As others see him: in fact, for the people of Liverpool, this is probably a charitable impression of Boris Johnson.
This is brilliant.
It seems a fan of Boris Johnson went to Liverpool, of all places, to ask what’s the best thing Boris Johnson has done for the UK this year – and the people of Liverpool answered on behalf of us all:
To the people of Liverpool: This Site salutes you!
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Yes, the headline shamelessly mashes two current political news stories – and justifiably.
Last weekend, the Twitter account of a Conservative councillor from Yorkshire, Paul Nickerson, tweeted a faked photograph of Jeremy Corbyn laying a wreath next to the taxi that exploded outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital that day, with the comment: “Unsurprisingly”
No, I’m not going to post it again. If you really want to see it, read This Site’s previous story, here.
Nickerson himself has apologised for the tweet, which he claimed was a prank by others using his account, and the tweet has been deleted.
Whoever put it up, it is possible that they thought Mr Corbyn would take it on the chin. After all, he never took court action over all those anti-Semitism/terrorism support allegations, so he wasn’t likely to do anything about this, right?
In a short statement, Mr Corbyn said: “My solicitor has been notified and we are taking legal action.”
This takes me to the reference to second jobs – the hot topic among MPs, many of whom reckon they simply can’t survive on their salary of £82,000 (three times the national average) plus the most generous expenses scheme anybody can think of.
Nickerson isn’t a member of Parliament and, as far as I know, may not have a second job to supplement whatever allowance he receives as a Yorkshire councillor.
But, as I suggest in the headline, he may certainly wish he had one, if Mr Corbyn wins his case.
One does have to question whether anybody will employ him, though. Even his local Conservative group has suspended his membership.
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Priti Patel: if she really wants to stop terrorism by people from foreign countries, she can do something about it right now. What she’s actually trying to do is strip YOU of your hard-won human rights.
Home Secretary Priti Patel has said the suspect in the Liverpool suicide bombing was able to exploit the UK’s “dysfunctional” asylum system – a system that she runs.
Oh, but wait! Apparently this was because he came to the UK in 2014 – when former prime minister Theresa May was Home Secretary. So it’s all her fault!
And we know that May forced Patel out of her cabinet when the current Home Secretary was found trying to operate her own foreign policy with the apartheid state of Israel, back in 2017. So there’s no love lost there.
It all seems like a burst of frantic ass-covering to This Writer.
And I’m not the only one:
#KayBurley – Priti Patel has said what happened in Liverpool was a result of a dysfunctional asylum system?
Thangam Debbonaire – That's extraordinary… the Tory Party has actually been in charge of the asylum system for the past 11 years… pic.twitter.com/il8EzVZY6g
The fact is that the Tories have been in charge of the immigration and asylum system for 11 years and have talked tough about it all the way through.
If a terrorist was allowed to stay in the UK for seven of those years – when he should not have been – then that is the responsibility of the current Home Secretary who has failed to correct the faults of previous incumbents.
If they were honest, the Tories would admit that they are trying to make us accept their sick plan to destroy UK human rights.
They say repealing the Human Rights Act would make it harder for illegal immigrants to stay in the UK – but they don’t admit that it will also remove all the other rights that protect us.
For the gory details, see what This Site has published about it here and here.
The vast majority of the rights you will lose have nothing to do with illegal immigration, asylum or terrorism.
But you can rest assured that the vast majority of you will be harmed by their loss.
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It’s been all over the news but This Writer can’t let the quick thinking of taxi driver David Perry go unremarked here.
Mr Perry picked up 32-year-old Emad Al Swealmeen from an address in Rutland Avenue, Liverpool, shortly before 11am on Remembrance Sunday (November 14).
The passenger asked to be delivered to Liverpool Women’s Hospital, about 10 minutes’ drive away.
But it seems Mr Perry realised the man had brought what appeared to be a home-made bomb into the cab, so he locked the doors as the device was triggered.
It was after the explosion happened that the driver escaped from the vehicle.
🚨 | WATCH: Shocking moment David Perry’s taxi explodes, and he escapes leaving bomber to die
He’s lucky to be alive – but more importantly, it seems he prevented what could have been a terrorist atrocity.
The UK’s terror threat level has been raised to “severe” – the second most serious level – because of the attack, and the murder of MP Sir David Amess a few weeks ago.
And three men, aged 21, 26 and 29, have been arrested under the Terrorism Act.
Mr Perry was treated in hospital and has since been discharged.
His wife Rachel has posted a message of thanks on the social media to everybody who has expressed concern about her husband’s well-being:
Message from the wife of the taxi driver who miraculously survived the explosion at Liverpool Women's Hospital yesterday.
