UK General Election 4th July

[ChloeTzang]

American politics could really do with some of that. I love my other country, I do, but really struggle with people and especially politicians being so serious and po-faced all the time. In the UK, not being able to laugh at yourself is a cardinal sin, probably way above any of the ten commandments. I mean, a year-long election campaign would probably still be fuck boring, but it would really help if both Trump and Biden had stalkers in comedy costumes making political points, everywhere they went.

I find myself in total agreement with you. The brits have a knack for taking the mickey out of everyone and anyone and the subtle humor its just wonderful.

Boaty McBoatFace springs to mind. That one had me rolling on the floor. It was wonderful.

 

[Bray123]

This post-result image sums it up: Beans and Toast

The ex-MP there is Jacob Rees-Mogg, a person so posh that when he started his political career, he went campaigning door to door with his nanny.

Seriously, like a joke character from a kid's comic.
https://www.fifetoday.co.uk/news/po...gned-for-votes-in-fife-with-his-nanny-3931752

 

[Lazaran]

I find myself in total agreement with you. The brits have a knack for taking the mickey out of everyone and anyone and the subtle humor its just wonderful.

Boaty McBoatFace springs to mind. That one had me rolling on the floor. It was wonderful.

Not nearly as "funny" (racist AF) as when you referred to Chicago as “Chicongo”.

That ^ was "hilarious" (racist AF).

 

[ChloeTzang]

Not nearly as "funny" (racist AF) as when you referred to Chicago as “Chicongo”.

That ^ was "hilarious" (racist AF).

I thought so, altho Chiraq also sprang to mind, but Chicongo is far more apt IMHO. And you know what's humorous, you know EXACTLY what I mean by Chicongo, I don't even have to explain. You KNOW it's true. LOL.

Mind you, for the life of me I cannot find a good one for Oakland. Never mind, we all know why anyhow.

Racist AF? Lol, that word has lost all meaning. Like fascist or Nazi, it's a generic term of abuse that no longer actually means anything except that you don't like someone.

Anyhow, good morning. Buenos dias. Have a coffee. You know, the drink you cant buy in Oakland anymore because "they" have looted all the gas stations and coffee shops and takeouts and they've closed down. The good 'ol food desert has become a coffee desert as well. You can tell when civilization is ending and barbarism is setting in, no coffee shops, and we all know the only real solution is that 'ol Roman one. We can learn a lot from the Romans, both about the fall of civilization, the invasions of the barbarians and how to deal with it.

 

[MajorRewrite]

Anyhow, good morning. Buenos dias. Have a coffee. You know, the drink you cant buy in Oakland anymore because "they" have looted all the gas stations and coffee shops and takeouts and they've closed down. The good 'ol food desert has become a coffee desert as well.

You sometimes seem sane, but then you spew complete nonsense. It’s very weird.

Maybe you’re just parroting gibberish you heard on Fox?

 

[jaF0]

T'were it up to me, statements like that would result in a full de-Litifying, author or not. There's just no excuse for it. In the real world, people can go to jail for that kind of statement.

 

[CambridgeBi]

Reform have a lot of voters who don't really want them but vote for them as a 'none of the above' option in safe seats, but many fewer did where they had a chance to actually get in.

Where is your evidence to support that? Voting in the UK is not compulsory, if you want "None of the above" then you don't vote. It seems pretty obvious the people who voted Reform are the small c conservatives who want small government, small public sector, low taxes and controlled borders - the things Tories promise but don't deliver.

It's possibly more of a win for tactical voting websites than anyone else.

Again dubious. The results are pretty much what you'd expect if the people who previously voted Tory didn't turn out. That's what we've really seen - a low turnout for the Tories.

 

[Bray123]

Where is your evidence to support that? Voting in the UK is not compulsory, if you want "None of the above" then you don't vote. It seems pretty obvious the people who voted Reform are the small c conservatives who want small government, small public sector, low taxes and controlled borders - the things Tories promise but don't deliver.



