Reality Exceeds My Imagination Once Again

Just when I thought that the Tories could not get any more insane, they just fired Suella Braverman from the UK cabinet for being a complete lunatic, which engendered hostility from the loony wing of the Conservative Party.  (Maybe that should be "Loonier"  there is no sane wing of the party)

In order to placate the Parliamentary Party rabies carriers, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has appointed Esther McVey as the "Minister of Common Sense."

She is actually a what is called a, "Minister without portfolio," who has been brought in to, "Fight wokeness."

They are very near to make me wishing for the return of zombie Margaret Thatcher: (Almost)

Those who went to bed on Monday concerned about the scourge of wokery awoke to good news in Tuesday’s Sun newspaper. Rishi Sunak’s new cabinet would include a minister just for them, in the form of the former work and pensions secretary – and current GB News presenter – Esther McVey.

Officially appointed as a minister without portfolio, McVey’s role would be “commonsense tsar”, tasked with “tackling the scourge of wokery”, the newspaper was briefed. She would be “leading the charge on the government’s anti-woke agenda” a government source said.

Pressed for clarification on the BBC’s Today programme about what “common sense” meant to the reshuffled government, the newly appointed Tory chair, Richard Holden, mentioned “freedom of speech at university campuses”. He was also challenged on McVey’s views on trans rights and said she was a “plain-speaking northerner” who held “various different views”.

………

McVey ran for the Tory leadership in 2019. During the campaign she repeated her views that parents should be able to stop their children learning about same-sex relationships. “If parents want to take their young children – primary school children – out of certain forms of sex and relationship education then that is down to them,” she said.

………


McVey was an outspoken opponent of Covid lockdown measures, writing in November 2020: “The ‘lockdown cure’ is causing more harm than Covid. The world cannot be put on hold, and the government must stop pressing the pause and stop button for the whole nation on a whim with all the disastrous effects this brings to our lives, livelihoods, health and relationships.”
………

McVey is a supporter of Conservative Way Forward, a Thatcherite campaign group, and backed a report in December 2022 that claimed £427m was spent each year on equality and diversity initiatives. It has led some to speculate that one of her priorities in her new role could be cutting diversity and inclusion officers from the civil service.

………

McVey was a housing minister when she accepted a job at GB News without applying first for clearance from the anti-corruption watchdog, Acoba, which it said broke lobbying rules.

She is now a regular presenter on the channel alongside her husband and fellow Conservative MP, Philip Davies.

Their show, Saturday Morning Live with Esther and Philip, has covered a mix of rightwing fare, with recent segments including discussions on banning burqas in the UK, “woke universities” and why Britain shouldn’t apologise for historical atrocities.

It is literally impossible to parody this.

Headline of the Day

When the Solution to Your Problem Is David Cameron, You Know You’re in Deep Trouble

—Simon Jenkins in The Guardian

I would differ. The fact that right wing nut-job Suella Braverman was made Home Secretary, was the indication of trouble.

For people who are not familiar with UK government, is a lot like Attorney General, DHS Chief, and ultimate authority for all the local police departments in the UK.

You do not appoint someone that deranged to this position if you value sanity and stability in government.

She is the most foaming at the mouth lunatic to be made Home Secretary since ……… Checks Notes ……… Winston Churchill.

 

Headline of the Day

4 Men Finally Charged With Stealing Famous Golden Toilet Worth Nearly $6 Million Once Offered To President Trump

—Forbes on the theft of an art installation from the birthplace of Winston Churchill

As Anna Russel would say, "I'm not making this up, you know."

The golden toilet was stolen from Blenheim Palace on September 14, 2019, shortly after 5 a.m. local time, according to the BBC. British police arrested seven people in the four years since the toilet was stolen, though only four were identified and charged. The toilet, titled “America,” was created by Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan in 2016, according to the Guggenheim Museum. Cattelan said the artwork was a commentary on the “ever-increasing divide between the wealthy and the poor” in the U.S., according to the museum. The toilet was moved to Blenheim Palace in September 2019 just days before it was stolen.

