Dark Times Ahead for Britain

[fountainhall]

In what is a silly complicated system with voting ultimately limited to the 120,000 or so Conservative Party members, Britain seems about to crown former Mayor of London and its worst Foreign Secretary in living memory as Prime Minister.

Boris Johnson may give the impression of being a typical buffoon. Behind that comic book cardboard exterior lies an habitual liar, a dissembler, a racist, a back-stabber, a narcissistic bully and a serial philanderer. Nowadays these seem to be essential requirements for leadership in major democracies. Welcome to the Trump Club, Johnson!

[Jun]

The Conservative party voting system requires their democratically elected MPs to vote until there is a shortlist of two & the members select from that.
So the 120,000 do not have complete control over the process.

BJ might be a poor candidate for leader, but after a general election, Jeremy Corbyn could be much much worse. He has long admired the regime in Venezuela. Incidentally, this shows the danger of allowing members to elect leaders of mainstream parties. In the old days, the MPs would have thought of their own interests and looked for an electable leader, typically more middle of the road. Now the members are quite happy to elect extremists.

[fountainhall]

I would love to see one UK leader who could actually lead! Thankfully I have funds in several different currencies, but my stash of sterling has dropped from £1 = $1.50 to $1.26 today. I have never known sterling to be this low since I moved to Hong Kong in early 1979 when it was roughly the same value. I know that it plunged in Thatcher's time and was getting close to parity but I had no sterling assets then. Thatcher's cry of help to the homophobic stoning Sultan of Brunei helped rescue the Iron Lady and stopped sterling's slide.

[Captain Kirk]

BJ might be a poor candidate for leader, but after a general election, Jeremy Corbyn could be much much worse.

I'd take Corbyn over Johnson every day of the week and twice on a Sunday. Johnson as PM for me means a push for Scottish independence becomes essential. I've never been much fussed over independence or not just as I haven't really cared about being in or out of the EU. But Johnson? Fuck that.
Run an independence poll the day he takes over at 10 Downing St and I'm telling you now the results will be stark and very, very clear.

[Jun]

I'd take Corbyn over Johnson every day of the week and twice on a Sunday. Johnson as PM for me means a push for Scottish independence becomes essential.

1 Corbyn is intent on pursuing the kind of economic policies which have been proven to fail in hard socialist countries all over the world. If that's what you prefer, fine. I shall be planning for failure of his policies and attempting to protect the modest assets I have to retire off.

2 Scottish Independence. No problem. If Scotland wants a referendum, let them have it. I for one am unhappy with the disproportionately high public spending in Scotland, so removing that burden would be fine. Not to mention a disproportionately high number of MPs.
A few conditions need to be defined first:
(i) Scotland must assume it's share of the national debt. Since Scotland only joined the union due to financial difficulty, walking away from accumulated debts is not on.
(ii) After independence, if Scotland chooses to use the GBP, it must recognise the Bank of England will set interest rates for the remainder of Britain.
(iii) Scottish passport holders should not have an automatic right to move and settle in the remainder of the UK.
(iv) Some realism on the relationship with the EU is needed. For example, if the remainder of the UK were outside the single market, then either Scotland has a hard border with England or is not in the single market.
(v) Ideally a 10 year lease on the Faslane base should be agreed, whilst the remainder of the UK makes other arrangements.

Admittedly, I'm not too happy with Johnson & would prefer if we had a much more intelligent honest & capable leader. However, these days, politics seems to attract all the wrong types.

Thankfully I have funds in several different currencies, but my stash of sterling has dropped from £1 = $1.50 to $1.26 today.

Hopefully you kept a small proportion in Sterling.
Whilst we have the risk of a Marxist government, it is difficult to envisage any sustained recovery in Sterling. Perhaps if they pull a moderate negotiated Brexit out of the hat, there might just be a modest recovery, but I shouldn't be too optimistic.
Despite living in the UK, something close to 90% of my pensions and other savings have been effectively in other currencies for years (Asian Investment Trusts and so on).

[Captain Kirk]

I'd take Corbyn over Johnson every day of the week and twice on a Sunday. Johnson as PM for me means a push for Scottish independence becomes essential.

1 Corbyn is intent on pursuing the kind of economic policies which have been proven to fail in hard socialist countries all over the world. If that's what you prefer, fine. I shall be planning for failure of his policies and attempting to protect the modest assets I have to retire off.

2 Scottish Independence. No problem. If Scotland wants a referendum, let them have it. I for one am unhappy with the disproportionately high public spending in Scotland, so removing that burden would be fine. Not to mention a disproportionately high number of MPs.
A few conditions need to be defined first:
(i) Scotland must assume it's share of the national debt. Since Scotland only joined the union due to financial difficulty, walking away from accumulated debts is not on.
(ii) After independence, if Scotland chooses to use the GBP, it must recognise the Bank of England will set interest rates for the remainder of Britain.
(iii) Scottish passport holders should not have an automatic right to move and settle in the remainder of the UK.
(iv) Some realism on the relationship with the EU is needed. For example, if the remainder of the UK were outside the single market, then either Scotland has a hard border with England or is not in the single market.
(v) Ideally a 10 year lease on the Faslane base should be agreed, whilst the remainder of the UK makes other arrangements.

Admittedly, I'm not too happy with Johnson & would prefer if we had a much more intelligent honest & capable leader. However, these days, politics seems to attract all the wrong types.

