The Political Thread

[Steve Green]

Mm.

As for 'corruption' in Europe, I don't see things being better here. If anything, EU regulations have stifled a lot of sell-offs and hideous decisions, but there you go.

It'll be interesting tonight to see what Boris decides is best for Boris and the future of Boris, given that a lot of people will follow his lead. (My guess is he'll campaign to leave, which will obliterate DC/GO and Goldsmith, but give Boris a run at a very senior cabinet post on before 2020. But, hey, screw London, which will be hit hard.)

Goldsmith is campaigning to leave.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-35625097

[IndigoPrime]

Yep. Astonishing.

[Steve Green]

Louise Mensch tweeted 13 million voted for UKIP, then when called up on the figure (closer to 3 million), she claims a typo.

Unfortunately she actually typed "Thirteen"

Some typo.

https://twitter.com/LouiseMensch/status/701384445237010432?lang=en-gb

[GordonR]

Yep. Astonishing.

Astonishing that the son of rabid europhobe (and founder of the Referendum Party - remember that)  Sir James Goldsmith would turn out to be anti-EU, or astonishing that he thinks this is going to boost his chances in his bid to become mayor of the most pro-EU part of England?

[IndigoPrime]

Astonishing that he thinks it will help his bid. Sadiq Khan's looking like a very good bet now.

[Spikes]

One of the reasons why I'll be voting to stay in, is the calibre of the people that want us leave...

[IndigoPrime]

Farage. Galloway. Grayling. IDS. Murdoch. Now Boris.

I think the main question people should ask is why most of these are in favour of quitting. *cough*moneyandmakethericherricher*cough*

Mostly, we just keep hearing nebulous comments about getting control of our country back, but there's little concrete. (IDS has, I see, decided to rampage down the 'EU means terrorist attacks' route. Classy. What an absolute shit.)

[Something Fishy]

One of the reasons why I'll be voting to stay in, is the calibre of the people that want us leave...

Indeed.  In fact the though of the rights for working people that Europe have delivered being stripped by nasty cretins like IDS and Gove has pretty much made my mind up now.

[JPMaybe]

So, with the Nevada caucus over another lowlife is defenestrated from the Republican clown car with Jeb Bush's concession.  With him goes the perverse schadenfreude of watching Trump wail on him, like a big dumb bully wedgying a little creep.

On the other side the brazen con-job the Clintons have managed to pull on black America paid off, and the mass-incarcerating racist, bellicose, asset-stripping neolib, beats the decent socialist.  The USA could have a decent person as president for the first time since 1977; that it will probably be yet another supine corporatist is heartbreaking.

[Professor Bear]

It's pretty clear the Democrats will never let Sanders win the nomination, as the caucas/superdelegates system has already rigged things in Clinton's favor, making vote-tampering a part of the actual process.  For example, busloads of older voters were shipped into Nevada early and then the voting was halted at noon so that younger/working people couldn't vote during their lunch - and guess who younger and working people vote for, and who older conservative people vote for?  The superdelegates system is also similar to the UK's FPTP system in that counties/states' representatives decide who to support without having to reflect the will of the electorate - Sanders can win the popular vote, but still not get the presidential nomination.

The sad thing is that Sanders is the only Democrat who polls well against the Republican candidates.  The popular notion is that Clinton simply isn't trustworthy compared to Trump's bluntness, and her only hope of making gains against him will be if she can elicit sympathy during the inevitable car-crash debates with Trump where he keeps throwing her husband's infidelity while in office in her face - because let's face it, there's no way that isn't going to happen.

[Professor Bear]

Ireland today goes to the polls to choose between one of two parties: the one founded by a terrorist, or the one founded by the terrorist that killed him.  The vote can go either way, as the parties are on opposite ends of the Irish political spectrum: one is on the right, the other is on the center-right.  Meanwhile, the EU runs the country anyway.

[TordelBack]

I'm not sure it's even that complex. This time we just get to influence the makeup of the coalition that will keep the party that implemented water charges in power. Will it involve the party who helped implement water charges, the party who originally agreed to implementing water charges, the party who installed water meters in NI but doesn't think they'll ever be used, or the various who say they'll abolish water charges and not much else? Nail-biting stuff. As long as you think all this is more important than getting an MRi in less than a year,  a hospital bed, a non-religious school or somewhere for your kids to sleep.


(My favourite bit is where it turns out that out of the 200 million allegedly raised so far by water charges, only 6 million will be left after 'costs' to actually upgrade and maintain the water supply. So we could all just have chucked in a handful of change into a collection bucket marked 'Dear Liza' and it would have amounted to the same thing).

[IndigoPrime]

Water charges are great. We got our meters here in Hampshire upgraded with no right to refuse. We were told in some glowingly written copy that are bills would likely fall with average usage. Immediately, our direct debit almost doubled. The meters are only checked twice yearly. Classy.

[TordelBack]

Reading Irish online responses to the bulldozing of the Jungle and teargassing of children on the Greece/Macedonia border makes me feel ill. You would think that we of all nations would understand mass emigration as a response to crisis. I never want to read another hypocritical fucking word from any of these vile people about coffin ships, 'no dogs, no Irish' or the Famine as deliberate genocide, not fucking ever again. If you can't express sympathy, you can't seek it from others.

[JayzusB.Christ]

If you can't express sympathy, you can't seek it from others.

I think we both know that all illegal Irish in the US should be given an amnesty; while immigrants to Ireland can fuck off.  It's only fair.