………

The toilet was fully functional and available to guests at both Blenheim Palace and the New York-based Guggenheim Museum, where the toilet was first installed in 2016. Before the toilet was stolen, visitors to Blenheim Palace could reserve a three-minute appointment to use it. The Guggenheim Museum noted that more than 100,000 people waited in line to use the toilet, which was installed in one of the museum’s gender-neutral bathrooms. The toilet’s removal from Blenheim Palace—built in the 18th century—caused “significant damage and flood” to the building, according to the Associated Press.

The toilet has not been recovered.  It was likely melted down. 

I am stunned that some of my online British friends were not involved.

Quote of the Day

He's not a "maverick." He's a ketamine-addled racist dumbass.

—Duncan "Atrios" Black, on the news that the Tory government in the UK is planning to put Elon Musk, "At the centre of the AI Safety Summit this week."

To be fair the the British Conservative Party, something I never thought that I would say, "Addled Racist Dumbass," is actually their brand, so, to quote Zathras, "at least there is symmetry."

This explains Boris Johnson as well.

Monty Python nailed this over 50 years ago:

Tweet of the Day

From my Mail on Sunday column, Gollum, pictured at a recent event in London, has begun to look remarkably like the Blair creature. pic.twitter.com/T3BrDhMDlO

— Peter Hitchens (@ClarkeMicah) July 23, 2023

There is a whole portrait of Dorian Gray thing going on with Tony Blair. His corruption is written all over his face.

It should be noted Peter Hitchens is a conservative prat, and he issued this bon mot to suggest that Keir Starmer is some sort of secret radical leftist, but it's still amusing.

‘Gollum’ Tony is no moderate

Last week the Blair creature emerged from wherever he dwells to sit alongside another leathery old Marxoid, the current Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.

Amazingly, people still think of Blair, who has done so much to ruin a prosperous and happy country, as a ‘moderate’.

They make the same mistake about Sir Keir, a veteran ultra-radical. The resulting interaction was about as much fun as gallstones or reflux.

WITHERED: Tony Blair speaking at the Future for Britain conference last week. Right: Gollum in Lord Of The Rings

But what struck me was how Blair is starting to look like Gollum in The Lord Of The Rings, consumed and withered by his embrace of war in Iraq, and the great tidal wave of evil released by it.

By the way, his invasion of Iraq genuinely was unprovoked, which Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was not. Why is it never referred to as such?

I think that he is being unfair to Sméagol, who wasn't always evil.

Yeah, "Forgot."

Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson would really like to help, but he cannot turn over his Whatsapp messages to the inquiry on the government response to Covid because he has forgotten the password.

Yeah, right.

Does the the inquiry have the ability to have Johnson clapped in chains?  They might need it:

Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages are yet to be received by the Covid inquiry because he is said to have forgotten the passcode for his old phone.

The former prime minister’s spokesperson said Johnson still wants to cooperate with the inquiry and did not deny being unable to recall the code.

Johnson stopped using the device in May 2021, after receiving security advice once it had emerged his phone number had been accessible online for at least 15 years.

Bereaved families and technical experts have rubbished Johnson’s excuse for not being able to send the messages to the inquiry, with experts noting the former prime minister would still be able to access his messages as long as his WhatsApp is backed up.

Johnson used the Apple iPhone in question during the coronavirus pandemic, which is likely to contain messages relating to the announcement of lockdowns in 2020.

The government handed over the rest of Johnson’s unredacted notebooks, WhatsApp messages and diaries from his time in Downing Street to the inquiry after efforts to prevent their release failed.

My guess is that there are things on his phone that makes BoJo look even more like a moronic prat than was previously realized.

I did not think that this was possible.

I Don't Care, I Don't Have To

I know that I don't often say so, but there are some wonderful things about being an American, things that people have fought and died for.

I was born in Boston, where almost 200 years before, some tea was tragically abused in order for us not to care about, at least in part, about the goings on of the British Royal Family.

So I don't give a f%$# about the coronation of King Charles.

I ……… Just ………Don't ………Care.

Where Is Madame la Guillotine When You Need Her?

