news & politics:discussion

[mattiloy]

21 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

you really think they're going to replace Starmer with someone more left wing?

 

No probably not.

Saw this from his bald baldiness Bald Adonis. He needs sectioning.

[DeanoL]

1 hour ago, steviewevie said:

yeah, and it if it helps you feel all righteous and that you're somehow saving the planet, go ahead and vote for them...but unless they have an actual chance of beating a tory MP it will just keep the tories in power....but I guess Johnson's missus likes animals and stuff so we'll probably be fine. I would rather vote green too at the moment, I did in the local elections recently...but in a general election you have to vote tactically.

Your vote isn't just about who actually gets power any more though. Tactical voting is all well and good if it works - but things like who gets media coverage, who gets to go on Question Time, who gets covered in the press and so on are decided by the results of elections too.

UKIP were a single issue party that never had more than a single MP in parliament and managed to force through their agenda. This shit does work.

If Labour can take the votes of those on the left for granted then there's no reason for Labour to bother to do anything to appeal to them. Without the threat of them leaving en masse and voting Green or elsewhere there's no reason for them to bother.

[steviewevie]

2 minutes ago, DeanoL said:

Your vote isn't just about who actually gets power any more though. Tactical voting is all well and good if it works - but things like who gets media coverage, who gets to go on Question Time, who gets covered in the press and so on are decided by the results of elections too.

UKIP were a single issue party that never had more than a single MP in parliament and managed to force through their agenda. This shit does work.

If Labour can take the votes of those on the left for granted then there's no reason for Labour to bother to do anything to appeal to them. Without the threat of them leaving en masse and voting Green or elsewhere there's no reason for them to bother.

very true.

But, at same time with the way the vote share is distributed...a split left vote just keeps the tories there...maybe it will make labour more green in the long term...but they'll still be out of power.

[mattiloy]

3 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

very true.

But, at same time with the way the vote share is distributed...a split left vote just keeps the tories there...maybe it will make labour more green in the long term...but they'll still be out of power.

Agreed. Labour should stand down for the greens and stop splitting the left vote.

[DeanoL]

4 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

very true.

But, at same time with the way the vote share is distributed...a split left vote just keeps the tories there...maybe it will make labour more green in the long term...but they'll still be out of power.

Arguably the split UKIP/BNP/Tory vote is the reason Labour were in power from 1997 onwards anyway. That was a price the Kippers were always willing to pay. It's whether those on the left have the stomach to do the same.

[worthyraver]

1 hour ago, Fuzzy Afro said:

The left can’t afford to split the vote so they need to coalesce around a single unity candidate who can unite centrists and left wingers

In a similar way had the party unified around Corbyn he likely could have formed a government in 2017

1 hour ago, Fuzzy Afro said:

My gut feeling is Andy Burnham is a better option than Keir Starmer, despite both being soft left Brownites. Burnham is just a better man of the people. 

I totally agree with this although not a huge fan of Andy Burnham he might be what Labour need, good luck prising him away from Manchester though.

[steviewevie]

30 minutes ago, DeanoL said:

Arguably the split UKIP/BNP/Tory vote is the reason Labour were in power from 1997 onwards anyway. That was a price the Kippers were always willing to pay. It's whether those on the left have the stomach to do the same.

Well, it's been over 10 years now....I guess we can wait...not sure the climate can....

[steviewevie]

29 minutes ago, worthyraver said:

In a similar way had the party unified around Corbyn he likely could have formed a government in 2017

I totally agree with this although not a huge fan of Andy Burnham he might be what Labour need, good luck prising him away from Manchester though.

Burnham just points the finger at London w*nkers.....all those labour voters are just going to think fucku.

[steviewevie]

35 minutes ago, mattiloy said:

Agreed. Labour should stand down for the greens and stop splitting the left vote.

yeah, nice centristy greens. Yummy.

[DeanoL]

47 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

Well, it's been over 10 years now....I guess we can wait...not sure the climate can....

Not even Corbyn was proposing anything near the radical changes that would be needed to actually sort climate change.

[Haan]

all my fellow echo chamber lot, I highly recommend this!

Related to the Glasgow protests yesterday, Daniel Trilling spent the last six months interviewing politicians, civil servants, frontline staff, lawyers, judges, campaigners and ordinary people caught up in the cruelty of the home office:

 https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/may/13/cruel-paranoid-failing-priti-patel-inside-the-home-office 

[Greenelk]

Interesting thread on the government "support" for touring artists and their plans on streaming - 

 

[steviewevie]

Poots now leader of DUP...just incase people had forgotten what a bunch of weirdos they are.

[mattiloy]

3 hours ago, steviewevie said:

Poots now leader of DUP...just incase people had forgotten what a bunch of weirdos they are.

Brill. United Ireland incoming 🇮🇪 

[st dan]

Starmer appearing on Piers Morgan Life Stroies. Think that’s a good move from him, and hopefully he comes across well and less robotic than he appears most of the time. 

[Fuzzy Afro]

10 hours ago, mattiloy said:

Brill. United Ireland incoming 🇮🇪 

Won’t happen in either of our lifetimes imo. Could be wrong. 

[steviewevie]

 

[Zoo Music Girl]

3 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

 

Why the fuck is he wearing that shirt and shorts combo? Did he have a Zoom call or something?

[mattiloy]

56 minutes ago, Fuzzy Afro said:

Won’t happen in either of our lifetimes imo. Could be wrong. 

They’ll at least almost certainly have a border poll this decade since the census will see a catholic majority confirmed and the next NI assembly elections are on course to elect a majority of republicans - it isn’t like Scotland, the right to a border poll is enshrined in law.

Then recent history tells us that the status quo options don’t do well in referenda. Throw in the fact that the DUP is an absolute basketcase and the tories probably privately wouldn’t mind letting Northern Ireland go, then I think theres a decent chance that the republicans would win.

[steviewevie]

4 hours ago, mattiloy said:

They’ll at least almost certainly have a border poll this decade since the census will see a catholic majority confirmed and the next NI assembly elections are on course to elect a majority of republicans - it isn’t like Scotland, the right to a border poll is enshrined in law.

Then recent history tells us that the status quo options don’t do well in referenda. Throw in the fact that the DUP is an absolute basketcase and the tories probably privately wouldn’t mind letting Northern Ireland go, then I think theres a decent chance that the republicans would win.

Like Scotland will probably depend on all those people who don't have particularly strong views either way, just don't want things to get worse.

[zahidf]

 

 

[steviewevie]

26 minutes ago, zahidf said:

 

 

bloody hec.

[steviewevie]

Latest John Harris Anywhere but Westminster vid.

 

[mattiloy]

59 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

Like Scotland will probably depend on all those people who don't have particularly strong views either way, just don't want things to get worse.

Indeed. The key to winning will be the more academic sides of the debate to persuade the younger, pro european middle class people of protestant background that they are better off in a United Ireland. But in electing Poots as leader, the scene is set for if not Sinn Fein then at least the SDLP to reach out to those voters.

 

52 minutes ago, zahidf said:

 

 

 

Its sad that the main left wing party in England is so beset by cowardly apologists for this disgusting fascist Israeli regime. You worry how far it has to go before the world intervenes. Do we have to wait until Israel commits genocide until Starmer climbs down off his fence ’i condemn both sides’. Pathetic but not surprising for somebody who recently recruited a former Israeli Defence Forces hacker to his campaign team. Half the PLP is compromised.

[steviewevie]