diable rouge

It's here folks!...

If SG's report can be published while the Met is carrying out a similar investigation, then that just confirms that the report was only ever going to be very lightweight in substance and carry little sway with regards to passing judgement on Partygate as a whole and/or any individual's behaviour. I would've thought though that No 10 will still fight hard against its publication, because ''waiting for the Met investigation'' buys them more time for the dust to settle. Having said that, as a former No.10 pollster (James Johnson) says, most people have already made their mind up about Johnson's behaviour... The big winner from today is, once again, Keir Starmer. Unless MPs seek a resolution, he will face Boris? Tories in May: racked by constant division, investigated by the police, with a leader who the public now despise and have already decided broke the rules. Every % of Tory recovery in the polls will be jumped on as proof of people ?moving on?. But the damage to how voters view Boris - on trust, competence, delivery - is done. Mention him in focus groups now and it prompts anger but also laughter and derision. The latter will stay. Many point to the high % of Tory-Don?t Knows in the polls as a sign the PM can bounce back. But one reading of those Don?t Knows, borne out by the focus groups, is that many of them are only keeping their line open to the Party because they expect it to act. Yes, today?s twist will be welcomed by No10. But, as the saga drags on, it is the worst outcome for the Conservative Party?s long-term electability. The state of public opinion is clear - and with it, the PM?s interests and the Party?s interests no longer align. It's the ''electability'' that will be the eventual undoing of Johnson...

Can't wait for the season finale!...:)

A couple of snippets from law and policy commentator David Allen Green... ''The way this government is collapsing over Covid regulations chaos should have been how this government should have collapsed because of Brexit chaos Only the hyper-partisanship of the Brexit issue saved it The shambles is not new - only that it cannot be hidden behind Brexit'' This is so true, but it actually all started with the Owen Patterson scandal, similar to Partygate in that it couldn't be 'protected' by Brexit. This Gov and PM have done far worse things under Brexit than anything Partygate has thrown up, but they were conveniently ignored or clapped and cheered through by Brexiters. It will be interesting to see whether Johnson's reputation getting trashed even further over Partygate, will also eventually rub-off onto Brexit itself. Johnson was very much the face and lies of Brexit. ''The irony of the cakeist Prime Minister being brought down by a cake. He wanted to impose the rules on the rest of us but not on himself.'' Irony indeed, after all it was Johnson who said during Brexit negotiations ''We can have our cake and eat it too'', obviously a mantra his privileged life has allowed him to follow. Until now...

''Events dear boy, events'' Suspect like the original Brexit thread, this thread will morph into other threads depending on what happens next. Plus you have the Ukraine situation which might throw up other issues with whoever the PM and governing party are...

malumbu Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- In one respect it is a shame that Partygate has distracted us from other failings on the PM, not sure how much Dom is orchestrating this, and if so why the drip drip feed. Suspect the drip feed is all about controlling the narrative, or more to the point, preventing Johnson and No 10 from controlling it and putting another spin on it. Cummings said he has deliberately given written evidence to Sue Gray for this very reason. Lots of chatter that the big juicy leak will come out after the Sue Gray report is released, but that will probably be on hold now that the Met are officially investigating it...

malumbu Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- I worked in an office for many years. Each birthday was different, some would bring in cake and leave it in the tea point (no office party), some would go down the pub (in the old days lunch time, later years after work), some wouldn't tell a soul, some would take the day off. Very very rarely any sort of gathering in the office, maybe a big birthday. In one office I once worked in (a period building like No. 10 but on a much smaller scale), whoever had a birthday had to buy cakes for the rest of the staff, and mid-afternoon we would all troop off to the office meeting room with mugs of tea in hand and have a good scoff and natter. Similarly if someone was leaving, although they didn't have to buy their own leaving presents!... :)

