NPR

Yes, this hoary old nonsense is the current distraction tactic

To distract from this probably.

https://news.sky.com/story/partygate-bo ... s-12623349

On the Sue Gray report which was published last Wednesday, the Sunday Times claims that: "Sources, both political and civil service, say Gray was lobbied on Tuesday evening to make changes by three senior civil servants.

"They urged her not to publish the names of some of those who had attended the 12 law-breaking parties. Other changes were also requested to passages in the report that made reference to Carrie Johnson, the prime minister's wife.

"Gray told them to 'instruct' her to make the changes - a move that would have required a senior minister to sign off amendments, signalling publicly that the revisions had been made against her will."

The newspaper claims that up to 30 people had been contacted by Ms Gray telling them she intended to name them, but only 15 people were named in the final report.

It adds that details concerning the "Abba night" party, which it is claimed was held in the prime minister's flat on 13 November 2020, were "tweaked" by Mr Johnson's chief-of-staff Steve Barclay on the eve of publication.

It is alleged an earlier draft of Ms Gray's report referred to music being played and stated at what time the gathering ended, but that the information was redacted.

But Mr Lewis said it is not just Downing Street denying changes were made, but the Met Police looked at that particular event "and didn't find an issue to fine people".

tabascoboy wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 9:12 am Yes, this hoary old nonsense is the current distraction tactic

On the one hand if a shop wants to trade in lbs and ozs and if people want to buy there then I’d let them get on with it.
On the other hand it’s a load of blue passport style ffykin nonsense.

GogLais wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 9:56 am

tabascoboy wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 9:12 am Yes, this hoary old nonsense is the current distraction tactic

On the one hand if a shop wants to trade in lbs and ozs and if people want to buy there then I’d let them get on with it.
On the other hand it’s a load of blue passport style ffykin nonsense.

The UK, proud to be backwards. And too they could be spending what's very expensive governmental time doing useful stuff

fishfoodie wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 9:31 am To distract from this probably.

https://news.sky.com/story/partygate-bo ... s-12623349

On the Sue Gray report which was published last Wednesday, the Sunday Times claims that: "Sources, both political and civil service, say Gray was lobbied on Tuesday evening to make changes by three senior civil servants.

"They urged her not to publish the names of some of those who had attended the 12 law-breaking parties. Other changes were also requested to passages in the report that made reference to Carrie Johnson, the prime minister's wife.

"Gray told them to 'instruct' her to make the changes - a move that would have required a senior minister to sign off amendments, signalling publicly that the revisions had been made against her will."

The newspaper claims that up to 30 people had been contacted by Ms Gray telling them she intended to name them, but only 15 people were named in the final report.

It adds that details concerning the "Abba night" party, which it is claimed was held in the prime minister's flat on 13 November 2020, were "tweaked" by Mr Johnson's chief-of-staff Steve Barclay on the eve of publication.

It is alleged an earlier draft of Ms Gray's report referred to music being played and stated at what time the gathering ended, but that the information was redacted.

But Mr Lewis said it is not just Downing Street denying changes were made, but the Met Police looked at that particular event "and didn't find an issue to fine people".

Tried to nobble her.......surely not!
Sunday Times and The Observer both running with it as well!

GogLais wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 9:56 am
On the one hand if a shop wants to trade in lbs and ozs and if people want to buy there then I’d let them get on with it.
On the other hand it’s a load of blue passport style ffykin nonsense.

Except that then the Government needs to have whatever department that checks, "weights & measures", then manage two different measurement systems, & businesses need to either have software, & systems that do both or add a conversion step to everything, so some fucking flagshagger can buy their petrol by the hogshead

I presume UK Schools stopped teaching Imperial measurements sometime in the last century ?

fishfoodie wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 12:46 pm

GogLais wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 9:56 am
On the one hand if a shop wants to trade in lbs and ozs and if people want to buy there then I’d let them get on with it.
On the other hand it’s a load of blue passport style ffykin nonsense.

Except that then the Government needs to have whatever department that checks, "weights & measures", then manage two different measurement systems, & businesses need to either have software, & systems that do both or add a conversion step to everything, so some fucking flagshagger can buy their petrol by the hogshead

I presume UK Schools stopped teaching Imperial measurements sometime in the last century ?

I'm over 40 and have absolutely zero clue about Imperial measurements. You basically have to be a pensioner to have been taught them, I think.

fishfoodie wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 12:46 pm

GogLais wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 9:56 am
On the one hand if a shop wants to trade in lbs and ozs and if people want to buy there then I’d let them get on with it.
On the other hand it’s a load of blue passport style ffykin nonsense.

