UK General Discussion Thread: mayy lmao

[parochial boy]

People already pointing out how he's a 'loner' etc (much like the Charleston shooting/Sandy Hook) where as if this was a muslim then well the media would be reporting it very differently

The media seem to have gone out of the way to down play any link to right wing extremism or the even the possible impact the leave campaign's rhetoric about immigration may have had.

They have been trying to argue that he wasn't a neo-nazi, until it became obvious he was; that he was mentally ill, as if that means that the far right ideology wasn't a driving factor and so on...

I mean, compare the way the non-British media have treated the subject to the way the British media have. I almost feel like the UK has reached a point where you aren't allowed to say anything is racist any more, regardless of how obviously racist it actually is, such is the back lash that will come at you.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/gallery/2016/jun/17/european-newspaper-front-pages-on-jo-cox-death-in-pictures

[parochial boy]

Hillary Benn is planning a coup.

Honestly, is there anyone in the Labour party up to it?

Dan Jarvis maybe?

[parochial boy]

Chris Bryant would be good, he always comes across well in the media. I like Tom Watson as well, he has a lot of Old Labour about him.

Stella Creasy would also be a good one, she has some fairly interesting ideas outside of the old left v right dogmas; although seeing as she has become a figure of hate for Momentum, I doubt she would get anywhere.

I imagine Chukka would be tempted to stand for real this time.

[parochial boy]

Laura Kuensberg has just floated the possibility of Mandelson running for leader.

I suppose he might stand a chance of winning, if his opponents were Margaret Thatcher and Nigel Farage...

I mean, say what you want about Corbynistas, but Kuenssberg could at least try to pretend to be impartial, couldn't she?

[parochial boy]

I'm starting to think of a scenario where Corbyn wins the election, the PLP freaks out and splits and somehow convinces Farron to do a Lib Dem merger 2.0. I just want to see it because I want to see how hilarious it would be if the Lib Dems somehow become the official opposition for four months.

Are you sure it would only be four months? If a major split occurs, we might be in for a serious realignment.

That really depends on what Labour's traditional vote do in the next few months/years. In the 1980s, the loyalty of working class northern voters was a large part of why Labour won out over the SDP in the end.

At the moment, it's not really obvious that that loyalty exists any more. Where would working class voters go in the event of such a split? Would either party be able to appeal to them?

[parochial boy]

Chilcott is out today. It doesn't conclude on the legality of the war, but is pretty scathing (surprise!) about the reasons to go to war in Iraq.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jul/06/chilcot-report-crushing-verdict-tony-blair-iraq-war

[parochial boy]

Something of a dent in Angela Eagle's hopes of leading the Labour party, assuming that was still on the cards

[parochial boy]

British people are outraged that their vote has consequences...

Of course, it's the fault of those evil Dutchies of Unilever, so all the more reason for leaving the fascist EU.

[parochial boy]

If Article 50 has go through the whole parliamentary process though - MPs and the lords could combine to at least delay for quite some time. Which would make Theresa May's stated intention to trigger it by the end of March 2017 a bit of a pipe dream. Meaning the UK is still a member at the next EU elections in 2019.

[parochial boy]

and the distribution of jobs into categories in some cases feels not so much arbitrary as willfully perverse...

Just curious, but how would a Chartered Accountant be classified? I can't seem to find a decent set of examples for each grade, and could see myself fitting anywhere from C1 to A depending on how you defined the grades... which I suppose is why it isn't very useful.

Chartered Accountant would probably be A or B depending on how senior they are.

A recently qualified one (me! yay!) would be B, but my boss would easily be A.

[parochial boy]

The Tories want to bring a voter ID law. Currently 7.5% of the population don't have an photo ID.

So gerrymandering, individual registration and now voter ID. Anybody noticing some sort of theme?

[parochial boy]

The Tories want to bring a voter ID law. Currently 7.5% of the population don't have an photo ID.

So gerrymandering, individual registration and now voter ID. Anybody noticing some sort of theme?

