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Category Archives: Politics

Just another manic Monday…

16 Monday Sep 2019

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After a reflective weekend I’m back into the fray with a vengeance. I’ve been playing catch-up with editing last weeks rail and travel pictures to get them up on my Zenfolio website, which happened this morning. If you follow this link, you can see which galleries have been updated with new images. Here’s a couple of samples to whet your appetites. Anyone passing through the Calder Valley by train will probably have looked up at the hills above Todmorden and noticed Stoodley Pike plus the monument atop it. This was completed in 1856 and replaced an earlier one that was constructed to commemorate the end of the Napoleonic wars. 121 feet tall, it has an observation deck 41ft above ground that’s reached by internal stairs. It looks impressive from a distance, but it’s even more so close up. I can’t imagine what it must have been like as one of the people trying to build such a structure in such a windswept and desolate place with the tools available at the time.

Seen from the balcony of Stoodley Pike, a new Northern Class 195 makes its way across Lobb Mill viaduct outside Todmorden as it heads from Huddersfield to Blackpool North.

That done, I’ve been busy sorting out other pictures for a couple of clients as well as trying to prepare for the week ahead. It’s a busy week as I’ve got a lot of travelling to do, catching up with the ever-changing rail scene as the introduction of new fleets ramps up and the withdrawal of old trains escalates as a consequence. There’s some major changes happening out there at the moment and that’s going to continue for some time. I’ve also a blog on the Trans-Pennine route upgrade to update after attending a Network Rail consultation over the weekend as I’ve a lot of new information to add.

As if that wasn’t enough I’ve got to dust off my ‘penguin suit’ ready for Thursday’s National Rail Awards in London.

After working as the event photographer between 2003 and 2017 I’ve been honoured to be a VIP guest for the past few years along with my wife, Dawn. Now I can relax and spend time with friends and enjoy the awards rather than be on duty, wondering just how many people will turn up on stage to collect each trophy. Don’t get me wrong, I loved working there, but it wasn’t without it’s stresses when you knew you had to deliver great pictures of such a prestigious event. It’s good to see Huw Edwards returning as presenter this year, he’s been one of the best. That said, we’ve had some great ones over the years and it’s always been a challenge to get pictures of them as they pace the stage.

As you can see, there’s going to be plenty to blog about over the next few days – and that’s without the long-running farce that is British politics and the Brexitshambles. The latest tragi-comedy has taken place in Luxembourg where Johnson’s utterly stupid remarks comparing himself to the cartoon character the ‘hulk’ have backfired in spectacular fashion. Here’s a headline from Rupert Murdoch’s ‘Wapping Liar’ – sorry – the ‘Sun’

The reality? Johnson went from ‘Hulk’ to sulk and ran away from a joint press event with Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel! Christ on a bike, how stupid we look to the world right now, and it’s all our fault, despite the blame game the Brexiters are desperately playing. This is the political equivalent of “a big boy did it and ran away” – and the rest of the world knows it. In fact, everyone does but the Brexiters. Start stockpiling those foodstuffs folks. This has no happy ending – unless you’re a millionaire hedge fund manager…

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Sunday thoughts.

08 Sunday Sep 2019

Posted by in Politics, Rushbearing, Sowerby Bridge, Travel, West Yorkshire

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After the fun of rush-bearing yesterday today’s a bit of a come-down. The procession does continue but its focus is more rural and I’ve got other things to do – like edit the hundreds of pictures I took yesterday, as well as houshold chores, cooking and some DIY. It’s not exactly the rock and roll lifestyle, but it keeps me occupied!

That said, so does trying to keep track of the latest iplosions/resignations/floor crossings in UK politics! Today the headlines are all about the latest Cabinet Minister to abandon Johnson’s sinking government. That would normally be extraordinary enough but we live in such bizarre times we also have news that the Prime Minister is allegedly prepared to break the law to deliver Brexit. Meanwhile, the Lib-Dems gain their third defector in a week in the shape of former Labour MP Angela Smith. Truly, the old political party system is broken. Tribal allegiances have been torn apart. Brexit’s broken everything as both Labour and Tories have drifted to the extremes of left and right but neither have any answers to the mess we’re in. All we have now is voices of reason on both sides who cut through the crap and deal with the realities of the situation. Never in a million years would I have thought I’d be on the side of Michael Heseltine and Ken Clark, but that says it all really.

