New Alternative News Channel "GB News" chaired by Andrew Neil launching - read OP before posting

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117763609#Comment_117763609

I'm well aware that, like the Internet, you can have multiple sessions per user, so to speak.

I'm simply using the BARB figures / terminology and comparing it with other stations.

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117763303#Comment_117763303

You didn't answer the question the last time you posted this guff about "the rise of the right" but might as well ask again for giggles.

Can you show me a single country anywhere on earth where a right-wing government enjoys majority support??

Right wing parties are only capable of securing electoral victories by winning a plurality of the vote in heavily gerrymandered locations that leverage variants of FPTP.

As has been pointed out to you many many times at this point , the Tories lost the popular vote by an almost 2:1 ratio in the last Election yet because of how utterly undemocratic the electoral process is in the UK that secured them an 80 seats majority.

To simplify that for you still further - For each and every Tory voters in the UK there are almost 2 voters that cannot stand them and everything that they stand for.

Rise of the right indeed....

Can you show me a single country anywhere on earth where a right-wing government enjoys majority support??

It's not about "majority support". Does that mean 51pc?

The UK handed Boris Johnson 43pc of the vote. In fact, the Conservatives have been in power in the UK since 1979 - exempting Tony Blair, who was effectively a centrist politician anyway.

When the most far-left politician did make it to the top, he was crushed by the Conservative jaws of Boris Johnson.

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117763657#Comment_117763657

Sure.. It's still not 2.5M viewers though.

BBC News has ~12M views during the same period , based on peak viewing figures etc. that's probably made up of about 2M discreet individuals that switched on the channel , Sky News is probably somewhere in the 800k to 1M ball-park.

BBC and SKY have fairly stable numbers - throughout the period , in other words GB News isn't taking viewers off them (not really surprising) , equally though after the initial burst of "What's this all about then?" viewers GB News has been on an almost linear decline each week.

In fact in reality what is happening is those somewhat higher first few weeks are now falling out of the rolling 4 week measurement window so it's actually probably settled at a level now somewhere around 500k "views" each week and the Farage show accounts for probably 60% plus of that.

No one is watching , no matter how much you wish they were.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117763657#Comment_117763657

Then why did you say "2.5million core supporters" a few posts back?

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117763632#Comment_117763632

Hes not a mathematician. Remember his taxes performance :D

Quin_Dub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117763682#Comment_117763682

Your ability to be presented with a data point and to take the absolute polar opposite meaning from it is truly unsurpassed.

Your claim is the the "right is on the rise" - The facts dispute this entirely. The "right aren't increasing their % of the vote in any significant way in any major country

Not withstanding the inability of the other parties in the UK to organise the proverbial pi$$-up in a brewery the Tories can still only manage to convince 43% of the populace to vote for them.

The MAJORITY of people in the UK do not want a tory government , that is an absolute fact.

And - "Crushed by the Conservative Jaws of Boris Johnson"???

Are you twelve??

Fionn1952

I suppose this is all a case of never mind the blatant propagandist populism the likes of Johnson or Trump represent and let's just claim them as, 'classic conservatism' anyway?

joe40

How any Irish person can tolerate Nigel Farage is beyond me.

His attitude to NI during the Brexit debate was appalling and his attitude towards the NI protocol, an agreement Boris Johnson signed up to, is dangerous and inflammatory.

But hey he doesn't like migrants so let's all cheer him on..

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117764070#Comment_117764070

Nigel Farage is appalled at how Johnson and the EU have behaved over Northern Ireland. He doesn't support what has transpired.

As for the xenophobic and racist labels, well, I don't know what to say at this stage.

joe40

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117764109#Comment_117764109

What was Nigel Farage plans for Northern Ireland post Brexit then?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117764128#Comment_117764128

As far as my knowledge goes on this question, I believe that Farage effectively wanted a no deal Brexit, but one that didn't require the imposition of a hard border. No backstop. No customs differentiation down the Irish Sea. He sees what Johnson has done as a massive and unnecessary concession to the European Union; that N. Ireland was sacrificed for the sake of the rest of the UK.

In terms of why an Irish person would support Nigel Farage. I'll be honest: I was a raging Leftie for quite a long time, you could say that it was my default position. Anti-Israel, pro-socialism etc.; the usual. Only when I listened to Nigel Farage did my views - albeit very slowly - begin to change. Even though he was talking about the United Kingdom and the EU, his politics I found very attractive indeed. Then followed other Conservatives, especially Daniel Hannan.

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117764128#Comment_117764128

What was Nigel Farages plans for anything post Brexit?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117764164#Comment_117764164

He wasn't a government minister, so he couldn't have a detailed plan. If he had have been, I've no doubt he would have had one.

