"Belief that Britain is a force for good in the world has plunged in the last 18 months, a national poll has found, with under half of the UK now convinced of the country’s positive impact."
"Just under half of Britons (49%) believe that Britain is a force for good in the world, down 10 points from April 2019."
"While 41% of Britons say the UK should punch above its weight in world affairs, the proportion who believe Britain should stop pretending it is an important power is up five points from last year to 38%."
"The public are still more likely to say that Britain should increase its influence around the world than reduce it – by 36% to 16%."
"Relations have been made more difficult following Boris Johnson’s decision to legislate to allow the UK to unilaterally rewrite the terms of the withdrawal agreement in what ministers have admitted is a breach of international law."
"According to the Ipsos Mori poll, Europe remains Britain’s most important relationship in the world for four in 10 of the public, with double the number of people choosing the EU over either the Commonwealth or the US."
"Four in five think maintaining a close relationship with the EU is important despite Brexit, although only 39% of people now think that is likely, down 13 points since April 2019."
"Two in five (40%) believe the top priority for Britain’s relationship with the EU is striking a trade agreement, with one in five saying it is to prevent and detect crime and terrorism, coordinate responses to the Covid-19 pandemic, or deal with global migration."
"In a democracy the government must do what the majority want. The current government’s “majority” is actually a minority of 43% of the electorate."
"What you have to realise is that this government’s “huge majority” is nothing of the sort! They won their 80 seat majority with only 37% of the electorate vote!"
"That means that 63% did NOT vote for them! I.e. a “huge majority” (nearly two thirds) of the UK electorate did NOT vote for the Tories, they either didn’t vote, or they voted for someone else!"
"In fact only 43% of those that actually voted, voted for this government, so that’s 57% of the voting electorate who don’t want this government in office."
"The fact is that the majority of the electorate actually voted for parties who would have given a second referendum on Brexit, but because of the First Past The Post electoral system we have, it was possible for the Tories to win the election with a minority of the vote."
@UnrollHelper "Liz Truss’s and Kwasi Kwarteng’s 2012 free-market treatise Britannia Unchained has shot up the sales charts, hitting the top spot on Amazon rankings for books on “economic conditions”. It costs £19.55 for the paperback."
@UnrollHelper Ought to come with a health warning for the nation's economy!
@UnrollHelper “The key is to make sure that failure is survivable,” is one of the book’s insights. “In the early stages of a project, failure need not be a disaster.”
"This is likely to provide scant consolation to Tory MPs facing the threat of losing their seats at the next election."
"The ecological destruction Liz Truss plans to unleash on this country is not collateral damage. It is not a byproduct of her economic programme. It’s a mark of true faith, a sign that she is following her ideology to the letter."
"For fundamental to this doctrine – neoliberalism – is the belief that everything on Earth can and should be turned into something else."
"Rather than seeking to protect the soil – the delicate ecosystem from which 99% of our calories are produced – Hayek says it makes sense to extract as much value as it can produce, exhaust it “once and for all”, then abandon the land."
@chalemedia@acgrayling Following the links on the above article highlights three significant articles that are relevant to #LiarJohnson's ever-changing role and positions before and after Brexit, to better serve his political ambitions - to the cost of everyone else!
"As the virus accelerates it evolution, the humans capitulate. For two and a half years, the virus has been outrunning our response, getting progressively more and more transmissible, reaching a level of infectiousness that few pathogens have ever attained."
"Instead of taking a stance of getting ahead of the virus, and out-smarting it, people have succumbed."
Some may think humans are an infinite resource, i.e. plenty more where they come from.
However, it takes many years/cost for each new life to reach maturity/productivity.
"As we watch the virus strikingly improve its ability to find new or repeat hosts, you would think it would be considered an urgent call for action."