news & politics:discussion

[eFestivals]

1 hour ago, Gilgamesh69 said:

Ah yes, because not wanting your country to be controlled by British bastards must mean you're insane.

 

You either die a leftie, or live long enough to become a centrist

A real lefie would know ewho leaned which way on the emerald Isle. 

[eFestivals]

9 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

I mean...if the majority is for a united Ireland then I'm all for it too....but I don't think it would be plain sailing...too much deep seated hatred and history in that place...you just have to see the riots and anger from the unionist communities now...

It's one ofthoseirresolvsble situations with the issues sobengrrainedthere. Is no way to correct without a bit of time travel to undo history even with time travel no one would really know where to start. Cuttinhgbhrenryeightsdick off would help. 

Edited April 28, 2021 by eFestivals

[stuie]

39 minutes ago, ace56blaa said:

@Barry Fish I think this video is a great response to you question "does anyone really care"

Number 2 and 5 suggest people do care! #CarrieAntionette (most excellent hashtag!) has been trending all afternoon! 

[steviewevie]

I need to stay in this thread. The other thread is making me too angry. Now, no one mention corbyn/starmer/antisemitism.

[Ozanne]

8 minutes ago, stuie said:

Number 2 and 5 suggest people do care! #CarrieAntionette (most excellent hashtag!) has been trending all afternoon! 

Major Sleaze is a brilliant quip from Starmer, no wonder it’s trending. 

[stuie]

5 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

Major Sleaze is a brilliant quip from Starmer, no wonder it’s trending. 

Boris has been asking for that for weeks with his Captain Hindsight bullshit!

[Ozanne]

1 minute ago, stuie said:

Boris has been asking for that for weeks with his Captain Hindsight bullshit!

Most definitely!

[steviewevie]

 

[Ozanne]

I was too young to remember the fall of the last Tory government, but was it this hard last time to get anything to have any impact and bring them down? I guess 18 years kind of answers the question but it feels like it’s taking everything to even dent them at the moment.

I also worry that Labour are too focussed on looking into the past for hints to the future instead of trying to find ways that will bring them down now. What worked in the mid-90s might not work now. 

[steviewevie]

2 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

I was too young to remember the fall of the last Tory government, but was it this hard last time to get anything to have any impact and bring them down? I guess 18 years kind of answers the question but it feels like it’s taking everything to even dent them at the moment.

I also worry that Labour are too focussed on looking into the past for hints to the future instead of trying to find ways that will bring them down now. What worked in the mid-90s might not work now. 

Old fart so I remember...although I was in my 20s and I wasn't really paying much attention to politics...but the Tory government was on it's last legs by then, black wednesday, infighting, accusations of sleaze, it was definitely time for something different...so it was quite easy for blair really...just needed to look shiny and new and offer hope for the future. I remember that election very well, weather was nice, things felt optimistic...went to Sankeys with my mates and we celebrated hard...happy days. The come down was a bit rough though.

The thing with Johnson's govt is they have somehow made it look like it's a different government to previous tory governments, they kind of feel new...so Starmer needs to make it look like same old sleazy tories, which is obviously what he's trying to do, but not sure if will actually cut through...tories have a new coalition of voters.

[Ozanne]

2 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

Old fart so I remember...although I was in my 20s and I wasn't really paying much attention to politics...but the Tory government was on it's last legs by then, black wednesday, infighting, accusations of sleaze, it was definitely time for something different...so it was quite easy for blair really...just needed to look shiny and new and offer hope for the future. I remember that election very well, weather was nice, things felt optimistic...went to Sankeys with my mates and we celebrated hard...happy days. The come down was a bit rough though.

The thing with Johnson's govt is they have somehow made it look like it's a different government to previous tory governments, they kind of feel new...so Starmer needs to make it look like same old sleazy tories, which is obviously what he's trying to do, but not sure if will actually cut through...tories have a new coalition of voters.

That’s exactly my worry, by looking at things that have worked in the past are they missing something they could work now. For Major it was the constant drip of stories that was his issue so this could be that and certain people in the press are turning on Johnson it seems but it seems like such hard work to get the people to turn against them. 

