Off Topic Politics Thread

I'm sticking with Ancilla van de Leest leader of the Pirate party here in the Netherlands.

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I think it was someone my aunt knew who worked with Laura Kuenssberg and they had made the comment that she is nothing like the cold screen persona in real life, stating that she was actually very pleasant. However, there is something about her demeanour which always gives me the impression that she enjoys bad news. I almost feel the same about the icily -cold Cathy Newman in the otherwise excellent Channel Four news. I cannot imagine either of these women being good fun or having a sense of humour.

It is funny the way different reporters either irritate or seem to chime into the time of day they are reporting. Hearing John Humphrey's being miserable and sceptical on "Today" on Radio 4 first thing in the morning always seemed particularly appropriate. There is nothing worse than someone else being jovial and happy first thing in the morning. I quite like Nick Robinson too as you always sense he is quite chummy and cynical at the same time. Anyone too chirpy before 9 am in the morning is irritating in my opinion.

I think I would really like to have Alexei Sayle present the news or at least be a roving reporter. I find him very funny although I was a bit surprised by the strength of his language. Good to hear him give Kuenssberg a bit of a verbal kick-in but perhaps even funnier to hear him direct his vitriol towards Peter Kaye. I have to say I am with Alexei regarding the latter.

 

St Godders

I have to be brutally frank but I find Nicola Sturgeon hugely frightening. I appreciate that she continually gets compared to Jimmy Krankie (funny, but not as amusing at the comparison of Emily Thornberry to Les Dawson) but there is nothing funny about her. Not wishing to be too harsh but I feel that that she seems to apply her foundation like render and set and always seems to wear clothes that are at least twenty years too for her. I really struggle to see her as ever being some sort of pin up. I think she is almost irredeemable.

I have always thought about people in public life that a good way of judging someone would be considering what would they be like to work with as a Quantity Surveyor working for the opposition. I used to say to people who admired Sir Alex Ferguson, would you like to be in a position where he was your opposite. I feel the same about NS.

 

Kathy Newman is married to John O'Farrell. I would be surprised if she is humourless. Have I missed something about Peter Kay, has he done/said something? My bête noir is supremely unfunny Michael McIntyre.

 

I hope that it's becoming even more obvious that the british mainstream media is absolute poison for the country.

I dont know how anyone that works for these rags, which can post such divisive articles 99% of the time, then pretend to be with the people in a time of crisis can sleep at night.

 

So sad that Senator Bernie Sanders has decided to drop out of the Democrat Presidential race. I sort of understand why, but Joe Biden is not presidential quality. He's a fumbler and bumbler by comparison to Bernie. A bit like Trump but without the over arrogant mistaken self belief.

 

A poll just out found that 64% of the electorate wants the Brexit negotiations to be put on hold. Johnson is threatening to walk away* in June paving the way to NoDeal. It is estimated that this will double the fall in GDP from 10% to 20%. Prices of fish to UK fisherman have dropped by up to 70% since the virus has prevented exports to the continent where most UK caught species are served in restaurants.

* That is if he still can

 

All journalists enjoy bad news - not because it's bad, but because it's news. Kate Adie was not the only News Correspondent who was enervated by reporting from warzones; they all were. Not because they were callous, or insensitive to human suffering, but because they wanted to be right where the story was.

 

And let's face it "Good News' stories do have a tendency to be manufactured and crass.

 

Could do with a few now though, couldn’t we?

 

Emily Maitlis on Newsnight yesterday was very honest, clearly moved by this crisis and told it like it really is. It was very refreshing to hear a BBC presenter be so honest, and this was no made up 'plastic sympathy' job. She meant every word.

The rest of the BBC should take their lead from her, cut out the trash reporting and concentrate on how this is affecting everyone, because everyone matters.


Maitlis debunked the idea that coronavirus was a "great leveller" that had affected equally the rich and poor, calling it a "myth."

“The language around Covid-19 has sometimes felt trite and misleading. You do not survive the illness through fortitude and strength of character, whatever the prime minister’s colleagues will tell us.”

“And the disease is not a great leveller, the consequences of which everyone, rich or poor, suffers the same. This is a myth which needs debunking.”

“Those serving on the front line right now, bus drivers and shelf stackers, nurses, care home workers, hospital staff and shopkeepers are disproportionately the lower paid members of our workforce. They are more likely to catch the disease because they are more exposed.”

“Those who live in tower blocks and small flats will find the lockdown tougher. Those in manual jobs will be unable to work from home. This is a health issue with huge ramifications for social welfare, and it’s a welfare issue with huge ramifications for public health.”

 

Since when had the US owned the moon?

 

In an ideal world

Your point about the frontline workers and the lower paid being highly exposed to de CV19 has parallels in Chicago USA where 30% of the population is Afro-American but of those who have caught the virus, 70% are from that particular group in said city.

 

I was quite shocked to see that 45% of NHS doctors are from ethnic minorities. These people really are bearing the brunt of it.

 

Ask someone who reads it, as it clearly doesn’t affect their sleep either. If it did, they wouldn’t buy it.

 

This is outrageous. Banks putting interest rate up, on some mortgages, instead of reducing in line with the Bank of England.

 

Quoted in full here:
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/...isis-in-extraordinary-newsnight-a4410761.html

 

This is not a racial issue, it's about the least well off in our society whatever their colour. We should be concerned about all of our fellow citizens who are exposed to this virus more than the rest of us are.