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Brexit / British politics thread šŸ¤”


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6 hours ago, XXL said:

This story is not going to go away and it is certainly not going to go down well with most of papers, BBC or not, but most of all with the public and anyone who's made an effort to stay put and cooped up and it's probably going to lose their job or at the very least face hardships in the near future

The sad excuse of his four year old son is utterly insulting and pitiful, there are people who haven't been able to say goodbye to their parents or grandparents or care for their children, normal people (just like in Italy where you couldn't celebrate funerals) who certainly don't have Dominic Cummings resources yet they would have never dared to drive out of London for 260 miles

I think if this government that's barely five months into its legislative run doesn't disown Cummings asap it will massively hinder its popularity with part of the electorate even pro Brexit that has put their trust in them

If the UK standing in Brussels talk about a deal were already fragile now it's hanging on a very thin thread

Trying to get a US deal with the other šŸ¤” will soon be top of the agenda, Johnson is already committing to reviewing China's involvement in the British 5G infrastructure development (yet another clumsy U-turn), knowing that Trump opposed to the entire project from the start, so fucking transparent

Well prime minister Cummings has announced he'll be addressing the nation and taking questions later on today, so we'll see what he has to say. Rumours are he's linedĀ up a dead uncle and autistic son to take the blame. Even the Daily Heil are gunning for him this morning, so No.10 will be in major panic mode.

Well the seeds of the deal with Trump were sown last week when the tories voted against an amendment that would haveĀ guaranteed high standards of food/drink entering the country post Brexit (shafting British farmers in the process) That, combined with the USĀ insistence that food origin labeling be removed, will leave us not knowing what the fuck we're consuming. Made hardly a ripple on the news of course.

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29 minutes ago, Kim said:

Well as someone who's lived through 7 prime ministers so far, i'll hazard a guess that you formed that opinion during the reign ofĀ Ā 'New Labour'? ....and all the associated fake nonsense of 'cool britannia' etc as the country pretended to shake off the stink of Thatcher, but it's no surpriseĀ that she herself said sheĀ considered Tony Blair her "greatest achievement"...

Blair had a huge majority - the opportunity to make major changes to the country and the institutionsĀ that run it, instead he split Labour in two as he draggedĀ it to the right, killed the party completely in Scotland,Ā paved the way for slippery Cameron andĀ his eurosceptic acolytes and now this current freakshow of unaccountable clowns...
...and seeing as Bozo'sĀ polling numbersĀ were at an all time high last time I looked, I guess England is quiteĀ happy with itsĀ choice, so...

Ā 

I think my admiration for the UK was more a mirage. I had zero information but a very good English teacher. And she had just came back to Spain in 1987 full of ideas about environment, recycling and crazy fashion. In my littleĀ city in a forsaken province in Spain, the UKĀ seemed Emerald City.Ā 

I guess most admiration from other lands come from knowing too little and idealising too much.Ā 

I still have a soft spot for the UK. And when it comes to Scotland, you know how much I enjoy Eddi Reader and how beautifully she paints your country in her songs :lol:

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4 minutes ago, karbatal said:

I think my admiration for the UK was more a mirage. I had zero information but a very good English teacher. And she had just came back to Spain in 1987 full of ideas about environment, recycling and crazy fashion. In my littleĀ city in a forsaken province in Spain, the UKĀ seemed Emerald City.Ā 

I guess most admiration from other lands come from knowing too little and idealising too much.Ā 

I still have a soft spot for the UK. And when it comes to Scotland, you know how much I enjoy Eddi Reader and how beautifully she paints your country in her songs :lol:

1987? Well the late 80s were the time of a mini boom in the economy in between the deepĀ recession of '81 and the recession of 91/92, so there was a moment of relief for most peopleĀ which gave some optimism, although it sounds like your teacher was passing on her own personal values rather than that of the country as far as the environment etc goes.

