And lots of flags, pictures of the Queen and now that song that schoolchildren are encouraged to sing.
Westminster Politics
- Thread starter altodevil
- Start date
And lots of flags, pictures of the Queen and now that song that schoolchildren are encouraged to sing.
I just checked the Beeb and couldn't stop pissing myself at the headline they're using.
"The PM's spokesman said he accepted *insert name here" apology and considers the matter closed."
I've lost count of how many times I've read this line in the last couple of years.
Well Johnson set a precedent on Covid over the Barnard Castle incident. And he can hardly fire him on a family values pretext….
I bet Laura wrote that headline.I just checked the Beeb and couldn't stop pissing myself at the headline they're using.
Little Britain nailed this 15 years ago
Politics should be disbanded imo. Come up with something else. Rule by twitter poll.
Normal people should stay out of politics, though. People should stick to their lanes. Unless it's a politician talking about something that isn't political, like the civil service or how many boiled eggs I'm allowed to put in my mouth.
What’s this about a dragon man?!?!I just checked the Beeb and couldn't stop pissing myself at the headline they're using.
Holy moly!!!!
and trying to make it harder for citizens to seek justice in the courts where the government are acting illegally
Next week:
CON: 56 (+18)
The more I think about Whitehall and the government the more it sounds like some Caligula ridden orgy pit.
People will rightly criticise Hancock for appointing his lover to a lucrative role and awarding contracts to his friends.
But the much bigger issue is that the UK is run by a small social circle of families and friends who all went to University together, generation after generation. Why wouldn't Hancock think he can hand his university friends contracts and easy-money jobs when it seems to be taken as read that his university friends will find themselves in those roles anyway? The system is built so that Matt Hancock's university friends find themselves in these positions, whether he's fecking them or not. And so too their children, their children's children, etc.
The below astounded me when I read it a couple of years ago (unsurprisingly) both Hancock and Coladangelo are also graduates of the exact same course.
It's madness to run a country that way, with 3/4 of the country's PMs since the 1720s coming from the same two very exclusive, nepotism-rife universities. If you wanted to build a functioning political system, hacking that stranglehold to bits would be a great place to start. Rather than only pointing to it when two of the people involved happen to be caught having an affair while going about the usual business of handing each other power and money.
But the much bigger issue is that the UK is run by a small social circle of families and friends who all went to University together, generation after generation. Why wouldn't Hancock think he can hand his university friends contracts and easy-money jobs when it seems to be taken as read that his university friends will find themselves in those roles anyway? The system is built so that Matt Hancock's university friends find themselves in these positions, whether he's fecking them or not. And so too their children, their children's children, etc.
The below astounded me when I read it a couple of years ago (unsurprisingly) both Hancock and Coladangelo are also graduates of the exact same course.
MONDAY, 13 April 2015 was a typical day in modern British politics. An Oxford University graduate in philosophy, politics and economics (PPE), Ed Miliband, launched the Labour party’s general election manifesto. It was examined by the BBC’s political editor, Oxford PPE graduate Nick Robinson, by the BBC’s economics editor, Oxford PPE graduate Robert Peston, and by the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Oxford PPE graduate Paul Johnson. It was criticised by the prime minister, Oxford PPE graduate David Cameron. It was defended by the Labour shadow chancellor, Oxford PPE graduate Ed Balls.
Elsewhere in the country, with the election three weeks away, the Liberal Democrat chief secretary to the Treasury, Oxford PPE graduate Danny Alexander, was preparing to visit Kingston and Surbiton, a vulnerable London seat held by a fellow Lib Dem minister, Oxford PPE graduate Ed Davey. In Kent, one of Ukip’s two MPs, Oxford PPE graduate Mark Reckless, was campaigning in his constituency, Rochester and Strood. Comments on the day’s developments were being posted online by Michael Crick, Oxford PPE graduate and political correspondent of Channel 4 News.
On the BBC Radio 4 website, the Financial Times statistics expert and Oxford PPE graduate Tim Harford presented his first election podcast. On BBC1, Oxford PPE graduate and Newsnight presenter Evan Davies conducted the first of a series of interviews with party leaders. In the print media, there was an election special in the Economist magazine, edited by Oxford PPE graduate Zanny Minton-Beddoes; a clutch of election articles in the political magazine Prospect, edited by Oxford PPE graduate Bronwen Maddox; an election column in the Guardian by Oxford PPE graduate Simon Jenkins; and more election coverage in the Times and the Sun, whose proprietor, Rupert Murdoch, studied PPE at Oxford.
Elsewhere in the country, with the election three weeks away, the Liberal Democrat chief secretary to the Treasury, Oxford PPE graduate Danny Alexander, was preparing to visit Kingston and Surbiton, a vulnerable London seat held by a fellow Lib Dem minister, Oxford PPE graduate Ed Davey. In Kent, one of Ukip’s two MPs, Oxford PPE graduate Mark Reckless, was campaigning in his constituency, Rochester and Strood. Comments on the day’s developments were being posted online by Michael Crick, Oxford PPE graduate and political correspondent of Channel 4 News.
On the BBC Radio 4 website, the Financial Times statistics expert and Oxford PPE graduate Tim Harford presented his first election podcast. On BBC1, Oxford PPE graduate and Newsnight presenter Evan Davies conducted the first of a series of interviews with party leaders. In the print media, there was an election special in the Economist magazine, edited by Oxford PPE graduate Zanny Minton-Beddoes; a clutch of election articles in the political magazine Prospect, edited by Oxford PPE graduate Bronwen Maddox; an election column in the Guardian by Oxford PPE graduate Simon Jenkins; and more election coverage in the Times and the Sun, whose proprietor, Rupert Murdoch, studied PPE at Oxford.
