UK - England, Wales, N.Ireland, Scotland

[Ben-Prime]

How many more times do the Tories have to fuck up before the UK realize they don't want them to rule?

Probably at least as many times as the people in the United States of America take to figure out that electing Republicans is not in the best interest of most of those voting for the Republicans.

In fairness, I think fewer times -- the UK has a healthier balance of >2 political parties that are taken seriously.

[Foggy]

I want to know how George W. Bush managed to commit the biggest foreign policy blunder in the history of this great land of ours, and Donald J. Trump didn't manage to make a worse one.

It makes no sense.

It's metaphysically absurd, man.

It puts something of a tarnish on the Trump administration, a majorly important area of the United States under any circumstances, but they somehow couldn't find a way to utterly and completely bollix it up worse than Shrub did (this is the UK thread, yeah bollix).

It's embarrassing. If Trump hadn't grifted so much money from foreign leaders, he wouldn't have any crooked activity besides trying to fuck Joe Biden in Ukraine (which turned out to be prescient, in the sense that Joe was, in actual fact, the Democratic nominee in 2020), and he got peached for his trouble.

George Bush spent a freakin' trillion dollars on a war that was a disaster from start to finish, and never got peached even once. But Trump couldn't even start a new war or end an old one! He was useless!

[dan1100]

WTF.

I turn my back for a week and the whole British government falls apart.

[Volkonski]

[Volkonski]

Fracking: Tory MPs set to defy Liz Truss in loyalty vote

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-63313824

Three Tory MPs look set to defy the government on fracking, after it declared a vote on banning shale gas extraction a "confidence motion".

Labour wants to use a vote in Parliament to force the introduction of a draft law to ban fracking.

The government has ordered Tory MPs to support its policy, or face expulsion from the parliamentary party.

Ahead of the showdown, three Tory MPs signalled they could not "vote tonight to support fracking".

Former ministers Chris Skidmore, Tracey Crouch, and backbencher Angela Richardson, suggested they would not support the government, meaning they could lose the whip.

[Volkonski]

Forty Tory MPs abstained from fracking vote

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/uk-politics-63309400

Among the MPs who abstained are Chief Whip Wendy Morton. Tory MPs have told the BBC she is no longer in post - though her position is still unclear.

PM Liz Truss is also listed as having not voted. We don't know why she wasn't present.

Other notable MPs who didn't vote are former PM Theresa May, former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng and former Home Secretary Priti Patel.

We don't know how many abstained on principle as Parliament doesn't record the reason for not voting - they may have been unable to be in Westminster.

But given that earlier in the day the vote was being described as a confidence motion, the fact that such senior MPs did not vote will raise eyebrows.

[RTH10260]

They don't seem to appreaciate the qualities of the lady

The politics sketch

Laughter fills the pauses as blank Liz Truss is let out to play leader

John Crace
Wed 19 Oct 2022 18.21 BST

The ghouls gathered, not wanting to miss the action, but it could have been so much worse


https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... lay-leader

[RTH10260]

Suella Braverman forced to resign as UK home secretary
Rightwinger is replaced by Grant Shapps in further serious blow to Truss’s authority

Pippa Crerar, Peter Walker and Aubrey Allegretti
Wed 19 Oct 2022 17.43 BST

Suella Braverman has been forced to resign as UK home secretary, throwing Liz Truss’s premiership into further chaos and angering the Tory right.

The Guardian was first to reveal that Braverman was departing, and that Grant Shapps, the former transport secretary who strongly backed Rishi Sunak in the Conservative leadership race, was replacing her.

Braverman, a leading rightwinger, was sacked by the prime minister because she sent an official document from her personal email to a fellow MP, in a serious breach of ministerial rules.

The draft written statement on migration was deemed highly sensitive because it related to immigration rules, which potentially have major implications for market-sensitive growth forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility.



https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... -liz-truss

Comment: She was the most unlikely person to become a minister, especially in an important position. As attorney advising the government she was blundering from legal fail to the next.

