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.
If you're new to OTC, it's worth reading the Introduction to On-Topic Conversations
and the On-Topic Conversations debate guidelines before posting here.
As with other OTC threads, off-topic posts may be thumped or edited by the moderators.
- There is a dedicated thread to discuss LGBTQ+ rights in the United Kingdom. That doesn't mean it's always off-topic here, but unless something's directly linked to political events, that's probably a better thread for it.
- There's also a separate thread to talk about your favourite British Prime Ministers.
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
Visiting from the Hoag Galaxy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corbett_v_Corbett
Here's the wikipedia page.
Not Three Laws compliant.
a
They're talking about the Corbett v Corbett case where April Ashley's assigned gender at birth was revealed and the annulment was granted on the grounds that she was legally considered a male, which ended up setting a legal precedent that prevented trans folks from changing their gender on legal documents.
Edit: ![[nja]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/user_ninja_2074.png "[nja]"){kind=small}
'd
Edited by ITNW1989 on Mar 25th 2024 at 11:37:31 AM
Hitokiri in the streets, daishouri in the sheets.
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-68637136
Some BBC reporters are investigating that Kate's reveal that she has cancer is linked to pro-Moscow disinformation.
β¦What does a British princessβ health have to do with Russia or Ukraine?
Oh, bother.
The article explains it:
He says they seek out "wedge issues" in an opportunistic way.
They just look for any opportunity to stir shit up and make us all just a little bit stupider and divided.
They want us to believe in nothing. That way, we do nothing.
Disgusted, but not surprised
Surrounded by weirdoes
Ask the conspiracy believers. Warning, any logic in what they expose will likely disappear by the second sentence at most.
Wake me up at your own risk.
a
The article is saying that the frenzied conspiracy theories and rabid mass-guessing about what was going on with Kate was heavily influenced by Russian farms, which isn't that farfetched, really.
Hitokiri in the streets, daishouri in the sheets.
Oh, bother.
The key to Russian propaganda and disinformation campaigns isn't so much to get people to believe in something. It's to swamp us with so much bullshit that we throw our hands up in the air and just stop believing anything. Because people who are convinced nothing is true will do nothing.
The article also points out that Russian disinformation works by spreading lies that people are already inclined to believe. The British public is already primed to spread wild stories about the British royal family, making them an easy target.
He says they "hijack" popular claims and inject more confusion and chaos. It then becomes harder to separate the co-ordinated disinformation from individuals sharing conspiracies and chasing clicks.
Edited by M84 on Mar 26th 2024 at 11:28:52 PM
Disgusted, but not surprised
At the risk of defending Russia, a lot of this sounds like blaming a mysterious foreign other for ones own bad habits. Was Russia involved in the death of Princess Diana? Is Rupert Murdoch a Russian asset?
Never trust anyone who uses "degenerate" as an insult.
ππ©π―ππ°π
π‘π
yeah it does feel just a little bit silly
then again this world is way more than a little bit silly...
Secret Signature
On one hand, I have no trouble believing that devious internet tactics are in play.
On the other, are Russian trolls even necessary when stuff like The Sun exists? >.>
Visiting from the Hoag Galaxy
I think the point was that the Russian bot farms aren't really creating anything, they're taking existing frenzies and fanning the flames. It doesn't really require blaming them for anything, it more explains what the hell was up with all the bots swarming around the topic.
It's more like, the UK media environment is so toxic that it's legitimately hard to tell if a swarm of bots was involved or not, but if they were, they were probably Russian bots?
Edited by Zendervai on Mar 27th 2024 at 8:37:12 AM
Not Three Laws compliant.
Oh, bother.
Yeah, the article even points out that they didn't make this stuff up entirely but amplified what was already there.
Disgusted, but not surprised
I actually wanted to be Resileaf
Basically, the job of Russian trolls is to take inflamatory articles and spread them as far and wide as they can.
My problem with what we're hearing about the Royal Family is that, if the story about Princess Catherine having cancer is tied to Russian disinformation, then what's the real story about her if it's doubtful to be sure she has cancer?
The media frenzy and conspiracy theories are tied to Russian disinfo. There's no reason to doubt that the princess actually has cancer.
Edited by Xopher001 on Mar 27th 2024 at 6:39:44 AM
I actually wanted to be Resileaf
Yeah, I think the article is talking about all the conspiracy theories that sprang out while she was out of the public eye for a couple of weeks.
Visiting from the Hoag Galaxy
Yeah, the cancer thing is probably real. What the Russians likely did was take the stuff about affairs or whatever that people in the UK were suggesting and boost it.
Not Three Laws compliant.
he/him
Jeffrey Donaldson unexpectedly resigns as leader of Northern Ireland's DUP
Due to historical allegations of an unspecified nature. I'm not going to speculate about that.
It was Donaldson who halted NI's power sharing agreement a couple of years ago. Now that Stormont is finally back, I'm not sure whether his departure is a positive thing or not.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
You don't need to speculate anyway; there's other articles out there that actually mention what he's being charged for.
Welcome to Estalia, gentlemen.
Oh, bother.
Sex offences. They're sex offences. According to The Independent at any rate.
DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson resigns after being charged with historical sex offences
Edited by M84 on Mar 29th 2024 at 11:30:02 PM
Disgusted, but not surprised
he/him
Hmm. Wonder why the Guardian (or their lawyers) didn't want to mention that.
Don't want to leave but cannot pretend
The title of that Guardian article says βSir Jeffrey Donaldson resigns as DUP leader after sexual offence chargesβ
It says theyβre sexual offense charges in the headline.
First paragraph of the article: βSir Jeffrey Donaldson has resigned as leader of the Democratic Unionist party after being charged with sexual offences, throwing Northern Irish politics into turmoil.β
They ainβt being coy about the nature of the charges.
Edited by fredhot16 on Mar 30th 2024 at 2:10:23 AM
Trans rights are human rights. TV Tropes is not a place for bigotry, cruelty, or dickishness, no matter who or their position.
It says so now, it didn't say so when the article was linked.
Because news outlets can and will edit their headlines now and then.
It's actually something that really annoys me because this has to be the second time I've seen somebody argue "the article is actually saying that" when it didn't do so originally.
For context, the original title was "Sir Jeffrey Donaldson resigns as Democratic Unionist party leader", with the article only alluding to "allegations of a historical nature".
Edited by DrunkenNordmann on Mar 30th 2024 at 10:15:44 AM
Welcome to Estalia, gentlemen.
which rich guy and when did this happen?
New theme music also a box