The Boris Johnson Show: Not a Comedy

[Stavros]

The evidence given by Dominic Cummings to a joint session of the Health and Social Care and the Science and Technology committees will surprise few people. Even Boris Johnson’s friends will cheerfully admit he is a pathological liar, completely untrustworthy and a managerial incompetent. What he lacks in basic skills he makes up for in PR, but lives for headlines without which he feels inadequate and ignored.

I can’t say much about Matt Hancock other than to assume Johnson keeps him there as the fall guy for all and any mistakes made in Covid, and the Johnson Govt made grievous mistakes, the most serious being the re-location of elderly patients in hospital to care homes without being tested for Covid. It is aggravated by Johnson’s failure to fulfill the pledge he made in 2019 to reform social care.

The real point of interest is Cummings praising a few people, damming many, but making no reference to Michael Gove, for whom Cummings worked most of the years between 2007-2014 (see link below) It is relevant because the gossip is that Gove has been plotting an internal party coup to replace Johnson, with Cummings as the scout returning from the front to issue warnings. He is evidently a fan of Rishi Sunday too, so a Gove-Sunak double act would present a rational replacement for the irrational Johnson, not least because the real heroes of Covid are the NHS and frontline workers rather than Johnson and Hancock. And with Johnson thin- skinned and craving constant attention and affection, he may jump ship rather than be forced to walk the plank. Watch that space.

https://dominiccummings.com/about/

[Stavros]

Quelques aperçus pour notres temps...

1) A few weeks ago there was a rumour that Boris Johnson wants to remain in power for 10 years so he can transform Britain....now we are told his Cabinet re-shuffle suggests he is thinking of an early election in 2023. Oh dear, does this mean we are going to have to suffer 10 years of this waffling bollocks-

"Johnson said in his speech that strong leadership was “the yeast that lifts the whole mattress of dough, the magic sauce, the ketchup of catch-up” "--?
https://www.theguardian.com/inequali...k-of-substance


2) As part of the re-shuffle, his Brexit Buddy -and one time opponent- Michael Gove, has been given a leg-up in his political fortunes, perhaps because he is now without a wife and is not getting his leg over (well, not with her)? Whatever, he is now to be known as The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities; and, The Minister for Intergovernmental Relations (sounds like something from the USSR). It is not known if this means he has two salaries, but it does mean he is going to be very busy, perhaps too busy to plot the removal of Boris Johnson from No 10 Downing Street?
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/michael-go...191859169.html


3) If anyone knows what 'Levelling Up' means, drop me a line. If anyone can tell me how a Conservative, by definition committed to the Conservation of Inequality as viewed from Buckingham Palace, Sandhurst, the City of London, and Middle Temple, is so committed to social and economic change, then tell me that person is not in fact a Conservative. Thus-

4) Boris Johnson has defended his Government's cuts to Universal Credit, by saying claimants should rely on their own efforts rather than on welfare. This from a man who had his Caribbean holiday paid for by someone else, who had the costs of the refurbishment of his apartment in Downing St paid for by someone else, and who allegedly doesn't even pay for his own groceries, paid for by someone else... also known as 'welfare', as in, 'the rich concerned for the welfare of Boris Johnson'.
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/ent...b0231e3699003e


5) And as Brexit continues to swamp small and medium sized businesses with regulations in what was supposed to be 'regulation free' nirvana for British business, the Government so committed to free markets, has entered those markets, defying the orthodox view as Blessed by Margaret that the State should stay out of Markets-

"The UK government has become a shareholder in more than 150 companies during the Covid crisis, including a kombucha drinks maker, a bespoke ship builder and a knitting and crochet supplier, data reveals."
https://www.theguardian.com/politics...y-ship-builder

6) And to return to Brexit -is it the case that when Boris Johnson uttered the prophetic words "Fuck Business" he was levelling that barb at SMEs in the UK? That the fundamental aim of Brexit was to transform the UK into an 'Investment Destination' for foreign capital more than eager to Buy Britain? As part of its 50 years of Independence from the UK, the UAE has announced a 10 billion pound invesment programme in the UK-

"Over the next five years, the UAE-UK SIP will drive a significant increase in investment across a further three sectors: technology, infrastructure, and energy transition, as well as build on the existing programme of life sciences investment."
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/u...-uk-industries

-Well, that relieves the Parasites of the City of London of the Risk involved in investing in their own country (they prefer dealing in Bonds, and other people's Shares rather than creating things that provide jobs for people)...
...meanwhile the Chancellor of the Exchequer also welcomes foreign capital as part of the 'Global Britain' strategy- again, so his mates in the City can avoid investing in Britain and just skim their 5% off the surface of everyone else's assets...

