The 2024 General Election - July 4th

[badgerx16]

Yvette Cooper in the HoC;

"Since the Rwanda bill first became Law more Home Secretaries have gone to Rwanda, ( 3 ), than illegal immigrants, ( 0 ), at a cost of £100m per Home Secretary."

[The Kraken]

Waste of time all this politicking today about the bill. It’s only the second reading, it’ll sail through for now. Once it gets to third reading is when it gets interesting as Sunak is gonna have to find a way then to give way to both sides of his party. Then it’s got to go through the Lords; notwithstanding any further legal issues are found with it.

Until then, today will just get treated as a vote on the whole idea of the bill rather than its specifics, I’d be very surprised if double figures of Tories actually vote against it (and though some will abstain, it won’t be anywhere near enough to hold it up).

[badgerx16]

 Rishi Sunak stood up in Parliament to make a statement about people arriving in small boats and being retured to Albania. He quoted a figure of 5000 being returned this year, implying that is the number who had crossed by boat during 2023. A Permanent Secretary giving evidence to a Commons Committee, told the committee members that whilst we had, indeed, returned 5000 people to Albania, the vast majority were not from small boat crossings this year; they were a mixture of boat crossings in the previous 3 years, offenders being deported after serving their sentence, or people who had overstayed their visas.

 The actual number of Albanians returned after boat crossings in 2023 is..............531.

Edited 14 December, 2023 by badgerx16

[Weston Super Saint]

38 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

 Rishi Sunak stood up in Parliament to make a statement about people arriving in small boats and being retured to Albania. He quoted a figure of 5000 being returned this year, implying that is the number who had crossed by boat during 2023. A Permanent Secretary giving evidence to a Commons Committee, told the committee members that whilst we had, indeed, returned 5000 people to Albania, the vast majority were not from small boat crossings this year; they were a mixture of boat crossings in the previous 3 years, offenders being deported after serving their sentence, or people who had overstayed their visas.

 The actual number of Albanians returned after boat crossings in 2023 is..............531.

Every little helps?

[badgerx16]

29 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Every little lie helps?

FIFY

[badgerx16]

Yet another Tory MP under investigation by the Commons Standards Committee. This time it is Miriam Cates, who got in at the last GE, and is a member of the "New Conservatives".

Currently 8 MPs are under investigation by the Committee, 7 are Tories, the 8th is Bob Stewart who resigned the Tory whip after his public order conviction.

Edited 18 December, 2023 by badgerx16

[rooney]

It has been a bit quiet on  here about Baroness Hone after that unbelievable interview on BBC 1  yesterday morning.

[badgerx16]

2 minutes ago, rooney said:

It has been a bit quiet on  here about Baroness Hone after that unbelievable interview on BBC 1  yesterday morning.

"I lied to the press to protect my family" -  fucking ace PR strategy. Totally going to get away with that.

[Whitey Grandad]

56 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

"I lied to the press to protect my family" -  fucking ace PR strategy. Totally going to get away with that.

“my family” means “me”

[whelk]

She didn’t benefit either as all in a trust fund. Terrible advice to be interviewed as hard to think of two characters who wiould garner less sympathy. 
Threatening legal action against journalists as well. These cunts think they are untouchable. Still Daily Mail leads on wokeness in public sector whilst everyone is ‘tightening their belts’ 

[badgerx16]

The UK is close to a recession after figures are revised down.

[AlexLaw76]

3 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

The UK is close to a recession after figures are revised down.

What, again?
It is incredible that we never went into a recession given the last 3 years.

[The Kraken]

4 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

What, again?
It is incredible that we never went into a recession given the last 13 years.

 

[badgerx16]

James Cleverley demonstrating the inaccuracy of his surname;

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/james-cleverly-joked-giving-wife-31741719

 

"Home Secretary James Cleverly joked about giving his wife a date-rape drug, just hours after announcing a crackdown on the growing epidemic of drinks spiking.

The top Tory told female guests at a No10 reception that “a little bit of Rohypnol in her drink every night” was “not really illegal if it’s only a little bit”. Mr Cleverly also laughed that the secret to a long marriage was ensuring your spouse was “someone who is always mildly sedated so she can never realise there are better men out there.""

