General British politics discussion thread

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122312995#Comment_122312995

No. You spouted fake news and then said you didn't care when questioned. Typical behaviour from the coterie of posters who can do nothing but sneer at pro-Palestinian protesters.

silverharp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122313002#Comment_122313002

so it didnt happen, nobody was protesting out Starmer's house, thats all I want cleared up

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122312766#Comment_122312766

Ironically, it'll probably only endear certain Tory voters to vote Remain; GB News clings to the air because it's stoking the outrage of the permanently embittered … as it will be here with REform, whose bigotry will be seen as a clarion cry for that same demographic.

A stark reminder to that this is why we still have Pride Month, and notice those usual whingers have gone back to their rocks in light of shít like this, or the attacks in Dublin, or the pressure to cancel that teen LGBTQ disco in Wicklow.

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122312995#Comment_122312995

anyway seems like the good Fr did have more facts to hand

No, I didn't have more facts to hand.

I just did an internet search for "Victoria Stammer court" and found the facts in a minute.

You on the other just copied and pasted rubbish posted on X, formerly Twitter.

silverharp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122312979#Comment_122312979

I smirked a bit at you distinction, If there was a "pro palestine" demo I wouldnt carry a Jewish or Israeli marker for a lottery sum ;-) , the chances of getting a hug would be minimal

wazzzledazzle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122313049#Comment_122313049

I think Farage is in over his head. Reform is/has turned(ing) into some kind of ultra right wing group. I'm not sure that was his hope or expectation and he had envisged a right wing tory type party.

Won't be long before we see some of this reform lot marching on downing street with bed sheets on their heads

Shoog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122313126#Comment_122313126

Looking at Farages long history he is definitely at the Fascist end of the spectrum, he just is clever enough to only dog whistle hints of that to his followers. Unfortunately those people who read his dog whistles are not so clever and let old Nig down at every turn by saying the things that Farage only says inside.

If Farage got anywhere near power it would look very neo-facist not Tory.

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122312995#Comment_122312995

Mod: That is how it works! Any more of this low level trolling and I'll take further action.
In future, make the safe assumption that anything posted by candidates for the Reform "party" is fake news!

Christy42

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122313126#Comment_122313126

I think he can look in the mirror if he is actually surprised. As someone said I think is mostly surprised they are stupid enough to say the quiet part out loud.

VinLieger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122313126#Comment_122313126

Hes not in over his head its just the same cycle that hes repeating from his previous 2 parties, he spouts nonsense it gets the crazies on board, he remembers he doesn't actually like spending time with who his REAL supporters are and so the grift gets old, he then moves onto the next party. Happened with UKIP, then the Brexit Party, it will happen to Reform however since he will likely be elected he may be stuck with them longer than he likes this time.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122313126#Comment_122313126

I dunno, I think Faraga joined Reform knowing full-well what their politics and ideologies were, he possibly just got sold a pup about their professionalism and nous; Farage's a bigot himself & his schtick only works as long as the quiet part isn't too loud - perhaps he got told a bunch of BS to get him onboard the train.

silverharp

At the end of the day, the conservatives get wiped out and Labour have a blank slate and new sandpit to operate in , its a dream election

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122313479#Comment_122313479

At the end of the day, Farage is about Farage. Reform is just a vehicle to get him elected and, ideally for him, enough power to bend the Conservative party to his will.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122313126#Comment_122313126

No, he knew exactly what this was going to be from day one. It's like Andrew Neil and the fake news channel he helped found.

It looks like the tankie narrative is costing them real support:

The BMG Research opinion poll for the i newspaper, carried out June 24-26, put support for Reform on 16%, down from a record high of 19% last week. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservatives were on 20%, up from 19% previously.

..

In an interview with the BBC aired last Friday, Farage said he stood by previous comments that Russia's invasion of Ukraine was a consequence of the eastward expansion of the European Union and NATO.

The remarks by Farage, one of the country's most recognisable and divisive politicians, drew strong criticism across the British political spectrum, but he went on to repeat them again during campaigning this week.

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/support-farages-reform-uk-party-drops-after-ukraine-comments-2024-06-27/

Podge_irl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122313479#Comment_122313479

Farage didn't join Reform, he helped found it as the Brexit Party, was leader under its renaming to Reform and has always controlled a majority of its shares.

Reform UK Party Ltd. has fifteen shares. Farage owns eight of these, giving him a controlling majority. The other shareholders are Tice, who holds five, and Chief Executive Paul Oakden and Party Treasurer Mehrtahs A'Zami who each hold one share.

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122312979#Comment_122312979

The event happened in early April, and was in court the same week. It's reported here, though that report (in the Jewish Chronicle) doesn't characterise the demonstrators as "anti-Israel"

Er… the headline does. The URL does.

Hamsterchops

An interesting insight into future Labour "gender" policy as Nick Ferrari tackled Labour shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson (LBC Radio) as to which toilets those with a gender recognition cert should use!

The backdrop being the so called "culture wars" and the ongoing tussle between the Tories & the Labour party (mostly) pulling in opposite directions, apart from people like Wes Steeting & Rosie Duffield (both Labour) who seem to have a different opinion on this issue from the likes of Dawn Butler, Bridget Phillipson, or Angela Eagle for example 🤔

Not sure if the gender wars will have any effect on the GE (possibly not), but they're always bubbling away in the background, popping up from time to time, like yesterday when Bridget Phillipson was asked the same question eight times by Nick on LBC, to which she could not give a clear answer!

Kier also got caught out a while back in that now famous "cervix" clip which helped banish Rosie Duffield into the wilderness for years … and even now all these years later she's still having "Hustings" problems because of her cervix belief …

Shoog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122313699#Comment_122313699

It's a fringe issue, those who really think it matters were not going to change their minds one bit. A wedge issue which has been swamped by Tory scandal.

