My first General Election vote was in 1983, and as a result a mere 8 years later Thatcher was ousted! 😃
Agree @bookertease on the whole I have found political parties at the local level to be a pretty closed shop whichever way you vote. I was a member of the local Labour Party in an East London constituency for a short time in the mid nineties and it was a right old talking shop for two or three people...a couple of Blair's advisers lived locally so were always hanging about to the leadership's obvious delight.
@FmG I think the point being made was PR does give a chance to your fringe media Nazis but it might be a price worth paying. You can criticise first past the post for making most constituencies safe seats...but it's still a better system than most.
Sorry - I’m this case I mean Doncaster. But the local branch of the Booker Labour Party are by all accounts…
(Much as the count at the 2019 GE was one of the most depressing nights of my life, the one sliver of light was the look of shock and despair on some of the Labour Party activists when they saw their absolute right (as they saw it) to ‘rule’ Doncaster overthrown in one of the three constituencies. I’d still rather they had won though)
I see the Daily Mail is calling the police investigation into the Beergate in Durham (no charges for Starmer and Rayner) an 'Establishment stitch-up' ! Those working class lads Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson and Jacob William Rees-Mogg must have been spitting out their Newcastle Brown.
The problem is that the leader of the Cons is elected by the pale, stale & mostly male members of the party rather than a wider more representative demographic which is how we end up with the likes of Cameron, May & Johnson; all of whom in their own ways were awful and only interested in feathering the nests of their pals, sponsors & (rich) supporters.
So far the choices with the possible exception of Tugendhat are tainted goods having been part of the Johnson cabal and mostly had their snouts in the gravy.
I realise that this article is out of date, but I thought that the Conservative party membership was at least more gender-balanced than you suggest - I could think of a lot of horsey/Sloane/relentlessly consumerist/self-interested females that might well be paid-up party members.
Culture Sec Nads appearing before the select committee to spout garbage and then have the actual facts about her job explained to her is always a political highlight.
I think the problem is Britain Trump packed his cabinets with grisly vile incompetents who laughed at his jokes so as to avoid any leadership challenges....hence all the stuff about Richie Rishi Sunak and his missis being yanks for tax purposes was leaked when he was starting to get too much good press!
No apologist. Can’t stand the woman. BUT this does demonstrate the poison of social media and MSM. She did something that was crass and unbecoming. The responses from others include tagging in the police, reporting her to the committee of public standards, editing audio of the moment to remove the crowd (not mob) noise to undermine her defence and of course demanding she resign from - well everything of course.
As with so much in politics people need to tone their shit down. We will get another tragedy like Jo Cox if we only have two setting (unwavering support and rage).
Her actions were the Tories' attitude towards the public in microcosm. There will always be some who go way too far with their reaction - I agree we need a much more nuanced approach - but people are well within their rights to be outraged in this instance.
My worry is (and this almost becomes a defence of the tories god forbid) if we react up to 11 when some woman flounces and sticks her finger up how should we react when they something REALLY wrong. This has been the mistake of Labour.
Boris’s downfall has ended up as a death of a thousand cuts admittedly but there are still a lot of people that will flip on Labour if they become just the screaming opposition that only has one level of criticism which is maximum hysteria.
I would prefer the reaction to be more mature and measured rather than trying to suggest that the Met investigate under public outrage laws.
In some ways I completely agree and some ways completely disagree with that.
There have been multiple issues any one of which should have resulted in Johnson's resignation, but until this week he has just decided to ignore convention and stay. This isn't Labour's mistake - the blame falls almost entirely on Johnson and the Tories who enabled him, but also on the press for not making it clear how exceptional recent circumstances have been.
An MP raising their middle finger is rude, but for me not particularly significant. The two things politicians really need to be criticised for are putting in place policies that cause unnecessary misery, and corruption.
I think Neil Oliver summed up the current state of affairs when he said we are having a change of driver but the train is still going to the same place.
Unfortunately you need those in charge to set an example, something BogJob has spectacularly failed to do.
Various footage available suggests that rather than a baying mob, a group of protesters including relatives of those who died due to covid booed some Tory MPs, is this not acceptable?
