Tag Archives: stupid

These Conservatives are telling us they do not understand inflation

Grinning idiots: Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt have both falsely claimed that cutting inflation is cutting tax and giving people more money to spend. THIS IS A LIE.

Both the UK’s prime minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer are economically illiterate and do not know that cutting inflation does not put any money back into the pockets of the poor.

Both Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt have gone on the record, referring to inflation as a tax. It is not.

Either they are lying or they are too stupid to understand that they are wrong.

Cutting inflation does not reduce the amount of money people are having to pay for goods and services – those prices still rise, but just not as fast.

So when this happens…

… the prime minister of the United Kingdom is lying directly to the public.

Here are clips of Sunak and Hunt telling this lie to you, the public, along with a snippet of argument explaining why their claim is wrong:

(The point is that inflation may act as a tax when it increases but the amount of money you are paying does not reduce when inflation does, as it would if a tax was cut.)

Of course the other branch of this is the claim that the Conservatives have actually done any work to reduce inflation. They haven’t.

Inflation was always going to come down from the historic highs it hit a year or so ago. Those were caused by situations in foreign countries that caused shortages of energy and food, raising their prices.

Those shortages have now largely been resolved, but the price rises have been cemented into our lives. The reason inflation has fallen is that it is a current figure, representing the amount prices have risen over a particular length of time. After a year, price rises drop off all the current inflation figures.

So: inflation is not a tax and its fall does not put more money in your pocket, and the Conservatives have done nothing to bring it down anyway. Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt have lied through their teeth at you. This is not an auspicious start to the Tory Propaganda Carnival – I mean, Party Conference.


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The stupidity of Liz Truss: who elected these Tories, and are they brave enough to admit it?

Liz Truss: as a trade negotiator she is a blithering imbecile with no redeeming features whatsoever. And that is being charitable!

Back in December 2019, enough people in the UK thought the Conservatives should be trusted to run the country that they gained a Parliamentary majority of 80 seats.

Since then, it seems everything Boris Johnson’s government has done has proved those Conservative voters wrong.

The latest revelation about International Trade Secretary Liz Truss only hammers this point further home – and it relates to Brexit, the subject on which Johnson won his election.

More people voted Conservative because they wanted the UK to leave the European Union and forge its own future by striking advantageous trade deals with other countries. Right?

Truss cut the first such deal with Japan in September, trumpeting “strong tariff reductions on key agricultural products like pork, beef and salmon [that] will benefit farmers and food exporters”.

However, a study by the UK Trade Policy Observatory (UKTPO) at the University of Sussex has found that just 10 of 9,444 products will enjoy lower taxes.

They include birds’ eggs, raw hides, fur skins, handbags and ultra-strong spirits of at least 90 per cent alcohol – none of which are exported to Japan by the UK, meaning the study found the gain to UK exporters is zero.

Other changes trumpeted by Truss include “cutting-edge digital and data provisions” that are nothing of the sort.

And she claimed a boost to trade with Japan that would be worth £15.7bn over the next 15 years – but that is in comparison with no deal, not with the EU deal that the UK is giving up, due to Brexit.

And 83 per cent of the gains go to Japanese exporters, with the UK’s getting just 17 per cent.

In fairness, the negotiators have managed to avoid the large increases in tariffs that would have been suffered if the UK had gone back to World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.

But that is not what Johnson and all the other rabid Brexiters promised us when we voted on leaving the EU, back in 2016.

They promised us vast improvements in the prices we would get for our goods – and that’s what Truss tried to claim she had got for us.

They all lied. They failed. They are stupid – possibly the stupidest gang of dimwits ever to infest Whitehall.

And they think we’re stupid enough to let them carry on inflicting their stupidities on us into the future.

Let’s hope they get that wrong, too.

Source: Brexit: Liz Truss secures tariff wins with her Japan trade deal – for products UK doesn’t export | The Independent

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Boris Johnson’s plan for Covid-19 ignores one significant detail: reality

Boris Johnson has announced a plan to return the UK to “significant normality” by Christmas but there’s just one problem.

If Covid-19 behaves like other betacoronaviruses – and there’s no reason it should not – then it will certainly break out again, all over the UK, in the autumn (around November).

As Johnson is doing everything he can to get everybody back to work again before then – he has just announced that his “work from home if you can” edict will expire on August 1, allowing employers to force workers to travel back to their normal place of work – he’ll expose us all to that threat.

