David Cameron is in the news, apparently, a lobbying sleaze has erupted after it was discovered he texted the chancellor Rishi Sunak on behalf of Greensill Capital.
Turns out Cameron also lobbied the NHS on behalf of the company as soon as the pandemic hit. Nothing to see here eh? Who hasn’t texted their mate to let them know there’s a big sale at the Co-op and their own brand pizzas are going three for a pound?
Who knew rich men would gather around the fringes of a plague and figure out how to make the most money from the panic-stricken public? Whilst you and I were drawing up a plan for banana bread and toilet roll, apparently the Westminster well connected, were sitting around the table dishing out the best cards of the deck to their mates, whilst laughing off trips to Barnard castle.
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Hastily made PPE companies were set up, heavily funding minister’s families with their friends becoming rich shareholders emerged as you were isolating your family, trying to organise furlough payments and drawing up a plan to home school the wee ones. Normal behaviour.
Tory Sleaze is back like S Club 7 rebooted but this time actually wearing a robber’s mask and with well-connected offshore holdings.
Small businesses are on their knees, shops are closing, tourism has collapsed but if you are lucky enough to have an EX-PM on your Whatsapp group then your future will be ok.
No doubt like every other Tory sleaze scandal, it will wash off like suspicious grass and not even leave a stain.
The double standards and hypocrisy are staggering, if you see what Nicola Sturgeon went through recently in Scotland when she was hauled before a committee and grilled for eight hours over a missing calendar meeting by the Scottish branch managers of the Tory party, you’d be right in thinking part-time linesman Douglas Ross would all over this Greensill debacle with his tartan sword of truth demanding ministerial answers. But we know that won’t happen, they have policies to quickly create for the forthcoming election, as they pinned all their hopes on crushing Sturgeon over Salmond and that fish pie collapsed.
Even a Tory MP has spoken out explaining that the hard-won electoral gains against Labour in England will be on a shoogly peg if they don’t clear up the Greensill affair.
I have the feeling it will fade into the public’s memory; some folk have a way of reconciling their morals when it comes to standing by their prime minister. The “One where Jennifer Arcuri got paid for nothing” episode of ‘Friends at Number 10’ went without a hitch. People readily accepted that Boris had a loud American woman who hung about with him, got taxpayers money and was heavily involved in far-right platform groups. He’s a man’s man, a blonde buffoon, the guy that ‘gets the burds’ and so what if it upsets some left-wing snowflakes? He’s Boris.
I don’t know if the Greensill sleaze will run, on the Andrew Marr show when confronted about the details, environmental secretary George Eustice explained that it was ‘acceptable’ and Cameron worked within the rules and defended him. So that’s that then, no more to be said? We shall see how it develops as the Scottish branch of Tories face an election very soon.
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Meanwhile, these testy subjects don’t filter down fully into the public conscience, when these news articles are posted to Facebook, a lot of the voting public see it as boring and not really ‘their business’ so Bunty and her pals pay no attention, as it doesn’t really affect them “It always happens, all politicians are liars, can you post some more funny cat videos?”
If the general news channels aren’t holding these subjects up enough to be scrutinised then it’s down to people to keep bringing these points up.
I try, but on Twitter am busy fighting with people who can’t stop watching me but keep telling me am not funny.
Other than government scandals, the next major fall out I believe will be the lack of mental health services for people emerging from lockdown, which, if the news is anything to go by, that will be pretty soon. (if a new strain doesn’t run wild)
The lockdown roadmap says we should be on a windy Scottish beach by July, sitting in an Arran knit cardigan pretending it's better than Spain. Families are looking forward to getting close to freezing Lochs and picnic days out, I am one of them. It will feel like a genuine luxury but there’s more to easing lockdown than getting to see your pals.
People who have lost loved ones but not able to share that grief with family, folk living alone and the general mental instability that Covid has inflicted on the nation should be fully funded and addressed as soon as possible.
The mental health services across the UK and in where I live in Scotland have fallen, whether we can blame the overburdened NHS or Covid rules, I don’t know, but I do know there’s going to be a huge surge of people relying on the NHS for its mental well being once we unclench from the fear of the virus and it needs to be addressed as serious as the vaccination rollout.
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People need mental support and now. This isn’t something a quick chat with a GP can sort, you can’t have a nation isolated, terrified and hiding in their houses for over a year without some sort of emotional backlash. I am hoping the money will be provided for these services as quick as they found cash to pay for the nuclear warhead’s renewal. Maybe some Tory ministers can lobby the PM about this issue?
I suspect some Tory minister will soon set up a counselling company, hire their unqualified pals and sell shares to cash in on our sadness, am not even joking, I think that might already be happening.
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