An MP, let a lone an education minister, should be able to deal with this a bit better than shouting at them all about how they'll somehow regret it and giving them the finger, and her non-apology is so badly written it kind of proves she shouldn't be anywhere near that particular Job. But then if the new Chancellor is being investigated by HMRC , which he now runs, if the attorney general has broken the law several times, isn't qualified and seems to have limited knowledge of the law, and the guy supporting the education ministers response to being asked to wear a mask to stop the spread of a disease was to share a photograph of himself wearing a mask covering his nether regions you wonder about standards.
The top man himself was accused today of trying to find a job for yet another person he was shagging behind his wife's back today and seems to still be in charge of quite a lot despite his own party admitting he has to go and ignored warnings to put a known offender in as a party whip. Also he can't run it past ethics advisers as they've all quit on him as he ignores them.
The reality is from a shallow starting pool anyone who disagreed with him over Brexit, backed anyone else, tried to take him down for his various abuses and acts of idiocy, laziness and self interest had to go along with all those who had the dignity to resign. It leaves some real no marks.
Comments
My first General Election vote was in 1983, and as a result a mere 8 years later Thatcher was ousted! 😃
Agree @bookertease on the whole I have found political parties at the local level to be a pretty closed shop whichever way you vote. I was a member of the local Labour Party in an East London constituency for a short time in the mid nineties and it was a right old talking shop for two or three people...a couple of Blair's advisers lived locally so were always hanging about to the leadership's obvious delight.
@FmG I think the point being made was PR does give a chance to your fringe media Nazis but it might be a price worth paying. You can criticise first past the post for making most constituencies safe seats...but it's still a better system than most.
Sorry - I’m this case I mean Doncaster. But the local branch of the Booker Labour Party are by all accounts…
(Much as the count at the 2019 GE was one of the most depressing nights of my life, the one sliver of light was the look of shock and despair on some of the Labour Party activists when they saw their absolute right (as they saw it) to ‘rule’ Doncaster overthrown in one of the three constituencies. I’d still rather they had won though)
I see the Daily Mail is calling the police investigation into the Beergate in Durham (no charges for Starmer and Rayner) an 'Establishment stitch-up' ! Those working class lads Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson and Jacob William Rees-Mogg must have been spitting out their Newcastle Brown.
Just tried to relay the news to my wife that Nadine Dorries is considering running for leader but couldn't get the sentence out through laughing.
Be afraid. Be very afraid. Their electorate has form in voting for the totally unacceptable and ridiculous.
it would provide absolute proof to whoever once said that history repeats itself as tragedy then farce.
shudder
Be really fucking afraid.
What does that sentence even mean? Is he getting Wanderers82 to write his campaign literature?
The problem is that the leader of the Cons is elected by the pale, stale & mostly male members of the party rather than a wider more representative demographic which is how we end up with the likes of Cameron, May & Johnson; all of whom in their own ways were awful and only interested in feathering the nests of their pals, sponsors & (rich) supporters.
So far the choices with the possible exception of Tugendhat are tainted goods having been part of the Johnson cabal and mostly had their snouts in the gravy.
Have we banned him from Adams Park yet?
Mad Nads recently let slip on Channel 4 news that Johnson was put in place by the tory party donors. You know, Putin basically.
I realise that this article is out of date, but I thought that the Conservative party membership was at least more gender-balanced than you suggest - I could think of a lot of horsey/Sloane/relentlessly consumerist/self-interested females that might well be paid-up party members.
But it seems I'm wrong.
https://qz.com/1644202/who-are-the-160000-conservatives-picking-the-next-uk-prime-minister/
so ye gads, you can't dismiss the chances of BREXIT HARDMAN Baker at all if that lot have the final say.
Just imagine it - "untainted by BoJo affiliations", "just the kind of guy we need to stand up to the EU" etc.
Culture Sec Nads appearing before the select committee to spout garbage and then have the actual facts about her job explained to her is always a political highlight.
https://twitter.com/bphillipsonMP/status/1545476559364055041?t=-8fMvchzQPVFD0qU8ARh7g&s=19
She's now an education minister btw. Vile.
https://twitter.com/hugorifkind/status/1545483203678535684?t=nqfsE8zfGyTWV9MXBdlb-w&s=19
Joy Morrissey is the reason actual Morrissey isn't even the worst Morrissey
Pretty sure Morrissey is still worse.