He seems to be basing his decision on a decrease in Covid-related deaths that is likely to have less to do with his efforts to fight the disease than with the changing of the seasons.

If Covid-19 follows its fellow betacoronaviruses, then its incidence will significantly reduce over the summer.

Resistance will last around six months.

So the best advice for Johnson – until we get a vaccine that works, at least – is to ensure that the starting point for the November increase is as low as possible.

He’s not doing that.

Instead, by pushing us back into contact with each other, he is increasing the number of people contracting the virus and therefore increasing the number that is likely to die.

This Writer’s understanding is that Johnson’s most recent easing of lockdown restrictions have pushed the ‘R’ rate up to 1.3 or thereabouts – much too high to be easing further.

But on he barges in typical bull-in-a-china-shop style.

Still, his own immunity is likely to run out before November. Perhaps if he gets another dose he might wise up…

Or we might be able to trade him in for a more intelligent politician.

Source: Coronavirus: Boris Johnson sets out plan for ‘significant normality’ by Christmas – BBC News

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Tory stupidity over Covid-19 is monumental – and increasing all the time. Would you like some examples?

Facepalm: Boris Johnson realising the enormity of the many mistakes his government has made?

I’ve been compiling a little file. It’s marked “Tory Covid-19 stupidity”. When I say it’s little, I mean it is huge – and getting bigger all the time.

Would you like to read some of the examples I’ve found over the last week or so?

Let’s have a look:

Possibly the stupidest idea the Tories had was to remove England’s chief nurse, Ruth May, from Downing Street press conferences after she refused to support government advisor Dominic Cummings. The incident happened on June 1, two days after England’s deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van Tam sparked headlines by saying that lockdown rules “apply to all” when asked about Mr Cummings.

Van Tam has not appeared at press conferences since May 30, and on June 1 Ms May was removed from the line-up and Health Secretary Matt Hancock had to present the slides on the progress of Covid-19 himself, to the best of his limited ability.

It has since been revealed that everybody appearing on the briefings is now required to support the government’s position: “First it was Dominic Cummings, then easing lockdown and now the R-rate and the two-metre rule.”

“Asked to comment, No 10 said it strongly denied the claims that Ms May had been dropped over her views on Mr Cummings and added that health and scientific advisers would continue to take questions in the briefings.” That was on June 13.

The decision to remove Ms May raised questions that the Tory government is not “following the science”, as ministers have been claiming for months, unless “the science” agrees with their own narrative.

As Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Munira Wilson wrote to Hancock on Sunday, “By silencing [the experts], the government is not only denying the public the opportunity to hear from them, but also threatening the confidence the public has in the government’s approach to lifting lockdown, and more broadly in how and when government is using and sharing expert advice.”

To increase the embarrassment, Chancellor Rishi Sunak admitted that the government could overrule experts like Sir Patrick Vallance and Chris Whitty on relaxing social distancing rules – disproving its own claim to be “following the science”.

But Downing Street strongly denied claims that Ms May had been dropped over her views on Cummings, and added that health and scientific advisers would continue to take questions in the briefings.

The trouble is, by that time the damage had been done and the credibility of Boris Johnson’s government had been dealt another crippling blow – by its own hand.

Next:

“The Government quietly relaxed strict controls to stop the spread of coronavirus in hospitals at the height of the crisis,” according to the Daily Telegraph.

“Hospitals were instructed to avoid using temporary staff to lower risk of spreading the virus.” The article goes on to state that this decree was soon reversed – indicating that it was a mistake that produced bad results.

The Torygraph seems highly critical of the Johnson government’s attitude altogether, in fact. This op-ed piece takes no prisoners: “Having been widely, and rightly, condemned for a slow and inadequate response to the pandemic, ministers are doubly shy of lifting the restrictions for fear of acting prematurely, getting it wrong again, and incubating a second wave.

“They have some reason to worry. The rate of new infections still seems relatively high compared to much of the rest of Europe, while the shambles of the UK’s “test, trace and isolate” initiative gives little confidence that social distancing measures can be safely abandoned without more deaths.

“We seem to have ended up with the worst of all worlds – the highest per capita death rate of any major economy, the most extreme form of continuing lockdown, and according to the latest OECD assessment, the biggest economic hit.”

