In todays news...

[JackyJoll]

Of course, politicians aren’t Government employees. I expect that makes a difference.

I'm not an employee, I an a volunteer Trustee of a MAT. I still have to declare any gifts or hospitality and all directorship of myself and my close family.

The Govt is quick enough to make sure everyone else is squeaky clean, time they were held to account for their failings.

People who are voted in, should stay in. It’s a principle of democracy.

Or have you got some other idea?

[Screwdriver]

The flat refurbishment
One of the first scandals Johnson faced was an allegation of corruption after WhatsApp messages revealed he had asked a Conservative Party donor for funds to refurbish his Downing Street residence. British news outlets reported that the work cost around £200,000 ($280,000).

Political donations and loans are tightly controlled in the United Kingdom, with loans of more than £7,500 ($10,400) logged and publicly revealed by the commission four times a year.

Johnson did not report the donations and as a result, the Conservative Party was fined £17,800 by the Electoral Commission in December last year.

Did he take the wallpaper with him when he was thrown out?

[Screwdriver]

Somewhat more newsworthy, no more hiding behind a proxy, not that there is much left of Hamas, Hezbollah.

Iran have started lobbing hundreds of missiles at Israel.

Both countries have been well prepared for this eventuality. Israel have an extraordinarily capable air defence system and no doubt some highly developed plans for retribution. No doubt they will be taking retaliatory action against Iran, sooner rather than later. Probably take out their entire oil production abilities.

That's obviously bad news for anyone struggling to pay their fuel bills. An even worse option is if they go for their nuclear facilities. Then we get to find out if Iran have been doing dirty deals with Russia and whether or not that might have included nuclear weapons!

Nobody wants Roubles, Iran and North Korea have been supplying Russia with weapons and they both want nukes...

[ZRX61]

Iran fucked up. They launched one big wave of missiles, most of which were knocked down. The correct method is launch the first wave, wait a few minutes, launch the second wave to use up any left over defenses, then the third wave comes in & fucks shit up while the defenses are being rearmed.

[Screwdriver]

Israels "Iron Dome" and Arrow, Sling etc. are extremely capable defence systems. The laws of probability dictate a certain percentage will always penetrate, no system is perfect. I am not entirely convinced a staged attack is any better than a massive barrage all at once. Given sufficient numbers, it might even be possible to overwhelm defences by sheer volume.

That didn't work thank goodness and while the Iranian ballistic missile system is notoriously inaccurate (compared to modern US/NATO standards) they don't care and are happy to rain missiles down over the entire country. They might have been better off aiming at one spot but then again, maybe they did....

[demographic]

The flat refurbishment
One of the first scandals Johnson faced was an allegation of corruption after WhatsApp messages revealed he had asked a Conservative Party donor for funds to refurbish his Downing Street residence. British news outlets reported that the work cost around £200,000 ($280,000).

Political donations and loans are tightly controlled in the United Kingdom, with loans of more than £7,500 ($10,400) logged and publicly revealed by the commission four times a year.

Johnson did not report the donations and as a result, the Conservative Party was fined £17,800 by the Electoral Commission in December last year.

Did he take the wallpaper with him when he was thrown out?

He didn't report it (which suggests there's a lot more donations/freebies he didn't report) and was fined for it.
So, bearing that in mind, do you still think it was OK?
Then there was that "loan" of 800k that Richard Sharp (of the BBC) areanged and acted as guarantor for. You know, the one that Richard Sharp resigned over.
All above board, nothing to see here, please move on eh?

[gremlin]

And what what sort of vainglorious individual pays two and a half bags for a pair of fucking bins?

[Count Steer]

And what what sort of vainglorious individual pays two and a half bags for a pair of fucking bins?

I picked up some Lindberg frames to try in our opticians. They were absolutely minimal, titanium wire jobs. Squinted at the price tag.

£700! Chuck in some thin, light, high refractive index prescription lenses with your choice of coatings and things get spendy quite quickly.

I'll stick with my Izipizi ready readers.

[MyLittleStudPony]

I went to the fancy independent opticians in Toitytown. I bought some varifocals with the frames I liked and upper mid priced lenses. The bill was about a grand IIRC. And I'm just a rough old scrimper. I'd expect Sir Kier, representing us on the global stage, to be smartly presented.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I go to a reet fancy optician because they're the only ones with the right doodad to measure my wonky corneas. You also get a much more thorough eye check.

I always buy my specs from SpecSavers though, based on their prescription, 'cause a complete pair of specs starts at £1k from them I openly tell 'em that too.

FWIW we've looked at buying MRs. Ds glasses there (she's -10D) because more expensive ones are genuinely better when you're blind. Tiny things like getting the lenses in the correct place relative to your eye and having the super thin material are worth having. Still not quite pulled the trigger though.

https://www.hammondanddummer.co.uk

[gremlin]

Might I point you gentlemen toward my spectacle retailer of choice? https://jpopticians.com/

Get your prescription from trusted optician.

Go to expensive retailer and try on many pairs. Take a sneaky photo of the pairs you like, in order to obtain the stock code. Depart expensive retailer.

