be out of Parliament altogether.

Not so, according to Damian "Bruiser" Green! He proudly chairs the recently-formed One Nation Conservatives caucus, which apparently includes no less than one hundred and ten current Tory members of parliament.

What on earth these people have been doing with their time these past few years is another matter. Most of them seemed to be utterly invisible when Cummings and Johnson were expelling nearly twenty of their number back in 2019.

I suppose someone has to order the paperclips and straighten the chairs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Natio ... s_(caucus)

Possibly also the Corbyn thing of grumbling meekly about principles and such whilst also quietly hoovering up the cushy MP's salary.

Another rare - but welcome - entry:

I never thought I'd ever post in here

Conservative peers will launch a last-ditch attempt to force the government to reverse the £20 a week universal credit cut on the eve of Rishi Sunak’s budget next week.

Philippa Stroud will table an amendment to the social security uprating bill in the House of Lords, with the support of Tory colleagues including the former work and pensions secretary David Willetts.

Constitutional precedent means it is usually considered unacceptable for the Lords to try to interfere in the financial aspects of legislation passed by the House of Commons...

https://amp.theguardian.com/society/202 ... credit-cut

Willetts was a pretty good university minister from a policy aspect he wished to work with the sector. Since then it’s been working against.

I'm shocked! I'm posting in this thread again!

The former cabinet minister David Davis has pledged to lead a rebellion against the government’s changes to judicial review, calling them a worrying assault on the legal system and attempt to avoid accountability.

Before the first major test of the judicial review and courts bill when it is debated in the Commons on Tuesday, Davis wrote in an article for the Guardian that ministers’ plans would “tip scales of law in favour of the powerful”.

He cited the power of judicial reviews to give “a voice to victims”, pointing to the overturning of the Parole Board’s decision to release the serial rapist John Worboys. The Haltemprice and Howden MP also praised the campaigner Gina Miller for challenging the government’s position at the start of the Brexit process that article 50 could be triggered without parliamentary authorisation...

https://amp.theguardian.com/law/2021/oc ... ew-changes

Cracks are appearing in the Natural Party of Government

That’s vintage David Davis stuff. Agree with what he says but can’t take his views on his civil liberties hobby horses as seriously post Brexit. As he showed he knew fuck all about that.

There is one, at least, who is willing to put the country before the Party:

The Tories have removed the whip from Anne Marie Morris after she rebelled to support a move to cut VAT on energy bills.

The MP for Newton Abbot in Devon said she was "disappointed" by the decision, but insisted she would not apologise for supporting efforts to address the rising cost of living.

She voted in favour of a Labour motion on Tuesday.

"I believe removing VAT is the right thing to do," she said.

The Labour motion would have led to the Government losing control of the Commons timetable to allow legislation to cut VAT to go through.

It was defeated by 319 votes to 229 with Ms Morris the only Tory to rebel...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-59965634

It is a warning to others, problem is if people think you are finished will they bother caring.