Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[The Brain]

Are you a tie fighter?

[Tamas]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/dec/15/tory-mp-daniel-kawczynski-fixer-job-with-saudi-contacts-school-fees

A Conservative MP pleaded with a fixer to help him secure a well-paid second job with a Saudi company or other work relating to the Middle East, at one point saying he needed money to pay school fees.

Daniel Kawczynski's repeated pleas for lucrative employment – revealed in a series of WhatsApp messages seen by the Guardian – show him citing his pro-Saudi stance in parliament as part of an attempt to get paid work from a businessman.

The Tory MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham asked a fixer to find him work with a Saudi employer, describing himself as the most "pro-Saudi" member of parliament and boasting that the Saudi leader, Mohammed bin Salman, "has stated that Saudi has no better friend in UK than me".

Now see this is the sort of stuff which should be a crime and not something you might get a 30 days unpaid(?) holiday for from the job you never intended to do properly in the first place.

[ulmont]

Nah. But going through a name change like I did last year really highlight on how many occasions it matters what your identity is, and your ability to prove it.

I'm going to ask a dumb question here...isn't that what your passport does?

[Tamas]

Nah. But going through a name change like I did last year really highlight on how many occasions it matters what your identity is, and your ability to prove it.

I'm going to ask a dumb question here...isn't that what your passport does?

For sure but that's (rightly) isn't mandatory to have. So what we have is ridiculous overcomplications, and completely avoidable political issues. like, quick googling, some district council page in the UK:

Photographic proof of identity will normally be required in every case e.g. by supplying a copy of your photo driving licence, valid Passport or bus pass etc. If you have no photo ID, a copy of your original Birth Certificate or National Insurance Card will be accepted provided it is accompanied by a passport sized photo that is countersigned on the back by someone who can confirm your identity.

I mean, come on, it's 20 effin' 21. 

[Sheilbh]

Those messages are simultaneously hilariously pathetic and very grim. But if you've ever seen Kawczynski on the news talking about Saudi - and he is a talking head on this - it is almost impossible that anyone could quite so cravenly repeat Saudi talking points for free.

Of course the other point is that he's the MP for Shrewsbury so if he were to get a suspension of more than ten days there would be a recall petition and possibly another byelection. His constituency is next to Owen Paterson's

And just based on what I've read about him I suspect there are other issues with Kawczynski for when journalists start digging. This is very much a "oh dear - who could possibly have guessed, it's always the one's you least expected" moment.

[garbon]

Nah. But going through a name change like I did last year really highlight on how many occasions it matters what your identity is, and your ability to prove it.

I'm going to ask a dumb question here...isn't that what your passport does?

For sure but that's (rightly) isn't mandatory to have. So what we have is ridiculous overcomplications, and completely avoidable political issues. like, quick googling, some district council page in the UK:

Photographic proof of identity will normally be required in every case e.g. by supplying a copy of your photo driving licence, valid Passport or bus pass etc. If you have no photo ID, a copy of your original Birth Certificate or National Insurance Card will be accepted provided it is accompanied by a passport sized photo that is countersigned on the back by someone who can confirm your identity.

I mean, come on, it's 20 effin' 21. 

So to summarise what you've said:

There are a crazy amount of instances where you have to prove your identity.

It is not unreasonable to add a requirement for ID checks when voting to that long list.

People who suggest poor and/brown people won't necessarily have IDs are racist.

A national ID would prevent the cases where people don't have an ID.

A national ID would prevent people from needing to have attestations on their passport sized photographs as alternate form of verification.

[Tamas]

Hey, I understand. It's hard to see the utility of something you never had. Like how people keep using these in this country:

[garbon]

Hey, I understand. It's hard to see the utility of something you never had. Like how people keep using these in this country:

Why would I want something I haven't needed in my 3+ decades of life and doesn't have clearly articulated benefits?

Not sure the sink is a great example as pretty sure most people in UK have experience with the more civilized type.

[Sheilbh]

And just based on what I've read about him I suspect there are other issues with Kawczynski for when journalists start digging. This is very much a "oh dear - who could possibly have guessed, it's always the one's you least expected" moment.

