Westminster Politics

Yes it is disgusting, that's why I posted the link. Whilst it's hard to attribute an actual figure, I don't think anybody can argue that deaths have increased as a result of Tory policies.
Of course it can be argued that deaths have increased as a result of Tory policies. There is lots of evidence from various sources. It all paints a clear picture. Here is some more. Still disgusted?

https://www.theguardian.com/society...ied-after-fit-for-work-assessment-dwp-figures
 
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Interesting hypothesis: click for twitter thread



I agree with his premise but i dont see how his logic works in a few areas. Just because parliament isn't sitting doesn't mean Johnson doesn't have to comply with the extension and most legal experts seem to think it'd be an open and shut case against the government.

I also don't think they'll do the VONC until they've amended the legislation to give someone else the power if Boris refuses.
 
Of course it can be argued that deaths have increased as a result of Tory policies. There is lots of evidence from various sources. It all paints a clear picture. Here is some more. Still disgusted?

https://www.theguardian.com/society...ied-after-fit-for-work-assessment-dwp-figures

You have misunderstood me. I'm saying Tory policies have contributed to more deaths in society. I just don't believe the figure to be as high as 120,000 and I don't think it's useful for people to use this figure when they're shouting at conservative MPs.
 
Tbf I'm pretty sure hedge funds without said political connections are shorting the pound as well given the multitude of economic assessments about the impact of no deal and the probability of said no deal

Of course they are but i dont think the hedge funds behaviour is an issue as much as Boris and Leave taking money from these people in the first place.

The quicker we come round to just having private low level member funding and government funding only for politics the better.
 
Tbf I'm pretty sure hedge funds without said political connections are shorting the pound as well given the multitude of economic assessments about the impact of no deal and the probability of said no deal
It’s said that the ones backing BoJo are in it for billions. That surely has to have some part in his mentality
 
Are these clowns actually going to work today as they so desperately wanted to come back?

A lot of effort went into cancelling the prorogation and so far in a week they’ve argued about some words hurting their little baby ears. Nothing has been achieved
 
You have misunderstood me. I'm saying Tory policies have contributed to more deaths in society. I just don't believe the figure to be as high as 120,000 and I don't think it's useful for people to use this figure when they're shouting at conservative MPs.

I think these theoretical deaths, based on previous trends are a strange thing to try to calculate full stop. Trends and correlations change by their very nature.

That's before even considering the fact that if the NHS, Department of Transport, Welfare/Pension departments etc had a budget of £500b there would obviously be tens of thousands less deaths per year. Therefore are we going to say "every government ever is responsible for tens of thousands of deaths per year due to not spending double the tax take per annum"?
 
Are these clowns actually going to work today as they so desperately wanted to come back?

A lot of effort went into cancelling the prorogation and so far in a week they’ve argued about some words hurting their little baby ears. Nothing has been achieved

How ignorant, If you want to actually educate yourself of all the different things parliament are doing you only have to look on the website.
 
You have misunderstood me. I'm saying Tory policies have contributed to more deaths in society. I just don't believe the figure to be as high as 120,000 and I don't think it's useful for people to use this figure when they're shouting at conservative MPs.
The exact figure can be debated, yes. But as the article I shared stated, it's easily into the thousands. Would it be more palatable if they rounded down the estimate to 10,000 or 50,000?

Why is it not useful to communicate that thousands of deaths have been caused by Tory policy?
 
Are these clowns actually going to work today as they so desperately wanted to come back?

A lot of effort went into cancelling the prorogation and so far in a week they’ve argued about some words hurting their little baby ears. Nothing has been achieved

Oddly enough most of the first day of recall revolved around the governments illegal attempts to curtail parliamentary scrutiny - worth having a chat about in my book. Then they used this newfound ability to scrutinise and discovered that the government inadvertently overlooked a greater number of arms sales to Saudi Arabia than had previously been realised. The government was also given the opportunity to clarify its position regarding Iran and detail its response to the Thomas Cooke affair. Outside the chamber several committees sat and papers on a variety of topics were laid down, including area specific planning for a European exit.

Given that Parliament was resumed at short notice it also had to create a new order of business. So some of the time last week was also used to set an agenda for the retabling and passage of such things as the Fisheries Bill, Agriculture Bill, Financial Services Bill, Exiting the European Union Bill, etc. Today that means they'll be debating and passing motions relating to the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Act.

In fact the parliamentary time given over to arguing about inflamed tensions and its repercussions on politician safety lasted little more than an hour - or 1/24th - of parliament's sitting.
 
I think these theoretical deaths, based on previous trends are a strange thing to try to calculate full stop. Trends and correlations change by their very nature.

That's before even considering the fact that if the NHS, Department of Transport, Welfare/Pension departments etc had a budget of £500b there would obviously be tens of thousands less deaths per year. Therefore are we going to say "every government ever is responsible for tens of thousands of deaths per year due to not spending double the tax take per annum"?

No, we are going to say that Tory austerity is responsible for thousands of incremental deaths per year.

The Tory policies below all have a strong case of contribution to increased deaths.

1. The bedroom tax
2. Denying disability benefit to 165,000 people
3. Scrapping housing benefit for 18-21 year olds
4. Junior doctors contract cuts
5. £30 per week cuts to the sick (disability benefit)
6. Legal aid cuts
7. Scrapping nurses bursaries

Your final paragraph accepts a link between budget size and the number of deaths. How about the fact that Tory policy was to shrink those vital budgets while simultaneously decreasing corporation tax for businesses, finding billions of pounds to bribe the DUP, pay £22.5BN for an (advised against) Hinkley point nuclear power station and HS2 for example.
 
