Boris rides roughshod over his own Cabinet

[tamada]

Johnson has terminated the DfID and merged it with the FCO. Just like that, Johnson (and Cummings) have decided that they have a better way to spend the money. No cabinet input and a sham 'debate' in parliament.

“For too long, frankly, UK overseas aid has been treated like a giant cashpoint in the sky, that arrives without any reference to UK interests,” the prime minister said."

So, now he's got the £14 billion cashpoint back where it's needed most, propping up his failed health, social and economic plans for (the once Great) Britain after the hard Brexit that nobody was told about.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/20 ... ve-direct/

[jackspratt]

From UM's favourite news source, it appears that Boris can look forward to some strong external opposition in the future - along with the usual internal malcontents of course.

But as the Guardian’s political editor, Heather Stewart, tells Anushka Asthana, as satisfaction with the government’s handling of coronavirus has dipped, Keir Starmer’s ratings show the best start to the job of any opposition leader in living memory. It follows confident performances in the Commons and a clear-out of prominent Corbyn allies from the shadow cabinet. So is the party now united behind its new leader?

https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/ ... ty-podcast

[stattointhailand]

Sums Bojo up when a 22 year old footballer has more insight about what the country needs than he does.

Rashford has been campaigning for ages ........... Bojo found out yesterday (he admitted)

[tamada]

The Telegraph typically making much about Boris daily flail at yesterday's PMQ's against Starmer. When repeating the same "Will you say schools are safe?" question of Starmer to avoid answering the six different questions Starmer had asked him, they saw it some sort of win. When he resorted to quoting an ancient Greek tragedian, they fairly wet their collective blue panties. "Oohh, our old Boris is back!"

Schools remain as unsafe as the 'tourist bubble' he's chatting with Macron about.

Starmer's less than stellar performance aside (how could he have missed that Rashford open goal?), the more sentient media reported it as a blustering deflection from having to admit that his 'all-knowing' and 'in-touch' government totally missed a trick with Marcus Rashford.

"And the moment Johnson looked most rattled at PMQs was when Labour’s Tullip Siddiq taunted him about apparently breaking a promise he had made at the despatch box the previous week.

“Is this yet another U-turn, or has the prime minister just forgotten what he said in the chamber last week?” she said."

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/u ... -1.4281779

[mech_401]

boris is basically a " young trump" let's cut
him some slack eh? too much brit theatrical
posturing and nothing gets done. as we know

[jackspratt]

boris is basically a " young trump" let's cut
him some slack eh? too much brit theatrical
posturing and nothing gets done. as we know

As dumb and shallow as Boris has already proven to be, compared to Trump he is Einstein, Newton, Galileo, Da Vinci and Gandhi all rolled into one.

[mech_401]

during his time at eton and later ballio/oxford
it was said boris studied not science but classics
and greek mythology,latin and philosophy

wow, so it's just a bunch of theatre actors, desperately dropping references trying to sound
educated * snooze* hi-so *yawn* in their hip club

[Udon Map]

wow, so it's just a bunch of theatre actors, desperately dropping references trying to sound educated * snooze* hi-so *yawn* in their hip club

That sounds a bit close-minded to me, mech. Seems to me that if one is only going to study topics with direct, immediate, and explicit relevance to one's life, education is reduced to a glorified trade school.

Here's one person's take on it:

“Philosophy” comes from Greek words meaning “love of wisdom.” Philosophy uses the tools of logic and reason to analyze the ways in which humans experience the world. It teaches critical thinking, close reading, clear writing, and logical analysis; it uses these to understand the language we use to describe the world, and our place within it. Different areas of philosophy are distinguished by the questions they ask. Do our senses accurately describe reality? What makes wrong actions wrong? How should we live? These are philosophical questions, and philosophy teaches the ways in which we might begin to answer them.

Students who learn philosophy get a great many benefits from doing so. The tools taught by philosophy are of great use in further education, and in employment. Despite the seemingly abstract nature of the questions philosophers ask, the tools philosophy teaches tend to be highly sought-after by employers. Philosophy students learn how to write clearly, and to read closely, with a critical eye; they are taught to spot bad reasoning, and how to avoid it in their writing and in their work. It is therefore not surprising that philosophy students have historically scored more highly on tests like the LSAT and GRE, on average, than almost any other discipline. Many students combine studying philosophy with studying other disciplines.

The most important reason to study philosophy is that it is of enormous and enduring interest. All of us have to answer, for ourselves, the questions asked by philosophers.

[mech_401]

careful icarus . . .

[mech_401]

i'm mostly jealous. i would've preferred going to
eton . i don't doubt young men get an education
whereas ave. high school is anything but that

[tamada]

“Philosophy” comes from Greek words meaning “love of wisdom.” Philosophy uses the tools of logic and reason to analyze the ways in which humans experience the world. It teaches critical thinking, close reading, clear writing, and logical analysis; it uses these to understand the language we use to describe the world, and our place within it. Different areas of philosophy are distinguished by the questions they ask. Do our senses accurately describe reality? What makes wrong actions wrong? How should we live? These are philosophical questions, and philosophy teaches the ways in which we might begin to answer them.

Students who learn philosophy get a great many benefits from doing so. The tools taught by philosophy are of great use in further education, and in employment. Despite the seemingly abstract nature of the questions philosophers ask, the tools philosophy teaches tend to be highly sought-after by employers. Philosophy students learn how to write clearly, and to read closely, with a critical eye; they are taught to spot bad reasoning, and how to avoid it in their writing and in their work. It is therefore not surprising that philosophy students have historically scored more highly on tests like the LSAT and GRE, on average, than almost any other discipline. Many students combine studying philosophy with studying other disciplines.

