The Political Thread

[JayzusB.Christ]

Fuxake, even Dubya was man enough to visit in the face of (entirely justified) protests. President Fuckface really likes to be liked, and i can't help relishing the thought of him hating to be hated.

[Professor Bear]

"Sir Nigel Farage"
Get used to that extra syllable.
"Sir Nigel Farage"
DUP want him to be a lord and be part of negotiations with the EU, apparently.
"Sir Nigel Farage"
And sure why not?  The EU fuckin loves Sir Nigel Farage.  After Brexit, they broke their usual routine in the European Parliament just so members could tell him what they thought about him now he was leaving.  I can just picture him coming in to negotiations and the EU negotiators interrupt their train of thought about what's possible for Britain and think "oh I know exactly what they're getting now."
"Sir Nigel Farage"
Roll it around your tongue until you can fucking taste it.

[Steve Green]

Banks sticking his diamond-mine owning face in there again I see.

[Tjm86]

DUP want him to be a lord and be part of negotiations with the EU, apparently.

For a moment I thought this was a joke or fake news.  Maybe it is.  Seriously?  I need to check the side effects of my medication.  Apparently Pregabilin can cause hallucinations. I've got to be based on some of the stuff I've read the past two days.

This weekend has seen politics enter the Twilight zone, pass through Oz, take a detour into Wonderland and is now in the same place that William Burroughs was when he wrote Naked Lunch.  Parliament hasn't even begun sitting again and the government is screwing things up insanely.  Any moment now it will be revealed that Theresa May is in fact James Jaspers.

[Mikey]

DUP want him to be a lord and be part of negotiations with the EU, apparently.

Dear shitting Christ. Much as I like this to be made up, it sounds entirely like something they'd come up with.

[Goaty]

Theresa May should know how massive fuck up everything is, and why she do it and what to gain from it? Was it to pleased her tax-avoid friends?

[TordelBack]

Any moment now it will be revealed that Theresa May is in fact James Jaspers.

Quip of the week right there.

[Dandontdare]

Oh FFS, now Gove's back

[Tjm86]

What the hell is going on?  Every time you think it can't get any more bonkers ....


.... seriously?


... just .....

... stop .... just ...

... no more.

Look.  The first one or two jokes were funny.  Nice bit of satire.  Struck the right tone and all that.  Little bit clever in places.  But then it started to get silly.  You just took it too far.


... you know what's going to happen.  Your little sister will get over excited, someone is going to get hurt, something is going to get broken.


... before you know it you'll be in your bedroom in tears crying about how unfair it all is.

Seriously. Learn when to stop.

[IndigoPrime]

Environment? Urgh. He was good at justice, but that's all.

[Professor Bear]

"Less oppressively Dickensian than Chris Grayling" is arguably a long way from "good."

[Supreme Pizza Of The DPRK]

Environment? Urgh. He was good at justice, but that's all.

Nice to see someone with experience was chosen.....oh wait.....

[Jim_Campbell]

So... today I wrote an actual letter to my MP. I would plead with every one of you (those represented by a Westminster MP, at least) to write or email your own MP and say something similar. Regardless of your political allegiances, this is of critical importance.

I've pasted the text of the letter below. I won't apologise for its length, because this is so important.

Please feel free to swipe some or all of it, if you don't have time to compose a letter of your own from scratch. But, please, please let your MP know that you object to this dangerous course of action.


Dear Mr Jenrick,

I write to express my utter dismay at the actions of your party in seeking to make a parliamentary arrangement with the Democratic Unionist Party in order to gain sufficient votes for the Conservatives to continue governing.

I won't dwell on the irony of the extensive attacks on Labour and Jeremy Corbyn and his 'terrorist' connections from a party that now seeks a political arrangement with DUP, which has the explicit and open endorsement of the UDA.

I won't focus on the DUP's unconscionable stance on LGBTQ rights, women's rights, reproductive rights, and climate change, nor even on the alarming popularity of 'Young Earth Creationism' amongst their MPs.
I wish, rather, to discuss with you the catastrophic failure of patriotic duty this marriage of convenience represents in your own party.

Whilst I acknowledge that the Conservatives emerged from the general election with the largest number of seats by some margin, and, indeed, that the very purpose of any political party is to form governments, it is incumbent on all political parties to put country before party.

David Cameron put party before country when he led us into the disastrous EU Referendum entirely as a ploy to placate the eurosceptic right of the Conservative Party. Theresa May put party before country when she held this entirely unnecessary general election with the sole and admitted intent of bolstering her party's parliamentary majority and her own position within the party.

Both of these actions were motivated entirely by internal party political concerns and have damaged the country.

Now, the Conservative party seeks to form an alliance with the Democratic Unionist Party. I have to ask: is no one in the Conservative party paying attention to what is currently happening in Northern Ireland, or is it that you just don't care?

The Good Friday Agreement is fundamentally imperilled by the Conservatives' stated course of action for withdrawing from the EU. Free movement of people is essential to the GFA and the European Convention on Human Rights is a foundation stone of the agreement.

Take that very real threat to the Good Friday Agreement and add to it the deteriorating political situation in Northern Ireland. There is, effectively, no government at Stormont, and has not been for several months. James Brokenshire has singularly failed to break the impasse between the DUP and Sinn Fein and has instead, simply avoided dealing with the problem by extending the deadline by which a government must be formed or direct rule from Westminster imposed.

The political situation in Northern Ireland is precariously balanced; the Good Friday Agreement is under real and serious threat; there is an alarming uptick in ground-level sectarianism...

...And the response of the Conservative party is to make an electoral pact with one of the two disagreeing parties. Arguably, this is a dereliction of your responsibilities under the Good Friday Agreement, which enshrines the impartiality of the Westminster government in its pages: Article 1 of the agreement states that the UK and Irish governments should act with "rigorous impartiality on behalf of all the people in the diversity of their identities and traditions".

Any argument suggesting that that a partnership/coalition/pact/arrangement with the DUP is not a flagrant dereliction of that responsibility relies on sophistry and pedantry and is fundamentally intellectually dishonest.

Even if you personally, or the Conservatives collectively, choose to convince yourselves that such an argument means you are respecting your GFA obligations, I am compelled to ask: How do you think this looks to the Catholic community in Northern Ireland? Not merely the Republicans, but the Catholic community in general. The Conservatives are explicitly and openly siding with the hard-line Unionist faction in Northern Ireland politics.

And you are are doing so for the narrowest of short term political advantage. The Conservatives have failed to take account of the threat to the Good Friday Agreement presented by leaving the European Union; failed to resolve the dangerous impasse that currently exists in Northern Ireland politics; and are now handing direct political influence to one faction within that impasse.

In addition to Theresa May's risible claim to be strong in her stance against new terrorist threats, the Conservative party appears quite happy to stoke up the fires of the old terrorist threats, heedless of anything other than shortest term political advantage.

This, sir, is fundamentally unpatriotic and brings disrepute to the already-tarnished reputation of British politics. If blood is spilled once more on the streets of Ulster or Belfast, then it will stain the hands of the Conservative party, who have put political advantage ahead of the well-being of the people of the United Kingdom.

I urge you to act with both your conscience and in the national interest and exert whatever influence you can bring to bear on the leadership of your party to persuade them to reconsider this reckless and dangerous course of action.

Yours sincerely,


Jim Campbell

[Goaty]

This is perfect letter that explains it right. Well done, Jim.

[Goaty]

Wait a minute, 14 millions voted for Tory Manifesto, and now they torn it up? Wise move, government(!)