But David Cameron had no contingency in place, at all, in the case of a Brexit vote. That's the real catastrophe.

joe40

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117764153#Comment_117764153

Let's think about that for a minute. A no deal Brexit without any hard border in Ireland.

So the UK and the EU would be totally separate trading entities with no trade deal, no immigration agreements but with an open porous land border covering a few hundred miles with literally thousands of crossing points, between the EU and UK.

This is a man whose opinion you value?

Daniel Hannan who hates Europe so much he stole half a million quid from the EU and was ordered to pay it back?

Daniel Hannan who was booted out of a MEP meeting for comparing the German leader to Hitler?

Daniel Hannan who once tweeted photos of the brilliant English countryside which turned out to be stock photos of Wales and Canada that he'd downloaded off the Web?

A liar, a cheat and someone who likes making disparaging comparisons to infamous villains. No wonder you like him

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117764217#Comment_117764217

But the day after Brexit is the same as the day before Brexit. There is no immediate shift in policy.

That policy is then decided by negotiation. Note that both the EU and the UK stated that no hard border would be implemented. So, what magical entity is going to create this border? It was fantasy to begin with; something that was never going to happen. Project Fear on steroids.

As for free movement of people between the UK and Ireland, this has existed between Ireland and the UK since the 1920s.

And let's not forget that differences already exist between the North and the Republic; in terms of currency, tax etc.

The North was harnessed by the EU for political reasons. The EU was perfectly happy to throw the North of Ireland under the bus for purely negotiation reasons - and, as we've discovered so far, that has proven to be very much the case.

Nigel was right, in other words.

hawley

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117763658#Comment_117763658

So if you don't vote for a certain party, you despise everything that they stand for?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117764243#Comment_117764243

Correction....the North was annexed from us by the UK for political reasons.

And the Tories were more than happy to throw them under the bus at the earliest opportunity once they no longer relied on them to form the Government. Brexit was soundly rejected in NI by about 12 percentage points from memory. They didn't want this to happen, then got shafted by Boris and his buddies at the next convenient space in time. You'd do well to remember that, when you're not busy picking ropey role models like Hannan, Widdicombe and Jim fcuking Davidson.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117764323#Comment_117764323

Hannan, yes.

I don't rely on Anne Widdecombe or Jim Davidson to nourish any of my political insights.

joe40

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117764243#Comment_117764243

So explain to me how The EU and UK could function as two separate entities, with an open porous land border between them.

That does not happen anywhere in the world.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117764420#Comment_117764420

That raises a far more fundamental problem.

You are effectively arguing that the UK can never leave the EU. For you, there is no solution.

Isn't that far more concerning?

You are saying that there can be no such solution, therefore the UK must permanently remain in the EU.

And if there is no solution, why on Earth would the UK stay in political alignment with an organization that forbids any reasonable mechanism to leave its established system.

joe40

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117764485#Comment_117764485

What are you talking about. Of course the UK can leave the EU. However because of the unique position of NI and the international binding treaty, the GFA, that is an extra issue.

Without checks in the Irish sea there would have to be checks on the border how could that be avoided.

Both UK and EU have to protect their borders. After all Brexit was about taking back control.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117764547#Comment_117764547

It's not necessary. Checks can be performed, as they always have been. Most checks can be performed electronically these days, and in advance. There's no need for a hard border of any kind. There has been no significant degree of regulatory dis-alignment since the UK opted to Brexit, anyway.

joe40

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117764669#Comment_117764669

Not the magical electronic checks. They were a total non runner

The fact remains there is nowhere in the world where different countries, not in a trading block do not have checks on the border.

Brexit was always going to make the situation for Northern Ireland extremely difficult. I get Farage doesn't care, but how any Irish person can support it is beyond me.

I live in Donegal, cross the border every day for work, border checks would be a disaster, Brexiteers did not care. An Irishman like yourself should know better.

I'm actually stopping this conversation now, it really is nonsensical what you are saying.

jamule

Who gives a fook about border checks and NI. Farage is hard on immigration so he is great. end of.

Muahahaha

Just flicked on after watching BBC and Sky earlier. Both of those channels have journalists on the ground in Kabul providing some excellent reports. GB 'News' has Farage reading out tweets from such luminaries as Kori on Twitter who asks 'Should NATO send in troops? '.

That didnt last long so now the banner reads "HEALTH CRISIS: Millions of children could face a lifetime of rotten teeth' which includes an interview with a retired dentist. Gripping stuff compared to the events in Kabul <rolleyes>

Tell me how

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117764243#Comment_117764243

Nonsense.

