Jump to content

General Politics Thread


Granny Danger

Recommended Posts

5 minutes ago, CaspianChris said:

A Labour MP by the name of Christine Lee has been flagged up by the security services as an active agent of the Chinese goverment.

Warning emails have been sent out to members of both the Commons and Lords by the speakers of both Houses.

Not good news at all bit no surprise that the Chinese goverment have managed to get someone in there either.

 

 

 

20220113_141453.jpg

She's not a Labour MP.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good long read on Dominic Cummings, brief extract below. Basically politics by trolling and triggering to get what you want.

Quote

This is his political superpower: he takes the other side’s ideas seriously, but not the people who hold those ideas. It means he can think dispassionately about what his opponents are doing – even get inside their heads and explore how they will react to what he is doing – while retaining his unshakeable contempt for them. He likes to conduct thought experiments in which he imagines how the idiots might do their version of politics better if they weren’t such idiots. It’s what won him Brexit. When remainers wailed about his tactics, traduced his character and told him he was playing with fire, he just shrugged. He ignored the commentariat and relished the howls of outrage from the chatterati. But he also thought hard about how his campaign messages would affect theirs. By wrapping the case for Brexit in the mantle of the NHS, he not only made Brexit more appealing to many voters, he infuriated remainers who knew it was nonsense. Which meant they ended up talking about his message, Brexit = NHS, and not theirs. In politics, victory doesn’t always go to the people who work hardest. It also goes to the ones for whom outrage is a weapon, not simply an indulgence.

The same applied in the tumultuous autumn of 2019, when parliament appeared paralysed by what to do about Brexit and the country was running out of patience. Cummings makes it clear that he had to persuade Johnson the only way through was to provoke an election, and that meant doing whatever it took to ensure his opponents ran out of patience first. It was a deliberate strategy. Prorogue parliament – not because you want to shut down democratic debate, but because you want to ensure the other side can’t talk about anything else. Send them mad and you will get what you want in the end, because they will be unable to think straight.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jan/14/intoxicating-insidery-and-infuriating-everything-i-learned-about-dominic-cummings-from-his-10-a-month-blog

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 13/01/2022 at 14:21, CaspianChris said:

The name of Christine Lee has been flagged up by the security services as an active agent of the Chinese goverment.

Warning emails have been sent out to members of both the Commons and Lords by the speakers of both Houses.

Not good news at all bit no surprise that the Chinese goverment have managed to get someone in there either.

 

 

 

20220113_141453.jpg

I read that as Christopher Lee.

MI5 are believed to be looking for a criminal mastermind in a silk dressing gown with long nails answering to the name of Fu Manchu

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good long read on Dominic Cummings, brief extract below. Basically politics by trolling and triggering to get what you want.
This is his political superpower: he takes the other side’s ideas seriously, but not the people who hold those ideas. It means he can think dispassionately about what his opponents are doing – even get inside their heads and explore how they will react to what he is doing – while retaining his unshakeable contempt for them. He likes to conduct thought experiments in which he imagines how the idiots might do their version of politics better if they weren’t such idiots. It’s what won him Brexit. When remainers wailed about his tactics, traduced his character and told him he was playing with fire, he just shrugged. He ignored the commentariat and relished the howls of outrage from the chatterati. But he also thought hard about how his campaign messages would affect theirs. By wrapping the case for Brexit in the mantle of the NHS, he not only made Brexit more appealing to many voters, he infuriated remainers who knew it was nonsense. Which meant they ended up talking about his message, Brexit = NHS, and not theirs. In politics, victory doesn’t always go to the people who work hardest. It also goes to the ones for whom outrage is a weapon, not simply an indulgence.
The same applied in the tumultuous autumn of 2019, when parliament appeared paralysed by what to do about Brexit and the country was running out of patience. Cummings makes it clear that he had to persuade Johnson the only way through was to provoke an election, and that meant doing whatever it took to ensure his opponents ran out of patience first. It was a deliberate strategy. Prorogue parliament – not because you want to shut down democratic debate, but because you want to ensure the other side can’t talk about anything else. Send them mad and you will get what you want in the end, because they will be unable to think straight.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jan/14/intoxicating-insidery-and-infuriating-everything-i-learned-about-dominic-cummings-from-his-10-a-month-blog

Runciman is a bit of a fanny but I don’t mind his writing. Cheers for linking as this passed me by.

I think about this thread a lot:
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 07/01/2022 at 05:12, Granny Danger said:

What’s with Div’s pinned thread?  I’ve obviously missed something.

 

He told me didn't want to shame you publically so decided to be diplomatic about it. Obviously didn't work...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah it's a good thread. There's been some good stuff from the IFS and (I think) Resolution on how energy price inflation is going to hit poorer households. 

It does, kinda, point to how ratcheting up interest rates isn't going to solve this problem. Putting money directly in people's pockets would do a lot more IMO.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, yoda said:

Yeah it's a good thread. There's been some good stuff from the IFS and (I think) Resolution on how energy price inflation is going to hit poorer households. 

It does, kinda, point to how ratcheting up interest rates isn't going to solve this problem. Putting money directly in people's pockets would do a lot more IMO.

Putting money into the wrong people's pockets is what has brought us here.  There is no doubt that the effect of QE is about to be felt and all so that people that already had, got a little more.  

It's funny (it's not) to see those that claim they are left wing posting about how their pension have risen by double-digit growth.  Yip, no downsides to asset bubbles at all.

Those that claim pumping vast sums of money into the financial system could be undertaken without inflation obviously went to the "end of boom and bust" lectures from Gordon Brown.

The fascination that we have with owning property which is central to so many policy decisions is a weight around the neck of the country and especially the "have nots"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Putting money into the right people's pockets (i.e., low paid households and those relying on benefits) is the best way to reduce the impact of the current spike in inflation. You're not going to reduce energy costs or food prices by increasing the BoE's base rate. And I don't think the current episode is a "monetary phenomenon", or at least, that's not the biggest driver.

Hard agree on the property owning bit though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 20/01/2022 at 12:36, welshbairn said:

Interesting thread on why it's the poorest who suffer the brunt of inflation.

 

Frankly amazed that anyone wouldn't have noticed that the price of low-end foodstuffs hasn't risen astronomically since the credit crunch, but then I remembered the millions of I'm Alright, Jacks who won't give a single shiny shit until crime increases to compensate for the desperation of the plebs.

Then they'll demand more money is spent on prisons and law enforcement to protect them from the Bad People.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...