Current Affairs 2023

[Mervyn and Trish]

As I understand it the Covid inquiry already had the messages from the proper legal source.

Hi Sir Merv…just for clarification are you saying the Covid inquiry had access to theses text messages prior to Oakeshott making them public?

That is my understanding from the news story I heard.

[Ray B]

Still a ratbag though.

[Stephen]

Still a ratbag though.

Who said you could stop decorating

[Mervyn and Trish]

Questions are being asked about where they who should be nameless will stay if they visit the UK now they're homeless.

Surely OL will offer them his guest room?

[Mervyn and Trish]

BBC News - Seed sales jump as fruit and veg shortage continues
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64811491

I wonder if those buying realise the shortage will be over before they've grown.

[Onelife]

Questions are being asked about where they who should be nameless will stay if they visit the UK now they're homeless.

Surely OL will offer them his guest room?

They would be most welcome to choose any one of our six ensuite bedrooms while looking to relocate to lovely Shropshire.

[Ray B]

Very generous of you OL, no doubt a box of OL chocolates on the pillow.

[oldbluefox]

Congratulations to Sue Gray the impartial civil servant who led the inquiry into the Tory party scandal on her appointment as Keir Starmer's Chief of Staff. Would you Adam and Eve it?

[Mervyn and Trish]

Who said sleaze and corruption were dead eh?

[Onelife]

Congratulations to Sue Gray the impartial civil servant who led the inquiry into the Tory party scandal on her appointment as Keir Starmer's Chief of Staff. Would you Adam and Eve it?

Excellent appointment, one which will have many thinking Kier is surrounding himself with the right people…

[Onelife]

Very generous of you OL, no doubt a box of OL chocolates on the pillow.

Hi Ray, I generally reserve chocolates for Birthdays only but as they are such a lovely couple I will go that extra mile and provide pillow chocolates and towel animals for their children.

[Stephen]

Very generous of you OL, no doubt a box of OL chocolates on the pillow.

Hi Ray, I generally reserve chocolates for Birthdays only but as they are such a lovely couple I will go that extra mile and provide pillow chocolates and towel animals for their children.

Wish you would

[david63]

Excellent appointment, one which will have many thinking Kier is surrounding himself with the right people…

Also have many wondering how impartial her report was.

[Gill W]

Congratulations to Sue Gray the impartial civil servant who led the inquiry into the Tory party scandal on her appointment as Keir Starmer's Chief of Staff. Would you Adam and Eve it?

Who said sleaze and corruption were dead eh?

Sue Gray was appointed to do the report by Johnson, she didn’t inveigle herself into it as part of some sort of left wing plot !

Anyway, last year, the investigation and subsequent report was of no interest to this forum, so it’s weird that it’s suddenly become something that you want to talk about after all !

[oldbluefox]

We're not talking about the report Gill.

[barney]

Congratulations to Sue Gray the impartial civil servant who led the inquiry into the Tory party scandal on her appointment as Keir Starmer's Chief of Staff. Would you Adam and Eve it?

Who said sleaze and corruption were dead eh?

Sue Gray was appointed to do the report by Johnson, she didn’t inveigle herself into it as part of some sort of left wing plot !

Anyway, last year, the investigation and subsequent report was of no interest to this forum, so it’s weird that it’s suddenly become something that you want to talk about after all !

I’m a Starmer supporter Gill, but even I can see that this doesn’t look very good.
It could well get Johnson off the hook with the Parliamentary Enquiry currently ongoing.

The thought that Civil Servants are not politically biased is ridiculous in the first place.
My sister in law is a ministerial advisor at the DWP and is very left wing although spending most of her career working for a Tory Minister.

This announcement should have been made after the enquiry had concluded. If Johnson gets off misleading parliament, it will be on Labour.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Congratulations to Sue Gray the impartial civil servant who led the inquiry into the Tory party scandal on her appointment as Keir Starmer's Chief of Staff. Would you Adam and Eve it?

Who said sleaze and corruption were dead eh?

Sue Gray was appointed to do the report by Johnson, she didn’t inveigle herself into it as part of some sort of left wing plot !

