The official Boris pm cluster-fuck thread

[O'Kelly Isley III]

Interesting times.  Looks like the Buffoon is clearing the decks for a pie in the sky, magic money tree, super populist budget......the sort of thing which would make Trump blush.
Johnson has massive majority, and he's not a man to let that go to waste. He wants to make statement, and HS2 and this nutcase bridge idea are only the tip of the iceberg. 
 
 

Johnson is UK politics' answer to Benny Hill and just like his predecessor he'll be top of the bill for a time before people eventually ask 'WTF were we thinking about ?'

I'll look forward to that.

[Detournement]

35 minutes ago, Bob Mahelp said:

Interesting times.  Looks like the Buffoon is clearing the decks for a pie in the sky, magic money tree, super populist budget......the sort of thing which would make Trump blush.

Johnson has massive majority, and he's not a man to let that go to waste. He wants to make statement, and HS2 and this nutcase bridge idea are only the tip of the iceberg. 

 

 

That's the crux of the issue. Trump used Bannon to get elected but had no chance of getting any of his policies through Congress so ditched him and went with Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell. 

Boris on the other hand has absolute power and can give Cummings a free hand to do whatever he likes. 

[jacobsladder]

Boris is quite simply Cummings’ bitch

[Granny Danger]

50 minutes ago, Bob Mahelp said:

Interesting times.  Looks like the Buffoon is clearing the decks for a pie in the sky, magic money tree, super populist budget......the sort of thing which would make Trump blush.

Johnson has massive majority, and he's not a man to let that go to waste. He wants to make statement, and HS2 and this nutcase bridge idea are only the tip of the iceberg. 

 

 

 

16 minutes ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

Johnson is UK politics' answer to Benny Hill and just like his predecessor he'll be top of the bill for a time before people eventually ask 'WTF were we thinking about ?'

I'll look forward to that.

I don’t think Johnson will get much time when the wheels come off.  Neither do I think that most people, including those who voted to “Get Brexit Done”, will be distracted by a big spend budget.

Johnson has told too many blatant lies and there will be many only too ready to jump on him when the effects of these lies come to pass.  The most damaging attacks might come from former Tory MPs.

[Guest Bob Mahelp]

People said all these things about Trump though, and 4 years later his approval ratings are higher than ever, and most likely he's heading for re-election. 

Johnson is an arsehole, a compulsive liar, a khunt. But he's a survivor, no matter what disasters he inflicts on others.

He shouldn't be under-estimated. There are vast swathes of the population that see him as a saviour from 'normal politics', and will continue to support him for much longer than many of us would expect. 

[Thane of Cawdor]

1 hour ago, sparky88 said:

The bridge is just a dead cat to bury broken promises on Brexit.

Expect it to be wheeled out again when the fishermen get screwed over in the trade talks.

Of course the bridge will never be built. There's virtually no political capital to be gained in Scotland and the Conservatives don't really organise in Northern Ireland. Current demand is met by the ferries and the cost/benefit of conveniencing some Game of Thrones and Rangers fans is nil. Johnson couldn't build the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge.

[Detournement]

Trump only has a chance of reelection because the economy is riding high on the QE which was never unwound and the tax cut.  The 'debt' will never be paid off so why worry. 

Cummings taking control of the Treasury obviously means they are going to start spending big and if they manage to bump wages above inflation for a while they will have the same sort of popularity as Trump.

Boris will look good by comparison because Cameron, Osborne, May and Hammond spent a decade bleeding the country for no reason other than sheer stupidity.

[Granny Danger]

22 minutes ago, Bob Mahelp said:

People said all these things about Trump though, and 4 years later his approval ratings are higher than ever, and most likely he's heading for re-election. 

Johnson is an arsehole, a compulsive liar, a khunt. But he's a survivor, no matter what disasters he inflicts on others.

He shouldn't be under-estimated. There are vast swathes of the population that see him as a saviour from 'normal politics', and will continue to support him for much longer than many of us would expect. 

Nope.  This summarises Johnson’s future.

[Guest Bob Mahelp]

We'll see, but the fact that he's a compulsive liar and shameless populist....and that everyone knows that to be the case....hasn't stopped him from advancing through various careers until he's actually become Prime  Minister. 

There's no precedent that would seem to suggest that he'll implode, and the fact that he has such a strong majority and such a strong grasp on power with people like Cummings pulling the strings makes it highly unlikely that he'll come under any real political pressure any time soon. 

[Mark Connolly]

I noticed the other day he was saying he would "Get HS2 done".

Is this the new schtick? Get Brexit done, Get HS2 done, Get selling the NHS to the Yanks done, Get killing off the lower classes done.

[Guest Bob Mahelp]

1 hour ago, Detournement said:

Trump only has a chance of reelection because the economy is riding high on the QE which was never unwound and the tax cut.  The 'debt' will never be paid off so why worry. 