The depressing thing is seeing how many UK citizens are so ignorant of the trouble we’re in. As long as ‘Eastenders’and ‘Coronation St’ are still being broadcast, all’s well in their world. Apparently, we’re British, so we’re immune to all the world’s normal travails. Shit will never happen to us. Only it is and sticking one’s head in the sand isn’t going to help.

On the bright side, I’ve managed to start uploading yesterday’s pictures to the rush-bearing gallery. You can find them here. For now, here’s a couple of samples. I’ve a lot more to add over the next few days.

Another day of Parliamentary paralysis, high drama and low farce.

04 Wednesday Sep 2019

Posted by in Brexit, Politics

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Remember the days when Parliament used to do something useful, like scrutinise legislation, talk about important things pass legislation and stuff? No. Me neither. For the past three and a half years the place has been turned into a circus thanks to Brexit and the impossibility of delivering the lies it was based on whilst still pretending the Unicorns are real, if only we just ‘believed’ harder. Now we have paralysis in Government, where billions of pounds have been wasted trying to deliver the undeliverable and prepare for the unthinkable – a ‘no deal’ Brexit. Now the tragi-comedy has entered a new phase with the appointment of the bouffant buffoon as Prime Minister. He’s transformed the Cabinet in to a Brexiters wet-dream. It’s packed with hardliners and he’s surrounded by the ‘great minds’ of the Leave campaign. But he has one huge and insurmountable problem. He can’t make a lie true.

Brexiters never had a plan. They never expected to win, so they never thought they’d need one. They’ve spent decades dreaming about leaving the EU but never worked out a plan to make a success of doing so if they ever got the chance. Now they have, and it’s a shambles and it’s getting worse.

Brexiters always loved blaming other people to cover up for the lack of a plan. The latest wheeze was to say Brexit couldn’t be delivered because a ‘Remainer’ (Teresa May) was in charge and ‘remainers’ held cabinet posts. It was all bollocks of course, and how big a pair of cojones it was is becoming painfully obvious as Johnson flounders. His only successes have been to alienate many in his own party, start #StopTheCoup demonstrations the length and breadth of the country and make Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour front bench start to look vaguely electable. Who would have thought that we would see former Tory ‘Big Beast’ and Father of the House, Ken Clark MP thrown out of the Tory party, not to mention Winston Churchill’s grandson, Sir Nicholas Soames? Meanwhile, other moderate Tory MPs like Justine Greening have announced they’re standing down at the next election. In his overweening personal ambition, Johnson’s turned the Tory party into the Brexit party. His only ambition is to win an election before the car-crash that is a no-deal Brexit hits. Could he still do it? Possibly. The fat lady’s not yet sung and the farce continues in Parliament throughout today.

Yesterday parliament defeated Johnson and voted to take control of proceedings. Today there will be a vote to take a no-deal Brexit off the table and extend article 50 until January. Johnson wants to call an election now, but he needs a 2/3 majority of MPs to allow it. I can only pray they vote for the former and reject the latter. Let Johnson own his mess. He fell apart in Parliament last night. His normal comedy act and blithe lies don’t play well in Parliament. One of the MPs who exposed him for what he is was the former Tory Chancellor, Philip Hammond, who neatly skewered Johnson with his own lie that talks with the EU were ‘progressing’ and he’d be able to deliver a new deal. To add to the farce, as he was speaking, his Parliamentary majority in the shape of Dr Philip Lee MP got up, walked across the floor of the house and joined the Lib-Dem benches. It was a wonderful moment to watch!

There’s a sense that even some of those who backed Johnson are now starting to realise that he’s unfit for office. His performance last night was not one of a leader nor a statesman. He was woeful. He blustered, he lied and he refused to answer straight questions. It didn’t get any better, The oleaginous Jacob Rees Mogg provoked both fury (and later mirth) for the contemptuous way he draped himself across the Tory front bench. Here’s one of the wits responses on Twitter earlier today!