Except that then the Government needs to have whatever department that checks, "weights & measures", then manage two different measurement systems, & businesses need to either have software, & systems that do both or add a conversion step to everything, so some fucking flagshagger can buy their petrol by the hogshead

I presume UK Schools stopped teaching Imperial measurements sometime in the last century ?

I’m not saying it that seriously but if the Gov’t was stupid enough to go ahead with this then yes, there would be two sets of official measurements and businesses could trade on one or both as they saw fit.
Not lbs and ozs but the building industry was still imperial when I started in 1972. Try working out the price of a 50’9” x 63’10” x 9” concrete slab at £2 15s 10d per cubic yard.
Secondary school science and Uni engineering was wholly metric.

GogLais wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 3:07 pm

fishfoodie wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 12:46 pm

GogLais wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 9:56 am
On the one hand if a shop wants to trade in lbs and ozs and if people want to buy there then I’d let them get on with it.
On the other hand it’s a load of blue passport style ffykin nonsense.

Except that then the Government needs to have whatever department that checks, "weights & measures", then manage two different measurement systems, & businesses need to either have software, & systems that do both or add a conversion step to everything, so some fucking flagshagger can buy their petrol by the hogshead

I presume UK Schools stopped teaching Imperial measurements sometime in the last century ?

I’m not saying it that seriously but if the Gov’t was stupid enough to go ahead with this then yes, there would be two sets of official measurements and businesses could trade on one or both as they saw fit.
Not lbs and ozs but the building industry was still imperial when I started in 1972. Try working out the price of a 50’9” x 63’10” x 9” concrete slab at £2 15s 10d per cubic yard.
Secondary school science and Uni engineering was wholly metric.

I didn't really think you were, as you don't appear to be a complete cabbage; but then again you also aren't a Politician in Government, who when they muse about re-introducing Imperial measures, immediately cause hundreds of Civil Servants to stop whatever they're doing, &
start to work on your hair brained scheme !

Remember how much the idiotic plan for the bridge or tunnel to NI cost UK Taxpayers !

It's just a 5lb 6oz dead cat.

Also, when you get right down to it, Imperial measurements don’t have a central definition as far as I know, except in SI units.

I only discovered after checking that the kilogram is now defined in terms of the second and the Planck constant, which means all SI units are now derived from fundamental constants in physics (and their presentation in certain physical properties).

Will the energy companies go back to using BTU and Cubic Yards now then? I mean energy was so much cheaper before we were metric... #BlameEUfor everything

Ignoring the imperial unit dead cat ...

There's some talk about Johnson being recalled. Seemed unlikely to me, so I looked into it.

Step 1

The Privileges Committee need to find him guilty of lying to parliament. Here his strange defence of not knowing he was at a party could be useful to him, as unknowingly lying is different to knowingly lying and blah blah.
The Privileges Committee has 2 Labour MPs (Yvonne Fovargue and Harriet Harman), 1 SNP MP (Allan Dorans). Lets just say they're all going to do everything they can to find Johnson guilty and give him the maximum punishment. That leaves the 4 Tory MPs (Bernard Jenkin, Alberto Costa, Laura Farris, Andy Carter), none have really criticised Johnson. Costa has been very pro-Johnson and was first elected in 2015, Farris and Carter both first elected in 2019.

The Tories could shut it down at this stage, but that would look incredibly bad. Likely they find him guilty. There's scope for them to find him guilty of a lesser transgression though "he didn't know he was being misleading" or some rubbish. The key is if they recommend he be suspended for 10 days or more. If they recommend a suspension of less than 10 days this ends here and there can be no recall.

Step 2

If the punishment they recommend is 10 days suspension, on some readings this can lead to a recall (a by-election for Johnson's seat if a petition succeeds). Many are reporting this as fact, but the Recall Act itself refers to "Standards Committee" not the "Privileges Committee". It seems that the intention of the act was refer to any committee covering parliamentary standards (which would capture the Privileges Committee). There is room for an interpretation that a recommended sanction by the Privileges Committee cannot lead to recall though.

The speaker (Lindsay Hoyle, Labour) decides if a punishment of 10 days suspension or more could lead to a recall. If he decides it cannot this ends here and there can be no recall.