Edited 24 December, 2023 by badgerx16

[rallyboy]

the secret to a long spell in government is ensuring the electorate is mildly sedated so they never realise there are better options out there...

[whelk]

2 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

James Cleverley demonstrating the inaccuracy of his surname;

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/james-cleverly-joked-giving-wife-31741719

 

"Home Secretary James Cleverly joked about giving his wife a date-rape drug, just hours after announcing a crackdown on the growing epidemic of drinks spiking.

The top Tory told female guests at a No10 reception that “a little bit of Rohypnol in her drink every night” was “not really illegal if it’s only a little bit”. Mr Cleverly also laughed that the secret to a long marriage was ensuring your spouse was “someone who is always mildly sedated so she can never realise there are better men out there.""

‘Calls to quit’. FFS it was a joke - not a particularly funny one but who actually gives a fuck?

[pingpong]

6 hours ago, whelk said:

‘Calls to quit’. FFS it was a joke - not a particularly funny one but who actually gives a fuck?

The people calling to quit are campaigners who spend their working days trying to educate and combat the epidemic of spiking that occurs on the daily.

For the person heading the dept they need to influence to be joking about how a little bit of rohipnol not being illegal probably feels deeply inappropriate to them.

[whelk]

Great that that crazy woman Truss gets to put her friends in the House of Lords. Wrecked the economy in 49 days. Our fucking outdated traditions need reforming to neuter these corrupt cunts. 

[badgerx16]

1 hour ago, whelk said:

Great that that crazy woman Truss gets to put her friends in the House of Lords. Wrecked the economy in 49 days. Our fucking outdated traditions need reforming to neuter these corrupt cunts. 

Spend your whole life as a school crossing patrol, running half marathons for charity, and volunteering for the Samaritans and you might get an MBE. Donate a million quid to the Tories and get a seat in the Lord's.

[egg]

1 hour ago, whelk said:

Great that that crazy woman Truss gets to put her friends in the House of Lords. Wrecked the economy in 49 days. Our fucking outdated traditions need reforming to neuter these corrupt cunts. 

Yep. Disgraceful. 

[badgerx16]

4 hours ago, whelk said:

Great that that crazy woman Truss gets to put her friends in the House of Lords. Wrecked the economy in 49 days......

And killed the Queen.

How did she get to be PM anyway; save up the tokens on 30 crisp packets ?

Edited 30 December, 2023 by badgerx16

[rooney]

Not so bad as the woman who headed up the Passport office, had thousands of passport application backlogs which caused people to forgo their holidays, She then gets gong in the NYHL. Award for failure again.

[badgerx16]

A caller to James O'Brian's show on LBC said that when the Government introduced legislation that defined Rwanda as a "'safe country"', contrary to Legal opinion, they missed a trick. They could simply have legislated that the small boat crossings have stopped.

[sadoldgit]

And we now have Sunak taking secret meetings with Cummings with a view to him running Sunak’s election campaign from the shadows. What was that about integrity and openness? Another day, another nail in the coffin of credible government in the UK.

[badgerx16]

54 minutes ago, sadoldgit said:

And we now have Sunak taking secret meetings with Cummings with a view to him running Sunak’s election campaign from the shadows. What was that about integrity and openness? Another day, another nail in the coffin of credible government in the UK.

It doesn't need another nail, it is long buried.

[badgerx16]

Sunak and Cleverley announce that all of the "legacy backlog" of asylum claims, those lodged before June 28 2022, have been cleared, thus achieving one of Sunak's pledges.

A little later the Home Office release figures that show over 4500 such cases are still pending.

 

Meanwhile the number of outstanding unresolved applications made since that date is still growing.

 

 

Edited January 2 by badgerx16

[Weston Super Saint]

1 hour ago, badgerx16 said:

Sunak and Cleverley announce that all of the "legacy backlog" of asylum claims, those lodged before June 28 2022, have been cleared, thus achieving one of Sunak's pledges.

A little later the Home Office release figures that show over 4500 such cases are still pending.