Anyway, last year, the investigation and subsequent report was of no interest to this forum, so it’s weird that it’s suddenly become something that you want to talk about after all !

She was appointed to do the report because she held the relevant very senior position in the Civil Service. A position in which she was expected to be impartial, or at least bury her political leanings. The fact she has been offered this post by Starmer and apparently wishes to take it casts serious doubt on that impartiality, her judgement and the credibility of her report. If the boot was on the other foot you would be all over it. You can't seriously deny it stinks.

[Onelife]

Nothing wrong with a career change, especially for one who has gained the respect of MP’s from both sides of the chamber…excellent coup by Starmer.

[screwy]

Anyway,we went to our local farm shop this morning. Tomatoes,not a problem,how many would you like? Same for Cucumbers etc.
We live 2 miles from a Salad producer, they have several enormous glasshouses full of tomatoes,they were on BBC NW 2 nights ago. They say they produce around 30% of the country’s needs and are looking to produce more.
The problem with shortages is the supermarkets won’t pay the price asked for,that’s why shelves are empty.! Oh and the shortage of Dutch tomatoes is because they didn’t plant the early crop this year for some strange reason, says our biggest home producer.! So much for the eu.
If you want tomatoes, go to a market or greengrocer,plenty there.

[Gill W]

We're not talking about the report Gill.

You mentioned the investigation - or are you saying the report was not part of the investigation

Anyway, we do appear to be talking about the report - David mentioned it - see below

[Also have many wondering how impartial her report was.

I’m a Starmer supporter Gill, but even I can see that this doesn’t look very good.
It could well get Johnson off the hook with the Parliamentary Enquiry currently ongoing.

The thought that Civil Servants are not politically biased is ridiculous in the first place.
My sister in law is a ministerial advisor at the DWP and is very left wing although spending most of her career working for a Tory Minister.

This announcement should have been made after the enquiry had concluded. If Johnson gets off misleading parliament, it will be on Labour.

I agree that it seems a strange time to announce it, as the desperados are seizing on it to to discredit all the investigations.

However, from the Privilege Committee's interim report into their investigation, not sure Johnson will be able to wiggle off the hook

She was appointed to do the report because she held the relevant very senior position in the Civil Service. A position in which she was expected to be impartial, or at least bury her political leanings. The fact she has been offered this post by Starmer and apparently wishes to take it casts serious doubt on that impartiality, her judgement and the credibility of her report. If the boot was on the other foot you would be all over it. You can't seriously deny it stinks.

Fairly serious allegations - without a shred of proof. No one in government had any problem with the impartiality or not of her report until yesterday. If the report was seriously skewed from what actually happened, surely they would have piped up about it months ago? If she really wanted to do a hatchet job, surely she'd have included the Abba party in Johnson's flat? Notwithstanding that, the Met's investigation resulted in fixed penalty noticed, and the Privileges Committee interim report is already indicating that Johnson may not have been truthful in parliament. Not to mention some of the leaked What's App messages show that Johnson knew about the parties. Sue Gray isn't an outlier in her findings, all investigations seem to be pointing one way....

[david63]

we went to our local farm shop this morning. Tomatoes,not a problem,how many would you like? Same for Cucumbers etc.

Similar story with our Tesco visit this morning - plenty of tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers - but eggs were a totally different story.

[Manoverboard]

we went to our local farm shop this morning. Tomatoes,not a problem,how many would you like? Same for Cucumbers etc.

Similar story with our Tesco visit this morning - plenty of tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers - but eggs were a totally different story.

Of course they were ... tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers don't have shells

[oldbluefox]

I blame Brexit chickens!!!

[screwy]

The problem is that supermarkets can’t supply all their stores as normal, so while one store has produce one day it won’t get supplied the next,it’s a balancing act to try and supply as many as possible, whereas the grocer, farm shop and markets are getting supplies from the big fruit/ veg markets ie Leeds and Birmingham + others. Supermarkets are reliant on the producers they have the contracts with.

[Onelife]

I blame Brexit chickens!!!

Our two girls are producing an egg each a day. Our latest addition which is a Black Tail Hen (Doris) lays lovely deep brown eggs which taste as good as they look.