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.
- 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
HGW XX/7
An early bid for the "too little, too late" award of 2015, Kelvin MacKenzie, editor of The Scum between 1981 and 1994, suddenly reckons immigrants are a good thing.
edited 28th Mar '15 3:51:47 PM by Achaemenid
Schild und Schwert der Partei
Pronounced YAK-you-luss
Katie Hopkins confirmed for deep-cover Labour plant.
House Lewis: Sanity is Relative
This is real, this is idiotic, this is a very good reason not to vote Labour. Tempted to buy several and film myself destroying them, though obviously won't.
A friend has ordered two (or claims to have). The reason being "I want one so i can keep it as a reminder of just how bad Labour betrayed, well, everything, and as something to point to when they try to deny it. I got a spare it case i pelt one off the TV mid election or grind its .shards into the face of a canvasser"
He then added that it would be amusing if it was damaged in transit - it would mean receiving a box of broken pledges along with an invoice. Sounds about right!
edited 29th Mar '15 5:10:04 AM by CaissasDeathAngel
My name is Addy. Please call me that instead of my username.
A procrastination in of itself
There's a reason I'm barely hanging on as a member of the Labour party, yes we're the lesser of two evils, but we're still part of the same immigrant hating, austerity worshipping, Europe bashing, young people fucking, shit circle. We're better than the conservatives but that's kinda all we've got now.
The only places I actually agree with the mainstream is stuff like nuclear (energy and weapons) defence (well kinda, it's more that I'm not for shredding things even more as some on the left are) and foreign affairs (where I'm still pissed at Labour for playing party politics with the Syria vote)
edited 29th Mar '15 5:35:26 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
I just had a look at what Labour's immigration policy actually is.
The policy appears to scrap immigration targets. It's actually focussed on addressing worker exploitation, wages, rules about claiming benefits, and dealing with immigrants that break the law.
That mug's message is implying something so completely different to what their policy actually is, it begs the question of who in the party ever thought that advert was even remotely a good idea.
Apparently there's one mug for each of their main five policy ideas. I haven't seen the other mugs yet. I wonder how bad the sound bites are on the other four mugs? Do I want the answer to that question?
edited 29th Mar '15 7:05:41 AM by Wyldchyld
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.
House Lewis: Sanity is Relative
You can decide for yourself. They're all there.
A procrastination in of itself
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
And that's part of why I stick with Labour, I prey that this is all just pandering for votes and that our actual policy will be much more socialist than we're admitting.
Thanks for the link. The other sound bites aren't particularly problematic. It doesn't change the fact I can't stand sound bite politics, but I can see why the media is focussing on only the one mug and not any of the others.
The Telegraph is saying the problem with Labour isn't so much their policies but their ability to sell themselves.
edited 29th Mar '15 2:24:46 PM by Wyldchyld
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.
Are we really going to trust the Torygraph's appraisal of Labour?
"Yup. That tasted purple."
V
Can't say it's entirely wrong, though. I doubt the Guardian will be much different in tone.
Anyway:
Election 2015: Labour to cap private profits in NHS
Under a Labour government, profits on all private sector contracts worth more than £500,000 will be capped, Mr Miliband said, suggesting that private sector involvement was "draining money away" from the NHS.
The cap will be set at a default level of 5%, although this could raised or lower to reflect the specific terms of different contracts.
Any returns that firms make above this level would have to be ploughed back in full into the NHS to support patient care - while NHS commissioners will have the power to terminate private contracts early in the event of unacceptable performance.
SNP conference: Party backs 50p rate of tax across UK
The BBC: The SNP: Where will 'winding up' Westminster lead?
Keep Rolling On
Well, it's a different perspective on the story to the New Statesman's article further above. But if you want me to include some other newspaper coverage, I'm happy to do so:
- The Independent: Labour's Diane Abbott condemns party's anti-immigration mug as 'shameful'
- The Huffington Post: Labour's Bizarre 'Controls On Immigration' Mug Is Perfect For The Ardent Ukipper In Your Life
- The Guardian: Diane Abbott: Labour's 'controls on immigration' mugs are shameful (Is it me or does this article makes it look like Diane Abbot hasn't read her own party's manifesto?)
edited 29th Mar '15 2:39:14 PM by Wyldchyld
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.
V
She probably doesn't care about her own Party's manifesto...
Re: Katie Hopkins: If it means we don't have to listen to her bullshit like her recent claims that depression isn't real then I'm definitely voting Labour.
It begins people. We have officially entered the Short Campaign. The Civil Service and all associated Government functions are in purdah. May God have mercy on our souls.
In all seriousness though, will there be a live blog or IRC set up for the election night? It's nice discussing it here and all, but it might be nicer to have a more immediate form of communication for when the results come in.
Pronounced YAK-you-luss
If Dan Brown was British, he'd no longer have a job.
What's precedent ever done for us?
