Dom puts the boot in...

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pwa
Posts: 17357
Joined: 2 Oct 2011, 8:55pm

Re: Dom puts the boot in...

Post by pwa »

The main selling point of Boris is that he gets things done. Not necessarily well, or wisely, or even legally, but that he gets things done. So revelations and accusations that are about his personal integrity aren't necessarily damaging to his core selling point. Arguably, being perceived as a bit dodgy is not a problem for him. What would harm him would be being seen as having not got stuff done. And that would take time. The pandemic has given him the ultimate excuse for not yet having made progress on his levelling up agenda, but that excuse will fade and he will need to show some results on that over the next year or so. If he doesn't, then his support will slip. Those here who want to see him fall flat on his face will have to exercise a bit more patience.
Psamathe
Posts: 17618
Joined: 10 Jan 2014, 8:56pm

Re: Dom puts the boot in...

Post by Psamathe »

pwa wrote: 31 May 2021, 5:16am The main selling point of Boris is that he gets things done. Not necessarily well, or wisely, or even legally, but that he gets things done. So revelations and accusations that are about his personal integrity aren't necessarily damaging to his core selling point. Arguably, being perceived as a bit dodgy is not a problem for him. What would harm him would be being seen as having not got stuff done. And that would take time. The pandemic has given him the ultimate excuse for not yet having made progress on his levelling up agenda, but that excuse will fade and he will need to show some results on that over the next year or so. If he doesn't, then his support will slip. Those here who want to see him fall flat on his face will have to exercise a bit more patience.
I wonder how successful he will be with his great "levelling-up" promises - promises that in effect allowed or massively helped his majority and last election success. Come next election will those promises turn to Labour's favour in terms of "What have these empty promises don for you" and help Labour recover those lost seats? Too early to say now and too early for Labour to start making such arguments.

Ian
KM2
Posts: 1318
Joined: 23 Oct 2008, 5:38pm

Re: Dom puts the boot in...

Post by KM2 »

Perhaps people can tell me what Two Jets Johnson has done.
I am obviously missing something.
pete75
Posts: 16356
Joined: 24 Jul 2007, 2:37pm

Re: Dom puts the boot in...

Post by pete75 »

pwa wrote: 31 May 2021, 5:16am The main selling point of Boris is that he gets things done. Not necessarily well, or wisely, or even legally, but that he gets things done. So revelations and accusations that are about his personal integrity aren't necessarily damaging to his core selling point. Arguably, being perceived as a bit dodgy is not a problem for him. What would harm him would be being seen as having not got stuff done. And that would take time. The pandemic has given him the ultimate excuse for not yet having made progress on his levelling up agenda, but that excuse will fade and he will need to show some results on that over the next year or so. If he doesn't, then his support will slip. Those here who want to see him fall flat on his face will have to exercise a bit more patience.
Such as?
'Give me my bike, a bit of sunshine - and a stop-off for a lunchtime pint - and I'm a happy man.' - Reg Baker
thirdcrank
Posts: 36764
Joined: 9 Jan 2007, 2:44pm

Re: Dom puts the boot in...

Post by thirdcrank »

KM2 wrote: 31 May 2021, 11:16am Perhaps people can tell me what Two Jets Johnson has done.
I am obviously missing something.
In the popular belief:-

He got Brexit done.
He was personally responsible for the success of the vaccination programme.

(Don't kill the messenger.)
Ben@Forest
Posts: 3647
Joined: 28 Jan 2013, 5:58pm

Re: Dom puts the boot in...

Post by Ben@Forest »

thirdcrank wrote: 31 May 2021, 11:50am
KM2 wrote: 31 May 2021, 11:16am Perhaps people can tell me what Two Jets Johnson has done.
I am obviously missing something.
In the popular belief:-

He got Brexit done.
He was personally responsible for the success of the vaccination programme.

(Don't kill the messenger.)
Yesterday(?) on R4 they were discussing how governments operate (obviously post-Cummings imbroglio). Two informed commentators - one of whom compared Johnson's style of government favourably to Blair's "sofa government" where Blair was reliant on his advisors and close colleagues for decision making and left the Cabinet out of the loop. Of course many commentators on here are now going to tell us how incompetent they are :wink: - but they are at least elected incompetents.
Psamathe
Posts: 17618
Joined: 10 Jan 2014, 8:56pm

Re: Dom puts the boot in...

Post by Psamathe »

thirdcrank wrote: 31 May 2021, 11:50am
KM2 wrote: 31 May 2021, 11:16am Perhaps people can tell me what Two Jets Johnson has done.
I am obviously missing something.
In the popular belief:-

He got Brexit done.
He was personally responsible for the success of the vaccination programme.

(Don't kill the messenger.)
I saw him on TV slaving away in those vaccine factories, risking all in the middle of a pandemic, out there, forsaking the safety of "stay home" and all so we could have enough vaccine.

Ian
Jdsk
Posts: 24488
Joined: 5 Mar 2019, 5:42pm

Re: Dom puts the boot in...

Post by Jdsk »

No Minister or member of the Cabinet in the HMG is elected to that post.

Most of them were elected to a different post with different responsibilities and accountability. And in my opinion with different requirements of skills.

Two haven't been elected as MPs.

Jonathan
thirdcrank
Posts: 36764
Joined: 9 Jan 2007, 2:44pm

Re: Dom puts the boot in...