Sometime late this evening the next chapter of this farce will close, hopefully with a vote that will agree to take a ‘no-deal’ Brexit off the table. But that’s not the end of the story. Not by a long chalk. This shambles is going to drag on for years yet. This is just volume 1. At this rate it could compete in size with the Encyclopaedia Brittanica. Even if/when we leave the EU, we have years of trying to make good the damage to our economy, our ability to trade, our world standing and our fractured country. Is it any wonder more and more people are wanting to leave? Not the EU, but the UK…

I don’t like Mondays…

02 Monday Sep 2019

Posted by in Brexit, Musings, Politics, West Yorkshire

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Well, ones like this where the weather’s been miserable, I’ve been stuck at home collating vast numbers of pictures for a client and I’m watching my country slowly implode both economically and politically. Apart from that it’s been just fine!

Exciting as life is as a photographer, the wading through loads of library images to upload onto a client’s website is the least glamorous side of the job – even if it’s crucial. It’s monotonous and takes time as well as commands attention to detail. I suppose I should be grateful that the weather’s been so iffy so I’ve not been tempted to venture forth with the camera. The seasons really do feel like they’re starting to change up here in West Yorkshire. The nights are noticeably drawing in and the autumn chill is starting to creep in on the tail of shorter days.

My distraction would normally be to have the radio on, but the news bulletins are so depressing as they report on our increasingly dysfunctional Government and its suicide mission to deliver a ‘no deal’ Brexit, thus crippling the economy and trashing our reputation with the rest of the world – who already think we’re mad. That so many of my fellow countrymen think that Johnson’s threat to leave the EU without a deal is actually a threat the EU take seriously says a lot about the state of the UK nowadays. If someone’s holding a gun to their own head and threatening to pull the trigger anyone with an ounce of common-sense knows that there’s only going to be one result. Sadly, common-sense left these shores in 2016 and it looks like it has no intention of returning.

Meanwhile, the rest of us are caught up in this absolute farce as the Tory party morphs into the Brexit party, minus that lying, slimy toad Farage. Instead, they have their other poster boy, Boris – a man who’s relationship with the truth is just as divorced as Farage’s. This is not going to end well…

My only hope is that enough members of all political parties remember where they’ve left their backbones and put country before party. In the meantime, we’re in for a very rocky ride.

Right now, I have other considerations. I’ve finished uploading a batch of pictures to the client’s website and now my attention’s drawn to the delicious smells emanating from the kitchen where Dawn’s busy baking biscuits to take into the ACoRP staff meeting tomorrow. I may be gone some time…

September already? Shit – where’s the year gone?

01 Sunday Sep 2019

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Here we are, the first day of September and only three weeks to go before autumn. Can I ask, who nicked the summer? We didn’t really get one up here in West Yorkshire. Sure, we had a few scattered, sunny days – but nothing that equates to those summers of memory (or even last year) where you know you could rely on the weather to be consistent. Here’s an example. Back in July, when I was judging the ACoRP awards we had a Friday where the trains were delayed by buckling rails because of the heat, yet the following Monday we were suffering problems because of torrential rain and flooding! August was much the same. The climate is changing, it’s becoming harder to predict and much more extreme. Of course, we’re going to get the usual right-wingers and conspiracy theorists tell you it’s all down to sun-spots or the fanciful bollocks that we’re actually entering a new ice-age and the planets actually cooling but none of them will address the fact that we constantly hit new temperature records.

This is the problem with living in a post-truth world where people can stand up with a straight face and tell you that they’re talking about ‘alternative facts’. Imagine, we live in a world where – thanks to those handy little smartphones most of us carry – we can check almost any fact and use our intellects and education to work out when we’re being lied to. Well, that’s how it’s supposed to work anyway.

The Brexitshambles is a classic example of this and also how the narrative can change and yet so many people never realise and blindly follow the new message like sheep. Back in 2016 the Brexiters swore that if we left the EU we would be going into a new ‘Golden age’. The EU was holding us back, but anyway, ‘Johnny Foreigner’ would soon fold when we showed them that we meant business. Here’s some of the bullshit people lapped up.

Can any Brexiter who insists that they knew what they were voting for explain how we’ve gone from this to the Tory Government now preparing to crash out of the EU without a deal with all the consequences that will bring? How have we gone from David Davis saying there’s only ‘upsides’ to Boris Johnson saying that at least we’ll still have Mars Bars and clean water?

At what point are Brexiters going to admit they’ve been conned? That this country is on a suicide course for no other reason than a bunch of media moguls, disaster capitalists, spivs with Belizean diplomatic passports and the head-banging wing of the Tory party have manipulated them? Name a single benefit of Brexit – and don’t you dare tell me it’s about democracy when you’re calling half of the country ‘traitors’ and suspending Parliament so that you crash us out of the EU without a deal.