Next:

It seems that, in addition to all the organisations tasked with handling a pandemic that were scrapped by previous Tory prime ministers, Boris Johnson closed the last one himself six months before Covid-19 arrived.

The Mail reports this one: “Boris Johnson scrapped a team of Cabinet ministers tasked with protecting the UK from a pandemic six months before coronavirus arrived, a Mail investigation has found.

“The group, officially known as the Threats, Hazards, Resilience and Contingency Committee (THRCC), was supposed to ensure the UK was ready to cope with a pandemic.

“It was mothballed by former prime minister Theresa May on the advice of Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill so ministers and officials could focus on Brexit [and] abolished by Mr Johnson days after he entered No10 last July as part of a vow to streamline Whitehall.”

Shades of David Cameron’s “war on red tape”!

Only a few years before, medical experts had believed a strain of SARS to be the next pandemic – but it had fizzled out. It might have been possible to justify scrapping pandemic response precautions on grounds that modern medical methods made them unnecessary in the light of this – but that wasn’t the reason and this represents a major blunder.

Next:

Oh, dear, Johnson and his cronies just can’t seem to stop being racist!

“The British Medical Association has demanded an explanation from the government following reports that pages containing recommendations to protect black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities were removed from last week’s Covid-19 disparity report,” reported The Guardian.

“Dr Chaand Nagpaul CBE, the BMA council chair, noted his concern over reports that 69 pages covering seven recommendations were removed from last week’s Public Health England’s report.

“The review was widely criticised for failing to investigate possible reasons for the disparities or make recommendations on how to address them.”

Perhaps government flunkies found it hard to include the words “persistent government racism” in their report?

The recommendations appear to have been published now. In a letter to the Equalities Minister, Public Health England chief executive Duncan Selbie wrote: “The clear message from stakeholders was the requirement for tangible actions, provided at scale and pace, with a commitment to address the underlying factors of inequality.”

And the seven recommendations were (translated from PHE technobabble):

1. Collect and record ethnicity data during NHS treatment, and ensure that it is available to help health teams reduce the impact of Covid-19 on BAME communities.

2. Research the social, cultural, structural, economic, religious, and commercial factors that affect the appearance of Covid-19 in BAME communities, and develop easy-to-implement programmes to reduce risk and improve health.

3. Improve access, experiences and outcomes of NHS, local government and Integrated Care Systems commissioned services by BAME communities. This to be achieved via regular equity audits; use of Health Impact Assessments; integration of equality into quality systems; good representation of black and minority ethnic communities among staff at all levels; sustained workforce development and employment practices; ad trust-building dialogue with service users.

4. Develop risk assessment tools to reduce the risk of exposure to and infection with Covid-19, especially for key workers working with a large cross section of the general public or in contact with those infected with Covid-19.

5. Fund, develop and implement Covid-19 education and prevention campaigns, in partnership with BAME and faith communities; rebuild trust with and uptake of routine clinical services; reinforce messages on early identification, testing and diagnosis; and prepare communities to take full advantage of contact tracing, antibody testing and vaccine availability.

6. Accelerate efforts to target health promotion and disease prevention programmes for non-communicable diseases promoting healthy weight, physical activity, smoking cessation, mental well-being and effective management of chronic conditions including diabetes, hypertension and asthma.

7. Ensure that Covid-19 recovery plans actively reduce inequalities caused by the wider factors that affect health, to create long term, sustainable change. Fully funded, sustained and meaningful approaches to tackling ethnic inequalities must be prioritised.

There they are. Now we must all monitor what happens – or else the government is likely to simply shelve the letter and do nothing (as we have seen so many times before).

Given the enormity of these blunders, is it any surprise that the government is facing litigation over its failures so far?

Matt Hancock is likely to be dragged into court over the government’s insistence on slapping vulnerable patients with “Do Not Attempt Resuscitation” orders.

This has been going on at least since lockdown was ordered and This Site has reported on it often. The government and various health organisations have announced that the demand for these orders to be imposed on patients en masse, rather than discussed with them individually as required by law, has been withdrawn – but we have found that this is not the case.

Kate Masters, writing in The Independent, stated: “There appears to have been a national directive for doctors to put emergency plans in place for people at risk of becoming very unwell if they catch Covid-19, even without them being able to engage in the process. Just a few simple pieces of information would help patients and medics. These include the facts about DNACPR, including that they can be made without your involvement if you don’t want to discuss the matter, and that full information must be provided as to why this decision has been made on your behalf.