"Rishi Sunak has given his blessing to a multibillion-pound trend that has seen foreign private equity firms snap up British businesses, describing the buying spree as “good news” for the economy."
https://www.theguardian.com/politics...-uk-businesses

7) Global Britain...but not an Empire, not even an Empire of Capital --which exists but cannot be owned by a single state. And one in which the French, who live not far from us, need never be consulted about anything, be it Sausages, Submarines, or Saltimbocca.

But is Boris Johnson Prime Minister of the UK, or in reality, just First Minister of England?

[Stavros]

Having yesterday issued a childish swipe at France with his own version of Franglais, today Boris Johnson went to the UN and told the world it is time to 'grow up'.

Never one to reflect on his own choice of words, or indeed his policies -when they go wrong it is aways somebody else's fault, if not the French, the EU and so on, ad tedium.- Johnson deployed a dubious mathematical calculation on the human presence to establish that humanity is, in effect, 16 years old-

"An inspection of the fossil record over the last 178 million years – since mammals first appeared – reveals that the average mammalian species exists for about a million years before it evolves into something else or vanishes into extinction.

Of our allotted lifespan of a million, humanity has been around for about 200,000.
In other words, we are still collectively a youngster.
If you imagine that million years as the lifespan of an individual human being – about eighty years – then we are now sweet 16."

Citing presumably his own preferences "We have come to that fateful age when we know roughly how to drive and we know how to unlock the drinks cabinet..." (who these days has a 'drinks cabinet', with a lock?), Johnson went on in dramatic terms-

"My friends the adolescence of humanity is coming to an end.

We are approaching that critical turning point – in less than two months – when we must show that we are capable of learning, and maturing, and finally taking responsibility for the destruction we are inflicting, not just upon our planet but ourselves.
It is time for humanity to grow up."

And then toward the end, the schoolboy who never grew up said

"And when Kermit the frog sang It’s Not Easy Bein’ Green, I want you to know he was wrong - and he was also unnecessarily rude to Miss Piggy."

Muppets, one might say, never die, they just get elected to Parliament and deliver pompous speeches while, in practical terms, doing as little as possible to meet the targets they set themselves, as Sir David King points out in the clip from this evening's Channel 4 News, linked below.

Johnson's speech of Global Importance, is here-
https://www.gov.uk/government/speech...september-2021

Sir David King on COP26 and the opportunities ahead of us -positive about the UK other than Johnson failing to meet targets -and aso positive on China, is here-
https://www.channel4.com/news/govern...avid-king-says

*If not available outside the UK directly, may be on YouTube.

[Stavros]

Max Hastings recently described Boris Johnson as 'an entertainer' rather than a serious poltician. The climax of the Conservative Party Conference was a sideshow to reality, though the sheep baa'd with approval -well not all as Steve Baker at a fringe meeting referred to his party's tax increases and declared, part satire, part despair 'we are all Socialists now'.

Others were less amenable to the lies Johnson trotted out (see the Independent link below). For example, the Free Market Adam Smith Institute said of Johnson's speech it was "“bombastic but vacuous and economically illiterate”"-
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/boris-john...231213616.html

Also on the sides, Dominic Raab rejected the suggestion misogyny be made a hate crime, then revealed he didn't know what it meant. Mr Raab is Boris Johnson's Deputy.

Johnson's Conference Lies debunked-
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...-b1933390.html

[Stavros]

It has not been a good week for the 'Prime Minister'- -surely, the First Minister of England? After leading the World at the Cop 26 assembly in Glasgow, where Boris banged on about carbon reductions, he lept onto a carbon burning jet to London where, with the help of the Chief Whip he organised a defence of Owen Paterson MP (annual salary £81,932), found guilty of accepting £100,000 from various commercal firms in return for Paterson (ex-Govt Minister) lobbying his chums in Government Departments. So outraged was Boris that one of his oldest chums be exposed in this way, he decided to scrap the Committee that exposed corruption, to be replaced by one dedicatedd to covering it up.