Step 3

Parliament vote to decide if the recommended punishment should happen or not. Lets say it's a 10 day suspension they're voting to uphold or not. Tories have a huge majority, and at most there's about 30 Tories that are against Johnson and want him gone, which means Johnson survives as there's not enough rebels. Voting not to punish Johnson will maybe damage the Tories politically (but who knows, they're still polling well), but if they vote to punish him with 10 or more days suspension that also damages them. The problem they'll have is he'll still be PM in the midst of a potential recall/by-election for his own seat. There'll be incentive for Tory MPs not to punish him if he's still PM. It looks like he would win a 1922 committee instigated no confidence vote at the moment, and even if he lost he could potentially contest in the leadership race if he just ignored all conventions.

So my guess is that's as far as the recall hopes go. If the speaker shuts it down at step 2, that's the best for the Tory party, it's technical and nerdy and saves them political damage. More likely it ends at step 3 and damages the Tory party.

I haven't read/researched past this because that's where I think it ends. Ultimately the Tories have a majority and don't want to depose Johnson, so that's the logic of that position. If I were to investigate past Step 3 in the hypothetical that a recall becomes possible (10 day suspension recommended by Privileges Committee , speaker declares Privileges Committee recommendations count for the Recall Act, parliament votes to give Johnson a 10 day suspension), Johnson would still be PM, so if he was determined to keep ignoring the law/parliament/convention, I think he could maybe deploy himself into the Lords and evade losing a by-election and remain PM.

robmatic wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 1:45 pm

fishfoodie wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 12:46 pm

GogLais wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 9:56 am
On the one hand if a shop wants to trade in lbs and ozs and if people want to buy there then I’d let them get on with it.
On the other hand it’s a load of blue passport style ffykin nonsense.

Except that then the Government needs to have whatever department that checks, "weights & measures", then manage two different measurement systems, & businesses need to either have software, & systems that do both or add a conversion step to everything, so some fucking flagshagger can buy their petrol by the hogshead

I presume UK Schools stopped teaching Imperial measurements sometime in the last century ?

I'm over 40 and have absolutely zero clue about Imperial measurements. You basically have to be a pensioner to have been taught them, I think.

Yep - my kids no nothing of the imperial system, let alone my Grandkids. Although there are still some imperial units are still commonplace. Miles, for instance. The whole idea of bringing back imperial measures is utter nonsense.

robmatic wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 1:45 pm

fishfoodie wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 12:46 pm

GogLais wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 9:56 am
On the one hand if a shop wants to trade in lbs and ozs and if people want to buy there then I’d let them get on with it.
On the other hand it’s a load of blue passport style ffykin nonsense.

Except that then the Government needs to have whatever department that checks, "weights & measures", then manage two different measurement systems, & businesses need to either have software, & systems that do both or add a conversion step to everything, so some fucking flagshagger can buy their petrol by the hogshead

I presume UK Schools stopped teaching Imperial measurements sometime in the last century ?

I'm over 40 and have absolutely zero clue about Imperial measurements. You basically have to be a pensioner to have been taught them, I think.

Not quite a pensioner but I learned both systems concurrently, fortunately I suppose. That means I tend to randomly switch between Imperial and metric depending on whom I'm talking to and what I think they are most likely to be more familiar with. That will apply to a pretty narrow age band though I should imagine. Temperatures I stick completely with Celsius unless talking to a Yank, when it's also easier to use Imperial albeit that some of ours and some of theirs are different

If commercial enterprises want to waste their money on dual labelling or moving to listing entirely in Imperial that's a choice they could make if they so wish I suppose, but for clarity it has to be both and forcing it on them for Trading Standards would be ludicrous - can't put it past the clowns in Government to enforce it because of pointless pseudo patriotism statement

...........another empty promise

Promise anything.

Deliver nothing.

Blame anyone else.

tabascoboy wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 8:32 pm

robmatic wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 1:45 pm

fishfoodie wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 12:46 pm

Except that then the Government needs to have whatever department that checks, "weights & measures", then manage two different measurement systems, & businesses need to either have software, & systems that do both or add a conversion step to everything, so some fucking flagshagger can buy their petrol by the hogshead

I presume UK Schools stopped teaching Imperial measurements sometime in the last century ?

I'm over 40 and have absolutely zero clue about Imperial measurements. You basically have to be a pensioner to have been taught them, I think.