I love Scotland, though it has itsĀ problems like everywhere else, but by God,Ā  if we ever collectively start voting for right-wing populists, then I'll be the first one on the plane somewhere else.Ā 

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18 hours ago, GOD said:

I pray to San Kylie Minogue up in the skies to save the UK fromĀ this mess and find a cure to the corona šŸ™šŸ¼Ā 

Ā 

4 hours ago, XXL said:

Ā 

Have you got a case of the @JitterbugĀ  ?

:laugh:

BAhhaaahahahaahahaahahahahaahahhahahaahaahhahahhahaahahahahahahahahahaaaaahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahaaaahaahaaahahaahhaaahahahahahahaahahhhahhahaaha join the club.Ā 

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3 hours ago, Kim said:

Even the Daily Heil are gunning for him this morning, so No.10 will be in major panic mode...

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:rotfl:

Says it all

Watching him now giving a press interview in the rose garden adjacent to the Downing Street building

Stuttering all the way through his lies and contradictions, trying to reassure the many journalists present in total grilling mode

Judging by his clutching at straws and really poor answers that have already been made into memes, this will make the current government sink even lower with public opinion's perception

I've read that under regulatory laws aides are not supposed to face the press directly or give out any type of statements ... Well out the window with that too.

I don't know much about his background but he seems a truly powerful figure behind the curtains of British politics, a truly powerful figure period in fact

The most ironic if not downright absurd thing for somebody who's masterminded the whole Brexit campaign since 2016 and secured Johnson's success in last December elections is that his father is a former oil company executive who bought some land and set up a winery or farming activity thanks to EU grantsĀ  :lmao:

Ā 

Everything doesn't make sense about this Cummings guy for sure and in the most sinister possible way

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3 hours ago, Kim said:

Well the seeds of the deal with Trump were sown last week when the tories voted against an amendment that would haveĀ guaranteed high standards of food/drink entering the country post Brexit (shafting British farmers in the process) That, combined with the USĀ insistence that food origin labeling be removed, will leave us not knowing what the fuck we're consuming. Made hardly a ripple on the news of course.

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:chuckle:

Ā 

I hear you

They have been trying to do that to Italy as well (and are still trying), having the country renowned for his many and varied culinary traditions, wholesome Mediterranean diet and certified products get flooded with cheap genetically modified crap from Monsanto and the likes.Ā 

Namely with that ghastly, highly controversial TTIP deal the US government was trying to impose on the EU a few years back

Of course Italian farmers, entrepreneurs and some noble politicians were having NONE of that

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18 minutes ago, XXL said:

Ā 

:rotfl:

Says it all

Watching him now giving a press interview in the rose garden adjacent to the Downing Street building

Stuttering all the way through his lies and contradictions, trying to reassure the many journalists present in total grilling mode

Judging by his clutching at straws and really poor answers that have already been made into memes, this will make the current government sink even lower with public opinion's perception

I've read that under regulatory laws aides are not supposed to face the press directly or give out any type of statements ... Well out the window with that too.

I don't know much about his background but he seems a truly powerful figure behind the curtains of British politics, a truly powerful figure period in fact

The most ironic if not downright absurd thing for somebody who's masterminded the whole Brexit campaign since 2016 and secured Johnson's success in last December elections is that his father is a former oil company executive who bought some land and set up a winery or farming activity thanks to EU grantsĀ  :lmao:

Ā 

Everything doesn't make sense about this Cummings guy for sure and in the most sinister possible way

It really was a load of gaslighting bollocks from him. Particularly theĀ part about driving 30 miles to a local beauty spot to "test his eyesight". How fucking dumb does he think we are?Ā 

No contrition, no regrets.

Yes, it is aĀ Wizard of Oz moment with the grand mastermindĀ revealed to actually be a snivelling little inarticulate runt.

He broke the rules, he's become the story and is a majorĀ distraction in the middle of a crisis and needs to GO.