It's madness to run a country that way, with 3/4 of the country's PMs since the 1720s coming from the same two very exclusive, nepotism-rife universities. If you wanted to build a functioning political system, hacking that stranglehold to bits would be a great place to start. Rather than only pointing to it when two of the people involved happen to be caught having an affair while going about the usual business of handing each other power and money.
there’s something to this obviously, but would you want the PM to come from Oxford Brooks or UWE?
calm down… obviously we want our leaders to have the best education possible. That’s a combination of multiple variables.
You're absolutely right and decisions like Brexit, Iraq war etc all make a lot more sense when you realise these decisions are made with the interests of the very few at the top in mind.
There are, what, 150+ universities of different stripes in the UK? Pretty damning indictment of the country's education system if the need for politicians to have a top standard of education means 3/4 of PMs come from the same two universities for over 300 years. As if Oxbridge graduates are bestowed with some expertise beyond the realm of other universities.
In reality it has nothing to do with people with the best education being promoted to the job. Instead it's about people who attended the wealthiest universities (which themselves draw disproportionately from the wealthiest and most privileged section of the Uk's population) being promoted to the job.
Why? Are we expecting our "leaders" to be the best of everything in some Trumpian utopia, or do we accept that they are a figurehead for the experts that sit behind them and advising on the actions to take?
The problems come when the likes of Johnson actually make decisions rather than the people who have spent their entire lives learning about each subject and therefore take reasoned actions.
Maybe if they came from different educational backgrounds we would have ministers that would be more representative of the people?
What good have all these etonian’s done for normal people?
And it’s not like being a politician is a true test of knowledge & education either.
Is Matt Hancock intelligent? These clowns go to the top Universities because of their wealth and connections… not because they have the brightest minds. It’s the same reason they end up in Government.
I’d actually prefer our leaders didn’t necessarily all go to the most exclusive University. Perhaps having a Health Secretary who actually had some experience of that particular field… perhaps a former Doctor? Maybe that would make more sense then some toff idiot who was handed cushy finance jobs in the City because Daddy has friends in high up places.
The system is simply not set up to get good candidates into any of these roles. Many of the most important jobs in the country being done by so many below average individuals.
Genuinely couldn’t care what uni any of our ministers attended. It’d be refreshing to have someone who can relate to real people and not someone who’s mummy/daddy has written them the largest cheques.
100% agree. One one of the biggest issues is diversity. Diversity of experience. Far too few of our politicians actually have any real world experience. Real world business experience.
whilst this will sound controversial, we don’t pay them enough, and so attract a poorer standard of person.
now obviously I wouldn’t get anyone’s vote on here… but for £70k per year, there’s no chance I would want to be an MP. Whilst it’s clearly a lot higher than the average wage, the best strategists/communicators etc will easily be earning 6 figures. Politics is unattractive - so you get the career politicians, which are the massive problem.
whilst he’s obviously not caught the imagination of labour, we need more examples of Kier Starmer.
I do agree with that, ultimately if we paid them more then they’re less susceptible to being bribed by outside sources. At least that’s how I see things but open to being corrected.
Enter Nigel Farage. That was his initial claim to fame, before Brexit. That he was not a career politician and has real world experience. And Boris was a journalist.
And of course, in the US, Donald Trump.
So. You pay your money and take you choice. Frying pan or fire.
They get into those uni's because they go to the right public schools. They go to the right public schools because they go to the right prep schools. They go to the right prep schools because they can afford it, in both fees and housing. I know this because my daughter's go to one of those prep schools.
From the earliest part of prep school they learn how to pass exams, to the point where my eight year old is practicing eleven plus exams.
I did economics at one of those uni's that is good but also really pretty and historic so it had multiple yellow cards for having too many public school students. They know how to "study", but they were rarely the smartest kids.
By only picking our leaders from that small bunch, we are lowering the IQ of our government.
We mock the American system here in the UK, but they had a half Kenyan dude from Hawaii run their country for eight years. When have we had that kind of diversity in our leadership?
From the earliest part of prep school they learn how to pass exams, to the point where my eight year old is practicing eleven plus exams.
I did economics at one of those uni's that is good but also really pretty and historic so it had multiple yellow cards for having too many public school students. They know how to "study", but they were rarely the smartest kids.
By only picking our leaders from that small bunch, we are lowering the IQ of our government.
We mock the American system here in the UK, but they had a half Kenyan dude from Hawaii run their country for eight years. When have we had that kind of diversity in our leadership?
There's nothing wrong with Oxford Brookes or UWE. Nor should the university you went to continue to have a bearing on your achievements as you go through life. Regardless, even if we somehow accept that those who go to Oxbridge as amazing and those who go to UWE are shite, there is of course z medium between the two and we have many prestigious and excellent universities across the country.
I do not consider Johnson, having every advantage in the world from birth, having gone to schools where they tutor them from the very beginning on how to get into Oxbridge, intelligent or having had the best education in leading a country because he can write essays on Ancient Greek/Roman culture.
I can't think of another 'advanced' country where 2 universities have such a stranglehold on political power or where it is so accepted by the population either.
I work with a lot of people who went to Oxbridge and top Russell group universities and don't consider them any different from each other in terms of intelligence. For that matter, I don't consider them any different from those colleagues who went to other unis as well.
Looking at Hunt, Gove, Johnson, Hancock and Raab doesn't scream intelligence or high education to me.