Seat68 Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 5 minutes ago, Panto_Villan said: I suspect they donate £0 to the Conservative party, and about £22k to his school fees or personal bank account. Unless he genuinely couldn’t speak Polish. Do we know for certain he can? He can definitely read it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panto_Villan Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 1 minute ago, Seat68 said: He can definitely read it. Yeah, he himself says he’s fluent in the linked article. Just didn’t realise because the Twitter thumbnail crops half the article out. My bad! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 7 minutes ago, Panto_Villan said: Unless he genuinely couldn’t speak Polish. Do we know for certain he can? Well, he's publicly stated on multiple occasions that he's fluent, but in his defence, he is a tory. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 Even if he wasn’t fluent, over 8 grand a year in lessons is obviously too much so it’s a double piss take. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xann Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 “We are concerned that private health providers like Virgin Care could be given seats on the boards of ICSes and therefore potentially be involved in deciding who gets what contracts. And we are very concerned that the bill could mean that contracts are just handed out to the private sector, without a tendering process.” Dr David Wrigley, the BMA deputy chair of council. We already know how this works out, yet a bill continues to progress through Parliament. Wish the break up and privatisation of the NHS was getting as much coverage as, let's say, Jezza's Joo hating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ml1dch Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 1 hour ago, bickster said: So The Times has started digging the dirt on Liz Truss, must mean they are on Team Sunak Is there really any dirt there? I'd assume that a meeting with a US trade envoy isn't going to happen over two-for-one Domino's. Looks like the sort of menu / price that one would expect at your average fancy London restaurant. It's not unicorn carpaccio with dodo eggs. I wouldn't have said that five bottles of wine between ten people is all that shocking. I'd also imagine that it's not unusual for a posh restauranteur to have some sort of link to the Tory party. So...which bit is the scandal here? I certainly don't think it would sneak into my top thousand pieces of evidence for why they are pricks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panto_Villan Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 22 minutes ago, Genie said: Even if he wasn’t fluent, over 8 grand a year in lessons is obviously too much so it’s a double piss take. Is it? This isn’t a defence of the MP, just a hypothetical tangent, but it’s basically three sessions a week at £50 each. You pay that for a basic personal trainer at any chain gym (certainly in the South). I deal with a lot of international staff and there can be quite a difference between “fluent” and being able to fully contribute in a meeting with native speakers. I wouldn’t be surprised £50 an hour was the going rate for the sort of expert tuition that gets you from one to the other (the language tutor needs quite a bit of work every day to make serious cash even at £50 an hour). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted January 3, 2022 Moderator Share Posted January 3, 2022 17 minutes ago, ml1dch said: Is there really any dirt there? I'd assume that a meeting with a US trade envoy isn't going to happen over two-for-one Domino's. Looks like the sort of menu / price that one would expect at your average fancy London restaurant. It's not unicorn carpaccio with dodo eggs. I wouldn't have said that five bottles of wine between ten people is all that shocking. I'd also imagine that it's not unusual for a posh restauranteur to have some sort of link to the Tory party. So...which bit is the scandal here? I certainly don't think it would sneak into my top thousand pieces of evidence for why they are pricks. I agree that its very minor, my post was more about the battlelines being drawn. However, I'd argue, that in a more normal, less corrupt government, this would actually be a little more shocking. We live in a world where care home workers aren't allowed to take gratuities of monetary value, people who work in local government aren't allowed to take more than a cheap plastic pen. But donate to the Tory Party and it gets paid back in kind. It is corruption, just by todays standards, she's be way down the list at the moment. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted January 3, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted January 3, 2022 57 minutes ago, Genie said: Even if he wasn’t fluent, over 8 grand a year in lessons is obviously too much so it’s a double piss take. Yeah. Unless he was getting one on one lessons from Robert Lewandowski, that's way too much Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted January 3, 2022 Moderator Share Posted January 3, 2022 20 minutes ago, Panto_Villan said: Is it? This isn’t a defence of the MP, just a hypothetical tangent, but it’s basically three sessions a week at £50 each. You pay that for a basic personal trainer at any chain gym (certainly in the South). I deal with a lot of international staff and there can be quite a difference between “fluent” and being able to fully contribute in a meeting with native speakers. I wouldn’t be surprised £50 an hour was the going rate for the sort of expert tuition that gets you from one to the other (the language tutor needs quite a bit of work every day to make serious cash even at £50 an hour). I'm sure the Tory's prize plank (a stiff competition to win these days) will be able to furnish the reciepts for his thrice weekly Polish lessons that he so clearly doesn't need. the allownace is for learning a language not polishing (sorry) the rough edges Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted January 3, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted January 3, 2022 (edited) 36 minutes ago, Panto_Villan said: Is it? This isn’t a defence of the MP, just a hypothetical tangent, but it’s basically three sessions a week at £50 each. You pay that for a basic personal trainer at any chain gym (certainly in the South). I deal with a lot of international staff and there can be quite a difference between “fluent” and being able to fully contribute in a meeting with native speakers. I wouldn’t be surprised £50 an hour was the going rate for the sort of expert tuition that gets you from one to the other (the language tutor needs quite a bit of work every day to make serious cash even at £50 an hour). 