On this someone's been putting together the examples of how Kawczynski's services always seem to have ben available to the highest (foreign, authoritarian) bidder:

Naomi Smith
@pimlicat
Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski has raked in £250,000 at a second job at a mining company while also acting as the PM's trade envoy to Mongolia, which has large mineral deposits.

Next one with video: https://twitter.com/rethinktr/status/801074729071378432?s=20

ReThink Turkey
@rethinktr
Daniel Kawczynski, a British MP, spoke about the coup attempt in #Turkey & evidence leading to Gulenists involvement. #Gülen #EU #Daesh

From 2018:

Jakub Krupa
@JakubKrupa
Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski says on Sky News that the opposition and the media should 'painstakingly, step by step, scrutinise the sanctions' of the British government and should ask for the absolute proof of Russia's involvement in Skripal attack from the British government

And sometimes just for fun - in 2020:

Alex Wickham
@alexwickham
Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski is about to speak at a conference with far-right figures in Rome

He has just backed far-right leaders Viktor Orban and Matteo Salvini by name, saying they "represent serious ideas and concerns, some of which are shared by many citizens of the UK"

He largely seems to have been blackballed by other MPs - he's not been elected to any committees for any length of time since 2017. Plus as far as I can see he's never even been close to the junior minister roles so clearly decided, with a safe seat, the best option was to try an dmake what he could by being for sale and even back in 2015 there were articles referring to him as the Honorable Member for Saudi Arabia. So yeah - deep shock

[Josquius]

He's a renowned shit bag for sure.
Though he really does play this part up like mogg.

[Sheilbh]

Just caught up with the latest press conference and furious at the current situation with covid.

We basically have a PM who can't impose any new lockdown measures because the (parliamentary) party is opposed to them and the Treasury won't pay for them. But is, with the scientists, giving the message between the lines that people should basically go back into lockdown.

At the same time - and as at every stage of the pandemic - people are already ahead of these. So we're seeing loads of cancellations for restaurants and pubs at a key time for their industry, plus from what I've seen tonight about 10 West End theatres shuttering (again, at a key time of year). Because it's not a formal, legal lockdown it's not something they can claim for on their insurance and the Treasury won't pay for furlough or to cover any other costs.

So we don't get the public health benefits of an actual lockdown, we suffer the economic costs but without any of the mitigations of the last 18 months

[mongers]

Just caught up with the latest press conference and furious at the current situation with covid.

We basically have a PM who can't impose any new lockdown measures because the (parliamentary) party is opposed to them and the Treasury won't pay for them. But is, with the scientists, giving the message between the lines that people should basically go back into lockdown.

At the same time - and as at every stage of the pandemic - people are already ahead of these. So we're seeing loads of cancellations for restaurants and pubs at a key time for their industry, plus from what I've seen tonight about 10 West End theatres shuttering (again, at a key time of year). Because it's not a formal, legal lockdown it's not something they can claim for on their insurance and the Treasury won't pay for furlough or to cover any other costs.

So we don't get the public health benefits of an actual lockdown, we suffer the economic costs but without any of the mitigations of the last 18 months

Trains and some stations were surprisingly quiet today.

[Sheilbh]

Yeah, I mean I think people have been pretty good at following rules or guidance and normally people are ahead of anything formal. So the cancellations apparently started dropping the day they announced omicron - which is probably premature, but understandable. And of course the media have a role in that which I think they've handled well of not setting hares running every time a new variant is discovered but waiting for reasons to actually report when there's a degree of seriousness.

[Zanza]

If you base your anti-Covid measure on goodwill of the rational part of the population, you enable the covidiot freeriders which lessens the voluntary compliance of the rational part eventually. 

[Sheilbh]

I hadn't realised Michael Crick had moved to the Mail - but here he is trying (and failing) to get the Tory candidate in today's byelection to say if he thinks Boris Johnson "is a man of honesty and integrity"
https://twitter.com/PickardJE/status/1471155199779741717?s=20