The Political Thread

[JayzusB.Christ]

I don't ACTUALLY want to see priests and kings strangled with entrails...

What happened to you man, you used to be cool.

Well... maybe strangled with entrails in a nice, polite manner; so as not to upset them TOO much.
(I'm way too old to be cool.)

[The Legendary Shark]

So, the EU - like all "governments" - is desperate for money. It produces nothing, engages in no trade and can only raise revenue through parasitic and coercive theft. Now it's come up with a new wheeze crime: the internet link tax.

Save the Link.

[Professor Bear]

That'll be five pence, Sharky.

[The Legendary Shark]

Put in on my bill.

[COMMANDO FORCES]

I don't normally watch the BBC news but that tournament is on ITV at the moment.

Anyway, it seems that in the Labour heartland of Hartlepool, nearly all the voters are voting out next week. I wonder what this says about the typical labour voters that the party are trying to reach.

[Frank]

in the Labour heartland of Hartlepool, nearly all the voters are voting out next week. I wonder what this says about the typical labour voters that the party are trying to reach.

A seaside strategy is being deployed by the UK Independence party which will see the eurosceptic party target faded coastal areas of the UK.

Ukip voters are overwhelmingly white and poorer than the rest of the population, with nearly four out of five having total household annual income of less than £34,000. They were also older than the average among the electorate, and more likely to be retired.

The majority of England's large seaside towns have worse levels of deprivation than the country as a whole. Ranked by seven indicators of deprivation including income, employment and health, the three worst-performing areas were Skegness, Blackpool and Clacton.

In the 2010 general election, Ukip secured 9.5 per cent of the vote in Boston and Skegness – its best performance by far.

Most parliamentary seats in deprived areas are currently held by Labour. Of the 20 seats considered to be the most "demographically receptive" to Ukip by the British academic Matthew Goodwin, 18 have Labour incumbents.

http://blogs.ft.com/ftdata/2014/09/01/ukip-do-like-to-be-beside-the-seaside/

[IndigoPrime]

Anyway, it seems that in the Labour heartland of Hartlepool, nearly all the voters are voting out next week. I wonder what this says about the typical labour voters that the party are trying to reach.

Says more about people than parties. They're pissed off, angry and lashing out but can't in the main be arsed to engage with politics. So we're in the situation now where whichever populist arsehole promises the most magic beans wins votes. This is the UK's GoP/Tea Party moment, and it's about the dive all-in.

Priti Patel's performance on Today summed things up. No real plan. Keep repeating the bullshit and people will believe it. And the poorest are going to suffer, having actually voted for it. I don't even.

[Jim_Campbell]

Priti Patel's performance on Today summed things up. No real plan. Keep repeating the bullshit and people will believe it.

No, no, no. She was perfectly clear. You can tell she was perfectly clear, because every second sentence she said was "Let me be perfectly clear". It's about takin' back control of our spendin'. It's about stopping the EU from spending our money on certain things, but then spending the exact same amount of money on the exact same things, but also spending the extra money we will then magically have on other things. Oh, and cutting VAT, which will reduce government receipts but will also somehow have the effect of the government having more money.

It was the most astonishingly dishonest chunk of political fantasy I've heard in ages. Until Osborne came along later and opened his mouth.

Cheers

Jim

[TordelBack]

It's about stopping the EU from spending our money on certain things, but then spending the exact same amount of money on the exact same things, but also spending the extra money we will then magically have on other things. Oh, and cutting VAT, which will reduce government receipts but will also somehow have the effect of the government having more money.

I nearly crashed the car shouting at the radio during that interview. And it's not even my country she was talking about. Her inability to even estimate the revenue value of VAT on fuel when its abolition was one of only TWO concrete things she was proposing as benefits of leaving...

[Dandontdare]

Just been reading about Geldof vs Farage in the Battle of the Thames. Funniest political story I've read in ages 

[IndigoPrime]

I'd find it funnier if it wasn't being spun as 'Nigel the hero' by many outlets, despite him doing the sum total of fuck-all to help those in the fishing industry during his time as an MEP. It's like at the GE—Farage is everyone's friend, and a great deal of the media loves it. But it's all surface. When anyone actually bothers digging for some evidence, it all goes to hell.

[Colin Zeal]

Farage and Geldof on the Thames made me embarrassed to be a Londoner.

[The Legendary Shark]

I was sickened to get a round-robin email from Avaaz using the murder of Jo Cox to get in a "Vote Stay" message.

[Hawkmumbler]

I was sickened to get a round-robin email from Avaaz using the murder of Jo Cox to get in a "Vote Stay" message.

Nick Griffin can trump that in vulgarity, quite easily.

[CrazyFoxMachine]

I was sickened to get a round-robin email from Avaaz using the murder of Jo Cox to get in a "Vote Stay" message.

Naw.

It's weird to see folk baulk at people 'using' her diabolical murder 'for political point-scoring'. SHE WAS A POLITICIAN. I think it'd be disrespectful to her tireless work in life to just separate her in death from it. She went down the bloody Thames the day before holding the "IN" flag. She clearly cared about it. Activisim websites like Avaaz mentioning her to forward progressive goals just isn't offensive to me. People storming through the streets using her name to bash up suspected fascists would, I feel, be a horrendous diversion of her goals as a person. Which seemed largely positive, largely non-violent.

Here's her tribute GoFundMe supporting relevant causes - if you care enough about her aims as an individual to be offended by an e-mail, spend your energy flinging some money there: https://www.gofundme.com/jocox