Thankfully I have funds in several different currencies, but my stash of sterling has dropped from £1 = $1.50 to $1.26 today.

Hopefully you kept a small proportion in Sterling.
Whilst we have the risk of a Marxist government, it is difficult to envisage any sustained recovery in Sterling. Perhaps if they pull a moderate negotiated Brexit out of the hat, there might just be a modest recovery, but I shouldn't be too optimistic.
Despite living in the UK, something close to 90% of my pensions and other savings have been effectively in other currencies for years (Asian Investment Trusts and so on).

1. Yeah that's right, we'll be the next Venezuela. Right wing lies, fake news if you will.

2. Public spending per head is highest in Ireland followed by London. Scotland sits third on that table. As anti Irish as you are Scottish?
(i) I would imagine they would negotiate how the debt would be split.
(ii) Again I would imagine that would be the case.
(iii) In all probability whatever they decide will be a two way street.
(iv) Too many ifs buts and maybes to know what would go down on that point.
(v) Sounds like we're going into minutiae. Nobody will be asking that question in the middle of a referendum. You treasure your nukes, you're welcome to them - and the bill that comes with them. I would hope Scotland would position itself as a neutral country ala Switzerland.

[Jun]

Check Corbyn's quotes. He is one of the few people who has been admiring the Venezuela regime. No lies there.

Whilst we are at it, can you name 10 coluntries that have been successful with the kind of socialist policies he advocates ? I can name no end of countries who are successful with low taxes & capitalism.

Northern Ireland has not been agitating for a referendum, although admittedly all has not been smooth there over the last few decades. If they want a referendum for independence or a merger with the republic, in principle I am all up for it. In practice, the unintended consequences need to be considered.

There is nothing anti-Scottish about objecting to disproportionately high public spending in Scotland AND more MPs per capita than England. Both are unfair.

[fountainhall]

BJ might be a poor candidate for leader

Seems that he's no paragon of virtue with his girlfriends either.

Police were called to the home of Boris Johnson and his partner, Carrie Symonds, in the early hours of Friday morning after neighbours heard a loud altercation involving screaming, shouting and banging.

The argument could be heard outside the property where the potential future prime minister is living with Symonds, a former Conservative party head of press . . .

The neighbour said they recorded the altercation from inside their flat out of concern for Symonds. On the recording, heard by the Guardian, Johnson can be heard refusing to leave the flat and telling Symonds to “get off my fucking laptop” before there is a loud crashing noise.

Symonds is heard saying Johnson had ruined a sofa with red wine: “You just don’t care for anything because you’re spoilt. You have no care for money or anything.”

The neighbour said: “There was a smashing sound of what sounded like plates. There was a couple of very loud screams that I’m certain were Carrie and she was shouting to ‘get out’ a lot. She was saying ‘get out of my flat’ and he was saying no. And then there was silence after the screaming. My partner, who was in bed half asleep, had heard a loud bang and the house shook."

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... nsons-home

Johnson is now the front runner to be Prime Minster. What a jerk!

[fountainhall]

"A Cavorting Charlatan"

Max Hastings, a former editor of London's Daily Telegraph (a right wing publication) and Evening Standard, and Boris Johnson's boss in the 1980s, has written the most scathing description of the man who believes he will become Britain's next Prime Minister.

There is room for debate about whether he is a scoundrel or mere rogue, but not much about his moral bankruptcy, rooted in a contempt for truth . . . I have known Johnson since the 1980s, when I edited the Daily Telegraph and he was our flamboyant Brussels correspondent. I have argued for a decade that, while he is a brilliant entertainer who made a popular maître d’ for London as its mayor, he is unfit for national office, because it seems he cares for no interest save his own fame and gratification . . .

Dignity still matters in public office, and Johnson will never have it. Yet his graver vice is cowardice, reflected in a willingness to tell any audience, whatever he thinks most likely to please, heedless of the inevitability of its contradiction an hour later . . .

Johnson would not recognise truth, whether about his private or political life, if confronted by it in an identity parade. In a commonplace book the other day, I came across an observation made in 1750 by a contemporary savant, Bishop Berkeley: “It is impossible that a man who is false to his friends and neighbours should be true to the public.” Almost the only people who think Johnson a nice guy are those who do not know him . . .

If the Johnson family had stuck to showbusiness like the Osmonds, Marx Brothers or von Trapp family, the world would be a better place. Yet the Tories, in their terror, have elevated a cavorting charlatan to the steps of Downing Street, and they should expect to pay a full forfeit when voters get the message.

Hastings makes it sound as though Johnson is a graduate of Trump University! Two of a kind. It figures!

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... ty-britain

[Jun]

Desperate times. On balance, I would rather have a lying capitalist than a lying anti-semitic marxist as PM.

At least the capitalist should fritter away less of our money. Also, Boris did have a couple of successes when he was Mayor of London. Instead of those dreadful Mercedes bendy buses from Ken Livingstone, Boris went back to red double deckers, although with brand new UK made hybrid ones. Red double deckers are one of those iconic symbols of London. e.g. the Karaoke videos in Japan have the trams in San Francisco and red double decker buses in London. They definitely don't have grey Mercedes buses.

Also Boris kicked off the London ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone). As an aside, if the Thai government had the slightest intention of fixing Bangkok air pollution, they could plagiarise ideas from Singapore, London and numerous other cities.

Democracy is far from perfect if the large nations can get leaders like GW Bush, D Trump, G Brown, T May & B Johnson.