The Political Thread

[Steve Green]

Farron pt 2

http://news.sky.com/video/part-2-entente-cordiale-farron-and-voter-kiss-and-make-up-10861394

[IndigoPrime]

Farron did well, I thought, so it's only natural the Telegraph went with "here's the bloke who HUMILIATED Farron".

[Theblazeuk]

He did employ the tried and tested method of simply shouting over any disagreement and throwing out insults.

[Dandontdare]

16 year old girl guide gets up in the face of neo-nazi protester in Czech Republic:

[von Boom]

I think we should drop the neo. Calling them something other than just Nazis seems somehow to make them look a bit less than fucking pricks they truly are.

[The Legendary Shark]

Meanwhile, behind the scenes it seems Operation Gladio might still be in effect.

[Modern Panther]

I think we should drop the neo. Calling them something other than just Nazis seems somehow to make them look a bit less than fucking pricks they truly are.

These are people who can look back at Nazism and think, "yeah...that seems like a good idea.  What could go wrong?".

The good news is that, whilst the original Nazis could change their names and go hide in Argentina when their ideology was crushed, the NeoNazis have social media accounts which their great grandchildren will be able to look back on. 

[The Legendary Shark]

Good point, Panth. Who could have imagined that Facebook might be useful one day?

[Steve Green]

Diane Abbott Numberwang.

http://www.itv.com/news/2017-05-05/diane-abbott-suffers-another-numbers-gaffe-after-hugely-underestimating-labour-losses/

[Professor Bear]

I told you not to bother voting.

Tories. Oh boy.  We are so fucked.
UKIP supposedly wiped out, but they've just colonised the Tory vote.  Or as others have put it "the racists came home."  Current joke doing the rounds is that their only safe seat is the one on Question Time.
Labour wipeout not as huge as everyone hoped, which basically means they found the one way to let down everyone who'd resigned themselves to complete disaster.  And by "resigned themselves to" I of course mean "were secretly hoping for".  And by "secretly" I mean "openly".
LibDems: fuck knows, but definitely better than they were doing this time last week.
Greens.  Who cares?  Arguably the Greens are more irrelevant than UKIP now, because let's face it, the Tories stand for nothing and there's not a single green policy that's going to get passed in the years to come.  Green MPs may as well go sailing - I think they'd like that.

[IndigoPrime]

Best bit: UKIP calling this a "blip". Sure. Your party is dead now the Tories have consumed you.

Most cringeworthy bit: Diane Abbott either being rubbish or a terrible liar in another car crash interview

As for the parties, I largely agree with the above, bar for the Lib Dems. I think they're oddly now in a worse position, because the numbers kill their momentum. Sure, their vote share is up (to a projected 18%), but their seat count is down, and the narrative is now they are a wasted vote. Farron's now pledging to double their MPs, which is depressing if they do manage 18%, or even 10% of the vote. The risk is by June, the Lib Dems will be as irrelevant as the Liberals before them. And as much as they screwed things up for themselves, I don't think the UK benefits from them being removed from play entirely. (Hell, we need ONE liberal party.)

As for the Greens, I like Caroline Lucas and hope she stays an MP. Other than that, yeah, they're fucked too (and their projected share is WAY down on 2015, probably due to Lib Dems 'going home').

[sheridan]

Greens.  Who cares?  Arguably the Greens are more irrelevant than UKIP now, because let's face it, the Tories stand for nothing and there's not a single green policy that's going to get passed in the years to come.  Green MPs may as well go sailing - I think they'd like that.

They've gained six seats so I'm guessing somebody does (and how can a party with 40 seats be more irrelevant than a party that now has none?)  Not sure what green policies you're talking about there - these were local elections, not national.

[Professor Bear]

The locals are seen as a dry run because of their proximity to the GE, and there's no reason to assume there'll be much difference bar the scale of turnout - which would hopefully be a bit higher than the pitiful 35% that showed up yesterday.

[GordonR]

Greens.  Who cares?  Arguably the Greens are more irrelevant than UKIP now, because let's face it, the Tories stand for nothing and there's not a single green policy that's going to get passed in the years to come.  Green MPs may as well go sailing - I think they'd like that.

They've gained six seats so I'm guessing somebody does (and how can a party with 40 seats be more irrelevant than a party that now has none?)  Not sure what green policies you're talking about there - these were local elections, not national.

UKIP still have several hundred council seats in England and Wales - only a fraction of English councils were up for election last night.

[Modern Panther]

Green MPs may as well go sailing

You can have a Green MP sitting in opposition and actually standing against Tory policies...or you can have A Lib Dem MP in opposition who may well have sided with the Tories and put them in power... or a Labour MP in opposition who will vote however it takes to win Tory votes...or a UKIP MP desperately trying to draw attention to himself as his party collapses around him.

I'd rather have Green.