TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Following

British Politics Thread

Go To

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.

More specifically, read this post for some guidance on what we don't want to see.


    Original OP 
(I saw Allan mention the lack of one so I thought I'd make one.)

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 Jun 7th 2024 at 4:50:10 PM

FieldMarshalFry Field Marshal of Cracked from World Internet War 1 Since: Oct, 2015 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Field Marshal of Cracked
#21401: Apr 22nd 2016 at 11:33:15 AM

admittedly the majority of us can't... unless it said you should vote for other party's that are only fielding candidates in certain regions

advancing the front into TV Tropes
Iaculus Pronounced YAK-you-luss from England Since: May, 2010
Pronounced YAK-you-luss
#21402: Apr 22nd 2016 at 11:45:31 AM

I sort of feel like the argument that America would never integrate itself into a federated superstate like the European Union is slightly misleading because the USA is a federated superstate. It's much more homogenous than the EU, but it is somewhat comparable, and Obama has been given plenty of reason to be leery of state sovereignty being used as a banner for xenophobia.

edited 22nd Apr '16 11:45:54 AM by Iaculus

What's precedent ever done for us?
EruditeEsotericist Since: May, 2015
#21403: Apr 22nd 2016 at 11:45:34 AM

It only applies to those in Scottish constituencies. I believe you give your location at the start of the tool and it advises you how to vote tactically. As such, it accomodates lots of different parties standing in different places (including the Greens) but not SNP.

Greenmantle V from Greater Wessex, Britannia Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Hiding
V
#21404: Apr 22nd 2016 at 12:02:27 PM

[up] Probably because there's no need to vote tactically for the SNP. It's a given that, with little opposition, they'll be the largest party.

edited 22nd Apr '16 12:03:41 PM by Greenmantle

Keep Rolling On
Quag15 Since: Mar, 2012
#21405: Apr 22nd 2016 at 3:16:59 PM

It's much more homogenous than the EU

Especially because the US has a common history (capital H optional). Well, kind of. Europe, however, doesn't even have a common story.

edited 22nd Apr '16 3:17:30 PM by Quag15

Bat178 Since: May, 2011
#21406: Apr 22nd 2016 at 3:22:16 PM

[up][up][up][up] Not to mention the US don't get along well with Mexico, and most of the Central American and Caribbean countries are poor and have a ton of problems, so a North American Union wouldn't last very long.

edited 22nd Apr '16 3:28:34 PM by Bat178

EruditeEsotericist Since: May, 2015
#21407: Apr 22nd 2016 at 3:25:13 PM

[up][up][up] Completely false, especially with the way the list vote system works. I'll not be giving both votes to the SNP, my list going Green, but plenty of Green supporters will tactically vote SNP twice.

The fact that SNP are hard coded out of the running is Tories being cunts as usual.

Greenmantle V from Greater Wessex, Britannia Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Hiding
V
#21408: Apr 22nd 2016 at 10:36:12 PM

[up] I'm quite sure Conservative Central Office doesn't run the DT — in fact, the DT is often to right of them.

Keep Rolling On
Greenmantle V from Greater Wessex, Britannia Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Hiding
V
#21409: Apr 23rd 2016 at 11:44:37 PM

Post-Brexit UK-U.S. trade deal could take a decade, Obama tells BBC

A trade deal between Britain and the United States could take five to 10 years to negotiate if Britain votes to leave the European Union at a June 23 referendum, U.S. President Barack Obama told the BBC in an interview broadcast on Sunday.

"It could be five years from now, 10 years from now before we're actually able to get something done," Obama told the British broadcaster in an excerpt posted online.

Obama, who is in the last nine months of his presidential term, has spent the last three days in London urging Britons to remain part of the EU as a divided British public prepares to vote on whether to remain a member of the 28-country bloc.

He told the BBC that Britain would not get preferential treatment over the EU when it came to negotiating a new trade deal.

"The UK would not be able negotiate something with the United States faster than the EU," Obama said. "We wouldn't abandon our efforts to negotiate a trade deal with our largest trading partner, the European market."

Obama's visit and decision to intervene in the EU debate has angered the Eurosceptic "Out" campaign, which has repeatedly argued that Britain could easily negotiate deals and get better terms outside the EU.

Keep Rolling On
EruditeEsotericist Since: May, 2015
#21411: Apr 24th 2016 at 5:51:43 AM

[up] Brilliant article, absolutely love it.

"You sometimes hear people saying that the attitudes and character of the pro-Brexit forces are not a valid argument for staying in. But that’s wrong: asking who would call the shots afterwards, who would be strengthened, is extremely relevant.

And that’s where Boris Johnson’s tirade against President Obama is so wonderfully clarifying. It tells us who the anti-EU wing of the Conservatives really are; it tells us not just that they are pretty close to UKIP, but that intellectually and emotionally they live in the same fever swamps as the American right. And they would, all too probably, take on a strong, even dominant role in British politics post-Brexit."

This is very true.

Greenmantle V from Greater Wessex, Britannia Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Hiding
V
#21412: Apr 24th 2016 at 5:57:09 AM

[up] Although one of the comments may help when it comes to Boris:

More interesting, by far, is the case of Mr. Boris Johnson.