''I think TheCat needs to come clean on exactly where he/she does work.'' Well, he doesn't work at No 10 because he paints a picture of a typical open-plan office, which it isn't. This 'celebratory gathering' (I don't think it was a party in the true sense of the word, but newspapers will always use a far more punchier term for their headlines) happened in the Cabinet Room, which if you want to relate to a typical office would be something like a director's meeting room, where all the big heads meet. Journalists who've been inside it say that it would be impossible to socially distance circa 30 people in such a room which is dominated by a large conference table. So it wasn't a case of employees sat at their open-plan desks and stopping work for a bit, they all must have trooped-in from wherever they were working (Downing Street is a large warren-like series of rooms, something like circa 100 in total, so one would expect [hope!] that those who needed to work in No 10 and weren't WFH, were easily able to work and maintain social distance guidelines and certainly weren't working ''next to each other''). Then there was the singing, something that was strictly prohibited even in much more open and cavernous spaces such as as churches, because this was one of the ways the virus could be passed on even if maintaining social distancing. Although this episode can be seen to be less of a breach than the full-on parties in the garden and basement of No 10, nevertheless it was another major infringement of the the rules/guidelines the Gov and PM had been telling the country to adhere to, and those who didn't and were reported to the police, were fined. It's further evidence that they were telling the country to do one thing while completely ignoring their own rules/guidelines. You also have to remember that Johnson stood up in Parliament and feigned 'dismay' and any knowledge of parties/gatherings in No 10 when the Allegra Stratton video emerged back in December, which we now know to be untrue as he was in direct attendance in this latest revelation and the larger garden party. So in the context of that alone, this story is anything but frivolous. I see while writing this, the Met are now going to officially investigate the whole 'partygate' thing, although it didn't say why. Perhaps it was this story that finally broke the dam whereby they couldn't ignore the whole saga anymore, or maybe Sue Gray has found something else that she was duty bound to report to the Met, leaving them no option but to open an investigation. Whatever, I think we can all agree that Johnson is in an even worse position than he was last week...

Week 20 points... Week 20 table...

''I know the attempted lofty ?ugh. You people and your childishness? is meant to convey some gravitas.'' Cat is aptly named, as any feline owner will tell you, cats love to sit up high and look down on those around them...

''But hey ho, it detracts from the current mess.'' And leads to an even more disgruntled workforce, thus increasing the possibility of yet more leaks, as per the Partygate scandal. I read that the sender of the BYOB email has turned canary after learning about Johnson's Operation Save Big Dog and the it's plan to throw the No.10 staff under the bus. Hopefully it won't be too long before Slobberchops finally gets his balls cut-off...

Ooooh, those nasty Remainer types, writing nasty things about Brexit, how very dare they! Never mind, here's something fluffy and adorable for the pussies among us to look at... That's right Tiddles, roll over and have your tummy tickled while Daddy sticks his head in the sand

Super as a prefix, e.g. I'm super-happy!...

Seabag Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > This thread needs renaming > > Fox?s Crap News. Intro music? Check...

Actual Sunlit Uplands... In England's green and pleasant land... *Waves Union Jack*

Week 20 fixtures... Friday 21st January Watford v Norwich City Saturday 22nd January Everton v Aston Villa Brentford v Wolverhampton Wanderers Leeds United v Newcastle United Manchester United v West Ham United Southampton v Manchester City Sunday 23rd Januay Arsenal v Burnley Crystal Palace v Liverpool Leicester City v Brighton & Hove Albion Chelsea v Tottenham Hotspur

Turdle, the new game that's taken the internet by storm...

Bunching up nicely. Week 19 points... Week 19 table...

I wouldn't say I'm enjoying it, his premiership has been another self-inflicted debacle that is once again reflecting badly on the country as a whole and how the world sees us. But, he needs to go, by any means necessary, and it does seem rather apt watching him slowly being eaten alive by his own lying, the same lying that he's used and knowingly been allowed to get away with all his life. The Conservative Party and all those that happily clapped and cheered him along, need to take a long, hard look at themselves in the mirror...

This is very good...https://twitter.com/i/status/1483419587542761472

Just watched Johnson's interview with Sky, still saying it was a 'work event', which is fine, I get that's his standard rebuttal along with ''let's see what the Sue Gray report says'', but I just wish the journalist would then ask what did this work event actually entail, what was its purpose, what was his role in it? I suspect his answer would tell us a lot about whether he's lying or not....

That's why I alluded to a Hello shoot earlier, who'd want to employ him when this all blows over. He's already burned his bridges with half of the country over Brexit, and now he's doing the same with his Brexit paymasters. He's the epitome of populism, burn everything down for effect and to hell with the consequences, and now he's doing it to himself..:)

JohnL Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > He's going to do it slowly and excruciatingly > painfully. Yep, pretty clear now that he's directly behind some of the leaks, and maybe even pulling the strings on the others i.e. using intermediaries for leaks to the Mirror. Lots of chatter about whether he's deliberately waiting for the Sue Gray report and will then release a leak that exposes Johnson and a.n. others as liars. Stay tuned!...