Super-Twat

[Pingu]

Midair Bacon's next big wheeze will be employing all those people languishing in priz to help clear the backlog (when they're not picking litter in hi-viz obv.).

[Mr Larrington]

The ones languishing in chokey are, of course, ideally qualified to reduce the backlog of pending court cases by advising would-be crims how not to get caught.

[Beardy]

The new CPS guidelines to which cases to try;

1. Did you go to the right school
2. Did you hurt anyone important
3. Have you made significant donations to the party
4. Were you born in the UK
5. Is your skin not white 

[Davef]

'Get off your Pelotons and back to work'.

“I grew up in the '30s with an unemployed father. He got off his exercise bike and looked for work, and he kept looking till he found it.” N Tebbit

[Canardly]

Get on your bike and now get off your bike. I wish they would make up their minds!

[Polar Bear]

The new CPS guidelines to which cases to try;

1. Did you go to the right school
2. Did you hurt anyone important
3. Have you made significant donations to the party
4. Were you born in the UK
5. Is your skin not white

4 cannot be right.  It would potentially impact many tories and/or their families as well as their key donors.  Where was the clown-in-chief born for instance?

On the other hand, if they were dumb enough ...

[rafletcher]

Sir Peter Bottomley.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2021/oct/07/boris-johnson-tory-conference-speech-reaction-polling-keir-starmer-latest-updates-politics-ive

Because only people like Head Teachers and business executives make for good (Tory) MP’s.

[Mr Larrington]

I thought that witless arsepump Bumley had died æons ago.  Buggrit

[Beardy]

The most telling comment in that article was him saying that he managed quite well on his salaries. How many GPs on the stated £100k have time to do other jobs.

[ian]

To be honest, it's worthy of discussion, if you were a GP or similar, there's a considerable financial penalty in becoming an MP.

Quite a number of GPs work part-time, so that £100k isn't entirely valid, and I doubt most solicitors get close to that much unless they're a partner or work in city civil law. I'm not sure how we incentivize people to become MPs – people who aren't career politicians for the sake of it or entitled dabblers (like my MP).

[chrisbainbridge]

I would be very happy to pay more if there were complete bans on all paid lobbying, freeby holidays, etc. then on retirement a 10 year ban on accepting any job apart from perhaps some university lecturing (unpaid). Of course the salary would continue for those 10 years but with no expenses for staff.

[Socks]

It's interesting (to me, anyway) that MPs didn't used to be paid, in ye olden days.  Which meant they had to be wealthy in order to consider becoming an MP.  Salaries were seen as a progressive move, to enable 'ordinary' people to become MPs.

The whole system needs looking at, especially funding for the political parties given the increasingly sleazy relationship that seems to exist with lobbyists and the wealthy.  I don't suppose there are votes in proposing that political parties should have a specific amount of taxpayer funding, and not be allowed private donations although membership fees would still be OK.

[ian]

Being an MP should be their sole employment and the revolving door should stop revolving. There should also be some performance expectations (my MP, for instance, doesn't appear to do anything).

(Also, they need to stop employing friends and family.)

[Tim Hall]

Being an MP should be their sole employment and the revolving door should stop revolving. There should also be some performance expectations (my MP, for instance, doesn't appear to do anything).

(Also, they need to stop employing friends and family.)

Doesn't the "sole employment" thing fall apart for ministers and the like? 
Backbencher, one job, MP, representing the interests of their constituents
Chancellor of the Exchequer, two jobs, one respresenting the interests of their constituents, the other doing all the Chancellor of The Exchequer bits. 

[ian]

In that situation fine, but at the moment a significant proportion of them have secondary incomes unrelated (or probably too related) to their roles in parliament. Now fair, enough rent from properties, media etc. should be OK, but board memberships, providing paid advice and other services etc. less so.

[chrisbainbridge]

In that situation fine, but at the moment a significant proportion of them have secondary incomes unrelated (or probably too related) to their roles in parliament. Now fair, enough rent from properties, media etc. should be OK, but board memberships, providing paid advice and other services etc. less so.

Agreed

[Tim Hall]

There are some who, it might be argued, should stay at their "other" job, (eg The Spectator magazine) and not fuck up the country big time become an MP.

[Regulator]

Being an MP should be their sole employment and the revolving door should stop revolving. There should also be some performance expectations (my MP, for instance, doesn't appear to do anything).

(Also, they need to stop employing friends and family.)

There are certain professions where I think it would be appropriate to allow MPs to have a second job (e.g. medicine) because there is a need to maintain competence - but other than those select professions I agree with the ban on second jobs. 

[TimC]

I would suggest that there's no need for medically-qualified MPs to continue to practice. To do so effectively would mean they have no time to be an MP. More likely, they are likely to be a liability as a medic. Regular briefing and observation should be enough to maintain sufficient familiarity with the subject, should a ministerial role require their medical expertise. However, there are very few ministers who have relevant and recent experience in any role, so why ex-medics (and they are most certainly ex as soon as they declare an intention to stand for Parliament) should be excepted I have no idea.

[ian]

I think being an MP should be a career choice, not a secondment. It should be something you want to do, but it should appeal to people with experience. I think we know by now that people who only do politics, or stumble through over their entitlements into a degree in PPE, aren't the best politicians. A lot of doctors change career, they're not more special than anyone else when it comes to this.

That said, a big chunk of medicine will be replaced by AI in the next decade or two, so parliament might be better than the job centre.

[Pingu]

So the current shit shower could be easily replaced by AD*.







*Autodumbness

[Peter]

93% of Newcastle United supporters, apparently.

[Pingu]

As mentioned elsewhere, Jonathan Gullis MP.

Tory MP says using term ‘white privilege’ should be reported as extremism

During the same event, the 31-year-old MP said that teachers should be “sacked” if they criticise the Conservatives.

[grams]

Now fair, enough rent from properties, media etc. should be OK,

You might want to check how many are landlords and how many vote against tenants rights.

[L CC]

93% of Newcastle United supporters, apparently.

I'm hoping they've stopped discussing it by the time I get back in the office on Tuesday. It's a slim hope, but I'm clinging to it.