View Full Version : I thought my MP was bad...
...until I read some of the tweets from Neil O' Brien. (MP for Harborough)
https://www.thepoke.co.uk/2021/01/15/toby-young-lockdown-sceptic-greatest-hits-collected-by-mp/
I think one of the hardest lessons you learn as you mature is that there are people who have opinions so far removed from your own that there's little common ground for a conversation.
...then, of course, there's Jacob Rees-Mogg's speech on happy fish. Where do we find these people? Is there a contaminant in the environment?
https://twitter.com/haggis_uk/status/1349689694339149824
Just to be clear, Neil O'Brien is quoting tweets made by Toby Young, which for some strange reason have apparently been removed from their original site.
Just to be clear, Neil O'Brien is quoting tweets made by Toby Young, which for some strange reason have apparently been removed from their original site.
my mistake, thanks for clearing it up.
All MP's are bad, the whole Political system is bad . . . . it needs a complete refresh from the ground up.
Biker Biggles
15-01-21, 06:59 PM
We get the political class we deserve because we vote for them------repeatedly.
Sir Trev
15-01-21, 10:09 PM
Could be worse. My MP is Steve Baker who threatened Boris with a coup this morning and then did a u-turn and kissed his backside by this afternoon... If I wasn't so knackered I'd find a link.
redtrummy
15-01-21, 10:39 PM
Rees-Mogg? Give me strength
We get the political class we deserve because we vote for them------repeatedly.
We only get these jokers because they are the only ones on offer, if you don't vote then it's in the lap of the gods as to who gets in so by voting ... you can at the very least lessen ( to a degree) the risk of the candidate you definitely don't want getting in thus leaving the best of a bad bunch to choose from. I've been on this planet a few years now and have seen many MP's and quite a few PM's come and go and tbh ... they all promise everything and once elected... deliver nothing, it's a never ending cycle of U turns, lies and deciept and shows no sign of stopping anytime soon.
keith_d
17-01-21, 06:35 PM
I thought democracy was bad..
... until I looked at the alternatives.
The only good thing about the British political system is that it's got about the same responsiveness as Seawise Giant (world's biggest tanker). No matter how much the Commons shout, and the Lords mumble, nothing happens quickly. The resulting social stability is good for the rest of us.
We don't have a situation where the incoming president's top priority is to dismantle everything the previous incumbent did, unlike another democracy I could mention, we don't have a situation where the Glorious Leader is elected with 102% of the available votes, and we don't have a situation where only Party cadres are permitted to stand for election.
So, while it's a bit random at times, I'll stick with the two 'not too radical' party system for a bit longer.
keith_d
17-01-21, 06:49 PM
To get back on topic... my MP is PM. No he's not a local MP in any way, shape or form. He was 'parachuted in' by Conservative central office because my constituency is very, very safe. Uxbridge and South Ruislip is full of owner-occupiers with decent jobs who are going to vote for whichever party is best for their wallet. So you could put a blue rosette on a pig and it would get elected here.
I've only met one MP out campaigning (it wasn't Boris) and I can understand why policies are decided by party central office, not the MPs. This bloke could have been Tim-nice-but-dim's grandfather. "Affable but ineffective" would be my three word summary.
I believe he got elected!
A fundamental issue is that all the folk who put themselves up for election by definition believe that they know better than everyone else. If they didn't they would stand.
Most who do get elected believe that they need to change everything. If some of them concentrated on running things competently rather than changing it, we'd be better off. It's a standard belief/doctrine that changes make things better, they seldom do. Re-organisations simply give a warm feeling and the illusion of progress.
Very few parliament level politicians understand the "knobhead to normal" ratio of the general public. They believe the great unwashed are reasonable and rational, which to a considerable extent we are not.
Just keep an eye on how readily they relinquish the emergency powers they gave themselves, you might find they get into the habit of using executive powers a bit too freely and don't want to give them up. Next thing you know they'll try to prorogue parliament unlawfully.
Just a bit of mental doodling produced this list:
David Davis (intial Brexit negotiator) - lazy, often showed up with no paperwork, no preparations, only worked 2 or 3 days/week on Brexit.
