andrewducker: (Default)
andrewducker ([personal profile] andrewducker) wrote2018-10-16 12:00 pm

Interesting Links for 16-10-2018

mountainkiss: (Default)

[personal profile] mountainkiss 2018-10-17 02:35 pm (UTC)(link)
It's an interesting game to contrast his with Johnson's. Johnson wants positive thinkers who say yes to everything. Davis wants fighters who think they are Saving The World. The overlap's actually quite small.
danieldwilliam: (Default)

[personal profile] danieldwilliam 2018-10-17 03:18 pm (UTC)(link)
I also suspect that Davis would be happier to have smart people in his cabinet. I think he's fundamentally honest and so is likely to worry less that smart people will spot when he is being slippery.
mountainkiss: (Default)

[personal profile] mountainkiss 2018-10-17 03:26 pm (UTC)(link)

He himself is rather stupid, I think, though. That might compromise his ability to spot smart people. Also I don't know how big is the intersection of the Venn diagram between smart people and fighters who think they are Saving The World.

danieldwilliam: (Default)

[personal profile] danieldwilliam 2018-10-17 03:33 pm (UTC)(link)
I think you are correct.

I think Johnson would actively avoid smart people, or at least people he thought were smarter than him or smart enough to smoke him out.
mountainkiss: (Default)

[personal profile] mountainkiss 2018-10-17 03:33 pm (UTC)(link)

That's... everyone.

danieldwilliam: (Default)

[personal profile] danieldwilliam 2018-10-17 03:34 pm (UTC)(link)
The evidence suggests that not everyone is smart enough to spot that Johnson is up to something.
mountainkiss: (Default)

[personal profile] mountainkiss 2018-10-17 03:35 pm (UTC)(link)

That is a fair comment, albeit that I'd like to think that people who make it into the House of Commons are. I think there's a third group that you're overlooking: people who know exactly what he's doing but think he can benefit somehow. I also am not entirely certain that he himself is fully cognisant of what he is doing.

danieldwilliam: (Default)

[personal profile] danieldwilliam 2018-10-17 03:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Those are all fair points.

The most worrying of which is that Johnson, himself, doesn't fully appreciated what a crooked, twisted, tangled path he is treading and genuinely thinks he is a Great Man in the Churchillian archetype.
mountainkiss: (Default)

[personal profile] mountainkiss 2018-10-17 03:40 pm (UTC)(link)

My first point is obviously wrong - the Bridgens, Jenkynses etc. do not hit the intelligence standard I ascribe for MPs.

danieldwilliam: (Default)

[personal profile] danieldwilliam 2018-10-17 03:51 pm (UTC)(link)
Intelligence is a desirable quality for a candidate for MP, but not an essential one. The essential quality is electabiity.
mountainkiss: (Default)

[personal profile] mountainkiss 2018-10-17 03:40 pm (UTC)(link)

Also, confusing typo: think they can benefit somehow.

danieldwilliam: (Default)

[personal profile] danieldwilliam 2018-10-17 03:58 pm (UTC)(link)
That's the key danger that some (incompetent) tries to game Johnson's (incompetent) gaming of the system.