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3 hours ago, Kim said:

It really was a load of gaslighting bollocks from him. Particularly theĀ part about driving 30 miles to a local beauty spot to "test his eyesight". How fucking dumb does he think we are?Ā 

Ā 

IKRĀ  :rotfl:

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:semifunny:

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On 5/24/2020 at 10:57 PM, karbatal said:

I know it's silly but for so many years, in my teens and my twenties, I saw the UK as some kind if light of hope. These past 5 years my perception has changed so much

Ā 

Same thing for me

My teens and early twenties coincided with the turn of the century. I remember being 13 mid 90s and all you could hear was the phrase @KimĀ mentioned, Cool Britannia

Oasis, Blur, the Spice Girls, the Blair years, Madonna shortly after moving there :lol:Ā I know it sounds shallow but as I've said I was 13 and back then pre social media and digital age television was still very powerful and instrumental in shaping people's perceptions, particularly kids perceptions

Suddenly the UK that up until that point seemed to many continental Europeans stiff and cold appeared instead colourful and full of possibilities

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8 hours ago, Kim said:

Blair had a huge majority - the opportunity to make major changes to the country and the institutionsĀ that run it, instead he split Labour in two as he draggedĀ it to the right, killed the party completely in Scotland,Ā paved the way for slippery Cameron andĀ his eurosceptic acolytes and now this current freakshow of unaccountable clowns...

Ā 

This

I've never liked him

It felt odd that someone from the Left would hold onto Thatcher's dreadful privatisation and deindustrialization policies to begin with. And let's not even go into the 2003 Iraq issue or his conversion to Roman Catholicism (power of the highest order)

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29 minutes ago, XXL said:

Ā 

Ā 

MV5BZDQwMjNiMTQtY2UwYy00NjhiLTk0ZWEtZWM5

šŸ˜Ā Today's (Scottish edition) of The Sun. NOT the London editionĀ of course, which has a completely different pro Cummings spin, yet from the same publisher.

EY0J8PgWsAEy7SG?format=jpg&name=medium

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I do sometimesĀ wonder if those across the border even understand how much they get gaslit by the media. Tomorrow's editions again...

Ā 

Ā 

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34 minutes ago, XXL said:

This

I've never liked him

It felt odd that someone from the Left would hold onto Thatcher's dreadful privatisation and deindustrialization policies to begin with. And let's not even go into the 2003 Iraq issue or his conversion to Roman Catholicism (power of the highest order)

Yeah I deliberately left out the decimation of Iraq as that's always used to demonstrate how foul he is, but a lot of people forget about his domestic record.

Ā 

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5 hours ago, Kim said:

šŸ˜Ā Today's (Scottish edition) of The Sun. NOT the London editionĀ of course, which has a completely different pro Cummings spin, yet from the same publisher.

EY0J8PgWsAEy7SG?format=jpg&name=medium

Ā 

I do sometimesĀ wonder if those across the border even understand how much they get gaslit by the media. Tomorrow's editions again...

Ā 

Ā 

Ā 

:rotfl:Ā :rotfl:

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5 hours ago, Kim said:

Yeah I deliberately left out the decimation of Iraq as that's always used to demonstrate how foul he is, but a lot of people forget about his domestic record.

Ā 

šŸ‘

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BBC's Simon McCoy slams colleague Gary Lineker for 'abusing his position'

The Match of the Day host defended himself

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https://www.entertainmentdaily.co.uk/royals/bbcs-simon-mccoy-slams-colleague-gary-lineker-for-abusing-his-position/?format=amp

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Newsreader Simon McCoy has said that BBC colleague Gary Lineker is 'abusing his position' after he called Boris Johnson a liar in a tweet.

Match Of The Day host Lineker condemned the Prime Minister, asking him to 'stop lying' after Johnson stood by his adviser, Dominic Cummings.

