This thread exists to discuss British politics.
Political issues related to Northern Ireland and the Crown Dependencies (the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) are also considered on-topic here if there's no more appropriate OTC thread for them.
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As with other OTC threads, off-topic posts may be thumped or edited by the moderators.
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Recent political stuff:
- The vote to see if Britain should adopt Alternative Voting has failed.
- Lib Dems lose lots of councils and councillors, whilst Labour make the majority of the gains in England.
- The Scottish National Party do really well in the elections.
A link to the BBC politics page containing relevant information.
Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 3rd 2023 at 11:15:30 AM
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Wales isn't a kingdom, though, so it'd be just Kingdom of England.
edited 29th Mar '17 9:20:44 AM by DrunkenNordmann
Welcome to Estalia, gentlemen.
Visiting from the Hoag Galaxy
The Welsh independence movement is picking up steam, but it's anyone's guess as to how effective it will be. Especially since Wales is basically England's retirement destination.
According to my British relatives, calling Wales the Florida of the UK isn't completely inaccurate.
Not Three Laws compliant.
It was always a principality and still is... because it didn't do kings until the Normans forced the issue. There was a first amongst Princes, hence "the Prince of Wales".
You need to bone up on Edward III and Edward the Black Prince, mate. 
edited 29th Mar '17 9:24:51 AM by Euodiachloris
That's already begun - they started threatening to turn the UK into a tax haven and overturn their Western welfare state principles to try and force the EU to the negotiating table on single market access.
As for the arms dealing thing, I believe they're already trying to get a deal with Turkey to replace the equipment Ankara lost due to sheer bloody-minded incompetence and politically-appointed officers used in the Syrian Civil War. There's probably going to be a lot more of that going around.
...Assuming anyone wants to buy British, of course. They've never had much luck on the export market except for specialist equipment like marksmen's rifles and tanks.
Still not embarrassing enough to stan billionaires or tech companies.
May and the Brexiteers are living in this dreamworld they think they can make a reality.
I think reality is about to hit us all, as a result.
PS: I could strangle Murdoch quite cheerfully.
edited 29th Mar '17 9:42:58 AM by Euodiachloris
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
There's probably a long line for that.
edited 29th Mar '17 9:34:29 AM by CenturyEye
Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
Oh, bother.
Murdoch has caused incalculable damage to the world by poisoning the well of media with his toxic reactionary crap.
edited 29th Mar '17 9:39:25 AM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprised
Visiting from the Hoag Galaxy
He's a jingoistic linguaphobic* moron.
- I don't know if this is an actual term, but Murdoch hates every language that isn't English, apparently.
...that might actually explain why he's failed to have any significant impact in Canada. Well, that and both his attempts to buy Global failed because they ran into severe regulatory problems.
Not Three Laws compliant.
A procrastination in of itself
To answer the "who benefits from a Hard Brexit" question, May does. Not financially, but politically she benefits if that she doesn't loose, soft Brexit is impossible since it would require either the EU to bend over for us (which it won't do) or for us to not demand the ability to palce limits on immigrantion from within the EU (which was a key point fo Brexit).
Oh wait one group benefits, the Newspaper Barons, especially Murdoch, with the EU gone they loose a big threat to their chokehold on power, there's no longer a risk that they loose the ability to topple governments the moment they move against them.
edited 29th Mar '17 9:39:43 AM by Silasw
"And the Bunny nails it!" ~ Gabrael "If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we." ~ Cyran
Which is why I suspect other arms of government are ultimately going to attempt to freeze the cabinet out and force the Commons towards press regulation along with other things like a reorganisation until it can prove it can run a cornershop without heading groundwards, not just the Kingdom.
Other Barons can tell the Press ones to sod the hell out of governance and to quit miseducation without a coup. Frankly, they might have to.
It is kind of interesting to witness the fall of an empire. Soon all what is left will be England and Wales.
Perhaps we should also start thinking about a strategy. Currently we get the cream of the crop, but once the economy is failing, the unwashed masses will try to follow.
May I point out that this is not just on us? The EU as a whole did a very piss-poor job countering Murdoch's lies and political blackmail over the years. Everybody downplayed the effect of populist nationalist sentiment in member countries, deeming each incident of local concern. And, is still doing so.
The EU hasn't had the issue disappear just because the UK is being an idiot. Murdoch isn't the only global press baron with an interest in breaking the EU apart.
edited 29th Mar '17 10:03:41 AM by Euodiachloris
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
And its not just the press barons, our hithero gung-ho Globalization! GOP jumped on the Brexit/break-up the EU train (via Trump) right after the vote. And the breakup of the UK—or its demotion to third-rate power is destined to have international spillover effects.
The lights are going out all over Europe (and America). That would crown a Cruel Twist Ending of epic proportions.
edited 29th Mar '17 10:42:26 AM by CenturyEye
Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
Honestly, it is not the job of the EU to monitor the British press. And haven't you learned yet why scapegoating is a bad idea?