Again dubious. The results are pretty much what you'd expect if the people who previously voted Tory didn't turn out. That's what we've really seen - a low turnout for the Tories.

Nigel Farage is a single-policy politician (as is Lee Anderson who was fired from the Labour Party for making racist comments and Richard Tice). No matter what the problem, the solution is 'immigration'.

The NHS? Solve all problems by cutting immigration.
The economy? Solve all problems by cutting immigration.
Taxation? Reduce it by cutting immigration.

They may have more policies somewhere but they never mention them. As a result they attract the entire UK population of Alf Garnets.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Well, when all's said and done, the real winners here are Nigel Farage and Reform.

It was Farage who was instrumental in pushing and pulling the UK out of the European Union, and now he's been instrumental in bringing down the Conservative Party and emerging as the real leader of British conservatism after the July 4 elections. The Conservatives remain the official opposition party, but the psychic damage done to the Conservative Party is major. Essentially, they are a leaderless party devoid of any underlying philosophy and cause. Reform came second across the UK in hundreds of constituencies, slicing away voters from both the Conservatives and Labor, and they have the passion and the causes that none of the other parties, except maybe the SNP and Sinn Fein, have. Labor didn't grow their vote to get that huge majority - what happened was Conservative voters walked away from a party that had walked away from them and the rump that are left will be increasingly ineffectual.

These second-place finishes have no impact on the next Parliament’s final seats tally, but politically, those Tory, Labour, and Liberal Democrat Members of Parliament each know it is Reform and Farage that is hard on their heels—giving the party an outsized influence, and more than likely leading to Reform becoming the official opposition in the next elections, if not the victors (that's likely optimistic but we shouldn't underrate Farage - he pulled of Brexit, after all, and all we need to do is look at the French elections for an example of what may happen in the next UK elections).

A good example of how Reform UK screwed up the electoral calculus for the old parties is in the Essex County constituency of Basildon and Billericay, where Tory Party Chairman Richard Holden won another term by 20 votes. Holden got 12,905 votes to 12,885 votes for Labour and 11,354 votes for Reform UK —effectively splitting the conservative vote in half - and all it woul take would be for a couple of thousand more voters to opt for Reform and bang - Reform win - and that applies to hundreds of seats across the UK. There is no escaping that Reform UK is the ascendant power. Reform's strength is in constituencies where the Tories swung the last election — seats where voters abandoned decades of support for Labour for the pro-Brexit Conservative Party. Those voters and seats are now seriously in play, and next elections they may well opt for Reform and Farage......

Meloni, Le Pen, Farage - now there's something to look forward too. Add in the AfD and you have a totally new Europe....

 

[ChloeTzang]

Nigel Farage is a single-policy politician (as is Lee Anderson who was fired from the Labour Party for making racist comments and Richard Tice). No matter what the problem, the solution is 'immigration'.

The NHS? Solve all problems by cutting immigration.
The economy? Solve all problems by cutting immigration.
Taxation? Reduce it by cutting immigration.

They may have more policies somewhere but they never mention them. As a result they attract the entire UK population of Alf Garnets.

Brexit gave us the answer. The Brits are in general NOT Europhiles, they were dragged into the EU by politicians and they forced their way out - and Farage was instrumental in that. Immigration IS a huge issue, and again, it's something that's been imposed on people without any choice offered, and in the end, the Conservative Party's downfall was NOT listening to the voters on immigration, and screwing people on taxes. The voters WILL switch to the party that espouses what they want and offers them that choice, Reform WILL end up in power, and it will be on immigration as THE issue. Just as it is here in the USA.

 

[MajorRewrite]

Meloni, Le Pen, Farage - now there's something to look forward too. Add in the AfD and you have a totally new Europe....

Axis 2!

So exciting for you.

