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The Political Thread

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

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IndigoPrime

Quote from: Professor Bear on 02 December, 2019, 01:10:54 PM
As the polls narrow I just become increasingly convinced that a few million Tory voters are going to appear magically from somewhere.  I'm not sure where right now
The final twist of the knife will be the remaining Brexit Party voters (c. 3%) all going Conservative.



Jim_Campbell

And then the Tories concoct a complete lie about Matt Hancock's advisor being assaulted outside the Leeds hospital in question to distract from Johnson's PR disaster, which is uncritically retweeted by both Laura Kuenssberg and Robert Peston despite there being actual video of the supposed incident clearly showing that no part of what "senior Tories" were claiming was true.
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Professor Bear

If you do a search for the following:
QuoteVery interesting. A good friend of mine is a senior nursing sister at Leeds Hospital - the boy shown on the floor by the media was in fact put there by his mother who then took photos on her mobile phone and uploaded it to media outlets before he climbed back onto his trolley.

You'll find it quoted word-for-word by multiple social media accounts, though it originates on Facebook where the Tories have just been exposed as running targeted political ads containing "inaccurate or debunked" information.  They're taking no chances this time around.


The record will reflect that I said the media would ignore Purdah this time around after the lesson they learned in 2017, but one thing I did not see coming was the slow-motion nosedive into a wood chipper that the BBC's credibility has been taking in the last few weeks.  I wish I could say it's some kind of watershed moment for accountability or whatever, but the truth is that the rest of us are just catching up with something that Scottish indy supporters have known for years.

Funt Solo

Mind you, it shouldn't really matter if the boy on the floor had been staged: the PM didn't want to look at a picture of anyone suffering - he wanted to skirt around it with his loud waffle / baffle persona. When that didn't work, some part of his tired mind went for pocketing the phone, until he apparently woke up to what he looked like and tried to recover a while later.

Looking forward to four years of waffle / baffle from Boris, as he stuffs his pockets full of tax payers' hard-earned, grinning like an amiable ape and shaking his blond tufts while he shouts "Eh? Nonsense! Absolute tosh-mongery of the highest quibble!".

++ A-Z ++  coma ++

Rately

Awful.

When you think the man couldn't fall any lower, he proves us all wrong.

A shame there are people who will still vote for him. Surely in any decent Society that would be the end of him, and his awful party.


Jim_Campbell

Quote from: Rately on 10 December, 2019, 08:14:29 AM
A shame there are people who will still vote for him. Surely in any decent Society that would be the end of him, and his awful party.

How many times have those words been typed about Donald Trump in the last three years. Every time it doesn't happen, the limit for what is 'acceptable' shifts still further and ever-more-despicable behaviour becomes normalised.

The only way back from this is for both the Republicans in the US and the Tories here to be destroyed electorally... and I don't see that happening, since the underlying thrust of their strategies is to rig the political system to make it impossible to get the fuckers out.
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The Legendary Shark

Quote from: Professor Bear on 10 December, 2019, 01:43:00 AM



The record will reflect that I said the media would ignore Purdah this time around after the lesson they learned in 2017, but one thing I did not see coming was the slow-motion nosedive into a wood chipper that the BBC's credibility has been taking in the last few weeks.  I wish I could say it's some kind of watershed moment for accountability or whatever, but the truth is that the rest of us are just catching up with something that Scottish indy supporters have known for years.

The BBC's credibility has been a long-standing worry for me. For example, it's "reporting" of the alleged chemical attack in Douma in 2018 continues to unravel.

[move]~~~^~~~~~~~[/move]




IndigoPrime

Quote from: Professor Bear on 10 December, 2019, 01:43:00 AMone thing I did not see coming was the slow-motion nosedive into a wood chipper that the BBC's credibility has been taking in the last few weeks
Great timing, too, given that Johnson has now effectively said he within the next parliament will look at whether it's still "relevant" to have a licence fee. The BBC has far fewer friends now. I know very few people who'd defend the corporation to the hilt, and that's solely due to the atrocious news arm (from LK through to Question Time).

