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The Political Thread

Started by The Legendary Shark, 09 April, 2010, 03:59:03 PM

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pauljholden

Quote from: sheridan on 22 January, 2022, 10:30:01 PM
Keeping detailed files on 'leverage' which could be applied by the whips when necessary has been a thing for decades - unusual for it to be mentioned in public though.

I wonder if there's not a couple of things going on here, firstly, I think most of the new cohort don't have the decades worth of leverage a longer term politician might have - not only because they're from 2019 but the last few years lockdown has changed the landscape a great deal over what you can do. Meaning the whip has had to resort to far less subtle measures of coercion.

Secondly, I wonder if these new tories are maybe not feelin more existential pressure from their previously labour voting constituents - requiring a stronger bit of arm twisting.

Thirdly, I suspect too they just aren't used to the idea "well, a bit of coerican is just how things get done round here" - this might be a generational thing, I dunno.

And finally, Johnson is a nasty bit of work, and stands to reason he's gonna surround himself in other nasty bits of work and what they lack in charm they probably make up for in weapon's grade dickheadery.


JayzusB.Christ

#18901
Just checked yougov and he's at 22% in the approval ratings.  Surely there's no way back from that?

And yeah, from slashing benefits for the most needy, through trying to make protesting illegal, to blithely opening the floodgates to a potential resurgence of Northern Ireland's troubles, the Tories are doing far worse things, but this is law breaking and a near-sociopathic sense of disregard for the sense of common good that the rest of us abided by.

I know he's not my PM but what his crowd does affects us too.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

Tjm86

I hear what you're saying JBC.  I think you're also spot on across the board.  What the Tories have done to the UK over the past decade is nothing short of criminal. 

The most disturbing thing about this whole situation is that it was so blessed obvious this was going to happen.  Given his track record this was as predictable as the sun rising.  So this speaks volumes for the judgement of the Tory party as a whole.

Which brings me to the next terrifying aspect of all of this.  As despicable as Johnson has been, even the most cursory examination of potential contenders is enough to make you reach for the black pill.  Liz Truss as PM?  Raab?  Sunak?  Gove?  Tugenhadt?

Aye, what the whole crowd does affects all of us, and not for the better.

Funt Solo

I read in the news that BJ "welcomes the police investigation". I suppose: what else could he say? And - he probably does welcome it. It allows him to shelve his own non-independent investigation into his own behavior and keep hiding behind the "well, we can't say anything until the findings..." bullshit that he's been peddling for ages.

Adolf Rees-Mogg was even clearer when interviewed and basically said that the tactic was to just wait a couple of years, by which time he calculates that the plebs would have moved on in their thinking and not pay much attention to the partying while people were busy going through unimaginable grief and loss.

When I read about the birthday party, I had two thoughts: (1) now he's finally done and (2) people are so bored of this story now that it won't make a blind bit of difference.

I will not be at all surprised if the Tories internal investigation finds that everything was somehow work and therefore fine, that the PM doesn't know where he is or what he's doing, ever, so can't be held accountable and that the Police investigation finds no evidence of wrongdoing. It seems to be going that way, so if anything else happens I'll be pleasantly surprised.

(But by then we might be at war with Russia, so...)
++ A-Z ++  coma ++


IndigoPrime

With Johnson, it is quite something what people are willing to forgive. It does feel like the sheer level of "I don't give a shit about you plebs" has had some cut-through, but there's still a very stubborn 30% of the population that is now clearly core right-wing Tory, and probably up to another 10% that would support the party in a GE. My hope remains that the Libs will strengthen in core support areas and Labour will do enough that we'll end up with 300 Labour MPs and a rump of Libs that can somehow force Labour's hand on PR. I suspect I'll be disappointed in some way either by Labour kicking the shit out of the Libs come the GE, rather than doing a 1997-style non-aggression thing, or in Labour getting a majority (and thereby kicking PR into the sea) or a minority and demanding others do its bidding by saying it'll otherwise be their fault if we end up with a further GE and Tory govt.

Mind you, even the 'good' scenario there is two years away, during which time these arseholes in power will do as much damage as they can.