Aparently, you didn't hear what I was saying. -_-
The short version: we have all fucked this press-thing up. Who's next for the chop? Because the EU does so much, but few people actually hear about the positives in a lot of countries. That's a problem.
The UK has shown what happens to a lot of people when a national government buys into the nationalist lies after decades of it. THIS IS AN EU-WIDE PROBLEM.
edited 29th Mar '17 11:30:48 AM by Euodiachloris
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
And given how much the current right-brown scum tends to shout 'lügenpresse' its not as if we can allow to rest on any perceived laurels.
"You can reply to this Message!"
Exactly. -_-
Would that it were so simple.
edited 29th Mar '17 11:43:07 AM by CrimsonZephyr
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
Delight, regret, despair: how voters feel as article 50 is triggered
I thought it would never happen. The liberal elite have done everything to try to block it. There is still a long way to go. I hope May does not back down. To do so would be a betrayal of the 52%.
The more objections I hear from leftwing celebrities the more convinced I am that I made the right decision. To be free is to self-govern. We cannot do that as a member of the EU. I want a deal that is in the best interests of the British people. I trust the PM on this.
I don’t think it will impact me greatly. I live in the north-east. However, I’m unfazed by scare stories about areas that voted Brexit being worse hit.
I do not want any imposition of EU laws, anything but the total control of our immigration policy, any agreement to pay into the EU coffers unless the EU compensates us for our contributions to its infrastructure and assets.
Brexit will be fantastic. I’m a small businessman and can’t wait to explore opportunities once the yoke of EU policy has been lifted. I’ve already seen growth in my business with China and India. The world is waiting for us.
***
I feel like we are about to make the biggest mistake possible. I voted leave to avoid TTIP, assist the NHS, and I was more than a little concerned with Turkey possibly joining the EU. None of this happened and it seems none was likely to happen. If the vote was rerun today, mine would be an emphatic remain. I’ve been duped.
I now realise I was hoodwinked. Brexit wasn’t sold to me correctly. We had the powers to reduce immigration, as other EU states do, and the suggested savings won’t be used to fund the NHS. Where was the suggestion that we may become an offshore tax haven for tax-avoiding corporations before the vote?
I can see no good coming from this, either personally or from a business perspective. It’s beginning to feel like the UK or what’s left of it will be a prison comprising zero-hours contract workers controlled by corporations. I also fear for the NHS, now wide open for privatisation – not what was promised. I deeply regret voting leave.
The worst deal would be any which leads to removing freedom of movement. It will affect my life in a very bad way. The nationalist tendencies already evident will increase. The 1% will gain an even tighter grip and pit us all against each other. I fear that we will kiss goodbye to our social security system on the altar of corporate profit.
I am simply hoping for a miracle.
I also feel angry at the amount of government and civil service time and resources that are going to be used up over the next two years, when it really should have been directed to more constructive matters and needs.
The devil in me is hoping that Brexit seriously stuffs up all those things that the leavers hold dear and that the country falls apart when all the EU workers decide to go home. I fear that as a nation we will have to learn the hard way just how good the past 50 years of membership have been.
The EU was a huge advancement towards achieving that. The world will continue to become a smaller, integrated place, which is a positive thing, and Brexit won’t stop that – it’s just going to put it off track temporarily.
I hope at the very least we get a Brexit deal where we enjoy full access to the single market and the free movement of people. I would not want one with no deal at all, where we’re cut adrift to realise that we’re actually a small, insignificant island that ultimately loses its union with Scotland.
I don’t want us to become a Tory playground for them to exploit the workers of this country to maximise their profits at the expense of employment rights and sufficient standards of living. This whole process is nothing more than a Tory/rightwing power grab and so many people have been duped by the rightwing media to attain it. It’s shameful.
edited 29th Mar '17 2:02:40 PM by CenturyEye
Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
Visiting from the Hoag Galaxy
One thing that's interesting is that a bunch of the Leave camp really regrets their vote and have changed their minds. Almost none of the remain camp appears to think things might turn out okay. Probably because most of them had an idea of what Brexit meant. And what the EU actually is.
Not Three Laws compliant.
Did anyone see the BBC interviews with the eight people from Devon?
The one fellow (Leave voter), was talking about being excited by Brexit. When he was asked why he thinks the rest of the world would want to trade with a UK that isn't in the EU, his response...
"Because everyone loves us."
There are not enough walls for me to bang my head against.
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
Alternative "facts"?
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Visiting from the Hoag Galaxy
No, no, the world doesn't love the UK. The world loves Queen Elizabeth II. That's different.
Again, I laugh in the face of any Leave supporter who thinks that the Commonwealth is going to bail them out. The EU is better business.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Maybe we'll be back to the Kingdom of England.
Disgusted, but not surprised