UK General Discussion Thread: mayy lmao

[afleitch]

“The monthly Scottish Questions in Parliament looks set to be an odd affair.

Under the current system the Secretary of State for Scotland (the one Tory MP) will answer six questions from the Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland (the one Labour MP), while 56 SNP MPs watch on from the back benches and are allowed to ask one question.”

[afleitch]

It's unclear if she did - both the French consul-general and Sturgeon say the memo wasn't accurate. The consul-general believes that it's been lost in translation.

And Carmichael admitted it was inaccurate, according to the link. It's curious as to whether he knew the contents were inaccurate.

[afleitch]

Yeah, that's ... tenuous. Haven't the SNP's online lynch mobs got anything better to do?

They're not SNP supporters, but they are people living in Orkney and Shetland.

It'll be interesting to see what happens though. Especially, if they win the case...

I don't actually know for certain if the people behind the position are members of the SNP, but if they are, they have a vested interest in pretending to be non partisan outraged locals, so I'd take the words on the fundraising page with a tonne of salt.

Shhh

Everything is a Nationalist/Sinn Fein/SDLP, SNP lynch mob. Knowing that is how you delegitimise legitimate expression when faced with home nation nationalism within the British context stand up for the democratic process.

[afleitch]

I know the old ABC1C2DE system is outdated and has little relevance to today's politics, but can someone tell me what the letters corresponded to back when the system still mattered, and how those letters voted?

ABC1C2DE is to it's merit one of the best measures of 'class' so much so that the Census has adopted what was initially a simple market research technique. It stays consistent even as the structure of employment changes.

A is 'upper middle class' -  Higher managerial, administrative or professional
B is 'middle class' -          Intermediate managerial, administrative or professional
C1 is   'lower middle class' -   Supervisory or clerical and junior managerial, administrative or professional
C2 is   'skilled working class' - Skilled manual workers
D is 'working class' - Semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers
E is 'non working' - Casual or lowest grade workers, pensioners, and others who depend on the welfare state for their income

It is not a great measure of income for example as a mechanic would be C2 yet would earn remarkably more than a civil servant, a C1.

Here are voting intention trends since 1974

https://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/101/How-Britain-Voted-Since-October-1974.aspx?view=wide.

It is traditionally considered that C2's determine the outcome of an election. You can see how Thatcher seized that block and Major held it, only for it to revert back to Labour en masse. Labour apparently closed that gap in 2015, so it looks like the election was 'decided' by the ABC1's. There will need to be a lot of retrospection to work out what actually happened this year.

[afleitch]

The Mhairi Black maiden speech was quite interesting.

It was a good little speech. Though if there's one thing Labour hate, it's other people telling them to be 'more Labour'.

[afleitch]

People tend not to respond well to arguments made in bad faith, no. I have no idea why.

I think the self deception is probably found amongst the party she was addressing.

[afleitch]

So, Ted Heath may have gotten up to no good.

There was an entire cottage (pun intended) industry set up to shield the public from Ted Heath from the 1950's till his death.

[afleitch]

If any of those accusations are deemed true, then the scandal is truly massive; it really does seem that Savile opened the floodgates and a lot of birds are coming home to roost.

There's increasing evidence that there isn't anything in this one.

[afleitch]

Scotland's soil and weather is only suitable to grow crops that have already been bred to be 'hardy' enough to actually grow here in the first instance. Most commercial GM crops (maize, oilseed rape etc) aren't grown in any great measure anyway. The ban isn't against the research, just growing them commercially. There's nothing gained or lost through GM (and I say that as a supporter) in Scotland so there's no damage in taking what is rightly seen as a 'populist' measure against it.

[afleitch]

Staple food was oats of course.

Oats and rye (which is hardly grown now). Wheat could be grown in the marches, but it could be easily ruined. Beef and fish were the main meats.

[afleitch]

This:

http://mashable.com/2015/08/20/banksy-dismaland/

[afleitch]

It's 'Better Together's' payday.

[afleitch]

Lord Ashcroft goes full 'Black Mirror'

[afleitch]

Can someone explain me what's going on? I'd do a research but I'm too creeped out right now, and in terror of what I may find.

He didn't actually f**k a pig, right?...

It seems like he basically put his dick in a dead pig's mouth.

Someone who won't be named heard from someone else they had a picture no one else has seen. So Cameron probably did nothing but what a great way to discredit all the other allegations against him (that have some substance) by letting people think he 'f-cked a pig' for a few days.

[afleitch]

Cameron just made a very bold pitch for the centre ground.

[afleitch]

I see that the Conservatives are now in favour of wind power.

While Labour try to generate energy from old fossils...

[afleitch]

This might not be a great time for the Nonce Finder in the press.

[afleitch]

So

Jeremy Corbyn...

[afleitch]

So

Jeremy Corbyn...

If he had taken a more supportive position then the headlines would have read "Disgraceful Corbyn Sells Out Livelong Principles For Political Gain".

No. I can guarantee you that's one headline he wouldn't have got.

[afleitch]

Thank goodness Seamus Milne is writing cringe worthy pap for Corbyn. Means we don't get to read it in the Grauniad.

[afleitch]

Tories with a 15pt lead with ComRes, the highest in any poll since January 2010 I think.

[afleitch]

Corbyn won't vote for strikes. Not clear at present if Benn was consulted.

[afleitch]

This is all happening too soon. Can't Labour just piss about forever? It's better than a Netflix Original.

[afleitch]

Dammit. Benn is good.

[afleitch]

IDS was never a monster. But Cabinet collective responsibility can only go so far.