3 one on one sessions a week for 3 years (I assume given the total amount was over 22 grand) for someone that was already fluent? That works out at 468 hours Either it's bullshit or he has a shit teacher Edited January 3, 2022 by Stevo985 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StefanAVFC Posted January 3, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted January 3, 2022 It would be the same as Diane Abbott claiming 22 grand for English lessons. It's his native tongue FFS 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ml1dch Posted January 3, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 3, 2022 On 28/05/2020 at 09:26, ml1dch said: As evergreen a comment as the "Chaos with Ed Miliband" tweet. Bob Grant, in The Spectator, 26th July 2008: “Mr Kawczynski’s first problem is that he is, by general cross-party agreement, the stupidest MP in the present House of Commons, arguably the stupidest ever. His second problem is that, unlike many stupid people, he doesn’t appreciate how stupid he is.” Always needs a re-post whenever Kawczynski's name is dragged back out. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panto_Villan Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 1 hour ago, Stevo985 said: Yeah. Unless he was getting one on one lessons from Robert Lewandowski, that's way too much Yeah, it’s clearly bullshit that a guy who is fluent in a language is claiming for lessons in it. But this specific quoted claim and the one you were replying to is wrong imo. A rate of £50 a session doesn’t make you Robert Lewandowski. It’s not even the absurd corporate rates you see consultants charging for their time. It’s what a lot of freelance workers have to charge to make working independently worthwhile. If there was an annual allowance for personal training or music tuition or life coaching or tennis coaching or whatever, MPs could easily rack up £8k a year doing any of those things without committing fraud. The numbers themselves aren’t inherently ridiculous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 I used to co-manage a language school. People spent way over £8k p/a learning English (44 weeks was more like £14k). However, that was for 4.5 hours of lessons per day 5 days per week. So fundamentally it depends how many contact hours he was paying for for how long. (Obviously I understand that in this specific case literally any money he spent on it is fairly suss as he was already fluent in the language, I'm just speaking generally about the costs here) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 Clearly this MP has spotted a pot of money on free vend and found an angle where he can dish it out (and more than likely get something in return). I thought why Polish lessons if he already speak Polish? then thought if it was another language he’d be found out when he couldn’t repeat anything he’d learned. No doubt the met will be all over this fraud case… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted January 3, 2022 Moderator Share Posted January 3, 2022 3 hours ago, Genie said: Clearly this MP has spotted a pot of money on free vend and found an angle where he can dish it out (and more than likely get something in return). I thought why Polish lessons if he already speak Polish? then thought if it was another language he’d be found out when he couldn’t repeat anything he’d learned. No doubt the met will be all over this fraud case… My only problem withn what you're saying is this is DAF Daniel we're talking about. I think my £6 yard brush has more chance of spotting an avenue for fraud than him. If Krzywinski knows of a loophole, there's plenty of others at it, he did not work this out for himself 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 3 minutes ago, bickster said: My only problem withn what you're saying is this is DAF Daniel we're talking about. I think my £6 yard brush has more chance of spotting an avenue for fraud than him. If Krzywinski knows of a loophole, there's plenty of others at it, he did not work this out for himself He will be in a minority of being fluent in a second language, so can pass it off as learned during the lessons (without actually having to take them). Your other run of the mill crook MP’s don’t have that luxury. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted January 3, 2022 Moderator Share Posted January 3, 2022 6 minutes ago, Genie said: He will be in a minority of being fluent in a second language, so can pass it off as learned during the lessons (without actually having to take them). Your other run of the mill crook MP’s don’t have that luxury. I'm really not sure what you're saying here. Seriously, it's not making sense Are you suggesting that lots of MPS are having foreign language lessons but are shit at it or Are you saying our Dan has stumbled on a new avenue of income on his own (nah!) All I'm saing is, he's too f***ing thick to have thought of it himself, others must also be doing it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 6 minutes ago, bickster said: I'm really not sure what you're saying here. Seriously, it's not making sense Are you suggesting that lots of MPS are having foreign language lessons but are shit at it or Are you saying our Dan has stumbled on a new avenue of income on his own (nah!) All I'm saing is, he's too f***ing thick to have thought of it himself, others must also be doing it If others are claiming £8k a year in language lessons they aren’t taking then they’ll quickly be found out. Hes in the fortunate position to be able to claim he learned it from the lessons. Do we know if he’s the only one at it? I wouldn’t be surprised if other bilingual MP’s have also cottoned on. They send 8k a year to the language teacher. The language teachers brother in law makes sure their paint work and wallpapering is kept looking first class. The cousin ensures that MP’s child keeps getting the extra violin lessons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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