Rishi Sunak and the Conservative Party.

[SteveM70]

Why is it elitist? Loads of schools offer trips of varying sorts. Sometimes it's an opportunity for a family to give their child an experience like this as they are able to scrape money together for the child to go but not whole family. Therefore the child is able to have experience that they wouldn't have had. Someone I know said that they could allow each of their two children a chance to go abroad because of school trips, something they couldn't afford if the three of them went together.
Nowadays a school if a child wishes to go who cannot afford a trip the school will often assist financially in some form. Income cases the whole trip may be funded (and, yes, this does happen in state schools).
Just because one person can't go does that mean no-one should have the opportunity?

Going skiing isn't elitist. Going skiing and choosing only hugely expensive resorts in the most expensive countries absolutely is.

In my opinion the school should have an obligation to deliver activities as cost effectively as possible

 

[Richard Scott]

Going skiing isn't elitist. Going skiing and choosing only hugely expensive resorts in the most expensive countries absolutely is.

In my opinion the school should have an obligation to deliver activities as cost effectively as possible

Most do, local school now goes by coach rather than flying to keep cost down.

 

[brad465]

So Scott Benton has resigned for being bent. If all these scandals are going to involve ironically named-MPs, my money is on either Greg Hands or Peter Bottomley having to resign next for...well you know.

 

[SteveM70]

So Scott Benton has resigned for being bent. If all these scandals are going to involve ironically named-MPs, my money is on either Greg Hands or Peter Bottomley having to resign next for...well you know.

Interesting timing from the Bent one. Why resign halfway through the recall petition process? I wonder if they're desperate to have the by-election the same day as the local elections so someone leaned on him to get him out soon enough

 

[jfollows]

Interesting timing from the Bent one. Why resign halfway through the recall petition process? I wonder if they're desperate to have the by-election the same day as the local elections so someone leaned on him to get him out soon enough

I’m sure Benton was leaned on - either they’ve got something on him he doesn’t want making public or - more likely I think - they promised him something in return for falling on his sword. They are desperate to reduce the impact of bad news given that they’ll be trounced in Blackpool South, but at least it’s only one trouncing amongst many if the by-election is on May 2nd.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Thank you - the presumption is that Scott Benson was leaned on by the Tories to enable the by-election to happen on May 2nd. rather than later, for the reason you suggest. Presumably he was offered "something", it'll be interesting to know what in due course.

Could be. Could equally be that he felt some loyalty to the Tories and wanted himself to save them embarrassment. Or could be that he saw the writing on the wall and decided to resign rather than face the added personal embarrassment of the recall petition being successful. I doubt there's much the Tories could offer him that wouldn't rebound on them, since any news about them giving Scott Benson any responsibilities would immediately attract more adverse publicity for them.

 

[SteveM70]

Could be. Could equally be that he felt some loyalty to the Tories and wanted himself to save them embarrassment. Or could be that he saw the writing on the wall and decided to resign rather than face the added personal embarrassment of the recall petition being successful. I doubt there's much the Tories could offer him that wouldn't rebound on them, since any news about them giving Scott Benson any responsibilities would immediately attract more adverse publicity for them.

I really doubt it. Benton has no morals, no integrity, and exists purely to make as much money as he can. He was like that on Calderdale council; he was like that when working for his mentor Craig Whittaker

 

[brad465]

Is there a difference in severance pay if one loses a recall petition vs resigning/standing down/losing at a GE? I know severance pay now is equal to 4 months rather than 2, so if Benton gets this pay by resigning, but being recalled forfeits it, then he'd definitely find value in resigning before the petition expires.




Elsewhere the "narcissist meter" must have blown up when presented with this:

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twitter.com

Why, at 66, men are finding me so sexy and desirable! ‘I wondered, had a neon sign with the word ‘Available’ suddenly switched on above my head?’ The truth is, after five years, the grief has finally faded.

NADINE DORRIES: Why, at 66, men are finding me so sexy and desirable!

At first I thought he was in need of support, as his hand suddenly slipped into mine. Had the large quantity of alcohol he'd consumed left him a little unsteady on his feet?

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[nw1]

Is there a difference in severance pay if one loses a recall petition vs resigning/standing down/losing at a GE? I know severance pay now is equal to 4 months rather than 2, so if Benton gets this pay by resigning, but being recalled forfeits it, then he'd definitely find value in resigning before the petition expires.




Elsewhere the "narcissist meter" must have blown up when presented with this:

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Nadine Dorries, the new pop sensation.