No, we are going to say that Tory austerity is responsible for thousands of incremental deaths per year.

The Tory policies below all have a strong case of contribution to increased deaths.

1. The bedroom tax
2. Denying disability benefit to 165,000 people
3. Scrapping housing benefit for 18-21 year olds
4. Junior doctors contract cuts
5. £30 per week cuts to the sick (disability benefit)
6. Legal aid cuts
7. Scrapping nurses bursaries

Your final paragraph accepts a link between budget size and the number of deaths. How about the fact that Tory policy was to shrink those vital budgets while simultaneously decreasing corporation tax for businesses, finding billions of pounds to bribe the DUP, pay £22.5BN for an (advised against) Hinkley point nuclear power station and HS2 for example.

It seems like you agree then that all parties in all countries are responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths across the globe due to not spending more money than they receive?

They're all guilty for example of spending less than 15% of GDP on health, rather than for example 100% per year.
 
It seems like you agree then that all parties in all countries are responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths across the globe due to not spending more money than they receive?

They're all guilty for example of spending less than 15% of GDP on health, rather than for example 100% per year.

Er. It's a judgement call isn't it? If we divert these funds from the health service to build a giant rubber knob it will increase deaths by 500 a year. Is this giant knob worth 500 deaths? If yes then we divert the funds and are responsible for both the 500 deaths and the creation of a giant rubber knob.

So the correct answer is yes, the government is responsible for the increase in deaths, but it is also responsible for the tidal wave of success, or the prevention of further suffering, that it bought with those lives.
 
Er. It's a judgement call isn't it? If we divert these funds from the health service to build a giant rubber knob it will increase deaths by 500 a year. Is this giant knob worth 500 deaths? If yes then we divert the funds and are responsible for both the 500 deaths and the creation of a giant rubber knob.

So the correct answer is yes, the government is responsible for the increase in deaths, but it is also responsible for the tidal wave of success, or the prevention of further suffering, that it bought with those lives.

What if the funds never existed in the first place? Ie we were spending more than the tax take allowed us to spend?

If spending more than we earn is not an issue, then how much is too much? Would spending 25% of GDP on healthcare be positive? 50%? 100%?
 
The BBC's framing of the accusations against Johnson is a bit strange. The editorial which accompanies it seems purely concerned with whether or not Johnson being seen to be a harraser plays badly with female voters whereas, I would argue the story is whether or not the PM harrasses women.
 
What if the funds never existed in the first place? Ie we were spending more than the tax take allowed us to spend?

If spending more than we earn is not an issue, then how much is too much? Would spending 25% of GDP on healthcare be positive? 50%? 100%?

That's precisely the judgement call, which is: These thousands of people were costing us too much to keep alive, an unfortunate and lamentable drag on an already wounded society. We did what we had to to prevent further societal degredation. Realistically their lives were the price we were forced to pay. You may choose to focus on the deaths, but look at all the things their deaths brought us.
 
Oddly enough most of the first day of recall revolved around the governments illegal attempts to curtail parliamentary scrutiny - worth having a chat about in my book. Then they used this newfound ability to scrutinise and discovered that the government inadvertently overlooked a greater number of arms sales to Saudi Arabia than had previously been realised. The government was also given the opportunity to clarify its position regarding Iran and detail its response to the Thomas Cooke affair. Outside the chamber several committees sat and papers on a variety of topics were laid down, including area specific planning for a European exit.

Given that Parliament was resumed at short notice it also had to create a new order of business. So some of the time last week was also used to set an agenda for the retabling and passage of such things as the Fisheries Bill, Agriculture Bill, Financial Services Bill, Exiting the European Union Bill, etc. Today that means they'll be debating and passing motions relating to the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Act.

In fact the parliamentary time given over to arguing about inflamed tensions and its repercussions on politician safety lasted little more than an hour - or 1/24th - of parliament's sitting.
@Steven Seagull Ouch - I'd say you've been schooled. :lol:
 
BBC News has just broadcast a clip of Boris Johnson responding to a question about whether he squeezed Charlotte Edwardes’ thigh at a Spectator lunch 20 years ago with a long and rambling reply about his plans to improve bus services.
 
Getting very bizarre! Kuenssberg is just jealous it wasn't her. At what point will Kuenssberg unleash her inner bunny boiler?

Dominic Cummings' wife rejects Boris Johnson 'touching' report
The wife of the prime minister's chief adviser Dominic Cummings has said Boris Johnson did not touch her thigh at a lunch in 1999.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49877508

 
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Jo Swinson says opposition leaders have agreed not to carry out a vote of no confidence this week because it would make No Deal more likely and “play into Boris Johnson’s hands”
 
Jo Swinson says opposition leaders have agreed not to carry out a vote of no confidence this week because it would make No Deal more likely and “play into Boris Johnson’s hands”
makes a GNU and an interim PM more likely I guess.
Logically if you dont do it this week your going to wait till 19th when he is supposed to write the letter...
if he does not then 21st vote of no confidence motion is presented
22nd debated (boris probably looses)
that leaves 9 days for somebody to command the confidence of the house, them to ask for (and presumably attain) agreement from the EU to extend... then to bring that back to the commons (does it also have to go through the lords???)
its going to be very tight - I can only assume the opposition parties have a pretty good idea of somebody they can coalesce around for that majority as there really isn't time to spend a week arguing over it
Think im gonna stick a few hundred quid on ken clarke
EDIT - Though Margaret Becket has seen her odds shorten a lot today suggesting somebody has piled a lot of money on her or there are some string rumours around
14/1 two days ago
12/1 one day ago
6/1 today...
 
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