Who’s a bully then? “We” have no other problems …

 

At the start of this rather important week our MSM have their eyes firmly fixed on such important news items as COP27 and … bullying. The Red Tops had to show their ‘popularity’ by headlining yon ‘celeb jungle’ telly show. For the record, here’s the link to the customary compilation. Worth mentioning is that the Metro went with a war-like report on Bonfire Night (link) while ‘i’ writes about a horror scenario in the NHS where about 300,000 staff have apparently voted for strikes (link). That frightful scenario has also made it onto the online ‘front page’ of The Times (link, paywalled). Well, we peasants have been taught to ‘do without’ during the lockdowns and the covid years so I’m sure we’ll manage. somehow.

Missing from the front pages of both print and online editions are articles about the mid-term elections in the USA which take place tomorrow. It is a rather important election, but apparently not worthy of attention. The Times is the exception, with a report under the headline “Presidents fight for every vote in Pennsylvania, the state that could swing midterms” (link, paywalled).

Those of us who’ve kept an eye on US media know that there’s no ‘could swing’ about these elections. Political pundits expect a red-wash – the Republican Party is ‘red’, the Dems are blue – for both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Why scare us with such reports when we have other things to be scared about here in the UK!

Instead there are articles on the two most important issues: COP27 and ‘that bully’, Sir Gavin Williamson. Looking first at yon climate jamboree we learn that the current PM or rather his government representatives are going to hand out even more of our money:

“Britain has opened the door to paying climate change reparations to developing countries by supporting talks on the issue at the Cop27 summit.  On Sunday, at the meeting in Egypt, UK negotiators backed a last-minute agreement to address “loss and damage” payments to countries badly affected by climate-related disasters.” (paywalled link)

This is in addition to the pledge Sunak will make today, of handing out “£65.5 million for green technology in developing countries.” (paywalled link) – because “we” are rich and moreover, it’s our fault for having kicked off the industrial revolution. Regarding that ‘last-minute agreement’, here are the ‘details’:

“Pakistan is leading a push by developing countries including Bangladesh and the Maldives for compensation from richer countries responsible for most of the world’s pollution. The UK backed the issue being on the Cop27 agenda during two days of negotiations ahead of the Egypt summit and is understood to accept that a deal must be done over the economic cost of climate change, which is forecast to reach $1trillion by 2050.” (paywalled link)

Isn’t that nice of those UK representatives: virtue-signalling with our money. I’m sure we’re happy to pay more taxes for that pledge! I wonder if ‘Pakistan and the Maldives’ will demand ‘reparations’ from their neighbours China and India … There was also a nice little report in the DM yesterday, according to which a certain Mr Ed Miliband seems happy to support such ‘reparation demands’ when/if Labour is in government (link). He is of course Labour’s shadow Environment secretary.

There was another U-turn by Sunak, this time in regard to ‘wind farms’. The DM reports that the “ban on onshore wind farms will stay as Rishi Sunak axes another Liz Truss policy” (link). So far, there’s no outcry yet about another U-Turner in No 10. Don’t rejoice: this only means the ‘old’ policy of needing ‘local consent’ for more of those bird shredders remains. Miz Truss apparently wanted a ‘free-for-all’ policy. 

The Times meanwhile writes about ‘foreign aid’, documenting a typical sleigh-of-hand accounting in tones of subdued outrage, an outrage reserved for the budget manipulations, not for the real ‘news’ (my emphasis):

“Billions of pounds of government spending in Britain is being classified as foreign aid as ministers grapple with the small boats crisis and war in Ukraine. Under Treasury rules, as much as £3.5 billion for refugees and migrants in the UK will be considered part of Britain’s contribution to international development. It means the government is in line to spend almost half of the foreign aid budget in Britain. Effectively, about 0.3 per cent of gross national income will go on projects overseas. The government’s target is 0.5 per cent.” (link, paywalled)

I seem to have missed the announcement that foreign aid has gone up to 0.3%, with a ‘target of 0.5%’,  i.e. more than twice as much as the 0.2% pledged by government. And this at a time when our own economy is struggling, when we plebs are being warned of more taxation? At a time when inflation has increased the budget sums already? How utterly insane is this?

Even taking into account that sleigh-of-hand by the Treasury, to claw back some of the billions spent on ‘refugees’ – £3.5bn! – this sum is eye-watering. And still this government is handing out our money to all and sundry with ‘moar’ being planned for ‘climate reparations’. Insane is what this is!

As for that other item of ‘important news’, the ‘Gavin Williamson is a bully’ saga: dear Lord, give me strength! The DT is hell-bent on depicting the PM as someone who isn’t doing as he’s told. Sunak however seems not to have listened to his Party Bigwigs rather than not toeing the lines given by his mandarins:

“Rishi Sunak was urged not to give Sir Gavin Williamson a job in his Cabinet until he had looked into the complaint about his alleged “bullying and intimidation”, […] The Prime Minister was warned about the complaint by Sir Jake Berry, the then Conservative party chairman, the day before he carried out his reshuffle.” (paywalled link)

This ‘alleged bullying’ seems to consist in Williamson’s “sending [Ms Morton, then whip] a series of expletive-laden messages expressing his anger at not having been invited to the Queen’s funeral.” Scrolling down a bit in the DM’s report (link) you can read those ‘expletive-laden messages’ if you feel so inclined.

Since the expletive starting with the letter ‘F’ is now so common I ask myself why anyone would regard using this as ‘bullying’ rather than a sad case of no manners. Interestingly, none of the ever-so- esteemed Commentators in the broadsheets point out that Mr W. comes across as a petulant schoolboy rather than a bully. Moreover, if we believe The Times, that totally unbiased publication, there’s also a whiff of a belated, political “hashtag MeToo” about it:

“A minister has claimed that Sir Gavin Williamson raised details about her private life during a conversation in an attempt to silence her while she was on the back benches. The Tory MP, who told the Conservative Party at the weekend that she was willing to discuss the matter, said that Williamson had called her into his office when he was chief whip in 2016. At the time she was campaigning on an issue that was causing the government difficulty. During the meeting Williamson is said to have raised a sensitive issue about her private life, which she interpreted as a tacit threat.” (link, paywalled)

Good grief! A ‘tacit threat’, made six (!) years ago! The horror! Has yon female minister never watched ‘House of Cards’ with Sir Ian Richardson? Are Tory MPs actually little snowflakes? How sad! Of course, what we need is a Labour government because Ms Rayner would’ve sacked him, or so she said.

Clearly, we have no other problems. We have enough money to splash around on the international stage. People still have enough money to burn on Bonfire Night. Taxes going up won’t be a problem, especially not when the NHS needs more money. And we really must tackle that sensitive issue of using the ‘f-word’ in whatsapps messages because MPs are sensitive little flowers!

It’s only we peasants who can and must be bullied, by tacit threats from our ‘superiors’ governing us from City Halls and Whitehall. Well, at least the money for fireworks, now gone up in smoke and noise, can no longer be taken away by HMRC.