Cummings taking control of the Treasury obviously means they are going to start spending big and if they manage to bump wages above inflation for a while they will have the same sort of popularity as Trump.

Boris will look good by comparison because Cameron, Osborne, May and Hammond spent a decade bleeding the country for no reason other than sheer stupidity.

Yeap. It's a perfect storm for Johnson. 

A huge majority, a disorganised and pathetic opposition, an electorate welcoming his populist garbage as some kind of refreshing change, and a chance to spend big after years of unnecessary austerity. 

To be honest, the biggest danger to Johnson being able to control the country like an Emperor will come from within the Tories themselves. 

[beefybake]

4 hours ago, Bob Mahelp said:

Interesting times.  Looks like the Buffoon is clearing the decks for a pie in the sky, magic money tree, super populist budget......the sort of thing which would make Trump blush.

Johnson has massive majority, and he's not a man to let that go to waste. He wants to make statement, and HS2 and this nutcase bridge idea are only the tip of the iceberg. 

 

 

He may have given HS2 the go ahead, but if you look at all the obfuscations and qualifications around any of the bits north of Birmingham..., translated....,

they're not going to happen.  It's all really a project to get some businessmen down from Birmingham to London, and back, a little bit faster,

and to make some construction businesses a lot of money.

[tamthebam]

5 hours ago, Bob Mahelp said:

Interesting times.  Looks like the Buffoon is clearing the decks for a pie in the sky, magic money tree, super populist budget......the sort of thing which would make Trump blush.

Johnson has massive majority, and he's not a man to let that go to waste. He wants to make statement, and HS2 and this nutcase bridge idea are only the tip of the iceberg. 

 

 

Funny how he can come up with some pie in the sky shite about building a bridge between Scotland and the statelet to strengthen ties between the parts of the UK while the main east coast road between Newcastle and Edinburgh remains single carriageway for miles south of Berwick with seemingly no plans to duel it.

[Mark Connolly]

10 hours ago, tamthebam said:

Funny how he can come up with some pie in the sky shite about building a bridge between Scotland and the statelet to strengthen ties between the parts of the UK while the main east coast road between Newcastle and Edinburgh remains single carriageway for miles south of Berwick with seemingly no plans to duel it.

It’s a fight he’s not willing to have

[Pet Jeden]

12 hours ago, beefybake said:

He may have given HS2 the go ahead, but if you look at all the obfuscations and qualifications around any of the bits north of Birmingham..., translated....,

they're not going to happen.  It's all really a project to get some businessmen down from Birmingham to London, and back, a little bit faster,

and to make some construction businesses a lot of money.

tbf the capacity (high speed or otherwise) is needed in the next 20-30 years anyway. But the very obvious danger is that Phase 1 runs massively over budget and over time and the northern Phase 2 gets ditched in acrimony. Should have given the go ahead but insisted it starts from the north - ideally even further north to include Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow. Certainly better than wasting money (even on the feasibility study) for this bridge nonsense. 

[welshbairn]

4 hours ago, MixuFixit said:

HS2 is a good idea and he's right to back it tbh.

I'm all in favour of high speed rail projects, but shaving 20 minutes off the London to Birmingham line by 2030 doesn't excite me, nor the 2040 date for the Manchester/Leeds extension. Surprised the Scousers aren't rioting and boycotting yet as well.

[the jambo-rocker]

24 minutes ago, MixuFixit said:

It's not really about the individual travel time as much as the big jump in capacity in my opinion

 

Shirley you must think the money would be better spent on reversing as much of the beeching cuts if we're talking about capacity here?

[Pet Jeden]

5 hours ago, the jambo-rocker said:

Shirley you must think the money would be better spent on reversing as much of the beeching cuts if we're talking about capacity here?

Not really. If you are prepared to spend billions on rail, then just spend a few billion more and at least optimise the transportation of people between the places where the need/demand is greatest now - not where the need/demand was greatest 150 years ago.

[Carnoustie Young Guvnor]

18 hours ago, tamthebam said:

Funny how he can come up with some pie in the sky shite about building a bridge between Scotland and the statelet to strengthen ties between the parts of the UK while the main east coast road between Newcastle and Edinburgh remains single carriageway for miles south of Berwick with seemingly no plans to duel it.

Your money would have to be on the forty mile stretch of concrete there

[git-intae-thum]

Disappointed that Scot gov are not looking at a maglev line between Inverness Aberdeen Dundee Edinburgh and Glasgow  to be honest. 

as a small wealthy European nation that is where we should be at.

Westminster should be paying the full share, based on the taxation we submit to them and the projects that we pay for in other parts of the UK.

Because they are not and they have lots of s*** in the South of England to pay for, is exactly why why we are not like any other North European country.

We are in the 21st century equivalent of the dark ages.