The most important reason to study philosophy is that it is of enormous and enduring interest. All of us have to answer, for ourselves, the questions asked by philosophers.

What has all this about writing clearly, reading closely and having a critical eye to do with Boris Johnson? His 'education' in the Classics and self-professed knowledge of philosophy is only apparent in his ability to throw out the occasional whimsical, ancient put down rather than answering any direct questions. Another is his spouting a less-than-impressive stream of non-sequiturs and biggish words when caught short of any in-depth knowledge of what he purports to know.

I'm with mech on this one. Johnson's a blustering blowhard that unfortunately was all the Tories needed when Britain's Brexit constipation was at its height. He was fired from his first job for falsifying a quotation. His latest public admission of being unaware of the existence of Marcus Rashford's social campaign for free school meal vouchers is another. Maggie must be spinning like a top in her grave at that U-turn. The foppish, bookish schoolboy is fast reaching his 'use-by' date and nobody is more aware of that that the Tories' own, all-powerful 1922 Committee. Get Brexit done and then stick a fork in him.

One good aspect of this current BLM and BAME wokeness is that we are unlikely to ever see a statue of this dim, vacuous pillock.

[mech_401]

there you go , i've nothing against socratic method
or whatever they're teaching the next generation
of politicians. or lawyers/ students of education

but in this case, it just ends up being a contest with who is the more clever boy on pitch

[Udon Map]

What has all this about writing clearly, reading closely and having a critical eye to do with Boris Johnson?

Let me clarify. I'm not defending the P.M. at all. I'm defending and advocating for the study of the classics and philosophy.

[mathusalah80]

Here's one person's take on it:

“Philosophy” comes from Greek words meaning “love of wisdom.” Philosophy uses the tools of logic and reason to analyze the ways in which humans experience the world. It teaches critical thinking, close reading, clear writing, and logical analysis; it uses these to understand the language we use to describe the world, and our place within it. Different areas of philosophy are distinguished by the questions they ask. Do our senses accurately describe reality? What makes wrong actions wrong? How should we live? These are philosophical questions, and philosophy teaches the ways in which we might begin to answer them.
Students who learn philosophy get a great many benefits from doing so. The tools taught by philosophy are of great use in further education, and in employment. Despite the seemingly abstract nature of the questions philosophers ask, the tools philosophy teaches tend to be highly sought-after by employers. Philosophy students learn how to write clearly, and to read closely, with a critical eye; they are taught to spot bad reasoning, and how to avoid it in their writing and in their work. It is therefore not surprising that philosophy students have historically scored more highly on tests like the LSAT and GRE, on average, than almost any other discipline. Many students combine studying philosophy with studying other disciplines.
The most important reason to study philosophy is that it is of enormous and enduring interest. All of us have to answer, for ourselves, the questions asked by philosophers.

And the Author is?

[stattointhailand]

"The most important reason to study philosophy is that it is of enormous and enduring interest. All of us have to answer, for ourselves, the questions asked by philosophers."

So, If we get rid of philosophers, there would be nobody to ask the questions for us to answer, and the world could concentrate on doing good instead of sitting on it's a*se thinking about it

[jackspratt]

So, If we get rid of philosophers, there would be nobody to ask the questions for us to answer, and the world could concentrate on doing good .........

Could.... but why do you think it would?

And who defines and tests what is "good" ......... that would probably be the philosophers.

[Udon Map]

Here's one person's take on it:

“Philosophy” comes from Greek words meaning “love of wisdom.” Philosophy uses the tools of logic and reason to analyze the ways in which humans experience the world. It teaches critical thinking, close reading, clear writing, and logical analysis; it uses these to understand the language we use to describe the world, and our place within it. Different areas of philosophy are distinguished by the questions they ask. Do our senses accurately describe reality? What makes wrong actions wrong? How should we live? These are philosophical questions, and philosophy teaches the ways in which we might begin to answer them.
Students who learn philosophy get a great many benefits from doing so. The tools taught by philosophy are of great use in further education, and in employment. Despite the seemingly abstract nature of the questions philosophers ask, the tools philosophy teaches tend to be highly sought-after by employers. Philosophy students learn how to write clearly, and to read closely, with a critical eye; they are taught to spot bad reasoning, and how to avoid it in their writing and in their work. It is therefore not surprising that philosophy students have historically scored more highly on tests like the LSAT and GRE, on average, than almost any other discipline. Many students combine studying philosophy with studying other disciplines.
The most important reason to study philosophy is that it is of enormous and enduring interest. All of us have to answer, for ourselves, the questions asked by philosophers.

And the Author is?

A philosophy professor at an American university, but now I can't recall which one.

[mathusalah80]

Here's one person's take on it:

And the Author is?

A philosophy professor at an American university, but now I can't recall which one.

Obviously, you could not have quoted such a long discourse from memory. So would appreciate the source from which you obtained your quote. Thank you.

[mech_401]

easy enough, copy & paste a section and plug it
into google. will tell you where it's from & author

been watching boris speeches , the bumbling
schoolboy act is endearing . as is him reciting the
iliad from memory *yawn* see why brits like trump

[mech_401]

And the Author is?

it comes from a book titled cracks in the ivory tower . a look at higher education in u.s. and
what it increasingly " isn't ". many academic depts
at various unis provide source material , and that's
where excerpt comes from but no author given