“Matt Hancock, the health secretary, has refused my request to provide this information on the NHS website… Instead, he has said the information currently available is sufficient. In fact, the information … is confusing about DNACPR and gives a misleading impression. It says “you can change your mind and your DNACPR status at any time”. This is just not right. Except in the special circumstances where a patient makes an advance decision to refuse treatment, DNACPR status is not something a patient always chooses, but is often a decision made by the treating team after consultation with the patient and, where appropriate, relevant family members.

“The legal requirement to consult gives the patient or family the opportunity to seek a second opinion if they are concerned about the decision or think it is premature or inappropriate.

“I am prepared to go as far as I need to ensure people are given access to this information about their rights. That’s why I’m now planning to take Hancock to court over the matter. I am raising funds to pursue the case using crowdfunding, and encourage you to add your support.”

Meanwhile, families whose loved ones have died of Covid-19 are demanding an independent public inquiry into the government’s handling of the crisis, with 500 relatives of people who have died during the pandemic launching the Covid-19 Bereaved Families’ campaign.

And healthcare staff are also demanding a public inquiry – into the deaths of hundreds of their colleagues and failings of PPE (personal protective equipment).

The Doctors’ Association (DAUK), supported by the Good Law Project and charity Hourglass, is calling for a judicial review into the decision by the government not to hold a public inquiry into the planning, procurement, and provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) for health and social care staff.

Nursing Notes tells us: “With healthcare being left “wearing visors made by teenagers on 3D printers” and “care workers being told to share the same mask”, the group has raised concerns that the inadequacy of PPE may have contributed wholly or in part to the tragic deaths of health and social care workers.

“At least 245 health and social care workers are known to have died from COVID-19 – with some figures suggesting … dramatically more.

“Despite a petition receiving over 120,000 signatures supporting a public inquiry, there has been no formal response from the government.”

Let us hope that all these groups and individuals get to have their day in court – before Johnson succeeds in his plan to stifle judges’ ability to force his government to abide by the law.

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Coronavirus: half a year before normality resumes – because of Tory stupidity

Johnson: This stupid ass caught coronavirus because he failed to follow his own social distancing advice (once he got round to giving it). Now he’s got the nerve to tell us he may tighten restrictions – but he’ll never admit that he has been at fault.

They’ll never admit it but if it does take half a year or more before people in the UK are allowed to resume their normal lives, it’s because of the stupidity of our Conservative government.

And if the lockdown lasts as long – or almost – that will be because of Tory stupidity too.

Boris Johnson’s letter saying the situation will worsen before it gets better is nothing more than we should all expect.

England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Jenny Harries, said the number of deaths is likely to worsen over the next one or two weeks – because it will take that long before the effects of social distancing begin to be felt.

And Johnson has warned that stricter measures could be put in place if necessary. This makes perfect sense, if deaths continue to rise.

But the reason deaths may continue rising is the government’s failure to impress upon the population the fact that the measures already in place are important.

In his letter, Johnson says, “From the start, we have sought to put in the right measures at the right time.” This is contemptible nonsense.

Before coronavirus arrived in the UK, the Tories had ensured that none of the plans necessary to protect the public against a contagion of this kind were up to date.

And they had dismantled the specialist team in the Department of Health, that would have dealt with the pandemic, nine years ago.

Medical journal The Lancet warned the government to get its act together on January 24.

But Johnson dithered for a further seven weeks, issuing contradictory statements and advice that left members of the public confused.

Is it any wonder, then, that when he ordered us all to stay home and observe social distancing rules, many people have ignored him completely – including himself?

The prime minister himself caught the disease because he failed to follow his own advice.

The news websites are full of reports of street parties being broken up by police, who are empowered to issue fines starting at £60 but rising to £960 for repeat offenders.

This Writer has been told of barbecues in Shrewsbury, and even health professionals have been caught flouting the rules.

This brings us to another point: remember Jenny Harries, who said the number of deaths is likely to worsen? She must take part of the blame for that.

The Lancet (again) has called on her to apologise for claiming that the NHS had “a perfectly adequate supply of PPE [Personal Protective Equipment, worn by medical staff while treating coronavirus patients to prevent them from contracting it or passing on to others]”.

It didn’t – and I note that two doctors are reported to have died in this report alone.