Not quite a pensioner but I learned both systems concurrently, fortunately I suppose. That means I tend to randomly switch between Imperial and metric depending on whom I'm talking to and what I think they are most likely to be more familiar with. That will apply to a pretty narrow age band though I should imagine. Temperatures I stick completely with Celsius unless talking to a Yank, when it's also easier to use Imperial albeit that some of ours and some of theirs are different

If commercial enterprises want to waste their money on dual labelling or moving to listing entirely in Imperial that's a choice they could make if they so wish I suppose, but for clarity it has to be both and forcing it on them for Trading Standards would be ludicrous - can't put it past the clowns in Government to enforce it because of pointless pseudo patriotism statement

This is a dead cat!

Businesses have all moved to metric systems - I can't see any of them retooling their production lines, changing labelling or having separate production lines for imperial v metric. Most operate on a pan European or wider basis and they will all just ignore this imperial shite. Nor can I see European producers starting to use imperial measures for the UK market only. Is any Champagne producer going to produce 'pint bottles of champagne'? Market traders can label their fruit and veg whatever they want, no-one gives a toss to be honest. Absolute jingoistic nonsense.

This is just the regular and routine stirring up of the Brexit anti EU crap from the Gov - they must have a well established timetable now for feeding the media the red meat to stir up their xenophobic and jingoistic supporters, they need to keep the pretend war going on. All they need to do is feed/leak some ridiculous nonsense based on list below to their friendly media owners at the Mail, Express, Telegraph, GB News, Talk radio or a friendly right wing commentator and they get it out into the media:

- Imperial weights & measures
- ripping up EU red tape
- migrants crossing the channel
- EU army and Turkey joining EU
- Cancel culture and anti wokism
- destroying statues of dodgy historical figures
- Royal yacht
- Northern Ireland protocol
- Sausage bans in NI
- French customs cause queues at Dover
- etc.

The drip, drip, drip of MPs telling him to resign, & Partygate refusing to die, makes me think that the Bumblecunt would prefer to get a Confidence vote out of the way ASAP.

Right now most commentators expect him to win one, but the longer he waits, he could have his MPs mulling over the Standards Committee decision, & a pair of disastrous By-Election results. He'd be much better off with a vote now, & then being clear thru to next June.

fishfoodie wrote: ↑Mon May 30, 2022 5:34 pm The drip, drip, drip of MPs telling him to resign, & Partygate refusing to die, makes me think that the Bumblecunt would prefer to get a Confidence vote out of the way ASAP.

Right now most commentators expect him to win one, but the longer he waits, he could have his MPs mulling over the Standards Committee decision, & a pair of disastrous By-Election results. He'd be much better off with a vote now, & then being clear thru to next June.

Agreed and I think he will be looking to do something after the Jubilee shit and before the by-elections at the end of June. It is a tight deadline but doable but it does mean they basically write off the by elections as the dirt that will come out from the leadership contest will be pretty awful. However they will have priced that in and will be looking no further than survival for the Blonde Bumblecunt and hope they can pull something out of the hat prior to next GE with the help of the Mail, Telegraph and Express and other friendly media.

When even Loathsome Leadsom is against you...

Never a true word

If this is true, then as his next tweet says: how could he oblige them without either sacking ministers already in post or making up a raft of meaningless new posts?

tabascoboy wrote: ↑Tue May 31, 2022 2:31 pm If this is true, then as his next tweet says: how could he oblige them without either sacking ministers already in post or making up a raft of meaningless new posts?

The ranks of toadies is already vast 180+ MPs on the gravy train, & he's proposing more !

And simultaneously, the Victorian creep is swinging the axe on 90k+ Civil Servants, & the service won't be getting any fresh blood intake this year.

The Princess really does sound like a nasty piece of work

The head housekeeper at Chequers has resigned after claims of tensions with Carrie Johnson.
Charlotte Vine MBE, who first worked at the prime minister’s official country residence in 2004, left with a payoff in 2020 after signing a non-disclosure agreement.

Relations were said to have deteriorated to such an extent that the prime minister’s wife refused to stay there when she was on duty. One source claimed that they fell out after Carrie Johnson made a personal accusation against Vine, which she denied. A spokeswoman for Johnson insisted that there was no dispute between them.

The Johnsons are also said to have clashed with other Chequers staff over their “chaotic” use of the 16th-century Buckinghamshire manor house.

tabascoboy wrote: ↑Tue May 31, 2022 2:31 pm If this is true, then as his next tweet says: how could he oblige them without either sacking ministers already in post or making up a raft of meaningless new posts?