Why on earth would corporate media hacks doorstep a family in such circumstances? pic.twitter.com/QcG8hxKNtC
In fairness to the reporters who went on the knock at her address: I’ve had to do this after people have died, and it isn’t pleasant. Editors demand it because they think a comment from the family will sell their papers.
But they probably got what they deserved; I always hated doing that job, always apologised for imposing on people who I was sure wanted to be alone – and this consideration often led to an (exclusive) interview – ahead of the pushy types demanding a paragraph before their deadline.
Nowadays, the simple fact is that people involved in events like this are likely to tell us all about it on the social media – so why go around upsetting them?
Instead, This Site can simply agree with the sentiments expressed by the writer of the London Underground service information board, above. Do you?
This Writer heard yesterday (October 2) that Labour ‘leader’ Keir Starmer had written an editorial for The Sun but I refrained from commenting in the hope that the negative response elsewhere might encourage him to see sense and withdraw the piece.
Well, that was a forlorn hope!
Of course, he had made no commitment not to write for The Sun. Certainly, while campaigning to be party leader in Liverpool, he had said he would not have anything to do with that rag during the course of his leadership campaign. Some of us questioned that caveat at the time.
‘I certainly won’t be giving any interviews to The Sun during the course of THIS campaign!’ is definitely the funniest dishonest thing Starmer has said – you have to admire the brazenness. ‘Oh you thought I meant generally? No, literally this campaign.’ pic.twitter.com/DKTDgBz7ZB
Having anything to do with The Sun has been taboo for Labour since the Hillsborough tragedy, after which that paper colluded with the Conservatives to publish shocking lies about the event that smeared and insulted the people of Liverpool.
A reminder of what the S*n is, for those who seem to have forgotten.
Any Labour leader worth their salt wouldn’t even contemplate writing in a tabloid that is known for smearing the victims of Hillsborough and hacking the voicemails of dead children.
Liverpudlians have shunned the rag for more than 30 years, and Labour has done the same in solidarity with the city that the Conservatives so badly wronged –
Possibly the worst insult of all (I haven’t bothered to read the piece; why would anyone?) is that Starmer has apparently repeated his lie that Jeremy Corbyn led Labour to its worst defeat since 1935. In terms of the number of votes cast for the party, that simply isn’t true…
Starmer and others keep repeating the lie that 2019 was 'Labour's worst GE result since 1935'… pic.twitter.com/74WNuNGfKE
Keir Starmer knows full well why The Sun is taboo in the labour movement. He didn't write that editorial to 'reach out to Tory voters'; he wrote it to stick two fingers up to Liverpool.
It’s a heartbreaking dereliction of duty that @Keir_Starmer would entertain even the thought of working with the unmentionable one it’s a sad day for the survivors bereaved families and our city to have to bare witness to such a vile act of utter bettayal #Justice4the97
The premeditated way Keir Starmer has purposefully set out to hurt millions of Labour’s most loyal supporters by writing an editorial for Rupert Murdoch’s Sun “newspaper” is one of the most sadistic things I’ve ever seen.
Surrounding Starmer’s piece in the S*n are editorials by that outfit calling him ‘dull’, a ‘Marxist’, ‘woolly’, and a ‘very long way from looking like a PM in waiting’. Wouldn’t you have a bit more self respect than to go there? That’s even before you insult the #JFT97.
It is particularly telling that Liverpool’s Labour MPs have condemned their ‘leader’ and his silly Tory-wooing antics:
My statement today, responding to Keir Starmer writing for The S*n. My solidarity especially with the families of the 97 and the survivors of that tragic day. #JFT97#YNWApic.twitter.com/BFC0aNhpvn
Today the families & survivors of Hillsborough, the people of my city, supporters of our great club & the millions of others smeared by the rag will feel profoundly betrayed by the leader of the party I was elected to represent.
… along with other Labour MPs whose hearts are in the right (rather than the right-wing) place:
I stand with @IanByrneMP, the families & survivors of Hillsbrough, fellow Liverpool supporters & the people of Liverpool, who feel the hurt of this betrayal. The whole football community will understand how Liverpool feels about this & stand in solidarity. #JFT97@spiritofshanklyhttps://t.co/BuMBN4yvlK
If you are a supporter of genuine Labour values, then this man and his hangers-on simply aren’t worth your time.
Spurn him as you would spurn a rabid dog. Shun him in the same way Liverpool shuns The Sun.
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Anna Rothery: her socialism is probably the reason she has been dropped as a Liverpool mayoral candidate. But the decision is also sexist and racist – and that is how Keir Starmer’s Labour party should now be described.
How is this an improvement?
Let’s go through the information we have, and please correct any errors.
There will be an election to fill the role of executive Mayor of Liverpool after Joe Anderson retired under a cloud.
The Labour Party held a selection process using an all-female shortlist which produced three candidates, including current Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Anna Rothery.
However, examination of Ms Rothery by party leaders revealed that she is:
female
black, and
socialist.