The government failed to join a European Union scheme to provide much-needed ventilators – by misdirecting the email, it seems – and there are concerns over the choices of supplier made by Johnson and his cronies.

Put it all together and you can see that more people will die because of the Tories; there is a lack of equipment to fight the virus because of the Tories; and if it takes longer for life to return to normal – they’ll be responsible for that too.

Source: Coronavirus: Strict measures could last ‘significant period’ – BBC News

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VIDEO – Johnson’s greatest flops: it’s been a bad week to be a Tory

Hand over mouth: It’s the only way he can stop himself putting his foot in it.

The first full week of the general election campaign could not have gone worse for Boris Johnson.

It was like a re-run of the Conservative government’s greatest flops since it came into office in 2010, starting with Boris Johnson’s disgusting failure to respond to the flooding crisis in the north, and ending with the Bolton blaze, accelerated by cladding – two years after dozens were killed in Grenfell Tower.

The opinion polls might have said the opposite, but he started out in a terrible situation – caused by his own government’s misbehaviour over a period of years:

Mr Johnson tried to undertake a tour of the UK, but few members of the public seemed to want to talk to him…

… and many of the appearances seemed to have been arranged as if in secret.

His television appearances were a similar disaster, with the prime minister coming across as a stumbling zombie:

https://twitter.com/hardcastIe/status/1195267953610149888

It seems he’s hopeless if he hasn’t got a script. This radio interview is even worse:

So, after the first full week of campaigning, this is the verdict:

There are many more clips I could have used in this piece; there will be many more to come. I’m looking forward to seeing Mr Johnson cock up his response to the Bolton blaze, for example.

For voters everywhere, there can be only one conclusion: This man and his party must be removed from office on December 12.

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What does James Brokenshire have to say about the homeless man who died outside Parliament?

Jamie Leigh, a homeless friend of the man who died, next to a makeshift memorial to him.

While Tories tried to accuse Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn of saying something he didn’t in Parliament, a drama of a different kind was unfolding just a few metres outside the building – where a homeless man died on the street.

The man, believed to be a 45-year-old Hungarian named Gyula Remef, was said to have taken the street drug Spice, and was also said to have been drinking.

At first sight, this supports the claims of Housing Secretary James Brokenshire, who has said the rise in rough sleeping was due to an increase in the number of non-UK nationals on the streets and the spread of psychoactive drugs like Spice, along with factors including family breakup.

But what put this man on the streets? He clearly didn’t come to the UK intending to die on the ground outside Parliament, so why did it happen? Mr Brokenshire’s comment fails to address the principle contributing factor.

And it is clear that, if he took Spice, he took it after he had become homeless; we have no evidence to show it contributed toward making him a rough sleeper.

But this is a man who had a job – he was working as a kitchen assistant at Charing Cross Station but was still unable to afford a home.

Doesn’t that suggest that he was a victim of the Tory wage squeeze that has been going on since 2010?

Doesn’t it also suggest that support for landlords, who overcharge for dwellings that are unfit for human habitation, is wrong-headed?

So what are the real reasons this man died on the street outside Parliament, so far from his homeland and (allegedly) inebriated on drugs?

What is Mr Brokenshire hiding with his supercilious claims?

The contrast between the drama outside Parliament and the farce within has been hammered home by comments on the social media:

The consensus is that the Conservative government – including Mr Brokenshire, due to the nature of his remarks – is insulated from reality and has no sense of proportion due to the fact that it is full of people who are… well… stupid:

Worst of all is the fact that the death of this man won’t even make a difference:

https://twitter.com/ToryFibs/status/1075552377535651840

Has Mr Brokenshire bothered to ask any questions about this, at all? Has he considered examining the circumstances that brought this man to an untimely end outside the Mother of all Parliaments? Has he checked whether the death corroborates his claims or disproves them?

No chance!

He’ll just say, “Immigrant – check. Drugs – check. Proves I’m right.”

Hateful.

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Tories ‘dead cat’ claim about Corbyn hides huge PMQs defeat for May – over Brexit

Jeremy Corbyn: He was saying, “Stupid people,” in reference to Tory backbenchers who didn’t have the intelligence to do anything other than parrot a pantomime response to Theresa May’s inanities.

What a hypocritical shambles the Conservative Party has become – desperately roping their friends in the mainstream news media into a lie about Jeremy Corbyn to prevent them from reporting the way he humiliated Theresa May at Prime Minister’s Questions over her crap Brexit “deal”.