[Volkonski]

[Volkonski]

[Foggy]

[Gregg]

I want to know how George W. Bush managed to commit the biggest foreign policy blunder in the history of this great land of ours, and Donald J. Trump didn't manage to make a worse one.

It makes no sense.

It's metaphysically absurd, man.

It puts something of a tarnish on the Trump administration, a majorly important area of the United States under any circumstances, but they somehow couldn't find a way to utterly and completely bollix it up worse than Shrub did (this is the UK thread, yeah bollix).

It's embarrassing. If Trump hadn't grifted so much money from foreign leaders, he wouldn't have any crooked activity besides trying to fuck Joe Biden in Ukraine (which turned out to be prescient, in the sense that Joe was, in actual fact, the Democratic nominee in 2020), and he got peached for his trouble.

George Bush spent a freakin' trillion dollars on a war that was a disaster from start to finish, and never got peached even once. But Trump couldn't even start a new war or end an old one! He was useless!

Trump did much worse, he showed the world that the US was no longer a country that would honor its treaty obligations beyond the next election.

[Volkonski]

[Gregg]

Put me down fifty quid on the lettuce.

[Foggy]

Trump did much worse, he showed the world that the US was no longer a country that would honor its treaty obligations beyond the next election.

Very true, but dig it - those treaties were the foundation for winning the Cold War, but it seemed to me that in recent years, the NATO alliance meant a lot more to Putin than it did to France and Germany, because nobody thought Russia was going to start a war with NATO.

Howsoever, you are absolutely right that he did enormous damage to our foreign policy, not just for showing that we might not honor treaties, but because he showed that in any given election we could elect a madman. Our vaunted Constitution didn't protect us. Imagine our foreign policy if he had managed to overturn the election and stay in office right up till today.

**shudders**


We larf at the troubles Liz Truss is having, but the UK, when it makes a mistake choosing a PM, can at least do something fairly quickly about it. We had to wait four long years.

[raison de arizona]

This real, or a comedy sketch?

[Kriselda Gray]

From what I've seen in the news, that's real

[RTH10260]

Reality TV "Big Brother - London UK Edition"

[raison de arizona]

This looks like much more fun than we have in the states.

[Gregg]

Make it £100/

[Greatgrey]

Meanwhile, the new king’s mistress is using her friendship with Judy Dench to exert some pressure on Netflix. Seems Chuck & Camel don’t like the way they have been portrayed.

[RTH10260]

an opinion piece

uploaded three days ago

[RTH10260]

Bank of England officials were excluded from mini-budget discussions
Deputy governor Sir Jon Cunliffe says Bank did not have usual briefing the night before mini-budget

Phillip Inman and Kalyeena Makortoff
Wed 19 Oct 2022 19.00 BST

Bank of England officials were excluded from discussions ahead of the mini-budget last month that triggered a “full-scale liquidation event” for pension funds, MPs heard on Wednesday.

Deputy governor Sir Jon Cunliffe, who said the central bank was forced into battle to save the £1.5tn pensions industry from insolvency, also warned ministers against grabbing fresh powers to meddle in the decisions of regulators or risk a further deterioration in the UK’s international reputation.

Cunliffe, who has responsibility for the UK’s financial stability, said the central bank was usually briefed confidentially by the Treasury ahead of a budget to allow officials to include the impact of public spending announcements in monetary policy.

However, on this occasion, the Bank’s financial policy committee was blindsided and members of the nine-strong monetary policy committee (MPC) were unable to consider how £45bn of unfunded tax cuts would affect the economic outlook and financial markets.



https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... iscussions

[much ado]

For some reason, I find the Prime Minister's Questions session in Parliament rather interesting. For your enjoyment, here is today's (Wednesday, October 19, 2022)...

[Greatgrey]

And she quit.

Nice, a £115,000/year retirement for 6 weeks on the job.