A thread to catalogue the eloquence, dignity, diplomacy and wisdom of Boris Johnson II

[Tony L]

So,the tories are "levelling up" 20 or so cities in the Midlands and North.

I’m hugely cynical of this. My suspicion is it is another attempt to ‘devolve’ power in poor areas in order to offset blame for ongoing centrally imposed austerity to local mayoral regions which will never be Tory. Look at the way they smear Khan, Burnham etc for what are actually government mandated cuts to the NHS, police etc. As ever Tories are gonna Tory. The one thing that can be guaranteed is a lack of honesty and integrity to their actions.

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

I’m hugely cynical of this. My suspicion is it is another attempt to ‘devolve’ power in poor areas in order to offset blame for ongoing centrally imposed austerity to local mayoral regions which will never be Tory. Look at the way they blame Khan, Burnham etc for what are actually government mandated cuts to the NHS, police etc. As ever Tories are gonna Tory. The one thing that can be guaranteed is a lack of honesty and integrity to their actions.

And they’re planning to use FPTP to elect the mayors, too.

 

[ks.234]

levelling up is he?

If Johnson was genuinely concerned about levelling up the obvious starting point would be to tackle unemployment. As it is, Johnson and his party live by an ideology of maintaining unemployment as a damper on wage rises.

Levelling up is not compatible with a political ideology built on keeping wages low

 

[Enfield boy]

In what way was he so different? He didn’t believe in democratic reform or accountability and showed all the evasion and duplicity that has existed in UK politics since Thatcher and Blair. Sure. He had a marginally better manifesto than usual, but that done he couldn’t even stand firm against the ethnic nationalism and xenophobia that was sweeping the country. A useless “leader” who deserves all the obscurity he now inhabits.

I see you're still trawling up the "Red Top" ordure.

 

[lordsummit]

He did. 5:05 onwards.

I thought his opening riposte was good, it’s hard to see some of the mud being flung not sticking though.

 

[Brian]

I thought his opening riposte was good, it’s hard to see some of the mud being flung not sticking though.

Yes, it will stick, look at the mud stuck to Corbyn around here and what chance is there of mud not sticking to Starmer? They will repeat it almost daily for the next 2 years, it is bound to stick.

Johnson even brought up the 2008 traditional departure note today. They have no shame and there are lots of gullible types around.

 

[lordsummit]

It appears that Starmer is somewhat more competent than Corbyn though. He seems much better able to avoid the traps laid for him.

 

[Darmok]

Martin Rowson on Conservatives’ pledge on levelling up – cartoon

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...-conservatives-pledge-on-levelling-up-cartoon

Spot the "jim'l fix it" sign.

 

[Enfield boy]

It appears that Starmer is somewhat more competent than Corbyn though. He seems much better able to avoid the traps laid for him.

Unsurprising, he's been the beneficiary of most of the traps set for Corbyn, indeed he helped set most of them. He lied to get the gig, has purged the left and has no vision beyond waiting for the tories to be so toxic that even flatpopely might blanch at voting for them.

 

[TheDecameron]

Johnson is going down. He’s fighting and coercing his parliamentary party which is simply drawing his demise out. All the better because the damage will be greater the longer he stays. He’s a black hole and the more of the Tory Party he sucks in the better.

 

[mykel]

 

[zygote23]

Can't resist reposting...I actually heard this go out live and spat my coffee everywhere. Folks are thick as mince sometimes.

 

[The Far North]

I think the Times cartoonist must be watching this thread .........

 

[JonR]

Johnson's vowing to stay in Number 10 until 2030. It will be interesting to see how that works out for him. Like I said before, you will have to prise the keys of number 10 out of his cold dead hands...

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

Tories are still milking the Savile attack, today. Somebody on Today, this morning, doggedly curling it out again. They are beyond despicable now.

 

[Tony L]

I think the Times cartoonist must be watching this thread .........

I’m really no fan of the Photoshop fake news meme stuff, there is way too much of that about and some are good enough to actually mislead (e.g. the well spammed picture of Saville standing by a blue Conservative van). Photos should only be manipulated as collage etc IMO, e.g. Cold War Steve. That is obviously art/satire and does not mislead.

The Times cartoon is superb, exponentially more effective and wonderful that they cast Johnson himself as Saville! I like that a lot.

PS Using Saville against Starmer is an identical strategy to Trump going after Obama’s birth certificate. I keep saying the Tories are now 100% a Trump/Tea Party clone and this method of attack is exactly that mixed with QAnon. This is the current state of the party and therefore UK politics. They are an utter disgrace to their office. Every last Tory that does not stand up and fight against this is part of the problem and can only be thought of as alt-right scum.

 

[TheDecameron]

Tories are still milking the Savile attack, today. Somebody on Today, this morning, doggedly curling it out again. They are beyond despicable now.

This is their style of disinformation warfare. It worked when Labour was led by Corbyn. Make it a really big lie and keep repeating it and people will come to believe it. The same people inside No.10 who were partying while hundreds of thousands died are the ones operating Johnson’s lie machine right now. They’re animals.

 

[Nero]

Standard Lynton Crosby MO

 

[Brian]

I’m really no fan of the Photoshop fake news meme stuff, there is way too much of that about and some are good enough to actually mislead (e.g. the well spammed picture of Saville standing by a blue Conservative van). Photos should only be manipulated as collage etc IMO, e.g. Cold War Steve. That is obviously art/satire and does not mislead.

The Times cartoon is superb, exponentially more effective and wonderful that they cast Johnson himself as Saville! I like that a lot.

PS Using Saville against Starmer is an identical strategy to Trump going after Obama’s birth certificate. I keep saying the Tories are now 100% a Trump/Tea Party clone and this method of attack is exactly that mixed with QAnon. This is the current state of the party and therefore UK politics. They are an utter disgrace to their office. Every last Tory that does not stand up and fight against this is part of the problem and can only be thought of as alt-right scum.

Agree with all of that. I would add the tactic used against Starmer is very similar to that used against Corbyn...eg terrorist sympathiser and anti-semitism. The hard right must now see Starmer as a threat where we were all assured a few months ago he was not.

 

[Tony L]

The hard right must now see Starmer as a threat where we were all assured a few months ago he was not.

The alt-right, of which Johnson’s Conservative Party is a clear example, find *everything* a threat hence their reliance on vote-rigging, propaganda, fake news etc. The Steve Bannon rewrite of Joseph Goebbels rule-book is remarkably well thumbed in No 10; Lynton Crosby, Andy Coulson, Dominic Cummings etc all knew exactly how to smear, subvert, distort and erode democracy and accountability.

There were certainly many smears against Corbyn, sadly he just didn’t have the required skillset to fight such smears with coherent arguments and firm unambiguous positions. Sitting and endlessly dithering on a fence of ‘constructive ambiguity’ wins no friends in any camp. He was the left’s equivalent of Theresa May; a hapless leader without any relevant experience or discernible communication skills.