Boris Johnson compares slavery with Covid-19 in terms of reparations

BORIS JOHNSON: China gets away scot-free over Covid… but we face bizarre demands for slavery reparations because Starmer's foreign policy is about as robust as a tea-dunked hobnob. - DAILY MAIL.

There is a lot of talk at the moment in the UK about reparations for slavery. Slavery ended about 6-7 generations ago in the UK with the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 ending slavery in most of the British Empire. So this is very historical. But the countries affected are suggesting that they should receive financial compensation which overall might approach $15 TRILLION!! Impossible to pay as it is 3 times the value of the UK.

But in stark contrast no one has asked China to pay trillions of dollars of compensation to nations deeply affected in so many ways including huge financial loses. It is a known fact that Covid started in China either through carelessness at a wet market in Wuhan or more carelessness in a biolab in the same city. See global loses below the video which has been embedded from the Daily Mail website. It may not play in due course.

Global GDP Losses

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated that COVID-19 cost the global economy around $22 trillion between 2020 and 2025 due to lost output, slower growth, and lower investments.
• The World Bank projected a 5.2% contraction in global GDP in 2020, which was the deepest recession since World War II. Advanced economies shrank by an average of 7%, while developing economies contracted by about 2.5%.

----------------

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also, sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. And, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable. Finally, (!) I often express an OPINION on the news. Please share yours in a comment.

Documents imply that Boris Johnson helped Nowzad cats and dogs to get out of Kabul when he said he didn't help

NEWS AND COMMENT: This is a story that has been rumbling along for a while. If you are up-to-date with the Boris Johnson news you will know that he is under a lot of pressure at the moment for allegedly breaking Covid social distancing rules and allegedly lying about it. It is the latter which is probably more important than the former. The knives are out for him. He may not remain as the Prime Minister of the UK as a consequence.

Letter from Ms Harrison MP to Paul Farthing of Nowzad showing the alleged involvement of Boris Johnson in the evacuation of animals from Kabul. Source: MSN News.

Thrown into the mix is the story of Mr Pen Farthing and the animals from his Nowzad operation in Kabul. This was and probably still is an animal rescue organisation based in Kabul. There was a big story about how he would get his animals out during the mass evacuation when thousands of people were flown out of Kabul after the Taliban took over.

RELATED: Breaking news: Nowzad animals and staff cleared to evacuate to the UK. - this was breaking news last summer.

Mr Farthing did get out using a chartered aircraft flown from Pakistan to Kabul paid for by a sponsor or sponsors. But at the time there were discussions about animals being prioritised over people. And the question was whether Boris Johnson, on the encouragement of his wife Carrie Johnson, had intervened to ensure that the animals got out of Kabul. He denied that he had been involved.

Nowzad staff getting out of Kabul to safety. Photo in public domain.

And now, documents have emerged in the news media which indicate that he did get involved. And if he did it would have been with the encouragement of his wife who is a known animal advocate.

Email implicating Boris Johnson in lying about his non-involvement. Image: The Sun.

It appears that an email trail leaked from the Foreign Office and which started or were initially sent on August 25, pins the order for the animal airlift on Boris Johnson. As mentioned, he claimed that he did not authorise the evacuation of more than 160 stray cats and dogs from Afghanistan. In fact, he boldly stated that it was "complete nonsense" to suggest that he had been involved. The Times newspaper states that a Foreign Office whistleblower released the emails yesterday suggesting that he approved the rescue mission.

The ironic point about the story is that it's a good thing that he was involved. I can't see the issue with that. It should be something which he could and should be praised for. However, in the higher echelons of the UK government the silver-haired white male is typically not a great animal lover. They wanted to exclusively prioritise people over any animals. That is my interpretation of the back story.

THE PRIME MINISTER ABSOLUTELY DENIES THIS ALLEGATION. MR FARTHING BELIEVES THAT THE PRIME MINISTER IS TELLING THE TRUTH. 

To put a bit of detail on it, Boris Johnson's PPS (personal private secretary) Ms Harrison, the MP for Copeland, worked in quite a committed way with a charter flight employee to make arrangements to get the animals evacuated. And in those letters she referred to her "boss". She was referring to Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of Britain.

She says that the work that she did on this was not with the involvement of Boris Johnson but, as mentioned, she referred to him in her communications. This, as stated in the title to this article, implies that she did this work at his direction or at least with his knowledge.

That contradicts what he has said in the past that he was uninvolved. If this is all true then this would be another allegation that the Prime Minister is being less than honest with the truth. This, in turn, goes to the original problem about his breaches of Covid social distancing rules and allegedly lying that he didn't break them.

Dominic Dyer and animal rights advocate who helped Pen Farthing evacuate the animals worked closely with the UK government. He says that the UK government intervened.

Someone is being economical with the truth. We don't know where lies.

Therefore, in this rather convoluted story we have a connection between cats and dogs, Boris Johnson, and a political crisis 😒. My personal view is that Boris Johnson is a decent bloke. He's quite liberal-minded. I think he was encouraged to briefly take part in these "parties" by perhaps his wife (on his birthday party) and in other gatherings by staff who arranged them. I don't think he organised them he simply was invited to them and didn't want to stop them happening because he's that kind of person.

Boris Johnson is a rule breaker. This has been made clear by teachers in his days when he was a student. One teacher stated that he doesn't believe that the normal social norms and rules apply to him. It is exactly why he's become so successful, ironically.

