The Political Thread

[sheridan]

Greens.  Who cares?  Arguably the Greens are more irrelevant than UKIP now, because let's face it, the Tories stand for nothing and there's not a single green policy that's going to get passed in the years to come.  Green MPs may as well go sailing - I think they'd like that.

They've gained six seats so I'm guessing somebody does (and how can a party with 40 seats be more irrelevant than a party that now has none?)  Not sure what green policies you're talking about there - these were local elections, not national.

UKIP still have several hundred council seats in England and Wales - only a fraction of English councils were up for election last night.

The news report I'd seen didn't make it clear that there were still results to come in (and I was only talking about this week's elections).

[Theblazeuk]

Well at least things didn't go as shit as they could in France, eh.

[JayzusB.Christ]

Nice to see Nazis aren't quite as popular in Europe as they are in the US. The EU will make it yet

[Professor Bear]

Trump has fired the guy investigating Trump's links to Russia, FBI director James Comey - despite his only being 3 years into the 10-year fixed term of service in the role intended to stop just this kind of thing from happening.
Pretty sure this is how the opening credits montage of dystopian dramas begin.

[JamesC]

Trump has fired the guy investigating Trump's links to Russia, FBI director James Comey - despite his only being 3 years into the 10-year fixed term of service in the role intended to stop just this kind of thing from happening.
Pretty sure this is how the opening credits montage of dystopian dramas begin.

But something to bear in mind is that Snake Plissken isn't real. So if Trump builds a big wall around Manhatten and then falls in there'll be no one to get him out.

[JayzusB.Christ]

Trump has fired the guy investigating Trump's links to Russia, FBI director James Comey - despite his only being 3 years into the 10-year fixed term of service in the role intended to stop just this kind of thing from happening.
Pretty sure this is how the opening credits montage of dystopian dramas begin.

This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper. 

[CalHab]

This is how democracies end, at least.

[TordelBack]

Trump has fired the guy investigating Trump's links to Russia, FBI director James Comey - despite his only being 3 years into the 10-year fixed term of service in the role intended to stop just this kind of thing from happening.
Pretty sure this is how the opening credits montage of dystopian dramas begin.

But something to bear in mind is that Snake Plissken isn't real. So if Trump builds a big wall around Manhatten and then falls in there'll be no one to get him out.

Nonsense - he was in GotG2 only last week, and he's had that eye fixed and everything.  Although I had heard he was dead...

[CalHab]

David Squires moves to political cartooning. As funny as ever and I don't even need to look up the football references!:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2017/may/15/david-squires-on-theresa-may-meeting-voters-hip-hop-ids-and-aspirational-foxes

[Professor Bear]

Tory manifesto published today.
Surprised no-one had anything to say about Labour's manifesto - I mean, the fuckers filled it with nationalisation talk and then published it as a little red book, you couldn't ask for better trolling than that - but the Tory one is genuinely confusing, as it seems to be some sort of declaration of war on pensioners, free school meals, foxes, that environment thing that foxes live in - oh, and it promises there will be no press regulator for the media, but instead, the state will establish a body to regulate the internet.  I mention this just in case you were wondering why old media types from the Mail to the Guardian will be wanking themselves daft over it.
Anyway, the pensioners thing is what gets me, as I was under the impression that the elderly were the Tories' core voter base, it seems a bit mad to go after them, but then it seems to be full of mad things: deregulated environmental protection, removing caps and freezes on rail fares - apart from billionaires and the UK press, there doesn't seem to be any actual beneficiaries of this thing.

[NapalmKev]

I think the Tories are going for broke! They've convinced themselves that they can't possibly Lose and are bringing all of their core principles prejudices to the fore!

I will laugh my ass off when this backfires on them and Corbyn strides boldly into 10 Downing Street!

Cheers

[Theblazeuk]

Given that most people will only read as much of the manifesto as makes it on to the front page of the Daily Mail, the Express, Telegraph, Standard and Metro.... I think they can  be pretty confident the empty promises will get all the talk and the hidden stingers will be buried if mentioned at all. Sadly even the BBC, whose head political staff just mere days ago were all suddenly about where will the money come from do these figures add up haven't really bothered with any follow ups.

On my walk to the docs this morning, Zac Goldsmith's face is all over some of the posher houses. Zero mention of 'KEEPING HIS PROMISE' in 2015. I wish I'd kept all his flyers from the byelection they would make great things to hand out now.

[IndigoPrime]

Two things the Tories haven't done: there's nothing about cutting back the power of the Lords; and there's an admission we'll remain in the ECHR. The slimmest of silver linings, but they're both something. But, yes, the rest of the manifesto appears to be various degrees of abhorrent, but it'll be a 'mandate' for whatever the hell this party wants to do over the coming years. Everything's in there from the hardest of Brexits to potentially severe changes to the way the internet is dealt with in the UK (hello, Chinese-style British firewall!), and it's awful. Still, I was very slightly heartened to see a written manifesto commitment to safeguarding the rights of EU nationals, even if it was painfully slim on details.

As for other points above, Goldsmith is a disgrace, but could easily win back his seat. On current polling, the Lib Dems have precisely no safe seats – even Clegg and Farron might be out. And down in Brighton, even Caroline Lucas's position is looking very wobbly, thanks to Labour being morons and not standing down from a single seat they cannot win (despite the Green Party standing down to boost Labour's chances in the seat next door). Still, Labour hate the Greens, and so they'll probably prefer a Tory in that seat than Lucas, while they parade about on the telly boasting about 170 seats somehow being a success.

(Interestingly, Electoral Calculus has at least swung back to a Lucas lead. But six Lib Dems? Urgh. It would be lovely to have a party in England that actually cares about the EU and liberalism. It looks like Gideon Osborne's reported idea of setting up the Democrats party alongside what remains of the LDs and the right of Labour might have to be the way forwards next time round.)

[Theblazeuk]

Labour being morons and not standing down from a single seat they cannot win (despite the Green Party standing down to boost Labour's chances in the seat next door). Still, Labour hate the Greens, and so they'll probably prefer a Tory in that seat than Lucas, while they parade about on the telly boasting about 170 seats somehow being a success.

The attitude towards the Green Party (and to some extent the SNP) is one of the biggest own-goals of Labour in my experience as a member and a voter. It just boils down to Tribalism. And perpetuates the complete fiction we are told about how our electoral system and parliamentary representation actually works in practice.

[IndigoPrime]

It showcases a baffling level of arrogance combined with a lack of understanding in the current state of play. Labour has the win here. It's the biggest party by far in terms of seats and votes, bar the Conservatives. It could dictate the state of play. Stand aside for Lucas. Perhaps cede Bristol West. In return (and possibly also for PR), the Greens would stand down in dozens of seats where it could make a difference. Now do the same with the Lib Dems. That party may be well down in voting terms on historical levels, but a Lab/Lib deal could have major repercussions on the fabric of this country. Had this happened, it might still not have been enough to stop a Tory majority, but it may well have stopped it growing, and it could have created a framework for a progressive coalition win next time round.

Instead, we get the usual tribalism bullshit, with a very real danger the Labour Party will be responsible for a decapitation end-game for at least one – and possibly two – other parties. (Presumably, the assume they'll scoop up the voters. But I imagine few Greens will cross, and Lib Dems are just as likely to go Tory as Labour – or to wait and see if another centrist party rises from the ashes.)