Brexit.

[Arkady Arkright]

I heard the best description of our current government from a commenter on the BBC news today - "A fish rots from the head"...

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I heard the best description of our current government from a commenter on the BBC news today - "A fish rots from the head"...

Or, considering what Kent is going to be like from New Year's Day onwards, "in deep shit and getting worse by the day."

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I fear his hopes of a "grace period" will be sorely disappointed

 

[Casey Pelous]

I fear his hopes of a "grace period" will be sorely disappointed

Having done just a little bit of work around the periphery of a big logistics company, even I can see that is insane. Big truck companies have an entire department that does nothing but keep up on truck and trailer registrations and insurance cards and drivers' licenses and endorsements. For any given truck or trailer, that's not significantly more complicated than when you pay the annual registration on your car and put the new insurance card wherever you put it. The licenses and endorsements are just a matter of verifying the driver's credentials are current -- one license from one state. Yet it still takes an entire department to keep up with it. Compare that to the above and .... I can easily see what they mean by, "will we even bother?"

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Now what does Giuliani's Four Seasons Total Landscaping farce remind me of? | Marina Hyde

Lucky for us Brits, we have our own version of Donald Trump’s lawyer toughing it out in a suburban car park, says Guardian columnist Marina Hyde

www.theguardian.com

 

[Arkady Arkright]

The rats are deserting the sinking ship - Dominic Cummings to leave Downing Street by Christmas. Mind you, given this lot's penchant for U-turns, I won't actually believe it until I see him outside No 10, P45* and box of executive desk-toys in hand...

* A 'P45' is a tax document you get when you leave employment in the UK.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Tory MPs hail Dominic Cummings' departure and look for 'reset'

Exit is chance to restore trust between No 10 and MPs, one senior backbencher says

www.theguardian.com

 

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[Arkady Arkright]

Damn, no P45 visible...

 

[Luisa Land]

and who is going now to tell Johnson and his government what to do?
Carrie Symonds , Johnson's fiancée (as she is called in the press)?

 

[Sid]

and who is going now to tell Johnson and his government what to do?
Carrie Symonds , Johnson's fiancée (as she is called in the press)?

In a few weeks Donald Trump will be available .
He already has a nearby golf course on the isle, so Bozo only needs to arrange a totally over decorated and gold plated apartment and The Donald will be all set.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

and who is going now to tell Johnson and his government what to do?
Carrie Symonds , Johnson's fiancée (as she is called in the press)?

By all accounts, it's primarily because she helped lead the opposition to the appointment of Cumming's protege Lee Cain as Chief of Staff that Cummings ended up quitting/being fired.

She's said to be trying to rebuild bridges between Johnson and the parliamentary party. She is a Conservative activist, the party's Director of Communications for a time, and she's certainly a key figure now in Conservative politics.

Johnson's poor relationship with the parliamentary Conservative Party has been an increasing problem throughout the year, and seems to be the only member of Johnson's close circle who is actually a committed Conservative -- Cummings and his entourage have nothing but contempt for the party.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Evernote link because paywall

 

[Innula Zenovka]

What legacy does Dominic Cummings leave?

It is typical of Dominic Cummings that he chose to announce his departure from Downing Street with an oblique reference to one of his blog posts.Asked by the BB

www.thetimes.co.uk

Evernote link because paywall

 

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Dominic Cummings' relationship with Boris Johnson 'fell off cliff', says ex-minister

Revelation comes as senior Tory says he was wrong to back Cummings over lockdown breaches

www.theguardian.com

One former Downing Street adviser told the Guardian Cummings’ departure would leave Johnson’s inability to lead exposed.
“All these imitation ERG [European Research Group] groups that are springing up, the Northern Research Group, the Covid Research Group, are a symptom of non-existent party management.

“The contempt for MPs does not come from Dominic Cummings, he’s just a harder version of the smiling frontman. The basic contempt comes from Boris Johnson. This is not a guy who does the Commons tearooms, who fraternises with fellow MPs. This is a guy who gets blown around by whatever storm; he has no political compass.

“Cummings was his ultimate human shield, the lightning conductor for all the hostility from Whitehall and politicians, but it is Johnson’s leadership that is the problem. He doesn’t like making decisions, he doesn’t like upsetting people, he barely had any experience around the cabinet table before becoming leader,” they said. “He is an outsider, a personality. There’s very little seen of him building a support base within the party.”

 

[Luisa Land]

thick as mince, lazy as a toad and vain as Narcissus”.
Cummings about David Davis in the year 2017, when Davis was Secretary of State for Exciting the EU


while trying to find some more information about the power struggle in Downing Street that led to Cummings moving out of Downing Street, I came across an article from 2017 (when Th.May was still PM)


in the guardian article, was asked. why has Cummings expressed such insult
"What masterly, deep-cover, strategic thinking lay behind this utterance? Davis has a lock on the Tory party leadership once May is defenestrated. Cummings presumably reckons that by “undermining” him he is clearing the way for someone louder and blonder to take the prize – and reward him for his help once he does."

Dominic Cummings: the ‘career psychopath’ who thinks David Davis is ‘as thick as mince’

The man who helped stab Boris Johnson in the back during his Tory leadership bid is now believed to be helping stab another potential leadership contender in the back

www.theguardian.com

 

[Innula Zenovka]

To be fair, it's not a bad description of Davis. He used to be a decent enough guy with a serious interest in civil liberties, but he's changed a lot over the last 10 years.

The trouble is, it accurately describes most of the European Research Group, so it's not difficult to see why Cummings has so little time for the Conservative Party.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

There were three in this marriage: Boris, Carrie and Dominic Cummings

The crunch moment of a week that shook Boris Johnson’s premiership came on Wednesday evening as he was having conversations with the two most important women in

www.thetimes.co.uk

Evernote link because paywall

Some Tories are queasy about Symonds’s role in last week’s events. A former cabinet minister said: “We have a constitutional conundrum that the prime minister’s girlfriend is deciding senior non-ministerial appointments, which I think is without precedent.”

Friends of Symonds are furious at the way she has been depicted. One said: “Carrie was deliberately dragged into it at a key moment to damage her and to undermine the case she was making. They want her to look like Lady Macbeth. She is one of the very few people around the prime minister who understands the Conservative Party.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]