IndigoPrime

Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 10 December, 2019, 08:42:30 AMThe only way back from this is for both the Republicans in the US and the Tories here to be destroyed electorally... and I don't see that happening, since the underlying thrust of their strategies is to rig the political system to make it impossible to get the fuckers out.
As soon as Farage bottled it, that was the end of any hope the Tories would be meaningfully split. They've shaved off the fully decent wing. They've probably got (and will get) 100 MPs who are too cowardly to do anything to rock the boat, but who'd be better off in another party. I'm really not looking forward to Friday morning.

Rately

Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 10 December, 2019, 08:42:30 AM
Quote from: Rately on 10 December, 2019, 08:14:29 AM
A shame there are people who will still vote for him. Surely in any decent Society that would be the end of him, and his awful party.

How many times have those words been typed about Donald Trump in the last three years. Every time it doesn't happen, the limit for what is 'acceptable' shifts still further and ever-more-despicable behaviour becomes normalised.

The only way back from this is for both the Republicans in the US and the Tories here to be destroyed electorally... and I don't see that happening, since the underlying thrust of their strategies is to rig the political system to make it impossible to get the fuckers out.

I know, Jim.

All utterly depressing and dispiriting, especially when I see decent people who try their best everyday to be better, and prop others up, even if just with kind words. I see the food banks, drop-in centres, the stall in a supermarket last week that was asking for donations of pet food to help unfortunate people feed their pets, the Hospitals at breaking point along with the staff. Then you look towards the Republican and Conservative parties and see the lack of decency, empathy and total moral cowardice, the lies and manipulations. All the greed and sneer. If that's what people want elected, then maybe there is little hope for any of us. If you vote Tory, you are a bad person. There's no two ways about it. Don't let them claim ignorance, and don't let them forget it if the Tories make it back in for another few years of more misery.


IndigoPrime

We are moving to a US model. We will become a low-tax/small-state place, where the rich are rich and the less wealthy too often consider themselves temporarily embarrassed soon-to-be-rich, and so fight against the higher taxes that would make their lives better. (Arguably, that's already happened in this GE run, with the bullshit about people under Labour "on average" paying £2k+ more tax. Yes. Because some people are super-rich and that monumentally skews things.)

As for voting Tory, it's never been my bag, but I've in the past understood it. I know people who have voted Tory in the past. They're not bad people. We don't share politics, and they may be a bit "head in the sand" on certain issues (along with – mostly – being insulated and privileged), but they weren't bad. Now, I'm past that. In this GE, you're either ignorant of reality or flat-out horrible if you've voting Tory. And that we've 40%+ looking at voting for a repainted UKIP, that doesn't say good things about the future of the UK. (Although if the Tories get a majority, I don't think the UK as an entity has a future.)

Dandontdare

Quote from: Professor Bear on 10 December, 2019, 01:43:00 AM
If you do a search for the following:
QuoteVery interesting. A good friend of mine is a senior nursing sister at Leeds Hospital - the boy shown on the floor by the media was in fact put there by his mother who then took photos on her mobile phone and uploaded it to media outlets before he climbed back onto his trolley.

You'll find it quoted word-for-word by multiple social media accounts, though it originates on Facebook where the Tories have just been exposed as running targeted political ads containing "inaccurate or debunked" information.  They're taking no chances this time around.

Confirmed as fakery - from today's Guardian:

"A false online story that the photograph of an ill boy lying on the floor of Leeds General infirmary was staged came from a hacked account, according to the medical secretary whose name was attached to the initial post.

The woman, whose name the Guardian is withholding because she says she has received death threats since the post was made, denied posting the allegation that four-year-old Jack Willment-Barr's mother placed him on the floor specifically to take the picture, which was on the front page of Monday's Daily Mirror.

"I was hacked. I am not a nurse and I certainly don't know anyone in Leeds," the woman said. "I've had to delete everything as I have had death threats to myself and my children."

She said she had tried to report the hack of her Facebook account to the advice service Action Fraud.
"

Professor Bear

The jig was up when the hospital apologised, but the speed and ease with which a fake counter-narrative was established (not just about the boy being faked, but about the punch that never happened) should really concern more people than it seems to.  Not all fake news operations slip-up like this one did and repeat the attack line verbatim.  We can take a guess why that report on Russian interference was buried.

I like the optimism of those saying things like "a few more years of the Tories", but we need to be honest with ourselves and admit that once they get in this time, they're never leaving power.