 

Meanwhile the number of outstanding unresolved applications made since that date is still growing.

 

 

It's the kind of creative accounting that HMRC get upset about when tax returns are filed!

[badgerx16]

19 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

It's the kind of creative accounting that HMRC get upset about when tax returns are filed!

The sort of thing where if they have underpaid a refund to you it takes months for it to be received, but an overpayment is demanded immediately - "OR ELSE"!

Edited January 2 by badgerx16

[rallyboy]

That laughable manipulation of figures and the quiet reclassifying of cases today suggests that they still think we are all as thick as a Boxing Day turd.

Why don't they just revise small boat sizes or legally redefine them all as rafts?

That would instantly Stop the Boats - the same approach made unsafe Rwanda, safe overnight.

 

 

[badgerx16]

Tory MP Chris Skidmore says he will resign next week and trigger a by-election in protest at the issuing of new oil and gas drilling licences. ( He had previously stated that he would not be standing at the next GE ).

Edited January 5 by badgerx16

[Weston Super Saint]

1 hour ago, badgerx16 said:

Tory MP Chris Skidmore says he will resign next week and trigger a by-election in protest at the issuing of new oil and gas drilling licences. ( He had previously stated that he would not be standing at the next GE ).

So he's basically just retiring but costing the tax payer thousands to do so.

More responsible government.

[badgerx16]

46 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

So he's basically just retiring but costing the tax payer thousands to do so.

More responsible government.

Don't most MPs cost thousands of pounds for little result ?

[Weston Super Saint]

On 31/12/2023 at 14:39, badgerx16 said:

A caller to James O'Brian's show on LBC said that when the Government introduced legislation that defined Rwanda as a "'safe country"', contrary to Legal opinion, they missed a trick. They could simply have legislated that the small boat crossings have stopped.

Are these guys advertising a non safe country?

 

[pingpong]

1 hour ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Are these guys advertising a non safe country?

 

Are you implying that they aren't? 

If you want to know if rwanda is safe, you can read our government's foreign office travel advice.  Spoiler, it's not that safe, fun quotes include:

"conflict can flare up with little notice. There have been incidents of violent clashes on the DRC-Rwanda border in recent years, and armed incursions into the southwest of Rwanda."

"LGBT individuals can experience discrimination and abuse, including from local authorities."

"On 18 June, two people were killed and six were injured when suspected militants opened fire on a public passenger bus on Nyamagabe-Rusizi road, in Nyungwe Forest, Nyamgabe District."

"Levels of health and safety in Rwanda are lower than in the UK. There have been incidences of buildings and construction sites collapsing, causing deaths and serious injuries. Fire safety standards are also variable, with incidences of fire in residential and public places a continuing risk."

"The security situation near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Burundi remains unstable, and there has previously been armed attacks in Rwanda’s Nyungwe Forest and Volcanoes National Parks and neighbouring areas"

"Only limited medical facilities are available in Rwanda. In the event of serious accident or illness evacuation by air ambulance to Kenya or South Africa may be required."

 

 

 

[badgerx16]

1 hour ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Are these guys advertising a non safe country?

 

No, they are advertising an airline that is paying them thousands of pounds for doing so.

Who on earth decided that Arsenal needed an "'official tourism partner"',and that Fly Rwanda were the best choice ?

 

And BTW; I didn't comment on whether Rwanda was '"safe"', that was the High Court's ruling. If it is truly safe, why is the UK Government having to specifically legislate to define Rwanda as it desires it to be viewed. ?

Edited January 16 by badgerx16

[Weston Super Saint]

1 hour ago, badgerx16 said:

No, they are advertising an airline that is paying them thousands of pounds for doing so.

Who on earth decided that Arsenal needed an "'official tourism partner"',and that Fly Rwanda were the best choice ?

 

And BTW; I didn't comment on whether Rwanda was '"safe"', that was the High Court's ruling. If it is truly safe, why is the UK Government having to specifically legislate to define Rwanda as it desires it to be viewed. ?

I thought it was the Rwanda tourist board?