The EU stood up for the people of Northern Ireland by respecting the Good Friday Agreement, Nigel, Sammy Wilson, Kate Hoey and all the rest of them thought that they wouldn't do so so as to not p*ss off the much lauded UK economy even though the EU behaved exactly as they said they were going to.

And thanks to the EU, there is no border on the island of Ireland. And you have the audacity to suggest the EU threw Northern Ireland under the bus, tell us, how could they have maintained the integrity of the single market in any other way than how they have done it?

VinLieger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117764669#Comment_117764669

Really were back to the magical technology solution that still hasn't appeared and nobody who proposes it is capable of giving an example of its existence or successful operation anywhere else in the world?

ancapailldorcha

I've not posted here in a bit. Is there a reason we're still seeing debunked Brexit arguments from 2016?

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117765257#Comment_117765257

Someone posted that the viewing figures for GB News is still dropping, so now we've been dragged down another rabbit hole as if the negotiating teams for the UK and EU didn't already assess the proposals being thrown about here.

pjohnson

"A no deal Brexit with no hard border"

"Farage was right"

Ah eski you poor thing. Where is the topic that your idols actually ARE right in!

Timberrrrrrrr

Viewing figures are tanking on a weekly basis so EH wants to talk about ANYTHING other than those figures.

banie01

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117765257#Comment_117765257

Because that level of political discourse and actual grasp of the intricacies of the GFA, treaty obligations and the UKs preferred option of leaving the SM & CU aswell as the EU on the part of a certain poster seems to match their mathematical acumen?

KildareP

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117764485#Comment_117764485

The position the UK currently finds itself in is entirely because of UK decisions, decisions past and present which it has internationally bound itself into.

I think it's perhaps something the UK psyche still very much struggles to come to terms with in these modern days where they are expected to remain true to their word instead of sending in gunboats and plundering the natives into submission.

Mr. Farage can came up with "solutions" that sound wonderful, but unlike Mr. Johnson, he can do so in the comfort of knowing his solutions will never face the reality of having to be implemented.

Mr. Farage's "solutions" mostly rely upon there being an equivalent Irexit in the very near future and Ireland fully rejoining the UK, thus pushing any external EU border into the English Channel and rendering the existence of any border, North-South or East-West, unnecesary.

Timberrrrrrrr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117765515#Comment_117765515

So people shouldn't care about issues that may affect them?

And on top of that why do right leaning folk care about issues that the left find important? GB "news" literally had a segment called "woke watch" 🤣

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117765407#Comment_117765407

There are already different excise duties, VAT rates, currency, and immigration laws between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland - all of which are checked either side of the border, but not at the border. A hard border means physical infrastructure at the border. Having checks remotely from the border is a soft border. Both the UK and EU have agreed not to erect a hard border.

Very interesting to learn last night on Farage, during the Talking Pints segment, that the leader of the Monster Raving Looney Party is an ardent Brexiteer.

Timberrrrrrrr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117765540#Comment_117765540

Ohni rarely switch it on, watched farage a couple of times and thought it was bland non issues with a peppering of barely disguised racism.

As for carrying hate around? I don't hate anyone, as you said, life's too short for that.

joe40

There is a strange situation where some Irish people are so caught up in what they see as anti woke, or anti left politics that they align themselves with right wing UK groups such as UKIP, Farage, etc despite these groups having nothing but contempt for Ireland or Irish people.

You even had a poster praise the extremely anti Irish comic Jim Davidson.

I really don't understand it. Farage is an English man through and through, his only concern is England. Why do Irish people jump on that particular bandwagon.

I believe it is sad example of people following the policy of "my enemies enemy is my friend"

In their mind the enemy is a nebulous idea of "woke values" ruining their life so they would rather support odious individuals like Farage. People who would throw them under a bus in a heartbeat to pursue their own agenda.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117765553#Comment_117765553

It's not so much UK politics, but the conservative approach in general.

GB News is merely an extension of that, albeit taking the form of pride in one's nation and an attitude that says that we need to stop giving in to identity politics that's culturally tearing the West asunder.

Earlier in this thread it was asked to find the most racist thing that Farage has ever said. That was the question - and answer there came. Farage is the worst racist in the UK because he asked people to calm down over remarks that a UKIP candidate made; notably a man from a disadvantaged background, to use the word "Chinky" when talking about a Chinese restaurant. That's the worst example found. The point is this: that this racist tag on Nigel Farage is a product of myth and exaggeration. If it were true, there'd be thousands of examples of overt, vile racism from Farage.

And if there were, I wouldn't be a supporter of Nigel Farage.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117765257#Comment_117765257

Because apparently using "technology" there is no reason the UK and EU can't exist as utterly separate trading blocks without friction or disruption post brexit. And if not, it's the EU's fault because something something oppression, and definitely not Farage representing mainland UK's resting, antipathy or disinterest in the region.

