UK General Discussion

[minionofmidas]

A report into Britain's most successful sex offender includes the figure of 214 offences, including 34 rapes.

Actually, that's not what the link says.

Meanwhile, we have our own sex-offender-from-a-long-time-ago, hiding-in-plain-sight case here. And the same "is anybody surprised" kind of vibe.

[minionofmidas]

A report into Britain's most successful sex offender includes the figure of 214 offences, including 34 rapes. And, for obvious reasons, those figures probably have to be seen as minimum estimates.

How did this guy manage to get away with this for over 55 years? It seems the only thing that stopped him was poor health.

No police force wanted to make waves, lots of victims, even when they went to police immediatly, didn't want to prosecute (though who knows what police told them to scare them off doing so), oh and clearly back in the 70s nobody collated data on people who've been named-but-not-prosecuted on such charges. Which might have been a good idea. Police knowing they were dealing with a serial offender might have been less unwilling to prosecute. There wasn't any sort of moral panic around adults getting it on with willing teenagers back then (even though at least in Germany, laws were actually stricter) and there was MUCH more acceptance of predatory, ahem, dating techniques.

[minionofmidas]

A big issue is also who the victims (mostly) were; people who found complaining difficult, and people who's complaints were very easy to ignore. So the classic pattern of institutional abuse, except that it was basically one criminal and multiple institutions.

Still a pretty damn large number of victims for whom that isn't true, I understand.

[minionofmidas]

Written to 1922, wut?

Hilarious term, innit.

[minionofmidas]

They condemn him for "his use of language"? What would they prefer he have used, lethal force?

[minionofmidas]

Even if he's a Muslim Arab himself. 

Some people consider that debatable, you know.

[minionofmidas]

You need to update your signature, Andrew.

[minionofmidas]

All this means that there will be no British say in the Conclave.

Oh no.

This is an outrage! Cameron should take Britain out of the Catholic Church in retaliation.

[minionofmidas]

Ashdown calls on activists to help "win" a second term.

No party that loses 10-15% on their previous election has a mandate to be part of the government. Wasn't that part of the reasoning they had for saying no to Labour in 2010?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21724754

They said no to Labour because the two parties didn't have a majority together, so they couldn't form a government, and Labour didn't want to go scrounging for votes from the nationalists and NI parties. But, hey, feel free to believe your own propaganda.

No, that's why Labour didn't make an effort either. The LDs didn't because they (their leadership) preferred the Tories anyways and those two parties did have a majority together. They pretended to talk to Labour at all (and spouted stuff along the lines of what's sarcastically spat back in the post above afterwards) because they knew that their voters expected them to.

[minionofmidas]

How are all the leaders so unpopular?

They suck.

[minionofmidas]

That man is a hero.

[minionofmidas]

That man is a hero.

That man is an alcoholic, who really need help.
Alcoholism isn't fun or anything, it's a disease.

Admittedly.

I admire him for the things he does when drunk, though, not for the drink problem itself - which is fairly ubiquitous in politics anyways. Much better to hit Tories over the head than to hit on female journalists like Rainer Brüderle, drive your car into a ditch like Jörg Haider or fall down the stairs like Karen McCarthy. Though Rainer Ortleb's drunken speeches in parliament (while a member of the cabinet) are classics. That have apparently been deleted from youtube.

[minionofmidas]

Just wondering, but in what seats (or areas, considering boundary changes since) would Labour have a chance in 2015 that they didn't win in 1997 should they win government?

Since there's very little chance of Labour winning a huge landslide as opposed to a majority... Môn and Sheffield Hallam.

[minionofmidas]

Just wondering, but in what seats (or areas, considering boundary changes since) would Labour have a chance in 2015 that they didn't win in 1997 should they win government?

Since there's very little chance of Labour winning a huge landslide as opposed to a majority... Môn and Sheffield Hallam.

Nooo, of course I'm not implying that I expect some massive landslide. I was just looking at the polling average with UNS seat predictions and it seems that nowhere's trended away from the Tories since 1997 enough for a big national margin to give Labour seats they've never won from them.

http://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/orderedseats.html
I notice just 1 (Chipping Barnet).

Hallam is above that in your list, and the core of it was indeed never Labour-held. (The highest ranked constituency Labour didn't win in 1997 is Southwark & Bermondsey. I also note Môn isn't listed there at all... apparently it's a list of constituencies for which they have a prediction.)

[minionofmidas]

Also, Hexham, Kensington (though of course the old Kensington North was a Labour seat) and Uxbridge aren't far below Barnet on hte list.
(Checks Wiki) Uxbridge was actually a usually Labour held marginal during the 50s. Colour me surprised. Hexham has never been Labour, though (but got even closer than Barnet and Uxbridge did in 1997).

[minionofmidas]

¡VICTORIA!

[minionofmidas]

It's John Major's 70th birthday today.

Share the love guys.

I never could dislike him in any way, and that's saying something given the stench of the decaying political party he had to govern with.

And if his father had not adopted his stage name instead of his real surname, he'd be a namesake of John Ball. Happy Birthday John!

[minionofmidas]

It's not particularly difficult to live off a small amount of money on a short term basis, particularly if you have other resources to draw on. If it's longer term and if you don't have other resources, then things are rather difficult. Not just in terms of the general gloom (which is awful; throughout this I am writing here from personal - past - experience), but what happens when you're hit by some circumstance or other that requires you to spend a considerable amount of money (and this is ultimately unavoidable). Because then you're fycked. Frankly, it is not very funny, not very funny at all, and anyone who thinks otherwise deserves a good hiding and then some.

This.

It's worth saying this now; if/when Labour get back in power, they won't go back to how things were. This is a perfect opportunity for them.

And this.

[minionofmidas]

There's also a ban on alcohol at stadiums and a street drinking ban has been in force for over a decade.

this should tell you everything you need to know about the severity of the problem.

[minionofmidas]

Just to annoy everyone with that age-old cliche:

The only poll that's accurate is the election.

Even that one has a pretty splodgy track record.

[minionofmidas]

The temperature at present is fundamentally uncivilised.

Under 33? In july? I agree. Such uncivilied coolness should be banned.

They're expecting up to 40 degrees in the Lausitz tomorrow.

[minionofmidas]

There is a case for that, but wrt this kind of petty (legal) corruption, well, such people would only find another means of compensation for their generous donations.

More dangerous ones, no doubt.

Whatever else needs to be said about the National Government, at least they understand what the House of Lords is for. I approve.

[minionofmidas]

Most of the other people who were named as new Peers yesterday, however, pretty clearly bought their peerages in the traditional manner.

Abolish the f**king thing.

Bring back the Hereditary Peers.

And then abolish the Commons maybe?

[minionofmidas]

Second Chamber is a much more fitting name than Lords anyways. Though I wonder why the hell they still called it "the Palace of Westminster".

[minionofmidas]

Second Chamber is a much more fitting name than Lords anyways. Though I wonder why the hell they still called it "the Palace of Westminster".

Ew, no. That's boring and dull. Lords is traditional, so better in my books.

Ah, I said more fitting, I didn't say cuter.