Once again, Mr Corbyn wiped the floor with the woman who still masquerades as a competent prime minister. He rightly pointed out that the Prime Minister has plunged this country into a national crisis. She refused Parliament the right to vote on her Brexit deal. She said that she did that to seek “further assurances”; she failed. She is now claiming that she is still seeking further assurances while all the time running down the clock on the alternatives, so he asked the Prime Minister to explain when the European Council will meet to approve the changes that it has already ruled out.

She could not.

So Mr Corbyn pointed out that MPs should have had the vote a week ago. There are no meetings of the EU Council scheduled until 21 March, and the EU has been very clear: there are no more negotiations, clarifications or meetings. The Prime Minister will be bringing back the same deal she pulled last week; this is an intolerable situation, and she is simply playing for time. She had said she was seeking further political and legal assurances in relation to the Northern Irish “backstop” and must clearly set out how she will achieve those legally binding assurances before the House is due to return on 7 January.

She would not. She said she would indeed have further discussions with her EU counterparts but provided no verifiable specifics – so we must infer that this was wishful thinking.

So Mr Corbyn pointed out what most of us must know – that Mrs May has been stalling for time. Peter Stefanovic takes up the story in the following video clip:

It isn’t on the mainstream media because the poor little snowflakes who run those newspapers and TV channels can’t cope with anything more substantial than gossip and tittle-tattle, as this story demonstrates. You want intelligent discussion? Come to the left-wing social media – but of course you already have, and I am preaching to the converted.

Mr Corbyn continued:

And how did Mrs May respond?

She engaged her own backbenchers in a mocking pantomime call-and-response routine that had most of us cringing with embarrassment

She said: “I know it is the Christmas season and the pantomime season, but what do we see from the Labour Front Bench and the Leader of the Opposition? He is going to put a confidence vote. Oh yes he is!” To this, her MPs replied, “Oh no he isn’t!”

She had clearly lost the argument – and lost it badly.

At this point, Mr Corbyn muttered some words under his breath. Conservative MPs spotted it and accused him of misogynistic language, claiming he had called Mrs May a “stupid woman”. Let’s examine that:

https://twitter.com/Corbynator2/status/1075435351039242242

It certainly looks more like “stupid people” to me, although I admit I’m not an expert lip-reader. Let’s have another look:

That’s good enough for some:

Indeed, Mr Corbyn returned to the Commons later in the day to confirm that this was what he had said (although I doubt he had read Rachael’s tweet, above):

https://twitter.com/ToryFibs/status/1075417513452806145

That was enough for some, who (correctly) called the outcry a distraction tactic intended to draw attention away from the national crisis Mrs May has caused:

And who can deny that Mr Corbyn was right to refer to the braying Tories who participated in Mrs May’s pantomime call-and-response nonsense as “stupid people”?

Consider this, also:

It’s true: Austerity has hit women far harder than men, and Mrs May restored the Tory whip to an alleged rapist last week – along with an actual sex pest.

And it was an act of extreme hypocrisy for the Tories expressing outrage at Mr Corbyn’s alleged words to defend Mrs May:

What about this point?

But media types were already joining in the attack on Mr Corbyn – and getting ridiculed for it. Joe Pike is a political correspondent for ITV:

If you are uncertain about what Mr Corbyn said, consider the following, from a Twitter user called “Alison”, who is deaf – and the response she received:

I love the reaction from Tom Clark, author of Another Angry Voice:

This one’s pretty good, too:

By now, the mainstream media were taking a hammering for their position:

Let’s highlight two examples in particular:

Of course the elephant in this particular room is the hypocrisy of the Conservative MPs and their aides in the media. Francesca Martinez approaches the point subtly:

Laura Smith MP was less circumspect:

https://twitter.com/ToryFibs/status/1075446054500360193

And if you need a tangible example of the Tory hypocrisy on-screen, right now, consider Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, who called one of his fellow Conservative MPs a “stupid woman”. Why should he be allowed to get away with it when Mr Corbyn is accused of misogyny and abusive behaviour?

Unity News is mistaken about the date – the incident happened back in July. Here’s a link to a news story about it:

What can we possibly conclude?

That Mr Corbyn did not use abusive or misogynistic language, and that his words accurately described the behaviour of the members opposite him at the time he spoke them.