Johnson's British parents were living in New York City when he was born, making him an American citizen in addition to his UK citizenship. His parents left the the US when he was 5 yrs old, and his not lived in the US since.

When Mr. Johnson sold a house in London in 2014 for £730,000 profit, a gain that is not taxable under UK law, the US IRS send him a massive capital gains tax bill, of reportedly £ 100, 000. The argument was that US tax law supersedes UK law, in the UK, and that Mr. Johnson had never renounced his US citizenship

Mr. Johnson, facing the possibility to be arrested when visiting the US, paid up.

However, this experience has left him with a sour taste about the US, that might explain his lecturing of President Obama.

Mr. Johnson has a good chance to become PM on of these days.

Was it wise for the IRS to hound someone who hasn't lived in the US since the age of 5 and made a non taxable transaction under the law of his country ?

Keep Rolling On
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#21413: Apr 24th 2016 at 6:05:50 AM

Given what sort of tricks tax dodgers come up with, I am not so sure I'd be sorry about that.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Deadbeatloser22 from Disappeared by Space Magic (Great Old One) Relationship Status: Tsundere'ing
#21414: Apr 24th 2016 at 6:44:21 AM

So Nigel's rebuttal is "Who cares what Obama wants?"

My question is this: Who cares what you want?

"Yup. That tasted purple."
FieldMarshalFry Field Marshal of Cracked from World Internet War 1 Since: Oct, 2015 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Field Marshal of Cracked
#21415: Apr 24th 2016 at 6:46:50 AM

wait, what? US law supersedes British law? for a transaction of British property by a man who holds duel citizenship on British soil? da fuck?

advancing the front into TV Tropes
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#21416: Apr 24th 2016 at 6:49:13 AM

Nothing about "superseding"; it's that FATCA does treat that as an American transaction.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
FieldMarshalFry Field Marshal of Cracked from World Internet War 1 Since: Oct, 2015 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Field Marshal of Cracked
#21417: Apr 24th 2016 at 6:51:27 AM

despite it not being American at all... load of bollocks if you ask me, as much as I hate Johnson, and feel he should have paid tax (in Britain that is) for that property deal, that just does not seem right or fair

advancing the front into TV Tropes
Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#21418: Apr 24th 2016 at 6:56:23 AM

He's a US citizen, if he doesn't want to be bound by US law then it's up to him to renounce his citizenship. All US citizens have to pay tax on money they make, even if they make it outside the US.

As for Farage bring up Bush and Iraq, funny, I don't remember him protesting Iraq when it happened.

edited 24th Apr '16 6:56:49 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
Greenmantle V from Greater Wessex, Britannia Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Hiding
V
#21419: Apr 24th 2016 at 7:34:03 AM

[up] Nobody would have cared back then. UKIP were nothing, and Farage was just an (or the) UKIP MEP.

edited 24th Apr '16 7:38:20 AM by Greenmantle

Keep Rolling On
Deadbeatloser22 from Disappeared by Space Magic (Great Old One) Relationship Status: Tsundere'ing
annemarisa from Liverpool Since: May, 2013 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Greenmantle V from Greater Wessex, Britannia Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Hiding
V
#21423: Apr 25th 2016 at 11:33:20 AM

What has BHS ever done for us?

British department stores group BHS was placed into administration on Monday, putting the 88-year-old retailer in danger of disappearing from the high street and placing 11,000 jobs at risk.

Once a mainstay of the British high street, BHS has been in decline for years, unable to keep up with demand for fast fashion, online sales and improved customer services.

BHS employs about 8,000 people, while a further 3,000 contractors work with the company's 164 stores. Going into administration, a form of creditor protection, means it is Britain's most high-profile retail casualty since Phones4U in 2014 and Woolworths in 2008.

It could also increase scrutiny of BHS's former owner Philip Green, the billionaire retail boss who sold the firm for one pound last year to a collection of little known investors. He bought it for 200 million pounds in 2000.

Can Boris Johnson ever get on a train again?

Doctor Revolution?

Junior doctors' leaders 'trying to topple the government'

edited 25th Apr '16 11:34:09 AM by Greenmantle

Keep Rolling On
Bat178 Since: May, 2011
#21424: Apr 25th 2016 at 12:15:06 PM

Ireland leans more towards mainland Europe than the UK does, being a Eurozone member and not having quite as good relations with the US, correct?

Wyldchyld (Old as dirt)
#21425: Apr 25th 2016 at 4:22:03 PM

Won't bother linking to the ECHR sketch as someone else has already done it. Some interesting things going on in Wales though.

Someone has gone around Cardiff taking down Plaid Cymru election placards (this is a big story in Wales because it happened in 2011 and turned out to be a Labour MP who was doing it).

What the latest polling shows about the battle for the National Assembly with 10 days to go (If you're wondering why UKIP are projected to go from 0 to 7 list seats it's because (in general) Lib Dem voters have switched to UKIP; some are creeping back to the Lib Dems, but most aren't).

Voting form misprint places Green Party at a disadvantage in election, say leaders

Voters say Plaid leader's doing well, PM very badly

Plaid Cymru's Leanne Wood most popular leader in Wales, says poll

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.

Total posts: 50,638
Top