IntenseDebate - paddybriggs

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - May - beached not only... · 0 replies · +1 points

I agree with that. However Johnson has been an elected Conservative Mayor and an elected Conservative MP. Trump had no Republican track record at all. Some American friends told me before 2016 that they thought Trump was a "New York liberal". Johnson is certainly not a conventional Conservative type. Not High Tory, not One Nation. In effect he's a Marxist - Groucho not Karl. He has principles, but if you don't like them he has others.

4 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - There is more to Ameri... · 0 replies · +1 points

Donald Trump is not a Republican. To their discredit the GOP allowed themselves to be hijacked by this carpetbagger of an egomaniac who was not even a politician. And those who glibly use the word “Trumpism” are guilty of trying to create some sort of logical ideology around Trump’s random assortment of prejudices. There is none. He was originally elected (and not that far away from being re-elected) because of his populist appeal to the gut – to the bias and fears of the much of the electorate. Proper Republicans from John McCain to Mitt Romney saw through it all and said so. The despicable opportunist Republicans who used Trump as a vote winner despite his malignancy and stupidity were the real villains of the piece.

The GOP needs to take a long hard look at itself. But first they must cast Trump and his venal crew of backroom anti-establishment extremists aside. A clean break with the Breitbart brigade is necessary. It is not so much an argument for moderation as for sanity. The case for traditional (One Nation) conservatism is perfectly sound but not when turned into a case for racist, sexist, xenophobic and Islamophobic attitudes - the “alternative right" with its toxic mix of and libertarians and economic nationalists – it becomes dangerous and threatening.

4 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Johnson benefits from ... · 0 replies · +1 points

The relaunch of One Nation Conservatives under Damien Green's chairmanship is more significant than the columns of ex Tories of the Matthew Parris type - good though MP's writings usually are. Both major Parties are internal coalitions – FPTP forces this on them. Johnson went a long way to destroying the One Nation brigade but it looks like they are going to return. The best news for Britain since the election of Keir Starmer as Labour Leader.
As we know when it was Trump across the pond and Johnson versus Corbyn things fall apart, the centre did not hold and anarchy was loosed upon the world. But with Trump likely to lose, Starmer making a good impression and sane Tories stirring there may be hope. Don’t hold your breath but…

4 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Six months on from las... · 0 replies · +1 points

Politics is the Art of the Possible. Those of us who felt, for good reasons, that Brexit was insane have to accept that it has happened. It's hard for even those most accomplished fiction writers to write a "Stay in the EU" scenario that could happen. But don't despair. Here is a scenario whioch is more than possible:

1)Priti Patel’s bizarre immigration proposals fail because employers lobby the government to say that well-established European employee arrangements must be maintained post Pandemic if the economy is to be rebooted. Workers are need across the employment spectrum.

2)In view of 1) Freedom of Movement is accepted for a further minimum of three years.

3)In view of 2) the other three Freedoms continue. (They were never contentious anyway)

4)In view of 3) The UK’s membership of the Single Market and Customs Union (many Brexiteers supported continued membership of both) continue.

“This is Brino” claim the dogmatic anti Europe brigade. Maybe it is but it’s not that far away from what independent nations like Norway and Switzerland have. And it makes sense.

4 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Robert Halfon: The Gov... · 0 replies · +1 points

It's U-Turn time at the funny farm. Today it's Mr Raab who swiftly backtracked on the "taking the knee" issue when his advisers told him that it was a gaff. Yesterday it was going from rejecting Mr Rashford to accepting his proposals. Tomorrow - maybe the takeover of the DfiD by the FCO will be unscrambled. That's how it is.

4 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Liam Fox: The amendmen... · 1 reply · +1 points

Shhhh. Don't tell everyone. But of course you're right. We certainly are.

4 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Mohammed Amin: We need... · 1 reply · +1 points

I’ve found a way, which works for me, of explaining what is and what is not acceptable in public discourse. Let’s say someone does something of which you disapprove. Pushing past you in a queue for example. That person, who you don’t know, has a visible characteristic that makes them different from you. If you remonstrate with them and mention that person’s characteristic despite it being wholly irrelevant to the offence it’s unacceptable. So:

“Excuse me please don’t push past me I was here first” OK 👍
“Excuse me you (Black/Gay/Jewish/Muslim/Foreign/Short Arse/ Old...) person ...etc. Not OK ❌

How often do you hear gratuitous insults being used which reveal prejudice and simply insult? And how often is this what xenophobia or racism or Islamophobia is about ?

4 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Annunziata Rees-Mogg a... · 0 replies · +1 points

The facts are true, the interpretation is mine.

4 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Annunziata Rees-Mogg a... · 0 replies · +1 points

Of course he didn’t talk about a “coup” he just told me what he hoped would happen. He was just one of many sources for this post. It was a few years ago anyway.

4 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Annunziata Rees-Mogg a... · 2 replies · +1 points

How very odd. Feel free to “suspect” what you like but as a writer and journalist I don’t usually make up stories and I didn’t here.

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