In todays news...

[mangocrazy]

The one politician who was entirely free of sleaze allegations, and who regularly claimed the least amount of Parliamentary expenses of any of the MPs, was the Honourable Member for Islington North. But the Press took one look at someone who was completely outside the cesspit of 'conventional' politics and realised he had to be brought down. Enter stage left the antisemitism confection.

Known terrorist sympathiser might not have helped either...

Nope - just smart enough to realise that to break the stalemate you need to negotiate with the other side.

[Taipan]

The one politician who was entirely free of sleaze allegations, and who regularly claimed the least amount of Parliamentary expenses of any of the MPs, was the Honourable Member for Islington North. But the Press took one look at someone who was completely outside the cesspit of 'conventional' politics and realised he had to be brought down. Enter stage left the antisemitism confection.

Known terrorist sympathiser might not have helped either...

Nope - just smart enough to realise that to break the stalemate you need to negotiate with the other side.

He did also refuse to say Hamas was a terrorist organisation too. One man's freedom fighter and all that?

[Count Steer]

The superinjunction rumour seems to have started with Elizabeth Oakeshott. I wonder who she's shacked up with?

Oh! Richard Tice of Reform UK. Who'da thunk it? Oh! Look who has swallowed the rumour, hook, line and sinker, Reform UK fans. Lordy if it's not 'they' who are hiding things it's the other 'they' making stuff up about things being hidden.

If Starmer does have a lurve child it'll probably be a boost - like John Major supposedly getting jiggy with Edwina 'eggs' Currie - 'Ooh! He's not so boring after all!

[gremlin]

Somebody needs to tell Starmer that kids get free eye tests and glasses. He'll be knocking 'em out like there's no tomorrow.

[mangocrazy]

Known terrorist sympathiser might not have helped either...

Nope - just smart enough to realise that to break the stalemate you need to negotiate with the other side.

He did also refuse to say Hamas was a terrorist organisation too. One man's freedom fighter and all that?

Absolutely. I'd say that Israel is the foremost terrorist organisation on the planet. It's just that they have the backing of the USA. And if that doesn't bring irie out of hiding, nothing will...

[demographic]

wokeys

I've noticed this word crop up a fair bit on here and I'm obviously a slow learner cos its taken me a while to get my eye in on it's usage.

Seems to crop up when someone is desperately trying to provoke a reaction after feeling a bit butt hurt.

To be honest I have guessed that one of these would be more likely to help?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cushion-Portab ... 122&sr=8-3
Do tell me how you get on

[gremlin]

Amy Lamé to quit as London 'night czar'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crm2x2pdplgo

I know it may not be much of an issue to those living outside of the Smoke, but as a Londoner I fear for the future of the capital's nightlife without a 'Night Czar' on c £130k pa to make sure that people can go to pubs, clubs and restaurants. I mean, just look how London had virtually no nightlife before her eight year stint in the job. It was a desolate, cultureless wilderness, I tell ya.
Unless an urgent replacement is found I fear that I may never be able to get a pint or a bit of nosebag in the sprawling metropolis after 9pm again.

Why are you abandoning us, Amy? Why, oh why?

[Yorick]

Amy Lamé to quit as London 'night czar'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crm2x2pdplgo

I know it may not be much of an issue to those living outside of the Smoke, but as a Londoner I fear for the future of the capital's nightlife without a 'Night Czar' on c £130k pa to make sure that people can go to pubs, clubs and restaurants. I mean, just look how London had virtually no nightlife before her eight year stint in the job. It was a desolate, cultureless wilderness, I tell ya.
Unless an urgent replacement is found I fear that I may never be able to get a pint or a bit of nosebag in the sprawling metropolis after 9pm again.

Why are you abandoning us, Amy? Why, oh why?

I think some of her money may have been diverted to the kebab shops

[MrLongbeard]

London

[Screwdriver]

David Lamy gives away the Chagos islands.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98ynejg4l5o

How can such a moron wield such power?

[Count Steer]

David Lamy gives away the Chagos islands.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98ynejg4l5o

...and extends UK/US control of the only one that matters for 99 years instead of until 2036.

[Buckaroo]

David Lamy gives away the Chagos islands.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98ynejg4l5o

How can such a moron wield such power?

Going by the rest of the sorry bunch I'd say that makes him ideal. Just need more people who are witless where global politics is concerned and we're going to fit right in......when will this happen?

[mangocrazy]

David Lammy may have been the minister who signed the deal, but the deal was brokered long before that by a Conservative government. This was a non-party lines deal.

[Screwdriver]

David Lamy gives away the Chagos islands.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98ynejg4l5o

...and extends UK/US control of the only one that matters for 99 years instead of until 2036.

