Roosevelt. Who am I?

[Oldjohnw]

Yesterday he was Churchill. Now he's Roosevelt. Before long he'll be promising 20,000 new police officers, 40 new hospitals and varying numbers of new nurses.

Is he Roosevelt for 2020?

[pwa]

Yesterday he was Churchill. Now he's Roosevelt. Before long he'll be promising 20,000 new police officers, 40 new hospitals and varying numbers of new nurses.

Is he Roosevelt for 2020?

I said, weeks ago, that he was a "spend your way out of trouble" person and specifically mentioned FDR's "New Deal".

[Oldjohnw]

I don't see a problem in spending. But I fear he will regurgitate already promised spending then hit the weak to pay for it. And I doubt he will do green spending.

Instead he is building prisons! Not replacing household boilers or insulation. He is, to his credit, providing more charge points but he is also bailing out Virgin Atlantic.

I don't have a lot of hope but I realise I need to give him the benefit the doubt and wait and see. Trouble is, I can already see the USA getting excited about it.

[pwa]

I don't see a problem in spending. But I fear he will regurgitate already promised spending then hit the weak to pay for it. And I doubt he will do green spending.

Instead he is building prisons! Not replacing household boilers or insulation. He is, to his credit, providing more charge points but he is also bailing out Virgin Atlantic.

I don't have a lot of hope but I realise I need to give him the benefit the doubt and wait and see. Trouble is, I can already see the USA getting excited about it.

The Devil is in the detail, as they say. My own feeling is that if you are going to do an FDR New deal it takes the courage to spend a lot more than he currently has in mind.

[Oldjohnw]

And I fear that some of the spending has already been announced, possibly more than once.

Johnson is not a man of vision. He is always behind the curve.

[pete75]

He's promising a lot of new building. Construction companies frequently make donations to the Conservative party. Maybe Nixon would be a better comparison.

[reohn2]

I'm saying nowt until we see some real evidence of how much and where,but to the forefront of my mind is the way the mishandling of the pandemic by him and his government has let to the country being in a far worse position than it otherwise would have been were it handled better.
Credit where it's due but it's far from due presently.

[merseymouth]

Oh Pete75, That sounds so cynical, so disbelieving!
Twas ever the case though, remember McAlpine's Fusiliers, Marples Ridgeway, That chap whose family made millions from British Coal from his connections, no doubt that they all paid their dues to the providers of such largess!
But hey, all who find themselves at the top table find temptation too much to resist!
Even the expenses scandal shows that large numbers of M.P.'s enjoy the game of filling their boots, Aneurin Bevan enjoyed fiddling his income tax, self declaration before it became acceptable?
So until we get total transparency on the family finances, showing if they have over benefited from their time in office, proving that it is not proper economy that has enabled them to get wealthier, then things will always be a cesspit! MM

[ANTONISH]

Boris is at his best when making promises

[Oldjohnw]

So now, on the day that we in effect set the progress to no deal, Johnson announces pocket money to sort out Britain's future. In the 2019 manifesto he promised twice that on home improvements, now quietly dropped.

He chose yesterday's date well to hide the extension deadline passing and made a totally underwhelming non- green spend.

Roosevelt's deal was about 4% of GDP per annum for several years. Johnson's would be one quarter of one per cent if the whole lot was spent in one year. He is a conman.

[simonineaston]

The man truly is a fantasist - a used car saleman.

[reohn2]

The man truly is a fantasist - a used car saleman.

Just read it.
Yep smoke and mirrors,typical BS from our PM of choice

[Oldjohnw]

Apparently Phil Hammond when chancellor (not exact a friend of the poor) commissioned a report into why Britain lagged behind other countries in building houses.

Johnson blames EU environmental law - so called newt counting - completely missing the simple fact that the rest of Europe also follows these laws.

Hammond's study found that we have a small number of very large housebuilders who have about half a dozen stock designs (most, even the more modest homes, have two or three bathrooms which not every one needs or wants but piles on the price) mainly set at the high end. In Germany they have local housebuilders who build to local needs.

We have tax give aways supposedly for first time buyers but in effect only for the well off. It is not insignificant that some of the largest earners run the largest builders eg Persimmons.

Peter Bone MP's wife was able to benefit from first time buyer's allowance (for a second home) because she had not previously been a homebuyer.

[Oldjohnw]

I see that Mr Johnson has nominated Chris Grayling as chair of the Security committee. You know, the one which will issue the Russia report.

Some of Mr Grayling's past successes:

Privatising probation
Messing up court fees
Legal aid fiasco
East Coast Main line
Ferry companies without ferries
Flogging off prisons and cutting staff by 30%then having to re-recruit them

Bodes well.

[reohn2]

I see that Mr Johnson has nominated Chris Grayling as chair of the Security committee. You know, the one which will issue the Russia report.

Some of Mr Grayling's past successes:

Privatising probation
Messing up court fees
Legal aid fiasco
East Coast Main line
Ferry companies without ferries
Flogging off prisons and cutting staff by 30%then having to re-recruit them

Bodes well.

Man tries to stiffle loud and prolonged laughing fit,but fails.

It gets more surreal by the day,Rishy Sunpak offering peanuts alround is another example.
I'm beginning to feel like the Herbert Lom character in The Pink Panther films as Clouseau becomes evermore inept......
.....only it's for real and there are too many Clouseau's to count.