Check out J.P. Opticians who, in my experience, are much cheaper, but also a bricks and mortar retailer, albeit in Scouseland.

Glasses delivered complete with lenses of choice.

[Saga Lout]

As PMs go, it does seem Starmer has overtaken BoJo in the freebies ranking!

Haha, you're unintentionally funny.
As much as I'm loath to excuse politicians getting free gifts it's not even close.
Please show your working to explain where you picked that idea from.

Whether he's worse, just as bad or not quite so bad isn't the point. In opposition, Starmer et al presented themselves as a squeaky clean alternative to the nasty, corrupt Tories. Hypocrisy is never a good look.

[gremlin]

Hypocrisy is never a good look.

And yet one that never seems to be out of fashion with politicians of any hue.

[Rockburner]

Hypocrisy is never a good look.

And yet one that never seems to be out of fashion with politicians of any hue.

I think it's part of the application process...

[Wossname]

Might I point you gentlemen toward my spectacle retailer of choice? https://jpopticians.com/

Get your prescription from trusted optician.

Go to expensive retailer and try on many pairs. Take a sneaky photo of the pairs you like, in order to obtain the stock code. Depart expensive retailer.

Check out J.P. Opticians who, in my experience, are much cheaper, but also a bricks and mortar retailer, albeit in Scouseland.

Glasses delivered complete with lenses of choice.

That’s all very well, but…

Fancy new specs arrive, you put them on…. Something’s wrong. They don’t feel “right”. Can’t see the way you need to. No problem - wear them for a couple of weeks so you adjust to them - that would be the advice. 2 weeks on - still no good. Which of the 3 businesses do you go back to? They’ve cost less than they might have, but still hundreds at least, and they don’t work….

[Screwdriver]

He didn't report it (which suggests there's a lot more donations/freebies he didn't report) and was fined for it.
So, bearing that in mind, do you still think it was OK?
Then there was that "loan" of 800k that Richard Sharp (of the BBC) areanged and acted as guarantor for. You know, the one that Richard Sharp resigned over.
All above board, nothing to see here, please move on eh?

When you say "He didn't report it" you are being disingenuous. I didn't report it either (neither did you) This is a cheap trick the MSM use to smear their chosen target. You then look at who actually is responsible for reporting the donation and it is a process which at the time was outside of Boris' control. When Boris was informed of the "poor optics" of such "extravagance" he paid it back himself!

Beyond that nominal transgression of accounting procedure, I happen to like the idea of a beautifully and extravagantly decorated office for the Prime Minister of the UK. It's where we entertain our potential political allies to proclaim the status of our great country in the world. We don't want to take them into a disheveled hovel. They could come here for that.

So Boris sought a powerful and established (nee wealthy) individual to act as guarantor for a loan. That is of course a potential conflict of interest due to the position of the guarantor. It's not taking money though.

Unlike Sir Kier Stalin who has been in the pocket of the mysterious Lord Alli who paid off a mortgage for some tart Starmer banged up. Rumour has it he also arranged a quiet payoff. Then there are the HUGE personal contributions directly into the pocket this Champaign socialist. The loan of a multimillion pond apartment, holidays, buying clothes for his wife.

Now while you might try and infer that Boris "must have" been bent because he spent so much on decorating Number 10, we can see that Sir Kier demonstrably is lining his own pocket. The only question being, what does Lord Alli get out of these intensely personal donations? A politician in his pocket?

[Count Steer]

Just a point of order. Johnson got his personal living quarters/flat decorated, not his office.

[Count Steer]

Might I point you gentlemen toward my spectacle retailer of choice? https://jpopticians.com/

Get your prescription from trusted optician.

Go to expensive retailer and try on many pairs. Take a sneaky photo of the pairs you like, in order to obtain the stock code. Depart expensive retailer.

Check out J.P. Opticians who, in my experience, are much cheaper, but also a bricks and mortar retailer, albeit in Scouseland.

Glasses delivered complete with lenses of choice.

Glasses Direct are another option if your prescription isn't unusual.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Just a point of order. Johnson got his personal living quarters/flat decorated, not his office.

I can well imagine Boris attempting to entertain certain world leaders at his personal digs TBF

[MrLongbeard]

That’s all very well, but…

Fancy new specs arrive, you put them on…. Something’s wrong. They don’t feel “right”. Can’t see the way you need to. No problem - wear them for a couple of weeks so you adjust to them - that would be the advice. 2 weeks on - still no good. Which of the 3 businesses do you go back to? They’ve cost less than they might have, but still hundreds at least, and they don’t work….

The place that dispensed the glasses.
I had it happen once, eyes looked at by Vision Express, I went to a local opticians https://judgeopticians.co.uk/ for the frames* I liked and they made up the lenses.
1 week later they just aren't right as I can see 2 of everything, come to realise that VE had only half arsed the eye test and given me a wrong prescription, told local optician and they did a new test and had new lenses made up for me gratis.

Now this is either a very very good local optician or part of an industry standard / agreement, the same way any optician will replace nose pads for free.

*and I've still got them 12 years later, I really should get some new frames.