Conservative leadership contenders

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

swansonj

Regular
First, what a complete disgrace and tragedy that key public-health decisions are being made not on the basis of saving lives but on the basis of a handful of leadership contenders jockeying for favour among the miniscule and unrepresentative electorate in the forthcoming leadership election. Not just with Johnson but with his putative successors, we seem to have quite transparently given up any pretence of doing the right thing and it's just about political expediency.

Then, what do we think of the candidates? They are all odious, but Javid, Hunt and Sunak strike me as possessing basic competence, whereas Truss seems lightweight? Or is that my sexist prejudices?
 

Unkraut

Master of the Inane Comment
Location
Germany
Do you know something the rest of us don't or are you speculating about the beneficiaries of the will before the death? :smile:

If you made not having an affaire a qualification what affect would this have on the number of candidates? It is the Conservative Party after all.
 

IanSmithCSE

New Member
Good morning,
First, what a complete disgrace and tragedy that key public-health decisions are being made not on the basis of saving lives but on the basis of a handful of leadership contenders jockeying
I do not see it that way, what I see is that some Tories are beginning to make the decisions that they should have made way back when BJ prorogued parliament and stood up for the idea that MPs should challenge bad government.

By now most of us have settled our view on the economy versus health argument, but for most of us it is very difficult to say that we have had anywhere near enough information to have made that a fully rational decision.

For example, have we have reduced our pensions by 1%, 2%, 5% or 25% to pay for COVID? Although the last value is probably too high it is nowhere near out of the question. Would we accept another 2%, 5%, 7.5% cut for more prevention measures?

Just how much tax revenue have we written off for this year and the next few years by making profitable companies unprofitable and used general tax revenues to offset their business rates and staff costs and just how many have been driven out of business or into zombie company status?

The obvious implication of the above is how much do we want to cut the health, education and defence budgets for more prevention measures?

Interestingly, for some reason the BBC has been making a big deal about Trump's golf courses claiming furlough funds, is this because the journalists now feel safe to start explaining just how much it is all going to cost and want some bad guys to blame to make it all seem better?

All that is happening now is that many MPs are starting to feel that they can say, look we have real health risk numbers and the costs of more preventative measures are too high. We simply can't afford it and we really do believe in freedom, the risk is not great enough to justify the restrictions.

Sadly some should have been doing this from day 1 but nobody was willing, which is why NI, Wales and Scotland still feel free to implement such measures. Of course the devolved regions can always fall back on the excuse of we want to save the population but central government won't give us the money.

Whether the history books will look back on this as the point where the country completely lost perspective and started a process of economic collapse that was never reversed is not yet clear. Although much of the debt acquired to pay for COVID measures was fantasy money, the BoE just "printed it", so in theory it may never be paid back this would have consequences as well.


Bye

Ian
 
Last edited:

Xipe Totec

Something nasty in the woodshed
Whatever.

I for one think it would be objectively both appropriate and hilarious if the successful candidate to succeed Bodger ended up being tubby little Gino Francois. The perfect epitaph for a rubbish little country that's spent the last decade stamping around waving an upside-down Union Jack and shouting at a bemused world, whilst simultaneously stabbing itself frantically in the face.
 
OP
OP
swansonj

swansonj

Regular
Good morning,

I do not see it that way, what I see is that some Tories are beginning to make the decisions that they should have made way back when BJ prorogued parliament and stood up for the idea that MPs should challenge bad government.

By now most of us have settled our view on the economy versus health argument, but for most of us it is very difficult to say that we have had anywhere near enough information to have made that a fully rational decision.

For example, have we have reduced our pensions by 1%, 2%, 5% or 25% to pay for COVID? Although the last value is probably too high it is nowhere near out of the question. Would we accept another 2%, 5%, 7.5% cut for more prevention measures?

Just how much tax revenue have we written off for this year and the next few years by making profitable companies unprofitable and used general tax revenues to offset their business rates and staff costs and just how many have been driven out of business or into zombie company status?

The obvious implication of the above is how much do we want to cut the health, education and defence budgets for more prevention measures?

Interestingly, for some reason the BBC has been making a big deal about Trump's golf courses claiming furlough funds, is this because the journalists now feel safe to start explaining just how much it is all going to cost and want some bad guys to blame to make it all seem better?

All that is happening now is that many MPs are starting to feel that they can say, look we have real health risk numbers and the costs of more preventative measures are too high. We simply can't afford it and we really do believe in freedom, the risk is not great enough to justify the restrictions.

Sadly some should have been doing this from day 1 but nobody was willing, which is why NI, Wales and Scotland still feel free to implement such measures. Of course the devolved regions can always fall back on the excuse of we want to save the population but central government won't give us the money.

Whether the history books will look back on this as the point where the country completely lost perspective and started a process of economic collapse that was never reversed is not yet clear. Although much of the debt acquired to pay for COVID measures was fantasy money, the BoE just "printed it", so in theory it may never be paid back this would have consequences as well.


Bye

Ian
Your opposition of "health" versus "economy" is a distorted way of presenting the decision landscape.

The choice has always been, and still is: act early and accept a big economic hit; or act late, when the economic hit is even bigger and more public health damage has already been done.
 

Pale Rider

Veteran
Whatever.

I for one think it would be objectively both appropriate and hilarious if the successful candidate to succeed Bodger ended up being tubby little Gino Francois. The perfect epitaph for a rubbish little country that's spent the last decade stamping around waving an upside-down Union Jack and shouting at a bemused world, whilst simultaneously stabbing itself frantically in the face.

Whoever is the next leader, juvenile pretendy nihilists will still be irrelevant and an embarrassment to grown ups.
 

Pale Rider

Veteran
But oddly, there will still be furious little knee-jerky denialists, desperate to engage with and defend their fragile misconceptions against the apparently 'irrelevant'.

It's the predictability that kills you.

I'm not defending anything, so lots more ignorant and baseless assumptions from you.

Grow up (hard) and get a grip (just as hard).
 
D

Deleted member 49

Guest
The removal of Johnson won't make much difference.Good to see him go,sack of sh1t he is.But the next leader won't change anything.Itll be buisness as usual.
 
D

Deleted member 49

Guest
That's a bit like saying 'Klopp's a disaster - he won the Champions' League but that's about it'.
I think I prefer the " he's doing his best" which to be fair to Johnson doesn't set the bar very high.
 
D

Deleted member 49

Guest
Johnson could do better, and will need to if he wants to remain Tory leader for many more years.

He's had his warnings from those who could unseat him, so it's up to him now to take it on board and either shape up or ship out.
Dead man walking....he's not going to change.
 
Top Bottom