Quote: Stephen Goodlad @ 1st February 2022, 5:25 PM

Unfounded = not fact or proven. (I shouldn't have to explain that to you)
If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.

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We have no way of knowing if they are founded, because he called the Police who would have advised sharing facts could jeopardize their enquiry (Didn't you once mention you considered joining the Police ?)

Quote: lofthouse @ 31st January 2022, 10:39 PM

I'm more concerned that the MET is ran by such an incompetent idiot

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Tell me about it.

The notable thing about Blackford's expulsion from the chamber is that it happened because he broke the rules in order to criticise someone else for breaking the rules.

The man is a fatuous oaf.

Quote: Aaron @ 1st February 2022, 6:34 PM

The notable thing about Blackford's expulsion from the chamber is that it happened because he broke the rules in order to criticise someone else for breaking the rules.

The man is a fatuous oaf.

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Blackford or Boris?

Quote: Lazzard @ 1st February 2022, 11:04 AM

It's Mussolini, not Hitler.
And it's not about political leanings - more about people willing to put up with someone they know is dodgy if it gets them the thing they want.
And I think you're right about "careful what you wish for".
Having expelled most of the political heavy-weights so that he could get his own particular train to run on time, the Tory faithful are left with a hopeless bunch of sycophants and misfits to choose from.
Sunak will get the gig, though.

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Mussolini didn't make the trains run on time

He made one particular train run on time, once, because he had somewhere important to be

Quote: lofthouse @ 1st February 2022, 6:45 PM

Mussolini didn't make the trains run on time

He made one particular train run on time, once, because he had somewhere important to be

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I know that.
It's a myth.
But the phrase is an established way of illustrating that minor benefits are often used by the disreputable to defend the indefensible,

I know mate, I'm just a pedantic bastard

from the DHSC annual report: "The Department estimates that there has been a loss in value of £8.7 billion of the £12.1 billion of PPE purchased in 2020-21."

The impairment relates to

£0.67 billion - "PPE which cannot be used, for instance because it is defective."

£2.6 billion - "PPE which is not suitable for use within the health and social care sector but which the Department considers might be suitable for other uses (although these potential other uses are as yet uncertain)."

£0.75 billion - "PPE which is in excess of the amount that will ultimately be needed."

£4.7 billion - "Adjustment to the year-end valuation of PPE due to the market price of equivalent PPE at the year-end being lower than the original purchase price."

In other words the DHSC paid above the odds for more PPE than was needed, tons of which are not fit for purpose.

No wonder we can't pay nurses a decent wage- shitting billions away on useless equipment doesn't help

I think the £4.7 billion is a bit unfair.
(The rest is just standard incompetence)
Everyone was after it at the time - and now no-one wants it.
That's your bloody free-market economy for you.
I should think everyone took a bath on that.
The real crime is the amount of money trousered by the middle-men.

Quote: lofthouse @ 31st January 2022, 10:39 PM

I'm more concerned that the MET is ran by such an incompetent idiot

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Michael Fish?

"Everything, in retrospect, is obvious. But if everything were obvious, authors of histories of financial folly would be rich . . ."

There was an unknown deadly virus circulating at the time and something had to be done and quick.
Nobody knew how bad it might get so it was a sellers market.

As Noel said 'Don't look back in anger...

Starmer's gone for Johnson's throat over being in charge of a rule breaking government, whether he was himself a rulebreaker or not. Well then, surely Sir Kier was in charge of a body that let Sir Jimmy off the hook, whether it was his decision or not? So why the media hysteria over what Boris said? Why indeed, I wonder?

The parties were going, on under his roof, and he attended - he has admitted this.
The Jimmy Savile jibe was the desperate act of a desperate man.
And he actually said Starmer "failed to prosecute Jimmy Saville" not all that "was in charge of a body etc etc" bullshit.
It's a proven lie - and only the Daily Mail are taking this line (the exact same line you are taking!)
Why indeed, I wonder?

You're being too literal, if I may. Or like the biased media, not applying the same literal take to Saintly Starmer who's used the same general wording in his attacks on Boris. I didn't see the same media hysteria over Starmer's generalisations. Moreover, Starmer knew about the decision not to prosecute known peedo Sir Jimmy, as much as BoJo knew about the parties where no one got assaulted or abused, as wrong as they were, given the legislation in place and what the rest of us were allowed to do.

If it makes you feel better, fine.
Savile's victims were appalled by Bojo's opportunistic & callous use of their misery - as were many Tories & the Leader of the House, who has asked for a retraction.

And you have to remember the adversarial ding dong that politics is, Johnson's accusing Starmer of hypocrisy, and Savile's escape from justice was a big deal. Who was in charge? If Starmer can't take back what he gives, he shouldn't be in politics. And his deputy has hardly been a beacon of civility in the things she's said in the commons. Where's the balance of reporting in the media? Virtually none. Me and the Daily Mail.

Quote: Lazzard @ 2nd February 2022, 9:11 AM

If it makes you feel better, fine.
Savile's victims were appalled by Bojo's opportunistic & callous use of their misery - as were many Tories & the Leader of the House, who has asked for a retraction.

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They may be, but it also adds to the hysterical lopsided bias towards a national pariah, instead of directing the same fury at the main culprits responsible for letting a serial offender off his crimes, the CPS, the police, and the BBC. As soon as someone accuses the person in charge of one of them at the time, he's the devil and not the body who let the guy off his crimes. The mass reactions are insanely biased and out of kilter with reality.