[Fan The Flames]

I see the tory right are all purity signalling tonight.

[Weston Super Saint]

2 hours ago, pingpong said:

Are you implying that they aren't? 

If you want to know if rwanda is safe, you can read our government's foreign office travel advice.  Spoiler, it's not that safe, fun quotes include:

"conflict can flare up with little notice. There have been incidents of violent clashes on the DRC-Rwanda border in recent years, and armed incursions into the southwest of Rwanda."

"LGBT individuals can experience discrimination and abuse, including from local authorities."

"On 18 June, two people were killed and six were injured when suspected militants opened fire on a public passenger bus on Nyamagabe-Rusizi road, in Nyungwe Forest, Nyamgabe District."

"Levels of health and safety in Rwanda are lower than in the UK. There have been incidences of buildings and construction sites collapsing, causing deaths and serious injuries. Fire safety standards are also variable, with incidences of fire in residential and public places a continuing risk."

"The security situation near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Burundi remains unstable, and there has previously been armed attacks in Rwanda’s Nyungwe Forest and Volcanoes National Parks and neighbouring areas"

"Only limited medical facilities are available in Rwanda. In the event of serious accident or illness evacuation by air ambulance to Kenya or South Africa may be required."

 

 

 

Not sure where you got this from.

From this page it states :

"Rwanda is generally safe and crime levels are relatively low"

[badgerx16]

1 hour ago, Weston Super Saint said:

I thought it was the Rwanda tourist board?

The point still stands, they are doing it for the money.

[Weston Super Saint]

4 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

The point still stands, they are doing it for the money.

Indeed. And the PL have no issue with it.

Money trumps morals every time.

[pingpong]

2 hours ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Not sure where you got this from.

From this page it states :

"Rwanda is generally safe and crime levels are relatively low"

Same place, if you actually read the detail.

[whelk]

3 hours ago, Fan The Flames said:

I see the tory right are all purity signalling tonight.

What a huge loss to the government losing Lee Anderson

[igsey]

3 hours ago, Fan The Flames said:

I see the tory right are all purity signalling tonight.

58 Tory rebels tonight, enough to defeat the bill tomorrow. However, right wing Tory nutjobs have let us down before and will inevitably wave it through.

[Gloucester Saint]

12 hours ago, igsey said:

58 Tory rebels tonight, enough to defeat the bill tomorrow. However, right wing Tory nutjobs have let us down before and will inevitably wave it through.

Yeah, this will be as another SWF poster used to say ‘all fart and no shit’. It’ll be uncomfortable for Sunak but I don’t think all of the 58 will go full rebel. Another very public example of how unmanageable and unelectable his party has become. That gloomy You Gov poll in the DT this week was analysed by the Guardian and it looked like an inside job by the Tory right, crowned with an opinion piece by David Frost. 

It’s why the Lib Dem’s need to learn from the weekend - if a right wing pile on does score a goal, it’ll be like Saints last season, the Tories celebrate a goal but you know the following week they’ll give away three soft goals at their own end unforced. 

Broadly share Whelk’s views on Lee Anderson, and some of his comments on food banks have let him down, but I kind of get it as well. Drinks, used to smoke, genuinely watches Mansfield Town, swears, a bit nationalist and socially conservative - basically looks and sounds like 30% of the male UK adult population. I wouldn’t vote for him but there are regularly comments that politicians don’t look or sound like normal people, but he does and Dennis Skinner, from a different standpoint, used to as well. Liked the way he made the error of following the Daily Mail herd on the junior doctor’s strike, got it right wrong, admitted it, and donated to the strike fund. Ed Davey should learn from that. 

Did I actually just say something favourable about Lee Anderson?

[andypen]

Even if the Rwanda bill is passed, it really isn't worth a w**k in its current form. The provision for lodging appeals against any "deportation" , including to the ECHR, will mean that nobody will end up being sent there. We'll have as many arrivals as before and hundreds of lengthy and costly legal wrangles, for which the Govt. have apparently planned to draft in an extra 150 judges to mete out the inevitable. 5000 or so candidates for this excursion have simply disappeared recently as well. The Tory rebels , and I suspect most of the MP's who voted in favour, know this very well. They really do think the public is stupid. So the Tories have a shite plan, and Labour have no plan to "stop the boats", we might as well send fleets of cruise ships over to France and have done with it. At least the Lee Andersons of this world have some principles.

