Boris Johnson

[fountainhall]

Just received this from a friend

[Captain Kirk]

Then again, why not have proportional representation as in Germany? The first past the post system is hardly democratic!

Proportional representation has some disadvantages.
Firstly, if no party has a majority, it allows small parties to hold disproportionate power, since they are needed to get a majority.

PR also allows extremist parties to gain a foothold. For example, we have PR for European Elections and the BNP has at time won seats there.
The AFD have over 90 seats in the German parliament, although to be fair I would need to check their policies to determine if they really deserve all the bad press.

Another argument I dislike.
If there are enough people who agree with the views of "extremist" groups then they are entitled to be represented. Our system is one of the reasons many do not vote. Why bother going to the polls when you know your chosen option will get only a few hundred votes in your area? It is truly a waste of time. The system we have also doesn't prevent smaller parties having a disproportionate say in matters. Take the DUP at the moment. Managed to secure a £1billion bribe from the Tories to benefit Ireland. Our system allowed at a recent election for SNP to get 50 MPs from 600,00 votes while UKIP got just a single MP for 6 million votes. PR is far from perfect but does give a voice to those who don't bow to the establishment - if there are enough of them.
Best thing about PR though is that both Tory and Labour parties hate the idea of it which makes it sound just swell to me.

[fountainhall]

The dreadful, self-serving narcissist Boris Johnson now has some thinking to do. His party, the lot who elected him, suffered a disastrous defeat in a by election a couple of days ago. Johnson's party had earlier held the Welsh seat by a majority of 8,000 votes. Its Conservative MP lost by 1,425 votes to the anti-Brexit Liberal Democratic party. And the trouble for Johnson is that his parliamentary majority is now down to just 1. As I understand it, parliament must vote on the deal. One tactic Johnson could have considered to prevent this was suspending parliament. But that was killed a couple of weeks ago which means parliament must sit throughout October. Along with the hard-Brexit sceptics in his own party, the chances of his getting a hard-Brexit approved by parliament must surely be beyond zero.

I am sure Jun will correct any wrong inferences in the above.

[gera]

Actually, he does need approval of parliament for any kind of arrangement at least formally. What can stop him is nonconfidence vote (even then he may try to form a new government if he loses the vote). In my view, there is a chance that new elections will become inevitable. In this case there may not be Brexit at all. I follow this saga simply because UK pound (a distressed asset) may soar under certain circumstances (at least temporarily). And in my experience (however risky it may be) buying distressed assets is the best way to make money on investments.

[Jun]

I am sure Jun will correct any wrong inferences in the above.

Difficult to disagree, although using such strong adjectives for Boris makes it more difficult to find something considerably worse to describe Jeremy Corbyn. He is nasty, undemocratic, dangerous, incompetent and has learned nothing from the failure of socialism all over the world.
I hope the Liberals get their act together, so he gets squeezed out.

UK pound (a distressed asset) may soar under certain circumstances (at least temporarily). And in my experience (however risky it may be) buying distressed assets is the best way to make money on investments.

I think it depends on the type of distressed asset and your particular mindset. If the stock price of a company is distressed, there may well be something badly wrong about it which insiders know about. With an entire country, or a currency, there should be less risk of that problem.
Also, companies fail more frequently than countries. So I think a single country ETF for a distressed country is lower risk than a distressed company stock. Unless you have superior analysis for the company. I'm always interested in learning, so if you have some reading recommendations on the topic, these are welcome.

Whilst I've tried buying distressed stuff on the cheap, sometimes it gets even more distressed. I've had better results buying something good at a reasonable price and sitting back whilst it goes up a few hundred percent in a decade. Just need more of those......
I have no doubt that distressed assets can be made to work & this is proven by Howard Marks & Seth Klarman. There are also people who do well at picking growth assets.

[fountainhall]

Let me just add that I have almost similar views about the equally dreadful Jeremy Corbin!

[firecat69]

Meanwhile the Despots around the world are laughing at the hard times being suffered by the Worlds Greatest 2 Democracies and them being ruled by wannabe Despots.

[Jun]

Meanwhile the Despots around the world are laughing at the hard times being suffered by the Worlds Greatest 2 Democracies and them being ruled by wannabe Despots.

There might be a case for describing Trump as a wannabe Despot, considering his tendency to try & over rule all democratic process when not getting his own way.
If there is some reason for considering BJ as a wannabe Despot, I would like to hear it. There is no evidence at all of this at present. Whilst he's talking tough on Brexit, we do have to remember he's dealing with a useless parliament that couldn't get a majority for ANY of the options when the MPs were given a free hand to put forward motions for debate. They need to approve something, so business can plan and invest.

Of course, it's pretty unfortunate that the US and UK end up with such poor leaders.

[thewayhelooks]

[fountainhall]

If there is some reason for considering BJ as a wannabe Despot, I would like to hear it. There is no evidence at all of this at present.

Sorry Jun. It seems we will always disagree on the subject of Johnson. I think you forgot this quote I entered on page 1. This, you may recall, was written by his former boss for several years who was editor of the right wing Daily Telegraph and a hugely respected author. Max Hastings worked with Johnson. He knew Johnson. And that is more than any of us commenting on the man in these forums can say. If the descriptions highlighted below do not illustrate despotic traits, I am not sure what is - unless you add in mass murder which Johnson has not been accused of as far as I am aware.

I was Boris Johnson’s boss: he is utterly unfit to be prime minister

A few brief excerpts -

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.

his premiership will almost certainly reveal a contempt for rules, precedent, order and stability.

Like many showy personalities, he is of weak character.

Johnson would not recognise truth, whether about his private or political life, if confronted by it in an identity parade.

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