She'll be no.1 before the year is out, perhaps with a cover of the famous Right Said Fred hit.

Another song to add to the "Now That's What I Call Right Wing" compilation album - also featuring Alexander "Boris" Johnson and the Woke-Kickers' Halloween 2019 hit "Tory Mash", 19-year old unknown Lizzie-T's 1994 cover of "God Save The Queen", Neil and Christine Hamilton with "England are Jolly Dee", Dominic Frisby's real 2020 no.43 hit "17 Million Expletives" [by far the worst Top 50 hit ever recorded], Peter Lilley's live tracks "I've got a little list" and "Land of Pseudo-Tories", Therese Coffey's cover of "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life", etc, etc, etc....

 

[dgl]

The conservatives new money making venture, Nadine Dorris on Only Fans, ewwwwwwwwwwwwww

 

[birchesgreen]

Talk about swiping right...

 

[D6130]

Nadine Dorries, the new pop sensation.

She'll be no.1 before the year is out, perhaps with a cover of the famous Right Said Fred hit.

"Oh I don't believe in love any more....it's a delusion...." (with apologies to Roger Whittaker!)

 

[Peterthegreat]

"Oh I don't believe in love any more....it's a delusion...." (with apologies to Roger Whittaker!)

Hopefully it will be The Last Farewell!

 

[Purple Train]

I think it's fair to say that Susan Hall hasn't had the best of campaigns for the London mayoral election, but it's got worse: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpw05l5p6d7o

An advert in support of the Conservative's London mayoral candidate that featured scenes from New York instead of the capital has been deleted.
The clip, posted on the party's X (formerly Twitter) account, attacked London's incumbent Labour mayor, Sadiq Khan, and used footage of a stampede in a New York subway station, which Mr Khan criticised as "quite staggering".
The advert, in support of Susan Hall, was quickly removed and replaced with a video where the New York scenes had been cut.
Ms Hall's spokesperson said the video had been created by Conservative Party headquarters and not her campaign team.
The Conservative Party's head office has been contacted for comment.

What particularly got me was this bit:

In the original black-and-white video, the scenes of a stampede at New York's Penn Station in 2017 were overlaid with a US-accented narrator saying: "A 54% increase in knife crime since the Labour mayor seized power has the metropolis teetering on the brink of chaos.
"And in the chaos, people seek a desperate reprieve."

The video also warned of "squads of Ulez-enforcers dressed in black, faces covered with masks, terrorising communities at the beck and call of their Labour mayor master, who has implemented a tax on driving, forcing people to stay inside or go underground".

"Gripped by the tendrils of rising crime" it continued, "London citizens stay inside".

"The streets are quiet."

Simply - what on earth?

 

[birchesgreen]

How was Susan Hall selected? What were the others like??

 

[takno]

How was Susan Hall selected? What were the others like??

By the time the lunatics in local membership were finished, there was only one remotely credible candidate left, and he had to drop out when a sexual abuse allegation surfaced. Personally I thought he was just as much of a lunatic, and in any case the choice of candidate doesn't matter much because the whole party machine now appears to be geared to campaigning to a "silent majority" who are mainly silent because they are dead or don't exist.

 

[Purple Train]

How was Susan Hall selected? What were the others like??

Apparently the video was created by central party headquarters, according to Ms Hall. That's quite possibly worse, if it's representative of the views of those running the country.

 

[Gloster]

Apparently the video was created by central party headquarters, according to Ms Hall. That's quite possibly worse, if it's representative of the views of those running the country.

…or indicative of their competence.

 

[DC1989]

Unfortunately Susan is a stereotypical outer London Tory. She'll no doubt easily win Bromley, Bexley, Havering, Barnet and Hillingdon but the voting coalition of retired cab drivers in those areas and the more genteel type of tory voter you used to find in Richmond, Merton etc is fraying

 

[brad465]

How was Susan Hall selected? What were the others like??

The original favourite for Tory candidate stepped down in response to allegations made against him. Had he not I strongly suspect Hall would have lost.

 

[Purple Train]

…or indicative of their competence.

Or indicative of their historical knowledge, if they truly believe what they said about Khan "seizing power", let alone the whole ULEZ rant that makes him sound like some kind of cartoon evil overlord.

If this was in Yes Minister, I would have dismissed it as the writers getting desperate for ideas.

