Cabinet reshuffle Feb 2020

[anonymous-user]

Brooking10 said:

Follow a different path of thought ref your suggestion as to Catweasle’s prior involvement in these wonderful boards

Think Cilla Black and Michael Caine ........

That's Madness....My name is not Michael Caine but you can call me Cilla if you like.

[anonymous-user]

citizensm1th said:

catweasle said:

Brooking10 said:

Follow a different path of thought ref your suggestion as to Catweasle’s prior involvement in these wonderful boards

Think Cilla Black and Michael Caine ........

That's Madness....My name is not Michael Caine but you can call me Cilla if you like.

And you are certainly not a lorra laffs

Not up for a blind date then Wolfie?

[anonymous-user]

Amanda Solloway MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, BEIS as of this reshuffle.

This is her husband, Robert Solloway, banned from being a Director of a company for 11 years just last summer. The charge sheet etc. is interesting reading indeed

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/directors-of-de...

[anonymous-user]

andy_s said:

kev1974 said:

Slight irony in being hounded out in a twitter and legacy media storm today, the very day when twitter and legacy media are being criticised for hounding people like Caroline Flack. I guess the #BeKind hashtag ought to be #BeSometimesKind.

I thought the same. I wonder how many actually read what he said and looked into the background before reacting. He was wrong on one major point, the rest was just Mr Spock whimsy stuff really. Good antidote to groupthink.

Best he left though I guess.

Makes you wonder why Cummings (and Boris) didn’t support him. They’re in charge with a big majority, they vetted and recruited him, Cummings even said his views on IQ were reasonable but “politically untouchable”

This all after Sajid Javid’s resignation and ongoing trouble caused by Cummings other sackings of junior advisers like many of Javid’s staff.

Seems like Cummings is coming under fire even from his own party over this, as they (unlike Cummings) rely on public opinion for their jobs. Alastair Campbell talked a lot about how hard it was to get things done in government, Cummings is going to find it hard to recruit these people if they’ve been ill advaised enough to spout their “politically untouchable” views online.

Boris needed Cummings to get into number 10 and “get brexit done” I wonder if he’s going to be a distraction with his battles with elected ministers and the media and will create more problems for Boris who seems to just want the path of least resistance to power rather than follow any particular ideology that Cummings is into.

[anonymous-user]

Mark Benson said:

Murph7355 said:

Mark Benson said:

There's a good article here, mainly about Dawkins and his musings on eugenics, but there's a bit on Sabisky towards the end; "if we accept x, then y is possible", doesn't automatically mean they endorse it. You're either a high or low 'decoupler' as to whether that statement infers intent or not.

While it should be acknowledged that Sabisky has made some pretty nasty comments for which he ought to be taken to task, does that automatically make him unsuitable for the job he was hired to do - Superforecasting seems to be a pretty niche activity and Sabisky, on the surface does seem to have a talent for it, however objectionable he might be as a person.
However I'd say on balance, hiring someone with quite such extreme views (and a lot of what he's reported to have said appear to be his views, rather than simply tossing out ideas for debate) is not something we should endorse, though I can see the temptation given what Cummings is trying to do to reform a bloated organisation (which in general, I support).

Are they his views though (you alluded to this earlier and then made the judgement).

The article I read was no evidence of that.

Probably wise that he's gone. But raises awkward questions in its own right - governance by media.

I could be wrong, but from what I've read some of it was spitballing, but some was given in the form of advice, which would tend to suggest that they were his views.
Whether or not he should be sacked (or should resign in this case) is difficult to decide though, as lynching by social media seems to the the norm for anyone appointed to a public position who isn't left of centre these days so it's hard to know what's geniune and what's just the screeching offence archaeologists taking quotes out of context.

It’s not just the media though, many in his own party are critical of him and the decision to recruit him.

You seem to be trying very hard to find excuses for him here tbh.