Julia Hoggett, CEO of the London Stock Exchange, says that there is a sesperate need to increase the salaries of very senior executives, or otherwise Britain risks a brain drain.

We must over pay idiot executives who are driving the country into the ground even more, because  ……… The Aristocrats!!!

UK executives should be paid more if the country wants to retain talent and deter companies from moving overseas, according to the head of the London Stock Exchange.

Julia Hoggett said there needed to be a “constructive discussion” about the approach to executive pay in Britain as part of broader efforts to boost the attractiveness of London’s capital markets.

“We should be encouraging and supporting UK companies to compete for talent on a global basis, so we remain an attractive place for companies to base themselves, stay and grow,” the chief executive said in a statement on Wednesday on the LSE website.

“The alternative is we continue standing idly by as our biggest exports become skills, talent, tax revenue and the companies that generate it.”

Her comments come as shareholders at some of the largest UK companies mount rebellions against executive pay plans. Almost 60 per cent of Unilever shareholders rejected the company’s remuneration report on Wednesday over concerns that the incoming chief executive’s pay, which includes a base salary before bonuses of €1.85mn, is too high.

There are a number of problems with this:

• High executive pay is an artifact of these executives, and their consultants, gaming the system, and colluding with other executives, and their consultants, to loot the company instead of operating for the benefit of their share holders. (Executives vociferously deny this calculus, but it is literally Econ 101.  It's called rational actor theory.)
• Extremely high levels of remuneration actually correlate with worse performance.

Ms. Hoggett needs to be fired ……… Out of a cannon ……… And into the sun.

We need to stop pampering executives, and start jailing them for theft and conspiracy.

Some Good News from the UK

No, King Charles has not abolished the monarchy, but the UK Competition and Markets Authority has blocked Microsoft's merger with Activision Blizzard.

Given Microsoft's current position, it is a major console manufacturer, Windows is a major gaming platform, it's a major player in cloud computing, and it dominates cloud gaming, it's buying up the publisher of Call of Duty, Tony Hawk, Warcraft, Candy Crush, and Guitar Hero creates significant competion issues.

The FTC is suing to prevent the merger as well:

Today I’m writing about the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority’s move to block Microsoft’s takeover of Activision in a $69 billion deal. It’s hard to overstate the importance of this challenge, and I’m going to focus on the logic of the CMA, and what it means for the development of technology going forward.

Here’s what happened. Microsoft was trying to buy Activision to expand its gaming portfolio, which it had rolled up with a series of acquisitions. Activision would have been its largest purchase to date. What was the rationale for the acquisition? As I wrote when the deal was announced:

Activision has important gaming franchises, like Call of Duty, Candy Crush, Warcraft and Tony Hawk. With this purchase, Microsoft will be the third biggest gaming firm in the world, controlling the X-Box console platform and a lot of game development and intellectual property (as well as Activision’s in-game advertising business line). The key strategic rationale behind this deal is to build up a walled garden for Microsoft’s gaming division, which runs a Netflix-style subscription service called Game Pass.

Last year, the Federal Trade Commission sued to block the deal, arguing that Microsoft would foreclose its games to its rival in game platforms, Sony.

“Microsoft has already shown that it can and will withhold content from its gaming rivals,” said Holly Vedova, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition. “Today we seek to stop Microsoft from gaining control over a leading independent game studio and using it to harm competition in multiple dynamic and fast-growing gaming markets.”

The idea was that Microsoft would make games exclusive to its own platforms, in order to block rivals from ‘must-have’ content in the gaming industry. A lot of people didn’t understand why Microsoft’s deal was so dangerous, because Sony is both bigger in the gaming space, and has a lot more game exclusives.

………

This dynamic is very clear when examining how the CMA thought about its challenge. Originally, in its statement of objections, the CMA claimed that Microsoft could gain market power in both consoles and cloud computing. But then in March, it dropped its claims about consoles, effectively brushing aside Sony’s worries. A lot of observers thought Microsoft would then be able to get its deal approved, assuming the logic for gaming on cloud computing is similar to that of consoles.