Well, thanks for correcting me but I still can't help feeling they've pushed this through as a sort of knee jerk "politically correct" virtue signal. We have signed away a part of the Empire in exchange for the continued use of a tiny part of it.

David Lammy may have been the minister who signed the deal, but the deal was brokered long before that by a Conservative government. This was a non-party lines deal.

Yes I think it's been a thorny issue for the past fifty years. Lamy hands it over after five minutes in office.

What's next? The Falklands?

[Bigjawa]

Amy Lamé to quit as London 'night czar'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crm2x2pdplgo

I know it may not be much of an issue to those living outside of the Smoke, but as a Londoner I fear for the future of the capital's nightlife without a 'Night Czar' on c £130k pa to make sure that people can go to pubs, clubs and restaurants. I mean, just look how London had virtually no nightlife before her eight year stint in the job. It was a desolate, cultureless wilderness, I tell ya.
Unless an urgent replacement is found I fear that I may never be able to get a pint or a bit of nosebag in the sprawling metropolis after 9pm again.

Why are you abandoning us, Amy? Why, oh why?

Belfast has one of those, admittedly it's only 12k a year, but that might explain why the city centre is like one big open air crack house.

It was safer back when Corbyn's mate above and his comrades were blowing the shit out of the place......

[Saga Lout]

Amy Lamé to quit as London 'night czar'

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crm2x2pdplgo

I know it may not be much of an issue to those living outside of the Smoke, but as a Londoner I fear for the future of the capital's nightlife without a 'Night Czar' on c £130k pa to make sure that people can go to pubs, clubs and restaurants. I mean, just look how London had virtually no nightlife before her eight year stint in the job. It was a desolate, cultureless wilderness, I tell ya.
Unless an urgent replacement is found I fear that I may never be able to get a pint or a bit of nosebag in the sprawling metropolis after 9pm again.

Why are you abandoning us, Amy? Why, oh why?

I'm available. And I'd do it for 100K a year. Now that's a bargain in anybody's books.

But only if I can work from home, you won't catch me going into THAT cesspit.

[gremlin]

I reckon I could take the £132k as a part time gig (obviously ain't giving up the day job), and just get a shit ton of posters on the tubes and buses with my mug looking all stern, a la Big Brother, asking the question, 'How many pints have you drunk tonight? NOT ENOUGH!'.

They've yet to return my calls...

[Yorick]

Blimey. I don't usuall get involved in politics, but got reading this lady's resignation letter and she seems quite genuine

.
.

Rosie Duffield has become the first Labour MP to resign from the party since it came to power in July.

The 53-year-old MP, who represents Canterbury in Kent, sent a scathing resignation letter to Sir Keir Starmer on Saturday.

Here is what she said in full:

Dear Sir Keir,

Usually letters like this begin, "It is with a heavy heart..." Mine has been increasingly heavy and conflicted and has longed for a degree of relief.

I can no longer stay a Labour MP under your management of the party, and this letter is my notice that I wish to resign the Labour Party whip with immediate effect.

Although many "last straws" have led to my decision, my reason for leaving now is the programme of policies you seem determined to stick to, however unpopular they are with the electorate and your own MPs.

You repeat often that you will make the "tough decisions" and that the country is "all in this together". But those decisions do not directly affect any one of us in Parliament. They are cruel and unnecessary, and affect hundreds of thousands of our poorest, most vulnerable constituents.

This is not what I was elected to do. It is not even wise politics, and it certainly is not "the politics of service".

I did not vote for you to lead our party for reasons I won't describe in detail here. But, as someone elevated immediately to a shadow cabinet position without following the usual path of honing your political skills on the backbenches, you had very little previous political footprint. It was therefore unclear what your political passions, drive or direction might be as the leader of the Labour Party, a large movement of people united by a desire for social justice and support for those most in need.

You also made the choice not to speak up once about the Labour Party's problems with antisemitism during your time in the shadow cabinet, leaving that to backbenchers, including new MPs such as me.

Since you took office as Leader of the Opposition you have used various heavy-handed management tactics but have never shown what most experienced backbenchers would recognise as true or inspiring leadership.

You have never regularly engaged with your own backbench MPs, many of whom have been in Parliament far longer than you, and some of whom served in the previous Labour government.

You have chosen neither to seek our individual political opinions, nor learn about our constituency experiences, nor our specific or collective areas of political knowledge. We clearly have nothing you deem to be of value.

Your promotion of those with no proven political skills and no previous parliamentary experience but who happen to be related to those close to you, or even each other, is frankly embarrassing.