Priti Patel (Home Secretary) - fired by Theresa May for lying. Accused of bullying
Chris Grayling (Transport) - ordered ferry services from companies that didn't have any ferries, allowed companies to bid for train contracts and then bailed them out when they couldn't make a profit.
Gavin Williamson (Education) - school exams screw ups (insisted on an "algorithm" to award exam results but many got lower grades than expected - abandoned it. Insisted schools stay open, then abandoned it. No school meals out of school hours - public outcry - abandoned it (getting the picture?)
Matt Hancock - (Health) where to start - general poor handling of pandemic, PPE equipment deals given to buddies (with no experience). "World beating" NHS Test and Trace actually Serco - a private company with a history of screw ups - still not working properly 1 year later.
Boris Johnson - (PM) another lazy person - doesn't show up for meetings, frequent u turns, unfounded optimism ("pandemic will be over by Christmas", etc). Slow to react to virus. Allegedly didn't read his own EU trade deal. Doesn't like being the bearer of bad news.
Gove - stabbed BoJo in the back over leadership of Tories. Known for ludicrous and incorrect comments. He is also a member of Parler (right wing extremist website - as are 14 other Tories, home to more radical Trump supporters).
Dominic Raab - unaware of how much trade went via Dover. Declared Brexit fisheries deal "great". Said that there were no guarantees that second vaccination would occur within 12 weeks period after first injection (bearing in mind it's supposed to be 3 weeks)
Victoria Prentis (Fisheries) didn't read fisheries Brexit document because she was at a Nativity play.
Wouldn't it be nice if we had professionals? I would even give the current losers a bit of leeway if, for once, they said: "we made a mistake, we will fix it", instead of trying to blame everyone/everything except themselves.
garynortheast
18-01-21, 11:39 AM
That's a depressingly accurate list Seeker, and unfortunately it barely scratched the surface with regards to the incompetence and corruption of the current administrative incumbents.
Boris Johnson - (PM) ..............
Don't forget the lies (search for "Boris Johnson lies"), sacked by the Times for fabricating stories, sacked by the Telegraph for fabricating stories (about the EU), sacked twice by Michael Howard for lying ...............
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/21/boris-johnson-lies-marcus-rashford-prime-minister
Spent £320k on water cannon and were scrapped for £11k.
Spent £53m on the Garden Bridge fiasco.
Then there was the Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe episode ......
I believe this is what is called being a "character".
Just a bit of mental doodling produced this list:
David Davis (intial Brexit negotiator) - lazy, often showed up with no paperwork, no preparations, only worked 2 or 3 days/week on Brexit.
Priti Patel (Home Secretary) - fired by Theresa May for lying. Accused of bullying
Chris Grayling (Transport) - ordered ferry services from companies that didn't have any ferries, allowed companies to bid for train contracts and then bailed them out when they couldn't make a profit.
Gavin Williamson (Education) - school exams screw ups (insisted on an "algorithm" to award exam results but many got lower grades than expected - abandoned it. Insisted schools stay open, then abandoned it. No school meals out of school hours - public outcry - abandoned it (getting the picture?)
Matt Hancock - (Health) where to start - general poor handling of pandemic, PPE equipment deals given to buddies (with no experience). "World beating" NHS Test and Trace actually Serco - a private company with a history of screw ups - still not working properly 1 year later.
Boris Johnson - (PM) another lazy person - doesn't show up for meetings, frequent u turns, unfounded optimism ("pandemic will be over by Christmas", etc). Slow to react to virus. Allegedly didn't read his own EU trade deal. Doesn't like being the bearer of bad news.
Gove - stabbed BoJo in the back over leadership of Tories. Known for ludicrous and incorrect comments. He is also a member of Parler (right wing extremist website - as are 14 other Tories, home to more radical Trump supporters).
Dominic Raab - unaware of how much trade went via Dover. Declared Brexit fisheries deal "great". Said that there were no guarantees that second vaccination would occur within 12 weeks period after first injection (bearing in mind it's supposed to be 3 weeks)
Victoria Prentis (Fisheries) didn't read fisheries Brexit document because she was at a Nativity play.
