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
I'm no Yorkist either sir. Not one bit :p
Bane of Lancastrians. Softies.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
![[lol]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lol2v12_4863.png "[lol]"){kind=small}
Right. I believe you! Uh... 
Bet you don't know about Boars, either, huh?
So that's what this does
Cockney rhyming slang ruined my life. This latest archaeological find proved it.
So in the 23 years after Hillsborough not one member of the police force felt the need to speak out about the cover up that took place. All those people for all those years, fully aware of how the tragedy had affected so many people. And not a peep. How many of them have since climbed the same career ladder as Sir Norman Bettison?
And if what Jack Straw claims is actually true, and these people did enjoy an impunity mentality, what does that imply for the police today if some of them have climbed the ranks?
They'll have passed that on, is what. 
Time to start digging, folks... there're more skeletons in closets... Maybe not as big ones, but, ones still there to be found.
I keep reading some of the stuff (downloaded it... ye gads, it's huge). And, my eyes keep going into saucers. I think I'll have to stop, to be honest, and stick with summaries. It's almost too distressing to read the primary source. 
I'm a wuss.
So that's what this does
A lack of police accountability has been a problem for a long time, Jack Straw seems to suffer from selective amnesia when he talks about it as if the Thatcher years were the only time it was a big issue.
Thatcher and her cronies used the police, nationally, as her bully boys. Anyone who says otherwise is either deluded or lying to themselves. Remember what happened at the Poll Tax Riots? That said, a lot of their opposition, particularly Arthur Scargill, weren't much better.
Yorkshire police in particular were in the old woman's good books after their sterling work in beating up some miners.
And let us pray that come it may (As come it will for a' that)
V
That wasn't just Yorkshire — virtually every Police Force was up there covering the Miners' Strike...
Keep Rolling On
So that's what this does
While the likes of Mark Kennedy happenned under Blair, with environmental protesters beaten up just for being there.
It's not an issue for party politics, the system needs a clean up.
V
What about David Kelly?*
Keep Rolling On
Yeah, but to the government of the day places like Yorkshire were the enemy; working class, industrial, Labour-voting folk from Northern England. Elements of the police, media and government believed that they could get away with framing the victims at Hillsborough because footballer supporters in the 80s were among "the enemy" demographics and thus ought to be discredited; in particular if the alternative was bad news for those in the ideological "club".
Now of course this isn't restricted to one government but it was particularly bad during the Thatcher era where there was a combination of extreme conflict and a chronic lack of real oversights.
edited 13th Sep '12 11:28:47 AM by TheBatPencil
And let us pray that come it may (As come it will for a' that)
So that's what this does
Yeah, but people blaming it on Thatcher are trying to pretend it stopped 22 years ago. Bollocks it did.
Yeah but Thatcher will never fade from the memory of people like me who lived during that cunt's reign. "We are a grandmother." Direct quote, I am not making this shit up. I saw it live on the telly news and many times since.
I don't know who said "I am all in favour of giving Margaret Thatcher a State Funeral, but do we really need to wait til she is dead?", but I heartily agree with them.
I already know what I am going to do when the cow eventually goes back home to hell but it would be tedious to read, even though I would have fun writing it down.
So that's what this does
I lived through her reign too. Blair was no better.
True. But, I'm not likely to forget Jack Straw, any time soon, either.
One of my fondest memories, it's got to be said, is running down the school corridor whooping when she stepped down. Sod the possible repercussions (especially considering the uneven floor), I was skipping at speed.
edited 13th Sep '12 12:11:22 PM by Euodiachloris
I disagree. He was marginally better as a person, but his Home Secretaries were as bad as Thatcher's. If not worse. His international politics are also open to debate.
edited 13th Sep '12 12:13:05 PM by TamH70
So that's what this does
You're probably right actually. Also most of the things I hated about Brown were Harriet Harman's doing. No wonder Ed is fighting so hard for the right to choose his cabinet (although Harman is still working hard at staying on)
Ya mean Harriet Harperson? If I could bring myself to think more about her I would be screaming at the walls at how fatuous the idiot is. As for Milliband Minor? Complete non-entity. If Labour win the next election with him in charge, then the lunatics will really have taken over the asylum. (in fact, with the way this present coalition is going, he is probably the only thing standing in the way of a Labour victory.)
On David Kelly, I think the people who believe that his death was suicide are wrong. It was way too convenient, on the scale of "who will rid me of this turbulent priest?" convenient.
edited 13th Sep '12 12:20:52 PM by TamH70
Hazel Blears will be my abiding memory of the Brown era. The woman never failed to give the impression of being an unpleasantly smug English teacher; you all know the type.
And let us pray that come it may (As come it will for a' that)
So that's what this does
Eww, I had managed to forget Hazel Blears.
edited 13th Sep '12 12:41:01 PM by TheBatPencil
And let us pray that come it may (As come it will for a' that)
Thanks, Bats. I'll not be able to get Hazel Blears out of my mind any time I see that episode ever again... Way to rain on that parade...
V
I remember her vaguely — I've tried to forget Gordon Brown and Tony Blair on the whole, and Ms. Blears* was one of the reasons I hated New Labour — talking down to the media* doesn't do miracles to your standing!
On another note, I was born in '87 and started to get interested in Politics after 9/11 — in fact, you could say my Political views were born in the Blair-era*. Maybe that's why my views are different — I don't even remember Margaret Thatcher as PM.
Keep Rolling On
Bosworth explained
.
And let us pray that come it may (As come it will for a' that)