British Politics
Been on holiday for a few weeks, surprised to find no general discussion of British politics so though I'd kick one off.
Tory leadership contest is quickly turning into farce. Trump has backed Boris, which should be reason enough for anyone with half a brain to exclude him.
Of the other candidates Rory Stewart looks the best of the outsiders. Surprised to see Cleverly and Javid not further up the betting, but not sure the Tory membership are ready for a brown PM.
https://www.oddschecker.com/politics/bri...
Regarding the LD leadership contest, Jo Swinson is miles ahead of any other candidate (and indeed any of the Tory lot). Should be a shoe in.
Finally, it's Groundhog Day in Labour - the more serious the anti-Semitism claims get, the more Corbyn's cronies write their own obituary by blaming it on outlandish conspiracy theories - this week, it's apparently the Jewish Embassy's fault...
Significantly perhaps, during its period of power, the Liberals were strongly against proportional representation. After 1922, they came to be in favour of it. Proportional representation, since then, has sometimes seemed the central cause for which the Liberals stood, but its first appearance in a Liberal manifesto dates from 1922 when it was favoured by the independent Liberals led by Asquith, who had been against proportional representation when he had been in Government.
PR sounds great until you get a hard right populist party polling at 20%, which is where most of Europe is heading, at which point I suspect support for PR from those who think they are likely to benefit the most will quickly melt away.
FPTP probably helped stop the BNP from growing into a serious threat in 2010. On the whole it’s a good thing small parties struggle to get anyway in UK politics.
PR sounds great until you get a hard right populist party polling at 20%, which is where most of Europe is heading, at which point I suspect support for PR from those who think they are likely to benefit the most will quickly melt away.
Democracy is great until people vote for something I don't like shocker
Conveniently forgetting the 40% in the previous GE.
But results don't determine whether a party's on the right, centre, centre-left or left. Your terminology is screwed up.
Not ignoring it but it can be put into context. After less than 2 years of his leadership he got 40%. After a couple more years in the limelight he took Labour to a record defeat.
PR has pros and cons but people who think it will 'solve something' are being sold a pup.
imo STV is ok but anythign with party lists is just a gift for awful party managers
Not ignoring it but it can be put into context. After less than 2 years of his leadership he got 40%. After a couple more years in the limelight he took Labour to a record defeat.
policies remained popular. you can argue corbyn was a problem and recognise the brexit factor but any idea the left cannot win is obvious rot in any context.
It isn't rot when the mass media decide whether they'll tolerate a particular Labour leader or not. This is how we ended up with a waste of space like Starmer.
It isn't rot when the mass media decide whether they'll tolerate a particular Labour leader or not. This is how we ended up with a waste of space like Starmer.
The mass media doesn't decide.
if everyone (or in reality far less than everyone) on the left who thinks KS is awful wouldn't vote for him then he wouldn't be leader or he would have 'remembered' he was left wing.
The problem is people will vote for things/people they really dont want. The tragedy of democracy is that it works - we get what we vote for not what we want.
It's been a while ssionce this ruiniously stupid tory policy was in the news
Schools are spending tens of thousands of pounds more a year to meet rising costs of contracts with private firms.
These Private Finance Initiative (PFI) schools are locked into 25- to 30-year contracts in which charges go up by the highest measure of inflation.
One school said "rigid" and "specific" demands set out in its PFI contract now cost almost 20% of its budget.
PFI the ultimate built-in disaster of privatisation
They used to criticise PR for producing only weak governments.
Or because of ex-post alliances that "deny" voters representation. And party-hopping by elected MPs. Basically the connection between your vote and your representative can be weaker in PR (but it depends a lot on the rules).
Otoh FPTP basically strips people of their voting rights if they live in "skewed" districts. And creates massive problems if politicians can decide what a district is (again, this can be at least partially solved depending on the rules).
But at the end the main idea is that if somebody feels represented by the "main parties", or by the very geographically concentrated ones, he will generally prefer FPTP, if he has a somewhat niche political preference that is shared by some people in his country but not too many, he will prefer PR.
Part 543 of a series of 'our nationalism isn't like other natiionalisms...'
SNP MP's encourage a pile on to a cafe because it is called 'Redcoats'. They somehow haven't noticed it has been called by this name for many years and the name refers to the army unit who was based at the castle. Tricia Marwick below is the (SNP) ex Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, not some fringe cybernat, although you struggle to tell the difference. The fact they all see this as a normal thing to do shows why we are in such a state as a country. Of course this has led to a torrent of abuse, threats to firebomb the place, boycotts (We must be up to triple figures now in businesses they are boycottting), fake reviews etc. The SNP's pet newspaper, The National, is running 3 seperate stories on it. This tedious nationalist shite never ends.
Part 543 of a series of 'our nationalism isn't like other natiionalisms...'
SNP MP's encourage a pile on to a cafe because it is called 'Redcoats'. They somehow haven't noticed it has been called by this name for many years and the name refers to the army unit who was based at the castle. Tricia Marwick below is the (SNP) ex Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, not some fringe cybernat, although you struggle to tell the difference. The fact they all see this as a normal thing to do shows
What the everlasting **** do Scot Nats think the immortal 'Thin Red Line' was? (Clue:- https://argylls.co.uk/remembering-the-ar...)
What the everlasting **** do Scot Nats think the immortal 'Thin Red Line' was? (Clue:- https://argylls.co.uk/remembering-the-ar...)
They don't actually know anything about Scottish history. Their knowledge is gained from tweets telling them the latest subject they should be outraged about. Scottish nationalism is built on numerous myths.
Part 543 of a series of 'our nationalism isn't like other natiionalisms...'
SNP MP's encourage a pile on to a cafe because it is called 'Redcoats'. They somehow haven't noticed it has been called by this name for many years and the name refers to the army unit who was based at the castle. Tricia Marwick below is the (SNP) ex Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, not some fringe cybernat, although you struggle to tell the difference. The fact they all see this as a normal thing to do shows
JFC if ignorance is bliss, these guys must be permanently ecstatic.
I didn't intend to post anything more about the latest nonsense but I genuinely laughed this morning when I seen an article by Douglas Chapman, who is the first person in the tweets I quoted above, calling for less tribalism. You couldn't make it up. They're gaslighting us.
Right wing "commentator" Guido Fawkes letting the mask slip.
Very odd tweet given Labour are actively alienating some Muslims with their position on Isreal/Gaza.
Fun, a recession