Whatever happens the UK is fractured. The ‘united’ kingdom was always an uneasy alliance. Now it’s looking like it won’t survive English exceptionalism and their contempt for foreigners – which includes long-standing issues with the other elements of the Union: Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It seems that anything can be thrown under the wheels of the Brexit bus as long as they keep turning.

Rolling blog: Thursday thoughts and perambulations…

22 Thursday Aug 2019

Posted by in Hs2, Politics, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel, West Yorkshire

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11:48.

It’s been an interesting and busy day so far, even if I’ve not got done everything I hoped. Yesterday the details of the Oakervee review panel into Hs2 came out, which saw me write a comment piece for RAIL mag about it, then a much longer blog that looked at the composition of the Committee. The past 24 hours have seen a barrage of comment – much of it woefully ill- informed or politically driven – but it’s been good to see the projects supporters wade through this nonsense to forcefully rebut it. Few of us have any worries about the review, but we know the next few days and maybe even weeks will be full of froth until the Committee reports back and we can continue with building HS2 without anymore daft diversions. There’s enough political theatrics going on as it is what with Boris the Clown humiliating us on his European tour. Brexiters are finding out to their cost that the excuse they used that the only reason Brexit wasn’t going well was because a ‘remainer’ was PM, was as true as all their other claims.

Away from the froth I’ve been busy sorting out pictures for clients and my website, along with future travel plans and events. This Saturday we’re having a day on a friend’s narrowboat and I’ve also been sorting out Eurostar tickets for the next ‘Big 6 on Tour’ adventure, which sees a group of us venture further afield to Bruges for a few days.

I’d planned to head out and top up the library shots as I’m meeting a friend in Stalybridge later, but – despite all the predictions of brilliant weather to come – it’s been pretty miserable in the Calder Valley today, with rain issuing from some very gloomy skies. Hardly conducive to photography. That said, I’m off out shortly (if this bloody rain ever stops) , so let’s see what transpires…

13:33.

The rain finally eased enough for me to make a dash for freedom and walk down into Sowerby Bridge. The weather may be wet, but it’s also humid, which I wasn’t expecting. Waterproof + camera bag + mile long walk = clammy!

Now I’m drying off on Northern’s 13:21 to Chester as far as Manchester Piccadilly. It’s a Class 150/153 combo with plenty of spare seats. I think the weather’s put a damper on things for many leisure travellers, although a couple of hardy cyclists did detain at a very miserable looking Todmorden, where the tops of the surrounding hills are lost in the murk.

14:20.

Manchester’s weather’s living up to the city’s reputation although the sun’s struggling manfully to show its face. The skies are dark and threatening enough to make for some interesting pictures so I’ve decided to look at a place I’ve been meaning to revisit for a while, the area around Northern’s Newton Heath depot. I’m heading there courtesy of these.

Metrolink has been a great success and I’ve never understood the antipathy some rail enthusiasts have towards converting heavy rail routes to light. The Oldham loop was a classic example! Now it’s far more successful and serves more communities than the heavy rail route ever did.

15:58

I’d forgotten just how run-down and depressing the area around Newton Heath is! Despite regeneration efforts it’s still struggling. The area seems to be a classic example of the fact you can regenerate buildings, but people are far more of a challenge. The depot is expanding as a new shed’s being built to service the new CAF built Ckass 195s.

16:49.

I’ve moved on again and left the dereliction and despondency of Manchester behind. A pair of Pacers have brought me to Stalybridge, home of one of the finest station bars on the network.

21:18.

I’ve enjoyed a very pleasant evening being a Northern Ambassador to a friend from South of London who’s never really explored Manchester. We only had a couple of hours but a look around the city’s ‘Northern Quarter’ has done the trick. Now I’m on my way home as tomorrow’s a very busy day as I’ll soon be on the move again.

21:42.