The government aide is accused of breaking his own lockdown rules while the rest of the country sacrificed their own rights to see family and friends, after he drove 260 miles from to his parents' home in Durham.

After last night's coronavirus briefing, sport journalist Lineker called PM Boris Johnson out on Twitter.

During the daily press conference, which was led by Johnson, Lineker wrote: "Please. Stop. Lying."

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Fellow BBC employee, McCoy called him out for breaking impartiality rules, replying: "Please. Stop. If you speak for yourself - write a letter. If you're speaking for BT Sport - up to you.

"But if you are speaking with your BBC hat on - you are abusing a position which puts BBC journalists in an impossible position."

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Ā :semifunny:Ā  :semifunny:Ā  :semifunny:

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But Lineker refused to backtrack, instead deciding to double down on his comments, responding to tell McCoy that he'd done nothing wrong.

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He's not the only TV presenter to lash out at the government following the government's backing of top aide Cummings, after he apparently broke his own lockdown restrictions.

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Ā 

:lmao:

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How coronavirus hypocrisy is tarnishing Boris Johnson's government

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https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/25/opinions/cummings-covid-19-social-distancing-johnson-response-prince/index.html

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(CNN) When British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was fighting for his life last month, his chief adviser Dominic Cummings was dealing with his own Covid-related battle.

Now the circumstances of Cummings' case, and in particular how and where he chose to deal with it, pose a challenge to the health of the British government and may even threaten the UK's capacity to swiftly fight off the virus.

Johnson has proved staunch in his defense of his close ally since the latter was accused of breaking the UK's strict lockdown by driving 260 miles with his wife, who he admits was displaying some symptoms of coronavirus, and young son to be near his extended family. He suggested the adviser followed "the instincts of every father..." in seeking help with child care in the event the couple became too ill to care for their son.

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In quarantine-fatigued Britain, however, where many have agonized over the command to stay away from frightened, sick and dying relatives, the Prime Minister's words have not gone down well. Highly unusually, several of his own Conservative MPs are now calling for Cummings to be sacked, and even the government-friendly Daily Mail asked: "What Planet Are They On?" of his decision to stand by his man.

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As a sign of the strength of feeling, more than a dozen Church of England bishops have condemned both Johnson and his adviser. One, Nick Baines, the Bishop of Leeds, asked on Twitter: "[D]o we accept being lied to, patronised and treated by a PM as mugs?" -- implying he took a dim view of the Prime Minister's claim that Mr. Cummings had not broken the letter or spirit of the quarantine laws through his actions.

In one of the more moving responses, Helen Goodman, until December the Labour Party MP for Durham, the northern town Cummings visited to stay in a property belonging to his parents, said she was "appalled" by his behavior, given her own father had died alone from Covid-19 in a local care home after she obeyed the rules and did not visit.

In an unprecedented event in a political arena where unelected advisers usually remain behind the scenes, Mr. Cummings held a press conference Monday in the Downing Street garden in which he sought to explain his actions. Saying he had no regrets, he added: "I believe in all circumstances I behaved reasonably and legally. The legal rules do not inevitably cover all circumstances - including those I found myself in." Also on Monday, Johnson expressed "regret" for the "confusion, anger and pain" experienced by the British people as a result of the controversy; when pressed on whether he believes Cummings' decision has compromised the government's coronavirus message, Johnson doubled down on his support for Cummings, asserting, "I do not believe that anybody at Number 10 has done anything to undermine our message."

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.......Ā Ā Ā At the start of the lockdown, Dr. Catherine Calderwood, Scotland's Chief Medical Officer, fell on her sword after admitting two overnight visits at her seaside holiday cottage, having fronted the campaign urging Scots to stay home. Though Calderwood apologized for her actions and initially said she planned to stay on in her post, she later released a statement that she had quit and acknowledging that the "justifiable focus" on her actions could pose a distraction to the response to the pandemic.

