And here’s that packed room again at #ConservativePartyconference, listening to David Gauke & Michael Heseltine on a pro- European platform, hosted by @euromove.
Nope - Conservatives, that’s not where “OPPORTUNITY” lies…
Leave the main hall, go to the packed pro-European @euromove fringe event, learn about the Single Market, Erasmus, Horizon, Galileo and European Union membership…
The Met consistently refused to investigate Patygate despite overwhelming evidence.
They then launched an inquiry days before Sue Gray report release, delaying the report at key moment.
They issue 1 fine to Johnson for the least serious incident & include Sunak.
1/
Johnson tells friends that he's been assured he'll get no more fines (reported on 24/4 - so Johnson knows outcome *one month* before Met announce).
Met delay issuing fines to Downing St during local elections.
Met issue fines for Nov event, but not Johnson despite photos.
2/
When full set of fines come out, it is clearly disproportionately aimed at junior staff, protecting those leaders responsible for the culture and also present at the events.
--- I wouldn't want to make accusations about any individuals in Met, as you don't know who did what.
3/
One thing that gnaws at me is that, unlike science, politics is not becoming incrementally better.
Despite all the positive potential latent in humanity... our politics seems not to go forwards, but rather to tap a cyclical churn of cynicism, farce, corruption & ineptitude.
Now obviously, this is impressionistic and there are many dimensions of "progress" (diversity of inclusion, depth of knowledge base, effectiveness of self-correction mechanisms...)
...but I was mainly thinking of quality of information & thought offered to the public.
It just strikes me that if you look at the nature of political arguments and fall-outs in Ancient Greece and Rome - the worst and the best... we've still got all the worst tropes kicking around, but there's a ridiculous dearth of the better political philosophical thinking.