The final trip of the day. I’ve changed at Hebden Bridge to get a connection to Sowerby Bridge. The problem is the Blackpool- York train I’ve connected with is a human zoo. The contents of these trains doesn’t inspire of the future of the human race, nor the planet

The Oakervee Hs2 review panel’s announced. Here’s a look and some thoughts

21 Wednesday Aug 2019

Posted by in Hs2, Politics, Railways

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On 21st August the Transport Minister, Grant Shapps MP announced the composition of the Oakervee Hs2 review panel. The deputy chair will be Lord Berkeley whilst the panel will consist of Michele Dix, Stephen Glaister, Patrick Harley, Sir Peter Hendy, Andrew Sentance, Andy Street, John Cridland and Tony Travers.

The members are both pro and anti Hs2, politicians, rail leaders and academics who’ll examine all the claims and counter claims made. It’s a well-balanced panel as academia will be tempered by real world experience and those who understand the issues and need to deliver results on the ground.

Progress will have to be rapid as their report is expected in the Autumn. I expect to see off some of the wilder claims and ‘alternatives’ and focus on why we’re building Hs2 in the first place. I also expect the claims that HS2 can be terminated at Old Oak Common seen off once and for all. I believe that making Lord Berkeley, a man who’s been a constant critic of HS2 whilst proposing a number of impractical ‘alternatives’ himself as Deputy Chair to be a clever move as he’s going to have to sign up to the report’s conclusions.

Let’s have a look at the panel in greater detail.

Doug Oakervee

Oakervee has decades of experience in delivering major civil engineering projects. A former President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, he was the Executive Chairman at Crossrail from  Dec 2005 to May 2009 and non-Exec Chairman of Hs2 Ltd from March 2012 until December 2013.

Michèle Dix

A Chartered Civil Engineer and former board member of construction company Halcrow, Michele joined Transport for London in 2000 where she had responsibility for the congestion charge. In 2007 she became Managing Director of Planning. She was responsible for leading the planning strategy on the future transport needs of London. In February 2015 Michèle left Planning to become the Managing Director of Crossrail 2 and is now responsible for developing Crossrail 2 and gaining funding and powers for it. Her depth of understanding of the impact of Hs2 in London and its transport network will be extremely valuable.

Professor Stephen Glaister

Glaister is Professor of Transport and Infrastructure in the Centre for Transport Studies at Imperial College London. He’s a long-standing advisor to government on transport issues and economics and contributed to the Eddingtom report. He’s a ‘soft’ critic of HS2 who tends to see both sides of an argument without reaching any firm conclusion. He was interviewed by Halligan for his ‘Dispatches’ hatchet job on Hs2. Halligan asked him “is it (Hs2) good value”? Glaister replied “nobody knows”! I expect Glaister will offer the same non-committal advice to this committee.

Councillor Patrick Harley

Harley is a Conservative Cabinet Member at Dudley MBC and former Council Leader as well as a member of the West Midlands Combined Authority. He’s been a backer of transport initiatives in the West Midlands, including Hs2, which is very important to the area. Harley’s a strong supporter of Midland Metro and has highlighted links it will provide to HS2

Sir Peter Hendy CBE

Hendy needs little introduction. Currently the very active Chair of Network Rail he’s a former bus man, having started his career in the public transport industry in 1975. He was appointed to the position of Managing Director of Surface Transport for Transport for London in 2001. In 2006 he was appointed Commissioner of Transport for London before moving to Network Rail in 2015. Peter has enormous experience of running the sharp end of public transport and understands the need for a strategic vision for both London and the UK.

Andrew Sentence

Sentence is a business economist. Formerly Senior Economic Advisor to PWC from 2011 to 2018, previously he was an external member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee from 2006 -2011. He’s also a former head of economic policy and director of economic affairs at the CBI who has an interest in the low carbon economy. Amongst other things he’s a former member of the Commission for Integrated Transport (2006–10). I suspect he’ll bring a balanced look at the economics and Hs2’s potential to tackle carbon emissions.

Andy Street

Andy’s a former MD of John Lewis who’s currently the Conservative Mayor of the West Midlands and a strong pro Hs2 voice in the Tory party. He’s an unabashed ambassador for the West Midlands and the positive economic benefits better transport links like HS2 bring to the area.

John Cridland

John’s a former Director of the CBI (an organisation that supports HS2). He’s currently Chair of Transport for the North (TfN) and well placed to know the real issues. TfN have made it clear that HS2 phase 2 is essential to delivering Northern Powerhouse Rail.

