Ian Dunt Profile picture
11 Nov, 19 tweets, 3 min read
Wouldn't want you to have developed a sense of hope or spiritual reassurance. We'll have none of that here.
Johnson says Windrush was a "scandal" and the best is being done to "collectively to make amends". This is false, of course. If it were true, they would not be creating the conditions for precisely the same situation to arise with European citizens.
Starmer says Help for Heroes is struggling during pandemic and wants got to do whatever it can to help armed forces charities. Johnson agrees, obviously.
Starmer: Chancellor gave just £6m to forces charities. Wants that reconsidered, given it spent £670K for PR consultants, as revealed this weekend - and indeed has spent £130M this year alone on PR companies.
Johnson says this is about the vaccines taskforce. Usual tactic - wants Starmer to pay tribute etc etc. The PR, Johnson says, is to "fight the anti-vaxers".
Starmer says real question "about the way contracts are being awarded... this is not the PM's money, it's taxpayes money."
Getting into it now. Says govt paid £150m to a company to deliver facemasks. How many usable facemasks were actually provided to NHS workers under that contract.
Wait for it.... wait for it..... Johnson doesn't answer the question. Shocking I know. Instead delivers a speech defending the private sector in the abstract.
Starmer: "The answer is none. Not a single facemask."
Consultants paid £7K a day to work on test-and-trade. One company given contract for £347m, despite having to recall 750K unused covid tests on safety grounds.
"There's a sharp contrast between way govt sprays money at companies that don't deliver and their reluctance to provide long-term support to businesses and working people at the sharp end of this crisis."
Starmer moves on to gaps in support for self-employed. Seven months on the scheme remains wasteful and badly targeted, he says, quoting Institute of Fiscal Studies and Institute of Directors.
Boring to keep using he same word to describe Starmer's approach here, but it is the right one: forensic.
What;s left often mentioned, but equally important, is that the forensics are deployed in order to substantiate a strong overarching message: One rule for their mates,another for the rest of us.
Angela Eagle asks if Johnson has any advice for his "best friend" Trump, whose refusal to accept the result is dangerous for American democracy.
Johnson says he is "delighted" to find Biden has many common causes with him, focuses on usual environmental policy area. Never heard Johnson mention the environment so much, but all of a sudden it's all he talks about.
Still, we should at least be pleased about good things. Johnson very clear Trump is the "previous president". Honestly, he could well have prevaricated on this - Raab clearly tempted in this direction - and it's reassuring that he isn't.
One more little speech defending the private sector from Johnson. Telling how comfortable he looks celebrating "giant conglomerates". This is the language he naturally speaks.

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More from @IanDunt

10 Nov
The latest bit of design madness to strike the internet is providing users with about a fifth of the screen to read the article, sandwiched between these immense moving banners.
Fuck are you doing guys. Why do people on the internet hate their own content so much that they want to put barriers in front of the reader accessing it?
It's like trying to read a newsletter in a fucking postbox.
Read 4 tweets
9 Nov
Comics have had a brutal year. But this weekend is @ThoughtBubbleUK - the greatest celebration of comics I've ever seen - an event that bursts with creativity and love for the medium.
@ThoughtBubbleUK The physical festival obviously can't be held this year, so they have put the entire thing online, for free, available to anyone. You can't leave the house anyway. You might as well sit there and just fucking drench yourself in it.
@ThoughtBubbleUK On Saturday afternoon, I'll be interviewing Joe Sacco, which is one of those events where you just sit there and think: how in the name of Christ did I manage to get this lucky? For anyone who's into comics and journalism, he's a kind of deity.
Read 4 tweets
8 Nov
Next few months are going to be a fascinating exhibit in the Brexit mindset.
Tory Leavers know Biden disapproves of their little project. At some point, probably soon, probably over Ireland, he's going to snub them. He'll say something about Brexit, or the FTA, or he'll visit Brussels before London. And then they're going to lose their shit.
And that's going to be an interesting moment. Britain will have gone from being a bridge between Europe and the US to adopting a distant, acrimonious relationship with both of them.
Read 6 tweets
7 Nov
As one of the other voices in the game, let me go on record to say that I'm incensed by this. Whether you agree with Helen's views on trans issues or not, they are legitimate debate and she is entitled to hold and express them. kotaku.com/ubisoft-to-rem…
She wasn't even discussing any of those issues here. A little Twitter mob got excited and now she is simply cancelled.
What utter cowardice. The silencing of someone on all issues, even analysis of a fictional political universe, because people disagreed with what they said on another issue.
Read 4 tweets
6 Nov
Next few hours there'll be lots of sage old commentators on here telling you not to get too excited, lots of trouble ahead, problems Trump fed off won't go away, Democrats don't control Senate. And it's all true. But you know what? We all deserve to sit & be happy for a bit.
Fuck all the caveats and future problems. Savour this feeling. People constantly on the backfoot against pernicious political forces deserve to celebrate them being defeated.
There'll be time later for thoughts about how to proceed, and especially what liberals can do in office to prevent nationalism rising up again. But for now, just enjoy the victory. Have a drink for fuck sake.
Read 5 tweets
6 Nov
First bit of Chatterly and her IPO for a while.
Fuck I think I missed Quest 2 the Revenge again.
Oh no, I caught it, that is a massive step down from the original.
Read 4 tweets

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