Wouldn't it be nice if we had professionals? I would even give the current losers a bit of leeway if, for once, they said: "we made a mistake, we will fix it", instead of trying to blame everyone/everything except themselves.
You can't expect them to take responsibility for their actions, this is where they use smoke and mirrors to blame other people for their short comings.
I mean BoJo struggles with answering questions during PM question time . . . speaker of the house had to remind him to answer a question . . . .
Don't forget the lies (search for "Boris Johnson lies"), sacked by the Times for fabricating stories, sacked by the Telegraph for fabricating stories (about the EU), sacked twice by Michael Howard for lying ...............
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/21/boris-johnson-lies-marcus-rashford-prime-minister
Spent £320k on water cannon and were scrapped for £11k.
Spent £53m on the Garden Bridge fiasco.
Then there was the Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe episode ......
I believe this is what is called being a "character".
my further question to these is who signs off on the purchasing?
Its not wonder these eejits work in Government where they can shun off the responsibility of their wrong doings. Most of them would end up in jail if they did this in the private sector.
Value for money? £1000 per day for 900 consultants for Test and Trace. The incompetent Dido Harding strikes again.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/nhs-test-and-trace-dido-harding-b1789098.html
... If some of them concentrated on running things competently ...
... Wouldn't it be nice if we had professionals? I would even give the current losers a bit of leeway if, for once, they said: "we made a mistake, we will fix it", instead of trying to blame everyone/everything except themselves.
These hit the nail on the head for me. When it comes to government, diligent administration and slow evolution would generally be far better than trying to be a heroic, perfect game-changer. Although that probably does require many of the extremely vocal in the electorate to accept that utopia is unacheivable and to tolerate some of their preference issues not being 'sorted'.
Over the years, in the course of my work I've had to meet several MPs or deal with correspondence from them. Sad to say that the trend I have seen is that their reasonableness and sense of duty seems to be inversely proportional to their proximity to front bench or senior government position.
What mostly annoys me personally, though, is the party whip system and apparent slavish toe-ing of the party line when it comes to important policy or legislative debate. We seem to be stuck with trying to achieve two things that aren't necessarily connected with just one vote at General Election time: (i) Elect a decent constituency representative and (ii) select the 'best' government for the nation. My own MP is the same party as the government but seems to be incapable of independent thought away from party policy.
keith_d
20-01-21, 11:12 PM
What mostly annoys me personally, though, is the party whip system and apparent slavish toe-ing of the party line when it comes to important policy or legislative debate. We seem to be stuck with trying to achieve two things that aren't necessarily connected with just one vote at General Election time: (i) Elect a decent constituency representative and (ii) select the 'best' government for the nation. My own MP is the same party as the government but seems to be incapable of independent thought away from party policy.
Now we're really diving down the rabbit hole. For those who want to jump straight to the quick answer, it's 'money'.
Effectively there is a financial arms race between the two big parties to fund election campaigns. Starting at the bottom, that's money for local parties to have a offices, money to print leaflets and money to transport canvassers around the constituency. Moving up there's money for billboards and posters. Finally, the big ticket items are advertising agencies like Saachi's and TV time. So, whichever party can raise the most money and spend it most effectively has the best chance of selling their promises/lies to the electorate.
If you're down to your last few million quid forget it. The big two will steamroller you completely. Maybe not in one election, but in two or three you'll be gone. Anyone seen UKIP recently??
In theory the local party assocations decide who gets to contest the individual seats, but if they pick an outspoken maverick it's likely that party HQ will 'encourage' them to pick a more amenable candidate. Or in particularly safe seats they will just 'parachute in' a key (shadow) cabinet member. In the past, Labour had some fairly acrimonious and public debates about this, but these days it's all kept behind closed doors so they can present a united front.
So, while MPs can sometimes agitate for a local issue and get a little media coverage for their particular problems. In the end they're going to do what central office says or be de-selected at the next election. He who pays the piper calls the tune!!
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