Professor Tony Travers

Tony’s another academic. He’s currently Visiting Professor in LSE Department of Government and Director of of the London School of Economics who’s advised the Government on a number of occasions. A critic of HS2 but someone who focusses on costs of the project rather than the practicalities of it. Hardly surprising, as that’s the beauty of academia, you can ‘umm and ahh’ safe in the knowledge that it’s not your neck on the line.

The review’s remit

Importantly, each member will focus on a specific area, feeding into and being consulted on the report’s conclusions, without having a right of veto. I expect the academics to do what academics do – and the politicians and business leaders to draw up the conclusion. After all, it’s the elected politicians whose necks will be on the line, and there’s plenty of experienced people on the panel to pose the question, “if not Hs2, what’s your plan B, and you’d better come up with it PDQ!”

I would be surprised if the review delivers a major policy change on HS2. The phase 1 project is too far down the line to be sent back to the drawing board as that would result in chaos on the railways at huge additional cost. On the (potential) eve of Brexit it would also deliver entirely the wrong political message. Don’t expect Hs2 to be cut back to Old Oak Common either, the technical problems with such an idea are huge.

What could be possible is for elements of phase 2 to be changed. Imagine if some of the funding for the sections around Leeds and Manchester was diverted to Transport for the North to deliver (at an earlier date) the elements of Hs2 that would be integral to Northern Powerhouse Rail? This budget reallocation wouldn’t stop Hs2, but it would address some of the cost issues and politically, it would show a real commitment to the North that the Prime Minister has already stated. Then, when Hs2 phase 2 is built it can simply link up with existing NPR infrastructure. Of course, all this is entirely speculative. We’ll have to wait until the autumn to see what the review decides.

Not a (real) train in sight…

26 Friday Jul 2019

Posted by in Architecture, Brexit, History, Politics, Railways, Travel, Worcester

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After the past few days gallivanting around the country today’s been a time for consolidation at home. I even treated myself to a lie-in and didn’t switch on the computer until 07:30! Mind you, it had been a hot and humid night – hardly the best for getting a good night’s sleep. The really hot weather had departed by the morning, leaving us with an assorted bag of cloud cover and the occasional bit of sunshine to help dry out the effects of the overnight showers. Much of the day has been spent editing pictures of railways rather than travelling on them, but that will change again tomorrow. I’ve added over 100 pictures to my Zenfolio website, which you can find if you follow this link to the ‘recent’ section of the website as it’ll show you which galleries they’ve been added to. Here’s a couple of samples just to whet your appetite.

These are the beautifully restored station waiting rooms at Worcester Shrub Hill. They’re unique and are constructed out of cast iron and tiles, having been built around 1864 by local companies.

DG329521. Restored waiting rooms. Worcester Foregate St. 25.7.19.crop

A plaque nearby lists the details of these extraordinary structures.

DG329525. Restored waiting rooms. Worcester Foregate St. 25.7.19.cropWorcester Shrub Hill is an anachronism in several ways. Not only does it have these waiting rooms, it also has some of the finest surviving examples of Great Western Railway lower-quadrant semaphore signals. The fact these control the very latest generation of high-speed trains built by Hitachi is quite something, as you can see from this picture. In the foreground is a two car Class 172 which has recently been transferred from the Gospel Oak-Barking line in London to become part of the West Midlands Train fleet. In the background is 800322, a 9-car Hitachi built Class 800 operated by GWR. The variety of GWR signals is evident.

DG329539. 172003. 800311. Worcester Shrub Hill. 25.7.19.crop

Having loaded up the pictures the rest of the day’s been spent catching up on less exciting matters – paperwork. My desk seems to be awash with ACoRP marking forms receipts and bits and bobs. So much for the ‘paperless office’! At least it’s not like the old days when it would’ve been piled high in slides, negatives and prints too…

Finally, late in the day I managed to get out for a stroll and get some exercise away from a screen. As the weather has cooled down I didn’t need to head straight for a shower either, which was a relief. This evening will probably consist of much of the same as we’re off to Liverpool for a weekend in the city with some friends. If I’m lucky I might be able to do some scribbling whilst I’m there. One thing I will be doing is taking a break from watching the unfolding political disaster that’s Boris Johnson’s new Government. It’s truly depressing to see the people he’s actively courting. It’s the most right-wing and dangerous bunch of any Tory Government I can remember. There’s a toxic mix of former Leave campaign members, the right wing-press and lobby groups like the Taxpayers Alliance. My one hope is that there’s so many big egos there with dodgy pasts and flexible morals that it can’t be long before the whole thing starts to fall apart when it become painfully obvious they can’t deliver on the lies they’ve told over the years. But what damage will they do in the meantime?