I doubt Farage is the one to lead the UK into the Axis alliance with the others. He’s a buffoon who needed 8 attempts to win a seat in parliament. But he and the other Axis leaders are appealing to the knuckle-dragging losers of society, so anything is possible.

 

[ChloeTzang]

You sometimes seem sane, but then you spew complete nonsense. It’s very weird.

Maybe you’re just parroting gibberish you heard on Fox?

LOL. Honestly, I don't EVER watch or listen to Fox. Frigging RINO channel. Mostly my mind goes it's own way.....

 

[ChloeTzang]

Axis 2!

So exciting for you.

I doubt Farage is the one to lead the UK into the Axis alliance with the others. He’s a buffoon who needed 8 attempts to win a seat in parliament. But he and the other Axis leaders are appealing to the knuckle-dragging losers of society, so anything is possible.

Actually, I doubt it too. Farage is UK-focused, he took the UK out of the EU and has no real vested interest in closer ties with the EU again, insofar as he would do his best to boost the UK's trade and economy. You'd probably see a much closer economic relationship built with the old Commonwealth countries - Canada, Australia, NZ and also with the USA. And he's not right wing so much as a traditional small c conservative who values British society and culture.

 

[MajorRewrite]

You'd probably see a much closer economic relationship built with the old Commonwealth countries - Canada, Australia, NZ and also with the USA.

That’s what they claimed during the Brexit campaign, but it was never going to happen.

 

[ChloeTzang]

That’s what they claimed during the Brexit campaign, but it was never going to happen.

Yes, total failure there. Another one of the things the Conservatives blew. They really did deserve to lose this election and I'm seriously happy they did. They were going nowhere and they had no vision. Best thing Sunak did was call an early election.

It's going to be interesting to see how Labour does. I really hope they do well for the UK economy, but I guess we'll see.

 

[Matty01]

Question.....How do you stop illegal immigrants sailing across the channel on little dingys???
The French do nothing to stop them other than giving them a flask of onion soup and shouting Au Revoir.....

 

[ChloeTzang]

Question.....How do you stop illegal immigrants sailing across the channel on little dingys???
The French do nothing to stop them other than giving them a flask of onion soup and shouting Au Revoir.....

Open an internment camp in the middle of the Papuan New Guinea Highlands and fly them there. Pay PNG to keep them until they ask for a ticket home, someone else takes them voluntarily (I hear the Russians a re recruiting like crazy) or they jump the fence and their heads end up in a Papuan longhouse hanging from the rafters as a souvenir. I'd be ruthless and say push them back and let them drown but I'd be a minority no doubt.

That, and return every single one that's in the UK illegally. Or send them to internment camps in PNG as well.

It worked for Australia.

Now my other plan is, they obviously like us all so much they want to be ruled by us, so really, we should just recolonize them and run their shitshows for them the way we used to. All those countries were rather lovely places when the Brits ran them, and it really didn't take much.

 

[MajorRewrite]

Open an internment camp in the middle of the Papuan New Guinea Highlands and fly them there. Pay PNG to keep them until they ask for a ticket home, someone else takes them voluntarily (I hear the Russians a re recruiting like crazy) or they jump the fence and their heads end up in a Papuan longhouse hanging from the rafters as a souvenir. I'd be ruthless and say push them back and let them drown but I'd be a minority no doubt.

That, and return every single one that's in the UK illegally. Or send them to internment camps in PNG as well.

It worked for Australia.

You don’t keep up with current events. The imbecilic Tories did decide to copy Australia’s example. They made an agreement to send immigrants to the impoverished country of Rwanda. They spent a butt load of money arranging everything … and sent exactly one guy.

The truth is the boat immigrants are so few in number that they’re not an actual problem. The Reform Party loons yelled and threw tantrums pretending it was an actual problem because they wanted attention. The British press is owned by Murdoch and other right wing vermin, so Reform got the attention they wanted for a nonexistent problem.