………

While this may sound like a compelling rationale, the CMA was unpersuaded, noting that “there seem to be other, less anti-competitive ways, through which Microsoft could reasonably attempt to enter this market, such as by licensing mobile gaming content from publishers.” Basically, you don’t have to own games to sell them through an app store, unless you are trying to monopolize a vertically integrated sector.

So what happens now? Well, Microsoft can appeal, and Brad Smith says they are planning to do so. Appeals are tough in the UK. And Activision must agree to that, since an appeal will take the merger past the merger agreement due date. Moreover, Activision has a $3 billion break-up fee, and has already been planning a strategy based on the assumption the deal won’t go through. So we’ll see. Meanwhile, the FTC is still gearing up for trial in the U.S., and this move helps American enforcers in their arguments here.

Your mouth to God's ear, Mr. Stoller. 

We desperately need aggressive anti-trust enforcement, including criminal penalties against executives who do this.

Well, Ain't This Interesting

It appears that the submarine deal between the US, UK, and Australia is an unambiguous violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, because the reactors being supplied to Australia are fueled with highly enriched (93.5%) uranium, and as such would constitute an illegal export of bomb making materials.  (By comparison, the French use low enriched uranium [7.5%)], the Soviets/Russians use a less enriched HEU [20%-45],  and the Chinese use LEU at [3%-5%])

Technically, such a reactor would be legal for Australia to operate, but only if Australia, which has no domestic nuclear industry, were to enrich the fuel itself.

Also, it appears that the US loan/lease of older nuclear submarines would not constitute a breach, but for the boats to be manufactured in Australia, the proliferation issues are highly problematic.

While the use of HEU can increase reactor performance, its primary justification is the reduction in refueling that must occur.  US reactors do not need to be refueled for the life of the boat, while the French boats need to be refueled every 7-10 years.

The French make this work by having specialized hatches (brèches) on their submarines to accommodate the refueling, as opposed to the US and UK method, where the hull is cut open and then welded back into place during refueling.

It means that reactors can be refueled in the matter of a weeks, as opposed to more than a year for US and UK boats.

It is possible that for the Australian built submarines

Kier Starmer is a Hopeless Piece of Sh%$

Current Labour Party leader Kier Starmer has declared that Jeremy Corbyn will not be able to stand for reelection as a member of the party.

Once again, he demonstrates that while the Tories may be his opposition, actual Labour Party members are the enemy: 

Jeremy Corbyn will not be a Labour candidate at the next general election, party leader Sir Keir Starmer has said.

Mr Corbyn was suspended from being a Labour MP and sits as an independent because of a row over antisemitism.

The former Labour leader had hoped to be readmitted so he could stand for re-election as a Labour candidate.

But Sir Keir said the party had changed under his leadership and "we are not going back", adding that if others did not back him they could leave. 

………

Speaking to the BBC before Sir Keir made his remarks, Mr Corbyn said his suspension from the parliamentary party had been a "pretty poor way of treating people... There has been no process, there has been no discussion, there has been no appeal."

Momentum, the left-wing campaign group set up to support him when he was Labour leader, said: "It should be for Labour members in Islington North to decide their candidate - that is their democratic right.

Even if Labour wins the next elections it will lose, because it will do so by becoming the Conservative Party.

Headline of the Day

Rishi Sunak Isn’t the Leader Britain’s Tories Need — but He’s the One They Deserve

—Jacobin

I've not got anything to add to that.

And Another Clown Emerges from the Clown Car

I am referring, of course, to the Tory clown car, and their latest PM, Rishi Sunak, who become next British Prime Minister.

He appears to be a little bit less cartoonishly stupid than his two predecessors, but, notwithstanding his South Asian roots, he grew up Richie Rich wealthy, and I would not be surprised if he has never actually bought anything in a store.

It will be interesting to see how he tries, or eschews, any attempts to fake the common touch:

Rishi Sunak is about to become the UK’s first prime minister of colour and the first Hindu prime minister, both milestones in Britain’s evolution as a multicultural and multi-faith society.

