He seems to be a lucky General.
I don't think you could argue that without the Ukraine war Boris would still be Prime Minister. The whole partygate thing would have done for him and the Tories would have been working a bit harder this past few weeks to find an internal replacement. Rishi would still have come a cropper over his wealth but Gove, Raab or Truss would be on manoeuvres now.
Instead we have Boris hanging on, knowing full well this will all be forgotten after the May elections which are going to be poor as a mid-term set anyway.
Much worse, the press are not focusing on quite what a disaster the economy is. We have the highest taxes in decades, highest inflation in decades, record NHS waiting lists, record energy prices, highest house prices ever, rising crime and rapidly rising immigration. I mean really, the Government deserves to be mightily unpopular given it has very few policies or ideas to deal with any of the issues outside of migration.
Amazingly, Labour also have precisely zero ideas about how to get us out of this situation. really none at all. They wont build more houses, will want to raise taxes higher , want fantastical free and cheap green energy that doesn't exist and they welcome immigration anyway.
So either way we are screwed, but I can't recall a time where the opposition was so weak since the Labour party elected Corbyn all the good people, few that there were, quit. now we have a bunch who are worse that this tired bunch of Tories.
35 comments:
The problem with the NHS seems to be that the population has increased much more than the numbers of doctors and nurses.
We have already imported a number of them from developing countries (which need them more than we do but can't pay the going rate). There clearly needs to be many more in training.
Don Cox
If they were not out of the woodwork before, this Ukrainian situation has exposed many globalists infesting the cesspit that is the Houses of Parliament.
Why isn't peace their prime motivation? Giving Ukraine more weapons isn't helping a peaceful resolution to this upheaval.
And why weren't we, the paymasters of Prime Minister Johnson and his gang asked before he got us involved and once again giving away our money to foreigners?
I'm with John.
Boris is a war monger. He's latched on to the simplistic view of the Ukraine war that the average Brit has.
A lucky general gets to win a war - or at least some battles. Boris has not won anything but he is lucky in that there is no one else. He went to Eton, the newspapers (except one) like him and he can amuse - that is enough for the British.
I fear the problem is structural both within the UK - the way the economy works and within the world - the way the UK fits into the global economy. I don't think Boris and the Tories (or Labour) are prepared to face the realities of what might be necessary to bring us up to snuff. For now we must hope that more magnolia paint on the existing housing stock will keep the plates spinning. For now the system works for Boris et al, that is enough.
The NHS was always run hot and kept too small and narrow. But in normal times the overall system kept going. Now the missing staff and resources are obvious. Needs bringing up to French or German bed/population ratios - but we refuse to do that.
What could Boris have done if he had even 10% of the determination of Thatcher? With a large majority and non-existent opposition he could have tackled a couple of key thorny issue. All squandered now...
Ten percent of Thatcher's determination - but determination to do what exactly? We could try re-shoring and build some nice big factories - but transport and tariffs might be a problem. We could build houses at scale - but where is the money coming from - who is going to pay all the mortgages. Then education, we could train art conservators or diversity assistants by the thousand but I don't see the market.
Whichever way you turn there are nasty constraints, humans are not of much value any more. Unless they have been to Eton and Oxford and then only of highly specialised value. A slaughter campaign anyone or shut down the medicine and pharma industries.
There does seem some value in revolutions, a sweeping away of the old. Perhaps the next govt could nationalise all Royal, Ducal, Church and NT land and parcel it out to the young. Free to those between 18 and 30 complete with planning permission and access rights on lease for 100 years. No leccy though, they solar their own.
Follow Orban's example and purge the public sector of the Lefist fifth column. AKA, Bonfires of the Quangos for one.
For me I'd go for the NHS as a second.
Indeed the NHS wants us to lock down again. I bet most of them want direct conflict with nuclear armed psychopath Putin though.
Boris is enjoying the conflict too. Giving away our weaponry for a war that needn't have happened and one that we didn't need to be #1 involved in.
Boris isn't lucky. He just sticks around like shit to a blanket as we sink further into the Marxist mire.
Don Cox said...
The problem with the NHS seems to be that the population has increased much more than the numbers of doctors and nurses.
Don Cox
6:18 pm
================================================
My first visit to my GP last week, first time in years. Masks mandatory. Stand 10 yards from reception till they call you. Brand new "Community" Medical Centre, cost a fortune, seven or eight waiting areas. The two I've been in, one for the GP and the other for subsequent bloods. No more than two people in ANY of the waiting rooms.
GP in a state when I got there. Looked harassed. Insisted on wiping down every surface I or my clothes might touch. Despite it being common knowledge respiratory viruses are not spread by such contact (also that you CANNOT halt a respiratory virus with medication, it has to complete its passage. RIP the Medical profession.
GP did mutter something odd when I was there, something about heart attacks and strokes taking up his time.
Wonder what did that eh?
RIP NHS. It was good while it lasted.
And no, there is no choice of government. All flavours are or will be a disaster.