It was the '80s, Satanic cult hysteria was a thing [1].
...OK, I got nothing.
"Yup. That tasted purple."
Did you know this section has a character limit?
These pedophiles are bringing down the good name of Satanists.
They do have medals for almost, and they're called silver!
House Lewis: Sanity is Relative
V
On 'Battle Buses', so far:
- The Lib Dems still have the best coach — the VanHool TX18 Altano in normal liverynote .
- The Conservatives have this◊ Irizar i6-bodied Scania, also seen in normal livery
edited 30th Mar '15 11:37:34 AM by Greenmantle
Keep Rolling On
I've managed to avoid the Katie Hopkins thing until now. I've just read some of her tweets. I wish I hadn't.
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.
House Lewis: Sanity is Relative
She's been reported to the police on the grounds of inciting racial hatred.
So she's basically famous for coming third on The Apprentice then doing a couple of Celebrity reality TV shows.
Fame is far too cheap these days.
"Yup. That tasted purple."
House Lewis: Sanity is Relative
She's famous for courting controversy. She's made an art form of it, on the grounds of No Such Thing as Bad Publicity.
She probably does believe most of the shit she says, but she only actually says it as loudly because it gets people talking about her.
My name is Addy. Please call me that instead of my username.
The charisma debate is a problem. When charismatic politicians are in power (the ones that can use the media and are good with PR and have a presence - whether or not you like them, which is a different issue), the electorate complains about spin and just wanting a politician in power who gets on with the job. When they have politicians who get on with the job, regardless of whether or not we personally think they're doing a good job (and those kind usually don't have charisma or PR skills), the electorate complains about them being boring and insult them for having no personality for representing the country.
I've seen this happen for Thatcher, Major, Blair, Brown and Cameron. I have it on good authority that this has been an issue for previous generations as well. It's therefore right up there with those Roman letters that reveal elderly writers complaining to the recipients about the appalling manners of the 'youth of today' destroying society. Some arguments just don't change throughout time.
On the issue of charisma, no politicians can win: as a mob, the electorate is too unpleasable.
I haven't had a chance to watch the interviews yet. I will be this weekend. I have seen a lot of fallout from the interviews. Overall, the impression I'm getting is that Milliband has surprised people and come out much better than anyone expected (and apparently ended up turning the tables on Paxman's treatment of him during the interview? I've seen that mentioned quite a few times, but until I watch the interviews, I'm not going to know what truly means), whereas Cameron has come across poorly, and his lack of economic knowledge came across quite strongly.
Unlike singularityshot, I'm a floating voter. I am typically neither a Conservative nor a Labour supporter, but I'm a floater, so these debates will be very interesting for me to watch; I'll certainly be interested in seeing if my opinion at the end in any way matches the reactions I've been seeing.
Additional:
BBC 'Biased' For Not Giving Cameron Victory In Paxman TV Battle, Says Tory Chairman Grant Shapps
The key statistics coming out of the poll everyone's arguing about is this:
The ICM/Guardian poll reported the following:
Although the second group is described as a 'very small sub-set' of the polled group, the polled group is described as a representative sample (both the original sample size of 3,650 and the amount who responded (1,123), would also be regarded as a very small sample size). If the polled group is genuinely representative, then the amount of people sampled won't significantly matter. Therefore, on the basis of ICM's stance that the polled sample is both representative and an admitted 'best guess', I can see why the BBC has declared no clear winner.
Article quotes covering the two sets of statistics:
However Grant Shapps complained this morning that the BBC was being unfairly kind to Miliband in its post-debate coverage. "When Obama beat McCain 54-46 in a head-to-head it was called a landslide. But for the BBC that's called 'no clear winner'. Odd!" he tweeted.
The official Conservative Party chairman account added: "BBC bias? Worrying that BBC headlines say there was ‘no clear winner’ last night, despite Guardian/ICM poll proving the exact opposite."
The Conservative press office was unhappy. And Tory MP Dan Byles accused the broadcaster of being "naughty" and of "very poor journalism" for failing to hand Cameron the win.
A BBC spokesperson told The Huffington Post: "We are satisfied that our coverage of last night's programme has been fair and impartial. We reported the findings of the Guardian/ICM poll across our output as well as hearing a range of analysis from voices in support of both party leaders. As the election draws nearer we expect an increased level of scrutiny of our coverage from across the political spectrum, but will continue to report without fear or favour."
And...
In the first few minutes after the programme, 1,123 of them returned to the pollster for a second survey on what they had seen, producing "ICM's best guess on what a representative sample of the voting population would say had they all watched the programme".
Asked whether the programme might make their vote change, 56% of floating voters said they were more likely to vote Labour, compared with 30% more likely to vote Conservative. Those in this section of the group were only a very small sub-set of the wider group.
edited 27th Mar '15 5:13:40 PM by Wyldchyld
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.