I also believe that his charming wife who I admire because she is a very dynamic animal advocate, is or has been a problem to him in his premiership. She has a hold over him because he loves her and wants to please her. She is quite headstrong and wants to get her way. Allegedly, she has asked him to do things which ostensibly have undermined his position. There's nothing to currently back that up in terms of evidence it looks like that to me.

The Sue Gray report will be coming up very soon and these points will be clarified. Although the Nowzad operation and Boris Johnson's involvement or not is not part of her mandate.

Does Boris Johnson like Larry the Cat or any cat?

On this page there is a picture of Larry the Cat on Boris Johnson's desk at Number 10 Downing Street. He has a slightly strained smile. That's the first clue as to whether he likes cats. Secondly, nobody has tried to answer the question as to whether he likes or hates cats. And thirdly we know that he has adopted a dog. I suspect that his wife is the prime motivator in that adoption. He could have adopted a cat and if he had it would have been a full-time indoor cat living in his apartment above number 11 Downing Street. This is quite a big apartment so it wouldn't have been that bad a life.

Larry the Cat and Johnson in his office. Photo: Unkown No 10 adviser I suspect.

Perhaps the key point in answering the question is this: if he did like cats, we would all know about it. Somebody would have stated that on the Internet by now. But everything to do with Johnson and animals on the Internet is about Johnson and his dog; no mention of cats whatsoever.

CLICK FOR PAGES ON CAT CELEBRITIES

I'm going to have to guess but I think I can guess quite accurately. My distinct impression is that Boris Johnson is ambivalent about cats. He neither like them or dislikes them. I think that he has a sensitivity towards animals which would predispose him to liking all animals including cats.

On a straight choice between living with a dog or a cat he would choose the former. There is also the usual background issue which is that men normally favour dogs and women normally favour cats. You have to throw that well-known factor into the pot when deciding about Boris Johnson's attitude towards felines.

When he was at the Foreign Office he had to contend with Palmerston. Palmerston was the office cat at the Foreign Office although he's been retired because of stress partly brought on because of being persecuted by Larry! The Foreign Office is just adjacent to number 10 Downing Street. I wonder how Boris Johnson got on with Palmerston? I don't expect that he saw him that often because it is an enormous building.

Is pet theft a crime in the UK?

Yes, pet theft is certainly a crime in the UK but sadly many people regard it as a minor, trivial crime. It is a crime which falls under the Theft Act 1968 and the maximum penalty is seven years imprisonment. But that maximum is misleading because almost always the punishment is much less. There is, however, a gradual awakening to the fact that pet theft is more than stealing an object. It is the breaking of a close bond between a person and their beloved companion animal who they regard as a member of the family. That aspect of the theft is factored in or should be nowadays.

There needs to be a unique crime of pet theft in the UK. Image: Pixabay.

However, there needs to be a specific crime of Pet Theft – rather than it falling under the Theft Act. It is, arguably, insulting to the relationship between pets and their owners to place this crime under the Theft Act because it equates a companion animal with an inanimate object. Times have moved on. That concept is out of date. A lot of emotional harm is caused by the callous criminals who ruthlessly and sometimes violently steal companion animals on the streets. There are many distressed people in the UK who have lost their companion animals this way.

Thankfully, Boris Johnson, the UK Prime Minister, has written about this on the Mail on Sunday newspaper which is published online on Mail Online. He does not regard the theft of companion animals as a trivial matter for two reasons. Firstly, this kind of crime which is still regarded as very minor can lead to more serious crime. This is the "broken window theory". It's a theory which states that if there are broken windows in buildings it encourages crime.

"At present this crime is far too often dismissed as relatively trivial – on a par, say, with shoplifting....I don’t agree." - Boris Johson.

The police need to stamp on relatively minor crime in order to make an impact in reducing more serious crime. Secondly, there is, as mentioned, the emotional connection in pet thefts. It is a unique kind of crime in that regard. It is not simply the theft of an animal. The thieves are stealing the bond between person and animal. This is a loving, supportive bond upon which many people depend on for their contentment. The theft of companion animal can break people. I'm not sure that everyone realises how emotionally distressing it can be.

In this vein, Boris Johnson's government has set up the Pet Theft Task Force to try and make sure that the criminal justice system is dealing properly with pet theft. I believe that it is an attempt to focus more intently on this aspect of criminality. This is particularly important at this time because of the surge in pet thefts due to the coronavirus pandemic. I'm sure that pretty well everyone has read about the surge in mainly dog thefts because of their increased value as a consequence of many more people adopting dogs at this time for company during these long lockdowns.

So the coronavirus pandemic has brought into focus pet theft in the UK and the need to do something concrete about it rather than letting this aspect of criminality languish within the umbrella of the Theft Act which is highly unsuitable.

Yes, pet theft is a crime in the UK but it is not being dealt with properly and the callous criminals who participate in this activity are rarely caught and I suspect that the animals are also rarely reunited with their owners. Sometimes the stolen animals are used to breed more animals for sale, if they are not sterilised. So a charming female dog might end up in some grubby property constantly breeding puppies for the remainder of her life. The thought of that in the mind of her owner is highly distressing.

On other occasions the animal is sold on at an inflated price or they hold the animal as ransom for a large sum of money. In all cases these are callous acts of casual criminality. I am pleased that Boris Johnson has written about it. I suspect that he was encouraged to do so by his fiancée, Carrie Symonds, who we know is an animal advocate. I for one am pleased that she is and that she is his fiancée except for the cash for curtains fiasco which appears to be her doing as well.