The Political Thread

[Mister Pops]

It’s my understanding that the UN is just a kind of international forum, and can’t “take over” a government, it can only write sternly worded letters.

The UN can no more run a country than this forum can edit the prog.

[The Legendary Shark]

The people would demand it - just as they have demanded being placed under house-arrest and to be injected with an experimental vaccine.

And it is indeed tempting to pool our resources across farming, industry, finance, law, research, defence, social care, medicine so that we can all live better lives, free of all these disruptive local inconsistencies and squabbles. "We can help, if you'll let us." (This does not apply to you, you, you, you, you, or you.)

[Mister Pops]

So what I’m getting from you is that I could start a campaign to supplant Tharg with this forum.

[The Legendary Shark]

I suppose you could, but I wouldn't expect you to get very far. If you put £10K into the effort, you might buy a small chance. With £100K you'd be able to buy a significant chance and with a million you could put your guy (or yourself) into the position with relative ease.

[Mister Pops]

No, not me or a guy appointed by me. This forum, would be running the prog. We'd all have to put our heads together and agree on what kind of prog to put out.

Every week.

I say this with the best will in the world, and don't mean any offense to anyone here, but it just wouldn't work. I'm sure several individuals here could do it, but as a collective it would be a disaster. The forum is not set up to do it. And we don't even need translators to communicate with each other.

Just like the UN isn't set up to take over any country. It's just a place where many highly qualified people* from all over the world come together and try (and often fail) to work together on issues that affect the whole world. It is not a monolithic entity that will usurp a democracy when it judges things have gone all wonky.

I don't think any country on this planet has a single law, policy or piece of legislation that has been enacted and enforced because the UN forced it upon them. Such things may have been adopted because many highly qualified people* from all over the world came together to work on an issue, then governments looked at the fruits of their labour and thought "they might be on to something there, we should probably base policy/legislation/law on these findings made by highly qualified people* from various backgrounds".

*although the probably haven't read every single article on the internet about whatever issue, or watched every single youtube video on said issue.

[Funt Solo]

Clearly, the UN is a complicated mechanism.

It's not a Blofeld-run evil, as the mad hatters might have it, but it's also not just a benign suggestion box, because it does participate in enforcement actions from time to time.

You can dip your toe into something positive-sounding, like the UN's decolonization efforts, and immediately find complexities of aim and result (which is not surprising, given the number of moving parts).

---

That seems to be a distraction from the core discussion of British politics, and the current swing to increasing levels of authoritarianism by the incumbent government, who don't have a viable (or coherent) opposition in a position to stop them.  They are, clearly, in hog heaven.

[Professor Bear]

Give Keir Starmer a chance.  He's just keeping his powder dry.

[Funt Solo]

Another hard-hitting, in-depth article from Auntie Beeb:



I managed to get a copy of the list of aims, so far:

1. Wear pink in support of those gays. They'll like that. Just as long as they don't want to join the firm.
2. Try our very best not to drive away any more mixed race scroungers people.
3. Maybe try a corgi cross-breed - a coodle! That's diverse!
4. Try and get our ginger back from that witch!
5. We already have plenty of hats ... maybe a more diverse property portfolio?

[The Legendary Shark]

One is unconcerned with the physiognomy, pigmentation, or personal preferences of the peasants procured to perform primarily perfunctory procedures in one's pile of palaces.
It must have been one's head butler what done it. Always a bit dodgy, that bugger. Now bring one a Drambuie slammer and throw another corgi on the fire - Love Island's about to start...

[dweezil2]

Another hard-hitting, in-depth article from Auntie Beeb:



I managed to get a copy of the list of aims, so far:

1. Wear pink in support of those gays. They'll like that. Just as long as they don't want to join the firm.
2. Try our very best not to drive away any more mixed race scroungers people.
3. Maybe try a corgi cross-breed - a coodle! That's diverse!
4. Try and get our ginger back from that witch!
5. We already have plenty of hats ... maybe a more diverse property portfolio?

Which reminds me, how's that old sex tourist Andrew getting on, haven't heard from him in a while?
Bet he's gutted that international travel is unlikely to resume anytime soon.
Although private jets are probably exempt.

[Funt Solo]

*from Newsthump, but it's one of those ones where it's difficult to tell it apart from a real news story.

[Professor Bear]

It's a shame that's not a real Labour Party ad, because it would be one of their better efforts.

Murdered teenager fined by police for attempting to prevent her own death.

[IndigoPrime]

Give Keir Starmer a chance.  He's just keeping his powder dry.

His entire strategy appears to be “do whatever is needed to win back the red wall seats”. About the only real positive over the past few months has been his inference Labour might back PR—but I suspect that will vanish in a puff of smoke sooner or later when Labour realises it would therefore never win another majority (even though the chances of that are slim anyway, and zero on an actual majority vote).

With the Lib Dems also now a busted flush, this doesn’t bode well for the next GE, unless things change in a big way. (I’d take heart in the Green vote growing consistently, but every Green vote outside of Lucas’s seat is—bar short money—a wasted vote.)

[Professor Bear]

Utterly, utterly useless. 

[Hawkmumbler]

Labor just lost Liverpool for the next couple of elections. Manchester has been increasingly falling into the Blue as well.

Shit is absolutely fucked.