It seems that these are considered undesirable elements in Labour candidates under Keir Starmer’s leadership.
This may come as a surprise to many, especially as he should have expected a selection process that demanded that all candidates are female to produce candidates who aren’t men.
The selection process has reopened. It seems clear that the aim is to parachute in a candidate who is as neoliberal-blue as Starmer himself – in denial of Liverpool Labour members’ right to a free and democratic selection.
But the fact is that he will have eliminated a black woman to do it.
Therefore it is possible to claim that Starmer’s Labour is prejudiced against women and against people of colour: he and his party are sexist and racist.
I am reminded that his forerunner as Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, suffered years of attacks, both in the media and by backstabbing right-wingers within the Parliamentary Labour Party, based on fabricated accusation of anti-Semitism.
So I ask:
How is genuine racism and sexism better than fake anti-Semitism?
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Overwhelmed: across the northwest more than 2,660 patients are in hospital with Covid-19, including more than 200 patients on a ventilator.
You might think it is fair for the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to take possibly punitive action against the Liverpool University Hospitals Trust.
Trust medical director Tristan Cope had, in fairness, warned that the hospital had been overwhelmed by coronavirus and standards of care could no longer be maintained.
But would it be fair if, as he also claims, NHS England has been blocking the hospital from enacting plans that would redeem the situation – in the name of politics?
Here’s The Independent:
In the WhatsApp message to doctors, shared with The Independent by multiple sources, Dr Cope, a consultant in anaesthesia and critical care, said: “LUH is now essentially overwhelmed by the demand. We cannot maintain patient flow and usual standards of care. We have put forward a proposal to further reduce elective [planned] activity, but maintaining capacity for the most urgent cases that would suffer from a two-four week delay.
“It is a very sound plan that our divisional teams have worked up. However, NHS England are prevaricating and delaying with the usual request for more detail, more data, etc. It is clear to me that the politics is outweighing the patient safety issues of the acute crisis.
“There has been no meaningful support from the acute cell or NHS England. In fact, they are blocking us from acting in a rational way that would help us to manage the acute pressures.”
He added: “I am utterly demoralised by the catastrophic leadership failure at a national and regional level. I feel I have done everything I can in terms of escalation and lobbying for some courageous and meaningful action, but apparently to no avail, at least so far. Not sure what else I can do.”
Liverpool has been hit hard by the escalation of Covid-19 in recent weeks, as more and more people have succumbed to the virus as a result of Tory government policies that have allowed it to spread.
The Independent article’s comment from an NHS England spokesperson avoids the substantive issue already – merely commenting that the service is treating more people now than at the height of the first wave.
The statement also says more “clinical support” has been brought in from elsewhere in the region, but this must be balanced with the fact that it has demanded asymptomatic staff testing.
And who is going to be providing the facilities to test every single person in Liverpool, as often as necessary, as the government has claimed?
It seems clear that – yet again – the Tory “make do and mend” approach to medicine is heading for disaster. Perhaps Boris Johnson would treat the matter seriously – if only he were affected by it personally.
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Robert Jenrick: every time he turns up he’s telling a different story.
The Johnson government’s promises about its November lockdown in England – and the effect it will have on the other UK countries – are falling apart. Quelle surprise.
It should be clear to even the most casual spectator that it is now the Tory way to make wild promises alongside a major announcement of this kind, in order to put people off their guard.
They then renege on those promises in the days following the announcement – if they aren’t called out on the falsehoods first.
So here we see Boris Johnson telling the House of Commons that there will be funding to keep employees in furlough – across the UK, even in countries where lockdown does not coincide exactly with that in England…
Boris Johnson – If other parts of the UK go into lockdown then furlough will be available… & that applies in the future
Robert Jenrick – Furlough will be available until the 2/12, then it's up to the Chancellor#KayBurley – Jenrick walking back what PM promised in the House. pic.twitter.com/J3zwCNC5NK
… and Robert Jenrick, not 24 hours later, confirming that it won’t.
Kay Burley’s response to Jenrick is well worth preserving here:
To nobody's surprise that promise of future furlough funding made by Johnson yesterday turns out to be . Well, listen to Robert Jenrick & you decide. https://t.co/I3Lm2p1umA
“Don’t worry about repeating yourself, it’s very important to the people of Scotland. It might make the difference between being able to feed their families and not.”
That also applies to Wales; it applies to Northern Ireland.
Water off a duck’s back to Jenrick, though. He genuinely couldn’t care less if your kids starve.
The lie was told by Boris Johnson to the leader of the Scottish Tories, Douglas Ross – but people all over Scotland will be harmed because of it:
So why are #Scottish taxpayers currently paying for #England 's #furlough if there isn't a reciprocal arrangement for Scotland? People's jobs & the businesses you've been girning about @ScotTories , depend upon it. @ScotTories played as mugs by Boris (again)!