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Cummings is another matter. A controversial figure who relishes his role as an outsider, he also has a common touch when it comes to distilling a message with a brilliance complemented by Johnson's own flair for capturing the national mood. So while it was Johnson, then-Mayor of London, who in 2016 sensed an appetite for leaving the EU which his more senior colleagues missed, it was Cummings, head of the Vote Leave Campaign, who boiled it down to the simple and devastatingly effective slogan of "Take Back Control." (In a 2019 TV movie about the Brexit referendum, Cummings was played by actor Benedict Cumberbatch.)

As senior adviser since summer 2019 when Johnson became Prime Minister, the notoriously prickly Cummings has rubbed many Downing Street denizens the wrong way. But when coronavirus hit, it was he who crafted the message, "Stay Home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives," which has come to define Britain's battle against the virus and the protective shield the country threw around its beloved health service.
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While many have expressed surprise Cummings has not quit over the scandal, there is in his Downing Street a Trumpian antipathy towards the media, which he appears to blame for the row, at one point berating journalists who gathered outside his door: "It's not about what you lot think." For his part, Johnson has said he will not "throw [Cummings] to the dogs."

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Regardless of the position of the media here (who seem to be more united than usual in their assessment that Cummings must go), the story is not going away, and the evidence suggests it is hurting both the government's reputation and, potentially, its effectiveness.

The hitherto wildly popular Johnson's favorability ratings have begun to slip while a recent poll by YouGov found 49% disapproved of the Prime Minister's path out of lockdown compared to 36% who supported it.

The former Chief Constable of Durham Police, Mike Barton, has warned that Cummings' behavior, and the Prime Minister's defense of it, will make attempts to enforce the lockdown impossible, potentially endangering the slow but steady progress the UK has made in reducing the spread of the virus.

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Conservative lawmakers such as the veterans Steve Baker and Roger Gale who have called for Cummings to be sacked are painfully aware that if their party is to emerge from the pandemic in a position of strength, there can be no further undermining of the "all in this together" spirit which held in the early days of the outbreak.


The consequences could be even more serious if a mass loss of faith in both the Johnson government and his lockdown results in the public breaking the rules just at the moment the Prime Minister is urging them to stand firm.

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On 5/25/2020 at 11:13 PM, Kim said:

Well as someone who's lived through 7 prime ministers so far, i'll hazard a guess that you formed that opinion during the reign ofĀ Ā 'New Labour'? ....and all the associated fake nonsense of 'cool britannia' etc as the country pretended to shake off the stink of Thatcher, but it's no surpriseĀ that she herself said sheĀ considered Tony Blair her "greatest achievement"...

Blair had a huge majority - the opportunity to make major changes to the country and the institutionsĀ that run it, instead he split Labour in two as he draggedĀ it to the right, killed the party completely in Scotland,Ā paved the way for slippery Cameron andĀ his eurosceptic acolytes and now this current freakshow of unaccountable clowns...
...and seeing as Bozo'sĀ polling numbersĀ were at an all time high last time I looked, I guess England is quiteĀ happy with itsĀ choice, so...

Ā 

Something that has deep consequences. The fact that people have mistakenly for years calledĀ anyone who wants essential services not to be privatised orĀ run byĀ corporations are called loony lefties and radicals isĀ caused mainly by politicans such as Blair who have dragged ideology and policiesĀ to the complete right of centre. Which of course helped breed the ultra right that are ruling the world at the moment.Ā 

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I think that anybody who doesn't support the weakest links in society is a selfish brat. Anybody right now in every country not supporting and demanding government decisions that support the common people is to be considered part of the problem. That applies for Britain but also for other countries.Ā 

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On 5/27/2020 at 12:19 PM, XXL said:

Cummings telling reporters "It's not about what you think".Ā  What a fucking sad arrogant prick

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The castle looks so much better when you have Covid-19 and while you're driving to test your eyesight with your wife and child as crash dummies .

That interview he gave made the whole thing worse.

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