That Conservative MPs who accused Mr Corbyn are hypocrites, for the reasons mentioned above, and that their hypocrisy arises from an attempt to distract the public from the substantive issue – Mrs May’s failure to negotiate an acceptable Brexit deal, and the national crisis that she has caused.

That the members of the mainstream media who supported this nonsense should be seen as clowns instead of impartial news reporters. You don’t need to give them any more of your attention.

And that Mrs May needs to answer Mr Corbyn’s questions in a much more tangible way – preferably before MPs disband for Christmas.

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Hammond admits the fact about austerity that This Site has been trumpeting since day one

Have a gander at this infoclip, courtesy of Evolve Politics:

That’s exactly what This Site (and other like-minded commentators) has been broadcasting since Vox Political started back in 2011: Austerity as a way of paying off the national debt is a terrible idea.

Rather than restore the nation’s finances to balance, the lack of investment in jobs and growth – and indeed the concentration on reducing investment and the size of the state – is far more likely to shrink the economy, necessitating more cuts in an attempt to achieve the same outcome and throwing the nation into a spiral of ever-increasing debt and ever-diminishing productivity.

That is what we have seen. The national debt has more than doubled under Conservative rule, while productivity has stagnated. The Tories have tried to gloss over this fact by claiming employment has boomed – but this is a trick; companies have laid off full-time employees and replaced them with part-time, short-term contract or zero-hour contract labour that receives far less pay per day and none of the in-work benefits that the full-timers enjoyed. The only economic effect that has increased over the last eight years is poverty.

Matt Zarb-Cousin added: “The chancellor admits austerity is a political choice rather than an economic necessity. He even goes as far as to say cutting spending is not the best way to reduce the national debt. I mean ffs what’s been the point of the last 8 years then”.

I’ve been answering that one since Day One, too: The point of the last eight years has been to cut services for working people, based on a false pretence that the nation cannot afford them. Next comes the removal of workers’ – and human – rights on the pretext that they are harming our ability to earn a decent wage.

In fact, the only thing harming our ability to earn a decent wage is the greed of the nation’s employers, which has fuelled the Conservatives’ zeal to cut taxes for those who are already obscenely rich.

That is the point of the last eight years: More for the “haves” and nothing for the “have-nots”.

It is a stupid way to run an advanced first-world country – especially if you are among the millions upon millions of people who have been penalised by it.

Are you?

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Cameron’s ‘preferential treatment’ offer to council leader breached ministerial code – claim

Wednesday really wasn’t a good day to be David Cameron.

First he was labelled stupid, for failing to realise what his cuts to local government funding actually meant.

Then he was called a hypocrite, for claiming that Oxfordshire County Council – his own local authority – should not cut particular services; services that were only endangered because of his cuts.

Now – most seriously – he has been accused of breaching the ministerial code, by offering help to the same authority that could only be provided by the prime minister, while corresponding with its leader in his capacity as a constituency MP.

There is a strict rule that ministers may not use the resources afforded to them as members of the government to provide preferential treatment to others – such as special access to top advisers.

David Cameron has been accused of offering a Conservative council chief special access to No 10 advisers as a way to resolve a disagreement about proposed budget cuts.

The prime minister is facing questions about his conduct after he wrote to Ian Hudspeth, the leader of Oxfordshire county council, chastising him for considering cuts to day centres, libraries and museums. Cameron’s own constituency of Witney falls within the area.

In the letter, Cameron extended an offer for how to help to manage the cuts, saying he would be happy to “initiate a dialogue” with the No 10 policy unit about the possibilities of devolution deals and suggesting that Hudspeth contact his aide Sheridan Westlake, who used to work in the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Jon Ashworth, a shadow Cabinet Office minister, has written to the civil service chief Sir Jeremy Heywood asking for advice on the propriety of Cameron offering extra help for Oxfordshire.

He points out that the letter appears to have been written by the prime minister in his role as a Witney MP, even though the ministerial code states that he must keep separate his government and constituency role.

“Is it the case that if the prime minister has made this offer of ‘further dialogue’ available to the leader of his local county council, similar offers should be made to all the leaders of other councils?

“Surely the leader of the prime minister’s county council should not be given preferential treatment?” Ashworth writes.

Source: David Cameron ‘offered Oxfordshire council leader access to advisers’ | Politics | The Guardian

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