As a Monaghan man, I find the idea of a "simple" solution to the brexit border especially amusing and revealing as to the ignorance of those touting that reductionist answer. As would anyone with even a vague understanding of the border area. The Farage Defence Corp. is quite the sight when it tries to ignore the realpolitik of NI. I'd normally try to bite a lip but the the user truly hasn't a good godamn clue what they're talking about and the toadying to Farage is the worst form of the quisling.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117764243#Comment_117764243

What Nigel campaigned for was to stay in the common market and stay under EU rules like Norway.

He said it multiple times "just like Norway"

As for the EU being the ones to throw NI under the bus nobody but the most desperate and blinkered Tory and DUP worshippers think that

banie01

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117765589#Comment_117765589

I'm not a fan or a subscriber of identity politics but I find it quite odd that in opposing identity politics? That you embrace patriotism, which is both the original and ultimate expression of identity politicking.

Personally I'd subscribe very much to the opinion of Samuel Johnson regarding patriots. Nothing I've seen expressed by British patriots in their search for Sovereignty over the course of recent history contradicts that notion.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117765599#Comment_117765599

I'm a Donegal man and I'd be the same. Odd that for something so contentious, it's a few hours away with most of that time being spent waiting for a regional flight. Quite revealing how the elite, detached bureaucracy ran rings around the Brits in their own backyard and got them to agree to a carve up of their own country. Brexit means Brexit I suppose.

Reminds me of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr8yBTLVwYc

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117765540#Comment_117765540

a motto that has been taken to heart by practically all of the UK population.

banie01

@pixelburp

I'd normally try to bite a lip but the the user truly hasn't a good godamn clue what they're talking about and the toadying to Farage is the worst form of the quisling.

That last part of your comment, in particular the Quisling reference put me in mind of the Dubliners and the Patriot Game.

A Monaghan man doesn't need borders or patriotism explained to him, and I'd hope no Irish person is unaware of the pain and bloodshed that patriotism brings. It really is the last refuge of the scoundrel. Those that cloak themselves in it often have zero idea of the price. It's galling to know what was inflicted, what it cost and to see people without a bulls notion of what both sides suffered and paid to bring about a peace. My biggest fear for N.I is that peace babies and politicians forget what it took to bring people to table. There is no Hume or Mallon these days and the brinkmanship of Brexiteers was and is lunacy. Noone, noone who has endured or been involved with the troubles appreciates or supports the nonsense spouted by Johnson and even he knew the border was going to be in the Irish sea.

It is maddening and infuriating in the extreme to see Ireland and the EU painted as extremists or as bad faith actors...

When their main negotiation position were the tenets of no border on the Island as per the GFA and no secondary access or dilution of the single market as per the EU treaties.

joe40

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117765589#Comment_117765589

So are there no political parties in Ireland that you could support. You have to Hop on the UKIP Farage bandwagon for your so called "conservative approach"

(Actually makes me appreciate our wee country)

How exactly is the west been "torn asunder", or more specifically how is Ireland been torn asunder by "identity politics". I'm not even sure what that means. Probably different definitions for different people.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117765764#Comment_117765764

I take my position from the original socialists and Martin Luther King; to treat society as a set of individuals and not to divide them up into gay, straight, trans, white, black etc.

Once upon a time, that was the socialist position: abandon differences and unite as one people in favour of a common cause. That principle has since been abandoned and now much of the Left wants to carve society up, which pits one set of rights against another. This is exactly what Nick Griffin does - sees society as black versus white, gay versus straight, only he sees the matter from a far-right perspective.

Both sides are wrong.

And when you see what's going on with Scotland, the mission creep just keeps on going: where teachers are being ordered to respect the claims of 4-year old children to live as the opposite gender in school, without needing to tell the parents.

This stuff is culturally loathsome - and it gets worse with each passing week.

As for political parties in Ireland, they are a bland, pasteurized lot with no original thoughts between them. Uninspiring on a gigantic scale.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117765815#Comment_117765815

Both sides again. The "side" dividing people up is the right. Modern conservatism has much more in common with Nick Griffin than Dr. King.

I see you've tried to bring up your transphobia hobby horse yet again. I was going to elaborate further but the fact you keep having to insert this demented narrative into every other post speaks for itself.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117765815#Comment_117765815

The fact that you are not inspired by any political party in Ireland is one of the greatest compliments I have ever heard paid to any Irish political party.

You support Farage who tries to divide society between the "M25 elites" and the rest, tries to divide humans down race and cultural lines.

You support conservatives who divide children between rich and poor in school and even in playgrounds.