Rory Stewart at Glastonbury

[bombfrog]

All conversations at the moment are focused on Brexit, that's the bloody problem!

 

[KeithMac]

1 hour ago, Homer said:

Don’t understand what’s got into the Tories. Really thought they all hated Johnson for dividing the party and being opportunistic. Guess they’re getting desperate.

Someone posted on Twitter earlier that they had interviewed one of the MPs supporting him and they said he won’t make a good PM, they don’t trust him, but the general public like him enough it might save the party at the next election! 

[dentalplan]

1 hour ago, KeithMac said:

Someone posted on Twitter earlier that they had interviewed one of the MPs supporting him and they said he won’t make a good PM, they don’t trust him, but the general public like him enough it might save the party at the next election! 

I think the public would turn on him before the next election.

[Amy Lawn]

27 minutes ago, dentalplan said:

I think the public would turn on him before the next election.

Presuming he has wide support already, which I'm highly skeptical about. Either way he's going to get absolutely fucking toasted alive by the reality of the job; he really did next to nothing as mayor of London, and just went from one fuckup to another as Foreign Sec. He's lazy, changes his mind every ten seconds, cracks under pressure and is routinely calamitous in public. Why the fuck these lunatics think he's their saviour is beyond me, but in a few months time when he just meekly asks for another extension on Article 50 because the reality of being the PM to have to handle a no deal Brexit is so far out of his wheelhouse that it's not even with talking about, they're going to be tearing his skin off and feasting on his rotten entrails in the Commons. It'd be entertaining if it wasn't horrifying.

[dentalplan]

24 minutes ago, GETOFFAMYLAWN said:

Presuming he has wide support already, which I'm highly skeptical about. Either way he's going to get absolutely fucking toasted alive by the reality of the job; he really did next to nothing as mayor of London, and just went from one fuckup to another as Foreign Sec. He's lazy, changes his mind every ten seconds, cracks under pressure and is routinely calamitous in public. Why the fuck these lunatics think he's their saviour is beyond me, but in a few months time when he just meekly asks for another extension on Article 50 because the reality of being the PM to have to handle a no deal Brexit is so far out of his wheelhouse that it's not even with talking about, they're going to be tearing his skin off and feasting on his rotten entrails in the Commons. It'd be entertaining if it wasn't horrifying.

I think the polls have shown he does have quite a high appeal to the public, but that’s what you’re getting with any celebrity. When it becomes obvious to the man on the street that he’s no catalyst for change and just Cameron in a clown costume, his numbers should drop like a stone.

[frostypaw]

7 hours ago, bombfrog said:

But the point is that every business is differnet. Some would be able to support a minimum wage of £50 (Facebook for example), some would have to stop trading if the minimum wage was increased to £12. There is no magic price point which is fine for everybody.

Not in this respect they're not - you gotta be able to pay people enough for them to survive as a minimum or you won't have surviving staff.

Currently it's a whole screwed up dance of underpayment, sky high rents, taxation and welfare all in a rat king's deathgrip. Creeping up to a decent minimum wage can mean many people coming off that welfare, reducing that tax level and retaking control of the housing market can bring down rents to a point where that takes more people off benefit and reduces the welfare bill and tax burden further.... it's just all got to move together. The opponents who weren't paying tax here anyway would rather you just focus on the poor deserving it for being lazy and keep their labour bills down, and their rent income high from their unfit for human habitation homes

[KeithMac]

8 hours ago, dentalplan said:

I think the polls have shown he does have quite a high appeal to the public, but that’s what you’re getting with any celebrity. When it becomes obvious to the man on the street that he’s no catalyst for change and just Cameron in a clown costume, his numbers should drop like a stone.

Never thought I’d say this, but think that does Cameron a disservice. I’ve seen both of them speak at a conference (I’ve seen politicians of all sides speak at conferences,  before anyone jumps to the wrong conclusion) and though I found many of Cameron’s policy’s repugnant, he was an excellent speaker, and took questions well. Boris resorted to jokes about the Chinese and comes across like the dribbling imbecile he is when questioned

[CaledonianGonzo]

30 minutes ago, KeithMac said:

Boris resorted to jokes about the Chinese and comes across like the dribbling imbecile he is when questioned

"Now. Now look here. I I I. Now look. If you'd just let me...I I. I think you'll find that, we. Look. Now. Look. It's seems to me perfectly clear that.....If I could just put it like this. Its not about that.  It's about...where was I?...you're being unfair."

[whitehorses]

Nostalgic for the days of Cameron and Miliband. Innocent, carefree times. 

[zero000]

1 hour ago, caballosblancos said:

Nostalgic for the days of Cameron and Miliband. Innocent, carefree times. 

Lucky we missed out on that chaos with Ed Miliband imo.

[Winslow Leach]

12 hours ago, GETOFFAMYLAWN said:

Presuming he has wide support already, which I'm highly skeptical about. Either way he's going to get absolutely fucking toasted alive by the reality of the job; he really did next to nothing as mayor of London, and just went from one fuckup to another as Foreign Sec. He's lazy, changes his mind every ten seconds, cracks under pressure and is routinely calamitous in public. Why the fuck these lunatics think he's their saviour is beyond me, but in a few months time when he just meekly asks for another extension on Article 50 because the reality of being the PM to have to handle a no deal Brexit is so far out of his wheelhouse that it's not even with talking about, they're going to be tearing his skin off and feasting on his rotten entrails in the Commons. It'd be entertaining if it wasn't horrifying.