Er they aren't gerrymandering. Labour seats particularly those in Wales tend to be grossly undersized and the current boundaries are based on old data so there needs to be some change. It's the boundary commission that has proposed some new horrendous constituencies not the Tories.

As for photo ID it is probably strongly supported by the public as a whole. It is quite easy in Britain to walk into the polling station and pretend to be anyone. If this is introduced the government will be pressurised to make access to id easier. However it is not the in person vote but instead the postal vote where the strongest most credible allegations of electoral fraud happen particularly in Labour areas with large Muslim populations such as Tower Hamlets, Nelson, Halifax, parts of Birmingham etc. for example fake voters on the rolls and 'community leaders' filling out everyone's ballots for them or heavily controlling how the members of their community vote. That's the part of the voting process which needs tightening up the most.

Per Anthony Wells, under the proposed changes, Labour need a 12.6% lead to win a majority, against 5.7% for the Tories, that is beyond evening things out. Bear in mind that Labour's advantage has disappeared since losing Scotland, and now that their support is increasingly concentrated in cities, the reforms are now just exacerbating an already Conservative advantage.

As for ID, there is precious little evidence of widespread electoral fraud, outside the fevered imaginations of Farage types about "postal ballots", there will be a far greater damage to the functioning of democracy by effectively disenfranchising millions of people (and the country does have a lot of people for whom £30 on a provision driving licence is a stretch too far).

Add that to "individual voter registration" which took a lot of more transient people (i.e. poor, young) of the roll, and you there are some questions to be asked.

[parochial boy]

May's going for the hard Brexit, I see.

No worries, the UK can become even more of a tax haven.

[parochial boy]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

No worries, the UK can become even more of a tax haven.
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True, but there is a certain irony you saying that residing in Switzerland (and it's not like being in the EU stops countries acting as havens anyway).
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I come from two of the most politically unpleasant countries in Europe - just makes me used to despair on election nights

And the EU does a fairly decent job of curbing the worst excesses of members that don't begin with the letters "Lux". An EU type institution is certainly the only way that you could ever really clamp down on Tax Havens, as it really isn't for individual states to do it by themselves.

[parochial boy]

A socialist labour party for euroscepticism for the win!

Out of curiosity, why don't you like the EU?

I imagine because of the neoliberal-austerity argument, rather than the "take back control" one?

[parochial boy]

Since the general election, Labour have had 8 by-elections to defend (including 4 deaths), compared to the Conservative's 3.

WTF is going on? Are any Labour MPs actually going to make it through the whole parliament?

[parochial boy]

did no one mention that the house of lords crushed the existing brexit "bill"....? seems like a good first step.



https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/mar/01/lords-defeat-government-over-rights-of-eu-citizens-in-uk-brexit-bill

...to abolishing the House of Lords? That would be about the best thing a Tory government has ever done.

As if. Just take a leaf from Cameron's book and stuff it full of more Tories.

[parochial boy]

According the Theresa May, the SNP have a "tunnel-vision nationalism, which focuses only on independence at any cost, sells Scotland short".

Pot, there is a kettle I would like to introduce you to.

[parochial boy]

According the Theresa May, the SNP have a "tunnel-vision nationalism, which focuses only on independence at any cost, sells Scotland short".

Pot, there is a kettle I would like to introduce you to.

Given the party was created with the aim of securing Scottish independence... yeah, so what?

I was mainly amused by the hypocrisy her saying that

[parochial boy]

UKIP has done its job now... it has gotten us out of the EU.

by promising a better yesterday

[parochial boy]

YouGov have polled London

Key take aways is that Corbyn's Labour are down 7% on the GE, so are doing just as bad in London as everywhere else in the country (it's supposed his heartland), and Lib Dems have doubled their support.

And lol at the 18-24 years olds cross tab - 61% Labour; and Tories equal with the Lib Dems on 15%

Sadiq Khan is also very popular.

[parochial boy]

As an interesting aside, the expected level of default on student loans in the UK is such that, as things stand, it was only just worth raising the fees from £3k. Of course, you wander if the government isnt being ever so slightly optimistic with its estimates in order to hide the fact that the new fee system will be a net loss.