[The Kraken]

14 minutes ago, andypen said:

Even if the Rwanda bill is passed, it really isn't worth a w**k in its current form. The provision for lodging appeals against any "deportation" , including to the ECHR, will mean that nobody will end up being sent there. We'll have as many arrivals as before and hundreds of lengthy and costly legal wrangles, for which the Govt. have apparently planned to draft in an extra 150 judges to mete out the inevitable. 5000 or so candidates for this excursion have simply disappeared recently as well. The Tory rebels , and I suspect most of the MP's who voted in favour, know this very well. They really do think the public is stupid. So the Tories have a shite plan, and Labour have no plan to "stop the boats", we might as well send fleets of cruise ships over to France and have done with it. At least the Lee Andersons of this world have some principles.

The bill also provides for Rwanda to send refugees to the UK. Given the minuscule number of people that the scheme might send their way it’s much more of an exchange programme than anything else. And it’ll surely get kicked back by the HoL. It’s just a distraction policy to keep attention away from other total failures. (Especially their disastrous “legal immigration” system).

Oh, and 30p Lee is a genuine knuckle dragging moron, fuck him and his “principles”.

Edited January 17 by The Kraken

[igsey]

14 minutes ago, The Kraken said:

The bill also provides for Rwanda to send refugees to the UK. Given the minuscule number of people that the scheme might send their way it’s much more of an exchange programme than anything else. And it’ll surely get kicked back by the HoL. It’s just a distraction policy to keep attention away from other total failures. (Especially their disastrous “legal immigration” system).

Oh, and 30p Lee is a genuine knuckle dragging moron, fuck him and his “principles”.

I think I read somewhere the Lords can hold a bill up for 13 months - obviously by then, we will have a new Labour government and they will pull the bill.

It's all performative and such a very very strange hill for Sunak to choose to die on.

[Fan The Flames]

I see Boris, who doesn't give two fucks about it, backed the rebels to get at Sunak and keep his flame alight on the right.

[Fan The Flames]

2 hours ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Yeah, this will be as another SWF poster used to say ‘all fart and no shit’. It’ll be uncomfortable for Sunak but I don’t think all of the 58 will go full rebel. Another very public example of how unmanageable and unelectable his party has become. That gloomy You Gov poll in the DT this week was analysed by the Guardian and it looked like an inside job by the Tory right, crowned with an opinion piece by David Frost. 

It’s why the Lib Dem’s need to learn from the weekend - if a right wing pile on does score a goal, it’ll be like Saints last season, the Tories celebrate a goal but you know the following week they’ll give away three soft goals at their own end unforced. 

Broadly share Whelk’s views on Lee Anderson, and some of his comments on food banks have let him down, but I kind of get it as well. Drinks, used to smoke, genuinely watches Mansfield Town, swears, a bit nationalist and socially conservative - basically looks and sounds like 30% of the male UK adult population. I wouldn’t vote for him but there are regularly comments that politicians don’t look or sound like normal people, but he does and Dennis Skinner, from a different standpoint, used to as well. Liked the way he made the error of following the Daily Mail herd on the junior doctor’s strike, got it right wrong, admitted it, and donated to the strike fund. Ed Davey should learn from that. 

Did I actually just say something favourable about Lee Anderson?

Anderson was on a sticky wicket after after what he said about the doctor, he had no option but to apologise. You don't give £1,800 away for no reason.

[Lord Duckhunter]

34 minutes ago, The Kraken said:

(Especially their disastrous “legal immigration” system).

 

It does exactly what it was designed to do. Increase immigration so there’s no need to invest in training our own citizens properly & no need for welfare reform. Boris has always been soft on immigration & Sunak is a treasury man. The Tories are addicted to  immigrant labour as much as the Labour Party. The only difference between the 2 is the Tories are a bit more bullish when pretending they’re not.