Phew. At least Baker’s a non-runner.
https://twitter.com/stevebakerhw/status/1545508480718626817?s=21&t=YDNwhx80-wpOJ34oyADzfA
But he’s backed the most reactionary candidate.
The state of this from the new education secretary:
https://twitter.com/andreajenkyns/status/1545741677301727232?t=jgiV2NlC9s9QesnuSBxfsA&s=19
Appalling. https://twitter.com/AvaSantina/status/1545752376635805698?t=C0GsYpiJSCeNIceWtfRpww&s=19
I think the problem is Britain Trump packed his cabinets with grisly vile incompetents who laughed at his jokes so as to avoid any leadership challenges....hence all the stuff about Richie Rishi Sunak and his missis being yanks for tax purposes was leaked when he was starting to get too much good press!
No apologist. Can’t stand the woman. BUT this does demonstrate the poison of social media and MSM. She did something that was crass and unbecoming. The responses from others include tagging in the police, reporting her to the committee of public standards, editing audio of the moment to remove the crowd (not mob) noise to undermine her defence and of course demanding she resign from - well everything of course.
As with so much in politics people need to tone their shit down. We will get another tragedy like Jo Cox if we only have two setting (unwavering support and rage).
https://twitter.com/Queen_UK/status/1545762809681788928
Amusing if nothing else!
Her actions were the Tories' attitude towards the public in microcosm. There will always be some who go way too far with their reaction - I agree we need a much more nuanced approach - but people are well within their rights to be outraged in this instance.
My worry is (and this almost becomes a defence of the tories god forbid) if we react up to 11 when some woman flounces and sticks her finger up how should we react when they something REALLY wrong. This has been the mistake of Labour.
Boris’s downfall has ended up as a death of a thousand cuts admittedly but there are still a lot of people that will flip on Labour if they become just the screaming opposition that only has one level of criticism which is maximum hysteria.
I would prefer the reaction to be more mature and measured rather than trying to suggest that the Met investigate under public outrage laws.
Are you able to share your source showing the audio was edited?
I’ve seen multiple videos from different sources and I can’t discern much difference between them.
In some ways I completely agree and some ways completely disagree with that.
There have been multiple issues any one of which should have resulted in Johnson's resignation, but until this week he has just decided to ignore convention and stay. This isn't Labour's mistake - the blame falls almost entirely on Johnson and the Tories who enabled him, but also on the press for not making it clear how exceptional recent circumstances have been.
An MP raising their middle finger is rude, but for me not particularly significant. The two things politicians really need to be criticised for are putting in place policies that cause unnecessary misery, and corruption.
I think Neil Oliver summed up the current state of affairs when he said we are having a change of driver but the train is still going to the same place.
Unfortunately you need those in charge to set an example, something BogJob has spectacularly failed to do.
Various footage available suggests that rather than a baying mob, a group of protesters including relatives of those who died due to covid booed some Tory MPs, is this not acceptable?
An MP, let a lone an education minister, should be able to deal with this a bit better than shouting at them all about how they'll somehow regret it and giving them the finger, and her non-apology is so badly written it kind of proves she shouldn't be anywhere near that particular Job. But then if the new Chancellor is being investigated by HMRC , which he now runs, if the attorney general has broken the law several times, isn't qualified and seems to have limited knowledge of the law, and the guy supporting the education ministers response to being asked to wear a mask to stop the spread of a disease was to share a photograph of himself wearing a mask covering his nether regions you wonder about standards.
The top man himself was accused today of trying to find a job for yet another person he was shagging behind his wife's back today and seems to still be in charge of quite a lot despite his own party admitting he has to go and ignored warnings to put a known offender in as a party whip. Also he can't run it past ethics advisers as they've all quit on him as he ignores them.
The reality is from a shallow starting pool anyone who disagreed with him over Brexit, backed anyone else, tried to take him down for his various abuses and acts of idiocy, laziness and self interest had to go along with all those who had the dignity to resign. It leaves some real no marks.