Perhaps your GP was suffering from Long Covid. Or he was just being driven mad by NHS paper work.
There do seem to be a few drugs now that hospitals can use to reduce the symptoms of a serious case of Covid.
Don
"the next govt could nationalise all Royal ... land"
Priceless: nationalise what you already own.
Putin broadcasters now declaring that WW3 has started since the sinking of the Moskva.
"We are at war with NATO infrastructure if not NATO itself."
That is true.
Why does Boris think it's a good idea to perpetuate this war and push Putin to battlefield nukes or WMDs ?
@Don Cox...
There's one, astonishingly-effective prophylactic / cure for 'long Covid' - It's called 'being self-employed'!
I don't see how missiles designed and made in Ukraine are "NATO infrastructure". But certainly many other weapons in use do come from NATO countries.
Why did Putin think it was a good idea to start this crazy war ? Why did he encourage the Russian-speaking separatists in the first place ? I can't see that this is anything other than old-fashioned imperialism, as though Britain were to invade Eire.
I see no sign that Boris wants to prolong the war by a day. The mistake he may be making is to think that Putin is rational.
"Giving Ukraine more weapons isn't helping a peaceful resolution to this upheaval."
But not helping them to fight against enslavement by Putin would certainly lead to his invasion being a success, as it was in Chechnya. And then he would go on to invade the Baltic states, and then Poland, and so on.
Don
@ Pogo
I would think that Long Covid is likely an affliction that primarily affects those in the public sector. Perhaps a few in the private sector (where unionised) and non-existent where swinging-the-lead doesn't earn you any money.
Don - He won't. He has no imperial ambitions. It's literally as he says it is. "Leave Ukraine neutral."
We didn't so here we are.
He knows that regime change in Russia was next on NATO's list. They did it in Ukraine, they've done it elsewhere. A total reversal of the "... return of the Russian Empire." balderdash.
So bizarre to read the reverse appeasement arguments.
A far away country of which we know little.
Appeasement leads to peace. Once Putin has secured all his borders with a 1,000 mile buffer zone, peace will probably occur.
It’s not worth dying for. And Russias actions will have no impact on the thinking in China or North Korea or the Middle East.
"Don Cox said...
Perhaps your GP was suffering from Long Covid. Or he was just being driven mad by NHS paper work.
There do seem to be a few drugs now that hospitals can use to reduce the symptoms of a serious case of Covid.
Don"
There have been since day 1. Why the NHS did not tell people to do Vitamin D and Zinc at once I have no idea. Instead we end up with a vaccine that has caused more damage and death than all previous vaccines added together. And there is more and more evidence of severely damaged immune systems from repeated booster jabs (see "Original Antigenic Sin". The aftermath of Covid, when when we have accepted it as a regular 'flu like virus, will carry on for years. This is why the multi-jabbed keep getting infected. There are people out there in government and pharma who should be behind bars.
Details of the above here for those interested...
https://igorchudov.substack.com/p/uk-covid-becoming-chronic-like-aids
" would like to discuss very disturbing statistics from the UK, that clearly shows that Covid is becoming a chronic disease, in the same sense as AIDS is a chronic disease. Covid, for many Brits, is an illness that will just not go away. Endless bouts, recurrence, or even never-ending disease, is now the norm and not the exception, and will lead to a catastrophe.
Covid, now a “chronic disease” that makes people ill continuously or very frequently, is completely opposed to “endemic disease”, like colds, that would make people ill for just a few days a year."
Elby the Beserk: "Why the NHS did not tell people to do Vitamin D and Zinc at once I have no idea."
Because the government BBC et al, chose to terrorize its own population with lies and hysteria about disease and death.
That way the stupid sheep would look to the government for salvation.
Neville C
China already knows we let them get away with murder, brutality and invasions. Heck. We've even 'forgotten' how they infected all of us.
Our reputation in the Middle East is already shot.
Boris is showboating.
He doesn't give a shit about Britain and sees more gain in starting WW3 with Putin than taking on his own Civil Service, which is our real enemy here, just incase you hadn't noticed.
It is fascinating to see the repeated use of WW2 and related events as the only possible narrative template for analysis of foreign relations including the current Ukrainian situation. I know it is the only motif taught in schools these days, but is suggests a malformed ability to understand and comprehend the world. Unfortunately, closer to cretinous rather than critical thinking.
The idea that that somehow not thinking that pushing for war with Russia or considering any other analysis is appeasement is just so very silly.
Worthy of comment is the idea that it is only Russia's actions that will affect the thinking of non US satellites. This chooses to ignore that fact it is the dire actions of UK/UK/EU that will influence far more.
-Whether bad faith shown from 1992 onwards towards Russia, and specifically in respect of the Ukraine with Minsk 1&2. Added to the double standards that it is fine bomb civilians and carve out enclaves in other's recognised sovereign territory on a pretext of humanitarian action (Kosovo). But then acting with faux outrage after training and supplying your coup partners who have been militarily targeting civilians for 8 years, including using chemical weapons(white phosphorous) against them.