Martina Hyde takes up the story-

"Let’s play out with how the British prime minister spent the eve of this shameful vote. Boris Johnson had left his own climate conference on a private jet, incidentally, to have dinner at the Garrick Club with the longtime climate denialist Charles Moore. Also incidentally, Moore used to be Johnson’s editor when he published his various fabrications about the EU. Incidentally – again – Johnson fairly recently sought to install Moore as chairman of the BBC. (Moore has, incidentally, previously been a licence-fee refusenik). Still incidentally, Moore is a real friend of Owen Paterson’s, and has been a significant advocate for his foolhardy defence…"
https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...s-commissioner

*Membership of the Garrick Club is for Gentlemen Only.

Currently, Boris has decided not to tell anyone how much his Spanish holiday cost, the costs, as far as we know, being borne by mult-millionaire Lord Goldsmith, the man who was sacked as an MP by his his constituents in Kensington then promptly sent to the House of Lords to represent 'the Government', either because the voters didn't realise what a gifted man Zac is, or because Boris needs to keep his friends close enough to sponge off them as and when needed, and anyway, Zac is 'close friends with Carrie, wife of Boris...

Fish 'n Chips, anyone? Boris is paying (he just persuaded Kwazi K to lend hm a tenner...)

[Stavros]

"“How can I be the thrust – the throttle – your mere footstep as you make your career? Tell me: how I can help you?”"

Whichever way, not the way for the Mayor of London to use his 'office', or for that matter, his orifice..

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...to-win-my-love

[Jericho]

You can tell they've been up to fuckery, they've wheeled out Stanley again!
Though, It was nice to see Lindsey grow a set of balls and finally remind Johnson it was PMQ's, not LOTOQ's, though to little too fucking late.
As far as Johnson's concerned, to quote Frankie Boyle, he "Should stick his face in a meat grinder and go live in the woods. I could watch him being gang raped and not feel a flicker of emotion...Actually, that's lie, I'd be disappointed they weren't killing him"!

Hey, when he' right...

[Stavros]

Arise, Boris the Blunderer, you have nothing to lose but your brains...

Extracts from his speech to the annual conference of the British Confederation of Industry-

"I can remember mass unemployment..."

"I have had some pretty wonderful jobs in my life, but among those purely hedonistic, I would rank Motoring Correspondent of GQ magazine. I drove Ferraris, Mazeratis, Nissan's, Skylines, Protons..." (is he scratching his bum when he says this? Hmmmm...) followed by some incoherent nonsense about the "burble and roar" of the internal combustion engine....

"When I was a kid... I remember those huge barges taking coal up the Thames to Battersea Power Station..."

[on wind farms] - "it seems faddish and ludicrous to imagine that we could light and heat our homes with a technology dating from 9th century Persia..."

"Ev's may not burble like sucking doves, and they may not have that vroom! vroom! vrahh! vrahh! you love so much..." (08.03 for the theatre)...

-Having said industrial innovation will be led by business, this, from none other than the re-incarnation of Moses (Moses? yup, Moses)-

"We've set out a ten point plan for Government leadership, a new decalogue that I produced exactly a year ago when I came down from Sinai and said to my officials -the new Ten Commandments., Thou Shalt..." (10.08.)

-at this point, Boris who has been shuffling the pages of his speech gets more animated with them, starts quoting Lenin, repeats his lies about the Crossrail of the North, the waffle about rail links between Manchester and Leeds...with signs of a deterioration as he sounds nervous, looks lost....

15.54 "blast it..forgive me...forgive me...forgive me...." he is lost, shufflng papers trying to find out where he is supposed to be -probably the most incompetent speech I have ever seen or heard from a senior politician. Stunning, but a fine example of just what an incompetent fool this man is.

Suddenly he is on a roll talking about skills and training and the techs-

(from 17.20) "fintech-medtech-edtech-biotech-edtech..er..nanotech-greentech, so you basically sound like 15th century Mexico..."
(What? Hello? )

21.04 "Yesterday I went, as we all must, to Peppa Pig World- I don't know if you'v been to Peppa Pig World..who's been to- hands up anyone who's been to Peppa Pig World..(waits for a response)...not enough!"

Boris Johnson is Prime Minister of the UK. On the evidence of this shambles, not for much longer Maybe this time next year he will be a 'Greeter and Meeter' -at Peppa Pig World....?

[Jericho]

Just another dead cat to keep us occupied as they sell off the nhs

[Stavros]

Just another dead cat to keep us occupied as they sell off the nhs

Meow!