Although there has been a marked increase in politicians of colour being appointed to senior cabinet roles, including the key posts of chancellor, home secretary and foreign secretary, the UK has never had a black or brown prime minister before.

It was “an historic moment” that “simply would not have been possible even a decade or two ago,” said Sunder Katwala of the British Future thinktank, which focuses on identity and race.

“It shows that public service in the highest office in Britain can be open to those of all faiths and ethnic backgrounds. This will be a source of pride to many British Asians – including many who do not share Rishi Sunak’s Conservative politics.”

Sunak is a practising Hindu, although he has rarely talked publicly about his faith. He was named as the UK’s next leader on Diwali, the festival of lights celebrated by millions of Hindus, Sikhs and Jains across the world. It celebrates new beginnings and the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness.

Two years ago, when Sunak was chancellor, he lit candles to mark Diwali on the doorstep of No 11 Downing Street at a time when Covid restrictions remained in force.

There will be a lot of ink spilled on Sunak's color, but the only color (or colour) that really matters here is the color of money.

I expect him to last longer than Liz Truss, but even Mayflies are stunned at the shortness of her tenure.

A Useful Insight into the UK Clusterf%$#

A historic failure pic.twitter.com/wZiQKaf8MR

— Led By Donkeys (@ByDonkeys) October 18, 2022

Liz Truss is literally the creation of a globe panning network of reactionary free-market fundamentalist lobbying groups (often masquerading as "Think" Tanks) who shepherded her throughout her career.

She's not a Tory politician, she is an artificial life form grown in a petri dish by these folks.

This also explains why she was a failure, free market fundamentalism always founders against the rocks or reality.

Even in Chile, where Milton Friedman's Chicago boys has a fascist totalitarian state in place to prevent abuses, had to backtrack in less than a year because of rampant looting.

The RMS Titanic Could Have Told You, the Icebert (lettuce) Always Wins

The Daily Star lettuce has come out victorious in the battle of the year - to see whether it could outlast Prime Minister Liz Truss in #LizVsLettuce

[THREAD] pic.twitter.com/sP7QDgqcfr

— Daily Star (@dailystar) October 20, 2022

Harsh

So, Liz Truss has tendered her resignation to King Charles after showing herself to be even more hapless than Boris Johnson, who is considering another run at being Prime Minister:

A wilting 60p iceberg lettuce from Tesco in a blond wig has been crowned the winner of a bizarre competition after outlasting Liz Truss’s tenuous grip on power.

Seven days ago the Daily Star set up a webcam on the lettuce to see if it would have a longer shelf-life than the prime minister. To add to Truss’s humiliating resignation, the lettuce won.

As Truss made her resignation statement, those viewing the video on YouTube soared to more than 20,000.

When the prime minister confirmed her departure on Thursday lunchtime, a plastic gold crown was placed on the now browning leafy vegetable. The caption changed from “Day Seven: Will Liz Truss outlast his lettuce?” to “The Lettuce Outlasted Liz Truss”. The national anthem was played to mark the lettuce’s triumph, and champagne was poured.

The lettuce was inundated with messages of congratulations, in a chat box beside the video. They included: “Lettuce Rejoice”, “Lettuce being having you”, “Lettuce for PM”, “Lettuce 1 Truss 0”, “Truss sunk by an iceberg”.

When I joked that the Tories had replaced Boris Johnson with something even more bizarrely inexplicable, my intent was to make a joke, not to engage in prophecy. 

Just call me nostra-dumbass.

Headline of the Day

Quantifying Britain’s moron risk premium

—Financial Times

This is, of course, about British PM Liz Truss, who is doing her level best to replace Boris Johnson with something even more bizarrely inexplicable.

Money quote:

Not a whole lot of value has emerged from the past month’s omnishambles, but one valuable development is the coining of “moron risk premium” — in short, the extra money the UK is paying to borrow because its leaders are a few sandwiches short of a tea party.

The Tories might want to replace her with someone better suited to leadership, like Larry, #10's official cat, officially the Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office.