-More importantly for actions in the future, the seizure (theft) of Russian banking assets. This indicate the 'rule of law', (much trumpeted on this blog as one of the reasons why the UK and the West are good places to do business), has now been shown to be a mirage.
-As for China specifically, it would likely have kept at arms length had not US/UK/EU/NATO not been seen to use Ukraine as a proxy war. They know if Russia falls so will they.
(Incidentally French journalist have long been reporting that US army personnel were in charge of directing international volunteers, not the Ukrainians); They have also stated the SAS were in place and active. Low and behold this just about reached our press today .. warming us up to start the fight.
So back to CityUnslicker's original proposition: Boris a lucky?
No politically lucky so far, with a compliant media as he somehow tries to pretend he is Churchill. But I concur with E-K, a warmonger and certainly no General.
Talking of China and how it now perceives it is under threat.
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/exclusive-chinas-oil-champion-prepares-western-retreat-over-sanctions-fear-2022-04-13/
Visc - Phew ! Thank you.
Sometimes I really do think it's me going mad.
@ the seizure (theft) of Russian banking assets. This indicate the 'rule of law', (much trumpeted on this blog as one of the reasons why the UK and the West are good places to do business), has now been shown to be a mirage
Silly. That's like saying, on behalf of the Axis: (in 1942 - hahah!) ...
you Anglos, you always bang on about how the democracies are a haven of peace, and now, look what you're doing - you're fighting!
being keen on peace doesn't make you a pacifist
being keen on the rule of law doesn't make you a pushover
Nick said:
"Sometimes I really do think it's me going mad."
There's a big gap between being mistaken and being mad.
Don
That was Kev, Don
I'm completely sane. Oh, yes
"being keen on the rule of law doesn't make you a pushover"
The rule of law in this case being whatever the West decides is in it's own interests at any given time.
ie. Might is Right
We shall see how that pans out when dealing with a nuclear armed adversary.
Might is right is Putin’s motto.
No mistake about it, Don.
Ukraine is the third major regime change that NATO has done that I can think of. All with the same awful consequences.
NATO has a criminal record as long as your arm.
Millions displaced, refugee crises into Europe, hundreds of thousands dead, cities levelled and countries in ruins.
Putin knew Russia was next for regime change. He saw himself going the same way as Ceaucescu and said as much.
"Might is right" is Putin's motto.
And we've known this for some while but still provoked him.
It is quite clear that Ukraine has been set up for a proxy war with Putin and to be sacrificed to keep the NATO economic ponzi going.
Our own PM seems determined to paint a target on our backs by playing a pound shop Churchill on the international stage whilst doing everything to destroy our own nation.
Wonder whether he'll survive the May elections. Support for the Cons has collapsed in rural areas it seems. Unsurprisingly, given that all this NetZero nonsense will hit us folks in the country harder than anyone else. We're already ignored whenever possible.
Never mind Johnson.
The conservative party does not deserve to survive the next election.
You cannot run an advanced economy without a high level of trust.
The con party is backing someone who wrote the rules, told us to follow them amost every day for over a year but behind closed doors broke them repeatedly and it looks like he organised one of the parties.
This is not just a detail. The con party is standing up for a bare faced liar and telling us that lies dont matter much.
Except that is a lie. One of the biggest single drivers of economic growth is trust. A 10% increase in trust is correlated with .5% gdp growth. Our average growth since 2000 has been about 2%.
If you trust others less you trade with them less and spend more time and money validating the transaction.
Lack of trust is likely to have a much larger negative effect on the uk than brexit.
I leave the point that it just simply wrong to not tell the truth whether by omission (blair) or by building your entire career on escaping fron the consequences of not telling the truth (johnson) to others.
But under a leader that had some respect for the truth and the rule of law (thatcher) do you think there would be 56 mps under investigation for sexual misconduct and would mps born in the uk think becoming a non dom taxpayer was acceptable and andrew bridgen ...
Indeed the public peception that mps are at best self interested overentitled rogues looks to have a lot of evidence.
Andrew 1.27: very well put, I concur 100%.
My point about assets seizures in the wider context was about trust.
E-K and Bloke In Brum as you might expect - agreed also.
Nick Drew: As much many would like to be, we are not at war with Russia (and certainly not for around 2.5 years going by this latest WW2 analogy), and nor were we when the seizures happened. Andrew's point about trust here is important.
The point you missed deliberately or not is that the West's actions are self defeating except for some in power at this point in time. Johnson et al are acting only in their short term interests certainly not our long term interests.
More generally, back to "lucky" Johnson - discontent has no mechanism with the broken opposition, even if just to keep up the appearances. (The Palace of Westminster is a non functioning husk). But if there is some movement of votes temporarily to Labour given the current bugger's muddle, and we get the defenestration of Johnson, God help us if Andrew Neil is correct and the next Tory Leader is Truss. She is at best a Supply Teacher, useless, two dimensional and simply not up the job.
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