 

[ainsworth74]

I must admit this gives me a similar worrying vibe, perhaps even more so, to when the Labour Party ran their "Rishi is pro-pedo" attack advert (I can't recall the exact issue but it was clearly rubbish) a year or so ago. But in some ways this feels even worse I think because it's seemingly trying very clearly to tap into a wellspring of anti-Muslim feeling that clearly exists to some degree in some right wing voters. But doing so quite explicitly. Why else would it say "Khan seized power", that's very specific language. Someone who seizes power is someone who has usually done so anti-democratically. Are they trying to suggest that the two elections that Khan won were rigged or fraudulent? How else should one interpret their phrasing? That's quite apart from the more usual rubbish about "life under Labour" which I can happily accept as just the way that dirty politics works.

But there's something that really sends a bit of shiver down the back in the way that this latest attack ad has been formulated. I do think it's quite a worrying development.

 

[SteveM70]

Here’s an idea

Pass a law that bans all negative advertising in political campaigns. Make them focus on why they’re good, not why the other mob are rubbish / corrupt / flag shaggers / paedos / pro-Muslim etc etc

Obviously it’ll never happen mind

 

[Purple Train]

I must admit this gives me a similar worrying vibe, perhaps even more so, to when the Labour Party ran their "Rishi is pro-pedo" attack advert (I can't recall the exact issue but it was clearly rubbish) a year or so ago. But in some ways this feels even worse I think because it's seemingly trying very clearly to tap into a wellspring of anti-Muslim feeling that clearly exists to some degree in some right wing voters. But doing so quite explicitly. Why else would it say "Khan seized power", that's very specific language. Someone who seizes power is someone who has usually done so anti-democratically. Are they trying to suggest that the two elections that Khan won were rigged or fraudulent? How else should one interpret their phrasing? That's quite apart from the more usual rubbish about "life under Labour" which I can happily accept as just the way that dirty politics works.

But there's something that really sends a bit of shiver down the back in the way that this latest attack ad has been formulated. I do think it's quite a worrying development.

Agreed - but the content of the conspiracy theory around ULEZ is just as worrying, in my view, in terms of trying to tap into anti-Muslim feeling, in particular:

"squads of Ulez-enforcers dressed in black, faces covered with masks, terrorising communities at the beck and call of their Labour mayor master"

strikes me as much the same thing. I don't know if I'm over-analysing things, but I definitely get that feeling. Breaking it down into its constituent parts not only shows up how ridiculous it is (ULEZ enforcers terrorising communities? What, cameras? Are the cameras coming awake at night and parading the suburbs like hopping zombies?) but the very specific phrasing (black clothes, masks, etc.) seems, to me, targeted at tapping into that feeling also. Again, I don't know whether it's just me getting too addicted to close language analysis or not, but those are my thoughts.

 

[najaB]

Pass a law that bans all negative advertising...

Define negative.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

By the time the lunatics in local membership were finished, there was only one remotely credible candidate left, and he had to drop out when a sexual abuse allegation surfaced. Personally I thought he was just as much of a lunatic, and in any case the choice of candidate doesn't matter much because the whole party machine now appears to be geared to campaigning to a "silent majority" who are mainly silent because they are dead or don't exist.

Actually it was the other way round as far as the membership is concerned. The shortlist of 3 candidates was chosen by Conservative Central Office. Then Daniel Korski dropped out due to the sexual assault allegation, leaving just Susan Hall and Mozammel Hossain. That was the first point at which the local Tory membership got a vote, and 57% voted for Susan Hall.

 

[SteveM70]

Define negative.

Anything that is critical of anything to do with another political party would be a start point.

Ultimately, I want to be told why I should vote for party A, not why I shouldn't vote for parties B, C and D

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Apparently the video was created by central party headquarters, according to Ms Hall. That's quite possibly worse, if it's representative of the views of those running the country.

Probably not the people running the country. Most likely, it'll be the staff at CCHQ who are responsible for creating those kinds of videos. But either way, from the description in the BBC article, the ad contained utterly appalling misinformation and scaremongering that has no basis in reality, and goes way beyond the normal cherry-picking of statistics/stretching-of-the-truth that you typically see in political ads. To my mind, it is worrying that someone thought it was OK to put something like that in an ad - that does suggest a pretty bad culture at CCHQ.

 

[DarloRich]

Some of the recent stuff pumped out by the Tories on Starmer and his legal work and Khan as London Mayor has been desperate. Really quite poor.

 

[SteveM70]

Some of the recent stuff pumped out by the Tories on Starmer and his legal work and Khan as London Mayor has been desperate. Really quite poor.

The problem is that there will be plenty of the electorate who believe what they're told