Post by thirdcrank »

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and this one is no exception


There's no fool like an old fool
There's no fool like an old fool
Psamathe
Posts: 17618
Joined: 10 Jan 2014, 8:56pm

Re: Dom puts the boot in...

Post by Psamathe »

thirdcrank wrote: 31 May 2021, 1:10pm They say a picture is worth a thousand words and this one is no exception



TELEMMGLPICT000259995869_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq4QyOpXb5irNT8SiLxCLp5hFMauRrGKVFi_fPTCajdyU.jpg
If she spends all his money now decorating short term accommodation they'll be nothing left for the alimony settlement.

Ian
Stevek76
Posts: 2084
Joined: 28 Jul 2015, 11:23am

Re: Dom puts the boot in...

Post by Stevek76 »

Jdsk wrote: 31 May 2021, 12:30pm Two haven't been elected as MPs.
I feel a system where cabinet/ministers aren't from elected MPs works better. Having ministers largely restricted to being from the elected house means most are poorly qualified for many of the posts (particularly given the dearth of STEM education amongst politicians) and it also denies a number of constituencies their representation.
Psamathe wrote: 31 May 2021, 12:28pm
thirdcrank wrote: 31 May 2021, 11:50am
KM2 wrote: 31 May 2021, 11:16am Perhaps people can tell me what Two Jets Johnson has done.
I am obviously missing something.
In the popular belief:-

He got Brexit done.
He was personally responsible for the success of the vaccination programme.

(Don't kill the messenger.)
I saw him on TV slaving away in those vaccine factories, risking all in the middle of a pandemic, out there, forsaking the safety of "stay home" and all so we could have enough vaccine.

Ian
That's just the way these things are, sturgeon and drakeford have also benefited from the vaccine bounce.
The contents of this post, unless otherwise stated, are opinions of the author and may actually be complete codswallop
pwa
Posts: 17357
Joined: 2 Oct 2011, 8:55pm

Re: Dom puts the boot in...

Post by pwa »

pete75 wrote: 31 May 2021, 11:25am
pwa wrote: 31 May 2021, 5:16am The main selling point of Boris is that he gets things done. Not necessarily well, or wisely, or even legally, but that he gets things done. So revelations and accusations that are about his personal integrity aren't necessarily damaging to his core selling point. Arguably, being perceived as a bit dodgy is not a problem for him. What would harm him would be being seen as having not got stuff done. And that would take time. The pandemic has given him the ultimate excuse for not yet having made progress on his levelling up agenda, but that excuse will fade and he will need to show some results on that over the next year or so. If he doesn't, then his support will slip. Those here who want to see him fall flat on his face will have to exercise a bit more patience.
Such as?
Do you mean, who, here, would like to see Boris fall flat on his face? You perhaps? I'm not a fan either, so I would at least get a little pleasure out of seeing him fail. But he will probably fail by not getting results on key aspects of his agenda, especially the Levelling Up agenda. And at this point in time people will tend to give him some leeway because the pandemic means he has not been able to focus on that yet.

The only thing to judge him on at the moment is his errors in handling of the pandemic and, irritatingly, I don't see any signs of his supporters doing that. It seemed obvious to me, right from the start, that international travel for non-essential reasons ought to stop, and any remaining international travel ought to come with strictly enforced quarantine and testing. If that had happened very early in the pandemic we would have had fewer early cases and more time to prepare. His support seems to be holding up, so a lot of people must not be looking at it as I do.
thirdcrank
Posts: 36764
Joined: 9 Jan 2007, 2:44pm

Re: Dom puts the boot in...

Post by thirdcrank »

Those here who want to see him fall flat on his face will have to exercise a bit more patience.
He's safe just so long as his MPs and their constituency parties feel they are safe. A Titanic moment is always a possibility, but otherwise, it's hard to see what might sink him in the short to medium term. eg The pandemic seems to be laying a good smokescreen around the Brexit aftermath and in any case, that can all be blamed on those aspects of Europe that caused us to vote so overwhelmingly in favour of leaving them to perish. SNP campaigning will probably serve to strengthen his support among his supporters.

IMO, the big danger to most of our society is inflation. We have been "creating" money for well over a decade and that doesn't come without an eventual cost. Some of this will be short term. eg Pubs etc have been closing for years and the pandemic won't buck that trend, yet there's reported to be a shortage of staff in this bit of the leisure industry.

The biggy is that the Bank of England is buying government debt. A credit card without a credit limit seems too-good-to-be-true and so it is. And a Governor of the Bank of England who's a competent money-man - albeit a Remainer - has been replaced by a placeman (criticised by a judicial inquiry before this gets going.)

If inflation does undermine this government, there's no guarantee the next will be from the Left of our political spectrum.
Oldjohnw
Posts: 7764
Joined: 16 Oct 2018, 4:23am
Location: South Warwickshire

Re: Dom puts the boot in...

Post by Oldjohnw »

Interesting comment and where some blame might fall:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... SApp_Other
John
KM2
Posts: 1318
Joined: 23 Oct 2008, 5:38pm

Re: Dom puts the boot in...

Post by KM2 »

He’s safe. We’re in a dictatorship where MP’s have voted to sideline parliament. He can’t stand scrutiny, of any kind.
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