theresa may: is her project subtly machiavellian or merely cunning, baldrick-style?

I suspect even Theresa May might think twice before handing control over the Bank of England to a guy in his late 40s who is possibly still breastfeeding.

Also he managed the impressive feat of backing every other Tory leadership candidate except her.

love this picture of Mogg and a spindly table:

https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2015-03/19/11/enhanced/webdr12/enhanced-29020-1426777638-10.jpg

yes the counter-storyplacing has begun:

Mark Carney stands ready to serve 8-year term at Bank of England: https://www.ft.com/content/5107a124-9eb5-11e6-891e-abe238dee8e2

seen in the wild: the argument that TMay's plan included this court judgment all along, it allows her to do what she REALLY wanted to do (but till now felt constrained not to)

She's just not that good.

but what does she really really want to do?

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v38/n21/william-davies/home-office-rules

This was very good on May, and what her project might be, although it has been somewhat overtaken by events.

Feeds into my point that the left has for many years naively assumed that the end of neoliberalism would be brought about from the left. The idea that it might eventually be dismantled from the right, and that what follows might be worse, has never really occurred.

I think many on the left (eg Paul Mason) urged a postneolib strategy precisely because of the very real risk of fascism, it was just that they presumed it was going to happen in Austria or Croatia first :( :(

Yeah, me and my friends has said neoliberalism was just fascism in disguise, and that bankers were literally Hitler, since we were fifteen years old.

and now you're the rock band Muse

Haha

literally the rock band Muse

tbf it would explain why the guy in my local branch wanted to see my cock before I could have an overdraft

and the hold music for my online bank is "the Horst Wessel song"

and now you're the rock band Muse

lolz

quite literally giving customers a raised arm salute when they pay in a cheque

come to think of it, quite clearly a dessicated 70 year-old corpse behind the counter

if a bank manager yells aufstehen! at you in the Reichsbank, that is known as a standing order. apologies, my best material etc.

Yeah Mason has been good on this - but it feels like these cautionary voices are a relatively recent (ie post-financial crisis) thing.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/news/kate-bush-theresa-may-wonderful-best-thing-happened-us-long/

um... would like to read what she said and not just the bits the telegraph chose to quote.

Q: A track called “Waking the Witch”—which was released in 1985—was performed for Before The Dawn. You once said that the song was about “the fear of women’s power.” With regards to Hillary Clinton’s recent defeat, do you think that this fear is stronger than ever?

A: We have a female prime minister here in the UK. I actually really like her and think she’s wonderful. I think it’s the best thing that’s happened to us in a long time. She’s a very intelligent woman but I don’t see much to fear. I will say it is great to have a woman in charge of the country. She’s very sensible and I think that’s a good thing at this point in time.

http://www.macleans.ca/culture/arts/in-conversation-with-kate-bush/

I hope someone tells her about the home office Go Home vans.

too busy writing her next album, the leopard print shoes

Pull Out The Pym on The Dreaming had an effect on Thatcher's post-election cabinet reshuffle the following year.

you've some way to go to beat your old "Salami Dreamers" pun, mike.

"I don’t see much to fear."...

Do we like that chain necklace though?

The problems with the plan to let the Brexiteers embarrass themselves on this issue is that a) they don't embarrass and b) they are more than capable of acts that would embarrass May (E.G. Boris doing a book signing of his Churchill book while on a diplomatic trip, on Armistice Day).

nothing says "take back control" like tory mps and beloved uk sports stars being banned from travelling to the us

lol special relationship

May leaving the US after publishing Brexit bill and leaving Labour to deal with the fallout seemed a competent manoeuvre unless Trump was seen to bully her.

And then the airport ban and protests happened.

I mean who could possibly have foreseen something like this????

tbf who knew there are good muslims?

As hashtags go the #theresatheappeaser is a pretty fucking brutal one.

Obviously this shows the sheer weakness and friendlessness of the UK's position right now but anyone with even the tiniest bit of foresight could have seen themselves caught up in this.

should really be #teresateappeaser

is she really bothered at the moment tho? can't see her core supporters or the average foaming Brexiteer getting worked up about the human rights of a few islams

I doubt it. If people were really that bothered they would have made more of a fuss when Yemeni grandmothers visiting their children, Iranian filmmakers or all but a handful of Syrian refugees were either denied visas to come to the UK or refused access at port of entry. Our policy isn't as nakedly crass but May has been making it as difficult, expensive and humiliating to visit the UK as possible - cheered on by a press saying it didn't go far enough. Holding hands with Trump might look infra dig (the current petition to stop him coming argues he should be denied a visit because it might embarrass the Queen to have to meet him) but I don't think it will be damaging.

Incidentally:

Sophy Ridge‏ @SophyRidgeSky

Dan Jarvis on immigration: for too long we have run the risk of demonstrating that we don't understand the concerns people have #ridge
10:19 am · 29 Jan 2017

He couldn't even take one morning off!

This story has quite a way to go - and this is just week 1, the ongoing association might be under pressure.

keep being tempted to engage Jarvis on Twitter but my depression hasn't bottomed out yet so

She's unlikely to be too bothered at the moment but it's the sort of thing that becomes embarrassing when British citizens are caught up with it and damaging if and when she basically lets them swing. The political wind can seem to be behind you until suddenly it isn't and there's going to be a huge and ferocious backlash. The question is how far away that actually is and how much damage will be done in the meantime.

May is less stupid than Trump and has introduced her policies in a much quieter way and on the occasions where she has been tone-deaf (eg the Go Van) she's backtracked reasonably quickly. She is acutely conscious of her public perception and I think will get rattled once she loses control of that, even if the entire discourse and direction of travel is basically in her favour right now.

If we weren't at a particularly febrile point in the Brexit process there'd be a few Tory MPs sensing blood, but I doubt many of them would voluntarily step out of line at this stage.

*all* the uk rightwing papers have gleefully gone with "may held tiny hand bcz trump afraid of stairs" btw

the WH never really warmed to greece-to-their-rome as a trope, but this is next-level material

I agreed w/Matt but this is getting bigger than I thought. Labour and LDs both flatly calling for no state visit for Trump while the ban is on; laying it on thick against May. She'll hate this.

May is less stupid than Trump

A proud boast.

it's kinda soothing to watch this petition to the uk government to deny trump a state visit rack up hundreds of signatures a minute: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/171928

i was gonna join that but then realized its premise required some concern for the royal family

yeah, that stuck in my craw a bit too tbh

still signed it using the loophole that brenda will probably be dead by the time of the state visit

I did sign cause why not but yeah funny wording, wgaf if hrh nazisalute is embarrassed

signed it anyway, gotta love a pile-on

https://www.dougsguides.com/sites/default/files/High%20Five.jpg

Think living with Prince Philip for several decades might have inured her to embarrassment tbh.