 

[ChloeTzang]

You don’t keep up with current events. The imbecilic Tories did decide to copy Australia’s example. They made an agreement to send immigrants to the impoverished country of Rwanda. They spent a butt load of money arranging everything … and sent exactly one guy.

The truth is the boat immigrants are so few in number that they’re not an actual problem. The Reform Party loons yelled and threw tantrums pretending it was an actual problem because they wanted attention. The British press is owned by Murdoch and other right wing vermin, so Reform got the attention they wanted for a nonexistent problem.

Oh I saw the whole Rwanda shitshow. Just so badly managed and a waste of money and they let themselves get tied down in the legal system which was even more stupid. Heck, they could have just as easily used one of those islands up in off Scotland, the way the Aussies built a camp in the middle of the outback. Just wimps with no balls. Stick every boat person there and start rounding up all the illegals already in and dumping them there too. But instead they fucked around and foundout....useless tits.

 

[Bray123]

Fun Fact: Three times as many Home Secretaries as immigrants were sent to Rwanda.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Just in case anyone actually thought things would improve under Labour, here's a taste of things to come. Shabana Mahmood has just been appointed the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice. She is holding a sign for a pro-Hamas, anti-democratic, anti-Semitic, hate group.

Brits should know what to expect now......

 

[Kumquatqueen]

You'd probably see a much closer economic relationship built with the old Commonwealth countries - Canada, Australia, NZ and also with the USA.

Thing is, we'd already got about as much of a relationship as we can get with CanAusNZ. We've extended the age range and time people can come from those nations on easy visas, we already import most of NZ's lamb, etc. They're simply far away with low populations.

Europe is right there and ready to do business. The USA may speak English so superficially people think we have more in common, but the UK is more in line with the social democratic policies of most of Europe.

By the time the first Rwandan flight was planned, even Rwanda's government didn't want random refugees any more and was considering getting out of the scheme...

Getting sufficient staff on the job so asylum applications (and court cases, and so many other things) can be processed rapidly and then the applicants either get welcomed into society or deported, is key. Which means getting more people security cleared, and more people doing the clearance, which is a big bottleneck for a lot of work atm.

I hear there's been a lot of success in reducing boats by doing publicity campaigns in countries like Albania, pointing out that people claiming they can get you a job in the UK are scammers and you'll likely end up in modern slavery and your family threatened if you escape, even if you get to the UK rather than being merely dumped at Calais minus your life's savings...

Farage is a total grifter. He took the money to be a MEP (member of the European Parliament) but never turned up - unlike Sinn Fein who don't take their UK MP salaries because they refuse to take their seats. He would rant about votes restricting UK fishing, even when he was technically on the relevant committees but never turned up to vote against or amend the draft legislation. Beyond 'blame the immigrants', he doesn't have any policies that go beyond a primary-school understanding of feasible politics. Reading the Reform manifesto was one of the more depressing half-hours of my life.

Shabana Mahmood has just been appointed the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice. She is holding a sign for a pro-Hamas, anti-democratic, anti-Semitic, hate group.

Evidence that the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign are any of those four things? They respect the right of Israel to exist according to their website: "We believe there can be a peaceful and just end to the decades of occupation and oppression, one that respects the rights and dignity of Palestinians and Israelis. But until this happens, we have a responsibility to stand up for Palestinian rights."

So far, the shadow Ministers have taken up their briefs, there's been a couple excellent wider appointments like Timpson as Prisons minister and Patrick Vallance as Science minister, and I look forward to a 'sober, boring, hard-working Government'.

 

[CambridgeBi]

Nigel Farage is a single-policy politician

False, Reform published their manifesto ( or "contract" as they called it ). Did you miss it?
There was some good policies on inheritance tax and doing away with the TV licence fee.

 

[butters]

False, Reform published their manifesto ( or "contract" as they called it ). Did you miss it?
There was some good policies on inheritance tax and doing away with the TV licence fee.

 

[CambridgeBi]

Gosh. what a well thought out rebuttal. You're very clever, aren't you?