Well, That was Quick

After less than 2 weeks, British PM Liz Truss and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng have capitulated to the torrent of opprobrium unleashed across the political spectrum, and the bond vigilantes, and will not be putting forward their tax cut for rich folks.

Truth be told, it was probably more the bond vigilantes, and the emergency rate hikes by the Bank of England, than it was criticism from fellow Tories:

The new British government said “we get it” as it abandoned plans to abolish the top rate of income tax, a key part of its centerpiece economic policy that spooked the markets and pushed the British pound to an all-time low against the U.S. dollar.

In a major U-turn, Prime Minister Liz Truss said Monday that the proposal to scrap the 45 percent rate for people earning more than 150,000 pounds ($168,000) had become a “distraction.”

Reacting to the news of the reversal, the pound rebounded Monday morning against the U.S. dollar, returning to where it was before the government’s tax-and-borrowing plan sent it plunging.

But the reversal is an enormous blow to the authority of the young Truss government, in office for less than a month.

It leaves the government hugely weakened and exposes the lack of support for Truss from her Conservative Party’s lawmakers in Parliament, said Mujtaba Rahman, an analyst with Eurasia Group. Her critics “now scent weakness,” he said in a briefing note.

When I suggested that Liz Truss was attempting to replace Boris Johnson with something even more bizarrely inexplicable, I was correct in my prediction.

That may be the first time I've nailed a prediction so well.

Tweet of the Day

i’ve been taking some notes pic.twitter.com/AHRF8OO8zf

— thomas 🍌 (@perfectsweeties) September 19, 2022

Suddenly, it all becomes clear.

Let There Be No Kings

25 years and 8 days ago, I was browsing Usenet*, and my wife rushed in to tell me that Diana Frances Spencer-Mountbatten-Windsor had been in an horrible accident.  I'm an American, I don't care.  I don't have to.

No offense to her family, but I feel the same way about Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor, the now former Queen of the United Kingdom has died at age 96.

I'm an American, I don't care, I don't have to.

^*It was a world wide, largely text based, peer to peer bulletin board system which was quite popular in the 1980s and 1990s, but is now a pale shadow of its former self.

The Quest to Out Awful Boris Continues Apace

Through an internal election involving the roughly 200 thousand registered Tory voters, basically a bunch of rich old guys in southeast England, the new party leader, and hence the new Prime Minister for the UK has been elected, and it is Liz Truss.

She is absolutely the worst person for the current circumstances, having devoted her political career to showing that government cannot work by mismanaging and under funding it.

Her solution to the current crisis is not any sort of regulatory action against energy companies looting the country, but more tax cuts for the rich.

Liz Truss will become Britain’s next prime minister after beating Rishi Sunak in the bitterly fought Conservative leadership contest.

The foreign secretary, who won 81,326 votes (57.4%) of Tory members to the former chancellor’s 60,399 (42.6%), takes over from Boris Johnson, who was ousted by his own MPs earlier this summer.

But the euphoria of victory will quickly give way to the hard reality of the economic challenges ahead, with the country gripped by a cost of living crisis leaving families struggling to pay their energy bills this winter. 

Truss has said she will reveal plans to support households within a week of taking office, with allies understood to be discussing a £100bn package that could include freezing energy bills. She has already pledged to reverse a national insurance rise even though it disproportionately benefits the well-off.

You can be guaranteed that her solutions will be directed toward making sure that the rich have to pay less.

After the announcement on Tuesday, Truss promised a “bold plan” to cut taxes and grow the economy and said that she would “deal with” soaring energy bills as well as longer-term energy supply, but gave no further detail on how she would do so.

Britain’s fourth Tory prime minister in six years declared “we will deliver, we will deliver and we will deliver” on the many challenges facing her government, including the state of the NHS.

To quote Tacitus, her plans for the National Health Service (NHS) will be to create a desert and call it peace.

Liz Truss, like Boris Johnson before her, and like Theresa May before him, and David Cameron before her, will under-fund and privatize the NHS with the goal of  replacing healthcare in the UK with a private system like the one that does not work in the United States.

She might not be worse than Boris Johnson, but she will certainly give him a run for his money.