Perhaps less critically-important is the ability to play tennis and golf.
Michael Gove said on Sunday that tennis courts and golf courses would be open during the lockdown. Jenrick then merrily told BBC Breakfast News that they wouldn’t:
Communities Secretary, Robert Jenrick MP confirms to #BBCBreakfast that golf and tennis will not be permitted in England during the second lockdown after Michael Gove said the sports would be allowed.https://t.co/eaKrvwpsZcpic.twitter.com/wol6KKn0fl
Worst of it all is that we can’t trust a word that Jenrick said – and I’m not referring to the fact that, in terms of corruption, he’s as bent as a nine-pound note.
Consider the knot into which he tied himself when talking about the new plan to test everybody in Liverpool for Covid-19:
Gov’t Minister Robert Jenrick – “we have over 500,000 tests available across the country every day”#BBCbreakfast fail to point out number of tests processed yesterday was only 270,473 & number of actual people tested is even lower than that!
It’s another test, track and trace disaster-in-the-making – and another Tory lie.
I don’t think any UK country will get furlough cash after December 2; Johnson just said that to keep us all quiet.
I don’t particularly care about tennis courts and golf courses but I’m sure those who do will be upset that they must close. In fact, all sporting facilities, including local gyms (for example) perform a vital function for not just physical but also mental health, and there is a strong argument for keeping them open that the Johnson government won’t hear, because it isn’t actually interested in our health at all.
And I certainly don’t think a Labour city like Liverpool is going to get the benefit of a decent Covid-19 testing system when the Tories haven’t managed it anywhere else in the UK!
The tactic is clear: say what people want to hear – because the line can always be changed tomorrow.
Next week the Tories and their Twitter trolls will be denying that they ever misled us – and that will be another lie to add to the list.
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Beer buddies: it seems pubs in Liverpool will be shut from Wednesday – apart from those owned by Tory donor Tim Martin.
Well, we learned a lot about the UK under the Tories in 2020, didn’t we? Most especially, we learned that they only look after their own.
So, according to the BBC, Liverpool is facing a new kind of lockdown as it stands in the highest tier of Boris Johnson’s new Covid-19 alert system:
The Liverpool City Region will be on the “very high” Covid alert level from Wednesday, Boris Johnson has announced.
Confirming new three-tier restrictions, the PM said pubs, bars and betting shops would close on Merseyside.
… with certain exceptions.
It seems the Wetherspoons chain of pubs is exempt from closure because the Tories have dreamed up the excuse that they are “food-based pubs”. Yes indeed, it’s nothing to do with them being run by a leading Tory donor, Tim Martin!
Or is it? On the social media, people have their own opinions:
We all know the mantra by now: "A bar snack a day keeps the pandemic away…"
Since when is bloody Wetherspoons a food based pub? It’s full of drunken men with zero care for social distancing. They should be the first to close. Couldn’t be anything to do with Tim Martin being a brexiter 🛎 🔚? https://t.co/lKdFNrXYb9
Your periodic reminder that Wetherspoons boss Tim Martin donated £50k to the Conservative Party in December 2019 and £200k+ to Vote Leave in 2016 pic.twitter.com/xQ6KqferW8
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Not smiling: and with her record, Therese Coffey has nothing to smile about.
Therese Coffee really is a piece of… work, isn’t she?
On March 6, she made a visit to Liverpool, dropping in on the Job Centres at Bootle and Toxteth (recently the subject of a BBC documentary).
It’s her home town; she went to school there – but she had to sneak in like a burglar because her views make her hated.
She claims to be a Liverpool FC supporter but considers Margaret Thatcher – who blamed Liverpool fans for the Hillsborough disaster – to be a personal hero.
She voted for the Bedroom Tax.
She voted to cut Universal Credit – and refused to support ending the cruel five-week wait for the first payment of that benefit.
She voted to cut disability benefits – and has failed even to sign up for Disability Confident, a scheme that encourages employers like her (she pays for staff in her Parliamentary office) to take on disabled workers.
This last is particularly hypocritical as last November she appealed to employers to “take a look at their record on disability employment and think about what they can do to help create a more equal Britain”.
Clearly Ms Coffey considers herself to be above that.
Still, it seems there’s a precedent. Of all the previous Tory Work and Pensions secretaries, only Stephen Crabbe is actually listed as having signed up to Disability Confident (although Damian Green says he has, and that he has a disabled staff member).
Iain Duncan Smith, who introduced the scheme in 2013, isn’t on it.
Nor were Esther McVey, David Gauke and Amber Rudd ever part of it.
What a shower.
No wonder Ms Coffey doesn’t want to announce it when she comes to visit.
I’m surprised that she was allowed in by staff at the job centres.
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