 

Forget the USA, the UK now has its own ‘clown prince’…

23 Tuesday Jul 2019

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Today, it happened. The Tory party faithful elected serial liar Boris Johnson as their new Leader and next Prime Minister. Teresa May stands down tomorrow and Johnson takes over. Britain’s 3 year journey into farce continues. Yet again, we’ve proved to the rest of the world just how insular and inward we’re becoming, as well as how irrelevant. Having humiliated the UK in front of the world as a feckless Foreign Secretary, Johnson’s been handed a bigger stage for his incompetence and room for his ego. It will not go well.

His acceptance speech was classic Johnson. It was a lesson in banality and vacuous soundbites. One where we were told Britain will thrive under him and Brexit if we just “believe”. He’s like a backwoods preacher selling the afterlife to the credulous. But then Brexit is akin to a religion to some. Logic and facts are nothing when you have faith.

It’ll all unravel of course. The EU’s already pissed on his chips by immediately announcing that there will be no renegotiation of the deal stuck between them and Teresa May. So whose head is he going to hold a gun to, other than his own? It’s like that surreal moment from Mel Brooks classic film ‘Blazing Saddles’

Meanwhile, various Tories are giving up their portfolios and making it very clear they won’t serve in a Johnson Government. Other Tories are fawning on Twitter, praising Johnson for his ‘achievements’ and ability to “get things done” in the hope of a junior job. On Thursday we’ll start to see what appointments he makes. It’s unlikely to be a pretty sight. No doubt swivel-eyed loons will feature highly as nobody else will be dumb enough to take the poisoned chalice. His cabinet will be more MFI than Chippendale. I doubt it’ll take long before it starts to fall apart…

I wonder how long it’ll take for the Brexit fanatics to twig that Johnson is no more capable of delivering Brexit than anyone else? Parliament is likely to be a pretty rancorous and raucous place over the next few months as different groups of MPs try to block any no deal Brexit. Johnson will be thrust into the national spotlight in a way he’s never been before and his bombast and bluster won’t save him now.

Let’s remember something. Johnson didn’t get into politics through ANY notion of public service. Throughout his life and career he’s proved he only cares about one thing. His overwhelming sense of entitlement and ambition. Then look at what his employers & co-workers say about him. Lazy, disorganised, no attention to detail and no loyalty to anyone other than himself. This character is now our Prime Minister.

I predict that this is going to get messy…

The political chaos gathers momentum…

22 Monday Jul 2019

Posted by in Boris Johnson MP, Brexit, Democracy, Musings, Politics

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In a move that will surprise few, Alan Duncan MP has resigned from the Foreign Office. Having suffered the incompetence of Boris Johnson as Foreign Minister it’s clear he’s no intention of serving under him as Prime Minister!

To say this comes at an awkward time is an understatement. The FO still hasn’t recovered from the damage Johnson caused and already has one Minister suspended. Just what we need with the Iranian’s saber-rattling in the Gulf!

Of course Duncan is merely the first one out of the traps and at least he’s stayed in the party. Who’ll be next? Chancellor Philip Hammond has already announced he’ll resign on Wednesday if Johnson wins tomorrow. Plus, there’s newspaper reports that up to six Tory MPs are in discussions with the Liberal Democrats about joining the party.

This really could prove interesting as it would leave Johnson without any majority in Parliament and facing some politically savvy opposition from his own back-benches. Johnson’s not a clever politician. Devious and blustering, yes, but not clever. The cracks are already starting to show and he’s not even taken office yet! The chances of a serious split in the Tory party are becoming more likely, especially if Johnson surrounds himself with ideological Brexit headbangers in his Cabinet. You wouldn’t trust most of them to run a whelk stall, never mind a country.

If only we had an opposition party and Leader worth the name. At this rate, it looks like the Lib-Dems will assume that role. Since I wrote this it’s been announced that Jo Swinson MP has been voted in as the new Lib-Dem leader, making the Labour party the only one of the triumvirate (Labour, Tory & Lib-Dem) to never have elected a woman.