2020 - the year Boris Johnson destroyed public trust

[Janso]

Bst he has travelled 7 miles to me that is local to most people I would think that is local, look on other social media sites where it’s not all labour voters and you will find most people agree he has done nothing wrong

It's absolutely bizarre that you're making a party political issue out of whether or not the Prime Minister should be held to a higher standard than the average citizen. Especially during a pandemic, where HE has begged us to behave with common sense and abide to the spirit of the rules.

You are an oddball.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Hancock has just been on the radio again this morning (correctly) stressing the importance of all of us sticking to the SPIRIT of the regulations.

It is simply stupid to claim that driving 7 miles across London to exercise, when there are 6-7 much closer parks, is sticking to the spirit of the regulations.

[River Don]

I sometimes feel a bit sorry for Hancock. He gets decisions wrong but then he gets hung out to dry too and I get the feeling he is the one who is actually listening to his scientific advisors most. I bet his hands are well tied.

Door Matt indeed.

[BillyStubbsTears]

I sometimes feel sorry for him.

Then I remember his role as a SpAd in the Treasury ten years ago, peddling the idiotic lie about Expansionary Fiscal Contraction that gave us the worst decade of economic performance since the Napoleonic Wars.

So, frankly, I hope the t**t never has a day of peace for the rest of his life.

[River Don]

You follow these things much more keenly than I BST.

What is something that sounds as contradictory as expansionary contraction all about then?

[BillyStubbsTears]

RD.

Standard economics says that when the private sector goes into recession, Govt spending should expand (fiscal expansion) to fill the gap. That means Governments borrowing and spending to keep the economy ticking over until the private sector gets its mojo back.

The political Right have never liked this because it goes against their philosophy that governments should stay out of economics. But it works. So for decades after the War, they gritted their teeth and accepted it.

10-12 years ago, after the GFC, all round the world, right wing politicians were aghast at the amount of Govt borrowing and spending required to drag us out of recession and save us going into another Great Depression. They started to fret that if Govt borrowing got too high, there would be dire economic consequences. They worried that the private sector would lose confidence and never bounce back.

It must be stressed that there was NEVER a scrap of reputable, well-founded evidence for this belief. There were a couple of highly-quoted academic papers on the topic which turned out to be based of scarcely credible fundamental mistakes. But the idea fitted the philosophy of the Right. Govt should keep out. Borrowing should be kept low.

Then a phrase started to be coined on the Right. If Govt borrowing was kept low through Austerity (fiscal contraction) the confidence that would give to the private sector would lead to an expansion in overall economic activity. Hence "Expansionary Fiscal Contraction".

It was all grade A ba-baa of course. It resulted in a catastrophic failure of growth after the GFC, with all the problems that led to (wage stagnation, cuts to education and NHS budgets, the rise of the populist Far Right, continued massive Govt deficits because the economy never recovered). But it sounded intelligent and thoughtful.

And who was the cheerleader for this in the UK? Matt f**king Hancock.

See the quote at the end of paragraph 3 here.

https://www.niesr.ac.uk/blog/more-multipliers-why-does-it-matter

So, as with so many on the Right, he was either too f**king thick to understand the extent of his own stupidity. Or he was wilfully and deliberately misrepresenting the truth for political purposes. Either way, it was that stance that gave us the disaster of Austerity.

t**t.

[MachoMadness]

Remember when Hancock pretended to cry on GMB, and just sorted of ended up doing a weird smirk at Piers Morgan? Whenever he gets hung out to dry I remember that moment. If it came out he was a lizard wearing human skin I wouldn't be surprised.

[ravenrover]

Word of the day is ‘circumlocutionist’: one who consistently speaks in a roundabout way in order to avoid addressing a question directly.

[wilts rover]

I sometimes feel a bit sorry for Hancock. He gets decisions wrong but then he gets hung out to dry too and I get the feeling he is the one who is actually listening to his scientific advisors most. I bet his hands are well tied.

Door Matt indeed.

Ah Matt Hancock - then man in charge of privatising the NHS:

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/ournhs/terrifying-truth-about-those-deciding-future-nhs/

[drfchound]

Word of the day is ‘circumlocutionist’: one who consistently speaks in a roundabout way in order to avoid addressing a question directly.

Well that can be applied to every politician I have ever heard speak.

[Not Now Kato]

Word of the day is ‘circumlocutionist’: one who consistently speaks in a roundabout way in order to avoid addressing a question directly.

Well that can be applied to every politician I have ever heard speak.

You've never heard Dennis Skinner speak then?

[drfchound]

Word of the day is ‘circumlocutionist’: one who consistently speaks in a roundabout way in order to avoid addressing a question directly.

Well that can be applied to every politician I have ever heard speak.

You've never heard Dennis Skinner speak then?

Yeah and even he has been evasive at times.

[Not Now Kato]

Johnson was helped by Mogg, of course
 
https://twitter.com/jondharvey/status/1350132998436511746