[steviewevie]

3 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

That’s exactly my worry, by looking at things that have worked in the past are they missing something they could work now. For Major it was the constant drip of stories that was his issue so this could be that and certain people in the press are turning on Johnson it seems but it seems like such hard work to get the people to turn against them. 

Well, we're a few years away from an election...so keep chipping away I guess...and hopefully some of this sleaze stuff sticks. Have to see how the economy does post pandemic, how the levelling up promises go, if tory govt and MPs stay united..

[Sawdusty surfer]

.

Edited April 28, 2021 by Pinrut

[Zoo Music Girl]

14 hours ago, mattiloy said:

Listened - whilst I have sympathy for those on the receiving end of genuine antisemitism, and having admittedly not read the book, from what I can grasp of the thrust - that antisemitism is not afforded equal status by the left to other forms of racism - I’m not sure I entirely agree. The amount of attention it receives compared to islamophobia or say anti-polish sentiment is huge, despite these being a much larger problem in the population (as a share of the number of hate crimes reported to police).

Also he seems to be fixated on that stereotypes of Jews seem to be acceptable whilst not of other groups. Its simply not true, be it drunk irishmen, dour Scots, sheep shagging welsh, lily-livered french, or racist white van man Englander, ’acceptable’ stereotypes are the norm.

The unfortunate fall out from the exaggeration of antisemitism being a problem in the labour party is now hypersensitivity towards it in the way that there seems to be to everything these days. I have seen Baddiel tweet about non Jewish actors depicting stereotypical Jewish characters as problematic. This is Baddiel depicting Jason Lee in a comedy sketch.

I get why you’d have a bias when you are prominent on social media and as a result you get hounded by racist trolls all day but I think its a very myopic perspective that he has if he’s saying that antisemitism has a lesser platform than other forms of racism.

Yeah maybe read the book. He talks about the above in depth in it and completely admits it was racist.

[mattiloy]

6 hours ago, Zoo Music Girl said:

Yeah maybe read the book. He talks about the above in depth in it and completely admits it was racist.

Nah

[steviewevie]

 

[steviewevie]

 

[steviewevie]

This is good on Johnson and privilege.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/29/sleaze-boris-johnson-careless-privilege

[Crazyfool01]

39 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

This is good on Johnson and privilege.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/29/sleaze-boris-johnson-careless-privilege

Good Johnson and privilege 3 words not often seen in the same sentence together 

[JoeyT]

 

[Ozanne]

 

[squirrelarmy]

The Tories have worked out how to avoid investigations by the electoral commission. 
 

By getting rid of the electoral commission. 
 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-tories-electoral-commission-abolished-b1838992.html

[steviewevie]

40 minutes ago, JoeyT said:

 

the public gets what the public wants.

An eton toff who doesn't give a shit about them

[jimmillen]

11 hours ago, steviewevie said:

The thing with Johnson's govt is they have somehow made it look like it's a different government to previous tory governments, they kind of feel new...so Starmer needs to make it look like same old sleazy tories, which is obviously what he's trying to do, but not sure if will actually cut through...tories have a new coalition of voters.

Yeah this is one of the great political conjuring tricks of our time, tbh. I honestly think if you polled the public on whether or not Cameron*, May and Johnson's governments were the same or different political parties, a non-zero proportion would say they're different. It feels very different to continuity of the Labour government under Blair/Brown, or from what I can remember of the Thatcher/Major government before it.

* Yes I know, Tory-LD coalition, not relevant 😉

[Haan]

18 hours ago, Gilgamesh69 said:

Wow, I might actually stop disliking him so much if he pulls this off. Shame he's no Corbyn tho

 

 

But he still sucks, and I will die on this hill, as will all of you who try to fight me.

I think he's awful on foreign policy and immigration but really good on welfare and austerity. He's easily the most progressive president since Raegan but that's not really a high bar to cross. Also think if it wasn't for the ghoulish Dem senators joe manchin and kyrsten sinema Biden could've gotten even more progressive policies through ($15 min wage!)