This is a good guide:
https://www.instituteforgovernment.org. ... -ministers

His government only has 1 of the 109 legally permitted paid minister positions vacant and already has a further 14 unpaid ministers. As of May 2022 he has 122 ministers. Expanding the amount of paid minister positions (to bribe MPs) means amending the Ministerial and other Salaries Act 1975, which can't happen without parliament sitting and presumably some sort of pretext to sell it (there always being a surplus of unpaid ministers or something).

There are some members of the House of Lords taking up paid and unpaid minister positions though. By my count 9 of those are being paid and could be removed to make room to bribe MPs. These are the additional payments for a minister on top of an MP's salary:
Cabinet Minister, £67,505
Minister of State, £31,680
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, £22,475

Some of these characters with their letters are very transparent. I'm fairly sure Andrew Bridgen has submitted and retracted letters against Cameron. May, and now Johnson (with Johnson it was submit, retract, submit).

These are the names of the ministers, so if any of these turn on him he's in trouble.

SaintK wrote: ↑Tue May 31, 2022 3:01 pm The Princess really does sound like a nasty piece of work

The head housekeeper at Chequers has resigned after claims of tensions with Carrie Johnson.
Charlotte Vine MBE, who first worked at the prime minister’s official country residence in 2004, left with a payoff in 2020 after signing a non-disclosure agreement.

Relations were said to have deteriorated to such an extent that the prime minister’s wife refused to stay there when she was on duty. One source claimed that they fell out after Carrie Johnson made a personal accusation against Vine, which she denied. A spokeswoman for Johnson insisted that there was no dispute between them.

The Johnsons are also said to have clashed with other Chequers staff over their “chaotic” use of the 16th-century Buckinghamshire manor house.

Payoff and a NDA.

Lord Geidt, the standards advisor, getting serious now as well. Looks a little ominous for our dear leader I think

Slick wrote: ↑Tue May 31, 2022 9:37 pm Lord Geidt, the standards advisor, getting serious now as well. Looks a little ominous for our dear leader I think

Not at all. What can they really do to a man with no shame. He resigns and Johnson carries on.

petej wrote: ↑Tue May 31, 2022 10:12 pm

Slick wrote: ↑Tue May 31, 2022 9:37 pm Lord Geidt, the standards advisor, getting serious now as well. Looks a little ominous for our dear leader I think

Not at all. What can they really do to a man with no shame. He resigns and Johnson carries on.

And did you try and read what he actually wrote? It was nothing really

Happyhooker wrote: ↑Tue May 31, 2022 11:14 pm

petej wrote: ↑Tue May 31, 2022 10:12 pm

Slick wrote: ↑Tue May 31, 2022 9:37 pm Lord Geidt, the standards advisor, getting serious now as well. Looks a little ominous for our dear leader I think

Not at all. What can they really do to a man with no shame. He resigns and Johnson carries on.

And did you try and read what he actually wrote? It was nothing really

I tried. Really hard

If you're ever feeling a bit useless and wondering about your place in this world, spare a thought for Bojo's ethics advisor

Insane_Homer wrote: ↑Wed Jun 01, 2022 8:57 pm If you're ever feeling a bit useless and wondering about your place in this world, spare a thought for Bojo's ethics advisor

They probably used to be his Marriage Guidance Counselor .... with similar success

Insane_Homer wrote: ↑Wed Jun 01, 2022 8:57 pm If you're ever feeling a bit useless and wondering about your place in this world, spare a thought for Bojo's ethics advisor

Some furious report writing which boils down to him calling the PM a cad, saying he is though taking what the PM will give him, and if the PM would only grant him a little more he might not look so ineffective . In all likelihood no PM would want to hand over authority, this one given his talent for landing himself in the shit will be especially keen to promise to look into any request and then ignore it

Whether after all the bending over backwards any resignation would carry any weight we'll have to wait and see, both whether he goes and whether it amounts to anything

It's almost as if this isn't just, the Westminster Village, or fluff, & people haven't moved on ?

We'll find out on Monday if 54 Tory MPs agree.

tabascoboy wrote: ↑Fri Jun 03, 2022 12:14 pm

It is all catching up with him. I thought it was interesting Ellwood brought up rejoining the single market.

Wait for the lies from the Press Office now to, explain, how it wasn't him they were booing, or how it was only a couple of radicals, & the microphone was right beside them, or that the rest of the crowd was booing the boo'ers, for politicizing the event.