Funt Solo

Ian Blackford told to leave the Commons for being the only person there willing to tell the truth. Shurely he should realize that politicians aren't supposed to be honest - especially in the House of Commons.
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

Trooper McFad

Blackford kicked out for telling the truth but Boris is allowed to spout an untruth regarding Starmer and not prosecuting Saville and not asked to withdraw that comment. The Speaker should ask him to return and correct the record. I won't hold my breath.

Citizens are Perps who haven't been caught ... yet!

JayzusB.Christ

One tiny glimmer of hope is that Johnson's vicious little jibe doesn't seem to have gone down with his staff and the public as well as Trump's similar nastiness does over the other side of the Atlantic.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

Funt Solo

++ A-Z ++  coma ++

IndigoPrime

The jibe has become the conversation, though, which is what he wanted. In some people's minds, the link is there, and that won't be broken. Another reason we need overhaul and possibly the removal of things like parliamentary privilege.


The Legendary Shark


Seems to me like Boris is doing his job* exceptionally well.


*Distracting.

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Definitely Not Mister Pops

I doubt you'll find much disagreement with that sentiment.

Meanwhile the government in Northern Ireland is set to fall into its ground state of disfunction and crisis.
You may quote me on that.

The Legendary Shark

#18914

[Drunenkpost/ #whatever]

Quote from: Mister Pops on 04 February, 2022, 12:35:32 AM

I doubt you'll find much disagreement with that sentiment.


I wish.

There's so much going on in this world that is just plain evil. Good, to me, is that which promotes and encourages human life, human achievement, and human habitat. Evil, again to me, is that which is against such things. To me, seven or eight (or even twenty) billion human beings on the planet is a Good Thing because we are, each and every one of us, beings of infinite worth and potential. One person might do one or two good things in our lives (I myself have been a small part of two on this forum and others which... are none of your concern), two people might come up with four or five, three with more, and billions... Well, the possibilities are endless.

But governments stamp us down. That is their purpose - to make us feel like a cancer, a plague, an evil in ourselves - in order for a very, very few to live like gods while the rest of us scrabble for their crumbs and actually believe that we are cancers, plagues, and evils. Because that's what we are told. But few of us are evil, few of us are cancerous, few of us are plagues. In my experience, most of us are Good People. Not all, to be sure, but most of us, and this holds true for the overwhelming majority of "Americans," "Iraqis," "Russians," "Chinese," "British," or whatever. We are all human beings. We are all creatures of infinite worth and potential. Every last one of us - even Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, if they would but believe it.
But they don't. They believe that they, and only they, have any worth or potential. To them, the rest of us are "useless eaters," as Henry Kissinger famously labelled us. If you don't have an income measured in the billions, what good are you? Ask governments and they will say "not much," but ask your loved ones - your spouses, your daughters, your sons, your friends - and what will their answer be? You don't need me to tell you. You know. You are priceless. We all are.

It's high time that we all understand that governments are a part of society, not in charge of it. It's their job to organise healthcare and infrastructure and housing and education, not to dictate How Things Must Be or Who Is Your Enemy. Your enemy is evil. Period.

Your enemy is not death, for death comes to us all. Planets die. Suns die. Galaxies die. You will die. I will die - probably quite soon, as it goes, for I've already had more heart attacks than I can count and the next one will likely be the Last One. Nor is your enemy Russian, Chinese, Jewish, Islamic, or a virus. Your enemy is a lack of belief in Humanity. Your enemy is evil. But governments pile enemy upon enemy in order to keep us all afraid, because terrified people are easy to distract and easy to control. And so they give us immigrants and terrorists and viruses.

I know: blah, blah, blah.

I'm the guy some of you love to hate, and I'm cool with that - because there are are parts of me, of my history, that I hate too. But they are not the parts that concern you - they are the parts where I have caused actual harm to others, which are not insignificant to me, the parts in real life I wish I could take back. The parts where I was truly evil. And I in no way believe I am unique in this - we have all acted evilly at some time and in some manner and must deal with it ourselves. But governments the world over ignore our goods and emphasise our evils and use them to enslave us, ignoring our worth and potential. Only the rulers, they suggest, have any worth or potential. Only they are fit to tell us what is evil and what is good. Well, feck them, I say. I know what is good and I know what is evil without them telling me. The governments should concentrate on keeping the lights on and the sewers unblocked, not telling me whom I should trust or whom I should hate. I, and you, can decide that well enough on our own.

We are human. Hear us roar.
[Drunkenpost/ End]
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