In particular, the recent treatment of Diane Abbott, now Mother of the House, was deeply shameful and led to comments from voters across the political spectrum. A woman of her political stature and place in history is deserving of respect and support, regardless of political differences.

As Prime Minister, your managerial and technocratic approach, and lack of basic politics and political instincts, have come crashing down on us as a party after we worked so hard, promised so much, and waited a long fourteen years to be mandated by the British public to return to power.

Since the change of government in July, the revelations of hypocrisy have been staggering and increasingly outrageous. I cannot put into words how angry I and my colleagues are at your total lack of understanding about how you have made us all appear.

How dare you take our longed-for victory, the electorate's sacred and precious trust, and throw it back in their individual faces and the faces of dedicated and hardworking Labour MPs?! The sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice are off the scale. I am so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to tarnish and humiliate our once proud party.

Someone with far-above-average wealth choosing to keep the Conservatives' two-child limit to benefit payments which entrenches children in poverty, while inexplicably accepting expensive personal gifts of designer suits and glasses costing more than most of those people can grasp - this is entirely undeserving of holding the title of Labour Prime Minister. Forcing a vote to make many older people iller and colder while you and your favourite colleagues enjoy free family trips to events most people would have to save hard for - why are you not showing even the slightest bit of embarrassment or remorse?

I now have no confidence in your commitment to deliver the so-called "change" you promised during the General Election campaign and the changes we have been striving for as a political party for over a decade.

My values are those of a democratic socialist Labour Party and I have been elected three times to act on those values on behalf of my constituents. Canterbury made history when its voters elected their first woman, and only non-Conservative, MP since the seat was created in the thirteenth century.

My constituents elected an independent-minded MP who vowed to put constituency before party, and to keep tackling the issues that most affect us here - Brexit fallout, funding for our universities, our desperately struggling East Kent NHS, dire housing situation, repeated sewage pollution and protecting our vital green spaces.

I am confident that I can continue to do so as an independent MP guided by my core Labour values.

Sadly, the Labour Party has never shown any interest in my wonderful constituency in the seven years that I have been in Parliament. But I am proud of my community and will continue to serve them to the best of my ability.

My constituents care deeply about social issues such as child poverty and helping those who cannot help themselves. I will continue to uphold those values as I pledged to do when I first stood before them for election in 2017.

As someone who joined a trade union in my first job, at seventeen, Labour has always been my natural political home. I was elected as a single mum, a former teaching assistant in receipt of tax credits. The Labour Party was formed to speak for those of us without a voice, and I stood for election partly because I saw decisions about the lives of those like me being made in Westminster by only the most privileged few. Right now, I cannot look my constituents in the eye and tell them that anything has changed. I hope to be able to return to the party in the future, when it again resembles the party I love, putting the needs of the many before the greed of the few.

Yours sincerely,

Rosie Duffield MP

[demographic]

David Lamy gives away the Chagos islands.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98ynejg4l5o

...and extends UK/US control of the only one that matters for 99 years instead of until 2036.

Well, thanks for correcting me but I still can't help feeling they've pushed this through as a sort of knee jerk "politically correct" virtue signal. We have signed away a part of the Empire in exchange for the continued use of a tiny part of it.

David Lammy may have been the minister who signed the deal, but the deal was brokered long before that by a Conservative government. This was a non-party lines deal.

Yes I think it's been a thorny issue for the past fifty years. Lamy hands it over after five minutes in office.

What's next? The Falklands?

I'm enjoying this new satirical posting style where you focus peoples attention on Tory policies and their hypocrisy by taking and exaggerating the almost Pythonesque language. It really shows how absurd stuff like GB News coverage is and how polarising some Daytime TV can be.
Spurred on by this satyr I clicked on this that popped up on my feed and it seems yer right, its proper comedy gold.
This guy covers James (not so) Cleverly complaining about his own policy and if you watch it for long enough even covers their next talking point.
The bloke is unashamedly a slight leftie which might trigger the far right but I'm sure you'll be fine.

The bit the other day when you pretended to be really angry about a bloke putting a Communist poster up was hilarious, I almost had visions of a John Cleese character getting angry, going out armed with a paint scraper and diligently scraping off every bit of paper from the local lamp posts and walls.
Was it A Fish Cled Wanda where John Cleese started braying a car with a branch? Somehow the image you created in my mind was a bit like that.
Well done, subtle but effective.

[mangocrazy]

Blimey. I don't usuall get involved in politics, but got reading this lady's resignation letter and she seems quite genuine

Your good mate Tiepin posted this 4 pages and a week ago; please try and keep up

And his was on official yellow House of Commons paper and all...