Silvio Berlusconi has been prime minister of Italy four times.

[whitehorses]

2 hours ago, zero000 said:

Lucky we missed out on that chaos with Ed Miliband imo.

Yeah we really dodged a bullet there! 

[clarkete]

5 hours ago, KeithMac said:

Never thought I’d say this, but think that does Cameron a disservice. I’ve seen both of them speak at a conference (I’ve seen politicians of all sides speak at conferences,  before anyone jumps to the wrong conclusion) and though I found many of Cameron’s policy’s repugnant, he was an excellent speaker, and took questions well. Boris resorted to jokes about the Chinese and comes across like the dribbling imbecile he is when questioned

Agree Cameron at PMQs was more competent than May and a much more accomplished speaker than Johnson.

I guess that in turn means there's a certain slickness association with people such as him and Blair which some people find hugely offputting compared to pound shop Arthur Daley who steadfastly hides the elite aspects of his life.

[Spindles]

Well I, for one, am extremely glad that Cameron was so polished.  I mean, it's not like he fucked the country up, left us with years of aftermath from which we are still reeling and then walked away whistling happily.  I bet his book is great too.

[KeithMac]

10 minutes ago, Spindles said:

Well I, for one, am extremely glad that Cameron was so polished.  I mean, it's not like he fucked the country up, left us with years of aftermath from which we are still reeling and then walked away whistling happily.  I bet his book is great too.

Not disagreeing with any of that. My point was more that boris actually has the potential to do even more damage! (Hard to believe, I know) 

[Gnomicide]

Next time someone says Glastonbury should have people with an opposing view at the festival, show them what happens when someone with opposing views turns up at a Tory event.

 

[bombfrog]

4 minutes ago, Gnomicide said:

Next time someone says Glastonbury should have people with an opposing view at the festival, show them what happens when someone with opposing views turns up at a Tory event.

What a ridiculous comparison Nobody is expecting a Tory to jump the gate, bypassing security checks and just gatecrash the Leftfield tent and start shouting at the speaker, they'd presumably be invited to a debate.

You're probably right though, it's probably best that the politics at Glastonbury just remains a pointless echo chamber like it is at the moment. We can all just continue giving each other a slap on the back and telling each other how bloody right we are about everything.

I just avoid the politics at glastonbury because there's no fun (or point) in a one-sided debate.

[frostypaw]

1 hour ago, bombfrog said:

I just avoid the politics at glastonbury because there's no fun (or point) in a one-sided debate.

The whole thing IS the other side of the debate -  in a debate the other side has to get a chance to speak occasionally.

I think I've said before it's very much like straight people demanding representation at Pride. Just for these few days is it so bad if people don't feel like it's pretty much just them and everyone else is full self-servative? That they don't have to constantly defend being nice and decent to  people?

[bombfrog]

45 minutes ago, frostypaw said:

The whole thing IS the other side of the debate -  in a debate the other side has to get a chance to speak occasionally.

I think I've said before it's very much like straight people demanding representation at Pride. Just for these few days is it so bad if people don't feel like it's pretty much just them and everyone else is full self-servative? That they don't have to constantly defend being nice and decent to  people?

So you feel that left-wing views aren't represented outside the festival, only right wing ones? So, you treat the festival as some kind of refuge where you'll only have to hear left-wing opinions for a few days?

Erm... ok then.

[bombfrog]

Oh, and the straight people at pride things is a false equivelancy.

[frostypaw]

32 minutes ago, bombfrog said:

So you feel that left-wing views aren't represented outside the festival, only right wing ones? So, you treat the festival as some kind of refuge where you'll only have to hear left-wing opinions for a few days?

Erm... ok then.

Nope, I think they're rarely experienced in saturation while the right wing dominates outside almost everywhere.

This always seems to be a sticking point with glasto's right wing attendees - they notice it's nice and the people are lovely and everything is friendlier but not why.

[bombfrog]

17 minutes ago, frostypaw said:

Nope, I think they're rarely experienced in saturation while the right wing dominates outside almost everywhere.

It might feel like that a bit at the moment but it's not my experience. Most people are decent people, easily swayed by bad politicians promise them the moon on a stick.

[OG]

For me Glastonbury has never been about "listening to the other voice/view". I listen to those every day of my life whether I want to or not. It's nice to just be in a space/place where you know that the majority of people feel and think the same as you.  

[bombfrog]

36 minutes ago, OG said:

For me Glastonbury has never been about "listening to the other voice/view". I listen to those every day of my life whether I want to or not. It's nice to just be in a space/place where you know that the majority of people feel and think the same as you.  

That's fair enough, I've just never felt the need to go there, despite being very interested in politics. I just figure the general message there will be one I already know and probably agree with so I doubt I'd learn much new. Besides, I have to put up with politics 360 days a year and especially since the Brexit vote it seems debilitating sometimes, Glastonbury is my refuge and I'd rather see all the great artists and pretend politics doesn't exist for 5 days. The bloody referendum ruined my 2016.

[Wooderson]

Glasto w/o politics would be diminished. 

Also, fuck the Tories.