Enzokk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122314079#Comment_122314079

Yeah, and its an issue that takes too much time when there are other more important subjects that can be talked about. This suits the Tories as they would rather talk about toilets and who can use them than what they have done with the NHS, the cost of living crises or affordable housing.

https://www.twitter.com/LukeTryl/status/1806221418964684997

breezy1985

Other people's choice of what gender they want to be is the kind of tabloid nonsense you can worry about when you don't have real problems.

The UK now has real problems with things like a failing economy, rising cost of living and crumbling healthcare and public transport and those things will always take centre stage out in the real world beyond the twitter obsessed and the curtain twitching Mary Whitehouse wannabes.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122313612#Comment_122313612

Oh aye, easy to forget to be fair while Farage drifted off to hang on Trump's coattails for that spell.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122314311#Comment_122314311

Not remotely surprising: the social narrative has become led by the nose by a poisonous, rancorous minority trying to Other trans people. And we've seen from Sunak it's just a Pavlovian thing now, to make a little snarky aside to Starmer in the HoC for points scoring in lieu of actual leadership.

Enzokk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122314426#Comment_122314426

And it is such a silly issue if you boil it down to toilets as well. If you only allow biologically females to use female toilets, then only biologically males should be allowed to use male toilets. So any trans man cannot use the mens bathroom and should use the female bathroom. Or do we now advocate to have 4 different types of bathrooms, male, female, trans male, trans female?

It is a sensitive issue that should not have been allowed to be used as a wedge issue and needs more thoughtful discussions than what the likes of Sunak, Farage or Badenhoch can bring to it.

ancapailldorcha

To be honest, he showed who he really was when he made that disgusting comment in Parliament while Brianna Ghey's mother was in attendance. They don't care about women or trans people, only power and greed. I look at it through the prism of whether or not it's bullying. Very quick way to arrive at a reasonable judgement IMO.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122314470#Comment_122314470

Indeed. It's instructive how those who rant and rave about trans people, it's nearly always in specific reference to trans-women; as you note there's nary a peep about worrying if a trans-man shares your bathroom. This armchair psychologist speculates it's all some warped cocktail of misogyny floating in the toilet-bowl that are these people's brains; that they're trying to "protect" poor vulnerable women from the mythology of trans as deceivers. That plus these people also found a niche to attack, now that it's not cool to attack the LGB part of the acronym anymore.

It is a sensitive issue that should not have been allowed to be used as a wedge issue and needs more thoughtful discussions than what the likes of Sunak, Farage or Badenhoch can bring to it.

Well we saw Sunak's level when he made his little snide remarks to Starmer while Brianna Ghey's mum was in the gallery. Anyone leveraging the plight of trans people as a paranoid, antagonistic narrative are scum. Plain and simple.

Are people talking about trans too much? Absolutely, but it's only because there's a determined cohort who want to make the lives of a tiny minority of the population absolute misery.

ancapailldorcha

There used to be a real culture of nastiness in Britain. I'm talking about stuff like Little Britain, Andy Gray, Page Three and Russel Brand's prank call to Andrew Sachs. I think trans folk just have the bad luck to be one of the few remaining targets that most people aren't too bothered about.

Hamsterchops

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122314470#Comment_122314470

But then again I guess women don't see it as a fringe or silly issue to have men in their changing rooms or toilets while they're in a state of undress, so from their perspective it is an issue. Nick Ferrari certainly picked up on this as he grilled BridgeBridget Phillipson on LBC.

Moving on … I think the Tories would have had a much better chance in the election with a different leader, as Sunak is a lightweight in political terms, plus he's let things slide, from the NHS to transport, to the Police, and even his appearance at the D-Day commemorations left a lot to be desired when he left early!

That did not look good.

Labour seem to have a head of steam behind them right now …..

A Dub in Glasgo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122314633#Comment_122314633

From what I can tell, it is mainly men who are stating it is a non-issue for women regarding trans-women allowed into their safe spaces (especially the kind of self-ID that was attempted to be introduced in Scotland). The views of women groups tend to be ignored

A Dub in Glasgo

This is a shocker from Starmer

https://twitter.com/SaulStaniforth/status/1806614703877009588

Starmer is either

1. Going to remove the 25% tax-free lump sum when you take an occupational pension

or

2. He has not got a clue what he is talking about

Enzokk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122314807#Comment_122314807

Labour has clarified he was talking about other tax breaks that are temporary and due to expire in a few years time. The option of taking a 25% tax free lump sum is not something that is due to expire or needs to be renewed. Seems he got a little confused on what he was talking about - this from The Guardian live updates for today,

"Labour confirms it has no plans to stop people taking 25% of pension as tax-free lump sum

Labour has corrected, or clarified, what Keir Starmer said during his Radio 5 Live phone-in when he was asked about the rules allowing people to take out 25% of their pension pot as a tax-free lump sum. (See 9.36am.) Starmer suggested this arrangement could end.

Labour says Starmer was in fact referring to other tax allowances. A party spokesperson said:

The ability to withdraw 25% of your pension as tax-free lump sum is a permanent feature of the tax system and Labour are not planning to change this.

Keir was referring to temporary tax breaks in the system that are due to expire and which the public finances assume will not continue, like increasing the stamp duty threshold for first-time buyers from £300,000 to £425,000."

A Dub in Glasgo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122314856#Comment_122314856

So he does not know what he is talking about - it was absolutely clear what the caller and the presenter were asking

A Dub in Glasgo

Sunak sounds genuine in this clip but by God, he has facilitated and let slide quite a number of offensive things about people. He needs to be more empathic (if possible for a Tory)

https://twitter.com/NicholasTyrone/status/1806676485589143977